Wow, how long has it been since I did anything productive?? I've had this chapter ready for a few weeks now, but I guess I just felt that it wasn't ready to be made known to the public. This chapter may be long (because of all the dialogue and the slowness of it all) but it isn't the best I've ever done. I know, I keep telling myself that my chapters fail, but I'm getting into a bad funk at the moment. School is torturous with exams and projects all over the place. That's why I take a notebook around with me and write chapters whenever I have the time! Yay!
It's a real mystery on when I'll update again. I think it'll be really soon because I already wrote the next chapter. I just need to fix some kinks and it'll be good to go!! I have a bad feeling that I'm going to make everyone dangerously OOC very soon...
Disclaimer: I still don't own either Rave Master or Fairy Tail.
The six newcomers stood inside one of Fairy Tail's rooms. They were waiting for Makarov as he had almost immediately asked, or more like ordered, them to a private discussion. They nearly jumped when they heard his voice.
"It seems we have something important to talk about," he started, hopping onto the table in front of them. He gave them a short look and said, "Where do you want to begin?"
"Well, sir," Elie started. "I was hoping that you would be able to answer my question from earlier."
"About a mage who specializes in time magic, yes. As I said earlier, such magic is forbidden and only a handful of mages know where to look for the spells. They aren't willing to reveal that information, however, no matter what. I'm sorry, but I can't help you there. How did you all get here, anyway?"
"The time rift back in Symphonia, the country we were in where it happened, was caused by the accumulation of my magic mixing in with Akuma's," Elie explained, recounting the disastrous event. "Even though I had gotten complete control over my magic, Akuma's magic made it unstable, making a time rift."
"Except this time, it ripped into space," Haru added, the idea finally dawning on him.
"Haru, Elie," Let turned to the two. "When you went to Resha's Grave and went back in time, how did you return?"
The pair looked painfully at each other before Haru replied, "Sieg helped us. He kept the rift open and on track by staying behind. The skeleton we buried with the fallen Mildeans was Sieg, since you can't do anything when you're in the past or else it'll alter the future. That's probably why he had died."
"Sieg?" Makarov suddenly asked, looking at Haru intently. "How do you know Siegrain?" If these children have been in contact with that sham of a mage, who knows what the Council will do.
Haru gave him a confused look. "His name isn't Siegrain. It's Sieg Hart."
"I think you're mistaking our Sieg for your Sieg," Musica said thoughtfully. "After all, we're in a different dimension. Everything could be the same and different."
"That's where it gets confusing," Julia commented, rubbing her temple a little. "I was never meant to deal with magic."
"So the question at hand is how you all are going to get back, eh," Makarov concluded. "In that case, if Elie-chan caused the first rift, why can't she make another one?"
The room went silent as the group looked at the Etherion girl. Elie put her hand on her chin in thought and then announced, "I can't."
"Why not? It makes perfect sense to me," Julia stated.
"Didn't you see how big that rift was? It sucks in everything that gets near it. I don't want to endanger everyone around us. Besides," Elie added, "Sieg said that rifts can take you anywhere. We could end up in another dimension without someone to stay back and control it."
Julia sighed in response. "Oh well. We'll find another way."
"On that note, I'd like to ask you a question, Elie-chan," Makarov looked at her. "What kind of magic do you use?" Magic that enables you to change dimensions… This is unheard of. At best, mages can only move a little bit through time, and not for very long before they're pushed back into the present. Who is this girl?
Elie seemed to stutter in her answer. Is it safe to tell them I can control Etherion? After all, it might be an ultra-rare and super-forbidden magic in this dimension. "Um, well…you see, sir, I'm—"
Some small 'Pun pun!'s were heard and the group saw the white dog start to move.
"Huh? Plue, where are you going?" Haru interrupted. He watched as his companion walked to the door and jumped to turn the doorknob. Haru yelled in surprise when it flung open and a mass of four bodies and one cat fell through. "It's you guys!"
"Master, it was all Gray's fault!" Natsu accused his Ice Mage friend.
"Shut up, Natsu!" he retorted. "You were the one who wanted to listen in!"
"Yeah, and you dragged me into this," Lucy whined.
Erza tried to defend herself with, "I told them that they shouldn't eavesdrop on your conversation, but they wouldn't listen!"
"That was because you were too busy listening with us," Natsu muttered. He was soon holding his head in pain after Erza promptly punched him.
Lucy sighed. "Well, it can't be helped. We all heard your situation."
"You coming from a different dimension says a lot," Erza said, "even though it all sounds far-fetched. Maybe I mistook Elie for Lucy because of that. Who knows, you two could be related in a different world!"
"Instead of looking for our long, lost twins, could we talk about how we're going to get home again?" Julia interrupted, her dragon side coming out in frustration.
"We don't know if time is still continuing back there," Let put in. "We still have a battle to fight, and the others must be worried."
"That's right! I almost forgot about Lucia!" Haru exclaimed, making his friends sweat drop.
"You're the Rave Master and you forget THAT?!" Musica said, slapping Haru on the back. "What did you think we were doing the entire time?"
"Now that we're back on track," Makarov interrupted, "I'm afraid to say that you have no choice but to sit tight here while we think of a way to send you back to your home. Like I said, not many know about time, or even space, magic, so that leaves us with the option of you making another rift unless we find something within the next few days. I'll try to look in the Magic Council's records for anything useful, but I can't guarantee anything at all. Time is a touchy subject, so I won't mention this to anyone, got it?"
"Thank you so much, Ojiisan!" Elie said, hugging him tightly. "This means a lot!"
Makarov tried to suppress a large smile as he replied with, "This-This does, too!"
"Master, is there anything we could do to help?" Erza asked, trying to redeem herself of eavesdropping.
"Ah, yes. Watch over them, will you? I don't know how long it'll take to find suitable magic for this situation, so you'll also need some lodgings. Let's see," Makarov paused, then looked at a certain blonde mage. "Lucy, you've got an apartment. Let them stay with you."
Lucy protested. "What?? Why can't they stay here at the Guild or go to an inn?"
"Because the Guild doesn't have boy dormitories, for reasons even I don't know, and they probably don't have money," the Master answered.
"So it's all settled. We're all staying at your house, Lucy!" Natsu finalized, walking out of the room with Happy trailing behind him.
"Hold on! What's this 'we're all' you're talking about?!" Lucy yelled, trailing after him.
"Are you sure, Ojiisan, about us staying at Lucy house?" Elie asked him. "She seems really against it."
"Don't worry, she's always like that at first," Erza stated, "but she has a big heart. She won't mind later. Come on, then, I'll take you to her place."
"For the last time, Natsu, you're not sleeping over at my apartment!" Lucy yelled at him.
The Celestial Wizard, Dragon Slayer, and cat were walking down the road to her living quarters, arguing on the way. Well, it was more of Lucy yelling at Natsu, who was calmly walking onwards, while Happy flew behind them.
"Why can't I? Everyone else is going," he said.
"That's right! We're having a sleepover!" Happy put in, flapping his wings. "Don't worry, I brought fish."
Lucy just smacked her forehead as she opened the door to her apartment. She shrieked when she saw who was already inside. "What are you guys doing here??!"
Haru, Musica, Elie, Let, and Julia were sitting around the table and looked at her oddly. "We're staying here, right?'
"Yes, I know you five are, but you two…?" she trailed off when she saw Erza and Gray.
"We're having a sleepover," Erza stated with a completely serious face. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Yeah, isn't it obvious?" Natsu and Gray said at the same time, causing the two to go into a fist fight.
"Be careful! The neighbors…" Lucy tried to say, but Erza beat her to it.
"I already talked to the manager and everyone. They said it's okay."
What's okay about this? Lucy practically cried. "Alright, fine, you can all stay. But I don't nearly have enough beddings for everyone!"
"Don't worry, I brought more than enough," Erza answered again. A huge pile of pillows and blankets suddenly appeared out of no where.
"Woah, where'd all of that come from?" Haru stared.
"I exquipped them, just in case something like this would happen."
"What, like an emergency sleepover?" Lucy cried again.
"Precisely," the armor woman smiled.
"What's 'exquip?'" Musica asked her.
"My magic is called Requip. It's storing whatever you want in a special magic space and then summoning it out whenever you want," she explained. "I use it to change armor and weapons in battle, but I can use it for stuff like this, too. It just takes up room in my magic storage, so I don't do it often."
"Erza's the fastest at exquipping," Happy added.
Natsu nodded. "Other mages who use Requip take at least three seconds to get their stuff out, but with Erza, it's like in a second flat!"
"Natsu, you're flattering me," Erza replied, suddenly throwing a pillow at the Dragon Slayer's face, knocking him over. She was lightly blushing.
"You're over exaggerating, Natsu," Gray said, unaware of the danger he's walking into. "Erza's not that fast. Maybe two seconds at best." He found himself on the floor with a pillow imprint on his cheek. Erza was red, but in anger.
"If you guys are going to kill each other, please don't do it in my room," Lucy sighed. She turned to the five sitting at the table. "So where are you all from again?"
"Well, another dimension…" Haru trailed off, looking at her strangely. "What else can I say?"
"I mean, what is your world like?" Lucy specified. "Since you can obviously use magic and skills that aren't unlike here, it could make it easier to find a way to send you all back home. Like finding a certain connection, or something."
Musica answered first. "Well, I guess we have normal people, mages, demons, warriors, mermaids, a monster that we're trying to defeat before it blows up our world. You know, typical stuff."
"That doesn't sound so typical to me," Lucy replied.
"Then what is this world like?" Julia asked. "You got any dragons anywhere?" She aimed this at Natsu who only stared back at her. "Our fight isn't over yet, brat."
The Fire Dragon Slayer just folded his arms and turned his head. "Whatever."
"Our world has civilians, mages, and the occasional giant monsters," Erza answered. "Though I don't think any of them would want to swallow up our world."
"Yeah, what kind of monster is it?" Gray wondered. He was thinking of a monster along the lines of Deliora, but not as fierce.
Elie was the one to answer him. "Its name is Endless. It's a being that collected all of the memories of the world, called stellar memory. It's quite powerful, the reason why this guy, Lucia, intends to destroy our world and recreate it using Endless and this substance called Dark Bring. It's an object that harbors the ultimate dark magic."
"Yeah, and the only way to stop Endless is to use the Staff of Time and Space to get rid of it," Haru added, pointing at Elie's staff. "I guess Lucia would be part of the plan, too, since he has all of the Dark Brings. But no need to worry, because I have all of the Raves!"
"Raves?" Happy looked at him. "Like the dances?"
"Rave is the stone to counter the Dark Bring. They were originally called Holy Bring, but they changed the name after a certain...event happened." Elie glanced at Haru sadly. "Haru has all five of them, which was our goal for two years."
"Yeah, and then they gained us along the way," Julia said fondly. For seemingly no reason, she punched Let in the shoulder, making him wince. "We make a pretty badass team, don't we, Let?"
"Y-Yeah, sure…"
"Wow, that sounds pretty rough," Lucy commented. Rough? It isn't just rough. That's almost like TORTURE!
"But we're almost to our final fight," Haru said with determination. "After this battle with Lucia, the world's going to be set back to normal and everyone will live in peace. Shiba had wanted this to happen for over fifty years, so I'm going to finish his fight."
"Who's Shiba?" Erza asked him. "He couldn't be another one of your friends that's lost in our world, could he?"
"No, he died a while ago," Elie replied. "He was the first Rave Master."
Lucy looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that."
For the next couple of hours, the two groups exchanged more information about themselves and their worlds, making explanations for practically everything they said. They even had some demonstrations of their skills and magic despite the small space and Lucy's protests. They even had some arguments over what kind of power was stronger between the two worlds. If they weren't about to go into battle with Lucia, Haru and the others would be living the regular life. They even gained new friends who were living normally but were all far from normal. Soon it was near midnight when the two goups decided to go to sleep.
Lucy agreed for Elie to share her bed, Erza exquipped an extra mattress, Let and Julia sat against a wall, and everyone else would just get a blanket and a pillow and sleep variously around the room. No one minded; they were used to it anyway.
"Good night!" they all yelled to each other before turning off the lights.
Unbeknownst to most of the magical world, dark forces were rising. Away in Era, something sparked ever so slightly. A crack formed, letting out a demonic chuckle, echoing in the empty council.
"Let the war," it sneered, "begin!"
Hahah, behold the unnecessariness of this chapter and its drawn-out dialogue! I'm sorry you had to go through that, especially since I keep getting hits and visits but never updating. Thank you all so much for following this amateur of a writer! Please leave me a review! They are my anti-drugs.
~Yukihane~