Summary: Lucy watched the world burn to the demons that killed everyone else. Sacrificing herself was a small price to pay to bring them back. Now, she's back to her past with a mission to save Fiore. Living on limited time has its drawbacks but Lucy has the gifts of the stars and the love of her friends watching out for her. Unfortunately, it's not easy saving a world against change. AU
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11115594/1/
Word count:365k
Chapters:55
Prologue: Humanity's Last Hope
July 29th, X791
When Lucy was a child she was always attracted to the rain: may that have lightning or hail. She would wake to the rain and sleep to it much like her mother's lullabies; it was the voice of her mother - even as Nature. Water - it was her element. The color of the pond she would escape to when being around her father and the Heartfilia's expectations became too much. The rain could be borrowed and used to heal, cleanse, disperse fires caused by lightning or visiting loose-canon campers.
When she left home she followed the water, walked the paths that tracked rain, and respected those that wielded it as magic (even if one of those mages treated her as a love-rival and another a Celestial spirit that wanted as little to do with her as possible). Bottom line, Lucy always loved the rain... but with it came the storm and she often found that where she was attracted to the rain; the storm was attracted to her.
Of course being a member of Fairy Tail and the "strongest team" was a natural disaster attraction to begin with, Lucy never expected that they - Fairy Tail - could ever be defeated, or worse, controlled.
And controlled by fear to survive rather than fight back, they were. But in her opinion, what was the point in fighting if it was a death sentence? She rather survive and plan for a come-back rather than rush in blind. That was how the Strongest Team of Fairy Tail ended up being the first to die after all... and any other hero who wanted their deaths to be revenged.
Lucy believed that living where others died was the best sort of revenge... because that fire that burned inside the dead till their last breath was born inside the survivors so that they may continue to live. To live with memory of those whom had died. To carry on in the place of those fallen. But that was just Lucy's opinion... and to an extent, Levy's.
"Lu-chan, come on!" Levy shouted as they ducked under a ruined wall with fire spreading like a wingless phoenix around the land that was once called Fiore. The pixie-cut blonde lunged forward and rolled skill-fully against the fallen freight train where Levy was running right behind her in quick shuffles. The blonde was exhausted in all possible ways with her magic limited to sustain her survival and mentality tightly reined to maintain a one-tracked mind as to not recall the terrors she has been enabled to see only in a dream (as rare as they came).
If there were any ways the world would end with Fairy Tail being a part of that world - her world - Lucy would refuse to have believed it happening any other way, had she not seen it herself. Everything was gone; Fiore, Fairy Tail, friends, family, and even magic. Magic being; independence, freedom, happiness - life. What was left was terror, overwhelming power, and unrestrained evil that flooded the wasteland that had once been a luxurious and fantastical land.
How it had happened?; Zeref and his demons. Though mostly just Zeref's demons who proved to be far stronger than their creator when the ultimate Fairy Tail belief - love is the strongest power - was nullified the moment the truth was revealed of Fairy Tail's dear friend and pyromaniac, Natsu Dragneel, as the younger brother of Zeref and fellow demon known as E.N.D.
Fairy Tail and even Fiore backed Natsu up the entire way, despite his forgotten history, however after he gave his life defeating Zeref just as prophesied, he left the world at the demon's mercy of destruction and world domination. Lucy still recalled the never ending flow of blood that escaped a dying Natsu as she held his head in her lap, his dark eyes losing its fire as his life slipped away from him.
He was made a martyr. Everyone put their faith in a boy - no, a man - because he was the strongest in both power and belief. He was willing to carry the burden and lead everyone against the enemy; firmly believing that they would win because when had he ever lost? Natsu won in the end. He won, but no one else was able to share the victory. To Lucy, it was better to lose than to win and leave everyone to fend for the destruction that victory left in its wake. Perhaps Lucy was being selfish thinking that way but to the blonde, war had different rules; a different life style.
Survival was everything, and so was the resistance. Those that lived were the wiser. Those that died - left silence and graves in their wake.
After Natsu and Zeref died, the war following slowly lost its faith. Causalities continued to pile in enormous numbers with the demons reincarnated in the rarity occasion in which they died. Fairy Tail, as always, took the front lines and were some of the first to fall with hope dying with every loss. Lucy didn't understand how Fairy Tail thought the way they had, because they were the world's last remaining hope. Love has no power when its source is lost.
And in many ways, Natsu was that source.
When Fairy Tail died, another source disintegrated as well.
Of course there were still remaining members of Fairy Tail (Lucy and Levy proof of that) but they were only former; like the forgotten heiress of a famous company. Where fame once had been, infamy followed. Truly they're guild marks were like giant targets on their backs that gave away their location within a world-wide radius and as much pride for their guild was within them, in times of war - especially when losing - was suicide. So any remaining mages that had once been involved in a guild would burn off their guild mark - should they know what was good for them.
Ironically, Lucy's own burn mark had been made by Natsu's fire just before he died. A final promise of protection, if anything.
Wherever she went, as destruction flared around her - she would walk onward. When she felt weak the red scar on her hand would pierce in stark pain to remind her of what she was living for and she would continue fighting to survive. She just had to keep moving forward and save everyone she could. Lucy wasn't the same person she had been ten months ago. She learned from war that - undeniably - not everyone could be saved and she had witnessed her fair share of deaths, never looking away because she felt that someone deserved to know how they died, to remember the life that was lost as another casualty - a number - in war.
"This way!" Levy shouted, her voice like a whisper with the noise rushing around them like explosives.
Lucy sprinted forward and quickly barreled into a window, feeling the glass scrape her dirty skin like demon claws, with Levy sweeping in much more gracefully behind her. As they tip-toed through the house they kept their ears alert for footsteps while their eyes remained on target, Levy taking lead into a storage room where they could take cover for the day without being cornered.
The night was too dangerous because the demons were at their strongest at that time and preyed on those that slept, finding them easily because those unfortunate souls least expected it. Even so, they could only rest for so long and had to constantly remain on their feet otherwise they would be found and cornered, with no way out apart from death.
How the world had changed, Lucy could hardly believe. She should've done something more, could've been there for her country, and at least would have been able to save Natsu... save Fairy Tail. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
As the two settled into the storage room the size of a broom closet, Levy managed to scrounge around to find a table cloth for the both of them, and broken shelves to prop their heads up. Lucy unstrapped her weapons strap after removing her elemental weapon that was quite similar to the magical weapons found in Edolas. Being exhausted and lacking the unlimited power that S-class mages like Natsu, Laxus, and Erza had, she was forced to maintain a weapon to fire shots when she could, and only in the utmost of urgency.
It was also smarter - to an extent - because surviving didn't necessarily count with fighting, which more often than not on the losing side of war, resulted in death. In worse cases they were left to escape with the hope to find some cloth to stop the bleeding before dying a slow and very painful death. Appearances meant nothing; she cut her hair to avoid it being caught or seen in the gust of wind, she was covered head to toe in grime because it was unavoidable and hid her scent from those with sharpened senses (a most common trait of demons). She wasn't sure how much of herself she could recognize if she ever found a mirror - which she hadn't since they were broken out of belief of misfortune.
"Here Lu-chan," the petite one-eyed blue head murmured and Lucy gratefully took the offered couch cushion that was half-eaten by moths but a luxury in their war-torn world nonetheless.
Love may have lost its power in war but still remained in small ways like comfort and in rarest forms - loyalty. Lucy slowly eased exhaustively onto the floor and sighed at the soft texture of the tablecloth before rolling on her side, mindful of her bruised ribs. Lucy closed her eyes as her best friend wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, softly but firmly, in reminder that when they woke no one was alone.
That they still had each other.
Because in a war-field loneliness was as deadly as a bullet because demons not only lived around them but also in their minds. If they forget how to love they'll only remember agony and as such will seek it out, and with it, their demise.
"Night Levy," Lucy murmured as she rolled over and tucked Levy's head beneath her's: warmth and ache echoing in her heart. Levy lightly kissed Lucy's neck before whispering the same in return and both soon fell asleep in each other's arms.
Love my have lost the war, but the war had not lost love.
July 31st, X791
"Come on Levy... I have bad feeling," Lucy told her friend, who was busy drawing runes with her blood. Levy went right to work directly after Lucy's palm was cut leaving the blonde jumpy with only one hand in use in case of inevitable attack. They were back in Crocus, where the Grand Magic Game Arena remained standing despite the ruined city surrounding it. Perhaps it was the resources which were used to build it or even the amount of highly concentrated magic to absorb the magic of performing mages. Either way, it was the exact place she and Levy needed for their plans and there was no other place that would provide the amount of magic they needed for their task.
Sure it may have been months since the GMG arena had been occupied and after the opening of Eclipse there was hardly any magic left however that was all they needed considering any mage that had magic was well exhausted and (ultimately) unusable.
Levy's tongue stuck out of her mouth in a definite cute way but Lucy had too much anxiety to tease her friend over it. "I... almost... got it." Levy replied as she brushed the second-to-last symbol on the rune symbol. One thing Lucy found herself incredibly grateful to and indebted to was none other than to Freed who had made Levy his apprentice and taught her all he could before his inevitable (though early) demise.
There was little hope for the resistance in the war against Zeref's demons and very little mages and non-magical citizens remaining in the world as well. It was because of this, preferably when they had very little left, did Levy come up with an ingenious plan to, in an way; save the world and everyone in it. It was a miracle idea and an impossible plan in a rational mind or realm of possibility... but if Lucy learned anything in Fairy Tail it was that nothing was impossible.
And so they acted.
What they were doing erased the line between forbidden and unforbidden with unknown behind every corridor. If this worked neither of them knew what would happen, what was on the line; the cost. Despite the clear warning that practically resounded in trouble, they theorized that this may as well be everyone's last hope and if their lives were on the line then it really wasn't anything new.
It was also somewhat assuring that their deaths wouldn't be in vain.
"Laguz, Dagaz... and done!" Levy said with a satisfied smile before standing up and nodded in satisfaction at her work. Lucy walked up to stand beside her, wrapping the ripped cloth from her sleeve around her bleeding palm and with the other hand, withdrew the Heartfilia keys from its chain.
The blonde didn't entirely understand all the details of the rune symbol but she did understand what role her Celestial spirits - and their keys - played and its importance. With a nod from Levy, Lucy quickly got to work in placing all thirteen gold gate keys in their appropriate rune symbol with the silver keys beside the gold in their appropriate rune symbol.
She didn't have very many silver keys, as most had been destroyed by the demons and what remained were the one's she had before the war or were taken from Yukino's body. And though she had all the gold keys, Aquarius's was in pieces while Yukino's were stained with her blood, and her Celestial spirit contracts void. Lucy wasn't sure if they would activate without being contracted to Lucy but she could only hope it would, and maybe the Celestial spirit king would make an exception just this once.
Hope was the only thing they had after all.
Perhaps she should've made a contract with Yukino's former Celestial spirits however Lucy somehow felt that doing so would be cruel... and besides, she hadn't had the magic to make the contracts with them in the first place, nor would she ever be able to use them.
"Well, what do we have here?" A deep unutterable voice echoed in front of them causing both their heads to snap up towards the approaching shadow, revealing a man quickly turning into a humanoid wolf whose name escaped Lucy but by the demon's expression she knew that they had met before.
"I never thought I would see you again, blondie. Where'd your great protector go? Oh that's right, he's dead!" Lucy clenched her jaw as the demon let out a horrific laugh and quickly drew her weapon with the sights on him.
"Awe, it's a whittle gun. Bet you can't use your magic anymore can you?" He laughed again before studying the ground drawn with runes. "Well, well, well... look what we have here. Look's important whatever it is. That must mean I should destroy it, wouldn't it?"
"We can't let him near the circle, Lu-chan." Levy quickly whispered to Lucy before withdrawing her own weapon; a black iron sword, forged by her deceased boyfriend himself and sprinted forward before the blonde could so much as utter a word of rejection.
"Levy!" She yelled, trying to get a good aim on the demon but he was moving too fast and if she fired she risked hitting Levy. Moving away from the rune symbol held too much risk so she was stuck watching her friend fight a deadly, risky, brutal battle against a rapid healing, unpredictable, and undying opponent. Hell, even if she could use magic, her Celestial spirits were on the ground and the only magic she knew was Holder magic so she was really out of options.
"Fuck!" She grumbled and cursed her unpreparedness (not for the first time) internally. Levy's life was on the line - in front of her - and she couldn't do a single thing.
"Activate the seal!" Levy shouted as she ducked a gutting swipe of the demon's claws. Lucy shook her head disbelievingly. How could this be the only way she could help her friend? It was like sacrificing Aquarius all over again. She was tired of taking sacrifices; of making that decision. "No! We're doing this together!" Lucy shouted back in return, her voice cracking towards the end.
But loss was worse than sacrifice, wasn't it? Losing something she had no control over... and here, right now, she had the decision to give her best friend a vain death or an honorable one.
Dark clouds rumbled overhead, threatening to rain upon them and ruin their hard work and last hope for humanity. For the first time in Lucy's relatively short life she cursed the rain. "Lucy!" Levy's tone was pleading and Lucy wondered for a moment if Levy was pleading her to leave her to her death or prevent it with the activation of the seal. Once she activated it there was no turning back, but neither knew what would happen to their own timeline. Would it be destroyed and cease to exist? Would it continue until time rewrote itself?
She couldn't leave Levy: she was her best friend; her partner in crime. She loved her like a sister, and maybe even more than that if they weren't in this situation; this war. Maybe not... because if there was anything Lucy would do for Levy it was to give her, her best chance. With Gajeel, Fairy Tail, a non war-torn world, and a life not lived in constant fear, danger, sacrifice and loss.
Everything that was contradicted right now.
"Lu-chan, go!" And as though finalizing her seriousness in Lucy going through with their plan alone, Levy's block was suddenly broken through and the bluenette was speared through. Blood splattered into the air seemingly in slow motion and for Lucy her world froze, eyes unmoving from Levy's as her mouth opened releasing a cut-off scream before her body hit the ground and time resumed itself. Lucy found her throat was raw and realized she had been screaming.
The demon grinned and removed his claws with a sickening screech only for Levy's hand to suddenly shoot up and grip his wrist, keeping him in place long enough for her magic to activate. A violet aura pulsed in the air as runes suddenly slid up Levy's arm and up the demon's arm to his chest. Lucy's breath escaped her as she realized Levy activated the self-destruct runes (used only in the most urgent of situations). It was designed specifically by Levy for escape, but at the cost of the activator's life because the runes linked to the user and it's target - equivalent exchange. It was really more of a homicidal-destructive rune than anything and Lucy wasn't sure she could watch her friend kill herself, even if it gave her and humanity their best change.
Even if she agreed to have the very same runes tattooed onto her body.
So - just as Levy wanted - Lucy activated the runes by unleashing what little magic resided within her exhausted body and watched as the blood-written runes glowed a pulsing gold and silver tinted aura. Using a powerful and commanding voice she could hardly believe she had, spoke: "Celestial spirits of the thirteen gold keys and seven silver keys: lend me the power to open the gate to the realm of Moonshadow! With the permission of Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz, Gebo, Wunjo, Hagalaz, Naudhiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Perdhro, Sowulo, Teiwaz, Berkana, Ehwaz, Mannaz, Laguz, and Dagaz, grant me this wish and I will pay it at any cost! I demand thee gate of the Daedric Princess, Azura, to open!"
Lucy's eyes met Levy's and suddenly she felt as though she was linked with her friend as the many runes written in her blood suddenly disappeared from the ground only to appear on her skin as an opened wound. Her vision turned a sharp white hot and agony shot through her with such intensity that her back arched and a scream followed in sync with Levy's who closed her eyes just seconds before her self-destruct runes activated. An explosion followed deafeningly, knocking Lucy off her feet and sparing her from the gruesome scene of that demon and her best friend's death.
The Celestial mage screamed in agony; in the lost of her best friend, in the knowledge that she was now the sole remaining Fairy Tail mage, what the war had brought, and of course: the physical pain that raced through her body like acid in her blood and shattered bones. She felt as both her magic and body paid the price in opening the gates of Celestial spirits that were not her own and wondered distantly if her mother died with this agony piercing deep inside of her. It felt almost as though her soul was being torn apart because it was so extreme and indescribable. All Lucy knew is that there was agony but there was also success as she heard the voices of the Celestial spirits around her. What they were saying she didn't know but at least she was comforted by the fact that they were there, and like Levy, she wouldn't cease to exist in this world alone.
Nothing was clear as her world evaporated around her and if she could see herself in an outside view she would watch as a portal opened above her, like a galaxy waiting to turn her into another star to live in the milky way. Suddenly everything became clear around her, and even though it was only for a moment, she smiled as she saw her dearest Celestial friends appear. Tears followed as gold and silver keys shattered around her - their mystical power forging the key to open the portal that was once believed to be nothing more than a legend.
But if Zeref, his demons, and E.N.D. could exist with ghosts and hidden power, then legends could too. Myths were made up from some part of the truth weren't they? Without Levy though, Lucy never would've been able to crack the code to time-travel. They were human after all and humans had a condition to maintain. There was some power that was beyond humans. Dragonslayers could use power beyond them however too much of it would turn them into dragons - like Agnologia. Or Godslayers destroyed by their own magic - which took life from all living things, similarly to Zeref's cursed magic.
It was unnatural. Like time-travel. And humans weren't.
If shattering a gold key (Aquarius's key) could bring forth their King, then what power did all the keys she had, hold?
Everything had a cost. Everything had its own laws and rules to follow.
And if they were going to do the impossible they would need to go to an impossible solution. Only problem was: this was all a theory. It was guesswork but it was also all they had.
Lucy knew that Celestial magic had a lot of power. It had the power to open and close a creation like Eclipse. It could cleanse and it could heal. A magic that could be lended by a human with laws and restrictions shared between the spirit and the human containing it. A fair magic for a fair trade. It could only be wielded correctly by specific mages. People with a certain heart - a certain moral. The war may have changed Lucy as a person but she believed that her heart was still strong; strong enough to harness Celestial magic.
It was a rare magic and its mages scarce, for good reason.
Lucy knew she wasn't much as a mage to Fairy Tail. She may have been kind with good morals but her strength and fighting moral was low in comparison to the majority of Fairy Tail. She still remembered Master Makarov's speech he had given to her when she brought trouble to the home-front from the wrath of her father. That the weak were accepted... She liked to think she wasn't that same girl she had been in her youth; that the war had changed her for the better; the stronger. Fairy Tail had been her home but she wasn't strong enough to protect it - not even her nakama.
But even though she wasn't strong enough to protect her nakama, her guild, her friends... she was strong enough to do this. That was something her heart was sure of.
She would save Fairy Tail and everyone in the world with this power; no matter the cost.
Lucy Heartfilia screamed in finality before her body exploded into stars and spiraled quickly into the whirlpool galaxy that served as a portal into another realm - a foreign world. When it was over and she was gone, everything about her existence ceased to be remembered. Forgotten.
After all, Levy and Lucy were just another casualty of war.
For the first time Lucy felt dead. Dead because she could breath clearer than she could ever remember with air so natural it wasn't. Her body felt light; unburdened and unmarked from life. The familiar aches and pains her body had become accustomed with were erased with not even the memory of the feeling left behind. Her mind was clear; without barriers or blocks. She could see everything she ever saw while alive in a moment's notice, casually, and was overwhelmed with emotions at first and then nothing but wisdom.
It was as though everything she had lived through was just another seed to bury, another root to a tree in a luxurious forest, or a flame of a fire that would never die.
Like she was the only woman in the universe... and it wasn't lonely at all. When she opened her eyes she learned that she was right as rain. Lucy lay in a field of roses so beautiful she should've fell blind. Colors of all variety surrounded her from the impossible blue to the famous ruby red. There were even some shades she shouldn't have recognized but for some unknown reason she did. She blinked to force her eyes to turn away from the enormous garden of roses and instead found herself staring into an Aurora sky.
And like the roses the auroras varied in color from a crystal blue, forest green, and violet. Pink and light grey clouds moved through the sky which Lucy suddenly realized was an endless galaxy with constellations she had never seen before moving about. Slowly she got to her feet and allowed her eyes to turn away from the sky and to the landscape in front of her. Her breath escaped her as she found herself just outside a vista where the sky lit up the canyons and mountain ranges in red, blue, and orange.
She realized there was a waterfall in front of the vista, serving as a door to the landscape where the rocks slid past the water allowing one to pass without getting splashed by the water. The water itself smelled like the ocean but without the salt, and glowed with a color akin to silver. Where there was no waterfalls and vistas, at the far northern side where the auroras seemed to flow from stood a majestic city of silver where trees of golden trees circled around it and its leaves flied gently with the caressing wind. Like feather kisses or finger-tips against the skin.
Fantastical trees stretched across the land seeming even more majestic than the silver city (in Lucy's opinion) of a beautiful, breath-taking green where rain fell upon that Lucy swore smelled of wild mildew. The colors seemed to blur together as she continued to stare and only after she looked away did she wonder if the blur was a warning.
On the northern part of the world she could see that it was dawn while the southern it was dusk. The world almost seemed small as she gazed at the sun and the moon but when she looked closely she realized that there was more than just one moon and that each of them was at a different phase while the sun was shaped into a unique symbol Lucy recalled only seeing once before in the book of legends Levy had scrounged for. It was Azura's Star - her symbol.
For a moment, she looked upon herself and found that indeed she was different; unmarked skin, clean/unmarked skin, blonde hair that stretched over her shoulders in gentle waves, and dressed in a cleaner version of what she wore before. Where her clothing was torn and bloody it was now appearing as though brand new. Soft, like feathers against her skin. Colorful, like the world around her. The only thing she saw that hadn't changed was the lining in her palms; the story of her life that was told within every line.
The runes that she had tattooed upon her body were erased similarly to the burn mark on her right hand, as well as Aquarius's own parting tattoo. She brought a hand to her collarbone and lowered it just enough with a desperate hope that she nearly cried in relief to hear her heartbeat. It was the very thing that separated humans from the demons. The strength of the human heart.
And her's was still beating. Perhaps it was merely her own mind comforting her and it wasn't there at all but she liked to think just because she was somewhere lost in space didn't mean she was dead. Even if she actually was. Her heartbeat was like a lullaby... she didn't feel like herself without it.
Lucy looked around and found her heart lurch as she found a stone pathway suddenly open way after a field of roses split apart. Not knowing what else to do, she moved toward the path and began to walk along it, her eyes slowly loosing vision of the road in front of her as colors blurred in front of her, and no amount of blinking or looking away would help. Instead, Lucy found herself half-blind and stumbling over some sort of object, causing her to nearly fall over but rather stopped to a halt.
In front of her she could swear there was someone looking at her, with the only thing she knew she could see was a stone sun and a moon in this stranger's palms. It was almost as though they were holding parts of this universe in her hands. Was this who she and Levy worked so hard to find?
"The stars told me your name and that you would be coming here. And though I did not know when, I had known it could be someday." The stranger's voice was feminine, but more so, deity. Majestic and melodic like wind chimes beside the ocean.
"How did you know I could be coming?" Lucy asked, trying to squint through the insistent blurring of her vision. The woman - or deity - chuckled lightly before answering. "Make no mistake, I didn't know you would be here. However there was a chance, prophecized once out of infinite possibilities written in the stars I look upon every day. "
"Prophecies?" Lucy questioned, never expecting such a word to come from (what she thought was) a deity. She didn't believe in fate and in front of her stood the impossible telling her what was meant to be. As though sensing the line of her thoughts the woman, Azura, continued. "Every action we take, the outcome is written of possibilities yet only we can make the decision of what that outcome will be. In other words this meeting between you and I may not have happened, had you not did what you had done; breaking every Celestial law, magical and human belief... and all to open an impossible gate to an impossible world to access the impossible gift for you. It is forbidden and forgotten for a reason, after all."
Lucy allowed Azura to continue.
"The cost is great. You are a mortal, after all. The gifts which I can bestow unto you are things that rewrite prophecies... things that could destroy you if given to you directly; whether out of curiosity or unrestrained urge to test human limitations. But you already know of this, don't you?" At Lucy's small nod, Azura made a slight noise of agreement. "After all you had to get here in the only way that was possible to you. Celestial magic. Something that can only be used by those of a certain moral... a certain good. It's a magic with a taboo that is strong enough to rob you of your magic, even your very life to an extent."
If Lucy could be capable of such things like the human condition in this world, she would be sweating in slight anxiety right about now.
"So think of this as a taboo. Whatever you ask of me that I can offer, it will be a trade. Fair, like what you have with your Celestial magic. And even a little more... a bonus of such if you are willing to do something for me."
"What sort of something?" Lucy asked, even more anxious because nothing ever written spoke of a God or Azura asking something of a mortal. It was... unheard of by history.
"Oh, we may return to that. For the moment however, we had an exchange to do, didn't we? You didn't come all the way to this world just to see the landscape I imagine."
Lucy swallowed before looking up despite knowing it wouldn't help clear her vision in the slightest.
"How do I know I can trust you if I can't see you?" Lucy questioned, almost regretting it. Almost. "There are some things that are meant not to be seen by mortal eyes. Not because I won't allow you to but simply because it is too much for you. Being able to see may just drive you to insanity because you'll never want to look away or leave this world. You world be so taking by what was in front of you that your mind would not be clear and I could accidentally take advantage of you. My siblings may be satisfied in doing so, but I am not. So, you will just have to take my word for it and leave it at that."
"No, it's okay. I understand," Lucy replied. She closed her eyes instead, preferring the darkness behind her eyelids over the blurring of colors while they're open.
"Good, then. Now, what would you ask of me?"
Lucy closed her eyes, recalling the final moments of her and Levy's life before she activated the rune symbol. "I don't know what you know of my world but destruction is everywhere... the demons - er, Zeref's - never stop. So many have died-" her voice caught as flashbacks of the fallen overcame her. She shook her head, willing the thoughts to go away, and continued. This is what she and Levy worked for, gave their lives for. "My best friends, family, strangers... just, everyone died in that war. We've lost it. The war has taken too many lives. My friend, Levy, said that give or take two years from now the human race will be extinct and the only magic remaining in the world will be black, like Zeref's."
"Hmm. Black magic you say? You know Zeref had a prophecy once?"
Lucy shook her head before she paused. "Had?"
"Mm, yes. Before his little brother died his prophecy would have led him a good life. The world balanced by both kinds of magic however instead he made a world birthed of hatred over two sides."
Lucy shifted slightly, her eyes opening slightly to keep her conscious. "By saving Natsu?"
"Save? Is that what you call it? Death is a natural part of the mortal life... even when caused by war like you, yourself have gone through. Nevertheless, where Zeref lost his prophecy his younger brother had taken it. And in doing so had born a new purpose for his brother. And another for him."
Lucy's hands shook slightly. "Was Natsu supposed to die then? I mean, taking his older brother with him?"
"Prophecies have a beginning and an end, though not necessarily from birth to death. Zeref's prophecy birthed a new age for the better but instead he caused an era of tragedy by the choices he made. Rather than simply contradicting his prophecy. The outcome of prophecies only come to be by the choices that are made... and depending on what actions taken, the future can become null. Natsu Dragneel, formerly Etherious Natsu Dragneel was born a false life with the need to destroy Zeref. He had many prophecies surrounding him but none were actually set because he was not meant to be alive. He was brought back to life where there should have only been death."
Lucy shook her head. "I'm not sure I'm following."
"To put it simply Natsu Dragneel chose to make his own destiny. He chose to take himself to death with his brother. The moment he made that decision, a new prophecy for him was set in stone because he sacrificed his life so that Zeref would die."
"So... prophecies are made out of choices, preferably sacrifices?"
"Mm, precisely. A trade. It's what we are doing now. The ultimate condition that everyone must pay for in return for power. Whatever that power may be. This condition includes even myself."
Lucy nodded in understanding. "Which is why you can make deals with mortals. Because we have to pay a cost despite you being immortal - right?."
"Yes. Now that you understand what prophecies are and the purpose they serve, let's continue our bargain." Azura announced, and Lucy closed her eyes again to focus more clearly on what she would be asking for.
"My world... our future... it's at its end. I know what I'm asking for... even though I almost wish I didn't. Azura, I need to reset the future and stop Earthland from dying. I need you to allow me to go back to the past. I'll pay the cost. I swe-"
"How can you swear to pay the cost of something you don't even know? If I were my siblings you wouldn't be agreeing so quickly." Azura quickly interrupted and Lucy imagined she had put up a hand to cease her talking (had she not been holding the sun and the moon in the palms of her hands, anyway). "I'm sorry," Lucy amended. Then swallowed thickly. "I just can't allow myself to check out when I'm leaving a dying world - my home."
"What you are asking is impossible... had you not come to me, anyway. In return for this choice, your actions will rewrite the future, and the cost; your sacrifice is your life." Lucy stiffened but was not particularly surprised. She was willing to die to arrive here, had she not already.
"Because like Natsu Dragneel you have made your own destiny. How you fulfill this prophecy is entirely up to you. Remember the sacrifices you had made to rewrite time and that not all loss is on your shoulders. Life finds a way like magic, some way or another."
"You mentioned doing a favor?" Lucy asked, shifting lightly on her heels. She was trying not to think that she willingly gave up her life in a new life. If anything she was more grateful to it was that Levy wasn't here paying the price for this task. She could have a full life with Gajeel now or however she chooses to live her life rather than be bound to a self-supplied prophecy.
"I mentioned my siblings more than once before, yes? They have their own worlds, certain aspects here and there, and of course their champions. None of them are decent though. Which is fitting really." Azura paused for a moment to muse before continuing. "I will not settle with my siblings standards nor will I allow myself to appear beneath them. I'll need my own champion, and a decent one at that. A mortal fitting to represent my name."
And you want that to be me? Lucy didn't voice her thoughts.
"However I cannot simply make one my champion. One must earn it. So in the case that you earn such a name for yourself, I have a proposition for you: I gift you with the magic of your Celestial spirits - the one's you held the contracts with - for sacrificing them to get to my realm and in return you may become my champion. In the case that you master the mind and magic of your Celestial spirits which I bestow unto you..." Azura lifted her palms up and the planets began to spin. She felt a shiver down her spine that wasn't unsettling but was unfamiliar making her glance down at her arms (expecting to see goosebumps) only to see the insignia of the celestial spirits.
She glanced at her collarbone beneath her shirt and smiled softly at Aquarius's tattoo before all the insignia apart from the Water Bearer's shimmered away in gold and silver light.
"And with your mastery, becoming my champion, and fulfilling your prophecy... you will have rightfully earned your place among the stars," Azura finished. The sun and the moon in her palms no longer spinning, Lucy realized.
"Isn't that giving me more than in return?" Lucy asked curiously.
Azura chuckled lightly, again.
"You would find yourself surprised in how little deities need to find themselves satisfied. Despite what my siblings may say, should you ever meet them." Lucy didn't know why but something in Azura's tone made her believe that the deity knew something about the many possibilities from her prophecy than she was allowing her to know (which really wasn't surprising to Lucy). She wasn't sure she really wanted to know. Her curiosity was freely reined only so far.
"So how does this work? I'll still have my memories in turning back time, won't I? That wasn't part of the cost." Lucy stated, eyes opened and staring directly at Azura despite the insistent blurs.
"Ah yes. Well, I assume you'll want to have as much time you can have to prepare yourself in changing the future as you know it... but not your time as an infant as that could be a risk to your memories. You will not be able to extend your life to your natural time of death in which you arrived at my realm, so, how about we agree on twenty years? When you go back in time you'll have that amount of time before your inevitable death on July 31st, X791, at approximately 6:17 in the morning."
"I agree," Lucy replied softly.
Azura nodded and brought her hands together where the sun and moon combined together in a gold and silver light - so blinding. "You best be off then. I imagine you'll thrive in more ways than you could expect. Best of luck Lucy... oh, and you may find yourself surprised when gaining the gifts of your Celestial spirits - whenever should that be."
Lucy nodded and meant to respond her gratitude to Azura for this chance only to be caught distracted as the blurry colors suddenly shot towards her to create a wall around her. She stumbled backwards as a vertex of color spun rapidly around her that it seemed like everything went sharp at once. She shut her eyes but could still see the color and tried to run away from the colors only to find herself suddenly thrown back and silenced befell her.
The blonde gasped as she opened her eyes finding herself falling through darkness like a wingless bird; feather-light but with gravity against her. Light suddenly shown bright around her and it took her eyes a moment to focus to realize that the light was images; memories replaying as she found herself spiraling to the past. A past that would lead to a new dimension with her presence. Her influence as a part of the future.
The memories were so clear but seemed to end so quickly it was almost painful. Lucy swore it was but knew it wasn't. It felt like what she knew and what she had forgotten deep inside or brushed away as unimportant was filing itself away into a 'Future' category so that she could access everything correctly when she was back in the past.
She paused and wondered for a split second if she was returning to her past body before letting out a breath when Azura's reference came back to her. She really didn't have anything more to worry about. Only what she needed to do, and she imagined Azura made sure that was clear their bargain. It was actually rather considerate, if Lucy had more time to dwell on that though. Which she didn't, because she was taking in all these memories like there was no tomorrow - which was too confusing a thought to dwell on, so she didn't.
As the last days of her life revealed themselves in full detail around her the blonde let out a scream as she saw her best friend die all over again. Before she knew it, everything disappeared around her and all that was left was nothing.
However, she knew better.
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11115594/1/