Lucy Heartfilia's Rescue from Mercurius

Lucy Heartfilia's Rescue from Mercurius is an event that takes place during the Grand Magic Games arc.
==Prologue==
After their talk with the Dragon Zirconis, the Fairy Tail Mages in the Dragon graveyard find themselves confronted by Arcadios and Yukino Agria.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 301, Pages 18-19 Stating that they have a plan, Arcadios invites the Mages to come with him to Mercurius, with Yukino adding that their plan can be the key to defeating Zeref and Acnologia.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 302, Pages 2-5
After seeing the Eclipse Machine that they intend to have a Celestial Spirit Mage open so as to travel back in time and defeat Zeref before he was immortal, the Mages are then surrounded by the army's forces as the Minister of Defense, Darton, approaches. Angry with Arcadios due to the potential dangers of changing history, Darton orders his arrest, as well as the arrests of Lucy and Yukino. Natsu's Magic is taken by the Eclipse Machine, preventing him from helping and ending in the girls being arrested.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 302, Pages 8-18 The rest of the Fairy Tail Mages are then ejected from the castle afterwards. Darton tells them that due to the King's love of Fairy Tail, if they win the Grand Magic Games, they will be allowed an audience with him, which they accept as currently their only way to save Lucy.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 302, Page 19
The group soon returns to their lodgings to discuss what to do about Lucy's capture. Natsu, restrained to a pillar, yells how they should go rescue Lucy right away. Knowing that they can't save Lucy and become public enemies, Makarov begins to wonder why Lucy was captured. As the group tries working out the reasoning of the kingdom, Natsu tries to leave the lodge to try save Lucy but is quickly stopped by Makarov. Makarov tells Natsu that though they won't barge in, they won't stand down and do nothing like cowards.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 303, Pages 2-6 The next day, at the games, Mavis asks if Makarov has thought his plan through. Makarov tells Mavis that since their chances of winning the Grand Magic Games are uncertain, Natsu and his team will set out to save Lucy under the cover of the Grand Magic Games.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 303, Page 19-20
==Arrival and Rescue==
At the place, a guard takes a captured Natsu and Wendy to his colleague who asks who they are, to which the guard replies they were trying to rescue Lucy. Upon being told to throw them in a cell, the guard begins to head into the palace with Natsu and Wendy but one guard points him to where the cells actually are. When inside, the guard turns out to be Mirajane using her Transformation Magic to sneak them into the palace.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 304, Pages 19-20
Soon after, Natsu and co. find Lucy and Yukino in a cell. Natsu melts the bars to get the two out as they're surprised by everyone's arrival. Lucy is given new clothes while she plots how to get her keys back. Before they can act though, the floor beneath them opens as everyone falls into an underground trap. An image of Hisui E. Fiore appears, as she tells the Fairy Tail members they are in a place no criminal has ever escaped and tells them all to rot there for sneaking into the palace.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 305, Pages 14-18 Though initially unable to find a way to escape, Carla soon discovers a passage nearby which can be used. The Mages squeeze through the narrow exit one by one. Wendy exits first and notices a severely injured Arcadios in the distance.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 307, Pages 10-12
Rushing to his side, the Mages are told by him to get out of the way as a large shadow approaches them from behind and attacks, which they narrowly manage to dodge. Another figure approaches Wendy as well, knocking her and the Mages into the air. Natsu questions who they are as nearby, a plant starts growing, from which a person emerges as two more figures enter. Arcadios recognizes the five people as an independent unit supporting the kingdom, the Garou Knights. Explaining that they're the reason Abyss Palace is inescapable, Arcadios hears the Knights proclamation of their attack.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 307, Pages 13-19
Two of the group, Kamika and Cosmos are the first to attack as the rest subsequently join them. As each knight steps into the battle, the Mages find themselves hard-pressed to fight while defending Lucy and Yukino, who are unable to fight, at the same time. During the course of the battle, Cosmos summons a gigantic flower to swallow the rescue team. As they are sucked into the air, Mirajane, Panther Lily and Natsu manage to destroy the flower with a combined attack, creating a large explosion.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 308, Pages 5-13
As a result, everyone ends up separated from most of the others and the various Mages are forced to fight all the knights separately.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 308, Pages 15-20 Despite their various difficulties in battle, the Mages overcome the Garou Knights. Delivering finishing blows,Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 309, Pages 2-20 the Mages reunite and threaten the knights into giving them the way out.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 310, Pages 2-18
Soon after, the team searches for a way out after having beaten the Garou Knights. While talking, Loke suggests that it was Arcadios' jade amulet which protected him from the lava as it can act as a talisman, causing Wendy to remember the Jade Dragon. Yukino also notes that the princess is named Hisui which means jade as well, with Lucy and Carla adding that they need to meet her and decide for themselves if Eclipse is right or not. As Natsu gets angry over the princess being the one who threw them in Abyss Palace, the door in front opens and Natsu rolls on the floor towards it, coming close to a person wearing a hood. Looking up, Natsu asks who they are.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 311, Pages 2-5 The hooded person begins crying, apologizing and asking for their strength. Others recognize her voice as she does so. Removing her hood, the figure reveals themselves as Lucy, greatly surprising everyone.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 312, Pages 24-25
As she cries further, the other Mages nearby ask how it's possible that she looks like Lucy, since she's not Gemini and they aren't in Edolas. The Lucy in the robe asks them about the Eclipse gate, presuming they already know about its time travel mechanism, and tells them she's from the future, shocking them further. For a moment, Lucy stares at her future counterpart while Loke expresses surprise at the situation. As the Lucy from the future attempts to reveal information about the country's future, she suddenly collapses. Natsu and Wendy take a look at her while Happy and Panther Lily question the situation. As Lucy stares at the fainted girl, Mirajane approaches her, at which point she states that the situation is creepy, wondering why she came from the future. Picking up the unconscious girl, Natsu states they'll take her with them since they can't leave her behind. As they leave the castle, the Mages state they'll fire a signal to show that the rescue was successful, though they ended up with one more Lucy than they expected.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 313, Pages 2-6
While attempting to escape, the team gets lost due to not having anticipated the grand scale of the castle. Natsu suggests clashing with soldiers to be quicker, though Carla points out that their injured members makes that impossible. Mirajane states that they also need to make a good impression at the Grand Magic games due to it being sponsored by the King, though Yukino notes their actions to have eliminated that possibility.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 316, Page 14
Meanwhile, Lucy sadly stares at her counterpart from the future as Loke tries and fails to comfort her. Suddenly, the Lucy from the future wakes up and asks where she is. Her memory comes back to her as well, allowing her to remember that after she escaped Hell Palace, they got captured again by the army since they came across Eclipse and were unable to use Magic. Wendy then asks why she came back from the future, to which she replies that it was to prevent the worst possible outcome.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 316, Pages 15-17 An extremely shocked Natsu questions the revelation, with several others wondering about it as well. As Wendy asks whether it could be related to the events in the Dragon Graveyard, Natsu takes weaponry and suggests fighting the Dragons, much to the surprise of the others. Lucy wonders whether anyone will really believe what is said to happen, though Natsu claims they will since it's her who told them.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 317, Pages 4-6 
Carla recalls her vision and realizes Lucy wasn't singing, but rather, crying and screaming as the castle came down. Quickly, Carla asks the Lucy of the future what happened to them in the castle, which is answered by silence, to everyone's sadness. Stating that she didn't know how many days passed after that, the future Lucy explains that she came to the past after waking up and using the Eclipse, despite not knowing how, and arrived on July 4. When asked why she only came to the recent past, she states that the machine was damaged.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 317, Pages 6-8
The future Lucy then asks the group to head through the underground and meet Jellal, who she explained everything to and should be forming a strategy, claiming that she doesn't have one.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 317, Pages 6-10 As she states she just walked around town, she apologizes to the group. However, Natsu thanks her for the information and states that they'll protect the future.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 317, Pages 11-12 While running through the underground, the group encounters the army. Noticing that Yukino disappeared along with Arcadios, Mirajane leaves to find them, leaving the rest to battle the knights.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 318, Pages 2-5 While battling, Natsu knocks down several knights but is suddenly struck from behind by Magic. However, despite having been caught off guard, Natsu is unharmed, stating that such an attack wouldn't work against a Magic specialist such as himself.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 318, Pages 17-18
As they continue to attack, Lucy wonders how many there are, with her future counterpart saying they shouldn't have come the way they did. Carla claims it doesn't matter since they have Magic, to which Happy tells her to stay back so he can protect her. Panther Lily moves in to attack but is stopped by Neppa. The rest of the Garou Knights arrive, telling the Mages not to underestimate them and Kama arrives as well, stating he won't let them leave, to Natsu's frustration.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 319, Pages 13-15 Ultimately, the Mages continue the battleFairy Tail Manga: Chapter 320, Pages 3-4 against their relentless opponents.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 321, Page 9
The fight goes on with the Fairy Tail Mages growing tired. Wendy is ensnared by Cosmos' plants, to the happiness of the Garou Knights and Lucy's worry. Panther Lily's body changes back into chibi form, much to his displeasure. Loke expresses that they won't last much longer in the battle while Kama tells them to surrender, angering Natsu who tells them he will execute them all. As Uosuke levitates Happy and Carla, he notices a shadow nearby. The shadow engulfs the Fiore army much to everyone's surprise and soon swallows the Garou Knights as well.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 323, Pages 6-9 The shadows dissipate, revealing a figure who asks about the directions where the shadows are reaching out. Natsu recognizes this figure as he states that he is from the future and identifies himself as Rogue.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 323, Pages 17-20
Hearing his claim, the Fairy Tail Mages are bewildered. Lucy's future counterpart realizes someone from the future other than herself exists in the present while Happy asks why he came back to the past. As he is questioned further, Rogue explains that he came to open the door.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 324, Page 2 He reveals that there are the two ways to use Eclipse; as a time travel decide or as a cannon to defeat the Dragons. Glad that there is a way to stop the impending attack, the Fairy Tail Mages are happy until Rogue states that in the future, the Dragons rule the world and humanity is near extinction, stating that they need to be defeated. Though Natsu is confident they can use Eclipse to do so, Rogue reveals that in the future, someone will prevent it from being opened, thus dooming humanity. It is to kill this person that Rogue claims he has arrived. Though the Exceed talk of reasoning with the person, Rogue claims that such is impossible because as long as they are alive, fate dictates that they will close the gate. As Natsu questions who will be the person responsible, Rogue claims it to be Lucy Heartfilia and aims to kill her, much to her shock. However, his attack is blocked by Lucy's future counterpart, who takes the hit instead to everyone's surprise.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 324, Pages 5-11
Seeing her future counterpart fall to the ground, heavily injured, Lucy attends to her. As she does, her future counterpart tells her that she never closed the gate, which Lucy tells her she knows as she would never do it herself. As Lucy asks her why she took the blow, she reveals that if her past counterpart were to die, she would disappear as a result. The other Mages grow sad and while she tells them not to be, since she's from the future, Happy claims that she's still their friend. The future Lucy quickly asks to see Lucy's Fairy Tail mark and smiles sadly as she says she wanted to continue travelling and closes her eyes and falls still, asking them to protect the future as she dies and the Mages weep.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 324, Pages 12-16 Despite these events, the Rogue of the future is convinced Lucy will open the door, stating that it is determined by fate and readies to kill her. However, Natsu angrily attacks him before he can do so, stating he will protect the future.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 324, Pages 17-19
With that, Natsu instructs Lucy to leave. Though she is unwilling, Loke grabs her by the arm and tells her they have to leave it to Natsu, with Carla adding that Rogue is after her. The visitor from the future attempts to intercept them but is knocked back by Natsu, allowing Lucy and the others to escape.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 325, Pages 2-4
==Aftermath==
In front of Mercurius, Princess Hisui declares that they will prepare Eclipse so as to deal with the Dragons. As the movements of the Dragons are watched out for, the citizens are evacuated. The princess hopes for an easy victory, as their current assets will not be immediately renewable. Watching afar from the bushes, Lucy and the rest of the Fairy Tail Mages, sans Loke who was forced to leave due to being near Eclipse, look on at the scene. Remember the words of the future version of Rogue, Lucy is saddened at the prospect of having supposedly doomed the world. Arcadios calls to the Mages from afar, having noticed them and telling them there's no need to hide. The Princess acknowledges them and apologizes for what happened to them, also congratulating them on their guild winning the games, much to their happiness. Lucy questions why the gate is being opened if the Dragons are yet to arrive, to which Arcadios tells Hisui they know everything. He then asks what happened to Lucy's future counterpart, to which they explain that she was killed by the other person from the future. Lucy reveals that he told her she would stop the opening of the gate, though she has no intentions to do so. With that, Hisui explains that the cannon takes time to be prepared, with her father also getting ready.Fairy Tail Manga: Chapter 325, Pages 8-11
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