Without much sound, in the span of a single night; Ultear had kept her redhead at bay, or, her powers, to be precise. Following the accident the night prior, Flare had been in and out of consciousness. Her aura rising and seemingly dimming at random. The Time Mage was at a loss; for reasons being that she could not subdue the power that kept attempting to burst from within the young redhead. Her options were dwindling, and Levy's knowledge on the subject was limited at best, particularly when the issue at hand was a lacrima being embedded into her niece's chest. Her few ideas did nothing, and time was running short on the expected return of Magnolia's residential dragon. Now, it was one thing to attack the dragon, but for its hatchlings to come to harm; there would be no haven for those who dared to intentionally invoke a dragon's wrath. Even for longtime friends, family even, there was a definite rule amongst the overgrown serpents; never lay a hand on a dragon's child; it will be the last thing you ever do. Although, Ultear was not entirely worried over how Natsu would react, she knew well how he'd be less than pleased that she didn't keep a close eye on the lacrima shard. What worried her most at the moment was Flare's condition; her body adjusting to the lacrima's power, but whether or not she would awake was another story all together. Ultear is, firstly, a mother, and seeing Flare in a near comatose state kept her on edge. Though, unlike the little ones, she was more subtle and quiet with her uneasiness. Her only tell being the constant furrow of her brows. From the night till dawn she remained by the young redhead's side. The younger Dragneels were being watched over in the living room, per their mother's orders. While both sisters were worried over Flare, Wendy showed more concern having not stopped sniffling since she had seen her older sibling engulfed in flame and surrounded by a magic aura similar to their father. However, for a faint moment, she also felt a magical energy similar to that of Levy being expelled from her sister. But, until now, she thought nothing of it.
Throughout the entire Dragneel household, no sound but the inhaled and exhales of its occupants made themselves known. All kept quiet, or so it seemed. The sounds of flapping wings and Magnolia's new 'Dragon Alert' system echoing throughout the forest, the hearts of the little ones forced them off their seats as they could hear the faint roar of a familiar dragon. Though, unlike Ultear, Levy was indeed worried over how Natsu would handle the current situation. The old lizard had felt great loss before and he handled it in his own manner. She just wasn't sure if he could handle the loss of a hatchling. Regardless, Levy took the little ones outside to greet their father, whilst Ultear remained by Flare's side. To the Time Mage's surprise, the little one stirred a bit, causing the mother's heart to race. But just as quickly as she had shown movement, Flare remained still afterwards.
Adding to the rather gloomy atmosphere, it had suddenly started raining. Not much of a surprise considering how cloudy the day started off. As the flapping wings grew ever closer, Ultear reached over and gripped Flare's hand. Never one for relying on faith or luck, at this moment she prayed and hoped that the young redhead would awaken. Her heart ached with each second she had to gaze upon the unconscious form of her eldest daughter. At first, the Time Mage was to leave the Fire King to his own devices and let him raise his hatchlings whilst she raised Meredy. But, as life would seem to have it; Meredy was quick to look to Natsu as a father, and the two hatchlings of the overgrown lizard looked to her as their mother. Granted, it was not an overnight process, but it occurred nonetheless. She treated her daughters the same way she would Meredy, and to this moment, the Dragneel siblings looked to her for guidance and affection just as much as they would their father.
Her gaze quickly turned towards the window, the sight of the crimson dragon descending from the clouds did not ease her worried thoughts. But, she held on to a hope that he'd have some answer to this. Hubris; to believe that she had could have complete control and understanding of her creations. But, to sit idly by, unable to do anything for her daughter as she lay in bed, unconscious and gods know if she'd ever awake.
Meanwhile, outside, Natsu descended slowly unto his land, keeping in mind the children holding on to him. Once his feet had touched the ground, Gajeel jumped down almost instantly, chuckling lightly to himself whilst falling on the grass. "Finally, solid ground." He mumbled aloud. The young blunette giggled lightly, while the crimson dragon sighed and mumbled something about the boy exaggerating. Still in his thoughts, Natsu began reforming back into his human form, surrounding his body with a black cloud, residing only once his human form had fully taken shape. He'd done this countless times before, he had forgotten to mention this particular information to the children he brought with him.
"Papa!" Before he could take a step forward towards his home, the Fire King found himself being rushed by two small toddlers. His little ones cling to him tightly, making control for balance all the more difficult at the moment. As the pinquette was occupied with not tripping over and falling with his little ones, the two children he brought with him were staring at him with widened eyes. They fully expected this dragon to remain just that; a dragon, and to have children similar to him. This was quite a surprise, and not entirely what Gajeel expected, but, considering this dragon was probably well into his years, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if he had picked up on some spells to help him reshape himself. Perhaps a situation called for him to learn to shapeshift, perhaps for survival. Either way, the iron slayer was even more curious over what his time with this dragon family would entail. As for Juvia, the young blunette remained beside the slayer, but was as well impressed with Natsu's shapeshifting. His human form was less intimidating…well, not as much as she had hoped, but she felt she'd be able to speak with this version of the elder Dragneel a little better.
With a wide smile, Natsu wrapped his arms around his little ones, holding them close to him while chuckling mildly. Though, his laughter fell short as he took notice of the little ones sniffling. He kneeled down and turned their faces to his, both had reddened eyes and small tears in the corner of their eyes. Before getting a chance to ask what was wrong, his nose twitched, his body shivered upon taking in the magical residue. He had completely overlooked it, but now that the rushing winds from his wings had settled, his senses were bombarded with the feeling of a great amount of expelled magic. Fire type, and all of it from a single source, but with it, he felt something else, or rather, someone else. It was only a second of thought before the gears clicked; the second source was his own daughter's magical energy mixed with his own. Gaining a vague idea of what occurred; Natsu gave his little one a tight hug before gently breaking away and pacing hastily towards his house, the little ones and the newcomers not too far behind. As soon as the Fire King was standing at the doorway to his eldest child's room, he froze. From where he stood, he felt Ultear's aura, and another, albeit faint, aura within. Hesitantly, he turned the knob and walked in, his heart broke at the sight of pale Flare with a scar on her chest, almost as if burned unto her. Ultear had kept her attention focused on the young redhead, but acknowledged his return.
Natsu's steps were weighed down as he walked ever so slowly to his daughter's bedside. He knelt beside Flare, gently gripping one of her hands, in doing so, he sensed power. One that he had hoped would die with him; pure ether. His expression shifted to a harsh scowl, he turned his head to Levy and gestured her to take the children out. Without needing to ask why, she quickly rounded the little ones and the newcomers and took them outside the house. Leaving only Natsu and Ultear, alone, something the Time Mage dreaded, but knew would come.
"Ultear." She flinched, only for a moment before realizing her name had been spoken without a harsh or dangerous tone to it. Very slowly, she turned to face her companion, but what she saw upon seeing him greatly unnerved her. She saw, for what felt like the first in a long time, in Natsu's eyes; fear. "I…have an idea…as to what's wrong with her…" the woman's eyes widened, her heart began racing again, but it slowed itself down when she noticed her partner's grim expression had yet to cease. "I just need to know; that dragon scale lacrima you gave me…you siphoned my magic for it…didn't you?" Ultear turned away, replying ever so softly to his question while keeping her attention on Flare.
"Yes."
"I see." Natsu responded, placing his hand over the scar on Flare's chest. "I was afraid of that." he muttered, his face hardening whilst his palm began to glow. Ultear felt a radiating amount of power emit from the Fire King. And without warning, a glyph appeared over the elder dragneel's scar, it caused her to shift, her brows furrowing as, in that instant, Flare let out a blood curdling scream. Ultear flinched, if only for a moment before attempting to break the pinquette away from the girl.
"What are you doing?!" She yelled at him while charging up an incantation in her hand.
"DON'T" He shouted back, though, keeping full concentration on his daughter. "If I stop now; she won't stand a chance." Confused and unable to withstand hearing her little one in pain, the Time Mage was about ready to blast him away, but, for now, with no other option, she instead lowered her arms and, begrudgingly, awaited for him to finish whatever he was doing.
Outside Levy had taken the little ones as far as she could from their house, or at least, far from earshot. Which was pretty far when she took into account the present slayer's enhanced hearing abilities. For the most part, the group in whole was quiet, and while she didn't expect the Dragneel siblings to be talkative at the moment, she expected the iron slayer and the blunette to say something, or at the very least ask what was occurring. Still, while Levy was happy to see the iron slayer, she wished it had been under better circumstances. As for Juvia, she didn't expect to see the water mage any time soon. But, that didn't mean she was unwelcomed, rather, it gave the demon bookworm an idea.
Whilst keeping an eye on Natsu's hatchlings, a glyph appeared beneath her feet as she too began to reform back to her demon body. Something she tried to avoid considering how many folks felt about demons, especially after an envoy of clerics arrived not too long ago, searching for the supposed 'Demon of the south-eastern shore'. A long title, but Levy cared little for it, rather, she enjoyed when those 'mages' arrived, their attempts to 'purify' the land of her presence involved mostly prayer and river water they tried to pass up as holy water infused with a type of magic suppresser. Of course, nothing worked, and after much teasing on her part, the clerics left, but not before vowing to return with a larger order. While this didn't exactly bother Levy, she couldn't exactly say she enjoyed being eyed as a trophy or target for mages looking to make a name for themselves.
As the light dimmed from her glyph, the children were in awe of her demon form. One of which she was extremely proud of, for two obvious reasons. As she turned her attention to the iron slayer and the water mage, she was surprised to see the blunette hiding behind the boy, and his arms rose up, almost as if ready to fight.
"Put your arms down." When he kept them up, her expression shifted to a harsh glare. "Now." She demanded, without needing to raise her tone, the boy lowered his hands almost instantly. Levy glanced over to Juvia and softened her tone. "And you, come out, I won't bite." As soft as she could at least. Juvia hesitated greatly, unwilling to move from her spot behind Gajeel. "If I need to repeat myself…" Her tone harshened, and with that, Juvia remained firm, unwilling to move from the protection of the Iron Slayer.
"Auntie Levy." The blunette demon glanced towards Meredy, with Wendy clinging to her right arm. "Maybe you should be nicer." She advised, albeit with a tangent of hesitance. For the young Dragneels, it was clear to see where their friend and their aunt differed. While the young Mcgarden and Redfox shared the same name and eerily similar features, their personalities were far from similarity. Mcgarden was immensely shy, cautious, and soft with words, Redfox was the complete opposite.
One thing to keep in mind was that being a demon was nothing new, being surrounded by humans was indeed something new. Keeping up her human formed drained her magic reserves and her demon form caught the eye of any and all. Hence the occasional cleric or monk that sought to 'purify' the realm of her. Or so they'd occasionally blurt out before attacking. As of late, there were some who came close to actually laying a finger on her, although, thanks to her reformation, she was more than just a human. Reluctantly, she sighed with a tint of annoyance and softened her facial expression. She turned back to Juvia and Gajeel. "Alright blue."
"Yes, Auntie?" Wendy chimed in.
"Not you, sweetie." In a rare moment, Levy showed a caring and gentle smile for Wendy, right before her expression hardened again. "Natsu brought you both here, which means…" She took a quick whiff of the air and turned her gaze towards Gajeel. "You're a slayer." She then turned to Juvia. "And you…human, but I'm not entirely sure why he brought you." Levy waved her hand, bringing up a piece of the earth beneath her, allowing a small floating rock for the demon to sit on. The use of non-verbal, particularly control over elemental magic, left the children in awe, more so the attention of Juvia. "Doesn't matter, since you're both family now, why don't we get acquainted?"
"Family?" Gajeel muttered in confusion, leaving Levy to lightly rub the bridge of her nose.
"Of course he didn't mention that. Or he did, and you weren't listening." She mumbled. Levy crossed her arms and glanced back to the two kids. "So, let's start off with a simple introduction, I'm Levy Redfox, Script Mage, and younger sister to Natsu Dragneel…well, mostly through my husband." Her eyes wandered slightly, staring off into space whilst thinking of her time as a mage before the end of the world. It wasn't always peaceful, and it was far from perfect, but there wasn't a day that went by that she and her husband weren't content. As her eyes glanced back, she noticed Gajeel and Juvia staring at her with both surprised and widened eyes.
"You married a dragon?" Gajeel asked. "That's…weird."
"I think it's nice…" Juvia managed to chime in, somewhat. "I mean…they loved each other, right?" The four children looked to Levy, waiting for her to reminisce of her days with her family, and perhaps clarify the kinship between Natsu and this brother she spoke of.
"I didn't know papa had a brother." Meredy commented, earning a nod from Wendy. Seeing where this conversation was turning, and not sensing Natsu or any others nearby, Levy disclosed what little she wanted to tell of the old dragon slayer clan. She waved her hand around the children, bringing up more rock beneath them, allowing the young ones to sit whilst a swirl of dust in between them formed into what seemed like a town. The children were, for lack of a better word, in awe. Meredy and Wendy had seen their aunt cast non-verbal spells before, hell; the woman had written a book about it. Granted, despite their constant pleas, they weren't going to read that bit of literature any time soon. For Juvia and Gajeel, things were a tad bit different; they never thought that going with a dragon would lead to them having to interact with a demon, who claims to be a member of said dragon's family.
"Well, he didn't have just one; the Dramak clan was comprised of seven dragon kin. Natsu wasn't the oldest, but he was by far the strongest. Of course, having dragon blood does help…a lot. My husband was, perhaps not the strongest of his siblings, but he was one of Natsu's closest brothers." With a calm smile, Levy used her hands to rearrange the dust as her story went on, the little ones paying close attention alongside the older blunette. The iron slayer, while paying attention, wasn't exactly as invested as the girls were.
"If I can point out…" Gajeel interrupted, "You went from extremely threatening to uncomfortably calm without missing a beat. That's not only disturbing, but also confusing. And what's with the magic tricks, I thought mages needed to say the name of the spell for it to work."
Levy's right eye twitched, faintly, as the dust between her palms reshaped into a miniature dagger which darted forward in such a speed that it was only seen upon stopping a few centimeters in front of the boy's neck. "Sweetie, please don't interrupt me again. Ok?" without missing a beat, Gajeel's head nodded rapidly. Juvia was lightly trembling, while the two younger girls mostly giggled, knowing full well their aunt's threats were mostly empty…mostly. "As I was saying; my husband was an Iron Dragon Slayer, in fact, where we came from; he was probably the only one." A gleam in the young boy's eye suddenly sparked as he heard this new bit of information, which died out almost quickly when Levy turned to face him again. "And for your information; yes, a mage needs to cast an incantation before their spell can be manifested. But, that's not true for specific magic. Mostly elemental magic is where you can attempt non-verbal casting. Fire and water especially." Upon looking towards the older blunette, she could see the little one gloom. Which wasn't too surprising considering the demon purposely mentioned the difficulty of elemental magic for the two mentioned types. "But, luckily for you kids, I picked up on some tricks here and there, wrote some of them down too. Since my husband's primary element was earth, I focused more on that particular type of magic." Her eyes refocused on Gajeel, the menacing gleam in her pupils sent a massive shiver up the boy's spine. "Guess that means you and I will be spending a whole lot of time together, doesn't it, Iron Dragon Slayer."
"H-h-how did you…?" The boy was caught off guard, having no recollection of ever revealing his magic.
To which Levy scowled and leaned over towards him, causing the slayer to flinch and back away slightly. "Are you kidding me, I could smell Metalicana on you. I'd know that rusty smell anywhere." She mumbled angrily.
The shock and sparks of curiosity within the boy's eyes were filling with a plethora of questions; the first of which she could probably guess would be how she knew the iron dragon. Although, before Levy was bombarded by questions a familiar pinquette emerged from the thickets, seemingly out of thin air. His arrival made the little ones yelp, jumping ever so slightly. His face showed no grief or relief, rather, he remained stoic. He stared at the small group for a moment before turning his attention to Meredy.
"Merry, I need you to take the children inside, have them wait in the living room, momma is gonna stay with Flare so I'll make you kids breakfast when we get back." Natsu's tone showed no hostility, but it was with such authority that the young pinquette stood up, nodded sharply, and led the others with her. Wendy followed with no argument or question, Juvia hesitated, but followed regardless. Gajeel was about to say something when he felt a cold gaze staring down on him. He left, mumbling quietly to himself.
Once the younger slayers were out of hearing range, Natsu leaned against a nearby tree.
"Jewels for your thoughts?" The demon blunette asked, her tone shifting as she was no longer around the children. But rather, around her last remaining family from her old life. True, being a demon came with the bloodlust, luckily, she had time to meditate and maintain control over her nature. Something she and the pinquette both held great pride in, each for their own reasons. However, following the event pf the day prior, there was an issue that would arise that the two would need to keep a close eye on. The lacrima the young redhead was infused with, while containing the power of a Fire Dragon, still held something else that the creator didn't expect. Of course, that could be because the creator, Ultear, has not yet been made privy to the information. At the moment, only Natsu and Levy were aware, and equally worried.
"I sealed what I could...she's…fine." He spoke with uncertainty, doubting whether he truly did all he could. "For now, all we can do is wait until she wakes. And I want to be there when that happens, so you're going to help me find-"
"She's in the field." Levy interrupted, faintly smirking when a small tangent of confusion showed. "I placed a tracker on everyone. Wasn't easy, but I can give you coordinates of anyone from anywhere in Fiore." She leaned over towards with a devilish smirk. "You won't believe where Makarov frequents every Friday at nine."
"Now isn't the time…and we'll need to talk about what you meant by 'everyone'." Natsu wasn't sure if he felt a bit fearful at Levy's little side activities, or grateful she made tasks all the more easier. Though, what she didn't make easy was getting her to share certain bits of information.
The demon woman smiled and playfully brushed her palm against his chest before placing a finger against her lips. "Spoilers." She whispered slyly.
Sitting idly atop a boulder within a scorched field was a young mage, alone. Sitting with her legs pressed tightly against her chest. She heard the alarm earlier; she knew it wouldn't be long until her master found her. What worried her was how he'd react; would he be reasonable, or would he make an example of what occurred? It was an accident, so he wouldn't do anything rash, right?
"Erza." The young redhead jumped, more so than ever, as her legs trembled upon feeling the aura of her teacher. Her body turned slowly to face the towering figure of her mentor, his stoic demeanor gave left her to guess whether the old dragon was calm or just really good at hiding his anger. Something in her screamed at her to run away, but no matter how much she felt the need to escape; she had nowhere to run that Natsu wouldn't be able to find her. So, she kept her head low and awaited for whatever would come next. "Sit." Without needing to repeat himself, Erza sat back down, but her head remained low with her eyes glued to the floor. Coming into her limited view where his legs stopping a few feet away as he kneeled to her level. She could feel his eyes on her, it wasn't with malice, which filled her with immense uncertainty, her heart began beating rapidly as her breathing grew heavy. "Look at me." She couldn't help but flinch when he spoke, a dragon in human form was standing before her with his daughter bedridden, and she being the involuntary cause of it. Knowing better than to invoke the wrath of said Fire Dragon, she slowly raised her head, meeting his stone cold gaze. Like his voice, she couldn't tell what he was feeling. "Erza, I want you to tell me everything that happened." She could feel no hostility in his words, but rather; desperation for understanding, particularly for something that occurred to his hatchling. Something she expected from a father and in truth from him as well, but if she were to be blunt; she expected her mentor to have a small fit, or hold a bitter grudge.
Regardless, she nodded and proceeded to tell her mentor everything that occurred. Ranging from a low voice to stuttering, Erza couldn't help but feel intimidated with having to explain to her master why his daughter was in a coma-like state because of her, and yet, he showed no signs of being furious with her. What made her worry more was when she noticed Redfox standing a few feet behind him. Her expression was similar to his, but she occasionally grinned her and there. Seeing her teacher made the girl even more nervous. Her mentor was frightening enough, add in the demon instructor was a combination she wasn't exactly too eager to witness. Having seen the blunette face off against clerics and bounty hunters with ease, she could only imagine what these two had in store for her. Once she had told her story in its entirety, she remained quiet, waiting for a response. What she received was not what she expected. She was startled when Natsu stood up, watched intently as took a moment to ponder something, flinched when she saw his arm move towards her. She shut her eyes and waited whatever punishment was coming her way. Instead, she felt a hand press against her head, patting her, and gently ruffling her hair. She opened her eyes hesitantly and glanced upwards. Natsu's expression didn't change, but she didn't feel threatened anymore.
"Thank you, for being honest with me." There was a moment of confusion for the redhead. She expected the dragon to lash out at her for being reckless, especially on the roof. This act of calm understanding was not what she expected, given the stories she heard from Lady Ultear and Levy.
"You believe me? Why?" Erza didn't know why, but something inside just compelled her to ask.
Seeing her surprised and confused expression made the pinquette glance to Levy, who averted eye contact. Getting a somewhat clear idea of her confusion, Natsu sighed and sat beside the redhead. "I do, because I don't believe you'd ever do something like this intentionally. But at the same time, I've noticed that you tend to lose your temper rather quickly." Erza stiffened. "I'd like to know; why is it you anger so easily?" And here was a can of worms the young mage had no plans of opening. It wasn't the smartest idea, given the situation, but she decided to keep her mouth shut and refuse to say anything. While she respected her master, she preferred keeping her past to herself. Getting the message rather quickly, Natsu nodded, mostly to himself, and rose back up. 'Alright, if you don't want to say, I'll respect your privacy, however, this means you and I will be going over a new form of training I shouldn't even be considering teaching you, but I feel you'll need it soon enough."
Erza was, by every definition of the word, confused. She didn't think he'd consider continuing their training, much less giving her some lessons even he'd consider keeping to himself.
"But now is not the time." He turned towards the direction of his home, glancing over to the redhead. "We'll discuss it after breakfast. Let's go." He gestured her to follow, to which she did so, trailing ever so shyly behind him. While she was confused as to why he was taking her with him, her stomach growled at the mention of food, obliterating any opportunity to reject his offer.
Four children sat quietly in the Dragneel home, the two siblings kept to themselves, never speaking, but occasionally gesturing towards Juvia, both with curiosity and mild interest. Gajeel sat closest to the fireplace, for a house being so close to the sea; the mornings were cold to say the least. Luckily, the fireplace seemed to be working so that was a plus. Juvia sat beside him, she glance to around, taking in the decorations, the few family portraits, and the book case filled with titles she had never heard of. Some in scripture she had only seen when Gajeel had shown her a few words in dragon tongue.
With the twitching of Wendy and Gajeel's noses, all eyes turned to the front door, opening to reveal the pinquette, the demon woman, and a face that had mixed reactions from the two younger Dragneels. Wendy was thrilled to see her friend return, running up to her and embracing the mage. Meredy was another story entirely. She didn't think her father would be harsh on the redhead; her mother was either, yet. But she wasn't exactly thrilled to see the Fairy Tail mage accompanying her father.
"Why is she here?" She asked rather bluntly.
"Is there a reason she shouldn't be here?" The response came, not from Natsu or Levy, but rather, from behind the younger pinqutte. Her head darted towards the source of the voice, her eyes widened as she saw the weary and pale state her older sister was in. While most of the room was in shock to see the redhead awake already, Meredy wasted no time embracing her older sibling, shocked, but glad to see her awake. Wendy too ran over to Flare as well, both hatchlings holding on to their sibling almost in the same manner they would Natsu.
"F-Flare, what are you doing up? And where's your mother?" Natsu asked, knowing full well Ultear would never allow Flare to be up this early after waking.
"After I woke up she fell asleep…I kinda snuck out." She admitted, sheepishly. Her faint grin vanished as soon as her eyes met with Erza's. The redhead walked, slowly, towards her guildmate. Though, she instantly felt herself weighed dowen by her sisters. Sensing the tone, Erza instead approached, causing Meredy to hold on to Flare tighter while giving Erza a mild glare. Said redhead stopped a few feet away, her eyes averting contact for a few seconds before meeting the stoic gaze of her fellow redhead. As she was to speak, Flare raised her right hand, gesturing Erza not to speak. Rather, instead of exchanging words, the elder Dragneel instead extended her hand. It didn't take anyone long to understand what this simple gesture meant; forgive and forget. An uncommon way to settle an issue nowadays, though, not for these two. At least, it was mostly known to those who knew of Flare and Erza's interactions. The two, rather than 'talk it out' as others would usually do, they'd instead choose to simply shake hands. It was used mostly to avoid long, overdrawn apologies. It wasn't something Ultear and Natsu were overly fond of, but it did mean the two had a way to resolve a conflict between themselves. Of course, it still seemed like Meredy wasn't too fond of Erza being so easily forgiven. Although, if she had anything to say, she kept it to herself. Instead choosing to continue hugging her sister, only smiling when she felt her sibling's arm embrace her as well.
"She awoke pretty quickly." Levy commented, leaning over to Natsu as to keep their conversation to a whisper. "You think it has something to do with what you did earlier?"
"Maybe…I'm not entirely sure. But, it makes you wonder how much of my power Ultear syphoned into that lacrima. Speaking of which…" Natsu and Levy both turned towards the bedrooms.
"FLARE!" Came a yell from within the house with both worry and slight annoyance. The tone startled each of the children, but the one most affected was the weary redhead, knowing full well she was in hot water.
"Mom's awake."
Let me start off by saying I apologize for the long wait, believe me im trying to do this on a monthly schedule, but I don't have as much extra time as I used to. Also, with the Holidays, i wasnt able to publish this right after Christmas like i had intended. But I do plan to try to keep the updates to a monthly system. Now, before ending this little AN, I'm adding another chapter in the past, just to add a bit more in, and afterwards things will progress further. Any ways, I hope this chapter was enough, again, im sorry for the long wait. Until next time, Ciao!
