Happy had finished eating his share of dinner, steamed fish. On the other hand, Natsu's dinner, a bowl of miso soup and Yakiniku, was half finished which was very unlikely of him. Usually he chow down and grab everything he could and put it inside his mouth. But this time he had barely touched his food. Either he didn't like Watanuki's cooking or he is deep in thought and if Lucy was there with him, she would've bet that he didn't like Watanuki's cooking.
"I figured what I wanted to wish." Natsu finally spoke. Yuuko put her glass down and open her seductive red eyes to meet Natsu's brown ones. She leaned forward and smiled. "I want to see Igneel again."
Happy looked at him. He was determined this time. But then again Natsu had been wanting to see Igneel again for years now.
"Aye! I want to see Igneel too. So can I come Natsu?"
"Ofcourse!"
Yuuko smiled and leaned back at her chair. She stared at Natsu for awhile until finally she said: "Igneel, a very powerful mythological creature indeed. A dragon to be exact."
"A dragon? I know that ghosts and spirits are real but dragons? Aren't they just myths?" Watanuki whispered.
"Myths..." Moro whispered.
"Myths..." Maru repeated.
"Apparently the creatures in this dimension are different from ours but even in this dimension, dragons are extremely rare." Yuuko explained. "This Igneel, your foster father, took care of you, taught you magic and then suddenly disappeared."
Natsu was surprised. "How did you-? I didn't even-?"
"I already knew from the moment you gave me your names." Her smile was then replaced by a serious face. "I can't turn back time and bring you to the time when your foster father left you however...I can bring you to the place where he is right now."
"Really?" Natsu excitedly shouted. "I knew Igneel was still around!"
"Aye sir!"
"But are you certain you would want to see him right now boy? There's always a right time for everything. If you wish hasten the process of an encounter, there will be misfortunes and you will not do your foster father proud."
"What better time but now? I am here to have my wish granted right? And that is my wish!" he insisted.
The witch looked at the foolish yet determined boy for awhile. "Very well then. But first, I will need of something in exchange for the wish you want me to grant. A payment in simpler terms."
"Like money? Well Happy and I haven't got that many since there aren't many well paying jobs in the guild yet so..."
"What I want is not money but something of equal value. For everything you desire, you have to pay an equal price in return. You can't get more nor give more. Can't be more or less. Must be in balance. Or else, there'll be mishaps."
"Then what do you want us to give you?"
Yuuko stared at him and he stiffened. He felt like his soul froze for a moment with the way her crimson eyes looked at him. She didn't like what she was about to ask him, but if he truly wishes for that then it will be just the right price. She was about to tell him the price when suddenly:
"Forget about that price! We can pay for it later now can't we? I mean you're some sort of psychic, so tell us, we can pay for it later right?"
Yuuko didn't look pleased but she nodded anyway.
"Alright then! I can't wait to see Igneel again! Let's go." Natsu shouted as he stood up from his chair. Yuuko stood up as well. She looked rather serious now.
"Watanuki!" she called.
"Yes Yuuko-san." he attentively stood up and rushed inside the room.
"Get me the red wooden box from the storage. It has a fire emblem on top of its lid. Mokona can show you where it is."
The young lad quickly ran towards the storage room and Mokona jumped on his shoulder. They went down to the storage room and found themselves inside the stuffy room. Inside were shelves supporting various stuffs. Some looked old, some looked new. Some were big and some were small. Mokona led the young lad, giving him directions to the small red box which they were looking for. They passed through the boxes aisle and in it were boxes of different colors and sizes. There were boxes with different emblems on it; water, wind, thunder, metal…but none of it had a fire emblem on its lid. Then when they reached the end of the shelf, Mokona pointed its paw and Watanuki saw another box, hidden behind the other boxes. He carefully lifted it up and blew the dust covering it, revealing its fire emblem.
"Ah! This is it." Watanuki said with a relief. "Um…so what does this do anyway?" he asked as he felt an immense power coming from inside the box. He was about to open it when…
"Don't open it Watanuki!" Mokona warned. "It'll burn you into crisp if you do."
He gulped and his sweat dropped. Whatever was inside that box, it was pretty dangerous and he himself was holding it.
"Come on scaredy cat. We can't let Yuuko wait too long." Mokona reminded.
Watanuki came back to his sense and nodded in approval to what Mokona said, "Hey! Don't call me scardey cat. I wasn't scared!" he denied.
"Pfft! Yeah sure you weren't."
Watanuki left the storage room and quickly walked back to the room where Yuuko and Natsu were. When he reached the room, he carefully knocked on the sliding door, asking for permission to open it. After granting the permission to enter, he slid the door open and found Yuuko, Natsu and Happy, still on their chairs with the table all cleaned up.
"It looks like Maru and Moro cleaned the table and dishes up already…" Watanuki thought. "Yuuko-san, I found it." He said, handing it over to his mistress.
"Thank you Watanuki."
Yuuko looked at Natsu and Happy for a while before opening the lid. He two boys gulped, anxious to see what was inside the box. Then she carefully opened it. Natsu and Happy leaned in closer to get a better look and Watanuki didn't move from his spot to see what will happen next.
It was a small flame.
"It's a flame?" Watanuki said in confusion.
"A flame indeed." Yuuko replied as she held in her right palm the flame which changed colors. It was red at first, and then it became blue, then orange, then yellow, then violet and so on. It kept on changing colors, but it was timid and did not look scary or flammable at all. "This flame keeps all the fire wielders connected. All those who possess fire magic get their magic source from this flame here. You could say this is where fire magic started. This is the first magic flame, the ancestor of all fire magic."
The boys gulped as they all stared in awe at the flame, thinking that that little color changing flame was the ancestor of all fire magic.
"It changes color as you can see." Yuuko then started again. "It changes because of the different fire wielders, using different fire properties. It supports and gives powers to different fire wielders…" she said. She then stood up from her chair and moved back a bit. "Stand up dragon slayer, and you too, exceed." She commanded the two. "Watanuki, stand beside me if you do not wish to be burned." She told the young lad. He freaked out and quickly followed orders and stood beside her.
"Burned? What did she mean by that?" Watanuki asked Mokona.
"Well, those people who don't know how to handle the ancient flame will get burned if they touch it, just like any other ordinary flame. But those people who wield fire can be transported to the place where another fire wielder is through that flame." Mokona explained. "Other fire wielders can also possess other types of fire magic different from their own also through that flame. Like for example, Natsu can possess the flame Syaoran possesses and Syaoran can do the same since they're all connected by the flame. That was all the other boxes down at the storage room were for."
Watanuki then remembered seeing other boxes with different emblems. Water, wind, thunder, metal…those were magic elements and inside of those boxes were the ancestors of each of the elements that gave the other element wielders powers as well as keeping them connected.
"I see…" Watanuki responded. "But won't that flying cat get burned?"
"Well, he possesses aerial magic, and fire and aerial magic had been working together since ancient times so that cat will probably be protected by the wind ancestor and the flame will probably let him pass through his fire dimension."
"Probably?" Watanuki nervously asked.
"Now then," Yuuko said. "Prepare yourselves, dragon slayer and exceed…for the next thing you may see might not be what you expect it to be." She then gently blew the flame and the fire spread across the room.
"Aaaahhh! The room's on fire!" Watanuki panicked.
The fire then slowly crept through the floor around Natsu. Upon reaching him, the flame grew bigger, engulfing him and Happy. The two were nervous for a while, but they calmed down a bit after realizing that they were inside a large flame yet they felt no pain. Then slowly the image of Yuuko started to fade away. All that could see now was her sly smile and crimson eyes.
"I hope you'll find happiness in what you wish for dragon slayer…" she said as her image completely disappeared in Natsu and Happy's eyes.
"They're gone." Watanuki said as the fire disappeared, taking Natsu and Happy with them. He looked around the room, finding that the fire did not leave any damage at all. Yuuko then placed the flame back in its box and closed the lid. She handed it down to Watanuki and asked him to put it back to the storage room again. But before he left, he asked: "What price did he pay Yuuko-san?"
Yuuko stood for a while, not wanting to answer the question, but answered still. "His present."
Watanuki suddenly felt bad. He knew that something's bad is going to happen. He thought that Natsu might've made the worst mistake he's ever done. "His present? What do you mean Yuuko-san?"
"His present…his present is connected to his past. Just like yours and mine and everybody else's. Once you change the past, you obviously change the future. He wished to go back to his past to prevent his tragedy from happening. He was already destined to meet his foster father in the mere future, I'll tell you that. But if one hastens the process of destiny, then there will be consequences. To be honest, I did not want to do this, but he insisted and I cannot interfere with the path he chooses to walk, so I let him be. I took his present as a price, meaning those people he met right after the disappearance of his foster father will no longer remember him. In short, those people he cherishes now never had met him and thus went on separate destinies. He not only changed his future, but also his friends'."
Watanuki stood in horror. Mokona sighed. "He's an idiot alright." Mokona said.
"B-but Yuuko-san, couldn't you have done something to stop him? Like tell him what the consequences of his actions are?"
"I told you, as dimensional witch I can only grant wishes. I cannot interfere or tell people what to wish for." She explained. The two of them stood still for a while, wishing that that had never happened and felt pity for Natsu and Happy.
"So that's why you said to them, before they completely disappeared that…" Watanuki wasn't able to finish his sentence due to another presence that he, Mokona and Yuuko felt. It would seem that another person came into the shop to ask for something.
"It seems that we have another customer on our hands." Yuuko said.
They all went to the room where Watanuki had first met Yuuko to meet the next customer. Footsteps were heard and they came closer and closer to the room. The door slid open and a girl, who was about a year younger than Natsu, stood just outside the door. Maru and Moro had led her in but she refused to come in, thinking that it was wrong to just suddenly barge into another person's house. Still, Yuuko was able to convince her to come in and they had tea. She then told her about her shop. The girl still seemed confused but tried to understand.
"I'm really sorry for just coming in here without permission. I was just passing by, looking for my pink haired friend along with his blue flying cat when I noticed this place…" she explained.
"I see. No worries. No harm has been done my child." Yuuko said relieving the girl. "Anyway, what is your name my dear?"
"Lucy Heartfilia."
"Lucy Heartfilia huh? And tell me my dear, do you have a wish?"
"A wish?" she thought of things that she really wanted like maybe money to pay her rent or to become a great novelist but then she thought of something she would really, really like to do right now, or rather see right now.
"I want to see my father again."
Watanuki was behind Yuuko as she and Lucy talked to each other while Doumeki, Maru, Moro and Mokona were once again eaves dropping on their conversation by the door. Watanuki thought about Lucy's wish. He and Lucy both have the same wish. He longed to see his father, and not just his father but his mother as well. But sadly, no one, not even Yuuko, can grant his wish so he kinda expected what would Yuuko reply.
"I'm sorry but that wish is out of my hands. I cannot raise dead back to life as you can see. Once a life has been taken, it can never be returned." She explained, making Lucy have a disappointed face.
Her bangs covered up her eyes and she folded her lips, trying not to cry, as if she was expecting and was excited to see her father again. "It's okay." She finally said in a sad tone. "I was kinda expecting that. I knew that it wasn't possible but still I…" she paused, trying to hold back her tears.
Watanuki let his head down and looked at her with pity. He knew how sad and lonely it felt having to lose your own parents. But Yuuko just looked at her with a poker face as she brushed the tears off of her face. "But there is another way…" she said.
Watanuki and Lucy both looked up at Yuuko with disbelief. "What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
"I could let you see your father but not in person; rather you will see him in all of the days he lived right after you disappeared seven years ago. You cannot touch him or talk to him. He is nothing but an image of his own memories."
"H-how did you know about our disappearance?"
Yuuko smiled. "It was all from your name." she explained. "One can manipulate another one's soul by just simply saying your name to another person. But anyway, would you want me to grant that wish?" she slyly smiled.
Lucy thought for it for a while. She was nervous on what she was about to do. She wanted to see her father again but something kept on bothering her, like as if something bad is going to happen and it'll just get worse if she made that wish. "Wait, if you have the special ability to grant wishes, shouldn't this wish come with a price? I mean nothing is free nowadays, isn't it? To be able to do service to a person, that person must give you something in return with equal value." She suspectedly said at Yuuko, making her smile.
Yuuko quite liked the girl. She was very clever and did not make rash decisions. She closed her eyes and smiled. Then she opened them again and gave her a seductive look. "Very good my dear." She said as she leaned forward. "You are very right. There is a price to that wish and I don't think you'll like it."
"What is it then?"
"Your future."
"My future?"
"Yes. You have wished for something that is involved with time, therefore I must take 'your time' as well to be equal. Do you not think so?"
Lucy stared into space for awhile, thinking what consequences might happen if she asked Yuuko to grant her wish. She wanted to see her father at least one last time even though he wasn't really there; she wanted to know what he had been doing over the past seven years when she and her friends had gone missing. But to give up her future…I think that's asking too much. Does that mean she won't have a future? Or does it mean she won't have a good future? Either way, both sounded bad. She took a deep breath and gave Yuuko her answer.
"Um…thanks for the offer Yuuko-san. But I think I'll pass. I don't want my future to be taken away from me." She explained in a soft voice as she looked down on her skirt and gripped it tightly. The dimensional witch leaned over the table and rested her head on top of her hands with a smile on her face. "My past…I mean my father, was already taken from me and I don't want Fairy Tail, my present and future, taken away from me too. I'm sure my father doesn't want me to dwell in the past and wants me to move on, so that's what I'll do." she with determination in her eyes as she looked directly at Yuuko's eyes. "Thanks for everything Yuuko-san. But I'm pretty happy with the way things are right now...together with my nakama."
Yuuko smiled at her, closed her eyes, leaned back at her chair and crossed her arms. She was obviously impressed at Lucy's choice. "Alright. If that's your choice then." She said.
Lucy got up, thanked Yuuko again and was escorted by Maru and Moro to the exit.
Meanwhile, inside the shop, Watanuki approached Yuuko. "You look impressed." He said to Yuuko.
Yuuko was now standing up, looking out the other door as she watched Lucy leave the shop. "I guess I am." She admitted. "That girl…she did the right thing."
"The right thing?"
"All who make wishes are the same. When one wish comes into conflict with someone else's wish…then one must make a choice. Either abandon one's wish…or crush the other's wish for the sake of your own."
"And whose wish will she crush if ever she did wish for her wish to be granted?"
"Natsu's…" Yuuko said in a sudden serious tone. "She might not know it but if she wished for her wish to be granted, then Natsu's wish would've been crushed, leaving him with no past and present and future. Since they both wished for something that is in the element of time and also because their wishes are in conflict with each other's, I can only grant one. And I haven't taken Natsu's price…yet. And now that Lucy has abandoned her own wish, I shall now take Natsu's price." She said as she looked at Lucy. "A price, once paid, cannot be returned. I hope you know that Natsu Dragneel." Suddenly mist came out all of sudden and it seemed to get thicker by the minute. Watanuki couldn't help but get worried for Lucy, Natsu and Happy. The time has come for Lucy and Natsu's other friends to forget him and Happy.
He looked at her as she left the gate and went straight through the mist. Lucy on the other hand got worried about the mist. She felt cold and nervous, as if something bad was going to happen. Sakura petals danced around her. She suddenly remembered the time when Natsu and Happy dug out the huge rainbow colored Sakura tree just for her to see. She felt bad all of a sudden. It was as if something was taking that precious moment away from her and the more she tried to grasp it the more it moved away from her. She paused for a while, looking confused. What was she doing? Where was she going? She looked back to where she was but all she saw was an old building that seemed to be a guild before. She felt like there had been a shop there before, but her memory started to become hazier as the minute passed. She knew there was something important in that place, but she decided not to press on the subject and walked forward through the mist and she completely disappeared into mist.
Meanwhile, Natsu and Happy woke up from their travel. They landed on a place filled with volcanoes. If a normal human were to even take a step in that place, they would either burn or die in heat stroke. Natsu groaned in pain and rubbed his head. Happy had passed out from their travel so Natsu grabbed him and carried him in his arms. But the moment he turned around to tour the place his eyes dilated and his mouth fell open. His heart started to beat faster as the image of the long lost father he was looking for years was now standing right before him.
"Igneel…"
Sorry that took so long haha
tell me if there's need of improvement in this chapter hahaha thanks :)
Thanks for reading :)