Chapter three

"So, I'm in another dimension?" Gray clarified. "For real?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Sorry to break it to you man, but I have no idea how to get you back either."

Gray shook his head. "You realize how insane that sounds, right?" He leaned his head back on the wall. "Then again, I've met an alternate universe version of myself, so I guess it's nothing new."

Danny laughed. "wow. You're life really isn't easy, huh?"

"Well, it depends of the day." Both boys laughed. "What about you? How does life work here in- where'd you say we were in again?"

"New York."

"New York land."

Danny cracked a smile, but decided against correcting Gray. "It's ok I guess. Gotta go to school and deal with bully's and annoying teachers and-"

"School?"

"Yeah. Ya know, where you learn to read and write and do math. Where you learn history and-"

"Wait," Gray held up a hand. "You have a master teaching you these things?"

"A teacher, yeah,"

"They teach you magic too?"

Danny laughed. "We don't have magic here Gray."

"But I just saw you-"

"Powers and magic are two different things. And I'm the only one who has powers like these, except for Vlad anyways."

"I get it," Gray snapped his fingers. "Vlad- he's your master isn't he? He's the one teaching you all the 'sool' stuff, right."

"School. And ew, no."

Gray cocked his head to the side. "That's not how you do things here?"

Danny shook his head. "Is that how you do things?"

"Basically I guess. You just choose what magic you want to learn, and find a master. You become their student, and they teach you everything they think you need to know. If you're going to be a wizard, your next step is to join a guild. That's basically how our world works."

"Wow," Danny whistled. "Your parents let you do that? When your so young? Isn't that illegal?"

"Dude, I'm 16. I found my master when I was around 9."

Danny's jaw fell open. "You left home when you were nine? Your parents let you do that!?"

"My parents are dead. It's not uncommon."

"Oh."

Gray just shrugged it off. "It's not really a big deal- At least not any more. So how do things work around here, if my way is so weird?"

"Personally, I like your world better than mine. Here, we are forced by law to attend school from around the age of 6 to the age of 18. School is this building with a bunch of people learning the same thing. The material gets more advanced the older you get. Anyway, after you graduate 12 grades of school, you're an adult. You have to have a job and are normally expected to go to collage."

"That sounds awful. You don't get to choose exactly what you wanna learn?"

"In collage you kinda can," Danny shrugged. "Until then you just kinda have to do what everyone else does."

Gray scowled. "You guys don't really have anything that makes you special, do you?"

Danny was about to protest, but stopped. Compared to Gray and his world, humanity really was boring.

"What's a guild?" Danny asked.

"To be officially be considered a wizard, you have to join one. It just means that people can hire you for your magic ability and you do jobs for them. Or, in Fairy Tail's case, save the world every other day."

"I hear ya," Danny agreed. "So, who's Natsu?"

"My best friend and worst enemy."

"Sounds complicated."

"Not really. I've known him forever. And I really hate his guts."

Danny laughed. "You are nothing like me and my best friend. We do everything together; we even get sick at the same time. Well, that's me and Tucker anyways. Sam and I are a different story..."

"Is Sam like Natsu?"

"Naw, she's cool."

Gray raised an eye brow. "'Sam' is a girl's name?"

"Gender mutual."

Gray shook his head in disbelief. "So how do things go with her?"

"I've known her for a long time; she's awesome. She and Tucker don't always agree on everything but..."

"Sounds like Natsu and Lucy."

"Is Lucy your girlfriend?"

Gray blushed bright red. Instead of answering he shot back, "Is Sam yours?"

Neither boy answered.

"So who is Lucy?" Danny asked, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

"Another one of my best friends."

"How many do you have?"

"Four."

"Oh."

Gray smiled. "Yeah. Mr. Popular, right? Anyways, Lucy and Natsu don't always get along either. And Natsu and Erza don't always get along. Or Natsu and Wendy. Natsu just doesn't get along with people in general." He let out a small laugh.

Danny nodded. "Neither does Sam. She just kinda hates everyone."

"Natsu loves everyone, but he's an idiot. Then again, he does eat fire and was raised by a dragon, so who can blame him."

Danny laughed for 5 straight minutes, until he realized that Gray wasn't joking. "For real?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, that is actually weird in my world too."

Danny stared at Gray. "You world sounds awesome dude!"

"Better than this place, that's for sure." Gray waved his hand around. "Is all of New York like this? Getting kidnapped, being kept places against your will?"

"Yeah. But this isn't New York."

Gray blinked. "Then where are we?"

"The Ghost Zone."

Danny said it so casually, Gray didn't think he'd heard him correctly. For the past couple of hours, the two had been chatting, getting to know each other. Gray had learned all about New York, some place called 'America' which was one of seven continents, on a planet called 'Earth'.

That made no sense of course, because Gray lived on Earth. But he had just returned from Edolas, so we couldn't say it was as surprising as it felt.

The more he talked about Fairy Tail and his friends, the more Gray missed them. Sure, he had been mad at them, and in that instant never seeing them again would have been fine, but he didn't mean it. He never had. Now he was faced with the very real possibility of never being with his friends again, and it made his heart hurt.

Danny sighed, letting the momentary pause to collect his thoughts. He was kidnapped, his friends had no idea he was gone, and he was with some other dimension weirdo. A weirdo who, by the way, had a habit of stripping off his clothes. Gray's world sounded amazing- no school, magic powers, living with your friends all the time. But at the same time, it sounded utterly depressing.

They never got to live with their parents; their parents were normally dead by the time they were reaching double digits. And from what Gray had said, their lives sucked- at least if you belonged to Fairy Tail. Facing death almost every day? Sure, Danny did that too, but on a much smaller scale.

And they didn't have the internet. That was a deal breaker.

"So," Gray rubbed a hand absently across the bruise on his jaw. "How did you get your powers?"

Danny laughed. "Oh God, that's a strange story."

"My parents were killed by a demon. Natsu eats fire. Erza was freakin' slave. Wendy was raised by a dragon. Try me."

"Point taken. Wendy was raised by a dragon too?"

"And Gajeel."

"I thought you said that was weird?"

"It is," Gray smirked. "But weird has a way of collecting at Fairy Tail. So, about your powers?"

Danny shrugged. "Compared to you, it's more idiotic than cool."

"I hang out with Natsu almost every day- trust me, nothing you say could sound idiotic."

"I got shocked."

Gray flipped his bangs out of his face, and Danny noticed a scar above his eye. He wondered briefly how he' gotten it, but then decided it as better not to ask. Gray was watching him, his expression unreadable.

And his jeans were gone. That was uncomfortable.

"I, uh... I got shocked by a machine."

Gray laced his fingers behind his head and stretched his legs out in front of him. "This sounds like a very long and interesting story."

Danny laughed.

"Long? Maybe. Interesting? Probably not."

"So," Gray leaned forward. "How'd it all start?"

"With a stupid idea from my best friend, and parents with an unhealthy obsession. As all good story's begin." Gray laughed.

"I was right, this will be interesting."

Danny laughed too. "Well, at the time, it was more painful than interesting. My parents built a machine to bust a whole into another dimension."

Gray's eyes widened, but he said nothing.

"But it didn't work. So, I tried to fix it."

"You're 14, and tried to break into another dimension? School must be a good thing after all."

Danny scoffed. "I wasn't actually smart enough to try and do anything with it! Get real. No, I went inside so Sam could get a picture. Anyways, while I was in there, I tripped. And you know what I hit?"

Gray shrugged. "Another dimension?"

"The ON button."

"It was inside the machine!?"

"Yup."

Gray laughed. "What moron-" He shut his mouth. "I mean,"

"No, no," Danny laughed. "Trust me, my dad is a moron. A smart, fudge obsessed, brilliant moron."

"So what happened when you hit the switch?"

"The machine turned on. And it worked."

"It opened a whole to another dimension?" Gray's jaw hung open. "that's amazing! I don't care where you're from, that has to be considered epic."

Danny nodded. "Trust me, it is. Unless you're caught in the middle of it."

Gray gave Danny a blank stare- he didn't get it yet.

"I was standing in the portal as it broke physics. That's how I got my powers." Danny explained.

"I don't follow."

"A portal to the land of the dead opened. I was in the middle of it. Dead land tried to kill me, everything else tried to save me. Neither side could win in the 10 seconds this happened in, so I got powers instead."

"So..." Gray shook his head. "Technically you're half dead?"

"Basically."

"Ya know, I take it back." Gray said as he laid back, closing his eyes. "I guess you New Yorkers have somethin' special about you after all."