Fairy Tail Next Generation: Thrown Back

Chapter 26 - The Arrival of a Mystery

Words could not even describe the look of shock on everyone's face. None were more shocked than Jellal and Reiki as their eyes locked.

"Jellal?!" Lahar gasped.

Nobody moved, nobody dared to even blink. I scanned the room for anything that could possibly draw away the attention of the guards.

"Oh I see that someone finally removed your mask, eh Mystogan?" Mr. Yajima said from out of nowhere. I hadn't even seen him approach, but I was glad he was there nonetheless. "Lahar my boy, now do you see why he has chosen to keep his face hidden from the general public? Mystogan has spent his entire life dealing with the fact that he looks identical to Jellal. Can you please show him some sympathy?"

"He's not Jellal?" Lahar questioned.

"Tell me Lahar, have you ever heard of the world known as Edolas?"

"Yes, my men told me about it,"

"Then I'm sure you're aware that there's a strong connection to our world. In fact everyone in Earthland has a twin living there."

"See this is just the Edolas version of Jellal. It's just a coincidence and a big misunderstanding," I interjected.

All eyes rested on me, yet again. Lahar studied me for a moment.

"Is this accurate?" Lahar asked Jellal.

"Yes," he answered woefully.

Lahar turned back to my team and I. He examined each and every one of us.

"You are the team who claims to be from the future?" Lahar chided.

My eyes widened at the sudden shift in attention. I could practically feel the awkward tension between all of us. I could feel sweat forming on my brow.

"We claimed nothing," Reiki stated for the first time. "The public merely  assumed and gave us the title,"

"Yet you do not deny," No one said anything. It was just a big stare down between the Fairy Tail mages and the magic counsel soldiers. "Very well then you're free to go," Lahar concluded.

"That's it?" I questioned. Gale slapped her hand over my mouth and apologized for the inconvenience, not wanting this to go on any longer then it needed to. Jellal covered his face once again with his hat and scarf.  Taking one last look at Lahar and Dorranbolt, we turrned and walked away.

As we left however, I managed to hear Lahar say one more thing to Doranbolt. "That was really him. I'll let Mister Yajima cover for him just this once."

"What about the others? Are they really from the future?" Doranbolt asked. Lahar sighed as he thought about it.

"It's hard to say. Rest assure that we'll be keeping a close eye on them for the time being."

I frowned upon hearing this, but didn't mention it to any of my teammates.

"You kids should stop following me," Jellal interjected. We all stopped and looked up at him in confusion. "Go back to your own time before something goes wrong and we all get hurt."

"No offense Jellal," Gale said sindistically. "but we haven't done anything wrong."

Jellal glared at the girl with the purple hair with an annoyed expression. "Your mere presence here is already shifting the timeline, it's only a matter of time before it catches up with you." Jellal turned and walked away leaving us speechless. 

Jellal:

Jellal cursed under his mask. He had lost the magic signature he had been tracking before he got spotted by the magic counsel. He could have handled them on his own just fine, but the so called future team just had to step in. 

Jellal had to admit though, there was no mistaking the children that had stood before him. The girl with the pink hair was the spitting image of Natsu and Lucy. The taller boy with raven hair and pale skin was obviously Gray's spawn. On the other hand while the other shorter girl had guts, Jellal couldn't quite place her looks from anyone he knew in Fairy Tail. 

Then there was the oldest boy...

That had to be him. His dark red hair reminded him of Erza which seemed to bring him a bit of peace at the sight of something so familiar. However, the birthmark under his left eye quickly diminished that sense of peace. Something about it put him on edge, it was just like his only it was only the first half of his.

"Jellal?"

Meledy's voice interrupted his thoughts. He couldn't hear it audibly of course, but the telepathy they were using allowed him to speak to both Ultear and Meledy. 

"Did you find the source of the strange magic power?" Ultear asked.

"No,"  Jellal answered. "I did get a glimpse of the person though... or should I say people,"

"There was more than one?!"

"Two to be exact, they both escaped before I could catch them. The power I sensed most certainly wasn't Zeref, yet it was very strange and foreboding,"

"At least we know what we're looking for now,"  Meledy added.

"Precisely," Jellal confirmed. "Stay on the lookout for two people in white cloaks, one 5'9" the other 5'7" I didn't get any other information,"

"It's a good start,"  Ultear affirmed.

"If they were at the games today, then maybe they'll be back tomorrow." Meledy chimed in.

"It's certainly possible. Be careful Jellal, we still don't know who we're dealing with."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

From several feet away two cloaked figures were carefully observing the disguised Jellal. The boy pulled his cloak tighter around his face, letting only his mouth be seen. He held his breath as Jellal walked away, leaving the two in silence. The girl let out a small sigh from apparently holding her breath as well.

"So Crime Sorciere is on our backs now?" She questioned obviously annoyed.

"It sure looks that way," the boy answered. They had been trying to get away from Jellal as soon as they realized they were being followed. However they would have been caught if it weren't for the magic counsel stopping him. 

The girl peered around the corner of the wall they were hiding behind to see if she could spot their prey. The boy followed suit and scanned the crowd, praying that he could find them.

"They're gone," The girl stated. She stood to her full height which was only a couple of inches shorter than her male friend. "Damn, we got so close," She growled. The girl folded her arms across her chest in a huff and leaned against the wall. The boy dropped his head in frustration and gave up his search in the crowd. 

"We can search the city tonight," He offered.

"Yeah because searching the entire city is going to be a piece of cake," The girl added sarcastically. The boy smirked and pulled a bronze key from his belt. The girl's eyes widened as she grabbed the boy's wrist holding the key. "Whoa! I thought you said those wouldn't work here," 

"These aren't your typical gate keys," The boy grinned. "Open gate of the snake! Shey!" He shouted. A bright blue light flashed and suddenly there was a girl standing in front of the two cloaked figures. 

The girl was thin and had brown skin and black hair slicked back . She wore a skin tight green suit along with a green hood. When she opened her eyes, they were a yellow glow with small black diamonds for pupils. 

"You called sir?" 

"Shey I need you to search the city, but don't let yourself be seen," The boy ordered. The snake girl nodded and took off. "We shouldn't risk going out during the day," The boy turned to his cloaked partner. 

"So what are we supposed to do until then? Sit and twiddle our thumbs?"

"We go back to our hotel and wait." The boy stated.