July 6th
Year X791
Final day of the Grand Magic Games

"This is what we've all been waiting for folks," The announcer boomed over the roaring crowd and booming fireworks. "It has been an exciting week full of incredible battles and emotional moments we will never forget. But today one guild will be crowned number one in Fiore and the winner of the Grand Magic games! Ladies and gentlemen it has been an honor to have spent this time with you along with my fellow comentator the esteemed Mr. Yajima,"

"My pleasure,"

"We have a very special guest with us today. You all kknow and love him as the mascot and referee of the Grand Magic Games, Mato!" The announcer boomed over the colleseum.

"Heyo," Mato responded cheerfully.

"Alright and now it's time to introduce this year's final six teams,"

Several miles away from the colleseum I was listening intently to the roars of cheers and announcements of the stadium.

"They just started announcing the teams," I said to my teammates. Natsu grinned deviously.

"Perfect," He beamed. Together, Natsu, myself, Wendy, Mirajane, Reiki, Storm, Gale, and  the exceeds took off for the castle in the center of Crocus. The plan was to let one team win the Grand Magic Games while the second team broke Lucy out of prison. The plan was simple, Mirajane would use her transformation magic to disguise herself and pretend to arrest a few of us and take them to the dungeon where Lucy was being held. The rest of us would follow along the roof tops and observe and provide cover from behind.

The exceeds and future team were flying above the rooftops watching as Mirajane walked Natsu and Wendy to the gates. She explained to the other guards that she had caught them sneaking around the gates. The guards pointed her towards the direction of the palace dungeon. The exceeds and my team followed over head. It wasn't long before we came to the dungeons. We quietly crept around the cells, looking for Lucy. Natsu sniffed at the air. "She's over there," He bolted to the last cell in the hallway.

Peering inside, we saw Lucy and Yukino sleeping peacefully on the cots. Natsu's expression softened at the sight of Lucy unharmed. "Psst, Lucy," he whispered. She stirred slightly. "Wake up," This time she opened her eyes all the way and rested her eyes on the rescue team. We all grinned as she smiled.

"You're here!" She exclaimed getting up from her for and rushing to the bars. "Boy am I glad to see you all! Now get me out," Natsu clamped a hand over her mouth before she could finish, silencing the celestial wizard.

"Sshh!" He hissed. Lucy apologized immediately.

"You slept on this thing?" Happy questioned, referring to the got he was now sitting on.

"Hey guys!" Lucy cheered.

"I'm glad to see you're in good spirits," Carla added. Lily let out an exasperated sigh as Kali proceeded to jump up and down on the cot.

"You'd be happy too, if someone came to rescue you from this dump," Kali added.

"But how did you get past the guards?" Yukino finally spoke up. Natsu gripped the bars of the cell tightly.

"My natural charisma," He smirked. His hands grew hot and soon the iron bars were glowing orange from the heat. Eventually the bars broke apart from the heat allowing us to step inside the cell. Mirajane offered Lucy a change of clothes and some food for later. While Lucy was getting changed behind the makeshift curtain, I thought back to an earlier conversation I had with my team.

Several hours ago:

"Nashi," Reiki started. "I glanced up at him from my seat at the table in the hotel room. "May I have a word with you about tomorrow? It has to deal with rescuing Lucy,"

"Yeah go ahead," I answered. He sat down beside me at the table.

"I've been thinking about the history of the Grand Magic Games and I know when we are,"

"I thought we already knew that, year X791 right?"

"Yes, do you remember the stories our parents used to tell us about what happened after the Grand Magic Games?"

I shook my head no. Reiki bit his lip in frustration. "The eclipse project," he answered for me. I gasped as I suddenly remembered the stories we had been told.

"That's not possible, they fixed all that," I stuttered.

"Not in this time they haven't. They will have to go through all of it in order to set our timeline in stone. If they fail, we might cease to exist. The timeline we know will be erased and replaced by a more gruesome one."

Memories came flooding back to me of my dad sitting next to me on my bed when I was a little girl. I used to hide under the covers as he told the scary stories before I went to sleep. In the end though, he always held me in his arms and told me that he would always protect me no matter what. He'd kiss me goodnight leaving me to wonder if  any of his stories were real. I used to ask mom if they were real, she'd smile and shrug avoiding the question. To think that those memories could be erased was frightening.

Present:

My thoughts were disturbed by a loud clang as the floor opened to reveal trap doors. "What gives?" Natsu shouted over all our yelling.

"The floor dummy," Happy shot back. We all yelled and screamed as we fell through the trap door. We finally landed on top of Natsu in what appeared to be some kind of cave.

"Get off," he squeaked.

"Sorry," everyone moaned in unison. As we all piled off, we began to notice our surroundings. It was a major cave system.

"Well this place is creepy," Kali pointed out.

"Welcome to your permanent holding cell," a disembodied voice announced. "I hope you enjoyed our special trap. Take a good look around, this is the palace of perdition, the sanctuary of death. It's the last taste of freedom for criminals. To this day, not a single inmate has escaped from it. I seriously doubt you'll fair any better, you fiends."

"Who the hell are you?!" Natsu yelled.

"You are speaking to Hisui y Fiore, princess of the Fiore kingdom."

"Then you're the one who trapped us in here? But why?" Mira questioned.

"I want a fair fight! Where's the exit to this place?" Natsu yelled. The princess didn't answer leaving us to believe she had hung up. We all turned back to the caves.

"Nevermind the exit, I don't even see the entrance," Lily pointed out.

"So we're stuck here," Gale surmised.

"We're not giving up so easily," Storm comforted, resting a hand on her shoulder. We all nodded in agreement.

After not much debate, we decided to take a look around the caves. Hours had passed and it felt like we were walking in circles. All of the tunnels looked the same so there was no telling where we were. For the most part, we walked in silence. Every now and then someone would point out something familiar or strange.

Natsu glanced back at me. I immediate avoided his gaze and looked away. He wasn't satisfied though. He let everyone else walk ahead of us until we were at the back of the pack.

"You've been quiet," he pointed out.

"Sometimes there just isn't anything to say," I said simply.

"That's not it, you're worried about something," He added. I clenched my fist and looked down at my feet. "You can tell me what's going on you know,"

I opened my mouth to speak when I heard an ear piercing shreik come from Gale. Natsu and I raced to the front of the pack to find Gale leaping onto Reiki's back and using him as a human shield.

"Kill it! Kill it with fire!" She screamed. I looked down to see a plant with a literal eyeball on it. The sight made me squirm with disgust as it turned to look at me. Storm stomped on it, making the plant hiss at him. He stomped again and again until the thing stopped moving.

"What was that thing?" Lucy shouted.

"Has it been watching us this whole time?" Lily questioned. Just then the ground began to rumble. Rocks began to fall around us as the cave shook. When the shaking stopped, I could smell something different.

"Smell that?" Natsu pointed out.

"It feels like there's a new flow of air in here," Wendy added.

"We'll go check it out," Happy volunteered. He and Carla flew in the direction of the original shaking to find the cause.

"Do you think that rumbling caused a cave in?" 

"We can only hope, but why does this scent smell so familiar?" Natsu pointed out. I sniffed at the air trying to get a whiff of whatever he was smelling.

"Hey guys," Carla returned. "There's an opening over here I think we can squeeze through."

We all followed Carla to a smaller opening between two walls. We were all barely able to make it through the walls. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to look like they were melted rather than formed that way. When we reached the other side I was able to smell the new draft of air.

"That smell is getting stronger," Natsu pointed out.

"Maybe we're getting close to the exit," Wendy offered. 

"Sure smells like it,"

We were about to head in the direction of the new flow of air when I smelled something else. I must have made a face when I smelled it because Reiki noticed. "What is it?" he asked.

"I smell something else," I followed my nose around a corner and let out a small gasp. "Over here!" I announced. Everyone rushed over, on the ground were 5 unconscious wizards. 

"What happened to them?" Gale gasped. 

"Who are they?" Kali screeched. 

"The Hungry Wolf Knights," Yukino explained. "They're an elite group of executioners that work in the shadows of the kingdom,"

"So if they're the executioners and we're the prisoners, then who the heck took them out?" Natsu questioned in a more serious tone. There was a moment of silence as we all pondered the thought.

"Let's keep moving," Reiki suggested. We all nodded and followed the air flow in the cave. We moved in mostly silence through the cave system. Wendy led the way since she could sense the flow of air better than the rest of us could.

My guard was up the whole time. There was no telling what or who else was in here with us. This wasn't right though, in the stories I was always told the rescue team had to fight the Hungry Wolf Knights in order to escape the catacombs. However, it looks like someone beat us to it. What is happening?

I was so lost in thought that I hadn't realized we had stopped and ended up walking right into Natsu's back. "Smell that?"

I sniffed at the air, sure enough there were two new scents lingering in the air. I sniffed again, they smelled familiar. Taking another step forward, I closed my eyes and inhaled. There was a hint of cherry scented perfume, some strong smelling cologne too. I urged my nose to smell deeper into the scents. Meditating on the smell, letting it linger in my nose and thinking deeply on it. 

My eyes snapped open and my stomach tied itself into a knot. Shivers ran down my spine and my knees went weak. "Oh No," Everyone tensed up, ready for a fight if needed. 

"What is it," Lucy asked, there was determination in her voice. I ignored her question in my extreme nervous and petrified state. 

"We're doomed," I squeaked out. 

"What? What is it?" Kali urged.

"I'm dead meat," I muttered. "They're gonna make me regret everything I've ever done in my life. They'll make me wish I was never born. I can't face them. Please let it not be them, let it be anyone but them." I practically screeched. 

"Calm down," Reiki grabbed my shoulders and stared me dead in the face. "Who is it?" 

I took a big gulp. "She who should not be challenged and the one who summons the gates beyond time and space."

Shivers ran down my teammates spine as fear settled in their stomachs. "You don't mean,"

"It's them, the chameleon and the beast," the faces of the future team contorted into a look of sheer terror.

"It's been nice knowing you all," Gale saluted as waterfalls streamed from her eyes.

"Screw this noise, I'm getting the heck outta here," Storm announced as he turned to run. Reiki grabbed the back of his jacket.

"If we have to fave them, we'll face them together and die with dignity,"

"But I don't wanna die," Kali sobbed.

"Hold up," I interrupted. "I get why I'm toast, but why are you guys freaking out?"

Storm scratched the back of his head " well you see,"

"We were specifically told not to come here after you," Reiki finished. I smiled softly at their gesture to come save me despite the fact that they were prohibited from doing so. 

"We're all toast," Gale moaned from her position on the ground.

"Who are these people?" Wendy questioned. The future team looked back at the bluenette and stared at her with a look of disbelief on their faces. My entire face turned bright red and I began to stutter. 

Reiki cleared his throat and ignored the question. "We know them, they're from our time and if they're in here then they might know the way out,"

"They're from your time?" Lucy whispered.

"How did they get here?"

"We don't know, but I bet they know the way out," Storm suggested.

"Well great, let's get the hell out of here," Natsu cheered. 

"It's not that simple," Reiki continued. "They probably won't want to help you. We can probably convince them to lead us out, if the rest of you follow us without being seen..."

"We can all make it out together," Gale finished. 

"It's a plan,"

"Um excuse me," Lucy interjected. "Do we get a say in this plan?"

"No,"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We crept around the rocks of the cave until we came to an open space with a huge 50 foot door at the end. Standing on either side of the door were two figures in white cloaks. One was obviously a female while the other was male. 

"Do you think they'll be able to find their way here?" The female asked. She crossed her arms and leaned against the side of the door impatiently. The man in the other white cloak gave his comrade the side eye and sighed.

"They have three dragon slayers all with heightened senses. By leaving the door open we let a draft in, by standing next to the door we're letting our scents go with the draft. Trust me they'll-" The boy's sentence was cut short by a certain sun dragon iron fist.

I lunged at the man, catching him off guard. "Sun dragon iron fi-" I however, was caught off guard by the woman's punch landing directly into my jaw. Everything stopped as I flew into the cave wall.

"Did you honestly think that would work?" The woman taunted. I rubbed my head and gave the pair the pout face. 

"Worth a shot," I muttered.

"Yeah, you didn't really stand a chance," Gale offered as she, Reiki, Storm, and Kali stepped into the light. The man in the cloak stooped to my level, offering a hand. I smirked and took his hand to stand. He was a foot taller than me and I could see the smile under his hood. I smiled and threw my arms around him in a hug. The force of my hug was enough to knock his hood off of his head revealing his golden yellow locks of hair. It was styled forward in a swoop to the right side of his face. He had two different colored eyes that shined brown and gold.

He wrapped his arms around my smaller frame and I inhaled his familiar scent. "It's good to see you Lukas," I sighed. I felt his hand run through my hair.

"It's good to see you too sis,"