Hey everyone, I'm back! In this chapter, I delve deep into the concept of the time traveling, using only the extent of my knowledge (and imagination). So, I apologize if it seems confusing, because I tried my best to make sense of things.
On a quiet afternoon in Magnolia, three mages spent their hours researching on how to successfully reverse the effects of time travel. Lucy invited Gray and Erza into her apartment that day, silently pleading that she wouldn't regret it. In fact, she was surprised to see that no one was digging through her drawers, wasting her bath water, or browsing through her diary, because they were all too involved in the books they had their noses in. Before they reached her house, they stopped by the guild to pick up books that seemed valuable enough in the guild library. The thought of asking Levy for help crossed Lucy's mind, but she decided it was best to not get her involved. However, one thing that they did do was ask questions, and they took note on how things changed around the guild. For example, when Lucy asked Cana "how did I first come to this guild", the drunken teen responded by saying that it was Erza who took her in. Also, they wrote down other things they noticed, such as Elfman's lack of pride, the fact that Romeo's dad has yet to return, and apparently the fact that Sabertooth was still a petty guild. All of these notes were spread across Lucy's apartment floor, along with the books from the library.
At Lucy's apartment, Gray slumped back, physically tired from all that reading. "Alright, Erza, mind giving us a report on what we've found so far?"
Erza collected the loose papers from the floor, organizing it in her hands. "Basically, we understand that the Elfman, Macao, and Sabertooth have all been directly affected due to Natsu's absence in their lives. Since Natsu wasn't here to confront Elfman the time Lisanna 'died', then that could explain why he is acting like a coward in this time dimension."
Lucy pitched in, grabbing the note card that had Macao's name written on it. "For Macao, it seems that he is still missing, because Natsu never went on that mission with me to look for him." Lucy couldn't help but feel nostalgic, thinking back to one of the first missions she did with her best friend.
Gray decided to add on to the report, explaining the situation about Sabertooth. "Alright, and for Sabertooth, I guess no one stood up to them the way Natsu did during the Grand Magic Games, which is what causes them to still be a bunch of jerks in this alternative present, well, at least according to Gajeel." He sighed, still trying to piece things together. "But still, I don't get it. If everything that Natsu directly affected has changed, then why is Gajeel still in fairytail? Or how come we aren't a bunch of lacrimas in Edolas?"
Lucy put her hand on her chin, complementing his questions. "I guess it's because alternative events unfolded that caused the same result to take place. For example, it's like when Cana told me that Erza brought me to Fairy Tail. Even if Natsu never defeated Gajeel that time, maybe someone else did instead. I guess that's just how fate works."
Gray hung his head low. "That could explain why I'm still alive today. I remember getting ready to give up my life to use my iced shell on Lyon. If Natsu wasn't there, could it be that something else stopped me from doing it?"
Erza shook her head, a smile embellished on her face. "No, and in fact, I believe that event had never happened in this time dimension, because it was Natsu who made us go on that mission in the first place." Her smile soon left her as well, when she remembered her own suicide attempt made in the tower of heaven before Natsu came to her rescue. What prevented me from sacrificing myself, if it wasn't Natsu who saved me? Was it my fate to stay alive?
At that moment, they all came to realize just how important Natsu was in their lives, whether he affected it indirectly or not. They created a newfound respect for him, as well as a growing emptiness in their hearts for the nakama that they missed.
Erza neatly stacked the notecards onto the floor. "Alright, so now that we have that across, I have another point that we will need to address." Lucy and Gray looked at her, giving her their undivided attention.
"It seems that this Natsu has no recollection of the time traveling, nor does he have any memories of our real-time dimension. I'm sure Happy is the same way." Erza looked up, meeting eye contact with each of her friends. "So, why is it that Natsu and Happy forgot about everything when we didn't?"
"Good question," Gray said, already flipping through one of the books. "Didn't Mr. Blackwood explain that he was going to time travel with us just so he could remember to pay us? That proves that time traveling allows that person to keep his/her memories."
"That's true, so there must be a reason to why Natsu doesn't remember us." Lucy mused.
"Mr. Blackwood did mention that Natsu's disappearance could have been a small defect." Erza looked at Lucy, an idea dawning onto her. "Lucy, do you think you can check if the book states any more defects?"
Lucy quickly nodded, opening the four-leaf clover book Louis gave her to the warnings section. She went to the "defects" and was surprised to see that the list was more than a few pages long. "That's a lot of defects…"
"I'm trying to find something that explains why Natsu and Happy don't have any memories of our real-time dimension, right?" Lucy was scanning through the list when her eyes met with #261. "Check this one out; it talks about non-humans and time traveling."
"Non-humans? Well, I guess that counts for Natsu, I mean, he is part dragon-slayer after all." Gray said.
"Yeah, and if you think about it that way, then the only non-humans in our group were Natsu and Happy. What does it say?" Erza asked.
"Well, it says, 'Both creatures and humans are allowed to travel back in time, but for safety reasons, this book cannot detect creatures when traveling to the present.'" Lucy contemplated this for a moment. "So, if this rule is applying to Natsu and Happy, does that mean that the book didn't detect them?
Gray rubbed his temples, perplexed. "Woah, that's trippy. So what you're saying is that Happy and that idiot went back in time with us, but they didn't time travel back?"
Erza nodded. "That explains why they weren't with us when we came back to the present…"
"So since they didn't time travel with us back to the present, they don't have any memories of our 'real life', you know, before this all happened." Lucy pieced together. She had a dull headache from the amount of brainpower she was using, and the complicated concept of time traveling didn't make things any better.
Gray's eyes darted to the floor. "So, the real Natsu and Happy must either be stuck in the past, or they just don't exist anymore…"
The two girls looked at him in fear. Lucy couldn't find her breath, panicking from the idea he just presented. "Y-you're not serious, are you?" Natsu? Happy? Not existing anymore? She couldn't fathom those words.
Erza shook her head, holding up her hand to stop him from continuing. "Although that may be the case, we can still get them back by going back in time."
Lucy sighed in relief at Erza's response. She's right. We are going to get them back. However, one question still tugged at the back of her mind.
"Ok. I understand now why they don't remember us, but what caused him to be like this in the first place? Why is he evil now? All we did was stop a small robbery from the Dark Sparrows, and they were just some weak guild. But now, they are considered to be the most threatening dark guild to Fairy Tail, not to mention the fact that Natsu is now their top member! And who knows where Happy is right now?!" Lucy vented, her breaths loud and labored. She didn't notice how worked up she'd become.
Gray had his hands held out defensively. "Hey, calm down there, let's figure this out."
Lucy took a few deep breaths and sat down, muttering apologies. Erza's thumb bent the corner of her notecards as she began to deliberate. "I have no clue what could have happened, but what is valuable to note is that our actions caused Natsu to be this way, and we can only hope that Happy is with him." Erza stood up, her eyes focused and her chin high. "What we can do next is to gain more information about this, in order to find out what change Natsu's past in order for it to be like this. Only until then will we be able to go back in time and fix it."
It was as if Erza's short speech refreshed the minds of Gray and Lucy, encouraging them to not give up.
: : :
The walk to Diesel's house was long, because Natsu, Siren, and Happy decided to take the back routes there instead of venturing through the busy streets of Magnolia. They're never usually found in large crowds due to their notorious titles, unless Ruby asked them to go and buy some groceries for her.
Now that he thinks of it, Natsu never buys groceries for his own apartment, because he is rarely at his house. He and Happy would always either be at the guild or at Diesel's, and they would just eat there instead. Plus, since Siren still lived with Diesel and Ruby, it gave him yet another reason to be at their house every day.
Siren reached for her keys before unlocking her front door. "Just wait till I get my own house…" She mumbled. "Ruby can be such a fuss sometimes."
"My doors are always open," Natsu snickered as he as he held the door for her.
"Yeah, as if she'll allow that…" He heard her say under her breath as she walked passed him.
The house was a decent one, with a large open space for the living room that opened up into the kitchen. Diesel was found sitting at the dinner table, cards spread across the surface as he held some in his hands. Ruby and Seph were playing as well, sitting at the end of their seats as they were deeply engaged in the game.
"Hey kids," Seph said, yet his piercing blue eyes stayed focused on the match in front of him.
Diesel slapped his stack onto the table, revealing an Ace and two Kings. "I must say, you must both tried very hard at this game, but this match is mine."
Ruby, with an unreadable expression on her face, broke into a mischievous smile. She placed her stack down, revealing three Aces and a King. "How adorable to think that you are worthy enough to stand against me. I am the queen of gambling, so know your place, servant." Ruby reached the center of the table, grabbing the pile of materialistic fortune that was bet by every player.
Seph collected the cards, grumbling under his is breath. "Why do I always bet the most when I never win…"
"Hey Rube, gonna keep that cash to yourself?" Natsu chuckled, walking pass the table.
Ruby blinked once, and then twice, before huffing in frustration at the fire mage in the kitchen. "Natsu! Give it back!"
As he approached the fridge, he held the stack of bills, fanned out in his hands for him to count them. "30,000 jewels? Not bad…" He said, placing it on the counter. He instead looked into the fridge, pulling out a coke and some fish sticks for Happy.
"I don't know when you surpassed me in stealing." She laughed, reaching for her money on the counter.
"Seph! Wanna hear what I did today!? I beat Maxim in an arm wrestle!" Happy chirped, greedily snatching the frozen fish sticks out of Natsu's hands as he landed on the card table in of front the gentleman shuffling cards.
"Oh? Is that so?" He smirked.
Siren rolled her eyes. "As if. That cat better watch his tongue."
Diesel got up from his chair and walked over to Natsu, playfully ruffling his hair into a tangled mess. "How's my favorite Dragon Slayer doing?"
"Hey, quit it," Natsu complained, squatting his hand away. Diesel used to always do that when he was younger, pestering him like a playful dad.
Ever since Diesel and Ruby took in Natsu and Siren, they treated them as their own. Especially since the couple is now in their late 30's and married, the younger mages grew up seeing them as parents.
Diesel leaned back, grabbing the coke from Natsu and taking a sip. "I heard that master wanted to talk to you. What was it for?"
Thinking back to what Master said, Natsu grew serious. "He wants me to do an assassination. To our enemies' guild master."
This seemed to catch everyone's interest, causing them to stop what they doing to hear what he had to say. Diesel looked at Natsu, surprised. "Oh really? It's been a while since we did anything with them. I wonder why master wants to mess with them now."
Natsu snatched his coke back, chugged it, and slammed it against the coffee table. "It's because he's bored, since all he does is freakin' stuff himself. I don't understand; he wasn't this fat before I joined."
Seph laughed, shaking his head. "We didn't have a lot of things before you joined. Like his our new guildhall, or his filthy rich office."
Happy sat on the couch's arm, looking at Natsu with concern. "Natsu, how do you feel about dealing with our… enemies?"
Natsu shook his head, chuckling. "Giddy, that's for sure. And I hate it."
At that moment, everyone fell quiet. Only the very people in that room understood why Natsu felt this way, besides Master, of course.
"It's been two years; I thought that it would've worn off by now."
They all understood that because of what happened, Natsu now gets triggered when he hears the name of that guild, so they made sure to avoid mentioning it.
Diesel patted Natsu's shoulder. "Natsu, its been a while since what happened, and at this point, I don't think that this feeling you have will go away. Just embrace it."
Natsu shot his eyes at Diesel, enraged. "Oh yeah? You of all people would know that killing was never my thing. Not until Master freaking messed up my head, making me some bloodlust freak. I would've never killed so many people if it wasn't for him."
Siren opened her mouth, but closed it right after. She knew Natsu wasn't a killer, he never was, so this became the only problem to him not becoming the strongest dark mage in Fiore. He was already a master at stealth, kleptomania, and fighting. This artificial instinct Master put in him solved that problem, and he needs to understand that. She looked at Ruby, and she nodded. She'll do this one, she always has a way to convince people.
Ruby walked to the dragon slayer, before leaning onto the counter next to him. "Natsu, remember that first time I taught you how to steal?"
Natsu was taken aback from her sudden comment, but he responded with a small smile, nostalgically thinking about his childhood.
"Yeah, I remember, why?"
"You've always been a prodigy at stealing; you are so excellent in that. But still, you never wanted to kill. No matter how hard we tried, it was just not in your nature. What Master did wasn't immoral, it was just something any dark guild master needed to do. Motivate their strongest mage to become even stronger. Accept what he did as a favor."
Natsu remained quiet, looking down at his feet.
Seph looked up, shuffling the deck of cards in his hands. "Alright, so are you gonna do it?"
Natsu rolled his eyes, impassively looking at him. "Yeah, whatever. But I'll have to do it later; I promised to take Ren out tonight."
Siren smiled. "Glad you remembered."
"Oh," Natsu turned to Happy. "And if I'm going to go through with this, then I think you should come with me, so you know, I won't go aboard."
Happy saluted. "Aye sir!"