[Fanfic] [Fairy Tail] Moonbows
Chapter 8: Edolas
A/N: I decided to skip the Daphne arc because even though I had rewatched it twice, I still couldn't figure out a way to write it. Gray's thoughts and feelings were too fragmented for me to smooth them out and weave them into Erza's storyline. As such, I just skipped it to avoid completely butchering both of their characters, the rest of the filler episodes happened the same way they did in the anime.
So we have Edolas in this chapter instead. Earthland Erza will still be Erza as usual while Edolas Erza will be referred to as Knightwalker or The Knight.
Enjoy :)
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It was rainy season in Magnolia, the weather was starting to get colder. Erza had switched from her normal strawberry milkshake in favor of hot strawberry tea.
Because of the heavy downpour, no one was motivated for any mission at the moment, so most of them were congregated in the guild hall, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere with their friends.
Of course, peace was never meant to last with this bunch.
Erza smiled amusedly at the sight of Gray taking advantage of Natsu sleeping to draw cat whiskers on his face with Lucy and Juvia standing next to them, the blonde happily chimed in helpful suggestions while Juvia enthusiastically cheered Gray on as usual. Plue was with them too, it seemed like Lucy had the habit of summoning Plue whenever she was in a playful mood or wanted some company.
"My, my. They sure are childish sometimes, aren't they?" Mirajane chuckled from behind the bar and gave Erza her cup of tea.
"It can't be helped. They are a few years younger than us, Mira. It was in their nature, and their rights, to exhibit some childishness at times. Doesn't explain why Cana is also over there with them though." Erza turned her head to look at Mirajane. The white-haired mage had put on a heavy coat over her normal attire and held an umbrella in one hand. "Are you going now? It's still raining outside..."
"It's fine, Erza. The rain doesn't seem like it's going to let up soon."
"...Do you want me to go with you?" Erza asked, concerned. She really didn't like the idea of Mira having to go out into this rain alone. "I won't go in, I promise. I will just wait for you outside the church."
Mira smiled at her, the pleasant one that was both strange and familiar at the same time. Mira didn't smile at her like that all those years ago, but she had seen enough of it in the past two years to recognize the feelings underneath.
Appreciated. Touched. But still, distant.
"Elfman is with me. I'll be alright, don't worry. Besides, someone needs to be here to keep an eye on our friends, don't you think?"
Erza knew it was not the right time to be insistent. This was a family matter, after all. She could go visit Lisanna some other day, when it wasn't too painful for the Take Over mage to be reminded of her loss, "Alright, please do be careful. Come, I can walk you out."
Had it only been two years since the accident happened? Sometimes, Erza still felt like it was a whole lifetime away. A happier, simpler time.
It wasn't until Mira and Elfman's shadows had disappeared into the heavy rain that Erza heard Lucy ask out loud, curiously, "I wonder why Mira and Elfman are visiting the church on a day like this."
The blonde had only been here with them a few months. She didn't know.
Erza walked over to join the group, punching both Gray and Natsu on her way to break them up, "It's almost the anniversary of Lisanna's death. Mira and Elfman's younger sister."
Levy helpfully continued, "It happened in an accident during work two years ago. They start visiting the church when it gets close to the anniversary of her death."
Lucy hummed thoughtfully, scooting over on the bench to make room for Erza to sit down next to her with her tea, "Poor Mira, and Elfman too. I don't have any siblings myself, but I can't imagine going through something like that."
Erza sighed morosely, took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes, letting the lukewarm liquid warm her up. It was losing heat too fast, probably because of the weather. She could go make a new one herself, but nobody could get the tea right as Mira did. The white-haired girl must have a magic touch somehow. "It was painful, for both of them. Mira wasn't alright for a long time after that. She still isn't, even now, and perhaps never will."
When she opened her eyes, Lucy was looking at her. There was something foreign in the blonde's voice when she asked, "Is that when you guys started getting closer? Everyone keeps telling me about how you and Mira were worse than Natsu and Gray when you were younger. I can't imagine it, seeing the two of you right now."
Cana giggled at that, "Oh yeah, they were terrible. The stories I could tell you, Lucy. But you're right. Isn't she, Erza? After the accident, even I was surprised at how much time you guys spent with each other, not to mention your relationship took a completely different turn afterward."
Erza silently nodded. It was an agonizing time for both of them, she and Mirajane. The Take Over mage was so lost, so broken, and Erza didn't know what to do. She wasn't used to seeing her rival like that, wasn't prepared to witness a completely different side to the girl. Mirajane had been a constant fixture in her life up to that point, the counterweight and motivation for her to get stronger each day.
She still remembered, watching Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna sometimes, remembered the happy smiles on their faces, the easy banter, the close-knitted relationship between them. The special bond that could only be shared between people of the same blood. She used to wish for that kind of family love, from times to times. To know that no matter what happened, you would still have your siblings to call your own.
When Lisanna died, all of their worlds were torn apart.
"Yes, I guess you can say so. After that tragedy, we built up a rapport with each other. She knew she could talk to me about anything, and I knew I could do the same with her. We matured, and become friends with each other, even confidants." Erza sighed wistfully, "Still, it was not a particularly good memory, I never want to see Mira like that again."
Everyone at the table was silent after that, Lucy was still staring at her strangely and Erza couldn't understand why. The silence was broken by Master Makarov calling Erza over to him, "Erza, come here for a minute."
"Please excuse me, duty calls." The redhead quickly slid out off the bench and walked over to the Master.
Master Makarov wanted to ask her to complete the 100-year quest that Gildarts had failed in his latest attempt. It was a reasonable choice, Erza agreed readily. The quest was entrusted to Fairy Tail and now that Gildarts was unable to complete it, someone from the guild had to step up. Erza knew, in terms of magic power, she wasn't even on the same level as Gildarts. But there was no one else available to take up this mission, the majority of their S-class mages were either out of commission or too elusive to count on. It was her responsibility then, to at least give it a try and avoid tarnishing Fairy Tail's name.
Erza would need to draft a detailed plan first. Maybe she could ask Mira to come with her, if circumstances allowed. With two of Fairy Tail's S-class mages on the job, the odds of completing it would certainly improve.
She was still pondering about the quest when a bright white light appeared out of nowhere and everything disappeared into thin air right after it.
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The first thing Erza saw when she regained consciousness was Gajeel, surprise but relief on his face when he revived them at the city square. The second thing, Gray was the only one next to her. Third, a circle of armor-equipped guards was surrounding them on all sides.
She had almost no time to discern the situation before the guards started attacking them. Instincts kicked in and Erza tried to use her magic to fight her way out, but somehow it didn't work. They had no choice but to follow Gajeel as he easily broke down the guards' formation and led them to a hidden alley nearby.
The Iron Dragon Slayer explained to them the situation at hand, having been joined by his similar-looking counterpart. Apparently, there was another world by the name of Edolas where magic was finite, so the King decided to open up various Anima portals connecting to Earthland in order to steal magic from their world to supplement Edolas's. One of which captured all of Fairy Tail and Magnolia, and they had been turned into a magic Lacrima somewhere in the Royal City, waiting to be extracted in two days.
She still had a lot of questions regarding this world, the King's reasons, how exactly the Anima portals functioned, why Magnolia and Fairy Tail were chosen in the first place, how Mystogan appeared to know more about this world than any of them. But now was not the right time. They needed to focus on finding their friends before it was too late.
Since magic was finite in Edolas, they were not able to use their power freely. Gajeel gave each of them a pill to counteract this, and a whole bottle of pills too in case they ran into any of their friends later.
They were discussing potential places where the Lacrima could be when a group of guards speeded past them, shouting something about Fairy Tail wizards escaping prison and reinforcement was needed at the West Tower. Erza and Gray immediately took off after the group, leaving Gajeel to go find the Lacrima by himself since only Dragon Slayer magic had reversal effects on the Lacrima anyway.
They found Lucy, Happy, and Carla in the basement, cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Erza gritted her teeth at the sight of the blonde, handcuffed and laying on the ground with the redhead's counterpart pointing a spread at her throat.
Erza was shocked for a moment, to see her own face reflected back to her from across the hallway. Same eyes, same hair, similar facial structure, down to the focused draw of her eyebrows whenever she was coming in a fight. Unlike Gajeel's lookalike, hers seemed to be the enemy this time, judging by the way Lucy cried out her name in both glee and relief before Gray ushered them away to find Natsu.
This took the whole 'your worst enemy is yourself' to another level. No matter Knightwalker's face or power, Erza would strike her down for being the cause of Lucy's pain.
"I am Erza Knightwalker, captain of Edolas' 2nd Magic War Division."
"I am Erza Scarlet, an S-class mage of Fairy Tail."
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They were equally matched in all aspects. Type of magic used, fighting skills, both strength and power. The resemblance was uncanny.
She found out about the King's plan from Knightwalker. They wanted to use Fairy Tail as a bomb and destroy Extalia, absorbing all the magic released from the crash between the two islands.
Despicable, wretched plan! Erza clenched her jaw in contempt. These people were so incredibly selfish. They would stop at nothing on their way to achieve eternal power.
Erza felt ashamed on behalf of her counterpart, about how her supposed reflection in this world could even harbor such a delusional way of thinking. Her loyalty was clearly in the wrong place.
If what she was saying was the truth, then she needed to go and stop the King before he could carry out his plan. Erza could see her fight with Knightwalker won't yield any result soon since they were perfectly on par with each other, so it would be best to divert her time to more efficient use.
She was still determined to see this fight to the end though, just to satisfy her curiosity. It was not every day you got the chance to spar with yourself, after all.
As such, Erza took advantage of a small mishap in Knightwalker's movement to blast her with enough force to knock the mage out for a while, but not enough to disable her.
She was on her way to the Dragon Chain Cannon when Natsu and Gray appeared, arguing with each other about God knew what now.
"Gray, Natsu! Where is Lucy?"
"Erza!" Natsu screamed out fearfully, "Please don't kill me!"
Why would Erza want to kill Natsu? Did he do something to Lucy? What in the world happened?
"Idiot! She is our Erza," Gray slapped him on the back of his head, "Lucy is over there, Erza. She is okay, don't worry. Listen, something came up. We need to change our plan."
Together, they managed to deceive both the guards and the King, enough to almost successfully change the direction of the Cannon to their advantage. But Knightwalker's unexpected appearance interrupted their plan.
It was her miscalculation. Erza should have used more force. She should have known, like her, the Knight wouldn't give up that easily.
A tough one, that Knightwalker was. And irritating, too. Erza was getting seriously infuriated with her.
Lucy appeared with a Wyvern and they all hopped on it to speed away, ready to move the fight to the sky where the Lacrima containing all of their friends was.
But not before Erza could see the fiercely determined look in Knightwalker's eyes. The malice and hatred. A promise, that she would find her wherever she was to settle this feud between them soon.
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They almost couldn't stop the collision between the Lacrima and Extalia if it wasn't for Mystogan to open up a reverse Anima portal and transport it back to Earthland just in time.
His identity was finally revealed then. He was the Jellal of this world, the son of the accursed King of Edolas, the person who had been going around the Earth to close all the Anima portals before they could do any real damage to the balance of their world.
That explained his face, and the inconsistencies between Wendy's story of how she met Jellal and her own. It had been bugging Erza for several weeks, ever since she first saw his face back during the guild dispute with Laxus.
Erza wanted to go help her friends to fight the Dorma Anim but Knightwalker just had to go and be a stubborn obstacle in her way again. The war division captain refused to relent, refused to let her go without seeing their fight to the end this time. And Erza didn't have any other choice but oblige to her demand.
If a beating was what it took to open up the Knight's eyes, Erza would gladly be the one to do so.
Erza as she might be, the captain had harmed Fairy Tail too much. Her friends were hurt because of Knightwalker, and it was time to settle the debt between them, once and for all.
It escalated to a fistfight, after they had both depleted their magic power. A test of will.
"This is for everlasting magic power! I cannot afford to lose!" She could hear the conviction behind Knightwalker's voice. The belief. The faith. The desperation.
What she was calling everlasting power would rest on an instance of unfathomable casualties. Erza was sick of hearing those words, spoken in her own voice.
"You oppress and plunder! Conquer and ravage! Hate and destroy! That is not how power is supposed to be used! And if I have to beat you up to knock it into your thick skulls, I will!"
Power must only be used to protect others, not to spread disasters in their wake. People were stronger when they used their strength to stand up for those they held dear, and wield swords for those who shed tears. It was genuine human interactions that bound the world together, not magic.
They were strong because they had friends, they could survive because they had people who believed in them. Magic played no part in the fundamental existence of the world. It was high time Knightwalker realized that.
Erza could see it, the anxiety, fear, and despair in the Knight's voice, her apprehension of a world where magic no longer existed. The belief that humans needed magic just to survive. The desperate hope and over-reliance.
Changes were scary at times, away from what they had known their entire lives. What Knightwalker needed right now was courage. To step into the unknown and build a better world out of it.
Erza believed in her, because they were the same, deep down. They had the strength that surpassed terror, fear, and all else. The captain possessed her malice and weaknesses, so she must have love and care for others in her heart as well.
They were survivors, first and foremost, and firm believers of the future, too.
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After the fight was over, all Fairy Tail mages and the entire kingdom of Exceeds were transported back to Earthland under the effect of a reversal spell Mystogan cast to obliterate all magic in Edolas once and for all.
Mystogan was not with them anymore. Edolas was his home and his responsibility now. Erza could only hope they would meet again, someday.
It was still raining heavily when they got back to Earthland on the outskirts of Magnolia. Erza ripped Natsu's black cape away from him and wrapped it around Lucy, noticing the blonde was shivering in her skimpy clothes.
Everything seemed to be back to normal, Erza could finally breathe out in relief.
What nobody was prepared for, was seeing Lisanna again, back on Earthland with them.
The youngest Strauss sibling explained to them her disappearance from Earth and how she came to Edolas two years ago, not knowing why it happened in the first place. She had pretended to be the Lisanna from Edolas and hid in Fairy Tail ever since.
She was never dead, just away for a long time.
Erza grinned at seeing Natsu immediately jump at Lisanna after the initial shock had passed, happiness written all over his face, followed by Happy and Gray. All of them ended up in a heap on the ground, laughing and crying tears of joy at the same time. Even Wendy looked elastic at the news, too.
It was a beautiful day indeed, despite the rain. It was always a great delight to welcome any of their family back, after they had been gone for a while exploring the world.
Erza was still smiling when a hand gently touched the side of her face. The familiar feeling instantly drew her attention, and Erza let herself lean into Lucy's touch without turning around, "Hey you."
"Hey yourself," The blonde echoed back, "You have a cut here on your cheek, do you know that?"
Erza was confused. She always had a lot of injuries of different severities whenever she came out of a battle, so a simple cut wasn't a big deal to her. Lucy must know that. "Is there something wrong with it? A cut is usually not a cause for concern to me."
"I know that. It's just... it looks pretty deep though. Might even leave a scar on your face when it's healed." The Celestial mage murmured.
Erza chuckled at the silly unease, "Why? Do you have anything against scars? Afraid I will be ugly with one on my face or something? I can ask Wendy to help me heal it properly if that bothers you?"
When the redhead turned her head to look at Lucy, the blonde gave her a small smile, "You can never be ugly, Erza. Not even if you try. A scar won't make any difference in that regard."
There was a heated intensity in the Celestial mage's eyes, unwavering in their quest of searching for Erza's own. Erza let out a small breath and lowered her head just the slightest bit to compensate for the height difference between them.
And held the blonde's gaze steadily.
A few seconds passed in silence. Erza was waiting for Lucy to speak up. There was something troubling the blonde's mind, she could tell.
"There it is," Finally, Lucy whispered, softly under the tranquil sound of the rain surrounding them. "I have been looking for it for a while now."
"What is it that you were looking for?" Erza whispered back, just as quietly.
"That warmth in your eyes. That was how I know it was you when we were back at the castle, you know."
"Is that so?" The corner of Erza's lips curved further upwards, touching the blonde's palm still holding the side of her face in a gentle caress.
"Uh huh, your Edolas self has the same face, same voice, same almost everything as you. But she doesn't have that light in your eyes. The kindness that is unique to you. I know, because I spent most of my time being locked up in her presence."
Erza frowned slightly, remembering when she and Gray found Lucy at Knightwalker's feet, "Did she hurt you?" She wouldn't put it past the captain to torture people in order to extract information from them.
Lucy shook her head, "Not too much. Although she almost killed me at the end. She threw me down from the castle building, I was lucky Happy was there to save me."
Erza shivered at the thought, a chill creeping up her spine at the idea of Lucy dying when she was not close enough to protect her. Her voice came out somewhat shakily, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. My Edolas self's moral compass is a little broken. She believed everything she did, every person she had hurt, were all for the greater good of Edolas."
Lucy's other hand came up her arm, stroking the blue Fairy Tail mark there delicately, "I gathered. Erza Knightwalker didn't have Fairy Tail as her support growing up. I am not surprised she turned out that way, especially under the King and the military's terrible influences."
The Requip mage nodded, "That is what I wonder, too. What would have happened to me if I didn't join Fairy Tail all those years ago and met our friends? Would I be just as bad as her then? She is basically me, Lucy, just with different priorities and mindset."
The blonde only shook her head at the question, "We can never know the 'what-ifs', Erza. The important thing is that you are here, with us. You are nothing like her. All the horrible things in your past shaped you the way you are today. You are kind, you are fearless. You care about people because you know firsthand how cruel the world can be. You found your light, Erza. She didn't. Just keep following where the light leads and you will never get lost. I'm sure of it."
Erza smiled, stepping closer to wrap her arms around Lucy's waist in a gentle embrace, mindful of the smaller girl's injuries, as a way of saying thank you. The blonde easily curled her arms around her neck and sighed in content, rubbing her nape soothingly.
That was right. She had found her light now. She would never stray into the abyss with her friends' beliefs leading her way.
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Mira's tears were happy ones, this time. Erza was elated at seeing the white-haired mage and Elfman holding Lisanna so close against them, as if they were afraid she would vanish again when out of their arms even just for one second.
A reasonable fear. Even Erza was having a hard time believing the miracle happening right in front of her eyes.
The redhead looked to her left where a sound of a sniffle came through the heavy rain. Natsu was trying to hold back his own tears at the scene and was failing rather miserably, despite the bright grin still visible on his face.
Everyone in the guild was ecstatic to get one of their family back, after losing all hope for almost two years. People were eager at the sight of Lisanna and if it wasn't for Elfman's overprotective tendency, Lisanna would have at least two dozen mages following her around the guild just so they could express their joy and merry.
Master Makarov teared up a bit when he saw the girl, "Welcome home, child."
An impromptu party broke out in seconds. Even the Thunder Legion went out of their way to participate in the fun, wishing Lisanna a warm welcome back.
Gray was wreaking havoc by telling all their friends about their counterparts in Edolas, Erza turned her head just in time to catch Cana slapping him with a beer mug out of irritation. Natsu was in his usual festive mood again, challenging everyone to a fight and breaking tables and chairs in the process. Gajeel and Elfman immediately took him up on the challenge. Erza was in too good of a mood to let them get on her nerves.
The rowdiness seemed to bewilder Panther Lily, who had joined the guild as per Gajeel's request. Erza was glad she now had a new sparring partner to advance her fighting skills.
She was still talking with Lily when a table came flying their way, almost hitting her and Lucy before the redhead quickly punched it away, good mood now gone, "Alright, who the hell threw it?!"
Never a dull moment in Fairy Tail, but Erza wouldn't have it any other way.
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A/N: Votes and comments are welcome!
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