"Mother... Father... I'm sorry." Zeref said as he was speaking with his parents. "Time and time again, I have failed. I haven't gotten my hands on Celestria's and Salamondra's miraculous. They've proven to be tougher opponents than I expect, and they continue to beat my expectations. Still, no matter how long it takes, I will defeat them. I just need to find an opponent they can't beat." No matter how many times Zeref fails, he will continue to go after the miraculous. Just how far will he go? How dangerous of a villain will he create? Only time can really tell.
...
The Trocadero
Meanwhile, Lucy was making another attempt to tell Natsu how she feels about him. All of the girls were waiting for her in the Trocadero Gardens and were hoping she actually went through with it.
"Any minute now." Erza said.
"I don't get why we're all waiting." Cana said as she played around with a deck of cards. "There's no way she actually went through with it. I love the girl, but how many times has she failed?"
"Don't say that, Cana. She might surprise us." Lisanna said.
"But not today." Juvia said as she spotted Lucy and she still had a present she made for Natsu in her hands.
"What happened?" Levy questioned.
"I walked up to his house, but then I began to think it over." Lucy said. "What if he thinks it's weird? What if he thinks its strange that I just gave him a gift? He could laugh, I be humiliated, and it could be the end of my world!" She cried as she sat on a bench. All of the girls groaned from hearing her talk like this.
"Lucy, you are never going to get anywhere if you keep chickening out like this." Erza said.
"Natsu is not spoiled like Taylor. Even if he does turn you down, he'll be gentle and nice about it." Levy said. "You're never going to know unless you actually go through with it."
"But I..." "That's it, Lucy!" Lisanna shouted as she stopped Lucy from talking herself down.
"No more movies, no more hanging out, no more anything unless you do this!" Lisanna said with all of them surprised she raise her voice like that. "You have been crushing on Natsu since day one! You can't stop worrying about what might go wrong because it could all go right! In fact, why not just leave it at his house so he sees it?! Just stop thinking about and go for it!" All of them were amazed that Lisanna spoke out like that, but they all agreed with her.
"Lisanna's right! Today is the day! You can do it!" Erza encouraged. All of them were doing the same and it seemed like it was working.
"You're all right! I can do this!" Lucy said as she was standing proud.
"Thatta girl! Now get down there and show that boy you love him! Don't talk yourself out of this!" Levy said with Lucy taking off. "Don't forget to sign the card!"
"You got this! Don't take no for an answer!" Erza encouraged.
"Anyone want to bet twenty bucks that something will go wrong and stop her?" Cana questioned.
"You're on." Lisanna said. As for Lucy, she was feeling rather good about herself.
"They're right. Today is the day. I just won't take no for an answer." Lucy said as she feels like she can really do this.
...
Dragneel Mansion
"No." Invel said over the intercom. Lucy made it and asked to see Natsu, but she already had an issue.
"No? He's not home?" Lucy questioned.
"He was suppose to be back after his fencing tournament, but it would seem that he's running late." Invel said. "Good day." That was all he said before he broke the line. After how she's feeling, Lucy isn't going to give up that easily.
"What are you going to do now?" Stella questioned.
"I might not be able to get in there, but someone else can." Lucy said as she was planning to use her powers. She ran off so she could find a safe place for her to transform. What she didn't notice is that she ran by Jacob's car and Natsu was in there with him noticing her. When Lucy was alone, she transformed into Celestria and made her way in through his bedroom window.
"Made it." Celestria said. When she got in there, she was daydreaming about Natsu since everything in there made her think of him. "Wow... Natsu's room..." As she was wasting time with her fantasizing about him, Natsu and Jacob pulled up to his house and went on in where Invel was waiting for him.
"There you are, Natsu. You were expected home earlier." Invel said.
"Sorry about that, Invel. There was one match that went on for a while. Then, the ceremony lasted longer than I thought." Natsu said as he held up his medal. "If Zeref doesn't need me, I'll be up in my room." He made his way up to the room. Celestria was still acting like she was dreaming about Natsu, but she soon realized she needed to get moving.
"Okay. Quit fooling around." Celestria said. She took her gift and left it right on his bed. Then, she grabbed the card and made sure to sign it as she took a pencil. "Love, Lucy. There!" She thought it was all done and headed straight out. Just as she was about to leave, Natsu entered the very next second. He spotted her just as she jumped out of his room and took off.
"Celestria? What was she doing here?" Natsu questioned.
"Weird. You think she makes house calls?" Igneel joked. Natsu wondered what she was doing until he noticed the gift on his bed.
"From Lucy?" Natsu questioned. He took the gift and opened it up to see it was a scarf with a heart sewed into it. "A scarf with a heart on it? Looks like the one I got from my birthday, but I thought that was from Zeref. Why would Celestria give this to me if this is from Lucy?"
"Uh... Obviously it's because Lucy asked her to." Igneel said to try and keep the truth hidden.
"Wait a minute." Natsu said as he began to think of something. "Come to think of it, Lucy and Celestria look alike." Igneel was fearing where this was going. Soon, Natsu put the pieces together. "Lucy didn't ask Celestria to do this. Lucy IS Celestria!"
"No! No! No! Lucy is Lucy and Celestria is Celestria!" Igneel said as he tried pulling the scarf away from Natsu, but Natsu wasn't even listening to him as he kept a strong grip on the scarf. When he came up with that, he could see the truth about everything. He even remembered when Celestria told him she loves someone else.
"Me! Celestria is Lucy and Celestria is in love with me! She just doesn't know I'm Salamondra!" Natsu said as he felt such joy now that he knows that one of his closest friends was also the girl he loved. "I've got to find her!
"Natsu, listen to me!" Igneel called. "You and Celestria aren't suppose to know each other's identities!"
"Just because I know her identity doesn't mean she'll know mine. It will be fine, Igneel. I promise." Natsu said, but Igneel had his doubts. Now that he knows who Celestria is, he sees a way he can really be with her. Putting on his scarf, he ran out to find the love of his life.
...
Celestria
"I did it! I really did it!" Celestria cheered for herself as she was feeling good about herself. She believes this could change everything. She has no idea how true that really. As she made her way over the rooftops, a portal opened up right in front of her and Time Hopper came out. "Time Hopper?"
"Celestria, there's been a change in the flow of time!" Time Hopper said. "I don't know what, but it happened today. The timeline I came from is falling apart. Did you see anything strange?"
"Uh... No...?" Celestria said as she doesn't quite sure what was going on.
"Anyway, I need you to come with me." Time Hopper said as she grabbed Celestria's arm and took her with her into a portal. When they walked through, Celestria found herself in a white space with many gateways. She was amazed with what she saw. She took a look at one gateway and saw the past. Just by pressing her hand against it, it fast forward about hundreds of years and saw the future.
"Amazing..." Celestria said.
"That's enough." Time Hopper said as she pulled her away. "You shouldn't really be playing around with this."
"Why?" Celestria asked.
"Do you want to ruin surprises?" Time Hopper questioned.
"Uh... No..." Celestria said.
"That's why." Time Hopper said. "Normally, we try to avoid messing up the timeline, but something has happened and the course of time has been altered. We need to try and fix it. This way." She opened up a gateway with Celestria following her. When they got there, Celestria was horrified at what she saw. Paris was practically destroyed. Most of the city was flooded, the Eiffel Tower toppled over, and even the moon was broken in two. "I need you to do what you always do: capture the etherious and fix everything."
"But what happened?" Celestria said as things are moving pretty fast for her that she barely understands what's going on. As for Time Hopper, she was ducking back in her portal. "Where are you going?"
"If things go south, I have to be ready to act." Time Hopper said. "I'm also going to try and figure out what caused the timeline to be thrown off course. Just focus on what you need to do to try and get everything thrown back on track." That was all she said before she closed the portal. When she left, Celestria noticed someone whistling on the same roof as her. Whoever it was had a black suit with a flame pattern on it and a demon tail extension. He had pink hair with horns coming out of his head and carried a trident.
"Wait a minute... Salamondra? Is that you?" Celestria questioned and got his attention with her seeing a black mask and his eyes were like a demon's.
"Celestria! Your back!" Salamondra said as he moved over to her.
"Salamondra? Is that really you?" Celestria said as she didn't like what she saw.
"I'm not Salamondra anymore. I'm E.N.D." He said as Celestria now sees the truth. "I thought I lost you forever, but now you're back." He said as he got close enough to caress her face. "We can now fix everything. I just need...these!" He went straight for her earrings, but she acted fast enough and kicked him away from her.
"Snap out of it, Salamondra!" Celestria called as she can see he isn't himself.
"I'm sorry about that. Could you please give me the miraculous so we can fix everything?" E.N.D. said.
"Salamondra, you've been etheriouized. You don't need my miraculous, you need me to help you." Celestria said as she moved carefully closer to him.
"You're right." E.N.D. said as he felt such sorrow. "Everything hurts... I... I need help." He said as he actually shed a tear.
"It will be okay." Celestria said as she cleared away the tear. "Just tell me where the etherious is. Do you remember?" She looked around for the etherious with only a few places it could be.
"Right here!" E.N.D. said as he grabbed his hand and placed it over his heart, but his eyes showed he was crazy. Celestria got out of there as she grabbed a hold of him and threw him aside. When she did that, she made a run for it and jumped off the building, but he ran after her. "Where do you think you're going, Lucy?!"
"What?!" Celestria questioned just before she hit a floating car and kept moving with E.N.D. chasing her.
...
Time Hopper
"What are you talking about? I'm not her?" Celestria claimed as Time Hopper watched all of this unfold.
"You're really going to play that card with me? We already know each other's identities." E.N.D. claimed.
"How?" Time Hopper questioned as she knew that wasn't suppose to happen yet. "What happened before I went and got Celestria?" Time Hopper had to figure this out. She rewind one of the gateways and watched it like a video. She found the point when Celestria slipped out of Natsu's room and when Natsu saw her, and how Natsu was able to figure out she was Lucy. "Oh no! What have you done, Lucy?!" She fast forward to what happened after that and watched closely.
"I did it!" Lucy cheered as she ran back to her friends. Not what Time Hopper remembered. "I left him the gift and everything!"
"I told you she would do it!" Lisanna said with Cana giving her twenty bucks.
"No! That's not what happened!" Time Hopper said as this was all different from what should have happened.
"I really hope Natsu likes it. I hope this works." Lucy pleaded.
"Uh... I think he does." Erza said as she turned around and showed Natsu was coming their way and he was wearing the scarf.
"Lucy, can we talk?" Natsu asked.
"Uh... Sure." Lucy said.
"We'll give you two some privacy." Levy said as she and the others cleared out of there, but were watching.
"Listen, Lucy... I finally realized something." Natsu said. "I realized that you've always been there, always kind, and always trying to help. I realized there's something more between us, something that says you're more than a friend, and this gift helped me see it."
"Does that mean you like it?" Lucy said as she was being bashful with her face turning red.
"It means I love you." Natsu said as he caressed her face and actually kissed her. The girls silently cheered as the moment they all waiting for finally happened. The problem was that it was never suppose to happen.
"No! This isn't right!" Time Hopper said.
...
The Alternate Timeline
Celestria tried to keep herself ahead of E.N.D. However, she couldn't go much further as he landed down right in front of on a floating bus.
"There's no reason to run from me. Just give me a hug...or your miraculous." E.N.D. said, but Celestria could see that he has gone twisted.
"Stop it, Salamondra! You're not yourself!" Celestria said.
"Of course I'm not." E.N.D claimed as he moved closer to her. "Look at what happened. Look at what we've done. Something so beautiful caused so tragic, but we can fix it all. Everything will go back as it once was with our miraculous." Celestria doesn't get it, but she can't let him do that. She grabbed him by the arm and yanked off his tail as she threw him back.
"Time to..." She pulled the belt apart hoping the etherious was inside, but there was no sign of it.
"You'll have to do better than that if you want my etherious." E.N.D. claimed. He brought his hands together and formed a giant fireball. He launched it right at her, but Celestria moved out of the way in time and tried swinging her way to the Eiffel Tower. However, he wasn't going to let her go so easily. He took his trident and threw it straight at her. It knocked into her whip and knocked her into the tower. E.N.D. made his way to her as he pulled out his trident. "Black Wizard found out the truth himself. It's only a matter of time until the cat was out of the bag. He used our love to create the world as it is." She looked around and saw the devastation that was brought upon the world. Something she was always afraid of might happen.
...
Time Hopper
"Black Wizard found out himself? How? What happened?" Time Hopper questioned as she needed to find answers, but there was a problem. Her body was starting to fade. The longer this goes on, the more likely she'll fade out of existence because of the altered course of events. Using whatever time she could, she hurried through to find answers. She kept searching through the alternate timeline from when Natsu declared his love to Lucy. He saw moments in their love life such as them being a couple in school with Taylor furious, the two of them dancing, sharing ice cream, even when Bisca announced that the most popular boy in the whole city now has a girlfriend. "None of this is it. Where did things go wrong?" She kept searching around until she landed on something. It was Invel at her family's bakery with him using a table for Zeref to talk to her.
"Miss Heartfilia, your relationship with my brother is problematic. I just simply can't approve of this and insist that you stop seeing my brother at once." Zeref claimed, but it was more like demanded.
"But I didn't do anything." Lucy said.
"She loves Natsu and Natsu loves her. Shouldn't that be enough, all that really matters?" Jude defended.
"If you do not do what I say, I will remove my brother and forbid him from ever leaving my house again." Zeref threatened.
"No..." Lucy said as she knows how much that really means to Natsu, how he hates being locked away. "Natsu doesn't deserve that."
"You know what you must do." Zeref claimed. Lucy loves Natsu, but she doesn't want him to be taken away from what matters most to him. It was all unfair, but she loves him too much for him to be punished like that. She had to end it and the thought brought her to tears.
"Get out of my bakery! Get out!" Jude shouted as her family comforted her. Since the message was brought, Invel just left.
"What was he up to?" Time Hopper said as she fast forward again to what happened next. She saw Lucy standing un the rain under an umbrella with her standing in front of the mansion, and Jacob and Natsu standing at the door.
"Lucy? What are you doing out there? Come on in." Natsu said.
"No thank you. Natsu... I can't do this anymore." Lucy said with a heavy heart.
"What? What are you talking about?" Natsu questioned.
"This... Us... I'm afraid...it's over." Lucy said as she couldn't even look at him.
"What do you mean? We love each other. It can't just be over." Natsu denied.
"It is. I... I don't love you anymore." Lucy said as she said the hardest thing she could and just ran off.
"Lucy!" Natsu called as he wanted to go after her, but Jacob held him back. "Let me go! It can't end like this! I love her!" He pleaded as he didn't want it to end like this. Lucy ran all the way to a subway entrance and cried as she had to do something she never wanted to do. It was also what someone wanted.
"Sir, it's done." Invel said as he communicated with Zeref. Time Hopper shifted things to Black Wizard to see what he was thinking.
"I've never felt such despair or misery." Black Wizard claimed. "Lucy Heartfilia, you'll be my greatest masterpiece." He took an etherious and filled it with dark power. "Fly, my evil etherious. Fill her broken heart with darkness and evil!" He unleashed the etherious to create what could have been his greatest creation. Time Hopper changed it back to the outside.
"Please let me go." Natsu begged. Jacob felt so sorry for Natsu and could see how much he loves her. That's why he let him loose. However, Natsu spotted the etherious heading for Lucy. "Lucy! Watch out!" He called. Lucy turned to him to see what he was talking about. "Igneel, Fire Up!" Natsu changed into Salamondra right before Lucy's eyes and she couldn't believe it. "Dragon Fire!" He leaped right for the etherious and grabbed it just before it reached her with him turning it to dust.
"Natsu?!" Lucy said.
"You were about to be etheriouized. I had no choice, my little star." Salamondra said.
"You mean you know? How?" Lucy questioned as she couldn't believe it.
"All that matters is that we're together." Salamondra said with Lucy jumping straight into his arms.
"Invel, what happened?" Black Wizard asked.
"It's... It's your brother... He's Salamondra." Invel reported with Time Hopper shifting back to Black Wizard, seeing him shocked that he knows the truth.
"My brother is Salamondra?!" Black Wizard said as he couldn't believe it. However, he laughed as he saw a way he could see this.
...
The Alternate Timeline
Celestria moved her way through the Eiffel Tower to try and get the drop on E.N.D. When she spotted him, she had to time this just right. As E.N.D., he looked around for her until she landed behind him and grabbed him by the horns. She tried pulling them off thinking the etherious was in there, but they were attached to his head and wouldn't come off. He grabbed a hold of her and threw her off him.
"You'll have to do much better than that." E.N.D. claimed. He took his trident and tried to strike her with it, but Celestria jumped up and made it to the top side, but she soon found herself cornered with there being nowhere to run. "There's only one way this can end." He claimed when he caught up to her. "You just need to give me your miraculous!"
"Never!" Celestria insisted as she stayed firm.
"So be it." E.N.D. said as he aimed right at her feet. He flicked a fireball right where she was standing and caused it to fall apart with her falling into the water below. This wasn't looking good for her at all. She can't fight a villain this powerful alone, but her partner is the villain. On top of that, she still doesn't know what happened that caused this to happen to her. As she floated in the water, she looked down and spotted two figures below. She swam down and saw Black Wizard...and herself. They were completely incinerated, as was everyone else in the city. When she pressed her fingers against her other version, she turned her to dust. This was far worse than she thought.
...
Time Hopper
"What happened, Salamondra? What turned you into this?" Time Hopper questioned as she continued searching through the alternate timeline. She soon came to the point where Celestria and Salamondra found Black Wizard and fought him. They knocked him through the ground with him ending up in the hidden repository.
"It's over, Black Wizard!" Celestria said as she and Salamondra landed down. "Time to hand over your miraculous." Black Wizard wasn't going to give up so easily. He took his sword and tried attacking, but Salamondra was able to knock it right out of his hands. It seemed like Black Wizard was cornered with how he backed away from him.
"Seems like all your plans have just been consumed in...Dragon Fire!" Salamondra activated his power and the two of them thought it was over and they won.
"I put that Dragon Fire away...Natsu." Black Wizard said with him shocked.
"How do you know?" Salamondra questioned. That was when Black Wizard revealed the truth as he showed their parents. "Mom? Dad?"
"Everything I did was for our family, Natsu." Black Wizard said.
"Zeref?!" Salamondra questioned with Celestria surprised to hear his identity. "Why...? Why? Why?!" He said as his frustration grew and charged right at him, tempted to use his Dragon Fire on his own brother, but he stops just short of him. He couldn't bring himself to attack his own brother. Black Wizard thought differently. He was able to call upon his sword and attacked Salamondra with full power that it knocked him all the way out of the mansion. Salamondra was sent flying crashed into the Eiffel Tower and fell to the ground. When that happened, Black Wizard made his way to him.
"We can save them. We can have our family back." Black Wizard claimed. "With your miraculous and hers, we can have our family again. You just need to listen to me."
"Don't listen to him!" Celestria said as she joined in. "We can't use our miraculous like that!"
"If she loved you, she would help you!" Black Wizard said.
"Don't listen to him!" Celestria pleaded.
"I am your brother, Natsu!" Black Wizard.
"I... I don't know what to do! Just be quiet!" Salamondra shouted as he was torn and didn't know what to do. Does he choose his love or his family? That's when Black Wizard made his move as he unleashed an etherious and it ended up going into Salamondra's staff.
"E.N.D., I'm giving you the power of limitless destruction! Together, we can have our parents brought back to us!" Black Wizard claimed. "All you have to do is help me!" Salamondra didn't know what to do. He was torn because he knew it was wrong, but he wanted his parents back.
"I'm sorry." Salamondra said as he gave into the power and turned into E.N.D. When that happened, he aimed a flaming hand right at Celestria.
"No, Natsu! Resist! You know this is wrong!" Celestria pleaded. He didn't want to do it and aimed at Black Wizard.
"No, Natsu! Not me!" Black Wizard said. He didn't know what to do. The strain of the decision was too much for him as he was fighting with himself. The limitless power of destruction formed around him until he let out a mighty scream and unleashed the destructive power he held. Even the moon got blasted from it, and all of Paris was consumed. What Time Hopper saw was horrible.
"Celestria... End this..." Time Hopper said.
...
Celestria
Celestria pulled herself together and jumped straight out of the water with her facing E.N.D.
"What have you done?!" Celestria said.
"I didn't mean to. Why won't you let me try to fix things?" E.N.D. said.
"This isn't right and you know it! That's why I'm ending it! Open the Celestial Gate!" Celestria used her powers and ended up getting a card with the Virgo sign on it, but she had no idea what to do with it.
"There's nothing you can do. The simple truth is you don't love me! So I might as well destroy everything!" E.N.D said as he lost it. He held up his hand and formed a giant fireball that grew bigger and bigger. It even reach far past the atmosphere. If he unleashes it, it could lead to the end of the very world.
"Okay! Okay, Salamondra! I'll give you my miraculous!" Celestria called as she feared what he was about to do. When she said that, he caused the massive fireball to disappear.
"I'm E.N.D." He claimed as Celestria walked over to him.
"But your Salamondra to me." She claimed as she hugged him with him feeling her love once again. When he was distracted with that, she took a chance and grabbed his trident. When she got that, she broke it over her knee with the etherious flying out.
"No more evildoing for you, little etherious. Time to de-evillize!" Now that she got the etherious, she caught it. "Gotcha! Bye-Bye, little guy!" She released it with E.N.D. finally turning back to Salamondra with the etherious landing on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Lucy? What's going on?" Salamondra said.
"You still know I'm Lucy?" Celestria questioned as that wasn't good. Fixing things now could mean this all will just start again.
"Celestria!" Time Hopper called as she showed up. "Hurry! I know how we can fix this!" When Celestria heard that, she didn't waste any time and ran for it. Salamondra didn't know what was going on, but he trusted that she would fix things.
"You figured out what went wrong?" Celestria questioned as she ran inside.
"Yeah, and your item proves it." Time Hopper said. "When you left your gift for Natsu, he saw you leave and was able to put the pieces together and figured out you were Celestria. Once one person knows, it's only a matter of time until others know." When she pointed that out, she took a look at the car again and saw it had the same signature. That had to have been the starting point.
"That means I got to prevent Natsu from seeing it." Celestria said as she saw what she had to do.
...
The Present
When Celestria figured out where to go, she moved as fast as she could. She arrived to just before Time Hopper came and got her, when her past self signed the card. Once that happened, she literally pushed herself out of the way.
"Sorry. It's better this way." Celestria said as she took the card and tore it apart so that no one could read it. "Miraculous Starlight!" She tossed her other card into the air and it caused everything to be fixed. The two Celestrias became one and even time itself was restored to normal. Everything was back on track with Celestria taking what's left of the card with her.
"Celestria?" She turned to the door and saw Natsu standing there. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh! Well, the postman had some problems today, so I helped out and there was a gift for you." Celestria lied and showed the gift without him knowing the truth. "Anyway, bye!" She said and took off. Natsu still admired her, but she still had no clue who she really was.
...
Time Hopper
After making sure everything was fixed, Celestria met up with Time Hopper again before she headed back to her own time.
"Thanks, Time Hopper. Although, when you go through time, do you learn things others aren't really suppose to know?" Celestria asked.
"Of course. What we've seen can't be unseen...Lucy." Time Hopper said with her shocked that Time Hopper knows.
"So, do you know who Black Wizard is too?" Celestria questioned.
"Yes, but I can't tell you for obvious reasons." Time Hopper said. "That's why you picked me to have the rabbit miraculous. I know how to keep secrets." She taunted with her jumping back in her portal and was sent back to who knows when.
...
The Trocadero
"He wasn't home." Lucy said. She met with her friends and told her what she could. "I was able to leave the gift, but on my way back, I realized that I forgot to give him the card. I wasn't allowed to leave it after I dropped off the gift. That's okay, right? There's always next time." They all accepted her answer, with Lisanna giving Cana twenty bucks.
...
Salamondra
Later, Salamondra sat on a roof and just stared out at the setting sun. Celestria called saying she needed to see him about something. He turned around and saw her land down.
"Hey. What did you call me for?" Salamondra asked.
"I just needed to see you." Celestria said as she hugged him. Salamondra didn't get it, but he surely went with it. She might have failed this time, but she'll get another time. However, she hopes she won't have to face something like E.N.D. again. After what she saw and witnessed, she can never allow a future like that to happen. What she saw, she won't be able to unsee.
