A slightly shorter chapter this time. Still, hope you guys enjoy!

The room was silent as the four Fairy Tail wizards stared the boy with watchful eyes as he sat on the bed, staring back at them. It had been two hours since they had arrived back at the inn, since then Ryō had taken a nap and looked more awake than he did earlier.

Gray had told Makarov about Lucy being taken away by the guards and held captive, along with Yukino and Arcaidos. However he left out the part out about finding Ryō, not knowing how to tell their guild master they had found the boy. The ice mage was then briefly dismissed, being told that a plan would be thought of. He assumed that Makarov was going to talk to the first master to help conjure up a plan of action. He returned to Natsu's room, sitting with the three dragon slayers — Gajeel had long returned after storming off earlier — as they waited for the young boy to wake up, talking amongst themselves quietly. Ryō woke up some time later, the lightheaded feeling finally gone after he tried to save Lucy from the guards only for his attack to fail.

"It's scary how much he looks like Rogue." Wendy spoke, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence that was just the four of them staring at a child, no words being said until now. She was honestly surprised that the three men could even be silent, knowing how rowdy they could be.

"I know right."

"I'm still baffled at the fact that Kagura is his mother. Like her and Rogue— yeah." the bluenette cut herself off, face flushing pink as she thought about the two wizards. They had reproduced. It was weird. She didn't believe the two had ever even conversed, at most they knew of one another's existence. Yet somehow they had created a son? Okay.

Gajeel's eyes narrowed, "I don't know… This all too weird. This could just be a prank from Sabertooth to throw us off of our game."

Gray had to resist punching the dragon slayer. Sure, Sabertooth pretty much hated Fairy Tail and the feeling was mutual. Yet he believed that the rival guild wasn't that petty. Beside's where the heck would they find a kid who was a carbon copy of one of their Twin Dragons? "A prank? Gajeel the kid literally shot a burst of shadows out of his mouth and you're telling me that this is a prank?" Gray questioned, an eyebrow raising as he glanced at the dragon slayer.

"Yes."

"But you literally saw Rogue— oh, wait. That's right, you wouldn't know as you went missing halfway through the match." the ice mage smirked, taking liberty in poking fun at Gajeel.

Wendy bit her bottom lip, shifting back as she watched the tension rose between the two men. She had no doubts that Gajeel wouldn't take kindly to that. Gray was about to get his ass kicked. Natsu watched eagerly, eyes darting back and forth between the pair as he tried to repress the laugh which was begging to be released. He had always been curious to see who would win between Gajeel and Gray. He had two hundred jewels on Gajeel. Sorry Gray, not sorry.

"Why you little shit—"

"It's not." Ryō spoke, cutting off the dragon slayer.

"Oh yeah?" Gajeel scoffed, turning his attention to the young boy. "Then if you're real," he stressed the word, smirking when the boy glared at him. "How did you get here?"

"The gate."

Natsu blinked. The gate. What gate was he talking about? Did he mean the gate that Arcaidos had lead them too? "A gate?" he asked.

The raven-haired boy nodded, "I came through it with Lu."

The four wizards glanced at one another at the newfound information. So he hadn't travelled all alone? But if he came with this so called 'Lu', then why was he looking for his parents?

"Ryō… This Lu you speak of, who is she?" Gray asked. Part of him felt he already knew the answer to his own question, but he wanted the kid to validate it. He had taken note of how Ryō instantly latched onto Lucy when Arcaidos and Yukino joined the group in the underground. He at first believed that it was just because she had been so kind towards the boy, but now after he heard the name of who he had been with, his mind wandered. Part of Gray wanted to not believe what he was telling himself, that it might be possible that the Lu Ryō spoke of looked similar to their Lucy, but there was that what if echoing in the back of his mind.

"Lucy. That's Lu's name. She looks like the one who was nice to me."

Carla frowns, "That is impossible, child! Two Lucy's don't simply exist."

"Carla!" Wendy shot her a warning glance, the exceed rolling her eyes before turning her back towards her friend.

Ryō's head lowers at being scorned by the exceed. He never was all too keen on Carla, he preferred his fathers exceed more. Frosch was more friendly. "I'm not from here." he added, voice quiet.

Gajeel snorted in amusement, his laughter echoing throughout the room. "Right, kid. Next you're gonna tell us you're from the future." he cackled, hands braced on his sides. His laughter died down when Natsu asked if he really was from the future, slapping the salmon-haired man on the back of his head. "Don't be so stupid! There is no way the runt could have come from the future."

Once again, an argument broke out between the two. Wendy shifting over towards the ice mage as the two dragon slayers brawled on the floor. She glanced up at Gray, who looked deep in thought.

"Do you think it's possible?" she asked, her eyes shifting back to Ryō. "That he came from the future?"

The ice mage let out a puff of breath, head shaking. He didn't know what to think anymore. "Ryō are you certain Lu looks like Lucy? The one who gave you a piggy back?"

Ryō nodded.

Gray's shoulders sagged, moving to sit in the armchair in the corner of the room. Fingers massaged the temples of his head, eyes closing shut as he took in deep breaths.

All of this was going to send his brain into overload.

So from what they knew, the Lu he spoke of is identical to their Lucy. But how? As Carla had said, two Lucy's couldn't simply exist. Unless… no, it couldn't. His mind drifted back to what Arcaidos had told them as he lead them through the underground tunnels of Mercuris. "The plan is to travel back in time and stop Zeref, and then in turn stop Acnologia." He himself had questioned how exactly that was going to happen, until he was shown the Eclipse gate.

Wait.

Saying that he come from the future, could it be possible that Ryō had come in through the Eclipse gate? If the gate exists in their current time, then it's sure to exist somewhere else, right?

"Ryō you know how you said that you weren't from here," Gray started, gaining the attention of the boy who stared back at him. "Did you come through the Eclipse gate?"

Silence fell amongst the group, Natsu and Gajeel halting mid-punches as they glanced over at Gray. Wendy's head tilted to the side, pondering the ice mage's words, and to her it seemed possible. They had been told that there was a gate used to time travel, so was possible that the gate existed in a different time period? Had Ryō truly come back from the future using the Eclipse gate? And if so, where was this Lu who apparently looked like Lucy?

The young boy shifted on the bed, the silence and several pairs of eyes on him felt uncomfortable. His eyes cast downwards as his hands played with the bed sheets, "Yeah, I did."

Gray sat back in the chair, glancing at Wendy. "I think we should get Rogue and Kagura."

"Why am I locked up? I didn't do anything!" Lucy shouted, yet to no avail her pleas were unheard.

She had been doing this for the last hour, hoping to gain the attention of the guards yet they were ignoring her. The blonde let out a sigh of defeat. She had no way of getting out, they had confiscated her keys so asking Virgo to dig them a hole out of the cell was out of the question. Yukino's keys had also been taken from her, so they were both rendered useless in any attempts to escape.

Lucy glanced at the once Sabertooth mage who sat against the wall, knees pulled up to her chest, eyes staring up at the small barred window. The celestial mage sits on the wall opposite, mirroring her position. "You would have thought with my big mouth they would have told me to shut up." Lucy joked, hoping to lighten the mood, yet got no response from the woman across from her. Instead of trying to further the conversation, Lucy glanced at the moon through the window.

What was Natsu doing right now? Was he thinking of a way to break her out? Had he informed Makarov on what was really going on with the Grand Magic Games? She could only wonder, hoping that Natsu would come and rescue her like always.

Like always.

Lucy had to laugh at how hopeless she was, especially without her keys. Yukino's passive gaze only made her feel even worse, she couldn't do anything to help them out of here. Does she feel as hopeless as me? Without her keys? Lucy felt bare without them, they were her security, her way out. Now they had been taken away she had nothing. Nothing but hope that sooner or later Natsu would be here, most probably tearing the place apart to find her.

"The boy…" Yukino's voice broke the blonde out of her thoughts, her eyes glancing towards the woman opposite. "The boy you were with when we were by the Eclipse gate, before we got arrested… Who is he?" she asked.

The Fairy Tail mage smiled at the thought of the child, at how he seemed so at ease with her. "His name is Ryō, were not too sure who he is either. He found us underground."

"He found you?"

"Mhmm." Lucy didn't know whether if to bring up the fact that the child had told her and Gray that his father was apart of the guild she once belonged to. Then again, how would you even go about saying something like that? Hey, the kid looks awfully a lot like Rogue and we think that he's the boy's father. Talk about untactful.

"Ryō." Yukino spoke his name, "That's a nice name." she mused. "If I recall it can mean several things…"

Lucy nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah. It can be light, goodness—" she rattled off, racking her mind. "Dragon." Wait, I didn't... The blonde blinked, brown eyes widening slightly as she looked at Yukino who stared back at her, her expression unreadable.

"Dragon." Yukino repeated.

Did she already suspect that Rogue was Ryō's supposed father? Maybe she had picked up on the similarities already. Lucy gulped. "Well, yeah… That too." the blonde mumbled, her body shifting slightly under Yukino's gaze.

The white haired woman was silent for a few moments, noting how Lucy looked uncomfortable. "Ryō looked… He looks like Rogue." She noticed the blonde close her eyes, her lips pressing into a thin line. "How?" Yukino questioned.

Lucy slowly opened her eyes to glance back at the newly appointed — and possibly now stripped of the title— Sargent, "When we found him, he told us that he was looking for his parents. He had a photograph with him, and he showed it to me and Gray. His parents… His parents are Rogue and Kagura—"

"Kagura? From Mermaid Heel?"

"Yeah. I know, it doesn't make sense," she spoke, shaking her head. Even she was confused as to how his mother was Kagura Mikazuchi. "I don't know how, but they are. I never got to find out how he got here, or what he's doing here," Lucy sighed, head tilting to rest against the brick wall of the holding cell. "I just hope he's okay." She hated how the last sighting she saw of the young boy was him collapsing into Gray's arms after running after her.

Yukino sat there quiet, trying to piece together the newfound information Lucy had told her. Ryō's parents were Rogue Cheney and Kagura Mikazuchi. But how? Rogue was young, having turned nineteen a few months back and she believed Kagura to be only a few years older. Yet the boy looked to be around seven. There was no way Rogue had fathered a child, especially at his age. All of what Lucy had told her made no sense. Yukino felt nothing but a headache coming along as she tried to somehow piece together an answer.

"I'm sure there is an explanation." Lucy reassured her, as if she knew what Yukino was thinking.

"Right, of course." the ex-Sabertooth mage nodded in agreement. "What do you think they're going to do to us?" she asked after a few minutes of silence between the two of them.

Lucy blinked, shooting the woman a small smile. "I wouldn't worry about that. Natsu is coming up with something, I'm sure of it."

"And the boy?"

"Natsu will also think of what to do about Ryō."

"You think so?" Yukino asked, a shaped brow raising. The blonde seemed to put a lot of stock into believing the dragon slayer would handle it all. She had no other option but to believe in the dragon slayer too, after all, he had been the one to knock down Sabertooth a few pegs. Something what she was thankful for.

"Mhm. We'll be out of here in no time."

Princess Hisoui glanced out the window, eyes overlooking the city she called home. Building lit up, the small echo of noise coming from the streets as people slowly retreated to their homes for the night. It had been another successful day of the Grand Magic Games, meaning another successful day of gathering magic energy. Yet even that couldn't wipe away the frown that was apparent on her face. "Ten thousand dragons, you say?" she repeated, voice wavering.

"Yes." Her guest nodded, shifting his weight on either foot.

The princess turned her head to look at her visitor, "Then why are you here?"

"To warn you, to not let what is about to happen in this time repeat itself. In my time a mere ten percent of the population is alive… Is that what you want for your country?" they questioned.

Hisoui's breath hitched as he mentioned the survival rate. She couldn't let that happen to her country, she had to warn her father on the upcoming attack. "What do we do?" she asked.

Her visitor had to repress a smirk, biting into his bottom lip. He narrowed his visible eye, looking deep in thought. "The Eclipse gate… It exists in this time, right?" Of course, he knew that. But she didn't have to know. Hisoui nodded in reply. Great. This is going perfectly. "It can be used as a weapon. It has been said to rival an etherion blast, that should be enough to wipe out the dragons." he added.

Her eyes widened, "It can?" Her guest nodded his head. She let out a sigh of relief. But would it truly be that powerful to wipe out ten thousand dragons? "Are you sure… That it can destroy all of them?"

Her guest raised a brow in question. "You want to Crocus and the rest of Fiore to survive, don't you?" He watched as her eyes cast downwards to the floor, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. She was doubting herself for even questioning him.

Amazing.

"Right, of course. Sorry." She lifted her head, his smirk now gone. "Thank you for this information, after we have dealt with this situation you will be rewarded greatly." Hisoui spoke, approaching the man and holding her hand out.

"Oh, no need. Saving this country is all I need." he replied, taking her hand in his. He brought it up to place a kiss on the back of her hand. She blushed. He once again had to repress a smirk. This was too easy.

Hisoui briefly dismissed him, asking the guards to escort him out of Mercuris. Once he was alone the cackles of laughter rolled out of him.

The princess was too gullible, and to think that she was next in line to rule Fiore.

He didn't even have to try, she was putty in his hands when he told her about the 'dragons invading the whole of Fiore'. But the easier this was to pull of, the simpler his plan got. Now it was only a matter of waiting patiently, the final day neared. By Friday night his plan would fall into action. Soon the whole of Crocus would be under attack and he would watch as the city burned and crumbled beneath him. He would take his rightful place as the newly crowned Dragon King and take down Acnologia once and for all. Then he could finally see her again. His beloved. He would finally be with her again, reunited and with their son.

He knew that she would appear sooner or later, as his son followed wherever she went. Whatever plan that blonde had was soon going to be destroyed along with her existence. He'd make sure to finish her off himself, both her present and future self. Soon, she would get what she had coming. Going into hiding, taking the one thing he had to remind him of the woman he loved unconditionally.

After all, it's what she deserved after taking his son away.

Yet another chapter I'm unsure about. But I thought I'd update, can't spend forever trying to edit it. Looking forward to writing up the next chapter. Once again, hope you guys enjoyed it.