"Lisanna."
"How can this be-"
Natsu and Happy stood frozen in disbelief.
They had rushed headfirst into Edolas, ignoring all warnings in their desperate search for their missing guildmates. But they never imagined that the mont they arrived, not only would they stumble upon Fairy Tail so quickly... they would co face-to-face with a miracle.
They stared again and again at the familiar face of the girl before them, their eyes welling up with tears. Then, as if propelled by their overflowing emotions, they cried out together and leapt forward, embracing her tightly.
"Lisanna!!! You’re alive!"
Lisanna, startled and overwheld, fell backward onto the ground, unsure of how to respond.
"Orah!"
Just then, ’Lucy’ ca flying out of nowhere and kicked Natsu and Happy aside with a powerful roundhouse.
But that wasn’t the end of it. She grabbed Natsu by the collar with one hand, clamped the other around his neck, and barked sternly, "You jerk! When did you beco such a pervert?! And—!"
Natsu, still crying, continued to sob Lisanna’s na through the chokehold.
’Lucy’ suddenly softened. She pulled him into a hug, pressing her cheek against his chest and whispering gently, "You..."
"Where did you run off to? I was so worried about you..."
Natsu, slowly coming back to his senses after the emotional shock, blinked and asked in confusion, "Lucy?"
Watching all of this unfold, Rhodes raised an eyebrow, clearly entertained. From the looks of it, in this version of Fairy Tail, ’Natsu’ was the one getting pushed around by ’Lucy.’ And this Lucy, she wasn’t shy at all about showing her affection. Bold, passionate, and completely unfiltered.
But when his eyes drifted a little farther, his amusent gave way to puzzlent. "Wendy? Carla?"
Wait... sothing wasn’t right.
He had already seen a grown-up version of Wendy inside the guild. So how could there be another Wendy here, this one clearly still a child?
Natsu, anwhile, was dragged inside the guild by an enthusiastic Gray, who threw an arm around his shoulder with a warm smile and started peppering him with questions.
’Mira’ knelt beside Lisanna and gently coaxed her to co inside and talk things through. Elfman, eyes brimming with tears, followed close behind, quietly trying to comfort her.
Happy stood there, looking back and forth between Natsu and Lisanna. He wanted to chase after Natsu to figure out what was going on, but also wanted to run to Lisanna and ask about the past two years.
Wendy and Carla hesitated nearby, clearly conflicted about which way to go.
Rhodes also found himself torn. He wanted to understand what was happening with Lisanna, but he was also curious about Natsu and the strange reactions everyone was having.
Still, when he glanced over and caught sight of the grown-up Wendy again, he made his decision and stepped outside.
"Wendy? Carla? Why are you here?"
Wendy lit up with joy. "Brother Rhodes!"
"Wait a second!" Carla quickly pulled Wendy back just as she was about to run into his arms. "Sothing’s off. Ever since we got here, I’ve had this strange feeling... everyone looks different. Be careful!"
Wendy asked in confusion, "What do you an?"
"Think about Mystogan," Carla said cautiously, her eyes narrowing. She gestured toward the guild hall. "Look closely, Gray, Lucy, Juvia... nearly everyone inside looks different from the people in our Fairy Tail!"
Wendy’s eyes widened in alarm. "Are you saying... this Brother Rhodes might not be the one we know?"
At that mont, Rhodes could completely confirm their identities.
"Carla, you’re sharp as ever," Rhodes said with a light chuckle. "But for soone who always acts like she doesn’t care about the guild, you sure rembered everyone pretty clearly."
Carla blinked, surprised. "Wait... how do you know that?" Her gaze flicked to him in suspicion. "Could this really be Fairy Tail? Just... with everyone’s appearances altered?"
"No," Rhodes replied, shaking his head. "This is the Fairy Tail of Edolas, a completely different world. The people inside aren’t our guildmates. I’m the Rhodes from Earth Land, brought here by the strange magic that appeared in the sky."
"It really is Brother Rhodes!" Wendy exclaid.
This ti, she leapt into his arms, clutching him tightly around the waist as tears shimred in her eyes.
She had finally found soone, finally seen a familiar face in this unfamiliar world.
Rhodes gently patted her head, feeling a brief mont of relief. But that peaceful mont didn’t last long. As he felt Wendy tremble in his arms, he realized sothing terrible must have happened, sothing beyond even his worst expectations.
"What happened?" he asked softly. "How did you end up here?"
Wendy choked back a sob. "Because... everyone disappeared! Everyone in the guild... the entire city of Magnolia... they all vanished!"
"What?!" Rhodes stiffened, his eyes flying open in shock.
His worst fears were coming true. The situation was spiraling into sothing far darker than he imagined. Could it be that Edolas had attacked Magnolia, for its magic power?
"It’s called Anima," Carla said gravely. "A form of super-dinsional magic. It’s how Edolas steals magic from Earth Land."
"That giant vortex you ntioned," she continued, "the one that suddenly opened in the sky, it was Anima. It swallowed all of Magnolia."
Wendy nodded, her voice trembling. "Natsu, Happy, Carla and I, we jumped into the vortex at the last mont, trying to follow it... trying to save everyone."
"Swallowed..." Rhodes took a shaky breath, forcing himself to think. "Wait. If it swallowed them, does that an they were transported to Edolas like ? Just scattered across the land?"
If that were the case, then they could regroup. Find their guildmates. Defeat the enemy. Return ho. Difficult, but not impossible.
But Carla’s next words crushed that sliver of hope.
"No," she said softly. "Anima doesn’t transport. It converts."
"Converts?" Rhodes echoed.
"It turns everything it absorbs into magic power," Carla explained. "In other words..."
Rhodes felt his heart pound violently. His mind raced, searching desperately for a way to deny it, to disprove what he had just heard.
"What about Master Makarov?" he said quickly. "He was in the guild! And Gildarts, he wasn’t on a mission, was he? They’re both incredibly powerful."
Carla’s voice wavered as she shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. "It doesn’t matter. Even they wouldn’t stand a chance. This magic has been tested and refined over six years. It’s not sothing one person can resist. No matter how strong... everyone is turned into magic power."
Rhodes instinctively pulled Wendy closer as she cried in his arms.
Only now did he fully understand how much it ant to her to see him alive. Only now did he truly feel the crushing weight Wendy must have carried, the pain of watching their city vanish, of thinking everyone she loved was gone.
Because in this mont... he felt that sa despair too.
"No, we’re still here!" Rhodes said firmly, unwilling to believe the guild had been completely wiped out just like that. "Even if they were caught in that magic, maybe they weren’t destroyed, maybe, like , they were just scattered across this world!"
"Our survival," Wendy replied softly, "is because of Dragon Slayer Magic."
She lowered her gaze, voice tinged with sorrow. "It seems the magic power of Dragon Slayers is unique. For so reason... Anima doesn’t affect us the sa way."
Rhodes furrowed his brow. Dragon Slayer Magic? Then... did that apply to him too?
He was never officially recognized as a Dragon Slayer, but Natsu always insisted he was half of one. His take over magic did tap into the essence of magical beasts... perhaps that resonance with a dragon’s soul had shielded him?
If what Wendy said was true, then maybe Anima only had partial effect on him, enough to transport him here, but not enough to convert him into magic power.
He instinctively reached for the pendant around his neck.
Was it his magic that protected him... or this pendant? He couldn’t tell.
And then there was Gajeel.
Another Dragon Slayer. He’d been in the city too, right in Magnolia.
But unlike Natsu and Wendy, Gajeel didn’t have a flying cat with him. No Happy. No Carla. No one to pull him out of danger at the last second.
Rhodes clenched his fist. He didn’t know what had happened to Gajeel... but there was no ti to dwell on that now.
No panicking. No spiraling. That wasn’t going to help anyone.
He took a deep breath and looked at Wendy and Carla. "Do you know anything else? And what about you two, and Happy? How did you manage to avoid being taken?"
...
Bonus @1600
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