The Silent One

Chapter 15

They all look at the tall man in white armor and a familiar girl behind him, stunned.

"I'm the captain of a division of Fiore Royal Army, stationed in Crocus. My name is Captain Arcadios of the Sacred Cherry Blossom Knights." 

"And I am Provisional Sergeant Yukino Agria of the same unit." Yukino reintroduced herself, staring straight down.

As the Fairy Tail members started to speak upon themselves, Arcadios coughed, interrupting them, and spoke again.

"Why don't I explain? We need the assistance of celestial wizards for a certain top-secret project we are preparing, and Sergeant Yukino had kindly offered her services."

"Celestial wizards?"

Natsu, not aware of what Arcadios meant, yelled and at the same time questioned the dark skin man.

"Hold it, I don't get this at all! If it's another plot-twisting story, I'll pass! Just tell us what you want!"

"You are Natsu Dragneel, I take it? Your last battle in the games was a splendid display, same as Y/N Connell." Arcadios complimented, though it didn't please the 2 who were mentioned.

Stomping his feet just a centimeter away from the knight's feet, growling at him.

"I couldn't care less about that! That thing you said about needing celestial wizards is stuck in my head. You wanna say something, creep, then why don't you just come on and say it?"

Unfazed, Arcadio twist his body around, and walked away, saying "Follow me," making Natsu scream at him.

"Lucy-san, Connell-san, I also asked for both of your help. If this plan is a success, then both Zeref and Acnologia will be defeated."

As everyone heard this, they were all paralyzed by the information that had been spilled to them.

Y/N was debating whether she should help or not defeat the father figure she had for a few years.

Looking at each other but Y/N, they all nod their head and followed the Sergeant to the palace.

As they made their way through a hallway, the Captain started to apologize.

"To start with, I would like to apologize for the attempt to kidnap Lucy-san a few days ago. I accept full responsibility." 

"WHAT?!"

"And you even sent some weird creature that died from being exposed to the sun?!"

"That, was a demon, as what Connell-san and the Hashiras and Slayers do as their occupation. Demons are man-eating creatures, that can't be exposed to the sun, as we were told by their leader that much." Arcadios explained, leaving everyone to stare at Y/N in shock.

"Of course, it was not my intention to put you in danger, but it turned out to be a slightly too forceful a strategy. I was under the mistaken impression that I needed even just one celestial wizard immediately, and that urgency affected my judgment, I apologize."

Looking up as he continued to walk, he exposed a piece of information to the wizards behind him.

"The Grand Magic Games is a ruse designed to collect enormous amounts of magical energy from wizards."

Gray asked to confirm the knowledge, "So you're saying that you guys steal magical energy from wizards every year?" 

Gajeel 'tsk', saying "That's dirty."

"You may criticize as you like, we do it to aid us in a particular plan. Eclipse, the door that will change the world. We need an abundance of magical energy for its construction."

Reaching the basement of the castle, lies a large door with a sun in the middle, with 12 lines connected to the sun as a decoration.

Y/N, squirting her eyes, was starting to understand the situation they were brought into.

Lucy raised her head up to see the Eclipse, exclaiming: "A door?!" 

"What is this?!"

"Upon the alignment of the Sun and the Moon, bring the 12 keys and open the door. Upon opening the door, you may travel 400 years into the past to defeat Zeref before he became immortal. That is the Eclipse plan!"

Everyone choked at the information, even Y/N. She never knew that time travel would have been possible, as she was taught by Acnologia, so she was exposed to all the magic the Black Dragon knew himself.

"T-Travel through time?!" Lucy said, sputtering a bit at the beginning of her sentence.

"Lucy-san, Connell-san, I've heard that the flow of time in the Celestial World differs from that of our time. Celestial Wizards cross dimensional borders in contracting the Celestial World. This door opens using that power."

"At first, our plan was to use magic similar to celestial magic as a substitute for the real thing. However, the plan is even more assured to succeed with real celestial wizards and the 12 keys gathered together. Now it is said, celestial wizards are necessary to the plan."

"Then what does Y/N have to do with this?"

Arcadios looked back at Gajeel, smirking.

"You didn't know? Connell-san herself made her own 12 zodiac keys based on the Eastern zodiacs, instead of the Western, surprisingly even adding the useless ones. Isn't that right, Connell-san?"

Y/N stared daggers at Arcadios, undelighted that he had told them about her keys, however, more was how he knew about it.

Nodding her head, she pulled the 12 golden keys that were on a different strand of ropes.

Arcadios brought his attention back to the Eclipse, "The day when the Sun and Moon will be in alignment, in other words, in 3 days on July 7th. I request that you both lend us your powers, Lucy and Connell-san."

"That's far enough!" Voices shouted behind the group, bring their attention to them as they were barricaded by the Royal Army. 

"The Royal Army?!" Yukino spluttered, bewildered why they were being surrounded by her comrades.

Natsu, enraged by being treated like a criminal, roared "What do you want?!"

"I will ask you to come quietly, Colonel Arcadios."

A deep voice said as soldiers spread apart to reveal a short old man who had a scar on the side of his nose.

"Defense Minister! What is the meaning of this?!"

Darton, disgusted by Arcadio's action, said "That is the question I should be asking you, this plan is top secret for you to leak national security secrets to outsiders is outrageous!"

The Colonel, refusing to believe his superior, defended himself.

"These people are not outsiders! You know this too, these people will play a crucial role in the plan itself!" 

"That is not the decision you can take upon yourself!"

Y/N, checking her surrounding, trying to find an exit route as the 2 royal staff argued with each other, battling for the victory of the argument. 

"OF COURSE I OPPOSE THE PLAN! IT WOULD BE AFTER HISTORY, JUST THINK HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS, YOU WHELP!"

The white knight stayed silent, knowing that he had lost the argument against Darton.

Darton brought his hand to the air, commanding the soldiers beside him.

"Colonel Arcadios, you are under arrest for suspicion of treason against the king and the country! Arrest Yukino Agria, Lucy Heartfilia, and Y/N Connell! Eject the rest from the palace!"

"What?!"

Lucy, who freaking out yelled "Wait, why are we getting arrested for no reason?!"

"You jerks..." Natsu started, bring his hand into a fist.

"You guys got Lucy and Chibi into this!" He shouted as flames engulfed his hand.

"Stop! you mustn't use magic down here!" Arcadios tried to warn, yet was too late.

The Eclipse swallowed the magical flames from Natsu, leaving him defenseless.

"Didn't he tell you that there was a system to collect small amounts of magic during the Grand Magic Games and send it to the Eclipse? Of course, if you're this close to the door and attempt to use magic, it'll take all your strength." 

Looking over to the soldiers who were trying to grab the celestial wizards, he added:

"I prefer no-fuss down here, we do not consider wizards who cannot use their magic to be enemies of the state."

"Wait, let me go!" 

"Aren't you men suppose to be loyal troops to the Colonel?!"

"..."

"Lucy!" 

"Yukino-san!"

"Chibi..."

"DARTON!" The taller men shouted, with the said men glaring at Arcadios.

"The Eclipse will not happen."

Within minutes, the 4 that were arrested were brought somewhere the remaining Fairy Tail members were left in the hall, with Natsu's head laying on top of Wendy's thighs.

As Darton made his way out of the hallway, his feet stopped moving and spoke to them.

"I want you to know that these are not my wishes, this is done for the sake of the nation. However, I will give you 1 advice: his majesty has taken a liking to Fairy Tail and the Demon Slayer Corp. If you were to win the Grand Magic Games, you will receive an audience with his majesty. He's a big-hearted man and may be convinced to release your friend, same with the Demon Slayer Corps, but with Connell-san."

Gray yelled at the Minister "We want all of them back!"

Ignoring the protest the half-naked man had said, he continued his way out, leaving the 7 of them to figure out how to save all 3 of the celestial wizards, along with Arcadios even though he was the reason they were in this mess.

Word Count: 1470 

September 14th, 2021