Secrets within Fairy Tail

Chapter 42

Lucy's POV:

I appear somewhere that I have never been before, somewhere that I never would have thought that I could end up. I am in the past, and although I am still sad I know exactly what I need to do, and I press on, walking around in search of him, of the one person I can talk to about what is going on. I final see him, walking across the grass around us, I don't know where I am, but it's someplace ancient. His red hair is up in spikes, and his blood-red eyes catch my gaze. "Who are you?" He demands, looking highly confused. "I've never seen you, and..." He sniffs the air as he continues coming towards me. "You smell different from everyone that I have met. You're... a human turned into a dragon." Igneel adds. I realize now what the problem is, I went to a time where he is too young, I can only hope that he is still kind.

"I need to talk to you, and this is going to be incredibly difficult to explain." I say, hoping that he will at least listen.

"I'm sure that I will be able to understand anything that you say to me. It can't be all that complicated, or else you wouldn't have come to talk to me. If it is complicated, then you obviously don't know who I am. I am-" He starts.

"The Fire Dragon King, yeah I know." I say with a sigh. "Now, I have a very important question for you, what year is it?" I ask.

"The year?? That is your question!! If you must know it is 57x. Wait... That scent, you smell so different, and yet there are two things on you that I can immediately pick out." He says. "You're not from anywhere around here, that's for sure, and... you have grief that is all consuming. What has happened that has made you so sad." He asks.

"If you want the answer to that you are going to have to listen to everything that I have to say with an open mind. First of all, I am not from here, at least not from this time. I am from 700 years into your future. I know that you are a wonderful person, well... dragon, but that's not the point. I don't think I've come close enough to the point that I need to get to, but... Igneel, listen to me, you are going to forget this conversation, you are going to think it was a dream, but... I'll see you in a few centuries." I say with a smile.

"I still don't understand..." He says, but by then I am already gone, leaving to find a future that is closer to my own.

......................................

I open my eyes to find that I am in a clearing, everything around me is familiar, and I know that I have gotten to somewhere that I can do what I came for. I walk towards the castle, where I hope he is, and after walking in, I stop in my tracks. I am looking around the corner and see him playing with a blonde haired little girl. She is laughing, and has even summoned a spirit that is pretending to need to protect her. "Come on, it's time to go to bed now." Igneel says, lifting her up and carrying her up to the bedroom that is incredibly familiar. I must be around 5 years old, and I know now that I was perfectly happy with him, it's now high time that I spoke with him, so I walk towards the man that just came out of a room that he closed the door to. I don't say anything to him, I just run up to him and pull him into a hug, having refrained myself from doing this with him a few minutes ago... although for him it would be centuries. "Umm... who are you?" He asks looking uncomfortable.

I pull away after a minute, looking up at him. "Well... that's a bit hard to explain, but I suppose I am a part of your past and future." I tell him with a smile.

"What do you mean? Give me a straight answer." He demands crossing his arms over his chest. I'd forgotten how he is with some people, especially when he does not know them.

"Well... I suppose that the simplest way of saying this is that... well, I'm that little girl that you just put into her bedroom." I say truthfully.

"What do you mean your her?? You cannot be her." He exclaims, starting to look furious with me.

"I'm from your future, one that is going to bring very interesting to say the least. And, I don't have much time, although at the same time I have all the time in the world. You have to know, Igneel, there is going to be a day in your future where you are going to need my help, and so... take this." I say, stretching out my hand and giving him the object that I have just forged.

"I don't understand... how are you her? I can smell you, you smell similar, but... your a dragon. It seems impossible. I promised that she would never become one, I said that even with all the magic it would never happen, especially after she learned about Acnologia." He says looking entirely confused. "If you are her, tell me this, how are you in the past? How did you get here? And what drove you to come and see me?" He asks.

"I created my own magic, which is how I am here, now, you need to take that key, and never let me know in any way that it is possible for me to become a dragon. With that key you can summon me, but you have to make sure that you never let anyone know you have it, not even me, and... protect us, whatever you do you had better not change anything." I say.

"I still don't understand." He says looking confused.

"Just... make sure you take care of us, and give Natsu his scarf." I say with a sigh.

"Scarf?? What scarf??" He demands looking incredible confused.

"The o- wait. Am I the one that gives it to you?" I murmur, before handing him a scarf identical to the one that Natsu always wears, made purely of magic to keep him safe. "I can't bear the future I come from, so please, just fix things." I say, before using my magic once again to head to another part of the past.

...................................

I am standing on a path that I am incredibly used to, and start to walk, wondering where he could be. "Oi!! Lucy!!" I hear him call and turn to find Natsu running towards me. I meet him halfway, and hugging him tightly, I kiss him with all the passion and longing that I have felt, for so long, and I am tired of pretending that I can live my life without him, I don't care if I live forever, I love him either way. "What was that for?? Luce, you're making things really confusing, I thought you didn't want to see me, and where have you been?" He says breathlessly. It's in that moment that I realize, this must be the point where I ended things between us, and if I were him I would be confused too.

"I'm sorry, and I regret that your going to have to forget all of this, but you need to know, that you're going to forget that I was here." I tell him.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"I am not your Lucy, at least not the one from now, and... I can't be doing this, you just have to know, that you have to take these." I say handing him my key, as long as a note explaining things to him, and what to do with them. I then kiss him once more, and return to my world hoping things are back to normal.

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I look around the room, wondering how I got here, and realize exactly where I am, I'm sitting in the meeting that I had before Natsu and Igneel died. This really doesn't make sense, I should have some back at the guild, but I won't question this, it's possible that this is just the point that I had to arrive at. I am sitting here for a few minutes when I hear two voices in my head, both of them saying the exact same thing. 'Open gate of the dragon queen; Lucy!'

I stand up right then and there, and Loki who had been speaking looks up in surprise. "Is there something wrong?" He asks, looking concerned.

"Oh! Nothings wrong, It's just that I've gotten summoned so I'm going to have an early lunch, and take care of a few things." I say with a smile. He nods and before long I have left, heading to where they are. When I get there I see exactly what it is that killed them in the first place; Acnologia. He seems to falter a bit, but not much, and so while he is in his dragon form, going for the killing blow, I Use as much of my magic as I can, and put up a barrier of protection. "Acnologia! I have left you be for a very long time. You should know better than to attack the people I care about, and unless you have a death wish, I suggest you leave this instant." I say, and to my surprise he does. I then relax, and turn towards them both, pulling them into a hug, and then I turn towards just Natsu, and give him a gentle kiss, before passing out from exhaustion. I'm just conscious enough to feel him catch me before I fall.