A/N I've been reading Soul Eater lately, so maybe that had an influence on this chapter, but I doubt it. I had this planned out from the beginning.
Also the poll is now over!
42% wanted Kotone to meet with Agnocolia and battle it out
14% wanted Kotone to meet with Agnocolia and end her life
14% wanted Kotone to meet with Agnocolia and become a dragon
14% wanted Kotone to meet with Agnocolia and give up her freedom
14% wanted Other
AND no one wanted Kotone to run away and let Agnocolia go on a rampage
Wendy opened her eyes and saw the sky. The last thing she remembered was the violin from the flute. Maybe she forgot the dream? She sat up, feeling better than she ever had before. She didn't feel any stiffness in her shoulders, a sign from sleeping on the ground. So, she didn't fall asleep…then what happened?
She looked around and saw a familiar field of mustards. Was she in the dream?
"Wha-?" Daniel asked as he jumped up. "What happened?"
Wendy said that she had no idea and got up, only to hear Natsu ad Alice yelling in the distance. Daniel and Wendy looked at each other, confused.
Natsu and Alice came running from a distance behind them. Alice was chasing after Natsu, a ferocious look on her face and a terrified one on Natsu's.
"How dare you call me short-tempered!" Alice screeched. "You're one to talk you bimbo!"
Natsu came to a stop and rounded on Alice, "What did you call me? You're so stupid that you thought that the flowers were bees when you woke up!"
"There was no need to hit me!"
"Well you bit me!"
"That was only because you…"
"Stop it!" Wendy exclaimed. "We don't know what's going on. We shouldn't be arguing at a time like this."
Natsu and Alice kept glaring at each other as they reluctantly acknowledged Wendy's logic. Seeing this, Wendy sighed in relief. She was worried that they would beat each other silly if the fight escalated anymore.
Daniel's gasp brought their attention to himself as he pointed and said, "What is that?"
They looked at where he was pointing to see a white light heading straight at them. They turned to try to outrun it, but who can outrun light? They only managed to take a step before they were engulfed in the light.
They braced themselves for whatever was going to happen, but by the time they had opened their eyes, the field of mustards had disappeared and Edolas had replaced everything. They were standing on one of the floating islands and behind them was Edo-Fairy Tail.
"What is this place?" Alice asked, full of awe. She walked up to the doors , but right when she was going to grab the handle, it flew open, going straight through her. Alice watched as an older version of Wendy walked straight through her.
"We're in Edolas…" Wendy said, watching as her Edo-self walked by with a sheet of paper in her hand, probably a mission she accepted. "What's going on? We're not really in Edolas because Edo-Fairy Tail is back in the forest and not the desert."
"Edo-what?" Daniel asked, since Alice was frozen in the doorway.
"It's an alternate world that is like a twisted version of our own. I don't know how to explain it," Wendy replied.
Alice yelped and jumped out of the way as an extremely enthusiastic version of Kotone bounced out of the open doors of the guild.
"Well," she said, waving good-bye to the people in the guild, "Edolas is in some ways the same as Earthland except we had different experiences than the Earthland. In our eyes, you guys are the twisted version of Edolas!" She slammed the doors closed and turned to face them. A frown came over her face, "Where is the other one? Five of you entered the dream, but only four are here."
Her only reply was mouths gapping like their jaws were made of rocks. She giggled and motioned for them to follow her as she flipped into a handstand. "Oh well, we'll find Gajeel along the way."
She started walking away on her hands and left the others to scramble after her. She was surprisingly fast on her hands. Eventually she had to stop in the middle of a forest and wait for them to catch up. When they arrived, gasping for air, she started cartwheeling around them.
"Wow you guys are so slow! I'm used to solo missions so I never realized how slow others are!" she said as she did a round house and landed perfectly on her feet.
"What are you talking about? What's going on? Where are we?" Daniel demanded.
She plopped down, realizing it would take a while for them to catch their breath. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" They shook their heads as they also sat down. Edo-Kotone sighed and replied, "I'm the real Edo-Kotone. But Earthland Kotone doesn't know that I'm living in her dream scape-ergh her dreams. I was never real actually. Edolas had to keep the balance when Kotone was born, so I appeared when Kotone's mom cracked the egg!
"Kotone's soul was disrupted, causing it to become fragmented. The human soul she had split in two and one half stayed with her, while the other is me! So, the dragon soul would have been incomplete if it took over the human soul and the curse made it start from scratch, leaving the human fragment alone. That resulted in Kotone's human form when she couldn't see. When the dragon soul couldn't use her eyes, the human soul was able to take control.
"Now me, I was lost and confused and ended up in Edolas, where I grew up. Then basically when you guys came to Edolas, Kotone and I knew that if I didn't return to Kotone, the human soul we shared would die, resulting in her permanent dragon form and my death. Kotone was able to take off her bandages in Edolas because our soul reconnected the fragments the moment she entered Edolas. It was only a matter of time till my body disintegrated and I could finally become whole. I'm so happy I'm whole, there's no longer this empty feeling inside of me. Of course I'm sad that I can't be with my friends in Edolas, but Kotone's friends are just as nice."
"So that's how you knew Gajeel's name!" Wendy blurted out.
Edo-Kotone nodded and waited for any questions they might have had. Unfortunately, they didn't understand that was what her silence meant and they just sat there in silence. She giggled at their awkward silence and asked if they had questions.
Natsu's hand shot up as if he was in kindergarten and had Edo-Kotone giggling again. She called on him to amuse him and he said, "Kotone said she trained so she could see and still stay in her human form, but you just said it was because you soul got reconnected."
Edo-Kotone nodded and answered, "We were one soul, just in separate places. The soul had a strong desire to become complete and Kotone and I did have a bond, it just wasn't strong. She was training on how to strengthen the bond. She managed to make it able for our subconscious to talk to each other, or in simple terms, talk in our dreams. With that improvement, she was able to hold the human form without the bandages for 30 seconds. After years of practice, she was able to manage a little over ten minutes. When she accomplished that, she decided to go pay Makarov a visit, but as you, Magnolia was sucked into Edolas."
Alice raised her hand and said, "Kotone, do you know where Gajeel is?"
Edo-Kotone smiled and replied, "Yes, he's hiding behind those trees, deciding if I'm dangerous or not."
Gajeel emerged and plopped down next to them, embarrassed that she was able to find him so easily. "How long did you know I was there?"
Her grin got bigger as she giggled, "I heard you back at the guild! Why do you think I hurried here and stopped right in front of you?"
He grumbled as a slight blush came over his face. She knew where he was before he did.
Her smiled dimmed as she said, "You shouldn't call me Kotone. I may have the same appearance as her and share the same soul. But while I was in Edolas I gained my own mind and conscious, which is why I'm still an entity that can't be changed in Kotone's mind. I have my own little mind, floating among her thoughts."
Daniel frowned, "But then what are we going to call you?"
Edo-Kotone thought for a moment. She scratched her head, but that didn't seem to help because she hoped onto her hands and started pacing with them. Then she stopped and said, "I don't know. Why don't you give me a name?" She sat back down and watched them ponder for a moment.
Alice scratched her head and asked, "Well, what do you want your name to represent?"
Edo-Kotone tilted her head to the side, "Represent? Like as in represent my personality or my appearance?" Alice nodded. "I never thought about that before…Well if I wanted my name to represent something, I guess I would want my name to represent that I'm a part of Kotone. Because, if you think about it, I am Kotone except I lived a different life than her and I will always be slightly different. Eventually, Kotone will realize I'm inside her and who knows what will happen then. I might merge with her, becoming one person, or she might increase my existence and even let me enter her conscious mind. I guess if she did that, we'd come across as bipolar though…"
Everyone was silent after that, until Edo-Kotone jumped up and said, "It doesn't really matter though, I'm not going to exist for much longer." She stretched and starting walking away, making the others scramble after her again.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean you won't exist for much longer?" Gajeel asked.
She looked over her shoulder, "She hasn't told you yet? Strange, maybe that's why she dropped the music box."
Their confused expressions made her giggle as she cart wheeled around them as they walked. "The item Kotone dropped for you guys is another one of her inventions. She altered the flute for some reason and she named it the music box."
"That would explain the bells and violin. I figured that since it was a magic item that it could play a different noise than it was made for," said Wendy.
Edo-Kotone nodded, "I'm assuming she created it to be much like the flute and induce a dream for whoever hears it. But, I don't think she worked out all the bugs in it. I know that she filled it with certain memories and I got dragged into the box as well. I also know that once the dream has ended, everything in the box will return to Kotone once the song or dream has ended. I don't know the purpose of the box though. Maybe it was yet another delay tactic or she wanted you guys to find something in it. Either way, I'm going to help you guys!"
"If this is another delay tactic, it wouldn't really be that efficient. The flute made us sleep for only a couple of minutes," Natsu said.
Edo-Kotone cartwheeled around Natsu as she said, "But it was modified, remember? Who knows how long you'll sleep this time? You could sleep for a minute or a month." Their worried expressions had her quickly cheering them up. "Don't worry," she said, "I'm here and I can probably get you out if you sleep for more than an hour. Right now, on Earthland you've been asleep for about ten seconds."
They breathed a sigh of relief as she started skipping. Wendy frowned and couldn't help as a few tears formed in her eyes.
Edo-Kotone was immediately next to her, asking what was wrong. It was an odd sight, a blue haired girl being comforted by a silver haired girl that was the exact same height, but the silver haired girl was obviously much more mature by the way she handled the depressed girl.
Wendy brought her hands to her face, embarrassed by how emotional she was. She hiccupped as she said, "I j-just realized what you m-meant by 'I won't e-exist for much longer!' I p-promise we'll stop her. If she knew y-you were here-hic-she w-wouldn't!"
Edo-Kotone placed Wendy's head on her shoulder and let the girl cry. She was smiling as she kissed the girl's head and said, "Don't tell her I'm here. I know I won't be whole, but I'll be touching the hearts of many people for decades. I'm happy and proud of her choice. Besides, if she didn't take part in the ritual, Agnocolia would just use another human. And unlike Kotone, if another human was put into the ritual, they wouldn't survive like Kotone. It's fine. I'm at peace with her choice."
The other members of the group felt their stomach's drop when they heard Edo-Kotone's explanation. Edo-Kotone would only experience being whole for a few days, only to end up dying in the ritual.
Alice's eyes were cast down as she asked, "What exactly is the ritual?"
Edo-Kotone looked at the sky as the blinding white light changed the area into Magnolia. "Well, it requires a human soul that is rich of magic, the richer the soul the better the outcome. The ritual turns the soul into pure magic, which is why it already needs to be full of magic. The magic gets extracted and can be given to someone else to enhance their magical capabilities. There are deadly side effects and proper rules in order for it to be effective. First of all the ritual has to take place under the second blue moon of the year. Normally, blue moons only happen once a year, so this is why Agnocolia required Kotone to go with him yesterday. The second blue moon is tomorrow. Also, the side effects, if the amount of pure magic is more than the user can handle, it disintegrates the body while trying to find room to host all the magic. I personally believe Agnocolia biting off more than he can chew."
Daniel's knuckles popped as he clenched his fists, "Why didn't Kotone tell us anything?"
Wendy started crying even harder as she said, "K-Kotone lov-ves us! She d-d-didn't w-want us t-to w-worry or-r c-car-ry her bur-rden!"
Edo-Kotone placed her hand on Wendy's head as the crying continued, "Y-Your th-the s-same way! C-comf-forting s-someon-ne y-you don't-t e-even know!"
Edo-Kotone hugged the girl as the crying seemed to intensify. I don't need to know someone in order to help them. There need to be more people like you out there Wendy, crying for someone you don't even know, she thought to herself.
A/N Another chapter up! I bet you didn't see that coming! I bet you forgot about Edo-Kotone! WELL! I have a new poll up since Kotone's choice has been revealed. I going to let you choose Edo-Kotone's name! Here are your options (fun-fact that might help you in your decision, Kotone means harp sound):
Kay-As an abbreviation to Kotone by just keeping the "K"
Kalpana-This is an Indian name meaning Dream or Fantasy
Etsuko-Japanese name with "Etsu" meaning joy and "ko" meaning child, so child of joy
Joy-describing Edo-Kotone's optimistic attitude
Kanon- Japanese name with "Ka" meaning flower and "non" as sound, so sound of the flowers
Suzune-Japanese for bell sound
And then if you have any names you want taken into consideration, review with the name of your choice. I will put up a poll with these names and a choice of other. I will allow up to two choices person, thank you very much.
REVIEWS!
TheOrangeNeko Your comment made me so happy! The fact that you like how I'm using Alice means that I must be doing something right. I hope that this chapter blew your mind along with everyone else's.
EdwardThePure You are a human being that made my week. Also your surprise to how smart Kotone is, surprised me. Kotone has had hundreds of years to plan this out and think of every possible outcome, so I think she's a little prepared for almost anything. By the way, I have created the perfect role for you OC and I'm so excited! It's so perfect and I'm so glad I thought up this role! Also, thanks for wishing me good luck on finals and it's totally fine that you did three reviews. The fact that you went back to add more when you didn't need to, made my week.
ONWARD MY Royal Loyal Readers! Until next time! …Which will probably be a little while due to finals and essays...