Summary: A more thorough look at what the Edolas arc would be like if Natsu was a girl and Lucy was a boy.
Pairings: Natsu/Luca, Edo-Natsu/Edo-Luca, some Edo-Luca/Natsu and Edo-Natsu/Luca, Lisanna/Edo-Luca friendship, Natsu/Lisanna friendship, some implied one-sided Luca/Coco, implied one-sided Edo-Erza/Luca if you look at it that way, brief mentions of Gray/Juvia and Alzack/Bisca, and lots and lots of friendship feels in general.
YouTube Prompt: Fairy Tail tribute to 'Hand in my Pocket' by Alanis Morissette
Natsu couldn't get over how fucking weird this parallel universe was.
First there was floating islands in the sky, then there was weird plants and animals she had never seen before, then people kept running away and screaming at the sight of Happy (Happy! Natsu had socks that were more terrifying than him! "Yes," Charle sniffed disdainfully, "that's because you don't do your laundry."), and Fairy Tail was a dark guild living in a tree.
Don't get her started on the weirdo differences in this universe's Fairy Tail.
Gray wore more clothes than humanely possible and he was the one pining over Juvia, who didn't like him at all, then Elfman was timid and quiet, Jet and Droy were apparently manly, Wendy was a grown up with big boobs, Levy was rude and mean, and Luca….
Luca didn't look like Luca!
Gone was the nice, soft, jumpers, and polite sweet smile, and in its place was tight black leather trousers, a faded t-shirt, weird, leather, bracelets, his hair gelled up, and lots of black makeup round his eyes. There was no book that he was trying to read in the noise of the guild but instead a guitar sat in his lap as he strummed it quietly.
That is until – finally something that is Fairy Tail – Gray got shoved into Elfman who fell into Jet, who punched him back, and suddenly a brawl broke out.
Luca scowled at his guitar, carefully placed it on the bar, before he hoped down, grabbed Elfman and Jet by the ear. "Behave!" he shouted. His voice rang throughout the guild.
The guild instantly froze and soon enough everyone went back to their own activities with mumbled apologies. "Oh no," Happy said fearfully as the others sweat-dropped, "Luca is the Erza in this world."
Natsu nodded numbly and then stiffened when she caught sight of Luca's eyes narrowed directly on her.
He stormed towards her with a gracefulness her Luca didn't have, something more akin to a giant, predatory, cat as he suddenly grabbed her by the forearms and hauled her out from under the table. She swung, awkwardly, in his arms as her toes barely brushed the floorboards (Damnit! Luca was short compared to all the other boys, why was he still taller than her?!) as her cheeks flushed pink and her heart did a weird skippy dance like it always did.
Freaking weirdo Luca making her body do weird things even when he's being the weirdo…..
"Natsu," Luca growled in an uncharacteristic, rather nice, deep voice, "Where the hell have you been?! Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?"
Natsu didn't answer, she was too busy staring at the weird makeup. Not even Erza or Mirajane when they had a shoot wore as much as he did and she couldn't help but poke at it. "Why are you wearing makeup, you weirdo?" she asked loudly.
His grip tightened and he looked scarily angry. "Who are you?" he hissed. "What glamour magic are you using? Are you Knightwalker?!"
"What the heck is a Knightwalker?!" Natsu yelped. "Let me go, you weirdo. I'm me, Natsu."
"You're not my Natsu!" Luca snarled and Natsu faltered for a moment. This Luca called this world's Natsu, his….did her Luca do the same? "You might look like her but you're not her, so you are you?"
Natsu opened her mouth to call him all sorts, none of them nice, he didn't deserve nice he was a mean weirdo and nothing like her weirdo, but a spanner out of nowhere whizzed past her ear and almost smacked Luca in the face if he hadn't ducked in time.
"What is it Levy?!" Luca snapped furiously. "I haven't looked your way since this morning, what could have I possibly done to piss you off now?"
"Well, if you're not too busy forcing yourself on some innocent girl," Levy, who was just as rude and weird as this other Luca, with oil stains and tight clothing, "You'd realise we're currently being attacked by Knightwalker. I think the little girl is innocent. Well at least of being Knightwalker"
"Little girl?!" Natsu screeched. What she would give to have her flames right now to teach this annoying version of Levy exactly who was the little girl in this room, and it wasn't Natsu. "You're the same height as me!"
No one paid her any attention, quickly, everyone went into action, as they made their guild building, which was still a tree, fucking teleport (no, Natsu is not kidding), but before they did, Natsu got a glimpse of the terrifying 'Knightwalker'….
….It was Erza, somehow, Natsu really wasn't all that surprised.
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
Natsu's Luca and the weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca stared at one another. This was how the wild, totally out of control, and stupid Natsu from the parallel world had introduced the two Lucas and, weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca had to admit it kinda stuck in his head.
But that's just because it was Natsu even if it wasn't his Natsu…..
Weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca shook his head in disbelief. In the last twelve hours he had seen the weirdest things, and he was leader of a Dark Guild, he has seen strange stuff before. First was this other Natsu, after barely escaping Knightwalker, he had turned his attention back onto her and began to interrogate her.
Until Lisanna stepped in and gently told him to stop, and then suddenly Natsu's eyes welled up with tears as she stared resolutely at Lisanna. You would think Natsu had been stranded in a desert and Lisanna was the last glass of water in the world, Natsu had to have her eyes forcibly dragged from the white-haired girl, and unable to bear seeing any version of Natsu crying (tell anyone and he will kill you) he pulled out his handkerchief and dried her tears off.
He could almost put Natsu's strange new attitude as her finally growing a backbone outside of her stupid car (which he had to admit he was finding rather attractive every second he spent with this new Natsu) but then a smaller, child, version of Wendy suddenly also crawled out from under the table, and the story of how they were from a parallel world suddenly spilled out.
This outgoing version of Natsu and the child version of Wendy, and their Exceeds which immediately raised Luca's suspicions, wanted their help to save their Fairy Tail.
It didn't take Luca long to say no.
He was not putting his guild at risk. They had already lost too many members in the past and he wouldn't risk a single one for what would be a fruitless and hopeless rescue mission. Not even Levy.
So quickly he passed some directions on and herded the girls out of the door before he hunted Lisanna down.
Because he might have been focused on getting a threat to his guild's safety out of their hall but that didn't mean he didn't notice how pale she had gotten or her slipping out of the back as quickly as she could.
"Oh, Luca," Lisanna sniffled, "what are you doing here?"
"I think," Luca said as he handed her another handkerchief (he was rapidly running out of these, perhaps he should invest in something cheaper), "that I should be asking you that."
"W-w-what do you mean?"
"Shouldn't you be helping Natsu save your guild?"
"My guild is right here."
"Lisanna," Luca levelled her with his best stern look, "I have known you virtually all my life. We were best friends and then suddenly we weren't."
"I…."
"In fact you looked at me as if I was a stranger," Luca carried on, "as if you never met me before, ever since your accident…"
Lisanna smiled down at the floor in a typical, Fairy Tail, sheepish manner. "I didn't know what else to do," she admitted, "it seemed easier to play your Lisanna's role than to admit the strange truth. Then for a while I thought I had just hit my head too hard and dreamt it all…..seeing Natsu…."
"She's your friend, right?" Lisanna nodded and sniffled into his handkerchief. "Then shouldn't you be going after her?"
"I can't," Lisanna shook her head, "don't you see? I can't choose between my brother and sister and….well my brother and sister!"
Luca grimaced in sympathy. He could see the issue straight away and it was incredibly difficult, he had no advice for Lisanna. His brothers and sisters were all around him in Fairy Tail, he had never known any others, never had to choose…
"You go!" Lisanna said suddenly.
"What?"
"Go after her!" Lisanna suddenly grabbed his hand and stared up at him pleadingly. "Luca, please. She'll get into trouble within five minutes of leaving here, I know she will, she's Natsu, and if there was anyone in this world that I can trust to ensure she's safe, it's you."
"I have the guild to-"
"The guild can take care of itself!" Lisanna interrupted, "we're Fairy Tail. But Natsu is a different Fairy Tail, she didn't grow up in this world, she hasn't spent more than an hour tops here, she won't know what to do. Knowing her luck, she'll end up in Knightwalker's hands before the day is out."
At this, Luca cursed, and before he knew it, he had his guitar in its case, and ran after the crazy version of his favourite girl.
It was after rescuing her from a giant worm (Lisanna had been right in her assumption that Natsu and Wendy from the other world had gotten into trouble literally five minutes after leaving the guild), helped her get her own magical weapon (this version was a little too…..happy with fire), and then witnessed a cleaner, posher, version of himself fight the King's soldiers with magic, he finally got to meet his other self.
Natsu, Wendy, and the Exceeds were bathing currently. Both Lucas had already done so, and weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca couldn't help but smirk at how flustered Natsu was when he walked out wearing nothing but a towel, and how even more flustered she was when her Luca came out…..completely dressed until she forced him out of his shirt.
"Does your Natsu do that to you all the time?" weirdo, make-up wearing, Luca asked.
"Yeah," Natsu's Luca said sheepishly, "usually when I'm not wearing it but since we're not at home…" he trailed off with a shrug. "Does your Natsu steal your shirts?"
"What makes you think I have a Natsu?"
"Because some of the things Natsu does doesn't surprise you at all," Natsu's Luca said, "and then some of her actions or words do. As if someone you know well is acting out of character."
"She thinks I don't know," weirdo, make-up wearing, Luca smirked, "she sneaks in and takes them out of my drawer, cleans them after she's finished using them, and sneaks them back in."
"She sounds….different."
"She is," weirdo, make-up wearing, Luca shrugged, "quieter for one."
"Natsu's quiet?!"
Weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca merely grinned and returned to his guitar. After a while he couldn't help but be curious by this other version of himself. Apparently, according to Natsu, this Luca had been raised by a rich family. "Do you play?" he asked.
"Only the piano," Natsu's Luca grimaced, "classical stuff only. If I was ever to get something wrong during my lessons I used to have my knuckles rapped by a ruler."
"Nasty," weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca said, "I hear you write."
"Did Natsu tell you everything about me?"
"Pretty much," weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca shrugged, "she and that blue Exceed are really chatty."
"Hmmph," Natsu's Luca said disgruntledly, "Yes," he said eventually, "I am trying to write a novel. So far my attempts have been…..fruitless, do you write?"
"Only really shit lyrics."
They were really cheesy, cringe-worthy, lyrics that if Levy ever knew he had written them she would kill herself with laughter. There was only one person in Edolas that he would ever trust to listen to them and not laugh, and that was his Natsu.
Natsu's Luca smiled at weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca, and he grinned back, and suddenly snorted, when Natsu and Wendy came back they were howling with laughter for no apparent reason which caused her to declare them as weirdoes.
After some badly made plans for a rescue that weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca still didn't agree to, they went to bed, the girls in one with their Exceeds, and the boys in the other, and it was sometime in the middle of the night when he was jostled awake and found that this Natsu had climbed into bed with her Luca and him, and had thrown herself over her Luca like a blanket.
Natsu's Luca was still soundly asleep but he had wrapped his arms round her subconsciously to stop her from falling off of him.
One look at her peaceful, serene, sleeping face, and one sound of her really noisy snores, weirdo, makeup wearing, Luca knew that they weren't all that different from one another at all.
Which made it all the more harder to leave.
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
In the last twenty four hours, Luca had seen a lot of weird things…..but this one really took the biscuit!
They had been in immediate danger when a really cool looking race car came to their rescue (which of course they dived in) and the driver was Natsu.
The usually wild, tangled, hair was tamed into a pony-tail, she had googles perched on the top of her head, a smudge of car oil on her cheek, and she was dressed in a black leather jacket, driving gloves, and a clean, well-looked after, pair of jeans. "Buckle up," she winked flirtatiously, "gorgeous."
And she just flirted with Luca…..his cheeks probably matched her hair right now, he was so embarrassed and flustered.
"Urgh," his Natsu moaned from the backseat, "I think I'm going to be sick!"
The driver version of Natsu's eyes flashed dangerously. "Not in my baby!" she snapped as she swung the car wildly round a curve and then sped through the dusty roads. "I only just got her cleaned recently. If you want to puke you can wait till I drop you off."
"Dropping us off?" Luca questioned. "You're not going to help us rescue our friends?"
"Why should I?" Driver Natsu demanded. "They're not my friends."
Luca felt his eye twitch at that. Was this world so cruel and cold that even a version of Natsu wasn't willing to do what's right? "It's the right thing to do," he said tightly.
Driver Natsu snorted. "It's what's going to get us killed," she corrected him, "look baby," she purred, "I'll do anything you ask but you're not my Luca. His orders were clear, get you to where you want to go, and then get out. No sentimental crap about friends and family."
Three things happened at the same time, Driver Natsu suddenly halted to a stop which sent them, Wendy especially, flying forwards, Natsu immediately upheaved the contents of her stomach all over the floor, and Luca lost his temper.
He dragged Driver Natsu out of the car, pushed her against it, and glowered down at her. "Who cares about getting killed when the people we love are in danger?!" he shouted. "Is everyone in your damn world so selfish or is it just a Fairy Tail thing?!"
"Please," Driver Natsu suddenly whimpered, "don't hurt me! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be so ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!"
"Huh?"
Luca's jaw dropped and he began to panic a little as Driver Natsu's green eyes were suddenly filled with tears and she started to wail and sniffle wildly.
"Oh God!" Natsu said disgustedly, "I'm pathetic."
She then proceeded to vomit some more, clearly not over her motion sickness just yet.
It was a really good thing, Luca thought to himself as he sweat-dropped, that Gray isn't here. Natsu has really set herself up for some teasing….
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
When the car slowed to a stop, Luca couldn't help but smile a little. The window rolled down and his Natsu, poked her head out with a confidence she would never have outside of the car. "Hey gorgeous," she grinned, "need a ride?"
"Don't mind if I do."
He climbed in with ease and managed to not roll his eyes when Natsu chirped her usual cheesy line about buckling up. They drove in silence as Luca lounged back in his seat in order to watch Natsu properly, how her eyes glittered excitedly, how she stuck her tongue out in concentration, and how every so often, she grinned cockily at him in the mirror.
Her arrogance and excitement in the car could be both annoying and endearing, today, it was something he needed to draw courage from. "Natsu…." He said quietly. "I'm considering something that might just endanger our guild."
She met his eye in from the corner of her own, while still focusing mostly on the road. "That's okay," she said quietly. Almost like her usual self rather than her car self. "You'll do the right thing."
"You trust me too much," Luca frowned, "for all you know I'm planning to sell you all out to Knightwalker."
"Pfft!" Natsu snorted. "Oh sweetie," now she sounded more like her car self. Luca didn't know whether to snarl at the sickening endearment or blush over the fact she called him that. It irritated him to no end that she had that effect on him. "You would never do that. I know you better than you know yourself. You'll do what's right, right for the guild, and right for the world-"
"I have never done what's right for the world," Luca pointed out.
"But you have always done what's right for the guild," she said, "and perhaps now what's right for the guild is doing what's right for the world. No matter what the danger is, we got to put a stop to it. We've been letting that King do whatever he wants for too long now."
"….you've been speaking to your alternate self, haven't you?"
"No actually, you," she shuddered. "Your alternative self is terrifying."
"Him?" Luca snorted. "In the fluffy jumpers with his classical piano training and novel-writing?"
"And your temper," she shuddered again, "urgh. Nasty!"
He couldn't help but smirk for a moment but then it quickly faded. "So…." He said, suddenly nervous in a long time, "Will you support me on this?"
"We're partners right?" she risked a glance at him. "Of course I'll support you, baby," she cooed disgustingly, "I'll always have your back."
"….get out of this car," Luca said quietly, "so we discuss why you're not allowed to call me baby."
"….No."
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
It appears no matter what world they were in, whether she was a good guy or a bad guy, Erza was still terrifying as hell.
As Luca dodged another strike from the fierce warrior that was Erza Knightwalker, he held his arms out in an 'I surrender' gesture, and cried out; "Look Erza, be reasonable! There's no reason why we can't discuss this in a polite, mature, manner."
She froze for a minute and he hoped he had reached out to her a little. He really didn't want to fight Erza, any version of her, and not just because she could easily kill him with both arms and her legs tied behind her back, but because she was his friend, and a really good one at that.
He didn't particularly want to punch a friend in the face or set one of his spirits on them.
"See," he said gently, "I'm not here to cause harm. I'm just-"
She suddenly swung her sword at him. "I'M NOT FALLING FOR THAT ONE AGAIN!" she shrieked.
"What?!"
"YOU WON'T USE YOUR PRETTY FACE ON ME AGAIN!"
"I….I'm not!"
"I'M GOING TO HACK THAT THING OFF SO YOU WON'T EVER TRICK A GIRL AGAIN!"
Luca had no shame in admitting he screamed at this point and when Happy, and others, try to tease him about in the future, he'll point out that none of them had ever fared better when their Erza had turned her fury on them…..and she never once threatened to carve their face off.
"No," Gray would say dryly, "that's because our Erza usually threatens something far more precious."
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
They did the right thing and now there is no more magic in the world.
Everyone was struggling with day to day things, people broke down constantly, incapable of doing some of the simplest things without magic, and Luca, unashamedly, took advantage of it in order to protect his guild from the worst of their own depression and lack of money.
Becoming an odd-jobs agency was turning out to be stroke of brilliance but it didn't change the fact that Natsu was now miserable.
She had a lot to deal with now the one thing that had ever given her confidence was dead in their garage, and on top of that Lisanna had been forced back to the other world, leaving Natsu one good friend down, and then to make things even worse, the alternate Natsu had left many furious people behind with her 'Dark Demon Lady Dragneel' act.
"Hey," Luca nudged his partner gently, "it'll be ok. We'll find a way to get it running again."
"I know," she mumbled though her green eyes were brimming with tears again, "I know that but….but….I'm so pathetic without it! That was the only thing I had going. I was the girl that did crazy errands and dangerous mission because I was so fast in my car, and now I got nothing. I'm useless. I'm pathetic. I'm just….just…cry-baby Natsu!" she wailed.
"Oi!" Luca barked. "Stop crying!" he rummaged for a handkerchief and quickly mopped up her face. "You got plenty going for you. You're Natsu. The car didn't make you that, you just made the car make you look cool. All that confidence and terrible endearments and cocky attitude comes from inside you. Not the car. It wasn't that magical," he scoffed.
"You take that back!" Natsu snapped. "My baby was perfect!" she then immediately flushed as she realised what she had done. "S-s-sorry!" she stuttered quickly. "I didn't mean to….I'm not sure where that came from…" she trailed off lamely.
"See!" Luca pressed a rare, and if anyone else saw it he would deny it, kiss on her forehead. "You don't need the car to be you."
"I suppose not," Natsu smiled timidly, and she then leaned into a weird hug that made Luca blush in annoyance and embarrassment. "Luca?"
"Yeah?"
"Who's that girl hiding behind the spare tires?"
Luca twisted his head in time to catch a small, mousy-haired, girl that had been following him for the last few days. She squeaked, turned bright red, and ducked back behind the tires before Luca could blink. "The young prince!" he could here an awed whisper. "He looked at me!"
"Let's just say," he said stiffly, "that your alternate self wasn't the only one to leave problems behind."
FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT
Back in Earthland everyone was celebrating Lisanna's return while many members, who were still incredibly miffed that they spent most of this adventure a giant crystal, kept pestering for details about their alternative selves.
Gray was in disbelief about the fact his alternative self wore lots of clothes while Juvia despaired over the fact she never got to meet a Gray-sama that liked her back, and Bisca and Alzack weren't looking at one another in the eyes.
"Gihihihihihi," Gajeel snickered, "I can't believe your alternate self wore girl's makeup! You're such a girl, Heartfilla."
"Yeah?" Luca raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Well your alternate self had a really bad perm."
"….S-S-SHUT UP!"
"I agree," Lily said dryly, "it was a really unfortunate perm."
"Oi!" Gajeel snapped. "You're supposed to be my cat, whatever happened to loyalty?!"
"What loyalty?" Lily blinked. "We've only known each other for half a day."
"Damnit!"