When Nashi came to the first thing she noticed was how cold she was. That was strange, she was never cold, usually temperature never affected her but she was freezing. She sat up and found herself on stone with her hands cuffed behind her back...

Were those... magic prevention cuffs?

She'd never had them on her, she'd only ever seen them when someone was arrested and even then... she hadn't seen many people arrested, no one really dared to arrest Fairy Tail members (because it didn't end well).

Her head hurt a bit but after a while everything was clear. She was in a cell with thick metal bars and a cold stone floor.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up," a voice rang out.

Nashi nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled around as best she could with her arms chained behind her back to find someone in the cell next to her, separated only by thick metal bars. Nashi's eyes narrowed but in the dim light she made out an older boy with blonde hair and large black eyes.

"August?" she recognized, running over to the edge of her cell so she could better see the older boy.

"Hey Nashi, I was worried for a bit, you didn't look like you were going to wake up," August murmured with a warm smile. His hands too were chained behind his back but his posture was composed as he knelt on the ground.

"What are you doing here!?" Nashi hissed, looking around uncertainly.

"Same as you, I would suppose. I was taken against my will," August answered dryly.

"You were kidnapped?" Nashi gawked.

"That's a nice word for it," August nodded.

"How!?" Nashi asked incredulously.

"I was knocked over the head, shoved in anti-magic cuffs, stuffed into a sack and thrown threw a magic portal," August deadpanned.

"Oh..." Nashi pursed her lips and nodded.

"You?" August asked.

"Well," Nashi grimaced. "I kinda came here trying to look for a guy and then suddenly there were a whole lot of guys and... yeah I may have been a little stupid."

The pinkette let out a sigh and deflated a bit.

"Looking for a guy?" August probed.

"Yeah," Nashi nodded. "Kina, Shido, and Shiro found a clue to the bastards who sent our fathers into another dimension and - "

"What?" August interjected, sitting up straight at that news.

"Oh, you don't know!" Nashi cried. "Yeah! Everyone c'ept Aunt Wendy. Dad, Gajeel, Rogue, Sting, Erik, and Laxus, all gone. Sent through a rune cage into Zeref knows where."

"He probably doesn't," August murmured.

"What? Oh, right, no. Sorry. That was just a figure of - "

"Speech," August finished. "Yeah, I know."

They both took a long breath.

"So the dragon kings are gone?" August asked.

"Yeah," Nashi nodded.

"That would explain a lot," August sighed, leaning back on the bars to his back.

"So... where are we?" Nashi asked.

"Best I know, underground. This is some secret society, highly militarized, I've seen all sorts of magics too," August explained.

"Yeah... we're in a mountain. Who are these people?" Nashi asked.

"No idea," August answered. "They serve someone named Master Riki. I've met him and he's not nice."

"Not nice?" Nashi scoffed. Suddenly, thoughts of her friends rushed to her. "Oh my gosh! Storm! Lance! Shiro! Have you seen them!?"

"Only one I've seen is you, they dragged you in here because these are the strongest cells they have. Blocks all sorts of magic," August explained.

"The strongest cells?" Nashi asked, looking up at the bars around her.

"Yeah... I broke out of another cell. Blew it wide open... they weren't too happy about that," August elaborated.

"Ah," Nashi nodded. "Wonder why they put me in here."

"I would bet it had something to do with the barbequed soldiers who slung you in that cage, to begin with," August chuckled.

"Yeah..." Nashi grimaced.

The girl jumped as the sound of a door slamming open echoed through the stone room. A soldier strode into the room followed by another figure. Nashi's eyes strained to make out details of the two but found a soldier dressed in armor followed by a middle-aged man who wore a simple grey cloak and soft sandals. His silver hair was pulled back into a short pony-tail and his bright green eyes gleamed in the torch-light.

They both stopped before Nashi's cell and the grey-robes figure studied her for a moment.

"What's your name?" he demanded in an even voice.

"Nashi," Nashi snapped back, squaring off with the two aggressively even with her hands cuffed. "Nashi Dragneel."

The man regarded her for a few moments as if trying to measure something. 

"You are the oldest child then?" he asked.

Nashi sneered and glared at the two. "The hell are you playing at? Do you know how much trouble y'all are in for when Fairy Tail finds out about this?"

"I'm sure," the robed man dismissed. He looked to the soldier and gave a nod, "She's a dragon slayer?"

"She breathed fire so I would say yes," the soldier answered. Nashi noticed with a smirk that there was a burn on the soldier's hand and a bit of scorched armor on his boots.

"I'm Nashi Dragneel, fire dragon slayer, and when I get out of here, I'm going to make you regret messing with Fairy Tail."

A low laugh resounded from the robed man's chest and it grew into a large chuckle.

"Regret messing with Fairy Tail?" the robed man laughed. "Fairy Tail should've known better than to mess with the world."

"Oh Ankserham, here we go again," August sighed, throwing Nashi a look that said 'This man is insane'.

"You mind villain monologuing me for a moment because I have no idea what you're talking about or who you are or what in Mavis's name you could possibly want with my Mom of all people. Like, are you that lonely? Are you that desperate for a harem that you want to assemble the most badass women you could meet who will all kill you in three seconds flat. Like, how do you see this working out for you?" Nashi demanded with a wry laugh.

"You're got his arrogance I suppose," the robed figure sighed. He then smirked at Nashi. "I am Master Riki and I have been planning your family's demise since before Acnologia defeated his master."

Nashi glanced to August who was mouthing the words 'He's crazy'.

"Master Riki?" Nashi challenged. "If you think you're actually going to win this you're insane - "

"That's where you're wrong," Riki interrupted curtly. "For I have already won it."

Nashi's eyes narrowed as she shut up and listened intently.

"I didn't need your mother, I needed dragon slayers. I needed your father but I honestly couldn't imagine trying to contain your father so I went for the next best thing."

"You needed dragon slayers so you kidnapped the most protected and powerful dragons slayers and their kids!? Are you stupid?" Nashi asked.

Master Riki chuckled and gestured for the guard to leave them before pulling up a small chair and sitting on it. There was an eager glint in his eyes as he looked to Nashi.

"I kidnapped you for one simple reason. I'm vindictive," Riki chuckled.

"Please, enlighten us to your grievance," August smiled darkly as he gestured for Riki to continue. "What exactly did Fairy Tail do to incentivise you to do something this stupid."

"What he said," Nashi nodded, gesuring with her head to the older boy.

"Besides, you just seem dying to tell someone your master plan," August murmured nonchalantly as he leaned forward. "Please, start your monologue, Master Riki."

The young man spat the name out like a curse and Nashi felt instinctual fear in her heart as the magic power in the room nearly tripled.

Nashi sent a glance to August and didn't miss the magic power that was fluctuating in the room. She remembered her mother telling her a bit about what August had been like before he had been "reborn" so to speak and suddenly she could imagine that version of him very well. 

Riki either didn't sense the disturbance in the air, or wasn't intimidated by it for he only chuckled and smirked.

"I'll indulge your curiosity and my own ego for a few moments," Riki accepted with a wave of his hand. "Besides, you're not going anywhere so what could it hurt for you to know how you're going to die."

Those words made Nashi's heart drop into her stomach and she took a moment to collect herself with a shaky breath. August, on the othr hand, didn't seem phased by that prospect.

"So, what's your tragic backstory?" August smiled cruelly, inviting the villain to speak.

"Hmm, it is a bit tragic I suppose," Riki murmured, tapping his chin. "It started out as all do, with a perfectly happy version of myself. I had a wife, three kids, a job as a store owner, a safe home, a nice community, other than the normal trials and tribulations of life I wasn't wanting for anything."

"But?" August invited impatiently.

Riki smiled and gestured grandly to the stonework around him. "But then this reality replaced that one."

Nashi tilted her head puzzledly in utter confusion. "What?"

"It was all Acnologia's doing," Riki's face was full of a simmering anger. "That... that lizard changed the flow of time. He changed reality to make a better life for himself with no regards for how it would affect the rest of us. He changed everything."

August said nothing but kept a steady glare at Riki while Nashi sat, absorbing the antagonist's words.

"It was Tyregenium who... enlightened me to this truth," Riki continued. "He brought back everyone's memories and I woke up... I found myself sobering up in a bar thousands of miles away from where I called home. I was a backwater piece of... I was nothing. I was a street urchin begging for food, using my magic to cheat and lie and manipulate my way to jewel that I would then use for alcohol... I couldn't recognise myself."

"Your wife? Your kids?" August asked coldly.

"When I found her... she wanted nothing to do with me," Riki explained, lost in memories it seemed. "It didn't matter the years we had been married in our other life, she wanted nothing to do with me. Said that she was a 'different person' now. I pleaded with her, told her to do it for the kids but she only cursed me for that and told me that the kids were gone while in tears. Whatever changed in our lives ensured that we never would fall in love and it was already too late, my children would've been older than five by the time I finally found my would-be-wife. I couldn't blame her for what happened, I suppose... though I did."

"And you blame Acnologia?" Nashi asked.

"He changed the flow of time didn't he? He shifted reality and ruined my life for his own selfish gains."

"Oh shove off," August sneered. "You're just pissed off that you're a failure and you have no one to blame but yourself. You know you were successful in one life so there's no excuse for you to fail in this one but you did and those decisions were your own. You're looking for someone to blame because you're a - "

"Did I have a choice?" Riki interjected angrily. "Did I have any say when the timeline shifted? No! And neither did the rest of the world!"

"Do you know how many lives were saved because of Acnologia?" August challenged.

"And how many more were ruined!?" Riki argued. "Look at the people around me, young Dragneels, you think I've formed some cult? NO! The people who follow me do so because they suffered just as I have! Their lives became worse after the realities were changed! I've rallied them under a new mission - one that can change all of that... one that can fix it."

"What are you talking about?" Nashi demanded.

Riki laughed, low and long, his eyes a bit crazed. "If Acnologia changed realities once, he can do it again."

"What do you mean?" August ordered.

"It's so simple, I can't understand why two smart children like yourselves can't figure it out!" Riki laughed.

"What!?? What is so simple?" Nashi snarled.

Riki held up a single finger and smiled. "I'm going to resurrect Acnologia."

Nashi and August stared at him for a long second before they both spontaneously burst into laughter.

"Oh... OH THAT'S FUNNY!" August rolled in laughter. "YOU'RE SO F***ING DEAD!! I ALMOST HOPE YOU FAIL FOR YOUR SAKE!!"

Nashi was hyperventilating as she giggled. "THAT'S your grand plan! Ressurect the guy that will ABSOLUTELY DESTROY YOU for what you did to his family! GENUIS! YOU'RE A GENIUS! HAhahahaaaaa you're so stupid..."

Riki didn't look amused but he put up with the children's laughter for a few more moments.

"I'm afraid I am a bit smarter than that," Riki sneered.

"Please... PLEASE enlighten us because my opinion of your intelligence just PLUMMETTED!" August cried as he laughed.

Nashi was still struggling for breath as she imagined Riki ressurecting her great Uncle only for the guy to get eaten by a ticked off apocalypse dragon.

Riki collected himself and glared at the two young Dragneels respectively. "The spell I mean to cast allows me to resurrect a being of immense power and enslave them to my will."

That made August and Nashi both shut up immediately.

"Wait-wait-wait... you mean to enslave Acnologia?" Nashi asked carefully. She then looked over to August and the two of them broke into a fit of laughter again. Nashi rolled on the floor, wishing she could clutch her sides.

"You're so stupid~" August managed through his wheeze. "Dear Mother, if my parents don't murder you first your stupid plan will!"

"Wait. Wait. Wait!" Nashi wheezed. "Enslave the Dragon of the Apocalypse... and this plan sounded GOOD to you???"

She broke into another fit of laughter.

"He was a being with magic power that no one on this planet could fathom. Not even my father dared go against him. My father. As in The-Black-Wizard-Himself. As in ZEREF. And you think a simple ressurection/mind enslavement spell is going to subdue him?" August chuckled, not believing this absolute stupidity spewing from this man's mouth.

"Yes," Riki answered, his face seemed to be twitching at the unexpected reaction of his audience.

"Oh... you cult leaders are all the same," Nashi breathed, tears in her eyes as her laughs died away.

"This isn't a CULT!" Riki snapped.

"Okay, wait, I've got to hear the end of this," August laughed, pushing himself back into a sitting position. "So - Enslaving Acnologia, that's your end goal. How are you gonna get there, dare I ask?"

Riki seemed unwanting to answer but he collected himself and eyed August with a dangerous glare.

"The first thing required in a vast supply of ancient magic," Riki explained carefully.

"Ah," August sighed. "I suppose that explains the dragon eggs."

"Oh, that was you guys? Seriously, kidnapping kids is not cool," Nashi objected.

"What happens to the eggs doesn't matter as if I succeed, every dragon will cease to exist," Riki explained coldly.

"So, mass genocide is perfectly okay as long as you get your perfect life back?" Nashi asked, anger in her tone.

"Those dragons were never meant to be alive in the first place," Riki sneered. "The eggs supply me with a reserve of ancient draconic magic which I'll drain from them."

"They're innocent kids, you're seriously just going to - " Nashi yelled

"Yes," Riki interrupted coldly. "I then needed a focus point of magic power from Acnologia. Something that reeked of his magic power, something that happened only because he willed it. That would be you, August Dragneel."

August watched Riki carefully and sat perfectly still.

"The only reason you exist like this is because of Acnologia. His magic reversed your body, cleared your memory, and broke the curse of your parents. All of the magic power still taints your body... you are the magic focal point I need," Riki explained.

"Mind explaining what's going to happen to me in this ritual? I assume it's stabbing my heart out or something like that," August sneered.

"We're not a CULT!" Riki yelled angrily. "I merely need your presence and magic power to sustain the spell and summon the right powerful being."

"Oh look, I don't have to die in a stupid cult ritual," August cried, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Riki glared at the boy before continuing.

"Finally, I needed blood ties." He looked to Nashi who had a chill go up her spine. "I needed his family."

"Well that's great and all, but I'm not actually related to Acnologia," Nashi sneered.

"I mean... actually technically you are," August offered. "Only through marriage though since Acnologia married Anna Heartfillian and you are - "

"Not. Helping. Jerk. You want me to get my heart ripped out?" Nashi hissed angrily, glaring at him.

Riki rolled his eyes. "Acnologia adopted seven dragon slayers and named them his heirs. The words he spoke were infused with his magic. He somehow, in some way, is related to you even if there is no family tie. Blood magic that doesn't work on Acnologia doesn't work on you. Blood magic specific to Acnologia is specific to you along with all of the dragon slayers in your family."

"Yeah?" Nashi challenged.

"Yes," Riki answered confidently. "We used a locating magic to find any blood relatives of Acnologia and found the six dragon kings, the dragon queen, and the young children of that royal family born with dragon slaying magic."

"Is that possible?" Nashi hissed to August.

"Anything is possible," August answered truthfully. "It is perfectly plausible that by naming the seven dragon slayers as his heirs, Acnologia set in place some form of dynasty. The power was tied to a bloodline which means that the bloodline retains the powers of a dragon king... or queen."

"I knew you had some cleverness to you," Riki snickered.

"Alright, so you've got what you need then. Why aren't you going through this 'ritual' yet?" August sneered.

"Unfortunately I need a few more items, not to worry I'll have them in my grasp soon enough and then, impatient one, I will resurrect Acnologia, force him to undo what he has done and return the world to the way it was."

Nashi jumped to her feet, snarling.

"Do you have any idea what that would do?" she growled. "You'll kill thousands of dragons! You'll... you'll kill August!" 

August said nothing to that.

"You'll ruin everyone's life! Uncle Erik won't be part of Fairy Tail! A-and maybe Dad and Mom won't be together which means... You can't DO THAT!"

"He can't do that," August snapped angrily, glaring at Riki. "No one can control Acnologia. He'll get himself killed and I'll enjoy watching it."

"How dark and brooding," Riki chuckled getting to his feet.

"You're threatening my father, my mother, and all of my siblings existence for you own selfish desires... yes... I am very dark and brooding at the moment," August sneered.

"Enjoy your little cells for now... I don't imagine it's the best way to wait for the end of your life, but I suppose it'll have to do," Riki dismissed.

"WAIT!" Nashi yelled as the man began to walk away. "How... how did you plan it all out? Shiro said it's our mom's you wanted... how did you... how'd you trick us all to come here?"

"Simple," Riki smiled, pride radiating off of him. "My magic allows me to predict the actions of people I'm familiar with. All it took were a few immemorable times of us bumping into one another for me to easily predict how every member of Fairy Tail would react. I then plan it out until everyone reacts exactly how I need them to, which is one of the reasons this took so long. First I caught your father's while the Dragon Queen was occupied, I then divied up your allies; when some stayed to defend the expecting Dragon Queen and others went to look for the Kings. I caused dissention by sending people out to spread rumors of the Dragon Kings being dead and telling a few dragons myself to scare some of your more... cowardly guildmates into action, and finally I misinformed those working for me so that if they were every interroagted by one of you young lizards, you all would think your dear mother's were in danger and you'd never want to put your Mommy in harms way, so instead you'd play hero and run right into my trap with no backup plan or calvary."

"There's no way you planned everything out," Nashi denied.

"Oh there's a way, and I did it," Riki smirked. "You've fallen right into my trap, Nashi Dragneel, and there's no escaping."

"Give me a second! I'll find a way!" Nashi yelled after the man as he walked away. "FAIRY TAIL ALWAYS FINDS A WAY!!!" she yelled after him.

The door out of the cell hallway slammed shut and Nashi deflated a bit before looking over at August.

"He... he can't do it right?" she asked.

August looked to her.

"He can't... actually reverse what Uncle did," Nashi murmured, a little afraid of the answer.

August let out a long sigh and it was only then that Nashi saw how tense he was. 

"I don't know," August answered. "The odds are against him... but that doesn't mean it's impossible."

"What do we do?" Nashi pleaded.

"What your guild does best, I suppose."

"What's that?"

"Pull off a miracle."

(Whooaaa, there was a plan all along and the villain was actually capable and has an okay backstory! 

If there's anything you're confused about, let me know and I'll try to clear it up. There's a lot in this chapter sooooo

Have fun!

As always, love y'all, thanks for reading and have a great day/night!)