Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 8, x791.
Two days passed quickly. During that time, Alfonzo spent almost all of his time working on the device to send Future Lucy and Future Rogue back to the prime version of Earth Land. And because he did not know what to expect, he also notified several of the guild's strongest members to be ready for departure, as well.
On top of that, the banquet congratulating the teams who participated in the Grand Magic Games came and went, as well. And now, after everyone returned to the hotel, those traveling to the parallel world, Alfonzo, Elicia, Laxus, Gildarts, Ur, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, and Future Lucy, as well as Mavis were gathered in the hotel's conference room to discuss a plan of action.
"Do you have any idea what we should expect on the other side?" Mavis asked as she, like all the others, looked at Future Lucy.
"Honestly, until I know when we'll arrive, I won't know." Future Lucy replied while shaking her head gently. "Especially since I'm not sure if time will have passed since Rogue left before I did."
"I suppose that makes sense." Mavis replied with a nod.
"I tried to get the temporal coordinates as close to the time as you were swept up in this whole thing as I could." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "But do you even know what day you were supposed to arrive in the past?"
"Not really." Future Lucy admitted. "I just know it should have been during the Grand Magic Games in x791. Other than that, I have no idea."
"So, that gives us a six-day window." Mirajane said with a contemplative expression on her face.
"Or it could put us right in the middle of everything." Erza added. "We should be prepared for battle as soon as we arrive."
"Does it even matter?" Natsu asked excitedly as he stood up from his chair and breathed a plume of fire into the air. "All we gotta do is beat up the bad guys, right?"
"Were you even listening, Salamander?" Gajeel asked disdainfully. "This time the bad guys are dragons. It won't be that easy."
Though Gajeel said that, thee battle hungry grin on his face made it clear he was just as excited to get going as Natsu was.
"Ha! Even better!" Natsu shouted as he was engulfed in flames. "I've never fought a dragon before. And now that I know where Igneel is, I don't have to worry about asking them. Oh yeah! I'm fired up!"
*Bang!*
"Cut that shit out." Alfonzo said dismissively as he launched a metal ball at Natsu's forehead, knocking him to the floor while his fire was extinguished. "If you burn down the hotel, I'm gonna kick your ass worse than usual."
*Crunch!* *Crunch!* *Crunch!* *Crunch!* *Gulp!*
"Oh yeah? Bring it on!" Natsu shouted as he jumped up from the floor. "I didn't get to fight you during the Grand Magic Games. This will be the perfect opportunity. I'll kick your butt for sure this time!"
"Hey, Salamander, keep pissing him off." Gajeel said with a smile. "The metal he uses to get through your flames is delicious. And I need another snack."
"I'll kick your butt, too, Gajeel!" Natsu shouted as he turned to face the Iron Dragon Slayer with flames, literally, burning in his eyes.
*Zap!* *Bang!*
"We're in the middle of something important." Laxus said coldly as he dropped a lightning charged fist on the top of Gajeel's head.
*Bang!*
Simultaneously, Erza struck Natsu on the top of his head with her gauntleted right hand.
"We don't have time to be fighting amongst ourselves while discussing such an important operation." Erza said while looking down at Natsu.
"Um... Erza, I think you over did it." Wendy said while smiling wryly. "Natsu's not conscious to hear your reprimand."
Looking down, Erza was surprised to see Natsu twitching while his eyes were rolled back into his head with a comically large lump on his head. She then began to panic and picked him up by his shoulders before shaking the pink-haired Dragon Slayer violently to wake him up.
"Well, at least your Erza and Natsu are a lot like ours." Future Lucy said with a nostalgic, yet sad, smile on her face.
Hearing Future Lucy's tone and seeing the expression she was wearing, all those going to the parallel world put on determined expressions. Well, everyone except for Erza and Natsu, for obvious reasons. At the same time, they all decided that they would take care of the problems plaguing that world so they would not have to see someone from their guild, even if they were from another version of their world, have to wear an expression like that ever again.
"Alright." Alfonzo said, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "We don't know what kind of situation we'll be walking into when we crossover. But I want everyone well-rested and sharp. That way' we'll be ready for anything. And even if we're facing dragons, we'll make those lizards know that it would be better to just go somewhere and hibernate than mess with Fairy Tail wizards."
"Yeah!" The conscious members of Fairy Tail cheered in agreement.
After that, everyone began making their way out of the room, with Erza dragging Natsu along while Wendy tried to heal him. Meanwhile, Alfonzo noticed that Future Lucy had not stood up from her seat.
"Don't worry, we'll take care of this." Alfonzo said with a smile. "And hopefully, it will be enough to fix some things in your time, too."
"Yeah..." Future Lucy replied weakly while trying her best to smile.
Knowing that Future Lucy had seen her world destroyed with her own eyes under the attacks of dragons, Alfonzo did not know how to console her with words. So, instead, he made his way over to her and wrapped her in a hug, startling the time-travelling, world-hopping, Celestial Wizard. Even so, Future Lucy eventually sank into the hug and wrapped her own arms around him, as well, before beginning to cry silently.
"I won't try to convince you with words." Alfonzo said soothingly. "Just watch us. We won't let you down. Trust me."
Future Lucy did not really react to Alfonzo's words. Though, she did tighten her arms around him. And like that, the two stood in the empty conference room until Future Lucy calmed down. Then, they both headed back to their rooms to get some rest before tomorrow's trip.
July 9, x791.
"Is everyone ready to go?' Mavis asked in a solemn tone while looking over the gathered group of wizards.
Standing in front of Mavis, all of the guild's Dragon Slayers, Laxus, Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy, and several of the strongest S-Class wizards, Alfonzo, Elicia, Gildarts, Ur, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, and Irene, a total of twelve, as well as Future Lucy and a thoroughly restrained Future Rogue stood on the Sixth Sense Hotel's rooftop, in front of the two airships.
"Yeah, we have everything." Alfonzo, with a small metallic cube in his hands, said, acting as this team's leader. "All the parameters are set for travel and return, too. So, to you, it will look like we stepped into a portal and stepped right back out. But for us, a few hours or even days might pass."
"Good." Mavis replied with a satisfied nod. She then turned to look at the more destructive members of the guild with a stern gaze as she continued. "And for the love of the guild, please don't destroy too much while you're on the other side."
"You make it sound like we have a track record of doing stuff like that." Gildarts said with a grin. However, an even sterner glare from mavis, which to be honest, looked more cute than terrifying, made him lower his head.
"Well, whatever is going on over on that side, I'll leave it to them." Irene said nonchalantly. She then shrugged a she continued. "I want to see what the me from that timeline is like. I mean, she's probably still working with the enemy."
"Just don't get yourself in trouble." Mavis replied in a concerned tone while looking at Irene. "You know who will be there."
"I know." Irene replied with another shrug. "But don't worry, if I want to leave, I don't know if they can stop me."
"Let's hope so." Mavis said while shaking her head. "Anyway, I wish you all the best of luck. Come back safely."
Receiving nods from everyone gathered, Mavis stepped back, giving Alfonzo the space to set up the device. At the same time, Future Rogue lowered his head, making it seemed as though he was resigned to his fate.
'As soon as I get back, I'll be able to find a chance to escape.' Future Rogue thought to himself. 'I don't know how I ended up in this time period, but I was already at the final step of my plan in the time I should have appeared in. I only ended up here after that Fairy Tail woman was transported. The Eclipse Gate should be opening soon after we arrive, though. And that is when I'll have my revenge for being confined the way I have been.'
While those thoughts ran through Future Rogue's head, he was unaware that most people present had already figured out his intentions. So, when he found out that he would be watched over by Irene when everyone arrived on prime Earth Land, his expression would probably be quite the sight to see.
"Alright, now that all the pep talks are out of the way, let's get this shit started." Alfonzo said as he crouched down and laid the magic item on the roof.
Then, Alfonzo proceeded to press a few sigils on the item while injecting magic power into it before standing up and taking a few steps back to stand with the rest of the group.
"Thank you." Future Lucy, who was standing behind Alfonzo, said quietly after everyone felt the ethernano in the air rushing towards the magic item and being converted into magic power.
In response, Alfonzo only looked over his shoulder and smiled at Future Lucy before watching the process, making sure that everything proceeded properly.
*Flash!*
Eventually, the magic power that was converted by the item burst out on either side of the item before forming a large, square gate of light. Then, after a few seconds, the light projected an image. However, when it did, everyone was surprised, and not in a good way.
"Is that… Crocus?" Mirajane asked while covering her mouth that was open from shock with her hands.
And Mirajane was right. The image in the gate was Crocus. However, that was not the reason for everyone's surprise. Instead, it was because most of the city that they could see was in ruins. On top of that, there were large, reptilian, winged creatures, dragons, flying over the city and raining destruction down on the citizens who were running for their lives.
"It sure looks that way." Gildarts said with a frown on his face. "But it sure has seen better days."
"There are people trying to attack the dragons, too." Ur said, pointing out the visible spells that were flying from the ground towards the dragons. "But it doesn't look like they're doing much good."
"Then, we need to get going." Elicia said, her tone uncharacteristically serious. "They won't be able to stop them from destroying the rest of the city."
"Right." Alfonzo added with a nod. "Then, let's go."
With that, Alfonzo was the first to step forward, the rest of the group following shortly afterwards with Irene grabbing Future Rogue along the way. And eventually, they all stepped through the gate, the surface of the transference device rippling like a pool of water as each wizard stepped through.
Then, once the last wizard stepped through, and the ripples stopped, the magic item which was set at the center of the base of the gate, was also sucked into the gate before the whole thing dissipated into motes of light.
And with that, Mavis was left alone on the roof of the Sixth Sense Hotel to stare at the empty space where her wizards once stood.
"Please be careful." Mavis said in a concerned tone. "And please come back to us safely."
Prime Earth land, Ishgar Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x791.
After stepping through the gate, the group of Fairy Tail wizards found themselves standing atop the Domus Flau. And with a wider field of vision, they could see even better how much damage had been done to the city of Crocus from this parallel world.
"Alright, everyone, open the seals and help as much as you can." Alfonzo ordered. "All though we want to take out the dragons wreaking havoc, let's try to save as many people as we can, too. Remember, Fairy Tail wizards always prioritize civilians first."
Yeah." All the Fairy Tail wizards, other than Irene replied in unison.
"What about you?" Laxus asked as he pulled Elexion off his back.
"Oh, me?" Alfonzo replied with a smile as he pulled Riot and Bedlam off the strap on his back. "I'm gonna draw the flying lizards' attention."
In the next instant, Alfonzo flared his magic power to a degree that no one present had seen before. In fact, it was so powerful that everyone other than Gildarts and Irene were forced a step away. At the same time, Alfonzo raised Riot and Bedlam over his head while placing the two weapons in an X-shape.
"[Soul Armament: Full Release]." Alfonzo said excitedly, his voice echoing over the entirety of the city.