At the Royal City of Edolas, inside the royal castle. Natsu, Aang, and Wendy were being thrown literally into a cell. Behind them looking with smirks were Zong and Hughes, there were Edolas guards stood by them.
Natsu angrily tried to get back up to his feet before the gates closed, but he was too late and found himself gripping the bars. "Bastards! Where the others?"
"Others?" Hughes asked with a confused expression.
Zong then jabbed his shoulders. "He means their human friends. What were their names again?"
Wendy angrily glared at them. "Lucy, Chun, Happy, Carla, Azu-"
"It doesn't matter," Hughes said. "We ain't got no use for them. So we're going to execute them."
This infuriated Natsu and he tried to rip the bars apart with his bare hands. "If you so much as put a scratch on any of them! I'll turn you all into cinders!" he angrily declared.
Zong chuckled. "I'd like to see you try," he looked over to Aang who hadn't said a single word. "You there, don't even think about using your Earthbending to dig your way out. I'm gonna be here the whole time to make sure you don't cause any trouble." Aang only gave a serious glare to Zong. "And… if you're thinking about fighting me yourself and buying your friends time to escape…"
He outstretched his hand, and a sphere of air had surrounded Wendy's head. "What is-?" she couldn't speak anymore because the air was being sucked out of her lungs.
Aang's eyes grew wide while Natsu angrily bashed himself against the bars. "KNOCK IT OFF!" he yelled. But Zong only tilted his head towards Aang.
"Do we have an understanding?" Aang fixed his glare back on Zong and reluctantly nodded. Zong released his hold on Wendy, and the air around her dissipated, allowing her to take deep breaths after nearly being suffocated to death.
"Zong…" Hughes looked to Zong with a serious expression.
"I wasn't going to kill her, The furthest I'd go would probably be breaking their legs or even severing their spines so they can't walk anymore."
"But-"
"The King said the Dragon Slayers have to be kept alive, but he didn't necessarily say 'in good health'.
"I don't understand?" Wendy said, getting their attention. "You said our human friends. What about Happy and Carla?"
"The furballs?" Zong questioned.
"You mean the Exceeds?" Hughes asked.
"That ain't Happy's name!" Natsu snarled, while still locking his glare on both Hughes and Zong.
"The Exceeds accomplished their mission, so we took 'em to their homeland."
"Their Homeland?" Wendy said.
"Yeah, where all Exceed come from," Zong said. "Those traitorous tabbies are probably being rewarded and feasting as we speak."
"Accomplished… their mission?" Wendy said. She thought back to when Carla told the gang that she had a mission, and by returning to Edolas, she'd be abandoning it. "That's not possible! I don't know what this mission was, but Carla abandoned it!"
"Oh… you think so?" Hughes said.
Zong shook his head. "You poor naive fools. Considering where you're all standing right now, I'd say your friends had done exactly what they were supposed to."
Natsu's anger only intensified while Wendy looked slightly defeated. Aang only kept a serious expression as he listened to them.
"What is their mission?" Wendy asked.
"Might as well tell em," Zong said. "It's not like they are a threat now."
Meanwhile, in the Royal City, the regular festivities continued. However, where the giant lacrima stood, guards were surrounding it, making sure that no one would get close to attack it.
One of the guards however did notice a suspicious figure, and that was Edo-Gajeel who was writing in his notepad. The reporter was approached and six guards were pointing their spears at him. "What are you doing?"
Edo-Gajeel had hidden his eyes behind his hat and tipped it to the guards. He suddenly smiled awkwardly. "Thanks for your hard work!"
"Who are you?" another guard asked with a serious expression.
"Just your average journalist!" he then tapped his pen on his notepad. "This is such a big ceremony that I'd love to interview you if you don't mind…"
"I have nothing to tell you! Now leave!" he pointed away from the area, but Edo-Gajeel only smirked as he looked at the guard.
"This is the northern side of the plaza; can I assume there are guards stationed on the southern side as well?" he asked.
A moment later he was being forced away from the plaza. "Now Scram!"
"Hehe, sorry to disturb you at work!" Edo-Gajeel awkwardly apologized while tipping his hat to them. Though as he left he let out a chuckle using Gajeel's usual laugh, although it was higher pitched than Earth Land Gajeel's.
…
Not too far away were Gajeel and Toph, they were on one of the towers that overlooked the plaza. "So… we've gotten this far. What's the plan, metal man?" Toph asked.
"The crowd'll get caught in collateral damage if we rush in head-on."
"Hmm… you're right." Toph said, "There are way too many people around this thing, we can take those idiot guards no problem, but it's going to be difficult when so many of the city have their eyes on this thing."
"Now what?" Gajeel asked.
"I suggest we listen to Edo-you, he's down there right now."
Gajeel looked down and noticed his other self, looking up at the duo with a smirk while holding the edge of his hat.
"Hmm…"
Happy and Carla were lying in a large bed that looked to be specifically made for people. They were out of their disguises, Happy had his usual green pack tied from his neck, and Carla had a pink dress. Happy was the first to get up groggily and took a look at his surroundings.
"Huh… where are we?" he tiredly said. He shook the arm of the sleeping white cat beside him. "Carla, wake up…"
She started to shake as she rose to sit up. "Male cat…" As they looked around they saw they were in a classy bedroom that was oddly cat-themed, the end of the bed depicted a they typical face of a cat. "What… happened to us?"
"We were knocked out and then we were…" Happy tried to piece together what happened, but couldn't remember much aside from being put under. "Where do you suppose we are?" He eyed Carla and noticed her guilty expression. "Carla?"
She thought back to when she had made that map back in the hotel room, and that very same map led them into the hands of the kingdom where they were captured by Zong and Edo-Erza. "My 'information' was actually a trap…"
"No!" Happy said."It was just a coincidence that they found us!" he said trying to convince Carla that she hadn't led them astray. "It wasn't your fault!"
Carla continued to stare away from him, "I swore to protect Wendy!" she lightly said to herself as she felt herself beginning to cry. "And yet…"
"But-"
"Azula… she was right not to trust me…"
Before long the door opened at the end of their bedroom, they were met by a figure that had sparkles around him. "Glimmeow! Glimmeow!" he said as he crossed his arms that ended in him pointing two fingers. Turned out to be a cat just like them except he resembled a lion. He had orange fur and short hair that was orange-brown. He wore a uniform with a red hat that depicted the symbol of a cat. But his most distinguishing feature was his face that he could only describe as 'manly'. His tail ended in a puffball.
"Are you the ones who completed your mission in Earth Land, glimmeow?"
Happy's eyes went white as he instantly knew who this cat resembled. "ICHIYA!?"
"Meow. A nice parfum," he replied, pretty much confirming that he surely had to be Edolas Ichiya.
"You're a cat too?" he questioned.
"Why are you surprised?" Cat-Ichiya said. "I'm an Exceed, just like you!" he explained, sounding surprised as to how they didn't know they were the same.
"Nichiya!" another a higher-pitched voice said as a black and white Exceed walked into the room, he had a suit on and he had a very long neck, to the point where his head nearly scratched the door-frame, and his tail looked flat. He had a strange tick where he was constantly winding up his right arm up and down over and over again. "This is their first time in Edolas. I'm sure this is their first time seeing Exceeds too!"
"Oh, I see," Nichiya said with understanding as he crossed his wrists while pointing two fingers. "I am Nichiya, the captain of the Extalia's Royal Guard."
"I'm Nab!" the other cat said. "I'm Extalia's Minister of State! Congratulations on your mission."
"Mission?" Happy questioned. As soon as he mentioned their mission, Carla's sad expression returned. "What is it, Carla?"
She only remained silent to Happy's question. "I realize this is rather sudden, but the queen is waiting for you," Nichiya said.
"The queen?!"
"Yes, follow me." As both Nichiya and Nab were leaving the room, Happy looked to the depressed Carla with a serious expression.
"Carla. Leave everything to me!" he confidently said. "Let's go along with this for now until we get a handle on things." he clenched his paw and gave her a look similar to how Natsu looks at his friends. "I will protect you, no matter what!" he promised.
…
They were taken out of the room and there were two human-sized Exceed guards that stood beside it. "More cats…" Happy said to himself. They were led by Nichiya and Nab through the long, regal hallways. Carla's mind was only filled with guilt and regret while Happy continued to wonder what was going on while remaining suspicious of the other cats they saw.
Once they were led out of the hall. Happy was perplexed by what he was seeing. He was looking at a town square that had bipedal cats walking just living their lives. Some of them even looked like dogs somehow. But one thing was common, everywhere they looked, there were Exceeds.
There was a kind Exceed who was selling fish and he gave his female customer extra because he knew she had a litter to feed. After he was thanked, he said that it was all thanks to the Queen's generosity that he was able to keep his business afloat.
Another was describing his first-ever encounter of a caterpillar when he left to gather Intel from the surface. He stretched his arms wide when he described how big it was, leaving some of the others to call him a liar.
There looked to be a class as an old Exceed was teaching a class of child Exceed about the power structure of Edolas. He mentioned that even the human king is under the Exceeds' supervision.
As they walked through the town, they even saw smaller Exceeds frolicking about. "It's a land of cats…" Happy thought to himself. There were even cats who called 'Sir Nichiya' and 'Sir Nab' leading him to think the others saw them as figures to idolize.
Though he got nervous noticed the other Exceed were staring at both him and Carla.
"Oh! Are those the ones…"
"...who completed their Earth Land mission?"
Happy felt confused while Carla's guilt only increased. She was being called a hero for betraying her allies, for failing to protect Wendy. She tried to keep it together but she couldn't hide the sheer guilt that was eating her up inside.
"Awesome! Hey, heroes!"
Then another Exceed seemed to be eyeing Carla, though for… different reasons."Check it out, that girl's hot."
"So everyone here is cats…" Happy stated.
"We're not cats. We're Exceeds." Nab said, still winding up his right arm. "Exceeds stand above humans and lead the kingdom. And this is the Exceed kingdom… Extalia!" he said as they all looked to the castle-like towers in the background of Extalia.
At the plaza in the royal city - where the Giant Lacrima sat. There was what looked like a parade going on as crowds of people gathered around.
As the festivities were happening, Edo-Gajeel was on the ground, notebook in hand as he approached one of the guards that were watching over the event. "So, it's starting huh?" he asked.
"Mm." the guard nodded in reply while not looking back at him. "Now the kingdom will have peace and security."
Edo-Gajeel looked upwards as he stood in the line of guards. "This is the southern side of the plaza. Can I assume security is tight on the eastern and western sides too?"
"No, there's no need. There's no room there for suspicious individuals to hide." the guard replied. Edo-Gajeel's face lit up n shock at the revelation of this new information. "H-Hey! Don't write that in an article!" the now flustered guard yelled.
"Hey, hey, don't worry! I have a grasp on what is important to write and what isn't. I am a journalist." he bragged while tipping his hat. The guard only gave him an even more perplexed look.
Some guards were in a drummer line and they continued to beat their drums as they neared the lacrima. Edo-Gajeel followed through the crowd and stood in a sea of people while staring at the crystalline structure. As he did a smaller figure in a cloak was also looking at the Lacrima.
"Only the north and south sides have security," he said to himself. "North of the south side is undermanned. The ceremony's being held on the south side of the lacrima."
"Why are you talking to yourself?" the smaller figure asked as she folded her arms. "You should know not to let information like that slip, you never know who could be listening in."
Edo-Gajeel chuckled. "I don't know what you're talking about little girl, I'm just a journalist."
"Well, don't worry, it's not like a little blind girl like me could do anything, right?"
He then tipped his hat in response. "You should find your parents little girl."
"Oh I will, I just hope someone scary doesn't follow me." she started walking and her lips formed a smirk.
As for Gajeel he was on the pillar by himself and saw the exchange and when he saw Toph going in a direction that looked like north-west. He gasped when he saw him pointing there and his eyes followed Toph through the crowd.
Soon Edo-Gajeel walked away deeper into the crowd as if he was a wandering by-stander.
"I see… Gihi!" he chuckled as he could see their collective plan falling perfectly into place.
In the city of Extalia. Nichiya and Nab were still leading Happy and Carla. At this time, they were on the long, hallway of what looked like the royal palace of Extalia, they were on an outdoor hallway that was on the upper levels of the castle. While they walked, both leading Exceeds was explaining the situation to Happy and Carla.
"Humans are a terribly foolish and inferior species, you see," Nab explained. "So it's up to us to keep them under control."
Nichiya looked back at them with what looked like a disgusted expression. He was still surrounded by sparkles. "They also have a terrible parfum." noticing the silence behind him, he figured they didn't get what he said. "'Parfum' means 'smell' meow."
But the silence wasn't from their lack of understanding of what a 'parfum' was. But rather it was from neither of them knowing what to think. Carla never looked up from the ground since they left their room in Extalia and Happy was very concerned.
Nab continued his explanation. "The queen governed the humans from here." not slowing his fist-pumping.
"Now she has a delightful parfum," Nichiya said while blushing.
"It'd be dangerous to let their numbers get out of hand, you see." the black cat turned to Happy and Carla with a dark expression, but still had a cheery expression on his face. "So the queen determines which humans are unnecessary and kills them."
Happy was taken aback by this and averted his eyes from Nab. "W-why?"
"The queen said it's to help restore the magic power that's being lost. Our queen controls not only the humans of this world but those of Earth Land as well."
"She decides who lives and dies?" Happy questioned.
"The queen has that authority," Nichiya replied. "After all… she a goddess, meow!"
"A goddess?" Happy asked.
…
The Parade in the Royal City was still going, Edo-Gajeel was on the ground and he looked at both Gajeel and Toph who were hidden among the crowd as they began to spring their plan into action.
…
As the Exceeds continued to walk, they noticed Carla had stopped walking. "Huh, Carla?" Happy questioned.
"What is this mission of ours?" she asked with a low tone in her voice. "I've had a mission imprinted in me since I was born."
Both Nab and Nichiya looked to each other in confusion as they both let out a perplexed "Meow?"
There was silence as they were all looking at Carla. "I think I figured it out. 'As part of the queen's 'human management'… I'm to find the Sky Dragon Slayer Wendy… and eliminate her.'" she said.
Happy's face was filled with shock as he then angrily turned to Carla. "Wh-What are you saying, Carla?!"
"Be quiet," she said, holding out her paw as she tried to recall the memories of her mission.
"What do you mean, you supposed to 'eliminate' Wendy!?" he then thought back to what Azula had said in the cave.
"But… this mission you're on… the dwindling magic in this kingdom; I think they're more connected than you lead on. If I had to guess, I'd say it somehow involves Dragon Slayers."
Combined with what she said and what Carla just revealed, Happy was forced to face a horrifying realization. "That means… my mission is…" he held his head in sorrow. "Huh? It's can't be…" he sadly said. He sat on the ground trying to process what all this pointed to.
"Now do you see why you were better off not knowing?" Carla softly said, feeling pity for the blue cat.
"My mission… is… is to eliminate Natsu!?" Happy said sounding as if he was about to cry.
Just as Happy figured this out, Natsu, Wendy, and Aang had just learned of the same mission by proxy of Hughes and Zong. Wendy had a scared look as she tried not to believe what she heard, Natsu still looked furious, but his face couldn't hide his shock. Aang's eyes were also filled with shock.
"What!?" Natsu asked with an angry tone.
"That's right," Zong said. "Turns out we are just pawns in the Exceeds plans. Your little furballs were sent to Earth Land to kill ya, and for that, they are seen as heroes in Extalia."
"No… you're both lying…" Wendy said. "Carla, she wouldn't-"
"Believe it or don't. That doesn't change that you're here now." Hughes said.
Zong turned to his partner. "Hughes, you may leave us. I'll guard the prisoners, if you leave now, you might still make it to the festivities down at the Royal City."
Hughes smirked and looked at the two guards. "Heh, I owe you for this Zong. You two let's go!" the guards complied and left, leaving Zong to watch over Natsu, Wendy, and Aang.
"Heh, imagine that. A friend you've known for your whole life had a mission to bring you to your death. Those furballs sure are cold-blooded aren't they?" Both Natsu and Wendy were still at a loss for words after what they just heard. "Huh, no small talk this time? All right." he then turned to Aang. "Excuse me, but is there something you have to say to me, Aang? And I doubt it's about those little Exceeds."
After there was silence for a short while, Aang finally opened his mouth. "You're a Bender."
The masked figure tilted his head. "You're… only figuring that out now?"
"No, back at when we first fought. I had my suspicions, but then you practically flat out told me." Aang tried to read any expression he could from Zong, but with that mask over his face, it was difficult to tell what was going through his mind. "But what I want to know, is how is that possible?"
"Come again?"
"How can a bender be here… in Edolas? And how can you use more than one element? Only the Avatar can-"
A childlike gasp was heard from underneath Zong's mask. "Oh, you're an Avatar too? I honestly didn't know. Well, that explains a lot, like how you can use more than one element yourself."
Aang was confused by what Zong said. "B-but how can you be an Avatar? You're not even one of my past lives!"
Wendy's nose caught a whiff of something and she looked to Zong and her pupils shrunk a little. "No way… you smell…"
"Well, that's just rude," Zong replied.
"No… your scent… you smell just like Aang." Wendy said.
"WHAT?!" Both Natsu and Aang gasped.
"I've noticed something when we were here in Edolas. Everyone smells nearly the same as their Edolas-selves. Even the two Lucys smelled almost the same."
They could hear Zong chuckling to himself as his arms were slightly stretching out to his sides. Natsu glared at him. "Who the HELL are you?" he asked with a threatening growl.
He stood up straight, reached his hand to the back of his head, and started to unzip his mask. He slowly took is off and the three prisoners were petrified by what they saw.
Zong's revealed face was identical to Aang's, as he was bald and had dark eyes. But instead of the air nomad arrow being on his head, there were red tuning fork tattoos on his face that started from the front of his neck.
He finally opened his mouth to speak. "I'm you, Aang," he replied, now having the same voice at Aang.
Aang was a stuttering mess as his eyes had turned white in shock. "M-Me!?" he comically exclaimed. "But… but how… I…I thought Edolas doesn't have…"
"I'm not from Edolas," Zong replied. The three were even more shocked by this. "Benders aren't a common sight around Edolas as far as I'm aware. I'm the only one. So can I assume you're not from Earth Land, Aang?" he had no idea how to respond, he was still shocked at what was happening. "I'll take that as a yes."
"But…" Wendy said trying to piece this together. "If you're not from Earth Land or Edolas… are you from Aang's world?"
"Nope." Zong replied, popping the 'p' for added effect. "Think about it for a minute; Earth Land and Edolas are parallel to each other, like two sides of the same coin. So, if Edolas has a counterpart world like Earth Land, wouldn't it make sense that the world Aang is from also has a counterpart?" he asked. "That's the world I'm from. I'm the Avatar of my world, just as Aang is the Avatar of his world."
The three of them were silent, as the mystery of Zong's identity was finally solved but it only served to bring up more questions than answers. "Heh, it got quiet all of a sudden," he said before looking at Aang's tattoos. "Can I assume those are the marking of the Avatar in your world, Aang?"
"W-what no. They are from the Air Nomads." Aang said.
Natsu glared at Zong as he still held the bars. "Let me guess, you were raised by the Fire Nation in your world, right?"
Zong tilted his head. "Fire Nation? Air Nomads? I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Then, what about the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes?" Wendy asked.
"Nope, don't know that either..."
Aang was confused. "So… what countries do you have?"
"Countries?" Zong looked to have awkwardly laughed and he was rubbing the back of his head. "Well… this is awkward. Why does your world have countries?" they all looked at Zong, with puzzled expressions. "Are you not the Avatar of your world, Aang? Are you not the one who reigns destruction down on the whole world?"
Aang's pupils shrunk in fear, he did not like where this was going at all. "Destruction? No! That's not what the Avatar does!" Zong hummed as Aang continued. "The Avatar is supposed to bring balance to the world!" he said raising his voice.
The puzzled look never left Zong's face and he replied with: "Balance? Why would you want to bring balance?"
"B-Because that's what the Avatar does! It's what Raava-"
Zong snapped his fingers and he pointed at Aang. "You have Raava? Oooooh! Okay, now it makes sense."
"Makes sense?" Aang confusedly asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Let me ask you something: does the name Vaatu ring any bells?" Aang looked confused and turned to both Natsu and Wendy who both were also perplexed. "Let me put it this way. For every force in the universe, there is an equal and opposite: push and pull, creation and destruction, order and chaos, good and evil…"
"Yin and Yang," Aang replied understanding Zong's point.
"Exactly, and Raava is the spirit of Light and Peace, the embodiment of all that is good in your world, right? Well, if that's the case, wouldn't it make sense that she have an opposite as well?"
Aang finally got what Zong was talking about. "Wait… are you saying? That your Avatar spirit is the opposite."
Zong winked at Aang. "Yep, Raava's twin, Vaatu, the spirit of Darkness and Chaos. Unlike Raava or any other spirit you've probably met, this one is evil, pure evil." he then smirked at the group who were horrified. "His only desire is to bring destruction and death wherever he goes. I'm assuming that the Avatar Cycle in your world is Raava reincarnating into another person to help maintain balance, or whatever. But in my world, the Avatar is the host of Vaatu, and my purpose is to destroy and kill!" he said as he eyed all of them while smirking and raising his arms.
"No way…" Natsu said with a light gasp.
"The reason I asked about countries was because, my world doesn't have any. At least not anymore." Zong then began to explain a bit about his world. "The only aspect of civilization my world has is this cult following to ensure that Vaatu's Avatar is reincarnated. The rest of my world is just a barren wasteland. The best way I can describe it is 'Hell on Earth'; barely any forests and vegetation, and barely any animal life, the seas are dwindling as we speak, and most humans worship the Avatar through the aforementioned cult, and spirits are forever cut off. If any of them try, I destroy the. But since a spirit can't technically 'die' the way humans can, they just go back to the Spirit World."
"No… this can't be…" Aang muttered to himself.
"There are a few humans that denounce the Avatar, but I just haven't gotten around to killing them yet. Apparently, all my past lives did all the work already. When I was born, my world was pretty much dead as it is, and I was stuck with guard duty to make sure no spirit trespassed in Vaatu's domain. Let me tell you, it was boring with a capital B. I honestly considered killing off the cult that raised me just to alleviate my boredom. But, I got lucky. An Anima showed up in my world."
"An Anima…?" Wendy asked as she and the other were surprised that he was sucked up by an Anima as well.
"Yep, apparently Edolas tried to absorb magic from other worlds besides Earth Land. When I went to investigate, I wound up in Edolas. That old dirtbag they call a King was very interested in my power, so I gave him a demonstration, by killing off hundreds of wizards in one day!" he evilly chuckled. "Wooo! Let me tell you, that was the most fun I ever had! Me letting loose with my power for the first time in years; hearing the agonizing screams of my victims, rivers of blood flowing down the streets… Oh man, it was glorious!" he started to laugh to himself while Wendy and Aang could only watch in horror.
Natsu on the other hand reached out through the bars and grabbed the smirking Zong by his top, lifting him off his feet. "You psycho BASTARD!"
"Down, boy." Zong simply waved his finger and a jagged pillar shot out from the ground, sending Natsu flying across to the back of the cell. He fixed his outfit and continued. "And that's not even the best part…" he still eyed the horrified looks on Aang and Wendy. "Shocking, I know! The King thinks that the Lacrima that absorbed all your friends is gonna be the key to unlimited magic power. What he doesn't know… is that I plan to absorb it all myself!" he revealed. The three eyed Zong with fearful eyes. "And once I do, I'll have all the magic power of this world, I'll use it to wipe out all life in Edolas!" he said with a sadistic smile.
"Man, Woman, Child? No one is safe, not even those damn Exceeds!" a wicked smile appeared on his lips while his pupils shrunk. "Those arrogant furballs think themselves to be gods. I'll show them what a real god looks like as I rip their world in half and listen to their screams as they fall into oblivion!" he yelled. Aang could only clench his fist, but he was still terrified when he saw Zong saying all this with satisfaction. "And after I've killed the last insect in this world, I'll use the Anima to crossover into Earth Land. I hear the wizards there are even more powerful; I'll not only gain power there, but I might also have a challenge as I destroy all life in that world as well! AHAHAHAHAHA!" he started laughing maniacally.
Aang and Natsu barely stood their ground as they watched Aang's true opposite describe his plans in chilling detail. Wendy was beyond horrified and was right at the back of the cell just to keep as much distance between herself and Zong.
"Y-You're… you're a monster…" Wendy muttered loud enough for Zong to hear.
Zong's laughter died down and his eyes locked with her, a casual smile formed on his lips. "Oh, that's just who I am, darling." he suddenly remembered something important. "Oh about those furballs, there's something you need to know about them…"
At the Capital City, the celebrations were in full swing. Four men in royal garbs were aiming their Edolas crested javelins at the Lacrima to absorb its power. The ends of them were glowing the same bright sapphire as the Lacrima.
Everyone in the crowd as celebrating as they could all see the lacrima's blue glow getting brighter and brighter. Gajeel looked on and Toph had made herself scarce in the crowd but her fingers and toes were getting twitchy. Edo-Gajeel watched as it was almost time.
Happy still couldn't bear to accept what Carla had just said, she even looked like she pitied him. He was still holding his paws on his head while about to cry. "I'm supposed to… eliminate Natsu?" he sadly repeated while sweat developed over his fur.
"Calm down, male cat!" Carla exclaimed assertively while clenching her paw. She angrily turned to both Nichiya and Nab. "We haven't accomplished our missions, nor have we ever intended to! So why does everyone claim we have!?"
Nab looked shocked as he eyed the two while Nichiya had a more serious expression as he figured out what was going on with them. "Amnesia?"
"It's no big deal," Nab said, retaining his cheerful expression. "'Overwriting' comes with many unknown side-effects, you see."
"'Overwriting'? Start talking!" Carla angrily said as she pointed at Nab.
"Allow me to explain," he replied, seemingly unaffected by Carla's demands. "Six years ago, as part of the queen's human management orders, 100 Exceeds were sent to Earth Land. After these Exceeds hatched, the 'Information' they were given would lead them to seek out and eliminate Dragon Slayers. However, the situation changed. Human-created 'Animas' presented us with a completely new option, you see." Happy and Carla stood in fear as they continued to listen. "Namely, rather than killing Earth Land humans, we could instead use them as magic power. And Dragon Slayers are a source of magic power like nothing else! So your missions were hastily altered." Carla's pupils were shaking at the thought of what she, had really done, and what her and Happy's mission really was.
…
Natsu, Wendy, and Aang were shocked at what Zong just told them.
"No way…" Natsu mouthed.
"Yep, their new mission was 'Bring the Dragon Slayers here'. And they even brought us an alternate world Avatar, those furballs really out-did themselves this time."
"But why?" Aang asked.
"See, what these people really want is Dragon Slayer magic. So that's why the king wants you alive but make no mistake. When this is over, all the magic in Edolas will be mine!"
…
Carla and Happy stood shocked as they had unknowingly completed their mission, that's why they were treated as heroes. All the information that Carla was receiving, that was her unknowingly leading the Dragon Slayers to the kingdom. Knowing this, she could barely stand anymore as she fell to her knees and broke down as she began to cry.
The Lacrima was shining brightly, much to the delight of the people around it. Gajeel was trying to shuffle his way through the crowd. "I've got to hurry. But it's way to crowded with all these people here."
Toph felt the same, as she shuffled through on her end. "Damn, with this huge crowd we can't do anything. That Edolas-Gajeel better have a plan."
Edo-Gajeel stepped further into the crowd and he pulled out a metal, baton-shaped object. One of the people noticed. "Oh, what's that?"
"Eh, just something to help spice up the celebrations," he replied with a cheerful expression. He aimed it upwards and a beam of light shot into the sky, Gajeel noticed and looked up. The firework exploded and the light sparkled into the letter N.
"Oh, fireworks!"
"So cool!"
Edo-Gajeel pulled out four more of the same items. "You think so, why don't you try them out!"
"What's going on?" Toph thought as she heard the commotion. The fireworks exploded in the sky and the guards were even distracted by this as no fireworks were scheduled to go off.
After the pyrotechnics exploded, the light then joined the letter N to spell one word: NORTH.
"North…" Gajeel said to himself.
Edo-Gajeel hid his eyes under his hat. "I leave the rest in your hands. Gihi," he said with a high pitched laugh.
Gajeel pulled his hood further down and turned away from the guards. "Look what it says up there!" he yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear him. "The north end of the plaza! Sounds like someone suspicious is after the lacrima!"
After this, the guards behind him panicked. "What?!"
"This is bad! That's the rear side of the lacrima! Security there is light!"
"Leave one-third here and go north!"
They heard an explosion right on the south side of the lacrima. "HELP!" they all heard, as there looked to be a clump of rocks that were shot that was shot out through the ground. Toph was on the floor, acting as if she was hurt. A guard rushed to her. "Are you all right?"
"Ow… some guy here is using Earth magic to hurt everyone and get to the lacrima," she said in a sorrowful tone.
The guard looked up. "Everyone, push the onlookers back! We're being attacked!" All the guards were moving around, many were dispersing the crowd. The only ones in the crowd who remained were Gajeel who still stood with his back to the one guard left in front of him. And Toph who looked like she was being helped up by one of the guards.
"Hey, you! What are you still doing here, get back!" a guard said to Gajeel.
"Now I can go all out, Gihi!" he threw off his cloak and rushed towards the Lacrima. "That Mystogan's one suspicious freak, but I'll trust him for now!" he threw his arm forward and it turned to an Iron pillar and it pummeled through two guards.
Toph smirked and she elbowed the guard helping her up in the stomach. "What are you-?"
"What… heh, I guess you Edolas guards don't have brains after all." she could then see more guards rushing to her end as they figured that side was being attacked. "Oh, you brought friends?" she stepped hard on the ground, shaking the entire area, making the approaching guards shake on their feet, many of them losing their balance and falling over. "This is for my friends you jerks!" she stepped with her other foot, pushed two fists forward, and made a sharp wave of rock bulldozed through them, sending them flying.
Edo-Gajeel watched from a safe distance as the guards were running all over the place, unable to figure out what was going on. "Precisely as planned. Gihi!" he giggled as he left the scene.
"Hey, brat lets end this!" Gajeel yelled.
Toph on the other side smirked. "Great, I've never bent lacrima before, well here goes!" she rushed towards the lacrima with an earth wave to boost her momentum. Gajeel leaped into the air and formed his Iron Dragon Sword.
A hard punch and a sword clash had rocked the lacrima simultaneously. Toph's punch had made cracks spread all over her side of the lacrima while Gajeel's sword had made a long straight crack going down the lacrima.
A blinding beam of light had surrounded the plaza as the onlookers couldn't take their eyes away, some people even thought it was part of the celebration.
Gajeel landed on his feet and Toph leaped back from the blinding light. "D-did we do it!?" Toph yelled.
Gajeel was shocked at the sight of what he saw. "W-what!?"
Nichiya and Nab were eyeing the distraught Happy and Carla. "It seems remotely overwriting your orders didn't work quite right." Nab casually said.
"But it all worked out in the end." Nichiya said giving them a 'thumbs up'. "You did great and fulfilled your mission of bringing Dragon Slayers here anyway, meow. Both Happy and Carla had already broken down as tears were falling down their faces. "The 'magicalization' - the conversion to magic power, has been tasked to the humans. Humans are more proficient at that sort of thing, you see. Meow, meow."
"N-no…" Carla cried. "I came to Edolas of my own free will."
Nab had pointed his right finger up as his arm was still moving around. "Mm-mm," he said correcting her. "You only executed your orders."
"We went into the mine to save all the others…!" she said, unable to keep herself from crying.
"You haven't figured it out yet? We led you there."
Carla thought about how shocked the others were when the Edolas guards, Zong and Erza Knightwalker bowed in front of them. Particularly Lucy and Azula.
…
"What the heck is going on?"
"-I TOLD YOU SO! If we get out of this, as per our agreement Carla, you're as good as dead!"
…
But the one thing she could never forget was how Wendy looked at her as they were captured.
"Happy… Carla…" Wendy muttered in shock. "Just who are you?!"
Carla clenched her paws as she closed her eyes and faced the ground. "I… I wanted to protect Wendy because she's dear to me…!"
Unable to read the feeling of the two Exceed in front of them, Nab told her: "That's merely a false feeling, resulting from the change of orders from, 'eliminate' to 'deliver'." Carla drooped her ears as she could take much more. "In other words, they change to 'Do not kill-'
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Carla screamed. Her heart was breaking, she didn't want to believe that she had just betrayed the only true friend that she had.
Nichiya eyed her. "Everything you do is a result of what we tell you to do." he heartlessly said while Carla broke down.
Happy who hadn't said anything was crying too, but he was trying to hold back his emotions. But after hearing this he couldn't - no… He wouldn't believe that his mission was to kill Natsu. Not after everything that they have been through. Happy and Natsu were best friends, ever since he hatched from the egg. They have been inseparable ever since. Natsu was always there for Happy, and Happy was always there for him.
Nothing would ever change that, and especially not this damn 'mission' he was on! His paw clenched in anger as he could feel the anger bubbling up inside him. Carla was in no shape to do anything, her entire existence revolved around leading Wendy to Edolas.
Happy didn't believe that, and he didn't believe he was born to harm Natsu either. He stood up straight, moved in front of Carla, spread his arms wide, and eyed both Nichiya and Nab with sheer rage as the warm tears soaked his cheeks.
"WE'RE NOT YOUR DAMN PUPPETS!" he angrily yelled.
Nab and Nichiya were shocked at this outburst, and to an extent so was Carla. "Male… cat…?" she muttered through her sniffling.
"We are… FAIRY TAIL WIZARDS!" Happy screamed with conviction as his loud yell echoed around the castle.
The two resident Exceeds could only look in shock as they had seen a furious look that Happy hadn't given anyone before, he was panting after he made his stance known. Carla could only stay behind him on her knees with her ears drooped. But she had never expected this out of him. She broke down and was ready to accept what she had done, but not him. He wasn't going to let their order change what he was going to do, what he had to do. From that moment, Carla had viewed Happy in a much more different light.
"H-Happy…"
The larger Exceed guards took notice and they looked to where Happy had made this declaration. "Men…?" Nichiya said, shocked by this.
Nab had looked to him with the same perplexed expression. "Nichiya, if that is true, do you think?"
Happy didn't think as he grabbed Carla paw and dragged the two of them in the other direction, away from both Nab and Nichiya.
"Eh, Happy?" Carla questioned.
"We have to save everyone! And we will save everyone!" Happy declared.
The other pair of Exceeds was sweating nervously. "Oh, yo-yo-yo-yo. N-Nichiya." Nab nervously said. "Are they…?"
Nichiya nodded, he leaped up and performed a dance while saying. "They have become fallen angels, otherwise known as Fallens!" he exclaimed.
Nab looked to the Exceed guards who stood by them. "Exceeds tainted by Earth Land's vileness become Fallens!"
"Oh MEN!" Nichiya yelled as tears escaped his eyelids. Nab meanwhile knew he had to stop whatever Happy and Carla were going to do.
"Two Fallens are on the loose!"
"Royal Guards! Give chase!"
Aang, Natsu, and Wendy were sitting inside their cell feeling hopeless as Zong watched them from the outside.
"Dammit… Happy betraying me… there no way…" Natsu said, he angrily stood up. "There's no way at all! You hear me?!" he yelled.
"Yes, I hear you," Zong said wiggling his pinky finger in his ear. "You're like five feet away man." Wendy and Aang watched Natsu shake the cage.
"Lemme outta here!" he said to Zong.
"I could… but then I'd have to kill you." he casually said.
"Bastard! If you don't let me out, I'm gonna smash this thing down!"
"Oho." Zong laughed. "I'd like to see you try."
"That's it, I'm gonna fry your butt!" Natsu puffed his cheeks. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" he shot flames from his mouth and they covered Zong and he was screaming in pain… Which is what would have happened if Natsu had his way as he only imagined this.
"Wow… impressive." Zong sarcastically said while lowering his eyebrows.
"Looks like it was useless after all," Wendy said.
"AAAAH!" Natsu screamed. "Edolas sucks!"
"Carla…" Wendy thought and she couldn't believe Carla would betray her like that. There had to be an explanation.
"Yeeesh, are all Dragon Slayers annoying like this?" Zong asked.
"Hey, let me out so I can kick your ass!" Natsu held tightly on the bars while peering into Zong's eyes.
"You're a waste of my time." he replied with a sigh "You're lucky I can't put you down-" He noticed Aang was meditating, trying to block out everything going on in and out of the cell. "Hey, Aang. Are you sleeping?"
"He must be meditating," Wendy said.
"Isn't that just sleeping? Oh well, I'll just be out here, you guys want anything, some snacks, water? A little payback on certain felines?" he earned the glare of the two Dragon Slayers in the cell. "Wow, rough crowd." Zong leaned on a wall that was further from the cell and it was still in his view. "Now don't go anywhere."
As Zong walked over to the wall, both Natsu and Wendy turned to Aang as he was still meditating. "Maybe Aang can think of a way to get us out of here!"
"I hope so…" Wendy said.
…
When Aang opened his eyes, he expected to see the walls of the prison, but he was met with something else entirely, he could see the sky was purple and there were icy mountain ranges in the background. He got up from his meditative stance and viewed the landscape he was in.
"This isn't Edolas."
"Greetings Aang."
He turned to see the light spirit herself Raava floating above him. "Raava, finally! I've been trying to contact you."
"Since your magic is linked to your Avatar State, it was difficult to reach you since the magic supply is this world is severely limited."
"Listen… I need you to tell me about Vaatu."
"Vaatu. So you must have already met your counterpart. But for me to tell you about him, perhaps you should know a little about the first Avatar."
"The First Avatar?"
"Correct, nearly ten-thousand years ago. Vaatu and I were engaged in a constant struggle. I continuously fought against him, just to keep balance in the world, and his darkness under control. But a human named Wan. His interference, split us up, allowing Vaatu to spread his chaos across the world.
I chased him down, and Wan wanted to rectify his mistake. He was already gifted with the ability to fire bend, so we traveled to one of the Ancient Ones so that he could be given the ability to manipulate air."
Aang slightly tilted his head. "Um… 'Ancient Ones'."
"I believe you refer to them as 'Lion Turtles'."
Aang chuckled. "Hehe, oh yeah."
"Back then, people built cities atop them, they gifted humans the ability to manipulate the elements so that they could protect themselves in the Spirit Wilds. But back to the story. No human had ever held more than one element at the same time. Because of this, I was to hold that ability for Wan until he mastered the art. The two of us had to work together to stop Vaatu.
We traveled long to restore balance, Wan then acquired the ability to manipulate water and the earth. I told Wan about my struggle with Vaatu, and about the Harmonic Convergence - An event that occurs every ten thousand years. During this, the planets align and spiritual energy is drastically increased. At this event, both Vaatu and I must battle to determine the fate of the world for the next ten thousand years.
For the two of us, we only had a year to train and prepare ourselves. But due to Vaatu's escape, I became weaker as Vaatu continued to roam the world. His chaotic influence on the world weakened me.
The day came to fight Vaatu in the spirit world because I was nowhere near strong enough, and Wan was unable to defeat Vaatu on his own, I once again merged myself with Wan, upon his insistence. But that would be the last time we would merge. Because the energy dispersed from the Harmonic Convergence had permanently merged us together. Thus making Wan, the first Avatar. And I became the Avatar Spirit.
Through our combined efforts, we trapped him away inside the Tree of Time. But even though we won the day, humanity was still tainted by Vaatu's dark influence. And from them on, Wan and I would work to restore balance to all of humanity.
From then on, I would reincarnate into another host, living through different lifetimes and experiences, while my host and I would work together to bring peace. And thus ends my story on the Origins of the Avatar."
"Wow." Aang gasped. "So that's how the Avatar came to be? I have... a lot of questions?"
"Yes, but back to your question about Vaatu. He is currently trapped in the Tree of Time, and judging by the demeanor of this 'Zong'. I'd say he is heavily influenced by Vaatu. You felt it too, didn't you? That 'dark' presence."
"The first second I saw him… no, ever since arriving in Edolas. There was this strange feeling, but then it turned to fear the longer I stayed. And now I know why Vaatu's spirit is here."
"Not exactly, the Vaatu inside Zong is from an alternate world of ours. Where in that world, Vaatu is free while I remain trapped."
Aang thought back to Zong's plan that he told them in the prison. "He's planning to steal all the magic he can, and kill everyone he can. He needs to be stopped."
…
While Aang was meditating inside the cell, Zong was sitting by the wall, humming to himself with his eyes closed, but in actuality, he was conversing with Vaatu.
He was in the same space Aang was in, but the sky was dark red. He was sitting on the ground while grinning. In front of him was Raava's opposite - Vaatu. He looked exactly like Raava accept his spirit body was black and his accents were reddish-orange.
"Heh, I was pretty shocked when I found out Aang here had Raava inside him. Now I know why I got that weird feeling before I attacked Fairy Tail. I knew it felt surprisingly peaceful."
"So this Raava is different from the one I defeated almost ten-thousand years ago. It doesn't matter, the result will be the same!" Vaatu said in a deep, ominous voice.
"Looking forward to killing Raava again, aren't you?"
"Zong, she is right there. Why haven't you killed her yet?"
"Hey! This is the most fun I've had in years, and you're not going to ruin it for me!" he smirked afterward. "Besides, the king wants him and the other two for their Dragon Slayer Magic. But after that, when the time is right. I want him to recover, so the two of us can dual each other. The winner decides the fate of this world!" Zong even giggled to himself. "Oh man, can you feel it, Vaatu? Cause I sure as hell can! Just the idea of two Avatars fighting against each other, ooh! I can feel my bones shaking from excitement!"
…
Elsewhere in a separate part of the dungeon, two guards were standing beside another cell. Inside the cell were Lucy, Edo-Lisanna, Azula, and Chun. The four of them were restrained to the wall using silk bindings that kept their wrists tied together behind their backs, their ankles were also kept together using the same silk binding. There was even silk that covered their mouths.
Lucy was the first to wake up, and she noticed her surroundings. "Huh, where am I?" she remembered that they were all captured by Zong. She saw the sleeping figures of the others in the prison with her. "What… why can I-?" she noticed her mouth was covered by the silk.
She could see Azula waking up and she was glaring at her angrily. Before long the fire lord closed her eyes and there was a blue glow under the silk that covered her mouth, but soon after, the glow faded.
"That's fire-proof silk." one of the guards outside the cell said. "Good luck getting out, that stuff was made to even restrain the Red Reaper."
"Him?!" Lucy flashed back to Zong's trap catching them, and how he intimidated her when she first tried to take him on. "Could he really be an Avatar? But how could that even work?" the blonde eyed the area outside of the cell. "I hope the others are ok."
Back on Extalia. The other resident felines could see a dust cloud approaching them from the castle.
"OUT OF THE WAY!" They all saw Happy running towards them while holding Carla's paw. The dust was being created behind them was courtesy of the much taller and bigger Exceed royal guards, all of whom were brandishing swords as the chased the two 'Fallen'. The chasing guards were being led by Nichiya. Many of the others Exceed were wondering why the heroes were being chased.
Nichiya was closing the gap towards them. "Get back here! MEN!" she swung his sword and both Happy and Carla just avoided being slashed by him.
Because of this Nichiya tripped over himself and rolled into the path of his guards, they slowed down since they didn't want to trample him. A few moments later, they lost sight of the two.
Minutes later, they fanned out to try and find them. They all ran past a stand that had a hay-filled wheelbarrow at its side. But Nichiya was struggling to keep up with his guards
He tripped over the wooden block that kept the wheelbarrow still. After he fell to his stomach in a pathetic display. "Men…" he said while gasping her for air as he tried to get up, there was sweat all over his fur and his eyes were completely white. "No… I'm not tired out… at all…" the wheelbarrow that was propped up next to the store had started moving down the hill, of course, Nichiya was still in the way so he was run over, making the wooden wagon leap up slightly.
Hiding within the hay was both Happy and Carla, though the screamed as the vehicle was speeding down the steep road. They were speeding down the city of Extalia. Eventually, they both managed to get so far out from the city, they found themselves on the outskirts which were fields and forests.
They were moving so fast that they were both barely holding on, Carla who was near the back lost her grip and saw both the wheelbarrow and Happy leaving her. "HAPPY!" she yelled as she tried to extend her short arm to reach her fellow Exceed. Happy hung onto the very edge of the wheelbarrow so he could quickly reach her. His paw finally grabbed hers and he never took his eyes off her as he gave her a serious expression.
"Hold on tight!" Happy said, which only got a nodded response from Carla.
They didn't have long to ponder on what nearly happened because they were approaching a cliff. Without their aera magic, they couldn't prevent the inevitable as they rolled off the cliff face. Carla held tight onto Happy, while the blue cat looked paralyzed with fear.
There was a loud crash and both Exceeds were sprawled on the ground with wood and hay all over them. They were obviously both hurt from the hard impact. Happy was the first to speak while he had dizzy swirls filling his eyes.
"C-Carla… are you ok?" he asked, still very dazed.
"I… think so…" Carla was the first to her feet and was met with a sight that made her gasp. "Happy! Look at that!"
"A floating lacrima!?" they both looked at a mass of crystals that jutted out from all directions, it was floating there on its own island.
"It's bigger than the one in the royal city!"
"Then that's where everyone from Fairy Tail is! It was there all along!"
"Which means…" they both looked over the edge of the island they were on and they noticed that clouds were below them, but even more surprising, they saw the Royal City below them.
"This is actually a floating island!?" Happy exclaimed.
"And the royal city is so far below… So that means both Extalia and the Lacrima Crystal are floating far above the royal city!" Carla figured.
Happy looked down over the edge. "So… how will we get down there?"
Carla looked over the edge with him. "We still can't fly down there without our Aera magic."
"Hey, you!" a gruff voice called out to them. Behind them was a white cat dressed in farm overalls complete with a straw hat that both his ears popped out through. He even had a black goatee and a thick uni-brow "Wha'cha think you're doing in my fields!?" he threateningly brandished a hoe as he glared at them. "So you're the 'Fallens' them soldiers are lookin' for?!" Happy tried to put up a brave face as he clenched his paw as if he was going to fight, Carla only looked down in shame as it seemed they were caught already. "KAH!" the older Exceed angrily yelled as he swung his tool at them over and over, making them back away. "Scram! Get out!" he yelled pointing behind him.
"Aye!" Happy yelled. "We're sorry!"
"Down there!" they all heard on a hill above them. Nichiya was standing there with his royal guards. "That is where the cart that ran over me went! Search for it! Men!"
"They're still on our tail?" Happy muttered as a bead of sweat fell beside his face.
"KAH!" the farmer Exceed yelled, his face turning red. "I already told you to get off my field!"
"Aye! We'll leave right away!" Happy said.
"And then come to my place!" he finished, still in his angry tone. Both Happy and Carla were surprised by what he seemed to be offering.
…
Happy and Carla were taken to what looked like a farm, and right by the edge of the fields was a farmhouse in the shape of a cat face. And it looked to have similar facial features as the older cat, namely the uni-brow and the goatee mustache.
"So why have you brought us here?" Happy asked as they stood outside the house. "Don't tell me… you've already reported us?"
He angrily turned to Happy and raised his tool which he pretty much treated as a weapon at this point. "KAH!"
"I'm sorry!" Happy screamed, backing away from him.
"You certainly finished early today, Dear." they eyed a female blue cat with a kind expression. She had a green hood over her head and was wearing a white blouse. She was holding a basket filled with harvested vegetables. "Oh?" she noticed that she had guests. "Hello." the older white cat walked off with an angry gruff. "What are your names?"
"I'm Happy."
"C-Carla."
"Oh, those are wonderful names." she sweetly said. "Please, come inside!"
...
They were both allowed inside, and both were sitting at the dining table, Carla was still feeling dejected while Happy was taking note of their surroundings. Mainly the pale pink walls that were decorated with cat paw prints. Happy had already told them about how their predicament.
The white male cat sat a the table with a guff which made Happy flinch. "Oh my. It seems you've both gone through so much." the female blue cat was taking a plate of two fish towards the table, which immediately perked Happy's mood up.
"Lady! Mister! Thanks for hiding us from them!" Happy thanked.
"KAH! Shut up and eat!" he banged on the table several times.
"A-Aye!" Happy flinched again, nearly getting up off his seat.
"Thank you," Carla said in a sad tone.
"My husband doesn't see eye-to-eye with the kingdom, you see." the wife walked to the table to take a seat. "So they kicked us out and we've been living out here ever since."
The husband screamed at her. "KAH! You didn't have to tell them that!" though she wasn't affected as she still had that sweet smile on her face.
"I see!" Happy gleefully said. "So that's why you're helping us."
The husband folded his arms. "It ain't like that!" Happy giggled, hinting his doubt at that statement. He slapped his paws on the table and glared at him. "Eat up and then help me work! KAH!" he screamed which made Happy's eyes turn white with fear.
Happy was then having a fish shoved down his throat, and was forced to put on farm clothes since he was going to help in the fields. The wife only giggled at the sight. Though all the odd antics, Carla's eyes hadn't looked up since entering the home. Despite her best efforts to protect Wendy, her actions only resulted in the opposite result.
…
Happy was trying to dig up the ground, with a hoe that was provided to him. He was closely being watched by the male white cat. Unfortunately, after sticking it into the ground, he struggled to pull on it so he could dig up a trench.
"Kah! Put your back into it! And you call yourself a man?"
"B-But this is my first time doing this…" Happy cried.
"No excuses!" he swung the hoe he kept holding which made Happy dig faster.
"AYE!" Happy though couldn't help but be reminded of someone he knew who was like this. "This man… he's just as mean as Toph."
"Hey! What are you thinking about!? If you have time to think, you have time to work! Kah!"
"AYE!" Happy continued to dig faster.
…
They both dug for about an hour and Happy had gotten the hang of digging. "Guh!" Happy rubbed beads of sweat off his forehead. "Mister. I didn't know hoes were so heavy. It's a surprise to me."
The older Exceed held his hoe over his shoulder before responding. "Well, no kiddin'. That's cause it carries the weight of your life. Kah!" he ended as he suddenly had a furious expression.
"Man… he over the top in every way." Happy muttered to himself while his eyes were white again. "But he'll get mad if he hears me say that, so I'll just keep quiet…" Unfortunately since Happy didn't use his inside voice, the older Exceed's face turned red again.
"I CAN HERE EVERYTHING YOU SAY! KAH!"
"Guh! SORRY!" Happy cried.
Carla looked to be carving lemons near the porch of the house to take her mind off their situation, she was met by the kind blue cat as she watched her husband train Happy in farm work.
The next moment the husband was digging up the fields, making rows of dirt mounds that could be used to plant their harvest. He somehow dug so fast that he was moving across the field, all while showing Happy how its done, while also going on about how this was a 'real man's' work. This made Happy instantly think of Elfman. He even proudly held his hoe over his shoulder, though he still looked mad.
"Wow, Mister. That was awesome!" Happy complimented.
"Quit gawkin'!" he yelled back at him.
Happy's eyes were white again as he thought aloud again. "He told me to watch him, though. He forgot already. But he'll get mad if he hears me say that, so I'll just keep quiet…"
"Seriously! I can still hear everything you say! Kah!" he yelled with a red face before Happy quickly apologized.
Carla had finished peeling the lemon she first started on and noticed that the older woman was eyeing her work. "Oh! You're good at that!"
"It's simple." she then used a tool that stamped the peeled lemons into tiny lemon balls. "All done."
"Thank you!" They both could overhear her husband berating Happy as he tried to keep up, even calling him a 'wimpy-backed lily'! "My, oh my." she noticed Carla had darted her eyes down to the ground, to which she hummed while thinking. When Carla looked at her, the wife only smiled back at her. She then called out to Happy and her husband that their drinks were ready as the afternoon drew on.
Inside the Royal Castle of Edolas, the King sat silently in his throne room while the large clock was ticking behind the colossally wide window that overlooked the land beneath. His back being to the window gave him a dark and ominous presence. His eyes were wide open and his pupils were tiny. "Finally!" he thought to himself.
…
Within the walls of the prison, Lucy was trying to talk to the guards outside of her, Chun and Edo-Lisanna looked concerned for their own safety while Azula was actually sleeping. Lucy even had Taurus' gold key in her hand, but since he wasn't summoned, she figured the bindings restricted their magic too.
She continued to loudly mumble through her bindings which were starting to annoy the guards outside of their cell.
…
Zong was still sitting outside of the cell that housed Aang, Natsu, and Wendy. Though he looked tired for some reason. "I'm bored," he said with a yawn. "You guys are downers, you know that? Do you seriously plan to just sit there in sad silence until the king is done with you? You can't be that torn up about your cats betraying you."
"They are our friends! Happy and Carla would never betray us!" Natsu angrily said.
"I mean… it is because of them that you're stuck here, but sure keep telling yourself that."
"But… don't you have any friends?" Wendy asked.
Zong tilted his head. "Friends… well I guess Knightwalker and the others are 'allies' though I guess they are friends if I think about it. I mean… you know what I always say: 'What's the point of having friends if you can't use them?'"
"Don't waste your breath on him guys," Aang said as he glared outside the cell. "He isn't worth the time."
"Wow, for a reincarnation of Raava, you sure are rude. And to think I've been holding back on you this whole time." Aang's eyes widened. "Oh, you surprised? You think I'd really show you my full hand this early."
"What do you mean you've been holding back!?"
Zong giggled evilly. "I'm talking about the Avatar State." Aang's eyes grew. "Oh, you thought I didn't have access to it, didn't I? Well, imagine, my power multiplied by the myriad of experiences of terror, chaos, and horror caused by the past Avatars. If you think I'm heartless, you should have seen what Avatar Shiori did." he said, which got confused looks from the prisoners. "Oh well outside of the cult, she had her own group of female warriors."
Aang gasped. "You're talking about Avatar Kyoshi's opposite aren't you?"
"Am I? Huh, I guess we don't share names between our worlds unless they are spirits. But she managed to slay and kill the last remaining Lion Turtle that was in hiding. Turns out there were still people living there, trying to escape the chaos of Vaatu. But they were all exterminated." Aang gasped. "She's lucky, I wish I could have done that! Oh well, which Avatar after me can say that they have destroyed two worlds?"
"You haven't won yet!" Aang got up and glared at Zong.
"That's right Aang, get angry. I don't want our dual to be too easy," he smirked as Aang was still glaring at him. "Hehe, you can't get me out of your head, can you?"
"What?"
Zong jabbed his finger at his own head. "I'm living rent-free in your head. And you can't handle the fact that you can be this 'evil'. And even then, if I really wanted, I could kill all three of you, but I won't make it that easy!"
"What is wrong with you!? Is this a game to you!?"
Zong chuckled again. "Oh Aang, Aang, Aang. Life is nothing but a game, a game of life and death. The only difference is people like us - Avatars. We're the once who get to choose who lives and dies. We can do whatever we want with these powers, and who's going to stop us? Well someone will, but that's the fun part! Don't you get it? Life is all about survival! Who will manage to tread water in the ocean of chaos? Especially when you have a whale-shark like the Avatar on the prowl. Seriously, though don't mess with whale-sharks. Those bastards are relentless."
Aang only had a look of pure shock. "You're unbelievable."
"You're one to talk, I can't believe there is a version of me that's so… ugh weak and pathetic. Glad Raava didn't win in my world. Anyway." he stepped away from the prison cell. "I'm going to take a nap… and don't think I won't hear you try anything. The cult trained me to be aware of my surroundings, even when I'm asleep." he chuckled as he sat down and put his back against the wall. "Nighty-night losers." he closed his eyes and proceeded to sleep.
…
Elsewhere, near the dusty plains of the surface of Edolas, Edo-Natsu was driving back to the guild and noticed someone in front of him hitchhiking. Turns out that person was Lucy - his Lucy.
"Hey! I need you to swing me back to the guild!" she said as the car stopped to pick her up.
On the car ride back, she sat on the passenger seat. "I took them to the royal city just like you said," Edo-Natsu said as he was focusing on the road ahead of him. "Sounds like they're serious about taking on the royal army. I even saw that kid taking on the Reaper."
Edo-Lucy folded her arms, still doubting they had a chance. "Yeah, I know. So, were you able to replenish this thing's lacrima?"
"Nope. The royal army did some raids and left the black market without a single lacrima shard. This thing'll probably hit empty by the time we reach the guild." he said eyeing the fuel gauges. "You just had to send me out to the Royal City." she continued to look out onto the road. "We're too soft-hearted, you and me." he said, Edo-Lucy suddenly smirked and Edo-Natsu was suddenly dragged out of the car. His arms were lifted up in a painful hold, while Edo-Lucy had crossed her legs around his stomach. She sat on him while he tried to stay on his feet. "Quit bein' cheeky, you!"
"I'm sorry!" he apologized instantly as Lucy Ashley applied what she called. 'Technique 31: Brawny Bomber.'
Someone else who was having a hard time was Happy, he was sweeping the thatched roof of the house and was tired. "Ugh… I appreciate him sheltering us and all, but he's a real slave-driver," he muttered while the older white cat was sitting on the ground on a tree stump.
"Well, excuse me!" he yelled up at Happy which startled him. "Now quit yer complainin'!"
"Aye!" Happy proceeded to sweep faster. "He really can hear me," he muttered. "I hope Natsu and the others are ok. This isn't the time for me to be doing this." He was looking up at the many planetary figures that lined the sky of Edolas, however, he slipped and was sliding down about to fall off the roof. Luckily he caught onto the edge.
"Kah! Don't be getting distracted while workin'!" he yelled, only opening one eye at Happy's predicament.
"Aye!"
"After that, you get to chop firewood!"
"Aye, sir!"
…
At the same time, Carla was looking out of the window while she held a pink teacup. The older blue cat looked to be seaming fabric in the same room. Since they were both alone, she decided to bring up what she noticed about her. "You haven't smiled once since you've been here," she said while keeping a smile on her face. Carla had eyed her before letting her continue. "It's a shame, you have such a pretty face too."
"I'm just not in the smiling mood," Carla said looking at her reflection in the tea.
"Sounds like something painful must've happened. It's through times like that you've got to smile the most."
"But-"
"I know, it must be difficult. But you won't be helping anyone with you looking sad all the time." Carla looked back at her reflection and thought about what the was told.
…
"Hah!" Happy looked to be in much better spirits as he had finished chopping up the wood that he was assigned to cut. "Ha, that wasn't so bad," he said while smiling awkwardly.
"KAH! You're too slow! Quit dawdlin'!" he saw that the husband had cut up more than twice as much wood as Happy did. He looked to stand by his work proudly, but he was still glaring at Happy.
"S-So fast!"
Seeing that chopping wood was the one task that wasn't giving him trouble, he clenched his paw and raised his ax. "Aye! I won't let you beat me!" he said as he started chopping more wood to get ahead.
"Kah!" of course the husband wasn't going to let Happy outdo him at something that he had normalized himself to.
Eventually, the two were chopping wood as fast as they could, not caring how much they cut, but only caring about cutting more than the other. Minutes passed by in what felt like seconds as they both were on their last log. They both set it down at the same time, declaring they wouldn't lose to each other. And they slammed their axes down, and somehow both of them managed to miss their logs, cutting it to the right of them. The impact sent shivers through both of their bodies as they both let out screams of pain.
They noticed that this all happened in unison and upon realizing they both had a good laugh at themselves. But of course, this couldn't last long "KAH! Quit yer laughin'!" the husband yelled, his head growing twice its size.
"AYE!" Happy cowardly yelled.
"All right, well, that's good enough, I guess."
Happy fell and sat back upon the stump. "I'm so tired…" he muttered.
"KAH! Then take a bath!"
"Aye!"
…
Carla still hadn't sipped her tea and hadn't said anything since the wife had spoken to her. She thought back to her very early days with Wendy.
She was flying away from the little girl who cried to her so come back, she even heard her tripping on her feet. Carla had asked why Wendy wouldn't leave her alone, Wendy simply said that they were both friends.
For the next hour or so, Carla had kept that thought in her head, that both she and Wendy were friends, or at the very least, Wendy saw it that way. Then again, Carla didn't leave her then so they must have been friends. Her thoughts were muddled as she sat on the porch, and Happy joined her.
"Ah… that bath felt great!"
"Wendy…" she thought back to when Wendy was shocked at their capture, even asking what Happy and Carla were.
"Good work today." Happy noticed the wife coming up to them, but Carla paid her no mind. "A bath feels great after a hard day's work yes?"
"Aye! Very!"
"Your names are Happy and Carla, yes? I'll assume you were born in Earth Land. So who gave you those names?"
Happy stood and raised his paw while looking at her. "Natsu did! He's my friend!"
"Mine too… a friend gave it to me…" Carla said with a distant tone.
"And those friends are being held in the Royal City!" Happy said, his face turning serious. "We have to go save them."
The wife sat down on the wooden floor. "Oh, you're going to save humans?"
"That's a crazy notion in Extalia isn't it?" Carla said, still not facing either of them.
Though the older cat offered a contrary argument. "That's not true. It's wonderful. For friends, whether it is Human or Exceed, it really doesn't matter. After all, even if we look different, our hearts share the same shape: love"
"The shape of our hearts?" Carla asked. She thought back to what Nab had told her and Happy about them being controlled. "My heart is being controlled by someone else. I'm not even sure if the words I'm saying are mine anymore."
Happy was quick to counter that and stood to face her. "They're your words, Carla! It is your heart talking!" Carla had slightly gasped to herself and turned to Happy. "And it's our hearts that are saying we want to save everyone!"
"Happy…?"
The older cat smiled. "Yes, you seem confused right now, but you'll be fine. You have a great, wonderful knight right by your side, after all!" Happy blushed and he suddenly became stiff.
"A great knight…" Happy thought. The thought of him being Carla's knight had passed through his mind once or twice, and while he definitely liked the idea, he didn't think that someone else would say it.
"I believe you've already found your heart, Carla." The wife told her. Carla looked to think about this. "Now you just need to become aware of it. You must trust that it will point you in the right direction." It was starting to make sense to her. If Carla was really being controlled, then she wouldn't have cared so much that Wendy got captured. Wendy was really the first friend that Carla had and the first person she grew to love. She wasn't told how to feel about their friend's capture, it just happened. It's what made her run away with Happy in the first place.
"WE'RE NOT YOUR DAMN PUPPETS!" those were the exact words that Happy said, and even though she had a much bigger role to play in their friends' capture than Happy did, she didn't want harm to come to any of them, least of all to Wendy. If they really did complete their mission and were being controlled, then why did they run away? Why Carla allow Happy to drag them out of Extalia and become 'fallen'? Shouldn't she have stopped him? But she didn't, and that was because she was in control at that moment, not the other Exceeds.
Upon realizing this, a small smile crept on her lips. "What a relief! A smile at last! You've very cute."
Carla turned back to her. "You're a peculiar one, ma'am."
"Am I really?" she asked.
"All the other Exceeds think of themselves as above everyone else. They even called humans an inferior species."
"Yes…" she replied. "That was how I used to think. But the queen took our child from us." both Happy and Carla gasped to themselves. "She gathered 100 children eggs for her dragon slayer elimination project or whatever." the younger Exceeds looked to each other then back to the wife. "We never even got to see our children's faces. We were exiled from the kingdom for opposing that project. It was after that, that we realized we aren't angels or even gods. We were just… parents." her eyes pupils were shaking within her eyes. "After that, none of that 'human' and 'Exceed' stuff mattered anymore." Happy pitied her as he looked down slightly after hearing their plight. "My husband may have a bad mouth, but he feels the same way I do."
"KAH!" the husband had joined them and his wife only smiled at him. "Quit yappin' about nonsense! How long are you two stayin' anyway?!"
"Oh, dear…"
He shook his fist at Happy angrily. "You and that irritating look on your face! You should be happy just to be alive! Man up!" he pointed at him with his face that was twisted in anger and annoyance. "Now get out!"
"Dear… that's too sudden."
"No, he's right." Happy said agreeing with him, but not because of how the husband scared him. He turned to Carla. "We have to go and save the others."
Carla only agreed with a firm nod.
"Ain't nothin' you can do as a scaredy-cat!" the husband said folding his arms. "Don't you kids understand that?"
Happy gave the husband a confident smile. "I'm not a scaredy-cat! I'm a Fairy Tail wizard!"
"So prove it then! Kah!"
…
Happy and Carla were waving to the Exceed couple. "Thanks, Mister! Lady!" Happy yelled.
"KAH! Never come back!" the husband yelled out.
"Take care of yourselves!" the wife sweetly said, waving back.
Both Happy and Carla took off down the hill together. "Carla! Do you understand what he meant back there?"
"Yes, I do!"
"When we first came to Edolas, I was filled with unease."
"Yes, so was I…"
"-But…"
"-…not anymore!"
Filled with a new determination to save their friends, they held each others' paws, headed to a cliff that over-looked the Royal City below. No longer questioning themselves anymore, they leaped off the cliff and were in freefall as the dove through the skies of Edolas.
"Because we have to move forward!" Happy said as he looked straight down. "Because we have to fly!" they let go of each other and separated as they continued to fall.
"We're Exceeds. The only beings in Edolas with magic power inside us!" Carla said. "The only reason we couldn't use our magic was because our hearts were uncertain." Pink energy covered Carla while bright green energy covered Happy as they could feel the magic inside them awaken. "But now…" The magic inside them had built up in their backs, and before long white, angelic wings sprouted from their backs allowing them to do what they had always done. To do what Exceeds bound by their hearts would do, and that was to fly.
Happy smirked at her, and Carla returned his look with a genuine, warm smile. "Let's go! We have to save everyone!"
"Aye!"
Meanwhile, the Exceed couple looked at the pair flying off. "Kah!? Will ya take a look at that, Marl?!" the husband said. "He can fly after all!"
The wife giggled. "He flies just like you, Lucky."
Lucky folded his arms angrily. "Don't be stupid! It ain't how about how he flies!" he said choking up as a tear was falling from his eye.
Marl sniffed as tears had fallen from her eyes too. "Yes… you're right." Marl had reached out her paw, just as she had done previously when their child was taken away from them and sent to Earth Land. And they were watching that child fly off into the distance, only this time it was by his own will. "Do you suppose… she's his girlfriend?" she asked, choking up while wiping away the tears.
"Kah!" Lucky cried as his tears had fully come out and there was even snot dripping from his nose, but he tried to keep a touch face. "It's a hundred years too early for him to bring back a girl!"
"He's grown to be a kind boy who cares for his friends…"
"Kah!" But Lucky was still torn up by seeing his son leave he then cried out. "Aye!"
With renewed vigor, the two 'fallen' Exceeds set off on their new mission: And that was to rescue their friends, only this time, it was their choice to make. And they knew that nothing would get in the way of that.
So that ticks off another chapter, I apologize for the updates taking long. I have had rare chances to really sit down and write at home - That's part of my laziness. But yeah, hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll be back with another update, hopefully soon.