Just so you guys know, we probably aren't going to do anything cool for chapter 200. The timing is all off and we're in the middle of an arc. I might just make it an extra long chapter or something, I don't know. The way things are planned right now it'll just be another chapter. the 200th one, but just another one.
Enjoy!
Seven years after the Kronos incident
Elise walked through the crowded streets of Magnolia, smiling as she waved to people who wished her a good morning. It was one.
It had been a whole year since she'd been on the hunt for Kronos, and this was because after about six months of fighting with Keita, he told her to stay put and he'd do the hunting on his own. Elise tried to tell him that was unfair and she wanted to help, but Keita told her that with how much the man moved about and how he was never where they wanted him to be, the odds Keita actually got to him were slim. He just wanted Elise to stay home for a bit, longer. She, however, had been initially against this, but the man told her to relax a bit. That was all he wanted her to do.
And soon, Elise grew to appreciate the sentiment. The year she'd been home had been a great one, and it seemed everyone was finally, at least somewhat, moving past the disappearance of the five.
At least at face value.
Elise knew no one directly involved was over what happened. Not a chance. She wasn't. The parents weren't. But they put on the mask of happiness and did their best. As did she. And it usually did it's job.
Sighing, Elise entered the guild rather unnoticed. A few people looked over and acknowledged her, but she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment.
"Elise!" Elise looked over as someone called her name and her gaze fell on Luke, who was sitting with his mother and waving to her. She smiled and waved back to him, which made him smile even wider. She walked over to them and placed a hand on Luke's head, rubbing it.
"What's new, kid?" She asked, letting him go as he looked up at her.
"You know what I just did?" He asked, a sly smile on his face.
"What?"
"I put bugs in Kaida's breakfast." Elise and Lucy both stared down at the young boy, before exchanging glances themselves.
"Luke that wasn't very nice." Lucy scolded, making the boy look over at her innocently. "Why would you do that?"
"Cause she'd do it!"
"Did she?"
"No..." The boy looked down as Lucy glared at him, making Elise chuckle. "But she would if she was smart enough to think of it..." Elise smiled weakly at the boy as he scrunched his arms together and stared down at his lap.
Nashi's visage flashed before Elise's eyes as he did so, her face buried in the scarf around her neck.
The visage disappeared, and Luke's returned. Elise stared down at the boy as a hot pain was driven through her heart. He looked so much like her.
"What?" Luke asked, staring at her. "Are you okay, Elise?"
"..." Elise stared down at the ground and clenched her fists, not answering the boy.
"Luke," Lucy said. "How about you go warn Kaida about her breakfast before I ground you? I want to speak to Elise."
"Okay..." Luke got up and went to find the girl he'd tried to prank, leaving Elise and Lucy alone.
"You okay?" Lucy asked. Elise nodded slowly.
"He..." Elise started, not sure how to word it. "Reminds me of his sister."
"Hm..."Lucy agreed quietly. "He does, doesn't he?" The two of them went silent at this, and Lucy sighed. "She's been gone for seven years..." She laughed. "For some reason I hoped this would end up like my own problems with time passing without me and she'd appear once seven years was up, but I probably shouldn't get my hopes up."
"Yeah, I guess..." The two women fell silent, and Elise was preparing to excuse herself when someone called out to her. She turned and found her mother smiling at her.
"There you are!" She said. "You've got a visitor."
"Huh?" Her mother pointed to the door, and Elise followed her gaze.
Keita was standing there, a file under his arm, watching her.
Her stomach twisted.
Elise slowly walked towards him and stood right in front of him.
"What?" She asked. "I don't hear from you for six months and then you...!"
"I'm sorry." Keita interrupted. "But this is big." Keita cleared his throat, and spoke louder. "Yeah, I could really use your assistance on this job. Can we go and discuss that?" He was covering for her so that she'd have a reason to disappear once more. She nodded curtly and he turned, leaving the guild hall. Elise turned to her mother.
"I'll see what he wants." She told her. "Be right back."
You...What?" Elise asked, leaning over the small table between them to get in Keita's face. He nodded and brought out the file from under his arm.
"I've got a big lead on Kronos." He replied. "And I mean big. Check it out." He slid the documents across the table and Elise picked it up and opened it. What she was was a multitude of documents and pictures, coupled with notes Keita had made and the like.
"What is this?" She asked. "I don't understand."
"It talks about a dark guild ring that's recently started up in Bosco." Keita answered her. "At first I didn't pay it too much mind, but things started to connect amazingly. And one thing connects it all."
"What is that?" She asked. Keita smiled.
"The reports state that the ring is being lead by a half metal man." Elise narrowed her eyes at Keita, but he remained unmoved.
"Kronos." She said, and Keita nodded.
"Yes indeed. He's running the ring and from what the reports say, he's been hanging around for a while." Elise looked back down at the filed between them and gave it some thought.
"So, what do you propose?" She asked. Keita crossed his arms.
"We go." He said. "No later than today. I don't know how up to date Kronos is this time but if we don't get a move on, he'll disappear again. God knows we don't need that."
"You're right there." Elise answered. "But are you sure we can get there in time? It's in Bosco."
"I know." He said. "But if we don't get a move on it won't matter. What do you say?" Elise reread the information stated in he files. It said that near the center of the country Bosco was a dark guild ring, which was reportedly lead by a man who was half machine. That was obviously Kronos, no doubt about that. But...
"I don't know." She replied, looking back at him. "I mean, I want to get this guy, but he's just going to disappear on us again..."
"Elise?" Elise looked away from Keita's gaze. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing." She answered. "It's just discouraging to know that no matter what happens this time will end up exactly like the fifteen or so times we 'thought' we had him before. I just don't trust the intel."
"Okay." He said. "Don't trust the intel."
"Wha...?" Keita grabbed the file and ripped it up, tossing it aside. He returned his eyes to Elise.
"Don't trust The intel." He repeated. He leaned closer. "But you trust me, right?" Elise made a face.
"Of course I do." She said. "What's that got to do with anything?" Keita smiled.
"Well then." He said. "If you trust me, then I say we should try and get a move on this. What do you say?" Elise watched him closely.
"And what happens if he slips away from us for the umpteenth time?" She demanded. "And we're left with nothing once more?" Keita frowned.
"Then we'll reevaluate our search. We'll have to start again." He kept his gaze on hers, not backing down. "Okay?" Elise watched him closely once more, before she frowned.
"You know," She said. "Something's been bothering me for a while."
"What?" Elise got in Keita's face, surprising him.
"Why do you care so much about this?" She asked. "Kronos didn't take your friends away. You didn't go through what I and the others did. Why are you the one pushing to get this guy? Why are you continuing without me? Maybe you should go and see your family Keita." Keita looked more surprised at her question then her sudden closeness.
"Why?" He asked. "Because I want to. Because I care."
"Why?"
"Because..." Keita growled and rolled his eyes, creating distance between himself and Elise. His cheeks were pretty red for some reason. "I care about you. Okay? I've been helping you for six years now, I'm not going to stop now. I want to help you. I want this guy dead as much as you." Elise smirked at him and slapped his cheek a few times.
"Aw, aren't you cute?" She asked. Keita rolled his eyes.
"Shut up." He hissed. "Are we doing this or not?" Elise cracked her knuckles and nodded.
"You said we had to go today in order to get the drop on him? Bosco's pretty far so we'd better get a move on."
Roughly eleven years before the Kronos incident.
Being in Magnolia was a weird experience for all five involved. They knew the city like the back of their hands, but walking through it and trying to garner no attention was a little difficult.
Although Nashi had to commend herself for getting a glove to cover her guild mark up. She was the only one with the mark on display, so she had to cover it up with something to avoid people having even more license to recognize her outside of the hair, face, and scarf, which she had to take off for the very same reason.
"This was a bad idea." Ultear said. "People are already staring."
"They sure are." Drake said. "Damn near everyone is wondering who we are and why we resemble ourselves so much."
"Why are we moving through the open street?" Damien asked, jabbing a thumb at the alley beside them. "We could just sneak to the guild hall." Simon nodded.
"That's a good idea Damien. Let's go guys." Inconspicuously as possible, the five of them slid into the alley away from the stares of the residents. Once they were away from that, they proceeded as silently as possible to their guild hall, and the closer they got the tenser they got.
"So, uh, what do you say exactly?" Drake asked. "We aren't exactly in any sort of disguise, or anything..."
"Firstly, we should try and avoid ourselves if possible." Ultear said. "This was a bad idea to begin with, but if we met ourselves it could do some real damage to the timeline."
"Mest." Nashi reminded the girl. "Have the memories of us altered or erased and it's like we were never here."
"Yeah but if he does do that aren't we aware of it and it can't work on us?" Ultear countered. Nashi shrugged.
"What's the problem with that?" She asked. "We're just trying to get back to our time. Having memories of this visit can't possibly effect anything that badly."
"I guess we'll see about that then." Ultear replied, and they all grew silent. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they saw their guild hall through the alleys.
"Here we go." Damien muttered as they all came out of the alley and stood in front of the guild hall. "This does seem like a bad idea now they we're here."
"No turning back now." Simon said. He walked towards the door and slowly opened it, peeking inside the large hall, everyone following his lead.
Unsurprisingly, the hall didn't look all that different than it looked eleven years from then. it still reeked of booze and sweat, still had tables lining the opening, job board still situated on the wall near the door, and everyone was laughing and drinking.
Nashi would've felt right at home had she not been on high alert for something.
"Okay, so... Drake shrugged. "What are we doing exactly?"
"...Looking inside, I guess." Nashi answered. "We came here to look for help, so I don't think we're helping anyone by leaning in the front door and..."
"What are doing?" All five jumped and tried their hardest to back out of the hall, falling over each other as they did so. Once they recovered somewhat from the fall, they looked back outside of the hall to find someone standing there.
Levy Redfox watched them with a strange look on her face, Gajeel right behind her. Even eleven years younger, they were both easily recognizable.
"Shit..." Simon hissed. Levy tilted her head to the side.
"And why do you look so familiar?" She asked. Nashi wasn't sure what they were supposed to say here, but everyone had fallen silent. Gajeel was watching her closely, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he sniffed her out.
"W-Well, uh..." Ultear tried weakly. "W'ere, um..."
"This one." Everyone looked over at Gajeel, who nodded at Nashi. "She smells like Salamander...No, she smells like Nashi." Nashi laughed weakly as the two adults watched her closely.
"Might be because Nashi is my name." She said, scratching the back of her head. "This is a long story, but we need your help and..."
"Levy? Are you back?" The guild halls door opened, and everyone looked back.
Nashi's mother stood there, staring right at her. Her eyes widened.
"...N-Nashi? Is that you?" Nashi laughed weakly.
"Look, if we can just take a moment to explain..."
The five had been sat down in the dead center of the guild hall, the guild all watching them closely.
"...What do we say?" Simon hissed under his breath. "If we have to watch what we say, then..."
"I'll handle this." Ultear answered. She cleared her throat. "So before I say what's wrong, anyone want to get the obvious questions out of the way?" The guild was silent, still watching them. Ultear coughed. "Anyone...Anyone at all..."
"Who are you?" It was Erza who had spoken. Ultear nodded.
"A good start." She said. "As I'm sure you've noticed by now, we look a lot like five certain children in the guild..." Ultear gestured to the rest of them, making them all give a small wave. "And that's because we are those five kids, but from eleven years in the future."
"...What?" Laxus asked. "The future? How did you get here?" Ultear gave this some thought before she took a deep breath.
"Too keep a long story short," She said. "We were attacked by a man using Arc of Time, and his spell malfunctioned. I have no clue what his original intent was, but he sent us backwards in time instead. And now we've come home to, hopefully, get help in returning to our own time." The guild went quiet once more, and Nashi waited with baited breath as everyone absorbed this information.
"So..." It was Nashi's mother who spoke. "Ultear, Simon, Damien, Drake...Nashi?" Nashi met her mothers shocked gaze, and nodded weakly.
"You look good mom." She joked, attempting to lighten the mood. "Eleven years were not easy on you." A few people chuckled, but the mood mostly remained unchanged.
"You look good too." Her mother said, smiling. "You look so grown up as well." Nashi felt her chest swell from the compliment, but she kept that to herself. It wasn't important right now.
"So let me get this straight...Ul." It was Gray who was speaking now. "You five got thrown backwards in time and you came here to get help in returning to your own time?"
"Exactly, Dad." Ultear answered. "But in order too...!"
"Not to interrupt Ul, but where are we anyway?" Damien asked. "Younger us, I meant." Kinana smiled.
"I believe you're all out playing right now." She answered. "I assume it'd be best to keep you all apart?"
"For now, yes." Ultear said. "It could rip space and time apart if we...!"
BAM!
All eyes turned to the doorway as it was thrown open once more.
Six bodies were sprawled out on the floor, and most of them seemed to be laughing.
"No fair, Simon!" it was Younger Drake who seemed to be yelling. "You used that speedy spell to win that race!"
"So what if I did?" Simon asked. "I just used by magic to my advantage!" Drake seemed to be fuming, but the other four bodies all stood and looked at them.
"Totally unfair, Simon." Younger Damien said. "Play fair sometimes."
"Yeah!" Ultear said. "Not fair!" Elise crossed her arms and fumed.
"I'll totally win next time, just you wait and see!" She said.
And then there was the sixth body.
Younger Nashi had noticed the whole guild staring at them, and was slowly sliding behind Drake to hide herself from them.
"Everyone's staring..." She heard herself whisper, and Nashi couldn't help but smile weakly.
I was a shy kid...I totally forgot.
Younger Drake had noticed her concern, and looked forward.
"Did we do something?" he asked weakly. "It wasn't me."
"We don't usually get stared at like this for doing something bad..." Damien said. As people moved to get the kids out of the way so that they avoided contact with their older selves, Nashi met her younger selves gaze, even with her peeking out from behind Drake's shoulder. She winked at the girl, and her eyes widened.
"Is that...Me?" She asked, pointing at Nashi. "She looks like me..."
"Nashi honey." Nashi's mother got in the way. "This is grown up business, okay? So I want you and your friends to go and play somewhere else, okay? You can't be here right now."
"But Mommy, she looks like me!"
"I know honey, but you can't be here right now..."
"Man this is weird..." Drake said, elbowing Nashi as their parents tried to get their younger selves out of the way. "Look at how cute you are." Nashi raised an eyebrow at him..
"Cute?" She asked. Drake nodded.
"Sure. Look how shy you are. These were the good old days, Nashi."
"That's not what I would call them..." Nashi said as she watched him, waiting for him to make the connection. He paled.
"Oh..." He said. "was this around time Rocky...?" Nashi shrugged.
"Think so." She said. "I don't recall."
"Ah come on, we wanna know!" Younger Damien shouted. "What's going on?!"
"Damien, you can't be here!" Mira scolded. "This isn't something you can get involved in right now, and...!" Mira paused, and looked around. "Wait, we're missing someone." Everyone else paused and looked around, before they too seemed to draw that conclusion.
"Where is she?" Erza asked her younger son, who seemed confused.
"She was with us, right guys?" He asked, and the others nodded. Younger Damien seemed a little mad.
"Mom I swear, she disappeared to get me in trouble again!"
"Oh course she did, Damien..."
"She did!"
"What's happening?" Simon asked. "Who are they talking about?"
"No clue." Ultear answered. Damien, however, was going pale.
"I remember this..." He whispered. "I know what they mean..."
"Damien?" Nashi asked. "You okay?" The man's face was slowly draining of color, and his eyes were glued to the door.
"I should've realized this sooner...Eleven years...The past..." Nashi stared at the boy and tried to figure out what he was talking about.
And once she had, the color drained from her face as well.
How had they not seen it sooner?
"No..." She whispered. "No...It can't be..." Before anyone could ask her what she'd figured out, an angry high pitched voice coming from outside the guild.
"Onii-chan!" The voice shouted. "Why do you always rush off without me?!" Younger Damien looked miffed.
"Ugh, here we go..." he muttered. The source of the voice reached the door, and Nashi's hear leap into her throat.
Stephanie Dreyar glared at her brother, cheeks puffed up with irritation.
"Just stop leaving me behind!"
Well then...I just wrote that. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!