Here's the next chapter! I have an announcement regarding the poll at the end. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
"This way!" Future Lucy was running through the castle corridors, guiding her friends to the outside.
"You really know these hallways." Natsu said.
"At the very least, I wanted to avoid a future where you guys were captured by the Royal Guard!" Future Lucy stated.
"That makes sense." Lily said.
"So you mapped out the underground routes, huh?" Happy asked.
"We have to get above ground quick and set off the signal!" Mirajane said.
"I'm sure everybody's worried about us." Wendy added.
Suddenly, they heard the sounds of footsteps and stopped upon seeing royal guards rushing toward them.
"There they are! The escapees!"
"Get 'em!"
"Crap!" Flynn growled in frustration.
"The Royal Guards?!" Future Lucy gasped in shock. "They shouldn't be stationed here…"
"Nothin' to worry about!" Natsu cracked his knuckles. "As long as we can use our magic, we ain't getting caught!"
"U-um…" Wendy looked behind them to see a couple of people missing. "Mr. Arcadios isn't here!"
"What?!" Lucy turned around to see there was no sight of Arcadios or Yukino.
"Yukino isn't here either!" Mirajane exclaimed.
"Why'd they go off without a word?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"I don't know where that Knight Captain went, but I'm worried about Yukino!" Mirajane started to run off in the opposite direction of the soldiers. "I'm going back for her!"
"Ms. Mirajane!" Wendy exclaimed.
"We can't get separated!" Lucy shouted.
"Take care, you guys…" Mirajane told them before going off.
"We got this!" Natsu said as he lit his fists on fire. "We'll take them here…"
"Right!" Leo also readied himself for a brawl.
"And break through them!" Natsu shouted as he and Leo punched their way through several guards.
"With Mira gone, we'll have to pick up the slack." Flynn formed a bar of pure light in his hands. "Light Brand!"
The bar of light reshaped into the form of a sword and with a single swing, beams of light spread out from it and struck a few of the soldiers charging at them.
As Zexal was running through the hallways, his mind started to wander.
*I have to hurry!* He thought.
The royal capitol was in ruins and set ablaze as a lone man was on his knees with someone in his arms.
"Juvia…" Zale choked in an attempt to keep his emotions in check. "Please…"
Juvia was not moving, her eyes were closed and her body was limp and cold.
"Please, Juvia…" He couldn't hold back his emotions anymore and tears started to stream down his face. He looked around and saw the dead bodies Gray, Lyon and Sherria lying on the ground. "I could've protected them… Why didn't I come sooner?"
He then heard the sound of wings beating and looked up to see seven dragons flying away from the city. However, what really drew Zale's attention was a single person standing atop one of the dragons. Thankfully, he was able to catch a good glimpse of that person before he and the dragons disappeared into the horizon.
*Now that they're gone, I've got to see if everyone else is still alive.*
Zale walked off and looked around what was left of the capitol in search of any other survivors. However, the more time he spent searching, the grimmer he felt about the disaster that had just occurred. No signs of life could be spotted with the closest being the dead bodies littering the streets and debris. Making matters worse was Zale recognizing many of the deceased. He made his way to the castle and entered the courtyard where he spotted Eclipse, the bodies of fallen knights and puddles of blood scattered in between him and the gate. What caught his attention was a dismembered arm, the muscular nature of which was instantly recognizable to him.
*That's Laxus's arm! This is even worse than I thought! Am I really the only one left?! Hold on! Maybe I can use Eclipse to travel back in time and stop this travesty!*
He rushed to Eclipse and saw that it was closed, although he recalled something that Arcadios had said.
*That's right… Only Celestial Magic can open the door…* He fell to his knees and started sobbing. *It… really is… just me…*
For the next year, Zale spent his days either researching time magic or training in his own abilities. While he couldn't find a spell that would allow him to travel back in time without the use of Celestial Magic, he did find a lead to a possible solution.
"Time Lords… If they oversee all every possible timeline, they must know how I can travel back in time."
With what little information he could find, he set out on a journey to find one of these Time Lords for about 5 years.
*I managed to find one of those Time Lords and he offered to send me to the past, but at a price… And Krona is the one he assigned to make sure I fulfill that.*
"Hey, do you even know where you're going?" Krona questioned.
"I didn't just join the Hungry Wolf Knights to give a friend a pep talk." Zexal replied. "I used that time to explore and memorize the castle."
"Sir Zexal!"
Zexal and Krona stopped in their tracks to see a guard approaching them, with a battalion's worth more of them rushing by.
"Am I glad to see you!" The guard said. "We've found the escaped prisoners! Any help would be really appreciated!"
"We're kind of in a hurry, jackass!" Krona growled even though she knew the guard couldn't see or hear him.
*Shit!* Zexal thought. *I can't let Natsu, Lucy and the others get caught again! But I can't blow my cover just yet!* "Take me to them!"
Natsu, Lucy, Flynn, Wendy, Leo and Pantherlily were starting to be worn down by the constant flood of guards. Even worse, the Hungry Wolf Knights they had previously beaten were back and were far from willing to let them get away again. Wendy was restrained by Cosmos's plants, Lily had reverted back to his smaller form and Leo was struggling to hold his ground.
"There's too many coming in too fast!" Flynn panted out as he held onto his light sword, which was starting to flicker.
"Give up, convicts!" Kama said to the wizards.
"Now you made me mad!" Natsu shouted.
Happy and Carla were floating towards Uosuke again with his magic, but suddenly a shadow was stretching out underneath him.
"What is that?" Happy asked.
"Shadow?" Carla gasped.
The fighting slowed down when everyone could hear screaming and yelling coming from the back. As a large shadow approached, the guards were being sucked into it like it was water.
"What is this?!" Kama exclaimed.
"The shadows are swallowing them up…" Kamika said.
"Huh?" Lucy spoke in confusion.
The shadows were also pulling in the Hungry Wolf Knights and dragging them away. The Fairy Tail wizards just looked on in surprise and horror as their assailants were all vanishing into the shadows.
Zexal was following the guards, but the moment he saw the shadow, he jumped up and created hooks made out of black water to latch onto the ceiling. He watched as the shadow sucked up all of the guards and dragged them away.
"What the hell is this?" Zale wondered.
While the knights were no longer within Fairy Tail's sight, the shadows remained.
"The Royal Forces all…" Happy said.
"Vanished into the shadows!" Carla finished his sentence.
A figure could be seen walking out from the shadows.
"Somebody's there!" Leo informed his allies.
"Careful!" Lucy told her worn-down spirit.
The figure approached them with a smirk on his face.
"Who are you?!" Natsu asked the figure.
"Which way do the shadows stretch?" The figure quizzed as he approached the group. "Into the past? Or the future? Or into people's hearts?"
Natsu immediately recognized the figure.
"It's nice to see you after so long, Natsu Dragneel. I have come back from a time that has yet to be. I am Rogue."
"Rogue?" Natsu asked.
"You mean from Sabertooth?" Wendy inquired.
"You're saying you come from the future?" Lucy asked.
"Somebody other than me?" Future Lucy also asked.
Future Rogue simply answered with silence and a scowl.
"Why?" Happy questioned.
"You swept the Royal Forces away to save us?" Leo asked.
"You've changed somehow." Natsu said.
"What did you come from the future for?" Carla repeated Happy's question.
"To open… the door." Future Rogue finally answered.
"You mean Eclipse?" Lucy asked.
"Eclipse can be used in two different ways." Future Rogue stated. "The first is to move through time. The second is a weapon. The Eclipse Cannon. It's the only way to defeat ten thousand dragons."
*Defeat ten thousand dragon?!" Future Lucy thought.
"Then that makes things easier." Natsu said. "We're on the same side, right?"
"Yaaay!" Happy cheered. "We can defeat the dragons!"
"You've come to save the future, right?" Wendy guessed.
"No…" Future Rogue replied. "It isn't as simple as that. I came from seven years in the future. In seven years… the world will be ruled by dragons. Not even ten percent of the human population will survive. Of course, even Eclipse won't have the power it has in this time. We must stop the dragons here and now. Or our world will end."
"So we open the door and blow them away, right?" Natsu waved off the worry. "It IS that simple!"
"However, seven years ago…" Future Rogue interjected. "In other words, now… There was one who stood in the way of the door opening. That person kept the door from opening. And the Eclipse Cannon never fired at the ten thousand dragons. That person set the world on the path to destruction. I have come back to assassinate them. That is why I am here."
"How awful!" Carla responded. "Can't you just talk them into not standing in the way?"
"There's no reason to kill anyone." Lily added.
"With a great amount of 'time' converging on one point, there are no words that can alter it." Future Rogue shot down Carla's suggestion. "Even if persuasion were effective, they would still attempt to shut the door. It is fixed."
"Fixed?" Lucy uttered.
"One cannot run from destiny." Future Rogue continued. "Those meant to live will live. Those meant to die will die. Those meant to close the door will close the door. No matter what, as long as they are alive to do it they will."
*I can't put my finger on it, but something isn't right with this guy…* Flynn thought.
"You're not making any sense to me." Natsu expressed. "But anyway, who is this person you're talking about?"
"YOU!" Rogue threw a sword of shadows toward the group. "LUCY HEARTFILIA!"
The shadow sword flew past Natsu and headed straight for Lucy.
"LUCY, NO!" Flynn screamed as he was ready to dive and tackle Lucy out of the way.
However, Future Lucy got in front of her past self and took the sword to her heart, catching Future Rogue by surprise. Everyone else watched in shock as Future Lucy coughed up blood and fell to the ground.
"Wait…" Lucy knelt down to her future self. "Hey, you just…"
"LUCY!" Happy cried out.
"There are two Lucys?" Future Rogue muttered.
"Hang in there!" Lucy shouted.
"LUCY!" Flynn ran over to Future Lucy's side.
"I…" Future Lucy struggled to speak as her life was draining. "Never… shut… the… door…"
"I know!" Lucy choked on her emotions. "I would never do it, either! Why would you protect your younger self?!"
"You are… me… in the… past… If you died… I'd… vanish… any… way…" Future Lucy turned her eyes to her past self. "It's weird… you know? Watching… myself… watch me… die…"
"It's weird for me, too!" Lucy shouted back. "So DON'T die, okay?!"
Future Lucy smiled. "It's… all… right… People I never… thought I'd see… alive… and now I meet them… again…" Her eyes were now tearing up. "Just… that… made… me… so… happy…"
"Lucy, no…" Happy sobbed next to Future Lucy. "Don't die…"
Natsu simply looked at Lucy and her future version in shock.
"I… don't belong… to this age…" Future Lucy continued. "No, not… even this… world… The me… of this world… should stay… with her friends…" She turned her head to Happy. "Don't… be sad…"
"Sure I'm sad!" Happy cried out. "I don't care what world you come from… I don't care what anybody says, you're Lucy! You're Lucy! You're my friend! Any friend would be sad about that!"
Future Lucy held Happy close to her cheeks in comfort before turning back to the present Lucy.
"Could… you show me… your guild mark…"
Lucy held out her hand and the future Lucy grasped it with her left. Flynn then noticed that her right hand, the one that should have her guild mark, was missing.
"You're… right hand…" Flynn gasped and eventually he could feel anger build up in his body.
"I wish I could've gone on… another adventure… Protect… the… future…" With that dying breath, the future Lucy had passed on, leaving everyone but Rogue in a state of sadness.
"She doesn't realize she closed the door…" Future Rogue mumbled.
"What about the damn door?!" Lucy yelled at him. "I would never do such a thing! And still-"
"You don't think so… now. But in a few hours, you WILL close the door."
"I will not close the door! Here you go with all that talk… What are you really after?!"
"You are fated to close the door!" Rogue gritted his teeth in annoyance. "As long as you are alive!"
"The future me already said she didn't close it! And I trust myself!"
"There is no truth in your words!" Rogue started converging shadows into his hand. "Destiny has decided everything here!"
"YOU BASTAAAAAAAARD!" A voice shouted from behind him.
Rogue turned around and saw Zexal leaping towards him with a large blade formed from black water. The Dragon Slayer managed to step back out of the way at the last second, but the impact of the water blade caused a geyser of black water to shoot up from the ground and blast him away.
"I thought my shadows removed the Royal Forces." Rogue said. "You're craftier than they were, that's for certain."
Zexal raised his water sword at Rogue, his face exposed to everyone.
"Zexal… is Zale?!" Flynn exclaimed.
"Rogue, you took everything from me! And I won't let you do it again!" Zexal proclaimed.
A/N: The polls are now closed. Here are the results:
Highschool DxD (OC x Harem) – 50%
Sword Art Online (OC x Canon) – 40%
Fire Emblem Echoes (OC) – 10%
My next story will be an OC and Harem story in the world of Highschool DxD! It might be a while before I post as I need to do some more research on this series, work on this story and deal with real life issues. I know what I want to do, but I haven't fully come up with the harem yet. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!