Differences in Attitude

Edolas, Edolas Continent, Unnamed Plains.

November, x784.

"Damn that greedy bastard!" Levy shouted in an agitated tone. "He's really just hording all the magic for the people in the Royal Capital! He hasn't even announced it to the rest of the kingdom that the magic power in Edolas is drying up."

Not only Levy, but everyone in Edolas' version of Fairy Tail was outraged by the information Alfonzo, Elicia, and Lucy just shared with them.

"I'm actually more surprised that you believed us so quickly." Alfonzo said with a wry smile on his face. "I thought we'd be here for a long fucking time just trying to convince you."

"Actually, your foul language is one of the reasons we believed you so readily." The Edolas Cana, a dark brown haired woman wearing a very conservative, long sleeved, ankle-length dress, replied with a pleasant smile after taking a sip from a cup of tea. "Our guild master was a kind, gentle man with the heart of a philanthropist. He would never use such crass language."

"A Philanthropist?" Lucy asked in a disbelieving tone. "Really?"

"Yeah, he would have gone out of his way to help anyone in need without expecting compensation of any kind." Levy replied with a grunt of acknowledgement. "Personally, I never understood his attitude, but he did a lot for the guild in his time as guild master, even if it wasn't for very long."

"Yeah, that's the exact opposite of our Alfonzo." Lucy said. A moment later, however, she blushed as she continued. "Well, he is kind and gentle, though."

"Oh my, oh my, what do I see with my little eye?" Elicia asked, nudging Lucy with her elbow. "Is little Lucy blushing? Do you, maybe, have a little crush on Fonzie?"

"*Cough* Anyway..." Lucy said, not making eye contact with Elicia after her teasing while trying to change the subject. "How did their counterparts die? And why did they hate each other so much?"

"Well, I guess saying they hated each other was a bit misleading." Levy said while scratching her head awkwardly. "It was more like our Elicia loved the guild master too much, I think. But she was jealous of all the female guild members. And if she ever felt like they were too close to the guild master when she saw them, she would attack to kill. She even killed his fiancée…"

Though it was not mentioned who Alfonzo's Edolas counterpart, Alfonzo Dentis, was engaged to, the sad expressions Mirajane and Elfman wore when it was mentioned that Elicia's counterpart killed her was more than enough for the wizards from Earth Land.

"A yandere Lici, huh?" Alfonzo asked, trying to change the solemn atmosphere. At the same time, he tried to imagine Elicia with that character type. "That's actually pretty fucking scary, now that I think about it."

"I guess Lici's counterpart was pretty much her opposite, too." Lucy said while shivering at the thought of a yandere Elicia as well. "I guess it's a good thing our Lici isn't like that."

"More importantly..." Elicia said, cutting off that topic of conversation. "How well did she dress?"

With Elicia's question, the atmosphere in the guild hall became quite severe. Although none of the Edolas natives understood why, Alfonzo and Lucy could only smile wryly. Especially after seeing Elicia's solemn expression.

"Um... She always looked immaculate in her military uniform." The Edolas Mirajane replied in a cheerful tone.

As it turns out, Mirajane was the only Edolas counterpart whose personality did not differ too greatly from their Earth Land version. Though, from what Alfonzo, Elicia, and Lucy could tell, she wasn't hiding a more aggressive side behind her cheerful demeanor.

"Yeah, but what about when she was in her casual clothes?" Elicia asked, narrowing her eyes as she did so. "As long as you can press your clothes and shine your shoes, it's hard to look bad in a military uniform. But I need to know how she looked when she was off duty."

Feeling the intensity behind Elicia's words, none of the Edolas natives knew how to react. Alfonzo and Lucy, on the other hand, could only continue to look on with wry smiles.

"I get the feeling that Lici might go dig up the other Lici's grave to lecture her on proper fashion if the answer isn't to her liking." Alfonzo whispered into Lucy's ear.

"Huh? Uh... Yeah, you're probably right about that." Lucy replied in a flustered tone with a blush on her face after feeling Alfonzo's warm breath on her ear.

Meanwhile, all the members of the Edolas Fairy Tail exchanged glances. Although they weren't sure why, they were pretty sure their answer to Elicia's question would decide how Elicia acted going forward. Eventually, it was Mirajane who answered Elicia's question again.

"Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen her out of her uniform." Mirajane replied in an unsure tone.

"I see." Elicia said, narrowing her eyes even further. "*Sigh* It's too bad that I can't meet her myself. I'd be able to tell a lot about her with only one glance if I could."

Edolas, Edolas Continent, Syca.

At the same time, Natsu, Happy, Wendy, Carla, and the Edolas Lucy were exchanging similar information in a hotel room in Syca.

"Wait!" Lucy shouted in a disbelieving tone. "You're telling me that Erza is a member of Fairy Tail in your world? And not its greatest enemy?"

"It's actually harder to believe that she's not a member of Fairy Tail in this world for us." Natsu replied in a similar tone.

"Yeah, Erza is so devoted to the guild." Happy added with a vigorous nod of his head.

"It's even more surprising that Alfonzo hated Lici so much." Wendy said. "But I guess it makes sense, considering that this world's Lici killed Lisanna, Alfonzo's fiancée."

"But to think it was from jealousy because she couldn't have him herself." Carla added.

"*Sigh* Yeah, that's really weird." Lucy said. "In your world, the guild master has a harem and my counterpart wants to join it. I don't even know what to think about that. But it's even weirder that Lisanna isn't a part of it."

"That's because Lisanna Loves~~~~ him." Happy said, pointing at Natsu as he spoke.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Happy?" Natsu asked in a confused tone.

"*Sigh* At least one thing about the two Natsu's is the same." Lucy said in a frustrated tone with a slight blush on her face.

"Oh, you lo---" Happy started to say with a smile.

"Shut it cat!" Lucy shouted as she covered Happy's mouth with a hand. Then, she continued in a menacing tone. "Otherwise, I'll cut your tongue out and feed it to you."

Terrified by this Lucy's threat, Happy closed his mouth quickly while nodding his head vigorously.

"Anyway, now that I know your situation." Lucy said, tossing Happy away as she spoke. "I know where you guys need to go."

"Really?" Natsu asked excitedly. "Where?"

Like Natsu, Happy, Wendy, and Carla also focused all their attention on Lucy's next words. And Lucy did not make them wait.

"The Royal Capital." Lucy continued in a solemn tone. "That's the only place the lacrima could be. Like I told you before, it's basically illegal to own that much magic anywhere else in the kingdom."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Natsu asked, a small whisp of fire coming out of his mouth due to his excitement. "Let's get going to the Royal Capital. Happy, Wendy, Carla, let's go."

With that, Natsu started walking towards the hotel room's door. Before he could get too far, however, Lucy lunged forward and grabbed him by his scarf. Then, with more force than strictly necessary, she pulled.

As a result, Natsu's eyes opened wide and his breath hitched as he came to a stop. No, came to a stop would be an inaccurate turn of phrase. Instead, Natsu was forced to stop as his feet continued forward while his head and neck were forced to stop.

*Bang!*

"Ow!" Natsu exclaimed in pain after the back of his head slammed into the floor. "What's the big idea, Other Lucy?"

"Natsu, are you alright?" Wendy asked in a concerned tone as she rushed over to the downed Natsu.

"Don't 'What's the big idea, Other---' Hey, don't call me 'Other Lucy,' you bastard!" Lucy replied, her hands resting on her hips as she began to reply. But when she heard how Natsu referred to her, she lunged forward and shook him by the collar. Then, she began reprimanding him about his reckless actions in an angry tone. "And just what the hell did you think you were about to do? Do you even know how to get to the Royal Capital? What about how far away it is? Can you even defend yourselves if you're spotted by the Royal Army?"

"None of that matters, we have to save our family before it's too late!" Natsu shouted indignantly.

"*Sigh* It would be nice if my Natsu had even a tenth of the courage you have." Lucy said in an exasperated tone while shaking her head. A moment later, however, she looked at Natsu sternly as she released his collar. "I never said that you should abandon them. But you shouldn't just rush in head first. I mean, who's gonna save them if you get caught."

Hearing that, Natsu calmed down slightly, lowering his head with a frustrated expression on his face.

"Then… What should we do?" Natsu asked with his fists clenched.

"First, we should find you all a way to defend yourselves." Lucy said with a small smile. "You should follow me to the next town over, Louen. Then, we can get you a couple of magic weapons."

"Wait, how will we get those?" Wendy asked unsurely. "You told us that the trading of magic had been forbidden, right?"

"That's right." Lucy replied with a nod. "But there will always be people willing to break the rules. And Louen just happens to have a gathering place for those kinds of people. There's an underground black market that sells magic in Louen."

"The black market?" Wendy asked in a slightly fearful tone. "But isn't that bad?"

"Even if it is." Natsu said in a determined tone. "To save the rest of our guild, I'll do whatever it takes."

"Um… Yeah." Wendy replied with a timid nod and determination flickering in her eyes. "That's right, we have to save them."

"*Sigh* Why can't our Wendy be this cute?" Lucy lamented after seeing Wendy's determination. Then, she shook her head to rid herself of those unnecessary thoughts. "Anyway, after we should head over to the guild hall, first. Trust me, it would make the trip from here to Louen much faster, too."

*Smack!*

"Alright." Natsu said as he punched his right fist into his left palm. "Let's get going! I'm all fired up!"

Edolas, Edolas Continent, Royal Capital.

"Damn that Mystogan." Gajeel muttered in a disgruntled tone as he walked around the Royal Capital of Edolas. "'Investigate the whereabouts of the giant lacrima while I meet up with some of my old contacts' he says. What the hell does he mean investigate? You can see the damn thing floating in the sky from anywhere in the city."

Not long after Alfonzo, Elicia, and Lucy left Earth Land through the Anima vortex, Mystogan made his way towards the direction that Alfonzo pointed out. And just as he suggested, Mystogan found Gajeel sleeping under a pile of the fine sand that replaced all of Magnolia.

Then, after digging out Gajeel and waking him up, Mystogan explained the situation to the Iron Dragon Slayer. And to Mystogan's surprise, Gajeel did not run off immediately upon hearing that the rest of the guild had been turned into a giant lacrima and taken to another world.

A moment later, however, Mystogan realized why that was. And the reason was quite simple. Gajeel could not fly. So, without a means of transportation, Gajeel could only wait for Mystogan to transport him to the other side of the vortex.

Then, after passing through the vortex, Mystogan and Gajeel appeared in the sky just outside the Royal Capital. And after sneaking into the city, Mystogan gave Gajeel an X-ball and told him to investigate the location of the giant lacrima.

But just as Gajeel said, the lacrima housing the entirety of Magnolia could be seen from anywhere in the city. If someone only looked up, they would notice a giant, floating landmass with a massive, translucent, blue lacrima sitting atop it.

"Those greedy bastards stole an entire city from another world just so the privileged people living in the Capital can keep the comforts of magic while the rest of the kingdom suffers without it." X 2

While grumbling over the greed of nobles and royals he had come to expect from his short interactions with those from Earth land, Gajeel noticed a voice similar to his own that echoed his words.

Looking towards the source of the voice, Gajeel saw a young man with a face that was more or less identical to his own. With red eyes, shorter, curly, black hair, stud earrings, and none of the piercings, though. On top of that, the other young man was dressed completely differently, wearing a dark blue suit with a red tie and a matching hat and a pair of rimless glasses.

"Oh my, it would seem I've run into a like-minded individual." The young man said with a smile while adjusting his glasses. "And a rather good looking one to boot."

"Yeah… Don't really see too many people with mugs as good looking as my own." Gajeel replied with a smile.

"On top of that, my instincts are telling me you know even more than I do about where that giant lacrima came from." The young man said, pointing up at the lacrima and the land mass it was floating on. "Care to share? I could make it worth your while."

"Only if you're willing to share some information with me, too." Gajeel replied. "I'm kinda new around here, after all."

In response, the young man held out his hand with a smile on his face.

"Then, I think we'll get along just fine." The young man said. "I've always liked getting to know new people and making new friends. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Gajeel. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Hearing that young man's name, Gajeel reached out and accepted the man's hand, shaking it firmly.

"Yeah, I think we'll get along just fine." Gajeel replied. "You can call me Gajeel, too. By the way, what do you think of music? Personally, I like to sing and play the guitar."

Just like that, the Gajeels from Earth Lan an Edolas made their way to a place where they could talk privately about some of the more sensitive details of their cooperation.