Lucy awoke with a jolt. The memories of the previous day came flooding back to her. Stupid Kami! she cursed. She pranked me! I'm so going to return the favour.
Dragging herself out of bed, she changed out of her pyjamas then vanished, the only sign of her going being a faint gust of wind.
She appeared in a grassy clearing scattered with windswept flowers. "Where am I?" she wondered, then heard a shriek. Ugh, what the heck. This again?
She took off into a run. "Mira?" she gasped.
The Strauss was kneeling on the floor, her face contorted with agony. "Help me, Lucy," she rasped. "If you help me, all the others will be freed too..."
Lucy stooped beside her. "Why are you kneeling?" she asked.
"Don't touch me, Lucy!" Mira warned. "Don't-"
Poke.
"What the hell?" Lucy exclaimed as she was propelled backwards by a strange blue force. "What was that?"
"I think you'd better investigate, Lucy," came a different voice. It was Rogue. His red eyes pierced into her amber ones.
Lucy stiffened. "Rogue!" she cried. "The gods removed your mark?"
Rogue nodded in affirmation. "Yes, they did," he stated. "You can't touch me either, Lucy. You can't touch any of us."
"I don't care," Lucy hissed.
Rogue glanced at her with surprise. "You can't force through the barrier with your willpower, Lucy."
Lucy growled, charging at Rogue with her fist outstretched. "Water Whip!" she yelled, forming a whip out of water. It snaked through the air, clashing with the barrier.
"Fire Trail!" she tried again, this time creating a long fire rope with collided uselessly with the barrier that surrounded Rogue.
She frowned. "It's not working."
"That's what I said earlier," Rogue pointed out.
"Lashing Wind! Crumbling Earth!" Lucy tried over and over again. Suddenly, the ground below their feet crumbled away and they fell into the hole
.
Lucy was dimly aware of a swishing sound nearby here. Cracking her eye open, she sat up. "Oww... My head hurts," she muttered. "Ehh? Where am I?" Her eyes opened wide.
Instead of the dark brown walls of the underground, which was what she expected to see, she saw a colourful, bright landscape with... rivers in the sky?
Hold on. Where the heck is this? Am I dreaming? Rivers can't be floating in the sky. You're dreaming, Lucy... That's right...
Something twitched in Lucy's head. "Edolas!" she shouted out.
There was a voice behind her, filled with malice. "That's absolutely right, Lucy Heartfilia. This is Edolas, the universe parallel to Earthland."
Lucy whirled around. "Lucy?" she whispered in shock, coming face-to-face with her Edolas self.
Edo-Lucy smirked gleefully, raising her whip.
"What's happening?" Lucy asked, her voice raising in panic. "What are you doing, Lucy?"
"Die!" The hissed word, dripping with hate and hostility, was Lucy's only warning as Edo-Lucy charged at her.