I'm trying to experiment with character development. Enjoy :3

Chapter 6

Accept This Pain, Or Break

The king's eyes fluttered as recent memories rushed back into his mind. He sat up and stretched his limbs. He felt like he hadn't slept so peacefully in a long time. Then the most recent shocking memory caught up with him.

'That's right… The prince of Alvarez was in his kingdom. It must've been a dream…'

He could have screamed in confusion again, he knew there was no way that was a dream. However, his heart was stopping him from physically expressing his emotional distress. It was beating fast… too fast. Perhaps the strain from running for his life in that abyss has finally caught up to him.

There was suddenly a brief, loud noise. It sounded like a beast's war cry.

The king could not help but feel that his daughter was in grave danger.

He reached into the inside of his shirt and pulled out a pendant of the same color of the Eclipse Gate.

"Hisui…"

~Fiore | Capital ~~~

Another dragon had emerged from the Eclipse Gate. Acnologia seemed too focused on Natsu to even feel like ending the life of the dragon that stood behind him.

Laxus, with Mira's support, would fend off the dragon while Natsu and Acnologia prepared to fight.

The air between them was heating up,and it wasn't just because of Natsu.

Acnologia seemed amused, first at the realization that he was standing in a different time period, second at the dragonslayer that stood before him. The pink haired man wasn't like the countless dragons or dragonslayers he killed before. The future dragon of apocalypse resisted the urge to charge forward. He would first wait and see what this future would throw at him.

Meanwhile, Natsu was a bit hesitant. While it was in his nature to dive into any fight without thinking, he couldn't overlook the people around him. There was Laxus: a dragonslayer that couldn't quite kill a dragon, Mira: a mage probably not able to pierce dragon scales, Lucy: some traumatized celestial mage, and Hisui: a non-combatant who can use low level celestial magic. They were not his subjects, but they were still living beings. He'd feel horrible if the day he stepped into another country was the day dragons came out of nowhere and attacked killed the people of said country.

To avoid any unnecessary damage to the area and the people in it, the fire dragon slayer kept his eyes steady on the rather silent Acnologia in front of him. Prepared for anything that would be thrown at him.

So a standoff started between the two… a standoff that would end when one of the two got impatient and started the fight.

~Fiore | Capital ~~~

Hisui kept pointing the golden keys at the gate in different ways, wondering if she had to hold them in some position to get them to work. Although she was intelligent enough to know that that was not how the celestial spirit keys worked. She was just too low on magical energy and she didn't even hold a contract with any of the keys. She soon got desperate, hoping that some weird pose or dance would please the Eclipse Gate to open.

"Miss Celestial Wizard, I'd appreciate it if you help me out here…"

The blonde sniffled, but didn't give a verbal response.

The jade princess sighed, and then she snapped. "Look, if you're not going to do anything but sit and cry on my front lawn all day, then just leave! You're being a hindrance and a sight for sore eyes! You made the point of your comrade bringing you here completely useless. Plus, you're making my lawn drown!"

Hisui had full intention in hurting this girl's feelings. She wasn't normally a mean person, but Hisui couldn't give the girl a sense of comfort. Feeling comfortable in an atmosphere with dangerous killer dragons everywhere was impossible. Hisui could only give her pain. It sounded counterproductive and sadistic, but if the blonde could accept the pain from these petty insults, then she would grow (even a little bit) and get one step closer to confronting and accepting whatever pain she felt in the past.

Although Hisui believed that it would be impossible to overcome emotional barriers and trauma in one day. It was also possible that these insults would just break the girl more. Hisui closed her eyes. The thought of breaking one of her citizens was gut-wrenching.

'But it's for the greater good'

That was a phrase that justified the sacrifice of one being for the safety of the whole. It was the phrase she grew up with. The phrase she hated.

"Lucy Heartfilia, right?" Hisui racked her brain for information she might have read about relating to that name. Since she used to be a huge fan of Fairy Tail and she could gain more access to information than the normal public, she knew too much information that she regretted knowing. "After running away from her father, Lucy Heartfilia was sold as a slave with other girls by Bora the prominence. Was then captured by Phantom Lord to be returned back to her father for a price. However, Fairy Tail, under their fourth guild master, declared war on Phantom Lord. Then, you were recruited into Fairy Tail and lived your life as a guild member there ever since."

Hisui stopped reciting a biography of Lucy as the blonde started to cry nonstop. Explosions soon covered the field as a fight between Natsu and Acnologia broke out. Not to mention, Laxus and Mira were still trying to battle a dragon.

"I understand you didn't have a great life, but since you're a writer, you should know what the outcome of these events will be if you keep doing nothing," Hisui stopped trying to pour her magical energy in the keys and she piled all the golden keys in one hand. She looked at Lucy and knelt beside her. "The crying girl does nothing as the dragon creeps closer to obliterate her. In the second the dragon swings its mighty claws at the girl, the hero pushes the girl out of the way and gets killed in the process."

Hisui held out the keys in front of Lucy.

"I hope your story isn't like that."

Lucy, with puffy red cheeks and eyes stained red from crying a lot, looked at Hisui. Her face was the embodiment of confusion. The princess had just ridiculed and mocked who she is now and who she was in the past.

'She knows I'm weak.'

'She knows I'm a failure.'

'She probably knows that my celestial spirits rarely respond to my summons now.'

'But she's still wants me to close this gate.'

'...'

'Fairy Tail has shown me this before. I could I have never learned?'

'...'

'Watch me mom'

Rubbing the last of her tears from her face and ripping her body from the mental shackles that binded her, she slowly grabbed the keys. She was slow but not hesitant. She was going to do this. If none of her spirits listened to her, she would make them listen… somehow.

Hisui felt like she just broken a wall the blonde had surrounded herself with. While it's not exactly her job, being somewhat of a celestial wizard who opens doors, she felt like she did her duty. Plus, breaking down walls and opening doors were basically the same thing.

Lucy chanted, trying to open the gates of all the keys. Nothing happened after the first many tries. But one of the keys shined for a brief second. She truly believed she could do this.

Hisui looked on, noticing how the battles surrounding Lucy and her were intensifying. Laxus and Mira were visibly exhausted, while the dragon didn't even have a scratch on it. In the other battle, Acnologia and Natsu were both worn out. It seemed like the gap between their strengths wasn't large. And surprisingly, Natsu seemed to have the upper hand.

Hisui then stared at her hands. They were doing nothing.

Now she was the one doing nothing.

She was completely startled when she heard screaming, and she heard Natsu suddenly roar, "WATCH OUT!"

She turned her head to where the dragonslayer was fighting Acnologia, to see a flash of light form from Acnologia's mouth. Acnologia had just fired his breath attack towards her and Lucy.

Hisui slammed herself against Lucy and fell to the ground to cover some distance to try to get out of the way, but it was no use, the roar attack would still hit them.

"Hisui."

That calm, familiar voice shocked Hisui.

It was her father, and he stepped between her and the roar attack.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Hisui yelled.

Even if he meant to take the brunt of the roar, there was no way such a small, fragile body would lessen the impact. He would die in vain.

"I love you, my daughter," the king said as he held some kind of black pendant in front of him.

Hisui recognized it immediately. That pendant was made from a small chunk of the Eclipse Gate. Since it was separate from the gate, it had the ability to absorb magic power at any time.

That didn't mean that they would be saved from this situation. If it absorbed too much magical energy, then it would explode. Considering how they had used it for most of the duration of their imprisonment in the Abyss Palace to escape the prisoners, that pendant will shatter.

Everything flashed before her eyes. Her sweet memories of her father. And her not so fond memories. She was helpless as Acnologia's attack directly collided with her father. For a few moments, the pendant did well to absorb the magical energy.

But then she heard a crack.

She watched in horror as the shadow of her father disappeared.

And then there was a loud explosion.

~Fiore | Capital ~~~

Natsu was surprised. He was actually pushing back the dragon of Apocalypse with his base magic— even though he was four hundred years weaker...

Acnologia had suddenly collapsed and started to writhe in pain. Natsu took this opportunity to deal a direct hit against his opponent.

Acnologia started to screech in whatever sudden pain he was feeling, when suddenly one black wing had burst out from his back. It was a lone dragon wing attached to Acnologia's back.

Natsu was witnessing Acnologia's dragonification, which, he had to admit, looked pretty cool. But that wouldn't stop him from trying to kill the future dragon of Apocalypse.

"Fire Dragon's Swor—" he suddenly felt Acnologia's wing collide with his stomach, launching Natsu a few meters away and causing him to almost spit out his dinner.

Natsu quickly realized how Acnologia was about to release a roar attack, probably unintentionally since he couldn't stop screaming. Natsu's eyes widened when he realized that Acnologia's roar attack was going to head toward Hisui and Lucy.

"WATCH OUT!" he had screamed at them.

Just a few milliseconds after Acnologia fired his roar, Natsu aimed his own breath attack at the stream of magical energy bursting from Acnologia's mouth to somewhat negate it. The fire dragonslayer was just a smidge too late as part of Acnologia's roar reached the celestial mages.

Not wanting to learn what had become of the celestial mages, Natsu entered dragon force. He lunged towards Acnologia while covering his whole body with flames.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Natsu screamed. Just as another wing sprouted from Acnologia's back, Natsu swiped the newly born wing with his fiery claws which tore claw-like holes through the wing and severely burning it.

Acnologia responded with another scream as he swung his own dragonified claws at Natsu. Natsu jumped back, but his scarf was caught by Acnologia, which forced Natsu to bounce back into close quarters with the dragonifying man.

Acnologia suddenly widened his mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and sunk his fangs into Natsu's shoulder, and his claws dug into his skin. The fire dragonslayer stopped himself from letting out a loud cry but blood seeped through his teeth. With the force of a wrecking ball, he slammed his head down toward where Acnologia was biting him.

A loud crack was heard, and Acnologia let go of Natsu and was seen with a lot of blood dripping from his mouth.

Natsu was pretty sure his skull just cracked, as his vision suddenly blurred and blood started streaming down from his nose. Now heavily disoriented, he saw Acnologia ran toward him.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu yelled as he punched nothing but the air. He would've been easy prey for Acnologia, but Acnologia's knees suddenly buckled.

Natsu's vision recovered as he watched scales of a black shine formed to replace Acnologia's skin. There was no doubt that he was seconds away from turning into a full blown dragon.

Natsu, now really desperate to stop this, kicked Acnologia's writhing body off of the ground. He jumped after Acnologia and grabbed one of his arms.

"Fire Dragon's Grip Strike!" Fire seared everywhere around them. Natsu, with the rest of his energy, crushed Acnologia's arm, even the bones, before blasting his foe at point blank range.

Acnologia's transforming body was launched through the air, towards the still open Eclipse Gate. Exhausted and dazed, Natsu watched as Acnologia's human form exploded into a dragon of jet-black scales and glowing azure marks. Natsu was more focused on the scars he engraved on the dragon. One of its wings was torn, and Acnologia's left arm was limp.

With the form of a large dragon, Acnologia crashed back through the portal of the Eclipse Gate, to his own time period. However, before his body was fully consumed by the gate, Acnologia's extended wings broke through the structure of the Eclipse Gate before leaving. The Eclipse Gate then started to crumble from top to bottom, before completely collapsing.

Natsu laughed to himself. It reminded him of how he used to always destroy Zeref's stuff.

~Fiore | Capital ~~~

"FATHER!"

It had worked, the pendant was able to absorb most of Acnologia's attack before breaking. Hisui and Lucy were hit by the leftovers of the attack, but it was survivable. However, Hisui's father was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps his body was consumed by the attack.

"I'm not ready…" she sobbed. "I can't be Queen yet. I need you! Father…"

Lucy stood up, speechless, and in shock. It was like they had switched places. Now Hisui was the one crying on the ground while Lucy was standing and holding the golden keys.

She fought back tears for the princess. It was her fault this happened in the first place. If she hadn't refused to close the door before Acnologia appeared out of it, this whole scene would've never happened in the first place.

She clutched her keys. "Open… Please…"

Celestial spirits were supposed to listen to their Celestial Wizard. Even if they hated her, they would still come when called. It was their rule. After wondering for why they weren't coming, Lucy had concluded that she was no longer worthy. But even so, she couldn't let go of them.

"OPEN!" she screamed, eyes welling up, and threw all her keys to the air. "JUST HOW LONG DO YOU WANT TO MAKE ME CRY?"

Suddenly, she felt one of her spirits appear before her.

"Plue..?"

It was eating a lollipop.

Then another spirit appeared, and then another. One by one, they all appeared before her.

"Everyone…" Lucy's eyes started to tear up again.

One of them, recognized as Loke (or Leo), spoke up. "Oh my dear Lucy," he grabbed her shoulder with a playboy-like smile. "I would never want to make you cry." His playboy face suddenly morphed into a face much more serious.

"It's just that—"

All the spirits suddenly disappeared, and Lucy snapped back into what was happening in the real world. Just before her eyes, she saw a jet black dragon crash into the Eclipse Gate. Soon after, the Eclipse Gate crumbled down. It was destroyed.

The dragon that was fighting Laxus and Mira was disappearing, and it could be assumed that the other dragons that came from the Eclipse gate were disappearing too. Probably from the time paradox that was created when the Eclipse Gate was destroyed.

She was completely useless.

But even so, she felt good. Not about being useless, but about what had happened between her and her spirits. She wasn't exactly sure what happened though.

She relaxed her shoulders, until she remembered about the princess.

Lucy looked over to Hisui, her green hair covered her eyes.

The princess suddenly stood up and walked past the blonde.

"It's all your fault," the princess muttered under her breath.

Lucy froze, thinking that the princess was speaking to her. But Lucy realized that that wasn't the case.

She was heading toward Laxus who picked up the King's imposter. She stood next to the pumpkin man who was cradled in Laxus' arms.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" the princess madly cried.

The princess aggressively ripped off the mask of the King's imposter.

Laxus and Mira gasped. They knew who this man was.

"Old man..?" Laxus couldn't stop the air from escaping his lungs.

"THIRD GUILD MASTER OF FAIRY TAIL, FOR BRINGING THE DRAGON OF APOCALYPSE TO THIS TIME PERIOD AND BRINGING FORTH THE DEATH OF THE FORMER KING," the princess gulped. Her pupils shrunk and were clouded by revenge. "YOU ARE TO BE SENTENCED TO DEATH!"