It was already deep into the night.
All the contestants had long fallen asleep, saving their strength for tomorrow's matches.
Team B was no exception.
Their room was unusually quiet.
Rhodes and Laxus slept calmly.
Juvia clung to a Gray pillow she had hand-sewn herself, wrapping around it like an octopus.
She drooled a little, murmuring affectionate words even in her dreams.
Gajeel snored intermittently, sometimes grinding his teeth in a harsh, metallic scrape.
Wendy, used to this chaotic environment, slept curled around Warm, occasionally whispering Carla's name with a sweet smile.
Warm didn't care who held it and snored peacefully as well.
Outside, the streets had finally quieted.
Soft footsteps echoed faintly, but not faintly enough.
Rhodes and Laxus opened their eyes at almost the same moment.
They sat up.
Wordlessly, they exchanged a glance through the darkness, slipped off their beds, and moved toward the window.
It wasn't just the footsteps.
A magic signature was rapidly approaching.
Rhodes opened the window and vaulted out soundlessly.
Laxus stayed inside, arms crossed, leaning casually against the wall beside the window.
A rustling sound came from the beds.
Gajeel opened one eye, tilted his head, stared at the window…and didn't move.
Outside, Rhodes landed lightly just as two figures approached. Between them, a cloaked person was being held firmly.
"It's you two. Did you catch him?" Rhodes asked, clearly recognizing Ultear and Cobra, with the hooded person between them.
"We caught them," Ultear said.
"But this one is… a bit special. I thought it would be best to bring them straight to you."
She looked toward the hooded figure.
The person pulled their own hood back, revealing their face.
Rhodes blinked.
"Lucy?"
It was unmistakably Lucy Heartfilia, down to her magic signature, though faintly tainted with a trace of Zeref's aura.
"What on earth is going on?"
Lucy sneaking out in the middle of the night pretending to be Zeref?Or Zeref pretending to be Lucy, for entertainment?
"The thing is.." Ultear began.
"Hold on."
Rhodes raised a hand. Purple runes appeared in the air, forming a circular script.
With a tap, a dome of shimmering magic enclosed the group, and he deliberately expanded it to cover the window above as well.
"Hades's magic…?" Ultear murmured, recognizing it instantly. She didn't question it, continuing,
"She claims she's Lucy from the future. She says she used the Eclipse Gate to travel back here to warn us."
Inside the room, Gajeel realized all outside sound had suddenly cut off.
After a moment of doubt, he quietly slid out of bed, padded barefoot to the window, and stood beside Laxus in the exact same pose.
Laxus glanced sideways.
For a moment, he genuinely wanted to laugh.
Outside, Ultear continued,
"But the 'future' she speaks of doesn't match what's been happening the past few days.
And the 'past' she remembers… also doesn't line up with what we lived."
"We've confirmed she's telling the truth," she said reluctantly. "So we're unsure whether she's confused, or someone is mimicking her."
Rhodes glanced at Erik.
The Magic Council's files all stated that Cobra's "Mind's Ear" was absolute. If he claimed someone was truthful, he could be trusted.
"As for whether she's an imposter," Rhodes said, "I can distinguish truth from illusion. But first, what is this Eclipse Gate?"
Although the future-Lucy didn't know who Rhodes was, Ultear's respect made her respond politely.
"It's a form of Black Magic. Passing through it allows a person to return to the past. I don't know the full details… only that it exists."
"I heard the Kingdom of Fiore spent seven years gathering magic to activate it. Their purpose… seems to be returning to the past to kill Zeref."
"...?"
Return to the past to eliminate Zeref?
If anyone dared suggest that, Rhodes would be the first to oppose it.
Without Zeref, the First Master and her three companions might never have defeated Blue Skull.
Fairy Tail might never have been founded.
Without Fairy Tail, the magical laws of the world would have taken far longer to stabilize.
Fiore's trade wars would have unfolded without the Fairy Strategist's guidance…
Outsiders may not know Fairy Tail's long, tangled history. But did no one understand the danger of changing the past?
Messing with history could easily erase the entire kingdom.
Furthermore, there was the issue of Time Theory itself.
Ultear felt a sharp twist in her chest.
She too had once believed she could reverse time, go back, rewrite her past, undo her sins.
If this Lucy had truly returned from the future, If such magic genuinely existed…
Could history really be changed?
The moment that dangerous thought surfaced, Ultear crushed it.
The aura clinging to that Lucy, stained with Zeref's Black Magic, was already proof enough.
Any magic of that origin could only lead to tragedy.
She could not…must not…ever walk down that road again.
Rhodes suddenly spoke.
"There's a legend in Celestial Spirit Magic. If all twelve Zodiac Keys are gathered, one can open the 'Gate That Changes the World.' Does it refer to Eclipse?"
Future Lucy blinked in surprise.
"The Gate That Changes the World…? Yukino mentioned that phrase once, I think it must be the same gate!"
Yukino remembered it, but Lucy didn't? Rhodes immediately drew his own conclusions.
Perhaps Layla Heartfilia had intentionally concealed that knowledge from her daughter.
The Eclipse Gate's consequences were simply too enormous.
Wait.
Princess Hisui had once mentioned consulting Lucy's mother about magic when she was young.
The Heartfilia family had long-standing ties to the royal family…
Could it be that the Eclipse concept had been passed to the royal family during Layla's lifetime, long before Lucy ever knew of it?
One hypothesis after another flooded Rhodes' mind.
But he forced himself to stop. All of this depended on one crucial premise: the girl before them was truly Lucy.
Rhodes exhaled and shook his head.
"Let's verify your identity first."
Ultear asked, "Where are we going?"
"Honeybone Inn."
Future Lucy froze.
"That's… where Team A is staying, right? Are we going to see the 'me' of this era?"
Rhodes didn't bother explaining.
He simply called toward the window behind him:
"I'll be gone for a bit. Wendy and Juvia are under your protection.If anything happens, use the old method to contact me."
Laxus responded with a low grunt, and placed a firm hand on Gajeel's shoulder to stop him from following.
"Wendy… Juvia…"
Future Lucy's heart trembled with emotion. She desperately wanted to peek inside.
But she wasn't trusted yet.
She had to endure.
The four moved quietly through the moonlit streets.
Future Lucy looked around with a troubled expression.
"This is… really the Royal Capital? It feels different from the one I remember."
"Magic technology has advanced a lot in recent years," Ultear began, but her voice shifted, laced with annoyance.
"Or perhaps someone already changed the history you remember."
She bit her lip.
Even now, even after all her resolve, the temptation to rewrite the past still lurked beneath her ribs.
But she remembered why Crime Sorcière was founded. She remembered the sins she bore.
She could not, would not, allow herself to fall again.
...
Stones Plzz
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