~*****~

When I come to, my body is shivering despite the horrible fever raging through me. I suck in hurried breaths, trying to get my body to move, but it feels like my body weighs ten tons. And what's more, the bite mark that still stings feels like it's burning more than anything else. "Natsu?" I call out softly.

"A little busy!" I hear him bark back. "Gimme a second!"

I groan and manage to flop onto my front. I barely see through the fuzziness in my eyes, but I can see the vague blurs of Natsu and Kama fighting against each other. My vision clears the longer I stare at them fight, and Natsu continues to show me just how strong he is. He sends Kama through a wall-- which surprisingly opened up a path that held the others of our group.

"Up you go!" Natsu beams as he tromps up to me, a satisfied grin on his face. "Man, you're burnin' up! Good thing I took care of that jerk! Let's get you to Wendy!"

I hum in response, barely able to speak. "Oh, my goodness," Wendy chirps as Natsu helps me into the small room where the Hungry Wolf Knights lay, defeated. "What happened?"

"I ate some condensed Fire Dragon magic," I murmur.

"Totally cool, right? She can totally spit blue fire now!" Natsu exclaims.

"No, that is not cool!" Lucy admonishes him.

Mira curls her arms around my shoulders and hums. "I know just what to do. A hug from big sister always cheers up Elfman and Lisanna."

"I don't think that'll help much," I mention dryly. "I'm glad everyone's okay."

Lucy giggled. "By the skin of our teeth. And we're gonna be even better once we figure out a way to get out of this dungeon!"

"We lost... but how?" Kama murmured from the pile.

I slip from Mira's grasp and slouch over Kama and stare down at him, blue flames licking at my lips as I speak. "Okay, Kama, time to catch up." I hum irritably. I grasp him by the collar and hoist him upwards with a groan of pain. "Tell us where the exit is and I won't have to give you over to the dragon who beat ya."

"And I'm still itchin' to punch you in the face!" Natsu chirped with an aggressive tone.

"Natsu by himself is pretty scary," Lucy murmurs. "But when Aria's not feelin' well, I think he takes up a notch."

"He's in looove~" Happy and Ballad coo loudly.

~*****~

I doze in and out as I'm physically carried through the caverns. Nothing Wendy did helped that much, my body still felt like it was on fire. Inside and out. I wince as a bright light envelops us, causing me to look up from Mira's shoulder. The figure stands in familiar cloak. "Who are you?" Natsu asks.

"You smell familiar," I murmur.

"Natsu... Aria..." The figure murmurs before she begins to sob.

"What the hell?" Natsu gasps.

"Please... you have to help me..." She sobs.

"What? It's her voice..." Yukino gasps.

"I don't understand." Mira hums.

"Neither do I. What's happening?" Wendy asks.

Lucy steps forward, determination written on her face. "Show us who you are!"

The figure pulls back her hood, and I stare in wonder. Had my fever gotten that bad? Was I seeing things? The last time I saw two Lucy's, was back in Edolas, and that was already some freaky shit.

"No--" Lucy stammered.

"Lucy?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"It's me?!" Lucy cried.

"That's good..." I murmured. "I thought I was hallucinating..."

The other Lucy continues to sob. "I'm begging you... Please help... The whole kingdom... is doomed..."

"D'you think that's the one from Edolas?" Ballad asked shakily.

"No way," I cough. "Edolas Lucy would already be trying to pound Natsu into the ground, not sobbing."

"It has to be Gemini," Yukino murmured.

Other Lucy just keeps her gaze cast downwards. "I know that you've heard of Eclipse by now. I was able to use its powers to meet with you today." Other Lucy hummed.

"You used the Eclipse? But that would mean..." Pantherlily trailed off.

"You've come from another time, haven't you?" Carla stated.

"Yes, from the future..." Future Lucy says, still downcast.

"What's going on?! Why'd you decide to come back to our time?!" Lucy cried.

Future Lucy just whimpers. "I came to warn you. This kingdom is doomed." She falls to her side, seemingly unconscious.

"Hey!" Natsu barked as he rushed to help her.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Wendy stammered.

"She fainted, but she's still breathing." Carla said softly. "I think she'll be alright."

"What in the heck is goin' on around here?" Ballad wondered loudly.

"I don't have any idea," Pantherlily sighed.

"A Lucy from the Future... but what could this mean?" Carla hummed. "Could my vision be coming true?"

"Are you okay, Lucy?" I ask as I shakily slip from Mira's back.

"I just don't understand why I would do this." Lucy murmured. "Unless I was desperate."

Natsu hauled Future Lucy up and over his shoulder. "At any rate, we'd better take her with us. We can work the rest out later."

"Then, once we're outside the castle, we'll launch the signal flare." Yukino hums.

"Right!" Wendy nodded. "The rest of the guild will be happy to know that we've rescued Aria and Lucy."

"Not to brag, but we even got ourselves a Lucy spare!" Natsu chirped.

I chuckle and immediately regret it as pain seizes my midsection. "Nope--" I grunt out. "Bad idea--" Mira chuckles and hauls my arm over my shoulder, leading me after the others.

~*****~

"Somethin' doesn't feel right," Natsu mentioned during our trek through the dark hallways.

"Would you care to elaborate?" Lucy huffed.

"This Lucy that I'm carryin'... She's a lot lighter than you." Natsu says as he gazes back at our Lucy.

"Not in the mood for your snarky comments!" Lucy barked.

"She pro'lly lost weight from all of her hardships," Happy mentioned.

"Hear that, Lucy?" Natsu giggled. "In the future you're gonna find a diet that actually works!"

"YOU'RE ON THIN ICE, PAL!" Lucy shouts.

"I hope so," I comment dryly. "Maybe it'll put out my gut fire."

Mira giggled as I palmed at my stomach with a whine. "Aw, come on! Another door?" Natsu complained. I glanced up and sighed loudly. "How many more exits are we gonna go through?!"

"For that matter, how do we know we haven't been making circles the whole time?" Lucy asked.

"There are wind drafts blowing from almost every direction." Wendy comments. "I can't tell which one goes outside."

"The big guy isn't gonna last much longer..." Loke hums.

"If we could get in touch with the others, none of this would be a problem!" Carla exclaimed.

"Just our luck!" Happy agrees. "I'd give anything to hear Warren in my head, and I don't say that very often."

"We just have to hope our luck will change and keep looking for a way out of here." Mira said pleasantly.

"And if it doesn't change, we could all be stuck wandering down here forever," Pantherlily snorted.

"I'm sorry. We wouldn't be stuck down here if I was more acquainted with the layout of the castle." Yukino apologized.

"Hey, don't sweat it! No one here blames you." Lucy reassures her.

"Whatever, let's just keep on moving." Natsu hums. "This place sure ain't helpin' Aria or Future Lucy feel better."

"You're right," Wendy hums.

"Forward, March!" Lucy cheers.

"Hey, Natsu, wanna trade wounded?" Loke asks.

I snort loudly. "Just come out and say you wanna feel up Lucy." I mention loudly.

"I wanna feel up--"

"That's enough!" Lucy shouted back at us.

"How do you think the Grand Magic Games are going, miss?" Ballad asks.

I sigh delicately. "Everyone is pulling their weight, that I'm certain of. I just hate that we're missing such an epic battle."

"No kidding," Natsu hums. We continue walking and end up in some lavish looking rooms. "This is so lame!"

"It's just one maze after another!" Loke states.

"It's quite a dilemma..." Mira giggles.

"If I had only known this was going to happen, I could have memorized the castle's floor plan." Yukino apologized again.

"You shouldn't feel bad." Wendy chirped.

"Master Makarov and the rest of the guild must be worried sick by now. So we need to get out quickly," Pantherlily explained.

"Aye." Happy chirped.

"And we need to tell them about the Eclipse and the Lucy from the future, too!" Ballad added.

"Why don't we just charge through all their soldiers and be done with it?" Natsu asked.

"We can't!" Carla exclaimed. "We have injured with us!"

"I bet the rest of us could pull it off if we worked together!" Happy mentioned.

"No, there's more to it than that," Mira stated. "Don't forget, Fairy Tail's still competing in the Grand Magic Games And it's a kingdom sponsored event! If we go taking out their Royal Army, they might disqualify our guild from the tournament."

"Considering we took out their execution squad, it might be too late..." Wendy chuckled.

"She does have a point," I comment dryly. "Perhaps you guys should've gone easier on them..."

Ballad nodded. "When you take time to think about it, they weren't actually bad guys; they were just doing their jobs."

"Still, given the circumstances, we didn't really have another choice." Carla retorted.

"The fact of the matter is that they were send down there to kill us... I'd say just taking them outta commission for a while was going easy on 'em." Pantherlily mentioned.

I palm at my stomach again and groan. "Still burning?" Mira asked softly.

I give a hard grunt. "Yeah, still feels like I jumped into a lake of lava."

Ballad perked up a bit and flew down to perch on Future Lucy's chest, staring down at her face curiously. "Hey, Lucy, you feeling any better?" She asks as Future Lucy begins to stir.

Future Lucy cups Ballad's body and slides her to her lap as she sits up. "Where are we?" Future Lucy murmurs.

"Not sure," Pantherlily grunts.

"It looks like the castles dining hall." Mira comments.

"We're still inside the castle?" Future Lucy complains. "From what I remember from last time, after we escape the Palace of Perdition, we end up getting caught by the Royal Army again. That's why I rushed here as soon as I was able to. I was hoping that I could warn you beforehand. But luck abandoned me. Just like it always does. To make matters worse, we're gonna be stuck behind bars until it happens."

"What do you mean it?" Happy asks.

"So, these events are in our immediate future?" Pantherlily asks. "Quite ominous indeed."

"Don't be a downer!" Natsu cheers. "Now that we know, there's no way they'll catch us!"

"Yeah," Mira smiled. "I can't see them being a problem for us."

"While we were making our escape last time, we got too close to the Eclipse Gate. As a result, we lost all of our magic power. We were thrown into a dungeon soon afterward." Future Lucy explains.

"Our future selves sound like total morons!" Natsu comments.

"Well, it is your future self, remember," I mention.

"Don't start a fight you can't finish!" Natsu barked at me.

I shoved at his face as he reared up over me. "Hey, Future Lucy, what made you decide to risk your life and come here from the future, anyway?" I ask.

"For real. What's this all about?" Loke hums. "Why'd you come back in the first place?"

Future Lucy began shaking. "To change the horror that is my past..."

"What happened that was so bad?" Natsu asks.

"Tell us," Yukino urges. "Maybe we can help and at least you won't have to do it alone."

Future Lucy continued to shake and whimper. "Okay... Our worst nightmares are about to come to life. A swarm of more than ten thousand dragons are going to attack the kingdom. The city will burn, the castle will fall... And countless lives are going to be lost."

"We're... so... dead!" Natsu exhales rapidly. "No way!" Natsu and Happy shout.

"Be quiet, please," Pantherlily sighed.

"More than ten thousand dragons..." Mira hums.

"But I thought they were all extinct." Yukino commented.

"They're gonna tear us all to shreds!" Happy cries.

"Hey, do you think this could have something to do that dragon grave?" Wendy asks.

"I was wondering that myself..." Carla hummed.

"Well, now that you mention it..." Pantherlily ponders.

"Seriously! They're gonna rip us apart!" Happy cried.

"Pipe down!" Pantherlily shouted.

"You'd think we could sense that many dragons..." Lucy mentioned.

"It's possible we haven't noticed them because they're laying low, waiting for the perfect time to strike." Loke theorizes.

I give a grunt as a helmet is shoved onto my head. "Well, we can't just sit around and wait for that to happen!" Natsu exclaims. "We're gonna have to fight 'em!"

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Lucy complained.

"We can't take on that many dragons!" Happy cried.

"You mean... you actually believe me?" Future Lucy murmured.

"Wait! You were lyin'?!" Natsu barks as I struggle to remove the helmet on my head.

"No! I would never lie to you!" Future Lucy retorts. "It's just that I honestly didn't think you were going to believe me. I'm surprised, that's all..."

"I thought I was the one with crippling self doubt," I comment dryly while bonking Natsu in the head with the helmet he put on me. "You're one of us, remember? Which means we have no reason to assume you're lying. You're obviously scared of something and that kind of fear is hard to mimic." I sigh loudly. "Goodness, get it together, Future Lucy."

"Seriously, you should seriously have more faith in our friends," Lucy giggled.

"Am I seriously lecturing myself?" Future Lucy sighs. "But I guess you've got a good point."

"Excuse me, if I'm not mistaken, we're still inside the castle when the dragons attack. What happens to us?" Carla asks.

Future Lucy attempts to answer, but stops, her gaze casting downwards. "I'm scared... I don't think I wanna know." Wendy mentions. "I've got a feeling we won't like her answer."

"You don't think... we're gonna end up goners?" Natsu gasps.

"Oh, my..." Mira shuddered.

"No, that can't be right. Are we really gonna die?" Ballad stammers.

"I'm afraid I don't remember what day it was. But when I came to... I knew I had no choice but to use the Eclipse. I had no idea how to operate it, but I was somehow able to get it open... I was determined to go back in time and warn someone. I... had to use Aria's last bit of magic to do so..." Future Lucy explains sullenly. "I was desperate. I doubted whether it would work, given her reserve of magic had been incredibly low, but I had to try. And then suddenly, it was July Fourth. Of the year Seven Ninety-One."

"Hey, wait a second, but that was just a few days ago!" Loke exclaimed.

"Does that mean it's only capable of making small jumps back in time?" Mira asks.

"But I thought it was supposed to go back four hundred years to defeat Zeref?" Wendy hummed.

"I don't know all the details... But it was broken, so it wasn't able to take me back that far in time." Future Lucy shrugged. "If you make it out of the castle, you'll have to rendezvous with Jellal, but be careful because there are lacrimas all over the city monitoring the games. That means you'll have to take an underground route to meet with him."

"How is he involved?" Natsu wondered.

"I've explained everything to him as best I can... I'm sure that he's busy coming up with a plan as we speak." Future Lucy mentioned.

"Why's he coming up with the plan?" Lucy asked.

"It's my fault. I'm really sorry..." Future Lucy sighed. "I probably should've come here with some sort of strategy... But, to be honest, I don't know what we can do to prevent it. I needed his help. I'm really sorry, you guys... I hope you can forgive me... I know I should've found you sooner. But I was just at a complete loss on what to do besides trying to warn you."

I grunt irritably and plop onto the ground besides Future Lucy, heaving out a huge sigh. "What's with all the apologizing?" I ask irritably. I curl my hand around the side of her head and tug her to my side, looping my arm around her neck. "We should be thanking you for risking your life for us; for our future." I smell the slight tang of salt from her tears as I start rubbing at her hair. "Don't you worry one bit. We're gonna find a way to stop 'em. And we'll flaunt that shit for the world to see."

~*****~

"Could you-- run a bit-- smoother?" I complain as I try to keep my body from bouncing so much on Natsu's back.

"Sorry--" Natsu snapped. "Kinda hard when you're movin' around like an eel!"

"Quiet!" Future Lucy hissed. "It's this way..."

"You wanna tell us how you knew about this underground path?" Natsu asked irritably after getting swatted upside the head for the eel comment.

"I spent some time exploring the castle so I'd know how to get us outta here without being caught. It's the last I could do." Future Lucy retorts.

"Well played, Miss." Pantherlily chirped.

"Future Lucy's way smarter than the normal Lucy!" Ballad commented.

"We need to hurry and fire the signal flare." Mira urged.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Wendy gasped. "I'll bet the others are worried sick by now!"

We come into a lighted area before we were suddenly swarmed with guards. "Oh, great--" I groan.

"The royal army?!" Future Lucy gasped. "I swear I didn't know they were stationed here, you guys!"

"What'll we do?!" Lucy stammered.

"We show 'em who's boss!" Natsu grinned as he helped me off his back. "We've got magic so they don't stand a chance against us!"

"Ain't that the truth," Loke agreed.

"We've got a problem!" Wendy commented. "Colonel Arcadios is missing!"

"Yukino's gone, too!" Mira added.

"What?!" I bark.

"But they were both right behind us just a second ago!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Arcadios is one thing, but we can't leave Yukino... I'm going back for her!" Mira explained.

"We need to stick together!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I'll come back as soon as I find her!" Mira calls back.

"We're counting on you, Mira!" I shout. "You two ready for this?"

"Hell yeah--" Natsu and Loke chirp. "Let's kick some ass!"

Even with the thrumming pain the fire magic inside of me, I continued to fight with the others. Thankfully, they were weak enough not to need to use magic that often. Especially the magic wielding soldiers.

"Heya! Sorry for the wait, gentlemen!" I hear a new voice echo above the concerned murmurs of the soldiers.

"Not you again!" One soldier complains.

"We don't need your help!" Another barks.

"Yeah! Get lost, ya dolphin loving freak!" Another exclaims.

"Who're you just bustin' in here?!" Natsu asks irritably.

"I swear it wasn't on porpoise!" I stare in horror at the creepy half man, half dolphin weirdo.

"Who am I?" The human half asks. "The hottest magic soldier the kingdom of Fiore has to offer!"

"And he's really heavy!" The dolphin exclaims.

I shudder. "No way I'm takin' on the ocean's sociopath--" I comment.

"Behold my magnificence as I dive headlong into battle for the lovely Princess Hisui!" The man exclaims.

He juts out a stick that held a ball at the end. "My ball!" The dolphin squeaks before leaping after it. "Gimme that!"

The dolphin barged straight through the army. "Why'd that weirdo take out his men?" Wendy asked.

"Because dolphins are evil, don't ever trust them--" I mention.

It slams right into Natsu, but thankfully he can hold it back. "Wow, you're really strong for an overgrown tuna!" Natsu comments.

"We might not be the smartest, but we got plenty of stamina!" The dolphin mentions.

"Oh yeah? Your buddy's out cold!" Natsu retorts.

"I can't go on--" The man groans. "Sorry..."

"Seriously!?" The dolphin barks.

"Alrighty, then. If you're the hottest, then the heat I throw at you should be no problem!" Natsu grinned, his fist lighting up with fire.

"Go ahead and do your worst, a warrior like me ain't afraid of a little fire!" The man stammered, sweat slicking down his body.

"Jeez, you're sweatin' buckets!" The dolphin cried.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu roared as he slugged the duo hard, sending them flying up through the roof and hopefully, off of this world.

"All right! That'll show those pompous jerk wads what's what! They'll think twice before they try messin' with those baby sharks!" I exclaim.

"Goodness, you sure are passionate about this," Carla hummed. "Are they really that dangerous?"

Ballad waved her paws at her. "Don't get her started. It won't end for days."

"Especially now, there's more guards comin'!" I exclaim.