Here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!
After interrogating the answers out of the defeated Hungry Wolf Knights, Fairy Tail's rescue team was now heading towards the exit provided they were told the truth.
"Do you really think it's over this way?" Natsu questioned the directions given to them.
"I'm thinking about how Loke got here." Retorted Flynn. "Didn't the guards confiscate your keys?"
"The girls found our keys." Leo answered. "And in the nick of time, too." He motioned his eyes towards Arcadios, who looked badly injured as Leo carried him over his back.
"Is Colonel Arcadios all right?" Yukino inquired.
"He's as 'all right' as he can be…" Leo told Yukino.
"I can't believe he's even alive after standing in lava." Happy said.
Flynn stopped and checked Arcadios's legs and saw only a few burns. "… How?! His legs should have melted!"
"It's probably thanks to that jade stone he is wearing." Yukino pointed out the necklace hanging around the unconscious knight's neck. "It serves as a powerful protective amulet."
"Jade…" Wendy muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Like that dragon, Zirconis."
"And princess is named 'Hisui', which also means 'jade'."
"Speaking of the princess, Arcadios told us to talk to the princess if we got out of here." Lucy said.
"You said that the knight didn't know whether Eclipse was the right thing to do, hm?" Carla recalled.
"It was that princess that dropped us here!" Natsu angrily brought up.
"Anyway, for now we should get out of here and give those fighting for us in the Games a chance to relax." Leo reiterated.
"Hey!" Lily noticed a large door just ahead of them. "Look over there!"
"It's a door!" Natsu exclaimed.
"It might be the exit!" Happy cheered.
"Let me handle this!" Flynn got ahead of everyone and readied a large orb of light between his hands. "Luster…"
Kachak!
The doors opened up without anyone in the group doing anything, causing Flynn to fall over in exasperation.
"Are you kidding me?!" Flynn shouted.
"Is someone waiting for us?" Wendy wondered.
Flynn fell face-first in front of the door and looked up to see someone in a black cloak standing before them. He could tell this wasn't Zexal since he kept every part of his face hidden whereas this individual had the lower half of their face visible.
"Who… are you?" Flynn asked the mysterious individual.
The figure began sniffling and grasped their mouth as they finally spoke.
"I'm sorry." The figure sobbed in a feminine and familiar voice. "Could… you help me?"
"Ngh!" Flynn gasped. "It can't be…"
"That voice…" Yukino said.
"I'd know it anywhere…" Natsu stated.
"You're…" Leo mumbled.
The figure removed their hood and their face looked exactly like…
"LUCY!" Natsu screamed.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!" Lucy also screamed in shock.
"Another Lucy?" Mirajane questioned.
"Wh-what is this supposed to mean?" Wendy was just as confused as everyone else.
"It isn't… Gemini is it?" Yukino asked.
"Or maybe the one from Edolas?" Happy guessed.
"You know how the Eclipse door can cross dimensional borders?" The other Lucy asked everyone.
With that question, it all became clear to them where this Lucy came from.
"So… You used Eclipse to…" Flynn was about to ask.
"I came from the future." The other Lucy finished what Flynn was about to say.
"WHAAA?!" Everyone exclaimed in unison.
Lucy stared at her future self for several seconds.
"This country…" Future Lucy was about to relay until she looked as if she was about to pass out. "Will soon…"
Future Lucy fell to the ground and lost consciousness, prompting Natsu and Wendy to check on her.
"Hey!" Natsu shouted.
"A-are you all right?!" Wendy gasped in concern.
Thankfully, Future Lucy simply passed out with a bit of a tear in her eye.
"What the heck is going on?" Happy questioned.
"I don't get this, either." Lily agreed.
Lucy just stared down at her future self, unsure of what to make of it.
"Lucy…" Mirajane tried to snap her friend back to reality.
"This is so bizarre…" Lucy stated. "Why would I…"
Natsu picked up Future Lucy and carried her over his shoulder. "Well, we can't leave this Lucy here. Let's take her along and get out of here."
"I second that." Flynn nodded. "Once we're outside, we send up the flare. Though I doubt any of us expected we'd be rescuing two Lucys."
Long after leaving the city of the dead, Zexal was walking through the dungeon corridors.
"BOO!"
Zexal jumped with a gasp upon being spooked, but calmed down when he saw the green-haired spirit Zale had made contact with earlier.
"Was that really necessary, Krona (Age N/A)?" Zexal asked with exasperation in his breath.
"I did as you asked!" The spirit Zexal referred to as Krona smiled happily. "How'd things go for you here?"
"My job's not done until my disastrous future has been completely averted. Be patient, I'll keep up my end of our bargain." For a moment, Zexal looked back and forth around the dungeon hallway, but no one was within sight. "Yeesh, it's humid down here…"
He pulled down his hood and took a deep breath. His face was revealed to look like an older version of Zale. After a few seconds of airing out his head, he put the hood back up and resumed hiding his face with it.
"Now I just have to find the one… who stole my future from me."
"We're screwed." Natsu said plainly as the team got themselves lost within the castle and stopped in what appeared to be the dining hall.
"I never imagined we'd get lost." Leo said.
"It is a problem." Mirajane cheerfully stated.
"This isn't funny, Mira." Flynn scolded.
"This is my fault." Yukino apologized. "I should have studied the construction of Sir Castle a bit more thoroughly…"
"'Sir Castle'?!" Wendy seemed perplexed by Yukino's choice of words.
"And just when we were ready to leave and let the others know of our escape." Lily said.
"Aye!" Happy chimed in his usual manner.
"I say we just get it out of some soldiers!" Natsu suggested with a grin.
"No!" Carla quickly shot down his idea. "We have injured with us."
"With all these wizards, we can manage something, right?" Happy asked.
"Sorry." Mirajane responded. "It isn't just that… We have guild mates participating in the Games. It's a royal event. I think we should avoid leaving a bad impression on the Kingdom's military."
"It may be already too late…" Yukino said. "We did eliminate the royal execution squad."
As everyone was discussing what to do next, Lucy just stared at her unconscious future self and then looked down.
"Lucy, there's nothing to look so depressed about." Leo comforted her as he knelt down.
"Yeah…" Lucy muttered.
"After all, even with two of you here, I can declare that I love you both!" Leo proclaimed proudly.
"Could you get a clue?" Flynn angrily grumbled.
"Urrn…" Future Lucy appeared to be stirring back to consciousness.
Everyone took notice and rushed to her side.
"Are you okay, Future Lucy?" Happy asked.
Future Lucy started to sit up as she awoke. "Where are we?"
"We don't know." Natsu answered.
"It looks like the castle's dining hall." Flynn stated.
"So… we're in the castle?" Future Lucy inquired before trying to recall something. "If I remember right… after we escaped the Palace of Hades… we were all caught by the palace guards again. So I've got to tell you now…"
"So these are events that the future Lucy has already experienced?" Lily guessed.
"What're you talking about?" Natsu questioned the future Lucy's recollection. "We'd never get caught like them, right?"
"He's right." Mirajane agreed. "I certainly have no desire to get caught again."
"We were on the run, and came in close to Eclipse." Future Lucy continued. "Because of that, we couldn't use our magic and we all got caught."
"That's pretty dumb, huh?" Natsu smirked in amusement.
"I'd just call it bad luck…" Future Lucy said.
*Bad luck…* Yukino thought with regret in her heart.
"When that time came… we were all in prison."
"That time?" Happy asked.
Future Lucy didn't answer, almost as if the words were stuck in her throat.
"Um… Miss Lucy, why did you come back to the past?" Wendy inquired.
"To change it so that the worst future wouldn't come to pass."
"Worst future?" Natsu repeated those words to try to comprehend them.
"Just what happens in the future you hail from?" Yukino asked.
"… Terror and despair… More than ten thousand dragons will attack Fiore… And everything will be destroyed…"
Those words put everyone in a state of shock and horror with their mouths agape.
"What… is… that… SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Natsu shouted very loudly.
"Keep it down!" Flynn tried his best to cover Natsu's mouth. "We don't want to get caught again."
"How horrible!" Happy was on the verge of panicking.
"More than ten thousand dragons…" Mirajane mumbled.
"How could that happen?" Yukino wondered.
"Do you think the dragon graveyard has something to do with it?" Wendy asked.
"I wonder." Carla said.
"What does this all mean?" Lily expressed his struggling to process the situation.
The future Lucy looked at everyone with surprise.
"Anyway, we don't have time to waste!" Natsu started preparing by putting on a knight's helmet and carrying a bundle of weapons. "Let's get ready for battle!"
"You're going to fight?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Impossible!" Happy shouted.
"You mean… You believe me?" Future Lucy asked.
"What?! You were lying?!" Natsu questioned in shock.
"No!" Future Lucy quickly replied. "But… I just thought nobody would ever believe me…"
"Of course we'd believe you." Flynn gave the future Lucy a reassuring smile. "You're our friend."
Future Lucy looked away and smiled with a light blush from how trusting her friends were.
"Yeah." Lucy agreed. "It may be pathetic to say this to my future self, but you should trust your friends more."
"I'm lecturing myself? But… you're right." Future Lucy said.
Carla then walked up to Future Lucy and asked a question. "You said we were in the castle at the time. What happened to us?"
Future Lucy looked down sadly.
"Carla, don't ask that." Wendy told her Exceed friend. "We probably…"
"Do we die?!" Natsu jumped to the worst possible conclusion.
"Oh no…" Mirajane gasped.
"Are we going to die?" Happy trembled in fear.
Yukino was quiet and somber, refusing to say anything.
"There were several days." Future Lucy tried to recall the events. "I don't remember. When I came to, I remembered about Eclipse. I didn't know the magic to make it work, but somehow, unconsciously, I opened it. I trusted that I could go into the past. And… I actually WAS able to come back to the past. To July 4th, X791!"
"The fourth? Just a few days back." Leo said.
"You mean Eclipse can execute such a short jump in time?" Mirajane inquired.
"I don't know…" Future Lucy admitted. "A portion was broken, so maybe that's why… There are lacrima all over town broadcasting the Grand Magic Games. So what I'd like you to do is go underground and meet up with Jellal's group."
"Jellal?" Natsu asked.
"I've told them everything." Future Lucy resumed her idea. "Right now, they should be working on a plan." Future Lucy then bit her lip. "I'm sorry. It isn't like I came from the future with a plan to prevent it. Actually, I have no idea how we can avoid it. I'm… so sorry! Now I'm not even sure why I came at all… All the time since I got here, I've been wandering the streets trying to figure out what to do…"
"We'll figure it out!"
Future Lucy looked up to see Flynn kneeling down to her.
"Simply coming back to the past and warning us…" Flynn looked her straight into the eyes with a gentle smile on his face. "That's more than enough. Thank you."
The warmth Future Lucy could feel coming from Flynn and his words, her eyes tearing up from the happiness welling up inside.
"With you here… I know we can change things…" Flynn said.
A/N: I've got to stop procrastinating on these, but then again I've been busy with several things and needed breaks. I still have the poll for my next story up and the tally is currently at 30 votes. Once the number of votes hit 50, I will close it and decide the winner. In case you've forgotten or just started reading, here are the options:
Sword Art Online (OCxCanon)
Highschool DxD (OCxHarem)
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (OC)
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for next time!