Edolas: Thieves Guild Sabertooth

20

Sting woke up hours later, mentally cursing himself when he realized that Rogue was no longer beside him. He practically jumped out of bed.

He realized Rogue was sitting at his desk and had been startled by Sting jumping up. Then he noticed that Rogue had been looking at the piles of forged documents that were the majority of Sting's life's work. Rogue looked frozen in place before setting his face to an emotionless mask in but a blink.

"Did you sleep well?" Sting put aside his confusion to try to put this other Rogue at ease. He wouldn't get his answers otherwise. Rogue shrugged. "Then can we talk?"

"Alright." He agreed hesitantly. Sting sat down opposite him and poured more coffee. It wasn't hot anymore, but it was still quite warm. He handed Rogue a cup of coffee, and Rogue added four sugars, and absurd amount for anyone else considering the mug. But it was typical of Sting's Rogue.

"You've been acting strange and you seem confused about everything here. We need to figure out what happened. When did it start and what happened before that?" Sting asked carefully. Rogue pondered the question for a while.

"About two days ago. I was on a mission and then I was on top of a fence. Then I tried to use my magic to get down and I couldn't. I haven't been able to since. Everything is different. I don't know what's going on. I apologize, I don't think I can help you." Rogue told him, his mask slipping away as he shared his confusion.

"We haven't had magic here for eight years, Rogue. You wouldn't be able to use it. But tell me about what you were doing before the mission." Sting prodded.

"We just finished recovering from the war with Alvarez, this was our first mission after the war." None of that was making sense to Sting, but it was clear Rogue was either pulling his leg or this Rogue was from a different reality. As it was, Sting had never heard of Alvarez.

"Look, Rogue... This is my first time hearing about Alvarez, let alone a war. As I mentioned, we don't have magic in Edolas, so I'm not sure what happened."

"Edolas?"

"Yes?"

"Of course, it's coming back. The job request said those jerks were trying to open to kind of portal. That must be what happened." Rogue muttered to himself.

"You know about Edolas? From where?" Sting asked. With the immediate question of what the hell had happened out of the way, he was free to pursue other lines of inquiry.

"Gajeel talks about it every chance he gets. Apparently his Edolas counterpart is really cool, but Lector reckons he'd say that even if the guy was the biggest loser alive. Oh, yeah. Some friends of mine got sent to Edolas a few years ago, before the magic disappeared." Rogue explained. Sting had never heard of a Lector or a Gajeel. But at least he had an idea of what was going on.

"How did they get back?" He asked.

"They got sent to Earthland with the Exceeds and the magic."

"Well that doesn't help." Sting hadn't meant to say it out loud, but Earthland's Rogue seemed to agree.

"I'm sure someone in Earthland will figure it out. Eventually. Probably." He faltered. Sting chuckled, hoping that he had more faith than he let on. He couldn't be sure.

"So you think my Rogue is in Earthland then?"

"I don't know, it makes sense."

-

Yukino and Wisp wandered the streets of Cereus. The raven was visibly depressed and Yukino was doing everything she could to cheer her up, feeling guilty about the fact that she would have to leave her alone soon.

The Bank of Edolas had hired two more new faces and Yukino and Jura, the other two youngest employees, had decided to take them out for drinks. That was why Yukino had to cheer Wisp up quickly. Remembering Dobengal's insistence that the bird was an agent of chaos, she came up with an idea.

"Want to terrorize some innocent bystanders, Wispy?" Yukino grinned. The raven seemed to brighten a bit, but that might have been her imagination.

"Well go ahead. Come on, off you go. Go on Wisp, I look like an idiot here." She did. She was standing in the middle of an empty alleyway overlooking one of Cereus' many plazas, which had once been a landing space for airships, many of which had crashed when the magic had disappeared. Now the plaza held a market, similar to the one in Calla but with so many more wares. She was gesturing wildly towards the plaza. "Fly! Go get 'em girl! Come on, it's showtime!"

At the last word, Wisp took off, and calls of excitement and exclamations of shock sounded in Yukino's ears.

"Damn magpies!" She heard someone curse. After a while, the shouts subsided. Yukino heard the sound of flapping wings behind her and realize Wisp had circled around back to her. Not only that, but she was holding a magnificent ruby necklace.

"Clever girl, Wisp. Rogue would be so proud..."