Chapter Thirty Seven - The Aftermath of Edolas

The adventure in Edolas had taken less time than I had expected, if I were to speak frankly. Konata had said it took naught but a few days in canon, and here, it took barely one. In my memory, the events loomed so much larger. It must have gone on for many issues, but like any shonen, it had its tendency to spend a great amount of time in the real world, to cover a thin amount of time in the story.

In any case, our adventure concluded by effectively pulling off Jellal/Mystogan's originally planned deception - turning the anima backwards and then playing the role of the villains before being "banished" by Jellal to entrench his position as the new ruler. Their previous king was put in a prison cell, which was fitting, as he was quite the asshole.

I assumed, anyway. Certainly, my counterpart in that universe seemed to believe it was better that he rot in a cell than be allowed to continue ruling the world.

The other side of that, however, was that the Exceeds were dragged across dimensions right alongside us, being deposited shortly outside Magnolia along with the rest of us. Carla was the first to confront them. "You..." she pointed at the one that was clearly the queen, gauging by her choice of clothing. She hadn't stopped being so ridiculously overdressed, so she looked much taller than she actually was. (She was the same height as every other Exceed.) "You have to leave here," she said, sharply. "You sent Happy and me here to kill the Dragon Slayers!" She declared, a sharp note to her voice.

"I..." the older Exceed began, then sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. That's not the truth."

"Then what is the truth? I remember the orders you gave me, even before I was born into this world!" Carla made a cutting motion with her hand.

"Those orders were a lie," the queen admitted. There was a cacophony of gasps in the audience. "I don't think... we Exceeds need a queen any longer," she said, taking off the crown. "The truth," she began, her voice growing louder, to make sure that everyone present could hear her. "The truth is that I have the power of foresight - I can see into the future, though it isn't always clear. We used it to convince the humans that I was a goddess. We hoped that it would keep them at bay, and it worked. But we could hardly tell every Exceed the truth," she explained. "There were no orders."

"I remember hearing about them," one of the crowd of Exceeds said, looking at Shagotte in disbelief. "You said that was why you spent our sons and daughters over to this world in their eggs!" He seemed offended by the idea of the lie. "To take care of the dragon slayers, to keep Edolas safe! Not that it did much good!"

"I know. That too, was a lie. We had no ability to tell an infant, swaddled in its egg, a command. We sent them here because I saw the floating islands, our homes, collapse down towards the solid ground. I had thought it was because the humans attacked us, so we sent our children away, to keep them safe. But, to tell everyone, would be to tell the humans..." she trailed off, then let out a small, self-deprecating laugh. "I am sorry, to all of you. You are all earnest, good people. We denied you time with your children, because we misunderstood the future I saw."

"Yeah," Konata said. Everybody turned to look at her. "What? Everything she's saying is the truth. Also the elders actually were running things. But hey, everybody's alive, and safe, so you all can hang out and have a good time here in Earthland."

"No!" Carla shouted. "I remember the orders! We were given them!"

Konata shook her head. "You've got the same magic ESP ability as your mom. You saw the lies she told the Exceeds back in Extalia, and the kingdom's other nonsense, so you thought those were your real orders. Don't worry about it, you never acted on them or anything. Totally harmless mistake."

"My... mom?" Carla asked, her expression shifting.

"Oh yeah. The queen's your mom," Konata explained. "Tada!" She waved her hands in the air in a very unimpressive manner to emphasize that statement.

Shagotte had by this point chosen to focus in on Konata, her expression sharp and curious. "How do you know all this, child?"

"Magic," Konata replied lazily. For a moment, everybody just stared at Konata. "What? I'm a wizard! I can do all kinds of things, like turn into a sword!" She emphasized the point by turning into a sword, promptly clattering down onto the ground. If anything, the audience became less impressed at her now. Shagotte maintained that ferocious inquisitiveness, stepping forward to inspect the sword - and Konata promptly turned back to normal before she could be touched, just lying there on her back. "Hey, only Erza can handle me like that," Konata said. "Or Lee."

"I can vouch for Konata's own powers of foresight," Erza declared, her voice serious. "I do not know the cause, but I know that she has only ever used this power for good!"

"Thanks, Erza," Konata said, yawning and stretching before lazing against the cool grass. "Look, the Exceeds need to set up a little village to live in, so they should probably get to that sooner rather than later," she said, with a lazy note to her voice that suggested she had no interest in helping. So little interest in helping, in fact, that it warped back around to make you really want to force her to help.

The former queen considered the lazy body of Konata for a long couple moments, then simply shook her head. She turned back to Carla, and her people. "The girl is right. We need a place to live, while we search for..." she trailed off, her gaze briefly flicking over to her own daughter, then shook her head. "I'm sorry. I have grown far too accustomed to being your queen. I don't deserve that title... I have deceived you all for so long, and cost you your own children..." She let out a soft sigh, bowing her head.

"That's not true," one of the Exceeds said. "What you did - you did for all of our sakes. You gave your own daughter up, too!"

"I... don't even deserve to be called a mother," Shagotte said, her expression distant and dismal. "I'm sorry, Carla. I'm sorry, Happy. I'm sorry, to the other ninety-eight children, abandoned in this world..." She started to cry, at that point - and then several of the Exceeds stepped forward, wrapping her in a hug.

They wound up setting up their little village with her as queen, still.

* * *

Natsu thought that that whole adventure was over way too fast! Plus, he didn't even get to fight Mirror Erza! He totally could have beaten her, if he'd gotten the chance. Still, it was cool, meeting Mirror Erza, and Mirror Lee, and the other things they'd done in that other world. It was also cool knowing that Happy had a whole bunch of talking cats just like him! He wondered which ones were Happy's parents, as he looked over the mass of Exceeds, as they bartered and debated about land and buildings and everything else. By the look on Happy's face, he was asking himself much the same question.

He heard some footsteps rapidly rushing towards him, and turned his gaze to see who it was. His brain stuttered as he saw the white-haired girl in question. His mouth just fell open as he stared blankly at her. It looked like Lisanna, but she was dead. Was this Mirror Lisanna?

"Natsu!" Lisanna called out, her voice loud as she rushed right at him, tackling him to the ground in a forceful hug. Tears were coming out of the corners of her eyes as she loomed over him, pressing him down aganist the ground with her weight. "I never thought... I'd see my Natsu again," she said, as she stared down at him, her lip trembling, her eyes wet.

"Li... Lisanna?" Natsu asked.

She just twisted away to grab Happy, squeezing him tight. "Happy!" There wasn't a Mirror Universe Happy. Or, there was, and it was his Happy. Was this... their Lisanna? But she was dead, wasn't she?

"Gray! Erza!" Lisanna said, looking up to see the people who had begun to gather around the scene she was making. "Oh, and these must be new Guild members! I recognize Lucy and Lee! Wow, he's in our guild in this universe?" She asked. "That's... young Wendy, and I don't know who the other blue-haired girl is."

"Konata," Konata replied.

"Konata! Nice to meet you!"

"Now hold on just a second," Erza said, raising one hand to the air. "You died two years ago."

"Nah," Konata said, before Lisanna could say anything. "She got sucked up by an anima two years ago and replaced that universe's dead Lisanna. Then she had to hang around until the anima got reversed and she got sucked over here."

"Anima... reversed?" Lisanna asked.

"Oh yeah! We had to play the villains to make sure there was peace in Edolas!" Natsu declared, feeling a bit pumped up remembering it. He had been an evil dragon slayer who maniacally laughed as he fought with the Prince. It was pretty fun.

"I was... just at the Guild hall, when everything went wrong," Lisanna said, frowning.

"Oh, right. Yeah. We kinda bypassed that whole arc," Konata said, which was just confusing, but lots of stuff she said was confusing. "Oh! You should go see your brother and sister, they definitely miss you, and stuff," Konata added.

Lisanna's expression suddenly sharpened with the reminder. "Where are they?" She demanded, rushing off the moment she had an idea of where they were.

The rest of them followed after. Obviously, Natsu wasn't going to abandon his friend, after having been reunited with her for the first time in years, having thought she was dead...

The tearful reunion with her brother and sister was something that brought a smile to Natsu's lips - and to Erza, Lee, Wendy, Lucy, Gray, and Happy, who had followed along too.

* * *

Gajeel huffed as he stood in the midst of the little Exceed village that they had made. The winged cats wandered around, like a normal village, but a lot shorter. "I need an Exceed!" He called out, and what looked like an old man Exceed approached him.

"What is it, son?" The old Exceed asked.

"No, not you. I need a cool Exceed," he said. "One who can fight! Probably with a badass scar, too," he added, as he thought on it. "Black, too." Black was the coolest color. "He should have a sword, or an axe or something, and be battle-hardened," he continued, listing things out. "You got anybody like that?" He asked.

The old man Exceed stared at him for a long moment, wrinkly face looking judgmental. "And what do you want with this Exceed?"

"I'm a Dragon Slayer! The other two Dragon Slayers have Exceeds! Where's mine, huh?" He demanded, leaning in. The old man simply quietly stared up at him, and he stood back up straight. "Well, look, if I'm being too specific, that's fine. I just want that kind of Exceed, you know? Not a farmer or an old dude or whatever."

"Mmm. There is one Exceed fitting that description to a T, actually..." the old man said, gesturing for Gajeel to follow him. "He used to be exiled." Badass. "He has spent much time with humans. So perhaps he will feel more comfortable with you, than with us," he explained, as he walked down the streets of the little village. They were just dirt roads, formed by walking, but it was still impressive what the Exceeds had pulled off.

* * *

Kunio grinned wickedly. Most of the artillery and firearms that he had made for the Kingdom of Edolas relied on magic - it was a way to shortcut to more complicated and difficult processes he couldn't have pulled off easily. Still, he had spent the time to develop gunpowder, and now he had made several dozen guns. Very nice rifles, if he did say so himself, and he did.

These people had become addicted to magic, and now they were in chaos, after the fall of magic. He was from a world without magic, and he was ready for just this sort of situation. The royal family would be... handled, he decided, as he hefted his gun in his hands. He had a few loyal men, a personal guard of a couple dozen soldiers that answered only to him. When they were going up against plate and swords, though, and were already inside the castle? That was all he needed. He'd put the new king under house arrest and rule in his stead. He'd have that asshole Lee executed for treason, and then make Erza his wife instead! He cackled to himself as he imagined her lavishing him with the same sort of love and praise she gave to Lee!

"Men," he said, straightening up to his full height. Which wasn't much, but that was life. It made him cute, and girls really liked cute guys more than muscular ones. Or so he told himself. "The kingdom has been led astray. You know as well as I do, that these outworlders were behind what happened - and that they worked with our leaders to do it. We will take back the power in this kingdom for the people of Edolas!" By which he meant himself, of course, but you needed a nice little gloss on that sort of thing. "With these weapons, they'll have no chance." They were actually semiautomatic - he impressed even himself.

"Yes, sir!" Came the chorus of his men's replies, and soon enough, they made their way to the throne room.

It was pretty much perfect. The former prince sat on the throne, speaking to Lee and Erza. There were no other guards or soldiers there, and Lee and Erza had just classic medieval armor and simple swords. They would be easy to defeat. "Your highness, I am afraid I cannot allow you to continue to rule in the name of foreigners," he declared. "I will be taking charge of this kingdom from now on." He fired his gun at the ceiling. "These are the only weapons of their sort in Edolas - you have no chance. Submit to my authority, and you will be allowed to maintain your throne. Don't do so... and I can name another member of the royal family who could rule in your stead," he said.

The plan was pretty much flawless at this point. He had worried about being accosted but now, with his men here, in the throne room? He had as good as won. He just had to keep his head on, and-

Erza simply rushed forward like a lightning bolt, tearing his firearm out of his hands, clobbering him atop the head with it, and hefting him from the ground by the throat. Wha, what? His mind spun at the sheer speed she'd moved at. But the magic was gone! She had to move like a normal woman now! His men briefly startled, then pointed their guns at her. "Put your weapons down," she said, her voice sharp, "and you will be allowed to retire in peace. Keep them up, and you will face the punishment for treason, just like your commander," she added.

He could see them considering it, as her gauntleted fist remained tight around his throat. No, you cowards! Shoot her! He mentally urged them, to no avail - there was the clatter of one rifle against the ground, and then another.

"Hrm," Erza said, glaring at Kunio as she released his throat, letting him suck in sharp breaths as he dangled in the air. His legs fruitlessly kicked at him, his fingers scraping along the gauntlet. "Husband?" She asked.

"Yes, dear?" Lee said, sounding unbelievably smug. Looking unbelievably smug, too, as their eyes met. Damn him! Stupid riajuu! Riajuu should just explode!

"It's because of something the other Lee said that I ask this, but... would you say that Kunio is... 'cute'?"