. In Tenebris .
Wendy's smiling face was the first thing Lucy saw upon entering the massive building nearly two hours later, her arms laden with shopping bags. A kind look flashed across the blonde's face at the sight of her nervously standing at the top of the stairs. "And how long have you been standing there, Wendy?"
Wendy blushed. "Since we finished eating. Thank you for the food, Lucy, it was delicious. We've only had bread and the occasional meat to eat for a while."
Lucy made a sound and staggered up the stairs after kicking the door shut. "Pft," she scoffed, "It was nothing. We'll send Natsu and Gajeel out to - no, I take that back. They'll ruin it all."
Wendy followed her as she made her way into the beautiful living room and dumped the bags on the floor before searching through them for a few certain outfits and items in particular. The blonde spread out a few, and Wendy gawked at the beautiful dresses, shirts, skirts, shorts, pants, and so much more that were laid out for her to admire. "I didn't know what you liked," Lucy explained. "So pick out whatever you want and we'll donate the rest. I'll do the same for the other two...where are they?"
Rather than answering her question, Wendy knelt to run her fingers over one of the dresses, taking in the pleated green, yellow, and purple pattern. "Thank you," she croaked, unable to swallow back the tears that filled her eyes. How long had it been since she'd worn something like this?
Lucy's gaze softened. "Here, let's get you a bath. I bet the other two will have shown up by the time we're done, hm? And you can show them that I'm not some kind of weirdo trying to research you guys more." She offered a hand to pull Wendy to her feet. "Which dress should we put you in? I may have to do some adjusting…" She studied the feather-like structures that sprouted between her shoulder blades.
"Can I wear this one?" Wendy said excitedly, picking up the one she'd been looking at. "Oh! And I can help you pick up and stuff afterwards! I already cleaned the dishes since Natsu was mean and left them at the table for you to deal with…"
"Thank you, Wendy, you didn't have to do that." She ruffled the girl's lavender hair before tucking the dress and some sandals under her arm. "Let's see what we can do to get that hair tamed, hm?"
An hour and a half of scrubbing and brushing and scrubbing some more, Lucy and Wendy had finally managed to get all of the grime and dirt off of the younger teen. She looked pleased with her appearance despite the dragon-like features, her cheeks fairly close to glowing with happiness as she smiled, showing off surprisingly white fangs. They'd been unable to do anything about the mess of hair around her shoulders and had decided their best bet was to just manage to brush it, which had been a success.
"You look adorable," Lucy cooed as the girl smoothed her hands down her dress. "Why don't I go find the other two, and-"
"No need." Wendy tapped her nose with a wink. "Gajeel's probably hiding. He's...kind of not a social person. Hi, Natsu! Look, Lucy got me a dress!"
Lucy turned to look over her shoulder, her heart pounding in shock when she saw the pink-haired man watching them with curious onyx eyes. There was a mixture of shock and suspicion on his face, and Lucy frowned. Did he seriously think I'd go out and come back with police or something…?
"Looks great, Wendy." He grinned, and Lucy was stunned to see just how natural it looked on his wary face. The horns on his head glinted dully in the light that spilled through a large window nearby, making the scales on his flesh gleam. "Been awhile since ya had something like that."
"Mhm," she hummed, clasping her fingers together. "I wish my hair was normal...then we could fix it, too, but…" She helplessly waved at her lavender mane, and Natsu chuckled.
"At least you can wear hats," he teased, waving at his own head before eyeing Lucy. "What else did ya get, weirdo?"
Lucy grinned. In other words...did you get me anything?
Natsu was an idiot, Lucy decided as she told him to follow her. Wendy trailed behind them as she led him to the shopping bags before beginning to sort through, explaining that the smaller sizes were for him. He was suspicious of her, she knew, wary that she'd turn around and betray all three of them. Not that she could blame him for thinking that way. Especially if what they'd told her was true.
She couldn't even begin to imagine what they'd gone through.
She smiled to herself as Wendy lightly hooked a finger in her sleeve, simply letting her hand rest there for the time being. Most younger teens would have been disgusted and turned their nose up at the idea of holding hands with an adult.
Wendy looked ready to cry out of happiness when Lucy shook her hand free and grasped her hand gently.
Natsu eyed a shirt critically. "I'm not wearing this, I'll tear it getting it over my head."
Lucy took one look at his muscular and naked chest and retorted, "You are wearing it. No choice. No shoes, no shirts, no service in my house." He gave her a look of bewilderment and she smirked as she explained. "Means that so long as you're running around half-naked, you're not getting any food from me. Whether it be left overs or not."
Natsu looked horrified at the thought, and immediately growled, "Fine, I'll wear the damn shirt."
"That's what I thought." Lucy plucked the shirt from his hands to study it and then tossed it back, searching for one that she approved of. She picked up a form hugging red shirt with a dragon imprinted on the chest - she'd thought he'd like it, and she was proved right when he grinned - as well as a pair of shorts and other necessary bits of clothes that he needed. "Here," she told him, shoving them into his grubby arms with reluctance. "Go take a bath and don't come out until you're clean."
Natsu grumbled, but agreed and meandered off to do just that, determined to get on her good side in an attempt for more food.
"He doesn't like you."
Lucy's gaze darted to the guilty looking Wendy in surprise. The small girl was nibbling on her lip. "Neither does Gajeel," she continued with a sigh. "Neither of them trust you. They think you're going to turn on them if they do something wrong." A sunny grin passed over her face. "But I don't think you - or your friend - will. I think you two are good people who are actually trying to help us, Lucy."
"Thank you, Wendy," Lucy replied, and then smiled brightly at her. "Come on, why don't you go through your clothes? You can pick out what you want and then let me know when you're done, okay? I'll just be over on the couch reading my book." She glanced at her wrist suddenly, where she'd slipped on a watch since her phone had been destroyed. "Levy should be coming home soon…"
She left Wendy to do just that, and she smiled as she heard Wendy squeal to herself in excitement over the sheer amount that had been purchased for her, and she smiled gently before scowling at the thought of the other two dragon mutants in her home.
At least someone appreciated her efforts...
She hummed under her breath as she snatched her book up from its place on the table beside the couch. She flipped open to her page and settled back, waiting patiently for Wendy to finish, for Natsu to come out, for Gajeel to appear, and for the other owner of the large building to get home.
All while swearing up and down that she was a complete idiot for not freaking out like any normal person would have in her situation.
It was after Wendy had gone through all of the clothes that Lucy had purchased for her that Natsu emerged, making a face at the unfamiliar tight fabric he now wore. Lucy set her book aside with a hesitant smile on her face. "Perfect. Thought that would be a good size for you...now we need to hunt down Gajeel-"
"Good luck," Natsu muttered, tugging uncomfortably at the T-shirt he was wearing. "He hates ya more than I do."
Lucy's smile faltered. But then she turned away, biting her cheek to keep from saying anything too mean in response as she called, "All done Wendy?"
"Mhm," Wendy said cheerfully, and Natsu snickered, thinking she'd topple over under the amount of clothing her slim arms were trying to hold. Lucy hurried over to help her, taking the clothes from her as she told her, "We'll get you set up with a room. But there's not enough furniture to go around yet, so we'll let Natsu and Gajeel take the couches tonight and you can share my or Levy's bed, okay?"
Wendy stared at her in surprise. "You're letting me use your bed?"
Lucy shrugged. "Why not? If I'm going to lose my mind, I might as well do it properly."
"How come I have to take a couch?" Natsu whined.
"Because apparently you hate me as much as Gajee does," she snipped back, shooting him a small glare and clearly not intent on forgiving him anytime soon for saying such things. "And after you thought of killing, I think you deserve less than a couch, but you know. Some of us aren't mean, so enjoy it."
Natsu glowered at her before huffing and turning his face away with a scowl.
Lucy gently reached out to touch Wendy's shoulder. "Come on, Wendy, let's get these to your room…"
Levy moaned in relief as she stepped out of her car, purse and car keys in hand. She made a beeline for the massive front doors of their newly purchased home, grateful to be there after a long day at work with Jet and Droy. As much as she loved them - and she did, as brothers - their constant attempts at catching her attention were a nuisance!
"Seriously, it was a waste of my time," Levy muttered as she stepped inside, kicking the heavy door shut behind her. She reluctantly climbed the steps, contemplating the idea of getting a mini-elevator or something for the area - if Lucy could coax her father into getting it, of course, because she was near broke at the moment.
Organizing books by an author's last name should not be as difficult as Droy had made it.
"If he wanted to hang out, he could have just asked," Levy sighed to herself, pausing in the massive living room to look around for Lucy. But Lucy was nowhere in sight, and she supposed the blonde must have still been exploring, or maybe had gone out.
Not. Her car's in the driveway.
Shrugging and deciding that she'd call Lucy to figure out where she was in the massive and beautiful stone mansion, Levy headed for the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled, a distant reminder that she hadn't eaten since earlier that morning. She'd been too busy helping Droy out to do much else.
The clueless blue-haired woman didn't notice the curious shadow watching her from the corner of the room, crimson eyes following her movement with every step she took.
Levy hummed under her breath as she dropped her possessions on the kitchen counter and then slid over to open the fridge, tugging her shoes off as she went and wiggling her bare toes against the cold floor.
Heating expenses would be a bitch later on.
Levy had been prepared to reach in for some leftovers, or even a small snack, but she found herself standing before a completely emptied fridge. As in, nothing had been stocked in months kind of empty. And her gaze darkened irritably because of it.
Completely bypassing the odd shape that had followed her, Levy went to open the pantry only to discover that it, too, was empty. "Lucy!" she whined, "Just how much food did you eat?"
The figure behind her couldn't help himself; he began to laugh.
"Gihi!" Gajeel chuckled out raspily with a rather large smirk written across his scaled face. Crimson eyes watched her with a faint curiosity in them as she whirled around with a shocked expression only to dive for the knife block that was a foot or so away from her. He rolled his eyes when she wielded a butcher knife in his direction, a warning look on her face.
"Stay away," she gritted out, "Don't you dare even think about - holy hell, what the-" She paused in her anger to stare at him in confusion, frowning.
He merely smirked, watching her with amusement. His arms were crossed across his chest, which was still bare, though he'd somehow managed to sneak a pair of cargo shorts out from under Lucy's nose when the blonde had gone to help Wendy out. He hadn't been missing long enough to not know how to deal with them, or how they felt on one's body, but it sure was weird. Although he supposed it kind of did put all of his scales on display.
Oh, well, sucked to be the bookworm. He hadn't been worried about his appearance before and he wasn't about to start now.
"Dunno what you think you're doing with the knife," he grunted, "Not gonna do anything."
Levy's knuckles were white as she gripped the knife tighter. Her dark eyes searched his face, and then a shocked look crossed her face as realization struck her because damn it, the bastard was right! She could see the scales gleaming, as if mocking her, and she knew without a doubt that it wouldn't get through them.
So, the blue-haired woman lowered her knife and then placed it on the counter behind her, instead eyeing the cabinet that held the frying pans. She knew those usually hurt pretty bad, but sadly, it was close to where he was leaning, and she was certain he could catch her before she reached it. Shakily, she said, "What the hell are you doing in my house? Get out, or I'm calling the cops!"
"Gihi!" he cackled. "Go ahead, shrimp, bet they'd walk right back out. Or not even come. Ain't nobody comin' in this place and finding us."
Levy decided not to question it, instead hissing, "Where's Lucy? What have you done to her?"
He rolled his crimson gaze and smirked before tilting his head back and shouting at the top of his lungs, "OI! SALAMANDER! WENDY! ONE OF YOU GOT BUNNY GIRL WITH YA?!"
The sound was practically a roar to Levy, who slammed her hands over her ears with a shocked look, and she found herself quivering in fear. Her fingers trembled as she lowered her hands. "B-bunny-"
And then, a faint response. It was quiet but audible to Levy's ears, but Gajeel heard it loud and clear. "Yes!" the soft feminine voice called back. "She's with me! Natsu's off and running around again!"
"BRING HER HERE, GOT SOMEONE LOOKIN' FOR HER!"
Levy stared at him outright. "Lucy knows you're here?!"
"Who the fuck do you think bought the shorts, woman?" Gajeel narrowed his eyes, a sly smirk crossing his face. He tugged lightly at the material. "What, prefer to see me go without 'em?"
She turned a bright red. "Sh-shut up," she stammered before giving a wail and throwing herself at the blonde as Lucy jogged into the kitchen, breathless from running full speed through the mansion. "Lu!"
Lucy giggled softly as she hugged the petite woman back. "Sorry, I was setting up a room for Wendy here...Levy, these are Gajeel and Wendy, and I don't know where Natsu is…"
'I'll find him," Wendy offered hesitantly, shyly smiling a greeting at Levy before turning and slipping away.
"Lucy!" the blue-haired woman trilled anxiously, distressed by all of the strangers in her home. Lucy only smiled tightly and began to explain.
"I was exploring, like you told me to," Lucy said, "And I was heading down some stairs I found on the top floor. They led into some kind of space, where these three were hanging out, and it turns out that they're kind of science experiments. They're not all that bad, though I guess you can see that they ate all of our food…"
"Lucy!" Levy cried, ignoring the silent dark-haired man watching them, his piercing gaze following their every move. "That's...not normal! We should be calling the police or something!"
"Levy, they haven't been out of that dark room in years," Lucy stated quietly, biting her lip with a softened look. "Please? They're not that bad...I've been hanging out with Wendy outside of a few hours of shopping and she's a really good person, believe me."
She searched Lucy's face for a brief moment, then jabbed her finger in Gajeel's direction. He watched her with curiosity. "What about him?"
"He's okay, too, though he hasn't really hung around much," Lucy muttered. "Natsu was the one who wanted to kill me."
"Excuse me?" Levy hissed, her eyes widening with shock at what Lucy had said. "And you want to...Lucy!"
"Stop yer screechin', Shrimp," Gajeel drawled, scowling at her. "Ain't gonna help ya any. The hell do you think we could go?"
"...nowhere else," Levy realized under her breath before flushing a bright red. She turned to face Gajeel, bowing her head in apology, and he took on a horrified look of confusion that made Lucy burst into outright laughter. "I apologize, Gajeel, I'm Levy McGarden, the second owner of this place. It's very nice to, um, meet you. I guess."
He grunted, saying nothing else. Instead, crimson eyes lifted to rest on Natsu and Wendy as they slid in, and Levy's jaw hung open at the sight of the horns that sprouted from Natsu's pink-haired head. Sharp eyes studied her with a look of confusion, his nose wrinkling up as he studied her with an equally curious look.
"Yo," Natsu greeted, suspicion flashing across his face.
"Hello," Wendy added cheerfully, sidling over to greet Levy with a bit more friendliness than the others. "I'm Wendy…" She struggled for a few moments, a frown flickering across her face before Natsu uttered something that they couldn't hear. "I'm Wendy," she finally said.
The look of sympathy that crossed Lucy's face told Levy that the reason that they looked like they did was the reason that the young teen couldn't even remember her own last name. Smiling gently yet annoyed that such a small girl was still close to her height, Levy greeted, "Hello, Wendy. Did Lucy get you all set up with a room?"
"Mhm," Wendy hummed, shooting Lucy a brilliant smile, lavender locks seeming to shift around her face in a gentle breeze. She paused at the breeze, tilting her head, and Lucy blinked a few times when the other two followed suit. Natsu's eyes lit up. Gajeel just sighed.
"Mavis!" the pink-haired dragon mutant shouted, sprinting away at full speed without so much as a word of explanation.
"Come on!" Wendy grabbed Lucy's wrist and tugged her forward. "If Mavis is calling, then she must want to meet you two. Gajeel, bring Levy!"
"Don't you dare touch me," Levy growled warningly when the large man went to throw her over his shoulder with a snicker. "Despite my size, I am perfectly capable of shoving your head into the garbage disposal, you hear me?"
"The hell is that?" he demanded, puzzled.
Lucy's laughter could be heard as she was dragged out of the room, and Gajeel and Levy trailed after her. Levy couldn't help but shy away when they had to squeeze through a doorway, still somewhat wary of the fierce looking one beside her. Studying him out of the corner of her eye, Levy asked with hesitance, "Um, G-Gajeel? Can I ask what exactly you guys are?"
He grunted. "Experiments pretty much. Fucker decided to see what happened when you woke up some kind of magical dragon nonsense in us. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me. Not as freaky as your height though. Gihi."
Her face twisted into a look of annoyance that disappeared the second that they joined the others in the room that held the massive tree. Wendy was tearing across the floor, bare feet slapping loudly against it, as she threw herself into the arms of a strange blonde girl that stood at the tree's base, dressed in a flowing white dress. "Mavis!" Wendy cried, ignoring Lucy's shock at seeing another person in their house.
"Hello," Mavis greeted with a friendly giggle, returning the hug. Her green eyes flashed with concern. "You are unharmed? I felt the windstorm a few nights ago…"
Wendy blushed. "I, um, got mad because I stubbed my toe."
A hand descended upon Wendy's head, ruffling lilac locks. Gajeel gave the small girl a friendly grin, the first truly friendly look that Levy had seen on his face since she'd come home to discover that they had guests. "The hell have you been, Mavis?"
"Yeah!" Natsu piped up, scaring the hell out of Lucy after sneaking up behind her. "We've been waitin' on you for days!"
Mavis only laughed, smoothing her dress as she pulled away from Wendy. "Watching," was her simple answer as she turned her attention on Lucy and Levy, who'd slid over to stand beside the blonde. Her eyes flashed excitedly. "Lucy Heartfilia, an heiress, and Levy McGarden, a keeper of words," she murmured. "How exciting for us."
She was smaller than Levy, with long blonde hair that reached her ankles, and delicate wrists and ankles. She looked like a mere girl of Wendy's age, but her emerald eyes told Lucy that there was so much more, that she was much older than she appeared. She greeted, "I am the sister-in-law of Natsu Dragneel, Mavis. I am grateful to see that the new keepers of our home are not as...interested in what makes things happen as Zeref was."
"So...you're…" Lucy struggled to comprehend this for a moment, and Gajeel cut her off with a smirk.
"Yeah. This is Zeref's wife. Or was his wife, before he screwed with her, too, and tied her to a tree. She's the only one of the people he fucked with that we like," he said with a huff, glaring at the beautiful tree.
"This guy sounds psychotic," Lucy grumbled.
"Lucy, that's her husband," Levy seethed, elbowing her friend and fighting back the waves of panic rising. Just what the hell had they done to deserve this kind of craziness?! She took a deep breath to calm herself, biting the inside of her cheek to help her focus.
"It's alright," Mavis sighed. She rested a hand against her tree, her eyes sharp now. "Zeref is no longer someone I am on good terms with." Her body tensed as she tilted her head listening to something that they couldn't hear. "I merely wished to introduce myself. The tree is calling me back now...I must go. Natsu."
She grabbed him by one of the horns on his head to the pair of women's shock, dragging him down to her level so that she could growl in his face, "You behave yourself and be kind to Miss Heartfilia. She has no dark corners in her heart. The same goes for you, Gajeel, or do I need to fetch-"
"Ow, woman, okay!" Looking terrified, Natsu ripped his horn free and recoiled, saying faintly, "You don't need to grab it, we're good. Right, Gajeel?"
"Yeah," he said hastily, "What Salamander said."
"Good. You can help by watching over the building and doing as they tell you." Mavis touched Wendy's cheek affectionately, and the dragon-girl practically purred in content before stepping back.
All five of them watched as Mavis gave a final smile and faded away, returning to the tree that held her prisoner. There was a moment of silence before Levy managed to get out, "Just how many experiments are there in this house?"
Levy has returned and Mavis is here! Mavis won't show up very often, as a warning ahead of time. Next chapter, Levy and Lucy receive some lovely visitors. ;)
Also, a few people pointed out a very interesting fact on animals that I'd forgotten was an actual thing: some animals do crack open bones for marrow. Totally forgot about that. I'm very excited that I was reminded, so thank you to those who brought it up!
Thanks to reviewers (Grizzly98, Guest #1, PinkFireandGoldenStars, An Amber Pen, kmmcm, JadeOccelot, FireShifter, LePengwen, NaLu and InuKag, MirrorFlame, PuppyLoveCharm, ThatOneFriend-3, katiesmo, ele, Guest #2, HollyNinetales, quite-a-riot, RandomAnimeNerd, JacJac-Arie, dumamoja, roohoos, and zsummern!) as well as those who favorited and followed!
