Author's Note: I do not own Fairy Tail. All credit goes to Hiro Mashima for the incredibleness. (This will remain true for every continuous chapter).

I am totally open to suggestions on this story, so if you have one, feel free to leave it in the comments. (I have already got some inspo- thanks guys).

Note to those who have followed and are looking for an update: I am still writing this guys! I tend to fall into waves between my fandom obsessions. FT left it for some time... Which caused my large gap. This is my only large fic so I'm getting used to trying to write this much.

I have edited the first and second chapter. (The second half of the second chapter is new content). Hopefully 3rd chappy will be coming out sooner rather than later.

FT

The broad hallway was silent except for the consistent sound of footsteps: one pair heavy and commanding that echoed off of the walls while the other was softer and accompanied by the sound of clanking gauntlets as Erza Knightwalker followed only a few steps behind King Jellal. As she walked she pondered how else to expand the military without magic. Edolas needed to continue to prosper, and that would be hard to do without a better than sufficient military.

It had taken a while to get used to without magical items, but their kingdom was finally stable in its everyday life. Erza knew (although she hated) that the kingdom owed a certain former magic guild for their prosperity. Fairy Tail, after the loss of the magic, had taken themselves to the city to help out. They rebuilt buildings and helped to repair damaged items. Families were found and regathered. Fairy Tail's days of hiding were over, and Jellal had pardoned them in exchange for their service.

Erza felt that it was slightly unfair- they had broken the law and were getting away with it with only a few scratches. Sir Faust had been exiled from his own kingdom; the rest of the military advisors and captains had been stripped of their positions. This included Erza herself. At the time of the announcement of her punishment, she had thought that she would have rather died than been humiliated at the submission to physical public labor. It had taken hours and hours of labor to put the city back together. However, the work seemed to strengthen the trust between the kingdom and people when they saw their commanders doing the same work that they were. Erza reflected that this was the kind of thing that the kingdom needed, and that was how Erza Knightwalker found herself as the Royal Army Captain of the 1st War Division (no longer the Magic War Division). After hours and hours of training after the work, Erza could finally say that she once again prided herself on her power. Her newer abilities in combat made up for her loss of the Ten Commandments magical spear. Being an advisor and guard of Edolas' king, Erza made sure that she would always be prepared for anything. In fact, she prided herself on this fact, and so when Knightwalker briefly glanced over to her left where a large, floor length, golden-rimmed mirror stood in the hallway she was surprised by the image that greeted her.

Though it took only a fraction of a second Knightwalker quickly realized that there was no mirror- the reflection staring back at her was Erza Scarlet, of Earth Land Fairy Tail. Erza would recognize her own face at any time, and the flowing tresses of Scarlet were unique to only herself and her counterpart. And while they may have parted on decent terms before the Earth Land Fairy Tail was sucked up through the anima, she reacted instinctively, drawing her now magicless spear. Her ears heard the metal slice through the air, and in a mere second the tip was pressed against Scarlet's neck. Erza also happened to pride herself on her precision of her weapon, for the blade moved quick enough to barely be seen and yet it stopped right where pale skin was. If the other woman were to so much as move her neck, blood would be drawn.

And so she was once again taken by surprise when she felt the slight sting of a paper thin line cut against her own neck. Scarlet had drawn a sword with just as quick- if not faster -reflexes. And it wasn't just her because Erza Knightwalker could see the dozen or so Fairy Tail counterparts standing at the ready. Her mind rapidly raced through what had happened, and what she needed to do. In seconds, her arm had sufficiently pushed King Jellal behind her while steadily gazing into the eyes of Scarlet. Task 1: Protect the King, check. Task 2: Figure out what the hell was going on. And that one was going to take quite a bit longer.

FT

"Arghh…" Natsu groaned aloud. His body ached. He could feel the blood rushing through his brain, giving him a rather annoying headache. Natsu was sure that all of the magic in his body must be entirely gone. It was almost as if he had fought a dragon. Wait! Natsu's memory cleared quickly: he had fought a dragon. He and the rest of his nakama were just about to be obliterated and were facing imminent death had it not been for some kind of spell that Mavis (the first master of Fairy Tail) had cast. Natsu wasn't exactly sure what kind of spell it was, but it obviously worked. The ground was hard beneath him, not letting up on the injured mage. Natsu may have gained a cut here and there, and maybe some bruises, but he still wasn't going down without a fight. He pulled himself to his feet and got ready to throw a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist at the enemy. If the dragon was anything like Natsu, no matter the spell that Mavis had cast, he wouldn't quite until he felt total defeat. Natsu knew this from the many occasions of fighting those around him- namely Gildarts and Erza. They never let him win.

But while Natsu was getting fired up to fight the enemy on the behalf of his guild, he found that there was none. Not only had the dragon (whose name Natsu had already forgotten) disappeared, but Natsu couldn't sense the menacing presence. This made his headache worsen. They had been fighting- and the main guy just up and left! Sure, Natsu was worried about actually not being able to beat the dragon, but he also didn't like winning just on the pretense of his opponent going away.

"You coward!" He yelled into the sky instead.

A familiar groan, "Uuugh…", and Natsu was instead glancing around for his friends.

He spotted blonde hair first, laying face first in the dirt next to him. Lucy. Not only her, but Natsu saw all of his friends laying in a vague circle. Happy, Natsu noticed, was still holding Carla's hand. Smiling, Natsu decided to sit and wait for his friends to awaken.

That is, until he got impatient and tired of doing nothing.

"Oi, Lucy, the dragon's gone." He got a grumble in reply after gently shaking her shoulder. And so, after deciding to not try and wake up Erza, moved onto Gray.

"What? Do you need your beauty sleep Ice Princess? Get up." Natsu was getting quite bored with the minimal responses. Sighing, he sat back down. Maybe his nakama just needed more time.

And they did, for soon enough one by one, the mages present on Tenrou when Acnologia attacked them were gathered in a loose circle. Most of them were next to those whom they had been when they cast Fairy Sphere, and Gray was being smothered by a certain water mage.

"Juvia is so happy that Gray-sama is alright!"

Happy was happily chewing on a fish in front of Carla, for his worries had seemingly already disappeared when he found the scaly food in his green bag.

"Carla, would you like some?"

"No."

Gramps, however, did not seem to be in the same state. There was a deep frown on his face, and it only brought down the mood of his 'brats'.

"You stupid kids…" Natsu could hear Makarov muttering just underneath his breath. Really, Natsu believed that they weren't that stupid. How could he think that they would just abandon him, their Master? Jii-chan shouldn't have thought that he alone could could beat the dragon king. It wasn't much of a surprise to Natsu that his nakama wouldn't abandon their Master.

Instead of bringing it up though, Natsu looked around at their surroundings. Other than the gentle breeze and soft sun on their faces, the island appeared devoid of life. No birds could be seen flying through the air, and even Natsu's enhanced dragon slayer hearing couldn't pick up any sound of movement in the nearby brush.

"Oi, what happened to the dragon?" he decided to ask his earlier question. Despite being beat up, the mages were still alive and there was no black and blue creature hovering over the island trying to kill them. He had learned that sometimes fear was necessary earlier on their time at Tenrou, and he couldn't explain the inexplicable terror at losing his friends at the hands of a monster like Acnologia. Now though, they were all alright, and Natsu wanted to know where their enemy had gone.

"The hell would I know Flame Brain?"

The other mages glanced around, as if one of them would hold the answer.

However, upon receiving no other reply, Natsu's brain, which couldn't handle such serious topics for so long, moved onto food.

He was ready to go home and eat some of Mira's tasty fire chicken, and so the S-class trial was forgotten. He knew that technically, no one had made it. Did that mean they would have to go at it again? If he fought Erza he was going to give it his all, even if tired out.

Natsu, although hungry and depleted in magic, wasn't about to back down from a taunt by his rival. Ever. "You wanna go, Ice Princess?"

"Oi, maybe you really do have only fire up in your head- I literally just said that!"

Natsu wasn't exactly sure what was coming out of his mouth by now. His fights with Gray were so common and routine that the insults were kind of becoming repetitive. He was sure that he heard 'Droopy-eyes', 'Pervy Popsicle', and 'Ash for brains' at least once during their bickering. Their argument was only shut up before a punch could be thrown by a glare from Erza that clearly threatened, any more and I'll kill you both.

She, along with the rest of their group, were pondering what to do next.

Natsu supposed that there was a real problem that he and his nakama were facing. He internally admitted that they did need to leave the island, though he would never voice this aloud and make it seem like the stripper was right. That Ice Bastard could never be right, and Natsu was never, ever going to admit it.

"Alright!" he shouted jumping to his feet, before grabbing Lucy's wrist, and forcibly dragging her along with him in a random direction. They were on a island after all, and they had to come across the shore sometime. "Come on, Happy!"

A cheerful "Aye, Sir!" was heard before Natsu was off and into the foliage around the clearing. A tree branch rustled as the rest of the unofficial Team Tenrou stared after the original three of Team Natsu, who were quickly disappearing from sight with Happy walking after Natsu and Lucy. Erza was the first to respond, instantly requipping a sword into her hand and into her everyday armor. She froze, however, when the blade did not appear. The metal breastplate and gloves didn't either. Hmm. It appeared that her magic power was not yet replenished. Erza decided to go after the idiot anyways, and started in a brisk pace after Natsu, even without her sword. She had started tromping through the undergrowth when Levy, who was holding Panther Lily, also decided to follow after the three. It was more likely that she was heading after Lucy than Natsu and his exceed. Erza could hear the rest of Fairy Tail gather themselves up to return to shore.

It was the general consensus that it was easier to just follow Natsu than drag him off another way.

Erza sighed. She realized soon after leaving the main group that Natsu had chosen the very opposite direction of which would lead them to the ship fastest. Based off her own navigational skills, they really should make a 168 degree turn-around and head the other way. This was going to be a long walk. Really, Natsu was such a big idiot sometimes, but Erza loved her nakama.

Instead, the mage simply decided to enjoy the walk. She had needed to gain more energy at any rate, and taking time to calm herself (while simultaneously watching ahead for Natsu) would probably do her good. By Erza's estimation, she should be able to requip within the next few hours. It was longer than normal, but she supposed that using Fairy Sphere must have entirely drained them all. If it got rid of Acnologia though, it was certainly worth it.

Erza did notice however, the clear lack of any other life. There were no insects buzzing about, swarming her face. There were no birds flying overhead, or any bird calls to be heard for that matter. The silence, while much preferred over the roar of a dragon, was disconcerting. Even on an island there should be more noise than this.

Thus Erza didn't hear the crash of waves against the island when they arrived at its edge. Because there was no ocean. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were standing motionless. A vast desert lay stretched before them, and not a drop of water was in sight, and the mages could not possibly be in Fiore any more.

While the sun was present before, much of its intensity was blocked by tree branches and the like. Now, the strong rays of midday sunlight beat down on them immediately, and Erza could feel the dryness of the air as she breathed it in. There was no hint of salt in the atmosphere that would come with an ocean.

"Where in Mavis's name are we?" Lucy asked rhetorically, still not believing how the sacred island had ended up in the middle of a giant sand pit. She had also been ready to return to the guild hall, yet it appeared that they would not end up there anytime soon. Everyone wanted to get home. They were tired, and many of them were injured. She could feel the waves of heat in the air.

Lucy was stirred from her shock when the pink haired boy beside her dashed off into the large hills of golden sand. She could feel the heat radiating off of the ground, and in the distance the horizon was hazy.

"Alright! The sea's gone, so we can just walk home, ne Happy?"

"Aye Sir!"

She groaned in frustration. Sometimes, Natsu could be really dense. By the time the rest of Fairy Tail was gathered, Natsu and Happy had already ran across a few meters.

"Oi! Flame Head, the sea isn't gone. We're in the middle of a bunch of piles of sand. You can't just walk home," Gray beat her to calling out to Natsu.

There really wasn't anything but sand before them. Whereas on the island trees and bushes grew fruitfully, Lucy couldn't even see a cactus in the vast expanse. The desert was an endless sea stretched out for miles. She squinted. Was there something? It appeared that there might be extremely large buildings far off to the left of where the guild was standing. From Lucy's current standpoint, they barely disturbed the straight line that separated sky from sand.

"Minna!" she called out, "I think we should head that way!" Lucy pointed in the direction of the buildings.

"Yay, go Lu-chan!" Lucy head Levy say in support of her discovery.

Erza cooly agreed. "Yes, I suppose that we should head that way. Good job Lucy."

While the rest of the members murmured their agreement or started to slowly head out, Natsu had challenged Gray to see who could arrive first. They were both sprinting as fast as they could, not looking back, and shouting insults at each other. The sand rose behind them slightly as their feet disrupted the hills.

Makarov stood with his arms crossed. "Those two idiots!"

"Gi hee hee."

Their Master watched as the group slowly filed out, forming into smaller groups as they continued their journey to find out where they were. Makarov himself was puzzled by how their island had appeared somewhere else, but he wasn't about to let that distract him. He had his children to look out for, after all. Such things as disappearing oceans was trivial when he had such other pressing duties. And boy, did his brats give him duties to attend to. And so, Makarov moved out with the rest of his family onto the dry land.

Glancing around, he noted how the Raijin Tribe instantly gathered around Laxus. They must be very glad to see him. Makarov wasn't too sure about having the mage back around the guild members (he had been exiled, and he still was), but nonetheless he was glad to see his grandson alive and well. No matter what had happened, Fairy Tail was a family, and through hard times and good that was what they would remain. He couldn't just welcome the boy back with open arms (that would look bad) but he let his mouth curl up at the sight of Laxus' return.

Gildarts and Cana had fallen in line as well. Makarov was glad to see that they were finally aware of their ties: Cana had needed to let Gildarts know that he was her father. It had put such a heavy weight on her shoulders, and Makarov was glad that some more relations could be made and healed. Maybe the older man was willing to stay a while longer with the new discovery.

He watched as Cana smiled- truly smiled- at her father, and it brought happiness to his heart. And he knew that while she was complaining about him becoming a doting parent, Cana was actually very relieved to have him recognize her in his life. Makarov had high hopes for the two's future bond, even as she shoved him a little based on some comment.

He also observed with a small snicker that two bodies were lying on the sand, exhausted farther up in their pathway. Natsu and Gray had simply fell with the sun's extreme heat and no water. He wasn't the only one to notice though. Juvia had, upon seeing her beloved Gray-sama fall, trotted ahead (while simultaneously picking up his discarded clothing) to see if he wanted to 'drink some of Juvia'.

The girls of Team Natsu were walking along with the Strauss siblings, talking about the S-class trial. Would it continue? Would the Master pick a new S-class mage from just what happened?

Makarov sighed. He wasn't really sure what to do. Sure, they had shown potential, but with the trial not over and the island in some new land, he wasn't sure if the mages would have a chance to finish the promotional tests.

His brats really were something. They survive a dragon attack, only to gossip about who he would choose to become S-class! And this heat was seriously getting to him. Makarov wasn't actually sure about what he was going to do. Obviously they had larger problems to deal with, so he decided to just leave the S-class promotional trial be. Once again, his guid gave him so many other things to think about- like what trouble they might get into with the Magic council for making the ocean go away.

The distant buildings seemed to get no closer as the hours wore on, and the Master made the executive decision to stop for the night. The sun wasn't even setting yet, but everyone was still tired from using all of their magic power earlier, and he knew that walking for a long period of time would exhaust all of them (himself included). Juvia especially appeared to be feeling the heat. Of course, this made sense as she was a water mage; the sun wouldn't simply just shine down on her, but slowly take her energy with it.

"Alright brats, we'll stop here for the night. Let's see what food and shelter we can find."

Within a few moments, everyone was off looking for various types of edible plants and small game.

"Yoshi! Let's go, Happy!" Natsu said as he started to walk off, probably to find some poor animal to roast with his fire.

Wendy wasn't really sure what she was looking for. A mushroom, perhaps? Even if she was sure, she wouldn't have been able to find much. She looked around her, scouring the ground. Sand. A small piece of cardboard. Sand. What was now a wilted and dead bush. Sand. A few grains of sand, surrounded by more sand. Nothing was really out here. She sighed in defeat, and looked over to her best friend.

"Carla, can you find anything?"

"Now Wendy, we are in a desert. There is nothing to find. I could have told you that," the mother figure of a cat told her, impatiently.

"Okay."

And so Wendy simply started heading back to where Jii-chan had sat down.

Sometimes Carla was harsh on Wendy, but she knew that the exceed only had her best wishes at heart. She scooped up the white cat and sat down with their Jii-chan.

"Gomen, Master." Wendy said as she got back, "I couldn't find anything…"

Makarov was watching as the other mages came back, all appearing with nothing to show for their efforts.

"There's really nothing out here." Bickslow commented.

Wendy saw Natsu and Happy returning as well. They had apparently found a couple of driftwood pieces.

"Jii-chan! Look what we found!" Happy was walking next to the fire mage, also carrying some wood. It looked like they would have a fire to keep warm tonight.

When Natsu tried to start a fire from his own hand to light the wood however, nothing happened. He gave a frustrated sigh, before trying again. "Oi, my magic should have been replenished by now…"

It took another attempt before Erza nodded understandingly. "My requip has been unable to recover. Can anyone else use their magic?"

"Open, Gate of the Scorpion. Scorpio!"

"Ice Make: Sword!"

"Animal Soul: Cat!"

No celestial spirits appeared. No sword was found in Gray's hand. Lisanna remained unchanged in her human form.

Erza looked deep in thought, before her eyes widened slightly. "None of us can use our magic, even though it should have been long regained. There has ever only been one place where we couldn't, and our environment seems to be largely changed…"

She was met with silence, before Natsu called out loudly, "Yeah! We're back in Edolas! I'm sure I could beat you this time, Mystogan!"

"Juvia will get to meet Gray-sama in love with Juvia?! Jubin!"

FT

After Juvia passed out, the mages sat around a small glowing fire (that was started the old fashioned way- using sticks), to discuss their whereabouts. The smaller flame wasn't enough to really heat up the occupants around it, but at the very least they had a decent light source. It flickered with the small changes of the wind, and Lucy enjoyed breathing in the scent of smoke. Erza had already stopped Natsu from eating the flame, as it had taken some time to get it to light anyways.

"So this is Edolas?" their Master mused aloud, glancing around them. "I figured it would be less… empty."

Lucy responded to his comment. "It's a lot more populated once we reach Royal City. It must be the cluster of buildings that we've been heading to. I wonder if Mystogan still has those x-balls. It'd be useful to be able to use our magic here." She was already looking forward to seeing the members of Edo-Fairy Tail, and especially Lucy Ashley. Maybe they could play the 'Guess which one is Lucy Heartfilia' game again with Gemini. Only not in a bathrobe.

"No," said Erza with a shake of her head, "Even if he did, we would not be able to use our magic. All of it is out of Edolas, and we would not be able to find any lacrima either."

Lucy hadn't really thought of the occurrence in which she wouldn't be able to summon her friends. She didn't want to have to be apart from them for Mavis knows how long, but Lucy supposed that she couldn't really do anything about it.

"Hey, let's share stories about this Fairy Tail!" Mira suggested, to bring the mood up. One person in particular perked up at that, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Well, we already have a little, but it might be a good refresher since we're here," Lisanna laughed before continuing. "Natsu the Fireball is totally quiet and meek- unless he's in his car."

"Oh yeah! I can't believe the other me loves transportation." Natsu, upon stating that word, gave a sickly gulp, as if the mere mention was enough to make him sick.

Shaking his head, he said, "Natsu the Fireball is pretty awesome though. He sticks with his friends, with or without his car."

Natus continued on, "Lucy's real fierce. She enjoys picking on other-me, and she and Levy are always arguing."

At this, Lucy looked over to Levy, sharing a smile. Levy hadn't seen the two arguing about how fast Levy could get them to transport. Lucy remembered her counterpart, Lucy Ashley, doing all of those things. That girl was seriously aggressive.

"Gi hee. The other me's a writer. We're both great at music though."

Silence. (The collective thoughts: We certainly hope he is. Two musically inclined Gajeels would be trouble.)

The conversation was continued by Happy. "Aye! And Wendy's all grown up."

Wendy sweatdropped. "Yeah…" The taller, confident version of herself made Wendy sometimes feel like she had rather high standards.

Natsu, upon seeing something wrong in the dragon slayer's look, gave her a questioning look.

Wendy shook her head, and she gave him a smile. She didn't need to feel like she had something to aim for- Fairy Tail had taught her that all she needed to be was herself.

Smiles were passed around the guild at the memories of the people and the memories of the stories of the people of Fairy Tail.

Juvia was still passed out on the sand next to Gray, so she didn't hear his words. "Pft. I can't believe that it's the other way around here."

Lisanna was steadily becoming more and more excited. She would get to see all of her Edolas friends that she had made in that two years' time! "Yup! Gray Surge is helplessly in love with Juvia, and he's always cold! He has to wear at least eight layers before he's even moderately warm."

Lisanna, chirping about her friends, continued, "Cana, you might not like yourself. She hasn't had a drop of alcohol in her life, and she's a proper lady who loves her tea parties."

"What?!" Cana was already missing her booze. She didn't want a reminder of how this desert provided her with none. Her transport flasks were already running low.

Gildarts laughed. "I'd like to see the day my daughter doesn't have one drop in a span of an hour!"

Laughter circled around the fire, and it almost felt like the mages were home again in the guild hall. They continued to share stories of Edo-Fairy Tail (mainly from their short-term member, Lisanna) long into the night, forgetting about their worries in the love of their friendship. They shared their excitement of seeing the parallel guild and Mystogan. None of the mages were willing to ask themselves or each other the real questions. What was happening in their own world? Why were they even there in the first place? And most importantly, could they even make it home?