Chapter 36: Reunions

Sting blinked his eyes open and groaned from a massive headache. He looked around, realizing he was in a prison cell with Wendy. Lucy was no where in sight, and he and Wendy were bound in cuffs. He couldn't feel any magic power in his body, or sense any coming from the little Dragon Slayer beside him.

Wendy was awake, sitting up beside him with a concerned look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

Sting nodded, also sitting up, "What happened?"

She shook her head, "I don't know. When I woke up, we were in a totally different room. There was an old person there, and you and I were strapped to some machine. I fell unconscious again after that, but when I woke up, we were here, and I couldn't feel my magic power anymore…"

Sting frowned at that. He wondered if the cuffs were the cause; the army in Earthland used similar methods to imprison mages. Sting shook his head in confusion, "What did they do to us?"

"Byro extracted some of your magic power and put it into the castle."

The two Dragon Slayers head's whipped up to see a figure looking at them through the bars of the cell. With a start, Sting realized it was the same person they'd encountered at the Edolas Fairy Tail. Firedrake.

He glared at the Captain, hissing, "What are you guys gonna do with our power?"

Drake shook his head, "Not us. Them. I'm not helping Faust's crazy idea, I'm trying to fight it."

Wendy's eyes got wide, "Wait, is that why you held back at the Edolas Fairy Tail? You barely hurt Jet and Droy…Are you…could you be on our side?!"

The Captain nodded at her, "Yeah, but I can tell you more later. We've only got a small window to get you and the ah…I'm assuming it's the Earthland Lucy out of the South Tower. Gajeel and Rogue should be at the lacrima in the square by now…"

Sting stared at him, "Gajeel and Rogue? You met them? How?"

Drake flipped a switch hidden in the wall by the cell, and the bars sank into the ground. He stepped inside, undoing the cuffs on the Dragon Slayers as he explained, "The journalist you guys came to meet is the Edolas Gajeel. He was in contact with me and my lieutenant, Wraith. We were sneaking information out to the Edolas Fairy Tail to keep them one step ahead of Erza. He told me you guys were coming, so I came out to talk to you, but Erza pulled a fast one on us, and you three ended up getting captured."

The White Dragon processed this and frowned, "Who was that guy? He was strong as hell…"

Drake snorted, "He's one tough bastard, let's leave it at that."

"Captain, are you almost done? We need to hurry."

Sting looked around the white-haired teen to see another person step around the corner and into the cell. He stood up, and looked the newcomer in the face, eyes widening in recognition, "Rogue? Hold on, I thought you were in the square with Gajeel. So, how are you here, too?"

The man smiled slightly, "Well, I'm sure you're aware, but I can be in two places at once…In a manner of speaking."

Sting thought about that for a second. Then it clicked. His jaw dropped, "You're the Edolas Rogue…But Mira said you died…?"

Edo-Rogue's eyes flickered with sadness for a moment, "I almost did. Drake saved my life, and I hid myself here to fight the King from the inside. Once this is over though, I hope I'll be able to go home."

Sting turned back to Drake, "And what's your reason? You're turning against the King for this…And don't tell me it's just because you like the Edolas Fairy Tail, I'm not buying that bullshit a second time. Who are you?"

The young Captain paused for a moment and faced him head on. Those eyes. The dark orbs were hauntingly familiar, but Sting couldn't put his finger on it.

Drake reached up to his jacket and started to pull the zipper there up, separating the clothing as he murmured, "I'm like Wraith-or Rogue-I got separated from everyone and ended up stranded here to fight against the King. Just like him, I've been wanting to go home for the longest time, which for me, is almost two years."

The zipper separated the jacket completely, and fell away to reveal the details of the Captain's young face.

Sting stared at him, the feeling of recognition multiplying by the second. Something was off though, and it took a moment to realize what it was.

His hair…

If the color weren't white, and were instead, for example, salmon, this person would be the spitting image of…

Sting's breath caught in his throat. His eyes were wide, and filled with disbelief. It was all he could do to manage a whisper.

"Natsu…!"

Wendy gasped, "Th-this person is…! No way!"

Drake-or Natsu, gave them a small smile, "Yeah. Been a while, Sting."

The White Dragon was frozen to the spot, staring in shock at his brother. His brother. He was here, he was alive, and more importantly…he was in punching range.

Sting, in the blink of an eye, swung and slammed his fist into the point of Natsu's jaw. His brother rolled with the impact a little to keep Sting from hurting his knuckles.

Wendy almost shrieked, "STING!"

Edo-Rogue looked uneasy, but did nothing. Natsu worked his jaw for a moment, rubbing the offended area. Then he gave Sting his characteristic idiotic grin, "I guess I deserved that."

"Fucking understatement of the century." Sting growled. "But we need to go get Lucy, so I'll beat the hell out of you later."

Natsu nodded, and led them off, zipping his jacket back together as he went.

As they moved to the South Tower, Sting stared at his brother. Natsu hadn't changed much, but the shock of white hair had caught him off guard.

The White Dragon spoke as ran, "What's with the hair, Natsu?"

His brother replied without looking over his shoulder, "My counterpart's a member of the Edolas Fairy Tail, remember? I needed a cover up, so Pantherlily and I dyed my hair to keep my identity a secret."

Sting frowned, then realization dawned in his eyes, "You were thinking about Lisanna when you did that, weren't you?"

Now Natsu looked over his shoulder, eyes pained and voice matching, "How is she?"

The White Dragon was silent for a moment before he answered, "She's…pulling through. It wasn't easy at first. To be honest, when you…disappeared…she scared the hell out of me, but she's doing better now that she's had time to adjust. She really missed you. Still does."

Natsu looked away, eyes saddened as Sting continued, "She never let this scarf out of her sight, though. Which reminds me, this is yours."

He motioned to remove it, but Natsu shook his head, "Keep it. I'll take it back when we get home, but right now, I'm still Firedrake, remember?"

Sting nodded, and kept the scarf on, still curious about some things, "So just how did you convince Gajeel and Rogue to go with your plan? I'm assuming you do have a plan?"

Natsu nodded, "Yeah. That bit wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I told them when the lacrima's security would be weakest, and they didn't argue much."

Wendy raised an eyebrow, "Gajeel didn't argue? That might be a first."

Sting laughed, "I don't know, Levy's put him in his place before."

Natsu stopped at a cell on the highest floor of the tower, "We're here. Stand back."

The White Dragon frowned, "What's-"

"This cell only reacts to Erza's touch. When you were captured, the soldiers sent a message for her to return, and she wanted Lucy in here to execute her personally. She really hates the Edolas Lucy, so I guess this is just entertainment for her." Natsu shook his head in disgust and removed Igneo from his back, swinging the crimson and orange blade back to cut the bars.

/

Gajeel walked into the crowd still around the lacrima in the square. He looked up at the clock tower just behind it, noting the time with anticipation.

Almost time. I hope you're ready, Rogue, he thought.

The afternoon, Natsu had told them, was going to be the point when they would have the best chance of getting in their attacks on the lacrima. Rogue planned to create a distraction while Gajeel destroyed the crystal with his magic and reverted whoever was inside back to normal. Simple and straightforward, his kind of operation. He still remembered how impressed he'd been-however reluctantly-with Natsu's devious side.

The sneaky bastard had been planning this out for close to two years, and it was impressive he'd been able to hide his true identity that long without slipping up. Gajeel wasn't sure if even he himself could deceive Raven Tail for such a long time. He ran Natsu's words from the night before once again through his head.

/\/\/\/\/\

"…So THAT'S how it is!" Gajeel cackled.

Natsu smirked, "Yeah. Sorry I didn't tell you guys back at the Edolas Fairy Tail, but things were a little crazy back there."

Rogue shook his head, "That doesn't matter. I'm more curious about HOW you're here. How did you end up as a Captain in the Royal Army? I thought the kingdom was hunting Dragon Slayers?"

Natsu crossed his arms, "Well, let's see…Two years ago, I went on a mission with Lisanna and her siblings..."

He swallowed, looking decidedly uncomfortable, but Gajeel interrupted before he could say anything else, "Oh, that explains the white hair. I knew something was off, that picture at the guild and the kid from Edolas Fairy Tail had pink hair."

Natsu shot a look at him, with an irritated grin, "Yeah, that was the…inspiration. And my hair is SALMON not PINK!"

Gajeel laughed, "Whatever you say, pinky."

Natsu glared at him. Rogue could tell these two would be at each other's throats the first chance they got when they were back home, but they had priorities right now. He motioned to the Captain, and the teenager continued, "Two years ago, I lost consciousness during the S-Class Mission. That was when I got sucked into the anima. There were lots of small anima all over the world, I think. I'm not sure why my Dragon Slayer Magic didn't stop it; maybe I lost too much of my magic power to keep the anima off, but it happened, and I ended up in the desert. Pantherlily found me there, and he helped me recover in secret once I told him I was a Dragon Slayer."

Rogue frowned, "Why would he help you? He's a Captain too, isn't he? I thought the kingdom was hellbent on capturing Dragon Slayers."

Natsu nodded, "They are, but Lily is an exceed-you know, cats like Happy and Lector? They're the only creatures here with magic power in their bodies. But Lily's way bigger than other exceed and pretty powerful."

"Gee-hee. Sounds interesting." Gajeel was grinning with a thoughtful look.

Natsu went on, "Anyway, a little while before I got lost in Edolas, Lily accidentally found a secret file in the castle's security system that was a plan to rain down magic power on the kingdom. But it needed two things: Dragon Slayer Magic, and a large source of magic power, in this case, the lacrima, to work right. They would use the Dragon Slayer Magic to power a chain cannon that would fire into the lacrima- the whole thing is up on one of those floating rocks- and ram it into the exceed country, Extalia. Extalia is also floating above the kingdom, and it's where all the exceeds live."

Rogue interrupted him with a hand, murmuring, "What do the exceed have to do with this plan?"

The Captain looked a little angry, "The idea is that the lacrima will ignite once the Dragon Chain Cannon sinks into it, and when it rams against Extalia, the magic power in the exceed's bodies will fuse with the blast and rain down magic on the Capitol."

The room got quiet for a while before the teenager went on, "That's why Lily helped me. If anyone else in the castle found out I was a Dragon Slayer, they would go after my magic power in a flash. He wanted to postpone this long enough for us to set up a plan, and it damn near took forever to work it out right. Since I needed to get home, I told him I'd help out, so we've been working together ever since. You guys surprised us by showing up in Edolas."

Gajeel smirked, "So sorry for disturbing you." He didn't sound sorry at all, and kept going, "So what's this two-year master plan you came up with?"

Natsu tapped his foot on the floor. The Edolas Gajeel was standing off to the side, looking a little out of place. The Captain took a quick breath, "Well, we had to change it a lot since you guys showed up, but basically the idea is we distract them long enough for you to destroy the lacrima with your magic. After that, Lily and I are going to reverse the flow of magic power in Edolas, and drain it all into Earthland."

Rogue's eyes widened, "You're going to strip Edolas completely of magic power?"

Natsu nodded, "Yeah. We didn't want to, but everyone here will never stop fighting for it as long as it's here. Lily, Wraith- he's my lieutenant, he's in on this too- and I decided it would be best if all the magic power left Edolas forever."

Gajeel whistled, "That's one big deal, alright…So, when does this master plan start?"

Natsu gave them a devilish smile, "Tomorrow afternoon. I need you two to do something for me…"

/\/\/\/\/\

Gajeel grunted to himself, reaffirming the words. He and Rogue would destroy the lacrima, then apparently, someone would come pick them up and take them to the lacrima in the sky. In the meantime, Natsu and his Lieutenant would rescue Sting and the others, while Edo-Gajeel planned out a course of action with the Edolas Fairy Tail via communication lacrima.

He smirked. All I gotta do is beat the shit out of a crystal. Too easy.

He was right, but not in the way he implied.

/

Natsu cut the bars with Igneo effortlessly. Sting walked into the cell quickly, and caught sight of Lucy and a little girl with her.

He frowned, "Who's this?"

Edo-Rogue walked up behind him, "That's Coco. When we heard Lucy was captured, Natsu sent her up here to keep an eye on her while we got you two out of here. She's with us."

The White Dragon growled, "Keep an eye on her? What do you mean?"

Natsu flashed him a glance, "It's not Lucy I don't trust, it's Erza's men. They're as ruthless as she is, and I didn't want to leave them to guard her. I'm not sure what they might do exactly, but I'm sure they wouldtry something, and trust me when I say this, there'd be nothing good about it."

Sting shuddered at the idea of the blonde girl at the mercy of men like the Edolas Erza, and he was suddenly grateful his brother had gone to such lengths to keep her safe. Natsu cut the cuffs on Lucy's wrists, while Coco walked up to him and Wendy with a smile, "Nice to meet you! If you're Drake- Oops! I mean Natsu's friends, I'm your friend too!"

Wendy smiled back at her, but then frowned, "Why are you going along with this? What's your reason?"

Coco laughed, "I don't really care about eternal magic power. I'd rather have eternal smiles, and I won't get that until the magic power's gone."

Lucy was cut free and walked over to Sting, surprising him with a hug. He froze for a moment, but wrapped his arms around her, whispering, "Are you okay?"

She nodded into his shoulder. Sting, despite his inner conflict, held her close for a while. Natsu raised an eyebrow in surprise, but said nothing. The White Dragon did, however, catch a suspicious glint in his eyes, and he was certain he would later be harassed for this little event later.

Edo-Rogue interrupted them, "Time to go. Gajeel and my counterpart should be about to get to work, and Erza's only getting closer."

Natsu nodded at him, "Right. Let's grab a legion and get to the other lacrima. It's going to take all five of us to blow that thing apart."

Sting frowned at that, "Five? But you-"

"Gajeel gave me an ex-ball, so I've got my power back now. He also told me about the little issue with Dragon Force, so I'm all set." Natsu explained.

The group ran off back down the tower, a little more urgently.

They walked into the courtyard outside when Sting froze. The pressure from yesterday was back. That thick and heavy feeling in the air that smothered every ounce of his being. The others noticed it too, and stopped with him.

In the center of the stone courtyard stood the same man who had utterly crushed him the other day. His cloak was still on, so his face was hidden, but the war hammer was still there.

Natsu laughed nervously, "Crap. I didn't think you'd still be around, I thought you'd be asleep or something."

The man chuckled with a deep voice, "No such luck, Natsu. In a situation like this, I'm required to take control and stay alert at all times, remember?"

Natsu was tense, and Edo-Rogue looked equally nervous.

Sting whispered to his twin, "Who is that guy?"

His brother shook his head, calling out, "Why don't you take that hood off? It's gonna fly off soon anyways, so might as well."

The man shrugged and lifted his hands to free his head of the cloak. Sting's eyes widened.

The man standing before them was the Edolas Gildarts.

Edo-Gildarts cracked his neck, "Honestly, Natsu, I really didn't wanna do this, but Faust gives the orders. And he apparently thought Erza's idea was a good one, because he went through with it."

Wendy let out a shaky breath behind them, "This was Knightwalker's idea?"

Edo-Rogue tch'd, "Yes. She and Natsu have a sort of…rivalry that seems to border on mortal enemies. She doesn't trust him, so she asked the King to activate emergency war measures, in which case, he steps in."

"Former Captain of the Royal Army Second Division, and Army Commander during special war times, 'Dragon Hammer' Gildarts." Natsu finished.

Lucy stared at him, "Dragon Hammer?"

Natsu nodded, "Yeah. That hammer he's got isn't an ordinary Edolas weapon. It's the only weapon there is- Edolas or Earthland- that uses pure Dragon Magic as it's source. It's centuries old, so nobody knows how it was made, but Byro thinks it was created by a wizard who found a stranded dragon here in Edolas. That dragon's power must have been gravity, however that works, and it was used to make the Dragon Hammer during an ancient war."

Sting stared at the hammer in shock. Pure Dragon Magic? No wonder the thing's so damn powerful!

He remembered the intense pressure it had put him under. The story was definitely believable.

Natsu went on, "Gildarts found that thing in some ruins years ago, and it was what made him the most powerful mage there is in Edolas."

"H-hold on! Mira said you were the strongest mage here!" Wendy stammered.

The Captain laughed, "Maybe among the other Captains, but against him? Definitely not. Gildarts is as much of a monster here as he is back home."

"Are you just going to talk about me right in front of me? That's not very nice."

The group's attention went from partial to full back on the man before them as he continued, "I taught you better than that, Natsu, and you Wraith. I knew about your plan from the get-go, and I admit I didn't want to interfere with it, but I've got to do something about you or Erza's going to get mad." Edo-Gildarts stepped forward.

The group backpedaled a few steps and Natsu spoke quickly, never taking his eyes off of Edo-Gildarts, "Coco, go around the courtyard with Sting and the other's and grab a legion. Get out of here and meet with Gajeel and Rogue-they should be almost done when you get there. Wraith, you're with me, we'll keep him busy."

Sting protested, "Hey, I can help-"

"Not here. I know the way he works, you don't. And you need to blow up the lacrima, remember?" Natsu interrupted him.

The White Dragon growled with frustration, but conceded the point and left with Coco and the others to find a different way to the legions. The courtyard was silent for a while as the three of them faced off.

Edo-Gildarts laughed after a while, "Well, this ain't bad. It's been a while since I've seen you two. Even though I went into retirement, they pulled me back into this business already…man, what a pain." He sighed, and took the hammer off of his back, holding it easily in one hand.

Edo-Gildarts smiled at them, "You two were the best thing I contributed to this army, my most prized students. It makes me sad that I have to fight with you like this, but I'm also curious to see how much you've grown, so don't hold back."

Natsu and Wraith said nothing, but they already knew not holding back wasn't an option if they wanted to get out of this alive. Natsu took Igneo off his back and Wraith unsheathed his sword.

Edo-Gildarts spread his arms out to either side with a shout, "Well then, I have to stop you, and you have to keep going, so we're at odds, I guess. Shall we begin?"

Natsu and Wraith charged him without another word.