Chapter 77: Just My Luck

The echoes of hurried footsteps rattled off the cold stone walls of the Grand Palace of Mercurius.

Lucy, Future Lucy, Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla burst into the massive central hallway. Just beyond the grand archway at the far end, the cool night breeze signaled the main exit.

"There it is!" Happy cheered, his wings fluttering with relief. "We’re almost out!"

"Finally," Lucy exhaled, clutching her bruised arm. "I thought we’d be stuck in that dungeon forever."

Before they could take another step, heavy iron boots thundered against the tiles ahead. A massive contingent of royal guards flooded the doorway, spears leveled and shields locked.

"Halt, intruders!" the captain bellowed.

Natsu skidded to a stop, his teeth gritting as he spun around. Behind them, the dark-armored Executioners of the Garou Knights emerged from the corridor they had just fled, cutting off their retreat.

They were completely boxed in.

"Tch. Trapped from both ends," Natsu growled, sparks already snapping from his fists.

"Natsu, wait!" Wendy pleaded, her eyes darting between the two forces. "Master Makarov specifically said not to fight the royal guards! If we cause a scene inside the palace, the guild will be in even bigger trouble!"

"We don’t have a choice, Wendy," Natsu snapped, settling into a low stance. "We smash through them, or we end up right back in a cell. Get ready!"

Before Natsu could plunge forward, the torchlight along the hallway flickered wildly.

A dense, unnatural darkness bled across the polished floorboards, spreading like ink spilled on water. The shadows writhed, rising like living liquid to engulf the boots of the royal guards.

"W-What is this?!" a guard screamed, struggling in vain as the abyss pulled him down.

Within seconds, panic erupted. The shadow swallowed the guards whole, dragging them beneath the floor before swirling toward the Garou Knights. The executioners drew their weapons, but the dark tide surged over them, plunging the entire corridor into total silence.

Not a single guard remained.

Lucy shrank back, her hands flying to her mouth. "What just happened...?"

The liquid shadow pooled in the center of the hallway, slowly rising up and solidifying into a human silhouette. The dark matter melted away, revealing a tall man in a long, torn cloak. A deep scar ran across the bridge of his nose, and his dark eyes burned with a cold, hollow intensity.

"Shadows can reach both the past and the future..." the man spoke, his voice low and echoing off the vaulted ceiling. "...and into the dark hearts of men."

Natsu’s eyes widened. "Rogue...?"

Future Lucy gasped, taking an involuntary step back. "Wait... no..."

The man tilted his head slightly, his gaze locking onto Natsu with lethal focus.

"It seems we meet again, Natsu Dragneel," he said quietly. "I am Rogue... and I have traveled here from seven years in the future."

Silence stretched across the hallway.

"Seven years...?" Wendy whispered, trembling. "Another one?"

Future Lucy stared at him in utter shock, her knuckles turning white. "I came back... but I didn’t know anyone else crossed through the gate..."

Future Rogue didn’t acknowledge her. His eyes remained fixed on Natsu, his shadow spreading outward once more, thick with murderous intent. "And I came back for a reason."

"And what’s that?" Natsu challenged, taking a firm step forward, his fists igniting with hot flames.

Before Rogue could answer, a smooth, dry voice cut straight through the tension in the hallway.

"Well, well, well. Look at this little party."

The shadows near the wall scattered as a flock of jet-black crows swarmed together, swirling rapidly into the center of the hallway before condensing into a familiar, dark-haired figure.

"Rudra!" Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, and Happy shouted in unison.

Future Lucy blinked in utter bewilderment, her eyes darting between the newcomer and her friends. Who is he? He wasn’t there in my timeline...

"Where the hell were you, man?!" Natsu barked, temporarily forgetting the killer standing ten feet away. "You missed the entire Grand Magic Games!"

"Had some business to settle," Rudra drawled, casually tossing his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Business?!" Lucy crossed her arms, a bright flush of anger and relief painting her face as she stomped her foot. "You disappeared in the middle of the night without saying a single word! Do you have any idea how worried we were?!"

Rudra offered a small smirk, waving his hand offhandedly. "Appreciate the concern, Lucy, but you shouldn’t be worrying about me."

He paused, his dark eyes shifting toward Future Rogue.

"You should be worrying about yourself—seeing as that guy traveled back seven years specifically to put you in the dirt so you can’t close the Eclipse Gate."

A heavy shock hit the corridor. Natsu, Wendy, and the Exceeds instantly shifted into defensive stances, stepping up to guard both Lucys.

"Kill... Lucy?" Natsu growled, his aura flaring violently.

Future Rogue, however, didn’t attack.

His eyes were locked onto Rudra, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. The cold, dark composure he had maintained completely shattered, replaced by sheer terror.

"Y-You..." Future Rogue stumbled back half a pace, his voice trembling. "How are you here?! You were supposed to be trapped... he swore the dimensional anchor would seal you away forever..." He began muttering incoherently, his breath coming in ragged hitches. "No, no, no... this changes everything... he said you were gone..."

Rudra tilted his head, his gaze darkening into a razor-sharp glare. "Ah. So you were the one who planted that beacon in Crocus for Mundus. Makes sense."

Future Rogue didn’t reply. His mind spun into pure panic, a single instinct screaming over the noise in his head: Run. Run right now or die.

He shifted his weight to vanish into the shadows, but before he could even trigger his magic, space distorted.

A ghost-like hand materialized right beside his face.

"Since you’re not in a chatting mood, and I need answers," Rudra’s voice echoed directly into his ear, cold as ice, "I’m sure you’ll understand."

Rudra clamped his hand firmly over Future Rogue’s head. His left eye flared into the purple, tomoe-ringed brilliance of the Rinnegan.

"Human Path."

With a brutal, effortless yanking motion, Rudra pulled a translucent, ghostly blue soul straight out of Future Rogue’s body. The physical shell collapsed onto the stone floor like a discarded rag.

Rudra absorbed the phantom light into his palm, closing his eyes as a massive torrent of future memories—the dragons, the despair, the Eclipse Gate, and Mundus’s puppet strings—flooded his mind in a fraction of a second.

Behind him, Natsu, Lucy, and the others stared at the crumpled body on the floor, stunned into total silence.

Rudra stood quietly over the motionless form, his eyes closed as the torrent of memories settled in his mind.

The heavy silence was finally broken by Future Lucy. Her shoulders trembled slightly, a flicker of genuine fear in her eyes as she stared at the man who had just dismantled a terrifying assassin without taking his hands out of his pockets.

"W-Who is he...?" she asked softly, her voice shaking.

Natsu blinked, looking back and forth between the two Lucys. "What do you mean, ’who is he’? Future Lucy, that’s Rudra! He’s in our guild!"

"Rudra...?" Future Lucy rubbed her temples, a deep crease forming on her forehead as she tried to drag memories out of a timeline that no longer matched. "That’s... that’s impossible. In the future I came from, there was never anyone named Rudra in Fairy Tail."

A heavy beat passed through the hallway.

"Wait, actually..." Future Lucy paused, her eyes widening slightly as a distant memory surfaced. "The only person named Rudra I ever heard of was some black-haired guy from years ago who used to chase girls around town—but he disappeared back during Tenrou Island. He was never a powerful mage, and he definitely wasn’t standing here right now."

Lucy’s jaw dropped. "Are you sure?!"

Future Lucy gave a firm, unwavering nod. "I’m positive. There was no one like him in the guild. Not during the Games, and not during the dragon invasion."

"Aye..." Happy floated backward, scratching his ears in total confusion. "How can that even be possible?"

Rudra opened his eyes, the purple glow of his Rinnegan fading smoothly back into dark, unbothered pupils. "What can’t be possible?"

"She’s saying you didn’t exist in her timeline!" Wendy explained frantically, waving her hands around. "She says you were never there!"

Rudra casually shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "Sounds plausible."

"Sounds plausible?!" Lucy yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. "What is that supposed to mean?! Explain it to us!"

Rudra raised an eyebrow, tilting his head with a lazy smirk. "Do I really have to?"

"YES! YOU HAVE TO!" Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Happy, and Carla all bellowed in unison, their voices echoing off the high stone arches.

Rudra let out a long, deliberate sigh, placing a hand over his heart with deep, dramatic solemnity. "Fine. I will reveal the truth to you just this once, so listen with absolute focus."

The entire group instantly leaned in. Natsu held his breath, Lucy clenched her fists nervously, and even Future Lucy waited, expecting a profound revelation about spatial dimensions, split timelines, or grand destiny.

Rudra leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice to a mysterious whisper. "It’s because of the Eclipse Gate... That gate is not at all what it seems."

The entire room went dead silent.

"If it’s because of the gate... then what is it really?" Natsu asked, his voice dead serious. "Is it a weapon? A trap?"

Rudra held his solemn expression for a beat, letting the tension stretch until it was practically suffocating, before offering a warm, philosophical nod.

"The real Eclipse Gate... is the friends we made along the way."

THUD.

The entire group collapsed onto the stone floor in unison, their legs kicking up into the air under the sheer weight of total disappointment.

"THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" Lucy shrieked, scrambling back up with sharp shark-teeth as steam erupted from her ears. "WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH YOU NOT EXISTING IN HER FUTURE TIMELINE?!"

"I almost took you seriously!" Natsu roared, dragging a hand down his face in pure agony. "My brain feels like it just short-circuited!"

"Aye..." Happy whimpered from the floor, covering his head with his paws. "I thought we were about to learn the secrets of the universe..."

Future Lucy just lay there on the cold stone, staring blankly at the ceiling and deeply questioning how this version of Fairy Tail had survived this long.

Rudra smirked, stepping over Future Rogue’s body without missing a beat.

"Alright, get up. The joke’s over—now let me tell you for real this time."

Lucy didn’t say a word. She just glared at him, flat-eyed and thoroughly unimpressed, alongside Natsu and Wendy.

Rudra crouched down on one knee, using the tip of Yamato’s scabbard to draw a straight line in the dust on the stone floor.

"Think of time like a river," Rudra began, pointing to the start of the line. "In the first timeline, someone opens the Eclipse Gate. Ten thousand dragons pour through from four hundred years in the past. Almost everyone dies, leaving only a handful of survivors. From that ruined future, she"—he gestured toward Future Lucy—"uses the gate to travel back and warn us."

Future Lucy gasped quietly, her eyes widening as the pieces fell into place.

"Her arrival created a second timeline," Rudra continued, tapping the scabbard further down the line. "Because of her interference, events shifted. Lucy ended up locked in a dungeon early, got rescued, and managed to close the gate before the horde could cross. Everyone was saved... until seven years later, when Acnologia destroyed the world anyway."

Natsu’s eyes flared at the name, his jaw tightening.

"That led him"—Rudra pointed at Future Rogue’s corpse—"to travel back to this moment. His plan was simple: kill Lucy so she can’t close the gate, take control of the incoming dragons, and use them to slay Acnologia."

Rudra looked up, meeting their stunned gazes. "Now, do you understand what’s actually happening here?"

Natsu and Wendy nodded slowly, completely dumbfounded, while Lucy crossed her arms and frowned.

"Okay, fine," Lucy said softly. "That makes sense. But it still doesn’t explain why you weren’t in her timeline."

Rudra stood back up, dusting off his knee as his eyes shifted toward Future Lucy.

"It comes down to three possibilities. First: I didn’t survive whatever happened during my disappearance."

Lucy’s chest tightened instantly. A sharp ache pierced her heart at the thought, and she opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but clamped her jaw shut—knowing better than to interrupt him now.

"Second," Rudra said—I died fighting Arthur, he added silently in his own head—"I survived, but fell to a stronger opponent later on." He paused, a faint, confident smirk playing on his lips. "And third: I survived everything, but simply chose not to rejoin Fairy Tail in that timeline. And based on what I just ripped out of shadow-boy’s head, the third option is the correct one. I was still alive and kicking when he decided to time-travel."

Rudra stretched his arms overhead, letting out a dramatic, bone-popping groan. "Man, that was exhausting. Now I finally get why my old teacher was always so damn cranky."

Silence fell over the corridor as the group digested the absurd weight of the breakdown.

"So," Rudra broke the quiet, gesturing vaguely down the hall. "Since Lucy is alive and the gate hasn’t opened yet, all we have to do is go destroy the damn thing. That way, Future Lucy and Rogue can be sent back to where they belong."

Natsu slammed his fists together, a fiery grin spreading across his face. "That’s it?! That easy?!"

"It should be," Rudra grunted, rolling his neck. "But knowing my luck, something stupid is about to—"

BOOM!

The ground beneath their feet violently shuddered. Deep, subterranean roars echoed through the stone walls of the palace, cracking the floorboards beneath them.

Inside his mind, the System chimed in with absolute dry resignation. "Host, I am now ninety-nine percent convinced this entire universe personally hates your guts."

"Or maybe the author just hates you," the System added silently to itself.

Rudra stood frozen mid-sentence, his expression completely blank as he stared at the ceiling.