The Paradox of Time - A Fairy Tail Fanfic

Chapter 1

Hello everyone! This story will be revolving around time-traveling, and because this topic can become so complex, I tried to interpret it in my own way in order for it to fit my storyline. If there are any questions or concerns, please let me know in the comment section, and I'll be sure to explain it to you the best that I can.

"'Go back in time? Stop thieves from robbing a family?' I'm not buying any of this." Gray scoffed, reading the paper he held in his hands. The paper Lucy grabbed from the mission board requested strong mages to help return a family's fortune.

The celestial mage took back the paper from his hands and read over it. "I don't know, I just thought it was pretty interesting. Time-traveling to the past? That sounds cool! And look," Lucy pointed to the award. "We get 120,000 jewels for completing the mission!"

Gray raised an eyebrow at Lucy. "Sure, the price is good, but don't you know what could happen if we change the past? That could mess up how our life is now! Don't you remember the last time we time traveled?"

Lucy thought back into her memories, recollecting the time when she accidentally opened a book that sent them all back in time. That was when Natsu gave his younger self the scar on his neck, and it is the reason why he has that same scar today. If we never went back in time that day, would Natsu ever have that scar in the first place? Lucy shivered, easily creeped out by how trippy time-traveling could be.

She giggled, pushing the complexity of time traveling to the back of her head. "I guess your right, Gray. We don't know what could happen if we go back in time!"

Erza and Natsu came from the bar, eager to see which requests the two mages were looking for them all to do. They noticed the paper Lucy held in her hands and decided to ask about it.

"Hey Lucy! Did you find a mission?" Natsu asked, intrigued about their job request.

"Not yet, we're still looking." Lucy replied, pinning the time-traveling paper back onto the mission board.

Erza leaned over to get a good look at the flyer Lucy placed back. In dark bold words, it read:

HELP NEEDED. Dark guild thieves stole my family's fortune on July 7, x777. Go back in time to return our fortune, and you will be awarded 120,000 Jewels!

The Scarlet mage read this out loud, clearly interested in the mission's request. "This sounds like a great mission, and it also pays high. Why did you put it back?" She asked.

"Gray thinks that we shouldn't mess with time." Lucy responded, already searching for another request.

Natsu was frozen. Did he hear that right? Natsu snatched the paper from Erza and read it again, noticing the date 'July 7, x777' imprinted onto the paper.

Gray looked back at Natsu, shocked by his sudden actions. "Woah, flamebrain, What's up with you?"

Natsu, still looking down at the paper, slowly responded to Gray. "We have to do this mission. I have to go back to this date."

Lucy's eyes softened as she looked at Natsu. She forgot that was the date when Igneel disappeared. She couldn't have imagined how it must have felt to Natsu after seeing his father be mercilessly killed by Acnologia. After years of searching, the truth was that Igneel was with him the whole time, and after they finally got to meet again, Igneel died in the hands of another dragon. She knew that this pulled a heavy toll onto Natsu, but he nonetheless continued to smile and stay strong for his family. She had no idea how much pain Natsu must have been going through internally as he mourned the loss of his father.