Without Zeref

Chapter 1

Natsu POV

The guild was chaotic. Everyone was celebrating our win of the Grand Magic Games and the return to their beautiful town. As the strongest guild we had been getting a lot of job requests. I decided that it was about time for another job and I dragged Lucy over to the request board. Happy, Gray, and Erza followed close behind.

A request caught my eye. On the top it just said ‘read me’ while below it read a jumble of letters. I took the request down.

“Hey Luce look at this.”

Her eyes grew wide. “ No Natsu don't!”

“Siht lleps lliw dnes uoy kcab ot a emit erofeb lliw eb tnereffid. Uoy lliw ylno nruter kcab ot ruoy emit nehw uoy evah dezilaer tahw si tnereffid. Eton eht ecnereffid lliw eb eno gniht.” I read.

☯☯☯

Lucy POV

“Stupid Natsu doesn't he know better than to read those kinds of things aloud. This is just like that changeling incident when we all switched bodies.”

“Who are you talking to Lucy?” A voice asks.

I look up and gasp. It's my mom.

I begin to cry.

“Lucy what's wrong?” My mother asks.

“M-mom. I missed you.”

“Why would you miss me? I've always been here.”

“This isn't real. It's just the spell.”

“Spell? What spell?”

“The one Natsu read back at the guild.”

“You mentioned this Natsu before. Does he belong to this guild?”

“Yes. He's a Fairy Tail mage.”

“I have never heard of a guild called Fairy Tail.”

I look at my mom strangely.”Fairy Tail is the strongest guild. It's located in Magnolia.”

“The strongest guild is Dwarf Gear and the only guild in Magnolia is Blue Skull.”

“What?”

I sit in shock. My hand reaches for my keys on instinct. I needed the comfort they would give me. But it feels empty. I look down. The only keys I have are Crux, Horologium, Lyra, Pyxis, and Taurus. I look at my mother. On her waist was a keychain holding Aquarius, Cancer, and Capricorn, as well as some Silver keys I did not recognize.

“Mom, what year is it?”

My mother looked at me strangely. “Its July 2, X784.”

I gasp. That was the day I met Natsu. Not only was her mother alive but they went bad in time.

“Mother, if you would excuse me I have somewhere to be.”

With her nod I raced off to my room and packed for a trip to Hargeon. Silently apologizing to my parents for not telling them where I was going I escape the mansion I had grown up in.

☯☯☯

Gray POV

“What did Ash-for-brains do this time?”Gray wondered aloud.

“Dear he's started mumbling nonsense and his skin is still ice cold.” A female voice said.

“The medic should be almost here now. I refuse to let my son die from an unknown sickness.”said a man.

I peeled my eyes open. “Mom, dad?”

My mother grabbed my hand. “I'm here son.”

“But you're dead.” I stated.

“Dead? How could we be dead?”my mother asked.

“You died when I was eight.”

“If we died back then where would you be now?” my father asked.

“I was at Fairy Tail.”

“Fairy Tail? Where's that?” Mom asked.

“It's my guild.”

“Guild? Like a mage guild?” Mom inquired.

“Gray aren’t you too old to be pretending to be a mage in a made up guild. Especially when you skin is ice cold.” My dad reprimanded me.

“My skin feels perfectly normal.” I tell them.

A knock sounded at the door.

“That must be the medic” my mother said as she left to let the medic in.

My mother came in with a familiar pink-haired medic trailing after her.

“Porlyusica!” I call out. “Why aren't you at Fairy Tail?”

“I've never heard of a place called Fairy Tail. My name isn't Porlyusica either. Now sit still and let me see what's wrong with you.”

☯☯☯

Erza POV

I'm in a forest. I recognize it as the one outside of Magnolia. I see Natsu stand a little bit of a ways from me.

“Natsu!”

He turns towards my voice.

“Erza!” Natsu calls out.

“I'm glad I found you.” I says.”I don't see anyone else.Your spell must have teleported us to different places.”

“What spell?” Natsu asked.

“The one you read back at the guild.” I snap.

“Oh this one?” Natsu held up the job request.

I nodded.”Let's go look for the others.”

Natsu began to sniff out our friends. We wandered around all of Magnolia. Eventually he caught a familiar scent. Natsu ran towards it. He led me to the Kardia Cathedral. Except with a very noticeable difference. On top of the cathedral sat the skeleton of a dragon. That and it was on fire. Mages were running out of it screaming.

I caught some of the things they were saying.

“Dwarf Gear is attacking!”

“Run!”

“How can four mages be so powerful?”

“He just touched it and it exploded!”

“This is just two of Dwarf Gear’s S-class mages!”

I spotted Gildarts, Cana, Freed, and Max leaving the building. Giant grins on their faces.

“Yo!” Natsu calls out.

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