Finally, we are back! The last two arcs took too long to read, so I put my other story on hold until I finished. I'll stick with this story until we get to the dragons coming through the gate. But first, let's plan a rescue!
114
Recap: "Zeref managed to get off the island before Acnoloiga got there."
Harry muttered, "No, he didn't. He was with us the whole time." He knew that the man didn't hear him, but he saw Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy sideways glance at him. "So you're saying Zeref may have called that monster there?" Harry questioned the man, knowing it was best to stop the argument. He remembered what he read in the book the time traveler dropped, and he had no plans of getting thrown behind bars. He had to play it safe from now on.
"That's correct," said the royal guard with a grin, believing he achieved in gaining Harry's confidence. Harry just let him think what he wanted. "Come, there is something I want to show you all."
Harry couldn't believe what transpired tonight. After the royal guard, Arcadios, led them out of the underground cavern, he brought them to the castle. There they found the Eclipse Gate and more about the plan to get rid of Zeref once and for all.
Harry wanted to inform them that their plan was futile, but refrained because that would lead him behind bars. The plan, if ignorant, sounded good, but since Zeref was the one to build the thing when he was already immortal made the plan horrible and a complete waste of time. He did tell them there were dragons back then that could come through instead - the doors were big enough for a dragon to fit through, but of course, he was ignored.
Arcadios informed them that the only way to open the gate was with the help of the 12 Zodiac keys, which was why he needed Lucy and Yukino. Harry tried to think of a way to stop this plan from happening when a short old man with a scar under his left eye showed up with the royal army. He told Arcadios that the plan was reckless and too dangerous to let continue, so he, Lucy, and Yukino were under arrest. Things were already tense from when Arcadios admitted to ordering Lucy's kidnap to a bunch of other things that made Fairy Tail want to curse him, but when the old guy arrested Lucy when she did nothing wrong was the last straw. Natsu and the others, Harry and Fawkes included, tried to fight the army to save their friend; however, that didn't work. Hermione stopped them, telling them that Lucy would be okay and they'll find a way to free her later without them getting arrested too.
Harry, Natsu, and Gray reluctantly agreed and allowed themselves to be kicked out. Now they were back in the inn and finished informing their guild what happened while they were gone.
"So these games are nothing more than to gather magic energy to power up a gate that allows you to travel in time," stated Makarov, snapping Harry out of his musing.
"Pretty much," said Hermione. "It's just like it said in the book."
Everyone, except Makarov, Harry, Fawkes, and Ron, turned to face her with raised eyebrows. "What book?" they asked.
Makarov answered, "Harry found a Journal yesterday that spoke about the Eclipse Gate and what will happen if opened."
Harry continued, "It said dragons will come through the gate and burn everything to the ground. As much as I hate that Lucy got arrested, it did slow down the plan to open the gate."
"Which buys us some time," said Makarov. "So, tomorrow, during the final game, I'm sending a team to rescue Lucy and stop the gate from opening." He points to five members of his guild. "Laxus, Erza, Gajeel, Juvia, and Gray, you're all going to be the team that wins the game. I was going to have Harry on this team, but he didn't want to continue in the games, so he'll go with Natsu, Wendy, Mirajane, Happy, Carla, Pantherlily, and Ron. I'm sure there will be some secret squad that will give you a hard time. Natsu's team will leave to rescue Lucy as soon as the game starts, so I want Laxus' team to draw it out for as long as you can. You all got that?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now, let's get some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
The guild was dismissed and they each went to their separate rooms, but Natsu grabbed Harry and pulled him along with him. "I need to talk to you." Wendy, Gajeel, the three Exceeds, Gray, Hermione, and Ron followed, having a feeling they knew what Natsu wanted to talk to Harry about.
They enter an unused room and closed the door. Natsu turned to face Harry. "Okay, I noticed what you said back in the underground cave. Is it true what that guard said about Zeref and Acnologia?" he asked.
Harry thought about his words carefully. He knew he could trust everyone here, but Gray would have a fit if he knew about Zeref. He pushed up his glasses before speaking. "No, it's not. Acnologia turned into a dragon all on his own. His body couldn't handle the Dragon Slayer Magic, so his body transformed into something more suitable," he said, making sure not to mention that this could have happened to the others if it weren't for their dragon parents.
"Would that happen to us?" asked Wendy nervously.
Harry shook his head. "I doubt it. You had your magic for so long that you would have turned into a dragon by now. Maybe it had to do with you being so young when you learned it."
"How do you know this for certain, Harry?" asked Hermione.
"I met someone who lived in that time." Hermione and Ron knew who Harry was talking about, and Natsu seemed to figure it out a moment later. Harry forgot that Natsu knew about Zeref for a moment there. Gray and the rest didn't have a clue who he could be referring to, but before they could ask, Harry cut them off. "It's getting late, we should get to bed. Guys, I know you want to know who I'm talking about, but you'll just have to find out later. We have a big fight ahead of us, so we need to be rested."
"Harry's right," Hermione agreed along with Ron. "Good night, everyone." The others returned a goodnight before leaving for their rooms. When Harry got to his room, he saw everyone was sleeping. He quickly changed and plopped onto his bed too. He didn't remember if his head hit the pillow or not by the time he woke up the next morning.