Nashi:

We all waited patiently in our hiding spots. I could hear Kyoka's aviary footsteps drawing closer to the door. 

I held my breath as the door's metal latch clanked loudly and the door swung open. There was a small gasp when Kyoka realized her prisoner was gone. Now was our chance!

Natsu sprang into action, jumping from his hiding place behind the door grabbing one of Kyoka's arms while Storm jumped in to do the same on the other side. With Kyoka's arms immobilized, I jumped down from the hole in the ceiling standing in front of Kyoka with my fists ablaze. 

"Sure took you long enough," Natsu grinned cockily.

Kyoka was surprised to say the least.

"We had you in shackles. How did you escape?" She questioned. Just as she said that, Gale jumped down from a hole in the ceiling behind Kyoka, holding that golden sword against her back.

"That would be because of this awesome sword of yours," She explained. 

"You found the Heat Blade?"

"Whatever you call it, it practically fell into our laps when the whole place started shaking. Turns out it can cut through just about anything,"

Kyoka was furious. "What have you done with Erza and the other?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the sound of footsteps emerged from the broken wall on the other side of the room. 

"My son and I received such tender treatment when we were your prisoners." Erza's icy voice echoed in the room. It was scary enough to even send chills down my spine. There was a loud thud as the unconscious body of Yaktoriga fell to the floor and Erza and Reiki stepped into the light. "It'd be a shame if I couldn't return the favor," 

- - - - - - - - -

Now that we had Kyoka shackled to the wall we stood around the demon wondering what we should do with her.

"I intend to make the remainder of your short life a living hell," Erza cracked her knuckles, a crazy and mad look in her eyes.

Kyoka said nothing, just glared at us with an angry expression.

"What was the source of all that shaking?" Erza started. Kyoka didn't say anything. The titania raised her sword to the demon's throat. "Answer me," she threatened.

"Our fortress had a stronger than expected reaction to the unsealing of Face,"

"So, you did unseal Face?" Erza's voice rose an octave from surprise and concern. "Then, does that mean you killed Jellal?"

"No. We did not," Kyoka answered calmly. 

"It's not like your son is standing right here Erza," Natsu pointed out. I smacked him on the back side of the head. 

"That's not how time travel works!" I barked.

"Who was that lady in the lab coat?" Kali asked. 

"Lilith?" Kyoka clarified. "She's the leading scientist in the Alvarez Empire. We've been working together for quite some time,"

"She's the one who separated us after the Eclipse gate was destroyed," I explained. 

"Is she a member of Tartaros?" Storm asked.

"No, she's a member of something called the Spriggan Twelve,"

"Don't care," Natsu cut off. "What does she want with Nashi?" He growled.

"What she does in her own time is none of our concern. I merely found her runaway pet and returned it," 

Natsu growled and gritted his teeth. I rested a hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him down. "Come on guys, we gotta get out of here," I offered. 

"You all go on ahead," Erza said. "I'll finish up here,"

"Are you sure?" Reiki questioned. 

"I can handle this on my own," Erza smiled reassuringly. 

- - - - - - - -

"Does anyone know where we're going?" Kali questioned. We were running through the halls of Tartaros' base trying to find an exit. 

"Nope, but this way sure looks promising," Natsu cackled. We quickly made a sharp turn to the right, running straight into a group of Tartaros soldiers. 

"Oh yeah this way is real promising," I commented sarcastically. "Sun dragon roar!" A funnel of sun erupts from my mouth, only it's much smaller than it's usual size. It only knocks aside 3 or 4 soldiers instead of 10-12 like usual.

"You're still low on magic power," Reiki explains. "Save your energy for now and we'll handle this,"

"Ice make cannons!"

"Granite quake!"

"Beast soul: Sabre Tooth Tiger!" 

"Destruction wave!"

"Fire dragon roar!"

Their combined attacks make quick work of the soldiers. Ten minutes had passed and they had cleared the way for us to move forward. 

"Alright!" I cheered. "Let's keep moving, which way Dad?" I turned to look at my father who wore a blank expression, like he was in a trance. "Dad?"

Natsu:

"What's going on? They're all frozen in place," Natsu's world had turned black and white, the future team unmoving as if time itself had frozen.

"You've come quite a long way, Natsu."

Natsu turned and his heart sped up. 

"I always hoped you would," Standing before Natsu was a man in black and white robes with black hair. He had a young face, but his black eyes were timeless. Zeref. "This is Tartaros, the library of Zeref. Where all my books reside,"

"What do you want?" Natsu growled.

"Its good to see you," Zeref replied. "Are you enjoying your time here in my library?

"Not exactly," Natsu growled. "A few of your demons made a wrong move messing with my kid," Natsu lit his fist on fire and swung at Zeref. However, instead of his fist slamming into Zeref's face, it simply passed through him as if he was a phantom.

"So this must be the future team I've heard so much about. I must admit they're much younger than I had anticipated," Zeref walked to where Nashi was frozen in time. He rested a hand on her chin as if sizing her up for what she was worth.

"Keep your hands off of her!!" Natsu shouted angrily. He sent another fist flying that passed through Zeref like it had before.

"She's a strong one," Zeref concluded. "If given the time, she might become even stronger than you, Natsu,"

Natsu snarled as Zeref turned back face him.

"Its a shame she won't live long enough to reach her full potential. In fact, none of them will live to see tomorrow,"

"You take that back right now!!!" Natsu roared. He lunged at Zeref but fell to the floor.

"Tell me Natsu, are you prepared to watch your daughter die again? This time at the hands of E.N.D.?"

"Stop it!!"

"Her blood will be on your hands Natsu. As E.N.D. stands over her cold lifeless body, you will have no one but yourself to blame,"

"Then I'll kill E.N.D. myself!!!"

"How could you, when even Igneel wouldn't? In time you'll face a choice Natsu. To either let live or to kill,"

- - - - - -

Nashi:

Natsu sucked in a deep breath.

"Hey are you okay?" I questioned. My father stared at me, his eyes wide and shaking.

"I-I'm fine, let's keep moving," He answered. He was trying not to let it show, but I could tell that something was wrong. I decided to let it go for now and we continued to move.

We kept running through the halls of Tartaros for 30 minutes until we heard yelling.

"You're not going anywhere ladies!" Shouted a loud and clown-like voice.

"What was that?" I questioned.

"It sounds like one of the demons I ran into when I got captured," Natsu snarled.

"Do you think it's a fight?"

"If it is, we need to help them," Storm spoke up.

"No," Natsu interjected. "Nashi still doesn't have enough magic power. If we get into a fight she'll be a liability,"

"I'm not a liability!" I shouted. There was more shouts that came from further ahead in the hallway.

"Lucy are you okay? We'll save you,"

"That sounded like Wendy," Gale pointed out.

"There's no time! I'll be fine, get going!" Lucy responded to Wendy.

"LEAVING SO SOON?!" The demon yelled. We heard the demon begin chasing after Wendy and Carla who were apparently attempting escape.

"You all stay behind me," Natsu ordered as he ran ahead.

"What is going on?" I wondered. Why is he being so protective all of a sudden?

We followed after him as we rounded the corner to see a white and pink fluffy one eyed demon with horns. Natsu swung a swift iron fist through the demon's outstretched arm, forcing it to go limp. The demon yelped at the surprise attack and glared at Natsu with his large black pupil. "Back off eyeball. You're dealing with me," Natsu snarled.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed with joy. She was wearing a green top and vest with a brown skirt. It looked like she was knee deep in what appeared to be Aries' wool attack. Despite the situation she was in, she was smiling bigger than anyone else. "Figures." Lucy smiled as the wool attack faded to nothing. "Showing up in the nick of time is kind of your thing,"

"Natsu!" Happy cried. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Fire dragon roar!" Natsu shouted as a spiral of fire erupted from his mouth. His attack sent the demon flying down the hallway we had just came from.

"Mom!" I yelled.

Lucy's eyes drifted toward my team behind Natsu. Her eyes landed on me and she lit up with an even bigger smile on her face. "Nashi!"

I quickly ran to her side practically throwing myself into my mother's arms. Lucy squeezed me tightly in her embrace as we sat=o in the floor. "I'm so glad you're okay," She whispered as I buried my face into her shoulder.

Natsu watched as Lucy held their daughter. Lucy looked up at Natsu who held an expression that she had only seen once before... It was the same expression he always had when they used to talk about Nashi's death.

Lucy didn't need to read his mind to know that there was something going on. Something that he couldn't say in front of Nashi.

"You guys gotta get out of here," Natsu said with a low tone.

"What?" I exclaimed with surprise. "No I'm not leaving,"

"Go," Lucy added. "We can handle this." She said determinedly. "Face has already begun it's countdown. Wendy and Carla are on their way to stop it, but we need you all to get somewhere safe."

"Even if we lose our magic we can still fight," Gale interjected bitterly.

"No." Natsu ordered. "Tartaros is tougher than we thought, they use curses instead of magic. We can't afford to risk you losing your magic in the middle of a fight. You all need to get far away from Tartaros while you still can."

"We won't run away from a fight," Reiki stated with a silent anger.

"Please just let us help while we still can," Storm added.

"I said no!" Natsu shouted. Everyone fell silent. "We let you all help last time and look what happened. You all could have been killed!" His tone turned softer after his outburst. "The guild can't deal with another heartbreak, we need you all safe so you can get home alive,"

"And the only way to keep us alive is to keep us away from the danger?! That's not fair," I argued, finally speaking up for myself. "We can help the guild beat Tartaros and make it home alive! Come on, you need us! Dad we can do this!"

"You don't know that!" Natsu yelled. His voice startled me. "You have no idea what we went through. We were the ones who had to watch you die right in front of us. We were the ones who had to deal with the guilt that we failed to protect you. We were left to wonder if there was anything we could do to prevent it. You just don't get it Nashi, we're trying to protect you so we don't have to watch you die again,"

...

I was speechless.

"Nashi please listen," Lucy said soothingly. "We just want you all to be safe,"

"We know you want us to be safe, but it would be cowardly to run away and leave our family to fight for us," Storm countered.

"Storm's right," Reiki declared. "We will honor your wish and stay alive, but we can not leave the fight," He stood up to his full height defiantly at Natsu.

"Fairy Tail is our family," Gale stood next to Reiki crossing her arms and leaning to one side.

"We're not just going to leave it," Storm smiled determinedly. He reached down for my hand with a confident smile. I gratefully took it and stood beside my team forming a wall in front of Natsu and Lucy.

"If we fight together, I know we can beat Tartaros and make it out alive," I slammed my fist into the palm of my other hand, yellow flames erupting from the force. "Tartaros is gonna be sorry they ever messed with us,"