Zale is about to enter Edolas in order to save his friends. I hope you all enjoy!
Zale walked through the empty wasteland of rising bubbles that used to be Magnolia and looked everywhere in shock.
"Natsu! Gray! Erza! Lucy! Makarov! Juvia!" Zale tried calling out to them, but no one was around. "… They're all gone…"
Tears were starting to stream down his face as the thought of all of his friends suddenly gone finally dawned on him. He simply stood where he was in the bubbling wasteland. (Fucking bubbles!)
"What are you doing here, Zale?"
Zale turned around and saw Mystogan walking up to him.
"Mystogan, you're still here?" Zale asked. "Do you know where the others are?"
"I don't have much time to explain." Mystogan answered as he tossed a tiny red pill into Zale's mouth and he swallowed it. "If you want to find out, go up into those clouds. I suggest you do so quickly before the Anima closes."
"What's an Anima?" Zale asked.
"I wish I had more time to explain, but unfortunately we're running out of it. Know that the guild is in trouble and you must save them. Natsu, Wendy and Lucy are already there trying to save them."
"Natsu and Lucy are okay? … And who's Wendy?"
Mystogan disappeared before he could answer Zale's question.
"Hey, wait-!" Zale then looked up at the sky where the center of the swirling vortex was. "… I guess I've got no other choice. If I want to save them, I'll have to go through those clouds."
He surrounded himself in black water and was ready to jump.
"Water God Rocket!"
With a powerful blast, Zale shot himself up into the air at Mach speed toward the swirling vortex of clouds in the sky. About a quarter of the way up, he started slowing down.
*Just a little more…* Zale thought. *Not that much farther to go…*
Zale kept his pace until he reached the vortex and was enveloped in a blinding white light.
Zale was beginning to regain consciousness and began to hear voices.
"Hey, I've seen him before."
"He looks like Zale Valiant."
"We should probably take him into custody anyway."
Zale's eyes shot awake and he began twirling his body on the ground, releasing black water from his legs and creating swirling streams around him.
"Wah, w-what's he doing?!"
"Stay away from me!" Zale shouted as he finally stood up.
Zale looked around to see that he was surrounded by an army of soldiers in some sort of town.
"Where am I…" Zale muttered under his breath.
"Well, well, well…" A woman approached him. "Zale Valiant, what brings you to the royal capital?"
Zale looked at her and was shocked to see who it was.
"C-Callista?!" He gasped.
The woman he saw looked exactly like Callista, only she was wearing white armor with a tan cape and carrying a large broadsword.
"Why are you so surprised to see me?" Callista asked. "You know I'm a general in the royal military. Of course I'd be here."
"What are you talking about?" Zale questioned. "You aren't in any royal military. And why did you say my last name wrong?"
"Ugh…" Callista sighed and rubbed her temple with her fingers. "Why are you being such a pain?"
*Who is this woman?* Zale thought. *She looks exactly like Callista, and even sounds like her, too. But her mannerisms are completely different and she's saying things that don't add up. Maybe I should play along and ask her more questions.* "Callista, I'm afraid I've been having quite a bit of trouble remembering things today, so why not refresh my memory?"
"… Book him."
The guards around her placed cuffs around Zale's wrists and pointed their weapons at him.
"I'll tell you on the way to the dungeon." Callista said as she walked off.
*… Not what I wanted to happen, but okay…* Zale thought.
The guards and Zale followed Callista.
"I can't believe how forgetful you've become." Callista said. "We've been friends since we were babes and yet you don't remember a thing about me other than my name? What, Juvia's so good for you that you completely forgot about me?"
"Like I said." Zale reiterated. "Maybe it's a side effect from some medications I took."
Callista sighed with exasperation as they entered a large castle and went toward the upper floors.
"Um… Aren't dungeons usually on the lower floors?" Zale asked.
"I don't know where you got that idea, but here in Edolas dungeons are always at the top." Callista replied.
*Edolas?* Zale wondered.
They arrived in the dungeon and Zale looked in one of the cells to see Lucy.
"Lucy!" Zale shouted.
Lucy opened her eyes to see Zale. "Zale!"
"I see they finally caught Lucy Ashley." Callista said.
"Actually, General Rainbow." A guard came up to Callista. "This is Lucy Heartfilia, Lucy Ashley's Earthland counterpart."
"A counterpart…" Callista muttered before glaring at Zale. "Are you really Zale Valiant? Or are you like her?" She pointed at Lucy.
*I see now.* Zale thought. *In this world, Edolas, everyone has a counterpart. So this must be this world's Callista and she must've confused me with my counterpart here.* "My name is Zale Aeon and I indeed hail from Earthland."
"… Take him to the dungeon!" Callista ordered.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Zale said as the guards started dragging him.
"The less I have to look at your face, the better." Callista said.
"What is your deal?!" Zale asked. "What do you have against me?! Or the other me?!"
Callista didn't answer and this made Zale break his shackles with an explosion of black water and he confronted Callista.
"Answer my question!" Zale demanded.
"… Fine!" Callista replied angrily. "As I said before, Zale Valiant and I grew up in the same village together. Eventually, we joined the royal military and… We were lovers."
"… What?" Zale asked with a blank and confused expression on his face.
"But then you were tasked with taking out Fairy Tail." Callista said. "Or this world's Fairy Tail. But then you turned your back just because you fell for that Juvia girl! You dumped me and betrayed your comrades just so you could get some tail!"
"Okay, I get the feeling it's starting to get personal between us, so-" Zale said.
"Why didn't you just ask me to go to bed with you? I know we've been busy with work, but even I want to be relieved of this stress, too."
As she continued ranting, Zale noticed that she was barely paying attention to him anymore and slowly made his way toward Lucy's cell where he carefully cut the bars.
"I can't believe how much of a pig the other me is." Zale whispered.
"Actually, I met the other you." Lucy said. "He was hot-headed and incredibly blunt, but he would still give his life for the people he cared about. He almost took on this world's version of Erza trying to protect the guild."
"What's she like?"
"Even scarier than ours. Wait, how can you use your magic here?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Natsu couldn't use his magic, but I could. Maybe Mystogan had something to do with it."
"I saw him before coming here, too. Did he give you a red pill?"
"Yeah!"
"That pill must be what's letting us use magic here."
Zale finally cut down the bars and Callista was still going on her rant as he entered the cell and cut the white goo around Lucy's wrists.
"Thanks." Lucy whispered. "We've got to save Natsu and Wendy."
"Who's Wendy?" Zale asked.
"Oh, that's right. You weren't here to meet her. She's our newest member. And she's a Dragon Slayer just like Natsu. She even has her own cat."
"She sounds like a female version of Natsu."
"Yeah, she's the exact opposite."
They both walked outside the cell.
"Where do you think you're going?"
A woman that looked like Erza only wearing black bikini armor and carrying a spear stood before them.
"Crap!" Lucy whimpered.
"So you're this world's version of Erza?" Zale asked with a stern expression.
"Rainbow!" Erza shouted.
"Ah, Commander Knightwalker!" Callista panicked and knelt down.
"You need to pay more attention when prisoners are loose." Knightwalker scolded.
"Lucy, run." Zale said. "I'll hold them off while you go save Natsu and Wendy."
"But what about you?" Lucy asked.
"Don't worry about me." Zale replied. "Worry about them."
"O… Okay…" Lucy ran off into another direction.
"I won't let you get away!" Knightwalker chased after Lucy.
"Lucy!" Zale shouted as he was about to chase after Knightwalker.
However, Callista slammed her broadsword into the ground and a large square of the hallway floor rose up in front of Zale and blocked his path. Zale surrounded his hand in black water and punched the floor-wall to smithereens.
"So you can create polluted water from your body." Callista said.
"It's not polluted." Zale said. "I'd prove it, but I don't have time for that."
Zale tried to jump over the hole in the floor, but he missed the other side and fell through the hole.
"Curse my lack of athletic abilities!" Zale screamed until he fell to the floor below.
"I won't let you get away, Zale Aeon!" Callista shouted as she jumped into the hole after him.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took much longer than it should have. After the Edolas arc I'm thinking of making Zuvia official. It would make sense in Zale's development as the sudden disappearance of Juvia would make him finally take the initiative and make a move. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!