Keep Moving Forward

The rain continued its heavy downpour over Magnolia Town. Mirajane and Elfman reunited with Lisanna as Pantherlily became an official member of the guild. Erza and Meliodas explained the events of Edolas to Makarov, who like the rest of the guild, were completely unaware they were turned into Lacrima. The guild members stayed inside, keeping themselves warm and dry from the weather as they discussed the events.

"Welcome to the guild Lily! You're my new cat now!" Gajeel said with an enthusiastic grin. A small smile formed on Lily's face as he nodded at Gajeel.

"So all of that really happened while we were stuck in a lacrima...that's hard to believe…" Macao commented.

"I find it incredible that there was an entire Fairy Tail guild like us!" Levy commented. "Were there any similarities between us and them?"

"Well not quite…" Lucy replied as she remembered Levy's Edolas counterpart, who was quite vulgar and aggressive.

"Their personalities were definitely different, but just like this guild, they treated each other as family." Lisanna added in.

"It's hard to believe Mystogan left us like that though…I mean he had his reasons and I'm glad Meliodas was able to give him the farewell ceremony...but still…" Wakaba said. He looked over at Meliodas who had a surprisingly serious facial expression.

"And there's something else I should let you all know about." Meliodas said as everyone else in the guild was gathered around listening to their stories of Edolas. The rest of the guild waited in silence at what Meliodas was going to say, although Pantherlily, Wendy, Carla, Natsu, and Happy already had an idea.

"Like Mystogan, I'm also not from this world. I've spent the past five months I've been here searching for a way back." Meliodas said.

"WHAT?!" A majority of the guild members around exclaimed.

'So my suspicions about him were right.' Makarov thought to himself as he stared at Meliodas.

"Although, I haven't had much of a lead on getting back due to the nature of me getting sent here." Meliodas laughed briefly but he turned serious again. "Although, you shouldn't expect me to stay here in the guild for the long term…"

"Man...that's one hell of a revelation…" Elfman commented solemnly.

"No wonder you spent all that time in the library…" Levy said sadly.

"We'll miss drinking with ya Meliodas…" Macao added.

"Now now everyone." Makarov interrupted. "He's not going back quite yet. Although as a member of Fairy Tail, he is our family and we have to accept that he'll have to leave for his own home one day."

Makarov walked up closer to Meliodas and hopped on top of a table next to him. He placed a hand on Meliodas' shoulder and gave him a reassuring look.

"I promise you, Meliodas. That I will do what I can to help you find your way home. You've done so much for us already despite having been here only a short time and have grown close with many of the members. Remember that even when you leave, you'll still always be a part of our family and Fairy Tail will always be your home as well."

Meliodas could not hold back the tears welling up in his eyes and returned a happy grin as tears fell down his face.

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you get sent to this world. Maybe with that information, we can find a way to get you back." Levy inquired. Meliodas shook his head.

"I was sent here through a power known as "chaos." Meliodas said. "I don't know exactly how things came to be in this world, but where I come from, chaos is what created everything. I fought a being known as Cath Palug who devoured a portion of chaos. In my fight against Cath, he played around with that power and ripped a hole through the dimensions. I fell into that hole and ended up here…"

"You fought something that strong?!" Gray exclaimed.

"Aye! No wonder you're so strong!" Happy shouted.

"Well, I was a lot stronger when I fought Cath. When I arrived in this world, Cath must have done something to my body because I'm nowhere near my original power." Meliodas said. The entire guild stared at Meliodas, wide-eyed by his statement. Natsu's eyes began to sparkle with excitement as he stared at Meliodas.

"Then let's train to get your power back! Fight me right-" Natsu's enthusiastic shout was stopped as Erza glared at Natsu. Natsu felt a chill roll down his spine before Erza returned her gaze back to Meliodas.

"So what happens if you were to find a way back now with your current power. Do you think you would stand a chance against Cath?" Erza asked.

"No. I couldn't even fight Cath at that strength...although I do trust that by now, my friends back home were able to come up with a way to defeat Cath." Meliodas said.

"Wouldn't your friends back home be trying to find a way back for you?" Gray asked.

"Yeah. But I can't just sit around and do nothing. I also need to find my own way back as well in case they are unable to." Meliodas answered.

"This topic of world traveling is very nice and all but there's something more important to bring up." Carla interrupted. The guild turned their attention to the white Exceed.

"Oh yeah...that fortune..." Gray said coldly.

"If you want to go back to your world, you'll have to be alive first in order to do so. And according to that fortune from the Queen, you most likely won't live. We'll need to do something about that first in order to change the future so you can actually go back." Carla continued.

"Wait...Meliodas is going to die?! When?!" Elfman shouted.

"We don't know." Carla answered. "There is the possibility of it happening after Meliodas returns from his world, but we don't know that. It would be better to assume it happens in the near future and to prepare for the worse so that we can stop it when it happens."

"What did the fortune say exactly?" Levy asked. "Maybe we can predict where it will happen ahead of time depending on the wording."

"It wasn't very specific...The Queen saw that Meliodas was launched across the ocean, blood gushing out of his body as he was nearly split in half." Carla shuddered.

"That's-" Levy gasped in horror at the description. She turned to Meliodas who was unfazed by the description.

"So we just have to keep Meliodas away from large bodies of water right?" Jet questioned.

"I think the problem isn't keeping Meliodas away from a body of water, but keeping the thing that hurt Meliodas away from him instead...but I find it hard to believe there is a mage who is that freakishly powerful…" Lucy added.

"So that means whatever did in Meliodas, might also attack us as well…" Gray commented. The room became dead silent at the revelation as they looked down at the ground, clenching their fists as they tried to think of a way to keep their friend alive.

"Well, well, well." Meliodas said loudly, breaking the dreariness of the room. "There is no certainty in the future. None of us knows what the future holds. But we can't let knowing something undecided like this keep us from walking forward."