Deep in outer space, surrounded by nothing but planets, asteroids, and a black hole, Xadanar finally acknowledged that Felix had been right. Doing this expedition had been a terrible idea. He'd known everyone disliked him and Felix- they were used to it- but he hadn't realized just how much they hated him. He supposed being friends with Felix didn't help. If Xadanar was an eight on the scale of hatred, Felix had broken it. Even so, three days? Either the crew was really patient, or they were really impatient. He wasn't sure if he'd live long enough to figure that one out.

"Do something!" Felix snapped, pushing against the door.

They'd been locked in the cockpit for an entire day, as best they could calculate. Xadanar acted as the pilot and Felix did his best to hold them off. He'd used his power long enough for them to escape to the room, but there were too many of them for him to control.

"I'm trying," Xadanar yelled back. He flipped a switch and pushed forward on the stick to give the thrusters an extra boost. The engine cut. "Uh..."

"What did you do?" Felix demanded.

He faced Xadanar, pushing his back up against the door to keep it closed. Miraculously, the consistent banging that had punctuated the day so far finally ceased. The silence was a blessing, allowing Xadanar a moment to think. And realize what button he'd pushed.

"I... just turned Lola off." He looked out the window into the huge black hole sucking them in. Something slammed into the ship, rocking them back and forth.

Felix hit the wall and cursed. "Turn it back on!"

"Lola," Xadanar lamented, pressing buttons and flipping switches until his precious ship purred to life beneath his feet once more. He ran his fingers over the console, wishing for the millionth time that he was better at this. Especially since they were about to die. "She'll be all dented from the asteriods," he muttered.

"We are going to die!" Felix threw his hand out toward the black hole. "Do. Something."

"I can't. The gravity field is too strong!" Xadanar looked up at Felix. "Been nice knowing you, buddy."

***

Aiden and the rest of the Stormwalker squad ended up in the middle of the city. He didn't like their situation at all. It was too unpredictable and all they had with them was Quinlynn's communicator. The rest of their equipment had disappeared in the journey and Aiden was fairly sure that wherever they were wasn't where the teleport was supposed to send them, since there wasn't a teleport on this side. This meant they were stuck, with no idea what to do next. How were they supposed to find Midnight now?

"Well. Any ideas?"

Quinlynn nodded and signed, "We should explore. Figure out where we are."

"Quin's right," Kenzie agreed. "This might not be where we were supposed to end up, but we might be able to find a way back."

Cayden tossed Sifiso a hoodie. "Sifiso, people are staring. You gotta cover up. If people ask, just... uh... try saying you have a rare skin disease."

Sifiso rolled his eyes and pulled the hoodie on. The hood covered him well, his dark skin blending with the shadow it cast over his face. The only thing left was his eyes, which shone blue from under the hood, darting to and fro. January reached over and evened out the strings hanging from the shirt. Aiden noticed she did that kind of thing when she got nervous and decided he should probably do something to make them feel better about their situation. He spotted a green-skinned man threading his way through the crowd and pointed.

"Look- we aren't the only ones who aren't normal. Let's follow that guy."

***

"Vex, it's not that simple," Eclipse sighed. Her husband could be so straightforward at times. She loved him, but he simply didn't understand the finest points of subtle manipulation. "We can't just kill the culprit this time. We don't know who it is."

She laid a hand on his arm and smiled at him. He sighed, releasing his magic back into his ring. "You are correct, of course. I let my anger get the best of me."

"We all have our moments," she agreed, "but the important thing is that you don't destroy anything publicly. We know nothing about this place."

He nodded and knelt, retrieving the hat he'd dropped earlier. "High time we found out, then." He placed the hat on his head.

Eclipse smiled. "My thoughts exactly."

***

Lucy straightened her skirt and checked for her keys. They were all there, thankfully. She let out a sigh of relief. Aquarius would kill her if she lost the keys again. She was missing her whip, though, and she had the feeling she'd probably end up needing it later. Dragon Cry was also gone, but she didn't mind that so much. The artifact gave her the creeps.

"Natsu? Gray? Erza?" she yelled up at the sky, half hoping one of them would show up. They didn't, of course. Lucy guessed she'd traveled to another realm. Not Edolas though- this place was nothing like anything she'd ever seen. There were giant lacrima screens everywhere and people walking around absorbed in smaller versions.

Cars drove by everywhere- much less scarce than in Fiore- and there was nothing to remind her of home. The closest parallel she could draw between these worlds was that both had people, houses, lacrima, and vehicles. The more important details were all wrong, though.

She didn't see any SE-plugs in the cars, or anything like Edolas Natsu's car, which stored magic like fuel. It could have been a different model, though. Maybe they put it somewhere else. She filed that information away for later. When she got back, she would have to write this stuff down. More importantly, there were too many cars running in the streets, the houses were all too big, and the whole place was bigger than the Capitol of Fiore. It was all too disconcerting.

Just to have something familiar nearby, she summoned Plue and hugged him to her. People stared when he materialized before her, which she found a bit strange. She decided that magic was probably less known in this place. She was about to hurry down an alley when she heard someone call her name.

She paused, unsure if she was actually hearing right.

"Lucy!" The voice came again, loud and clear over the crowd. Natsu. How had he found her? She was pretty sure she'd traveled through realms or something.

His spiky pink hair bobbed through the crowd until he pushed through to her, followed by several others that Lucy didn't recognize, as well as Raiden and Lexi. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked, confused. "Where is here?"

A woman with hair in several shades of blue stepped up to the front. "We're in New York City," the woman said. "From there, good luck." Then she began attempting to herd the others away from Lucy, who stood confused in the middle of the sidewalk.

It occurred to her that blue-hair lady was dragging Natsu away as well. "Hang on!" Lucy yelled, running back to them.

Raiden shot a glare in the blue haired woman's direction. "She's coming, Midnight. We can't just leave her."

"Lucy?" Akane emerged from the crowd. She hugged Lucy and smiled. The smile died quickly. "But you can't be here. How are you here?"

"I don't know." Lucy set Plue down and began to explain what had happened.

In the middle of her explanation, Lexi interrupted. "Guys, spaceship incoming!"