A/N: Episode 198.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE: GOLDEN GRASSLAND
Lucy was standing in front of the portal. "We'll just have to slam it with all our magical power!" She claimed.
"Right." Yukino agreed.
All of the Zodiac Keys flew into the air once more, creating a circle and shining a gold light. Lucy and Yukino joined hands and had their eyes closed.
"Open..."
"...the 12 Gates!"
"Zodiac!" Lucy and Yukino shouted together as the Zodiacs appeared once more.
"Everyone, please!" Lucy pleaded.
The Celestial Spirits charged forward towards the portal as a bright golden light was shown. When it dispersed, the portal still stood.
"I don't believe it! We didn't even make a dent!" Lucy exclaimed.
"It's made of Magnanium alloy, which is highly resistant to Magic. It won't be easy to destroy." Arcadios informed.
"Even so..." Lucy trailed off.
Atlas Flame was on the ground before taking flight and slamming himself into Mother Glare as Natsu hopped on its back.
Levy was running through the town. "Gajeel!" She exclaimed to herself.
"Go back to your own..." Natsu presses his foot on Future Rogue's stomach. "...time period!"
Natsu struck Future Rogue with a flaming kick, making him stumble back.
"I have no intention of going back." Future Rogue claimed.
"Then what'll happen to the current Rogue?!" Natsu asked.
"Eventually, I'll become one with myself." Future Rogue replied as he turned into a shadow. "Like two overlapping shadows..."
"So you wanna steal Rogue's future, too?" Natsu questioned.
"There is no future! Not as long as Acnologia exists!" Future Rogue surrounded Natsu, who glanced around. "That's why I came here, to create the future!"
Future Rogue struck Natsu with holy light as he fell from Mother Glare, but he quickly hung on. Future Rogue soon appeared as he chuckled darkly. Natsu climbed back up on top of Mother Glare as he coughed, making Future Rogue laugh.
"Where's Frosch?" Natsu suddenly asked.
"Dead." Future Rogue replied.
"He's alive. And I bet he's terrified right now... because of you..."
Lector had a stick in his paw as Frosch covered his eyes. "It'll be okay! I'm here with you!" Lector reassured.
"He'll die... about a year from now."
"You can't protect him?"
"I couldn't protect him."
"He's alive right now!" Natsu argued.
"I don't care. I'm not the same man who kept a cat as a sidekick." Future Rogue said.
Natsu charged forward. "You..."
"Someone who has never known despair wouldn't understand." Future Rogue activated his Magic. "I finally obtained hope, and I won't let the insanity of a desperate man interfere!"
Natsu easily moved through the attack. "Your hope..." He leaped over the attack. "...means turning the past into despair?!"
"Not everyone can be equally happy! Grow up, Natsu Dragneel!" Future Rogue shouted.
"Even if you're right, everyone has the right to choose the future! We're headin' for the future that we chose! Not the one you chose!" Natsu claimed.
"Natsu!" Atlas Flame called out.
"We don't have to know what tomorrow holds!" Natsu continued, joining with Atlas Flame's hellfire and slamming into Future Rogue. "That's why we can live for everything we're worth today!"
A huge sphere made of flames appeared.
The Celestial Spirits tried once more to attack the portal. "I've reached... my limit!" Lucy exclaimed as she and Yukino had their hands clasped together.
A large golden sphere soon shined brightly before it dispersed again. And still, the portal remained standing. Lucy collapsed to her knees.
"How can the portal be that strong?" Lucy asked herself.
"It hasn't mooved an inch..." Taurus stated.
An orange glow soon got everyone's attention. "Huh?" Yukino said in confusion.
Happy looked up to see a large flame sphere heading toward their direction. "Get back! Everyone, get away from the portal!" He warned as everyone did so.
The flame sphere soon crashed, making Lucy get thrown back as Happy, Carla, and Lily ducked. When the smoke cleared up, it was revealed that the Eclipse portal was destroyed as Future Rogue was knocked out.
"The portal is broken!" Happy cheered.
"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed as Natsu breathed heavily.
"I don't believe it... A door made of Magnanium, destroyed..." Arcadios commented.
"What will happen now?" Hisui asked.
"We believe the portal in the future can't be used." Yukino replied.
"In other words, Rogue can't come back to this time period." Lily elaborated.
"History will return to normal." Carla added.
Mother Glare soon began to have a golden glow. "The dragon's body..." Happy noticed.
"It's glowing!" Lucy said.
Atlas Flame's body was glowing as well. "Are we going back to our own time?" He wondered.
All of the other dragons bodies began glowing as well.
"Running away with your tail between your legs?" Cobra taunted. "No..."
Zirconis's body glowed. "What is this?!"
"The dragon..." Laxus started to say.
"It's disappearing?!" Wendy finished.
"Humans did this?! Lowly humans did this?!" Zirconis exclaimed.
Hisui walked forward. "I'm sorry."
"It's still dangerous!" Wendy warned.
"Princess!" Arcadios called out.
"Hey!" Laxus said.
Hisui stopped in front of Zirconis. "I'm the one who constructed the time portal. I disrupted the natural flow of your time stream. You, who live 400 years in the past... and we, who live in the present... have no real reason to fight. I perverted nature."
"Who are you, wench?" Zirconis asked.
"Hisui E. Fiore."
"Hisui?"
"That's right. Hisui, or jade, the same color as your body." Hisui stated.
"The same, you say?" Zirconis quoted.
"The same." Hisui confirmed, smiling.
"Stare..."
"Jade Dragon..." Hisui said.
"Jade Dragon... I kind of like the way that sounds. Wait a second! Dammit! I fell for it! I'm..." Zirconis's sentence was cut off as his disappeared completely into a ball of light as did Mother Glare.
The mini-dragons vanished as well as the remaining dragons.
"Did we do it?" Sting asked.
"It looks like we won." Lector said.
"Fro thinks so, too."
"I won't forget you, Natsu... Dragneel..." Atlas Flame spoke before he vanished.
"Thanks, Uncle." Natsu thanked him.
"They're gone!" Lucy said in relief.
The rest of the mini-dragons disappeared. "The little ones are disappearing!" Max informed.
"Did we beat 'em?!" Warren asked.
"I don't know how, but it's over!" Macao cheered.
"It was Natsu-nii. I bet it was Natsu-nii!" Romeo claimed.
"The dragon vanished..." Gajeel muttered as Levy rushed up to him.
"You did it, Gajeel!" Levy cheered.
"Yeah. But..." Gajeel trailed off.
"This isn't satisfying." Cobra commented.
"None of the Dragon Slayers... were able to take down a dragon." Mavis muttered as she was levitating above Crocus.
"Pathetic, huh?" Sting questioned.
"Makes me sick of hearing the term 'Dragon Slayer.'" Rogue responded.
"It just goes to show how strong dragons are. And Acnologia is probably stronger than them."
"Yeah, well, forget him for now."
"Agreed. It doesn't feel like we won, but for now, the battle is over."
"We won." Sting and Rogue looked at each other. "We protected our comrades."
Sting grinned in response as Rogue returned it.
Future Rogue's body was glowing as Natsu walked up to him. "The Rogue I know ain't gonna become you." He claimed.
"The shadows... The shadows try to consume me... They follow me around, wherever I go... and the day I lose Frosch is the day the shadows and I became one." Future Rogue said.
"Frosch ain't gonna die."
"A year from now. Be sure to tell me... to protect Frosch in one year." Future Rogue says a name, making Natsu's eyes widen. "...is going to kill Frosch."
With that, Future Rogue vanished, leaving Natsu to contemplate the information he heard.
Beneath Mercurius, Future Samuel's body glowed as well before it vanished.
He soon woke up, being met with a bright, azure sky. He sat up, seeing he was in a golden grassfield.
"Where am I?" He asked himself.
Future Samuel noticed that his demonic marks were no longer on his body, making him gasp as he lifted his shirt, seeing his Fairy Tail guild mark on his right pectoral, making him sigh in relief.
He begins walking through the field, looking around.
"Hey! Sam!"
Samuel turned around upon hearing a familiar voice call out to him. He teared up when he saw the Sting of his timeline walking towards him.
He soon backed up, choking out a sob. "You're... You're not real..."
Sting grinned at him before extending his arms out. "You've kept me waiting, Sam. I missed you." He said.
Samuel embraces Sting tightly into a hug, burying his face in his chest. "I missed you too." He mumbled as Sting runs his fingers through Samuel's hair. "Please don't leave me again."
"I won't. I promise."
In the present, tears fell down from Samuel's face as he touched his cheek with his fingertips.
He looked up at the sky, the moon finally becoming normal.
"You okay, Sam?" Lyon asked suddenly, seeing the tears on Samuel's face.
Samuel smiled. "Yeah. Just had a sudden feeling." He replied.
A/N: Another chapter is done!
Thanks for reading!
~ Kaleb.