A/N: Okay guys, who's ready for some serious magic?! I hope you are all fired up, cos I've got a fire in my belly!

Now that I've got the lame comedy routine out of the way... Just a few things before we get started. No, Natsu and Wendy are going to be the only Fairy Tail characters in this story- no one else gets to come along. This story will span the entire Inheritance Cycle, so this will likely take me a VERY long time to finish, but I promise regular- if slow- updates. The only reason I would go on a hiatus is if something came up like a family member dying. I have this story planned out from beginning to end, so I won't abandon you guys.

At one point, I thought that my story, the Red Swordsman, was going to be the last one that I would do on this site, but then I realized that I would miss hearing form all of you guys. So I'm here to stay! Enjoy this story, and as always, don't hesitate to leave a review or message me privately! I hope that I do your expectations and this story justice!

P.S. Be sure to check our my other crossovers, Star Sword and Fire Sword, as well as my other stories!

A Desperate Spell

The elf courier was cornered and her options were extremely limited. Her companions and their steeds were all dead, she had only a sword for a weapon, and her opponents numbered up to ten, including a Shade- a demon-possessed master of spirits. In fact, this very Shade was renowned for being the bringer of much pain to the elves as a race in particular. He was ruthless, brilliant, and completely relentless in carrying out his tasks assigned to him.

So she did the only thing she could think of, even knowing what the consequences would be. Raising the precious cargo she had been protecting for decades, she cried out in her native tongue, calling for the power that would grant her this last hope before she died. The Shade roared in another, darker language, charging straight at her, determined to stop her. But in the instant before he struck, the object she carried glowed brightly and disappeared with a loud bang and flash of light.

When it faded, she collapsed, much to his disgust and frustration. Searching her briefly, he found that the prize he sought was indeed gone. In his fury, he lashed out and killed his nine retainers, who all died with guttural screams as his lightning magic struck them down. As he threw the elf maiden over his horse, he vowed to himself that whomever found his prize would suffer at the hands the hands of the Ra'zac.

Many leagues away, a young boy was about to bring the past three days of hard work he had spent out in the woods to a close. He was almost sixteen, nearly a man by human standards. He was a handsome enough individual with dark, curly hair and brown eyes to match. A small nose was centered on his face, and under it was a mouth set in a thin line as he drew back an arrow on the powerful bow he carried.

In his sights were a small herd of deer. One in particular had a bad leg, and she was his target. It was a mix of mercy killing and practicality. She would be the slowest, easiest target, and it would put her out her misery before some wild animal made mincemeat out her.

Taking careful aim, Eragon checked his breath, slid the bow back to full draw, and released his arrow at the unsuspecting target.

Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer laughed as he waved good-bye to the parallel version of Fairy Tail. It hadn't been for very long, but he had definitely felt as though the Edolas guild was every bit as much his home as Earthland was. And even without its magic, he knew that their group would do just fine.

Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer, was smiling happily as she did the same, saying goodbye to all of her new friends and promising to keep them in her heart. Her gaze lingered on Jellal the longest, for he had been the one to help her move past the grief of Grendina's leaving. She would miss him dearly, but at least now she knew that he would never forget her, either. They would live on in each other's hearts, always, she knew.

Then the moment when they could no longer see Edolas came, and they were once again hurtling through the space between worlds. Wendy and Natsu looked up ahead to see that everyone else was already well on their way home. They both grinned to themselves, happy to be going home at last.

Then, a distortion. In the space between spaces, a new magic moved between the two dragon slayers, separating them from their friends. It looked like green fire that twisted into the form of a gate before them, and Wendy cried in surprise. "Natsu!" she cried. "What is that?!"

"Man, I dunno, but I hope it doesn't lead somewhere with weird magic again!" he shouted in response. "Cos that would really suck!" Before the frightened girl could manage to come up with a reply, an unidentifiable object shot in between them at the same instance that the gate before them opened. In the next instant, all three travelers passed through the new gate and on to the other side.

Eragon's arrow leapt from the bow, headed straight for the selected deer- only to be incinerated in an intense fire that made him flinch and duck for cover. Looking up, he realized that the deer were bolting, and he snarled a curse as he drew and fired another arrow at the wounded doe. His arrow missed and sped off into the darkness.

Cursing his bad luck, he drew another arrow and turned to look at the area where the flash of light and fire had come from. Looking around, he saw that there were several small fires that he might need to stamp out, but what caught his attention the most was what had appeared in the center of the blast radius.

It was a blue stone, surrounded by smoke as it lay in the forest floor. Intrigued, Eragon put away his arrow and knelt before the stone and touched it tentatively. To his surprise, he found that it was actually at night temperature, and completely unscathed by the fires around it. Debating with himself for a moment, he finally decided to take the rock with him- it might be worth something after all.

Just when he had stashed it away in his pack, he heard someone groan and he leapt to his feet, instantly alert. His eyes widened in surprise when a boy with bright pink hair wearing a large white scarf that looked to be made of some kind of leather stumbled out from behind a tree, swaying and looking a little pale. "Oh…" the boy groaned. "Hey, Wendy, do ya have anything that can cure dizziness?"

"I would, but I'm too dizzy to do anything right now," a little girl's voice said from behind the tree the boy was leaning on. "Sorry, Natsu."

"Ugh…I need some good fire right now," the boy mumbled as he looked up. "I'd- oh, hey there! Are you from Magnolia?" He asked this as he locked eyes with Eragon.

"Um…?" Eragon replied, a little nonplussed. "I'm not familiar with anyplace called Magnolia. The nearest place is my hometown, Carvahall, a day's journey from here. Perhaps you were lost? Though you really shouldn't be wandering around in the Spine this late at night- most people that do don't live to tell about it."

"Yeah?" the boy replied with a slightly feral grin. "Then what're you doin' out here so late? If it's that dangerous, shouldn't you be back at home? Or do you know magic?"

"M-Magic?" Eragon sputtered. "I should say not! I'm just a farm boy, and anyone that knows magic is always taken to the king!"

"Hunh?" the pink-haired boy said as he scratched his head. "Uh… Did we somehow get stuck in Edolas?" He started sniffing at the air, much to Eragon's bewilderment. Who was this boy, and what was he playing at?

"Hey, Natsu?" the female voice was back, this time accompanied by the owner, a young girl with long, dark blue hair tied into twin pigtails that fell down to her waist. "The air here doesn't taste like Edolas, but it doesn't taste like the air back home, either."

"Aw man!" the boy shouted angrily. He started yelling and punching at the air with both fists as he shouted, "Don't tell me we ended up in another whacky world with whacky magic rules, cos I's seriously gonna lose it and-!"

"Natsu, calm down!" the girl said as she grabbed one of his flailing arms. "Maybe we just ended up in another country or something. Does your magic still work here?"

"Huh? Oh, right," the boy said as he instantly calmed down, further adding to Eragon's confusion. Suddenly, his fist burst into fire, and he laughed delightedly, startling Eragon badly enough to fall backwards. "Haha!" the fame-wielder giggled. "Awesome! I still have my magic!"

"Wh-what are you?!" Eragon cried out in fear. "Are you spirits?!"

"Huh?" the two kids asked as they looked back at the cowering young man. "Oh, right," the pink-haired boy said as he doused the fire to reveal his hand completely unharmed. "Sorry about that- I'm Natsu Dragneel. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

"Yeah, sorry about that," the little girl said with a timid smile. "I'm Wendy Marvell. We're just looking for a way to get back to Fiore. I think we got lost…"

"F-Fiore?" Eragon stuttered, still in awe of Natsu. "I d-don't know of any place called Fiore. Please, don't hurt me, I know nothing!"

Natsu frowned and looked down at Wendy as he said, "Hey, you sure we didn't get stuck in Edolas somehow? This guy's goin' on about a king that steals magic, he doesn't know about Fiore, and he seems really scared of my magic power."

"No, I don't think so…" Wendy said with a slight grimace. "But… do you think…maybe we ended up in another world again?"

"Again?!" Natsu started shouting incoherently as he waved his fists around and ran in circles while Wendy tried to think.

"I wish Carla was here…" she mumbled. "But I think that she, Happy, and everybody else got ahead of us…" Looking around, she couldn't see any of her friends, nor did she smell them nearby.

"Aw man!" Natsu cried. "Now we gotta find Fairy Tail and our little buddies?! This place already sucks! Argh, I'm losin' it here!" His eye twitched, and a vein bulged on his forehead as he looked to the heavens and screamed, "Fire Dragon ROAR!" A great river of fire shot up out of his mouth and into the night sky, petrifying Eragon where lay in the dirt.

"Natsu, calm down!" Wendy begged. "You're just scaring that poor guy over there!"

"RRAAAA-agh?" Natsu suddenly stoped roaring and looked over at Eragon, who was pale and wide-eyed. "Oh, sorry about that, mister. I didn't mean to scare you or nothing."

"Wh-what- W-Who are you?" Eragon asked with a very dry throat.

"Huh?" Natsu grinned. "Like I said, I'm Natsu Dragneel, son of Agneel, Fire Dragon Slayer Wizard of Fairy Tail!"

"And I'm the Sky Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail!" Wendy added with her most charming smile. "Nice to meet you, mister… Uh…" She cocked her head at the boy, waiting for him to reply and give his name.

"D-dragon slayers?" he said, shivering with fear. "Y-you've killed dragons?"

"What?" Natsu frowned. "Are you kiddin' me? I haven't seen a dragon since the day Dad left! It's been a long time since any of us have seen dragons! Why, did you see one?"

"N-no," Eragon said with a shake of his head. "Th-there haven't been any dragons in A-Alagaesia in over a hundred y-years."

"Hunh?!" Natsu gasped. Then he started shouting again as he ran in a small circle while Wendy looked on, slightly exasperated at this point. "Seriously, did I age to be eighty-something and nobody told me?!" the Fire Dragon Slayer shouted angrily at the night sky. "Why doesn't anybody ever tell me these things?!"

Despite himself, Eragon looked over at Wendy, who sighed heavily as she waited for Natsu to run out of steam. "Is he always like this?" he asked tentatively.

"Pretty much, from what I can tell," Wendy sighed. "I haven't know him that long, and he's kind of a weirdo, but I'd trust him with my life again in an instant."

"Again?"

"It's a long story," Wendy sighed. "But then, he's going to take a while to calm down. Mind if I tell you about what happened to us?" When Eragon gave her a tentative nod, she sat down beside him and began to tell him the story of Fairy Tail.

It took Wendy nearly an hour to give a brief summary of their adventures to the young man in the dirt, because it turned out that once he got over his nervousness, he was very, very curious. He always had questions to ask, and in a way, Wendy wasn't sure which one would be more exhausting to talk to- Eragon or Natsu.

When Natsu had finally calmed down and Eragon had run out of questions, the farm boy said, "Well, I can at least offer you a guide back to my hometown. Although, my home is rather poor, so I can't offer you a place to stay when we get there."

"Ah, that's okay," Natsu grinned. "We're used to roughing it in the wild anyways. Thanks for the help!" Wendy added her own thanks, and Eragon shook hands with them both.

"We'll have to set up camp here for the night, but we can head home tomorrow morning," Eragon said as he unpacked his bedroll. "Is there any way that we can get a fire going? Nights in the Spine can get quite cold."

Natsu grinned wider and said, "If you got wood, I can light it up. Just tell me how hot you want it."

"Oh, right," Eragon said as he scratched his head. "Er… Well, using magic in here is alright, I suppose, but when we get to Carvahall you should likely try to keep that to yourselves. Many people would likely become frightened of you and assume that you were spawned from the forest itself."

"We will, don't worry," Wendy replied. "The last thing we want is to cause any trouble."

Thanks to Natsu, even with Wendy being the only one with a blanket upon Eragon's insistence, the group slept warmly enough through the night with the fire he provided. When he first awoke, Eragon wondered if the whole thing had been a dream. Then he saw Wendy sleeping peacefully and Natsu snoring loudly, and he shook his head to clear it. No, they were still there.

Sighing to himself, he proceeded to rouse Wendy from her sleep. The little girl yawned and stretched as she arose from the realm of dreams. Eragon then moved to wake up Natsu, shaking him a little more roughly than he had Wendy. The male dragon slayer's reaction to being woken up was quite a bit more dramatic than his companion's had been.

One moment, Eragon was shaking Natsu by the shoulder. The next, Natsu fist smashed into his face on reflex- fortunately without the fire. Even so, the blow was solid enough to send Eragon flying backwards a couple of feet and leaving a solid bruise on his face. A stream of curses flew from his mouth, bringing Wendy to full awareness.

She gasped and moved to Eragon's side, saying, "I'm so sorry! I should have warned you about how he does that!"

"You think?" Eragon groaned.

"Hang on, let me heal you," Wendy said as she placed a hand over the large purple welt. A soft blue glow emanated from her hand, and Eragon immediately felt the pain melt away as though it had never been there. Reaching up, he touched his cheek just to be sure, and found the skin completely unmarked.

He thanked Wendy just as Natsu sat up with a big smile on his face. "Man, that was an awesome dream!" he crowed. "I totally kicked Gray's butt!"

"Actually, Natsu, you ended up hitting Eragon," Wendy said, exasperated.

"Huh?" the Fire Dragon Slayer said as he looked at Eragon, who glared at him in return. "He looks fine, so I guess I didn't hit him that hard."

"Actually, you- Ugh, never mind," Wendy sighed. Looking up at Eragon, who was gathering his things, she said, "I guess we had better start walking, huh?"

"Aye," Eragon nodded. "When we get into town, you might want to talk to Brom. He's an old storyteller that moved here some years ago, and he would likely know the answers to any questions you might have."

"Cool!" Natsu grinned. "Maybe he's like this world's version of Gramps, huh Wendy?"

"Yeah, maybe" the girl smiled as she stood up. "I hope so. We never really got to meet the other version of Master Makarov in Edolas, so that would be cool if we could meet him here. I just hope that he's not super weird like some of the Edolas Fairy Tail members." Natsu thought about mentioning his thoughts about who Makarov might have been in Edolas, but he decided against it. There were more important things to think about right now- like food.

They spent the journey to Eragon's home talking about Fiore and Fairy Tail, as Eragon had many questions, much to Wendy's surprise. It seemed like there was no end to his curiosity. By the time they had finished telling him about their childhoods as the adopted children of dragons, they had reached the outskirts of Carvahall.

"Now remember," he said as they started to walk between some houses. "Don't use any magic while you're here. And you might want to keep your stories to yourself- many people would disregard them. To be honest, I would not believe it myself, save for how I saw you use magic with my own eyes."

"So what should we tell people?" Wendy asked, while Natsu sulked, obviously unhappy about having to hide his heritage.

"Just tell anyone who asks you that you're a brother and sister that are travelling to Theirnsford- a nearby city- to visit relatives, and you need a place to stay for a few nights," he replied. "I'm not sure what we'll do after that, but I'll figure something out for you two, at least until you can talk to Brom."

"Thanks, man," Natsu replied. "We'll pay ya back for this, I promise." He reached out his hand, and Eragon shook it firmly. The two young men shared in a smile of promise- the first of many.

"Now then, I need to see if that stone I found is worth enough to buy any meat since I didn't bag any on my trip," Eragon said. "If you'd like to come with me before I take you to Brom's, I won't take too long."

"Sure," Natsu grinned. "If you buy the dinner, maybe I can cook it for ya."

"Natsu, we're not supposed to use our magic, remember?" Wendy said in a lowered tone as an older couple passed them by in the streets, staring at Natsu and Wendy.

"Aw man," Natsu whined. "In Edolas, I couldn't use my magic, and here I can, but I'm not allowed to?! This sucks!" Wendy just sighed and pulled the pouting young man by the arm after Eragon, who had simply rolled his eyes and started walking towards a butcher shop.

"A word of warning before we go in," Eragon said, struck by a sudden thought. In a lowered tone, he said to the dragon slayers, "The man who owns this shop is not exactly the kindest of individuals. Just let me do the talking, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu muttered. "No magic, no talking, no food…" He muttered more under his breath, but Eragon ignored him as Wendy simply nodded in agreement.

"Right then," he muttered. "Let's get this over with." And he pushed the door open to the butcher Sloan's shop.

Lucy: Hey! How come we're not a part of this story?! We're part of Fairy Tail, too! I was even in before Wendy! What's she got that I don't?!

Gray: What're you gettin' so worked up about? Chill out, it's not like this'll affect your actual career.

Lucy: I know, but I'm worried about Natsu and Wendy! Are they gonna be okay?!

Gray: Heh, don't worry about 'em. If we know anything, it's that Natsu always breaks trouble before it breaks him.

Lucy: True... Oh well, I guess we'll just have to watch from the sidelines for this one, huh?

Gray: Unless you know how to cast Anima, I don't think we're getting in on the action this time, no.

Lucy: Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants! Let's see you come up with a better idea!

Gray: Why should I? I'm not the writer here. Take it up with Mataras.

Lucy: Oh, I will. And when I catch up with him, I'm gonna show him what my spirits got!

Mataras: Oh, really? You wanna tangle with the one that controls everything you're doing here?

Lucy: AAAAAHHH! Uh... You heard all that?

Mataras: I wrote all that. And I think it's time to bring it to a wrap, too. We'll pick this up next time, little missy. See how you stand up to my Dragon Keeper abilities, then.

Lucy: Heh heh... You're kidding... right?