Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 33

"Please, explain it to me again, there's so much I still don't understand," Lucy pleaded, cradling Mirai Lucy's left hand gently in her own. Natsu hovered over them, completely unsure, while the others stood in front, looking every bit as confused as Lucy felt.

"I'm telling you the truth, a herd of over 10,000 dragons will attack our country, our home," Mirai Lucy insisted, "the city will burn down, the castle destroyed, and many lives will be lost."

Even as the words rebounded in Lucy's head, she didn't want to believe them. She let go of Mirai Lucy's hand and moved away, taking a deep breath, trying to process everything that she had been told in the past twenty-four hours.

"Could it somehow be connected to the dragon graveyard we found?" Wendy asked, speaking amongst her, Carla, and Lily.

"I-I came here to warn everyone of the calamity that is to come," Mirai Lucy bit her lip, wringing her hands anxiously, "I-I didn't c-come here with a strategy, I-I just... "

Lucy looked at -- well, herself -- with a sense of pity. She felt for the girl truly.

"We'll do something about it," Natsu bluntly assured her, bending down to her level. He grasped the back of Mirai Lucy's head gently, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Thank you for coming all this way to protect our future," he said with a slight smile and Lucy was a bit jealous at the attention Mirai Lucy was receiving, but she was happy Natsu could comfort her because Lucy didn't even know where to begin. It seemed everyone else shared the same feelings, as the girls looked at each other with matching soft smiles.

Mirai Lucy wiped her tears with haste, blubbering as Natsu slowly pulled himself away from her, giving her a chance to compose herself. Lucy recognized that cherry red blush on her future self's face and giggled to herself.

"W-we should move! We'll be intercepted by the army of the kingdom while looking for the exit," Mirai Lucy said firmly with renewed confidence. Everyone nodded in agreement, taking off towards the exit. Mirai Lucy's intel was correct, and they were indeed intercepted. Natsu charged head-on at the magic army, and Lucy summoned Loke to help as well, despite her current condition.

"Where can we go? Do we have any other options at this point?" Lucy asked Mirai Lucy urgently, surveying the surrounding scene.

"No, wherever we go, they will find us, we must break through," Mirai Lucy stated.

As Natsu punched a soldier, sending him flying back into the crowd, loud footsteps could be heard entering the grand hallway, causing the fighting to cease. Murmurs and whispers echoed throughout the hallway as Lucy could vaguely make out another shadow moving towards them slowly.

"C-Colonel Arcadios?!"

"Why are you here... ?"

"You were charged for the rebellion against the kingdom... "

"Where is the princess?" A loud voice boomed.

Urging the group forward, Natsu made use of the chaos from the sudden appearance and hurried everyone down a separate hallway away from the army. Lucy breathed out a sigh of relief as Mira and Wendy checked around to see if everyone was alright. The peace didn't last long, however, the hallway became eerily quiet and Lucy hadn't even heard the army behind them anymore.

Something wasn't right.

Clutching her keys that were retrieved by Natsu, Lucy stared down the hallway as shadows overtook the light. A man with dark bangs and a long white-ponytail emerged, smirking while he gazed at the Fairy Tail members with impunity.

Mirai Lucy's breath hitched and Lucy instinctively hovered over her protectively; she recognized a sign like that. Fear.

"Are the shadows reaching out to the past or the future? Or to people's hearts...? Nostalgic, isn't it, Chaos?"

With narrowed eyes, Natsu set his foot back, almost in his combat stance. As Lucy stared at the face, the similarities began to poke out and become prominent to her. Unease settled in the pit of her stomach as she realized who they stood face-to-face with.

"You're Rogue Cheney, aren't you?" Lucy asked, unsure of her own words.

"That's correct," Mirai Rogue surmised.

"Why did you come here?" Carla demanded with a hard-set glare on her face.

"To... open the Eclipse gate," he drawled, maintaining his distance from the group. So, an ally? Then, why did Mirai Lucy seem afraid of him?

"Tell us the whole truth," Natsu growled.

"I am telling the truth," Mirai Rogue said, trying to placate the fire dragon with a chuckle, "however, I came here to prevent something -- or rather, someone from stopping the gate from opening. In all honesty, I came here to kill them."

The group was quick to voice their protests, exclaiming that there was no need to resort to violence. Still, Lucy watched as Rogue's hackles rose and the bad feeling that settled in her gut worsened.

"It was you," Mirai Rogue growled lowly, balling up his fist and thrusting his arm backwards as shadows gathered in his palm, "Lucy Heartfilia!"

The shadows shot forward quickly, forming an arrow, heading straight towards Lucy. Shouts were all Lucy heard as she barely had time to react, the arrow aimed straight for her heart. Her own breath hitched, unmoving, sealing her fate; shutting her eyes and bracing for the impact.

However, the hit never came, and Lucy was horrified to find her future self blocking her. Falling to the ground, Mirai Lucy coughed up blood, taking a direct hit.

"Lucy!" She cried out, catching the woman in her arms. Mirai Lucy's breath stuttered and Lucy's heart broke slightly.

"L-listen, t-to me, Lucy," Mirai Lucy stammered, blood soaking her cloak, "t-the g-gate was never m-meant to b-be opened." At her words, Lucy paused, allowing her confusion to show on her face. Happy had run over, falling over her future self's dying body, crying and sobbing as they all watched the life slowly fade from her eyes.

"W-what do you mean?" Lucy asked, sniffling, trying her best to apply pressure to the wound, but she knew it was pointless. She was going to die in her arms.

"C-close t-the gate, y-you must," Mirai Lucy instructed in a shaky voice, "Happy, d-do n-not shed t-tears for me. Y-your Lucy will remain here and l-live on."

"It doesn't matter!" The blue exceed shouted, tears pouring down his face, "no matter what world you're from, you're still our Lucy! You're our friend and we love you! Of course, we're going to be sad!"

Mirai Lucy smiled slightly, significantly weakened, raising up her hand shakily to pet the sobbing exceed.

"H-hey, Lucy, s-show me your guild mark,"

Lucy obliged, confused once more, watching as Mirai Lucy placed her right hand over her own and noticed the absence of the pink mark that connected them all. She could barely contain her tears at the sight and allowed them to overflow as she clutched the hand with desperation, looking at the hand and back at Mirai Lucy's face.

"W-what? W-what h-happened to y-your... "Lucy questioned desperately, watching a serene smile overtake her future self's face. The conclusion came to her after; whatever future this Lucy was from, Fairy Tail was gone. The revelation shattered her. Happy and Lucy clutched the woman close, barely noticing Natsu in the corner whose teeth were gritted, body heating up dangerously, and eyes looking a little watery.

"P-please... p-protect t-the future... "

Her body went limp, body temperature fading, yet Lucy couldn't stop her tears.

A loud crash sounded and Lucy snapped her head up towards Natsu who, had somehow, thrown Mirai Rogue down the hallway and out of their sight. Flames surrounded his body and the rest of the group backed away. Lucy sobbed again as Natsu let out a sound that broke her even more; filled with so much emotional distress.

No one mentioned the tears that stained Natsu's face.

To be continued...