"This is… a seal?" Mavis, who'd been peeking over everyone's shoulders with those big curious eyes, leaned in closer and lightly brushed her fingers across the bandages.
The second her fingertips touched the cloth, thin streams of golden light started leaking out from the gaps.
"Yep," Roger nodded. "It's an ancient sealing spell. Super good at keeping whatever's inside from leaking magic power."
Mavis frowned a little as the golden glow faded from her fingers. "But this seal wasn't made to handle cursed objects, so that explosion earlier probably had nothing to do with it."
"Not a curse, huh…" Lucy tapped her lower lip with a finger, thinking hard. "Which means that blast was totally man-made."
"Their target was probably this magic item right here," Charle crossed her arms and picked up where Lucy left off. "Two possibilities: either they wanted to snatch it for themselves, or they wanted to keep anyone else from getting it."
She paused. "But if it was the second one, they wouldn't have blown up the whole house. Plus, Michelle's dad crawled out of the rubble hugging this thing."
"So odds are they were after the first option," Roger finished.
"My guess? When the attackers showed up, Michelle's dad grabbed the item and hid in the secret room. The bad guys couldn't find it, got pissed, and just blew the whole place sky-high," Lucy said.
Lucy carefully lifted the magic item out of the leather case. It was heavier than she expected. "Something this small caused that big a fight… what kind of crazy power does it have?"
She slowly started unwinding the bandages.
One loop at a time, the linen fell away, revealing an old bronze-colored metal rod completely covered in tiny scratches and markings.
"This is the magic item?"
"Those marks… are they runes?"
"It's ancient Potamellian script!" three voices shouted at practically the same time.
Mavis whipped around, eyes wide. "Roger, Levy—you guys can read that old language too?!"
Happy tilted his head. "Is that, like, super rare or something?"
Mavis nodded hard. "Of course! Even a hundred years ago, only a tiny handful of people could read it."
Levy scratched her cheek, blushing. "I just really like learning all kinds of languages, that's all. The weirder and more obscure, the more fun they are!"
Roger just grinned. "Never hurts to know extra stuff. You never know when it'll come in handy." He leaned in toward the rod. "Anyway, it says: 'Time keeps flowing without pause, and the Chaos World shall eventually arrive.'"
Levy's brow furrowed. "I swear I've seen that line somewhere before… super recently, actually!"
"I think I stashed that book in the guild storage—be right back!" Before anyone could blink, she was already sprinting out the door.
"Chaos World?" Happy tilted his head the other way. "Like a world where everything's just… nothing and super messed up?"
"Is this thing predicting the world's gonna end as time goes by?" Wendy asked nervously.
Lucy shook her head. "It's gotta be more than just a prophecy, or people wouldn't be fighting this hard over it."
"What're you all huddled up for?" Natsu's voice suddenly boomed right behind Lucy.
"GYAAA!" She jumped a foot in the air and instinctively swung the metal rod backward.
CRACK!
The wooden table behind her split right down the middle.
Natsu ducked just in time, flames whooshing to life in his palms, a huge excited grin on his face. "Ohhh! Lucy, you wanna throw down? Sweet!"
"I still didn't get enough fighting with Sting earlier! Let's go—use your new toy and fight me for real!"
"W-WAIT, HOLD UP!" Lucy flailed her arms. "You scared the crap outta me popping up behind me like that! It was just reflex, I swear! I do NOT wanna fight right now!!"
Natsu's flames poofed out and his shoulders slumped. "Aww, man… I got all fired up for nothing. Lame."
Seeing him drop the idea, Lucy finally exhaled and looked at the rod again. "Wow, this thing's tougher than it looks…" She tapped it lightly. "I seriously thought I broke it just now."
"Ara~ Did we get a new guild member while we were gone?" Mirajane's gentle voice floated in from the entrance.
Everyone turned to see Mira smiling sweetly, Erza right behind her with her arms crossed, and Lisanna trailing way back looking exhausted.
"You're back already?" Roger raised an eyebrow.
Mira put a finger to her cheek and pouted dramatically. "I really didn't expect to get caught… Erza has tracking magic built into her armor, can you believe it?"
She sighed theatrically. "I went so far, too, and then—bam!—she jumps outta the bushes and attacks me. So sneaky~"
A vein popped on Erza's forehead. "Who exactly is the sneaky one here?! Is there anyone sneakier than YOU?!"
Lisanna sighed from the back. "I knew I shouldn't have tagged along…"
"Mira-nee and Erza flattened five whole mountains while they were fighting. The shockwaves almost wiped out an entire town."
"WH-WHAT?!" Makarov did a spit-take, eyes practically popping out. "You two—!!"
Mira just smiled brightly and cut him off. "Relax, Master! I borrowed one of Kana's time-magic cards beforehand." She wiggled the card between her fingers. "Everything's already back to normal~"
Makarov swallowed the lecture he was about to unleash, face turning red from holding it in. After a long moment he just muttered, "…Fine. Just… be more careful next time."
"Guys! I found it!" Levy came skidding back in, hugging a massive old book. She slapped it open on the table.
"This book tells the story of a clock that's been passed from hand to hand over hundreds of years."
She ran her finger across the page and stopped on an illustration in the corner. "Look right here!"
Everyone crowded around. Wendy gasped first. "That's exactly like the magic item Michelle brought—the hand looks identical!"
"Yep," Levy said, eyes sparkling. "So this rod is almost definitely one piece of a much bigger magic item… part of a giant clock."
"Clock… Chaos… I've heard rumors about this," Mavis murmured, then her eyes shot wide open. "I remember now! It's the Infinity Clock!!"
"The Infinity Clock?" pretty much everyone echoed.
Mavis's expression turned dead serious. "If it's a clock that people are killing each other over, it can only be that thing."
"It's made of six separate parts. Put them all together and you get the complete Infinity Clock."
She frowned. "But it was supposed to be sealed and guarded by the Saint Tobias Cathedral. How did one piece end up with Michelle's family?"
Simon suddenly connected the dots. "Wait—the Six Demon Generals destroyed Saint Tobias… were they trying to collect the parts?"
"The timing lines up perfectly with the explosion Michelle talked about."
"They already broke out of prison… so maybe they're the ones who attacked her house trying to grab the pieces?"
Mavis shook her head. "No, that doesn't add up. The seal around the Infinity Clock has a special property—anyone with dark or evil magic can't even touch it."
"So collecting the parts probably isn't their goal."
Makarov set his mug down heavily. "First Master… do you know what happens when all six parts are assembled?"
"I only know the basics," Mavis sighed. "Legend says every hundred years, the Infinity Clock releases the magic power it's been storing and starts running."
"If all six scattered parts are brought together at that exact time… time itself will start flowing uncontrollably, the world will rush toward its end, and chaos will swallow everything."
Erza crossed her arms, thinking hard. "So does it automatically happen the moment all six parts are together, or are there other conditions?"
"I'm not sure," Mavis admitted. "That's all I read in the cathedral's hidden library ages ago. I don't know the details."
Levy nodded slowly. "Then the inscription on the hand makes sense—'Time keeps flowing without pause' means every century the clock powers up, and that could drag the world into chaos."
"That's amazing!" Michelle clasped her hands, staring at everyone in pure awe. "You guys figured out this much in just a few minutes—you really are Fairy Tail wizards!"
She turned to Lucy with a big smile. "Right, sis—?" But then she noticed Lucy's troubled frown. "Sis? Did they get something wrong?"
Lucy snapped out of her thoughts and forced a smile. "No, it's nothing… I just suddenly remembered a story I read when I was little that might be connected to the Infinity Clock."
She scratched her head trying to recall. "It was called The Key of the Starry Sky."
"I don't remember much, but you had to collect six keys, and the hiding place of the very last key was connected to Saint Tobias Cathedral."
Happy gave her a deadpan look. "Lucy, why do you always read the weirdest books? Last time it was that Lullaby thing you read about in a book too."
"Don't normal kids read stuff like The Tortoise and the Hare?"
Lucy laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck. "I was super bored back then, okay?"
"Daddy was always working and never had time for me. I finished all the normal fairy-tale books and still had nothing to do, so I started digging through the weird old ones in the library."
Her eyes softened. "I remember this one so well because of the ending…"
"The little girl who collected all six keys got to have one single wish granted."
"I was so lonely back then… I read that book over and over, studying every clue about where those keys might be hidden."
Michelle rested her cheek on her hand, smiling fondly. "Those were the days, huh? I still remember playing with you, big sis."
"Our house felt like a huge castle to me back then."
She giggled softly. "You even made me clothes out of flowers and grass once. I miss that."
"F-FLOWER AND GRASS CLOTHES?!"
Natsu and Happy instantly got the same nosebleed-worthy mental image.
The next second, Erza's fists smashed those daydream bubbles—and their heads. "What kind of perverted nonsense are you two imagining?!"
"OW! SORRY!" the dragon slayer and the cat wailed, new lumps rising on their skulls.
Lucy just blinked, totally lost. "Huh? We played dress-up like that?"
(Wait… I actually made flower clothes as a kid? I can't even do that now…)
Wendy suddenly lit up. "Wait—the wish! What if the Infinity Clock can grant a wish? That would explain why people are after it… and why they attacked Michelle's house!"
Charle nodded. "It's possible. And the price for that wish might be the world falling into chaos."
Happy tilted his head. "So if the Six Demons are tied to the Infinity Clock somehow, shouldn't we start collecting the parts before they do?"
Roger thought for a second and nodded. "Yeah. If this thing really can end the world, we can't wait for their plan to finish. We gotta grab the pieces first."
Mira smiled at Lucy. "Then we'll need that clue you just gave us, right?"
Happy pumped a paw. "Road trip to the Heartfilia estate to find The Key of the Starry Sky!"
Lucy smirked and pulled out a golden key, giving it a dramatic twirl. "No need for that."
[Celestial Spirit Dress • Gemini Form!]
In a flash of light her outfit changed into the sleek Gemini spirit dress. "When I'm wearing a spirit dress, I can borrow some of my spirits' powers."
"Even though I fused with Gemini for the memory magic, I can still use it just fine."
She pressed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. A silver-gray magic circle bloomed above her head.
Five minutes later she opened her eyes again… and her face had gone pale.
Wendy leaned forward worriedly. "Lucy-san? What's wrong? Couldn't find anything about the clock parts?"
Lucy slowly shook her head. "No… I found the clue."
She looked straight at Michelle, expression complicated. "But…"
She took a deep breath. "Just to be sure, I searched every single childhood memory I have… and I never had a playmate named Michelle."
"I definitely never made flower clothes for a real person."
The air in the guild went ice-cold in an instant.
Charle gasped. "Then she's been lying to us?!"
Cobra, who'd been listening nearby with Jiemma's snake, shook his head. "Nah. Her heartbeat's been rock-steady the whole time. She's not lying."
Mavis nodded too. "My magic senses picked up nothing but genuine happiness when she talked about those memories with Lucy. She really believes them."
Happy's brain officially blue-screened. "Then… what the heck is going on?!"
Everyone turned to stare at the girl in the middle of it all.
Michelle didn't flinch under all those eyes. She just kept smiling gently, completely calm.
Lucy was totally lost now. She dove back into her memories one more time.
"If I actually made flower-and-grass clothes for somebody, I'd definitely remember it…"
Then it hit her like lightning. "Unless… those clothes weren't for a human?!"
The image of an old doll popped into her mind clear as day.
Lucy's eyes shot wide and she stared at Michelle in disbelief. "I never made clothes for a person… but I did make them for a doll."
Her voice shook. "My favorite 'little sister' doll…"
"You're… you're Gonsales?!"
The moment that name left her lips, Michelle's calm mask finally cracked.
Tears welled up in her eyes, her voice trembling. "So… you really do remember me, big sis."
Lucy slapped a hand over her mouth, stunned. "It's really you… but how—"
Before she could finish, pitch-black light suddenly erupted from the floor beneath Michelle's feet, swallowing her whole in an instant.
Michelle looked down at herself in confusion, raising a hand as dark energy coiled around her body.
"Wh… what's happening to me…?"