Slain Among Ice And Fire {Fairy Tail}

Chapter 30- Ripple

Chapter 30

Ripple

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's and Ideas

.:+:.

Everything was moving, the ground, the trees, the air... It was all swirling passed her in millions of streams, pulling, shifting, prodding, tugging at her as they continued to move and bend around where she stood. All of it a wash of monochrome in a world utterly devoid of color, and yet at the same time she wasn't sure she had seen anything so colorful in all her life. The greys bled rainbow hues one could scarcely imagine, lurking at the corners of her mind and vision- they weren't there, and all at once they were.

She felt like she was being pulled along by the constant motion of the current, the trees bleeding into buildings, into mountains, into sea and lands upon more lands- whisking her away and through places a million miles apart in all but a few seconds... But her feet were stuck hard and fast to the ground, and she wasn't moving. She couldn't move, she was paralyzed- and still she felt like she was falling through... Worlds.

... What... The hell...?

... Where am I...?

What... Happened...?

The world slowed up, the fast paced change of environment stalling on something barren, vast, and so so blurry. A mess of jagged, jittering shapes, figures and clouds of that rainbow monochrome that seemed to desperately be trying to form some scenery. It... Looked maybe like it was meant to be a city...? It was so misshapen though, almost incomplete- and yet somehow it seemed hauntingly familiar.

The colored monochrome streams of air continued to move, flowing sluggishly, weaving in and out of huge blobs that didn't look right, but still eerily reminiscent of houses and shops... Winding without end around her and through what might have been streets, and flowing like a river made entirely of thin air- but she could feel it, heavy, warm, and thrumming with life almost. There was so much movement here, and yet it was utterly quiet. Nothing but unending, sheer silence that seemed as heavy as a million pounds- even her own voice in her head seemed faint, and muffled, and so very far away. Her ears even rung from the quiet, but that too sounded unnaturally subdued.

She stepped forward, her feet no longer stapled to the ground and her body listening again. She walked a few paces into the vast, blurred non-reality of the misshapen city, the ground under her feet swaying and spongy, and bobbing up and down so much she surely shouldn't have been able to keep her balance- and yet it was easy.

Where the hell... Is this...?

Why am I...?

... Don't tell me... I didn't hit my Limit yet, right...? And... passed out...?

I still... Have things to do...

... I promised...

She stopped, her attention casting backward when something rumbled, low and deep and thrumming and still so very subdued by all the silence... but it was there and a shiver ran down her spine.

Was that...?

She turned her head slowly, her heart rate picking up as her eyes found a massive looming shadow swirling into form behind the other blurred remnants of the town- sharp fangs, horns, several stories tall... deadly.

She instinctively recoiled, backing up a few paces as the roar of the Demon echoed over this forgotten place once more- a little louder this time, though strangely distant. She tensed, fear racing like wildfire through her veins and fully expecting the beast to solidify, it's figure sharpening as it began it's path of destruction through the ghostly town anew. For it to be headed straight for her with wicked sharp claws that would rip her open like all that time ago, sending her to land in a crumpled, broken mess among the blood-stained snow, and her life bleeding out of her until Arden came to turn her body to ash from the inside out.

But it didn't move, and if it did it was so slow she couldn't make it out apart from the way it's form blurred and wavered near as badly as the rest of everything around her. She swallowed back at the lump in her throat, her hands pulling in toward her and riveted in her spot for a few more seconds, just staring... before slowly she forced herself to relax, at least a little.

... it's not... coming after me...

She dared break her eyes from the Demon, looking around at the fragmented memory of the town and blinking several times.

... this... isn't a dream... it... feels too... real...?

But... how does that make sense? This has to be a dream... but... why isn't it playing out like it always does?

Why does it... look like this...?

She stiffened, her head snapping upward as several figures flew passed over her head out of nowhere, approaching where she stood at a speed unimaginable, and then stalling entirely as they reached her- swirling, smoking shapes suspended overhead and bleeding bits of silver and white... ember...?

... wait a minute...

She counted, one, two, three- all the way up to 12 and she blinked, reeling slightly as she stared at what was little but blobs... but she still knew what they were.

...that's Drille... and the others... my Birds...?

But they looked malformed, and messy- what little linework she could make out above her, scraped across the paper that gave the Birds life was just... completely ill-drawn. They looked little more than the scribbles of a child, and she shivered again.

... these look like... back when I first made them... I couldn't draw for shit.....

"What... the fuck is going on...?" Hora whispered shakily, only for her voice to break when the Birds wavered and burst into pieces- pulled apart at the seams and only held together by stringy remains of monochrome light, before quickly getting swept away from her in the ever moving current of air. She turned, her eyes locked to their remains getting pulled away and the village went with them, jittering and glitching as it all changed again- still so malformed, so hard to make out, nearly impossible to be seen as anything but a watery mess... but this time she found herself standing alone in empty confines of the SaberTooth Inn- and around her flickered monochrome flame, the building crumbling all around, and yet the debris suspended mid-fall.

She turned, her blood turning to ice in her veins when one thing in all the blurry reality actually came into full focus- a burned, twisted, blackened human splayed on the cobble, blood turned to dust and ash in a circle around where it lay, a dead and broken crystal shattered into a million pieces sticking up passed a rib-cage barely holding together.

T-That...

She sucked in a sharp breath of air, stepping back and trembling.

"... t...that's me...?" She hissed, her voice shaking now along with her body.

"Yes."

Hora stiffened, her eyes going wide and heart lurching in panic at the sudden, and entirely unfamiliar voice- clear as day, and not at all dimmed nor subdued like everything else seemed to be.

She whipped around, her eyes flashing in the dim and shifting immediately into a defensive stance as her gaze landed on the voice's owner- a woman, with long, dark purple hair and brown eyes, dressed in a skintight suit that left her back open, and white ribbons in her hair. She walked forward through the monochrome current slowly, pinned between her hip and her arm a glass ball, expression nothing but utterly neutrality as she met Hora's eyes. The woman stopped a few paces in front of her, and Hora bit the inside of her cheek, eyes narrowing and tense as can be.

"Or rather, that is how you are meant to be." The woman murmured coolly, and Hora blinked, her lips pulling downward at the edges in a grimace.

... how I'm meant to be...?

The woman let out a soft breath, her eyes trailing from Hora and toward the burnt up corpse behind her. "... but instead you avoided that fate, and now you are an Aberration." The woman murmured quietly, Hora stiffened.

"... Aberration...?" She hissed, before shaking her head, not bothering to wait for the woman to say more. "Forget that, who in the hell are you..?! And where the hell are we...?!" Hora asked quickly, the woman's eyes trailed back toward her calmly.

"... my name is Ultear." The woman responded calmly, "In your current time, I walk within your reality as a member of Crime Sorciere. At this very moment my Guild and I are waiting at the edge of the city, investigating the Presence of Magic Power like that of Zeref... Magic brought to this city by the Eclipse Gate hidden beneath the city, and those tampering with it." Hora blinked,

"Crime... Sorciere...?" She mumbled, her eyes narrowing in confusion. She'd never heard of it- like at all! And this..... this 'Ultear' chick, and her Guild, they knew about the Eclipse Gate...?! Seriously...?!

She stiffened though, her eyes flashing.

"... wait a minute, what the hell do you mean in my 'current time'?" Hora muttered lowly, and the woman blinked.

"... I am only a fragment of who I once was, a concept of a person and a Memory that has been collected here within the Current." The woman replied evenly, Hora blinked.

.. the... what...? Current...?

"I was reduced to this Memory three days from this current time, as a result of what destruction will occur on July 7, at around an hour passed Midnight that day." Ultear murmured evenly, and Hora felt her heart skip a beat, her mind quickly beginning to whirl.

"W-woah, wait a minute, are you trying to tell me you're a 'Memory' or whatever from four days from now...?! Like in the future four days from now?!" Hora hissed,

"Yes." Ultear murmured evenly, and Hora stared.

"... t..that's crazy..." She mumbled breathlessly, "... I mean... people, or.. or Memories or whatever don't... come back in time from the future... r.. right...?" She stammered, and Ultear paused, holding her silently in her stare.

"... you are already aware of what the Eclipse Gate is capable of." Ultear murmured, her eyes dropping closed. "It creates a Gateway through Time, you already accepted this... but you must also accept that there are things that exist and happen in this world, that you may not be able to explain, or come to terms with easily." She glanced up again slowly, her eyes opening and her gaze stony, intense... Hora shivered, because it felt like Ultear was looking right through her. "... For you yourself, are already outside the realm of what is supposed to exist and happen in this world." Ultear murmured lowly, "You who stands here in the Current, alive, and with form- an Aberration in this Timeline. One where you should not, and do not exist in."

Hora flinched, shivers running up and down her spine and fidgeting slightly under the intensity of the stare, and the weight of the words... of how heavy and deep and powerful they fell on her very core.

"You do not exist." Ultear told her lowly, "On this Day, July 7 of the year X791- you are dead."

Hora felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart stalling for a second that stretched to a million years and all she could do was stare, her ears ringing over and over.

Dead

She swallowed, her hands balling into fists at her sides and her body shaking, her eyes glittering like mad as her eyes fell from the Memory of Ultear altogether.

"Forgive me, Horatia. But even I won't wait to see you die a second time."

She grit her teeth, the breath she was holding come out shaky and shallow, her eyes locked downward.

"... you already know you are not meant to be alive." Ultear told her quietly, and Hora's shoulders hunched slightly, her eyes shutting tight against the words. "... You were told this by a shadow... the same shadow that lurked at the edges of the coming disaster, and lurks even now. Waiting... planning."

"...tch... planning what...?" Hora hissed, her eyes breaking back up and locking to Ultear.

"I do not know." Ultear replied softly and Hora bristled,

"What the hell do you mean you don't know?!" She snapped hotly, "If you're gonna stand there telling me that you're from three days in the future, that some big disaster is coming by tonight, and that you know I got snatched last night by some goddamn 'shadow' and I'm supposed to be dead, and I don't exist in your... your Timeline or whatever else, how can you not know that?!" She hissed,

"I do not know." Ultear repeated, and Hora bristled further, her teeth gritting more. "I know only what I did before I became this Memory... three days from now, I do not know what the shadow planned, so I do not know now."

"Tch, well you sure as hell didn't know me either!" Hora snapped, "I've never even met you! Not now or before now, so how do you know that I'm... that I'm not supposed to be alive...?!"

"Because you're existence in this Current is like a boulder thrown into a stream." Ultear murmured, "You who does not exist and does not live- but has somehow been kept alive and tossed into the waters, disrupting the flow and creating rifts in the stream. Rifts rippling outward, destroying the water's movement, creating new, unpredictable paths and forcing the Current to diverge outward into unknown Timelines that never should have existed to begin with. Forcing this Current away from the path it was meant to take, and did take before- but now it's unstable, wild, and trying as hard as it can to right itself to the way it was supposed to be." Ultear grumbled, shaking her head slightly. "You are an Aberration, a disturbance in this Current- and your presence here has sent ripples like shock waves all throughout the Current, all of which I can sense, and feel that you should not be here." Hora grimaced,

"...tch... so... then how do you know about... that thing telling me I should have died...?" She muttered, and Ultear looked away, her attention sweeping out over the blurred and fragmented scenery around them.

"Your Being was fractured when the Current was disrupted." She murmured in reply, "When you were to die, your Memory was meant to manifest here, as mine has... but when you lived, the Current tried to stay it's course, so it has stripped some of you away and brought it here, creating a fractured imprint of your Memory, one that isn't whole... but does to an extent still exist here, and I've been able to access it. Enough to see that you encountered the shadow, and a few other things... this bit of you is what has also allowed your consciousness to enter the Current and speak with me, otherwise this conversation would be entirely impossible." She murmured softly, and Hora stiffened at it. "... But I do not know anymore of you than what little is trapped here in the Current." Ultear's eyes left their surroundings and landed back on Hora.

"... what the hell is this... the Current..?" Hora asked slowly,

"... it is the boundary of reality where Time flows, shifts... exists, in all it's entirety." Ultear murmured, "It has been called many things, by many people... but it is the Current. Time itself... where all Memory resides, and all paths stem, and die, and move. Living things do not come here, they cannot... but you can, because you've been thrown out of your intended Timeline, and spurred another."

Hora bit the inside of her cheek, silence falling between them for a long time as she just kept her eyes locked with Ultear, her mind absolutely whirling and fighting to come to terms with... all of it. Trying to just... believe, all of it actually. Because she was absolutely sure she'd never actually manage to understand it- it was just way too beyond her.

Hora shook her head a few times, forcing a long, deep breath as her eyes dropped closed for a few moments, waiting for her body to stop shaking and some amount of calm to trickle in... if that were possible. But she needed to calm down, she needed to think, and she needed to listen- and at least gather some of this crazy into some semblance of understanding on her part.

"... why are we having this conversation?" Hora asked at length, "... if you... don't know what that thing was, or what's its planning... why are you talking to me?" She mumbled, her eyes raising again. "And what the hell do you mean when you say 'disaster'? One that's gonna happen tonight, on July 7...?"

"On this night, ten thousand dragons will descend on Crocus, and the kingdom will be decimated." Ultear told her steadily, and Hora's heart dropped. "Less than 10 percent of humanity will survive, countless lives will be lost in the manner of a few hours... and many more in the coming days."

"...w...what...?" Hora breathed, her voice cracking about halfway through- and Ultear only nodded grimly.

"... Crime Sorciere was warned of this, two nights before it occurred." She went on, "We were told of what was to come by someone from the future, someone who had lived through the destruction, and then used the Eclipse Gate to travel back into this Current time, hoping to stop it from happening again." She explained softly, her eyes falling closed. "We failed." She said simply, Hora gulped.

"... so... so it's already happened twice before...?" Hora stammered breathlessly, "... twice already, where those dragons came... and everyone... d...died...?"

"Yes." Ultear replied softly, "Twice now, nothing has changed. Destruction still came, lives were still lost, trying to change what would happen- did nothing. Not on the part of I, or anyone else, nothing we did changed. Nothing we did changed the outcome." She explained, her voice dropping slightly. "... both times, everything leading up to it, was the same, despite everything... until suddenly, one single thing altered- you."

Hora felt her muscles lock.

"Without precedence, you have suddenly avoided your fate, where you die on the night of July 5. Where you have died, twice." Ultear murmured with a nod of her head toward the mangled image of her body lying behind her. "I do not how, or why that fate has changed- but it has, and this Current has fractured because of it, because of you. It is disrupted and broken and forced off the path it has stayed on twice before, and even right now it is fighting to go back."

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, her heart felt like it had stopped- and Ultear took a step forward, her gaze hard and locked with Hora's deep blue one.

"So I have come to you now, because you being here, where you cannot exist means there is a chance to stop what is coming." Ultear went on, "You still being alive in this Current proves that things can be changed. You are the Aberration, the anomaly and the one thing in all of this isn't supposed to be here. Your life has sent this Current into disarray, and everything you do is another disruption- another ripple that is created in fate's plans, and one that grows and effects everything else. You are the thing that has opened to door to change and this time, fate can be disrupted, the world can be saved, and everyone in it. You are the chance to fix this, you are the one thing fate is not prepared for."

M...me...?

She still couldn't breathe, her mind felt like it was racing a million miles an hour and every word Ultear said just then hit so hard, and yet didn't seem to want to sink in at all.

But more than anything came this suffocating sense of dread and terror with every word said, every sentence- the whole notion... A sense of the world suddenly falling on top of her shoulders, and she didn't want it. Couldn't... I... I...

"... Y... You want me... T... Y.. You expect me... To be the one thing... That saves... E...everything...?" She stammered, her voice shaking terribly and her body too. "... F...for me... To change it all...? S..stop everything...?"

"It has to be you." Ultear pressed, "You are the only thing unaccounted for, and the only thing that can possibly alter the path of this Current indefinitely. You are possibly even the only thing that can figure out what we could not- why the dragons came, what part the Eclipse Gate has to play in it all, why we couldn't change what happened even with warning. We couldn't put the pieces together, we were missing something- but you could find it, you can change it, and stop it. You can do what we didn't, what we didn't know we needed to do. You could find what we missed, you could make the decision, you could do what we failed to." Ultear told her, almost urgently now and taking another step toward her- but Hora took a step back from her, the terror and panic rising in her core getting all the worse by the second, and she shook her head a few times, stiffly, trembling.

"... I... I can't..." Hora hissed, her eyes flashing. "... T... This is all... S...so much bigger than me, and I don't... I don't even know half of what's even going on, or why... I... I don't even understand hardly any of this...! I... I've... You're asking me... T... To do something... I... I can't... B... Because I... I don't know anything...!" Hora stammered, "... S... Seriously...! All of this crap involving the Eclipse Gate, the Dragon King Festival that shadow... T..that thing that took me and dropped me alone... And told me I was gonna die... I.. I don't even understand any of it, I don't know what any of its about...!"

Ultear blinked, the neutral look she had dawned the whole time suddenly breaking slightly in confusion, but Hora didn't see it, she backed up again, one more step, then another, her hands coming up and holding to the top of her head, her breathing quickly getting raggedy and frantic.

"... I'm just as lost as you are..! I don't get any of it...! H-how am I supposed to find a solution, o-or make... Make the right decision, or do the right thing, or fix anything if I don't even know what's going on...?! I... I can't fix everything, I can't even fix one thing...! Everything I have ever done has just screwed everything else up worse..! I can't... I can't even manage a way to apologize to anyone for all the shit I've screwed up, o-or get them to forgive me, or fix all the pain and hurt I've created...! F...fuck... I can't even go more than an hour without breaking down...! I'm n..not... Tch... I'm half dead right now, I'm a mess and I just... I keep screwing everything up...! I-i don't know how to do anything, let alone save the whole goddamn kingdom...!"

She hissed, her fingers digging into her hair and scalp as tears spilled over and down her face in a constant stream, and she shut her eyes against it, shaking her head over and over.

What little bit of composure and self control she had managed since last night was gone- all of it was rushing down over her head in a great huge wave and she was crumbling underneath it. Underneath the pain and the regrets and the fear she couldn't fix anything she had broken, that she couldn't fix anything at all, that she was powerless and worthless and couldn't do anything- that she was never going to be able to fix anything that mattered the most, and it would all just keep getting worse and never get better. Her world would continue to spin out of control as it had been the last few months, and these last few days- until eventually it spiraled all the way out of control, and what she was left with was absolutely nothing.

No one in SaberTooth would ever look at her the same. They would never forgive her all the secrets and the pain and worry she has caused them. They would never forgive her all the years of suffering and cruelty she had say silent in and let them all be put through. That in the end no amount of apologies or truths or explanations or excuses were going to change what they knew now- who they saw her as now.

Liar

For all the hundreds of secrets she had kept and spilled, and still thousands more she hadn't spoken aloud.

Thief

Of all the years of happiness she had stolen from them for her compliance, and all the years she had never let them try and help.

Monster

Like that of Ardendous, murderer of so many lives and whose same evil and rage lived in her. That rage befit of the monster who lost sight of herself and her own mind, who burned her friends in anger, and even one day might kill them too if the darkness ever won. Forever carrying with her this terrible wicked thing inside if herself they all knew lived there- and feared was all she ever would be... The sort of monster Yukino could believe her to be, when accused of such terrible things.

She felt herself losing them and no amount of scrambling was making a difference. She was too far gone to change, and it was much too late to fix anything... So how in the hell was she supposed to fix the future? Stave off ten thousand dragons and a fate of massacre and destruction that has already won out twice?

How was she supposed to find a way to fix the whole goddamn kingdom if she couldn't even manage a way to fix her own problems and mistakes...?! Or when she wasn't even able to come up with a way to just... Just...

"... I... I can't! I'm not some special thing... I'm not some... Some missing piece in all of this, me being not dead... It doesn't make me some sort of... Of miracle worker...! And... And you... you're asking me to do... Something completely beyond me...!" Hora hissed, "... Y... You want me to change the whole future...?! How the hell am I supposed to do that...?! I'm not... I'm not the kind of... I'm not... I'm someone who has failed to fix everything wrong in my life for over ten years...! I lied to everyone, I betrayed them... I... I failed to defeat Deliora... Even when... T-that was the one thing I was kept alive to do..! I couldn't stop Jiemma when he took over the guild... I couldn't stop h-him putting the Possession Link on me, I... I couldn't stop him hurting everyone all these years...!" She snapped, her voice cracking painfully and her eyes squeezing shut, holding her head in her hands still and her posture crumbling as the tears got all the heavier. "... Tch... I couldn't even... Half the time I can't even stop myself... Keep from getting... P...pulled into Darkness... I couldn't... I couldn't stop Lector getting... I... I couldn't... Stop hurting them... Worrying... T...them... Lying... And...and... Sting hates me now... A...and they all... Know I'm... T... terrible...a...and... Gray..." Her voice broke completely and she hissed, a sob catching in her throat and her knees shaking so much she was hardly staying standing.

"... Shit... D...don't you get it...? I've never...e...ever done anything but... Screw everything up worse...! How... How the hell am... Am I supposed... To fix... Any of this...? Fix... T...the whole... future...? Save... Anybody...? I don't... I can't even... Save myself... From... Continuously... Fucking up..."

Ultear blinked, quiet and stuck to her spot as she watched the fiery-haired girl crumble in front of her, sobbing and voice choked in tears, laced in nothing but pain, despair, fear and regret. Saw her being crushed underneath a world of hurt and emotions, self-hatred, and doubt that would have been heavy enough to flatten a world- and all of it was tumbling down overhead in a huge, terrifying storm... All of it that she had bit back at for days, weeks, months and years and it festered, growing... But now she couldn't keep it back, and she was breaking down, and badly. Pushed the edge now when the terrifying thought of having the fate of the world and everyone in it suddenly forced upon her now- all the information, all the insanity, the threat of despair and destruction coming in only half a day at best, and the knowledge that it has failed to be averted already twice before.

Hora couldn't stop herself this time. She'd managed to find an end to the breakdown when it happened with Rogue, last night with Natsu- even after she'd found out about Gray... But this time it hit her all at once, every bit of it, and she could not hold it back no matter how hard she tried. She was crying, sobbing and shaking and she was breaking, getting crushed and she knew that it was all... All my fault

I screwed everything up... Everything

I can't fix anything... I can't... Save anything...

... No matter how hard I've tried... I'm not different... I still hurt everyone... Destroy... everything...

I'm... Not... Good enough... I'm not enough... None of it... Was ever enough...

"... I... Can't..." She cried, her voice hoarse, her throat in agony- her lungs, her heart, her soul too.

I can't

Ultear's eyes softened, her gaze falling from Horatia as the sound of the girl's sobbing quickly became all there was to hear. And in between the sobs and gasps those words were repeated without end- I can't... And the crying only continued to get worse, her body shaking more and more violently.

"... I'm sorry..." Ultear said at length, her eyes still fixed downward. "... I do not... I did not mean to rest the world on your shoulders... But I cannot believe that you are not able to change this fate... I must believe your life gives hope for something better."

"... S...stop..." Hora hissed, shaking her head and her fingers digging into her hair, pulling at it and hunching over, stumbling back a few more steps, backing away even as her knees threatened to give way on her. "... Just... Stop... I'm... I'm not..."

"Enough."

Hora's steps faltered, her heart stalling in her chest, shock and disbelief rushing through her in a massive wave- her back bumping into something solid, steadfast, massive. And the voice rung clear, cold, stern and loud from above her, sweeping through the muddied scenery in tune with an icy wind that scattered the misshapen inn and left the whole world in nothing but calm, quiet, sheer white.

Hora felt her lungs stall, her body freezing in an instant, her emotions and turmoil halted for a single second as her blood ran cold.

That voice...

Ultear's head snapped up, her eyes growing wide and stricken as she saw that massive, looming creature now suddenly behind Hora. Huge, glittering white claws shining like wet ice came down on either side of the girl, nearly five times her size, holding her in place as her back came into contact with smooth, crystalline skin and scales so utterly cold... A long, sickle tail curling around in front of her and boxing Hora in all the way. But her eyes would not leave the floor, not even when the claws appeared in the edge of her vision, or when the tail snaked in front of her, smooth and glittering like a million stars against a pale white backdrop.

"... That..." Ultear's voice faded off into nothing, her mind struggling to come to terms with just how that... That beast could even be there-

But Hora stayed still, not daring to look up, not daring to look behind her, not even daring to breathe. She felt the body against her back, felt the chill like the coldest blizzard and the warmth underneath it that felt like the glow of the sun. She smelled frost and ice so heavy on the air she was nearly drinking the chilly moisture in, and she smelled something older, ancient even- and sweet too.

She knew that scent, though she had never smelled it before. She knew that voice, though she had never heard it with her ears before. She knew what had her enclosed in it's grasp, pressed against its chest, shouldered by its claws, and barred by its tail... Even though she had never seen it before.

And she knew there was a massive head hovering above her own, chilly breath blowing down against her body and eyes like chips of ice locked to her, even though she did not look up.

It was not possible... And yet-?

"... L... Lixue...?" Hora stammered, breathless, scared even- and why not?

He had never been more than a voice, a body-less, formless being in her mind and thoughts that she only ever heard. He did not have form, he did not have a body, he could not speak out into the world... He could not be right behind her, surrounding her, trapping her.

But she felt him, as real and as solid as any living thing, and her heart dropped in nothing less that true, and utter shock.

"... There's...no way..." She muttered shakily, a whole new line of tears streaming down her cheeks where overwhelming disbelief had stopped them for a few moments.

"Cease for a few minutes and listen to me, you stubborn girl." Lixue rumbled, low and quiet and she could feel his voice thrumming against her back from deep within his chest. "I realize most of this is hard for you to understand, and I know you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders... But you have felt that weight since even before realizing your fate was altered. All hearing this now has done is simply add to the insurmountable burden you have been carrying with you for so long now..." He told her lowly and Hora blinked, her eyes locked ahead and on the ground, her hands still holding her head, though her grip on her hair was slowly failing. She heard him sigh, felt the breath against her back as his voice dropped just a little bit more, and what he added next sounded slightly exasperated. "... a burden you've been carrying, in my opinion, quite needlessly." He pointed out and she stiffened.

"... but I will not argue that with you, it has never done anything before, and I doubt it will do good now." He mumbled, not pausing long enough to let her wonder on the comment. "And I will also not waste my time assuring you that your mistakes can be forgiven, and that all those you worry will forever hold everything against you, will not do so. And I will not try to convince you that you are not what 'monster' you worry you are... I've tried to assure you of all these things before now, and clearly they have failed to make a large enough impact with you. You are still concerned over all of this, and holding to it, letting it suffocate you... And in truth, even were I to assure of any of that- I cannot possibly know any of it for certain. And I know you aware of that, that is probably why you are still doubting." He grumbled, Hora swallowed hard against the words.

"So instead, I will make it simple, and I will only tell you what I know as truth." Lixue murmured softly. "You are not perfect. You are insecure, scared, haunted, and at the best of times- truly a mess. And you have made many, many mistakes in your short life- some of which could have been perhaps avoided, or handled better, that is true." He told her rather matter-of-factly, and Hora grimaced, her shoulders hunching. "You have hurt people, mostly without want to, and you do feel regret for it. But of anyone, you have hurt yourself the most- by far. You are not unendingly strong, and a large fraction of the time, your success's are drawn mostly from stubbornness and dumb luck. And you are certainly not the strongest human, or even close to it- and you are certainly not the brightest either. There are plenty more in this world stronger, more powerful, more intelligent, and more capable with Magic than you."

She hunched a little more, her hands falling from her head to holding her cheeks, hiding her face almost as she hissed, her breaths still raggedy and shallow. "Tch... If this is supposed... T...to be a pep talk... Lixue... It sucks..." She whispered, and Ultear looked like she agreed- but Lixue just sighed heavily at the comment.

"Let me finish." He grumbled. "All of what I have said is true... But none of it matters." He told her, and Hora paused, her mind stalling in confusion. "You do not have to be the strongest, or the most powerful, or the smartest, or even be the most capable Mage. You do not have to confident, or fearless, and you do not have to be incapable of making mistakes- all living beings make mistakes. It is a part of being alive." He rumbled lowly, "You do not have to be any of these things, and you do not need to be perfect... Because the simple truth is that you are enough, just as you are."

Hora blinked, her heart skipping a beat as the words seemed to ring on her ears for a moment or two.

W...what...?

"Despite all your shortfalls, and your mistakes, and the pain you carry with you always- you are enough. You always have been, and you always will be. You are enough, just as you are, and with every flaw included." Lixue rumbled, "You are enough... And you needn't be the answer for everything, you needn't be the key to stopping the destruction this world is fated for- you needn't be the hero of this story who slays the beast and saves the world all on your own. Your life spared does not make you the sole being capable of these things, and you shouldn't believe it does... You being alive is enough."

Hora swallowed hard, her eyes flashing and trembling still, locked in place and her ears ringing with every calm, steady, rumbling word.

"The simple fact that you are still live when you are not meant to be is all the proof needed to believe that fate can be changed- that is all that is needed. You do not need to be the hero, and you do not need to have all the answers. Things will happen as they do, it is not up to you to fix everything. The only thing you need do is be there, in any capacity you are able." Lixue rumbled softly, his head bending slightly as his nose pressed against the top of her head. Hora choked on the sob that hit her, her eyes flashing, and trembling under the gentleness of the touch.

"Just live."

.:+:.

Hora started forward with a ragged gasp, lungs heaving and heart pounding a million times a minute. Her blue eyes snapped open into near pitch darkness, the world around her so dim even her eyes had a hard time adjusting to it, and her mind had an even harder time coming to terms with it all.

She felt like she'd been snapped backwards, wrenched from that place filled with memory and grayscale-multicolor and tossed into the world with absolutely no warning. One moment she was there, her mind whirling and her emotions too, Lixue's gentle touch and the sound of his voice, the feel of his breath, that woman Ultear- all she'd been told about how she was not supposed to be alive, about the future, the destruction coming, all of it- one minute she was there and now she was... Where the hell am I...?

Why is it so fucking dark...? I...

... I was falling... Right...?

She glanced up above her head, her eyes finding a gaping hole in the roof above her with no light to be seen... And where she was laying among a pile of rubble, in what looked like a cavern tunnel of some sort. It was dark, and cold, and... Wet. Like there was a lot of water here, she could smell and hear it somewhere she couldn't quite see.

...did I really... Fall this far...?

So far... I can't even see any light from up there...? This is like... Super underground...

She grimaced, wincing harshly as she pushed herself up off the rubble and her body hated her for it immensely. Everything hurt, her back and her head most of all, and she grumbled to herself to see a splash of blood fall into her lap as she straightened up all the way. She tapped the side of her head gingerly, her fingers caching with blood from a gash there... I guess maybe I do sort of remember hitting my head earlier...

... Is that what it was...? That whole thing... Talking to Lixue, and that woman...? Was it... All in my head...?

'No. All of that was very real ... Albeit it did happen in a different plane of reality than this one.' Lixue's voice intoned steadily as she grimaced at it, her stomach flipping anew and her eyes flashing in the dim.

"... I was afraid you would say that..." She mumbled quietly, her voice trembling slightly despite herself and she dug her fingers into her sides, hugging herself slightly. "... So that means everything else is real too... The dragons coming, everything getting destroyed... The future trying to stay the course toward... Absolute chaos..." Her fingers dug in a little harder and she swallowed, her eyes on the floor and glittering. "... Me being dead... That I'm supposed to be dead... And that I have died twice already... That's true too..." She mumbled shakily,

'Yes.' Lixue murmured softly, 'It is all true, and fast approaching... We don't have much time before night falls and the danger that woman spoke of comes to pass.' Hora's fingers trembled slightly as they dug a bit further in her sides, her stomach flipping again and feeling absolutely sick for it.

"... A...and... Knowing all of that... All of that awful... Coming... You really think... All I have to do... Is just live...? Lixue...?" Hora stammered softly, the fear quickly making a reappearance in the waking world, and she could feel herself slipping dangerously close to breaking down like she had before- and she did not want to... But shit.

"... How could that be enough...? Shouldn't there be something more...? I mean... I have to warn everybody, right? Tell them what's coming...?" Hora stammered quietly, "... But what would I even say...? 'Yeah I know it sounds crazy but I ended up in this alternate reality and this lady from the future told me what's gonna happen- and oh, I'm apparently supposed to be dead right but I'm not, so I'm basically like this huge wrench in the whole sequence of events that's happened twice now'... I mean... That's insane, they couldn't even begin to believe it if I tried to tell them..." She hissed, shaking her head and grumbling.

"...shit... What do I do...?"

'... You do need to tell them. Explain things as best you can, it will be hard, none of this is easy- but you must try.' Lixue told her steadily, 'Forewarning your comrades will do nothing but help, and better prepare you all- find them, tell them, do everything you can and what you feel is right.' He murmured, 'There is no correct course of action here. All you have to do is try, I believe that will be enough. Do not go through this thinking you must do something spectacular, or otherworldly, or that you must be the key to fixing this all. Do this as you normally would. Tackle this issue as if you only knew that the destruction was coming, and did not know any of the rest- face this incoming danger as you have faced all the other dangers in your life, give it your all, and resolve yourself to doing all that you can knowing that your best- in my belief- will be more than enough.'

She took in a breath and held it, chewing on the insides of her cheeks and eyes narrowing at the floor.

'This battle is no different than any you have been in before, do not let yourself believe it is. Fight in the only way you know how- even if if is in your hotheaded, stumbling, stubborn, and entirely dumb-luck driven way... This chaos may just need a bit of you and your foolishness to see it throughout to the end.'

Hora sniffed, smiling slightly despite herself and only for a moment, before she took in a deep breath and straightened up. Her hands moved up, her eyes dropping closed and her palms meeting her cheeks roughly and either a very loud SMACK

She stiffened at it and the stinging sensation in her face, but she didn't bend under it and she nodded once, firmly so as she let a big breath.

Okay, time to buck up Hora

Get up, go... Fight, even if this all fucking insane... Just do your best

I defeated a Demon of Zeref all on my own right? How hard can some Dragons and time-traveling shenanigans be?

I have to try... I have to try and I am not dying

I have to get everyone out of here, get Lector back, see them all again- I have to

She huffed, pushing herself on to her feet again and ignoring the ache that ignited in her body for the movement. She drew her hand across the side of her head, wiping away the blood as best she could and her expression hardening along with her resolve.

I promised I would do this, so hell if I'm gonna muck up and give up now

She moved her hand out to the side, pulling it through a Magic Circle that appeared in air beside her, pulling a piece of paper out if her Requip. The paper went up in flames with a pulse of gold from her fingers, Drille puffing up into life before her and looking mortified with the dense dark around them.

"Y-yes Miss...?!" He asked quickly, taking the steady look on her face as a clue not to comment on their whereabouts or the state of her- which she appreciated, but really she hardly paused.

"Everyone got separated, I need you to fly ahead of me and try to find the others." Hora started in quickly, "If you find them before I do, I need you to tell them that I am fine and I am on my way to rejoin them as quickly as I can. But if they have found a way out of this place by the time you reach them, or even if they haven't- you have to tell them to keep going, they cannot wait on me, got it? I don't care how much they argue, they have to get out of here- you need to tell them that there are 10,000 Dragons that are gonna come to Crocus tonight and destroy everything! They need to know, you have to warn them, so they can be ready for what happens, and maybe find some way to stop it!" Hora told the little bird quickly, and Drille nearly dropped out of air when it's wings stalled in terror at the words.

"W-WHAT?!" Drille squawked, but Hora shook her head curtly.

"No time to freak out about it, you have to go!" She hissed, "Tell them, and tell them I will explain all the finer details when I find them- but for now all they have to know is they cannot wait on me, they have to keep moving, get out of here, and get ready for what's coming! They need to warn anybody else they can, the Guilds, the Army, Council- whoever! There's a huge fight coming and a lot of people are gonna end up dead if we don't do something!"

Drille flinched a bit at the harshness of her voice, but nodded curtly, his little wings flapping like mad as he whipped around and streaked off. "Y-yes Miss! I will tell them, I'll find them, I promise!" His little voice called as he left, the light of the fire giving him life fading to nothing down the corridor, and she huffed slightly under her breath.

She started forward in the same direction at a run, her body hating her for the movement but she ignored it and pressed on without ever slowing up. She had to find her way out of this deep dark hole she'd fallen into, and a way back to the surface and everyone else. Time was running out, and having no sense of how long she'd been down here unconscious or how long they'd been stuck in this labyrinth made her all the more uneasy- those dragons were coming tonight.

I have to go, we have to do something... Something to stop all that terrible shit from happening a second time...!

Shit... Shit, shit, shit... We have to do something, but what...?!

I hope everybody else has some sort of plan, because I definitely don't... I just gotta live, huh Lixue? Act like this is some normal crisis and go from there?! And that'll have to be enough...?!

Tch... I fucking hope you're right, and that's all I need to do... I have nothing else to give...

.:+:.

"... Hey, is that a door...?!"

"It might be the way out...!"

The group of Fairy Tailers and Yukino in tow sped up a little in their walking, a door in the cavern wall ahead of them catching their immediate interest.

Their fighting against the Hungry Wolf Knights had come to a close about an hour earlier, the fights for each of them taxing and a challenge- especially for the two Celestial Mages whose feet were burned from the lava floor they'd been forced into... But saved by Arcadios. Wendy's healing had the girls fine enough to walk, though the Colonel was completely out of it still and being carried along by Lucy's Celestial Spirit, Loke (who of which had passed though his own Gate and returned both Yukino and Lucy's keys to them). Once the fighting was done and over with, they'd ended up wandering this maze of caves and such, looking for both a way out, and their missing Devil Slayer.

There had been no sign nor hint of Hora since the Wolf Knights had appeared. She had been separated from them all and tossed off somewhere where they couldn't seem to find her- and Natsu and Wendy not having been able to pick up on her scent did nothing to alleviate any of their unease. Was Hora hurt and lying somewhere, alone and with no help? Had she been attacked by some other enemy they weren't aware of? Or had she simply gotten lost? Or was she a lot farther from them than they realized?

The exit being found before Hora was all the more worrying, and what little relief they felt at finding a way out was muffled by their worry and concern over where Hora was, and if she was okay. They'd almost been hoping she might have found the way out before them, and would have simply been waiting for them as they arrived... But still there was no Hora here, and their stomachs knotted.

"... There's still no sign of Hora..." Yukino mumbled under her breath, casting the way they had come an anxious look and lagging at the back of the group. Natsu beside her grimaced slightly, brooding almost as he cast that direction a low look.

"... Yeah, I was really hoping she'd be here waitin' on us." Natsu mumbled lowly and Yukino swallowed slightly.

"... Do you think she's okay...? Should we... Go back and look for her...?" Yukino mumbled uncertainly and Natsu paused, biting the inside of his cheek.

"... We found the way out, but we can't just leave here without her." Lucy mumbled, moving up behind Yukino and Natsu slowly, everyone else having drawn up too before they could reach the door all the way.

"Yeah, what if she's like really, really lost? O-or hurt...?" Wendy stammered worriedly,

"... Perhaps we shouldn't jump to conclusions." Carla murmured softly, trying to be a voice of reason though the look of concern on her face gave her away.

"Y-yeah, I bet ya Hora's on her way to us right now...!" Happy tried to purr, his paw raising in air though it was shaking too much to really be convincing either.

"Horatia is a very capable Mage, despite everything she's been through as of late. We should have more faith in her." PantherLily intoned coolly, very much a convincing voice of reason than the other two Exceeds. "I agree we should not leave without her, but we shouldn't assume the worst either." He murmured, Mirajane beside him nodding in agreement.

"Yes. We should look for her, but I am sure she's just fine." The white-haired woman intoned calmly, casting a small and reassuring smile toward Yukino, to which the Celestial Mage seemed to bite the inside of her cheek at.

"... I hope so..."

"... Hmm, to have even your faith Mirajane- I admit, I am more than curious about this Horatia woman now." Loke intoned lightly, Arcadios slung over one shoulder his his other hand lift to his face to push his glasses back up his nose, smirking faintly. "I am excited to meet the lovely lady~!"

"Stop with your playboy stuff, it's creepy...!" Lucy hissed toward the Spirit quickly, but Loke simply shrugged it off, smirking still and lost in his own head.

Natsu and Wendy stiffened though, their heads snapping around in the direction they had come from and instantly on high alert. Everyone else noticed the reaction of the Dragon Slayers too, adopting their own tense behavior without knowing why- before soon after they heard what Wendy and Natsu had... The frantic, fast-paced, and nearly mad-dash flapping of... Wings...?

"What is that...?" Lucy mumbled quickly,

"I FOUND YOUUUUUUUU!"

There was a blur of orange and red that rushed straight up to them, and then was promptly followed by an audible SMACK as something rammed into Natsu hard enough to knock him flat on his back. Everyone jumped, wide-eyed and reeling for a moment while Natsu lay in the ground, stunned with a ball of paper and fire on his chest, equally as stunned from the impact. There was one or two seconds where everyone stood still, unsure of what to do it what had even happened- before several of those on their feet realized what the bundle of flame and paper was.

"Drille!" Lucy and Mirajane breathed,

"You're here!" Happy trilled,

"Is Hora okay?! Did she send you?!" Yukino asked quickly, immediately bending down closer to the bird and Natsu.

"Where is she?! Why are you going so fast...?! Is something wrong...?!" Wendy stammered worriedly,

"... And why the hell did you have to slam into me...?" Natsu grumbled hotly, picking himself up a bit and the bird falling into his lap, still a little dazed.

"Drille, please...! Where is Hora, is she alright...?!" Yukino pressed again, impatiently almost as the bird seemed to shake off the last if it's daze, and then quickly shot back up into the air, flapping and agitated and panicky once more.

"Y-yes, Miss sent me! She asked me to find you, and deliver urgent news!" Drille replied breathlessly. "Miss says to tell you she is alright, and she is making her way to rejoin you as fast as she can! I had to fly a long way to get here to you, she is still far away, but she will meet up with you as soon as she can!"

"That's great-!"

"She's okay-!"

They let out relieved sighs, smiling and the tension in their shoulders fading quite a bit and quite suddenly too- but they all got cut off by the bird near right off.

"I-I'm not done!" Drille snapped a tad impatiently, "Miss says that she does not want you all to wait for her! She wants you to leave this place as soon as you can, even if she's not with you!" Drille kept on quickly and they stiffened at it, their lightened moods breaking off in shock and confusion.

"W-what?!" Was the collective response from most all of then, and Drille fluffed up, wings beating like made and sending embers raining to the floor with a ferocity.

"Miss says you need to get out of this place, get back to the city- you must go without her, she will find you- but you must go! You cannot be stuck here waiting for her, she wants you to leave this place as quickly as you can!" Drille kept on, frantically still almost, and it just made them all the more wound up.

"What, why?! Why the hell wouldn't we wait for her?!" Natsu snapped,

"We can't just leave her in here, what if there are more people like those Wolf Knights..?!" Yukino said quickly,

"Please do not argue with me I am simply delivering the message!" Drille squawked impatiently, "Miss days there is terrible danger coming to the city tonight- you must be ready to face it and try to avert it, there is no time to lose!"

They all stiffened, eyes wide and stunned for a moment- what the hell did he mean, terrible danger...?!

And how would Hora know that...?!

They meant to ask, to interrupt again, to start in on interrogating the poor bird, demanding further details, an explanation- anything... But they never got to it.

The door leading out of the underground maze suddenly creaked on it's hinges, opening inward by a pair of hands on it's other side, and everyone's attention immediately snapped to it. They whirled around, on edge and defensive for the unexpected arrival in this place so far below everything, Mirajane, PantherLily, and Natsu quick to step up and place themselves between the cloaked figure in the doorway and the others.

Air rushed up to meet them as the doors opened wide, sending up dust in it's waken and carrying with it the scent of the stranger- and both Natsu and Wendy went rigid, their defensive posture shattered in the next heartbeat as shock and confusion hit them full square.

"...n...no way..." Natsu stammered breathlessly,

"... That scent, it can't be...!" Wendy mumbled too, and everyone else shot the Dragon Slayer's confused looks.

"What's the matter...?" Carla asked of Wendy quickly, and the bluenette shook her head slightly, stricken still. Lucy blinked at it, her eyes snapping quickly between Natsu and Wendy both, before she swallowed and took a tentative step forward.

"... Who are you?" Lucy asked lowly, the cloaked figure seemingly stuck in their spot, dazed almost as they looked among the group of Wizards silently, their eyes glittering in the shadow of their hood that kept their face from all view.

"... Hey, are you...?!" Natsu hissed quickly, only to draw up short when the figure hunched a little and they took in a sharp breath of air, their hand quickly raising to their face and stifling... A sob.

They... They're crying...?

"... I... I'm sorry..." The stranger stammered breathlessly, their voice low and shaking terribly, but they all stiffened- not for the crying, but for the familiar ring of that voice.

They knew that voice

N-no way...

"... I'm... I'm sorry... I just... Please... You have to help me..." The stranger kept on, shaking their head slightly as they seemed to try and still the sobs, but the tears kept coming, glittering as they hit the floor. "... Please... Help me..."

Their hands moved up and grabbed hold of the hood, pulling it back and the light flooding from the open exit dazzling across familiar blonde hair, tears streaming down a face they knew oh so well- and the second of that face among them now. They all froze, wide-eyed and hearts skipping a beat.

"L-Lucy...?" Natsu stammered,

"... W..what...?! There's two Lucy's now...?!" Happy hissed,

"... Impossible...!" Yukino breathed,

"T...that can't be...!" Lucy stammered, her eyes frozen to the mirror image of herself, crying still, very much real and there- and yet how could that be possible...?!

Drille sucked in a sharp breath of air as the Second Lucy showed her face, the breath breaking off in a strangled squawk and the poor Creature's body puffed up in a burst of flame, it's body burning away in a seconds time. That shock was the last the poor thing could take, between everything else it had been told and heard, and now seen- and how utterly impossible it had to be too.

Not only were there now two Lucy's there before Drille, but it was much too similar to what he had seen a few days prior, and of which had unsettled him more than anything else. He'd seen both impossible things, and he couldn't take it.

Two people, both with the same face.

Two Lucys, and two Rogues.

Everyone standing there did not notice Drille be consumed in flame and vanish, they were still fixed to the Second Lucy, her tears, and what utterly chilling words left her lips next.

"... Please, you have to help me... I am Lucy... I used the Eclipse Gate to travel through Time... I'm... I'm from the future..." The Second Lucy stammered breathlessly, her words breaking off painfully as a new line of tears fell from her eyes anew, and she took a small, shaking step toward them, her entire figure swaying.

"... You must help me, the kingdom is going to be destroyed...!"

Her voice trailed off to nothing not three seconds after she said it, before her knees gave out on her and she hit the floor with an awful thud.

"L-Lucy...!"

.:+:.

Hora's running faltered midway through a step without her intending it to, her heart skipping a beat when the sensation of Drille burning up suddenly hit her. She staggered to a half-halt at it, panting and out of breath as she cast a wary glance up at the roof overhead, eyes narrowed.

"... He burned up..." She mumbled under her breath between puffs for air, "... He must have found everyone else then... I hope they listened..." She grumbled to herself, her eyes falling closed for a second and stiffening against the chill that ran up her spine just then.

... Shit... All of this... Feels so terribly wrong...

... Of course it does... 10,000 Dragons are gonna destroy everything in a few hours... And I have no idea how we're gonna stop that...

... Tch... I really hope... Everyone else has a plan... Because I don't have one... Or even a clue... Where we would... Start...

She grit her teeth against it and shook her head furiously, hating herself for falling down that lane of thought again and quickly abandoning it altogether. She took in a deep breath and started running again, ever winding through corridors and taking in the air, hoping for some scent or clue to where she was and which way was out. Out of here and back to the surface, out of this maze and back to everyone else- to get out, get everyone, warn everybody and... Fight like hell, because that was all she really knew what, and how to do with all of this insanity.

This complete and utter insanity

Time traveling people, a dire warning from someone who had traveled back in time from the future to warn Ultear and whoever the hell 'Crime Sorciere' was. Someone who told of the coming destruction, asked for help to avert it- and had failed... Once, or maybe twice, she wasn't really sure.

Destruction had come twice already as Ultear had said... But wouldn't that mean it had happened once already, and someone came back to avert it? And that even with the forewarning nothing changed the second time...?

So this... Is the third time around...? Does that mean whoever it was that warned Ultear went back in time a second time around...?

Or... Is Ultear the one that stepped back in time...?

Fucking hell I don't get any of this at all...!

Hora swallowed hard, her eyes flashing as she whipped around a corner and kept on, fast-paced, never daring to slow. She felt another chill run up her spine and she bit the insides of her cheeks against it.

... But... That thing said... It wouldn't watch me die a second time...

... If... According to Ultear I have already died twice... Wouldn't it have said... 'I won't wait to see you die a third time'...? Not a 'second'...?

... That would... Only make sense if... I guess... Ultear... Or... Her memory or whatever is the one that jumped back in time on the second round... So it should have still been the same timeline no matter what right...? Her stepping back in time to right now shouldn't have had any effect on what happened with me... So... So why...

... What the hell happened... That made it so I... Didn't die...?

... Nothing should have changed, right...? Not by any means I can see... Not that I get any of this, but...

'... No it is a valid point. I follow your reasoning and I agree... I do not see any reason why the timeline would have changed so suddenly, but clearly it did. Even if that Memory of Ultear did not say it directly, I do think what she was meaning to explain was this- something did change, and without precedence, and quite abruptly it seems... She certainly made it clear she did not know what caused the change, but she did seem to me quite disconcerted by your survival. Certainly you did die twice as far as Ultear is aware, and she mentioned no other significant changes to events than that of your survival.' Lixue intoned lowly, earning a grimace from Hora. 'So, if we are to believe it was not a misstep or a lie by that Shadow that took you- you should still have died only the once by their account. This should still be the timeline where you die a second time, and they even mentioned that was the future that needed to come to pass... But it is not what happened. Something changed... And to me, it seems almost as if the change had to brought about by no one involved in this mess. Not of this future informant, or even that Shadow, or anyone else here could have changed- lest Ultear would have noticed, and mentioned it. You are the only, and unprecedented change by Ultear's account... With all of that in mind, I might dare to guess something even greater than you or I might have dealt a hand in all of this, and been the drive toward your sudden survival.'

"... Something greater than you and I...?" Hora mumbled slowly, "... Meaning even greater than the people time-traveling, and the Ultear Memory... And definitely not anybody alive here in Crocus right now...?" She grumbled,

'Yes.'

"... Who the hell does that leave, Lixue?" Hora huffed, "You're telling me there's something or someone out there that had literally nothing to do with any of this chaos, isn't even in the city or was, in any version of events... That just decided 'hey, how about we spice things up a bit and make Hora not die'... For what? The hell of it...?" She muttered lowly, "You get how absurd that is, right?"

'Well, we are attempting to rationalize a Power beyond our comprehension.' He replied evenly, Hora huffed again.

"Well who the fuck would even have that kind of influence at all? To just up and create that big a Rift in the 'Current' without influencing anything else? Just me? By... By just deciding it, or thinking it, or whatever...?" She hissed,

'... Maveel itself perhaps, but I could not say for certain why it would do such a thing... Perhaps it was just a whim, or a passing thought... Perhaps an urge to answer some unheard wish, dream, hope... Or... Even maybe an alternation made, in response to something else we are unaware of changing... Perhaps even a change that occurred in another Bealorr Greiin...' Lixue mused, quite cryptically she might add, and he didn't seem to want to continue the though nor elaborate- because he changed the subject next without giving her a chance to question him on any of the nonsense he'd just spouted. '... Whatever the cause, I do not think it wise to dwell on the reason it happened- it occurred, and it would be better to focus on keeping that change in motion.' He murmured, rounding to something different and she grit her teeth for it. 'Though I would suggest you think over everything else we do know... I am curious as to who it was that warned Ultear, hoping to avoid disaster.' He hummed and she bit the inside of her cheek.

"... Maybe... Do... Do you think... it could be... that thing that snatched me away...?" Hora mumbled under her breath. "... It wanted me to die, it said I was meant to... But... If it knew about the future..."

Hora trailed off completely, and quite soon after she started, and Lixue said nothing... Because she knew immediately once she suggested it, that it couldn't be right, and Lixue sensed it to.

Thinking about it set her on edge, and she instinctively recoiled at the notion of thinking further into it at all. She didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to remember it- it had been awful, disorienting, chilling... Terribly wrong and so...

... Terrifying... B...because... I... I think...

She hissed, shaking her head furiously against the shudder that ran through her again.

... Shit... It can't be... But... What Drille said... The scent... Even... Even the voice...

... But... But how could... He... have felt so... So dark...?

... So... Not right...?

... Whoever... whatever that was... That snatched me from the Inn and left me to die...

... It's not... The same... And still... My nose can't lie... My ears don't...

... Drille... Knew what he saw...

... But the sensation... It was... Pure wickedness... Pure...

She bit down hard enough on her cheeks she tasted blood, her hands clenching tightly into fists and her running growing faster, and more frantic by the second.

... Pure... Darkness...

... Pure... Evil...

... It can't have been...

... Please... I don't want what I'm thinking to be right...

... I don't want it... Even though...

... I know... In my core... It was...

.:+:.

10,000 Dragons

This was the doom the Lucy from the Future had rushed to tell them, to warn them. After she came to, she relayed what fate was to come and she pleaded for help in stopping it... And apologized for having no plan in place to avert it, that her jump back through the Eclipse Gate was rash, and driven only by fear and despair. She mumbled the apology with tear-filled eyes, heart heavy at her own lack of a solution for what had already come and gone for her... Her life turned upside down, and everyone she knew and loved killed, all in one night.

And that night was fast approaching- right around the corner, and looming over their heads. The Future Lucy urged them to leave, to find a way from the Palace- they could not be stuck there, that it was what had happened already in the future she lived, and it did not end well. They had to escape the Palace, to avoid the mistakes that had been made in her future- find a way out, shoot up a signal flare for those in the Games and likely nearly done with them. They intended to go and to meet with Crime Sorciere at the Future Lucy's behest, and they all started off, quick-paced and wary.

Get out of the Palace, get back to everyone else- do not get trapped there in those castle walls that had been their doom. They had to avoid it, in whatever way they could.

They did not question the Future Lucy, or what she knew or even how- they believed her tale instantly... Both because she was a friend, and because her warning of incoming doom was much too similar to the one Drille had passed on to them, before vanishing before the creature could explain further. They knew it must have been that disaster Hora seemed so suddenly aware of- though they didn't know how- they knew it was real, and fast coming. Hora knew it was coming and they trusted she would find a way to them, before the end... Trusted they would see her again, though they forced themselves away from trying to find her immediately. They followed her request to get out, knowing now that they really needed to, but they did so with uneasy hearts. They pushed forward... But Yukino wavered, and she could not bring herself to leave that place without making sure her friend and (former) Guild-Mate was alright.

Yukino broke off from the others, intent to find Horatia, somewhere, hopefully okay, hopefully not in danger... Even if Hora seemed to already know something terrible was coming, Yukino had to warn her to get out of the castle before it was too late, lest the future repeat itself. She had to find her, Hora had risked so much to come here after being hurt the night prior- she was working so hard to make sure she and Lucy had been found safely. She had to find Hora... If only to try and show the same loyalty and protectiveness toward her, that Hora had had for all of them all this time.

She had to try

The white-haired Celestial Mage was gone long before they'd gotten the chance to realize she had left- and then suddenly they were cornered in the grand arching hallways of the castle, Royal Soldiers blocking their way and sending their escape into slamming to a halt. Mirajane was the first to notice Yukino gone, and though their attempts at escape had come to a sudden standstill, she rushed off after the younger, hoping everyone else would be just fine without her there. Yukino could not be alone in this place, and everyone else had each other even if Mira were to go- so she went... Leaving behind both Lucys, Carla, Happy, PantherLily, Wendy, Loke and Natsu to deal with the army.

And they fought hard, blowing through the soldiers with strength and skill owed to Wizards belonging to a Guild of the likes of Fairy Tail- the biggest upset in the GMG, and the one filled to the brim with people just as steadfast and loyal, as they were powerful.

They would get out of there, they would not be stopped- they would escape and warn everyone else, and ready themselves for that terribly future that they could not let unfold.

But despite the conviction, they found themselves deadlocked, moving forward at a snail's pace, constantly berated by endless droves of soldiers and the like... And they were not the only ones left to try and force their way through countless soldiers, struggling through the halls and quickly becoming more and more breathless and exhausted.

Hora had not stopped running the whole time, she sprinted through tunnel after tunnel, heart pounding, thoughts racing, dread and franticness growing heavier in her soul. She never stopped running, not even when it got increasingly more painful to move and to breathe... And her thoughts never stilled either.

No matter how much she didn't want to think about it, she couldn't stop thinking about it. And the more she did that, the more she remembered and recanted what had happened and what she had felt- the worse the dread grew, and the fear too.... And the more she found herself wishing, hoping, and even pleading that she wouldn't be right.

And then for it, the harder she pushed herself- she had to get out of that underground, she had to find everyone else, because she was getting more and more sure that they were in far more terrible danger than they knew. That maybe it wasn't just the looming catastrophe brought on by 10,000 Dragons- that there was something worse, something deeper, darker... Lurking like a shadow, and one that she had felt for days now beforehand, and never stopped long enough to give it the attention it deserved.

She'd been ignoring it, because she didn't want to believe- shit..!

.:+:.

"... Its just... You've been more hurt, more often the last few months than you've ever been in all the years we've known you." Rogue mumbled, "... Now most of that... Well, all of that is Master's fault... Even if not directly. But just recently you've gotten into more trouble than ever before... And you keep getting hurt more often, more seriously... And I don't... I don't like it, I hate it- so please... If you can help it, try not to get into anymore trouble for awhile?" His eyes flashed as Hora sweatdropped slightly,

"I don't think I can handle another scare for awhile... Me or anyone else." He mumbled, Hora let out a silent breath.

Her mouth dropped open to garner a reply, but she halted when shivers started to run up her spine out of nowhere, her heart skipping a beat as that same, odd, heavy feeling of dread suddenly rammed into her out of nowhere. That feeling from before, that-

... Something's not right.

Her eyes snapped away from Rogue and toward the window out of pure instinct, her thoughts filled for the briefest of seconds with the idea that maybe... Is someone watching us?

But the window was empty, the night sky a deep indigo and the distant shine of Crocus and it's night life was all there was to be seen, and she swallowed.

... I swear... That feeling... There had to be someone...

Her nose twitched as she narrowed her eyes, but she only smelled the normal things- Sting, Rogue, Lector, Frosch... And even faint whiffs of everyone else in SaberTooth.

... There's nothing that could belong to a stranger... But what the hell...? What is with this feeling...?

Its... Bad, dangerous even...

'... Curious indeed...' Lixue muttered lowly, he felt it too.

"... Hora?" Rogue murmured, his eyes narrowing at the way she'd turned her attention, and the way she seemed to tense up, alert. She glanced back to see the confusion on his face, and sweatdropped.

... He didn't seem to feel anything weird... But I swear-

... The dread never went away... Not even as their Card Games commenced, not when they ended (Lector the winner of course..), and not when everyone went to bed.

But that dread-

Hora was left alone in the room again, her eyes fixed outside the window, waiting, tense... Her skin was crawling every few minutes.

Her skin crawled again, the silence of the room nearly deafening as her eyes narrowed to slits in the dark and shadow all around.

What... Why do I feel like this...? Like something bad is coming...?

She swallowed a bit, her core knotting all the more.

Something... That scares me...

That feeling persisted even in dreams, her sleep nothing close to being easy, her night lasting a thousand times longer as she bobbed in and out of swirling, battering black waves and into the quiet waking world that was just... more eerie than it should ever have been.

She gave up trying to sleep more long before morning rolled around and it was still there... And getting steadily worse, enough she was starting to feel nauseous.

There was like some deep, cold, looming shadow sitting at the corners of her vision- there and yet not... Heavy and suffocating.

So... So bad...

... Something... Something is wrong

.:+:.

"MISSSSSSS HORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

That sounds like-

She recoiled, her eyes going wide as she caught sight of the blur of red and orange that was getting really, really close-!

She got slammed into hard enough to make her fall back onto her back, her head banging against the floor with an agonizing thud and agony searing straight through her stomach- a vein ticked on her forehead as she let out a none-too-pleased hiss. Ira jumped out of his skin, eyes whited out and shaking from head to foot at what happened- his eyes landing on the bundle of embers and flame that was currently on top of Hora and completely knocked out- a letter fell to the floor beside her.

"H-Hora...?!" Ira stammered,

"Tch... Drille!" Hora snapped, sitting straight up and snatching the Paper Firebird up in her hands, her face dark and her fangs grinding down on one another as she glared at the creature. "What the hell?! You don't go around knocking people over like that! What the hell has got you rushing around like that?!"

"I've been trying to find you in this labyrinth of a Colosseum for AGES!" Drille snapped back hotly, "I have a letter for you from Miss Yukino!" Hora stiffened, her anger washing away from her face in an instant, but the little bird was fluffing up in agitation and... was that panic?

"PLUS I SAW SOME WEIRD, CRAZY, SCARY GUY WHO LOOKED LIKE MISTER ROGUE! HE HAD WHITE AND BLACK HAIR, AND I KNOW HE DOESN'T HAVE HAIR LIKE THAT BUT I SWEAR! THEY COULD BE LIKE TWIIIIINNNSSS! IT TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT, MISS!" Drille squawked, his wings flapping up and down feverishly even as Hora held him, bits and pieces of ember showering her lap and the floor as she blinked, confused as can be now-

"HE WAS SUPER SCARY LOOKING! WHEN HE LOOKED AT ME I SWEAR I WAS GONNA HAVE A HEARTATTACK! I FLEW AWAY AS FAST AS I COULD!"

What does he mean... a scary looking Rouge...?

'This creature looks petrified... who did he see?' Lixue mumbled, 'It surely could not have been your friend after all, but someone similar looking... but this reaction is odd.'

"Wait a minute, calm down, tell me again?" Hora mumbled, her eyes flashing. "You saw someone who looked like Rogue... but with white and black hair?"

"Y-yes!"

"... and you're scared of this guy? Why? What about him freaked you out?" Hora pressed, Drille shuddered in her hold and she blinked.

"I.. I don't know Miss! It was just... the way he looked at me, his eyes... they were so cold!" Drille stammered, "Everything about him was just so... d-dark...! When he looked at me... it was like he... he looked angry... so much rage out of n-nowhere..!"

Hora felt her heart skip a beat, a small icy flash running through her veins- and she wasn't sure why.

.:+:.

'... yes, this dread... I feel it too.' Lixue murmured gravely, '... something dark is still lurking... like some incoming catastrophe.'

Cheery thought... but she had a feeling he was right.

.:+:.

Hora hissed, the underground tunnels turning to Palace hallways full of light and windows- and her heart skipped a beat to see the sun already set and night falling heavily on the whole of Crocus.

They'd been stuck here in this mess the whole day, and she'd been on her own for hours- everyone else must have already got out, right? In all this time she'd had to spend running and fighting to get out of that labyrinth, they had to have gotten out... Right...?

The dread in her core sharpened further as the question crossed her mind, and she quickened her pace as much as was possible. She pushed forward harder even when everything burned in the most excruciating way when she did so, her lungs aching and feeling like they'd caught fire, and her heart felt ready to just give out on her any second.

She could hear the booming and thunder of feet overhead, she felt the Palace trembling and shaking under the strain brought on by battle. She heard the muffled shouts and orders being barked out, dozens upon dozens of feet running, rushing- all of them headed upward and so many... Up, up, far overhead and deeper into the center of the Palace, where she could not hear their voices clearly enough to make out what they said, but they were familiar voices, and she knew they were there. Still stuck here in the Palace and clearly fighting like hell against droves of Royal Army Soldiers that were far from slowing.

Shit, shit, shit-!

It wasn't long before she caught up with the rushing soldiers, gaining on them from behind and instantly thrown into full-blown conflict. They rounded on her, shouting things, weapons flashing, tempers and nerves alight- and she had no patience for them, or their interference.

With every second spent on them, night was falling heavier outside- and with it, darkness and shadow and unrelenting dread were getting thicker with it.

"GET-"

She hissed, fire burning bright off her body and inky black markings swirling wildly across her skin. Spinning and whirling across her flesh, just like the dread, and the icy cold making her ever more on edge.

"-OUT OF-"

A line of them were blown through, crimson red and gold washing over them in a wave- headed by the Saber, her dark blue eyes hard, teeth bared.

She felt it getting closer... That Lurking Shadow that had been dancing on her senses for days now and she knew-

"-MY WAY!"

The hallway was engulfed, a river of crimson and gold flame rushing through the length of it and devouring the soldiers in its quake, leaving them singed and smoldering, but very much alive and not hurt enough to cause real harm, just to stop them being in her path, hindering her.

- she knew it was coming, getting closer, almost there... Somewhere up above her head she felt the shadows getting thicker, felt the chill that came with them, and that terribly unnatural, twisted, and truly evil sensation steeped into every shred of pitch black.

.:+:.

And that bad feeling became so, so suffocating- her blood was ice and her heart skipped a beat as they came within a few feet of the main hall.

She went stiff as a board, her steps faltering as the dread sharpened into a clear, sickening sense of unrelenting danger out of nowhere- her mouth fell open in reaction, a gasp rising from her throat- but it got cut off when someone's hand clapped down over her mouth from behind.

What the hell-?!

She couldn't move, she couldn't make a sound, and she hadn't even a single second to react before the sight of everyone ahead of her got swallowed up in nothing but sheer, unending black. Her world tipped and the ground disappeared under her feet, her core flipping as all sense of up and down failed her- and she was being held and bound- unable to move as hands from some stranger held to her body, cold against her skin, unfamiliar- terrifying.

She had no idea what was going on, or what happened, where she was- nothing!

Nothing... but... why can I smell Sting and Rogue...?

N... no... that's not right... this scent... it's one scent... it's... it's wrong-

W-who the hell is...?!

She was struggling, trying and pulling with every bit of strength she had- but it didn't do a damn thing, she couldn't move- she was paralyzed, and her heart dropped.

What the fuck is going on!?

"Forgive me, I understand this is disorienting..."

Hora's heart skipped a beat, her eyes flicking this way and that and searching the black, but there wasn't anything to see- she couldn't see anything, and that voice in her ear sent shivers running up and down her spine. It was so low and cold and... and dead-

"... in all things that lead up to this... whether you are there or not, Rogue will still know." The voice went on, hot breath washing against her ear- she wanted nothing more than to pull away, but she couldn't fucking move!

"... if any of them were as they are, where I am now, they would try and change what will come... but I cannot risk the future changing, the Dragon King Festival must go on... the Eclipse Gate must open."

Hora gulped, her mind racing her heart pounding like a drum.

"... this must happen for the future to remain as I need it... even with you no longer at the Inn, when Jiemma acts, Rogue will understand what has happened... he will know why you never come back, Horatia." The voice went on lowly, every word of it making her heartrate pick up and the terror get worse-

N-never come back...? W-what... what is this... guy talking about...?

"... and he will know who to blame, and who it is who is responsible for killing you."

She felt her heart stop altogether, her breath snatched away and eyes wide- paralyzed, taken and blind, with someone whose breath still brushed against her neck- her world gone and empty and cold around her and her nose filled with a scent that was so close to being familiar, but that was so, so wrong... so twisted.

And a voice that was so cold and empty and still... s...still...

... w...why... why does it almost... s...sound like... R-Rogue's... voice...?

A-and... what does he mean... k..kill me...?

"And his convictions will solidify when they find your body... when he realizes that you died alone... with your death, the future unfolds as it should... and the Eclipse Gate will open, the Dragon King Festival will go on- and I will still have what I came for."

W-wait... I.. i...?!

The hands moved, releasing her but her body still wouldn't listen- she couldn't see him, her Captor, everything was still too dark, they were still floating in a world of jet black- but she could feel that Stranger move, trailing around her until he was in front of her. They were so close she could feel their body against hers, their hands hooking behind her head and her neck as she felt their body-heat wash against her face... they... whoever it was, they were pressed so close... too close...!

"... hmm... alone and in agony... left to die on the streets without anyone near... destroyed by the actions of someone you and I once called friend." He hissed, his thumbs tracing across her cheeks as he held her face... gently.

"Forgive me, Horatia. But even I won't wait to see you die a second time."

Second time..?! What the hell does he mean, second time-!?

Hora's thoughts broke off as her eyes went wide and still saw absolutely nothing but unending black, sweatdropping heavily as she felt the Stranger's lips press against hers, locked in a kiss she wasn't ready for nor wanting- but still her body was fixed, and she couldn't even pull away.

The kiss didn't break for a few seconds that stretched to millions of years in terrified, paralyzed stillness with her heart pounding deafeningly in her ears- and when the Stranger pulled away she was left feeling... violated.

"Hmm... I felt nothing... perfect."

His hands on the back of her head and neck moved forward, a suddenly cruel grip clamping down on her windpipe and cutting off all air.

"I will leave you to your fate now, Horatia... goodbye, for the final time."

.:+:.

Hora ran through the hallway full of downed men, stepping quickly between their fallen forms and headed further in, further up- she had to get there, now... Now before it was too late.

She could hear them now, their voices were muffled still but she could hear them more clearly... And still she was still so far. She was racing against a shadow she knew that was quickly drawing nearer... And it wasn't headed for her.

She knew-

"Horatia..?!"

Her running staggered to an unwanted halt as she hit a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway, her heart skipping a beat to hear her name called from up ahead. Her eyes snapped up the steps and locked on to Mirajane, the white-haired woman out of breath and coming to a surprised halt on the steps ahead of Hora, her blue eyes glittering.

"... A...are you alright...?!" Mirajane asked quickly, after immediately taking in the state of the Saber and finding her breathless, skin pale, clearly feeling like hell- but mad dashing still. And after so long of not seeing nor hearing a word from the Saber Woman, seeing her now looking so frantic and fighting as she was... Well, was a shock- though perhaps not as big a shock as all they had learned since they'd gotten separated.

Hora stiffened, her shock wearing off quickly as she started forward up the stairs again, eyes glittering.

"Where is everyone else?!" Hora asked instantly and Mirajane blinked,

"... Further behind, I split up to look for Yukino." Mirajane answered quickly, and Hora stiffened further at the mention of the Celestial Mage. "She ran off before we got cornered by the army, I think she was looking for you- she probably wanted to warn you about what's going on." Mira explained quickly, Hora coming to a halt a step or two below where she was, and Mira swallowed slightly. "There's 10,000 Dragons that will attack the Kingdom tonight-" Mira started, but Hora shook her head sharply.

"I already know that!" Hora hissed, and Mira paused at it, her eyes widening. "Drille was supposed to tell you guys about that when he found you, did he not..?!" Hora asked, and Mira shook her head, earning an agitated grimace from Hora.

"... No, I think he meant to, but he burned up before he got the chance." Mira replied quickly, "We were told about what was coming by Lucy- ah, well a Lucy who used the Eclipse Gate to travel back in time after the Dragons attacked. She told us what was coming, she wanted us to meet with man we know that's the head of an Independent Guild- she was trying to get us out of the Castle, she said we got captured in her timeline, and we had to avoid it. She's trying to stop it from happening... We were trying to get out and warn everyone else, but the army stopped us before we got too far. Everyone else is still fighting I think." The white-haired woman explained shortly, and Hora's heart skipped a beat at the information.

A Lucy from the Future... That must have been who warned Ultear, and Lucy wants to stop all this shit from happening again-

Hora shuddered despite herself, swallowing hard as her eyes flashed.

- that means- that means... I...

"-Hora, how did you already know about the Dragons coming...?" Mirajane asked, snapping Hora back to attention for a brief moment, and she grimaced further. She meant to garner something quick, something brief- she'd already stopped too long just to exchange those few words between them. She was still racing against time... Against shadow and evil and she couldn't-

A shiver ran through her, more violent than before, more biting, and Hora's eyes snapped off Mirajane and on to the roof, her heart dropping into her feet and her face paling further than it already was.

She felt it, burning bright and strong, and stifling... Unrelenting darkness, married and twisted and not right.

.:+:.

"Halfway down the hallway, I got snatched away and dropped on the other side of the city by some weird person-thing that seemed well aware that I was going to end up dead tonight, and that it was necessary in the grand scheme of things... and no, I never got a look at it. I don't know who or what it was, everything was pitch black, and it's scent wasn't right-"

Hora cut off, her shoulders stiffening as her thoughts trailed back to what had happened, and what she'd smelled.

It smelled sour, and twisted... it smelled wrong.

She swallowed, shivers running up her spine at the lingering sensation of those cold hands grabbing hold of her, a voice hissing and emotionless and dead... wicked fingers curling around her body as she was forced closer and paralyzed as she felt strange lips press against hers, and she couldn't pull back.

"Forgive me, Horatia. But even I won't wait to see you die a second time."

.:+:.

She smelled that same scent again, heavy overhead and she knew

She had to go- now

Her eyes snapped off the roof, blazing and so steely Mirajane flinched at it. "Find Yukino!" Hora hissed quickly, her feet already bringing her passed Mirajane and continuing in her rushing. "Find Yukino, keep her safe, and get out of this castle, now! I will explain later, just go!"

Mirajane never got a chance to ask anything, or stammer for an explanation or a reason for her running off- and she did not get the chance to figure out why Hora looked so terrified just then.

.:+:.

... what happens... if the future that that Stranger knew... didn't happen? She wasn't dead, she'd survived... was that part of the plan? It couldn't have been, right? It said that Rogue needed to realize why she'd ended up dead...

She shuddered again and her stomach knotted so tightly it was utterly painful.

... It... can't have been... right...?

.:+:.

She hissed, lungs begging for air she could not get, her ribcage aching under the thundering of her heart, her body groaning under the constant movement, the fighting, the Magic-Play, all of it.

Above her head and still too far away she heard the fighting stop, felt the shadow getting larger, more powerful. She heard the screams and cries of dismay and then the utterly terrible silence that followed it... Broken only by footsteps, and then the low, hissing, chilling voice of that shadow.

"... You... What are you doing here...?"

"... You just took out all the guards... Does that mean you're on our side...?"

"I have come from seven years in the future, where Dragons rule the world."

"Another person from the future...?!"

"... What do you intend to do here? Why have you come from the future?"

"... To open the Eclipse Gate." The Stranger murmured lowly, coldly.

... The Stranger... The Shadow Lurking for so long... The one with same voice of that Stranger who had snatched her away, spoke of her death, and then left her to die alone in agony on the streets.

That Stranger that left her to die for what future it wanted

Hora rounded another flight of steps, panting and her breaths quickly growing more wheezy... And tasting more iron in her mouth with every step up she climbed.

"... W-what...?! Why would you ever wanna open it...?!"

"For one simple reason. The Eclipse Gate has two functions- one that allows the travel through time, and one where it can be used as a Cannon, that is capable of dealing large amounts of damage." The Stranger went on, it's voice, even and cool, and unflinching. "Opening the Gate and using the Eclipse Cannon is the only way to defeat the 10,000 Dragons descending upon the Kingdom tonight... The same dragons that seven years from this day, rule the world... The world that I have come from."

Not a Stranger, not an 'it'... The future he wanted, him.

"Oh, so you're on our side then...?! We just gotta point the Gate at the Dragons and everything is all good, right...?!"

"Our Future can be saved...!"

"... That's great...!"

Hora rounded another stairway, and another, hoping two, three, four steps at a time- sprinting still, racing, rushing... She felt the shadow get worse, felt the chill, the dread- all of it.

The evil... The malicious intent, barely disguised under a guise of cool... Shit-!

Could they not feel this...?! Everyone up there, listening to him, and what he was saying...?!

Could they not tell, around the tale of the Gate, the Cannon, the plan to open it... How could they not feel this much... Much Darkness...?!

This much Darkness and evil in him... Him with his scent so wrong, his voice dead and cold- his voice, his scent- both that she knew so well in her heart, and both she knew weren't right.

It was one scent... but it smelled like those of two different people.

His voice, but it had never been so devoid of anything- not even when he put up face for the world.

His voice she heard now, over her head and getting closer- but it was chilling her to the core in a way that made her heart want to stop, and she shuddered against it.

"... It is not so simple as that." He murmured lowly, and she jumped up several steps, panic setting in further and further.

The shadow was looming... His shadow, deep and suffocating and so unnatural... So not him, and yet still him.

"... On this day seven years ago, someone stopped the Eclipse Gate. They shut it before the Canon could be fired, and doomed the world to fall in Dragon-fire." He kept on, "I've come back in time to eliminate the person who would shut the Gate, the person who destroys the future." He grumbled, voice low, steady, steely.

How could no one feel this? Not Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Carla, Happy, PantherLily...?

Could they really not sense it?

"... W..what...?!"

"You mean... You're going to kill them...?! The person who shuts the gate...?"

"Why would anyone do that...?!"

"Yeah, couldn't you just explain to them what'll happen? Surely once they knew what was at stake, they'd never close the gate at all..!"

"There's no need to resort to murder...!"

Hora sucked in a sharp breath of air, stumbling slightly on the last few steps, but keeping on toward the hallway anyway, heart skipping a beat.

She felt the dread sharpen, the darkness too- could really none of them feel this...?!

The same thing she felt now, stifling and heavy...?! The same thing she had known and wouldn't let herself think about... What she didn't want to believe, not about him?

Him- the one who she knew so well, who she cared for, who she would die for- but also the same person who had done what she could never believe him capable of.

He left her to die for a future he said must happen

The future that she wasn't in-

"... There is nothing to be done. They could not be convinced, promises not to close the gate will mean nothing. This is an inevitability, an event set in stone- they will close the gate no matter what, they have no choice. Their action is one that is written in the sequence of events, they cannot resist fate. This is the future that will happen and will come to pass, no matter what you or anyone else does. Fate cannot be changed." He replied lowly, "This is the future that comes to pass, the closing of the gate is one of many things that will always happen, no matter what. The only way to change it, is to wipe this person from existence. It is the only option... The only way to change an inevitable, unflinching future that will not change course, not for anything less." He grumbled lowly, and Hora's teeth grit so hard they threatened to crack.

Her feet brought her swiftly around the last bend, she came to a dead halt a few feet behind him, panting, shaking, fists clenched at her sides and expression twisting in fury and unease. Everyone else saw her first, a small glimpse of her from where they stood before the man, his long hair a mix of white and black, his scent so achingly familiar and so wrong.

That man she knew, and didn't recognize at all as her eyes locked to his back- that man she'd known deep in her core since the night prior, when he left her to die, when he snatched her, when he held her, and he pressed his lips against hers- and said he felt nothing.

That man intent on bringing on a future that he was convinced she had to die to fulfill. The same man now convinced he had to murder another to keep the future on the path he intended- convinced that the future could not be cheated, that things in it were inevitable, and could not be altered- tch!

"If fate can't be cheated and things will always happen the same way they did before no matter what- explain this! Tell me how this is possible- you left me there alone knowing what Jiemma was gonna do! You told me what would happen, you'd seen it already once before- it was set in stone, it 'had' to happen- that's what you said!" Hora snapped hotly, her voice cold and cutting on the air as she shook her head furiously, glaring daggers into his back and he, along with everyone else, went absolutely rigid.

"Well do I look fucking dead to you, Rogue?!"

There was a chilly silence that followed Hora's furious voice, broken only by the short, nearly strangled gasp of air the Future Lucy sucked in, her hands clapping over her mouth and looking stricken as her eyes found Horatia... And the Future Rogue's head turned slowly to look over his shoulder, shaking slightly and settling a deadly, cold, and disbelieving stare on Hora- who matched the look, her blue eyes burning.

"... Impossible..." He hissed through gritted teeth, his jaw clenching so hard his teeth threatened to crack. Hora stiffened at it, her fists clenching harder at her sides.

That was Rogue's face, those were his red eyes... But that was it. This was a Rogue she didn't recognize, not his hair, the scar on his nose, or the tattoo on his face- and certainly not the Rogue she knew, not with how deadly cold a look he gave her just then. Utterly malicious and seething-

"... H... Hora...t..that can't be possible...!" The Future Lucy stammered breathlessly, her legs shaking so much they threatened to give out on her, tears instantly falling down her cheeks. The Present Lucy beside her stiffened at the tears, eyes wide and frozen. "... S...she... She died... The night Yukino and I were arrested... I... I never got to talk to her again... N...not... B..before... she..." The Future Lucy mumbled under her breath, bordering a sob now and the Present Lucy felt her heart skip a beat at it.

"... W...what...?" She stammered quietly, "... Hora... Isn't... Alive in... Your future...? At all...?"

Neither Hora nor the Future Rogue heard the little exchange, barely anyone did- save Natsu and Wendy, with their heightened hearing. But all focus was on the two Saber Wizards now, the Future Rogue not daring to turn his body to face her, he only cast that glare over his shoulder and glowered, as Hora returned the glare tenfold- Horatia, alive, there, on her feet and clearly not dead and burned to a crisp as she was supposed to be.

"How in the hell are you alive?" He hissed lowly, "You are supposed to be dead, I watched it happen Horatia- you were ripped apart, your body a smoldering pile of bones. You cannot have survived what Jiemma did to you... You cannot be here." He growled and she shook her head hotly,

"Well clearly I am!" She snapped. "The future you saw isn't going the same way around again, I'm right here and alive and I do not intend to die! Clearly things can change, you said I had to die, but I didn't! I was supposed to die but I didn't- your future has changed, that means everything else can change too! None of this is set in stone!" She hissed furiously and his eyes hardened, his face twisting further, his gaze like a million swords and teeth gritting still- so hard she heard it.

He forced a low breath, heated and unhappy, his eyes glinting dangerously as he shook his head once. "You are wrong." He muttered coldly, "Yes, you might have avoided death last night, but that changes nothing... this future will unfold, things will be set right again- you will die, that is what you're fate is bound to, and you will not escape it. You and the one to who closes that gate, your fate's will swallow you up, no matter what."

Hora stiffened slightly, a shiver running up her spine as something about his face changed, the feeling of his Magic in the back of her mind sharpened to a fine point and snatched her breath away. She felt her muscles lock, paralyzed under the look despite everything in her mind screaming for her to move right then- move, do something, he's gonna... you have to move...!

"I will make sure the future unfolds as it needs to- even if that means I have to kill both you, and the one who will close the gate, myself." He hissed lowly and her heart skipped a beat, his hand clenching into a fist at his side and Hora stared, still rigid, still paralyzed, even when the sense of dread and danger became so suffocating just then.

You have to move-!

"I'll close your fate myself, Horatia- but first, the one who closes the gate must die-" He hissed and she flinched, the danger overwhelming now, but instantly aware that he had looked away from her and his eyes found- NO!

"-Lucy Heartfilia!"

The Future Rogue swung forward faster than ever, three steps ahead of Hora, Natsu, and everyone else in that hallway. Shadow bled off his hand, streaming out through the air lightning-fast and in a beeline toward Lucy, and they all were sluggish, their minds faltering and bodies too for the sudden turn- the threat they hadn't expected, and not that fast.

Hora took a step forward, heart racing and eyes wide as she tried to muster up something, fire licking at her feet- but she could not be fast enough, not from where she was, not with how hard it was to make her body move at all.

Natsu moved right off too, jumping sideways and hand reaching out for the Magic, trying to stop it, trying to do something- but his fingers fell short of the mark and his face fell in fear and terror mirrored in everyone else. Lucy was stuck in place, the Magic quickly just in front of her, about to tear through her, frozen, trembling, mind whirling.

No, no-!

Blood sprung up in air, dark and sticky, a wave of it as the Magic struck hard, fast, and without a shred of hesitation against the body suddenly directly in front of Lucy- the Future Lucy letting out a strangled gasp of pain as the Magic tore through her stomach, hissing and burning and leaving a gaping wound much too big, and much too deep. She hit the floor, a smear of sticky red tracing across the marble and breath hitching, her hood on her cloak falling from having been raised, and for a few seconds there was nothing but sheer silence.

Nobody moved, nobody dared even breathe- Hora felt her heart stop and she stared, shaking at the crimson pool forming underneath the blonde and the terrible gaping hole torn through her body like it was nothing.

N... no...

"...L-LUCY...!" Happy yelled, his voice breaking painfully and immediately tearful as the blue Exceed rushed forward toward the wounded woman, and the Present Lucy was quick to follow, shaken and reeling, and teary-eyed too as she quickly stooped beside her Future Self. The Future Rogue blinked, hesitating for half a moment at what had happened, and whose face he could see now that had been previously hidden behind the hood.

"... there's two of them..." He mumbled lowly under his breath,

"... W...Why did you do that...?!" Present Lucy hissed, holding herself gently in her arms, blood trickling passed the Future Lucy's lips already as she struggled to even open her eyes, or take in a breath of air.

"... I... I... I'm from further... in the Future... if you die... I cease to exist too..."

Hora shivered, her eyes glittering like mad and a line of tears instantly spilling down her cheeks in stony silence, stuck in place and so, so cold.

... He... Rogue just... he... just...

Her stomach flipped so violently she probably would have thrown up, but she didn't move even still... not even when her knees threatened to give out on her altogether, and she lost track of any will or want to just breathe.

... he didn't... even hesitate... Rogue... he...

The world was collapsing in over her head again, the floor whirling sickeningly under her feet, her heart threatening to give out along with her knees, and pounding so hard the sound of it nearly drowned everything else out- but it didn't ans she still heard the words... the pained words and voices, and the tears.

"... You shouldn't have done that...!" Present Lucy hissed shakily,

"L-Lucy you have to be okay...!" Happy sobbed, Hora swallowed hard, her tears spilling faster still.

"... Wendy, can you...?" PantherLily asked breathlessly, but the little Dragon Slayer only grimaced, her expression twisting as she bit back at the pained breath she nearly let loose.

The pool of blood was getting quickly bigger, the blonde's breaths shallower, harsher... harder to keep going, her life spilling out of her and from a wound far too severe to do anything about, and Hora felt her heart break.

... Rogue... he... . he just... killed... L...Lucy...

"... I... I never closed the Gate..." Future Lucy stammered breathlessly, "... I swear I didn't..." She hissed, tears joining the drip of blood down her face and Present Lucy shook her head furiously.

"I know you didn't, and I won't close it either...!" She hissed, "Now please... please... please, just hold on..!" She choked on a sob she tried desperately to hold back, and the Future Lucy smiled weakly.

"... it's okay... You get... to have a future now... everybody in mine is already gone..." She murmured, her voice growing weaker by the minute. "... it doesn't matter if... I die... you don't have to cry..."

"Of course it matters!" Happy hissed instantly, tears falling freely from his eyes and fur on end as his paws grabbed tightly of the Future Lucy's hand, holding on her dear life and shaking his head several times over. "I-It doesn't matter if you're from the future or the past, or whatever- you're still Lucy! Lucy is Lucy and you're still our friend! Of course we're gonna be sad and we're going to cry, because you... b-because you...!" Happy's voice broke off in a painful cry and Hora's heart broke again, twice more, three times- a million times and she couldn't breathe against the shattering sensation of it... a shattering feeling that was so much worse than what it had felt like to have Jiemma breaking that Lacrima in her chest apart.

"... hey... let me see your right hand..." The Future Lucy breathed, hers reaching up shakily for the Present Lucy's, her tears falling faster down her pale face as she brushed gently against the pink Fairy Tail symbol stamped on the Present Lucy's hand. She smiled weakly, her breath hitching again as her eyes dropped closed for the last time.

"... I... I am so happy... I got to see you guys... one last time..."

The Future Lucy's hand fell, smacking against the floor and into the puddle of blood underneath her, her body falling limp and heavy in the other Lucy's hold as one last breath shuddered passed her lips, and then nothing.

Hora couldn't move, she could only stare, her eyes breaking from the dying blonde and toward the bit of movement from the Future Rogue, the man turning toward her now for the first time and their eyes locked, his devoid of any light and hers still spilling in silent tears.

Lixue said something, his voice urgent and curt on her mind, but she couldn't make out the words. She was stuck still, staring into a face she didn't recognize and still the same one she knew so well- the one she'd known for years, seen through pain, and joy, and heartbreak, and loss, longing and fear... the same face from the same person who had been pleading for her to be okay, to not die, to trust him, to tell him what was wrong... pleading for her to... not go...

"... h...how could you... Rogue...?" Hora stammered breathlessly, he glowered, his fists blazing in Magic and eyes hard.

"Easily, even if she does not remember closing the Gate- she did. And she will still do so, no matter what.... but now-"

He had cleared the space between himself and her in the blink of an eye, Hora stiffening and still glued to her spot as he came up just in front of her, Magic swirling around his hands wildly and teeth bared. Her eyes widened slowly, paralyzed still and not a single thought to move or retaliate moving across her mind, not even when rationally she knew something should have.

She had to do something, move, try to defend herself- she should have been livid, angry... she should have been ready to throw him across the room, burn him to ash for what he just did, get payback for it, retribution- he just killed Lucy, her friend, and it was unforgivable.

She should have swung out, reacted, tried to inflict some amount of pain- teach him a lesson, even. She told herself to, to fight back, to attack, but... But she couldn't.

She looked at him and knew it was Rogue and she couldn't do it

'MOVE!' Lixue snapped louder this time, a touch panicked, but it was much too late, Rogue was already swiping out, Magic blazing, steady, and deadset.

No hesitation, whatsoever

Natsu had moved finally, face twisted in rage and tears falling from his eyes- he moved, the instant Rogue did, he knew where his attention went next but like before- he was too slow... And worse even, he expected something from Hora, but he saw the look on her face and the rigidness of her body as she stood there, frozen, her expression filled with pain and disbelief, and heartbreak.

She was supposed to move, he expected her to- he was used to her fast reaction times, her almost impossible reaction times- but she did not move, and Natsu knew instantly she couldn't do it too.

And he was too slow, twice

"-Now to seal your fate as it was meant to be!"

"HORA!"

The Magic around the Future Rogue's hand condensed, his fingers bent and the shadows forming claws from every finger, long and wicked sharp. He swiped up, the claws slicing across her body in one quick motion, tearing through the flesh of her stomach, her ribs, her chest, both arms, and almost across her neck too- wearing scarlet lines through her body and blood splashing up into the air in five huge streams.

Hora stared, shaking and silent as fiery pain raced through every inch of her, the world shuddering to slow motion as she watched her blood stream passed her. Her flesh split as easily as paper, the Shadow Magic hissing and spinning as it tore through her- but hitched in more than a few places, though the movement of the attack didn't slow very much at all. The inky black Markings had moved even when her body hadn't, basic instinct for survival driving them forward to crawl across her skin and down her body and try to cover her in a thick layer of jet black. Something to try and guard against the wicked claws, to try and hold against it, keep her from being sliced apart too much. But they were not quick enough, not nearly enough- what little the Markings managed was to keep the claws from slicing her neck open completely, and in few places the skin was covered by the pitch black, the skin tore less than everywhere else- bit it tore regardless.

And all that blood

The pain didn't make a dent, not right away. She felt suspended, a storm of her own blood falling between herself and Rogue, their eyes locked still and time moving so, so slow. She saw his hand pull back, his Magic disappearing and getting ready to hit her again, and she could not move.

... He isn't... The Rogue... I know but...

... I still... Couldn't... Do it...

... He...

The Future Rogue spun on his heel, leg swinging around as he rammed his foot into her core with so much force her organs must have bruised underneath it. She was thrown sideways across the room on a beeline toward the windows and the massive drop awaiting on the other side of the glass. The Future Rogue didn't even wait for the impact of Hora's body with the glass, he spun around again, his eyes locking on to the paralyzed figure of Lucy stuck near her fallen counterpart. So he did not see Loke move quickly from where he'd been standing and rush to save Hora crashing through the glass. The Lion Spirit threw himself between Hora and the windows, their bodies colliding painfully as he struggled to keep hold of her bloody body and stop their momentum backward. They did stop, Loke's back smashing against the low wall under the windows and bring them to a painful halt, Hora wrapped up in his arms and his suit staining crimson instantly.

The Future Rogue did not notice any of it at all, his eyes settled on Lucy, icy and intense, and the Celestial Mage shivered under it.

"Now on to Lucy Heart- ack!"

Rogue's voice broke off in an agonized yelp, how teeth clacking together as Natsu's fist pound against his jaw, sending the Future Rogue flying back several dozen feet and skidding against the floor in a blaze of heat and sparking flame.

"I will not let you take anybody else's lives away from them- you are not gonna take Hora's future, and you will not take Lucy's! I will not let you!" Natsu roared coldly, eyes blazing along with the flames flicking off his body and fangs bared, and so full of rage.

"How dare you touch them?!"

Rogue flipped back over and on to his feet, expression twisting in agitation now and very unenthused with being hit and the interruption. "Tch, if I need to kill you to get you of my way, then fine!" Future Rouge snapped coldly, already moving forward again toward Natsu and Magic blazing.

"Your fate is to die at the hands of the Dragons, so killing you know will no make a difference!"

They clashed head on, pitch black colliding with fiery red. Natsu swung out, fire grazing the Future Rogue close enough his robes singed, but the black-white haired man nimbly sidestepped, and sent Natsu flying down the far end of the corridor with a core-shaking hit. But Natsu was on his feet right away despite it, seething still and instantly racing back toward the Future Rogue, whose body melted away into a shadow and streaked across the floor back toward the group of Lucy, Wendy, Lily, Happy and Carla. The latter four instantly grew defensive, stepping up between the incoming shadow and Lucy, Natsu sprinting behind as fast as he could- but Rogue as a Shadow was too fast for the pinkette to catch with the distance he'd been thrown.

Rogue jumped up and out of his Shadow Form, fist curled behind him and eyes locked to Lucy behind the heads of her line of protectors- but his eyes did not find the brown gaze of the Celestial Mage, and he stiffened mid-movement, lips curling into a snarl.

Hora had moved, releasing herself from Loke's grip the instant she was even faintly aware of the Future Rogue's movement toward Lucy. She moved faster than should have been possible, leaving puddles and streams of blood in her wake as she came to a shaky stop in front of them all, fists clenched and struggling to breathe, the pain was blinding- but her eyes locked with the Future Rogue, steady and resolute despite her body being shredded five ways, bleeding out surely, and despite the fact that she shouldn't have been able to move at all.

It was like she refused to die- tch!

"H-Hora...?!" Wendy, the Exceeds, and Lucy stammered in shock.

"Get out of the way!" Natsu barked, but Hora did not budge, her eyes stayed locked on to the Future Rogue quickly getting closer.

She moved this time, even when it was Rogue, and she'd been unable to do anything before. She moved... Because it wasn't about doing something to save herself- it was to save Lucy, and everyone else... And that was more important than whatever hesitation had gripped her so tightly beforehand.

Protect them-

"There is nothing you could conjure up now that will stop me, Horatia!" Rogue yelled coldly, his fist swinging forward and continuing his attack regardless of her being there- and really all the more fervently, for how agitated seeing her there made him.

"I know you, and I know every single trick up your sleeve- you could throw anything you like at me, I will know how to counter it, and you will still all perish!"

He swung forward and Hora didn't flinch, steam was rising quickly off the markings over her skin, the inky black shrinking back quickly across her skin, disappearing altogether and leaving her blood to flow faster and more freely from the wounds they'd tried to hold together. She didn't care for the quickening of her blood hitting the floor though, or how much her body felt it wanted to fall apart without the extra support- she didn't care about the pain, because with the heat fading to nothing, icy cold was getting heavier through every inch of her, and a bit of numbness and relief came with it.

This time she moved and she acted, because it was for them and not herself- protect them, even if you have to hurt him... No matter how much you don't want to, even now.

She hissed, her teeth gritting and the Markings gone all the way now- she glared at him, her feet squaring and her posture straightening with it.

"You don't know everything...!" Hora muttered back sharply, and the Future Rogue faltered this time. His eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat when the air dropped several dozen degrees in the course of a second, and his breath billowed out in front of him in a haze.

Hora's dark blue eyes flashed an eerie, chilling, icy blue- and he felt fear course through him as he stared into the unnatural color he had never seen in her before, ever.

She swung her arms forward, the air and the floor rumbling and suddenly plunged into a chill like death- droplets of her blood suspending in air, frozen solid in an instant, and huge spires and spikes of ice, and frost shot outward like a great, huge, storm.

"Flash-Freeze Hellstorm!"

The ice grew exponentially, stacking and shooting out of itself in an endless line and sending of bursts of air pressure that was enough to knock everyone back a pace or two, the Palace rumbling and the windows blew outward with a boom. Wafts of icy wind followed the quake of the wave of ice that shot forward, encompassing the hallway nearly it's whole width, and stretching down all the way to the very end and out of the windows there- the Future Rogue rammed into by the wickedly sharp points of ice and thrown from all sight... in about fifteen seconds flat.

Everyone stumbled to a shocked halt, eyes wide and jaws dropping at the intensity of the attack- even Natsu stalled, stricken as he watched the Future Rogue get tossed away and barely able to comprehend it at all... That that powerful of an attack could come from Hora- who was bleeding still, and badly, and it was Ice Magic no less. Icy cold even to the point he shivered for the intensity of the chill... It was the exact opposite of that suffocating and overbearing heat he had grown so used to from her Fire Magic.

Both sides of her Magic were stifling-!

The spires and whole sections of spiky ice groaned, cracking up their lengths nearly as soon as they were born, and crumbling to the floor in a mess of shattered pieces. The sudden crumbling of the ice brought their stunned silence to a quick halt, and all eyes snapped off the Magic and toward the person who had conjured it forth, their hearts skipping.

"Hora..!"

The Saber Wizard tilted forward, her body falling quickly limp as she collapsed, her mind sent spinning away toward a black pit with no end in sight the minute the Spell concluded, and the pain that ignited in her center was too bright for the numbing sensation of the Ice Magic to quell.

Lixue had cautioned restraint when using his Magic- but she hadn't even thought about it in the moment, and he hadn't complained... But that Spell was too big, and both she and Lixue were instantly hurting for it.

Loke darted up quickly again, grimacing heavily as he rushed to catch Hora for the second time- he hadn't intended to let her go the first time, but he'd been too distracted by the threat on Lucy to keep hold of the Saber when she broke loose from him. Loke saved her hitting the floor, holding to her as he eased her down onto it, before he shrugged his suit jacket off and quickly tied it around her torso. He did it to try and slow the incessant spill of her blood from the slices cut across her body, and covering her a bit too- now that her shirt had been fairly well destroyed, though the amount of blood drenching her didn't afford much in the way of seeing anything. Lucy, Wendy and the Exceeds were quick to dart up toward the Lion Spirit as he did so, eyes wide and shaking terribly for the amount of sticky crimson that covered Hora and the floor around her, as well as how terribly her body shook with her breaths- quick and raspy and definitely getting worse by the second.

"H-Hora...!" They hissed, their voices breaking and hearts racing- Natsu gulped, his attention breaking from them and toward the other end of the hallway, instantly aware of the shadow that had started up toward them again, just as quick as before, just as persistent. Not even that attack by Hora was enough to keep the Future Rogue at bay for long, but it had been enough- they had to go.

"Get Lucy and Hora out of here, now!" Natsu ordered curtly, snapping them out of their terror, their eyes darting up to him. Lucy stiffened, shaking badly and shaking her head a little.

"B-but Natsu...!" She hissed, but the pinkette shook his head at her sharply.

"He's trying to kill you!" He hissed, his eyes darting from Lucy to everyone else, "You have to get them away from here, right now! I'll hold this guy off!" He told them firmly, and they grimaced at the words.

"Go!"

They nodded stiffly, Loke scooping Hora up into his arms bridal style and Wendy grabbing tight hold of Lucy's wrist. They stood up, Wendy jerking Lucy to her feet and following quickly behind Carla and Happy, while Loke and PantherLily followed close behind.

"Natsu-San is right, Lucy...!" Wendy said quickly, her eyes glittering as she cast a glance over her shoulder toward the blonde she was pulling behind her. "He's after you...!"

"Yes, we can't stay here..!" Carla hissed, "We must get away, quickly...! The faster we put some distance between ourselves and that man, the faster we can pause and take a breath...!" Carla hissed lowly, her expression pulling painfully as she shot the woman in Loke's arms a look, and everyone else's eyes darted that way too.

"... We have to go... We have to find a safe place to stop, Hora won't last long i-if...!" Wendy stammered shakily, tears pecking at the corners of her eyes as Lucy frowned, her eyes snapping to the little Dragon Slayer. She shook her head furiously, her hand around Lucy's tightening as she bit back at the sob that threatened to break her voice. "... She's really hurt... We have to hurry... I don't lose anybody else...!" Wendy hissed under her breathe, and they all flinched at it.

"... A..alright..." Lucy stammered under her breath, shooting Hora another look, before she cast a last look back and toward the blonde lying still and cold on the floor... And then at Natsu- the pinkette already going head to head with the Future Rogue, and with everything he had. Lucy hissed under her breath, looking back ahead again and swallowing hard as she picked up her pace.

"... Be careful... Natsu...!" She murmured lowly, everyone else silently wishing the same thing.

Happy slowed up a little to stay at Loke's shoulder, his eyes still filled with tears and silently letting then keep spilling- though he stifled his sobs as best he could. His teary eyes looked down into Hora's face, her head pressed into Loke's shoulder, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth. He saw her eyes, hazy and unfocused, fluttering up and down without end and her breaths wheezy, and he swallowed hard against it.

"... Please Hora, you have to be alright...!" Happy stammered breathlessly, "Please, j-just hold on, okay..? Wendy will get you fixed up..! Just... Just try and stay awake, okay...?" Happy mumbled, his voice breaking at the end and trailing off no matter how hard he tried to keep it steady and calm. Everybody else grimaced at Happy's words, at the way his voice tapered off, and how badly it shook as he tried to muster up some amount of reassurance for the wounded Saber. Loke even stiffened for it, his eyes darting down toward her in his hold and his stomach twisting. His arms were slick with blood already, his white shirt stained with it and more already starting to soak through the jacket he'd tied around her.

This was bad, he knew it, they all knew it... And though he didn't really know her at all, he wasn't all that sure anybody could be okay after that- even if Wendy were to try and Heal her... Would it work?

Even if, by the Future Rogue and the Future Lucy's accounts- Horatia was already supposed to be dead...? This seemed like fate reclaiming its plan...... But then again, somebody who had managed that level of attack at the end like she had- that was strength, and power of a like Loke could not have expected, not in a million years. Somebody who could do that, after being hurt this badly... Maybe.

Either way, they had to be quick- time was running out on all fronts, and they had to hurry.

Hora didn't really hear what Happy said just then, she wasn't even all that aware of being carried, or that they were moving. She was floating somewhere, trapped in an endless cycle of pain and a suffocating sensation- and her mind was whirling faster and faster, dizzy and lightheaded and unable to focus at all. She felt that endless pit coming up quickly to claim her and snatch her away to some place far, far away from consciousness... And she tried to resist it, she really did, but she was sinking further and further with every second.

... I was... Supposed... To... To live... Wasn't I...?

... I think... Maybe I... Did fail...

... The Current... Is getting what it wants...... I don't want to die... But... I'm so tired... So... Lost...

... This was all... So big... Too big...

... He said... The Gate... Could... Defeat the Dragons... Right...?

... That... Would be a solution... To all... The crazy...

...but...

... I... Still... Feel like...

... I know... Something... Isn't... Right...

... But... How do I... Tell them... Now...? Huh... Lixue...?

... I don't know... If... I can... Do it... Tell them... Say it... I feel like... This... Is it...

... I'm... Spent... Huh...? ... We're spent... We hit the Limit... Didn't we...?

... Lixue...?

... Are... You...?

...

... You...

... You can't...

... Hear me... Can you...?

... Shit...

.:+:.

"W-Wendy... she... she's not breathing...!"

They'd stopped, as soon as they'd felt safe enough to, on the bottom floor of the palace and outside it's walls, among paths of cobbled stone and hedges and flowers and Lacrima-Lamps shedding pale blue. The moon was rising higher in the sky above them, the rumble of Natsu's battle against the Future Rogue a distant drone. Mirajane and Yukino had found them not long after, and at the sight of the group and what had happened, their faces paled and fear struck through them both- but for Yukino, it was straight to the core.

Little to no questions were asked, frightened and fearful explanations went and came in seconds, rushed, hasty- terrified for the revelation of what had happened, who they had faced, and who had done so much damage... to the Future Lucy, and to the fiery-haired woman they were now so instantly focused on, and fearful for.

All of them sat on their heels on the ground, circled around the bloody and broken form of Horatia, lying still on the cobble and covered from head to foot in sticky red, the front of her body ripped five ways, stretching from one arm to the over, over her chest, her ribs, her stomach and her neck... Hora who lay there, trails of dried blood running from the edges of her lips, her eyes shut, her hair a mess around her, and Hora who did not move, not an inch, her lungs stalled and no longer drawing any air. She was not breathing, she'd seemed to cease doing so since even before they'd stopped- Loke had been quick to warn them that he couldn't hear her wheezing anymore, and it had been a mad-dash to stop, and to try and save her. Wendy jumped in right off, setting straight to work trying to close up the wounds, to stabilize the motionless Saber again, to bring her back.

Happy's terrified hiss made Wendy stiffen, the little Dragon Slayer's hands covered in Hora's blood and glowing blue as she kept at it, shaking her head furiously as she watched the wounds stitch together slowly... so, so slowly.

"I-I know, b-but...!" Wendy stammered shakily, biting back at the tears trying to force themselves to the surface, she couldn't cry now, she had to focus... but she didn't understand what was wrong..!

Lucy, Loke, Happy, Carla, Mira, Yukino and PantherLily around Wendy stiffened, their eyes fixed to the little Dragon Slayer and the way her expression twisted, her hands shaking over the wounds.

"... She... she's not dead, I know she's not breathing... b-but even the bleeding's stopped, and it wasn't because of me..." Wendy stammered breathlessly, "I don't understand... she... her heart is still beating, but it's so slow... A-and my Magic is working, the wounds are closing up, they wouldn't be if... if she wasn't still alive... b..but..." Wendy mumbled shakily, her eyes shutting tight for a moment and the glow of her Magic growing brighter, the light glittering off their terrified gazes and the tears spilling quietly from many of their eyes. "... I just... I don't know what's happened... I'm just trying to close the wounds all the way... m-maybe if I do that, she'll start breathing again... but... I just don't know...! I've never seen this happen before...! It's not like a... a coma or anything it's... it's almost like she's... frozen... like her body's just stopped, her breathing, the bleeding, all of it... and her hearts so slow it's like it's not there...!" Wendy hissed under her breath, "I'm trying...! I just... I have to keep going... I have to hope it'll work if I close these wounds, and stabilize her...! I... !" Wendy's voice broke painfully on the next bit and everyone flinched at it.

"Calm yourself Wendy, you are doing everything you can..!" Carla murmured, quick to calm the girl and Wendy nodded stiffly, swallowing hard as she pushed her Magic harder, the wounds torn across Hora's body stitching together a tad faster with it. They were healing, they were closing... but it was still slow, and just as slow as her heartbeat was on Wendy's ears.

"... H... Hora, please...!" Happy hissed, leaning forward on his hands near Hora's head, his ears folded back and shaking from head to tail.

"... You have to be okay... you have to come back...!" Yukino hissed hoarsely, her hands clasped together tightly in front of her and her forehead pressed against them. Mirajane beside her put a steadying hand on the girl's shoulder, while Lucy on Yukino's other side had her arm hooked tightly inside of Yukino's. Both Celestial Mages were crying, and shaking terribly as they sat there, the longer time dragged on, the more the absence of Hora's breathing became deafening on their ears, and the faster their hearts picked up in terror for it.

Loke swallowed slightly, Virgo sitting beside him after Lucy had called her through her Gate, hoping she might be able to help Wendy- but there was little to do now than wait for the Dragon Slayer to try... and both Spirit's sat there, silent and watchful, waiting, for as long as they needed to, PantherLily beside them just as quiet, his paws crossed over his chest and ears back against his head.

"Please... Please Hora... wake up...!"

.:+:.

The world was full of multi-color monochrome again, fractured pieces of her life scattered around her, blurred, fragmented, and wavering badly. She stood in the middle of a storm of it, blinking at the scattered things, the figures of people and places and monsters... of Deliora there, herself dead on the floor, the blurred figures of the Guild, her old life, her old home, her Guild... all of it.

She was back here again, and once more she had no idea how she ended up there- it was like she was just bound to end up there, every time her mind fell away from the waking world... and maybe that was accurate enough.

Her Being was fractured right? That's what Ultear had said, some portions of her had been broken off and sent here... she was tethered to this place, and it wanted the whole of her. It wanted to right itself, so it would make sense she'd end up here every time she faded away from the living world, yeah..?

But this time she saw no sign of Ultear, there was no sound of her approaching from the great empty at the edges of her vision, and there was no sight of her color splashed against the muddied wash of it all. And there was no sign of Lixue either, though it still felt weird to expect to see him at all... she did want to see him, just then, but it would have been enough to even just hear him like she always did.

She remembered she'd not heard him at all before ending up here. She remembered getting hit by the Future Rogue, she remembered how bad the wounds were, and she remembered that she'd been effectively bleeding out- though none of those wounds persisted here in this place. She remembered most of all though the pain that came with using that last attack against the Future Rogue. She remembered the pain and Lixue's hiss against it at the time, and she knew it had hurt him just as much as it had hurt her- she'd pushed using his Magic too fast and too hard, and now they were paying for it, she supposed.

She couldn't hear him, and he didn't answer when she asked- so maybe he couldn't hear her now. Maybe he was too hurt, too weak, too broken and barely holding on by a thread after all of that... maybe this was it. She was stuck here now, pushed to the limit and done for.

The Current was getting what it wanted, her out of the way and back to how she was supposed to be- dead and no longer causing ripples or problems in the grand scheme of things and this timeline. She was here and she was done, her one job ending in failure.

All she'd been told to do was live... and now it seemed that hadn't happened-

"... You are not dead, do not be so dramatic."

Hora jumped, her head snapping around and her body with it to the voice rumbling behind her out of nowhere, her eyes widening and heart skipping a beat when she saw him- big and looming and pearly, frosty white- but totally there, and looking exasperated and tired maybe- but totally there!

"Lixue..!" She breathed, eyes gleaming and quite frankly- relieved.

"... hmm, the Current is not the place where things go to die." He rumbled lightly, ignoring for a moment her sudden burst of glee at seeing him, and she blinked at the comment. "... though perhaps you should in that place now... I suspect that because your Being has been fractured and you've been unintentionally tethered here, that you've avoided being drawn to that place of Death for now, even when you likely should be there... I suppose that is fortunate. Being stuck here in the Current has probably saved your life, or at least prolonged it, after all of what went on with the Future version of the Shadow Dragon Slayer." He mused and Hora bit the inside of her cheek at the mention.

"... I didn't... mean to freeze, like that..." She mumbled quickly and Lixue blinked, his eyes like chips of clear, bright blue ice.

"I would hope you didn't intend it." Lixue mumbled dryly, and she flinched slightly. "... though I understand why you did. Even if he is no longer the person you know, and has done terrible things- he is still your friend, and you cannot let that go so quickly. It is your loyalty to him that made you falter... unfortunate in this case, and dangerous that it did so- but it is not a bad quality, Horatia." She bit the inside of her cheek at it, her eyes on the sheer white ground and not on him. "... you needn't dwell on it, you acted when you needed to in order to protect your other friends. That is all that should matter in the end." He added a tad more gently, and her eyes flashed at it.

"... I guess... but how the hell am I supposed to keep on after that...?" She mumbled, "... He... the wounds he gave me aren't small, I was bleeding out... and if I'm here again, like you said, that probably does mean I'm in bad shape... I can't do anything after this, Lixue... I mean... even if I am alive, it's barely... and once Over-Drive kicks in... I won't be able to do what you said... I mean... we've totally hit the Limit now, right...? I'm done..." She trailed off, her voice tense and Lixue let out a low, long breath.

"... I'm not so sure we have hit the Limit." He murmured at length and she stiffened, her eyes snapping up in confusion. "Yes, the wounds notwithstanding- you using my Magic like you did was unpleasant, and you did not warn me beforehand as I asked... but even so, I do not feel that 'wall' has been hit yet. I do not think we hit the Limit yet at all, at least... I feel fine, relatively." He mused, a clawed hand coming up to rest on his broad chest, the icy white claws scratching against the scales. "As it is, since the day began you have actually used very little Magic at all- it is not your Magic Energy that has taken a beating in all of this, it's simply been your body." He murmured and she frowned,

"... yeah well, Magic isn't really enough to keep me going if my body's been torn to shreds ya know-" She mumbled quickly, and he shook his head at her.

"- I am not unaware of that." He interrupted with another sigh, "You asked if we had hit the Limit on our Magic yet, and I answered... and in regards to your body, you might actually be in better shape than you think." He pointed out lightly and she tilted her head.

"... what do you mean?" She asked slowly,

"Hmm... well, to begin with, those Markings born of the Devil Slaying Magic did save you somewhat- the wounds could have been much deeper, from what I recall when it happened. And in many places they did guard some of the more vulnerable places... your neck for one, among others." He murmured, and she glanced away from him for a minute. She... supposed maybe she did kind of remember that- but even the Markings couldn't have guarded her that much, they were only meant to provide protection against attacks from Demons, and Rogue wasn't that.

"... and as I said, I think being pulled here into the Current has probably done you more harm than good." Lixue went on, "... this place is between all Time, and Time in itself... so things flow differently here, and your being here now- even if it's not your physical form- will affect your body in the Waking World regardless. It's probably slowed Time down for you... 'Frozen' you even, if you will. Your body will not work or move as quickly on it's own as you'd expect it to while you are here- it's probably kept you from bleeding to death, and will keep your body frozen until we leave here... I think perhaps Grandeeny's Child will be able to Heal you just fine, even if you are in such a state. It might be slower than she is used to, but you will still Heal, and you won't be at risk of your life running it's course as she does so. In essence, you've been given extra time to be helped, and healed, and regain yourself- while you are here, in the Current."

Hora stared for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing at him as she tried to process what he was trying to say and explain to her... and she didn't really get it all the way, but she was less concerned with getting it, and more concerned with how he could even know any of that.

"... why do you know so much about this place, Lixue?" Hora asked slowly, "And about everything else too... like the Dragon Slayers, the war, Acnologia, and... whatever the hell the place is for people to go die...?"

"... I am very old." Lixue replied slowly, "... In terms of the Dragon Slayers, and the war, and even Acnologia and Zeref like him- it is experience, through thousands of years being alive on this Earth. I have seen many things, so I know them." He explained, before pausing a moment, his eyes falling closed and his voice softening a tad. "... as for my knowledge about this place, Time, the forces involving the Current, and all others like it... well, a very long time ago I was very close to someone quite... integral, to such Forces. Like Time, and Death... She taught me much, though I only know very little... I am not meant to understand it all, what little I do know is a gift, and a blessing." He murmured, his voice wispy suddenly and Hora's eyes glittered at it.

... She...?

Lixue did not go further into the subject, and he seemed intent not to be prodded further on it either- his eyes opened and he tilted his head to the side a bit, shrugging.

"... At any rate, Horatia, regardless of the state of your body when you awake- what do you intend?" He asked and she blinked several times at it. "I am curious, what will you do? Now knowing what those from the Future have said, and what they intended- and what actions they took. Even if the Eclipse Gate can be used to destroy the 10,000 Dragons supposedly coming- which I very much doubt it can take them all- what will you do? You have a number of unfinished things, yes...? As it stands, you have no clue the fate of your Guild, or that cat that was taken, or the outcome of the Grand Magic Games... and a brother you have yet to tell who you are, hmm?" He murmured and Hora stiffened, her hands wringing together in front of her uneasily. "I told you before to tackle this issue as you would any other, and though I know you and your habits well, I still wonder what action you will take now... this chaos is from over, as I am sure you feel, and know all too well." She nodded stiffly to it.

He was right, this was far from done with- there was still a sense of dread hanging over her, and she knew the worst was probably yet to come... and she held her breath against it for a few seconds, shaking her head at herself a little roughly.

"... I... I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do yet... but first thing's first, I have to talk to Lucy." Hora mumbled lowly, her eyes flashing. "... I know what the Future Rogue said... but... I do feel something's off still, what he said doesn't really... line up." She murmured uneasily, and Lixue blinked slowly. "... It doesn't make sense... and I don't why it doesn't, but... maybe if I tell her... maybe Lucy will figure it out, where I can't..." Hora mumbled quietly, swallowing hard. "... I have to warn her, even if I don't know why it doesn't make sense... I have to warn her... warn all of them... I have to try, and hope it's enough, in the end..."

She looked up slowly, her eyes leveling with Lixue's as they fell into a few seconds of silence, and he dipped his head to her, calm, steady.

"... then go." He murmured lightly, "Warn them, explain what you can, do as you will, and fight hard... temper yourself though, this will be a long night, and there is much left coming and to do, Horatia. With any luck, you will get through it all before you and I, are truly spent." Lixue rumbled coolly, and Hora nodded firmly at it, her posture growing a little firmer, and her eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, I'll do my best." She told him steadily, "And hopefully it'll all come out okay, somehow... I think I'm overdue some good luck at this point." She mumbled in slight exasperation, and Lixue let out a low breath that sounded faintly amused.

"... I suppose you probably are."

... but after all of this... what happened with... with Lector, and Lucy... and Rogue... I'm not sure it'll... shit....

... please... just this time... let things, and let everyone just...

... be okay...

... I don't think I can take much more going... so terribly wrong...

.:+:.

A big chapter with lots of stuff that goes on!

The next chapter will be jumping straight into the beginning of the Eclipse Gate opening, and we will be getting closer and closer to the biggest reveal of all! QwQ

But poor Hora has a long way to go before she gets a chance... or will she?

Lol I guess we'll find out, won't we? XD

... also, not so subtle references to the big Forces in my other Fairy Tail Fics with Frea haha XD

As always, thank you guys for being so patient with me! I know I am a terribly slow updater, but I appreciate your loyalty to this story and for sticking with me so long! ;w;

Please vote and Comment if you can! Thank you!