Hello Everyone!
Sorry for the long wait and I hoped you all had a great holiday! I won't lie this isn't one of my better chapters but it was the only way I could actually get it out into words. Sounds crazy but sometimes its hard to put your ideas into words. Anyway enough of me enjoy the chapter!
~wolvesfinalden
Fairy Tail: By Your Side
Chapter 13: Together Again
Duke led the way through the town with the group trailing behind. He was sniffing around the town for any signs of Lucy or anyone else from the guild. Every now and again the wolf would look back to see Wendy and the cats happily talking, Edolas Natsu and Lucy fighting, and then there was their own Natsu. Duke was watching as the dragon slayer desperately looked around and kept his nose in the air, looking for any sign of the guild, or rather, Lucy.
The white wolf finally turned back to his search. It wasn't long after that he was stopped by Edolas Lucy. Out of habit the wolf listened to the call of the familiar voice. Sometimes Duke forgot that it wasn't his Lucy when he wasn't looking at her, however that was only when she actually used a gentle tone. Other times Duke could tell immediately that it wasn't his Lucy just by the harshness of the voice.
"If we are going near the palace or even further into this town, we'll need some magic gear." She told them.
Edolas Natsu nodded in agreement. Meanwhile Duke just turned his head in confusion, why would they need to buy magic tools? Then he remembered why she would bring that up. The fact that Edolas has no magic, or rather little to nothing. Duke looked over to Wendy and Natsu, remembering that the dragon slayers couldn't use their magic. Not without, Mistogen's or as Duke refers to him Jellal's magic pill.
"Yeah I guess you're right. It's just weird not having my magic or anything." Natsu said.
"Yeah I feel a little vulnerable without it." Wendy said.
Duke just shook his head, of course they would. He realized just how much Fairy Tail had relied on their magic power. Sure magic wasn't exactly scarce like it was here in Edolas, making it easy to always have your magic be your source of power. However that wasn't what made you strong. It doesn't matter how powerful one's magic is. If the body never grows with the magic then it could be severely unbalanced and cause the mage to lose control of their own magic.
The wolf looked to Natsu, he never worried about that with the fire mage. He always seemed to have a good balance between his magic and his own strength. Though now without his magic he forgets about his own strength. Duke looked over to the Edolas Natsu and Lucy. Looking at them it didn't surprise him at all how they acted. After all if Lucy had grown up in a world like this, with no magic or friends to help her, she would have to make herself even stronger so she could defend herself. Sure enough the Edolas version of him would have helped her out there.
Duke then paused when he realized that. He looked around and sniffed the air again, looking back to Edolas Lucy when he was finished. She had very faint traces of what had to be the Edolas version of himself but where was he? Why is he not here with Lucy? Surely the Edolas version wouldn't have turned on Lucy. Let alone leave her behind without a reason.
Natsu noticed Duke's discomfort and walked over to him. He knelt down beside the wolf and began to whisper what had happened to the Edolas Duke. When Natsu finished Duke looked to Edolas Lucy with sad eyes and held down his head.
"Don't worry Duke. We'll get the other you back but first we have to find our Lucy." Natsu told him.
Duke nodded in agreement and noticed that Happy was now walking over to them as well. Looking over again he watched as the Edolas Natsu and Lucy entered the shop, while Wendy and Carla followed. Duke then turned to Happy waiting for an explanation.
"Scary Lucy said she had to talk to the owner so the other Natsu went with her. I guess Wendy and Carla decided to follow them." Happy explained.
The wolf shook his head when he heard 'Scary Lucy' come from the cat's mouth. Sure this Lucy was a little more aggressive than their own but that didn't make her scary.
"We'll find our Lucy soon right Natsu?" Happy asked him.
"Yeah we will buddy." Natsu answered.
"I'm worried Natsu, what if she ended up in that palace place?" Happy said with a very worried tone.
Duke then walked over and licked Happy's face. He didn't want the cat to make up any scenarios like that. Not when they could be the farthest thing from the truth. Right now they only had hope to go on and he didn't want that to diminish.
"See Happy, Duke thinks she's fine. Don't worry we'll find her in no time, I promise." Natsu said.
Duke then looked over to Natsu. He could tell the entire way over here that the mage was frightened at the thought of Lucy being in danger. No doubt the dragon slayer probably thought of the exact same scenarios as well.
"Okay Natsu but when we find her she's not leaving our sight again right?"
"Yeah buddy, she's not leaving our sight again. Not for a long time." Natsu said in an almost too serious tone.
Lucy sat in the room she had found to be vacant at the moment. There she had spent the night and tried to figure out how she was going to find everyone. She never liked the idea of being alone. Lucy turned to look out the window, thinking about Natsu, Duke, and Happy. Surely her wolf had found the two by now and no doubt Natsu would be searching high and low for her and the guild.
The blonde then decided that it was time to leave and start searching the town again. Surely by now there would be some kind of clue. She then got herself ready and headed out the door. Slowly she walked down the streets, trying to pick up anything anyone said, hoping that maybe it would give her a hint as to where to look for her guild.
As she walked she came up upon what looked like a group of guards. Not liking the looks of it, Lucy hid herself behind the nearest building and watched. Lucy tried to look around the guards to figure out what was going on but she couldn't see a thing. All she could tell was that there was a small group in the middle of the circle of guards.
She listened a little more closely and her eyes widened when she heard a low growl, mixed with what seemed like a feral bark. She glared at the guards and got out her keys. She called for Virgo quietly.
"Yes Princess?"
"I need you to dig beneath the guards and help out Duke in there. I'll try to go around and figure a way out." Lucy told her.
"Alright, then shall I be punished?"
"No! Now get moving please!"
The spirit then dug her way under the ground while Lucy sighed and hurried around the guards.
Natsu stood in front of the other's with Duke still in front of him. After they were done talking and got some weapons from the man in the shop, they came back outside to sit at the tables to figure out what to do next. Then all of the sudden they heard guards talk about some kind of lacrama, to which Natsu decided to barge in and demand answers. Now the group was surrounded.
The wolf growled at the thought, knowing he was the only one with magic at the moment. He looked around the group of guards and gave them a loud warning to back off. When the guards refused, Duke took the opportunity to attack. He inched back, held up his head and howled. When he howled he released a powerful amount of magic that was surrounding his body. Once the attack was launched, the guards were sent flying back, then the ground began to shake.
Duke looked down to the ground and closed his eyes. He tried to sense whose magic this belonged to and when the image came to mind, his eyes flew back open. Duke quickly jumped back and landed beside Natsu, who was still staring at the wolf in amazement.
"What the hell Duke?! I thought we couldn't use our magic! Why can you still use yours?!" Natsu yelled.
Before Duke could even provide an action, Virgo launched herself out of the ground. When Duke saw her emerge he ran to her side and held a fighting stance. He let out a fierce snarl then attacked with Virgo. Duke was shooting small yellow orbs from his mouth while Virgo trapped the men. Once there was one left standing Duke jumped on top of him. Glaring down at the man he showed him his bright white fangs, snarling as he got closer to his face. The man pleaded for his life and finally Duke got off of him, leaving the man to quickly flee from the group.
Virgo then turned to Duke and slowly patted the wolf's head. She then gave a nod and disappeared to the Celestial Spirit World. When she vanished Natsu walked over to Duke and got down to his eye level.
"Alright Duke, why can you still use magic and we can't? Plus why was Virgo here?" Natsu asked him.
"Virgo was here because I called for her." A voice answered.
Natsu turned to see the girl he had been looking for. The girl he loved. Lucy.
"Luce!" he shouted.
Lucy was caught off guard when Natsu wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a strong hug. Duke wagged his tail at the scene. He was happy that now Lucy was here safe and sound, not to mention the dragon slayer wouldn't be on edge like he was earlier.
The two then pulled apart and Natsu was smiling at her.
"I'm glad you're alright Luce. Though how come you can still use your magic? Wendy and I can't even use our dragon slayer magic." Natsu asked.
"Must be that pill Mistogen gave to me. Since Duke can still use his I guess he found him too." Lucy said.
"Why didn't he bother to come to us?!" Natsu said angrily.
Duke let out a soft growl and shook his head. Lucy watched Duke carefully but nothing he could do would tell them what he knew. It was times like this she wished her wolf was able to talk in some way. It was hard to tell exactly what he meant.
"I'm sorry Duke but I can't tell what you want to say." Lucy told him.
Duke nodded, he knew he couldn't tell them and wished he was able to. Though now was not the time to worry about that. He looked over to the Edolas Lucy and Natsu. She was looking out past the town and over to what looked like the kingdom she described earlier. Duke sniffed the air but didn't catch the scent of anything threatening, so he looked back to them once again.
"We should get moving." Edolas Lucy said.
Lucy then looked over rather shocked at seeing herself. She froze and failed to realize that the group was moving. Duke noticed this and dragged her along with him, snapping Lucy back to reality. She smiled petting his head and walked ahead.
"Where are we going?" Carla managed to ask.
"The Kingdom where else? That's what you wanted right?" Edolas Lucy asked.
"Yes we do, sorry about that." Wendy apologized.
As they got closer to the Kingdom, Lucy noticed something wrong with her Edolas self. From the little time she knew her, she seemed like a take charge person. She didn't seem to be afraid of anything, although she did notice one thing. The fact that this version of herself didn't have a Edolas version of Duke. She looked towards Duke but he didn't show any sign of question about it. So she turned towards Natsu hoping that he would tell her something. Natsu noticed but only shook his head.
"I'll tell you later Luce." He whispered to her.
She nodded and turned her head back to the road. They had reached the outskirts of the kingdom. Natsu was about to press onward, only to have Edolas Lucy stop him.
"From here on out we split up." She said.
"No way, that's too dangerous." Wendy said.
"The child is right, it would be best if we stick together." Carla said.
"Yeah there's no way you are going out on your own." Natsu said.
"We can take care of ourselves." Edolas Lucy said.
"Lucy do you think that is a good idea?" Edolas Natsu asked shakily.
"If I didn't think it was I wouldn't have said that." Edolas Lucy answered.
Among the arguing Duke sighed walking slowly from the group. He entered the small opening into the Kingdom and saw what the Edolas Lucy meant. As he sniffed the air he picked up the fain scent of some of the Fairy Tail guild members in one direction and in the next he could almost sense his Edolas-self trapped within the castle walls.
Duke turned back and saw they were still arguing. He put his ears back and walked into the middle of the group. Then Duke let out a loud growl followed by a bark. Soon everyone stopped now noticing the canine in the middle of it all.
Once everyone stopped the wolf lead them over to the entrance, stopping in front of them. He turned back and faced them. Looking to Edolas Lucy and Edolas Natsu he looked over in the direction of the castle. Duke then turned to his Natsu and Lucy, along with Wendy, Happy, and Carla, turning over towards the other direction, leading to the heart of the Kingdom.
"Looks like even your Duke agrees with me." Edolas Lucy said.
Lucy looked over at Natsu with a worried expression but Natsu just smiled at her. Confused she saw Natsu turn towards the Edolas versions of themselves.
"You guys becareful. If you run into any trouble come find us." Natsu told them.
Edolas Lucy smiled as she looked at him.
"And you do the same. Try not to get caught." Edolas Lucy said.
She then dragged her Natsu with her, heading towards the castle, leaving the others behind. Natsu looked over to Duke and got down to his level.
"Alright Duke, which way are they?" he asked him.
Duke wagged his tail and motioned towards the heart of the kingdom. Walking ahead of them.
"Are we sure about this?" Carla asked worriedly.
"Nothing else we can do Carla." Happy said of course happily.
Carla growled a little at Happy's answer but sighed as she followed. She just couldn't shake this bad feeling. She looked up towards the dragon slayers and the celestial mage.
"Carla you okay?" Happy asked her.
Carla just shook her head.
"I'm fine tom-cat, enough worrying." She huffed.
She then walked up ahead, trying to believe her own words. Everything will be okay, right?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again not one of my best chapters but hey it was the best I could. Sorry again for the long wait and thank you for being patient with me. I'm working on other stories so its hard to multi task. If you want more don't forget to follow, fav or leave a review. Thanks for the support guys it means a lot to me!
~wolvesfinalden
