This is an AU/Alternate Universe based off of the music video 'Gang of Rhythm' by Walk off the Earth.

The story is set in a world without magic but with the same technology as in canon Fairy Tail. Meaning, they use trains and carriages to move around, but there are some special and super expensive cars that very few people own. There are guns, too, and school systems similar to those in America and with college. Also, any character that died during the manga or anime - not before, like Lucy's mom - is still alive.

Pairing(s) (will update if other pairings are put into fic): Jerza


I got this old guitar, the strings are rusty but it's all I need

Bring in the kick drum, it can bring back the beat,

Let's gather 'round and sing a song


Under the sweltering sun laid a long train track. It wound across mountains, through tunnels, and across bridges over rivers. It snaked around forests and traveled across the endless golden plains. The railroad went past towns, cities, and small farmhouses. It was a never ending track, bound to go on forever.

- Until it did stop, of course. Right at the edge of a forest in the middle of nowhere, the train track was unfinished. Labor was expensive, and no one was willing to continue the railroad. The goal of the governments included was to create a track that went from one end of the coast, in a country called Pergrande, all the way to a little town named Clover in Fiore, which was surrounded by mountains but still near the ocean. It was a feat no one had ever accomplished before.

However, they soon ran into difficulties. Halfway through the building of the railroad, the men hired to do the job quit because of unfair working conditions, minimum wage, and the numerous and mysterious deaths that had occurred. By then, the railroad had been completed in Pergrande but was still unfinished in Fiore, the railraod was to run through.

The country of Pergrande did not send anyone to help - in fact, they backed out of the railroad construction, leaving Fiore's government to solve the problem of theirs.

The government quickly figured something out: They would use criminals from local prisons to complete a section of the railroad, which would connect the tracks together. It would be a quick solution, cheaper than the earlier plan as they would not have to pay the criminals but instead expand their sentence terms to fit the construction of the railroad.

Not two days after the plan was put into effect, one government official was walking down the hallways of the local Magnolia Prison, two guards behind him. He stopped before one cell, and, pulling out the key, unlocked the cell door. There was the beginning of a protest from the person within.

"It's not time for my trial yet, so why are ya-" The government official pulled out the prisoner with one hand, his fist in the prisoner's striped shirt.

"Don't talk. I'll explain," the official replied, glaring. The prisoner frowned but nodded, his hands forced behind his back as one guard put on handcuffs.

They started to walk back down the hall, the prisoner glancing back at the official out of the corner of his dark eyes every few seconds.

"Are you going to talk...?" the dark haired prisoner asked.

The official ignored him.

They kept walking.

Finally, a few minutes later, they were in a small interrogation room. Pushing the prisoner inside, the official turned to the guards.

"Stay out here," he ordered. "If he tries to attack, you can intervene... although I doubt he will."

They nodded and took their positions. The official, putting a hand up to his long, black hair that was tied in a ponytail, following the prisoner into the interrogation room. The prisoner was already sitting in one chair, so the dark haired official sat across from him.

"Gray Fullbuster, 22 years old, correct?" the official asked.

The prisoner grunted. "That's me. What do you want? My trail isn't until -"

"I'm not here to talk about your reasons for being in prison - although the rules state that I have to mention them. Stripping in public and h-" Before the official could finish, Gray Fullbuster shook his head.

"Innocent."

"A bystander caught a video of you stripping, Fullbuster."

"Of that - I'm guilty, yeah, I should be fined for that. Not put in jail, though, just 'cause I flashed a couple it was an accident. But the second..." the prisoner grew even more serious and somber, if it was possible. "Innocent."

The official didn't press the subject. "You have been called because of a recent national decision to let all unverified prisoners and convicted prisoners with minor infringes of the law to help serve their country."

"I'm being put into the army? That's legal?" Gray asked.

"No. You will not be drafted into the army - you be helping with the construction of the still unfinished railroad project that was designed to connect one coast of the Pergrande kingdom to Clover Town," the official said, purple eyes flashing behind his glasses when Gray had spoken. "This includes manual labor and possible death, in which case we would alert your family. Although in your case, you have no living family."

"Eh? Well, that's better than rotting away in a prison until my trial," Gray Fullbuster said, shrugging as he ran a hand through his spiky hair. He'd chosen to ignore the intended barb in the official's voice. "When do I start? And who are you, anyway?"

The official's eyes flashed again. "I am Lahar, the Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit, and you start at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, Fullbuster."


"Natsu Dragneel. 22 years old. Convicted for arson of a major church, tearing down all of the trees in a local park, several fistfights that landed others in hospitals, attempted theft of an old man, arson of two shops, and aided destruction of two towns... were you a part of a cult or a gang?" Doranbolt asked the prisoner, who was yawning as Doranbolt listed off all of his crimes.

Natsu shook his head.

"Well, this is a lot of property damage. Whoa - there's another page of all of your crimes! Destruction of an apartment complex, destroying four restaurants, assault of another individual that goes by the name of Kageyama, assaulting the leader of Kageyama's gang, destroying -"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. Skip to the exciting stuff, will ya?" Natsu said, waving an arm. "Plus, I can explain all of that."

"Oh? Then why don't you?" Doranbolt challenged.

"Okay!" Natsu quickly brightened. "The arson and destruction - that was all accidental. I found a lighter once. Never threw it away. I still had it on me when they arrested me. And the theft of that old man - I didn't rob that geezer, I was hugging him because I thought he was someone I knew. Turns out it wasn't. Cagey llama and Merry Gore, they were part of a gang that tried to mess with me 'cause I burned down their hideout."

"You don't need to explain it all," Doranbolt interrupted. "And the reports say Kageyama and Erigor, not...the names you just said."

"Right. Whatever."

The two men were sitting down in a room not unlike the same Gray Fullbuster and Lahar were, in the same prison facility located in Era. Doranbolt was attempting to follow the standard procedures for the prisoner, but as he had found out, Dragneel had too many crimes to list. None were too terribly serious, although Dragneel had burnt down a church and destroyed parts of a few towns. Doranbolt's eyes widened when he realized there was a third page with more listed, all having to do with a fight, arson, or minor destruction.

"So why am I here? I already paid any fines for damage, and my sentence says I'm supposed to be here for the next few months," Natsu said. "My cases are closed."

"Yes, but because of a recent - hold on one second."

Doranbolt dug through a small folder until he'd found one paper he was looking for. Clearing his throat, he read, "Because of a recent national decision to let all unverified prisoners and convicted prisoners with minor infringes of the law to help serve their country..."


"Eh? Do I look like I can do-" the young lady paused, waiting a second, brown eyes bulging in comical horror "-manual labor?!"

"No," the government official admitted, looking up for once second before reading the rest of the paper's words. "But you've been chosen as a part of this project to help with the construction of the still unfinished railroad project that was designed to connect one coast of the Pergrande kingdom to Clover Town. As stated before, this includes manual labor and possible death, in which case we would alert your family."

The blonde, 21, slouched in her seat. "I'm too pretty for manual labor! Too lazy!"

The government official, who went by the name of Nadal, said, "Too bad, Lucy Heartfilia. You will be moving to the holding cell where you will be kept at night today, and tomorrow at eight am you will be working on the national railroad project. Yes, you will be doing manual labor."

Lucy groaned.


"Take me to Erza Scarlet's cell, please," the man requested.

"Who are you?" the guard asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I am from Fiore's government - you should be expecting a Serena?" The government official spoke up.

"Er - that's right. Just... be careful when you go in there. There's a reason she's in maximum level security," the prison guard said as he led Serena to the cell. Once there, he opened up the cell for Serena.

"Why do you say that-"

Just then, eyes glowed from the back of the dimly lit cell. A woman, though in the standard prison outfit, stood redoubtable and formidable as she took a step forward, revealing long red hair and striking eyes. Though lean, she had apparent muscles.

"Are you sure she's on the list?" The guard said.

Serena nodded. "Scarlet is on the list. She was chosen because of her strength."

"What list?" Erza Scarlet's voiced boomed. The prison guard trembled in fear.

Serena turned to the redhead. "Erza Scarlet, 24 years old," he stated. "You have been chosen to help out with a railroad project for the government. You will assist Fiore starting tomorrow, but you need to leave today."

Erza said nothing, but still glared at Serena and the prison guard, who almost wet himself when she glanced at him.

"Scarlet, if I may ask... why are you in prison? Murder? Theft?" Serena asked.

The frightening monster, the terrifying demon, and the one lady the prison guard had never wanted to even ever see faced Serena with her deadliest look.

The prison guard fainted.

Serena just stared.

"If that is all... may we go now?" Erza asked.


That night, several carriages were sent to the prison, where they would escort chosen prisoners to the unfinished railroad and to their assigned rooms where the criminals would be staying. Each carriage was made to fit four, and the guards arranged the criminals by some unknown order.

Natsu glared at the man who had pushed him into the carriage. "Bastard! I could have gotten in myself!" he yelled. He stopped screaming when another man, this time a prisoner, was shoved into the carriage. The criminal had dark, spiky hair and drooping eyes. He was also struggling to get out of his clothing but couldn't as both men were handcuffed.

"Hey, who are you?" Natsu asked.

There was no reply.

"Answer me!" Natsu growled.

No reply.

"Why the hell aren't you talking-"

"Gray Fullbuster," the other finally said. "That's my name."

Natsu blinked. "I'm Natsu Dragneel."

Gray snorted. "That's you?" he said. "You're Dragneel?"

"Yeah..." Natsu narrowed his eyes as he watched Gray's face. "What's it to you?"

"Lots of people know your name. You're the reckless pyro who destroyed several buildings in just a couple of hours," Gray said. "I never thought I'd be talking to Dragneel in the flesh. Although, I never thought Dragneel would look so weird. What moron has pink hair?"

"Say that to my face, droopy eyes!" Natsu said.

"I just did!"

Before they could get into a real fight, two more prisoners were brought into the carriage, so the two became quiet. Both didn't stop glaring at the other man, however.

Only one carriage over, Lucy was just starting to sit down. She looked at the other three in there - one was so fat that he took up the entire row, meaning that she had to squeeze on the other side with two normal sized people.

The first thing she did after sitting down was surveying the other criminals. According to what the government official had said, everyone chosen either had done a lighter offense, like a small robbery, or was still waiting for their trial and was undetermined. The fat man had black hair with a small curl on the top of his head. The other man, sitting two people away from Lucy, had spiky orange hair in a long pony tail. All of his features were sharp.

The only other girl had short, wavy blue hair and friendly eyes. She was sitting next to Lucy and gave her an apologetic smile when Lucy had to sit next to her.

"Hello! I'm Levy McGarden!" the blue haired girl greeted. "These two are Jet and Droy." She pointed at Droy as the fat man and Jet as the skinny.

Lucy smiled. "Lucy Heartfilia."

"Oh! I know you! You were in the newspaper because you'd run away from your family... and stole several objects from your father," Levy said.

"Yep. That's why I'm here," Lucy said as she grew slightly bitter when thinking about her own father had put her in jail. He'd called it robbery, but Lucy had only been taking her most important possessions when she had run away - some of her clothes, a couple of expensive necklaces that she owned, and her money. She'd been put in jail mostly because of her father's influence and desire to get rid of her. "What about you, Levy?"

"Have you heard of the Solid Script Trials?" Levy asked. Lucy nodded.

"That was when several books and important scripts were stolen from the Era's main library, wasn't it? That was that you?"

Levy laughed. "I know, people were expecting someone else that was doing it. But it was Droy, Jet, and I that did it. We were only doing what we needed to survive. Of course, the police didn't see it that way."

"I don't think anyone would see stealing books as surviving, Levy," Jet admitted.

Lucy was about to agree, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, the carriage lurched forward. As Lucy was sitting next to one of the windows she was able to look outside. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jet and Droy doing the same while Levy attempted, although she was too small to.

"We're moving!" Lucy said. "Oh, great... I'm not ready for work!"

A few carriages over, the formidable Erza Scarlet glared at all of the other prisoners until they couldn't even look in her general direction without whimpering. They weren't sure exactly who this redhead thought she was, but they knew with one glance that they were not to mess with her. Even if all three of the men sitting with her were huge, buff, and scary looking as well.

When she thought no one was looking, Erza's glare turned into a sad smile as she recalled days of the past. The exact reason why she had been placed in handcuffs and shipped of to jail, sure, but they had been the good old days.

One prisoner saw her expression and pointed it out.

The other two men in the carriage learned not to even talk to Erza Scarlet as the criminal who had pointed out her face slumped down, knocked out, Erza's right foot coming back to the ground.