➵

"Shut up, Gavin, there's a mini-me standing right next to you," the Edolas version of Dealana said after finding her voice. Earthland Dealana stared in bewilderment at her counterpart and immediately noticed the identical scar across her nose, same faint freckles dotted about her face, even her eyes were two different colors. It was freaky and at the same time pretty cool, she couldn't deny that.

One thing Dealana Ka'ino also noticed about her counterpart was that she was older by several years, and her stature was different as well. Her Edolas self was taller but not by much if she was being honest, she seemed only a few inches taller than Earthland Levy. Additionally, this world's Dealana wore something Dealana would never wear; shoes.

"Oh my gosh, Gajeel was right, you seem so grumpy," Edolas Dealana said, bringing her hands to her cheeks in adoration. Earthland Dealana narrowed her eyes at her counterpart before turning her gaze to Gajeel. By her counterpart's comment, she assumed this was the same Gajeel from Earthland.

"How did you wind up here?" She questioned before turning back to her counterpart, "And why are you so sunshine-y?"

"Probably because I was given hugs," her counterpart replied without missing a beat. "Seriously, did anyone give you hugs? You look like you need a hug."

"I don't need a hug, thanks," Dealana deadpanned in response.

"Man," Gavin sighed. Both Dealana's looked over to find him sitting cross-legged on the bar with a drink in hand watching the two of them. "this isn't nearly as entertaining as I thought it would be."

"Your entertainment is the least of my worries," Earthland Dealana growled, "My friends are trapped in the giant lacrima out there and that's not even all of them."

"We were working on a plan to get them back, mini-me, don't you worry," Her counterpart smiled and waved her closer to the bar. Dealana walked over before conjuring a cloud to sit on, much to the surprise of Edolas Dealana and the magenta-haired girl she hadn't noticed behind the bar.

"Woah...you can use magic?" the girl asked. She was about Dealana's age, Earthland Dealana that is. Having two of them was confusing and the tiny Dealana wondered if it got confusing for someone trying to write about it.

"Yeah, a jerk named Mystogan gave me an X-Ball or something and I can use magic," She replied in a bored tone. She was tired, she hadn't gotten much sleep the past night because she had wanted to waste as little time as she could in getting to the royal city. Gavin, didn't seem too affected by the lack of sleep and he took another sip of the drink. "I assume he did the same for you?" Dealana asked looking to Gajeel.

"Yeah, he told me to find the lacrima and use my Dragon Slayer Magic on it," Gajeel replied before Dealana noticed her counterpart feeling a portion of the cloud. Raising an eyebrow in question, Dealana looked to her counterpart. Unembarrassed, Edolas Dealana shrugged and managed to tear a piece of the cloud away to play with in her hands.

"What? You can't expect me not to want to play with it. You're supposed to be me, wouldn't you be curious about it too?" She asked. Gavin nodded from his place on the bar.

"That's a valid point," He said taking another sip of his drink. Dealana watched as her counterpart tossed the piece of cloud into the air towards the magenta-haired girl who looked an awful lot like Cress but with lighter eyes and straight hair.

"Lorna, catch!"

And so, Gajeel told Gavin and Dealana about his counterpart and the plan to wait for an opening to get to the lacrima while Edolas Dealana and Lorna played with the piece of cloud like a cat would a ball of yarn.

As the sky turned dark, Dealana was ready to crash and wound up falling asleep on her cloud. When Gavin noticed this, he leaned upside down from the bar to grab two of the blankets stashed on one of the lower shelves. The first, he unfolded and placed over the younger Dealana, who immediately shifted around to get cozy with the new source of warmth. The second blanket, he gave to Lorna, who had fallen asleep on one of the cushioned benches.

Afterwards, he returned to where Edolas Dealana and Gajeel were still at the bar. Edolas Dealana gave Gavin a teasing smile.

"You are such an older brother, you know that?" She looked over her shoulder at Lorna and then over to her counterpart with a fond smile. "Thanks for looking out for mini-me, by the way."

Gavin grinned and offered a fist-bump, which Edolas Dealana gladly returned. "No problem Dea," Gavin turned to Gajeel and offered him a fist-bump, which only earned him a glare. The male with cat-like eyes lifted his hands in comedic surrender. "Alright, fine, fine, you don't seem to like me. Why does that not surprise me about the other world's Gajeel?"

"Probably because he doesn't know your Earthland counterpart and still sees you as a stranger," Edolas Dealana shrugged. "Or he's just not a fist-bump guy, maybe he likes high-fives?" She held up her hand to give Gajeel a high-five, but he ignored it.

Gajeel looked at the two of them and easily spotted the amusement and mischief in their eyes. Sighing in defeat, he said, "I'm goin' to get some sleep, I gotta feeling a lot is going to happen tomorrow."

➵

The next morning, Dealana awoke as the sun was beginning to rise, she sat up and looked around, the blanket someone must have given her sliding to her lap. She was still in the Edolas version of Cress' tavern; The Bittercress Rose and she noticed everyone still sleeping. Dealana hopped off her cloud and let it dissipate behind her before wrapping the blanket around her shoulder like a cloak. She padded across the tavern to look out the window at the brightening sky.

"What are you doing awake this early?" The Storm Dragon Slayer practically jumped out of her skin without a yelp and whirled around only to find her Edolas counterpart yawning and stretching her arms over her head. She wasn't wearing her belt or navy blue jacket revealing the dark grey long sleeve undershirt.

"Oh, it's just you...er, me I suppose," Dealana said quietly before turning back to look out the window. After a few minutes of slightly awkward silence between them, Dealana remembered what Gavin had said about the Edolas version of Laxus and the Thunder Legion.

"He and his three pals came to try and help save the Storm Talon Tribe, who, while they didn't' use magic, still disagreed with the use of the Anima. Him, Cress and the entire tribe was wiped out,"

"I'm sorry about what happened with this worlds Laxus and the Thunder Legion, if that's what they were called here," Dealana said quietly, not wanting to wake the others who were still sleeping. "Also about Cress and the tribe, I only just met a few of them in my world, but they were really kind and cool."

The Edolas version of her smiled sadly and looked out at the rising sun outside. "I'm sorry about them too. It's not just me being more optimistic and older that's different about us, you know," She said, causing smaller Dealana to glance over at her. "You're more brave than I am and from what your Gajeel told me, you're a lot stronger than I am when it comes to facing problems. I haven't been able to bring myself to go back to the Fairy Tail guild here. I practically left them because I was too afraid to face 'em after what happened." Her Edolas counterpart had a lone tear roll down her cheek while she spoke quietly.

"That's not entirely true," Dealana replied, "Gajeel has only known me for about a few months. He doesn't know about the days that I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed after our Lisanna died on a mission. I don't think I'm any stronger than you, I just had stubborn people looking out for me that wouldn't drag me out of my cave when I didn't feel like getting up." She admitted, subconsciously playing with the three sky-blue colored bracelets on her wrist.

"You have Gavin, this world's Gajeel and even Lorna with you right now," She continued, "and after we save my friends, I think you should try seeing the guild again. Your Fairy Tail, because wherever there's the Fairy Tail guild, there's a family ready to welcome you home." Edolas Dealana sighed, knowing her smaller counterpart's words were true.

"You're right, mini-me. I think you're also smarter than me too," she joked causing Earthland Dealana to finally crack a smile, even if it was a small one. The smaller sky-blunette remembered the magic headphones hidden around her neck under her hoodie and pulled it off, confusing her counterpart. "What's that?"

"These are magic lacrima headphones," Dealana revealed. "They belonged to my Laxus, did... did your Laxus happen to like classic rock n' roll?" She watched as her counterpart's face lit up and nodded enthusiastically.

"Before the king ordered for the magical guilds to be disbanded, he took me to a few rock n' roll concerts that were performed in a few of the cities," She said with a fond smile before realization struck and she stared at the headphones with wide eyes, "You mean to say that those little things can play music?"

Dealana grinned and nodded, placing the headphones carefully over her counterpart's ears and hitting play. The familiar sound of rock n' roll played for Edolas Dealana and she was in awe as she listened. A few happy tears pooled in her eyes as she no doubt reminisced the times this world's Laxus had taken her to the concerts. Hearing the music again filled her heart with warmth. They listened to a few more songs before the others began to stir.

Edolas Dealana slipped off the headphones and handed them to her mini-me, glancing over her shoulder to see Gavin rubbing his eyes with a yawn. "I suppose we better get some breakfast before we head out, does the other world me know how to make pancakes?" Dealana shook her head and Edolas Dealana gasped and put a hand over her heart in mock betrayal. "This just won't do, mini-me. All Dealana's must know how to make good pancakes," grabbing the Earthland version's wrist, Edolas Dealana lead her to the kitchenette behind the bar, "Onward, to breakfast!"

"Oh boy," Gavin yawned, stretching his arms until he heard the satisfying 'pop'. "Don't burn the tavern down you two." He warned lazily.

➵

The laughter and happy chattering conversations of the Edolas citizens filled Dealana's ears as she crouched on the top of a tower over-looking the large lacrima in the plaza. Gajeel stood, wearing his sand colored cloak observing the guards and people below. The sky-blunette had her hood pulled over her head to hide her sky-blue hair. On the ground, she noticed her disguised counterpart standing among the small cluster of people looking at the lacrima.

Edolas her wore her long yellow scarf around her head like a shawl and pushed a tuft of hair over her dark blue eye to hide its hue. Lorna could be spotted selling crystal souvenirs that she crafted to resemble the giant lacrima in order to blend in with the rest of the merchants. They were selling really well and adults and children alike were carrying them around as sourvenirs of the 'wonderful gift of magic power'. Gavin stood leaning against the wall nearby the magenta-haired girl to watch the passing people and guards while also making sure to keep an eye on Lorna.

"Just great," She heard Gajeel sigh. She glanced up at him as he continued, "we can't rush in with those people down there. They could wind up getting hurt in the soldier's attack. What are we gonna do now?" Dealana returned her gaze to the crowds below, catching sight of a man in a suit who looked an awful lot like Gajeel. Said counterpart looked up at the two of them with a triumphant smirk.

"Is that...?" Dealana questioned.

"That's this world's me," Gajeel answered before she could finish. "And he's way better than your counterpart no doubt."

"Do you really want to start that kind of fight right now?" Dealana raised an eyebrow, despite the Iron Dragon Slayer not being able to see it. "Save it for Natsu and his counterpart. If the counterparts are somewhat opposites of us then Natsu's counterpart has got to be pretty lame compared to yours, don't you think?" She reasoned.

"Tch, salamander's counterpart has nothin on mine, pipsqueak, but it looks like other me's got a plan." Gajeel realized as they continued to watch the plaza below. Pretty soon, more people crowded around and a path was formed down the middle as people parted for a group of royal army soldiers. They were a little marching band and were hitting their drums as they approached. Dealana growled softly and grew more enraged at their actions with each passing second her friends were still trapped inside the lacrima.

While Dealana focused on the lacrima, she almost missed the sight of a disguised Edolas Dealana and Gajeel amongst the crowd. Edolas Gajeel was pointing towards the side of the plaza where there were much fewer guards.

"I see," Gajeel chuckled, impressed with his counterpart. He glanced at Dealana and they nodded to each other, "Well, here goes nothing."

"Let's save our friends," Dealana agreed before they both made their way down the tower and merged themselves within the crowd. The cheering grew louder as the priest-looking people raised their staffs to the lacrima. The ends began to glow a light blue color that spread across the rest of the lacrima.

Dealana and Gajeel attempted to get closer, but it was so crowded that they could barely move. They were both hoping the plan Gavin, Edolas Dealana and Lorna would work. They had even managed to get Edolas Gajeel in on the plan. Dealana and Gajeel had lost visual with the others and were just waiting for the signal.

All of a sudden, the painted crystal lacrima souvenirs that everyone had purchased from Lorna, glowed and sent out yellow and blue fireworks, courtesy of Earthland Dealana's magic that she was able to infuse inside. Edolas Gajeel, amongst the commotion, set of his own fireworks that spelled out the word 'NORTH'.

With matching smirks, Gajeel and Dealana moved forward with plan. Gajeel turned his face away from the soldiers so they wouldn't know it was him as he spoke in a slightly altered voice saying, "Soldiers! That must be some kind of a warning. We must protect the lacrima, I suspect that there is someone suspicious on the North side of the plaza."

"What?" One of the soldiers questioned.

"We've got to do something," another one said. "That's the rear side of the lacrima, we don't have many men positioned there."

"Keep your forces here and I'll take the others North," the first one decided. "Push the crowd back for their safety."

"Yes sir," he nodded before turning to address the crowd, "You heard the man, everyone please move back." As the crowd began to move back, worried about the commotion, only two didn't move; Gajeel and Dealana.

"Alright, it's about time for me to make my move," Gajeel grinned.

"Don't count me out, metal-head, I want a piece of the action," Dealana told him, the sound of electricity crackling along her arms proof of her excitement.

"Hey," one of the guards address the two. "Didn't you hear me? I said move back," the soldier repeated as Gajeel ripped off his cloak. Dealana didn't remove her hood but she definitely showcased her the lightning storms building around her arms. She couldn't channel the natural weather of Edolas seeing as the air and weather didn't hold really any magic energy, so she had to draw on the natural storms building and brewing within.

He and Dealana pushed forward, fists at the ready and charging for the now much fewer royal army soldiers. "That Mystogan guy may be one freaky weirdo, but I got no other choice but to trust him right now."

"Iron Dragon: Club!"

"Storm Dragon: Fury Claw!"

The duo swiped at the main soldiers before Dealana conjured a cloud to form a spring board that Gajeel used to launch himself into the air for his next move. "Iron Dragon: Sword!" His arm shifted into an iron sword and he used it to slash at the lacrima.

"Ain't no stopping me!" Gajeel said. Dealana grinned, taking a position to ward off any oncoming soldiers from getting to Gajeel while he worked on the lacrima. She wiped the floor with the other soldiers before a blinding light behind her caught her attention. She turned and watched in awe with Gajeel landing beside her to admire his handiwork.

"What the heck is going on?" Dealana asked resisting the urge to shield her eyes, "Don't tell me you did something to hurt our friends!"

"Hey! I didn't do anything aside from what that Mystogan freak told me too!" Gajeel defended himself before the light faded to reveal something they weren't quite expecting.

➵

Oof, this chapter was longer than others but still short compared to many an author. Either way, I enjoyed writing this one a lot. We get some Earthland and Edolas Dealana bonding time over Laxus' love for rock n' roll music, which I found rather entertaining. I'm also in love with Edolas Lorna and her opposite personality of being really sweet compared to her rather evil Earthland self, but I plan to have her be like Mirajane, where she ends up becoming sweet in the end.

This also means she can be paired with someone after the Tenrou timeskip. It could be like a side story kind of, but I'm not sure who to pair Earthland Lorna with, any ideas? (Lorna's sexuality is undetermined, and all ideas/preferences are welcome.)