Wheels of Fire

Guild Mates and Friends

That first week in Edolas was absolute hell for Natsu Dragneel. Although he recovered quickly from Lucy Ashley's torturous foot massage, it was not the only trouble he had when dealing with these other Fairy Tail guild members.

He had one particularly annoying problem. Edo-Romeo followed him everywhere. The thirteen-year-old boy wore a sailor-style school uniform, his dark hair slicked back, and glasses on his nose that he pushed up frequently. He tried to imitate Natsu in everything he did. When Natsu awkwardly sat with Edo-Cana for a tea party, he saw Romeo also fumbling with how to hold a teacup until he thought the boy was mocking him. When Natsu got in a fight with Edo-Levy about trying to fix her machine to send him back home, he saw Romeo standing to the side, practicing the same angry facial expressions.

"Romeo has always admired Natsu Dragion," Cana told the Dragon Slayer during one of their tea parties. "Apparently, during the seven years we were trapped within some dimensional wormhole, he built small go-carts to practice driving, and he learned how to ride a tanchimo really well." She took a long, prim sip from her teacup. "He deeply admires Fireball, so it's not too surprising that he's mimicking you now. Do try to refrain from teaching him bad habits," she said politely yet firmly. "It simply will not do if the lad begins to set draperies on fire."

When the aping boy really began to get on his nerves, Natsu went outside to a grassy clearing for some physical training. If Romeo was going to mimic everything he did, he might as well get a bit stronger. However, Natsu immediately saw that the boy was doing push-ups wrong.

"No, no." The Dragon Slayer stopped his sets and walked over to the young teen. "Hands farther apart, like this." He set the arms at the ideal spacing to lessen fatigue and maximize muscle use. "Yeah, just like that. Then go down as far as you can without having your body touch the ground." Natsu did five quick push-ups to demonstrate.

"You're really strong," Romeo praised as he did a few push-ups to test out the new technique. "Natsu Dragion wasn't this strong."

"We each fight in our own ways," the Dragon Slayer muttered, and he began to do sit-ups, counting softly at each crunch.

Romeo sat cross-legged and watched Natsu instead of doing more work on his own. "Hey, in your world, are my parents really divorced?"

"Yep," Natsu huffed between crunches. "Macao and his wife split years ago. I'm not sure on the details, but apparently he flirted around too much and she just walked out, leaving him and Romeo ... my Romeo," he corrected.

"That's really terrible," the boy muttered. "I'm glad I'm in this world. Mom and Dad are a bit too lovey-dovey. It's gross! But at least they love one another. Hey, is your Cana really a slutty drunk?"

"I don't know about slutty, but she does dress kind of weird, and yeah, that girl definitely loves her alcohol."

"And is it true that your Droy is really fat, and Jet is weak?"

"Well, Droy did put on a lot of weight, and although neither one of them are S-Class at their age, I wouldn't call them weak. No one runs faster than Jet."

"And Earthland's Levy is a bookworm? Is that true?"

"Yep, she's always in the library or bugging Lucy about wanting to read her book."

"Wow, I can't believe your Lucy is a writer. And is it true that in your world, Lucy is really weak and clingy and thinks she's sexy when she's really not?"

Natsu lashed out in anger. "Who told you that?"

"Lucy Ashley. Is it true your Lucy is weak?" the boy asked innocently.