Time After Time

Losing control

{NOVA'S POV}
"Ahh, I'm so bored!" Lexi complains, flopping down in the seat at the bar next to me. The guild hall is quiet, because Gramps is in his office and Mom is making calls with the lacrima in the other room. It's just me, Lexi, Luke, and Reiki.

"You can go too, Lexi. I have to babysit." I tell her.

Lexi shakes her head adamantly. "Nope. I'm staying with you Nova."

I smile. "Thanks."

We watch as Luke and Reiki chase each other around the guild hall, blissfully unaware of the dire situation us kids are in. Not just because we're stuck in the past with no way back, but now we're also under threat from a dangerous time traveling monster called the Way Back.

The most frightening thing is that Mom and Dad have never seen anything like this. I've been nursing the idea that our parents in the future know that we're going to the past, because they lived it.

But stories of kids from the future fighting a giant monster don't tend to disappear. We would've heard something somewhere, from somebody. I actually think this never happened before. Like how an Aunt Lucy came from the future and died, but Uncle Natsu and the others rewrote history, and everyone lived. The future was changed. That means we too could change the future. Our future.

"Nova!" Luke's panicked voice draws me out of my thoughts. I look up and gasp. Reiki is glowing gold, floating ten feet of the ground.

"He's losing control!" Lexi shouts. This happens from time to time. Reiki's heavenly body magic is too powerful for his young body, so he can't control it. It's part of the reason I didn't want to go on the quest that got us in this mess in the first place.

Reiki starts flying around, and blasting beams of light in all directions. I dodge one, dashing towards Luke. Grabbing him, I jump out of the way of another blast.

"Fight it, Reiki!" I shout.

"Me trying!" He cries, letting out a wail as a pulse of light comes from his body. I jump over the counter, joining Lexi in taking cover behind the bar and shielding Luke with my body.

"Impede his movement!" I command Lexi.

"You got it!" She grins, then stands. "Lighting rain!" A ball of lightning forms in her hand, which she throws into the rafters.

It expands from the moment it leaves her hand, until it's five feet in diameter. It blasts a hole in the ceiling and floats there, above the guild hall.

"Lexi, we're trying to stop Reiki from destroying the guild, not help him!" I chastise. Outside, clouds converge, blocking out the sun with grey. One massive lightning bolt shoots down from the clouds, hitting Lexi's ball and splitting like light in a prism.

"Tone it down, you'll hurt him!" I yell. The lightning gets a little less aggressive, and forms a cage of electricity around him. Reiki continues to spin out of control within the barrier.

"What's going on here?" Mom yells. "Is that... heavenly body magic?!" She and Gramps must've heard the commotion and come to investigate.

"Nova, Lexi!" Rose comes running back into the guild hall, following closely by her parents. She grimaces when she sees Reiki. "I saw Lexi's lightning rain and thought this might be the case."

"Meteor?!" Uncle Jellal's eyes widen when he sees Reiki. "What's happening?"

"Rose!" I shout, pushing Luke into Lexi's arms and running towards Reiki.

"Yeah!" She knows what I'm planning.

"Takeover: seraphic soul!"

"Requip: queen battle royale armor!"

I transform into my angel form as Rose requips into her favorite armor. We leap at Reiki, sandwiching him between us midair.

I allow his sister to grab him, and make sure they don't fall too hard. Rose continues to hug him, even after their feet are on the ground, until Reiki's magic has calmed down. Her armor fades.

"Phew!" Lexi breaths a sigh of relief. Luke struggles from her grasp and runs to check on his friend.

"What's going on here?" Mom repeats. Aunt Erza and Uncle Jellal also look like they want an answer.

"My brother tends to lose control of his magic time after time. It's no big deal. Happens all the time." Rose says.

Mom looks around at the carnage. "Your guild hall must be a mess. Not that we have any right to talk."

Rose, Lexi and I share a glance, then we giggle. "You have no idea."

The guild doors bang open. Mizu stands there gasping for breath.

"What's wrong?" I demand.

"Gale found a future magic user. And the man that sent us here is guarding her!" She says between coughs and pants.

*a few minutes before*
{GALE'S POV}
Our family walks down the road, asking around for clues about a future magic user. After another person shakes their head, we turn away once again in disappointment.

"This is pointless." Dad groans. "There's not just going to be a future magic user in Magnolia right when we need one."

"Not true. I recall that the book said something about the Way Back only being able to spawn in the past near a future magic user, because—"

"It's a connection to the time period from which it came. That's why future magic and people from the future is it's weakness." I finish.

Meaning the man who brought us back in time had to know about a future magic user in this town at this time. Meaning they probably know that wizard. Meaning if we find the future magic user, we also find the one that sent us into the past. It's killing two birds with one stone.

I'm so lost in my own thoughts that it takes me a second to realize that Mom and Dad have fallen silent. They're staring at me with open mouths.

"What?" I shrug. "Can't a guy read too?"

Mom shakes head. "No, It's just that you just look like you're more brawn than brains."

I frown and cross my arms. I miss the Mom that would read to me for hours even when I pretended not to care. Not that I care!

"Oof!" We literally bump into each other.

"Sorry!" The girl apologizes.

"No, it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going going." I bow my head, then look up and get a closer look. She has violet hair and violet eyes, and she's probably around Mom's age.

"I'm just waiting for my father and his acquaintance to finish up." She scratches the back head, smiles, and points out two men.

One is tall, dark-haired, and vaguely familiar. The other is definitely familiar. Even hiding his face, that hunched back is unmistakable.

As if he senses my presence, the man who sent us back in time turns his head, and sees me. We stare at each other for a second, before both breaking out of our silence.

At the same time, we point at each other and shout, "It's you!"