Chapter One:
Wendy rubbed her temples, the pain spreading across her forehead. She felt like some kind of chemical injection and the toxic was slowly numbing her body. Her head literally felt like it was going to split open. She put both of her hands on the side of her head, took a deep breath again and recited the spell. Her hands emitted a pale blue light for a few seconds, but the spell did nothing. She let her arms fall to her side, sighing as it was the umpteenth time her magic had failed to heal the headache. She had even tried the Body Anomaly spell, which would shatter the headache if it was being brought on by an enemy's magic. However, even that failed. It was very weird. She was out of ideas; however, her headache was the least of her worries.
The day that she and Carla and feared was upon them, and it had happened quicker than they anticipated. It was only three days ago when Carla had her premonition, and the scenes she saw frightened them both. Naturally, they both kept it a secret from the guild to not stir up any trouble, but looking back, Wendy almost wished she could have warned them. Carla claimed to have seen three visions: one of a blonde-haired woman with a blood-splattered face, crying (Carla assured her that the woman was not Lucy), a second of a small child sitting in front of two graves crying (the child was oddly wearing a white suit, even though it was a funeral), but the third scared them most of all. It was of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people running away from some glowing figure. More importantly, the last vision looked as if it was in a location not in Earthland…meaning….
She traveled to a different dimension. It was all unusual though; unlike Edolas, her magic still worked (even if it failed her many times).
Wendy looked around now, wondering what kind of world she had been dropped in to and where the rest of her friends were. One moment, they were all laughing because Natsu and Gray had gotten into a fight, and almost broke one of the blades of the windmill above the guild sign, and the next she found herself lying on the park bench with a splitting headache. In front of her lay a garden of flowers. She could smell all the different scents; the magnolias and the lilies and the buttercups. Behind her, she could make out a house in the distance with only a few lights on since it was so late at night. It was dark because of the new moon, but Wendy could see a lot of stars in the sky. It was almost ironic; the sky was the same as the one from Earthland, and yet, she knew she was not home anymore.
Wendy tucked in her knees and rested her chin. The feeling of being away from home was setting in. She felt so lonely. She had no idea where she was or where her friends were. This was one of the first times Carla was not by her side, which both worried and scared her. Carla could be anywhere in this world, and if the inhabitants of this world were unfamiliar with Exceed….Wendy didn't want to think about it. Wendy felt her body weakening and her stomach growled. She had used up a good portion of her energy trying to get rid her headache and needed to replenish it. On top of that, she hadn't eaten all day (er….night?) Sighing, Wendy stood up, her legs shaking underneath her. Sitting around would not do her any good.
And then the pain in her head seared. She was too busy soaking in her surroundings that she had completely forgotten about her headache. She groaned and rubbed her forehead. The migraine seemed worse than it was before…..actually; calling it a migraine was an understatement. She collapsed to her knees, the pain beginning to mess with her vision. She was starting to see spots and her vision blurred. Her entire body was shaking, and she could feel the energy draining from her muscles. She barely had enough energy to look around. She saw, in the distance, a small light coming up the pathway. It seemed that someone would find her unconscious body. Hopefully, they were friendly.
She could feel herself going under, but thoughts still raced in her mind. A headache she couldn't cure…..an unknown world….Carla….her friends…..
Just what was going on?
Lucy Heartfilia was not a happy camper. She found herself lying unconscious on a pile of garbage in an alleyway, was totally lost, and she was pretty sure some stray animal had peed on her. She now was leaning against a brick wall. The only thing illuminating the alley was a small, incandescent light that swayed with the night breeze. It reminded her of a creepy movie scene, and every once in a while scanned both ways to make sure no one was coming. The air smelled of both rotting food and freshly baked bread. She assumed that she must have been behind a bakery of some sort. A fly buzzed by and landed on one of the garbage bags. Lucy shivered, the site of the big disgusting her.
Lucy stood up and stretched her arms. It was really weird. She was trying to stop Natsu and Gray from fighting, when things suddenly went black. There wasn't anything strange, it was all unexpected. She had no idea where she was….could it have been teleportation magic? A sudden anger swelled up in her, as she wanted to beat the pulp out of whoever had sent her here. Well, on the plus side, she would have a reason for handing in her already late rent.
Lucy turned and walked down the alleyway. She needed to find the train station….and some money. She wondered how much it would be to travel back to Magnolia….well; she would need to find out what town she was in to begin with. But still, this town seemed strange. She could see high rise buildings in the distance, buildings taller than any she had seen before. It was unusual, and she was surprised that she had never heard of this place.
There was a shuffle behind her and she whirled around. The alley was empty, and the only noise was the swaying of the lamp. Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. She turned back around and nearly screamed. There was a man wearing a hooded green sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. The hood covered his face, but she could see the smile creep across his face. The man had his hand inches away from her ass.
Lucy jumped back. "Who are you?!"
The man cracked a smile. He raised his hand. Her keys dangled from his fingers. "Just someone passing by."
She looked down. When did he…..?
"Give them back!" Lucy lunged forward, but the man dodged to the side. Lucy staggered and then whirled around. The man darted up the alleyway. Lucy quickly went for her whip and lashed out. The watery whip of the Fleuve d'etoiles wrapped around the man's leg and brought him to the ground.
Lucy walked up and put her foot on the man's back in order to keep him down. He struggled a little, and then cursed when Lucy took back her keys.
"Now, who are you?"
The man smiled. "You underestimate me, Lucy Heartfilia."
Lucy was taken aback. "How do you know me?"
The man pushed upwards and knocked Lucy over. "My employer is an…old acquaintance of yours."
"Acquaintance…?" Lucy thought. "Who is it?"
"I promised not to speak his name." The man said. He reached for the keys again, but Lucy was not going to give them up without a fight. She kept her grip and they both seemed to be in a tug-of-war, with the keys being the prize.
"Let go!" Lucy shouted, bringing back her heel and kicking the man in the balls.
The man crumbled to the ground, and Lucy stepped backwards.
Lucy held up a gold key. "I open thee, Gate of the Ram, Aries!" A moment went by, but nothing happened. There was no golden light and there was no Aries. Lucy shouted the chant again, but still, Aries did not appear. She grabbed another key.
"I open thee, Gate of the Lion, Leo!" She shouted. Leo, like Aries, did not appear. "Leo! GET OUT HERE!" She began shouting at the lion key.
The man smiled. "That won't work, girlie." The man seemed to have recovered and stood up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three small black orbs.
Lucy stepped backwards. "But that's….how do you…..?"
"You aren't the only one who traveled to this world." The man smiled and lunged again, grabbing the key ring. Once again, the two were in a tug-of-war contest. The two pulled until the key ring snapped, and the keys fell to the ground. Lucy fell backwards, while the man began picking up the keys.
"No!" Lucy shouted and she dove for the keys. She managed to grab a silver key, and it appeared to be Crux's.
The man got up and darted in the opposite direction towards the street.
"Wait!" Lucy scrambled to her feet and ran after him. The man turned right and Lucy ran out, only to stumble backwards as a car whizzed by, its horn blaring. She was breathing heavy; the car had only missed her by a few inches.
Lucy stood up and looked down the street; the man had disappeared. There was no one else around on the street. A woman across the street was looking out her window, probably wondering what the horn was for, but she left after seeing nothing. She looked at her hand. She was holding onto Aries and Loki's keys, and managed to snatch up Crux's. Three keys, huh.
A light shined and Loki appeared before here.
"There you are!" Lucy cursed.
Loki frowned. "You know why I couldn't come through the gate."
Lucy rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah yeah." Lucy remembered the man held up those black orbs. She had seen those things before, and they could cancel out any type of magic. Lucy stopped. "But wait, my whip worked."
"It seems that your whip is the one of the only things that can withstand the orbs since you don't need to use up any magical energy to use it."
Lucy looked at the ground. "Can you still sense him?"
"No." Loki replied.
"Oi, where are we?" Lucy asked.
"I don't know…." Loki turned to her. "But this place…doesn't feel like Earthland."