Hey guys! Back once more after my short break! So this arc will play out in a strange way, but I think it's be a lot of fun!
Enjoy!
One year after the Kronos incident
It was raining.
Because of course it was.
As Elise stood in the soaked crowd of people, she spared a thought to wonder how they'd managed to get to this point.
Almost one year to the dot, five of the people she considered the closest to her heart, even after what happened with her memories, disappeared without a trace. One moment they were there, the next they disappeared into the bright blue sky.
But the world moved on.
The guild didn't give up hope for a long time. Elise could count on one hand how many times she's seen Gray or Laxus in the past year. Everyone was working overtime to try and find them.
But they couldn't.
And eventually...Everyone gave up. There was nothing to find. Nothing to reverse.
Nashi, Drake, Ultear, Simon and Damien were gone.
And as Elise stood in the cemetery overlooking the five gravestones with everyone else, only one thought ran through her head.
I'm only here because I didn't want to be near them.
The crying voices of the parents who'd lost a child overrode her mind, and she too felt tears threatening to fall.
I'm here...
Elise felt her father rest his hand on her shoulder, and she appreciated the comforting warmth that attempted to spread through her, no matter how little it actually helped.
Because I didn't go with them.
Elise wanted to feel relieved at that fact. She wanted it to be something she looked back on and thought 'Woah that was close, huh?'
But all she felt as she thought of this fact as sheer anger at herself from a year ago.
Because they'd left her behind.
She had no one left in her own guild who was her own age that she wanted to talk too. Rocky and Sammy weren't really her friends, Asuka was usually off doing her own thing, and a lot of the other kids her age she didn't really ever talk too.
Why did she get to be the lucky one?
Why was she safe and her friends were gone?
Just...
Just...
Why?
Elise looked up through her damp bangs and observed the scene around her. Everyone was doing their best to hold in the tears, and seeing as it had been a year everyone was doing fairly okay given the reason they were out in the rain in the first place. Only Mira and Juvia seemed to be horrible at holding it in.
Mira...
Elise realized a long time ago Mira had lost both of her children now. The woman seemed destroyed. First her daughter, and now her son. The world had a cruel sense of humor.
Juvia...
The woman had not stopped crying since it happened. Elise couldn't fathom how she continued to cry. Looking around, she also laid eyes on the parents of the others. Even Jellal and Erik had shown up, looking horrible.
And then there was Lucy and Natsu.
Lucy had given birth to a beautiful baby boy roughly two months after Nashi had disappeared with the others. She had named him Luke. Through all of the bullshit the guild had gone through, Luke had been their beacon of hope and return to happiness. But even he, as Elise could tell, seemed sad.
Looking over, Elise saw Kinana holding her new daughter, Kaida. Once Luke had been born the guild's attitude changed very briefly, and apparently this was around the time Kinana and Erik tried for another kid. Obviously they'd done more than try, because nine months later Luke's new playmate was born. Granted the boy was ten months older than her, but they'd still grow up together.
Incredibly reminiscent of the pair before them...
Pregnancy...
Erza, Juvia, or God forbid Mira, had not yet made such an announcement.
Elise doubted they would for a while.
If they ever did, anyway.
Other guilds had shown up, as well. All of their friends and their parents. But of course, none of them could even imagine the pain the others were going through.
And eventually, people started to leave. There was no point in getting sick by staying.
First it was the others guilds, who had the least obligation to stay.
Then went most of the people in there guild unrelated to the 'deceased'.
It was just Elise, her parents, and her friends families at that point.
It was longer still before anyone else left. First went Lucy and Natsu, mumbling something about not wanting to get Luke sick seeing as it was raining. A reasonable reason to leave. Then Jellal and Erza did the same, followed by Erik and Kinana, who were following Natsu and Lucy's example. Mira and Laxus stayed for a while longer, but eventually they left. Juvia didn't seem to want to leave. But finally, she got up off of the ground and they disappeared. This left Elise and her parents.
"...Elise?" It was her mother calling to her. "Are...You okay?" Elise did not respond to her mother, but it wasn't out of anger or not wanting to speak with her.
She just had nothing to say.
"Elise?" She tried again. "You'll get sick if you..."
"Leave her be, Shrimp." Her father jumped in now.
"But Gajeel..."
"Don't...She's lost just as much as everyone else. Let her be." Her mother did not reply again, and Elise listened to their figures retreat either back to the guild or back home.
This left her alone in the rain with the five rocks in the earth that supposedly marked her friends. Elise walked closer to the gravestones and looked down at each of them. Every one bore the name of one of her friends, the year in which they were born and the one in which they disappeared, and a final sendoff. They'd also been put next to Steph's gravestone.
Elise collapsed to her knees.
"Why?" She croaked out, the tears finally falling. She'd been holding it all day...Every day for a year. "Why wasn't I with you?"
The graves did not respond.
Elise put her head in her hands as she started to shake.
"Why didn't I go with you?!" She asked. "I might have been able to stop it..."
Again, the stones did not answer her.
"I should've been there...I should've disappeared too! Why was I spared?!"
The only sound she heard was the rain pelting off of the ground around her.
"Why...Why..." Elise growled and slammed her fist into the ground. "Why?! I can't...! I can't...!"
A cloak wrapped around her shoulder and head.
"You'll catch a cold out here." It was Keita. "You should get out of the rain, Elise."
"Keita..." Elise mumbled, grabbing the hem of the cloak and pulling it around her cold body. "Why are you still here?"
"For you." He replied. It would've been sweet had Elise not been spiraling out of control at the moment. "I'm worried."
"Heh..Rightfully so..."
"Exactly. Are you going to be okay?"
"No...Not ever." Keita did not answer her right away, and Elise just stared down at the ground. "I...I've never fucked up so badly before."
"Huh?"
"I should've been there...I shouldn't be here. I don't...I can't..." Elise's words failed her as more tears fell onto the ground beneath her, but she lost sight of them amidst the rain drops. "Why am I here, Keita?!"
"I don't know."
"Why was I spared?!"
"I don't know."
"Why are they gone?! What did I do to deserve this?!"
"I don't know."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T...!" Elise whipped her head around to yell at him, but stopped as she met his gaze. He didn't seem the least bit angry or irritated with her, he seemed dead calm.
"I simply don't." He replied. "I cannot answer you. I apologize." Elise stared at him for a moment before she slowly turned and grabbed the cloak tighter.
"Why are you apologizing?" She asked in a small voice. "I'm the one who yelled."
"Because you've lost so much and here I am with no way to help you." He answered. "I said I'd help you through the next stage of your life if you wanted me too and here I am, not able to help."
"You did everything you could." Elise said. "At least from what I heard, you jumped right in and tried to defend them, but he defeated you..."
"Yeah, well..." Keita did not continue talking, so silence befell them. Elise put her hands between her legs in an attempt to regain feeling in them.
"It was a year ago..." She whispered. "But the pain feels so fresh..."
"Elise..."
"I thought...I figured I wanted some time away from them to regain my composure about the whole thing...I didn't mean my whole life!"
"..."
"Did I do this?! Is it my fault they're gone?! That I'm the only one who gets to grow up?!"
"Elise, stop" Elise looked up to find Keita kneeling down right in front of her. "This is not your fault. Your simply the victim of the aftermath." Elise looked down at her knees as he said this.
"Whatever..." Keita did not say anything more, but Elise knew he was still right in front of her.
"I've got an idea." He said. Elise looked up. He was holding his hand out, presumably for her to take. "But you have to promise me you trust me."
"K-Keita?" He didn't say anything, but Elise could see a strange fire in the boys eyes. Slowly, Elise reached forward, and Keita grabbed her hand firmly.
"You and I? We're going to hunt down the bastard who did this." Elise felt her eyes widen. "I don't care how long it takes. We're going to find him. What do you say?"
"Keita...I don't know about this."
"You know who it is, don't you? Kronos?" Elise nodded. "Then we've already completed step one." Elise looked down at their conjoined hands, contemplating what he offered.
Revenge.
Vengeance.
Closure.
A warmth spread through Elise's chest.
It wasn't happiness.
It wasn't anger.
It was determination.
Elise gripped his hand tightly right back and, for the first time since Luke had been born, Elise Redfox smiled.
"Let's find him. For them."
"For them."
Nashi's head hurt. Where was she?
The girl slowly opened her eyes to find that she was lying face down in an alley. How the hell had she wound up here?
"Ugh, my head..." She hissed as she sat up. She looked around, but could see nothing save the walls around her.
The Games.
Kronos.
Her body...
Nashi jumped to her feet and looked down. She seemed as solid as ever. She could see her body, and when she tried to touch herself on the hand, her other hand didn't phase through it. Even her headache was fading.
She overall felt alright.
But that set off a warning alarm in her mind.
"Where? And how?" She asked, looking around warily. Of course she was still in the alley so it didn't exactly explain anything to here. "One minute I'm fading out of existence and the next I'm n an alley face down...What the hell is going on right now?" Nashi decided it was time to come out of the alleyway, so she did. Walking out into the light made Nashi shield her eyes from it. Once they adjusted, she looked around.
Crocus.
She was in the capital city of Fiore. Just like before.
But why had she been in an alley?
Nobody payed her any mind as she walked out into the open and surveyed her surroundings, making a face.
"What the hell is happening?" She mumbled as she watched people pass her by as if nothing was wrong. How much time had passed? Had any passed?
"Nashi!" Nashi turned to find her friends running towards her, all looking a bit disoriented. "Thanks God we found you, we were worried." Ultear said with a smile.
"Well, I'm okay." She replied, crossing her arms. "What's happening?"
"No idea." Drake said, looking kind of miffed. "But everything looks totally normal."
"Well that can't be right." Damien said. "Something must be going on, because if nothing happened why are we just standing here?" Nashi knew he was right, but simply looking around did nothing to quell their disbelief at the normal things going on around them.
"Alright, let's recap." Simon said, everyone agreeing. "We were at the stadium accepting our trophy, and Kronos attacked."
"Yes." Ultear said. "And his spell malfunctioned, and we started to disappear."
"So..." Drake said, rubbing the back of his head. "That doesn't really answer our questions, does it?"
"No it doesn't." Simon agreed, looking around. "But I'm not sure what could." Nashi sighed and looked around, watching people go about their daily business."
"We should look for something." She said. "Anything."
"I'm with Nashi." Drake said. "Anything that could tell us what the hell is happening." Finally having decided on a course of action, the group started to walk through the streets of Crocus, blending in rather easily. No one had any reason, it seemed, to pay them any mind.
"I'm kinda hungry." Damien said after a few minutes of silence observance. "Can we get something to eat?"
"Anyone got any money on them?" Simon asked, and the group dug into their pockets, looking for something to pay with. Pooling what they had in their pockets, Nashi sighed.
"This is enough jewel for like five cups of coffee." She said. "Nothing to eat."
"Better than nothing." Drake said, sniffing the air. "Coffee smell is coming from this way. Let's go." The group followed the two Dragon Slayers as they sniffed out the nearest coffee shop, and eventually they found it. They walked towards the outside bar and sat themselves down, looking around curiously.
"Hi! How can I help you today?" The group looked over to find a blonde barista asking them if they needed anything."
"Yeah, hi." Nashi said, handing the girl the jewel they'd pooled. "Can we get five cups of coffee?"
"Anything special?"
"No...That'd cost us extra." She replied sheepishly. The girl nodded and took the money, returning her gaze to Nashi.
"Would you like a copy of today's paper?" She asked. "Free of charge!" Nashi didn't really find the newspaper interesting, so a negative response was about to come out of her mouth.
"Yes, please." Simon answered before she could. "That'd be lovely." The barista nodded and turned to leave, and Nashi looked over at Simon.
"Why do you want the paper?" She asked.
"It may give us a clue as too what's happening." Simon replied. "The headline could be helpful."
"That's true, good idea Simon." Drake said. Nashi looked around, still feeling as though something was off. Why was no one pointing at them or whispering? Had they fallen from the public eye already?
"Anyone else feel like we should be getting stared at?" Damien asked, voicing Nashi's inner concerns. "I mean, we won the Grand Magic Games, I'd appreciate a little recognition."
"Leave it." Ultear advised. "Until we know what's happening there's no point in asking."
"Besides." Drake said, shifting his gaze to look at the few girls there age watching him. "I get enough attention as it is." Nashi laughed and pinched his cheek.
"It's cause your so cute." She teased, making him glare at her. Ultear laughed.
"Does this happen all the time, or am I crazy?" she asked. "Drake's like bright lights and women are like bugs. They're irrationally drawn to him."
"Irrationally?" Drake asked. "I think I'm quite the catch." Simon frowned.
"You're really annoying though." He said.
"Bit of a handful." Nashi said.
"Cocky." Damien added.
"Little high maintenance." Ultear quipped. Drake's head hit the table and he groaned, making everyone chuckle.
"You guys really ought to stop that..." He hissed. "My self-esteem will take a major hit."
"What self esteem?" Nashi asked as the barista returned.
"Here you go!" She said, placing the cups down and everyone grabbed theirs. "Five cups. Oh, and here's your paper." She leaned forward and offered the paper to Simon, who thanked her and took it. "Anything else?"
"We're good thanks." Drake said, smiling at her. This made her blush.
"R-Right, your welcome." She said, turning and walking away. Drake elbowed Nashi.
"See that? He said. "Putty in my hands."
"As per usual." She said. "Try that on any girls you know like Ul or I and it'd never work."
"Well if you guys think I'm such a handful and so high maintenance then no fucking..." Drake was cut off off as Simon moaned and flipped through the paper some more.
"What?" Damien asked. "Nothing?"
"Not that I can tell." Simon said.
"Let me see." Ultear said, leaning into the boys side and placing a hand on his shoulder, making him blush. "Keep flipping, I'll skim it too."
"O-Okay..." The two browsed the newspaper, and Ultear frowned.
"Weird." She said. "I don't recall any of this being in the paper this week, but..."
"Me either." Simon agreed. He returned his eyes to the front page and sighed, Ultear sipping her coffee. "I think we should..."
Ultear choked on her drink and started coughing, placing the drink down and covering her mouth with her arm as she continued.
"Jeez, you okay Ul?" Damien asked as Simon rubbed her back, making her face red. "Swallow the coffee before you breath."
"G-cough-Give me this!" She shouted, snatching the paper from Simon's hands and staring intently at it.
"...Ul?" Drake asked warily.
"No...This can't be right... She whispered in disbelief. "I don't...H-Huh...?"
"Use your words, Ul."Damien said. "What's the problem?" Ultear slowly looked down from the paper, eyes wide and face paling.
"I...I think I found our problem."
"...Which is?" Nashi asked. Ultear slowly turned the paper around and showed the the front page. Nashi skimmed over the news but didn't see anything important until Ultear pointed to the date.
Nashi, too, paled.
The paper was dated at eleven years ago.
"We're..." Ultear said slowly. "We're in the past."
Oh snap! What will they do! I already know the answer to that but...Heheheh. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!