Chapter Text
"Wah... It's huge..."
Lucy couldn't help her amazement as she stood before the castle-like building, where the words "Fairy Tail" were etched at the front of its entrance.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail !"
The flying blue cat Happy exclaimed, floating next to his long time partner Natsu Dragneel.
“We’re back!!”
“Yo, Happy ! I’ve heard you’ve messed Hargeon pretty badly, heh !”
“Aye sir !”
Happy lazily floated into the guild, as he greeted their guildmates, glad to be able to come back home and eat Mira's food again.
As the flying cat finally reached the bar and greeted Wakaba and Mirajane, the middle aged man asked quite the unexpected question.
"Hey Happy, what’s Natsu up to this time ?"
"Huh ?"
When the talking cat turned around, he finally noticed that Natsu hadn't entered the guild with him yet. It looked almost as if he had just left it, with his back facing the entrance, but he was utterly immobile.
It seemed like he was looking at Lucy, but his expression was unreadable from the guild's angle.
"This kid has been standing like this ever since you've been back."
Wakaba continued with his questioning, before flashing a grin at the cat.
"Don't tell me that he's finally brought a girlfriend back, hah ! What happened to searching for Igneel ?"
Hearing the middle aged man's words, the guild roared once again in laughter, Natsu Dragneel was still a boy who believed babies came from eggs, so who, even in their wildest dreams, could even imagine him dating ?
While Wakaba laughed alongside their comrades, Happy stared at Natsu and their future comrade (who had yet to get registered) Lucy with an ounce of confusion.
What were they doing ?
A staring contest ?
While it did seem like the both of them were enamored by each other in this very specific situation, or at the very least planning something weird, Happy didn't exactly remember anything remotely romantic that could've had happened ever since the duo met the blonde girl.
What was happening?
Happy's confusion only deepened as Lucy, seemingly in a trance, started shedding tears.
The guild's laughter slowly died down as they realized that the scene they were witnessing was extremely strange, even if it was coming from Natsu himself.
As tears continued dripping down Lucy's face, the girl stood still, looking as if she didn't even notice them. It looked a bit like a game of ‘The first one to move loses’, but twisted and giving it a creepy vibe.
Then, Natsu moved.
The salmon haired boy reached his bandaged right hand towards the blondie in front of him, and muttered with an unusual despair in his voice.
"Luce..."
Wait... bandages ? What bandages ?"
The bystanders of this scene held their breaths in, wondering if they were witnessing the very birth of Natsu's romantic life before their eyes, or some sort of weird prank again.
Natsu's hand slowly raised to cup Lucy's face, but as soon as their skin came in contact, brightly coloured flames engulfed the two.
"Natsu ! Lucy !"
“I’m enchanting all of our magic power onto you, Natsu !”
What was happening again ?
“Get him, Natsu !”
Oh, right. Zeref and Mavis had passed on.
“If anyone can do it, it’s you !”
What then ?
“We’re counting on you, Natsu !”
He was sent into the rift in Time and Space.
“All of our magic power…”
But why ?
“Is in your hands !”
Acnologia.
“Natsu !!”
“Do you remember, Happy ? It’s here, in Hargeon, that I’ve met Natsu and you. That was the beginning of our adventures !”
Who..?
“I’m ready !”
Hah, how could she ever forget them ?
“Aquarius… First Master… Father, Mother… I need your help.”
Her loving guild and family.
“Please grant me the strength to protect them all !”
Fairy Tail !
“Fairy Sphere !!”
As Lucy opened her eyes, she was greeted by a field of golden clouds. It seemed like she was able to reach heaven after this grievous fight against the Black Dragon. Tears seemed to be dripping down her face unconsciously as she thought of their last struggle as humans, against that dragon.
The Fairy Sphere… It wasn't enough to stop him.
Acnologia had broken out of the golden sphere and… Lucy didn’t remember much after that, only the sight of his fangs closing on her body.
The girl looked around, wondering.
Had the other members of the Guild reached heaven too, or were they lucky enough to have survived Acnologia ? Or did they all end up in hell ?
No, the mage shook her head in amusement. The guild may have been a bit destructive and messy, but each and every member rightfully deserved their place in heaven.
“Lucy !”
A boyish voice resonated through this ethereal place, and it was a voice she knew extremely well.
“Natsu !”
Lucy ran with as much might she had, and embraced the fiery, pink haired mage. In this haven of peace, the two mages relished in each other’s warmth as they cried.
Tears of joy.
Tears of sorrow.
Tears of anger.
Tears of grief.
Tears of regret.
They knew. The both of them knew, they had lost to Acnologia. There wasn’t any use in crying over spilled milk, but Lucy couldn’t help it as she sobbed in Natsu’s arms.
“Natsu, Lucy.”
“M-Master Mavis ?”
The shoeless girl nodded, as she gave a comforting smile to the both of them.
“Is this… the end ?”
Lucy shuddered at Natsu’s question. Because she knew. The end of their adventure meant death, but also that the last two bastions of humanity had crumbled in front of Acnologia, ultimately allowing the destruction of Ishgar.
“No, not exactly.”
It was a black haired boy, who answered in her stead.
“It’s been a while, Natsu.”
“Zeref.”
“If the both of you are here… does this mean that we’re dead too ?”
Lucy forced out her suspicions in a trembling voice.
“Well, we’re dead. Zeref and I… were freed from the curse of immortality. But we were able to achieve a small feat, even after our deaths, to help you two, to help Fairy Tail.”
The shoeless girl took the hand of her partner with a tinge of sorrow in her eyes, as she explained her situation to them.
“To put it bluntly, humanity was ultimately defeated by Acnologia. But right before your death in the rift, Natsu, I intervened. Since the rift is the passageway intervals in between space and time, the past as well as the future, where actual existences and beings throughout time and space can be found, reside, live, and communicate, Mavis and I were able to use the power of Fairy Heart on you.”
The dragon slayer tilted his head to the side, not understanding a single thing of his brother’s explanation.
“Natsu, do you remember what Zeref’s goal was, when he took over my power ?”
“He took over your power to go back to the times before he was cursed…”
As the fire mage answered, both his partner and him slowly came to understand what had happened.
“Right, that was my goal, but enough about the past ambitions of a dead man. I used Neo Eclipse on you, which erased your present and will bring you to the past. Since you were in the rift, which is a necessary element to rewind time, I’ve successfully activated the spell, which also transported your memories and powers back in time. But there was a single, unexpected anomaly.”
“An anomaly ?”
Lucy questioned the dark mage, as he continued his explanations.
“Yes, an anomaly. Zeref used the Fairy Heart to rewind time to July 7th X777, to when Anna Heartfilia crossed the Eclipse Gate with Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers.”
“...The anomaly… Is it related to why I am also listening in on the conversation ?”
“Lucy Heartfilia, you are a truly smart girl.”
Zeref smiled as he continued his explanations.
“Right, you have been sent alongside Natsu, which should’ve been impossible. But this too, can be explained easily. I’m assuming that you were the one who rewrote END’s –I mean Natsu’s– book during our fight, and that you were cursed, right ?”
“...I was. But Gray used his Demon Slaying Magic to remove it, didn’t he ?”
Lucy could feel the cold sweat dripping down her neck, seeing their Guild’s number one enemy talking so peacefully with their Guild’s founder, and caring so much for Natsu… The ex-Emperor of Alvarez continued to answer her questions calmly, as if there never was any animosity between them.
“To be exact, Gray Fullbuster was only able to revert the curse back to the form of an unsprouted seed, which unwillingly bound the two of you by soul. While I am happy to see that Natsu isn’t going through this ordeal alone, this isn’t exactly good news for you two either.”
“What do you mean ?”
As dull as ever, Natsu cut Zeref in the middle of his explanations.
“As Zeref said earlier, Natsu you were sent with both memories and magical powers of the you in X792, right after our deaths. But Lucy is a collateral of this. Even if she travels back in time with you and retains all of her magical powers, the first setback is that she uses Celestial Keys: since the Celestial World exists in another realm, I can’t confirm whether the spirits will keep their memories, but she will need to recollect all of her keys again.”
“This is not an issue for me, First Master ! If I have collected them once, I can do it again.”
“Yes, I believe that the two of you will be able to do it. But this brings us to our second issue, Lucy. It is that every time Natsu borrows powers from the future with a body that hasn’t rightfully earned it in the present, the curse will reignite in your body.”
Hearing those words, Lucy felt a slight pang in her heart. It seemed like she was being a deadweight on her team once again. But she couldn’t abandon Natsu to struggle alone, nor her guild.
“...It’s alright, Master Mavis. What does a bit of suffering mean when it means saving Fairy Tail and the whole kingdom of Fiore ?”
As he heard these words, Natsu was taken aback. Even if it was for the whole entire world, he couldn’t let his companions suffer just like this.
“...Lucy.”
The Celestial Mage felt a warm calloused hand wrap around hers, but she didn’t look down as she continued on.
“You will need to train twice as hard if you don’t want me to suffer, Natsu ! So you better your best.”
Zeref and Mavis glanced at one another in front of this heartfelt exchange, before the black mage continued on.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but it seems like our time together will soon come to an end. We need to finish our explanations. The third setback that your presence brought to us, Lucy, is that by turning back time with Natsu, the destination has changed too: instead of the most turning point in Natsu's life –which was coming to this era– the time you will be travelling to is going to be the moment the both of you considers as a huge turning point in both of your lives.”
The entire world slowly shone in a warm light, embracing the four people.
“Unfortunately, neither Mavis nor I were able to exactly pinpoint your destination, but it will most probably be before our deaths, which means that you will need to defeat me once again, as I wasn't able to revert time with you, but with a bit of luck…”
The two immortals simply waved the duo goodbye, with small smiles on their faces.
“But remember, fate has already been written down once, and it does not bend easily.”
“Goodluck Natsu, Lucy.”
Before the light fully engulfed them Natsu yelled back.
“Thanks for everything, Master Mavis, Brother !”
July 4 X784, Magnolia
“Hahahaha ! Everyone, what do you think of my new trick ? I’m so much stronger than you all now !”
Everyone stared at the pink haired, fire spouting mage in shock, Happy included.
Since when did Natsu know how to make rainbow coloured flames ?
Faced with Natsu's ever growing mischievousness, the guild could only sigh. He got them real good this time.
“So, Natsu, how was your time in Hargeon ?”
“Bastard ! The info you gave me about Salamander was fake !”
Natsu launched himself into the ever so messy guild brawls, as always, while Lucy stayed on the sidelines as she stared at this peaceful sight, one that she missed dearly.
“Let's act just like how we did back when I first came to Fairy Tail… And we'll plan for the future after I get registered !”
As the flames slowly died down around them, Lucy gave Natsu a single, simple instruction for now. They couldn't wing it if the whole entire continent's future was relying on it, after all…
But it didn’t seem like Natsu was having much of a hard time acting on the events that had transpired that day, which was quite the miracle with how bad his memory was. It seemed like this day was a memorable one to both of them, but why was Natsu’s right arm bandaged like this ? The arm was fully covered in white bandages, stopping right underneath his guildmark, but she was pretty sure that he didn't have this before.
Deep in thought, Lucy had just gotten the Fairy Tail mark stamped on the left hand, just as it was before, and was now sipping on a drink. She almost didn't even notice when someone slipped on the seat right next to her.
“All by yourself today, Princess ?”
The man wearing glasses smirked at the blonde girl as they stared at one another.
“Hah… Don't start crying on me now, Princess.”
Loke wiped the tears spilling from Lucy's eyes as he profited from the mess to explain the situations to him.
“Us spirits are bound by a contract to your soul… And while I'm not sure what exactly happened here, the time in the Celestial Realm has remained the same. So, I have a small request for you, Lucy.”
Her eyes widened as she looked at the golden key the spirit had slipped in her hands.
“Will you accept my key once again ?”
“Yes, Loke !”
The Celestial Mage jumped in the arms of her spirit, crying as she felt relief wash over her. On the side, the brawl had been knocked down a notch as Natsu, who had been sent flying into a table by Gray, didn't move from his position as he stared at the tearful reunion with a grin.
Gray, as naked as always, heard Natsu snort and followed his line of sight as his gaze turned towards the duo. What was his rival looking at in the middle of a fight anyway ? Slowly, but surely, most of the members, curious about Natsu’s weird behavior again, stopped to stare at Lucy and Loke.
“Oi Flamebrain, did your new girl just get stolen by Loke ?”
“Whaddya say, Stripping Pervert ?”
Hearing Natsu’s usual answer, the guild members started brawling even harder, until a booming voice resonated through the hall.
“Cut it out, you fools !!”
As Master Makarov stomped on Natsu and ended this brawl, Lucy and Loke couldn’t help themselves but laugh at this stupidly familiar, nostalgic sight. They had indeed rewinded time.