Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 1, x791.
Time passed quickly after the events of the first day of the Grand magic Games ended. While most people left the stadium to enjoy the festival-like atmosphere surrounding Crocus, the members of Fairy Tail quickly returned to the Sixth Sense Hotel. However, they were not alone, as they also brought the members of Team Sabertooth along with them.
On top of that, the two visitors from the future came along to the hotel as well. Though, in the future Rogue's case, he did not have much of a choice, as he was dragged along while forced to wear anti-magic bracelets and anklets.
Upon reaching the hotel, the group, or rather those intelligent enough to understand what was going on, were invited to gather in the hotel's meeting room. Though, it should be noted that Alfonzo was not present, as he was out with his children enjoying the city.
"Do you really believe they're from the future?" Minerva asked while staring at the future versions of Lucy and Rogue. She then pointed towards Future Rogue as she continued. "I mean, I can kind of see it with him. He looks several years older than the Rogue we know. But her…?"
As she trailed off, Minerva shifted her attention to the future Lucy, who was standing next to her counterpart from the present. And to anyone who saw them, they would look like a pair of twins. Though one of them, the Lucy from the future, looked like she had been through a lot more than the other.
"As hard as it is to believe, I believe they are telling the truth." Mavis replied.
"But can't this be just some kind of extravagant [Transformation Magic] spell?" Rufus asked curiously, not intending to dismiss Mavis' claim outright.
"We actually considered that, too." Irene said calmly. "But as it turns out, one of our S-Class wizards happens to be a master of [Transformation Magic]. So, why don't we ask her?"
With that, all eyes turned to Marin, who was pulled into this conversation for this exact reason.
"Yeah… Um… So, like when I use [Transformation Magic], I can take on any appearance I want, within reason." Marin said, cycling through the appearances of a few of the women in the room to emphasize her point. "But no matter what I look like, my magic power still feels like my magic power."
"I see." Minerva replied, understanding Marin's explanation.
"In my memory, I recall several of the contestants in today's event mentioning that Fairy Tail wizards can distinguish an individual's magic power from another's. Then, that must be the reason why you are so sure they are who they say they are."
"Exactly." Mavis replied cheerfully while nodding her head enthusiastically, her ahoge bouncing along with her head movements. However, she then turned to the future Rogue with a somewhat uncertain expression on her face. "But this one is a little different. Although his magic power is similar to Rogue Cheney's from your guild, it is also different."
"Like it has been mixed with the magic power of another." Irene added, finishing Mavis' statement.
"And by any chance, do you know whose magic power that is?" Minerva asked, though she had an idea when she looked at the lighter-colored half of his hair.
"Sting Eucliffe, if we had to guess." Irene replied casually. "Though, we don't know how that is possible."
*Bang!*
"Impossible!" Rogue, who had been silent until now, shouted while slamming his palms on the table with great force. "Ow~~~~!"
However, thanks to the force he put into the hands that slammed the table, Rogue cried out in pain. Meanwhile, the table that he struck did not even seem damaged in the slightest. At the same time, both Minerva, Rufus, Future Lucy, and Future Rogue looked on in confusion, constantly shifting their gazes from Rogue, who was shaking his hands and the table.
"Rogue, are you okay?" Frosch asked in a gentle, caring, tone from where he was sitting on top of the table.
"Just what is this table made of?" Rufus asked while repeatedly poking the table with his finger. "It seems to be a type of wood. But there is no wood that durable in my memory."
"Oh, it's something Fonzie reinforced with his sigils." Elicia said cheerfully. "He knew that there would be business meetings held in this room. And well, it would cost a lot to change the table every time a negotiation got too heated, and someone destroyed the table by accident."
Elicia's statement caused everyone who was not part of Fairy Tail to look at her in surprise. At the same time, it made perfect sense to them. Although they did not know that Alfonzo was the true owner of Sixth Sense Holdings, as he had managed to keep that secret even until now, it was no secret that Fairy Tail was a shareholder. So, asking Alfonzo to reinforce a table that would probably be destroyed repeatedly was not that far outside the realm of possibility.
What really surprised them was…
"Wait!" Minerva said sharply with an incredulous expression on her face. "Are you saying that this table is a magic item?"
"Yup, pretty much." Elicia replied with a happy nod. "Fonzie is the best, isn't he?"
Minerva, Rufus, Future Lucy, and Future Rogue all stared at Elicia as if she had grown a second head. Rogue, on the other hand, was still trying to soothe the pain in his hands while Frosch was fussing over his best friend.
"Okay, that's enough about the furniture." Mavis said with a smile. Though, her tone seemed a little more smug than usual, but everyone wrote that off as a figment of their imagination as they paid attention to the next words that would come out of her mouth. "Instead, I think we need to decide what to do with Rogue's future counterpart."
"You should probably tell us why he came back to the past, too." Minerva added.
"Yes, I believe that would be prudent." Mavis replied with a nod. "Well, from what we were able to gather, in their future, Acnologia has almost wiped out everyone on Ishgar."
That one statement caused everyone who did not already know to stare at mavis with their eyes wide open.
"And the reason this Rogue came back was to gain control of an army of dragons to fight Acnologia in the future." Mavis continued, unbothered by the shock in her listener's eyes. "But it was not to just stop him. Instead, he wanted to take Acnologia's place and become the new Dragon King."
Immediately, the shock in everyone's eyes turned to wariness when they looked at Future Rogue.
"As bad as that sounds, I think there is a silver lining, though." Future Lucy said, her timid voice causing all the eyes in the room to turn to her instead.
"Before that, why have you come back to our time?" Minerva asked curiously after tearing her eyes away from the future Rogue.
"That actually ties into that silver lining I was talking about." Future Lucy replied, her tone making her seem a bit unsure of her own following words. "Well, you see, this time is nothing like what I lived through seven years ago. I mean, everyone in the guild is much stronger than they were in my memories. On top of that, there are a lot of people I don't even recognize from my time."
As she spoke her last sentence, Future Lucy looked around, her gaze lingering on Elicia, Marin, Sun, the Elric Brothers, the group from Takanosu City, and the Seto Family longer than the rest.
"Hmm… That's interesting." Mavis said while rubbing her chin "To think you would not recognize some of our most notable members. Most of them are people who joined the guild even before the you of this time joined."
"Yeah." Elicia replied with a nod. "Which means, this isn't just a time travel thing."
"What do you mean?" Future Lucy asked in a dumbfounded tone.
Future Lucy was not the only one confused by Elicia's statement, as they all turned to look at her with confusion.
"Ever heard of parallel world theory?" Elicia asked with a smile as she let her gaze roam over everyone in the room.
"You mean like Edolas?" the Lucy of this time asked curiously. "I mean, that's a parallel world to ours, right?"
"Yes and no." Elicia replied while waving her hand in a so-so gesture. "It's kinda like that but it's… Argh! Fonzie is so much better at explaining things like this."
"Is he better at it, Lici?" Cana asked after taking a sip from a wine glass. "Or are you just too lazy to explain properly?"
"Yes!" Elicia replied loudly.
Elicia's response drew chuckles from everyone in the room. Even so, after a moment, Elicia continued with her explanation. And despite her clear unwillingness to get so long winded, her explanation painted a basic picture for everyone when it came to parallel world theory.
"Wow… To think that every choice ever made and every choice that was ever not made throughout history can have such a profound impact on the world we live in." Future Lucy said in a tone filled with awe. "But still, that doesn't explain how we…" She trailed off while gesturing to herself and Future Rogue '… traveled from one parallel world to another."
"Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for that." Elicia replied with a shrug. "The only reason I understand parallel world theory at all is because it's impossible to stop Fonzie once he gets into teacher mode."
In response, all of the members of Fairy Tail nodded their heads with wry smiles on their faces.
"Yeah, and he gets even more intense if he notices you spacing out during his explanation." Marin added with a faraway look in her eyes.
Once again, everyone who had experienced Alfonzo's passion for imparting knowledge nodded in agreement.
"I think his scientific theories are quite interesting, though." Alphonse said with a smile.
"That doesn't change the fact that he's still really long winded sometimes." Edward said, though it was clear that he also found scientific conversations with Alfonzo entertaining.
"Stop pretending like you don't like it." Winry said with a giggle. She then reached out with one of her hands and pinched Edward's cheek as she continued. "Besides, the look on your face when the two of you get into a heated debate is really cute."
"Knock it off, Winry…" Edward muttered with a slight flush while sweeping Winry's hand away.
Edward's reaction brought a round of laughter to everyone present.
"Anyway, let's get back on topic." Mavis said after the laughter died down. "Now that we know what's going on, as Fairy Tail, we can't let it happen. Even if it's not our world that's going through it."
"But how can you stop it?" Future Lucy asked, her smile disappearing, replaced by a solemn expression. She then gestured to Future Rogue once again before continuing. "I mean, we know that his trip to the past is one of the reasons why our world fell to ruin in the future. But we don't even know how to get back to our own parallel world at this point."
"We can just leave that to Fonzie." Elicia said nonchalantly. "I mean, in our world, he has a stable way to get to Edolas. So, I'm sure he would be able to tweak it a little bit to end up in your worldline, or whatever you wanna call it."
Most of those present nodded in agreement with Elicia's confidence in Alfonzo. One of the exceptions, however, let out a peel of harsh laughter while smiling disdainfully at everyone else.
"And what exactly do you find so funny?" Irene asked, her sadistic smile replaced by one that was far too gentle for the current situation. "Please, tell me. I'm looking forward to a good laugh, too."
Hearing Irene's serene tone and seeing her gentle smile made Future Rogue, the one who was laughing, shudder. For some reason, one that he could not explain, Irene's current expression was more terrifying than anything he had seen in all his life.
"Well?" Irene asked, leaning forward and making eye contact with Rogue, who could not seem to look away. "Are you going to tell us?"
*Click!*
A few moments of tense silence passed after Irene asked her question. All the while, she held eye contact with Future Rogue. And with every second that passed, more and more cold sweat dripped down Future Rogue's forehead and back. Though, he was not the only one intimidated by Irene's seemingly non-threatening attitude, as many of those who had seen Irene when she's angry or annoyed also started to shudder with repressed fear.
However, just before Future Rogue's fear led him to piss himself, the tense atmosphere was broken when the door to the meeting room was opened. When everyone looked towards the door, they all caught sight of Alfonzo carrying the three children, who were asleep in his arms, as he entered the room.
"Hmm… Feels like I missed something important." Alfonzo muttered as he entered the room and surveyed the expressions on everyone's faces. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm back. I'll put these three to bed. Then, I'll come back, and you can get me caught up on what's going on. Sound good?"