Our Time Spent Together: Fairy Tail Next Generation Fanfiction

Chapter 31: What Makes a Monster

I think it's safe to assume that you guys, if you're still here, are tired of reading my apologies, so I'll spare you this time. Instead, I wanna say that I hope anyone reading this is doing well. It's a crazy world out there and staying optimistic is really hard sometimes. Humanity is pretty much a let-down. But I hope you guys are all okay. I hope you, your families and your loved ones are all safe and healthy.

And to those of you who aren't doing so good, I hope I can provide just a sliver of happiness and escape with my story. So here's a very long overdue chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, simply a few of the OCs here and the story.

Enjoy!

For those of us that never learned to swim or have a fear of the activity, being deeply submerged in water and fighting to break free is a scary situation. You can't breathe, your vision is blurry, and your limbs feel heavier the more you flail them desperately. The only thing on your mind is to get to the surface. To take a breath. To escape.

Then there is the euphoric feeling when you break through the surface and greedily inhale the air. The pounding relief of surviving fills your chest as your next goal becomes to stay afloat. The intense sensation of coming back to reality and realizing that you're still alive.

This was the best way the Fairy Tail wizards could describe the way they felt when they were released from the spell. Mest's eyes shot open as he gasped sharply. All around him, the Fairy Tail mages with their hands enjoined returned to the present. Their faces glistened slightly from sweat and every single one of them had considerably paled. Their hands were squeezed together in fear and in need of solace from each other. Their chests heaved as they gradually registered the fact that the memories had ended. They were back in the present. 

Such fear could be compared to when one awakes from a troubling nightmare. The despair lingers momentarily until the comfort of consciousness soothes them. 

Unfortunately, the wizards' despair lingered longer than welcomed. Because what they had all just seen wasn't merely an unpleasant dream, but a real vision of the future. Real memories, real pain, real loss, and real grief that the time travelers had endured. 

Layla's eyes dulled over just slightly as exhaustion combed her. The fatigue from reliving her hellish past was expected, but still difficult to bear. She knew it needed to be done. The present wizards and her parents needed to know the truth. Simply telling them wouldn't have sufficed, they needed to live the truth. And the only way how was through the eyes of the future children. 

Layla's knees buckled involuntarily as standing became too much for her, and she inwardly braced herself to fall flat on her face into the street. 

Instead, she felt her fall be cushioned as she crashed into a soft, warm, and inviting figure. The preteen felt arms circle her protectively and she wasted no time indulging in the much needed consolation from her mother. 

Lucy was on her knees, holding her drained daughter against her. She tightened her embrace when she felt Layla give in to her. Lucy buried her daughter into her chest as she rested her own head on Layla's. Tears gently streamed down her cheeks and tapped lightly onto the younger blonde's hair. No words were spoken between the mother and daughter. No words were needed. Instead, an exchange of agony, mourning, and longing passed between them. Layla's trauma and Lucy's heartbreak for the young girl's past was conveyed through their embrace.

A plethora of emotions, reactions, and thoughts raced through the Fairy Tail guild as the mages slowly began to recollect themselves. 

Gajeel held an unreadable, yet painstaking, expression. Though he was from the outside looking in, watching himself be killed in front of his wife and daughter left a sickening sensation in him. The prospect that he had more children he had never gotten the chance to meet because he failed to protect them... no, because they were murdered... it took a lot of strength for him to not hurl right then and there.