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Harry, Wendy, and Carla's Tale (Part 2)
"Okay, deep breaths." Harry instructed and Carla complied. "You're splitting your attention two directions. It can get complicated. So, take your time to hold on to the transformation magic and then try to reach for your magic again. Once you have that figured out it's just a matter of not losing focus when you cast."
Carla's humanoid face was screwed up in concentration. "I think I need a bit longer." She said, sounding indignant even as she cracked an eye open to gauge his response.
"That's fine. I'll go help Wendy with dinner." He offered with a placating pat of the air to indicate he'd give her space. They'd been at it for hours now and Carla was struggling to follow his vague instructions. He wasn't entirely sure how else to tell her though. Wendy seemed to understand his metaphors. Carla was far too literal.
Harry drifted away from the cat. Wendy was struggling to find ingredients in his bag when he wandered over. He supposed there was a lot to sort through in there now. He cast a quick accio and the ingredients and a pot sailed clear of Wendy's head and over to Harry. He had them float midair as Wendy gave him a disbelieving and slightly put out look.
"Is there anything your magic can't do?" she asked. Her amusement was obvious despite the exasperated nature of her tone. Harry gave her a smile as he directed the pot into place. "Hey, wait… if you could do that why didn't you just summon the stones from the second trial?"
Harry blinked. Why hadn't he thought of that? Harry suspected Hermione was right about his lack of situational awareness. "You think that would've worked?" he opted to say instead of admitting he hadn't even considered the option.
Wendy shrugged. She seemed more unsure now that he'd asked. She moved over to help him with peeling vegetables for their stew.
They had found about three quarters of the stolen artifacts. It was a long and fairly exhausting trek back and forth across the face of Fiore, but they were making decent time. It had been nearly seven months since Fairy Tail disbanded. Seven months they'd been travelling non-stop. Harry might just book them a hotel and spend a month in a resort with Wendy and Carla once they'd finished.
"Just three more artifacts, right?" Wendy asked, peeling slowing down as she surveyed the potato she was working on.
"Mhmm." Harry diced an onion and glanced up curiously. He took the extra precaution of stopping his cutting when he glanced her way. Carla had told him she'd replace all his sharp instruments with butter knives if he cut himself while he was distracted again. Harry didn't actually want to test whether Carla would act on the threat.
"When we're… once we find them all what happens next?" she asked, quietly. "Fairy Tail is still…"
They had stopped through Magnolia nearly two months ago to see Mira and drop off their current supply of cursed items. It was their third batch and the fourth time they'd crossed near the Eastern border.
Fairy Tail was no closer to regrouping when they passed through than they'd been in the weeks following disbandment. Mira had been handing off Cana's calling cards to those she'd found, but as far as Harry knew nothing had come of that yet. He didn't even know how many ex-Fairy Tail members the two had located so far. Nothing had happened with the card since he'd acquired his own. No miraculous call to action. No bad news… but no good news either.
Wendy still seemed to be holding out hope that the guild was going to regroup soon. She'd apparently suspected all along that Fairy Tail would come back. Despite his encouraging words to Mira a few months ago Harry wasn't sure if he believed they'd be back or not. He'd watched too many things fall apart in his life to put his faith in miracles. At the same time though, if any one could pull it off this was certainly the group to bet on.
Harry put a hand on Wendy's head and when she looked up he ruffled her hair until she squawked and tried to pull away. "Whatever happens, we'll figure it out together." He said turning back to the onion. He didn't miss the teary-eyed look she gave him, or her quickly stifled sniffs.
Carla joined them just as he and Wendy were finishing up dinner. She seemed a bit peeved, but otherwise fine. She must be having a hard time figuring it out. She was too proud to ask for help often, and when she did it was usually in a roundabout way through Wendy. Harry hadn't pushed. He wasn't the best teacher anyway. Carla often criticized the way he explained things, but he was trying damn it. At least her criticism had become less frequent and more helpful.
"We're fairly close to the artifact we've been tracking." Harry relayed as he doled out soup and bread. "I went ahead and checked our next destination and it'll swing us pretty close to the direction of Crocus. We could pop through and see Lucy again."
Wendy lit up. Carla regarded him patiently. A couple of months ago the suggestion likely would have earned him a lecture. Now she just calmly took the bowl he offered and seemed to think about the possibility. "We have just three more to find, yes?"
Harry nodded as he joined them in a conjured chair. "Yup, just three left now." He agreed. "And they should be fairly low risk ones, all things considered."
"I don't find that particularly comforting coming for you." Carla said, voice almost teasing. Harry scoffed.
"I don't know what you mean. That cutting curse barely nicked you." He said, taking a bite to hide his smile as Carla spluttered indignantly and Wendy laughed. "No, but in all seriousness I thought maybe we could use a break when we're done. I heard Akane Resort is nice, and I didn't get a chance to go before joining Fairy Tail."
"A resort?!" Wendy exclaimed excitedly.
"Do you have the funds for such extravagance? Wendy and I certainly don't."
"I wouldn't have brought it up if I didn't." Harry said with a smile a sage nod. Carla just rolled her eyes at his antics. "We could see if anyone else would like to join us. It would be nice to see people again. I heard from Mira last time we were in Magnolia that they'd finally gotten in contact with Kosmos. Apparently she's been training with Warrod."
"The old plant mage?" Wendy asked with a laugh.
"That's not polite Wendy." Carla reprimanded.
"Technically I'm older than he is." Harry agreed with an amused look. "Please don't start calling me the old clock mage or something like that."
Wendy laughed and then nodded emphatically, turning back to their previous topic. "We could ask Lucy if we're going to go through Crocus. Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman were still in Magnolia. Maybe Natsu showed back up. And we can see if Cana can con-"
"Slow down Wendy!" Carla looked alarm at the speed with which Wendy had started rambling off names. "You're going to spill your dinner."
Wendy resituated her bowl looking somewhat abashed, but Harry could see the excited energy coursing under the surface.
"We'll get as many people as we can." Harry nodded and gave her a grin. He could feel the hit to his wallet already, but he wouldn't stop anyone that wanted to come from coming. Wendy returned his smile with a strong matching one.
They all finished off their dinner while speculating about who might've made contact with Mira since Harry had last seen her. Once everything was clean and put away they spent the rest of the evening sparring. Harry had to admit Carla was getting better with hand to hand. She wasn't strong physically but she was quick and she tried to target weak spots. Since Harry obviously wasn't aiming to stop either of them in a serious manner he did miss a couple of her more clever misdirections. He ended up with a boot print shaped bruise on his ribs to prove it too.
Carla tried to use a spell while in her transformed body and Harry watched both the spell backfire and her transformation fail simultaneously to the cat's immense irritation. He didn't offer her any words, just a hand up. He knew she was too frustrated to hear encouragement right that moment. He'd gotten snapped at a few times for making the mistake of trying in the past.
When Harry was just starting to feel a bit tired (and Carla looked ready to keel over) Harry called an end to their sparring. Everyone got cleaned up and they settled in for the rest of the night to get some sleep.
They were slower to get moving the next morning. Months on the road had certainly streamlined their packing process in the morning. Magic was a blessing too of course. However, Carla was moving odd from a muscle sprain the day before and refused to let anyone help her. Which was stubborn even by the unique scale Harry judged only Carla on. By midmorning they'd managed to hit the road, but that meant they didn't see a town until nearly noon. Harry's spell was still pointing off into the distance though they'd certainly gotten much closer.
They paused in town for lunch on a whim. The local café was small and certainly didn't seem to see many travelers. The majority of its patrons were clearly from the town itself based on the familiar way they talked with each other and the people running it. They didn't garner a particularly large amount of attention though. Well, no more than they typically got travelling with a talking cat at least.
A waitress shuffled them off to a table near the center of the room and they ordered. After a few minutes the buzz of conversation swept over them and Harry felt himself listening to the crowd around them as Wendy tried to convince Carla to do something or another. Mostly it was just inane chatter about daily life stuff. A hushed conversation near of the back corners drew his attention though. They were trying to whisper, but failing to reduce the volume of those whispers which easily carried across the loud room to Harry. Harry watched as a man and a woman argued about something. Then the woman was storming out of the diner with a determined look on her face.
Harry watched her leave, curiosity piqued. "Harry!" Wendy bumped into his arm and Harry refocused on their table. Their food had been delivered and Wendy was sulking. "Tell Carla she's being unreasonable."
"Carla, you're being unreasonable." Harry deadpanned. Carla was doing her best not to be amused, but Harry knew she'd noticed he hadn't been paying attention before the comment. "Why is Carla being unreasonable?"
"She won't just let you fix whatever's wrong." Wendy said, like the argument was obvious. Maybe it should have been a bit more obvious. Wendy had been harping about it since they left camp.
Harry shrugged. He wasn't about to force his magic onto someone who was unwilling. He did however, know Carla's weakness. "You could let Wendy get some healing experience in. We haven't had a lot of chances to work on her channeling in conjunction with healing. It would be excellent practice."
He could already see the stubbornness failing. Wendy beamed. "Fine." Carla relented.
They finished lunch and paid. Harry brought them out of town a bit before they stopped for Wendy to work on Carla's mild injury.
"Perfect." Harry commented when Wendy's hands started to glow. There wasn't a noticeable dip in her energy reserves like there had been before he'd shown her how to channel properly. She was drawing energy from the environment. As Wendy wrapped up the brief healing session Harry whistled lowly. "You're already more versatile than Natsu. Now we've just got to make you hit harder than him too."
Wendy lit up. "You really think I could be as strong as Natsu."
"Sure." Harry grinned. "Your punches are already getting stronger. I'm sure with enough work you'll put him in the dust."
Wendy seemed to glow under the praise. He caught Carla giving him an approving look as they started moving again. Carla transformed back into her human form to more easily keep up. Harry wondered if whatever she'd pulled had been too uncomfortable to attempt the form earlier.
"So what are we after this time?" Wendy asked as Harry worked one of his point me spells.
"Just a pendant of some sort." He shrugged. "They didn't really say what it was in the notes. I figured if it was on the more dangerous side of things then they would have made a bigger effort to document stuff about it."
Wendy nodded. Carla frowned contemplatively. Was it his imagination or did she look worried?
They reached another town before sunset. Harry could tell they were exceptionally close. Just like the last few times it would just boil down to finding the person who was trying to sell the item, or the one who had bought it. All the previous ones they'd been unfortunate enough to miss the seller on. They'd found them in shops with ridiculous price tags attached to them. Harry might have been responsible for a few thefts, but he'd been nice enough to put a duplicate in their place… just without the curse attached to it or without whatever magical ability the item had previously held.
They didn't have to search long this time as it turned out. Their target came to them in form of two rather familiar treasure hunters. Harry, Wendy, and Carla just stared at the duo for a solid minute with Harry's spell pointing directly at the group of Sylph Labyrinth treasure hunters they'd run into at the frozen Sun Village. The two stared back looking equally stunned. So at least they recognized them.
They'd explained that they sought treasures back when they'd met in the Sun Village. If they were willing to steal from the still living, but immobilized, giants Harry shouldn't have been surprised to find them willing to steal from his people. After all, with the exception of himself, they were all long dead. It didn't make him any less angry to have finally found the culprits who'd willfully sold massively dangerous magical artifacts. Did they even realize the danger they'd been putting people in?
These weren't people who'd come to find ancient treasures and safeguard them or learn from them. These were scavengers looking for their next score to sell off. His jaw tightened and before any of the men could so much as utter a syllable Harry had cast an immobilizing charm on them. He strode forward and plucked the bag from one of their shoulders. His spell, still held above his left hand pointed directly at the bag. He flipped it open.
Well, there was the object they were after, the other two seemed to be there as well. That simplified their task. Apparently, they'd caught them before they could sell any more of their stash. Other items that Harry recognized were present as well: old magic texts on runes, an ancient sneakoscope that was trying valiantly to whistle and spin, a chipped penseive. They'd taken a lot that Harry hadn't known to account for at all since they hadn't found a registry for the things not in the basement. His hand closed on a rusty snitch. 'I open at the close' was etched into the worn metal. Harry dropped the thing in surprise. Wendy lurched forward and caught it before it even hit the ground. Her reflexes were impressive.
Harry closed the bag and eyed the two men darkly before pulling off the bag on the other man's shoulders. This one contained mostly just mundane items they'd likely needed for travelling. A shiny chain caught his attention and Harry pulled it to the surface. A time turner.
Nothing else in the bag was of interest so Harry dropped it at their feet.
"Certainly made off with a haul, didn't you?" Harry said shifting his bag around so he could deposit the bag full of magical artifacts into the extended depths of his own. Wendy stepped forward to offer him the snitch. "You're lucky you didn't accidentally trigger any of the curses. You idiots-"
The shot was barely noticeable. Harry only half heard it above the bustle of the people on the street. He threw his arm out to cast a shield and it sprung into being. The bullet ricocheted off his hastily conjured shield and into the arcing swing of the time turner he still had looped around his fingers to his horror.
The time turner shattered into a million fragments and the strange sand contained inside burst outward in a macabre parody of his shield spell. The world started to blur. Harry latched onto Wendy beside him, the only thing clear in the sea of distortion as the world began to blur around them.
"Wendy!" Carla's voice faded into the disorienting rush of time.
Harry pulled Wendy as close as he could. He wouldn't let them be separated, wherever (or perhaps more accurately whenever) they were going. He felt the ground shift under them and they both stumbled backward. Then they were falling for some reason. It was much less controlled than he remembered time turner trips being. That likely had to do with the raw magic of the item catapulting them through time. He hoped there was a way back almost as much as he hoped they weren't about to die a horrific death.
Their journey came to an end quite suddenly as they crashed into a bony figure and they all went sprawling to the ground. Harry winced at a broken wrist, but otherwise he felt fine.
"You okay, Wendy?" he asked the small girl still just within his grip. She looked dizzy. He wasn't sure if that was a concussion or just a result of the whirling time vortex they'd just been in. She laid over his arm with the broken wrist, hair and arms splayed in a disarray around her.
"Wendy?" a familiar voice intoned.
"Jellal?" Wendy squeaked after a second, righting herself.
"Jellal?" Harry repeated, confused. He didn't feel Jellal's magic anywhere near here, and yet there he was in front of them in the weirdest get up Harry had ever seen with several staves strapped to him. Wait, why was that look so familiar?
"I'm sorry… have we met?"
"Mystogan?" Harry said, disbelievingly. "Wait, Mystogan is Jellal?"
"Jellal is Mystogan." Wendy nodded.
"How do you know that? Why don't you seem more surprised?" Mystogan/Jellal asked seemingly as thrown off by the whole affair as Harry was.
"Erza told me Jellal also went by Siegrain… exactly how many secret identities does this guy have?" Harry asked, frustrated. It was impossible to keep everything straight when a single person had this many names.
"It's complicated." Wendy stood, brushing off her clothes and offering Jellal a smile. "It's nice to see you again, Jellal."
"You don't have to tell me it's complicated." Harry groused, removing himself from the ground as well and being careful not to use the broken wrist. "I can see that pretty clearly."
"I hadn't expected to run into anyone out here." Jellal seemed unsure about both the conversation and Harry's presence in general. "But it is nice to see you again as well, Wendy… and it's nice to meet you…"
"Harry." Harry offered extending his uninjured hand to shake. "And we've met, sort of."
"You haven't." Wendy shook her head, clearly amused to be one step ahead of everyone else in the conversation. "This isn't the same Jellal."
Harry released the handshake and gave Jellal an evaluating look.
"You're Fairy Tail too? I don't think I've heard of you." Jellal must've spotted his guild mark when they shook.
"You wouldn't have…" Wendy got a pinched look on her face. "If Jellal is here… then… we're in the past?"
Harry nodded. "That tracks." He said, taking a deep breath. "The time turner that idiot shot uses magic to send the user back in time. It seems to have shot us back…"
Harry got a bit wobbly and Wendy was the only thing keeping him up the next moment. His head spun.
"Eight… years."
Wendy went pale and her next breath was a ragged one. He could see the anxiety tick up a few notches in her eyes. She was surprisingly strong, despite the obvious fear though. She was keeping him up singlehandedly. His legs were weak as cooked pasta. He put effort into taking his weight off the girl and gave her an apologetic look.
"Sorry. All here. Just had a weird sort of… link up… the clock is almost through its cycle. Which makes sense…"
"I'm not sure I follow anything that's happening…" Jellal really did manage to look confused even with very little of his face on display. "You said you came from the future?"
"Yup." Harry said cheerily, putting his uninjured hand to his head as it started to clear. "That's us, time travelers."
Jellal seemed to consider that for a long moment. He looked at Wendy. "How much do you know?"
She smiled a bit sadly. "Everything pretty much."
"Edolas?"
She nodded.
"Edolas? The alternate dimension with the duplicates of you guys?"
"You've been?" Jellal sounded like any more surprises might take him down for the count.
Wendy nodded again.
"I haven't." Harry smiled.
Jellal just nodded, dumbfounded.
"So… I guess we get to decide where to go now…" Harry looked around. They weren't in the same town. If anything he'd guess this was Onibus maybe? It looked familiar, but also distinctly different in that way that looking at an old photo of something from before you were around was familiar but slightly off.
"There's no way to get back?" Wendy sounded shocked.
Harry shook his head. "Haven't worked out independent time travel and I'm definitely not going to start on that theory today." He gave her a considering look. "Sorry, we can look to see if magic has come up with a solution since my time, but unless we find an answer we might be taking the long way around."
Wendy seemed to think about that. Eight years was a long time, but technically they were eight years she should have lived already anyway before she got frozen in the stasis spell on Tenrou. Harry hoped she didn't see that as a loss. She nodded, looking a bit sad.
"We won't be able to hang around the guild, will we?"
"Everything I know about time travel says to avoid meeting your past self." Harry answered, nodding with an apologetic smile. "We know past you didn't meet me until this fiasco with the Grand Magic Games in Crocus… and I'm assuming you'd remember if you stumbled into an older version of yourself over the years."
"Maybe we can wear disguises!" Wendy suggested enthusiastically.
Harry laughed. "I… I don't think that's going to work…" he had a hard time forcing out the answer in the middle of her enthusiasm.
"I saw you dress up like Gray. You could definitely pull it off." Wendy smiled, thoroughly into the bit now.
Harry glanced up at Jellal who was watching with a bit of confusion, but also more than a little bit of fondness, and a touch of melancholy.
"I'll pass on acting like Gray of all people. The only people I'm less likely to pull off are Natsu and Gajeel." He said with a last grin her way before he turned to Jellal. "So, I guess we don't have plans. What are you up to?"
Jellal looked surprised to suddenly be pulled into the discussion. "I travel Earthland closing anima portals."
"Anima portals?" Harry glanced at Wendy.
She nodded. "Edolas is trying to steal magic from Earthland. They're almost out of magic." Harry felt a little too warm. Whatever expression he was making must have been concerning because Wendy's half joking smile had dropped into a more serious expression. She shook her head. "It's not the same."
He nodded, mouth a bit dry.
"My home world is trying to take magic from Earthland by converting its very people into magical essence." Jellal was staring at the staff in his hand. "It's deplorable, and it's something that have spent the majority of my life fighting to stop."
"Admirable…" Harry felt the word slip out. He locked eyes with Jellal. "But it seems unsustainable. You're a single person."
Jellal nodded, not bothering to defend his plan. "I am but one person. But it is my duty to right the wrongs of my people. I have been on this journey since I was a child, and it is the reason I had to leave Wendy behind at her guild. It was too dangerous for someone who could not yet defend themselves to accompany me."
Harry didn't know much about the two Jellals in the grand scheme of things… but Harry thought he might like this one a bit more.
"Okay." Harry shrugged. "Well, you're not alone anymore. That's something."
"I… what?"
Wendy smiled and Harry knew she was fine with the decision as well. She pointed at herself. "I'm not a kid anymore." She said and then she pointed at Harry. "And he's more than capable of protecting himself… mostly."
"Mostly?" Harry scoffed, a little offended.
"Mostly." Wendy repeated, nodding. "He's actually S class."
Jellal seemed to consider him more thoroughly this time. In the end he caved when Harry and Wendy started up a persistent pestering routine they'd developed to bug Carla into letting them do things when she got into one of her demanding moods.
"Whoa… that's weird." Harry tugged on the cloak Wendy was wearing over her normal clothes.
"It is, isn't it?" Wendy pulled her hood up and her face was shrouded in darkness. "It feels so mysterious and cool… but it's weird too."
Harry nodded. His matching cloak swayed slightly in the night air as they walked. "It's necessary." He said, tugging uncomfortably at the fabric. "We don't know how long we'll be stuck in this time and running into our past selves or being recognized somewhere we shouldn't be would definitely be problematic."
"True." Wendy seemed to be thinking over the implications of what he was saying again. He'd explained it before they bought the disguises. She looked a little down as she tugged at the cloak.
"Shame it doesn't match your aesthetic though. Maybe we can find one with a pattern for you." Harry suggested, trying to get her to cheer up.
"M-maybe not…" she hesitated.
"Come on. No rainbow patterns, or pastel cloaks?" Harry prompted.
This time Wendy broke into laughter. The idea of two mysterious figures in striped pastel tones was definitely not a good way to keep a low profile. He let himself grin at the mental image as well.
"You know a fair amount about time travel." Jellal spoke up ahead of them. He had pulled his own disguise back into place when they'd approached Magnolia's outskirts. While they'd been walking in between cities he seemed to find it cumbersome. In fact, he seemed reluctant to wear it at all even after all the time he'd obviously spent in this Mystogan façade. Harry didn't blame him. He was covered from head to toe. It had to be uncomfortable. Harry may be wearing a cloak now, but at least he'd opted for simpler clothing underneath. The further South they moved to approach Magnolia the more he was happy he'd decided to forego his usual vest. Under the cloak it'd be stiflingly hot even with a constant spell to help with body temperature, and an added hindrance in a fight. He found the cloak had a tendency to catch on literally any sort of buttons.
"A decent amount." Harry agreed. He hadn't bothered to tell Jellal about his rather complicated past with Fairy Tail or his clock. Jellal had obviously noted Harry's strange behavior when they'd first met, and he seemed to catch Wendy's occasional nonsensical question. Jellal hadn't pushed about it though. So, Harry hadn't bothered to offer the information up either. Jellal had his own secrets. It was a mutual agreement.
Jellal hummed thoughtfully at his answer.
"So… what happens if we can't find a way back?" Wendy asked, head tilted enough in his direction that he could see her face under the hood.
Harry shrugged. "We train and we live life until we meet back up with our old timeline."
"It can't be that far in the future." Jellal said, glancing their way. "Wendy doesn't look much older than when I spotted her a couple of months ago. A year or two maybe?"
Wendy let out a nervous laugh.
"Eight years." Harry shook his head. Jellal came to a stop with a disbelieving look between the two. "I'm pretty sure I mentioned it when we first bumped into you."
"You were also talking in a strange voice and on the verge of collapse. I had assumed it was a mistake." Jellal said seriously.
Harry shook his head again. "Nope. Eight years. Almost nine actually."
Jellal looked at Wendy. She nodded. "How?"
"It's sort of… complicated." She said and cringed.
"A bunch of Fairy Tail members ended up locked in a stasis spell during an S class promotion trial." Harry summarized. "It's really not that complicated at the heart of it."
Jellal shook his head and started walking again. Harry couldn't see under all those layers the man wore, but Harry suspected he looked exasperated. "That's certainly something I'd expect this guild to get up to."
Wendy giggled. Harry smiled fondly. Jellal stiffened in front of them.
Before Harry could ask what was wrong Jellal took off. They were getting reasonably close to Magnolia now, but Harry wasn't sure what had triggered the strange reaction in Jellal. Whatever it was Harry hoped that they could get it sorted out before the storm that was obviously brewing broke out. Traipsing through a rainstorm in a soaking wet cloak sounded miserable.
Jellal disappeared around the corner of a building and in the time it took for them to reach the turn they'd lost him.
"Is he trying to ditch us?" Harry asked, huffing an irritated breath. "That's rude."
"Harry…" Wendy sounded nervous as he stalked forward, trying to spot their escaped third member. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Harry trusted Wendy's instincts nearly as much as his own. "Like in a Jellal's in danger way, or a we're in danger way?"
A small figure hurtled around a corner and Harry barely avoided being crashed into. He back-pedaled as the girl righted herself with barely a further glance their direction and took off again.
"Oh no…" Wendy's voice shook.
"Where were you running in such a rush?" Harry asked jokingly, but the look on Wendy's face made him stop. "Wendy?"
She jumped forward and latched onto him with a tight hug. "Don't let go."
"I… what?" For half a second he was sort of confused. Then, the world dissolved around them and Harry wasn't just confused, he was disoriented. Then, he was nothing.
Wendy recognized the patterns too late. There had been a storm in Magnolia that day. She had run into Jellal, her Jellal, just before the entire town had been sucked into the alternate dimension of Edolas.
She should've recognized the pattern sooner. She should've expected that, based on the timeframe Harry had told them, they would be coming to the end of this Jellal's time in Earthland. And of course, that meant the events that happened nearly directly after her induction into Fairy Tail were about to unfold.
She wouldn't watch the only person she knew slip away this time. She clutched onto him like he was a life line. She was glad she did. Because not even a minute later they were being sucked into the sky together. She didn't have Carla to fly her to Edolas this time. If she'd been left behind she didn't know how she would've made it to the other world. Harry went rigid in her grip as they started to fall through the sky with startling speed. She thought he was just startled until she realized she was no longer clutched onto a person, but to a rapidly expanding lacrima glowing amber in her hands. She nearly let go out of surprise. Then she clung tighter out of fright. The ground was coming up to meet them quickly and she couldn't feel her magic. Nor would there be any magic to channel from the air in Edolas.
Except there was. Magic was pouring from Harry's lacrima like an open wound bleeding. Wendy sucked it in greedily and turned toward the ground they'd nearly reached.
"Sky Dragon ROAR!" she bellowed and the magic she blew out bounced Wendy and the lacrima she was clinging to for dear life on a pocket of forgiving air. They fell the last few feet and Wendy was careful not to let herself get pinned under the growing stone. It was massive, and still expanding even now. She flailed her hands around it and her eyebrows knitted together with concern. What was she supposed to do? This was horrible. She'd managed not to get separated from Harry, but now he'd turned into a lacrima the way that her guildmates had the last time. If she didn't sort this out someone was bound to see Harry's lacrima soon. It had breached the tree line and was steadily crushing more and more of the vegetation as it expanded. She couldn't remember how they'd broken her guild mates out of the lacrima prisons last time. What had they done? Wendy could feel herself on the verge of frustrated tears.
As if in response to her panic the lacrima began to shrink at nearly ten times the rate it'd been growing. The piece nearest to her glowed brightly. All at once it was no longer a lacrima. Harry was there. He looked dazed and had one hand out as if trying to steady himself. Then he promptly bent in half and vomited. Wendy didn't care. She tackled him away from the pile of sick.
"That was… incredibly unpleasant." He wheezed on his back, eyes a little unfocused.
"I was so worried."
"It's all going according to plan then." He joked weakly. She hugged him tighter. He just patted her back lightly.
When she was satisfied he wasn't about to disappear if she let go she released her grip slowly. They stared at each other for a long moment before Harry offered a half smile. "So, this is Edolas?"
Wendy was looking at the place they'd landed now. It was a weird little forest. A river stretched into the distance near them and the trees thinned quite rapidly to a clearing ahead.
"Was I a rock for a minute there? No, wait… we should probably get out of here." Harry cut himself off, standing a bit shakily. "Someone might have seen… well whatever that was. I don't want someone to find us until we can figure out what's happening. I was definitely a rock though…"
"It's too late for that."
Wendy startled at the familiar voice. Harry did as well. "Lisanna?" Wendy asked, unsure. Then it clicked in her mind that this was actually their Lisanna. This was the Lisanna from their universe, and neither of them should know her according to Lisanna's knowledge. Oh no. She'd messed up. She'd told Harry she was terrible at lying. Was he going to have to erase Lisanna's memories? Wendy whipped her hood up, trying to shield her face better.
"It's a bit late for that." Lisanna said, stepping into the space Harry had levelled minutes ago. "I already saw your faces, but I definitely don't know you. How do you know my name?"
"Your name?" Harry bluffed. "I'm pretty sure my friend said… li… lizards?" he fumbled. So much for smooth talking their way out of that one. Sometimes Harry was incredibly clever and other times Wendy wondered how she thought he was clever at all. Of all the times for him to lose his ability to smooth talk. Oh, but he was vomiting now. Maybe he just didn't feel well. Wendy immediately felt like a jerk for criticizing him.
"Yeah, lizards!" Wendy tried her damnedest to sell the lie even as she tried to pat Harry's back. "There was a huge one just over there."
Lisanna didn't look like she bought it.
"I saw you use magic earlier." Lisanna said, there was a mix of wonder and maybe a bit of jealousy in her voice. "You don't have to worry though. I won't tell anyone."
"We should probably move anyway." Harry suggested, glancing sideway and meeting Wendy's eyes. He looked tired. "We don't want… anyone else stumbling across us."
Wendy nodded and they made for the clearing at the edge of the trees. They didn't want to be found by the king's people. Wendy still vividly remembered an encounter with Edolas' version of Erza. She was just as ruthless as their version, but all of that determination and drive had been turned against Fairy Tail in this universe. A position Wendy had hoped never to experience again.
"Wait!" Lisanna charged after them. "My guild can help."
"That's not necessary." Harry deflected, but Lisanna had closed the gap and latched onto Harry's arm. It was a rather forward move for Lisanna who was usually more demure and laid back. Something shone in the back of her eyes that Wendy could see even when it wasn't pointed directly at her. Harry wavered, quite literally. Wendy was bracing him more firmly in an instant. He still looked sick.
"What's wrong?" Wendy asked, making sure he kept his feet in place.
Harry had drawn a hand up to his face, looking nauseous. Lisanna had withdrawn her own. She looked a bit unsure now. "You guys weren't kidding about the lack of magic here." He hissed behind his hand. "It's too familiar."
Wendy knew Harry's whole reason for ending up in the Infinity Clock had been because of the death of magic in their world. She also knew that strong reminders of Harry's past tended to make him… well, less than stable. "Are you okay?"
He winced, but he didn't look shaken in the way she recalled from past encounters with triggering events. He just looked sick. "Doing great. Thanks." He joked which was encouraging. "I'll be fine. Just gonna take some time to adapt is all. Haven't felt this little magic in the air since…"
Wendy nodded. He didn't need to finish the statement.
"There hasn't been magic available the way you're talking about in years."
Wendy startled. She'd nearly forgotten Lisanna was there at all. Harry seemed not to have lost track of her though. He was giving her a considering look.
"So, you're not from Edolas?" Lisanna finished, looking at them expectantly.
"Neither are you." Harry shrugged.
Wendy smacked his arm. So much for pretending they didn't know Lisanna. She thought their cloaks were supposed to be disguises to hide their identities, but here was Harry just passively confirming they knew who Lisanna was. Although the first slip had been Wendy's. Maybe he was just doing damage control.
Lisanna looked shocked for a moment. Then she looked a bit sad.
"I'm not." She agreed. "But how do you know that?"
Harry showed her his guild mark, prominently visible on his hand. Lisanna looked a bit shocked at that. She was studying his face with confusion.
"Even if you joined the guild after I was brought here that wouldn't explain why you were both able to identify me on sight."
Lisanna was definitely one of the smarter people in Fairy Tail. She caught on to things quick. It was helpful most of the time. Right now it was making Wendy antsy about coming up with a cover story.
"Well obviously we're from the future and you've returned to Fairy Tail." Harry said bluntly. Wendy was getting whiplash. "You're the Lisanna from Earthland, right?"
"I…" Lisanna looked entirely too confused. Wendy sympathized. She knew what was happening and Harry revealing it in such a way was still feeling a little surreal. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to listen to that with zero warning.
"Harry… that's… I thought we were keeping our identities secret…" Wendy gave up the pretense of not saying anything to give them away since Harry clearly had other motivations here.
"Hmm… oh yes. That's still the best call with everyone else, but a few things just clicked into place actually. I'm pretty sure Lisanna from our time knew also. So, she must've found out somehow, right?"
"What?" Wendy couldn't comprehend that statement.
"So… you're from the future and you joined Fairy Tail?" Lisanna was clearly trying to puzzle her way through it too. "And you know me?"
"Yup." Harry nodded.
"That's impossible." Lisanna disagreed. "I decided I couldn't put Mira and Elfman through losing the Lisanna of Edolas again. I won't go back."
Wendy's heart sank. "You won't go back?"
Lisanna shook her head. "I couldn't cause them that kind of pain."
"But Mira and Elfman in our world need you too." Wendy objected. She couldn't bear the thought of Mira being sad. She'd seen the two departing for the cemetery before she'd been whisked off to Edolas the first time around. She remembered the absolutely crushing amount of sorrow in their expressions. Even two years after the supposed death of their sister they were still mourning so deeply that they couldn't even show their faces around the guild on the anniversary of the day it all happened. "That's not fair!"
Harry laid a hand on her shoulder and Wendy felt the hood slip off her head as she glanced back at him. He was giving her a patient, understanding look.
"I don't know if you change your mind, or if the choice is taken from you in the end." Harry said, eyes shifting back to Lisanna. "But we know you in the future, and that means something happens to send you back to Earth. There's no point arguing about it."
Lisanna had opened her mouth, likely to argue her case some more. She closed it again.
"Wendy's right though. The Mira and Elfman from our world are in a lot of pain. Mira told me once that every person in Fairy Tail has some sort of dark story from their past. Your death was theirs even after you'd returned. I think that says a lot."
Lisanna was crying now, and that had never been either of their intentions Wendy was sure. Wendy rushed forward and hugged Lisanna. It was slightly awkward because technically Lisanna didn't know her yet, but after a moment the girl returned the hug.
After a long minute Lisanna pulled back a bit. "Are you really Wendy?" she asked, looking her up and down. Wendy nodded, but memories of an older more mature Wendy were racing through her head. She knew why Lisanna had her doubts.
"My guild can still help." Lisanna was looking up at Harry again. "We're the only guild left in Edolas and the king would definitely say that your use of magic is illegal since you don't have permission to use it."
Harry scoffed. "It's a part of me. I'd like to see him try to stop me using it."
Wendy rolled her eyes. Then she stopped and looked at Harry curiously. "Can you use it?"
Harry gave her a bewildered look.
"I can't use my magic normally in Edolas." She explained. "We had to take these weird pill things that Mystogan gave us."
Harry gave her a confused look and a hefty rock appeared out of thin air above his hand. It transformed into a bowl, and then toy car, then back to a rock and Harry let it drop to the ground. He looked a bit nauseous again, but the display definitely meant his magic was working. His eyes glowed that disconcerting amber shade they sometimes did. He hummed thoughtfully. "It's working, but without magic coming back in to replenish it, it does feel weird."
"That's your magic?" Lisanna was staring at the rock on the ground. "I've never seen anything like it."
Harry grinned.
"Show off." Wendy said, but she was grinning too.
A bolt of light shot through the sky.
"What was that?" Wendy was staring at the sky where the light had shone.
"The guild relocated." Lisanna said, sounding concerned. "Someone must be after them."
"It's Erza." Wendy said and then she slapped a hand over her own mouth. Harry glanced down at her, but she didn't see any sort of warning in his gaze.
"Our Erza?"
Wendy shook her head. "Edolas Erza."
"Oh no." Lisanna looked intensely worried now. "Are they okay? Do you know?"
Wendy nodded hesitantly.
"Natsu might be nearby." Lisanna said. "He can track the guild and he'd have transportation."
"Oh yeah. He had a magic car, didn't he?"
"You ran into him Wendy?"
Wendy nodded.
"That might not be our best bet then." Harry shook his head. "We should avoid running into our other guild mates. I don't think anyone else knew about our time travelling. People meeting me before they're supposed to meet me might make things… complicated."
Wendy nodded hesitantly. Harry's introduction to the guild had been tenuous already. She didn't want to see what kind of future they created for him if even more tension was placed around the circumstances of his introduction.
"Why is meeting you so important, specifically?" Lisanna asked, tone curious where Wendy was sure most people's would be suspicious or disbelieving.
"Hmm… that's a bit more complicated to sum up in a couple of sentences." Harry offered apologetically. "Suffice it to say that some people thought I wasn't a very nice person when I first met Fairy Tail… or a person at all… actually no… I guess that still just creates more questions than answers, doesn't it?"
Lisanna nodded.
"Harry's past is complicated, but he never meant any harm to anyone, people were just using him against us." Wendy supplied. "How do we find Fairy Tail if we can't go with Natsu?"
"I'll use a point me spell." Harry shrugged. "Assuming it will work."
He picked up a twig off the ground and one end grew thinner as he set it on his hand. "Point me, Fairy Tail guild hall." The twig spun for a full minute before coming to a rest pointing off to the right. "I guess it's that way."
Finding Fairy Tail was certainly an adventure all its own. It reminded Harry of his search for Jellal, but slower. Mostly they traipsed along in silence. Lisanna told Harry about the situation in Edolas too. Wendy was pretty much up to speed since she'd lived through this all once before, but it was Harry's first-time hearing about a lot of the details. He learned about the Exceed, a group of sapient cats and the only natural magic users in Edolas now. He learned about the kingdom's restriction on magic and how guilds had been outlawed and targeted. It all sounded like an absolute nightmare, all things considered.
Lisanna was just telling him about the guild's transportation system when said guild came into sight.
"Wow, Kosmos would love that."
A huge green trunk stretched skyward with tendrils of vines leafing from its top. Fairy Tail's emblem was emblazoned across the front. It was the only reason Harry had been able to pick it out from the surrounding foliage. Lisanna caught his hand, and Wendy's. She began to drag them across the rest of the distance at a run. Harry stumbled to keep up on the loose rocks and moss. Lisanna burst through the doors and Harry found himself facing some weirdly familiar faces that were strangely twisted in one way or another.
Gray had so many layers Harry could barely see his body under all the clothes. Cana was sitting off to the side wearing enough clothes to have been considered decent in the Victorian Era. Levy was bashing something into a computer and ranting aggressively in a way very reminiscent of a Gajeel melt down.
"This is trippy…" Harry muttered as eyes turned their way.
"Lisanna!" Mira was running forward to embrace her sort-of sister. "Thank goodness you're okay, but how were you able to locate the guild so quickly? And who are your friends?"
Wendy had pulled her hood back up and was obviously turned his way waiting for his lead. These Edolas Fairy Tail members didn't know Harry, but they would likely know Wendy's face. In fact, from what she'd explained in the past they'd likely just parted ways with her younger counterpart.
"The name's Harry, nice to meet you." Harry gave them a nod. "I believe you ran into some of my guild mates."
"You're from the weird alternate version of Fairy Tail too?" Juvia strode forward and looked him up and down expectantly.
"A-aye." He answered, taking a step back. "I am."
"Don't tell me you're some alternate version of the human oven over there." She gestured at Gray who looked perfectly comfortable in his excessive amount of clothes.
"Uh, no." he shook his head, giving Gray an apologetic look. "I doubt you have an alternate me. It's complicated. Besides, our Gray likely would've shown up with less clothing than I'm wearing now."
Wendy giggled beside him and pushed lightly into his side in a sort of reprimanding way.
"Okay, Harry then." A blue haired girl joined Juvia. "Who's your friend?"
"Ah, see… that's where it gets more complicated…" He wasn't really sure what to say to that. He'd been thinking the whole time about how to explain the whole situation. There wasn't really an ideal way to do it. He sighed and gestured for Wendy to reveal herself. Their best bet was to just tell the truth. If they lied chances were they'd be figured out pretty quickly and it wouldn't win them any popularity points with the alternate guild.
Wendy took her hood down and everyone seemed to just stare in shock.
"Didn't she just go with that other group?" someone asked.
"Look closer idiot. She's clearly taller than the other girl. Maybe she's from a third reality."
Was Wendy taller now than she had been the first time? Huh… well that was news to Harry. She was a teenager though. He supposed she must have had a growth spurt in the nearly two years of physical aging that had occurred since her first time in Edolas.
"We're from Earthland, but we're also from their future." He said, wincing at how far fetched it sounded. "It was kind of bad luck that we were even in Magnolia when all this happened at all."
"We're supposed to buy that?" Levy growled near the back. "Lucy might've accepted that other group, but these two look suspicious as hell. They're probably from the kingdom. I say we throw 'em out and move the guild again."
"You can't even get it to work." Juvia countered smoothly.
"Say that again to my face!" Levy lunged, but Macao intercepted.
"I believe them!" Lisanna yelled above the rising commotion. The noise instantly died down. Lisanna didn't often raise her voice outside of Natsu scolding in the time Harry had known her. He had to assume the same held true here. "I got a longer version of the story, and… and I believe them. Besides, Harry can use magic without a magic item. That means he can't be from Edolas, right?"
All eyes turned his way. Harry gave the guild an unimpressed look. He summoned a chair for himself and one for Wendy. He plopped into it and gave them an expectant look. Every one of them looked like they were trying to scrape their jaw from the floor.
"Freaky." Wendy's older, busty doppelganger said.
"Tell me about it, did you see his eyes?" Juvia wasn't nearly as quiet as she'd attempted to be. Harry winced. He was having to draw on his internal magic. He'd noticed that when he did that instead of channeling it made his eyes burn a bright amber color. It was like a permanent reminder of the incident that had led to his more permanent bonding with the ether that now kept him alive.
His Wendy had foregone the chair and instead she put a hand on his shoulder. He gave her a slight smile. He'd be fine. He'd be better without constant physical reminders of his worst memories, but since when had Harry ever gotten what he wanted?
"Your magic summons chairs?" Gray asked, waddling forward in his layers.
"He summoned a rock earlier too." Lisanna supplied, trying to be helpful.
"So, you summon things?"
"I can do a lot with my magic actually." He shrugged.
"Your friends were heading toward the Royal City. Lucy decided to show them the way. Our Lucy." Mira explained.
Harry nodded. "We know."
That statement seemed to throw them off for a moment. Then they seemed to remember that Harry and Wendy were from the future.
"We're actually not sure what we should be doing." Wendy shifted beside him looking guilty.
Harry nodded slightly. "It does feel weird to sit back while everyone's out saving the day, doesn't it?"
"So, go help." Lisanna said, looking at them with confusion. Harry gave her a bewildered look. They'd explained what was at risk if he stumbled onto the Fairy Tail members early. It wasn't something he was keen to seek out. "You don't have to be on the front lines to help, do you? I'm sure you can work out some other way to help them."
Harry stared for a long moment as he considered that statement. He'd sort of resigned himself to sidelining until they could safely make it back to Earth and go far away from Fairy Tail.
"Regardless, it's getting late." Mira said, indicating the sun sinking below the horizon. "You should stay for the night. Perhaps Lucy or Natsu will have returned by tomorrow. They might be able to give you an idea of what you should do… or at least Natsu could drive you."
"Drive?" Harry's curiosity was sparked. He raised an eyebrow excitedly.
"They don't have SE plugs here." Wendy gave him a reprimanding look.
"He's gonna get along too well with Natsu." Someone groaned.
The guild was breaking back into their separate groups.
"Makes sense." Harry hummed. "Without internal magic reserves it would be impossible to fuel an SE plug. How do they power the vehicle? I've seen a lot of different methods."
"Lacrima." Levy hadn't drifted away. In fact, when he'd started muttering about SE plugs she'd come closer. "Most of ours are running on fumes though. The one that powers our guild's transportation system is nearly dry and it's getting harder and harder to find them now."
Harry gave her an amused look. She was staring at his chair with blatant fascination. Levy's inherent curiosity seemed to have stayed between the two iterations at the very least. He stood and the chair vanished along with the one Wendy had been ignoring.
"Where do they go?" she asked. She didn't sound nearly as angry as she had earlier.
Harry shrugged. "I've thought about it before, but honestly I have no idea. We used to have a riddle about it when I was a kid, but I don't think it was meant to have an answer."
Harry knew it sort of did though. He'd found a room for banished items in the Hogwarts Room of Requirement. Without the existence of the old magical castle he wasn't sure there was still an answer though.
"Your lacrima are nearly out of power?" he asked, wandering toward the panel Levy had been bashing with a wrench when they burst in. A complex display of buttons ringed the panels, but a stone lay in the center of the middle panel. Harry reached out and touched it. It felt like a normal piece of quartz. It was nothing like the lacrima of Earth, brimming to the edge with potent magical potential. It felt like an empty vessel waiting for something.
"What are you doing?" Levy sounded defensive and Harry withdrew his hand almost guiltily. "It's delicate machinery. If you don't know how to work it you shouldn't touch it!"
"Weren't you bashing it with a wrench when we came in?" Harry deadpanned back. Levy looked like she was being moved to violence by his question. Lisanna swept in and directed him away from the fuming girl.
"Probably best not to goad Levy. She can be a bit of a hothead." Lisanna chided as she led Harry and a trailing Wendy down a narrow hall. "We don't have much room, but you're welcome to what we have."
Harry looked at the two pallets on the floor and shrugged. "Thanks." He didn't realize how tired he really was. Between Earth and Edolas they'd been walking all day and in between those walks Harry had been turned into a lacrima and made it back to being human. He'd been thrown into another world and been faced with alternate versions of his friends. It was a lot to happen in a single day. He was still persistently nauseous too. He'd go to bed, wake up early, and start trying to decide what he and Wendy were going to do tomorrow.
Wendy crawled into the pallet next to his and she drifted off the sleep quickly. Her steady breathing lulled him into his own fitful rest.
I'm back! And we're halfway through the semester already!
Surgery number one went well for anyone who's curious. Just one more to go for now.
Hope you guys enjoyed starting to see pay off to some of the stuff I've been building up since pretty early in the fic. If you ever decide to re-read pay attention to Lisanna's reactions to stuff. I've been easter egging her from the start. XD
Til next time guys!
~Kanathia