Gosh, this took forever to write up. But finally, it's here! Hope you guys enjoy it.
"It… It can't be. This is impossible!" Jellal spoke under his breath, still not willing to believe what was right in front of him was the celestial spirit mage. He knew Lucy was currently still working off her injury during her battle with Minerva, yet here she was looking somewhat okay. But something felt off about her. She looked distressed, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as she looked like she was about to burst out into tears at any given moment.
"Lu—" he starts yet stops himself in the midst of saying her name, unsure of calling her that. "May I ask of your name?"
The blonde nods, "Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia."
The heavenly body mage blinked, she definitely looked like Lucy, exactly like her. Almost like she had been cloned. But if this was Lucy she wouldn't have ran away from him, would she?
They were apart of the same guild, kind of.
With him posing as Mystogan, his Edolas counterpart and Fairy Tail mage, Jellal convinced Makarov to let him participate as he wanted to get closer to Crocus to investigate the strange power surrounding the Grand Magic Games. He had spent the past day tracking this dark power throughout the Domus Flau he sensed and it had lead him to now, standing in front of a woman who looked identical to Lucy Heartfilia.
"Out of all the familiar faces I've seen, I'm glad to run into you, Jellal." the blonde smiled solemnly. The escaped convict inhaled a sharp breath, his eyes wide with disbelief. He hadn't even told her his name, yet she already knew of him. "If you don't mind, can I ask for your assistance?" her voice was quiet, if not exhausted with a hint of raspiness. A stark contrast to the Lucy he knew of.
"You're quite different from the Lucy I know, who are you and how come you look exactly like her?"
A small smiled tugged at the corners of Lucy's lips. Always the smart one for questioning ones motives further before he does anything rash, that's Jellal. She understood his hesitation, and if she wanted his assistance then the most she owed was an explanation. "I am Lucy Heartfilia, but from a different time line to this one. I am from the future, seven years from the present to be precise."
"The future?" Jellal's brows furrowed in confusion, "You came here from the future… But how?"
"The Eclipse Gate. During a solar or lunar eclipse it allows the user to travel back in time, but it takes the twelve zodiac keys to open and close it. In my time, the gate was never closed, as two of the keys went missing. It wasn't my intention to ever use the gate but this was my only option, we waited until the lunar eclipse to use the gate."
"We? You travelled with a companion?"
"Yes, his name is Ryō. He's only a child, he's gone missing. He ran away not long before you found me. I need to find him, it's urgent. He can't be out here alone…not with—" Lucy paused, taking a deep breath to calm herself from going hysterical.
"Not with what?" Jellal questions, eyebrows raising in curiosity.
Lucy knew it was only a matter of time before he tracked her scent and he'd come looking for her, stop her plan and end her life for good after taking his son away from him. He could already be here as it is. But she didn't know, and it terrified her that Ryō was a walking target all alone.
"This boy you speak of, Ryō. Is he your son?" Lucy shook her head. "I see…" Jellal mumbled, trying to process what she had told him. So this Lucy was from seven years in the future, used the Eclipse gate to travel back in time to X791 with a boy who wasn't hers, said child was currently missing and she feared for him being alone for some reason she didn't say.
To think tracking that dark power he sensed would lead him to this…
This whole situation felt deeply overwhelming and Jellal felt like he had stumbled upon something what ran deeper than what she was letting on. There were things that this Lucy wasn't telling him. If she wanted his assistance, then she had better start talking. Granted this was someone he knew, albeit the person was from the future, but a familiar person no less. Plus her look of constant distress put him on edge, like she was waiting for something. A threat? Maybe whatever was apparently after the boy?
"You said using the gate was your only option, why are you here? Why did you travel back to this time?" Jellal asked.
Lucy let out a shaky breath, her hand gripping onto the fabric of her cloak. "In my present the world ceases to exist, the whole of Ishgar destroyed. A war hit Fiore, I wouldn't say we succeeded in protecting our country but we scraped by. Then came the attack of the dragons on all the countries, that killed off the majority of our population. Only a small percentage of the human race remains, trying to make some sort of life or gather what life they have left. Ryō—" she paused, swallowing down the lump what had formed in her throat. "His parents… His mother died during a fight with his father. Ryō saw… He watched him take his mothers life."
"Is he the reason why the boy can't be left alone?" Jellal received a simple nod from Lucy, who was rubbing at her cheeks, wiping away the tears what had started falling. "Is he a threat to the child?" the mage inquired further.
Lucy bit into her bottom lip, eyes casting downwards. "I don't believe he would ever cause harm to his son…" Then again, this is Rogue, she thought. He had become extremely unpredictable with his actions. "But I know that he wants him back for his own selfish purposes. I made a promise to his mother before she passed that I would protect Ryō from him. For such a young age Ryō possesses a surprisingly vast amount of magic power, I have no doubts that his father would exploit it for his own personal gain."
The heavenly body mage frowned, his gaze shifting to the floor as he mulled over what she had told him. His gaze shot up as he heard Lucy let out a small laugh, it was weak and empty of humour.
"He never used to be like this, Ryō's father that is. He was a man that used to be one of the happiest people I knew. It's amazing how one thing can trigger a domino effect and bring someone into complete darkness." Lucy smiled grimly, sniffling looking back at Jellal. "The reason I'm here… I'm here to change the future. For Ryō, for a better chance of life. Not just for him, but for everyone. If I don't this present is going to go down the same route as my present and the way to do so is to destroy the Eclipse Gate." she added.
"Destroy it? But didn't you use the gate yourself?"
"Yes, but there is no other choice. It has to be destroyed. He used it once, to bring the dragons back and I have no doubts that he'd use it again if he could. The gate has to be destroyed so Ryō's father cannot use it."
"Understood." Jellal nods. "I'll think of something, I'm not sure what… But I will help you."
Lucy's eyes widen, instantly filling up with more tears what were on the verge of falling, "You will?" Jellal nodded only to be engulfed by the blonde throwing herself into his arms, one hand gripping into the fabric of his cloak. "Thank you… Thank you so much!" she sobbed.
Jellal hesitantly placed his hand on her back comfortingly, patting her gently. He noted this Lucy was deeply hysterical, over-emotional yet it was to be understood, especially with what she had told him of her present time. This was a woman who had possibly lost everything and everyone she ever had and was holding on for the sake of this child, Ryō. It was understandable why she wanted to change her past, and he was willing to help her.
After a few minutes the blonde eventually calmed down to some extent, pulling away from Jellal's hold. "I'm sorry." she mumbled, wiping away at her cheeks. Lucy felt embarrassed for throwing herself at him like that, yet she felt overwhelmed that he had agreed to help her on her mission.
"It's fine." Jellal shot her a small smile in reassurance. "Ryō, his parents… May I ask who they are?" he asked yet his question seemed to fall on deaf ears as he noticed the blonde shifting her weight from one foot to the other, sandals scuffing the pavement as she looked around helplessly. He heard her mumbled something about a dragon slayer. So his father was a dragon slayer? That narrows it down to the six dragon slayers he knew of. If he knew some description of the child he could possibly narrow it down further to maybe one or two people. "And his mother?" the heavenly body mage asked.
Lucy frowned. "I need to see her." she mumbled before turning to walk away only to stop. She had no clue on where she was going, or where to find her. Brown eyes met as Lucy glanced back at Jellal, "Do you know of Kagura Mikazuchi?"
The blue haired man nodded, "Yes, she belongs to Mermaid Heel, I believe."
"Do you know where I can find her?"
"Sorry, but no." Jellal replied causing the blondes shoulders to slump. "Why do you ask?" he questioned.
"Because Kagura is Ryō's mother."
He actually didn't mean to follow them down here, in fact, Ryō had been trailing his father's scent but his path crossed with Natsu and the trail was thrown off. Also with the presence of Gajeel and Wendy it truly did overpower the scent of his father's, too many dragon slayers in one place. So here he was, hiding behind a rock watching the group as they talked amongst themselves, in a graveyard no less.
He had seen Wendy contact the spirit of the dead dragon, how they had told the story of the dragons and then he heard the title.
Dragon King.
Ryō's eyes cast downwards as he heard the dragon say that, the name bringing up nothing but unpleasant memories for the young boy. It was his father's new title apparently, according to that weird looking man with the wheel on his back. Lucy had told him not to trust that man if he ever had to converse with him, either that or run away.
His dad's new friends weren't all that nice, not as nice as his old ones.
They never gave him piggy backs like uncle Sting used to, or teach him cool new things like Laxus and uncle Gajeel used to. They never once gave him cake, not like aunt Erza did. Not one of them ever bought him a fish — although it wasn't wanted, Ryō wasn't all too fond of fish — or drew whiskers on him like Millianna used to, and none of them could hold a candle to the kindness of aunt Wendy, she was practically a saint.
As Natsu had told him his father's new friends were douches, to put it lightly in a child friendly manner.
"Acnologia, the one who attack Tenrou… He was once human?" Wendy spoke, trying to understand all that Zirconis had told them.
"According to him, yeah." Gray sighed, "It's crazy to think that he had a human form, heck it's crazy that a human could even turn into a dragon."
Silence fell upon the group as they took in the news of the dragon civil war, even Ryō tried to make sense of it all. Someone, a human could turn into a dragon if they bathed in enough blood from dragons? Is this what his father's goal is? To become one of them? His quest for power had become more of a priority than looking after his own family. Am I not good enough? Does he even care?
"All of this is giving me a headache." Lucy whined, rubbing her temples with her fingertips.
Gajeel scoffed, "Too much of an overload, eh blondie?" he mocked, a smirk tugging at his lips.
"Hey! Don't be so—"
"Stop." Natsu's voice echoed throughout the cave, hand raised in a means to quieten the bickering pair down. He inhaled slowly, eyes shifting around the underground. "Do you guys smell that?" he questioned.
"Unlike you, I don't have the nose of a dog." Gray stated dryly, earning glares from the three dragon slayers.
"Shut up, frosty!" Natsu growled. "But guys," he glanced at Gajeel and Wendy, who both stared back at him. "Do you smell that?" The two nodded in reply, all three of them looking around the cave cautiously. They weren't alone, someone else was here. Whoever it was they smelt familiar. The fire dragon slayer inhaled again, hoping to get a better idea of who it was. He had come across the smell before, quite recently actually. It smelt like Rogue, but not him at the same time.
Ryō's eyes widened. They knew he was here. He glanced around, looking for an escape route only to hear footsteps approaching to where he was hiding. He needed to out of here, fast. He knew he should have just not followed Natsu's scent, heck he shouldn't have ran off from Lucy to begin with. She had told him time and time again never to leave her side, especially in this present time. But his curiosity got the best of him, he had originally wanted to find his dad but then he could feel the presence of the other three dragon slayers, his feet decided to carry him there. And now it seemed he had overstayed his welcome, as they had detected him being there.
Noting a small hole in the wall, he started crawling only to be hoisted up by his collar.
"Gotcha!" Gajeel smirked, yet also glaring at the child at the same time in only a way Gajeel could. God, he is so intimidating. Ryō's instincts kicked in, legs and arms swinging as he tried to get the dragon slayer to drop him so he can escape. "Stop squirming, ya little runt." The dragon slayer growled, clutching his stomach with his free hand after being kicked there.
"A kid?!" The group exclaimed in unison.
"Put me down!"
Gajeel did, dropping they young boy unceremoniously on the ground with a thud.
"You could have just placed him down." the celestial spirit mage sighs.
"Whatever."
"Don't whatever me, you could've hurt him!" Lucy snapped, stepping closer towards the boy. The blonde crouched down as she checked him over. Gajeel simply grumbled something under his breath before returning to Natsu and Wendy about their previous topic of conversation. "I'm sorry about him, he doesn't know how to interact with people." she smiled. Ryō's blinked, taking in the blondes appearance. So this is Lu, but a younger version.
"It's okay." Ryō mumbled, eyes casting towards the ground.
Lucy tilts her head, brown eyes taking in the boys appearance. He had the blackest hair she had ever seen, which hung around his face, a small tuft of it covering the right part of his face. The same tuft obstructed his right eye. The boy had the brightest red eyes, like smelted down rubies. His cheeks were somewhat chubby, causing her to assume he could be no older than eight years old, possibly younger. "So, what's your name?" she asked.
"Ryō."
Lucy's eyes lighten up, a smile spreading on her lips. "That's a lovely name, Ryō. Isn't that right, Gray?" she glanced back at the dark haired man.
Gray stepped forward, crouching down besides the blonde. "Yeah, that's a pretty cool name." he smiled. Lucy inwardly groaned. Cool? Ice jokes? Gray, you're such an idiot. "So what are you doing down here?" the ice mage asked.
The young boy was about to reply, yet he was interrupted by Natsu shouting. "No way, I'd be the cooler dragon!" the salmon haired man exclaimed.
"As if! If you were a dragon, you'd probably be pink." Gajeel scoffed.
"What's wrong with that?!" the dragon slayer growled, butting heads with the once Phantom Lord mage.
"You'd look stupid."
"Why you—!" Natsu tackled the man to the ground, the two scrapping.
"Go Natsu!" Happy cheered.
"Uh, guys…" Wendy spoke, yet her voice was overpowered by the two men bickering and throwing fists.
"Can you two shut up!" Lucy growled, shooting the dragon slayers a glare before her gaze turned back towards the young boy. "Anyway," she paused, her smile returning. "What are you doing down here all alone?"
"Yeah, you lost or something, kid? Where are your parents?" Gray added, also curious as to why the young boy was on his own.
Ryō's eyes narrowed as he fiddled with the high collar of his shirt, fixing the bow rumpled fabric after Gajeel had grabbed him. He knew uncle was rough, but this was pushing it. His father was right about how time had mellowed him out, for the better it had seemed. The young boy let out a small sigh before glancing back at the two Fairy Tail mages, "I'm looking for them."
"So you are lost?"
Well, technically he was lost. But he hadn't ran off from his parents, more like his guardian. He was looking for his parents who had no idea that he existed, but instead ran into a group what was like extended family to him. Ryō didn't really know how to say that to the past version of his guardian, so he just nodded in reply.
"We can help you find them! Right, Gray?" Lucy shot the boy a smile before glancing back at the ice mage for confirmation.
"Right. Don't worry, we'll find them for you." he nodded, placing a hand on top of the boys head to muss up his hair. The kid didn't seem to like it, pouting as he fixed his hair back into place as an amused expression lit up Gray's face. "Can you tell us what they look like? We can find them easier if we know what they look like."
Ryō glanced between the two, torn between accepting their help or straight bolting it out of the underground cave as fast as he could. He should have just stayed by Lu's side. But part of him felt like he could trust them, especially the blonde. She was his Lu, albeit a younger version but it was still Lu. He was told by his mother that he could trust her with his life, that she would never turn him away in a time of need, whether it was small or big.
Could he do this with her?
His hand slowly reached into the pocket on his shorts, fingers slowly pulling out the folded up photograph. He apprehensively handed the well worn paper over to Lucy who unfolded it, her eyes going wide at who was in the photo.
To anyone else who didn't know any better it would have just seemed like a happy couple smiling as they held their child, but that wasn't the problem.
What was the problems is that Rogue Cheney and Kagura Mikazuchi were the ones in the photo, presumably holding a young Ryō in their arms.
"Isn't that…" Gray starts, brows furrowing as he studied the photograph. This had to be some form of joke, right? But the kid was right in front of their eyes so how could it be a simple prank? He glanced at Lucy whose mouth was agape, yet no words were being formed.
The celestial spirit mage shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. They had literally just saw the Mermaid Heel mage less than half hour ago, and now they had stumbled across their son? But she was no older than twenty five herself, how? Unless she had him when she was still in her teens but then that wouldn't make sense, as she believed Rogue was around the same age as Natsu and Gajeel.
"They are your parents?" Lucy questioned, gesturing to the photo he had handed to her. Ryō nodded leaving the blonde to further try and understand how any of this was relatively possible. Her eyes glanced back and forth between Rogue in the photo and the boy in front of her, trying to find something to lead her to believe it was a lie.
Yet the more she looked, the more uncanny the resemblance was. Dark hair which was similar in style, the same bright red eyes, heck it was almost like he was a carbon copy of the dragon slayer. Lucy looked at Gray who looked just as perplexed as she was.
The ice-make mage for once in his life felt speechless. He had been involved with some weird situations in his lifetime — especially with being on Team Natsu, but this took first place on that list. "Hey guys, come here a moment." he called out to the three dragon slayers and their exceeds.
"What's up?" Natsu asked, his dark haired friend saying nothing. Instead Gray handed him the photograph, Wendy and Gajeel peering over to also take a look.
"Why couldn't you have just spoke instead— oh my…" Carla's words died out as her eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible." she whispered.
The sky dragon slayer squeaked, eyes going wide as she noted who was in the photo. "Isn't that—"
"Rogue and Kagura? Yeah. They're Ryō's parents." Gray nodded in confirmation.
"That's a load of bullsh—"
"No swearing in front of him!" Lucy shouted at Gajeel, shooting him a glare. The two eventually got into an argument with one another.
Natsu looked back and forth between the photo and Ryō. From what Gray had told him, it seemed believable that the two mages were his parents, especially Rogue.
Ryō stared back at the dragon slayer, hands fiddling with the end of his shirt. He didn't know if they were going to believe him or not, and judging by Gajeel's reaction they probably wouldn't. He knew he should have just ran away, this was a bad idea.
"So Rogue and Kagura are you're parents, huh?" Natsu spoke after a brief silence between them all, apart from Lucy and Gajeel who were still arguing off to the side. "How did you get—"
"Humans turning into dragons? I doubt that would happen in this day and age." a voice laughed, echoing throughout the underground, footsteps approaching closer. "And besides, I believe it was the dark wizard Zeref who turned Acnologia into a dragon."
Ryō shot up to his feet, running behind Lucy to hide himself away from their new visitor. The blonde blinked in shock, staring at Gajeel in disbelief. He himself looked confused by the kids actions. They had only just met him and he had already taken a shine to Lucy? Huh, weird.
"Who's there?"
Two people walked into their sight, their eyes widening as they recognised the one person.
"Yukino?!"
The ex-Sabertooth mage shot them a small smile, "It's nice to see you all again."
"Same, but who's this guy?" Natsu asked, gesturing to the armoured man standing beside her.
"I am Arcaidos. Chief of the Holy Knight squadron and this is my Sargent, Yukino Agria." the man introduced. "I'm glad we ran into you down here, especially you Lucy Heartfilia."
Lucy was taken aback, her eyes widening slightly. "Me? Why?" she asked.
"Because you're needed for the plan."
Gray's eyes narrowed as he shifted his glance between Arcaidos and Yukino, "Plan? What plan?"
The chief smiled slightly at the mages suspicious glare, "Come, follow us. I'll explain as I take you to the gate."
The group of Fairy Tail wizards looked at one another, questioning if it was safe to follow him.
"You'll be okay. Nothing will harm you." Yukino reassured them after noticing they weren't trailing behind them. Eventually they followed behind the two, listening intently as Arcaidos explained his 'plan'.
Lucy was carrying Ryō, the boys face buried in her hair as she gave him a piggyback. She didn't understand why, but the boy seemed like he had grown attached to her awfully quick. Lucy just assumed it was because she didn't hold him up by his collar and dangle him in the air, and actually spoke to him like a normal human being. She glanced over her shoulder to look at him, his face buried in her hair. "It's okay, I won't let anything hurt you." she whispered to him, shooting him a warm smile.
"Thank you, Lu." he mumbled, eyes closing shut as he focused on calming down his beating heart.
The blonde blinked. Did he just call her Lu? From what she recalled she didn't remember stating her name to him. Unless he had overheard one of her friends call it her, she didn't know. Well, that's kinda strange.
"So are you going to tell us this so called plan, or not?" Gajeel grunted, hands shoved in his pockets as he trudged behind the two guards.
"Right, of course." Arcaidos nodded. "I doubt none of you will know this, but the Grand Magic Games wasn't just set up to see who the best guild in Fiore is."
"Oh yeah, then what is it for?" Gray asked.
"To gather magic energy." he glanced back, to see a look of confusion on the faces of the Fairy Tail wizards. "A gate stores magic energy, if you were to use a spell right now it wouldn't work. The gate would simply sap away at your magic, storing it." he explained as he lead them through a tunnel which lead straight to Mercuris.
Wendy blinked, surprised. "How long has this plan been going on for?"
"Several years, but this year we finally have enough energy to use the gate. And then our plan will come to fruition."
"And the plan is?"
"The plan is to travel back in time and stop Zeref, and then in turn stop Acnologia."
Natsu's brows furrowed, "Travel back in time? But how?" He didn't believe time travel even existed, maybe in those sci-fi books and movie lacrimas, yeah. But in real life? It sounded impossible.
Arcaidos chuckled, "Oh, but it is." He halted his steps, gesturing in front of him. He heard them gasp at the sight before them. "This gate will make it possible." he nodded, confident that his plan would follow through and succeed.
They all looked in awe at the huge, elaborate doors in front of them. "This is the Eclipse Gate." Yukino announced, standing besides Lucy. The blonde felt Ryō's arms stiffen at the name, her mind leading her to believe the boy knows something about this.
"The gate needs all twelve Zodiac keys to unlock, hence why we need your assistance in—" The white haired woman glanced at Lucy only for her words to die out as she caught a glance at the boy nestled on the back of the blonde. Rogue? Yukino blinked in disbelief, feeling as if her eyes were betraying her. "What—"
"Arcaidos!" a voice echoed.
Within a blink of an eye the group were surrounded by the royal guards. All of the Fairy Tail mages were on high alert, stances ready if a fight happened to break out. Lucy had placed Ryō down, him still hiding behind her, peeking out as he glanced at the soldiers.
"Darton?" the Chief of the Knight squad's eyes widened in surprise. "What are—"
"You fool! How could you expose our plan to these people, how careless can you be?!" the Minister of Defence exclaimed, fuming. Arcaidos attempted to speak however he was cut off by Darton's voice overpowering him. "I don't want to hear your lame excuses, you have committed treason. Guards, arrest them!" He pointed to Arcaidos and Yukino, before he eyes drifted to Lucy. "And arrest her too!"
"What?!" Lucy yelled, confused as to why she was being dragged into this. Guards soon apprehended her as others escorted the Arcaidos and Yukino away. Natsu tried to push his way through, yet was being held back.
"Lucy!" the fire dragon slayer exclaimed, fist encased in fire ready to lunge off some fire balls at the guards, only to die out at seeing the young boy chasing after her. He weaved through the guards blocking their way with ease.
"Shadow dragon roar!" Ryō shouted, poised and ready as he launched at the guards. But it never came; the huge burst of shadows evaporated into thin air. He suddenly felt weak, his body going limp as he felt himself slowly crashing to the floor as his eyes drifted shut.
"Ryō!" Lucy's eyes widened as she watched the young boy slowly collapse before being pulled away from the group.
Gray managed to free himself from the grasp of the guards, jumping out to catch the boy from falling to the ground. He let out a puff of breath, glad that he had caught Ryō in time only for his relieved expression to turn into shock. The kid had just fired off a roar, and by the looks of it a mighty powerful one at that. If there was any doubts that he was the son of Sabertooth's shadow dragon slayer, they were soon gone.
Darton scowled, frustrated that the mages weren't cooperating. Especially that child, then again what did he expect from the Fairy Tail guild? "Leave, at once! Don't ever speak about this to anyone, or there will be dire consequences." he spoke lowly, glowering at the young group of wizards.
"But Lucy!" Happy cried.
"Yeah, where are you taking her? Give us our friend back!" Natsu growled, Gajeel having to hold him back from pummelling the old man.
A smirk tugged at the corners of the Ministers lips, "I suggest if you want to see her again, returned and unharmed then you better win the Games."
This time it was Gajeel who had to be held back by Natsu, "Is that a threat?" the dragon slayer asked, his voice dangerously low to the point where they knew they had to keep his restrained. Either that or Darton was about to be impaled on a metal pole. That wouldn't be good for Fairy Tail's reputation, that and Makarov would either completely ghost or murder them.
"Take it as you will." he scoffed before departing, returning back inside the castle after having the mages escorted out.
Gajeel pushed Natsu off him, storming off with Lily in tow.
Gray adjusted Ryō in his arms, glancing down at the boy. His eyes were drifting open and shut repeatedly, almost like he was tired.
"Well, what do we do now?" Happy asked as he looked at Natsu, voice unusually quiet.
Natsu shrugged before glancing at Gray for an idea. "I think it's best if we go back to the hotel, get this kid some rest and tell gramps."
I was kind of on the fence about this chapter at first, but I don't know. I guess I'll see how you guys react to it.
Also, just to clarify this for WaterNinja1092 and any one else who is wondering 'So what happens after Ryō meets his parents? What about the GMG? What about the Dragon arc?' don't worry, I've got this all near enough planned out. No, Future!Rogue isn't just flipping out because of the death just his cat (like yeah I understand, Frosch was his best friend but really, you gonna start a war over that? Boi. He about to catch these hands.) I have Future!Rogue's backstory all planned out. If you guys noticed I did drop some hints in this chapter about Future!Rogue's past. Not going to lie I'm impressed with myself at coming up with it —shoutout to myself! But I had to give the dude some more depth.