Hey guys! I gotta say, it's strange seeing so many reviews for the new chapters. Not used to so many per chapter :P
Enjoy!
Seven years after the Kronos incident
Not a single person in the whole world probably found sitting atop a sand dune for a few hours at a time fun or exciting, but Elise's entire body shuddered with anticipation as she and Keita staked out of the area below. Said area was rife with suspicious activity, but she payed no mind to what the men appeared to be doing.
Keita, during his solo hunt for Kronos, had come across information that he was running a dark guild ring in the country of Bosco. The two of them had traveled there to catch him. Elise had had her doubts on the trip into the country, but seeing so much activity, seemingly unaware of there presence, was a very good sign. The cave the men were around seemed to be where they wanted to go.
"What's our angle?" Elise asked. "Going in loud?" Keita shook his head.
"No. We're doing this my way."
"What do you mean your way?" Keita shot her a look.
"I mean that when we go in loud we cause a lot of trouble and give Kronos a reason to escape even if him is still hanging around. So we're going in my way, which is the stealthy way." Elise sighed and scratched the back of her head.
"Fine, we'll give it a go. What did you have in mind?" Keita flexed his hands and stood up, Elise following suit.
"Quite simple, really." He answered, turning to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Those guys won't pay attention to a shadow." Elise made a face and shivered.
"Do we have to go in that way?" She asked weakly. "I hate being a shadow. It's so cold."
"Do you have a better idea?" Elise just stared at him and shook her head after a few minutes. "Thought so. Let's do this."
"..Yeah, Let's go." Keita concentrated, and together they sank into the sand below them. Elise shivered once she was in the veil of darkness. "Let's go already, I'm already freezing."
"We're going, give it a minute." The veil moved down the side of the sand dune and towards the dark guild members, but none of them payed them any mind. It was too dark for them to even see them anyway. The two quickly slid towards the cave entrance not far from the men working, where a lift was sitting, presumably to carry them downwards into where their actual base of operations was. Keita quickly reached out and made the lift carry them downwards, and the two waited as it shuddered and started to move downwards.
"Okay, so any idea how big this thing is?" Elise asked. Keita shook his head.
"Not at all." He answered. "But we should stick together. Last thing we need is for you to lose your patience and do something rash because I'm not there to reprimand you."
"Jeez, Am I nothing but a small child to you?" Keita didn't reply, which made Elise huff. "I'll take that as a yes, then." The elevator stopped moving, and they slowly moved out and Keita brought them back up to the service, allowing them a look around the area.
The cavern they'd descended into was incredibly large, and it was crawling with various amounts of other dark guild members that supposedly worked for Kronos. Tunnels lead off in at least a few dozen directions, and it definitely looked like a very new operation even with the size they'd already gotten.
"Woah." Keita said. "They've been working hard on this."
"Which mans the odds he's still here just got even better." Elise said with a smirk. She walked forward and hid behind a piece of machinery as more peons wandered about, talking and working on the tunnels. She felt Keita sidle up on next to her and look over her.
"What's our course of action?" He whispered, his breath hitting the back of Elise's neck and making her shudder.
"Don't know." She answered, shifting lightly to try and forget the feeling crawling down her back. "There's so many different tunnels we could look down." They both surveyed the tunnels, and Keita made a face.
"The middle one." She said, pointing to the largest hole dead center in the middle of the excavation.
"Why?" Elise asked, curious.
"It's the largest hole and has fancy pillars supporting it." He answered. "It matches what Kronos' offices in the previously discovered locations had." Elise snorted quietly and narrowed her eyes at the hole.
"You'd think after getting his other locations discovered he'd change the decor." She said, feeling Keita touch her shoulder and melt them into the darkness once more. They moved underneath countless workers and guild members, all who had their voices distorted by the shadowy veil they hid beneath. They entered the tunnel without incident and proceeded down it, watching for anything that might allude to Kronos.
"See anything?" Keita asked, and Elise shook her head.
"Nothing that screams Kronos, no." The two went down the long tunnel for what seemed like forever until finally, two large black steel doors laid in front of them. They came out from the shadows and eyed the doors curiously.
"This looks important." Keita said, tapping his fist against the door. Elise nodded.
"And behind it should be our man." She hissed, chest swelling with anger. Keeping it down as much as possible, she went up to the door and pushed it. It didn't move. She tried again, but again nothing happened. Eyeing it closer, Elise spotted what appeared to be a keyhole, which probably kept the entire mechanism shut. She growled and turned her arm into a blade and swung it at the door, but it resounded off uselessly. Keita melted into the floor and tried to pass the door that way, but Elise watched his shadow halt right at the door He came up rubbing his head.
"We'll need the key." Keita said. "The doors made of anti-magic steel. Someone other than Kronos must have it. Let's go back and..."
Elise placed her hands against the keyhole, and her arm slowly turned into iron and forged itself around the size of the keyhole, mimicking the key they would've needed to find perfectly. Elise felt her hand click into place, and her stomach turned with excitement. Keita seemed dumbfunded.
"How?" He asked. Elise smiled giddily.
"It's immune to magic, but the key mechanism isn't..." She whispered.
It was time.
Elise wanted to turn the key, but her brain froze. What would she do if Kronos really was behind that door? What would she say?
A hand was placed on her shoulders, and she looked back to find Keita watching her.
"Ready?" He asked. Elise watched him closely before she slowly nodded and turned back to the door, slowly tilting her wrist and in turn, her key-hand turned to the right.
"As I'll ever be." She said, taking a deep breath. The key clicked into place, and the door started to open.
The office was damn near pitch black, but Elise could see a desk silhouetted by the light shining in from a hole in the roof. It seemed dark and cold overall, but Elise proceeded inside and looked around. She looked at the desk, and growled.
"Why don't you just show your face, Kronos?" She asked. A dark mechanical sound came from the desk.
"Well well." The deep robotic sound said. "Elise Redfox and her shadow lapdog have finally found me." Lights flashed on, temporarily blinding Elise and Keita. Once her eyes adjusted, she looked back at the desk, and her blood ran cold.
There, sitting in a luxurious chair, was Kronos. He seemed very aged and the metal parts of his body were rusting over, but overall his flesh face still smiled.
"It's over." She hissed. "I've found you." Kronos shrugged, making steam exhale out of his mechanical arm.
"That you have." He answered. "And what an excellent job your lapdog did at finding this place too. Construction only began a few months ago." Keita stood beside Elise as the man stood, keeping his eyes on them. "And now after seven long years, The survivor of time has hunted me down in my own office. Very impressive."
"Survivor of time?" Elise asked. "What the hell did you call me?" Kronos chuckled.
"You're the only remaining member of Fairy Tail who caused me to lose everything I had. My guild, my standing, my power, my body. I lost all of that because of you and your foolish friends. Five of the six are out of my way. It was supposed to be six. Even after all of that."
"What are you talking about, you bastard?" Keita demanded. "What did you do?!" Kronos smirked.
"It's simple, really. All I did was erase your friends from existence."
...
...
Elise stared, wide eyed, at the half metal man she'd sent years hunting down. His facial expression didn't change.
"You...What?" She asked weakly. Kronos laughed.
"Your friend was there, Elise. He can tell you himself what happened. Or has he conveniently left that out for seven long years?"
"I told her what I saw." Keita growled. "They disappeared." Kronos grinned like the maniac he was..
"And what did you think really happened?" He asked. "that they simply disappeared? No, I erased them from the timeline."
"You..." Elise hissed, feeling the rage pile up within her. "You...You really did...!" Elise looked up, turning her arm into a sword, and it flew towards Kronos, who remained solitary as it struck him dead on in the chest. He flew back and hit the wall, making a crater. Elise jumped forward and landed right next to the crater.
Kronos still smirked.
"Fool." He said. "You simple minded fool." Elise glared at him.
"What?" She asked. Kronos just smiled.
And his form fizzled.
Elise's eyes widened as Kronos laughed.
"You're such a fucking fool!" He shouted. "Did you honestly think I'd stay here for too long?!"
"Thought Projection!" Keita shouted angrily. "Fucking hell, we should've prepared for that!" Kronos smiled at Elise.
"I'll meet you in the flesh someday, Elise Redfox. Perhaps your strikes will be harder on that day. Until then, please do enjoy wading through the men who are still here. They've been ordered to take you out." Kronos' Thought Projection faded, and Elise watched it closely as she heard men rushing towards the doorway.
"Elise!" Keita was shouting her name, but she didn't really hear him. Her blood was boiling. "Elise, we have to go now! There's a lot of people here and...!"
"FUCK YOU KRONOS!"
Keita watched with wide eyes. He didn't know what to do.
He'd never seen such rage exuded from one human being.
Elise had decimated every single peon who had rushed them. Every one. Not a single person was still standing. Only a few remained breathing. Elise was standing in the center of what remained of Kronos' office, her iron Dragon Force still all over her body.
I need to be careful right now...She's so mad.
"...Elise?" He asked carefully. "Are...Are you okay?" She did not reply to him, just stood with her back to him. Keita stepped towards her, and did so slowly in case he angered her. "Elise...We should go...we don't need to stay here any longer..."
"I..." Keita's eyes widened as the scales faded from Elise's body. "I..." Keita took another step closer, and Elise turned to him.
She collapsed into his chest. Keita stared down at her in surprise, but soon he realized what was wrong.
She was crying.
Elise sobbing quietly into Keita's cloak, and he slowly put his arms around her as she continued.
"I..." She tried. "I actually hoped...A part of me hoped...They were okay."
"Elise..."
"That maybe they survived the attack, and had been sent somewhere...Why was I such a fool?! Kronos is right!" Keita just hugged the girl tighter as her small body shook with the rage, sadness and defeat. He'd seen her at her worst, and this certainly compared. "Why did I hold out hope?! It just makes the knowledge that their gone hurt that much more!"
"I'm sorry..." Keita whispered in her ear. "I'm so so sorry Elise. Words can't describe..." Elise shook against him for a few more minutes before she backed up a bit and looked at him, eyes wide with fear.
"How many of them did I kill?" She asked. "How many lost their lives...Because of me?" Keita didn't even take his eyes off of her.
"That's not important." He answered. "You were enraged. I would've done the same thing."
"N-No you wouldn't have..." Elise said, pushing herself closer to him. "You'd have kept your cool better than that...You always have." Keita shook his head with a weak chuckle.
"Let's get out of here, Elise. You need time away from all of this...Longer than six months. I'll stop too, stay with you. Would you like that?"
"..."
"Elise?"
"Y-Yeah..." Keita smiled.
"Let's go then. Enough of this blood, bile and gore shit. Your a lady for God sake. I should be respecting you a bit more."
"I am no fucking lady, Keita Cheney. I'm just a woman."
"Matter of perspective."
Roughly eleven years before the Kronos incident
All five of the teens lost in time felt like time had frozen. They all watched the little blonde girl glare at her brother as he stuck her tongue out at her.
"Oh come on..." Simon hissed. "Why of all times...It was before that..."
Nashi couldn't help but agree on that point. They were not only eleven years in the past.
They had returned to a period in time where Steph was alive.
Slowly but surely, Nashi and the other four looked over at Damien. The man was lowered his head, whether out of shame or reverence Nashi couldn't tell.
"This is bad..." Ultear said. "Not only for us, but...Oh man this sucks." Nashi looked back over at the girl as the adults attempted to usher them out of the guild so that they wouldn't cause some kind of paradox. She was just as Nashi remembered her. Cute and innocent.
"This isn't fair..." Drake whispered, turning away from the girl. "it's like she's haunting us."
"Too true." Nashi agreed, keeping her tears from falling. She once again looked over at Damien, but the poor guy was reacting a lot better than he had in Edolas. He just seemed to be attempting to ignore the situation as a whole.
"I told you this is grown up business, Damien!" Mira shouted, enough to garner their attention. "Just leave it there!"
"But who are those guys?" Younger Damien inquired curiously. "I just want to know."
"It's none of your business, kid." It was Laxus now. "Just go."
"Aw man, this is lame!" It was Young Drake now. "What're we supposed to do now?"
"No idea." Young Simon said. "Guess we could go to the park."
"Ugh, that's boring too!" Young Ultear complained. Nashi couldn't help but smile at the exchange.
"We were pretty cute, weren't we?"
"I guess." Drake said. "Wouldn't really call being a bunch of snot nosed brats cute though."
"Don't talk so negatively about yourself Drake." Ultear replied, making the boy hang his head. "Lots of kids were like that." Drake muttered under his breath, presumably a string of insults, which made Nashi chuckle a bit. She returned her gaze to the group of children and watched as they discussed what to do now that they weren't allowed in the guild hall. She had to admit, aside from the searing pain in her chest from Steph, this was pretty cool to experie...
Steph.
Wait.
Nashi did a headcount on the children. Herself, Drake, Ultear, Elise, Simon, Damien...
Where had Steph gone?
"Onii-chan?" Nashi head whipped around in shock, and her eyes widened.
Steph was slipped away and was standing in front of her older brother, who was staring down at her like he'd been stabbed. Which truthfully he probably felt either way.
"Is that you?" Steph asked, smiling brightly. "You're so old!"
Nobody moved.
Nashi's lungs had to be ordered by her directly thinking about it to allow to her breath.
Damien just stared down at his sister as she watched him cutely. Not even the adults seemed to know what to do. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Damien did something.
He smiled.
"Jeez Steph, careful." He said, making everyone jump in surprise. "It's risky for you to be talking to me."
"Why's that?"
"Grown up stuff, sorry."
"Aaaaawwww! Come on, Onii-chan! I won't tell, I promise."
"No means no, kiddo. Now go away." Mira appeared to drag the girl away, albeit with some resistance, and Damien took a deep breath.
"You...Handled that well." Ultear whispered. He shrugged, but his expression was pained.
"Had too." he croaked. "They can't know or we risk fucking things up." Nashi nodded somberly. He had a point after all. If anyone from this point in the timeline found out about Steph's death, that would be pretty bad. Nashi really didn't have a clue as to how bad exactly, but she imagine.
"Wait a minute." it was Young Damien speaking. "Did she call that guy Onii-chan? What's going on?!"
"He kinda looks like you, too." Young Drake said. The other kids seemed to reach this conclusion as well, before Steph smiled.
"Of course it's Onii-chan! I'd recognize that smile anywhere!" Damien just stared at the floor, and everyone smiled painfully. This was going to be a long stay.
"So...Wait." It was Young Simon now. "If that's Damien, does that mean...?" The kid pointed to his older self, who tensed up. As did the rest of them.
But nothing happened.
"...Yeah, I am." Simon agreed. Those words seemed to blow the kid away, and the others looked around at their older selves in shock. Nashi could tell her younger self was watching he from over Drake's shoulder.
"Anyway," Ultear said. "Before we rip a hole in space and time, we need to find a way out of here. Are there any books in the guild's library about Arc of Time?" Levy made a face.
"There might be. Come with me, we'll look." Ultear nodded and followed Levy towards the guild's library, which left the remaining four in an awkward position.
"So..." Drake said, scratching the back of his head. "Anyone know any good jokes?"
It didn't take long for the guild to reach the conclusion that drinking would solve the problem. Of course Nashi too felt like a drink would solve a lot. Perhaps emotionally, and not actually. She was currently sitting with the guys at a table away from everyone else so that they didn't cause any problems.
"Um...Nashi?" Nashi looked over her shoulder and saw her mother standing there with a small smile on her face. Nashi returned it.
"Hey." She said. "What's up?" The woman smiled.
"Can I talk to you? Privately?" Nashi looked over at Drake, Simon and Damien, but no one raised any objections. She got up and followed her mother to a different table away from a lot of the other guild members, leaving the two of them alone.
"What did you want to ask?" Nashi asked, waiting for whatever her mother wanted to know. Her mother took a deep breath and turned to look at her.
"I just wanted to know...What the future's like." She replied. "Vaguely, of course. Don't want to rip any holes in time like Ultear warned, right?"
"Right..." Nashi crossed her arms and gave the request some thought. On one hand she could vaguely answer her mother like she asked, or just feed her lies. She really didn't feel comfortable doing either.
"If you don't want to, that's fine, but..." Her mother shrugged and laughed. "You don't exactly get this chance all the time, you know? Besides for that one other time...But that doesn't matter." Nashi watched her mother closely as the woman stared at the floor.
"I guess it couldn't hurt." She replied. What did you want to know about?" The two sat down and her mother made a face as she thought about it.
"How about you?" She asked. "How are you? Still shy?" Nashi shrugged.
"No, not really." She leaned back and ignited her palm, tossing the fire up and down. "I'm doing pretty good but, I mean, of all the things to ask about..." Nashi looked back at her mother to find her watching her with a stunned look on her face. "What?"
"You're..That's..." Nashi raised an eyebrow before she looked around at herself for what her mother was talking about.
The fire.
Nashi quickly extinguished the fire and sat bolt right up.
"You didn't see that." She said. "That's...Uh..."
"Nashi..." Her mother whispered. "Did...Did your dad...?" Nashi felt panic starting to swell inside of her. God, she was an idiot! Was her dad returning something she was allowed to say? She shouldn't have been saying anything!
"Shhh!" Nashi hissed. "Don't even ask. It's not worth ripping time apart."
"But..." Nashi crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
"Irrelevant, okay?" She said, looking away. "Just don't bother." Silence enveloped the two, Nashi's mother looking stunned and Nashi trying her absolute hardest to ignore said look. She should've been more careful, she was such an idiot. It was probably the liquor in her system that made her careless. Her mother took a deep breath.
"Okay well, if you can't answer that..." She was about to say more, but her eyes widened. Nashi raised an eyebrow.
"What?" She asked. "What's the matter?" Her mother didn't respond, so Nashi followed her stunned gaze behind her.
And Nashi too felt stunned.
Nashi's younger self was standing behind them, watching her with wide eyes. Had they not been taken out of the guild hall earlier? Or had they snuck in?
"You..." The girl whispered. "You used magic..."
Nashi really needed to learn to be more careful.
A strange place to leave it but hell, don't want to drown you guys in pointless words. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!