"Gemini?"
Lucy looked at Gemini, still transformed into her future self, crying silently, and her heart tightened in sorrow.
She reached out to wipe the tears from Gemini's cheeks.
But Future Lucy's eyes weren't on her face.
They were fixed on the pink Fairy Tail guild mark on Lucy's right hand.
Gemini allowed Lucy to wipe her tears.
Then, with trembling fingers, she touched her own face, unfastened the cloak, and peeled it off her shoulders.
Underneath was simply a normal outfit, Lucy's favorite blue blouse.Nothing unusual at first glance.
But the moment the cloak dropped, everyone froze.
Her right shoulder and arm were gone. The arm that should've carried the Fairy Tail mark… was missing.
Future Lucy lowered her head, biting her lip hard, holding back her sobs.
Rhodes and Ultear both inhaled sharply.
Erza and Gray stared at Lucy in alarm.
"Lucy? You..."
"How could this happen?"
"W-what happened in your future!?"
"Natsu!"
Future Lucy suddenly spotted Natsu walking over, and her eyes overflowed with fresh tears.
Gray blinked at him.
"When did you wake up?"
"Just now," Natsu said casually. "I heard something about a 'Future Lucy.' What happened to Future Lucy's arm?"
He didn't even question why there were two Lucys. He went straight to the important part: who hurt her?
With Gemini's confirmation, Future Lucy could feel everyone's attitude shift instantly.
Especially Rhodes. His aura changed from cautious to protective.
She swallowed and spoke quietly.
"On July 7th, the day the Grand Magic Games ended, more than 10,000 dragons attacked Fiore."
Everyone stiffened.
"Cities burned. Castles collapsed. Countless people died. And everyone in our guild…"
Her voice trembled.
"Someone like me, who only lost an arm, was considered lucky."
"10,000 dragons!?"
The room fell silent, the number too impossible to grasp.
But this was Lucy speaking. Lucy couldn't lie.
Ultear recovered first.
"But dragons are nearly extinct. Why would 10,000 dragons appear!?"
Future Lucy shook her head helplessly.
"I don't know. When the attack happened, Natsu, Wendy, Yukino, Carla, Happy, Lily, Mira, and I, were all locked in prison."
Rhodes: "?"
'Who dared imprison Mira? Whoever they were, they were courting death.'
Natsu reacted first.
"No way I'd let myself get caught!"
Future Lucy lowered her head.
"Everyone was trying to save me…"
Confused looks filled the room.
She hurriedly clarified.
"On the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, Gajeel discovered the Dragon Graveyard hidden underground. That night, after we explored it together, we met Yukino and the Captain of the King's Army. He told us about the Eclipse Gate Project."
"But Minister Darton arrested the captain to stop him from interfering with Eclipse. Since Yukino and I were Celestial Spirit mages, we were arrested too."
"Then, the fifth day was a rest day.
Everyone discussed countermeasures and decided to participate in the Games normally the next day.
After winning, they planned to negotiate directly with the King. And at the same time, a small rescue team headed to the prison to save me."
"The escape went smoothly at first. But while fleeing the Palace, we ran too close to the Eclipse Gate."
"And near the Eclipse Gate, using magic drains your magic completely."
"So we were recaptured. After that… we stayed locked up. Until the dragons came."
Future Lucy finished quietly.
Rhodes stared at her, frowning.
"I believe what you're saying. However, there are many contradictions."
First, the Dragon Graveyard Lucy mentioned was not discovered by Gajeel at all. The exploration happened on the night of July 2nd, not the night of July 4th.
After sensing movement, Rhodes immediately led his people to evacuate and didn't encounter the captain of the King's Army at all.
Furthermore, Lucy didn't go that day, and it was even less possible for her to be arrested. Even if Lucy were taken away due to a lapse tomorrow, Rhode would never let Mira go to rescue her.
'Could she be talking about the original "plot"?'
Thinking of this, Rhodes didn't know what to say.
Had his actions caused his team to avoid all the "key story nodes"?
If so, id the future Lucy described still exist? If not, then which timeline had she come from?
Rhodes massaged his temples. Time-related magic was truly a headache.
He didn't even need to speak.
Natsu had already barreled forward with questions.
Future Lucy couldn't answer.
"I already noticed, this capital is different from the one I remember.And there are companions here I've never met. Maybe your future has already changed."
Then a sudden idea struck her.
She turned sharply toward Rhodes.
"Could it be, you also came from the future? Just much, much earlier than I did? And after you arrived, the world changed, and then I..."
But even as she said it, she felt the logic fall apart.
Still, Erza glanced at Rhodes, eyes narrowing.
"So it is true that you suddenly appeared one day, isn't it?"
Natsu and Gray both gasped loudly.
"RHODES IS A FUTURE PERSON!?"
"That explains everything!"
"My situation is a little special," Rhodes said calmly.
"If I really were from the future, then how would I not know about something as massive as ten thousand dragons attacking Fiore?"
"That's true…" Lucy tapped her chin, taking inspiration from her future self.
"Then, if not a future person, what if you're a past person?Maybe you time-traveled, your arrival disrupted the flow of history, and now everything's different, so Future Me doesn't remember you because you're from a different era!"
Rhodes cut in immediately.
"Enough wild guessing."
He waved a hand.
"If anything, I'm closer to being someone from another world, like another Edolas. Not someone from the past or future."
He continued,
"However, whether my arrival affected this world's 'timeline' is hard to say. Future Lucy might be describing a future that existed before I ever arrived."
Erza and the others exchanged looks.
They knew bits and pieces about Rhodes' origin, but rarely thought about it deeply.
They only remembered whenever he brought it up.
Ultear, who had been the first to learn the truth, didn't pry.Instead, she asked:
"If that's the case, then maybe this world won't experience the attack of 10,000 dragons?"
Rhodes shook his head.
"It's impossible to say. We don't even know how those dragons appeared in the first place."
The first thing that came to his mind were the countless dragon skeletons deep in the underground Dragon Graveyard.
Perhaps someone used necromancy to resurrect them?
No… true resurrection of life violated the laws of Ankhseram.
It would have to be pseudo-resurrection, reanimating dead dragons and controlling them like puppets.
But even with powerful necromancy, even if he used it, controlling 10,000 dragons at once was impossible.
Unless there existed several thousand more mages with magic power comparable to his.
Which was, completely absurd.
...
Stones Plzz
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