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Wheels of Fire	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 22712 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 31
- 32
- 33
Chapter 32
Summer Sky
Natsu stepped out of the shower, cleaned up and his head clear from the alcohol. He already regretted succumbing to his depression and getting drunk. He rarely did that back home. He would have worked through his emotions by rigorously training, setting things on fire, or challenging Gray to a fight. In Edolas, he could not even light a candle anymore, and the last fight he was in led to the deaths of Edolas' versions of Precht and Zancrow.
It was dark outside, so very dark. This world without magic had few lights, just lamps, little flickers of fire here and there. Even within this hotel room, the shadows wavered from two lamps and a candle.
The room was empty, but he could smell Edo-Wendy's scent. She had mentioned about going off to find food. Natsu really could use some meat, but for now he sat by the candle. He inhaled, and the flame grew. He sipped the fire, feeling the heat fill his mouth, slide down his throat, and warm his belly.
Just then, the door opened and Wendy strode in. She saw him eating the flames and shook her head. "If I knew you could live off a simple candle, I wouldn't have gotten us so much food," she said, dragging in a large canvas bag.
"I need real food too," he said. "The fire … well, normally it gives me strength, a boost of energy."
"And now?"
He frowned at the flame. "Not really."
She set the massive sack down and began to take things out, placing them on a desk in the hotel room. "Let's hope ramen is enough. I got some sardines, as well as any canned meat and preserved fruit I could find. Some lettuce for salads, a few oranges and apples too. It's nice to mix healthy stuff with the crap. Basically, I grabbed anything that doesn't have to be chilled."
Rather than the revealing gown from earlier, Wendy wore a clingy suit of all black. It reminded Natsu of the Jiggle Butt Gang. Wearing something like that, he could hardly help but take in all of her curves. No matter how much he tried to tell himself this was Wendy, the girl he cared for like a little sister, that mature body said otherwise.
"That's a lot of food," he said as she lined up canned meats.
"If you're going to rob a grocery story, you grab all you can."
"Wait, you robbed a place?" he shouted.
She spun around and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Will you shut up?" she hissed. "Sheesh! We're wanted by the royal guards. You don't need to alert half the city."
"We have money," he scolded. "You didn't need to steal."
"If I went during open hours, people would see me. I'm trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible." She glared at him. "Don't tell me you've never stolen something to survive."
Natsu folded his arms and pouted. "Lucy says I steal her food, but I just eat it."
"And we're just eating this food. That's surviving, and right now we need to keep on living day by day. That means not getting caught. Now, get some hot water. There's a boiler fountain down the hall."
Natsu grumbled as he snatched up the water kettle. "I wish I could just use my fire to heat the water."
"The last time you used magic, you caused an edoquake. No magic from you."
"I don't think I can anymore, anyway," he muttered with a depressed frown. He took the kettle and left the room.
Wendy sighed as she began to sort through what she had taken. Without magic, they had no refrigeration, no heating, and since this hotel had no kitchens, there was not even a wood-burning stove. It had been built in the days of magic with all of its opulent conveniences, so there were no fireplaces to warm the room and no fans to cool the summer heat. The boiler was their only means of hot drinking water.
"I miss the old days," she lamented to herself.
Natsu returned with the kettle steaming. Wendy pulled out two instant ramen bowls and poured the water in. She also had tea bags and some sugar. They awkwardly waited for the ramen to cook and tea to brew.
"So," she said after a long silence, "did you meet with any adventures out there?"
Natsu's eyes tensed up. "Nothing I want to talk about."
There went civil conversation! "I had a close call in a small town called Rosewood. A guy the guild swindled some years back recognized me. Luckily, he figured I should be much older—the seven year gap, you know—so I managed to convince him that Wendy was my older sister. It worked, and he even took pity on me, offered me lunch. Of course, I think he was trying to proposition me."
"Huh? Proposition for what?"
She looked at him in surprise. "For sex, of course. Some girls will put out for the right amount of money."
Natsu blushed. "Oh. I didn't know you could do that."
"Really? They don't have prostitutes in Earthland."
"I dunno," he muttered. "I suppose we do, since I know what that is. I've never … um … propositioned someone like that."
"Have you ever had sex?" she asked curiously.
"No," he said bluntly.
"Well, aren't you just a little angel," she teased. "I don't give myself for money." She eyed Natsu up and down. "I hand-pick my prey."
He still stared ahead, unaware of what she meant. Wendy sighed, knowing he was too innocent for something that subtle.
"So, you didn't have anything interesting happen? Didn't meet a familiar face, another double from your world—"
Natsu shouted over her, "I said I don't want to talk about it!"
She held her hands up. "Whoa, okay. Sorry." She watched him warily as Natsu slumped back into depression. "You can tell me about it," she offered warily. "I know this world is opposite to yours. Enemies are friendly, old friends are the bad guys. Someone you dearly love is probably the worst person in the world."
"Wendy," he snapped, and those narrow eyes glared at her. He shook his head, and her mouth closed obediently. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'd rather forget about what happened."
"Sure. Sorry. Mind if I change clothes?" She tugged on the neckline of the spandex suit. "This is getting a little tight."
"Nah, it's fine. Where'd you get the outfit? It's familiar."
She walked over to a changing screen with a sway to her hips. "Believe it or not, I was a member of a notorious bandit gang before joining Fairy Tail."
"The Jiggle Butt Gang?"
"Wha-? No." She grimaced in distaste at the perverted name, and then she slipped behind the folding screen. "We were the Bouncing Bosom Bandits. Gocche, Karen, and Marcy were some truly evil bitches," she said with a laugh. "This was our outfit. If anyone saw me robbing that store, they would assume it was the Triple-B."
Natsu gawked. "Those three are women here? I … I can't imagine it. I don't think I want to imagine it. Oh God, now I'm imagining it," he grimaced. "It's nightmarish!"
"Well, they weren't the prettiest women, but Gocche was rather … well-endowed!"
Natsu covered his eyes. "Oh gross! I can't un-see it! I'm gonna go blind from my own imagination."
Wendy giggled at his weirdness as she pulled on a dress. "Do you have someone like the Triple-B back in Earthland?"
"We have the Jiggle Butt Gang. They're guys. Weird guys. Weird and gassy. They attack through farts."
She jolted over with a grimace. "Eww! That's seriously messed up. I thought Earthland was a really cool place, but … eww! You can keep them."
Finally, she stepped out from the changing screen. She wore a simple but cute dress with a floral print, something Natsu had never seen her wear before. He wondered if she stole the outfit too. She walked over to the tea that had finished brewing, and she stirred in some sugar whilst humming a pleasant tune.
"What song is that?" asked Natsu. "It's familiar."
"Hmm? Oh, just something our Natsu used to sing all the time. Drive Me Down That Sunset Road."
"It was called something else. Tell Me Where the Magic Grows. I liked that song as a kid."
"Sing it," she encouraged.
He laughed awkwardly. "Nah, I can't sing."
"I bet you can. Go on!" She handed Natsu a steaming mug and sat beside him, looking eager.
Natsu wavered, but there was nothing else to do. Besides, after hearing her hum, the song was stuck in his head. He remembered Igneel used to sing that song to him to put him to sleep.
Tell me where the magic grows,
Where ice burned and fire froze.
Tell me where, for no one knows.
Is it near, do you suppose?
Tell me where, for no one knows.
Is it here, deep in my heart?
Tell me where the magic grows,
Before we two have to part.
Whenever you are feeling low,
Feeling weak, like you can't grow,
The magic burns deep inside,
So feel it build, grab tight and ride.
Burn it fast and freeze it slow
Fight for friends and be rock strong,
Magic's everywhere you look.
In magic's where you belong!
Tell me where the magic grows,
Where stars sank and oceans rose.
I'll tell you now, for we all know.
Deep in your soul, the magic grows.
"That's a beautiful song," Wendy said in awe. "Although you really can't sing."
Natsu folded his arms and looked away petulantly, which made Wendy laugh.
He picked up his cup of ramen and yanked forward some chopsticks. It smelled good, and he suddenly realized how starved he was. He shoveled a bunch of noodles into his mouth and slurped moistly. Wendy said a quick prayer over the food, daintily split her chopsticks, and ate only a little before pulling back in pain. Her cup needed to cool down some more. It surprised her that Natsu could dig into the meal with the cup still steaming, but she supposed that a man who ate flames and breathed fire thought little about some hot water.
"I miss magic," she said wistfully as she looked at the noodles in their hot water. "We never used it as a kid with the anthro-spiders. I didn't know about magic at all until I came here. I never really used it that much myself, but I guess it's the little things, things we didn't even think about that were powered by magic. Refrigeration," she laughed softly, looking down at her ramen. "Heating and cooling. Lights. All the gadgets in the kitchen. We didn't even think about how flashlights worked until the lacrimas in them vanished. People in hospitals on life support died, and people who needed treatments or surgeries that required lacrima-powered devices all suffered gravely."
"I never even thought about that," Natsu said, feeling guilty. It was not his idea to get rid of the magic in Edolas, but he had fought in that war. He agreed with Mystogan's solution, so it was partly his responsibility. At that time, Natsu was just thinking about getting Fairy Tail back to Earthland. He never thought about how the sudden loss of all magic affected Edolas as a whole.
"I wish magic grew in my soul like it does for wizards," she sighed, leaning back and staring out the window. "I wish I could do miraculous things like you. Watching you guys fight that day was like seeing legends come to life. You're already famous: The Great Demon-Lord Dragneel."
"Oh, that." Natsu blushed awkwardly. "I kinda came up with that spur-of-the-moment."
"People tell stories about you, about all of you: the wizards from another world," she exclaimed, knowing by heart those romanticized tales. Then she looked down with a pensive expression. "No one will tell stories about me," she said humbly yet sadly. "I don't have magic or any interesting skills."
"Are you kidding?" Natsu exclaimed with his mouth full. "You were raised by spiders!" His arms swung out in emphasis so wildly, ramen juice flew from his chopsticks.
She gazed at him as if he was mad. "That makes me creepy."
"That makes you really cool," he exclaimed. "You're like me in a way. I was raised by a dragon; you were raised by spiders. We've both got interesting childhoods."
"Maybe interesting, but not magical."
"You don't need real magic to have a magical childhood, just someone who really loves you."
"Heh! That sounds sweet," she said with a demure smile, "but I think I'd still like to be a wizard and have magic in my soul."
"It doesn't grow there, though," Natsu said with a suddenly dark expression. "The song's wrong. If magic grew in my soul, I'd still have some. I wouldn't be how I am now. I don't know where the magic grows, but it sure as hell isn't inside me."
"Natsu," she sighed.
Instead of saying more, Natsu pulled his cup of ramen closer and ate while brooding. Wendy sighed and picked up her ramen cup. Although she had to blow on it, it still burned her tongue, while Natsu simply gulped it, unaware of how hot the water was. They sat at a table by the window and quietly ate.
Natsu finally looked up. "I never did thank you for finding me and getting me away from those policemen. I could have been caught."
She shrugged. "It's nothing. We're in this together, two fugitives from Fairy Tail. We won't get help from the guild anymore. They're long gone. All we have—" She smiled optimistically to him. "—is each other. We need to work together to survive this."
He looked down sadly. "Survive," he whispered contemplatively. "How far are we from Royal City?"
She jolted at the name of the capitol. "You can't go there! They're hunting for you."
Natsu met her eyes. "Hunting? For me, or for Other-Me?"
"I don't know, but I overheard royal guards saying that the king is hunting Natsu. That can't be good."
"Or maybe it is," he shouted. "Maybe Mystogan knows it's me. That one group who attacked Fairy Tail knew I was a magic user. He must have heard rumors too."
"Don't you remember what his father did to you?" she argued. "He tried to siphon your magic out. In a world like this, your magic is the most precious thing in existence. Of course the king would want that resource."
"Mystogan's not like that."
"The man you knew as Mystogan was a lie. He is King Jellal, and although they call him merciful, he also banished his own father, led brutal troops during the riots after the magic vanished, sent Erza after Fairy Tail … my God, Cana was shot by those royal guard bastards! She might be dead."
"He's my last hope," Natsu grumbled.
"It's suicide."
He furiously lashed out, "I'm gonna die anyway!"
Wendy gasped and shook her head. "Don't say that."
"I'm out of magic. I told you, magic doesn't grow in my soul, and a wizard will die when they completely run out. In the meantime, my body is doing something, and I don't know what. Those earthquakes…"
"Edoquakes," she corrected.
"They've been happening more. One happened just yesterday. I wasn't even trying to do magic, but the ground around me … it just split apart. Yusō almost fell in. I was lucky that I wasn't near any towns. I'm a danger to this world," Natsu said in anguish. "Your life is in danger just being around me."
"I'll take my chances," she said stubbornly. "I'm not leaving you. I'm a member of Fairy Tail, and we don't abandon our friends."
Natsu stared at her in awe. Slowly, he shook his head. "Why are you good?"
"I'm not a good girl," she smirked. "I'm venomous."
His brow tensed in anger. "You don't kill people and laugh about it."
She flinched at the idea. "Who the hell did you meet on the road?"
Natsu got up and walked out onto the balcony. Wendy followed him in concern. The night was warm, the summer sky clear with countless stars spangling the heavens. Natsu looked up at the stars and the many moons.
"Even the sky is different here," he said softly. "Nothing is the same. Nothing's familiar."
She began to reach to his shoulder, but she hesitated and held back. "Natsu? Really, what happened to you? You're not acting like yourself at all."
His hand tensed around the balcony railing until the iron creaked. "I met my dad," he sneered. "Or this world's version of him."
"Igneel Dragion?" she breathed in horror. "Oh no. Natsu." Now she did hold him around the shoulders. "You're lucky to be alive."
"He was … horrible," he sneered with a shiver that trembled from his soul. "He killed people. He tried to kill me. I … I had to take him down."
"You killed him?"
"No. I won't stoop to his level." Natsu stared up at the moons. "My Igneel … he loved humans more than any other dragon. He taught me so much. He loved me. Even when I was a brat, he never gave up on me. Even when humans tried to hunt him, he never killed them. He wanted to help all humanity." Natsu's head dropped. "That's all he ever wanted."
She smiled dolefully. "He sounds like a great dad."
"Yeah," Natsu said with distant memories. "But the guy I met, he was nothing like Igneel. He didn't even look the same."
"Well, we don't have dragons here," she explained.
"He was poisoning whole towns with gas."
"I've heard of that happening," Wendy whispered in horror. "Oh God, that was his doing?"
"He killed someone who was just trying to take back something that was stolen, as well as coldly murdered two people who cared for me. He just … laughed. He laughed as they were dying. That wasn't Igneel!" His eyes began to tear up. "I wanted it to be him … so badly. I miss him so much."
She held him consolingly and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to meet him, of all people. The guild has been hiding the whereabouts of that man from Natsu Dragion for years precisely because no one can trust Igneel. He's dangerous, and Natsu—our Natsu—would probably kill that bastard. None of us wanted him to kill his own father."
"I'd hardly blame him," Natsu admitted angrily. "You're right. The person you love the most, the kindest person in the world, the father you love more than any other person in existence … here, he's the worst person imaginable." He sneered at the sky. "I hate this world. I wanna go home!"
"It's not all bad," she offered timorously.
He turned to face her. It was Wendy, but not Wendy, not with that adult face and shapely body. "That's why I'm wondering why you're so good. Wendy Marvell is a sweetheart, so kind and caring to everyone, willing to risk her life for a friend. You're exactly the same way, and I can't figure out why you're not a total jerk like Igneel was, or a sadistic bitch like Lucy, or … or poisonous!"
"I'm poison to the wrong people," she said smugly, "and to the right ones, this spider can be a big help." Her fingers trailed up his arm. "I like you, so I'm nice to you. You'd probably hate me if you saw how much of a bad girl I can be."
"I couldn't hate you, no more than I can hate Lucy Ashley."
"Can't hate, but that's about it, right?" she asked with a pout.
Natsu cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"
She smiled placidly, starting to really like this innocence about him. "Nothing. I'm glad you don't hate me."
"You're cool! And you're really sweet."
Wendy laughed and shook her head while her cheeks blushed. "That's … not really how people describe me. You don't know the real me."
"Maybe not. I don't even know your last name."
She looked up at him, realizing he was right. Although they shared a first name, she and Earth-Wendy had different last names. "Aranya. Wendy Aranya."
"That's a pretty name."
She felt embarrassed to hear him compliment her like that. "It just means spider. It was the name of our tribe, back with Robaul and the anthro-spiders. I kept it as a last name after leaving them."
"My Wendy is terrified of spiders," chuckled Natsu. "Once, I stuck a spider in her and Lucy's tent. It was hilarious to watch those two freak out."
"Wanna know a secret?" she said with a devious grin. "Lucy Ashley is terrified of spiders. It's one of the reasons we don't get along. I put cobwebs all over her bedroom whenever she pisses me off."
Natsu laughed as he tried to imagine the tough blonde squealing from getting tangled in spiderwebs. She might actually look like his Lucy as she flailed about.
Remembering Lucy Heartfilia pained his heart. He missed his friends back in Earthland.
He pulled himself out of the loneliness and smiled over to Edo-Wendy. "Tell me about growing up with the anthro-spiders."
She looked amazed that he was interested in a race most Edolas humans thought were disgusting beasts that were too hideous to even mention. His caring interest made her smile and blush.
"O-okay."
Bashfulness was an emotion Wendy was not used to experiencing. She was always cool, confident, devious, even cruel in her scheming. Now, she felt like a child just discovering love. Her heart pounded fast under his poignant gaze, and her cheek flushed hot. She could not look directly at him, so she turned her gaze up to the dark summer sky, to the stars and moons and a shooting star streaking through the heavenly expanse. She thought back to childhood, a time before she lost her innocence, back when she was probably more like the little Wendy this Earthland wizard knew.
Was it possible to have a second chance, to clear away the mess of a horrible past and be reborn fresh, innocent, and anew?
Around Natsu Dragneel, she felt like anything was possible. He was magical! Even if he thought magic did not grow in his soul, she knew at least a little spark of it lived there, burning, warming her, and setting the cobwebs of her past ablaze. Around him, she felt free. Rather than those dark corners where spiders liked to hide, her spirit was lifted into the heavens to soar above the shadows.
Around Natsu, she truly felt like a Sky Maiden.
She only wished that she believed they could stay together, just like this, forever. This was not his home, though. Just like in the song, she realized something:
In magic's where you belong!
End of Chapter 32
A/N: The Bouncing Bosom Bandits are Edolas' version of the Jiggle Butt Gang. In the Fairy Tail anime, the individual members are unnamed, but they are based on Hiro Mashima's "Rave Master," where their names are Gocche, Kalen, and Marco, so in Edolas they are Gocche, Karen, and Marcy.
In Chapter 4, it was mentioned that the song Edo-Natsu frequently sings, "Drive Me Down That Sunset Road," is the same tune as an Earthland song called "Tell Me Where the Magic Grows." (FYI: both songs are written by me.) Many readers have created renditions of how they imagine "Sunset Road" sounds, some of them truly amazing. (Although I have a tune in my head already, my voice is not great...that's why I play trombone, NOT singing. One day I'll write out the music.) Links to the different variations are on my profile page. I encourage anyone to make their own versions. I adore hearing the many interpretations of this song.
I've done this with other fanfics and people like it. If you want to hear the recording I make to create the dialogue (including my awful singing) I posted it online, mostly because I want to listen to the song and work out the sheet music one of these days.
http://chirb.it/B4FxCG
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