Re:Edoras Chapter 3: Hell Is Other People, a fairy tail fanfic

Chapter Three: Hell Is Other People

-FAIRY TAIL-

"You see this lachryma? This mammoth of a gem, in all its might, is just a piece of a mightier gem. The gem I'm slowly bringing in can last us for a full ten years!"

The crowd cheered, before Faust whirled around and smacked the lachryma with his staff, sending a chunk of it flying through the air. The cheers toned down, slowly, watching with curiosity.

"AND I WILL MAKE EVEN THIS LOOK LIKE TRASH!" Faust roared, "I WILL ATTAIN, FOR OUR WORLD... MAGIC! ETERNAL!"

The people cheered again, and all sense of self was lost in the teeming mass of the blind following the blind. Until suddenly, something disrupted their festivities.

"Hey, ugly!" a voice cried out, "The only trash I see around here is you!"

Faust turned out towards the crowd, his eyes wild with rage. He held up his sceptre and pointed it out towards the crowd, glaring.

"Who dares!" the king roared, "Who DARES!"

"Name's Gajeel Redfox, fugly!"

A man leaped from the crowd, covered in dark grey metal plating, with amazing strength and speed. Faust tried to shoot at him with his trident, but missed, the bolt of energy flying past him, with zero effort. Gajeel landed, grinning underneath the metal "skin" he wore, before bolting for the Lachryma, preparing his draconic nature. Even if he couldn't use his usual Dragon Slayer magic, the equipment those cats gave him would let him channel the innate energy he did have in spades.

Claws tore through the Lachryma and a pulse of energy tore through the giant chunk, seemingly obliterating in a pulse of blinding light. Faust cried out, falling on his face. When everyone could see agan, Gajeel was gone, as was the Lachryma.

Panic erupted.

"Pantherlily! Get down here!" Faust cried out.

"I'm on him, sire," the cloaked warrior said, rushing off.

-FAIRY TAIL-

One by one, everyone managed to get up and out of their rooms, in varying states of wakefulness. They met in the bar area, ordering breakfast, forcing Edo-Mirajane, Edo-Lisanna, and Edo-Elfman to get to work as early as ever. The assorted Fairy Tailers, Edoras or Earthland, sat down at various tables.

Natsu busily gorged on a large piece of bread and sausage, while Happy slurped milk, giddily. Lucy sat down at the table, with a toasted bagel and juice. She looked at the two for a moment, then shook her head.

"I had the weirdest conversation with the other Natsu last night," Lucy said, chuckling.

"Shyeh, vuh ubber Lusha's fimba wib," Natsu mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth!" Lucy snapped.

Natsu swallowed down the hung of sausage, gasped, and said, "Yeah, the other Lucy's kinda weird."

"I already noticed," Lucy muttered.

"So, how'd sleeping with other me go?" Natsu said, before cramming bread in his mouth.

"I bet Erza would be mad if she found out you had slept with Natsu," Happy said.

"DON'T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!" Lucy raged, smacking Happy through the air.

"It's true," Natsu said, pointing at Lucy, "But don't worry, we won't say anything."

Lucy grumbled, "The other Natsu crushes on the other Lucy, anyways."

"It works in reverse, too," Natsu said, gulping down the last, over-large piece of sausage.

Happy pulled himself up on the table, "As if it wasn't obvious... Scary Lucy is like our Lucy, only her scariness is directed at Wimpy Natsu."

"...Brillant in its simplicity," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, anyways, we need to think of a plan to get the others out of the Lachryma," Natsu said, "Those guys can work out their own problems."

"How heartless!"

"Hey, you didn't get help from anyone in order to get with Erza, didja? Didn't think so."

"Well, technically..."

"Technically, Erza's a cradle robber, so shut it. I'm focused on my family, dammit."

"Okay, they used Anima to turn our friends into Lachryma, so maybe we can use Anima to turn them back. But how are we going to get our hands on the Anima...? Oh, this is hopeless...," Lucy murmured.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Gajeel rushed through the back alleys, Gray and Erza slung over his shoulders. Those cats had told him that his friends would be pretty out of it even once released. He was glad the armour he had, whatever the Doc called it, enhanced his already bad-ass level strength to where the Fairies were hardly an issue in his fleeing. Yeah, Gajeel would've enjoyed kicking Faust in the face a few times, but he knew when he had to get serious. Protecting these two punks was very serious.

He was annoyed when he heard the hastening footsteps of a pursuer. Damn, this guy was fast! Who was he! Gajeel put as much as he could into running, straining himself, until finally he heard the footsteps dwindle away. Gajeel grinned.

Then he nearly fell over in shock as a large armoured figure stepped down in front of him, clearly floating. A moment later, Gajeel realized it had a panther's face. He chuckled, keeping his friends on his shoulders.

"You that guy the others were talking about? You got guts, doing this."

Pantherlily swung his mighty sword towards Gajeel, growling.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Wendy, Charle, and Edo-Wendy sat a different table from the others, somewhat near the bar. Wendy happily drank juice, while the others had actual breakfast foods.

"...Does Zuri always ramble?" Edo-Wendy asked.

"Yup, yup, that's Zuri," Wendy said, smiling, "She's funny."

"Motor mouth couldn't shut up to save her life," Charle muttered.

Wendy elbowed Charle, jarring the cat, before taking a sip from her juice again, "She's good company, though."

Edo-Wendy nodded, "She is... fun to talk to, I must admit."

"If you like hearing about sexual exploits, constantly."

"Hey, she's never described a single one of those things to me," Wendy grumbled.

"She never did that for me, either," Edo-Wendy said, raising a brow.

"You don't have cat ears. You can't hear her at night, before she goes to bed. Levy is far too interested and always overly amazed," Charle said, her ears flicking, annoyed.

"You're just annoyed by Zuri's existence," Wendy said, crossing her arms.

Charle whistled, innocently, and Edo-Wendy snickered. Wendy harrumphed, then sipped from her juice again.

"She's not that bad," Edo-Wendy said, shrugging, "Entertaining, though she obviously doesn't need as much sleep as a normal human, since she was up before I was."

"She was? Did she get out of the ropes?" Charle asked.

"Nah, she mentioned she'd been awake for the past hour but didn't want to wake me," Edo-Wendy said.

Charle looked ready to make a comment, but decided to hold it back for the meantime, instead eating some more of her eggs. Wendy glanced at her, then nodding, approvingly.

"Charle, do you have a plan? We need to figure out how we're gonna free the others from the Lachryma," Wendy said.

The white cat looked down for a moment, then up at Edo-Wendy, "Do you happen to know a way to free people who've been turned to Lachryma?"

Edo-Wendy shook her head, "Sorry. We barely have time to keep ourselves alive, let alone worry about Lachryma conversion. We've done all we can in teaching you how to use your weapons."

Wendy nodded, looking at the gauntlet, shaking, "Yes... And I'm grateful. I just... I just want my family back..."

The elder girl closed her eyes tight, in pain, "Sorry. I'm really sorry..."

-FAIRY TAIL-

King Faust sat on his throne, growling, tapping his fingers on the jewelled arm of the chair. He sneered at everything around him, angry about what a fool that damned intruder had made of him. Ruining his perfect display of power! Stealing his Lachryma! What next! He'd ensure that damn Gajeel Redfox... that name sounded familiar, but it couldn't be... Argh, the very thought of the one who interrupted being part of that damned Dark Guild made him even angrier! He'd ensure the fool would be strung up by his limbs and slowly killed in front of a crowd who mocked him viciously. There was a slow death in store for him, yes, indeed...

Faust looked up towards the door, a noise sounding from it. A moment later, Pantherlily entered the room. Ah, good, he would be reporting of the fool's capture, now...

"My apologies, my liege. The intruder had Magic I have never encountered. He surprised and over-powered me, before making his escape. It's why I had to take so long... I had to stop by the medical area to get a few things treated."

Pantherlily held up his right arm, which has heavily bandaged. Blood still dripped from his left arm, which had a few gashes Faust noticed, frightened. What could have done that to him?

"I'm concerned as to where he got that Magic," Pantherlily said, after a moment, noting the King's concern.

"Yes, yes, we can deal with that, later. He's probably part of Fairy Tail. Fool called himself after one of theirs, even. Let Knightwalker take care of them. You will continue in your place, understood? Now get your other arm bandaged."

"Yes, sire," Pantherlily said, bowing.

-FAIRY TAIRU-

Edo-Lucy looked around, wondering if anyone would notice she was wearing the goggles Edo-Natsu had given her. If they did, she would punch whoever called her out, and then she'd deck Edo-Natsu for these stupid- No, no, wait. That's not the right path. She wanted to be nice to Edo-Natsu, so that he would like her. But if she was too nice, he might realize she liked them and then reject her out of disgust. Oh, this train of thought was going to drive her crazy. She hated over-thinking everything...

"Hey, Luce," Edo-Natsu said, meekly, "Glad to see you wearing the goggles."

Edo-Lucy smiled, then sat down at the table in front of him. He blinked, clearly a bit concerned, before smiling at her.

"Yeah, I like 'em," Edo-Lucy said, shrugging.

"I've got more, probably could find some in a color you like, if you wanted," Edo-Natsu said, looking down at his plate.

"Pfft. These are good enough," Edo-Lucy said, shrugging, "So don't worry about it, alright?"

Edo-Natsu nodded, "Alright."

"If you try to get me any other goggles, you're getting punishments."

Edo-Natsu shrunk back, "Gotcha."

-FAIRY TAIL-

Gajeel set Erza and Gray down before the two cats that tapped down in front of him. A third latched onto his back, and they were away, immediately. Before long, they arrived on the flying island, and Gajeel let out a sigh of relief. He looked around at all the cats, most of them only reaching his knees.

"Yo, hey there, Shaggy," he said, saluting the most regal-looking amongst the cats.

"It's Queen Shagotte, you buffoon!" one of the other shouted.

"It's fine, he's amusing," Queen Shagotte said, chuckling, "And besides, he has just delivered us our gift to Fairy Tail."

"Yeah, that'll definitely sway 'em. I know how they are," Gajeel said, with a chuckle.

Queen Shagotte smiled, "Get the other two to the medical area. Thank you, Gajeel, you've been incredibly invaluable."

"Yeah, I'm awesome that way," Gajeel said, grinning.

-FAIRY TAIL-

"Hey, Elfman," Zuri said, sitting at the bar, looking at him, her head tilted, her hands on her hips.

"Hiya, you alright?" Edo-Elfman asked, "Want anything?"

"I'm kinda hungry, and I was able to hit up your other you for food, so, ya' know, kinda figured..."

"Oh, sure. Whatcha' want? We got eggs, sausage, toast... Miss, you okay?"

Zuri leaned forward, and Edo-Elfman got a clear view of the fact that she was not wearing a bra. He gulped, tugging at his collar.

"You don't know much about me, so I wouldn't expect you to know how I feed," Paizuri said, softly, "I think you need to take a break from cooking."

"Oh, um, well... If I quit cooking, Mira will do bad things to me..."

"I'll make up for it," Paizuri said, raising both of her eyebrows for a moment, as she looked him up and down.

Edo-Elfman gulped, then set down the towl he had been using to wipe down the bar with, "Uhhh..."

Zuri grabbed his collar and pulled him in close, "You know the room I was in last night?"

"...Ah-huh..."

"You, me, up there. You got ten minutes."

"...Okay..."

She lightly nipped his neck, "See ya."

Edo-Elfman was considerably distracted for the next ten minutes, until he finally asked for a quick bathroom break. Edo-Mirajane quirked a brow, but nodded, and away he went.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Over the course of the next hour, things grew quieter in the Fairy Tail guild. Years of hiding from Fairy Hunter, the guild was gradually forced to learn to become more subdued. Lucy, Wendy, Charle, Happy, and Edo-Wendy had gone outside to watch for any sign of Fairy Hunter. Edo-Mirajane looked around, then scowled. Edo-Lisanna looked at her older sister with concern.

"What's up, Mira?"

"Your brother has never taken a bathroom break this long."

"W-well, maybe he... Maybe he ate something that really didn't agree with him, last night? He did cook his own meal, and I think he mentioned it being his first time..."

Edo-Mirajane looked at her younger sister, then out at the other members of Fairy Tail.

"Ya' know, I'm not seeing that succubus out there. And I distinctly recall seeing her sitting in front of Elfman before his disappearance," Edo-Mirajane said, tapping her foot, "If he skimped out for... I'll KILL that succubus!"

Edo-Mirajane prepared to head for the upstairs bedrooms, when a pulse of some strange energy rippled through the base. A moment later, Edo-Levy stood up, her eyes widened.

"This is a magical barrier!" she shouted, "It's gotta be Fairy Hunter! Shit, how the hell did they find us!"

"Levy, get the teleporter ready. We've gotta get out there and grab the others! We've gotta run, NOW!" Edo-Lucy roared.

"Elfman is scrubbing the entire floor if he's still up there when this is all over and done with," Edo-Mirajane snapped.

Natsu grabbed up his sword and rushed towards the exit, only to run smack into an invisible wall and be rebounded inward.

"I told you, moron, it's a magical barrier," Edo-Levy snapped, booting up the teleporter.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Charle had been the first to notice her fellows as they descended towards Fairy Tail. She let out a cry and pointed up towards the sky. Immediately, Wendy held up her gauntlet, ready for battle. Edo-Wendy pulled her blade out, unactivated, and held up her other arm, a shield gem locked on it. Lucy, meanwhile, cracked her whip in obvious preparation for the battle, drawing one of her keys at random in preparation for the battle. She glanced at it, recognized the symbol, just as the four cats all dropped down around them. Happy stepped forward, trying to be fierce.

"Gate of the Ram! Aries!" Lucy shouted.

The key dispersed, and Lucy felt the charge of energy, now recognizable, as a bit of her body shifted. She blinked, in confusion, as to what, precisely, shifted, however...

"Hello, members of Fairy Tail from Earthland and Edoras alike," the taller of the cats, with a strangely familiar, sparkly face, "I am Ichiya! Edo-Ichiya to you guys, undoubtedly, as I'm sure my handsome visage is to be found in Earthland. And, oh, yes, hello fellow Exceed. You did remarkable in leading back your Dragon Slayer to Edoras... Except you, where's your Dragon Slayer?"

Happy pointed back at the Guild door, where Natsu was busily ramming his head against the magical barrier.

"Oh, I see. You got a rather... special Dragon Slayer. Well, if the files are right, he's good at destroying things, so you take what you can get," the Exceed emissary said, scratching his chin.

"Okay, you told Charle she was gonna have to kill Wendy! Why should we believe you!" Happy snapped.

"Well, we have this guy," Edo-Ichiya said.

A moment later, a familiar face dropped down in front of them. Gajeel Redfox grinned at them.

"You idiots really can't do anything right without my help," he said, grinning.

"This is the reason we should trust you?" Happy asked, indignantly.

"That's uhh... That's kind of a backward step, there," Lucy said, "You are now in the negatives."

"...He scares me," Wendy said, hiding behind Edo-Wendy.

"Oh, come on, that is total bullshit," Gajeel snapped.

"How can you not trust that grinning, murderous fa- Okay, yeah, we screwed up, but hey!" Edo-Ichiya said, before half-singing, "We brought PRESENTS!"

Two more familiar figures dropped down, carried by more Exceed. Everyone gasped in surprise as the two Earthland Fairy Tail members grinned. Lucy rushed towards Erza and threw her arms around the Armor Mage, squealing in delight.

"Lucy, when did you start carrying knives on your person?" Erza asked.

"Oh, umm... Did you know Aries is a ram?" Lucy asked, blushing.

"I suppose I'll ask, later," Erza said, arching a brow.

"Do I get a hug?" Gray asked, looking at the others with a smirk on his face.

Wendy ran to him and he laughed, bending down a bit as she threw her arms around his neck, laughing. Edo-Wendy stared at Erza, shaking, every molecule of her being demanding she run, run, as far away as she possibly could. This woman had the same face, had the same air of power as the Knightwalker who had murdered half of her family. No, this wasn't her, but it looked every bit like her and that just shook Edo-Wendy to her absolute core, as she began backing away from them all.

"Well, see, we're kind of in a floating island which is kind of suspicious when it stops moving, so we'd be really appreciative if you guys would, uh, hurry up and board," Edo-Ishiya said, snapping his fingers.

The Exceed behind him pulled out four small poles, which they touched together, then pointed at the Fairy Tail guild. The forcefield dissipated, and Natsu rushed out at mach speed to punch Gray in the face. Other members of the Edoras Fairy Tail stepped out, cautiously, observing the odd, peaceful (aside from Natsu and Gray) sight.

"YOU STRIPPING BASTARD WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG!"

"ME! WHO THE HELL TOOK SO LONG AND DIDN'T EVEN MAKE A RESCUE ATTEMPT!"

"OH SCREW YOU! I WAS WORKIN' ON IT! HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED METAL FACE WAS GONNA HAVE A PLAN, SOMEHOW!"

"MORON!"

"PERVERT!"

Natsu and Gray viciously fought, punching each other into oblivion. Erza and Lucy shared a small kiss, then turned to the Exceed.

"How long until all the Lachryma is processed?" Lucy asked.

"Almost three days," Edo-Ichiya said, "We need to attack tomorrow, so as not to waste any time."

Lucy nodded, "We've got this, but... the others will need to get used to seeing our Erza. Get us tonight, alright?"

Edo-Ishiya stared for a moment, then fell back, "WH-WH-WHAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Look, if you want us to possibly work together, you're going to want all of your team not utterly terrified of one of its members. And you'll want everyone to kind of know each other, just a bit, alright?" Lucy said, annoyed.

"B-but... Alright... The Queen isn't gonna like this."

"Ah, Shaggy'll be alright. She won't care, we got plenty o' time," Gajeel said.

"SHAGOTTE!" Edo-Ishiya roared, before taking off, leading the Exceed back up to the island.

Natsu and Gray rolled across the ground, punching and kicking at one another, growling and shouting as they fight continued to escalate. Erza's voice pierced their minds, with just a chuckle. They looked up to see Erza and immediately hugged each other, giving her their biggest smiles.

"We're being good! We're being good!" Gray shouted.

"AYE!" Natsu yelped.

"Alright guys, we're going to go in, in a crowd. Everyone surround Erza, alright?" Lucy said, gently, "You understand why, right, Erza...?"

"I have heard of what Knightwalker did. Also, I think I know what you mean by Aries being a-"

"Yes, yes, we'll discuss that later," Lucy said, with a loud, nervous giggle, "Everyone surround Erza, now, please?"

Immediately, the Earthland Fairy Tail members complied. Just in time, as all of the Edoras Fairy Tail guild had emerged from the bizarre building. Edo-Levy, Edo-Jet, and Edo-Droy stepped forward, ready for battle.

"Who is that, with you?" Edo-Levy asked, through gritted teeth.

"This is Erza Scarlet," Lucy said, staring at them, "She's the Erza from Earthland. She's okay."

Edo-Lucy broke through the crowd and stood in front of the Edoras' Shadow Gear, holding out her hands, "Knock it off! The hell did you expect? For their Erza to look totally different from ours?"

"How do we know this hasn't been some big, damn ploy to trick us?" Edo-Jet asked.

"Yeah, come on. Another world?" Edo-Droy asked, "Really?"

Edo-Wendy, Edo-Mirajane, and Edo-Natsu broke through the others, surrounding the Shadow Gear team.

"Look, I've been around them, all of them, and they're friends, I know it," Edo-Wendy said, "They're weird, sure, but dammit, they're on our side!"

"Yeah! I'm certain my brother would back me up if he weren't in imminent danger of maximum punishment when I say that none of these people are against us, even their Erza. Got it!" Edo-Mirajane snapped.

"That is Natsu. It is not our Natsu, but he has the same heart, damn it," Edo-Lucy snapped, "And if he trusts the others, I trust them, too."

After a moment, the others looked to Edo-Natsu, who quivered a bit, before nervously raising his hand and adding, "A-aye...!"

"That's you?" Gray asked, doubling over with laughter.

"Oh yeah! WELL YOU SHOULD SEE YOURSELF! OTHER GRAY, GET OVER HERE!"

"Like the other me could be worse than- WHAT THE HELL!" Gray shouted, staring at his Edoras counterpart.

"You're me!" both of them shouted.

"Get some clothes on!" Edo-Gray shouted, just as his Earthland counterpart snapped, "Take those off!"

"So, are you going to attack an Erza who would fight on our side?" Edo-Lucy demanded, "When the others clearly trust her? Have we degenerated THIS much!"

The others looked down, ashamed, but nodded, agreeing. Gajeel crossed his arms, chuckling. Edo-Lucy walked inside and waved for everyone else to follow.

"Let's get out of the open," she said over her shoulder, "Fairy Hunter could be close. Never know, with her."

Erza and Lucy stayed, watching the others enter. Natsu and Wendy grinned at them, just showing how glad they were that Erza was back, before rushing inside. Lucy wrapped her arms around Erza again, smiling warmly. Erza chuckled and gently patted Lucy on the back.

"You alright?" Erza asked.

"I was so worried about you."

"I'm right here, so you don't have to worry anymore."

"Yeah," Lucy murmured, nuzzling into Erza's neck, "And you don't know how happy that's made me..."

"We still have the others to free," Erza said.

"There's a difference, now."

"Which is?"

"We've got more allies and a way to free them. We've got hope, finally," the Stellar Spirit Mage said, chuckling.

Erza smiled, then leaned down to share a kiss.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Edo-Elfman sat up in the bed, the covers over his lower half, his head tilted back. Zuri was a lump under the covers, exercising her craft to its fullest. It may have been an hour and a half, but Edo-Elfman barely noticed the passage of time. If he had, he would've wondered what the hell was going on, as to how long he'd been able to go without passing out. As he was, his mind was... clouded. A moment later, just as he had shuddered, the clouds were blown away when the door was tossed open to reveal Edo-Mirajane standing in the doorway. Edo-Elfman yelped, and Zuri sat up, wiping at her mouth, revealing their unclothed states.

"Bathroom break?" she asked.

"Oh, um... Well...," Edo-Elfman babbled.

"I was hungry, he was male," Paizuri quickly explained, "Don't blame him."

"Oh, brother knows what he should and shouldn't do. His cooking shift wasn't completed, and he ditched it. For you."

"Ya' know, I probably could've snatched Lisanna. Just saying."

"She's straight."

"My point," Zuri said, snickering.

"...Your bikini is awaiting you, Elfman," Edo-Mirajane said, "And I'll figure out something for you, Zuri, but you've got cleaning duty, too."

"That's boring. Can you at least give me another hour? I'm still hungry," Zuri whined, "I need at least two hours of sexual energy to really fill up."

Edo-Mirajane laughed, whirled around, and shut the door behind her.

"I'm frightened. She's going to hit me," Edo-Elfman said.

Zuri pulled the covers over the both of them, "Yeah, you're about to forget about that."

"I don't see how! I mean, Mira is terrifying and she's going to do..."

He would later have to be reminded that his name was Elfman.

-FAIRY TAIL-

The Edoras counterparts to Mirajane and Lisanna busily discussed something in the corner, with Lisanna's face red with embarassment and laughter as Mirajane did most of the talking. Natsu sighed, looking around for a way to get a drink without disrupting their talk, before simply turning towards Gajeel and Gray.

"Well, it's good to have normalcy," Natsu said, "I mean, jeez, other Gray and other Natsu are... friendly with each other. It's good to finally know I can punch the Gray beside me and everything's cool."

"I find this place hysterical. Big bonus? Other Mira walks around in a fuggin' string bikini. I wish I could take pictures," Gajeel said, grinning, "Or maybe convince our Mira to follow suit."

"What? And watch gramps freak out the entire time she's in the room?" Gray asked.

"Look, you're just saying that because you get to see Juvia in the buff on your own time. The rest of us are less fortunate so as to not yet have acquired a female companion," Gajeel replied, "Though I'll totally have a harem, just you wait."

"You'd need Loke's advice."

"Eh, remind me to ask Lucy to bring him out. In fact, I think I'll go do that, now," Gajeel said, standing up.

"Uh, Erza and Lucy just met up," Gray said, "And if Juvia's daily complaints about them are right, I'd say you need to wait."

"Nah, it's cool. I'm sure they're just making out," Gajeel said, shrugging.

-FAIRY TAIL: What's the worst that could happen?-

"Hey, Charle, do you know where Zuri is?" Wendy asked, "I haven't seen her around, anywhere."

"If what I'm hearing from this world's Mira and Lisanna is correct, I have an unfortunate idea as to where she is."

"Hm?" Wendy asked.

"She's in her room."

"Oh, great, let's go talk to her!"

"Let's not, please," Charle said, grabbing onto Wendy's wrist, trying to pull her back.

"I know you don't like Zuri, but come on, Charle, let's go!" Wendy shouted, rushing towards the stairway.

"Wendy, I'm trying to protect you here! Zuri is upstairs, with Elfman."

"So they're... oh...," Wendy said, coming to a stop, "Well, uh... I wonder where Erza and Lucy are."

-FAIRY TAIL-

Happy sat alone outside, worried. He was about to meet the rest of his race for the very first time. The Exceed, they were called. He had never really wondered about his origins. Being told he came from an egg was enough for him, just because he always had his friends. Now, he found out he was a member some race of beings who had supposedly tried to kill the Dragon Slayers? What was going on? Happy sighed, wondering if he would still be allowed to be friends with Natsu? No, that wasn't right. To hell with them if they said he couldn't be friends with Natsu! He knew Natsu before he knew any of them, and he wasn't going to up and betray his friends for some family that didn't even care enough about him to keep him around!

Happy nodded to himself. He'd stick by his friend, no matter what. The Exceed grinned, before rushing inside the guild.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Edo-Juvia approached Natsu and Gray, calmly, a glint in her eye.

"So, you finally stopped wearing so many clothes, Gray," she said, chuckling, "Juvia supposes Mirajane taught you a bit about proper dress?"

A moment later, Gray had his shirt off, and Edo-Juvia blinked, "Ummm... she may have taught you too well."

"Stop stripping, perv!" Natsu shouted, smacking Gray.

Edo-Juvia blinked, "...You strip, now?"

"Sorry, sorry, force of habit," Gray said, slipping his shirt back on.

Natsu rolled his eyes, but looked towards Edo-Juvia, "Ya get used to him after a while. But you still want to punch his lights out."

"...Juvia's mistake. Juvia thought you were our Gray," Edo-Juvia said, smirking, "Later."

"I thought you avoided him like the plague," Natsu pointed out.

"Only when Juvia is not feeling flirtatious," Edo-Juvia said with a grin, before walking away.

"...Oh, I get it," Natsu said, "She didn't strip, so it took me this long to realize she's got your personality."

"Moron," Gray said.

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME, ICICLE BRAIN!"

"I CALLED YA A MORON, WHAT YA GONNA DO!"

Natsu lunged for Gray and the two became little more than a fight cloud of fists, kicks, bites, and shouts of rage. The others largely ignored this, having heard enough of Earthland to peg it as normal. Edo-Juvia laughed to herself as she approached Edo-Gray, who watched her.

"A bonus to you wearing so many clothes is that Juvia knows she will be the only one to see your body," Juvia muttered under her breath.

"What was that, wonderful Juvia?" Edo-Gray asked, hearts in his eyes.

"Oh, nothing. Juvia was just musing to herself."

-FAIRY TAIL-

Wendy and Charle walked down the hall, and a moment later, Charle held out her hand, stopping Wendy. Her ears twitched, and she wrinkled her nose.

"...Let's not go any further," Charle said.

"Is everyone going to be doing bad things today?" Wendy quietly pouted.

Gajeel walked right on past them, whistling. He approached the door to Lucy's room and grabbed the handle.

"Gajeel, no!" Charle shouted.

The Iron Dragon Slayer looked over at them, shrugged, and opened the door. He stood there, for a moment, before his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"L-Lucy... YOU'RE A MAN!"

A moment later, Gajeel was slammed into the wall by an airborn dresser. Wendy heard a loud thunk and got a brief glimpse of Erza, with a blanket around her, glaring at the fallen Gajeel with the most intensity Wendy had ever seen, before the Knight slammed the door shut.

"What... what did that mean?" Wendy asked.

"We're not finding out, come on," Charle said.

"B-but! Gajeel's hurt!" Wendy said.

"I'll be fine. My mind won't be, but I will," Gajeel grumbled from beneath the dresser, slowly pushing it off of him.

"We'll... just be off, then," Charle said, "Since you're alright. And you better not say anything about what you saw."

"Please, like anyone would believe me," Gajeel snapped, getting up, "And, of course, I'll tell some kid and her cat."

Charle and Wendy immediately turned around and rushed away, eager to get away from the undoubtedly horrible sight.

-FAIRY TAIL-

A few minutes after Gajeel's interruption, Erza and Lucy finished up, as it were, and simply laid under the covers, smiling. Lucy sighed, happy for the quieter moments, and Erza gently looked down at her, holding the younger girl close.

"Too bad the Aries thing only works here," Erza said, chuckling.

"...it's... pretty... disturbing," Lucy said, blushing.

Erza shrugged, then kissed Lucy on the forehead. For a moment, the girls were silent, just enjoying the pleasantness of one another's company.

"Mmm... I love you," Lucy muttered.

"Love you, too, Lucy," Erza whispered.

They stayed like that, holding one another close, half-dozing. It was their own perfect little world, where the troubles of Edoras simply weren't, for the moment. A sanctuary, in each other's arms. This was short-lived, as the door swung wide open, revealing Paizuri with a big shirt on, but nothing else.

Without really taking in the scene, Paizuri shouted, "ERZA, ERZA, ERZA! YAY! I HEARD YOU WERE BACK, but... oh... wait. Sorry, my bad."

Erza sighed, face-palming, "What is it, Zuri?"

"What, I can't just say hi every now and then? Hey, Lucy, what's with your aura? ...Oh. Oh, wow."

"Shut up!" Lucy shouted, clenching the blankets tight up around her.

"Hey, hey, hey, I don't judge," Zuri said, cackling, "You could probably achieve the same effect without using your Celestial Spirits, though."

"Of course you know these things," Erza muttered, before pointing towards the door, "I'll visit with you, later. Get out."

"Awww... I wanted to see," Zuri said, before Erza tossed a nearby bottle at her, causing the succubus to close the door to protect herself.

Erza shook her head, "I'll get her for impropriety, later."

Lucy pulled her back down, smiling. They wrapped their arms around each other, and had a sanctuary again.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Around lunchtime, Erza and Lucy walked down the stairs, nervously. Various members of the Edoras Fairy Tail stared a bit, got a little quieter, but most seemed largely fine with what happened. Edo-Lucy waved at them, and so they sat down at the table with her.

"Hey, uh, is there any way you could change your appearance?" Edo-Lucy asked, "It'd be a way to, ya know, differentiate yourself from Knightwalker."

"I could trim my hair," Erza said, "And perhaps change the settings on my magic eye..."

A moment later, her eyes were unsynchronized in color, her natural one brown, and the other green. Lucy pulled up one of her Stellar Spirit Keys, grinning.

"Gate of the Crab. Cancer," she said, invoking the power.

A moment later, two pairs of scissors appeared in her hands, and her hairstyle to change to that of Cancer's, "Alright, how do you like it, shrimp?"

Erza tapped her chin for a moment, "Just cut it a little shorter. So that's there is a recognizable difference."

"Gotcha. One moment, shrimp!" Lucy declared, her scissors going to work.

Thirty seconds later, Erza's hairstyle was more remniscient of her childhood days, with it curling inwards at the tips and only going to her neck. She sighed, after a moment.

"I rather liked having long hair, though this will be more manageable, I suppose," Erza said, shrugging.

"Looks good," Edo-Lucy said, giving a thumbs-up.

"Awesome, shrimp," Lucy said, before she closed the gate, causing the scissors to disappear, her hair to return to normal, and the Key to reappear, "...It's weird doing that."

"Doing what?" Edo-Lucy asked.

"Ya' know, attaining part of my Spirit, rather than just summoning them. I think I prefer summoning, because getting their mental state is messing me up."

"You didn't seem that different when you had summoned Aries," Erza pointed out.

"I also was too confused, then too happy, to be timid, like her," Lucy replied, shrugging.

"Confused?" Edo-Lucy asked.

Lucy turned away, chuckling nervously, not really looking at Edo-Lucy. The Edoras counterpart raised an eyebrow, but made no further attempts to discover what happened. Instead, she turned towards Erza.

"So, what's your talents?" Edo-Lucy asked.

"I'm primarily a sword-wielder," Erza said, simply, "In Earthland, I am able to swap armors in an instant."

"That's a useful power," Edo-Lucy said, grinning.

"Made changing clothes easier."

"How did you two get together?" Edo-Lucy asked, "I mean, I didn't particularly think anyone so like me would necessarily go for a girl, but hey."

"It was during a mission," Erza said, "There was a psychotic, mind-reading bitch involved. Don't get me started on her, because she was one of the worst sentient things I've enountered in my entire life... Including my time as a SLAVE."

"...Wow, this girl sounds like a ton of fun at parties," Edo-Lucy remarked, before turning to Lucy, "She has issues..."

"We're working on those," Lucy said, gently patting Erza on the back.

"The mind-reading whore spilled out some of my feelings for Lucy, trying to mentally attack me, but Lucy told me how she actually felt, so yeah."

"That... that's probably one of the more disturbing ways to get together."

"It was," Lucy said, "Of course, anything involving Venny is disturbing."

"I can imagine," Edo-Lucy said, nodding, "Mind telling me a few tales of your time in Earthland? Natsu mentioned some awesome adventures."

Erza and Lucy looked at one another for a moment, chuckling.

"Sounds like fun," Lucy said.

"I would be glad to," Erza added.

-FAIRY TAIL-

Edo-Wendy sat a table by herself, reading a book, one she had found a few days ago and had started this day. She enjoyed the background noise the others provided, though occasionally it got to be too much. That was usually when Edo-Lucy would start shushing everyone, so it would get back to normal pretty quickly. The elder girl sighed, marking her place and putting the book down. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, whid had become too muddled for her to really enjoy the book.

That succubus really shouldn't have been as intriguing as she was. Edo-Wendy shuddered as she recalled murdering their Paizuri, just after the so-called succubus backstabbed Master Makarov. That was what led them into such chaos that they were, for a time, lambs to Knightwalker's wolf. Edo-Wendy made sure the assassin didn't enjoy her victory for very long. And now another person with the name, who even initially appeared like the assassin, had shown up, and she was out to seduce Edo-Wendy. The weirdest part was that her tactics were... working. Edo-Wendy became slowly more and more comfortable around the succubus.

She sighed, looking up, and heard the gentle laughter of her younger self, as she sat down in the chair across from Edo-Wendy. The older girl looked over towards her younger counterpart and Charle, who stood in the chair beside her.

"What's up?" Wendy asked.

"Just been reading. My usual thing after I finish lunch," Edo-Wendy replied.

"That's a good habit. Wendy, you ought to do that," Charle said, leaning on the table.

"I tried to borrow one of Erza's books once," Wendy said, "But she took it away from me before I got on the second page and told me not to go into her room."

"...That's probably a good thing, if Levy's babbling is accurate," Charle muttered.

"You do a lot of mean-spirited muttering," Edo-Wendy said, looking at the cat.

"Be nice," Wendy chided, looking at Charle.

Charle shrugged, before starting her meal. Edo-Wendy smirked, her thoughts drifting for a moment.

"What do you think of Zuri?" she asked, "Little Wendy. I already know your vehement stance on her, Charle."

Charle snorted, but Wendy simply giggled. Edo-Wendy tilted her head.

"Zuri is Zuri. She's a little disturbing at times, but she tries her best not to be. She's a great friend, and though I feel uncomfortable around her, knowing how she feels, she doesn't really... mean to remind me. She's practically Auntie Zuri to me."

"Until you hit puberty."

"She protects me from everything she can... I told her to stay under the umbrella with me, but she refused because I might get some water on me. She really cares for me, and though I don't really return her love like that... I do love her. Very, very much," Wendy said, continuing on through Charle's snide remark.

Edo-Wendy chuckled, "She's still after me."

"Not surprising," Charle said, with a shrug.

"Yeah," Wendy said, "Everyone tells me she's like that when not around me."

Edo-Wendy chuckled, "It's... flattering, though expected, given that she does this with everyone, I'm sure."

"She labelled you as her personal mission," Wendy said, shuddering, "But can we please talk about other things?"

"Please, let's. I get enough of Zuri when she's in the room," Charle said.

"Hey, when did you start wearing dresses that... um...?" Wendy asked, trailing off.

"That kinda look like I'm wanting people to look? Sixteen. I hit puberty at thirteen, but didn't quite get this figure," Edo-Wendy said, waving her hands to indicate her chest, "Until fifteen-ish. By the way, if you have something to take care of it, deal with acne early. That was all kinds of annoying and painful to the self-esteem. I tried a veil for a few months."

"A veil?"

"Yeah, it's the one Charle found," Edo-Wendy said, chuckling.

"When did you dye your hair black?" Wendy asked, leaning forward, "I always liked it dark blue."

"Yeah. I went through a phase around fifteen where I did nothing but dye my hair. It's been every color of the rainbow, in varying shades, and has been a couple of mixtures or patterns. Finally, though, I decided on black. I may go back and change it to the original color," Edo-Wendy said, thoughtfully tapping her bottom lip, "I'm kinda liking what you're able to do with it."

Charle's eyebrows twitched, "You disregarded natural coloring entirely?"

"I've heard all the arguments, and I don't really care," Edo-Wendy said, "You'll have to excuse me on that."

Charle blinked and Wendy grinned, "Wow, you're a lot more confident than me..."

"You'll get here, too. Eventually. Give it time and missions. Lots of missions," Edo-Wendy said, nodding sagely, "Also, being persuaded to sneak out and get piercings. That was our Gajeel's fault, though."

"...My word, I have to defend Wendy from Zuri and Gajeel?" Charle asked, horror evident on her face.

"Other Gajeel snuck you out to get piercings?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah. Since I didn't have a Charle, he sort of adopted me. He was... much nicer than yours. And much less full of himself. But he still liked piercings."

Wendy smiled, "That sounds cool. I bet Gajeel'd do that for me."

"I bet he won't," Charle said with a glare, "If he knows what's good for him."

"What would you do, little cat?" Gajeel asked, suddenly behind her.

"Sic Erza on you," Charle said, coolly.

Edo-Wendy blinked, tensing up for a moment, before sighing, shaking her head. Wendy laughed, as Gajeel shuddered a bit.

"Okay, okay, fair deal. Now, why would you be arranging my death?"

"Oh, I was just telling them about your Edoras self. He was... an uncle to me, and snuck me out of the guild to get piercings. I kept the belly button one," Edo-Wendy said, shrugging.

"...If you weren't the alternate version of Wendy, I'd probably be drooling right now."

"Lalalala!" Wendy cried, her hands over her ears, "I can't hear you!"

Gajeel laughed to himself, "Well, since I've gotten my kicks, I'm out."

The Iron Dragon Slayer continued walking towards the stairway, and out of the lower part of the guild.

"Crude, moronic, annoying beast," Charle muttered, once she knew he was out of earshot.

"He's not so bad," Wendy said, "Gajeel's actually kind of nice, sometimes. He just doesn't really like to show it. Zuri says he just acts tough to hide inner insecurities. She started to talk about parent problems, but I didn't really understand."

"How would she know anything about basic human psychology?" Charle asked.

"Being alive for about four hundred and fifty years would do it," Edo-Wendy said.

"Four hundred and fifty? She told me seven hundred and seventy seven," Wendy replied.

"She told you that, while telling Erza and Lucy a "couple hundred". I doubt she even knows her real age," Charle said.

"Well, she's definitely old, and she has not rejected human interaction," Edo-Wendy said, "Makes sense that she'd eventually figure out how most people work."

Charle rolled her eyes, but conceded the point. Wendy smiled as she ate a bit from her plate, before pushing it away and picking up her glass and drinking from it. Edo-Wendy looked at her with curiosity and a bit of glee. There was something to be said of the fact that her alternate self had a good future. There had been hardships in her own, but she still had the rest of her Fairy Tail. And there was hope now, for her younger counterpart and herself. That was enough for her, just then.