OK. I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. Mashima does. Yada yada and such and such.

So here's the next chapter on Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail. I'm slowly getting back into the routine of writing, so hopefully my work will look a little better as time goes on. But for now I'm sticking with keeping the chapters just a little shorter so that I can actually get something posted on a fairly regular basis.

Also, I was reviewing some of my stories and realized that my main NaMi is kind of old and, compared to some of my later work, honestly godawful. So I will be starting a new NatsuxMira at some point. However, I do kind of want to wrap up some of my current stories first. Especially ones that are nearing completion.

I'm also going to rework "Overcoming the Shadows of the Past" a little bit, so keep your eyes open for that if your NaZa fans.

Other than that... Read and Review (please... *puppy dog eyes*

"Are you sure you wish to allow the games to end, your highness?" Arcadios' usual stoic face was twisted into a frown.

"Of course," Hisui glanced out over the audience, her fingers interlacing on her knees. According to their sources, even if they did stop the games, the opening of the gate couldn't be rushed. It had to be precisely timed in order to counter the arrival of the greatest threat Fiore had ever seen.

A small shiver ran down her spine just imagining it. A swarm of 10,000 dragons. Legendary creatures long extinct from the world, suddenly appearing in droves? Sure, the Fairy Tail dragon slayers were impressive, but against 10,000 dragons? No way could they win that!

Of course, even if she hoped they could, her source assured her they failed miserably. Her heart trembled as she recalled the narrative. The dragon slayers fought for many hours, till the hearts of the people began to believe victory was at hand. But alas, faced with so many powerful enemies they fell from the skies, and with them the last hope of Fiore transformed to the ultimate despair.

This weight dragged her mind ever away from the games until she couldn't even enjoy the spectacular competition below her. Every fibre of her being dreaded the approaching moment when the greatest threat Fiore ever faced would be revealed. Would it be enough? Could the power of the Eclipse Gate really do what the outstanding might of the true dragon slayers could not? Even if it could, how much death and destruction would occur before the dragons were finally vanquished? As the current princess and future ruler of Fiore, she couldn't possibly ignore these questions, nor could she escape the burden of those lives. At this moment, there were more people in the capital city of Fiore than at any other time. Yet undoubtedly many would have to be sacrificed before the coming war with the dragons concluded.

But their contact seemed certain that the Eclipse Gate couldn't be opened before nightfall. Otherwise they would've already opened it and prepared for the attack. Additionally, announcing anything at this juncture would only cause a panic, and possibly even more lives would be lost.

No matter what, waiting was her only option.

~~~~~~In the streets, near the arena~~~~~~

"Are you sure the person went this way?" Gajeel glanced at Laxus. He, along with Natsu, were currently following the older dragon slayer in pursuit of the suspicious person they'd noticed previously.

"Of course," Laxus said tersely. Gajeel just sighed, glancing at Natsu to see his reaction. However, the pink haired dragon slayer remained silent as though nothing had happened.

Knowing the futility of trying to probe further, he turned his attention to Natsu instead. "Is this really important enough for you to leave Wendy alone in the inn?"

"She can take care of herself," Natsu responded with a shrug. "But I don't doubt the importance of this. My intuition tells me this strange figure is linked to something really bad…"

"Worse than fighting dragons in another world?" Gajeel scoffed, but he didn't pursue the matter further. Things like intuition were just garbage. How could Natsu put so much stock in such a nonsensical feeling?

Well, whatever the case, they'd discover the outcome soon. His senses started tingling as they came into contact with a unique magic. It could only be the weird figure He'd spotted previously!

"We're getting closer," he muttered, knowing he didn't need to say it. After all, they were all dragon slayers. Though their combat ability differed, their senses were all about equal. The scent of the mysterious person was quickly etched into his memory. It was a unique scent. Feminine, but not sweet like Wendy or Levy's scents. Yet it was somehow familiar. He poured through his memories, trying to remember who this scent belonged to.

But something was wrong. Even though the strange magic felt the same, the scent was completely different! First of all, the black-robed person he saw earlier was definitely a man. His scent was dark and cold, like icy seawater. People could mask a lot about themselves, but it would be nearly impossible to mask their unique scent.

The stronger the scent got, the more certain he became that he should recognize it. But where? It certainly didn't belong to anyone in Fairy Tail. He was similarly sure that it didn't originate from his time in Phantom Lord. It definitely wasn't from the games...

Before he could place the scent, a black-robed figure appeared before them as they turned a corner. The figure was facing them, as though she were already anticipating their arrival. A shadow from the hood fell over her face, but in the daylight the strands of dark purple hair that fell over her familiar features were more than sufficient for him to recognize her. Ultear Milkovich.

~~~~~~Domus Flau~~~~~~

"You don't seem very concerned, your highness." A figure in a black cloak spoke in soft, feminine tones. She'd recently been brought to the royal seating area at the princess's request.

"It isn't a question of whether I'm concerned or not," Hisui responded with a sigh. "If what you say is correct, there's nothing we can do except use the Eclipse Gate. As for the gate itself, it's not like we can move it or advance it in any direction."

She then frowned, focusing her full attention on the woman beside her. "I do wish you could tell me where they came from, though. What if there are more, just waiting to launch another attack?"

"Like I said, I don't know exactly where they came from. But do you really think the dragons would leave any reserves if they're suddenly attacking 10,000 strong after they've been considered extinct for 400 years? Besides, what choice do we have? Even the dragon slayers who called themselves 'real dragon slayers' weren't able to win. Without the Eclipse Gate, we're doomed."

Hisui nodded, her fingers curling around the keys at her waist. It had been easy to get Jiemma to promise Yukino's support to opening the gate. Now they just needed Lucy. Then all 12 keys would be together… Given the nature of Fairy Tail's mages, it shouldn't be hard to get them to help once they understood the emergency.

"There's one more thing you should understand," the hooded figure said. "You can't speak of this to anybody except those who absolutely must know. Otherwise there's no telling how this timeline could spiral out of control."

Hisui nodded, unsurprised by the instruction. From the little that she knew of time and space, she would expect that when messing with a timeline, the less changes the better. Though she couldn't quite wrap her mind around why it would have such a profound effect. Especially in cases like this where the outcome of the original timeline was clear. Still, it was best to listen to the time traveler after all.

"You said there are two of you here?" She asked, remembering an earlier point of their conversation.

"Yes," the unidentified girl nodded her head. "The other guy is working this from a different angle, just in case this plan fails."

"It's always wise to have a backup plan," Arcadios commented. "While I don't think we'll have much trouble convincing Lucy to help, Fairy Tail can be wild and unpredictable."

"Indeed they can." Hisui thought she detected a hint of amusement in the answer, and she wondered again if this time traveler was connected to Fiore's most boisterous guild. But the thought flew away as quickly as it came. She had important things to do now that they verified this person was indeed from the future.

~~~~~~~Somewhere below the castle~~~~~~~

Natsu glanced at Gajeel and Laxus and found that they appeared just as confused as he felt. The story they just heard seemed so incredible as to be impossible.

"Let me get this straight," he said. "You say you come from a future where all four of us - the dragon slayers from Fairy Tail - wind up dead, and the world is ruled by dragons?"

Ultear nodded. "I know it sounds crazy. None of us could believe it after seeing your power in the grand magic games. But that's what happened."

"That doesn't make sense," Laxus' eyebrows were furrowed in a frown. "We've killed scores of dragons, but before that we had plenty of experience hiding from them. Even if we couldn't take all these dragons you say suddenly attacked, we should've been able to last."

Ultear shook her head. "I know, but I'm telling you what I saw. And you did take down a lot of the dragons. In fact, in the time that I came from, there were only a few dragons left alive, but they were extremely powerful and hated humans intensely."

Natsu frowned again. "And you're sure that we were dead."

Ultear nodded emphatically. "People saw you die. Gray personally witnessed your death before escaping from the dragon that killed you, and then shortly after that the dragon that killed you killed Gajeel and Laxus as well. I saw Laxus die with my own eyes. I was lucky to survive that day. The entire capital was destroyed in one fell swoop."

"What the actual fuck." Gajeel said, glancing at Natsu. "You think Acnologia showed up?"

"It's possible…" Natsu said. "He does seem to have a grudge against humanity."

"But I thought he killed all the other dragons or something like that," Laxus said. "Why would he suddenly show up with a horde of dragons?"

"He seemed pretty intent on destroying the dragon slayers," Gajeel said. "Maybe he brought the dragons on purpose, figuring he'd use the opportunity to kill us first and then take down the dragons later."

"That does seem possible," replied Natsu. "We'll have to keep our guard up then."

"Any idea on when all this is going down?" Gajeel asked Ultear.

Ultear shook her head. "We don't know exactly. The first dragons were spotted in the capital on the night that the games ended. The strangest thing is that not a single person saw them coming. A whole horde of dragons attacked that night, and nobody even knew they were there until they were already in the capital."

"That does seem strange…" Natsu looked up at the sky. He couldn't shake a sense of foreboding, as though something terrible were coming and he couldn't quite see what it was.A shadow formed on his mind, a shapeless mass that disappeared if he made any attempt to investigate it. Yet it remained, a looming threat. He instinctively knew that this tied into Ultear's story, but he wasn't sure how.

"Well, in any case our first step is to figure out where the hell the dragons came from. Then we take care of Acnologia - together." Laxus gave Natsu a pointed look.

"Yeah, no going solo on this one Salamander," Gajeel chimed in.

"Alright, alright. I swear that as soon as I see Acno, I'll get you guys to join the fun." Natsu responded.

"Good. Now let's start searching for clues on how someone could sneak thousands of dragons into Crocus without anyone even noticing."

Ultear drew the hood over her head. "I'm going to explore this underground place." She said. "Perhaps that dragon boneyard you guys saw earlier has something to do with it. My time magic might be able to help me reveal some clues."

"Alright. Just call for us if you run into any trouble," Natsu said, and the two groups went their separate ways.

The three were silent as they climbed back out of the tunnels Ultear led them into for their talk. Natsu still didn't feel right about their discussion. Something was out of place, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

When they got back to the games, Erza met them with a seemingly worried look. "Natsu, have you seen Lucy?" She asked, breathlessly.

Natsu shook his head. He hadn't really spent a ton of time talking to the blonde mage since their return from the alternate dimension. "We just got back from pursuing a lead. Do you need her for something?"

"Nothing in particular," Erza replied, her breathing slowing as they conversed. "But she seems to be missing."

"Missing?" Natsu looked around. "You sure she didn't just take a bathroom break or something?"

"This is no time for jokes," Erza scowled. Natsu suspected she would've hit him if these were the old days. "We can't find her anywhere, and Levy said she saw some cloaked figures knock her out in the hall and drag her away somewhere."

"You could have started with that," Natsu retorted. It would've at least made it a little more clear as to why the redhead seemed so agitated. "So you need a dragon slayer nose to sniff her out?"

"That would be a great help."

"Great. Let's find Levy and get to the spot where she was taken before it's too late to track her."

Immediately they set out in search of the solid-script mage, and with Gajeel's help found her quickly.

"Hey Levy," Natsu called out.

"Natsu!" Levy cried out as she turned toward them, then seeing the others, "Gajeel! I was looking all over for you earlier! Lucy's been kidnapped!"

"We heard everything from Erza," Gajeel said. "We need you to take us to the place where she was abducted as quickly as possible. We might be able to track down her scent if it's still fresh enough."

"Right. Come on!" Levy turned and started running off in the direction of the inn where they were staying. Natsu glanced at the others, and then the four of them quickly ran after her.

They raced through the town, ignoring the stares of the people who stopped their business in the streets as they passed. At this moment, Natsu put the matter of the dragon invasion out of his mind. They had to find out who took Lucy and why. That was most important. After all, she was his guild member. He couldn't just let somebody abduct her for their nefarious plot.

Before they knew it, they'd arrived at a place just down the street from the inn. Levy reached the end of a narrow alley before coming to a stop in front of it. "Here we are!"

"Right here?" Erza said incredulously as they came to a stop. "But this is the middle of a public street!"

"But there weren't many people out because of the games," Levy explained. "Some of the most popular events were occurring at the time."

"Which also means it wasn't some random kidnapping," Laxus said, his face forming a scowl. "Somebody clearly planned this and chose the optimal time to execute their plan."

"But who, and why Lucy?" Natsu asked. "I mean, no offense to her, but I don't think she's strong enough to have really pissed anyone powerful off…"

"Nevermind that! Our first priority is to find her," Erza barked.

"Bossy as ever," Natsu muttered as he sniffed a few times, lowering his head close to the ground. He had to get pretty close to where Levy was, but eventually he found it. "Got it. It's faint, but we can still follow if we hurry!"

Without wasting any more words, he headed off down the road. He figured he probably made for an odd sight, half running on all fours, nose pressed close to the ground. But right now finding out where Lucy was taken was more important than his image. The scent continued on down the street for some way, and then into the royal palace of all places. The doors were open for people to come in and out of the main courts while the tournament was going on, so Natsu was able to head straight in without obstruction. However, just as he was about to head down a staircase in pursuit of the scent, a voice interrupted.

"Stop right there! Nobody can go into the dungeon without permission from his majesty."

Natsu looked up to see several rune guards blocking the path ahead. He frowned. "The dungeon? Why would Lucy be in the dungeon?"

Suddenly he felt Erza tug on his sleeve. He turned and she moved her head closer to him, whispering, "Are you sure Lucy was taken this way?"

"Absolutely," he said in a low voice. "There's no mistaking her scent!"

"This is your last warning." The guard's voice cut back in. "Leave immediately, or you will be arrested."

"Gehe - I'd like to see you try." Gajeel smirked, spitting out a nail he'd been chewing on.

"What he means is we're leaving right away, sir!" Erza said, her voice firm.

As much as Natsu hated to retreat here, he agreed with Erza. There was no benefit to going to war with the kingdom. Especially when they didn't even know the situation. But at the same time, he wasn't about to give up on rescuing Lucy.

"She's right." He said, holding up his hand as he felt Gajeel's aura grow more threatening. "We'd better get going."

Gajeel looked none too happy, but after a pointed look from Laxus and Natsu he finally retreated. As they were turning to go, Natsu turned to look at the guards and said, "I don't suppose you know what the blonde haired celestial spirit mage that you have in there did to get arrested, do you?"

A few of the guards frowned, but the one who had taken the lead in speaking held his hand up, showing no other reaction. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "There are no blond mages imprisoned here."

"Ah. My mistake." Natsu said the words off-handedly, but shot a look at the guards who'd obviously reacted to the question earlier. Then he turned and headed off with the rest of the group.

"They were obviously lying," Gajeel hissed as they walked out of the palace gate. "We should've called them on it."

"As easy as it would be for us to deal with rune knights, we currently represent Fairy Tail and should not provoke trouble with the kingdom," Laxus said.

"Yeah, that." Natsu agreed. "But we're not giving up. We'll find another way into the dungeons."

"I might be able to help with that," Natsu glanced up to see Ultear coming, complete with her cloak and hood. "There's a secret way into the dungeons. It's not exactly the nicest route, but it will probably be unguarded. Especially if we go in at the right time."

"How did you discover this?" Erza asked, growling suspiciously at the time mage.

"After the dragons attacked, there weren't many secrets that remained uncovered. The dungeons were one area that people ended up retreating to to avoid the brunt of the dragon attacks."

"What do you mean by unguarded if we go at the right time?" Natsu asked. "Why not just go now?"

"Even though this is a 'secret' way, of course the king still knows about it." Ultear rolled her eyes. "But with the games going on, the security won't be as tight. That much is a given. So if we can wait for a big event where the guard will have to be deployed in greater numbers outside the palace. Well, that would be ideal."

"That actually makes sense," Laxus said with a smirk. "Well, it's not like the three of us will have any more fighting to do in the games anyway, since those pussies from the other guilds decided it would be unfair for us to participate."

Natsu nodded. "As much as I'd love to rush in now and rescue Lucy, I agree. We're better off waiting for an ideal opportunity than rushing in early."

"I also agree." Said Erza. "Let me go inform master."

"Hold on," Laxus said. "My old man doesn't need to know about this."

"Of course he should know. He's the guild master!" Erza shot back.

"Stop being so straight-laced and think for a minute. If my old man knows we're going, and something goes wrong, he'll be caught up in it. But if we don't tell him, we're acting independently of the guild. Then whatever happens, the guild at least won't be caught up in the mess."

Erza frowned, and Natsu could practically see the wheels turning in her mind. He knew it must be hard for her to consider doing something like this without the guild master's knowledge. But he also knew she was smart enough to recognize the trouble the guild could be in if they were caught. After several moments of silence, she finally let out a breath. "Alright. But we do need to let him know that we couldn't track her down totally. And we need a good reason for him to back off the search."

"Or not," Ultear suddenly spoke up again. "Actually, if your guild is still searching for Lucy, it will help distract the guards from what we're doing, as well as add to the credibility that the guild doesn't know anything about your actions. Just tell him the dragon slayer's nose couldn't follow the trail to the end."

Erza shot her a glare, but then her face turned thoughtful. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. Well then, tomorrow is the grand finale of the games. That seems like it would be the ideal time to conduct a rescue operation."

"My thoughts exactly," Ultear said with a smirk. "Everyone will be so preoccupied with the big finish to the games they won't have time to think about anything else."

"Ok." Natsu finally broke his silence. He wasn't good at all this strategizing stuff, but now that they had a strategy he was ready to go again. "Ultear, you know where this secret way in is, where should we meet?"

"Let's meet in the gardens," Ultear said. "We should be able to get there without attracting suspicion. Make sure we're all there 2 minutes before the announcement is made for the start of the games."

"Alright!" Natsu grinned. They had a plan. Tomorrow they could break Lucy out of the dungeon and return her to the guild. "Tomorrow it is!"