"I'm sorry," Lucy said in utter disbelief of what the stranger in front of her had just said. "Y-You're who?"
The mysterious woman, clad in a black cloak with silver lining on the edges of the fabric contrasted well with her odd rose colored hair. Her hazel eyes went back and forth between the utterly shocked man and woman. "M-My name is Nashi Dragneel." The sobs threatening to escape her throat did not help the confidence she tried to keep in her voice. "I am the daughter of Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia. I came from the future, seeking my past guilds help."
"Y-You're…" Natsu couldn't even get the words to pass through his throat. Daughter? Him, Lucy? Him and Lucy had a daughter in the future together? So many unanswered questions, but seeing his supposed daughter's eyes shine with the tears threatening to fall, he put all his questions to the side for a later purpose. "You said you needed our help? With what?"
Natsu and Lucy stared at the pink haired female who seemed to have trouble finding the words to say. She was staring at her feet, a sign that she was thinking. When she slowly brought her head to look at the mages, the tears finally streamed down her cheeks like a faucet.
"The future… dragons… death… Fairy Tail-" Her murmured words went to waste as she collapsed to the ground, making Natsu and Lucy jump into action.
"H-Hey! Are you okay?" Lucy ran over to inspect the poor girl who was out like a light. She placed a hand on her forehead, her temperature felt fine. The pigment of her skin was fine.
"Shes fine Lucy, she's just low on magic is all." Hearing Natsu's words sent relief through her least they determined why she had suddenly collapsed. She was too worried about physical anomalies rather than the possibility of depleted magic, which was just as serious if not more.
Lucy seen the dragon slayer pick the younger female up, placing her unconscious body over his shoulder. "Whenever she wakes up, she'll answer the question we both want to know." Natsu said to the blonde, knowing she wanted to know what the whole 'parent' story as well. The two began to walk, finally seeing a stairway in the distance, hoping it would lead to another floor of the palace.
It stayed silent for a bit until Lucy decided to speak. "Hey, Natsu?" He grunted, his way of showing the stellar mage that he was indeed listening. "What if… she's telling the truth… what if, we actually are her parents?"
Natsu considered her for a moment, her expression was one of pure disbelief and concern. He felt the same way though, unbelieving that the girl draped over his shoulder was truly his daughter along with concern for the future that was so horrible she apparently traveled to the past to escape it.
"Even if it is true Luce, not much we can do right?" He flashed her a smile. "We just have to let destiny take its course."
"You guys!" The two heard someone call out their names, their attention dragged over to the voice. There they saw Wendy, Carla, Loke, Pantherlily and Happy all waiting by the staircase. They seen the take over mage cup her hands over her mouth to amplify her words, "We've been waiting here for ages! Are you two-" Her words stopped when they seen the limp body on Natsu's shoulder.
"W-Whos that?" Wendy asked, rushing over to see if they needed medical attention. When the young dragon slayer see Natsu shake his head, she looked at him confused. Using his free hand, he started to scratch the back of his head.
"We don't know honestly. Luce and I we're investigating something, I fell, stumbled upon a gate and there she was."
"…She claims to be Natsu and I's daughter." Lucy repeated for the umpteenth time, but this time out loud. Maybe then it will start sinking in her head that there was a possibility of her and Natsu having a family in the near future.
"Y-Your WHAT!?" Loke screeched out, face matching everyone else's. The group of five eye's widened to saucers, mouths slightly hanging open.
"You're kidding right?" Happy's tiny voice asked the celestial mage. Seeing her shake her head no made the blue exceeds imagination run rapid. "Woah! So you and Natsu actually-"
"Look guys, lets not get ahead of ourselves here." Everyone's attention turned to the fire dragon slayer. "We don't have any confirmation yet. Lets just wait until she wakes up and tells us whats really going on." Without another word, he began to walk up the flight of stairs. Everyone wordlessly following behind.
Nashi groaned, her head suffering with a splitting pain. She felt the floor beneath her, it was hard and uncomfortable; but more bearable than the dirt and gravel she's had to rest of for the past few wakes. Slowly, she opened her eyes, leaving them squinted to get use to the sudden brightness. She blinked, now fully able to see.
She looked all around her, seeing old but new faces. Just seeing all of her old friends again made the tears begin to resurface. She heard a squeak, turning in the direction of the noise she looked to see it was none other than her father.
"Hey, are you ready to talk yet?" His voice was soft and gentle, just like her father in the future. She wasn't ready, no where near ready to talk about the events that were to come if the past wasn't altered…
But she had too if she wanted to change the future, to fulfill her parents dying wish.
"The future… isn't a good place." The stranger looked up at the group, looking as confident as she could. "Ten thousand dragons attacked Earthland, leaving only ten percent of the population alive at the end of it all."
She watched as everyone's eyes grew wide, not fully comprehending the words being said. Dragons attacking? The only dragon known to be alive is Acnologia. Was there another dragons just hiding waiting for the right moment to come and attack?
"W-What? Ten thousand dragons?!" Natsu shouted, not wanting to believe the spoken words. "How is that even possible?!"
"It's all thanks to Eclipse, the gate you and Mom seen me come out of." Lucy had to bite her tongue to hold the question she desperately wanted to ask the young wizard, needing to know more about the time traveling gate she came out of. "Eclipse was designed for time travel purposes, the main goal to go back in the future and defeat Acnologia before his ungodly slaughter on the dragons."
The tears she tried so hard to hide fell from her eyes as she continued with her explanation. "Only a Celestial Wizard was able to open the gate with the the twelve zodiac keys. Mom… sacrificed her life trying to get me here."
Lucy's hands clasped over her mouth, breaths uneven at the new information. The rest of the group stayed silent. What felt like hours of silence in reality was only a minute before Natsu decided to break the silence.
"So… its true Lucy and I are your parents?"
Nashi looked up at the past versions of her parents, noticing the disbelief they held in their eyes. She didn't blame them. A strange girl you met by chance telling them she was your daughter? That was a lot to take in.
Wordlessly, Nashi reached into her black cloak with her left arm, pulling out a picture. She flashed it to the two teams, their eyes widening as they inspected it.
It was a picture of Natsu and Lucy, looking much older than they were now. In Lucy's arms was a small child around the age of four, hugging the blonde. Natsu had his one arm around Lucy's shoulders and his other around the small pink haired child. The three were all smiles, looking as if they were laughing with one another.
"I… can't believe it." Lucy said in a whisper, eyes sneaking over to Natsu who just stared at the picture with wide eyes.
"You two were the greatest parents ever. I… had to watch you two-" Her sobs started to take over again before she could finished. Everyone put two and two together, knowing that Nashi meant she had to watch her own parents die.
"Hey." Natsu's voice was so soft if everyone wasn't in such a close proximity they wouldn't have heard it. "It'll be okay."
Nashi looked up with tear stained eyes, watching as her father walked over to her kneeling on the ground. She felt his large hand palm the back of her head, bringing it closer to his until their foreheads touched.
"Thank you. For protecting our future."
Nashi's eyes widened at her father's words, unable to speak. She just nodded against his forehead, letting the tears come out rapidly.
Lucy smiled at the scene of Natsu being so loving to their future daughter. The sight itself brought tears to her own eyes. On impulse, she began to walk over to her future family, wraping her arms around them.
Natsu took his forehead off his daughters to look at Lucy. The corner of his lips turned into a smile as he wrapped his arms around the two females for a family hug.
The rest of the group just admired from afar at the loving family. The more they looked at the scene, the more they believed the mysterious girls words.
She was Natsu and Lucy's daughter.
After a few moments of silence, tears, and heartwarming moments, a voice decided to interrupt them.
"My, my. Isn't this a scene to behold?"
Everyones heads snapped around to the source of the voice, seeing another unknown figure standing before them. Natsu stood up in front of Lucy and his daughter protectively. "Who the hell are you?"
The man laughed at Natsu's words. "You don't recognize me? My, I'm hurt Natsu Dragneel."
The dragon slayer squinted his eyes. He looked familiar, but different at the same time. He sniffed the air, smelling the familiar scent. "R-Rogue?"
"I guess your dragon senses are still top notch Dragneel." He praised the pink hair man. "Do you happen to smell anyone else?"
Natsu took another whiff, eyes closed in concentration. When he understood what he meant, his eyes snapped open, iris's turning green with anger. "Why is your scent mixed with Sting's!?"
"I know you're not that naive Dragneel."
"You bastard." Natsu spoke in a harsh tone, making Lucy stand up a worried look on her face.
"Natsu what does he-"
"That bastard killed Sting."
Gasps sounded throughout the room.
"H-He what?" Wendy shakily said. Her body shaking when Rogues intense stare met her eyes.
"I am Rogue Cheney from the future. I killed Sting to gain his power." He said rather proudly of himself.
"You monster…" Lucy spoke loud enough so he could hear her. She watched at he turned his head eyes darted over to her, digust in them.
"The only monster here is you."
Lucy looked in disbelief, not noticing the way Nashi was shaking in fear of future Rogue. "As I recall, I didn't do a damn thing. I'm not the one who killed my partner!"
"That may be true." Rogue gathered his shadow magic into his hand. "But you were the one who opened the gates and ruined everyones future, Lucy Heartfilia!" He shot out his magic, directly at the blonde.
"Lucy!" Natsu shouted and jumped at the fast approaching magic in hopes to stop it before he reached his beloved blonde. He reached his hand out in a desperate attempt to make the dark magic hit him instead. His efforts were futile.
He couldn't stop the attack.
The magic was rapidly approaching and Lucy knew there was no way she could dodge or counter the attack in time…
She knew she was going to die.
From the corner of her eye, she seen something clothed in black coming at her. Before she could say anything, Nashi jumped in front of her mother taking the force of the attack straight in her stomach.
Everyone stared in a trembling silence as they watched Nashi fall to the floor unmoving. A pool of blood surrounding her writhing form.
Lucy was the first to speak. "NASHI!" She sprinted to her daughter's side, instantly getting on her knees and propping the teen up. "Nashi. Nashi baby please speak to me!"
"M-Mom…" Nashi whimpered as Lucy held her closer. "Y-You didn't-"
"I know baby I know." Lucy tried her best not to let the impending sobs take over just yet. "I w-would never do that."
Nashi twisted her head to look at her father's trembling body, his olive green eyes fill with unshed tears. She smiled through the pain at both of her parents. "I'm… so happy I got to see the two of you one more time."
"Nashi!" Lucy shouted in a desperate attempt to keep her daughter's attention focused on her.
"I l-love you mommy, daddy…." Before going limp in Lucy's arms, she whispered on final request.
"Please… protect the future."
"Hmmph. No matter." Rogue nonchalantly spoke as if he just didn't kill somebody. "I won't miss this time Lucy Heartfilia."
"You… BASTARD!" Natsu shouted in pure agony, deflecting Rogue's attack this time. "Y-You killed my daughter." Natsu's heads snapped up, showing the tears rushing down his tanned cheeks.
"Now I'm going to kill you." He let out another fire attack towards his enemy.
"I will protect and change the future." He brought his hands up to his scarf, clutching it tightly showing he meant what he was promising.
"For my daughter."
Nashi laid on the ground in an open field, recognizing the scenery was different than the castle she was in before. She made an attempt to get up, thinking she would only feel pain, relieved to feel that she had felt none.
"Where am I?" She questioned herself as she inspected the land around her. She only seen miles upon miles of blue skies and golden grass.
"Nashi!" She froze as she heard her name. Not her name… but the sound of the person who had said her name.
It sounded exactly like her father.
She slowly turned around to the source of where she heard her voice. Eyes widening as she seen two figures smiling at her.
"Get over here already honey, we're all waiting." She heard her mother's sweet voice say this time.
Nashi felt as if she couldn't move, but she could feel the tears surfacing in her brown eyes. She watched as her parents ran over to her, each one taking one of her hands in their own.
"Lets go Nashi!" Natsu shouted.
"Our adventure continues." Lucy said softly before they all started to run towards the other members in the guild.
Nashi ran between her two parents, their hands locked together. Her tears falling in streams down her face seeing her present parents alive and well again.
The coldness in Nashi's heart began to fade, knowing her sacrifice was worth this never ending adventure.