Edited/Updated 12th of April 2016
~A.N.~
Ok, At last! Sorry for the very long wait, and the length... I ended this at the end of episode 80 in the Fairy Tail anime just so you know. I've already started on the next chapter and hope to get it out before August as well.
Now to address concerns brought up by reviews.
~It was pointed out that Makarov's Edolas counterpart is King Faust. In canon the Edolas King is indeed the counterpart, but there was an unnamed guild master that died early in the ban of magic. I'm ignoring that Makarov's counterpart is the king for a number of reasons. The first being that I love Makarov's Earthland character to much to accept that in an alternate dimension he is that insane, or averagely proportioned. Secondly, if Makarov is the king, and Mystogan is the prince, then Jellal is Makarov's son... Maybe. I didn't care for this thought either so yah. Thirdly, I can't really see anyone else being the guild master. Oh, and AU(the fanfic writer's excuse for any and all inconsistencies XP)
~Another big concern that was brought up many times was 'What Edolas?! Will Harry every get to Earthland then? What about going back to Hogwarts?'. My answer to all questions about this will be the same. I already have that planned out, and you will just have to wait and see.
~Another few comments were about Flashbacks, and questioning my Harry's character development. I will say that I have a roughly 1000 word section in my notes where I have written out Harry's character/personality/feeling about things. I will likely post it at the end of this story, or in an extra and separate piece with the majority of the flashbacks. I'll be sure to mention when I have that started, it will include: parts of Harry's family journal, flashbacks to skipped events like Flying Lessons, Looking back to the 5 years Harry spent in Edolas, the reactions that aren't featured here about Harry's disappearance, and other bits and pieces, maybe some drabbles too~
Disclaimer~Don't own... Wish I did, but yah...
Also please if you spot a grammatical or spelling error please point it out, this is all Self Beta'd. Hope you enjoy!
Harry explained to his gathered audience that the Natsu here was not the Natsu that they knew and loved. That this Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla came from a different reality. A place where people could do magic naturally. As Harry explained he didn't comment when he saw Lisanna sneak out the back door and decided it was her secret to keep or tell.
"Ok, so you guys are from a place called Earthland."
"Yes" Natsu said taking over the explanations.
"And you came all the way to here, to rescue your friends?"
"Yes" Natsu said.
"You're telling me that there's a Fairy Tail in that world too?"
"And Erza is on your side over there?"
"Basically yes." Carla said.
"Aye." Happy nodded.
"That's not so easy to swallow."
"But it's true that this isn't the Natsu we know."
"The only thing they have in common is the way they look."
"You can say that again."
"This girl is who I am in that other world?" Big Wendy asked eying Small Wendy with disbelief and mild pity.
Small Wendy smiled softly and greeted her counterpart.
"You're all tiny, Wendy."
"Anyway, we'd like you to tell us how to get to the Royal City." Natsu announced.
The majority of the guild froze at Natsu's request and turned to look at him as if he's lost his mind. Harry quietly watched the Edolas guild's reaction and knew that he could always volunteer to help the Earthland members. After all, a member of Fairy Tail is a member of Fairy tail no matter where their from or what they've done.
"Our friends have been sucked up by this world's king!" Small Wendy pleaded. "If we don't rescue them soon, everyone will be converted into magic power..." she trailed off. "They'll be gone forever!" She exclaimed clearly troubled by the mere thought of this happening to her friends, her guild, her family.
"Sorry to tell you this li'l me," Big Wendy said solomley, "But you'd be better off stopping now. Go against Edolas's king, and you forfeit your lives. That's just how powerful the kingdom is." She continued.
"Magic power is limited in this world. It's not infinite." Elfman continued. "To put it another way, it'll be used up eventually."
"Fearing that, the king of Edolas tried to monopolize all magic." Grey added. "Isn't that right Juvia-Chan?" Grey finished now doe eyed and hovering by Juvia.
Juvia nodded grimly to Grey's question then continued the explanation. "Due to that, all Wizard Guilds were ordered to disband."
"Everyone resisted at first."
"But one after another were crushed before the might of the Royal Army's magic regiments."
"This is the only guild that is left. Of course we haven't been spared any casualties." was said as members began to tear up and some even broke down crying.
"We've lost almost a fifth of our original members."
"It takes all we've got just to keep one step ahead of them!" Grey added his frustration clear.
"So you should stay away. Go back to your world."
"Please. Tell us the way." Natsu insisted. "I will save my friends. No matter what." He continued.
Most of the Edolas guild seemed baffled by Natsu's determination and loyalty to his friends.
"It's a five day journey from here." Harry said "I suppose a few of us could go with you at least until the closest town. We need supplies anyways." He continued.
"Really?" Natsu asked having expected less than this. "That would be awesome!"
"Lucy, would you come with us?" Harry asked knowing not to invite Grey who would pass out due to heat stroke before he took a single layer off.
With a heavy sigh as if Harry was asking her to give up her torture techniques she nodded. "But it will be a quick run to town and don't expect me to go all the way to the capital with these bafoons."
With that the group of four mages and two Exceed left the guild and began their trip to town.
Not even ten minutes of walking down and Natsu is hopping around trying to catch a child desert frog.
Right when Harry was about to warn Natsu that the parent is never far behind with these things, Natsu ran straight into it.
Lucy jumped into action with her magic whip and the frog turned tail and ran away.
"Hmmp, coward." She said as it raced off. "Harry, any ideas about how the army located us, we should have been safe for another day or two." Lucy said seriously worried about if the Royal Army has developed some new sort of tracking device, or if the guild has a traitor.
Harry thought for a moment before having an idea. "While I highly doubt anyone in the guild would have lived long enough in Erza's presence to snitch like that, I think it may have something to do with the Earthland members." Harry said.
"Oh no!" Carla said. "Before we got our disguises we had run into a few people. It's all our fault!" She realized quiet horrified by this.
"No, they would have found us by tomorrow at the latest anyways." Harry reassured her.
"They likely thought that you were Exceed and reported it. That's what drew them to us." Lucy concluded pleased to have confirmed that they didn't have a traitor in the guild. "That happened a few times with Loki too."
"Who's Loki?" Carla asked catching the unknown name.
"Oh, he's like you and Happy." Harry told them. "And he's my friend."
"I still can't believe that Erza's our enemy." Happy suddenly exclaimed.
"Well, either one's scary, though." Natsu added.
"Oh?" Lucy asked having only heard Natsu say scary and thought that they were talking about her again.
"No, no, no! I was talking about Erza!" Natsu hastily said before he was attacked again.
With a small nod Lucy added "To us, what's unbelievable is that we could ever get along with Erza."
"Mysterious, isn't it?" Wendy asked.
"There isn't a wizard out there who doesn't fear her." Lucy continued. "Just seeing her face means certain death."
"I really don't want to run into her." Natsu said looking very scared just at the idea. "The one I know is scary enough."
Wendy was nodding along before she looked up at Harry with a confused look. "Harry, we don't have a you in our guild." She pointed out. "And you said you were like us when we met." she continued.
Harry nodded knowing this would come up eventually. "Yes, like you I am not from Edolas. I'm not from Earthland either." he told them as even Lucy was paying close attention since she knew Harry was different but had never asked for the details. "I'm from Earth. There people can naturally do magic like those from Earthland, but those who can not don't know about the existence of magic. Magic is hidden in secret societies there. When I was twelve I woke up here after going to bed like normally at a magic school." Harry told them.
"Wait, are you the reason we haven't struggled with Licama?" Lucy asked having previously thought that one of the guild members was secretly rich.
"Yes." Harry confessed as he exquiped his violin slightly startling Lucy. "I just called this violin out of a pocket dimension with my magic. When I play my violin I discovered that I could direct my magic to enter the gem. I was able to do this for many of the used gems with practically no strain." Harry explained.
"Wow, you can exquip like our Erza!" Natsu shouted after a few moments.
"Actually, Earthland Erza was my inspiration. For some reason in my world there was a manga, a type of comic, that followed your guild. I started to read it when I was younger and pushed myself to learn all that I could from it." Harry told him.
"You taught yourself exquip magic! That's amazing, what else did you learn?" Wendy asked with wonder.
Now looking rather sheepish Harry said "Well, at the age of nine, you guys were kind of my heroes and such so I kind of learned Dragon... Slayer... magic..." Harry said blushing and looking anywhere but at the others.
"Eh? So your like Laxus then?" Natsu asked confused and kind of smug.
"Yep." Harry said without elaboration.
"Wait, what the hell is a Dragon Slayer?" Lucy asked not understanding what was going on.
"A Dragon Slayer is someone who has learned the special magics of making a human like a dragon. However due to time and few ever learning it it is considered one of the few ways to successfully kill a dragon." Carla explained.
"Yeah, you become tough like a dragon, strong like a dragon, develop traits like a dragon, and you magic can be used in the same way a dragon would use his." Happy added.
"So, what are you a dragon slayer of?" Wendy asked looking at the still slightly blushing Harry.
"Uh, well when I was learning I didn't really have a lot on hand so I couldn't go and eat fire, electricity, water, or metal. I suppose I could have done air like you Wendy, but I hadn't thought of that and the books weren't up to the point where you join the guild. So I became a Dark Dragon Slayer. I ingested the dark, not shadows, I rarely had light I could spare to try and eat shadows." Harry explained feeling less embarrassed that they didn't comment on his hero remark.
"You can eat the dark?" Natsu asked. "What does it taste like?"
"Not much, however if I do something with it first it does gain some flavor." Harry told him now engaging in the conversation eagerly.
The three dragon slayers continued to talk dragon slayer much to the confusion and growing ire of Lucy until they had finally reached their first destination.
"Look, we're here. Can you see it?" Lucy asked once the group had reached a ledge over looking the town.
"Walking for days sure was tough." Happy said
"The buildings are kind of round?" Wendy pointed out.
"Let's hurry" Carla said.
Wendy turned to Lucy, "Thank you so much for coming with us." she said with a large smile.
"F-follow me." Lucy said with a light blush. "You won't be able to go any farther without some magic weapons." she continued.
"Thanks a bunch, Scary Lucy." Natsu said without thinking.
"Scary Lucy." Happy parroted.
"Are you pickin' a fight?!" Lucy exclaimed barley restraining herself from attacking.
As the group wandered into the town Harry and Lucy explained some of the current issues going on.
"This is the city of Louen. Until a little while ago, magic was bought and sold normally." Harry told them.
"But now with the kingdom's Guild Hunt, trafficking magic is forbidden." Lucy added.
"And that's not all. Even possessing it is a crime if you aren't in the royal army." Harry continued.
"Just possessing it is a crime?" Natsu asked beginning to truly understand the severity of the situation.
"What happen to people who could always use it?" Wendy asked.
"People here have never had magic within them like us." Harry said after seeing Lucy's confusion. "But if they were to discover that the magic in us is near limitless over time, well I don't think they would ever leave us alone." Harry finished thinking of his fears of what Erza would do if she learned the truth about him. Whether she would choose him, or the army.
"So the wizards over here just use magic items?" Natsu asked.
"I suppose." Carla said. "It sounds like they consider magic an object. And that by adding it to everyday items they are able to use it." she continued.
"We're here." Lucy said standing next to the entrance to the Magic Black Market. "There is a branch of the Magic Black Market underground here." she explained. "You'll need it if you want to travel." she finished.
"Black market..." Wendy said with a little fear.
"I guess we gotta play by the rules here to use magic." Natsu said.
"Aye." Happy agreed.
"You adapt quick." Lucy observed mildly impressed.
Once they were all in the market they looked around and browsed for awhile.
"Woah. There's a whole lot of iffy-looking things lined up." Happy pointed out.
"This shop stinks of mold." Carla complained.
"That's because we have some antique items with a long history!" the shop owner said as an excuse. "Mold, damage, smell... It's all part of their mystique, dear customers." he continued.
"I don't care about mystique." Lucy said bluntly. "All I care about is whether they're useful. There's a bunch of imitations out there so be careful when you buy anything." she added watching Natsu sift through a bunch of swords.
"She's right, and until we get you guys back up and running you'll have to play by the rules." Harry added looking over some poorly taken care of magic books.
"Hey, old dude, you got any fire magic?" Natsu asked getting bored with looking.
With a creepy laugh the owner pulled out a fancy looking torch. "In that case, I have just the thing!" Holding it up he asked "How about this? Edolas magic, flaming sword!" He pulled out a small Lacrima battery. "You charge it here, and then... Look! Amazing, yes?" he said finishing his sales pitch with the sword blazing.
"That flame's pretty weak, but it's better than nothing" Natsu said looking very disappointed with the meager display.
"Sir, you have very good taste!" the man exclaimed knowing he had made a sale.
Wendy came to the front of the shop with a little soup canister like object and said "I like this."
"What's good about it?"Carla asked trying to make sure Wendy doesn't get swindled.
Blushing Wendy replied "It's small and cute."
Slightly exasperated Carla scolded Wendy. "Uh, look here. Choosing like that isn't going to do us any good."
The shop owner came over and began to explain the item. "That's called an Air Bullet Gun." He explained taking the item to demonstrate. "It looks like a cute container on the outside, but if you open it a little like this..." He continued as the air around them began to react and became noticeably windy.
With obvious excitement Wendy exclaimed "Wind Magic! How romantic."
"Madam, you have very good taste." the sales man said sure that he had secured yet another sale.
"Okay, we'll take these two." Natsu said loudly.
"Oh, hold on a moment." Harry said coming up to the counter with a few books. "We'll take these as well, and if you willing we might be able to make a trade for some raw Lacrima." Harry said knowing Lucy had planed to pay out of her own pocket.
"I am sorry young man, but I have no raw Licama on hand right now." The shop keeper said clearly disappointing and missing what Harry meant.
"No, I'm sorry, I meant we would trade you some raw Lacrima for these items." Harry explained.
Suddenly the man perked up quite noticeably at the prospect of acquiring raw magic so cheap. "I see. Yes that would be wonderful, how much were you thinking?" the man continued.
"I was thinking three candy sized pieces or one biscuit sized piece." Harry said exquiping his bag of charged Licama behind his back.
The man quickly agreed knowing that this was a great deal. "Thank you so much for shopping. And again, thank you Lucy-sama, you really saved me when those hoodlums showed up last time." he said handing the items over.
"Naw, that wasn't anything much." Lucy said thinking back to the easy fight the gang had put up.
"Thanks, old dude." Natsu said. as they all left expressing their thanks.
"Unlike our Lucy, Scary Lucy is really dependable!" Happy said after they left the shop.
"I told you not to call me Scary!" Lucy said. "By the way, did you two even have any money?" Lucy asked.
"Nope." Natsu said happily.
"All I have is some coins and biscuits in my pockets." Wendy confessed. "You really saved us." Wendy said smiling gratefully at Harry.
"Oh, it was no problem, like I said I can recharge the Licama with practically no troubles." Harry said.
"By the way..." Lucy began. "I'm kind of interested in hearing about the Lucy over there..." Lucy confessed.
The group worked their way to a nearby open air cafe as Natsu told Lucy about Earthland Lucy.
By the time they got there Lucy had to sit down almost right away because she was laughing so hard.
"I'm writing a novel?!" She laughed out. "I'm from a rich family and use key magic?" she continued now banging on the table.
"Both of you are quite noisy, though." Natsu said bluntly.
Snapping out of her laughing Lucy snapped at Natsu "Don't call me noisy!"
"We bought this... But how do I use it?" Wendy asked talking to herself as she inspected the cute container she bought.
"You stupid..." Lucy snapped. "Don't show magic in front of other people!" she harshly whispered looking around to make sure no one was watching and Wendy quickly hid it under the table. "I told you magic was banned around the world right now, remember?"
"I'm sorry..." Wendy apologized freaking out about her blunder.
"It's ok, not harm no foul." Harry told her.
"But magic used to be part of your daily lives, right?" Carla asked.
"Yes." Harry said looking very serious now.
"Those bastards from the kingdom have stolen away part of our culture." Lucy said looking just as serious.
"But why?" Happy innocently asked.
"So they can monopolize it." Harry said. "Where I'm from we have a resource that is limited too. The government monitors it's use there to prevent over using it but we had other sources of power too. There is only magic here." Harry explained.
"Then if we beat the kingdom, magic might come back to the world, right?" Natsu loudly asked.
Lucy jumped from her seat enraged with Natsu's blase attitude about all of this and exclaimed "Do you understand how crazy that sounds?! There's no way to fight the royal army!" She continued.
"Then why did you help us?" Natsu asked now just as serious.
"Because I wanted to help you get to the Royal City. I wasn't planning to fight or anything..." Lucy said now looking down kind of ashamed of herself.
"Ok then! Thanks a lot." Natsu said as if that solved everything.
Lucy looked as if she regretted this turn of events and Harry was about to offer his aid when a shout from the front of the cafe made them all turn around.
"There they are! Seal off the entrance to the city!" a soldier shouted pointing at the group of six.
"The Royal Army!" Lucy exclaimed.
"You're wizards from Fairy Tail, yes?" one of the soldiers shouted to confirm. "Stay right there!"
"We've already been discovered?" Carla asked in shock.
The soldiers began to flood into the open air cafe and charge them.
"Okay, then." Natsu said as he got a challenging glint in his eyes and prepared to fight. "Let's try this sucker out!"
"Don't!" Lucy shouted to him.
But it was too late and Natsu waved the sword above his head shouting "Let's go!" and activated his sword. "Fire!" He continued.
"Carla, how do I use this again?!" Wendy asked frantically as she struggled to open her Air Bullet Gun.
"How should I know?!" Carla shouted back.
Meanwhile Natsu was laughing like a maniac and then his sword went out having used up all the magic. "Shields?!" He then exclaimed as the fire went out and the soldiers were still standing unharmed. Hefting his sword up again Natsu prepared to attack again shouting "One more!"
However only a bit of smoke came out of the top. "Magic power is limited, remember?" Lucy shouted. "All magic has a certain number of times it can be used!"
"Just once?!" Natsu freaked out staring at the now useless sword.
"If you keep the output in mind, you could use it about a hundred times!" Lucy shouted back at the clueless wizard.
"Capture them!" The soldiers shouted.
"This is bad!" Happy shouted as he ran in a small circle.
Finally Wendy's frantic fiddling with her weapon caused it to pop open. Which caused Happy, Carla, Wendy, Lucy, and Harry to all become air born in a giant twister.
"What have you done Wendy?!" Natsu shouted over the loud winds.
"I'm sorry!" Wendy shouted back.
Luckily the twister sent them all the way across town and away from the soldiers.
With quick thinking Harry pulled his still dazed cohorts into a small house and watched the street through a peephole.
"We've managed to avoid them, but we won't be able to leave the city at this rate." Lucy said after she regained her senses.
"The magic here is hard to use." Natsu sighed.
"Yeah..." Wendy agreed.
"I don't know why it's different for you guys, but I'm able to directly power my items. Maybe our magic is fundamentally different." Harry said worried about how they'll fight now.
"What'll we do?" Happy asked
"Isn't there another entrance?" Carla asked.
"We're in trouble..." Lucy said now watching from the door.
"We found you, Fairy Tail!" was suddenly shouted from outside after about a half hour of silence.
Everyone immediately tensed. And then someone outside the little house shouted "Let me go!"
As everyone peaked out of the door to the sight of Earthland Lucy being manhandled by the solders.
"You're Lucy right, You must come with us!" One of the soldiers demanded.
"Yes, I'm Lucy, but what's going on here?" Earthland Lucy demanded.
"LUCY!" Natsu shouted from the door.
"ME?!" Edolas Lucy shouted.
"That hurts." Earthland Lucy cried out in pain to the soldiers.
"Why is Lucy here?" Happy asked.
"W-what's going on" Carla asked.
"Come on..." Earthland Lucy continued.
"I have to save her!" Natsu exclaimed, and then jumped out from the house to sprint to Earthland Lucy's rescue ignoring the shouts from Edolas Lucy.
"Gate of the Scorpion, I open thee!" Earthland Lucy shouted as she held up one of her celestial keys.
As Wendy left the house too she shouted "Lucy-san we can't use magic in this world!"
"Scorpio!" Lucy finished despite the warning.
Scorpio came out immediately shouting "We are!" Everyone from Earthland and Harry were shocked that Lucy managed to get her magic to work while the others couldn't.
Scorpio then attacked the guards with a shout of "Sandbuster!" as all the soldiers were swept away by a cyclone of sand.
"Magic?" Natsu asked watching the display.
"How?" Wendy asked.
"T-that's..." Edolas Lucy stuttered.
"I'm going on a date with Aquarius now." Scorpion told Lucy. "Later." he said as he disappeared in a puff of red smoke.
"Lucy..." Natsu called out catching Earthland Lucy's attention.
"You guys! I missed you!" she shouted before rushing over.
"Somebody explain what's going on." Natsu said.
"Aye" Happy agreed.
Earthland Lucy stopped a few feet away spotting Edolas Lucy.
"Me?!" Earthland Lucy screamed.
