Author notes: Now considering the feedback from the last chapter... Yea... I don't see this going well.
Good news is theres only one more interlude after this (Guess who.) It'll be set around the fanfics starting point. After that the fic will have caught up with Spacebattles.
...
I kicked another rock across the ground with surprising force, absentmindedly watching it crash and leave a hole in a nearby tree.
"Are you done?" Levy questioned, an irritated look on her face. She was sat down against one of the giant rocks on my left. The nimbus idly floating beside her.
"That depends, are we back home?"
"Clearly not," She huffed crossing her arms.
I turned to her and smiled. "Then no, I am not done, in fact I am so far from been done right now that you have-" I had to quickly move out of the way of one of her solid scripts.
"You were talking too much," She smiled back serenely.
We stared at each other for another moment before we both sighed. Neither of us had a clue on what to do next.
"So... Edolas wasn't supposed have magic?" Levy questioned again as she got back on the flying cloud.
I closed the quest tab, still nothing new.
I nodded at her question.
"And Mystogan is from here?"
I nodded again.
"And it's supposed to be filled with our counterparts?" The cloud got a little closer as Levy seemed to peer at something over my shoulder.
I shook my head, "It's supposed to be filled with your counterparts, remember I am-" I stopped on my tracks as my eyes widened...
Levy frowned at me, "What's up with you?"
Did... Did I have a counterpart here? I felt a shiver go down my back. Holy shit. I might have an opposite running around... But... What would he be like? ... In hindsight I didn't want to think about it. Worse yet, did they also know the future? Considering Magic had returned... You'd figure he wasn't a bad person but with my luck...
"Ah... Zeres..." Levy suddenly whispered.
I looked up at her, "What is it?"
She just pointed behind me slowly.
I turned around only to find... A knight clad in pink with blonde hair... Oh god I recognise him. I swear to god if he so much as mentions the word ro-
"Dear Royal visitor!" The 'knight' started from his position on-top of a legion.
Well.
"You have been cordially invited by the royal king-"
"Thanks, good to know, bye," I interrupted him as I quickly started charging multiple mana Blasts. Each one should do about 260 damage.
"Zeres!" Levy suddenly called out before covering her mouth. Was this automatic? did he suddenly just decide to blow up anything related to royalty on sight!? She had to wonder what kind of world cultivated that sort of response in people...
The stranger blinked before he suddenly narrowed his eyes at the sudden cluster of balls of energy. "Now, now, the king demands your presence-"
I fired. What exactly did he think I was going to do with all those energy balls? If he wants to give me the element of surprise, I won't complain. He was an enemy in canon. I wasn't taking risks. Canon been derailed wasn't making things any safer.
His eyes widened, he made to fly the legion into the air before he found his movements restricted.
"What is this-"
I simply had my arm out, I'd had to connect five strings, freaking strong bastard.
"Oh shit-"
Was the last thing I heard as the guy was suddenly bombarded. I wasn't worried, he'd live, the blasts weren't that potent, small damage simply added up generally left little in physical injuries. It was more to knock him out really.
Levy had her mouth open as she stared at the scene.
"What the hell was that!? How'd you stop him from moving?"
"One Piece," I shrugged.
"..."
"One piece of what...?"
I blinked and turned to stare at her wide-eyed. "You don't have One Piece!?"
"I have a few..." Levy replied back bemused. "Would they look better?" She suddenly questioned as she looked down at her outfit.
What?
"One Piece is a manga..."
"Oh... Then no we don't have it-"
"Blasphemy, That's what it is. Blasphemy,"
"I take it it's a favourite?" she questioned with a chuckle as she suddenly sat crosslegged on the flying cloud.
"It is! Right behind Death note!"
She tilted her head, "Death Note?"
Oh you have got to be kidding me. This world has literally lost any respect I had-
'Growl!' The legion suddenly seemed to roar at us, it's face a rictus of fury as it slowly prepared to charge us like a bull...
"Kienzan," I cast off, watching as the spinning disk appeared at the tip of my hand. I looked the legion dead in the eye.
"Zeres... Is that?"
"Yes."
"You're not actually planning to cut him in half are you?"
The Legion seemed to understand our language as it swapped gazes between the two of us, its eyes slowly growing fearful. "Depends on him," I remarked with a smile as I stared the flying creature in the eye.
It grabbed the 'knight' with it's mouth and quickly flew off. I turned back to Levy and found a frown on her face.
"What?"
Levy shook her head. "Must you always provoke any royalty you come across?" The moment she noticed my mouth open, she continued. "Now what?"
"Well, the king wants to see us,"
She blinked incredulously at me, "If you're still planning to go then... Why did you..."
"Was hoping to get some exp," I shrugged. And one less potential problem.
"Let's... Let's just go..."
She probably misunderstood me. I jumped on the cloud behind her, standing.
"Not going to make it bigger?" She questioned with a twinkle in her eye.
"No mana." I answered honestly.
"You used up all your mana!?"
"Yup,"
"What if he was still conscious?"
"Then it'd be up to you,"
"Me?" She questioned Incredelously.
"You're right, we would've been screwed in that case-"
She pushed me off.
...
Elsewhere, in the middle of a forest, Gray Fullbuster huffed as he ran towards the nearest green glow he could see. That meant Party members. Right?
He could see one in the sky grow bigger and closer towards his location, if anything it looked like it was speeding towards him-
"Zeres?" Gray suddenly called as he caught sight of the flying cloud as it made it's way across his section of trees, high in the air.
"Zeres!" Gray yelled once again. His hands flailing widely in an attempt to get the mages attention- Annnd they just passed him... He twitched, before focusing on the two fleeting mages- Wait, two?
Was that Levy!?
"Oh screw both of you!" He bit back as he prepared an Ice Cannon.
...
"Did you hear something?" Levy questioned as she made to turn before she felt a hand on her head.
"Eyes ahead midget,"
She elbowed my leg. I had to momentarily slow down to avoid falling off.
"And no I don't think I di-" A snowball hit me in the back of my head. "Well, I definitely didn't now,"
Levy sweatdropped, "We really should check it-"
"Sure, feel free to jump off at the next stop."
She sighed.
...
We flew around aimlessly for a while before finally managing to find the blasted entrance to the royal city. I landed Nimbus just outside the main gates, out of any guards view.
"Empty ID," I quickly threw the both of us in.
"Where are we going exactly?"
"Straight to the castle," I answered as I started making my way out into the open, Levy on my tail.
It didn't take long before we found ourselves in some sort of market square, Levy was busy ogling all the magical items on display. I wasn't sure if the girl had ever travelled to Edolas during the canon storyline.
"If you see anything you want let me know," I shrugged.
She froze on her tracks and turned towards me. "You're offering to buy me something?" She questioned with a gasp as she reached out with her hand to presumably check my temperature. I avoided it all the same.
"I was, now I am just going to steal it," I smiled.
She blinked. "Zeres that's immoral."
"Yea, and whose fault is that?"
"Yours I am pretty sure,"
"I meant... You know what? Never mind," I sighed. "Besides, I got 35 million out of my last job so I should be pretty-"
"Mi-Million!?" Levy yelled to my amusement, her hands pulling me down by the shirt, which was amusing in it's own right considering the height difference. "Why didn't you invite me to that job!?"
"I am not going to dignify that with a response, you read the report on it didn't-"
Before I could even finish however the noise in the square suddenly skyrocketed. Both of us snapped our attention towards it before Levy gasped in shock.
"Lisanna!" She yelled to no avail.
We were still in an Empty ID.
The girl was running away from what I presumed where the city's guard? What caught my attention was the haggard look on her, the somewhat dirty clothing and of course the fact her arms were chained together, a wide look in her eyes as she looked for a way out.
Just as she was about to reach us, I broke the ID and she recoiled in surprise, landing on her back on the floor.
"Le-Levy!? How did you get out of the castle-" Whatever she had been about to say died as her eyes landed on me, instead an expression of pure anger? Loathing? I wasn't sure, appeared on her face.
"Y-You! Levy! What- What are you doing with him!?" She screamed.
Holy shit. What the hell did I do?
"Halt! Halt in the name of lord Kira!" I heard one of the guards behind me suddenly yell.
Did this fucker just say Kira!? I turned towards him, eyes narrowed.
I expected them to attack, or at the very least take on an offensive stance.
The guards eyes, I think he was a captain judging by the additional cape, widened as he dropped to one knee.
"M-My lord! We-We though-" He hiccuped, he actually hiccuped, "W-We thought you w-were in the castle! Fo-forgive us, we were charged to chase after her the moment we learned of her escape!"
What the hell? As if to make it even more confusing, the guard's platoon all followed their captain as they dropped down themselves. Just beside me I could see Levy just as confused as I was, her hand over Lisanna's shoulder in an attempt to, I assume, calm her, and said girl in question still vehemently trying to glare me out of existence.
What the hell did I do? Other me? Kira!? Seriously? Kira!? That's what he went with!?
What happened to Mystogan's crazy father!?
...
I stared at the squad of guards passively, my eyes focused on the captain. Considering their current position on the floor, I figured that meant my Edolas version controlled this city, if not this world... Was Mystogan's father dead? For that matter... The knight from earlier clearly knew who I was... Why would Kira tell one of the mages under his command and yet fail to inform his own royal guard...
"Hey, use your Nimbus..." Levy suddenly grabbed the cuff of my shirt.
The guard's eyes snapped up at the action, startling the girl, there was a look of outrage on his face.
"How dare you lay-"
I narrowed my eyes at him and he stiffened before looking down.
"Wha-" Lisanna started the moment I cast off Nimbus. Seeing that, Levy slowly moved back towards the still terrified girl and slowly urged her on.
"My Lord-" The captain started again as he watched Levy help Lisanna onto the cloud though the girl didn't seem to cooperate much.
"Keys." I suddenly demanded. Time to see if drama class paid off...
"Uh- What?" He blinked at me.
"Keys you incompetent moron," I snapped. He visibly recoiled at the tone before haphazardly searching his pockets for the keys to Lisanna's chains. With a wavering hand he slowly reached them out towards me.
I swiped them off his hands and pretended to peer at them, before making a mock show of looking around at each of the guards in the vicinity. I could even see some civilians in the background gawking at the spectacle. Levy seemed far calmer to earlier when she realised what I was doing while Lisanna's expression paled further. Either she bought the act or I was missing something.
"Who gave you the order to chase after one prisoner?" I questioned the captain.
He blinked again, bemused. "Lady Knight-"
"And what order did I give you?" I interrupted him quickly.
The look of confusion disappeared, I could see hints of terror slowly fill his face. Seriously... What did Kira do?
"To guard the prisoners..."
Plural? Just how many were captured?
"And remind me, which one's the higher rank?" I questioned, a finger on my chin as I smiled at him. I wasn't sure if I should be worried at how easy things seem to be turning out. There wasn't a sign of doubt in the man's face.
"My lord-"
"Answer the question." I stated calmly.
"Yours..." He slowly started shaking as he stared at the ground.
"Right... So you ignored my order..." I practically whispered the words. He heard me all the same.
That was how quiet it had suddenly gotten.
"How many high-class prisoners are there in total?" I questioned again.
He seemed to stutter for a moment as he slowly raised his gaze. "1-19 my lord..."
19!? Bloody hell... Was that all of them?
"Right... How many guards did I post?"
"6-60..." He was visibly shaking on the ground right now.
"And how many do you have with you?"
"30..." His voice slowly lost it's volume.
"So, you're trying to tell me that, you decided to take half the guards I posted to chase after one prisoner? Something doesn't add up. You can't be that incompetent with numbers."
I was honestly surprised Levy was so quiet.
"My lord, Lady Knightwalke-"
"Do I look like Lady Knightwalker to you?" I mock glared at the quivering man.
"No- Of course not!" He was outright hysterical right now, his weapon long forgotten.
"Then stop disobeying my orders!" I yelled off for added effect.
He fainted... He actually fainted...
What the hell did Kira do to these people!?
"Get him out of my sight." I turned to another guard. Ok, maybe I should tone it down a little...
He nodded quickly, this one actually looked somewhat relieved. Was that good? Probably not.
"And go back to the castle!" I swiftly turned, "If I see any of you here in the nex-"
I didn't even get to finish as the guards practically ran off towards the castle.
When everything cleared out, I turned back to find Levy with practical stars in her eyes.
"That was awesome!" She suddenly yelled.
I sighed before a smile came over my face. "It won't be long before they realise so... Empty ID!" I suddenly threw the three of us into an instance.
Lisanna visibly shuddered at the action, her glare back in full effect.
"You really think I am buying this!?" She snapped at me, surprising Levy.
"What?" I questioned bemused.
"I know this is just another one of your twisted tricks, Kira!" She yelled off at me.
I frowned and turned to Levy.
"Lisanna-"
"Don't Lisanna me... I know this is just another illusion," She started shaking her head. "So just end it already!" She screamed again.
Wow... What... What did Kira do? How many times am I going to repeat that? I stiffened when she suddenly started weeping. "Lisanna?" Levy questioned, a worried look in her eyes.
"Don't call me that! You don't have the right!" She suddenly yelled back at Levy, the girl briefly taken back.
"Lisanna," I suddenly called out only to receive another glare.
"You think changing up the members is going to make a difference!? What the hell do you want now!? You've already imprisoned all of us!" She screamed.
"Lisanna were not from here!" Levy it seemed had enough.
The girl scoffed. "I told you... I am not falling for it." Her glare was back again.
Man, she seemed to love glaring for some reason. 'Zeres, tone it down.'
I sighed, I doubted we were getting anywhere with her. "Look whatever the hell Kira did-"
"Let me guess, you had nothing to do with it? Or is it something else this time? Bloody hell, at least keep the guild mark in the same place, last time it was on your head." She seemed to laugh at some joke neither me nor Levy got.
I apologised.
The action seemed to startle her as she suddenly stuttered out some incomprehensible word, before the sneer was back in full effect.
"You're really putting in the extra effort this time huh," She narrowed her eyes. "But I told you! I am not falling for it!"
I shook my head and threw the keys to the girl's chains to Levy.
Levy had a frown on her face as she caught the flying keys, she briefly turned to me before she started making her way towards Lisanna.
Who of course recoiled away, falling off the cloud in the process. "Stay the hell away from me!"
"We're not from Edolas!" I snapped.
"What's wrong?" she smiled, "Are you going to throw a tantrum? Not happy your little tricks aren't working anymore?"
Levy twitched with each second that passed before she'd evidently had enough as she marched towards the other girl intending to, hopefully, remove her chains.
Then Lisanna spat in her face...
Ok.
I don't know how to respond to that. I don't think anger is the answer either... Mirajane is in Edolas right now.
There was a plan. Sic Mirajane on Kira.
That poor bastard won't see it coming. I shook my head of the thoughts, I had to focus. Right... Lisanna just spat at Levy's face... What the hell do i do here?
Levy just stopped, shock openly shown on her face.
"I told you... I am not falling for it again."
"Can I knock her out?" I asked Levy. Violence with permission wasn't as bad, hell, it was basically the Fairy Tail Motto. Except the permission came from the master. Besides... I doubt Mirajane would ever hurt Levy so...
She didn't answer. Instead she threw the keys at the girl and turned away. God I hope I don't say something stupid. I don't think it'd end well at all.
"Lets go," She made to walk past me, grabbing my arm in the process.
I didn't move, I couldn't help but stare. Lisanna was still on the ground, the keys on her lap... Yet she didn't even bother unlocking her chains... I know Levy was angry but... Oh... Right, she doesn't know.
"Zeres..." Levy whimpered?
I turned to her and was honestly surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Lets go!"
"We're not leaving her here, Levy," I sighed.
Lisanna wasn't even paying attention, simply looking around, a bored look in her eyes.
Levy's hands started shaking as she raised her gaze, the hurt expression still in place. "She spa-"
"She's Mira's Sister. Our Mira."
She froze. She honestly looked unsure of what to even feel anymore.
"So... Are you done playing around or what?" Lisanna questioned me, a dark look in her eyes.
I sighed as I opened up my skills tab to see what I had available... My eyes briefly widened when I found Shadowstep ready to use... I supposed that either meant moving between worlds resulted in my skill cooldowns getting reset or I simply had a separate timer for each dimension... Regardless it was available and that was all that mattered, I started walking towards Lisanna.
Edo-me? Edo-si? Kira would have to wait...
She seemed to frown for a moment, "I told you, just end the stupid Illusion Alread-" when she made to get up to most likely move away, I used Joker to freeze her movements.
"Since when could you do this!?" She glared at me, unable to do anything else. It was somewhat disconcerting that magic working on her didn't seem to dispel her notions of this being an Illusion...
I reached and picked her up.
"Oi! What the hell are you-"
And put her on the Nimbus.
"You need to lose weight," I added on.
What? She still spat on Levy's face. I quickly walked back to said girl, who was still stood in the middle of the road, her eyes downcast.
"Come on," I sighed.
She did so somewhat mechanically. I put a hand on her shoulder.
Judging by the enlarged green glow surrounding Erza, with her been the highest Level hers stood out the most, I figured there was more then one person with her. I quickly went through the list of people in my party...
Levy who was with me... Gray... Who... I... Left... Stranded... It honestly hadn't seemed like such a bad idea at the time... I sighed and read on. Erza... Natsu... Lucy... Mard Geer had yet to accept, assuming he didn't say no and I never actually sent a party invite to Mystogan or Mira...
I used an extra string to connect Lisanna to the Nimbus.
I really hoped Mirajane was with Erza... Though perhaps leaving Natsu to his own devices might not be such a good idea...
Still, the more hands the better...
"Shadowstep: Erza," I sighed.