"Please, for the love of all this is holy out in this godforsaken universe, tell me that I am hallucinating right now."

"Don't be imbecilic - or at least, not more so than usual. You heard what that Phantom told us."

"I was hoping he'd been exaggerating..."

"Yes, and I'd been hoping you'd have grown smarter in recent months after nearly getting yourself killed, but it appears neither of our wishes are coming true."

I shot Candor a venomous look, which he merely brushed aside, his gaze sliding past me to where two figures were huddled together a few dozen feet away from our own little nook we'd been occupying for the last ten minutes. I was having a hard time trusting my eyes, and even more so trusting Candor's, because my brain just did not comprehend the information it was being sent. 

"Candor, this is insane--"

"No more insane than any other day with Fairy Tail," he said, succinctly shredding any argument I could have put together to pieces. 

I sighed, slumping against the wall of the building we'd chosen to use as cover. The shadows were cool, shielding us from the harsh rays of the afternoon sun, but I was sweating up a storm. I imagined it had something to do with the rather intense bout of anxiety I was currently experiencing, but hey, it could've just been a fluke for all I knew. Then again, I wasn't exactly known for handling dire situations healthily - usually I relied on very dry sarcasm and empty threats (occasionally followed by a legit ass-kicking, but even I'll admit those times were few and far between). 

So yeah. I was freaking out, just a smidge, though, I swear. But c'mon, tell me you'd be all calm and collected when you had Candor's (probably eviler) twin just a stone's throw away from you?

"He's with someone," Candor said, snapping me from my internal lament. He edged forward, peering through the slanting shadows, his green eyes dark with his thoughts. "Given I'm not what you'd call social, I suppose that means this is someone important to him..."

Now that we could agree about. Candor was about as social as Gajeel - and even that oaf was getting cozy with Levy! 

Actually, now that I thought about it, I had seen Candor putting himself out there more and more. Nothing too noticeable; he wasn't the life of the party by any means, but he'd been talking with Gray these past few weeks. I wasn't opposed to it, but I found the pairing kind of mismatched. With Candor's personality, getting anyone to see past his adorable death threats and sociopathic demeanor was difficult, to say the least; it took a special kind of person to get on his good side (which I still considered something of a myth, because, God did he have a helluva hit list). Gray's temper could get the best of him like that idiotic flame mage he called a rival, but... maybe it was that he didn't take Candor seriously.

That sounds rude or whatever, but it was actually a good strategy to deal with that brat. Gray wasn't there when he took a knife to my throat, so he never saw the true extent of Candor's killing intent. He only fought with him against Juvia, and yeah, Candor played the traitor for a while, but if he'd really wanted to hurt Gray - badly, anyway - he could have. Easily. So maybe the little evil-doer's bad habits didn't even register to Gray, and that was how they got along these days.

"Friend?" I guessed, even if the word stuck in my throat. Candor didn't have friends, really - just people he tolerated. I raised a brow at him. "Boyfriend?"

Candor didn't dignify that suggestion with a response.

He did, however, slip away from the wall and start towards the duo, blatantly ignoring my hissed protests and the grab I made for the hood of his jacket.

Fearing the bloodbath that would ensue upon having two Candors collide, I decided it was my duty as his self-appointed guardian to follow him.

Candor didn't waste any time; taking advantage of his super-stealthy approach, he jerked his double around by his shoulder and shoved him up against the building at his back, his forearm cutting into his windpipe.

"You." Candor's eyes narrowed to slits as his mouth fell into a cruel, straight line. "You're a member of that accursed Fairy Tail, no?"

I thought that was a stupid question, given that we knew Fairy Tail existed in this world. Edolas and Earthland were parallels, after all; they mirrored one another. If Candor joined Fairy Tail in one world, it stood to reason that he'd made similar choices in the other.

And I would have scoffed and told my Candor exactly that, had I not burst into a fit of raucous laughter at the sight of the wide-eyed look of fear that Edo-Candor wore in response to his twin's unpleasant treatment.

Candor, too, was struck speechless, and he even recoiled when silver streaks of tears fell down the pale boy's cheeks. By that point, I was laughing too hard to be of any help, something Candor made sure to pay me back for later (we won't get into that, though; my pride still hasn't recovered from that awful blow...), so the brat was forced to turn to Edo-Candor's companion for an explanation.

The man rolled his golden eyes, crossing his arms across his chest as he leaned his shoulder against the same wall Edo-Candor was still trying to sink into. Through teary eyes, I gave the guy a once-over, swallowing the last of my unhelpful laughter as I straightened up, dropping my hands from my knees. He was taller, taller than me at least, and fairly toned. His physique reminded me of Gray's a little - not overly muscular, but still looking like he could send my ass into next week with a single, well-placed kick. 

He dressed in a black vest (which he left open for some unfathomable reason) and long camouflage pants, which he tucked into sturdy black boots embellished with a weird amount of unnecessary zippers. He'd styled his snow-white hair just enough that only a few stray strands fell into his face, with the rest of it raked over the crown of his head in a sorta tough-guy way that would've made start laughing again if Candor didn't shoot me a warning glower. 

The white hair had me thinking of Mira and Elfman, but the second he opened his mouth I knew the connection was nothing more than my fear-addled brain jumping to conclusions.

"Cry-baby Candor," he said offhandedly, nudging his chin to at the still-sobbing teen. "That's what he's called at the guild. It's fitting, don't you think?" The man curled his hand around a fistful of Candor's hair, tearing him away from the wall and over to his side, all the while staring at us with an apathetic frown. The kind I would have thought only graced Candor's feline-esque features. "You're not Lucy," he said to me, looking me up and down.

"Uh, yeah, no. I'm not," I agreed, wondering just what the hell was going on. My Candor seemed to have gone into some sort of catatonic state after seeing his double act like a five-year-old facing a bully, because he was about as useful as a freaking rock. He stood beside me, stock-still apart from the maddened twitching of his eye, mouth hanging open; I kicked the toe of my sneaker into his ankle, though, and he clamped his jaw shut. "Winter's the name. Lucy's... wait, shouldn't you know who I am?"

"Do you know who I am?" the man drawled, cocking a brow as if to question just how moronic I could be. Well. He was wonderful already, whoever the hell he was.

"I know you're an asshole," I snapped, quickly losing out to my flickering temper. "That suffice for ya?"
Apparently disregarding my very clever comeback, he released the crying Candor and took a step closer to me, inclining his head to look me over one more time.

"You're identical to Lucy, but definitely not her. You said your name is Winter?" 

He circled the two of us, expression more thoughtful than it was hostile. I resisted the urge to duck down and sweep his legs out from beneath him just to see his slack face go taut in surprise, and instead jammed my elbow into Candor's side, trying to knock him out of his stupor.

"That doesn't mesh with what we heard from those lookalikes earlier, does it, Candor?" 

The sniveling teen shook his head rapidly, his wild green locks thrown into a frenzy that left strands clinging to his tear-stained cheeks. I snorted on impulse, which was apparently enough to draw Candor back to reality, as he jabbed his fingers into my side; I winced, swallowing down a cough, but of course our lovely new friend didn't care to ask about it.

"They had the same names as our people," he went on, coming to a stop in front of his, just in front of his Candor. "Natsu and Wendy? That Wendy didn't match up exactly with ours, but Natsu was like a carbon copy. And we have your Candor right here."

"I would advise you not to compare me to that pathetic whelp," Candor sneered, cutting his gaze across his double's - completely giving him the cold shoulder - and locking eyes with the white-haired ass of a mage. Or whatever the hell they were called in this world. 

"You've got bite, I take it?" the man chuckled. "So you are different from this guy. Interesting."
"Who. Are. You?" I bit out, enunciating each would oh-so very clearly so that his thick head didn't miss a single one of them.

He seemed genuinely confused at my question, though.

"The hell? Shouldn't I have a double, too?" He rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath about the unfairness of the universe, or something else equally as annoying. "I'm Caelum. Caelum Stone."

"Nope, not ringing any bells," I informed him, and there was a note of smugness to my voice that didn't go unnoticed by him. However, he didn't make a point of acknowledging it, which, honestly, kinda pissed me off.

"Whatever," he said, shaking his head. "If you're from Earthland, then you're here to save your friends, right?"

I nodded slowly, chalking up his knowledge of our mission to Natsu and Wendy having spilled the beans when they got caught.

"Alright, well that makes things easier."

That said, the man waved a hand, inviting us the follow as he turned around and, hands slid into his pockets, began walking further down the street.

Candor and I exchanged a glance, our expressions equally as unsure of his actions; surprisingly, it was anti-Candor who spoke up.

"Ah, um, he's... we were, uh, planning to go to the castle to search, even i-if our guild didn't want to help..." It was hard to decipher his words past the snot dripping out of his nose and the constant stuttering, but I was pretty sure this was the gist of it. Instantly, I liked this kid ten times more than the brat I was stuck with, and I made a point of telling him so.

Scowling, he swept past his twin, taking extra care to knock shoulders with him (uncaring when the boy cried out and stumbled to the side), hurrying his pace to catch up with Caelum. Holding up a particular finger at Candor's back, I offered anti-Candor my hand, which he took with slight hesitation, and hoisted him upright, grinning.

"Don't mind him," I said soothingly, ruffling up his hair. "He's like that with everyone - a self-entitled brat. Now, if you wouldn't mind, wanna tell me all about your buddy up there?"

"Caelum?" anti-Candor asked, wide-eyed once again. Oh dear Lord was he an innocent child... It was actually a trifle unsettling when he still had my Candor's face, but I tried to brush that off in favor of focusing on who I was speaking to at the moment.

"Uh-huh. See, I wanna know more about him since he's a member of Fairy Tail over here--"

"B-But you're not a member over here, either..."

I paused.

"True," I said, carefully, not wanting to spook the kid. "Which is weird, yeah. So how about this? You tell me about Caelum, I'll tell you both about myself, so that there's not all this mystery surrounding us. That work for you?"

There was a flash of uncertainty in his evergreen eyes, but it was gone in the next moment, and he nodded, head down and hands fiddling together in front of him. He was as jumpy as a goddamn rabbit, I swear, and I wasn't even trying to intimidate him!

I grinned, ruffling his hair again, just because I could. Candor would have already threatened to rend my hand from my wrist if I so much as touched him.

"Cool. Then, for starters, where the hell did he pick up that nasty attitude?"