Incarcerated Innocence, a Fairy Tail fanfic by Tsunami Storm
Chapter 8: Inexplicable Interrelation
The world was engulfed in flames, and whatever spot of ground that wasn't ablaze was buried under mountains of rubble from the ruined once-capital city of Fiore, the former town of Crocus. Ever since the dragons attacked through the Eclipse Gate three years ago, humanity hadn't stood a chance. Now only small gatherings and camps existed around the ruins where once there was a thriving, bustling city filled with flowers and people of every stripe. The only humans brave enough to venture out in search of aid or supplies were the few remaining wizards, which included Lucy Heartfilia, Levy McGarden, Erza Scarlet and the courageous Jellal Fernandes, who had become an official member of Fairy Tail when he and Erza wed two years ago. But that felt like a different lifetime altogether.
Lucy and Levy chose to camp near the active Eclipse Gate, for they had a plan to alter the past to change their bleak future in which almost all of their friends were slain and gone, never to return. Jellal would occasionally check in on his two remaining friends and fellow Guild members, providing them with food and supplies he'd gathered from the ruined town and surrounding areas. The dragons had utterly destroyed Crocus when they'd first passed through the Gate years ago, so they had long since moved on to other areas in order to wreak havoc on the human population.
Lucy sniffled, shedding a tear for every one of her comrades that had fallen. Everyone was gone. All except for Levy, Jellal and Erza- and the latter was not long for this world either. She had been mortally wounded several weeks ago, but had stubbornly held on like the 'Queen of the Fairies' that she was, bound and determined to save at least one part of her that could go on living after she had ceased to exist in this world. Jellal had left Fairy Tail's 'barracks' a few days prior to check on his dying wife, and the girls had not yet received any word of his status or whereabouts. In fact they had all but given up hope on ever seeing either of their dear friends again when a dark figure stumbled through the curtain which hid their ramshackle camp from sight.
"Jellal!" Lucy gasped as the young man all but collapsed at the front 'door'- exhausted and wounded almost beyond identification- but the Celestial wizard would recognize that mop of cerulean hair anywhere.
The young man looked up at her exclamation, clutching a bundle of cloth to his chest as if his life depended on it. Slowly and carefully, he slackened his grip on the bundle and lowered his arms, revealing the wrap of cloth to be concealing a precious treasure. A newborn babe was nestled in her father's strong arms, feathery tufts of dark blue hair already sprouting from her tiny scalp.
"Oh, Jellal!" Lucy smiled tearfully. "I can't believe it! Congratulations!" She breathed quietly so as not to wake the baby. "Is Erza-" She smiled hopefully as she began, but a slow shake of the head from Jellal killed her words at her throat before they had a chance to form in her mouth. "Oh. Oh Jellal, I'm so sorry." She sniffled, more tears coursing down her face for their newest loss.
"She gave her life for me." Jellal breathed shakily. "For me and our child. Her last breath- was used to give our daughter a name." He closed his eyes and bent his head to kiss his daughter's cheek. Lucy and Levy both sniffled again at the emotional moment. "Is- is it ready?" The Heavenly Body mage asked tearfully as he looked to the other bluenette in the ruined room, who was busy poring over nearly-destroyed books and spell tomes.
"Yes." The Script mage answered confidently. "We just need the twelve gate keys to unlock it, and Lucy has all of them. The trust between Libra, Pisces and their new wizard is still a bit shaky, but it can't be helped. Miss Yukino fell pretty early on in the fighting. And she specifically gave her keys to Lucy before she died. I guess those two-, er, three spirits were really close to their first owner." She mumbled, always forgetting that two spirits were linked to the Pisces key, a mother and her son.
Jellal nodded, gazing down at his most precious treasure. "It's clear that our past selves won't last long without her. She's the key to preventing all of this. It's just- so hard. More difficult than I ever thought possible. Our daughter was just born two days ago, and now I already have to say goodbye." He sobbed as he stumbled closer to the monstrous gate between eras, holding his daughter close and stroking her feathery-soft locks with infinite care and affection.
"Are you sure, Jellal? There isn't some other way-?" Lucy began, but Jellal shook his head. "I have to do this. I have to send her back to a time before all this madness started, where she will be found and trained by the right beings to become strong and save us all. Remember: If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here either." He smiled sadly, gazing down at his newborn daughter again with loving eyes.
Lucy nodded, recalling the events leading up to the Nirvana incident. That felt like a lifetime ago. Without a word, she summoned every single one of her Zodiac spirits, and they all nodded as one and sent their keys into the twelve locks binding the Eclipse Gate and keeping it sealed. A few of Lucy's older spirits nodded grave greetings to Jellal, who nodded back with a tight smile. As the portal opened onto green, rolling fields under a sapphire sky, Jellal took a deep breath of the refreshingly sweet breeze that swept over all of them and stepped through the doorway, carrying his infant daughter to her bright and unclouded destiny. Just before the mage and child stepped from harsh ruins to soft grass, Leo put a gentle hand on his friend and ally's shoulder. "We'll keep the portal open for as long as we can. We'll wait as long as possible for your return."
Jellal smiled sadly again as he put a foot through the shimmering doorway, the barrier almost seeming to be made of liquid. He turned to the leader of the Zodiac and gave him his final words. "I won't be coming back- alive." Then he disappeared into the ancient past.
Jellal opened his eyes to an idyllic scene. Green fields of waving grass were loosely surrounded by small copses of trees, the leaves of which were swaying softly in the gentle breeze. An enormous white dragon with eyes like sapphires was curled up lazily on a small hill, resting a foreleg as thick as a tree trunk on a protruding boulder that was half-buried in the ground. She looked over as Jellal stumbled forward, bowing as low as his injuries would allow in respect for the mighty beast. The dragon nodded calmly, sensing that the child in his arms was bound for a grand destiny that would someday save them all. Slowly but deliberately, she cautiously snaked her head forward to the bundle in the young father's arms, trying not to alarm the fatally wounded mage as he struggled with his life-changing decision.
Wordlessly and with tears in his eyes, Jellal held out his arms with his daughter to the gigantic dragon, asking her nonverbally to take the child under her wing, figuratively and literally. Grandeeney nodded in acceptance and Jellal smiled gratefully, tears now coursing freely down his ash-coated face.
Running a gentle hand over his child's azure locks for the last time, Jellal knelt before the babe and kissed her forehead, whispering her name so her new 'surrogate mother' could hear it before falling to his hands, then collapsing onto his side, his life energy utterly spent as he breathed his last breaths.
"Wendy… Marvell."
Hundreds of years later, in the year X791, the young Dragonslayer bolted awake with a gasp, disentangling herself from her bedsheets without much success at first. At her side, Carla also awoke from sleep with a blink of her large brown eyes. "Why, whatever is the matter, child?" The Exceed asked in concern.
"Oh, sorry Carla." Wendy apologized quickly for waking her closest friend. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I just had a dragon-sized nightmare, and the strange thing is- I think I've had this dream before. Once. When I was really little. Before I even met Mystogan." The Sky Maiden revealed, and Carla's eyes widened even more to show her surprise.
"Recurring dreams are quite rare, except for those born with the gift of prophecy." The Exceed observed quietly. "Your vision that you claim to have seen before could mean one of two things: Either your conscience is trying to tell you something important, or your subconscious is not very creative." The white cat teased with a gentle smirk, causing her Dragonslayer to giggle. "Carla!" She laughed.
"My apologies, child." Carla smiled. "I could not resist. Things have been so tense lately. I merely wished to lighten the mood. Please forgive my teasing. Now in all seriousness, tell me about this nightmare of yours." The feline encouraged, placing both tiny paws on her partner's knee.
"Well-" Wendy began, then she launched into her tale. Surprisingly, she could recall every last detail of the dream with startling clarity, as if she'd physically witnessed the events herself.
...
"It's strange, but I think I remember Grandeeney telling me something like this when I once asked her about my father." Wendy breathed after her story, looking down at Carla for her ever-insightful input. However, the Exceed was speechless, struck silent by the monumental revelation that her charge had described. How was that even possible? The multiple paradoxes alone that could be caused by her tale were too confusing to even begin to sort out.
Suddenly the young snowette Exceed gasped, eyes losing their focus as her mind was invaded by a massive vision. However, this prophecy did not foretell the future, but instead unveiled Wendy's mysterious past and proved her nightmare to be more like a memory. Though the question of whose memory it had been still remained unanswered. As quickly as it had come, the reverse prophecy ended, and the feline and her Dragonslayer partner unanimously decided to sort it out with the rest of their team in the Fairy Tail Guild Hall.
Later that day, Wendy was seated at a table with Team Natsu- sans Erza and her new fiancé Jellal, who were out on a job. However, they were due to return home any time now.
Suddenly the couple in question burst through the giant oak doors with flustered, awestruck faces. Spotting Wendy sitting with the rest of their team and friends, both wizards made a beeline for their team's table, both sitting on either side of a confused Sky Dragonslayer. Jellal put a gentle arm around the shoulders of the child who had saved his life many times over.
"Wendy, something strange happened to us last night, and we were wondering if you experienced it as well." Titania breathed in wonder.
"Both of us had the exact same dream. A dystopian future ravaged by dragons, and Lucy, Levy, Erza and myself were the only surviving members of Fairy Tail." Jellal echoed in the same soft tone as his fiancée. At his words, both of the boys at the table, Gray and Natsu, looked up from their lunches in interest.
Wendy's chocolate-brown eyes widened as big as saucers. "If you guys had the same dream we both did this morning, then it must be true!" She gasped softly, trying to keep her voice low so as not to spoil the surprise just yet to the rest of the Guild. "When I was really little, I asked Grandeeney what happened to my father, because I'd seen a few families walking in town with a mother, father, and their child. I needed to know what happened to mine. She showed me her memory of when I'd come to her, when my father brought me to her to raise and train as a Dragonslayer." Wendy breathed in awe. "He was mortally wounded, but there's no way I could ever forget what he looked like. I knew I'd felt a connection with Mystogan when we first met, and it wasn't just because of his kindness. He reminded me of my father. He reminded me of you." She beamed tearfully, tackling the teenage version of her alternate future sire around the waist- smiling wider when he returned the embrace by wrapping both his strong arms around her shoulders.
Natsu was gaping at the powerful family with his jaw on the table, a flaming torch blazing forgotten in his fist- and Lucy was speechless as well, but Gray smiled, having guessed a while ago that something was going on between three of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail. "I can see it. The connection. Back when we saved Edolas from the terror of the tyrant Faust and put Mystogan on the throne, and Wendy was wearing her hair in those cute pigtails, her hairstyle reminded me a lot of how Erza looks in her 'Flame Empress' armor. She's got her mother's long straight hair, but the same color as her father- maybe just a few shades darker. Not to mention her mother's beautiful chocolate-brown eyes."
Erza and Jellal both blushed at the praise, and their newly-discovered daughter turned pink as well. But then the Heavenly Body mage did something unexpected. "That's one more reason that you will always belong in Fairy Tail, Wendy." Jellal beamed proudly, gracing his newfound daughter from an alternate future with a fatherly smile. "We're your family. And that's never going to change."
End of Chapter 8
God Bless!
Tsunami Storm