Compared to Natsu and the others, who instinctively wondered whether Ankh and Mirajane had gone mad from wanting children too badly, Naciel and the other little ones all looked rather grim.
Naciel was desperately signaling Anmi with her eyes, blaming him for telling others their identities.
Anmi sighed, stepped forward, and said to the youths, "Since the timeline is closed, everything we do is probably part of history too. It should be fine."
Garell's eyelid twitched.
He pulled Anmi aside and whispered, "We don't dare gamble on that. What if, because of us, Mom and Dad don't end up together…"
"…Can't you have a little more faith in your parents' relationship?"
Ankh sat at the table and looked at the confused crowd.
"All right, introduce yourselves. These kids are from seventeen years in the future, and all of them are your juniors."
Lucy froze. "The future? Then that means…"
Her neck stiffly turned toward Naciel, this pink-haired girl who seemed to combine both her and Natsu's personalities…
"Okay… sorry, Dad, Mom. We were worried we'd affect your relationship, so we didn't dare tell the truth."
Seeing that there was no hiding it anymore, Naciel decisively came clean.
Then Lucy's face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, her eyes going unfocused and trembling.
Compared to Lucy, whose brain was starting to shut down and smoke, Natsu excitedly picked Naciel up and asked curiously, "You're my daughter?"
Happy also came over curiously and asked, "Can you breathe fire too?"
"Of course!"
Naciel snorted proudly, then opened her mouth and spat flames toward the ceiling.
"Fire Dragon Slayer Magic! She really is Natsu's daughter! So cute!"
Happy excitedly circled above Naciel's head, while Natsu happily carried Naciel on his back and ran all over the place.
The father and daughter's wild laughter soon filled the entire room.
Lucy, meanwhile, sank into Happy's repeated "They loooove each other~" while her eyes remained fixed on Natsu.
Her mind filled with all sorts of inappropriate pink-colored thoughts, and who knew what exactly she had started imagining.
As for the other two families, because they were not lively troublemakers like Naciel, the atmosphere became even stranger.
After hearing that Grinju was the child born to her and Gray, Juvia's eyes turned into hearts, and she collapsed to the floor with a lovestruck smile, unable to wake up.
Gray, on the other hand, recalled what he had said to his son by the pond earlier, and his whole body stiffened with embarrassment.
The father and son once again fell into dead silence.
Gajeel looked at his pair of children, his head buzzing.
He and Levy stared at each other with red faces for a long while.
Their relationship had taken a qualitative leap after that slightly drunken night during the Grand Magic Games.
After returning to Magnolia, the two of them had also formally talked things through…
How should it be put?
Their current relationship had basically jumped straight to the point between dating and marriage.
At any moment, they could take another step forward.
And judging by Garell and Galena's ages, it seemed…
They had children quite soon too?
Garell, that silly kid, stopped talking again, so Galena shyly introduced both their names to their parents.
Gajeel pretended to remain calm as he looked at the two children, but he could not suppress his curiosity and asked, "You're the older sister, and he's the younger brother?"
Garell reacted as if a keyword had been triggered and immediately said enthusiastically, "I'm the older brother!"
Levy, her little face still red, looked at Galena with happy eyes.
Although Galena was still young, her height was already almost the same as Levy's, making Levy sigh inwardly with relief.
Thankfully, her daughter's body type did not take after her…
"But… Galena feels more mature," Levy said with relief as she looked at Galena.
Galena hesitated and glanced at Garell, who was proudly showing off to their father, then quietly explained, "Actually, we're twins. I was born a little earlier than my brother."
Levy: ???
Why did she suddenly feel like she could not understand anything anymore…
Galena looked at her silly "older brother" and helplessly explained, "When Garell was little, he always cried and made a fuss because he wanted to be the older brother. I felt like being taken care of wasn't bad either, so I just kept calling him that."
"That's… very mature."
Levy suddenly felt that such a strange thing happening to her and Gajeel's children somehow made perfect sense.
Still, both Gajeel and Levy could see that Garell was merely pretending to be mature, while Galena was the true brain of the entire youth team.
And judging by Magic Power, Gajeel could only smell the aura of Dragon Slayer Magic from the power released by his daughter, while his son did not have it.
Clearly, in terms of strength, the "younger sister" was also superior.
However, the three of them tacitly did not say it aloud and simply watched quietly as Garell told the inspiring story of how he led the team through time.
After everyone became familiar with the identities of the youths, the atmosphere finally grew lively, except among those with thinner faces…
Ankh timely brought the topic back on track, then had Anmi explain to the members of Fairy Tail the problem they were now facing.
After the explanation, because it concerned the safety of the Celestial Spirit World, Lucy no longer cared about being shy.
Her mind began working quickly, and she summarized, "In other words, the Celestial Spirits are going to be corrupted and rebel very soon. To save the Celestial Spirit World, the future sent three groups of people, and one of them includes Ankh's daughter."
Lucy took out her keys and tried to summon a Celestial Spirit to communicate, but just as Ankh had said, not a single Celestial Spirit responded.
"To put it simply, our mission has two parts. First, bring them into the Celestial Spirit World and place the fragments. Second, resolve the Celestial Spirit rebellion caused by the celestial abnormality in this era."
"But… what exactly should we do?" Gray analyzed with a grave expression.
Levy thought for a moment and said, "To infiltrate the Celestial Spirit World, we first have to solve the problem of the Celestial Spirits' corruption, so…"
"I see. I understand now."
Lucy suddenly clapped her hands as realization dawned on her.
Then she pulled out a silver key and called, "Open, Gate of the Southern Cross! Crux!"
This time was different from when she tried summoning the Twelve Zodiac Gates earlier.
As the light of the stars flickered, a figure really did appear before everyone.
Crux, the old cross-shaped spirit known as the encyclopedia of "humans and Celestial Spirits," appeared on the scene.
However, his whole body was covered in wounds, and he looked like he was barely alive.
Lucy was startled and quickly stepped forward to support him.
Crux looked at Lucy weakly and sorrowfully as he said, "Miss Lucy, for some unknown reason, the contracts between the human world and the Twelve Zodiac Gates of the Celestial Spirit World have disappeared. Even the Celestial Spirit King has…"
"We already know about that," Lucy said, looking at her Celestial Spirit with heartache.
She asked with concern, "What happened to you? What's going on in the Celestial Spirit World?"
"Lord Leo led the Twelve Zodiac Gates in rebellion. The Celestial Spirit World has been greatly damaged…"
Old man Crux spoke with grief. "According to my investigation, their next goal is to go to the sacred land of the Celestial Spirits and perform a forbidden ritual…"
Boom!
At that moment, the ceiling of Ankh's house suddenly exploded!