[X784, Edolas, Royal City Marketplace]
— Dannis Martell —
Light swallowed him whole. When his vision returned, he was no longer in Magnolia.
He hit the ground hard, clutching his head in pain. Around him, Levy and Juvia groaned, dazed.
Looking around, the first thing he noticed was that they were in a marketplace of sorts. Though their sudden arrival had caused every pair of eyes to gaze at them.
A woman had dropped her basket of fruit in surprise at the sight of Dannis, though he himself was frowning.
The world felt…wrong. He knew that Edolas suffered from some kind of Ethernano deficiency from Mystogan's stories, but it was another thing entirely to see it with his own eyes.
There was simply no magic in the air. It was kind of an odd, muted feeling. As if the world was colourless.
He was glad to realize that his lacrima eye still worked perfectly. He could still see through it, which matched with what Mystogan said about magic only capable through lacrima.
The only downside was that he had no access to his Clairvoyance, which was problematic.
Shouts rose as the people of the capital pointed at them.
"W-What happened?" Levy groaned, clutching her head. "Where are we?"
"We're in Edolas, a sort of parallel world to ours." Knowing what he knows about the world from Mystogan, he immediately whispered. "We have to get out of the street quickly. Can you two move?"
Seeing the nods from the two women, they darted into the nearest alley, but the murmurs in the square followed them, swelling louder.
"Look, that mark!" a citizen cried, pointing at the Fairy Tail emblem stamped into the back of his hand. "And his face—!"
"Halt!"
Armored soldiers marched into the square. On their hands were long staves with lacrima orbs embedded in the shafts, each one releasing a slight glow.
Just as Dannis was about to brandish his blade, he paused as the guards shouted.
"Dannis Martell! For the crimes against the prosperity of the kingdom and the good king Faust of Edolas, you are under arrest!"
"…Uh, what?" Dannis muttered, lowering his stance in confusion.
"It's the serial killer!" someone in the crowd screamed.
"Huh, who?" Another of the citizens mumbled.
"That's Dannis Martell! He's the worst terrorist in the history of Edolas, come on we gotta run!"
Dannis blinked slowly, then sighed. 'Of course my counterpart here had to be some kind of mass murderer. Just my luck.'
"What did you do, Dannis?" Juvia tilted her head, curious.
"The hell should I know?" he grumbled. Alternate dimensions were unpredictable like that. Earthland Jellal had been a slave while Edolas Jellal was a prince. Why would his double be any less bizarre?
"What the?!" Levy suddenly gasped, her index finger in the air though she bore a look of shock. "I can't use magic!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that part."
Levy screamed incredulously. "Tell us these things in advance!"
"Hey, we were supposed to talk about all this tonight with Master Mavis and Mystogan. How was I supposed to know that an accident like this would happen?"
"Aren't you supposed to be able to see the future?!"
"That's not exactly how it works—"
"Juvia is sorry to break your quarrel, but we are currently in pretty big trouble." Juvia interrupted.
Blasts of magical energy ripped across the cobblestone, forcing them apart as smoke and dust filled the street.
Dannis burst from the haze, appearing by the line of Edolas soldiers.
His sword flashed as three of them immediately dropped, splurts of blood spilling onto the streets. He turned, raising his blade high to block a coming staff before he slammed the hilt onto the guard's helm, dropping him like a sack of flour.
Another thrust came at him as he twisted aside, parried, then sent the soldier down with a slash through the shoulder blade.
Another two aimed their staves, opting to keep their distance. Light flared as Dannis swung his sword to the left and right, deflecting the blasts. They splintered into wild arcs, exploding against market stalls.
A rain of oranges and broken pottery showered the street as he lunged, steel biting into another shaft before he cracked his pommel against the wielder's jaw.
Juvia and Levy ducked behind crates and stalls, moving from spot to spot as they avoided the magical blasts from the Edolas guards.
A soldier rushed them, swinging his staff down like a club. Levy froze in wide-eyed panic. But Juvia's hand shot up, seizing the staff. "Not so fast!" She wrestled against him.
Levy scrambled for a weapon, spotted a discarded iron rod from the ground, and smacked it against the guard's head with a clang. He crumpled instantly. Juvia yanked the staff free and, without hesitation, fired a blast into another soldier charging their flank.
Across the square, another guard raised his staff toward their open backs. Dannis surged forward, intercepting the man just as the lacrima atop the staff flared. His hand clamped on the shaft with an iron grip and yanked it skyward, the blast going harmlessly in the air.
One swing and the guard dropped. Ripping the weapon free, he hurled it towards Levy who grabbed it out of the air.
"We need to move!" he barked.
But more soldiers poured into the marketplace, their ranks parting for the figure at their head. A woman with crimson red hair, a shade that was very familiar to the three Fairy Tail mages.
Levy's face lit up with relief. "Erza! Thank goodness you're here. We're—"
Her words died as steel screamed against steel.
Dannis had moved instantly, appearing in front of Levy with his sword raised in a block. Locked against his blade was a jagged longsword in the hands of Erza.
She had moved with impossible speeds and had almost skewered Levy had he not reacted.
"She's not our Erza!" Dannis growled, straining as their blades pressed together. From this close, it was easy to tell the difference between this Erza and the one they knew. The hair was done differently, her face marred with scars their Erza never bore.
But it was the eyes that made him certain. This one was harder, colder, with no shred of friendship or empathy their Erza had.
She broke the clash with a backflip, sparks flying as she landed gracefully on cobblestones. Her voice rang out, sharp and commanding.
"Dannis Martell! As captain of the Second Magic War Division, I will personally see you brought to justice!"
"Erza is our enemy?!" Levy screamed as she and Juvia utilized the magic staves and shot the blasts towards Erza, who crossed her arms as an explosion erupted, bathing her in smoke.
"We have to leave now!" Dannis said. While he was far from useless in combat without his magic, he didn't know if he could win against someone of her level without it.
That thought immediately made him widen his eyes. 'Wait, magic?'
A realization struck him. That wasn't the only source of power he had in his repertoire.
The shadows beneath him stretched, rippling unnaturally. One by one, Wraiths rose from the darkness, their hollow eyes glowing. Screams broke out as citizens fled in panic.
His lips curled onto a grin. Edolas had a strange environment where Ethernano could not be used within the human body. However, lingering souls were technically magical creatures, and non-human magical creatures were still capable of utilizing magic, like the Exceeds.
Which means…Dannis had him.
Wraith Jellal burst out of his shadow in a blur, clad in the dark yellow of Meteor as he bodyslammed Edolas Erza, sending her flying and crashing through a building.
"Let's see how you handle that." Dannis muttered.
Covered in the haze of the chaos, with his wraiths engaging the Edolas soldiers in a massive melee, Dannis' eyes swept the square for an escape route.
There, an iron grate in the cobblestone. Large enough for them to slip through.
He sprinted, wrenched it open with one hand, and dropped down into the darkness below. Wraith Midnight and Racer posted themselves on the grate, covering their retreat.
"Come on!" he barked.
Levy and Juvia didn't hesitate. They scrambled after him, vanishing into the sewers as the grate clanged shut behind them, just as the battle above dissolved into chaos.
…
[X784, Edolas, Four days later]
— Levy McGarden —
Levy pressed her back against the mossy bark of a tree, her eyes darting left and right as rainwater dripped down the hood of her cloak. Only when she was certain no armored patrol had followed her trail did she slip through the underbrush and into the abandoned hut nestled in the forest's heart.
She and the others had found and converted it to be a temporary base for their own use after their trip through the sewers. After escaping Erza and the Edolas guards, they decided to gather information separately since moving together would garner more attention, especially since the guards would be looking for a trio.
It had been four days since they had been violently thrown into another world and Dannis had shared all he knew about Edolas the moment they were clear.
According to him, Edolas was a place where many things were the same as Earthland, yet others were also starkly different.
For one thing, the Fairy Tail here was a dark guild, and there was no such thing as Fiore, and neither was Ishgar or Alvarez a thing.
Edolas was a Kingdom that spanned the entire continent, its power and influence seen through every crevice of the known world.
He had learned all of it from Mystogan, who was apparently the Prince of Edolas.
Though Dannis also said that whatever information Mystogan once had was seven years out of date, which was why they needed to get their own lay of the land.
To find out parallel worlds existed had sent her nerd brain into a spiral. Learning that the multiverse theory was apparently true was both exciting and frightening to a bookworm like her.
They were dealing with a fully foreign world, where there were no friends or allies or resources of any kind to call upon. No one knew them and no one would help them. They were, by all accounts, all alone.
Levy wouldn't lie and say she wasn't frightened or worried. Dannis was the most collected among the three of them. His cool and calm demeanor had helped Levy immensely, and they had remained safe under his leadership.
Inside, the small fireplace lit up the faces of Dannis and Juvia, both already back from their own forays into the city. Dannis sat cross-legged near the far wall, his lower face hidden beneath a black cloth, his sword across his knees. Juvia had discarded her wet cloak and was wringing it out by the fire
Levy exhaled, shoulders sagging as she entered. "Did you guys find anything?"
Juvia shook her head. "Nothing we didn't already know. But… the kingdom's army is stretched thin. They've been mobilized across the continent. Juvia has heard rumors of uprisings, strange disturbances, whole villages vanishing overnight." Her voice dropped. "The people are scared."
Levy bit her lip, allowing herself to hope. "Could that be our guild? Maybe others from Magnolia survived somehow?"
Dannis looked up, his black and red eyes hard beneath the mask. "Doubtful. The Anima pulled everything in Magnolia at once. The only reason the three of us weren't turned into lacrima was because of my Curse Power protecting us mid-transfer. The others…"
He trailed off, his jaw tightening. "Unless something interfered, they wouldn't have been so lucky. And besides, even if they were, most of them would be pretty helpless without magic."
And that was the crux of the problem, wasn't it? Not a single one of them can use their magic in Edolas. What made it all worse was the fact that Levy and Juvia's lack of other combat skills made them a liability.
Dannis was a master swordsman, and he proved it when he dispatched a whole platoon of Edolas guards back when they first arrived. All she and Juvia did was stumble and hide, even if they could now fight with the magical staves they scavenged from the army.
Levy herself felt very disoriented. Magic had been a part of her her whole life and now it was gone. She felt naked, for a lack of better word.
Finding out that Dannis could still use his curse power was the only reason they weren't completely hopeless. So she forced herself to focus, to be the scholar and strategist they needed. "Still, that lacrima in the capital… the timing of its arrival…it couldn't be our friends, could it?"
It was too much of a coincidence. The lacrima not only appeared at around the same time as they did, it was also so big that it encompassed an entire section of the city and was nearly as tall as a small mountain.
When it first appeared, it had crushed a small neighborhood and flattened it. This of course made it so that it had to quickly be cordoned off by the army. A lacrima that massive means it housed an insurmountable amount of magic.
Dannis surmised that the lacrima was the city of Magnolia itself, the Ethernano inside forcibly turned into a lacrima. It reminded her of the Tower of Heaven in a way.
Juvia's lips pressed into a thin line. "If the kingdom turned our friends into fuel, then…"
Levy shuddered at the thought. "We can't let it stand."
Dannis' voice took on a serious tone. "What bothers me most right now is the contradiction of this world. Mystogan said that Edolas was lacking in magic, and yet they have islands here that float in the sky. They have magical stones and lacrima that are higher in quality and more potent than the ones in Earthland. There's even an entire race of beings that could manipulate magic. It doesn't add up."
"The Exceeds, like Happy and Carla." Juvia said. "Juvia has heard they are worshipped like gods here."
"While the Ethernano in the air is certainly thinner than in Earthland, it makes very little sense for the people to be unable to use Ethernano. Unless—" Levy's scholarly instincts sparked as her eyes widened. "Unless it's not the environment, but the people. Maybe their biology makes them incapable of absorbing ethernano directly."
Dannis gave her a sharp nod. "Which would explain why even Mystogan couldn't use magic despite living in Earthland for years."
Juvia frowned thoughtfully. "And why we can't use ours now. The Anima must have… shifted our bodies to match Edolas."
"Whether it's temporary or not is still a question." Levy dragged a hand through her wet hair, groaning. "So we're stuck in a world where the rules of magic don't apply, hunted by the army and forced to hide in a moldy hut." Her voice cracked into a nervous laugh. "Why do things like this always happen to Fairy Tail?"
That finally pulled a quiet chuckle out of Dannis. "Fate has a sense of humor." He leaned forward, "Which brings us to the next objective. We need to find Fairy Tail here."
"But…Fairy Tail's a dark guild in Edolas. And besides, we still can't move too openly or people will start to recognize you as a criminal, Dannis."
"Even so, we need allies." Dannis shook his head. "Mystogan and Master Mavis have a plan, and I'm sure they're doing their best back on Earthland. Until then, we need to gather as much information as we can regarding our enemies."
It was something Dannis had realized yesterday as well. The Anima works by absorbing magic and ethernano. Mystogan, who has no magic, and Master Mavis, who was a spirit, would have been unaffected and was therefore still in Earthland.
If anyone was going to figure out a way to reverse the anima as well as create a way for them to use magic while on this side of the dimensional spectrum, it was those two.
"Juvia is certain though that while Fairy Tail is labeled as a dark guild, they are not bad people." The Rain Woman said resolutely. "Remember that the ruling monarch of this Kingdom is our enemy. And if this 'Faust' is like the king Mystogan described, he decides who's 'dark' and who isn't."
"That's…true." Levy said, realizing. "Though that still begs the question of how we're gonna find them. Edolas is a big place."
"By doing it the old fashioned way." Dannis said, a smirk tugging behind the black cloth. "Juvia's words made me realize something. If Edo me is a supposed criminal and terrorist of the kingdom, then perhaps we should meet him. Enemy of my enemy is a friend and all that."
"He would certainly know more about King Faust's goals and forces as a local…" Levy hesitated, the thought of an evil Dannis making her gulp. "Finding Fairy Tail might be possible with his help. If he wants to help us in the first place."
"He's another version of me." Dannis said, shrugging. "How bad could it be?"
…
AN: There we are! Team Shade (minus Gajeel) is finally in Edolas!
I hope you guys didn't mind the whole Levy chapter where it was all a big lore dump regarding the state of Edolas. Again, Mashima explained almost nothing regarding why Edolas was lacking in magic. Even when the magic was potent enough to lift islands all over the continent.
If the problem was the state of the world itself, then Mystogan should be able to use magic the moment he traveled to Earthland, similar to how the people of Earthland can't use magic when they travel to Edolas.
But this wasn't the case, which made me surmise the problem was biological. Mystogan and any other Edolas people simply can't manipulate magic using their bodies, perhaps because they're missing a key organ or something.
Thus the conclusion that I have explained in this chapter,
Mashima didn't even bother explaining what the hell the X-Balls were. Magical red pills that could somehow enable an Earthland mage to access their magic while in Edolas? How convenient to have without any explanations pre or post consumption regarding their existence!
Here, the X-Balls will be an alchemical product that was created through the collaboration of Mystogan, Mavis, and Porlyusica. It's a plot point that will be talked about in the next few chapters.
Again, sorry about the rant. I now realize that I get weirdly passionate whenever I talk about this. Then again, I wouldn't be writing Fairy Tail fanfiction if I weren't.
Anyways, more chapters on my P-word and all that. We should be at Chapter 101 by the time this chapter was uploaded. Just search my name and you'll find me.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, cheers guys!