"How..?" Irene's voice cut through the silence like a knife. Disbelief clouded her mind, Anna was long dead, yet here she was in front of her, there was no denying Anna was real; she had certainly proved it.

"The Eclipse Gate."

One of Zeref's many machinations. No good could come of dealing with the black mage. Irene hardly knew him, but something was...off; His mental grip even more tenuous than her own.

"Igneel, some of the remaining dragons, Zeref, and I came up with a plan to defeat Acnologia."

"I'm listening," the only way to defeat a dragon was with a dragon. Well, or a dragon slayer. If there were any left, which there weren't, they were all eliminated centuries ago. Dragonification was a grueling process that, to Irene's knowledge, only Acnologia and herself had survived. After Acnologia of course, dragon slayers did not have to wait for their bodies to mutiny. Strangers, neighbors, even loved ones leaped at the opportunity for destruction, in most cases, before the dragonification began.

"We used the gate to send some young dragon slayers to a future with higher ethernano in the hopes they could defeat Acnologia."

"Young dragon slayers," criticism laced her voice, "you had dragons, Zeref himself, and you chose to send inexperienced mages to deal with the world's most grievous threat?"

"The dragons were dying and Zeref his magic is ineffective. He may be immortal, but Zeref is still human; even with his power, he doesn't stand a chance."

"If even one of these slayers takes the same path we will be right back where we started."

"We must defeat Ancologia, no matter the cost," Anna spoke gravely with unmatched determination.

"Nothing is worth that fate," Irene paid dearly for for her choice.

"The end justifies the means," the gravity of her words shattered Irene.

"You can't do this!" Anna argued with fervor; her words fell, before she caught herself, Anna's lips pressed firmly together, "don't do this," she pleaded with unmatched determination.

"It's the only way to defeat those depraved creatures," the western dragons encroached further into their kingdom with every passing moment; there was no time to consider the consequences of her actions. Irene would face whatever she brought on herself alone. After wounding Anna, like she had, Irene did not deserve her care or concern; however much she may, desperately, crave Anna's attention. It wasn't right. Anna had a family now and soon Irene would have one of her own.

"I must defeat them. No matter the cost," for her people, for Belserion, for Anna. The most Irene could do now was safeguard her future, so Anna's days could be filled with nothing but the happiness Irene herself could not provide.

"The cost is unimaginable," there was an edge in Anna's voice Irene had never heard before.

"The end justifies the means," silence hung in the air like a noose.

Irene broke into a fit of delirious laughter. Anna, for her part, looked disturbed. Of course, for her hardly any time had passed and for Irene it had been four hundred years; four hundred years of losing herself, four hundred years of living like an animal, four hundred years of that thing growing inside of her. Anna was the same as the they had last parted. Could she not see the irony?

"So, the solution is to create a monster?" she cackled to herself, Irene knew a thing or two about creating a monster of her own making.

"They're just innocent children, they haven't made a choice on who they are going to be or what they are going to be yet, the dragonification process is being prevented by the dragons as we speak," as if that was definite. There was no cure.

"Children, you are placing this task in the hands of impressionable, naive, idealistic children; who will make the difficult choices when it comes to that?"

"I came through the gate to act as their caretaker and the dragons reside in their souls. We will be there to guide them through the trials and tribulations they will undoubtedly face."

"Oh, I apologize, I didn't realize that care entailed placing the weight of the world on a child's shoulders instead of taking it on yourself," sarcasm seared through her tone. Anna had changed.

To Anna's credit, she looked guilty at that, "They are no better alone in the world," nothing was worse than being alone in the world, she sounded contrite; Irene couldn't distinguish sincerity any longer, even from Anna. "Please, help me find them," Anna pleaded, she had changed but some of the Anna she knew had remained the same. Even when subjecting these children to a fate worse than death Anna cared for these children with all her heart, that much was clear.

I wasn't much, but the knowledge provided Irene with a small measure of comfort.

"Fine," she conceded, it wasn't as if she could leave these children to the horrors of dragonification alone. Although Irene loathed to admit it, she could not deny Anna's request after clarity had washed over her, like rain in the desert, after so many centuries.