After Mavis gave Lucy, Gray and Happy the book of E.N.D, the three left to gain some distance from the guild and any fighting so that they can properly discuss what to do with the book. Meanwhile, Erza, Jellal and Wendy had just boarded the Christina and are now running from Acnologia, thanks to Ichiya, Jenny and the Trimens. Now, the group was leading Acnologia away from Magnolia and by the sounds of Ichiya's words, somewhere where there is hope of ridding him from Earthland.
That was when an unfamiliar, yet somewhat familiar woman approached Erza, Jellal, Wendy and Ichiya. Her clothes consisted of a long red and white robe and a high collared cloak as outerwear. It was obvious she was much older than the rest of them, though was probably considerably younger than that of Makarov and Porlyusica. Her long blonde hair was parted to the left and was tied in a high ponytail and she sported a kind and gentle smile across her face.
It was only after Ichiya left the group to help the Trimens and Jenny that the woman began to talk, helping Wendy relax her body as the Christina was able to accommodate for a dragon slayer's motion sickness. Once Wendy had regained her composure, her eyes widened in shock as memories of a past she could somewhat remember flooded her brain. A time in which she had known Natsu, Gajeel, Sting and Rogue like they were own brothers. A time when that woman was her teacher; Anna Heartfilia.
"Yes... and I am an ancestor of a good friend of yours." Anna said. "Your friend Lucy and I, we are from the same family and she is also my descendant."
"But how is that even possible?" Erza asked.
"Well regardless of the fact, is it true that you know a way to defeat Acnologia?" Jellal added.
Anna nodded and hugged Wendy in her arms while the sky dragon slayer seemed to still be processing the reality in her brain. The former blonde looked outside the window, her smile changing into a serious expression. She began to tell her story while they still had the time. About the plan to send the five dragon slayers into the future so that they could defeat Acnologia, how they used to Eclipse gate to do so and how Anna followed them in as a means to continue raising them in the dragons' stead.
It was then that Anna mentioned that Layla, Lucy's mother, was the one who had opened the exit of the Eclipse gate and how an accident that sent each of the five slayers in different directions upon the gate's opening. Wendy was shocked and she couldn't believe her ears. She, along with the other four slayers, didn't recall any of the things that Anna mentioned. She had forgotten meeting the four other slayers in the past, but now that the blonde woman mentioned it, the faded memories came to her in small pieces.
After the background story was explained, Anna then spoke of the 'concept' she had found during her search for the five dragon slayer children. The concept of nothingness, a void that was most likely created due to the distortion of time. It was a void in which they could trap Acnologia for the time being; the Rift in Time. Erza, Jellal and Wendy were surprised to only hear of such a distortion only now, considering that they knew Kumiko would have been able to sense such a distortion many years ago.
"Could it be similar to a black hole?" Wendy asked.
"So your plan is to trap Acnologia in it? So that he could, in theory, possibly turn into nothingness?" Jellal also asked to confirm the blonde woman's plan.
"Yes. Once Acnologia is trapped within the rift, he shall cease to exist." Anna replied as she picked up a fallen orange from one of the boxes as the Christina tilted it's balance. "It's small and normally invisible to the eye, but I believe we can trap that dragon in it for the time being."
"The time being?" Erza asked. "You mean there is a chance of him escaping as well?"
"I do not know the true capabilities that dragon has, but it is best to be prepared." Anna continued to explain. "As I said, this all just a theory heavily supported by the evidence I have found over these past long years. If he does somehow manage to escape the rift and something goes wrong. We have one other option to help us when it happens."
"Are you absolutely sure that this plan, and back up plan, will succeed?" Erza asked again.
Anna only nodded as she narrowed her eyes. "It is the only plan we have in order to stop such a being. Natsu can take care of Zeref as I've heard. So we shall take care of Acnologia."
When Lucy, Gray and Happy found a bench to sit at, far from any form of destruction within the city, they could only stare at the book in the blonde's hands. The book that supposedly and literally contained Natsu's life in its contents. Just staring at it made the three of them grim and Happy couldn't help but feel his waterworks coming up again while Gray just sat in place at a loss. Lucy, on the other hand, just seemed to be deep in thought and though that was normal for her, the other two were concerned for her silence.
Though Lucy knew that Natsu had been E.N.D since Igneel had told her during her time training in the Dragon Realm, he didn't explicitly tell her if there was a way to cancel (for lack of a better word) its influence on Natsu. Not like Igneel would know either as he had also admitted that he never opened the book for himself. Though she could sense the danger and the battles happening throughout the area, Lucy knew that somehow everything would be okay once this matter with Natsu was done and over with.
"Lucy..." Happy spoke up, grabbing her and Gray's attention. "Do you think we should open up the book? First Master must have been on to something when she said that Natsu's fate is in our hands right?"
Lucy stared at the book after Happy spoke his piece, taking in his words as her grip on the cover tightened. She looked to Gray and then looked to Happy before nodding, taking a deep breath as she slowly opened the book with Gray and Happy leaning in to see what would happen. And just as a few seconds of nothing went by, a red light flashed from the book and streams of blood red letters began to pour out of the book into the sky. Too incomprehensible for them to understand due to the speed.
"What the hell is that!? Why are they pouring upwards from the book like that!?" Gray exclaimed as Lucy continued to stare at the letters that flew into the sky.
Before they could continue looking at the words, a massive shockwave and light threw them from their sitting position and all three landed on the ground in pain. The book had closed and the words flew right back into its pages. Once the three recovered, it was easy for Happy to discern that something must've happened at the guild hall and that they had to act fast if they wanted to save Natsu. Lucy thought about it for a second and soon, a proper theory popped into her head.
Once she explained her plan to Gray and Happy, the two agreed and the blonde empress opened the book once more. Turning page after page, trying to find a page of crucial detail that Lucy can rewrite so that she can essentially edit the demon part of him out and replace it with the Natsu they know in. But as they searched, the writing that flowed out of the book came to a halt and many letters began disappearing one after another. It didn't take long for Gray to ask if Natsu was in trouble.
As Happy panicked, Lucy took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Making note that because of whatever bodily link magic that connected the book to Natsu, it is possible that something must've happened with the dragon slayer's body. With no hesitation after that, Lucy had Virgo bring her a quill pen and as the celestial spirit vanished, she began rewriting the letters that had vanished from the sentences to perfection. Gray and happy very much so impressed by her memorization skills.
But just as she finished, Lucy's body began to shake and out of pain, she dropped her pen. The raven haired mage and the blue exceed then gasped as they watched in panic as Lucy began to struggle in pain, the right side of her body being covered in a flaming like vein that coiled up her arm and onto her face. Her body burned and she could barely keep her thoughts together. The blonde then hugged her body, trying to tolerate the pain while Gray grabbed onto her shoulder, only for steam to be produced from his cold contact.
"M-My body... my in-insides... t-they're... burning up l-like crazy!" She cried.
"Could it be Natsu's fire!?" Happy asked with fear laced into his voice.
"M-Maybe it could his demon side's flames?" Gray asked, trying not to panic.
Lucy couldn't allow herself to continue to feel like being burned the way she was, Igneel would think it was pathetic of a Dragon Empress. Though her dragon slaying magic was practically limited to just a spark, she still had the attributes of a fire dragon. If she had no such characteristic, she would definitely be suffering more than what she was currently. Like the Fire Dragon King said when she was learning fire dragon slaying magic: if she wanted to bear the heat, she would have to adapt.
"W-Whatever the case... I'm s-still a fire d-dragon slayer! T-This could p-possibly give m-me the clue I-I need!" She declared as she picked up her pen again. "I... I can't g-give up! N-Not now! I have to do this... b-before t-time runs out!"
"What!? What do you mean before time runs out, Lucy!?" Happy asked. "Are you talking about Natsu!?"
"That's not important right now! I n-need to f-follow t-this magic power! I-If I do t-that, I-I'll be able t-to f-find a place to start re-rewriting! I-I'll... be able to r-rewrite h-his demon part o-of his life!"
While the blonde empress continued to struggle to fight through the heat, Gray sat next to her and raised his hand before letting out his magic power from his palm. The cold air being produced by it allowing Lucy's body to cool externally and alleviating some of her pain. "You write while I keep you cool." He simply stated. "We'll save Natsu together."
Thanks to his words of comfort, Lucy nodded and began reading through the words again. "Let's do it."
It took quite awhile, but the blonde empress finished rewriting inside E.N.D's book. As she wrote in the final letter, the book began to glow a soft red glow and the words began to flow back inside the pages at a rapid pace. Though she was exhausted, Lucy took pride in the fact that the book no longer had any mention of Natsu's demon side and only fond memories all three of them had had with him in the guild. Now it was only a matter of time to figure out the results.
However, her exhaustion got to her and Lucy's body gave out, though she was still conscious. Before Happy could get worried, Gray allowed her to lean on him as he took her hand and with his demon slaying magic, began to cleanse the demon fire that was torturing her body. It only took a matter of seconds before the flaming veins disappeared from Lucy's flesh, as if it was never there in the first place. Once they were gone, Lucy went into a coughing fit but luckily, was otherwise okay.
Once both he and Happy were sure she was okay, the three of them gasped as the book began to glow yet again, this time a green colour rather than red. They watched in sadness and defeat as the book vanished into air, and they interpreted it as Natsu must have vanished along with it. But as they silently cried, Gray could suddenly hear nearing footprints and turned his head to the source while his eyes widened. Lucy and Happy noticed this and too turned, only for their expressions to follow suit with Gray.
There, in the distance, they could see a person walking towards them in a slow manner. On his skin were several wounds and his pink hair a mess. It didn't take long for the trio to recognize who it was and Happy's tears immediately flowed down his cheeks like a raging waterfall. Natsu waved his hand at them like nothing was wrong with him (sporting many wounds and a really beat up arm) but that didn't stop Happy from sprouting his wings and flying towards the dragon slayer in utter relief.
"Natsu! You're alive! Thank goodness!" The blue exceed cried.
"Yeah... the war's over guys." He said with relief.
Gray just nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets as he expected nothing less from his hot headed rival. "Finally..."
Lucy just wiped her tears away as she couldn't contain her smile. "Excellent work, Natsu!"
As Happy continued to cry all over Natsu, which kind of grossed the pink headed slayer out, Gray looked over to Lucy and the two shared a smile of relief. Once the blue exceed had calmed down, the fire dragon slayer informed them that he believed that Mavis passed away at the same time as Zeref. But before they could become grim, Natsu told them that he also believed that everything ended in a way how she wanted it to be, which lifted their spirits to some extent.
It was then that Gray began to notice a soft golden glow growing around Lucy's body. Its brightness continuing to grow until it surrounded her body completely. He began to panic, thinking that something must be happening her due to the effects of tampering with E.N.D's book. But when he took in the expression the blonde empress was making, it almost seemed like she knew what was going to happen next, that... she knew it was going to happen at that moment.
"H-Hey Lucy!? What's going on!? What's happening to you!?" He cried, getting Natsu and Happy's attention.
"Luce!?"
"Oh no, what's happening now!? C'mon Lucy this isn't the time to be pulling pranks, y'know!?"
But Lucy only shook her head, looking down at her hands for a moment before meeting eye contact with the three males. When she met their eyes, all three of them gasped as they noticed her pupils change shape. Her right one became just a regular pitch black circle while the left one became a pitch black circle with a white outlining. While the three tried to make sense of the situation, Lucy just shrugged and scratched the back of her sheepishly as her body began to fade completely.
"This isn't a prank, Happy." She simply stated. "I've done what I came to do is all."
"What are you talking about, Luce!?" Natsu exclaimed. "We're supposed to go back to the guild now, right!? You're here! And... now that the war is over, we gotta go celebrate with everyone... right!?"
The blonde empress shook her head again and just continued to smile at the three males. "To say I'm here is not entirely correct." She said, her voice becoming distorted. "I'm not the real Lucy. We're her celestial spirit, Gemini."
Natsu, Gray and Happy could feel their hearts drop at the reveal, not believing the celestial spirits' words. "What?"
"Master Lucy sent me here to help you during the war while she conserved her energy on an incoming threat that was likely to emerge by the time Zeref was defeated. It is also for that reason that I am unable to make use of her dragon slaying magic as it is to also help her save energy." Gemini explained.
"But then... everything you told us at the guild..." Happy said as his voice trailed off.
"Everything I had told you when I first arrived at the guild was all true, Master Lucy had indeed done all those things. However, I left out one crucial detail." Gemini continued. "Three months ago, when she finally came back to Earthland, Master Lucy had planned to go to Alvarez to gather more info. However, during that time she learnt of a way to possibly trap Acnologia."
"Well great! So why didn't she come here to tell us herself?" Gray asked.
"There was no guarantee that the method would permanently trap the dragon and thus... Master Lucy decided that it would be best for her to save her energy for when she would have to face the dragon once again. She wouldn't allow any of the dragons to help her. Master Lucy wanted to make sure that only she, alone, would face off with the dragon."
"No way! Is she crazy!?" Natsu asked as Gemini was only a few seconds away from completely returning to the Celestial World. "Tell me where she is!? Luce shouldn't go and fight Acnologia all on her own! That's... That's just stupid!"
"My time is up now... Please... make sure Master Lucy doesn't do anything reckless like last time..."
Back where Erza, Jellal and many of the Blue Pegasus members were, they stared at the chaos dragon with utmost fear and helplessness. Acnologia had just made Wendy disappear after breaking out of the whole in the sky and no one knew what else to do. Erza, Jellal, Jenny and the Trimens recalled Anna mentioning one other option to rely on if the plan were to fail. But they soon realized that Anna had not even mentioned as to what that back up plan was. All hope seemed to be lost.
That was, until the chaos dragon began to fly away. A loud roar echoed through the skies and reached his and everyone else's ears. The black dragon came to a halt and turned towards the sound of the roar, only for another dragon's body to crash into him. Erza, Jellal, Jenny and the Trimens' eyes widening as they recognized just who that dragon was while everyone else remained confused and terrified at the appearance of another dragon. But they soon froze in place as a familiar voice spoke from the golden dragon's lips.
"You say you're the most powerful dragon? That you're King?" She asked as her golden eyes pierced through his soul and a smirk across her face. "Then prove your worth, Acnologia! Because I, Lucy Heartfilia the Athena and the Dragon Empress, will finally eliminate you from this world!"