Twisted Fate

The sky above Magnolia Town was filled with dark clouds as rain continued to pour over the town. None of the townspeople were even aware they had been turned into Lacrima and proceeded on with their lives as normal.

Suddenly, the clouds began to shift, creating a large, circular opening, revealing the open sky above followed by a bright light. Many figures, some human, some not, could be seen falling from the sky towards the forest just outside of Magnolia town.

With a loud crash, Natsu slammed into the ground face first. He shakily got up and rubbed his face.

"Dammit, that-"

Several more figures fell on top of Natsu, much to the dragon slayer's dismay. Before he knew it, he was buried under a pile of people. Slowly, the people in the pile began to stand up. Natsu sprung up from the ground once again and raised his arms up.

"We're back!" Natsu shouted excitedly. He and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages ran through the forest until they arrived at a cliff overlooking Magnolia Town.

"And so is Magnolia!" Lucy said happily. The group looked around at each other and cheered.

"Hold on. Where is Meliodas?" Gray questioned. Everyone else looked around, perplexed as Meliodas should have fallen with them through the Anima.

"Look at the sky!" Wendy shouted. The group looked up and saw the sky filled with Exceed. Flying with them, was Meliodas with his black wings spread. Meliodas waved at the Fairy Tail group and descended to the ground in front of them.

"Hold on, the Exceed came here too?! We can't just let them stay here! They're dangerous!" Carla exclaimed. The rest of the Exceed landed in front of the Fairy Tail group. Meliodas turned around to face them as Shagotte stepped up to the front. All of the Exceed including her looked saddened.

"Carla, their homeland was destroyed. Why can't they stay?" Wendy asked.

"Well it's not like they can go back." Meliodas commented. "Edolas has no more magic and it's not like we can just create an Anima ourselves."

"We apologize for throwing rocks at you guys!" One of the Exceeds shouted.

"We promise to change our ways!" Another Exceed chimed in. Carla looked at the group angrily.

"No...I don't care about any of that! You gave me an order to murder a Dragon Slayer and sent me to Earthland!" Carla retorted.

"Carla…" Shagotte said somberly. "That wasn't your mission. That original plan was to send 100 Exceed children to Earthland so they may escape. In doing so, we created the false mission of eliminating the Dragon Slayers. What you were seeing...was a result of your ability. Like me, you have the power of foresight."

"What...foresight?" Carla questioned.

"However, in your case, yours was working subconsciously. As a result, your memory was skewed as you likely saw scattered fragments of the future of Edolas." Shagotte said. "And out of every Exceed sent, only you had that power. It was a combination of bad luck upon bad luck that you were given those fraudulent orders…the Exceed are not to blame for this, only me."

"No that's not true your Majesty!" One of the Exceeds commented.

"Now that we're here in Earthland we can finally find the other lost children!" Another Exceed chimed in.

"And then we can make friends with all the humans we run into!"

Carla sighed as she looked up at the Exceeds and their newfound determination and optimism in this world entirely new to them. She looked forward again at Shagotte.

"Fine then…" Carla said. "But explain to me why we have the same powers?"

Shagotte looked to her side nervously, breaking eye contact with Carla. At that moment, she noticed Meliodas looking at them.

"Meliodas, was it?" Shagotte asked. Meliodas nodded his head as Shagotte approached him.

"Your actions to save our people from our time of need reached us. Allow me to read your future before we take our leave to find the rest of the children we sent here." Shagotte said.

"Read my future? That sounds pretty interesting. How does it work?" Meliodas asked.

"Just give me your hand and I'll tell you." Shagotte said. Melidoas nodded and raised his right hand out to Shagotte. Shagotte grasped Meliodas' hand with both of her paws. She closed her eyes and remained silent for several seconds as the Exceed and Fairy Tail mages all watched quietly. Her eyes immediately sprung open, wide with shock, nearly losing her balance and stumbling backwards. She looked up at Meliodas as Meliodas returned a confused glance at her.

"Well?" Meliodas asked.

"I-I don't know how to say this...but in the near future you will die." Shagotte said solemnly.

"WHAT?!" Natsu exclaimed. The rest of the Fairy Tail group had shocked expressions on their face, their mouths wide open.

"Meliodas will...die?" Wendy questioned. "Are you sure about this? There's no way…"

"Aye! There's no way someone out there can kill Meliodas!" Happy chimed in.

"Wait now. What exactly did you see? Are you certain Meliodas will die?" Erza asked.

"I didn't see his death exactly...however with what I did see, there is no way for him to survive." Shagotte replied. She paused for a moment and took a deep breath in as she recalled the vision she saw.

"I saw Meliodas' body being launched across a vast open body of water. His eyes were closed and blood was gushing out of his body…" Shagotte said.

"But that doesn't mean he's dead right?" Gray inquired.

"His body was nearly split in two across his chest and torso…" Shagotte said somberly. She knelt down on the ground at the gruesome image in her head.

"Meliodas is…" Carla looked towards Meliodas. To her surprise, Meliodas was unfazed by the revelation.

"Meliodas, this is your death! How are you not the slightest worried?!" Carla asked. Meliodas shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, the future is only one possibility. Besides, I won't kick the bucket so easily. Not when there's still something I need to do." Meliodas said determinedly. Carla glanced at Wendy, who was also looking at her. They both read each other's faces as they remembered what Meliodas had told them before they departed to Edolas.

"So not until you go back?" Carla asked. Meliodas looked at Carla and understood her implication, nodding in response. The rest of the guild was left confused at the statement.

"Well, I appreciate you telling me this future anyway." Meliodas said with a carefree smile. "I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen."

"And he's not alone. We're all here to make sure that doesn't happen either." Erza added in.

"I see...then you really are in good hands. I'm glad that Carla joined such a kind group of humans as yourselves." Shagotte replied. She turned around and walked towards the other Exceed. The Exceed smiled happily at the Fairy Tail members as they flew upwards into the clouds, waving at them. Meliodas looked up at them, but without a smile on his face.

Meliodas looked up into the clouds, ignoring Gajeel's yelling in the background as he looked for Pantherlily. The raindrops pelted Meliodas' face and dripped down his hair. 'Even the Anima didn't work…but regardless, I have a new lead...Elizabeth I hope I'll see you soon…' Meliodas thought solemnly to himself.

"Meliodas!" A voice yelled out. Meliodas snapped out of his daze and looked back toward the group. He saw Erza looking at him as she gestured towards the rest of the group. There, Meliodas saw a somewhat familiar black cat and a young woman with short white hair and blue eyes. She wore a purple tank top with white cross straps that were connected to a longer white skirt. Over her waist, she wore a pink sash and just above her left leg where her skirt parted was a white Fairy Tail symbol.

"Everything okay Meliodas?" Erza asked. "You've been staring at the sky for a while. Is this about the fortune that Shagotte told you about? I promise you that I won't let that future happen and neither will the rest of Fairy Tail." Erza said reassuringly.

"It's not that. It's something else." Meliodas replied. He looked over towards the newcomers and walked over to them. He glanced over at the familiar black cat first.

"Hey Pantherlily, looks like you lost some weight." Meliodas commented with a cheeky smile.

"I think he did a lot more than lose weight Meliodas…" Lucy commented.

"It appears I am unable to maintain my battle form in Earthland and I reverted to...this state…" Lily said, embarrassed.

"And...you look really familiar…" Meliodas said the white haired woman. "You kind of remind me of Mira."

"That's Lisanna!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically.

"I'm Mira's younger sister." Lisanna said. Meliodas gave a confused glance to Lisanna until Erza explained Lisanna's supposed "death."

"Oh so you were with the Fairy Tail guild in Edolas. You know, I never got to meet those guys. Nice to meet ya, I'm Meliodas!" Meliodas greeted.

"Likewise! Although, I'm surprised I never once ran into an Edolas version of you." Lisanna said. Meliodas remained quiet at the comment.

"Aye! That's because Meliodas isn't even from Earthland and-" Happy added but was quickly slapped in the back of the head by Carla.

"Happy, learn to read the situation!" Carla exclaimed.

"No it's fine. I should have told you all this from the start anyway." Meliodas said. Erza, Gray, and Lucy looked at each other, somewhat puzzled at what Meliodas was saying.

"Although...why don't we do that in the guild. It's pouring out here." Meliodas said.