sin & sorcery

1. waking up to ash and dust

This fic was inspired by a D&D campaign that I ran where they played in the Fairy Tail world. I liked the idea of an "alternate universe" for the Edolas arc, but it wasn't dark enough for me. We decided to go a more gritty, cyberpunk direction and it turned out great, so I decided to write it into a fic! Most slang/items/etc are from Shadowrun or Cyberpunk 2020.

cw for graphic violence, drug use and references to torture. each chapter will have trigger warnings as necessary.

-----

Gray and Natsu fall through a portal into Edolas and are helped by someone unsettlingly familiar.

-----

i'm waking up to ash and dust
i wipe my brow and i sweat my rust
i'm breathing in the chemicals

.

"Get down!"

Gray flung himself forward, pushing Rogue out of the path of an incoming blast and rolling back to his feet. A dog-like demon took shape from the ruins, then snarled, charging towards Gray. Two ice daggers materialized in his hands and he flung them at the beast, sighing with relief when they found their mark and it crumbled into pieces. Gray reached down and helped Rogue to his feet.

"The portal is getting bigger!"

Lyon's voice rang out across the courtyard, and Gray looked up to see that Lyon was right. Jellal – or rather, a shapeshifter with Jellal's face – was standing at the pedestal, chanting something to keep the portal open.

"Natsu, take him out!" Gray roared. Natsu staggered to his feet, blood trailing down his face from a cut on his temple, and snarled at not-Jellal. He threw his head back and let out a blast of flames in the direction of the pedestal, but the invisible barrier around Jellal ignored the magic like it was nothing.

"I can't..." Natsu's voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he saw a ball of dark energy shoot up in the air and expand. "Shit. Everyone, hide! Now!" The magic started to constrict, and an idea began to form in Gray's mind. Not-Jellal had used this magic before, so maybe they could trick it.

"Bring it back to him!" Gray shouted at Natsu, gesturing at the portal and the pedestal. Natsu frowned for a second, then a grin broke out over his face and he dashed forward towards the barrier. "Rogue, get Sting and get the hell out of here."

Rogue was already holding an unconscious and badly battered Sting in his arms, and he gave Gray a worried look before disappearing into the shadows.

"Gray, don't be an idiot!" Lyon, of course. Gray turned and saw Lyon, arm cradled limply across his chest, leaning heavily on a column of rocks.

"Just get down, let us handle this!" Gray yelled. Bits of debris whipped around him now, fast enough to slice tiny cuts into his exposed skin. Lyon looked like he might argue, but he gave Gray a nod and ducked behind a ruined pillar.

Natsu stood next to the barrier, placing his hands against it and wincing at the energy that crackled up his arms. Gray pushed his way forward against the thick vortex of magic that swirled around them. The barrier felt cold under his hands, but he pressed against it stubbornly.

"You're too late!" Not-Jellal shouted, gesturing to the portal behind him. It looked like a window, and Gray could catch bits and pieces of a ruined landscape through it. "I'm finally going back to take what's mine! Enjoy being purged."

"What the hell is he t—"

Natsu's question was interrupted when their plan finally came to fruition. The dark energy above them exploded and targeted the closest sources of magic – them. Gray quickly pushed a wall of ice around both of them, but the other magic overwhelmed his, blasting through and tearing the invisible barrier between them and not-Jellal to pieces. Gray reached out, trying to grab Natsu's hand while keeping his eyes open in the whirling vortex of rocks and dust and magic and—