"To participate in the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts, we decided to train at the beach, let's do our best!"
"That's so outrageous, Natsu and the others actually tried to peek at us girls while we were bathing, luckily Erza caught them... but why would Erza invite them to join us?!"
Rhode flipped open the first page of the notebook and saw these two sentences. This must be the pre-tournament preparations for that timeline of the guild.
Did they even do any serious training?
Flipped to the second page:
"It's terrible! We just went to the Star Spirit Realm for a party, and we lost three months! Bearded Dad, give us back our time!"
The Lucy from that timeline also got screwed over by the Star Spirit Realm's time flow? And they lost three months, especially at such a critical time before the tournament.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."
"It's great to quickly activate the Second Magic Source, but it really hurts!"
Rhode curiously asked, "How did you activate the Second Magic Source?"
"Ultear helped us with magic because we missed the final training time," Future Lucy said with lingering fear, "It hurt so much."
Lucy realized that she might have to thank Mr. Rhode for finding a way to call them back from the Star Spirit Realm?
Even though they were put through the wringer by him afterward.
Rhode flipped through a bit as Future Lucy occasionally explained a few things, and everyone got a rough idea of how things developed without Rhode.
Jellal pretended to be Mystogan to join Team B; the president over there sure knows how to play.
In that Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts' participating teams, instead of two new guilds, it was the Four-headed Hound and Raven's Tail.
Incredibly, both teams A and B kept eating dust from the start, always ranking at the bottom.
Future Lucy explained that it was due to some people's willful actions, Raven's Tail's cheating, and a bit of bad luck.
Later, Raven's Tail was disqualified for breaking the rules, Team A and B were re-selected and merged five people, only then did they slowly catch up with the scores.
Rhode realized he seemed to know the competition events in advance... it doesn't matter, they'll win anyway.
"The King's Army actually secretly commissioned bandits to kidnap you?"
"Yes, because the 12 keys are the key to opening the Eclipse Gate," Future Lucy said, "But they kidnapped the wrong person and took Wendy, and she was soon rescued by Natsu."
Rhode felt this situation... was too outrageous.
They definitely underestimated Fairy Tail.
Plus, with Princess Jade's personality—no, the Princess Jade over there might not be very familiar with Fairy Tail, and it's possible her subordinate acted without orders.
The notebook recorded bits and pieces of major and minor happenings during the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts.
Until July 7th, after the dragon attack occurred, the writing in the notebook started to become messy; it must have been because she could only write with her left hand.
Most of what followed were messages of death.
The paper was a bit wrinkled, the writing had some blurred spots—not that it needed to be said—tear marks, and when writing this, she was probably trembling.
Everyone could feel that sense of sorrow.
Gemini, being the more emotional kind of Star Spirit, probably couldn't handle the emotions in Future Lucy's memories and had quietly returned to the Star Spirit Realm.
After everyone finished reading the last sentence in the notebook, Future Lucy suddenly apologized:
"I'm sorry. Even though I came back from the future, even though I knew a disaster would happen, I couldn't bring back precise information or any countermeasures. I... sniff... I'm sorry, but please, help me!"
Tears kept falling, and the sobbing reached everyone's hearts.
Natsu was the first to hug Future Lucy, gently stroking her slightly messy hair: "You already brought back the most important information, and that is—our comrades need help!"
"So, leave the rest to us, to Fairy Tail!"
Lucy smiled at herself: "You know, Natsu can be quite reliable at times like this."
Gray snorted, then laughed: "Always saying these cool lines."
Ultear laughed, "What do you mean by leaving it to Fairy Tail? It might be Sin of the Witch that ends up solving it."
"Yeah!" Future Lucy was infected by everyone's positive vibes, finally feeling a bit hopeful and smiling along.
Natsu asked, "So, Rhode, what should we do next?"
Lucy loudly retorted, "I just said you were reliable, huh!"
Rhode frowned, "There's a very troublesome problem coming up next."
Erza, seeing how serious he looked, pressed on, "What is it?"
Rhode said, "If we survive this, then... Natsu, when are you and Lucy getting married?"
"What?" Erza was dumbfounded on the spot.
Both Lucy and Future Lucy also froze, and a moment later, they both exclaimed in unison: "Why did it come to marriage?! Is this the troublesome thing you're talking about?!"
Rhode matter-of-factly said, "Yeah, now we have two Lucys, and Natsu can only marry one of them. Isn't that troublesome? Natsu, do you prefer the current Lucy or Future Lucy?"
Both Lucys blushed, "No, don't ask that! Wait, why does it sound like I have to marry Natsu?!"
Even though they said they didn't want to hear it, Natsu still gave an ambiguous answer, "Well, Lucy is Lucy."
After a bit of ruckus, Ultear excused herself to arrange the next actions with her comrades.
Rhode, on the other hand, took out a bunch of food to let Future Lucy fill her stomach. In such a tense and fearful environment, she probably hadn't been eating or sleeping well.
As she ate, they chatted casually for a few moments.
Rhode suddenly realized a problem, "When did you arrive?"
"I got here shortly before they caught me this evening."
"Was there anyone accompanying you? Or did anyone enter the Eclipse Gate before you?"
"I don't know. I don't even know how it was activated." Future Lucy asked, puzzled, "Is something wrong?"
Rhode said, "This afternoon, someone else appeared in the Royal Capital, emitting an aura similar to yours, like Zeref's.
"Since you were tainted through the Eclipse Gate, then that person probably was too, but we don't know who they are or when they returned."
Everyone else began to ponder as well. Could it be someone from another guild came back to warn their comrades?
Gray inquired, "Can that Eclipse send you back to any time you want?"
Rhode shook his head, "Not sure. Before today, I didn't even know the name of this magic, only that the book referred to it as a 'door that changes the world.' What about you, Lucy?"
Both Lucys shook their heads together, "I hadn't heard of it at all before."
Rhode still gazed at Lucy, "Since the Eclipse can't bypass the Star Spirit Mage, the Star Spirits might know something."