Chapter 30

"..." Brosnan sat silently on her bed in what appeared to be a completely empty empty jail cell before Mason stuck his head through a stone wall perpendicular to what remained of the prison bars he had previously destroyed. WHAM! Mason face planted onto the hard stoney ground, his body smoking and covered in burn marks. "Did you find a way out?" Brosnan bluntly taunted.

"Nooo…." Mason groaned as he rolled back over onto his back. "It's all the same, I can phase myself through the stone no problem but when I try to leave any of the cells I get zapped."

"That's because there's a lightning lacrima in our collars…" Brosnan explained pointing to the strange orb on Mason's collar. "They somehow programmed to know where prisoners are supposed to be and where they shouldn't. If you try to leave the cells you'll get zapped. That's just how it is…"

"And you couldn't have said anything sooner…." Mason growled.

"I'm positive I said something about it… but that may have been after you left." The alternate Brosnan smirked. "I suppose that's what you get for looking like that other Mason. Serves you right for dumping me, not to mention turning into that death obsessed psycho killer of an executioner."

"Turned into? So he… I wasn't alway an evil scythe wielding executioner guy? That's kinda reassuring." Mason smiled as he sat back up. "So was I a part of Edolas Fairy Tail too?"

"Yeah…" She answered, softly rubbing her guild mark. "We used to be a team, you and me. When Fairy Tail was forced into hiding after Magic Guilds were outlawed, you and I were the eyes and ears in the capital. You used to be so sweet."

"So what happened to the other me?" Mason pressed further

"It was my fault." Brosnan turned her head away. "Word had gotten around, of the discovery of a powerful, ancient weapon. It was obviously too risky but I wouldn't listen to reason as usual. We were caught snooping around the palace and were quickly overrun by palace soldiers. I managed to get away but you were captured. I tried to rescue you almost a dozen times but I never managed to track you down. Then, a little over a week ago I finally managed to run into Mason but he was different, sinister and cruel. He had become the King's Royal Executioner and now wields a scythe with the power to destroy magic. There are stories that he and his group of royal goons have filled whole graveyards with the king's enemies in the last few months. Something's happened to him, he used to be so gentle. I shudder when I think about what the king must've done to him that turned him into his murderous puppet."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up. He might've been tortured but he's not some brainwashed puppet." The earthland Mason declared almost factually, as he turned back to the cell's opening.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Edolas Brosnan aggressively roared back, glaring at the alternate version of her old friend.

"If he was acting against his will I'd know it. I can smell a person's soul and even though our encounter didn't last long I still remember vividly just how rancid his soul smelled. As if he was rotting in his very core." Mason said almost angrily before he suddenly slammed his fist into the cell wall. "It really pisses me off you know. The thought of someone with such a wicked disgusting soul running around with MY face! I really wanna kick that guy's teeth in but…" Mason calmed down, bringing his fist back to his side. "I've got something more important to take care of. My friends need my help so…." Mason gritted his teeth as he grabbed his collar in both hands and began to pull with all his might. "I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" He desperately tried to rip the collar off with his own strength, but the stubborn contraption wouldn't budge. "Crap…"

Meanwhile Brosnan was watching in frustration at the growingly pathetic attempts Mason made to try and free himself, the whole time her thoughts were racing. 'He can smell souls? He seriously expects me to buy that crap, dude must be crazy. There's no way my Mason isn't being controlled by something! I refuse to believe anything else! He used to be so kind, so timid! Now he's some kind of monster! I swear, once I get out of here I'll track him down and bring him back to the way he was before!'

"I don't think I'll be able to get this off myself." Mason resigned, sitting down on the prison floor before looking up at the Parallel Brosnan. "But I might be able to get yours off."

Brosnan threw up an eyebrow at this sudden revelation. "And you thought you'd wait till now to tell me?"

"I found you in a jail cell, I didn't know whether or not this version of you was someone trustworthy and now, I've run out of options." Mason stood up and placed his hands on the collar of Edolas Brosnan. "These things seem to respond to my magic, my caller can phase with me so I'm hoping yours will too but if I can get you outta here then I need your help busting out too. Can I count on you?"

"Sure, if you can help me outta here I'll do whatever I can." Brosnan agreed and in a swift motion Mason yanked the collar off, using his magic to phase the device through Brosnan's neck.

"Well there you go." Mason said as he tossed the collar away. "Now I need you to go track down the key for me and bring it back here." Mason instructed as Brosnan slowly and carefully snuck passed the dangerous lightning lacrima unscathed, once she realized she was truly free of the cell, she then turned back and shot Mason a sorrowful look that told Mason all he needed to know. "Oh no. Don't tell me."

"I'm sorry. I'm sure your friends are very important to you but mine are too. My Mason needs me! I can't waste anymore time!" With that Brosnan ran off, leaving Mason stuck alone in his sell.

"Ughh…." The frustrated dragon slayer growled. "Figures..." Mason grunted as he crossed his arms and sat himself down on his bed.


(Later)

A few hours had passed and Mason sat in the same position with his arms crossed and the same frustrated expression on his face. Like a statute, he didn't make sound or move a single muscle as a pair of palace guards approached.

"Woah! What happened to the bars?" One of the guards exclaimed.

"Yeah, these earthland wizards are unreal. Like living weapons. This one took down a whole airship and almost killed two of us all by himself. But with these, he's absolutely know threat at all." The second guard declared as he pulled out a fancy looking pair of handcuffs.

The two guards cuffed Mason before removing his shock collar. "Don't even try any tricks, these cuffs keep your body from producing your magic, We used them to capture those dragon slayer friends of yours." The second guard declared as he began pushing the de-powered Mason out of his cell. "This way!"

Mason was forced at spear point down the stone halls and up the numerous staircases of the prison tower until they came to a pair of wooden double doors at the top of the tower. The doors opened to reveal a small outdoor area at the top of the tower. A completely empty space was laid out in front of him with the exception of a single steel pillory (medieval head lock) at the center of the spherical floor.

Without so much as a word Mason was locked in the pillory leaving his special handcuffs on before the two soldiers left him. The steel was hot against Mason's arms and neck after being soaked in the sunlight for so long, regardless Mason remained silent at least until he heard the SLAM of the door shutting behind him.

As soon as he was sure he was alone, Mason began to struggle. "GRRRRAAAAHHHH!" Mason roared as he tried to tear himself free of his bindings with nothing more than brute force, to no avail. "Damn it!" He groaned out loud, sweat began to form on the Dragon Slayer's forehead as the sun continued to beat down on him. Mason then began to clinch his fists hard, in an attempt to conjure up whatever magic he could muster but he could only manage to make his fists glow for a brief second before it petered out. 'Damnit! This sucks…' Mason thought as he let his arms go limp and let out a defeated sigh. 'Maybe I should've tried to beat those guards up when I had the chance but I don't know how many guards there are in this prison and it wouldn't be a good idea to pick a fight with an army without my magic. But now it looks like I'm stuck here.'

Just then Mason's thoughts were interrupted by a CREEEEK of the wooden door opening behind him followed by it being slammed shut once again and then a very familiar sounding voice called out, sending shivers down Mason's spine. "Finally… I've been waiting all day to arrange this meeting of ours." Mason watched as a figure wearing a long black hood walked around the pillory before stopping in front of him. The mysterious figure then squatted down in front of Mason and looked his prisoner in the eyes and it was like looking in a Mirror. "So you're the other me huh? When I heard about the King's anima plan I was hoping we'd get to meet but this is kinda creepy, don't you think?"

Mason looked on in horror as his evil twin shot him a devious smile. "So what do I call you?" Edolas Mason asked playfully. "Earth-Mason? That's a little long winded huh? Dragon Boy? No, I don't like that either. Copycat? Calling you Mason would just be a little bit too weird for me."

"I know exactly what to call YOU murderer!" Mason hissed back as he glared at his doppleganger.

"Murderer? No, I'm not a murderer. Killer, yes but not a Murderer. I'm an executioner for the king so every time I've killed someone it's completely legal. So call me a killer if you want but I'm no murderer." Edolas Mason smirked as he watched his earthland counterpart's face warp in disgust.

"Justify it however you want! I've never smelled such a rancid soul in my life! Murder or not you rob people of the most precious thing any person could ever hope to have! To kill someone, anyone is to take everything from them and I can tell from your sent that you revel in doing just that!" Mason growled from his bindings.

"So the other me is "that" kind of person, just another self righteous, bleeding heart whiner! That's pretty disappointing." Edolas Mason sighed as he gave his twin a disapproving nod before reaching out and grabbing earthland Mason by the chin and looking him in the eyes. "Still the resemblance is uncanny, almost frightening. Lucky you, getting to share my appearance. Too bad you're so boring." WHAM! Mason responded by headbutting his evil clone in the face with all his might causing his capture to stumble backwards, covering his face with his hand and when he looked down to assess the damage Edolas Mason found his hand covered in blood from his nose. "Well." Mason smirked as he wiped his broken nose clean. "That wasn't boring."

"Take these cuffs off and I'll show you just how interesting I can make things." Mason threatened the Royal Executioner who responded with a simple chuckle.

"Hehehehe… So you've resulted to pleading with me for your freedom. Sorry but I have a job to do." Edolas Mason declared as he pulled his scythe out from behind his back. "Sorry but I've wasted enough time as it is! The more enemies the king the more work I have to do. Once the king finishes using your Dragon Slayer friends as batteries for his lacrima cannon, I'm expected back at the palace to deal with the leftovers." This comment caused earthland Mason's glare to intensify. "I should thank you, I never thought I'd get the opportunity to execute myself." Mason's grip tightened on his scythe and the blade began to glow with white energy. "Sayonara Faker!" Edolas Mason lifted his scythe over his head and the earthland version felt things go grim.

'Crap! This looks bad! C'mon Mason think! You better come up with something or you're a goner!' Mason thought but then something one of the soldiers said came to mind, "these cuffs keep your body from producing magic" and these words gave Mason an idea. "PHANTOM DRIVE!"

Somewhere in a black void sat a small purple gem that suddenly began to glow bright with purple light and at the same time Mason's body began to glow as well.

'What the?" Edolas Mason exclaimed before BAAMMM! His other world counterpart fired a blast of purple energy from his hands that caught the scythe wielding executioner off guard and knocked him off the roof of the stone tower. "WAAAAHHHH!"

Mason, now alone on the tower roof, used his returned magic to phase through his bindings as well as his cuffs, completely freeing himself he then proceeded to crack his neck joints. "Sometimes I forget about that dumb rock but it really did save my butt today. Now it's time to get out of here." Mason decided before turning invisible and seemingly leaving the rooftop.

Meanwhile, about a hundred feet down on the side of the stone prison tower. Edolas Mason had caught himself by burying his scythe's blade into the outer wall of the tower and was now using it as a climbing hook to scale his way back to the peak. "Grrr! Damn Surprise Attack! Raaaahhh!" Edolas Mason groaned as he quickly made his way back up the wall. He reached the very peak of the wall and began to pull himself up when the same pair of guards from earlier rushed through the door, observed the scene and quickly went over to help their superior.

"Lord Mason!" One of the soldiers called out as his college pulled the executioner back onto solid ground. "Sir! The prisoner escaped."

"Yes. I'm aware of that." Edolas Mason growled back as he began to dust himself off. "The question is, how are we supposed to recapture him?"

"Should we gather a battalion and send them to search the area?" The same soldier asked again.

"Sure if you want to, I don't see how it will help though. More importantly call in MY squad." Mason said with a serious expression and his words made the soldiers tremble and gulp in fear. "And let them know I'd like him returned alive if they can help themselves but if not I atleast want the corpse to hang on my wall."

"Y-y-yes sir!" The two soldiers declared before running off together.


(Later with Mason)

Having completely fled the dungeon, Mason found himself wandering what seemed to be an abandoned town that surrounded the castle like a dungeon but other than That he found himself lost in the alien world. "Where the hell am I?" Mason muttered as he walked the empty sidewalks of the strange desert town.

'I guess it'd be too much to hope that I'd be kept in the same city as Natsu and the others but who would keep their dungeon in a ghost town?' Mason thought to himself before a piece of paper fluttered by that caught his eye. Mason grabbed the wind swept page out of the sky which turned out to be a newspaper. Mason took the time to examine the date. "That can't be right, assuming the days are the same here as they are back home then this is yesterday's paper. If this date is right then where is everyone?"

"Well that's an easy one." A mysterious voice called out from behind Mason and the startled Dragon Slayer turned to find a young woman with wavy, shoulder length lime green hair with a single blonde stripe on the left side of her head. She was dressed with a short silver breastplate and shoulder plates over a blue fencing outfit but it was her face that really caught the Dragon Slayer's attention. "They, like most of the country, have made the journey to the capital to celebrate the discovery of the king's new lacrima and the promise of lasting magic power for the people of edolas." The woman spoke in an elegant voice that sent chills down Mason's spine.

"Let me guess, your name is Julia right?" Mason asked, already knowing the answer to this particular question.

"That's right." She smiled and nodded as she pulled out the hilt of a rapier blade. "Julia Ciana, at your service." Mason then took a combative pose which seemed to take Julia by surprise. "Oh, so you do intend to fight. That's disappointing, if not expected."

"I need to save my friends, if you're trying to get in my way then I have no choice!" Mason declared as his fist's began to glow with purple magic power and that's when the dragon slayer's voice turned serious. "Look, I've already wasted enough time as is! If you won't stand down then I won't hold back!"

"Hmmmm. If that's how it is then, that's how things will have to be." Julia replied as a long, thin, green energy blade ignited from her hilt and she pointed the weapon towards mason and declared. "En Garde!" With her declaration the swordswoman planted her foot and lunged forward at an incredible speed.

"Woah!" Mason exclaimed as he had to leap out of the way to avoid an oncoming thrust from Julia's laser blade. Mason was immediately placed on the defensive as he was faced with a rapid barrage of thrust's jabs and lunges. Julia's weightless blade allowed her to attack constantly without facing any fatigue and her expert footwork allowed her to keep up with Mason's leaping dodges, forcing the white haired wizard to think up a new strategy. 'She's so fast! Fighting up close isn't a good idea. Time to take a step back!' Mason back flipped away to a safe distance and began to charge a magic attack. "PHANTOM DRAGON huh?"

Before he could finish his smell something new caught the attention of his nose and he immediately leapt away before BAAAAMMM! A bolt of purple magic energy flew down from somewhere above that caused an explosion that Mason only barely managed to dodge. "A sniper?" Mason muttered as he desperately scanned his the air for a potential sniper post, but he wouldn't have time to figure it out as Julia was quick to close the distance and lunge forward with another jab.

"Hmmm…" Julia smirked as she fired another barrage of jabs that Mason struggled to dodge. "I hope you weren't betting on a one on one fight? I'm afraid we're not that naive!" She roared as she thrusted her sword at Mason's face and it just managed to graze his cheek and created a small cauterized cut.

"Gaaaahhhh! Grrrrrr!" Mason growled, getting frustrated with his constant defensive front he decided it was time to counter attack. "PHANTOM DRAGON ROAR!" Not wasting any time, he released his spiral of phantom shaped energy blasts that immediately collided with and knocked Julia back. "Crap!" Mason declared as he sensed the oncoming danger. As soon as he knocked Julia out of range Mason was immediately forced to deal with the sniper. Mason quickly lept out of the way of three consecutive energy shots before rushing for cover into one of the many abandoned stores that decorated the streets of the ghost town.

"Haaaahhh…" Mason let out a long sigh as he took a second to catch his breath. "Man I couldn't even catch my breath out there, I'm no match for Julia's speed up close and if I try to make space I have to deal with a barrage from the invisible sniper, whose identity I have a pretty good hunch about. I better think of a strategy before I go back out there." Mason closed his eyes and began to piece together some way to overcome this new obstacle when crash!

A small red ball busted through the window and landed at Mason's feet. "Huh? What's this?" Mason picked up the small red orb and began to examine it when suddenly it began to glow with a bright red light and let off an ominous aura. "Oh crap!" Mason's eyes went big as he immediately dropped the orb and desperately reached for his cloak to try and shield himself before KAAAAABOOOOOOMMM!

The store quickly exploded in a massive ball of flames and smoke that immediately demolished the entire establishment as well as created a shockwave that shattered all the glass nearby. Mason was knocked several feet away and his cloak was smoking, but nevertheless the dragon slayer managed to push himself up to his knees before looking up at three familiar faces that forced Mason into making a jaded expression. "Of course. I never thought I'd be unhappy to see all of you." Mason groaned as the Edolas versions of Julia, Amber and Tyson stared back at him, each brandishing a sinister grin as they began to close in.


(End)

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