We're almost through with this arc, not to worry!
Enjoy!
"Please just end the suffering."
"Nashi, calm down. It isn't that bad."
"I beg to differ!" Nashi clutched her stomach in pain as the carriage hit a bump in the road. Her motion sickness had not calmed down with the accelerated age. If anything it was worse than before. Drake was suffering as well.
"Are we almost there?" He asked weakly. "Please tell me yes."
"Yes." Damien replied. "The city is in sight. We'll only be a few more minutes."
"Thank God." Nashi hissed as she forced vomit down. "I can't take much more."
"Well, what do we do when we get back to our time?" Ultear asked.
"Kick Kronos' ass, that's what." Simon said. "Even if he attempts to flee the city, we're going to catch him. He's the reason all of this happened in the first place."
"And then we de-age, hopefully." Damien said. "I don't want to be this age back then."
"We'll probably be okay." Simon said. "Just like Macbeth said."
"...Are we there yet?" Nashi asked weakly. She knew the others were probably tired of hearing her and Drake complain, but there was no way they understood and struggle. Probably why they made both of them sit on the same side of the carriage.
"I'll walk." Drake said. "Stop the carriage." Nashi wholeheartedly agreed with him, and was ready to order the man driving them to stop the carriage. That was, of course, until it stopped anyway.
"There a problem?" Simon asked, obviously talking to the man driving. He made a confused sound.
"I'm not sure, but..." he started. "The city doesn't look quite right." Nashi, now able to move as they had stopped moving, stuck her head out of the window and took a look herself. Sure, at base value, the city looked pretty normal. The wall stood, with Mercurius in the background.
However, as Nashi stared at it, the more uneasy she felt. The guy driving was right, something wasn't right. She leaned back inside and made a face.
"I can't place it, but he's right." She said. "What should we do?"
"Keep going." Drake said. "We need to get back to our own time, so...!" Drake paused mid-sentence, his ears twitching.
"Drake?" Ultear asked. "Are you okay?" Drake's ears twitched a few more times, and his eyes widened.
"Hit the dirt!" He shouted. Before Nashi could ask, Drake grabbed her and threw her and himself through the side of the carriage, causing them to roll down the side of the road and into the ditch.
"Drake what the...?!"
BOOM!
Nashi jumped and watched as the carriage exploded into a bright blue ball of magic. It exploded outwards as bits of wood flew everywhere, and Drake clicked his teeth.
"Something ain't right is for sure." He said. "We're in danger."
"Where did that come from?!" She asked, shocked. Nashi had no idea what had happened. Where the others okay? Was their driver? Drake's ears started to twitch again, and he looked back at Nashi.
"The others are fine." He said. "Simon heard me in time and jumped out, taking Ultear with him. Damien used his demon form to fly out of the roof and out of the way." As if on cue, Damien landed next to them as Simon and Ultear slid down the side of the road towards them.
"You guys okay?" Simon asked, his face had a dirt smear on it. Nashi nodded.
"Just fine." She said. "Did you guys see the guy driving?" All eyes returned to the flaming carriage. Nashi felt a rock settle in her stomach.
"No way he survived that." Damien said quietly. No one spoke for a moment, before Ultear looked at the city.
"What was that?" Damien looked back at the city.
"Looked like an attack from the city walls." He said. "Why though, I have no idea."
"Did we do something wrong?" Simon asked. "I don't think so unless more security we forgot about was implemented."
"No." Drake said. "If we didn't go through the proper security we would've gotten a warning. That was aiming to hurt or kill us." Nashi looked back at the city and watched the walls warily, but no more balls of magic came after them.
"Now what do we do?" She asked. Damien made a face.
"If they're going to try to kill us, I say we blow in the front door." He said. "Show them the error of their ways, so to speak."
"I like that idea." Simon said, also looking pretty pissed. "We'll just fly right up the wall and inside. Although first we have to get right up to it without getting killed." Nashi turned towards the city, and frowned at it. Why had they attacked them? The uneasy feeling in her stomach had no gone away.
"Let's do this." She said. "We've got a time to return to."
Elise stared down at the mug in front of her, watching the contents swirling around as she played with it halfheartedly.
The others had left to return to their own time, and Elise hadn't really seen them off. She'd been to consumed by her own thoughts.
They were going back and, once they reached the time they'd disappeared from, the timeline Elise was currently it would be so drastically altered she doubted she'd be sitting where she was in the situation she was in. All of it, everything around her would change.
And that includes...
Elise looked up at the sound of a child laughing. She found Lana playing with her Grandmother. Elise smiled as she watched her daughter laughing. How she wished to be so fearless in this situation. Then again, Lana wasn't even close to being able to comprehend what was happening. Elise's smile faded as she returned her gaze to the mug.
If her friends really succeeded in changing the future be returning to the past...
Lana might not exist.
Elise knew that if the timeline changed she wouldn't remember any of what she knew now, including her daughter and husband. However, the mere thought of losing either of them almost made her want to stop her friends from doing what they were planning to.
"You okay?" As if on cue, Elise knew Keita was behind her. She didn't say anything at first, and he sat down next to her. "I know you're upset, Elise. What's up?" Elise refused to look up at first, but she did once she found her words.
"If they do make it back to their time." She said. "You and I...Lana...It might never happen." Keita's face flickered ever so slightly to show he knew this, but his expression remained stoic.
"I know." He said. "I figured that was obvious."
"Doesn't it bother you?" She asked. "That you and I might never fall in love? Lana might never be born?" Keita sighed and leaned on the table, obviously thinking over what Elise had said.
"Of course it bothers me." he said quietly. "I don't want it to happen more than you would ever understand. The time I've spent with you and Lana...I'd never give it up for anything." he looked back at her. "But, at the same time, our whole situation is a byproduct of a timeline interrupted. Our love, Lana, it only exists as it does because your friends disappeared twenty years ago and disrupted the timeline."
"Yeah, but..." Elise didn't even know what she was trying to say, so she made a frustrated sound and put her head in her hands. "I don't know how to feel about this." Keita remained silent at this, before he chuckled.
"Well, look at it this way." Elise looked up, and he smiled at her. "In a few minutes, hours, whatever, this timeline will no longer exist as it does. And until then you should spend it being happy with those you love, not sitting around moping about what you may or may not lose." She stared at him, before finally she laughed as well.
"You're right. No point is being down about it. Soon enough it won't matter anyway."
"Exactly, so let's..."
"Everyone!" Elise and Keita turned towards the door, where a frantic Lilly stood trying to get everyone's attention. She seemed to be holding a lacrima in her hand. "Everyone! There's a big problem!"
"What's the matter, Lilly?" Luke asked. "Surely it's nothing we can't..."
"Crocus has been taken over by some militia!" The guild went dead silent at this, no one speaking a word. Elise herself was also stunned. A militia in the capital? How had they managed to take it. Lilly ran inside the guild and played with the lacrima in her hand, before it sprang to life and a lacrima vision screen showing a reporter came to life as well.
"...At the moment we are unsure as the the whereabouts of Queen Hisui, but it is assumed she is okay as the militia has no made any claims to have captured or killed her. Going by the name "Olympians", the group is rumored to only be in the city for a short time but as of now, any residents still within the walls are in hiding. We'll bring you more on this story as it develops..."
...
Olympians.
Elise stared at the screen as it began to replay what had just been said, but Lilly shut it off, and the guild remained quiet.
Olympians.
"Why are they at Crocus?" Natsu asked. "What could they want?"
Olympians.
"And since the Olympians have gone dark, I have no more support for this body."
Elise recalled very much what Olympians meant. The third dark guild of the New Balam Alliance, and the strongest. They controlled Phantom Dove, Devil Advocate, sent Apocalypse after the Etherion Cannon in Silverridge, and had sent Kronos after her friends at the end of the Games twenty years ago.
And...
"They lost what they wanted. All they wanted was her, and they lost her because of a miscalculation."
No...
It couldn't be they knew only after a few days!
As Elise listened to the guild drone on about what they should do and if they should do anything, Elise's stomach turned as Kronos' dying words came back to her.
"They wanted Nashi..."
"They wanted her for her power..."
The only thing they could be after...The only reason they'd resurface now after twenty years...
"Nashi Dragneel...Heh, no, it would be more apropos to call her by her true name. END, or Etherious Nashi Dragneel, believed to be potentially the most powerful demon descended from the Books of Zeref. Or rather, the half demon. And because of this, it is, or was, believed that she could surpass her father in power."
Nashi's face flew through Elise's mind.
She knew why they were back.
She knew what they wanted.
Nashi had returned after twenty years, and they weren't prepared to lose her again.
Elise stood.
"Elise?" Keita asked. Elise looked up as the rest of the guild watched her.
"Sorry." She said. "I just need a minute."
BOOM!
Nashi watched the men fly backwards away from her explosion and grinned.
"Man, the years we aged are certainly helpful in combat!" She shouted, another explosion caused by her sending more men flying. "This is so much easier then I expected!"
"Guess Jellal was right when he said our power increased with the age." Ultear replied, using her water and ice magic to send another group of guys flying. Soon enough the group had no more men rushing them, and they regrouped.
"Unless they changed uniforms, this is definitely not the royal army." Damien said, looking around at the men lying around them. Something must've happened."
"And now we have to fight to the arena." Drake said, stretching his arms.
"The Domus Flau would be a twenty minute walk from here." Simon said, referring to the arena in the distance. "Whether or not we fight our way there would make it longer or shorter."
"So sneak or fight." Nashi concluded. "If we do fight our way there, Ultear has to conserve her strength."
"The spell doesn't take that much out of me." Ultear said. "I can fight too."
"Even so, save it." Simon agreed. "Just in case."
"Let's get going either way." Drake said. "Before anyone else shows up." The group decided on a direction and started to sneak their way around, avoiding the man streets so that they weren't spotted by anymore of the soldiers. Nashi had no idea what sort of army was doing invading the capital, but it wouldn't matter once they returned to their own timeline. At least not for around twenty years. Drake checked a corner and everyone followed him as they snuck across the street, before Drake stopped everyone.
"They know we're somewhere in the city." He said. "They're looking for us."
"No shit." Nashi hissed to him. They continued on their way towards the Domus Flau before Drake's ears twitched.
"Get down!" He shouted. Nashi ducked just in time before the building making up their left side of cover exploded into nothing, debris flying all around them.
"Well well well, lookie what I've found. Five invaders in our city." Nashi looked up at the sound of the voice, feminine in nature. Standing with a group of soldiers in the center of the street was a woman. Her hair was multiple different colors, and her eyes as well. She was wearing a black dress with a matching colored cape, and she smiled widely at them. "Nice to see I got to you first."
"Got to us first?" Damien asked as they all climbed to their feet. "What does that mean?" The woman laughed.
"It means a friend of mine was looking for you as well, but didn't find you. Nemesis so owes me jewel now!"
"So I assume you'd be the one behind the invasion of Crocus." Drake said. "What do you think you're doing? Are we going to have to stomp you?"
"Stomp me?" She asked. "Oh you silly boy, I'm not after you." Nashi made a face. After? What was she after?
"Then what are you doing?" Ultear demanded. The woman laughed again.
"First things first, allow me to introduce myself." She said. The woman did an extravagant bow. "My name is Eris. The Goddess of Chaos."
"Goddess?" Nashi asked. "You're a Goddess?" Eris laughed again.
"No, you silly girl. That's just the title I've been given by Master Zeus."
Oh no.
"Zeus?" Simon asked. Eris smirked.
"Of course. I'm an Olympian after all."
"You sure this thing can get me to Crocus in an hour?"
"Absolutely, with your power it could."
"You install those stablizers like I asked? I can't get sick on the way."
"Naturally." Elise looked down at the magic motorbike and smiled.
"Thanks, man. I really appreciate this."
"No problem Elise. You've done more than enough for me I can do you this favor." The man walked away, and Elise looked back down at the bike.
She was going to Crocus.
Once she heard that the Olympians were in Crocus, she knew they were after Nashi. She had no idea what the extent of her power was, but they were after her specifically.
And she was going to help.
She didn't really know how, or what she was going to do ,but she had to help.
"Elise!" Elise jumped and turned, seeing Luke and Kaida standing there.
"What are you two doing here?" She asked, confused. Luke walked closer to her.
"You going to Crocus?" He asked, staring her right in the eye, and Elise met him halfway. Neither backed down for a moment before she laughed.
"So what if I am?" She demanded.
"We're coming." Kaida replied. "If Nashi and Drake are in any danger...We want to help."
"And you two...agreed on this?"
"Miraculously." Luke answered, nodding. "So what now? You going to try and stop us? Or are we all going?" Elise watched the two teens stare at her, before she looked back at the bike.
"These guys are serious, they won't hold back."
"That's fine." Luke said.
"They'll try to kill you."
"And?" Kaida asked. Elise smiled and closed her eyes.
They're as bad as Nashi and Drake...
She looked back at the pair, who still maintained their position. She smiled again.
"Well, get on. We've got a city to help save."
Slightly shorter, but I wanted to leave it here for today. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try to get five!