Hello everyone, I am back once more with another chapter for you all to either enjoy or despise with all of your hatred. Whatever works for you all.

Now, let's continue this timeline to see what will happen next shall we? Who knows, I'm sure some of you already expect what may be revealed… or will you? I might just surprise you all.

Or not, who knows.

Enjoy, or not, I don't care you all have your opinions.

Everything belongs to their respective owners.

Chapter 143: The New Age Pt. 2

'A SHORT WHILE LATER'

Small groans could be heard from the numerous Mages as consciousness returned to them one by one, stirring awake while their eyes slowly opened up lifting up their heads as they did so.

"Oh… what happened…?" Mira was the first to awaken and question in a small voice, still feeling out of it for the time being.

Luckily it went away fast as she noticed her surroundings, causing her eyes to widen in surprise and worry. She along with everyone else as they were slowly waking up were sitting on long bench seats, each of them having cuffs around their wrists, which had small blue energy connecting the cuffs instead of chains. She couldn't feel her Magic or her strength, thus inducing that they were some kind of Magic and strength suppressors. Not only that but in the area of the aircraft they were in multiple policemen and woman were standing around unbothered by the moving aircraft they were in as their held their weapons in hand.

The area of the aircraft they were in was also rather wide, allowing all of them and a good number of the police officers to be present and still have room left over. The interior was black in color with small blue lights above them and on the walls emitting light in the area. There were no windows present, so none were able to get a look from the outside world. An entrance near the front of the room was spotted, no doubt leading to the cockpit of the transportation aircraft.

As Mira and everyone else awoken, they were quick to, after looking at their surroundings, to worry and confusion. Also anger when it came to certain ones among them like Gajeel, Cobra, Ajeel and Dimaria for example. Their awakening didn't go unnoticed by the armored men and women, whose gazed landed on the Mages sitting down on the seats next to the interior walls of the flying vehicle they were in.

"Oh, you're all awake. Slept well?" One of the officers asked with a cheeky tone in his voice, which ticked off some of the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages from how he sounded as many of them stood up. This didn't faze the power armor wearing police force since they were basically defenseless thanks to the cuffs they wear.

"Hey you assholes! Where do you think you're taking us?!" Sting shouted as he stood up, his wrists still in their bonds while he had a furious expression on his face. If it weren't for these stupid cuffs keeping his Magic and physical prowess down he would kick the crap out of every one of these armored freaks.

"There's no need for alarm blonde one."

A new voice that sounded somewhat deep yet had a hint of mechanical echo in it caused the Mages and the men and women officers to turn towards the entrance at the front, where a new figure had arrived onto the scene… and it puzzled the Ishgar and Alvarez lot.

Walking into the room looked to be a robot of some kind. It had a whitish silver sleek-like body with the upper chest made from random grey colored parts with two white tubes attached to the upper chest and up near the neck, which was wrapped with a line covered white scarf which left the neck covered. Its arms didn't seem fully attached to the body more so fainting hovering nearby with the occasional blue electricity flashing between the spaces. The arms started with a smooth metallic orb for shoulders which had a blue line on both of them glowing faintly while the rest of the arms gotten smoother and smaller as they went to the hands which had red colored fingernails… for some reason. Two bags were seen strapped to its waists along with multiple small metallic orbs that had blue lines on them. Two black appendages stuck out from its back sticking and curving upward. Then there was its head, which was mostly a smooth silver surface with a power symbol on the front, two small pointy ears visible on top of the head while blue lines were seen on the edges of the face, also faintly glowing. Three white X's were seen next to one another on the forehead.

All in all, the sight surprised and as stated earlier, puzzled the group of restrained Mages.

They weren't the only ones as everyone was also surprised by the sight of the odd robotic being, finding the appearance to be rather odd yet interesting.

"The f**k? What kind of machine is that?" Gajeel questioned, wondering who or what the robot was. It looks different from any other robot like those machines that one A.I version of Natsu controlled in that one reality where his fire breathing rival was some mechanical machine that turned people into robots thinking that he was "saving" them.

"A sentient robot, duh." Marvell responded getting the Iron Dragon Slayer to deadpanned as he looked at her.

"No sh*t, I mean what kind of robot it's supposed to be." He replied back while Mavell merely had a cheeky grin from hearing his response and expression.

"Maybe it's a head official of the armored group?" Wendy guessed, unsure if that was right or not.

"Let's keep watching then and find out for ourselves." Laxus responded, knowing that continuing to watch it was the only way they were going to get any answers. It's not like any of them would know in the first place anyway, so why did some of the others keep asking these kind of questions?

"Oh! Commissioner Esto." A police woman responded as she and the others gave salutes to show their respect to the veteran sentient robot, who raised an arm up as he started to speak once more despite lacking a mouth.

"At ease officers. I just figured I'd come to check on those who got the Prime Minster's attention… though I can't say I blame him," The identified machine known as Esto started to speak as he took a few steps forward towards the surprised and wide eyed Mages, looking at them up and down with a hand on his chin, "Interesting… you all wear clothing and bear marks from those now lost in history. And the Magical presence you all give off is much older than it would normally be."

Hearing him speak caused the Mages to snap out of their confusion as Mest was the first to speak up once more.

"Who or what are you? Where are you taking us?" The black Memory Control Magic user questioned as his eyes narrowed at the machine as some of the others also did.

"My name is Esto, I am the commissioner of the police here in New Crocus. Rest assure that we do not mean you all any harm. We do not seek conflict." Esto responded to the Mages in hopes of putting them at ease.

"Electrocuting us contradicts not hurting us…" Laxus grumbled to himself.

However, his anger over that faded away as he along with everyone else realized something else the sentient robot had mentioned which caused their eyes to widen once more.

"Wait, did you say New Crocus?" Laki asked him with confusion noticeable in her tone.

"I have. I suppose that would confuse you all wouldn't it?" Esto replied back to them, knowing that they no doubt were somewhat familiar with part of the name of the city.

"Of course we would! Crocus is the capital of our home country Fiore! Why does this weird place have the same name as ours?!" Orga shouted at the machine and the police officers around them. The Lighting God Slayer was just getting more confused by the whole thing.

"Fiore?" One of the officers questioned with a raised eyebrow, though it couldn't be seen due to the helmet she wore, "That's was the original half before Fiore-Seven formed correct?"

"Duh, why do you think it has the word Fiore in its name?" Another officer responded back to his fellow police officer with a grin on his face, though his helmet made it impossible for anyone to see.

"Wait what?" Bickslow questioned with a puzzled expression forming on his face.

"Fiore-Seven? Did Fiore and Seven merged at some point in this other reality then?" Erza wondered aloud, placing a hand on her chin as she pondered over this.

"Possibly? But I wonder what happened that caused that to be." Lucy responded as she was just as curious as the others were about this. Did the two nations just came together on peaceful terms as their leaders ran the country as one? Or did at one point Fiore or Seven went to war and annexed forcefully the other?

"I'm sure we'll find out if we keep watching." Marvell told the others as she was just as interested about this new information as the rest of them were.

Hearing this only increased the confusion and puzzlement of the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages. Fiore-Seven? Why were the two names of the two nations lumped together? Nothing was making any sense! Why did this country have the same names as two Ishgar countries, one of them being their home?

Their confusion didn't go unnoticed by Esto, who went on to speak as they looked towards the sentient machine.

"I understand you're all confuse and have questions. And believe me, they will be answered soon." Esto simply responded back to the confused and upset Mages, his voice not raising in the slightest showing his calmness and patience.

No one else could answer before another officer emerged from the entrance that led to the cockpit, his weapon in hand as the armored police man approached the sentient robot veteran.

"Esto sir, we are about to arrive at the capital building." He told the machine, who turned around fully to face the officer.

"Thank you Ian," Esto responded to the man before the machine faced the Mages once more, "We will be landing shortly. Please stand by. I assure you that the answers you all seek will be given once we meet the prime minister."

The Commissioner of police didn't say anything else as he turned around and entered back towards the entrance that led to the cockpit, leaving the still cuffed Mages and the armored armed police guards in the larger area of the vessel.

Everyone within the building couldn't help but be curious. Who was the Prime Minister of this nation that wanted to meet their doubles? Did he have good intentions to have an audience with them? They hoped so, since none of them wanted anything bad to happen to their alternate doubles in the alternate reality.

"Guys look!" Chelia exclaimed suddenly, seeing the scene changing which grabbed everyone's attention once more.

Hearing that, they pushed back their thoughts for the time being as they looked up at the blue smoke to see what was happening now. When they did, they couldn't help but gain wide eyes in awe from the sight before them.

The capital building in the city of New Crocus could be seen as the transport aircraft flew towards one of the landing sites of the massive building, multiple other ships of the police force flying side by side with the transportation to ensure they arrived safely.

The building as stated previously was massive, having a dome shaped roof in the center area of the tower-like building. Numerous towers could be seen towering high in the air around the main structure, while numerous landing pads could be seen sticking out high in the air for any ship or vehicle to arrive and land. The outdoor exterior was wide open, allowing many to walk around the domed skyscraper to enjoy the air outside the establishment while highly trained and armored guards and even mechs could be seen walking around in patrol. The outside exterior was also rather beautifully decorated, with plants, grass, fountains, stone path on the grass floor and sculptures to give it a sense of mother nature from the elevated platforms around the main structures of the capital building.

All in all, the large and wide domed skyscraper was a wonder of architecture that combined both current technology, nature and the culture values that the nation cherished.

"Whoa…" Many couldn't help but mutter from the sight, seeing the highly advance yet still nature adorned and classical look that the tall skyscraper possessed. It was a wonder that even in a highly technological city structures like this existed. Not only that but the sights of the large mechs walking around and the highly armored guards also grabbed all of their attention.

"Impressive, gives the building a sense of identity compared to the other tall buildings within the city." Observer stated, which from his point of view was most likely to show off the difference that this was the capital building of the city and not a generic skyscraper for anyone to just go to, or at least the Constellar figured. He could be wrong since plenty of people were seen walking outside on the building's grounds and massive outdoor balconies.

"So the Prime Minister is somewhere in there?" Natsu guessed since from what they were seeing and from what Observer shared, it was basically like what the palace was to the leader of the country. But instead of a palace, it was a domed looking skyscraper.

"Most likely if the words we heard previously from that robot guy are any indication." Gray replied back to his rival, not bothering to insult him this time since he was more focus on what was going to happen next.

That and he didn't want to get the ire of both Erza and Kagura. He shivered slightly from how the glares of both of them felt like the grim reaper was about to come for his soul.

The transport ship slowed his movements as it begun to land on one of the landing pads overlooking the vast city surrounding the large structure and the flying cars moving all around in the air, its engines slowed as the vessel landed onto the pad. And a few moments later did the engines shut off as the back of the transport faced towards the pathway towards the main area of the high balcony of the capital building. Lining up the pathway were multiple armored guards as they waited for those on board the ship to exit.

The back of the vehicle slowly then begun to open, as Esto, a few of the officers and of course the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages who were still in their cuffs walked off the machine. Many of them had annoyed expressions while others had their eyes wander the vast view of the city from the landing pad they were on, surprising by how big the advance city was as distance traffic of flying cars could be seen flying around.

As they were being led off the landing pad, Esto looked up ahead only to spot a certain figure standing ahead of them much to the delight surprise of the sentient machine.

Waiting up ahead of the group side by side with multiple other soldiers stood a man who stood over six feet tall. The figure was cladded completely with white mechanical armor with an orange and black flame patterns covered the chest piece, the wrists and the sides of the leggings. The man's head was also covered by his armor, wearing a helmet where most of the front was mostly covered in glass that had the same orange and black pattern like parts of his armor. No weapon seemed to be on hand as far as the naked eye could see.

The sight of the mostly white armored man puzzled everyone, however no one said anything as they waited to see if the identity of the man would be revealed. After all constantly questioning everything would be pointless since they wouldn't know any of it themselves.

"Tephua! What a surprise to see you here!" Esto started to speak towards the armored man as the mostly white armored man walked towards the sentient machine along with the guards by his side.

"It's good to see you again Esto. It has been a while since we last met. How's the police life treating you?" Esto asked the sentient robot with a soft spoken tone, who if Esto had a mouth would have smiled though a joyful yet calm laughter did emit from the machine.

"More relaxing than I figured it would be. But compared to my old job as a soldier that is to be expected. What brings you back to Earthland? Last I was informed you were still in the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy against the Xalarin? Has there been a breakthrough?" Esto questioned. However, from being asked that Tephua sighed before responding to the police commissioner.

"I'm afraid the U.G.F. have lost control of the Blecl, Hewasice and Klerine systems to those bloodthirsty creatures. So far we managed to hold our hold on the rest of the systems within northern and western sectors of the Eastern Fringe but more of that region of the galaxy have fallen under their control. I was unfortunate enough to be injured a while back thus was called back to Earthland. I have recovered, but my cousin believed it was best for me to spend some time with my family before being sent back out to that conflict." Tephua informed the sentient cop, who by his movement of his form could see that he was surprised to hear of this.

"Oh my, that surely isn't good. It's still mind boggling that a single race can push back hundreds of other species to claim the galaxy as their own. But it's good to hear that you have recovered and spending some time with loved ones. There's no greater joy than being with those you love." Esto responded as Tephua smiled softly from hearing this, though his helmet made it impossible for anyone to see this.

"Amen to that Esto. If my wife had it her way I would have retired from the military long ago and open a bakery or something." Tephua joked, getting a chuckle to emit from the sentient machine. Despite the joke, Esto knew that Tephua's love was supportive of her husband. After all, he shared the bloodline of leaders and warriors of the past, just like the Prime Minister of Fiore-Seven did as the two do share the same ancestor.

The Fairy Tail guild plus Kagura, Millianna, Chelia and Marvell all became confused, interested yet worried when they heard the small talk between the robot and the armored man.

"The f**ks a Xalarin?" Gajeel questioned, not sure what the heck that was.

"Huh, well that's interesting. So humanity in this reality managed to achieve space travel and are in some grand space alliance of sorts?" Marvell guessed from the words they have heard between the mechanical police commissioner and the armored man.

"What like Varolia?" Lisanna replied with confusion.

"I don't know, they mentioned being part of some alliance. Thus, they might be allies with friendly aliens or something? From what we learned about Varolia so far they wouldn't dare ally themselves with those who aren't human with a few exceptions." Freed answered, pondering over this new information that they have learned from the conversation that just took place in the alternate timeline.

"The people in this other Earthland met aliens? That's so manly!" Elfman exclaimed finding that humanity in this other timeline have encountered and even befriended life beyond Earthland to be a mainly thing to do.

"Both good and bad it seems." Kagura pointed out while her eyes narrowed a bit, knowing that these Xalarin creatures were no doubt a danger if, if the words from that Esto robot were correct, they were against numerous different aliens races including humans and saw them all as enemies.

The subject would change as Tephua leaned over a bit to get a view of the cuffed Mages behind the machine, his gaze keeping an eye on all of them, especially Erza for some unknown reason. None of them have heard the talk between the machine and the soldier though they have noticed him.

"So that's them huh?" Tephua responded, his voice a bit quieter as a hint of disbelief was in his voice.

"Correct Tephua. I… supposed it would be rather interesting to see such beings like them alive in this day and age." Esto replied back as he turned his head back to face the Mages, who noticed the looks they were getting from the mechanical police commissioner. Ignoring this, Tephua shifted his gaze back towards Esto even if the helmet made it impossible for anyone to notice this.

"Are they aware of their current situation? Do they know where they are?" He asked as Esto shook his head.

"For the most part, negative. I figured it would be wise until they met the Prime Minister before revealing to them the answers they seek." Esto informed the commander, who nodded from that seeing reason.

"Well then… I guess I can take them off your hands then. I'm sure I held you from your job long enough." Tephua told Esto, who waved the words off with little concern. If he had a face, the machine would be smiling right now.

"Not at all, all I did was fulfill the task we were given and brought them here. I wish you luck with handling these unusual Mages." Esto replied back to the mostly white armored man, who nodded back as he looked at the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages behind the machine.

"Alright, all of you are coming with me. The Prime Minister is expecting your arrival," Tephua told them as nearby guards got closer to take over keeping an eye on the Mages in place of the armored police officers, "Before that however, remove their cuffs. There's no need to continue to make them feel like prisoners."

That caught the Mages off guard as Esto snapped his fingers, and just like that the cuffs deactivated as they opened up and fell to the ground. Naturally the Mages were completely puzzled by this.

"The heck? You're letting us go like this?" Romeo couldn't help but question, finding this rather odd that the mostly white armored man would trust them to not keep them in cuffs. Already he and the rest could feel their Magic and strength return to them rapidly.

"I trust you all to behave on your best behavior. Besides it's not like any of you would know where to run off to in the first place. Trust me, if any of you did try to do anything…," Tephua leaned forward towards them all as he gained a hardened expression, "You all will be dead before you realized it."

"Oh rea-?" Ajeel started to mock only to be cut off by Invel.

"Very well. We will not abuse this trust you given us." The Winter General replied back with a gracious bow, puzzling and surprising the others from this.

"Seriously?! Why do we need to play nice? We can take them all!" Neinhart questioned rather loudly, uncaring if the guards, Esto and Tephua could hear them.

"Did you idiots not sense that?" Dimaria responded to her fellow Spriggans, puzzling them except for Invel as the blonde woman looked back towards the mostly white armored man, who was waiting patiently along with Esto with his arms crossed. Seeing their confusion she leaned closer to them to make sure only they and the other Mages could hear her, "The Magical energy he gave off was off the charts. It even surpassed that of our own. Unless you want to face a monster like that then by all means get yourself killed."

"You felt it as well huh," Gildarts responded to the blonde, who along with the other Spriggans turned to look at the orange haired Ace of Fairy Tail, the father of Cana holding a serious expression from what he felt, "There's no question about it. None of us would stand a chance against this man if we were to go wild. It's best to stay on their good side until we figure out more of where we are and what exactly is going on."

"So you want us to go along with these weirdos?" Bickslow asked, unsure if he enjoyed being around the people who basically were telling them what to do.

"What other option do we have? I don't like it either but it's our best bet for the time being." Laxus told his teammate, who figured that the blonde Lighting Dragon Slayer was right.

"Then I guess we'll play along for now." Millianna muttered, her eyes landing on the weapons that the guards had on hand. They unlike any kind of guns she was aware of, and the Magic she felt emitting from the mostly white armored man, even though it was only for a brief moment she felt her blood run cold while a bits of sweat ran down her forehead from sensing the strength of the man before them.

Their own talk done, they all turned back towards the armored commander before them.

"Alright then, take us to this Prime Minister of yours." Erza requested of the armored man, who still couldn't believe that the red head was standing before him, not used to her presence considering her connection to his lineage.

"Splendid. Come along then. Farwell for now Esto." Tephua told them before giving one final goodbye to the sentient cop, knowing that he will meet his old friend again another time.

With that done, Tephua, the guards with him and the Mages begun to leave the landing pad and began walking towards the main structure. Esto watched on for a few moments as a small chuckle emitted from the mechanical police commissioner. There was no doubt those Mages were going to be in a world of surprise once they receive answers.

"Well there they go." Gray stated seeing them all heading towards into the interior of the large capital building.

"They will be meeting with whoever this Prime Minister is shortly. Juvia wonders how that will go." Juvia wondered as she pondered over it, knowing that whoever the leader of the Fiore-Seven nation is they would no doubt have a lot of explaining to do to their alternate counterparts about what was going on and where they were.

Before anyone else could say anything else about what they were seeing so far or ponder about it further, Wendy saw that the blue smoke was showing somewhere else in the other timeline thus causing her to alert the others.

"Guys, the scene has changed!" The blue haired Sky Dragon Slayer exclaimed, grabbing everyone's full attention.

With that, they all looked back up towards the blue smoke to see that the scene had indeed changed, showing somewhere else within the capital building in New Crocus of the alternate timeline.

The chamber had enough space to hold numerous figures as they surrounded a hologram table which had holograms of others communicating from their respective ends wherever they may be at. The large room itself was opened up, allowing plenty of space for those within the chamber as white lights shined down from the lights on the roof above. Multiple armed guards were seen near the rooms multiple entrance, one being in the back down a connecting hallway while the other was on the other side of the large spacious room. Other hologram tables were presence as workings such as researchers, both human and machine worked on their respectful activities involving the holograms. Right now however, the focus was on those surrounded the table in the middle of the room.

One of the figures standing to the left looked to be a sentient robot around the height of an average human male. The machine wore an old gray color conical hat with an orange stripe on the edges and wore a dark grayish colored cloak wrapped around his neck and covering most of his body, yet still bits of his whitish silver and gray metallic body could still be seen from the front of the robot. His hands were more black in color with orange finger nails. His face resembled that of a sealed beak being dark gray in color, a red tube seen attacked from one part of the head to another, and one glowing crimson eye could be seen underneath the shadow cast by the hat he wore. His name was Samidale, a personal bodyguard and assassin of the Prime Minister of Fiore-Seven.

The being to the right was that of a human woman who stood at five feet and eight inches tall. She possessed long black hair that went down to her waist with a few locks going over his shoulders, braided. The woman also had orange colored eyes as she wore a green colored blouse that bugged her large breasts along with white jeans and black shoes. A pistol of some sort was strapped to her waist while a rifle could be seen strapped to her back also. Her skin was somewhat pale compared to the others, and a small scar across her forehead was visible. Her name was Dene Manels, the eyes and ears for the Prime Minister.

Then in between her and Samidale in the center stood a young man who wore a white suit with a dark blue tie and black dress shoes, giving him a more stylish look compared to the others in the room. He had messy and somewhat spiky dark blue hair with a few bangs going over his eyes slightly, though his golden colored eyes could still be seen despite this. His skin was a bit more tan compared to most people, and an air of authority was seen surrounded the man. His name, or at least his first name was Besen, the Prime Minister of Fiore-Seven.

Then there were the holograms of those communicating with the three beings being shown from the hologram table before the politician and his bodyguards… none which were human.

The first one looked the oddest of the bunch which was saying something, having somewhat of a plant-like appearance. Hovering from the ground it had three hangings arms in place for legs at its waist while two normal arms were seen from its shoulders, each hand having only three fingers. Sharp sticking up red pedals of flowers acting akin to spikes poked from the elbows on each of the arms especially the arms attached to the shoulder. Its skin was mostly a mixture of light and dark green with bits of red present on the chest and other parts of the creature. Much of its head seemed to be made out of leaves, with the center showing a face with blank green eyes and no mouth. Tendrils could be seen emerging from the sides of the head hanging loosely while more longer ones were visible going down the being's back and hanged farther down than the three arms from the waist did. Embers could be seen dancing around the ends of the tendrils also. This was a member of the Drimek race, its name Sorrel.

Next to the floating multi-armed plant-like alien's hologram was another sentient machine, this one wearing a red robe with decorative white line patterns on it. Multiple large necklaces were worn by the robot with consisted of simple gold rings or necklaces that had some jewel attached to them. The robot's neck was somewhat long, consisted of tubes and a mechanical spine on the back as two horn-like protrusions visible on the sides of the machine's head with a red piece of cloth wrapped around the horn on its right hanging loose like a banner. The top of its head was completely flat like a disk, with two glowing white lines directly underneath it acting as the robot's eyes. Two large mechanical whitish colored spikes were seen sticking out from the upper back of the robot, and in its mechanical hand it held a skinny metal staff with two small red banners hanging from the pointed sides of the sharp staff. This was a member of a sentient race of tribal behaving machines of a desert planet, the robot's name being Cha'Tima.

Next in line to be seen in the form of a hologram was another alien that had a somewhat sharp rectangular shaped head with the top being somewhat flat, possessing four black small beady eyes, a wide smile, three toes and had somewhat pale brownish skin. He wore a uniform that consisted of both leather and cloaks along with metallic pieces of gear from here to there. Multiple bags were strapped to the belts he wore over his shoulder and chest, while a large mini-gun like futuristic gun strapped to his waist, the large weapon easily noticeable compared to the alien's somewhat lean and skinny body, it was a miracle that he didn't tip over due to the heavy and large weapon. This was a member of a race of mercenaries, having allied with the U.G.F against the enemy forces of the Xalarins and others who threaten their kind. This particular being's name was Meculin.

The final hologram shown showed another humanoid figure covered in black armor with red/purplish lights visible on the front of the gauntlets, boots, chest piece and on the side of the leggings. A weapon with a large visible light purple color blade attached to a kind of rifle was spotted on the creature's back, strapped in place and available if ever needed. The creature seemed to have four fingers and four toes, all which were covered by the boots and gauntlets it wore. The only part fully visible uncovered in armor for the most part was the front of the alien's face, showing it having a somewhat flat surface which showed its somewhat wrinkly and slight dark blanched almond like skin color. The being had a small mouth and grey colored eyes. This was a member of the Yehin race, it being a male and named Chortu.

Everyone blinked in confusion before they all reacted accordingly to the sights of the different beings and the holograms of such beings. Most of them were simply surprised by the sight of the different creatures and machines with the two humans in front of the hologram table while others were excited by the sight of the different galactic species present before them.

"So cool! They're all so different from one another!" Natsu couldn't help but exclaim, finding the aliens to be cool to look that… even if it was a bit weird to see like the one that had three arms in place where its legs should be.

"What kind of weapon does that four eyed one wield? Looks powerful." Marvell wondered as her eyes sparkled with interest from the sight of the weapon belonging to Meculin, while a few others nearby sweat dropped when they heard her question.

"Really? It's the weapons that grabbed her interest?" Chelia questioned. They were seeing actual aliens and sentient machines that seemed to be part of a race of their own yet it was just the weapons that got most of her attention.

"I imagine seeing difference aliens wouldn't be too shocking or surprising for her." Romeo figured with a shrug, knowing that Marvell has seen plenty of things both friendly and dangerous from all the worlds she no doubt seen. Not to mention foes like the Locust and monsters like the Nemesis from Racoon City that she faced before she ended up here in their world.

"But who's the two people and the robot with them? Is one of them the Prime Minister?" Kinana questioned, also wondering who the two humans and the robot next to the guy in the white suit were.

"Well… judging by the middle one's stance and his outfit compared to the others, I think he's the Prime Minister we heard of?" Erza guessed as she tried to figure this out. She could tell that the dark blue haired golden eyed man had some air of power around him showing his status in the other alternate reality. To her, it seemed to make the most sense.

However… for some odd reason the dark blue haired man reminded her of Natsu in certain ways, though the red head was unsure why. Since this place takes place far further ahead in time compared to their own present day… her eyes widened as she theorized over the politician.

'Could he be… a descendant of Natsu in this other timeline?' The red haired woman thought to herself in slight surprise from her own guess. It would explain why the man seemed to remind her of the Fire Dragon Slayer for some unknown reason. If she was right, a descendant of Natsu was the leader of a nation.

Honestly, that wasn't too surprising since she and the rest have seen timelines where Natsu was the King of Fiore or Emperor of Alvarez, so this wasn't really shocking. But if she was right about him being from the other Natsu's lineage, at least the pink haired young man's bloodline managed to continue and not die out.

"The Skulloids are making a push into Sector 13424. They're taking advantage of the Xalarin attacks we're been focusing on to expand and push into our territories. Already they claimed dozens of planets while the bulk of our forces are elsewhere! We need more reinforcements and supplies to stop them in their tracks!" The hologram of Sorrel spoke, its voice somewhat deep and distorted as the conversation went on about the current situation on hand.

"We understand that Sorrel. I'm trying to convince the rest of the Earthland Assembly about the encroaching Skulloids but most of our planet's leaders are too focus on facing the Xalarins. They are the ones enclosing closer to human held planets and territories compared to the Skulloids who are nowhere near human colonies." Besen explained to the multi armed alien, pressing his fingers on his forehead from the headache of the conversation. He was only one representative of the Earthland Assembly, it was hard to convince the rest of mankind's leaders to draw focus and resources when most of them have different ideas in mind to use them.

"It's alright Besen. I understand the difficulty bringing the issue about the Skulloids to the rest of your species when more pressing matters like the Xalarins are the top priority. Most races within the Federation are too busy to focus on this small race of machines so the fact one among you humans is discussing the problem is more than we can ask for, " The hologram of Cha'Tima replied in a calm collected yet somewhat mechanical voice, understanding the other problems that most races in the galaxy were more focus on at the moment, "But we fear if we don't stop the intrusion of the Skulloids while they are still small in numbers then we might have another massive military power to worry about encroaching on us from behind while our focus is elsewhere."

"Exactly," Meculin started to speak, his voice being somewhat high pitched as he went on to share his view on the current situation, "Compared to most races within the Federation, my kind's territories along with the Drimiks' are further away from the others and their colony worlds. If we let the Skulloids gain a foothold and grow their armies then we'll be fighting a war on two fronts!"

"Ease my friend, we still have time to figure something out," Chortu started to speak as the hologram of the Yehin faced towards Besen once again, "My people are doing our best to supply with the resources to spare while bringing this attention to the rest of the Federation, however like with your fellow human leaders my superiors are divided on what to do. Many believe we must remain full focus on the Xalarins like most of the Federation is doing while others know we can't be distracted from keeping order in the rest of the galaxy."

"The Xalarins are causing order to fall apart all over the galaxy even when they aren't even directly behind it." Samidale spoke, his smooth yet mechanized voice sounding like a whisper as the machine shook his head. To the bodyguard/assassin, the Xalarins' expansion into U.G.F territories was causing disability in the rest of the cosmos, causing other races to either rise up and snatch any worlds for their own gain while the Federation was focusing most of its attention on the race of warriors.

Besen sighed once more as he looked back at the holograms of the alien representatives of their respective worlds or colony world with a serious expression on his face once more.

"I'll try to convince the rest of the Assembly and any human colony planet to see if they can send any aid. My Grand Uncle is on his way back from planet Drachemia fending off an attack of pirates attempting to raid the planet for something that had happened here. Once this is out of the way I'll see if I can get him to come to your aid." Besen explained, the mention of his Grand Uncle got the attention of the alien representatives.

"Oh? The Demon of War is returning back to Earthland? Has something happened?" Cha'Tima questioned with curiosity in his voice as Besen nodded along with Dene and Samidale.

"Something had come up recently yes. I hope to have it resolved as soon as I can before the next meeting with the Earthland Assembly. Contact me again if new updates happen… I wish you all luck with this new problem." Besen told them all while saying his final words, signifying that he had to leave the conversation now since last he heard, those who were giving off that unusual Magical energy that popped up from the nearby Mountain in the city's park were acquired and on their way here.

"We understand. Take care Besen." Chortu replied back with a small smile, waving at the dark blue haired man as he did so.

The others also waved farewell for the time being before the holograms faded away, cutting the communications off thus leaving only the two humans and robot at the table.

The guild plus Kagura, Millianna, Chelia and Marvell all looked at one another in confusion from the conversation that had taken place between the representatives of their respectful species. None of them had any idea what they were talking about.

"I know no one would know, but what is a Skulloid supposed to be? Is that some type of robot?" Millianna couldn't help but question, since the name sound like it would belong to some machine-like race.

"Beats me, but whatever they are they can't be good if they're causing problems. Causing problems is not manly at all." Elfman responded, finding the growing problem they heard to not be manly in the slightest.

"So… from what I can gather so far this alternate Earthland is part of some grand space alliance and they're all at war with whatever these Xalarin creatures are. What kind of creatures are they if they're able to go toe to toe with who knows how many races within this federation Earthland is apart of?" Levy asked the others, unsure of how she felt over the fact a single alien species was apparently causing havoc all over the entire galaxy, the galaxy itself, and was putting up a fight and causing other races to rise up and attack the worlds part of this federation.

"Strong that's what they are. Either that or they possess some powerful technology that far surpass that of any other alien or human species." Marvell guessed, curious about this herself.

"Will our own doubles in this other reality be made aware of any of this?" Laki questioned since she doubted her alternate counterpart as well as everyone else's would want to remain in the dark about any of this.

"I'm sure they would. How they will react however that is a mystery, though I can't be surprise if they just freak out over learning that they are far in the future and now in alliances with aliens and are in war with few of them." Kagura figured. If she was in her double's shoes and she found out about any of this, she would be shocked to the core.

"I'm wondering who this Demon of War that the robed robot thing mentioned." Gray admitted as the Ice Maker Mage recalled hearing about this Grand Uncle that Besen mentioned.

"A relative of that Besen guy." Evergreen responded as Gray glared at her way.

"You know what I mean!" Gray responded with annoyance as Evergreen couldn't help but smile a little, finding it funny to see his reaction to her sating the obvious thing they heard from the other alternate timeline.

"Whoever he is, he must he strong if he became known as the Demon of War." Mira figured.

Natsu meanwhile couldn't help but wonder if this Demon of War Grand Uncle of this Besen guy was an actual demon or not. If this being was an actual demon and is from Earthland, was he an Etherious? Not only that, but how will the doubles of the others react to learning about his alternate self and the others like gramps being long dead at this point? He knew that they would probably not handle it well since that meant some of their friends and family have died long ago.

'If I'm dead at this point in the future… do I have any descendants running around by chance?' Natsu couldn't help but wonder, a small blush forming on his face as he did so since his alternate counterpart would no doubt have gotten with some woman in order to have his bloodline continue. It would be cool to see someone who came from him, he wouldn't lie.

Shaking his head from those thoughts, he refocused onto the blue smoke showing the alternate timeline as everyone else also did the same.

Not even a second passed after the conversation before a soldier rushed into the room, grabbing the attention of the Prime Minister along with his two bodyguards as they turned around to see the armored guard arriving onto the scene.

"Prime Minister sir, the unusual group has arrived. They are being taken to the main hall by commander Tephua." The soldier informed the dark blue haired white suited man.

That got him to be surprise along with Dene while Samidale remained expressionless, though to be fair it was hard to show expression when all you have is a beak that doesn't open and a single glowing red eye.

"Huh, that was quick." Dene admitted, figuring it would be a bit before the sources of that unusual Magical energy were brought to them.

Besen meanwhile merely gained a small yet noticeably excited smile. They were here. From the way these people were described, he had a hunch of who they were. He and the others only heard stories, but now he had a chance to meet those his Grand Uncle told him about.

"Very well. We will head there now." Besen told the soldier, who saluted to his superior before he turned to leave the chamber the way he came from. Glancing at his personal guards, and those he considered as his friends, his smile remained before he continued to speak, "Well, better not keep them waiting."

With that he started to leave the large room, with the woman and the robot following right after him leaving the researchers in the room to continue with whatever work they were focusing on.

Meanwhile elsewhere within the massive capital building on one of the many higher levels, Tephua continued to lead the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages through the large hallways within the large building towards the main hall on the higher levels of the tall domed skyscraper. The soldiers who were with the mostly white armored man were remained keeping an eye on the Mages next to him to ensure they didn't try anything.

"Ah, here we are." Tephua announced as he took a stop in his tracks, causing the rest to do so as they looked at their destination.

They were in a massive large opened up chamber, that had plenty of people and robots going through the large area. Multiple stairs or elevators that led to different parts of the building and its many levels both up and down. Nearby multiple hallways that led to different areas of the level were visible with people going in and out them elsewhere, though a few entrances were blocked off by guards for restrict access for certain officials only with their heavy metal doors closed. The floor was made of white marble with smooth refined dark rosewood on the railings of the stairs. Pure white lights from a golden chandelier that hanged from the center of the very high roof of the area emitted most of the area with other white lights emitted from their respective locations.

All in all, it kind of looked like if someone took an indoor shopping mall area, made it more fancy and placed it as a bridge to other paths and places within the building.

Many blinked in confusion from seeing such a sight. The main hall looked way different compared to the usual high-tech designs and blue lighting that they have seen previously.

"Huh, doesn't seem to match the whole futuristic thing the rest of the building has going on." Bickslow spoke, surprising by now normal and fancy the main hall was.

A few of the other Mages nodded in agreement, figuring that everything would just be all advance looking due to the time period this other alternate Earthland was in.

"Uh… why are we here? I thought we were going to meet your Prime Minister?" Mira questioned as she eyed the plenty of people and sentient machines going on with their lives to their respective locations elsewhere within the tall domed skyscraper.

"The Prime Minister will be here. What? You thought I would take you to his office? While spacious it is, I doubt I could fit all of you in there without cramping the place." Tephua responded, overlooking his right shoulder at the Mages behind him.

"I guess that makes sense…" Brandish admitted with a shrug, she didn't like being cramped in places with other people. She liked to have room to move around in thank you very much.

"Uh… Mister Tephua sir?" Wendy started to speak up, getting the mostly white armored man to turn around fully to look at the blue haired Sky Dragon Slayer girl.

"Yes?" He asked with curiosity as the others were also wondering what the young female was going to say or ask.

"Who is your "Prime Minister" of yours? Is he like a king or something?" She asked, wondering if the words Prime Minister is something similar to that of a king or emperor.

Tephua merely chucked a little from hearing that, before he would at least answer that question to the blue haired girl.

"Not exactly. While yes the Prime Minister has plenty of control and has final decisions on many things that can affect the nation, he can only hold office within a certain number of terms, with each term he is elected too consisting of five years. He is currently in this second term, being eligible of having two more terms afterwards for a total of four terms should he choose to run once more. He no doubt would, as not only is he popular among Fiore-Seven to the point hardly anyone else would challenge him anyway, but due to how those in our family has held the position since it's founding people would be more familiar with those who's family has been in the position before." Tephua explained to the Mages about the position of the Prime Minister.

While the Mages were once more confused as to why this nation was called after Fiore and Seven since they were never given a proper explanation to why they held the same similar names, they were surprise by the revelation that the man before them was apparently related to the leader of the nation.

"Wait, you're related to this Prime Minister person?" Kinana responded with surprise in her voice as the others were just as surprised from hearing this.

"Yes, he is my cousin. Our family is… well it's kind of complicated." Tephua admitted, puzzling the group once more.

"How so?" Gray asked with a raised eyebrow.

Before the commander could respond however…

"Whoa… so this is them huh…?"

The voice of Besen grabbed all of their attention, as they looked up ahead to see Besen along with Dene and Samidale ahead of them walking towards their direction. People and other robots around them noticed the leader of the country and made sure to give them some space as to not get in the dark blue haired man's ways.

The sight of the man along with the sentient machine, which got some of them to be rather weary of due to its appearance, and the woman got their full interest, though were confused by the white suited leader's look of awe on his face.

"I take it the guy in the suit is this Prime Minister we were told of." Kagura whispered to the others around her, who all nodded in agreement from seeing the dark blue haired man. Odd though… for some reason to her he reminded the woman of a certain pink haired Fire Dragon Slayer despite the big differences in appearance, though she was unsure why.

"Ah Besen, you've arrived." Tephua greeted his cousin, who smiled back at his relative as the two shook hands for a moment, both had smiles on their faces even though it was impossible to tell in Tephua's case due to the helmet he wore.

"Of course, I want to see them for my very eyes," Besen told the armored commander before the dark blue haired man turned towards the group behind him, his eyes sparkling with both excitement and awe, as if he was seeing a sight of wonder. He took a few steps towards them before he started once more, a small smile on his expression while he spoke with a softer tone, "To think… that I would actually get to meet those from ancient past… some of them even bear the marks of those guilds that were common so long ago…"

That completely puzzled the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages.

"The past? The f**k are you talking about?" Evergreen questioned with narrowed eyes, wondering what he meant by his words.

"And why are you acting like guilds are some ancient relic thing? They're all over the place." Alzack responded to the man.

Besen merely laughed a little which only got them confused or annoyed in some cases before he looked back at them smile still on his face.

"Forgive me, I suppose you all wouldn't know where you are… or more specifically when." He replied back, which only grew everyone else's confusion.

Taking a few steps back, he cleared his throat before speaking once more.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Besen Dragneel, the Prime Minister of Fiore-Seven." Besen formally introduced himself with a slow bow of respect towards the Mages.

Glass shattered in the minds of practically everyone as they all gained wide comical eyes, except for Observer and Marvell who were simply interested from hearing this. Though Observer was confused by everyone's reactions. One would think after all the kinds of different timelines they have seen nothing would be too shocking anymore, but apparently not. The Constellar just chalked it up as another mortal thing.

"WAIT THAT GUY'S MY DESCENDANT?!" Natsu shouted in shock with wide comical eyes. Sure, he wondered if he had any a short moment ago, but he didn't think that it would be the Prime Minister guy who was in charge of an entire country. And considering how Tephua was stated to be a relative to Besen, then the commander was also his descendant as well.

"Flamebrain's descendant is the Prime Minister guy?!" Gray also shouted in shock, not expected for the dark blue haired golden eyed man to be from his fire breathing rival's linege.

"Then… if the words from Tephua are to be believed, then he is also a descendant of Natsu." Erza realized out loud, as everyone else also made that connection. Sure she had wondered if the dark blue haired man was part of Natsu's bloodline due to the familiarity surrounding him, it was still surprising to see that it was actually true.

"So this other world's Natsu managed to get with someone to have his lineage continue all the way to this current time period. I wonder if anyone else that wasn't in stasis managed to have any descendants of their own." Marvell wondered, curious of who else they might have a chance of seeing or at least hearing about.

Bisca and Alzack were surprised as the married couple looked at one another before their gazes shifted to Asuka who was watching the blue smoke showing the alternate timeline with excited eyes. They wondered if their little girl managed to find someone to get with and managed to have descendants of her and themselves.

"I wonder how our doubles will react to hearing that." Pantherlily wondered as he managed to get over his shock before refocusing his attention on the alternate Earthland being shown to them all. The black Exceed had no doubt knowing their alternate counterparts would either be shocked or freak out.

Probably both if he were to admit.

Glass shattered into the minds of the Mages as nearly all of them had wide comical eyes aside from the Spriggans, who merely had normal surprised expressions. A moment passed before the information processed through their minds as they all reacted like the mature and responsible Mages they were.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

Oh right, they are Mages from Fiore, mature and responsibility don't exactly go line to line with most of them.

The loud shouting got Dene and Tephua to flinch from their sudden shout while Samidale remained unconcerned, Besen merely gained a cheeky grin on his face while others nearby looked at the group with puzzled expressions, wondering why the oddly dressed people were screaming like that.

"Dragneel?! You're related to Flamebrain?! How?!" Gray shouted as he pointed at the dark blue haired male with accusation. None of this was making sense to him or anyone else.

"I must admit I am surprised as well. I was under the impression that our Emperor and the Fire Dragon Slayer were the only siblings." Invel admitted, unaware of the full truth.

Besen sighed before he looked at them with a small yet somewhat pity filled smile, figuring that he would break the news.

"I am not a brother… Natsu Dragneel is my ancestor along with Tephua." Besen shared with them, which only got them to widen their eyes once more as they became even more lost.

"Ancestor…?" Meredy responded with uncertainty.

"Correct… the reason why you find Fiore-Seven familiar… it's because it's the same nations as the two you're familiar with. Once apart in the past, having joined together in year X943. Allow me to formally welcome you all Mages of the past… to the year of X6852." Besen revealed to them all.

…

…

…

…

*Cough cough*

…

…

…

…

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" This time everyone including the Spriggans shouted this aloud as utter disbelief filled their very beings as Tephua, Dene and Besen flinched from how loud they were. Only Samidale was unaffected as such loudness doesn't bother him.

"YEAR X6852?! OUR DOUBLES ARE THAT FAR IN THE FUTURE?!" Bickslow shouted in utter shock and disbelief as everyone else had wide eyed expressions, surprise to hear the exact year the other Earthland was in.

"…I mean… I guess that would explain how advance everything seems to be plus being all over the galaxy and all." Evergreen admitted, figuring that such a large amount of time would have to had passed in order for technology to grow as it did not to mention meeting all the other aliens, colonizing other worlds and being apart of some grand galaxy wide alliance.

"Still though… that's a very long time. Honestly, I thought it would only be a couple thousand years, not over six thousand." Lucy admitted. Time really went by for their doubles didn't it?

"Geez, if it's been than long then I can't really blame out other alternate selves to freak out like that." Bisca stated as she and Alzack weren't expecting for such a lot of time to pass in the other alternate reality either. Like Lucy, they figured it would be a couple thousands years, not over six thousand of them.

"You're all really loud." Samidale casually responded, the machine finding the reactions kind of humorous if the bodyguard assassin would admit.

Eventually the others managed to calm down to a certain degree, however they were still no doubt shocked from what they have been told. They were in the future? Was whatever happened to them got them to be trapped in a stasis?

Lucy, Erza, Mira, Cana, Meredy, Yukino and Kagura could have sworn their hearts stopped as they learned of this information. If they were in the future… and the man before them was a descendant of Natsu… then Natsu's long dead at this point? The women could feel themselves torn over this, seeing how the man they loved having passed away ages ago and gotten with someone else.

"…Wait… if you're apparently Natsu's descendant…," Gildarts started to say before turning to face Tephua, who recovered from the loud shout the Mages emitted as the others did, "Then you are also if you being this guy's cousin is true, right?"

"You are right. Natsu Dragneel is my ancestor alongside Besen. To tell the truth… we have heard stories about you all since we were kids. Our Grand Uncle would mostly tell us about how the world was back then, as well as about all of you." Tephua admitted, getting Lucy to raise an eyebrow of confusion.

"Grand Uncle?" The blonde Celestial Mage asked in confusion.

Before any more words could be spoken, though only a few were able too as most was still trying to process what they were just told about, another guard from elsewhere within the main hall was spotted rushing towards them all. This didn't go unnoticed by Besen and the others as they saw the armored armed soldier rushing up to them.

"Prime Minister sir," The guard started to say as he arrived, coming to a stop and giving the dark blue haired man a salute, "The Demon of War has arrived a few minutes ago. He's currently heading towards the training grounds on the balcony."

"Oh, he's here already? I figured it would take longer." Besen admitted since he knew how far away planet Drachemia was from Earthland.

"He's our Grand Uncle, he's one of the fastest and strongest beings out there in the galaxy." Tephua reminded his cousin, who couldn't help but agree to the mostly white armored commander.

"Alright then," Besen started to say as he turned to face the still shocked Mages once more, "Follow me if you will. I would like for you all to meet our Grand Uncle."

Not even waiting for a response, Besen started to walk away from the others and towards one of the hallways that were guarded. Dene turned her attention back towards the others as she, along with Tephua, Samidale and the guards with them started to follow the Prime Minister.

"Stay close and don't even think about running off." The black haired female responded back to them before turning away to follow her superior.

Both the Ishgar and Alvarez Mages looked at one another, surprise still on their faces before they went on to follow the group ahead. They only hope that would get more answers before too long.

'I wonder who it is.' This thought ran through almost everyone's mind, curious as to who this Grand Uncle known as the Demon of War was. They all simply figured and remained silence as they waited to see who it was in the flesh.

Natsu kept on wondering however, as if Besen and Tephua were descendants of his own, who could their grand uncle even be? It can't someone who was alive during his and the other's time since that would make whoever it was super old. Plus, he couldn't think of who it could be since everyone else was either dead or had been in stasis.

Unless… his eyes widened as he had one idea on who it could be.

'Don't tell me… is it this world's version of E.N.D?' Natsu wondered mentally if it was another version of the demon. If it was, it would explain why the grand uncle was referred to as the Demon of War. Unless of course that was just a title given, but with the thought of his other half in mind he doubted little that it wasn't E.N.D. If it is, at least he was another good version if he's with his descendants.

But if it was this world's version of the demon, wouldn't that mean his other self was alive after all? Or is that not how it worked here?

It didn't take too long thankfully as the large group were now outside once more, this time elsewhere on the large balcony that went around the large skyscraper. More guards and the occasional mech would be seen patrolling either on foot or in the air due to the gear they had on hand.

Eventually, they arrived at a large opened up area where numerous men and women and sentient robots were seen training in different sections of the outdoor training ground. Either be training against one another in sparring or were testing on dummies. Hand to hand combat was the only thing being done at the moment in the outdoor area on the balcony, with the trainees being supervised by their instructors and teachers.

Eyeing his gaze around, Besen gained a smile as he spotted a certain figure up ahead, talking with one of the instructors about the training they were overseeing.

"Ah, there he is! Grand Uncle!" Besen picked up his speed as he exclaimed loud enough to grabbed the attention of the being up ahead, while Dene and Samidale picked up speed to stay by the Prime Minister's side. Tephua remained with the Mages and the other guards however, as said Mages came to a stop as they saw the figure up ahead.

The being, hearing the voice of a certain dark blue haired politician, dismissed the instructor with a smile while the other left to continue overseeing the trainees. Turning around, the being was revealed by all.

The entity was humanoid but was no human. Standing six feet and a half tall, the lean muscular being had skin that was completely black aside from the glowing green markings that were present on his chest, arms and face. Two large demonic wings with dark purple patagium were visible sticking out of his back that when fully extended could make anyone feel small. Hooves were in place of feet, and the figure's fingers were sharp as claws. The sides of the entity's face had small spikes that faced upward, possessed two giant demonic horns that pointed upward also, and his eyes were completely dark green, glowing faintly.

This… was none other than E.N.D, known in the galaxy as the Demon of War and one of the strongest within the U.G.F.

"It's E.N.D again!" Wendy exclaimed in surprise, seeing another good version of the demon that always seen to be connected to Natsu one way or another.

"Oh, so he's around and about still even after all these years?" Mira questioned, once more somewhat surprised to see another version of the demon. Though at least he seemed to be a good guy once more, since every version of the demon who had this appearance always tended to be on the side of good. At least those they have seen so far.

But hey, the white haired barmaid would gladly take this over seeing an evil version of E.N.D who most of the time was just Natsu and him as the same being. She didn't like seeing any evil versions of the pink haired Fire Dragon Slayer, no matter if it was just him or as E.N.D. She still didn't understand why they seemed to be always connected towards one another in these different realities, but at least it wasn't like that here.

Natsu looked at the sight of the other half of himself, or at least his alternate version's other half. Looks like he guessed it right after all? But if he's alive, shouldn't the other Natsu be alive too? After all, they were basically the same being, just split into two. One couldn't live without the other right?

No one else said anything as they waited to see what would happen next.

Seeing the approaching Besen and the others got the demon to smile before he walked over towards the approaching politician and the rest.

"Besen, it's been a while since we last saw each other in the flesh! How's Lyne and the kids? Well those still living under your roof." E.N.D responded and questioned as Besen ceased his movement as everyone else did, he and the demon having met halfway from their original spots.

"Hello Grand Uncle. Lyne's doing well. She's currently outside of the city working with a charity foundation. The kids are doing great. Derek, Marea, Ranca and Hela will soon be graduating from their respective high school and boot camp, while Aryne, Avin, Lisa, and Shirla will are doing well with their own schooling. Those four are with Lyne at the moment." Besen shared with his Grand Uncle about those who still lived with him and their mom. As for those who already moved out and started families of their own, Eshu, Lou, and Zodir, he couldn't really say since it's been a while since he last talked to them as they lived off world on different planets.

"Good to hear. Glad things are doing well so far… but I guess more on that can be talked about later," E.N.D started to say as he looked over Besen towards the Mages who eyed the demon with confusion, surprise and wariness. Looking over at the dark blue haired man once more, the demon gained a serious expression before he continued onward, "Mainly about them. So they just appeared out of the blue?"

Besen also lost his smile for a moment as he also gained a serious expression.

"Indeed. I'm… unsure how exactly they showed up out of nowhere. They just appeared on the nearby mountain when we detected their Magical presence." Besen admitted, unsure how they just appeared. But nevertheless, Besen was still excited over those who he only heard stories about while growing up along with his brothers and sisters and cousins.

"Hmm…," E.N.D hummed aloud as he placed a hand on his chin, his gaze remaining on the Mages who couldn't help but feel unversed or simply annoyed by the look they were receiving, "That does sound odd. I thought the crystals that held them had gone missing. Have they always been under our noses the entire time?"

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt but uh… who are you supposed to be?" Chelia managed to speak up, getting the demon to look at the pink haired Sky God Slayer while a grin formed on his face, dropping his hand from his chin.

"Oh right, none of you would know who I am. Or at least not fully. My name is E.N.D, the other half of the one and only Natsu Dragneel." E.N.D told them all.

"WHAT?!" Many of them shouted in response in shock, getting E.N.D, Tephua, Besen and Dene to flinch from the sudden shout. Samidale was unaffected like always, unbothered by the loud volume.

Gray had froze in place alongside Lucy and Happy, the three the only ones among the group who were originally aware that Natsu and E.N.D were the same being due to finding the book of E.N.D. But the demon was still alive? They thought the demon side of the pink haired male died when the book vanished upon Zeref's death.

But, Lucy then wondered with hope, if E.N.D was apparently around with his own body… then was Natsu still alive also?

"Wait hold on! What do you mean you're the other half of Natsu?! When did Natsu have something like that?!" Bisca questioned, unsure of this discovery. This was E.N.D, the so called demon that was stated to be Zeref's strongest?

E.N.D merely laughed aloud from hearing this before he figured he would explain.

"Of course most of you wouldn't know that. But yeah, Natsu and I are… or were… two parts of the same being." E.N.D responded as he became more calmer, a small smile as he remembered those days… even when they werne't always pleasant. Especially the initial years after the Alvarez War when he was still trapped inside the pink haired male.

"Salamander and E.N.D are the same…?" Cobra muttered in surprise, not expecting to learn that today. If the demon ahead of them was alive and apparently some other half of the Fire Dragon Slayer, did that mean the pink haired man himself was still alive and active?

"I'm sure you all have questions, and be assured that they will be answered." Tephua told them all once more while he moved over towards where his cousin, his bodyguards and Grand Uncle were.

"Oh no doubt about that. Come on, we will talk as we walked around and give you a nice tour of the place… or at least on this level of the building. Everything is on this level." E.N.D informed them as he turned around along with Natsu's two descendants, the sentient robot assassin and the woman bodyguard.

Before they could start walking however, they were stopped when Cana spoke up.

"Wait a moment!" Cana exclaimed, grabbing their attention as they looked over their shoulders to see the brown haired Card Mage as she continued, "If you are apparently part of Natsu or whatever, and you're still around… then that means Natsu is still alive right?" She finished with hope in her tone.

"Oh yeah, if he's suppose to be half of Natsu or whatever, then Natsu must be around still!" Meredy exclaimed with happiness in her tone. Sure she would admit she was still somewhat saddened that she would never have a chance to be with him due to him finding someone else to be in love, but at least he was still alive since E.N.D was.

"Huh, so the flaming idiot is still around." Laxus stated, though a small smile formed on his face when he spoke those words.

"That's surprising, but if E.N.D and him are apparently from the same being or whatever then it makes sense." Brandish figured, though surprised over this.

"This is great! You all should take us to him! I bet he's either expecting us somewhere or we can surprise him!" Erza figured with a proud smile on her face, wondering how Natsu had changed since the last they have seen of him. Since E.N.D was around then Natsu should be around too.

Many of the Mages had smiled on their faces from connecting the dots… only to loose them and become confused by the serious and hardened expression that E.N.D had on his face, while Besen, Dene, and Tephua merely had frowns though it was hard to tell due to the latter's helmet, while Samidale was unable to make such an expression.

"Mortals… Natsu's dead. He's been dead for thousands of years." E.N.D told them, not even bothering to inform them in a gentle manner.

That surprised the guild hall's inhabitants, while Natsu merely frowned from hearing this. So he was dead anyway like everyone else who weren't in stasis. That kind of sucks… he actually was hoping he would be alive in someway to see how he may be, but alas it was not so.

"Wait, if Natsu's dead then how is E.N.D still around?" Freed questioned from seeing this confusion detail.

"Yeah, if they were connected to one another shouldn't E.N.D also died off ages ago?" Kagura wondered aloud, wondering how Natsu died years ago like everyone else who weren't in stasis such as Makarov and Asuka yet E.N.D was still alive and active.

"Maybe we will get answers if we keep watching, though I will admit this is somewhat sad to hear." Makarov admitted to his children plus the Mermaid Heel Mages, the lone Lamia Scale Mage and Marvell from 137-C. Sure he knew that such was life when people don't live forever as time goes on, but since the alternate E.N.D was around the small old man kind of hoped that the alternate Natsu would still be alive then.

"Yeah, that kind of sucks." Marvell admitted, as she kind of wanted to know what a Natsu who lived for thousands of years would look like. Maybe he might have had a cool beard or something, who knows.

No more words were spoken as everyone remained glued to the blue smoke, wondering what their doubles' reactions would be from learning of this.

Finally, chapter done! Sorry it took a while, just been lazy and haven't had enough time to really work on my stuff lately. Mainly due to having got a new puppy in our family and adjusting to that while making sure he and my cats don't kill each other.

But yeah, there's the chapter. From what I have seen from you all in the reviews, I imagined many of you thought Natsu was going to be the Prime Minister. But alas I have bamboozled you all!

…Wait you all saw that coming?

…Oh.

Anyway, next time more answers will be revealed to our Mages of the past in the other timeline to find out what exactly has happened in their absence. So be on the look out for that whenever it may be.

Fun fact, since I'm unoriginal some of the designs I used for a few of the people and aliens here are based off of some art I stumbled upon when looking through Artstation because it's great. So here's the sources if you want to check them out, all which are on Artstation.

Esto – based off of "Treasure Hunt" by Esteo.

Samidale – based off of "SAMIDALE" by Esteo.

Sorrel – based off of "Creature Design 1" by Uros Sljivic.

Cha'Tima – based off of "Rain Making Rituals" by Esteo.

Meculin – based off of the second pic down in "Weekly Sketches Week 7 Alien Mercs" by Hue Teo.

Chortu – based off of "Alien Soldier" by Uros Sljivic.

And there you all go.

So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Let me know.

See you all next time, whenever that will be.