. In Tenebris .

Levy scrubbed a hand tiredly down her face as she eyed Sting and Rogue, who spoke in hushed tones, their eyes narrowed and their words rushed. Beside her, Gajeel grunted, "Kill 'em and be done with it."

"No, no, I think they have a reason for this," Levy told him. "Besides, I want to ask them questions. And Juvia...you know her. Don't you." He opened his mouth to protest and she warned quickly, "Don't lie to me, Gajeel, you know her."

"We were friends," he admitted after a huff. "Before I turned into a freak. She...she did that float. With Pops and I…"

Levy said nothing more about the matter, only ordered, "Go get them some water bottles from the fridge. I'll keep an eye on them while Natsu and Wendy focus on Lucy." She glanced over her shoulder at her friend, who was sleeping comfortably now after a rough time with having the injury she supported cleaned.

Lucy was having a rough time as of late.

First her father and now this.

Levy shoved her hands against her pajamas, shivering. She didn't dare ask if she could go back to bed though. She didn't dare just leave, either. For all they knew, there were fifty thousand other people running around, trying to figure out what damage they could cause. "Should I call Erza? She might be willing to help in some way…"

"Not yet," Gajeel told her, and then stalked over to crouch in front of a grumbling Juvia. She'd been tied with some chains that Gajeel had retrieved, too tired to turn back into a puddle. Her blue eyes glared into his crimson gaze with a sharp look. "Oi. How the hell did you end up with Zeref?"

Juvia pressed her lips together and refused to answer. Levy wished that he'd gone to get the water bottles, but watched intently as he tried again. "Juvia, you're pissin' me off, woman."

"Juvia has nothing to say to someone who is dead," Juvia retorted. "Juvia was told that Gajeel was dead, so Gajeel is dead. What they say goes. Phantom Lord does not appreciate the disobedience of its members."

"Yeah, well, we don't like you being a bitch."

Levy shook her head in exasperation. "Gajeel, that's not how you question someone!" She edged closer and smiled gently at Juvia, who glared at her. "Miss Juvia, can you please tell us at least why they want Natsu and Lucy so much?"

Juvia searched her eyes for a long moment, but before she could answer, a grumpy Rogue cut in from behind them. The pair of dragons had been chained up, too, and neither looked pleased about it. "Natsu is wanted for obvious reasons. We're aware that he is the brother of Zeref. On top of that, he is the most successful of all of Zeref's experiments. We don't know about Lucy Heartfilia."

"Rogue!" Sting cried in horror. "We're not supposed to-"

"What does it matter?" the shadow dragon muttered. "They'll kill us if we go back. We tricked ourselves into thinking otherwise. We know too much to be allowed some freedoms and Yukino's."

Sting stared at him in shock and horror. But then realization flickered through his eyes and he dropped his irritable blue eyes, mumbling a reluctant agreement. He looked incredibly upset now, mourning appearing on his face. "They'll kill her now."

Levy exchanged a look with Gajeel. "Could you tell us everything that you can? And if you have anything that might help with Lucy's shoulder, that'd be great. Wendy can't heal it for some reason."

Sting grunted. "And ya won't be able to. They mentioned she had some kind of ability to heal. When they screwed us up to come and get him," He nodded at Natsu, "They thought of that."

"Great," Levy mumbled, pressing her lips together.

The dragon shrugged. "Sorry."

He didn't sound sorry.

"What about why you're here attacking us?" Gajeel demanded. "You in particular, not why Zeref sent someone."

Rogue sat forward, his crimson eyes narrowing. They met with Gajeel's for a few moments and then turned on Levy. Levy shivered a little at the cold look in them. "They have Sting's girlfriend. Kidnapped her. Sent him a note that demanded he come into their current location so that they could do some tests. I went with him so that he would have backup and they ended up doing the same to me."

Sting growled low in his throat. "I don't care if they kill me, but Yukino did nothing wrong."

"And how the hell do you expect to get her out?" Rogue bit out with a growl. "They've got security from hell, Sting."

"You keep saying 'they'," Natsu suddenly cut in. They all glanced over at where he was seated with a dozing Wendy and Lucy. Sting and Rogue looked shocked by his surprisingly human appearance. The horn that remained had seemed to shove itself away and his red eyes glinted onyx. No scales dotted his face and his taloned fingers had transformed into regular looking human finger nails. He boredly had a hand fidgeting with strands of Lucy's hair on the ground.

Gajeel and Levy looked stunned, too.

Sure, they'd been losing their dragon appearances as time went on, but it looked as if Natsu had lost all of his dragon qualities.

"You keep saying 'they'," Natsu repeated. "But the only one who ever worked on us was Zeref. So who is 'they'?"

Gajeel's head snapped around as Juvia scoffed, but the water woman said nothing. Instead, her piercing blue eyes remained straight ahead, as if she didn't see them. Rogue and Sting exchanged wary looks.

"Then he must have extended," Sting drawled, "Because there was at least a dozen or so guys working on us."

"Shit," Gajeel muttered, shaking his head. "So this isn't just a home experiment anymore...this is a full out organization. How many others?"

"Dunno," Sting said with a shrug. He curled a lip and showed off the sharp teeth in his mouth. "Definitely a few more though. Maybe two or three. They don't keep more than a few at a time, I think. They worry about a rebellion and people breaking out."

Levy's lips parted and she slumped. "We can't even call the police on these people," she croaked. "Because if we do-"

"They'll take us away," Rogue said darkly. "And we'll see even less of the outside world than we already do."

"...do you think Makarov could help?"

Natsu blinked and looked down at the tired blonde below him. She'd opened her unfocused eyes, looking up at him as she addressed Levy. She looked a bit confused to find him there, but Natsu ignored it and glanced up.

"How?" she asked. Levy frowned. "I mean, it might be possible, but we'd have to address the matter on how we know all of this, which would mean revealing these people. I doubt Makarov would reveal them to the public, but…"

"It's a difficult situation," Lucy finished. She slowly sat up, grimacing in pain. She kept her shoulder still. "I'll do it. I've gotten enough practice through my father at things like this. You just keep an eye on things here, Levy."

"Alright." Levy's gaze darted thoughtfully to Natsu. "I'd say take Natsu with you. If he can keep the appearance under control, changing it at will…"

"It'd help," Lucy agreed. "It'd add to the humanity of them. That is, if you'd like to go, Natsu."

Natsu froze, unhappy with being put on the spot like this. He stared at Lucy. Then his gaze darted to a frightened Wendy, who had turned white. "I don't want to be away from Wendy," he said suddenly. "She has to come, too."

Levy blinked and then realized quietly, "You two have never been apart, have you?"

"Not since Wendy showed up when I was little," Natsu said hoarsely.

"That's...that's somewhat impressive," Levy admitted.

"I agree," Lucy muttered, and then shook her head. "Wendy...you can't pull everything off like he can. Can you?" Wendy shook her head. "Wendy couldn't come unless we covered everything, and I know the feathers are sensitive enough that they can't be hidden with even cloth."

"Hey," Gajeel said suddenly. "Salamander. She'd be with me, moron. I ain't gonna let her get hurt. And I doubt Bunny Girl is gonna let anything happen to him," he added, turning his gaze on Wendy. "Wouldn't be more than a few hours. We can do clean up."

Wendy hesitated, her darkened lavender eyes turning to Natsu. He searched her gaze for a long moment. Finally, she returned her attention to Gajeel and said softly, "Okay."

After Lucy had received Natsu's reluctant agreement, the blonde rolled her good shoulder and focused on Sting and Rogue, her eyes narrowing. "So the question is after that, what do we do now about them and the water lady?"

Sting bared his teeth. "I'm not leaving Yukino where she is just because we pissed you bastards off."

"We weren't thinking about leaving her where she is," Lucy said firmly.

Levy blinked. "We weren't?"

"Hell no. We're going to get her out of there along with the rest of the people there." Lucy received several stares of surprise and rolled her eyes. "What? I'm not going to leave people there to be tortured, are you?"

"No," Levy mumbled. "I suppose not...so when are you going to go see Makarov, thn? Soon, I suppose?"

"Soon," Lucy agreed. "Not until my shoulder heals up a bit. We do need to call Erza and Gray over though. I'd like to see what they think about our plan and if they have any contributions. I hate to ask, but…" Lucy grimaced. "Can I go sleep in my bed, Levy? The floor's not comfortable."

"Oh!" Levy's hazel eyes stretched wide with surprise. "Of course, go ahead. I'll let you know if anything-"

Before she could finish, Gajeel suddenly shoved Levy. She flinched when she fell, skinning her hands on the stone floor. She turned a glare on him, but he ignored her and ordered, "You go sleep, too. You two didn't sleep at all, did you?"

"No," Levy admitted after a moment. "No, we didn't. I guess I'll probably feel it later if I don't. We'll call Erza and Gray after we rest a bit, Lucy. Do you need help getting back to your room?"

"I got it," Natsu surprised them by muttering. He hopped to his feet and lifted Lucy with ease. She squawked and glared at him for the lack of warning, but he smirked and headed off in the direction of her room. He yelped when she clouted him over the ear. "What was that for?"

"Ask next time!"

Levy gaped after them and Gajeel looked just as startled. Wendy looked outright confused as she whispered, "He just willingly carried Lucy, Gajeel. Is he okay?"

From where she sat, chained, Juvia pouted. "Juvia wants a boyfriend like that."

"She ain't his boyfriend." Snapped out of it by Juvia's voice, Gajeel pushed Levy again. She snapped at him to cut it out and he retorted that she was moving slow. Wendy offered to go with her, tired herself, and when he was alone with the "prisoners", Gajeel cracked his knuckles and turned on them.

"You fuckers got some explaining to do…"

When everyone was wide awake later in the day and busy doing whatever they felt like, Levy wandered into the room where they'd left the three invaders. Juvia was deeply sleeping, and the young woman tried to not notice how they'd used the tree, as if trusting that it would keep a person who could turn into water in one place.

Sting and Rogue were chained to the wall as if it was nothing. Gajeel had done some fancy metalwork to trap them there. Neither looked happy, but were quietly speaking to one another. Both stopped when Levy approached.

"What can we do for you, Miss McGarden?" Rogue drawled somewhat pleasantly, a bothered look on his face.

Levy smiled faintly and moved closer. She trusted them not to hurt her now, and she proved it by offering them each an apple. "It's not much, but Natsu got into the kitchen again. I'll go grocery shopping later to get some more food so that we have something better."

Both of them looked surprised to be given food. Sting hesitantly took the apples and passed one to Rogue before chowing down eagerly. As she looked closer, she realized that while they were both practically made of solid muscle, she could still see bony spots that had no place being so.

Despite the damage these two had caused, Levy felt bad for them.

Levy pressed her lips together and then asked quietly, "Is there nothing more you can tell us that might help us get Miss Yukino out?"

Sting paused mid-chew. Rogue looked elsewhere.

"No," Rogue said finally, sighing heavily. "We aren't even aware on where the building is. They kept even that from us." His crimson eyes studied the apple in his hand. "We were taken from there blindfolded. Our sense of smell is heightened and they even went so far as to block that so we couldn't find our way back."

"Then what the hell were you going to do if you got Natsu and Lucy out of here?" the suddenly amused Levy demanded. "I think they sent the three of you into a death trap."

Sting blinked at her, teeth buried in his apple. "...shit."

Levy burst into laughter as she saw the looks on their faces. It earned her a glare from both, but she waved them off. "Oh, my, the looks on your faces…"

"Juvia knows where it is," a tired sounding woman cut in suddenly. They glanced her way and Juvia glared at them. "Juvia was trusted enough to go back without running off. They knew you wouldn't return given freedom."

"They have Yukino," Sting argued. "We would have-"

"Do they though?" Levy suddenly asked. They paused to look at her curiously. "Do they really have Miss Yukino? What's her number?" She whipped out her phone, a suspicion in her mind.

"They sent a letter," Sting said uncertainly. "They claimed they did and I couldn't...I couldn't find her-"

Hoarsely, Rogue rasped, "We never saw her, Sting. They never proved it."

Shakily, Sting snatched Levy's phone from her fingers. Levy let him without complaint. He struggled around talons on his fingers but managed to dial a number and lift the phone up to his mouth. Levy reached out to put it on speaker.

She could feel a pair of eyes glaring at them all from the doorway and guessed Natsu was watching. The rise in temperature was enough to tell her that much.

It rang for a few moments before a gentle voice answered. "Hello? This is Yukino speaking, who is this?"

Sting nearly dropped the phone, his blue eyes filling with horror. Rogue shook his head, furious with himself. It took a moment and another prompting from Yukino before Sting croaked, "Yukino."

Levy smiled gently and climbed to her feet, leaving them to talk with the woman. She went over to the entrance of the room and smiled kindly at the annoyed Natsu, who hid in the shadows with a pout. "Stop pouting. They're not bad people," she said quietly.

"They tried to kill ya and you're giving them food and phones," he muttered, curling a lip. "Look what he did to Lucy."

"Natsu," Levy cut in. "They're not bad people. They were tricked into this. Give them a chance to redeem themselves, okay?" She added louder, calling to them. "Hey, you can tell her to come here if you want. We'll open the door for her."

Sting nodded to show he'd heard.

"He hurt Lucy," Natsu muttered under his breath and Levy raised an eyebrow.

"Since when did you care so much about what happened to Lucy?" she teased him gently, amused. He scowled at her and retorted seriously.

"She trusted me enough to jump out of a window that was…" He struggled to think about it. "A couple windows up. They put her in a room so she couldn't get out 'cause if she jumped, she'd hurt herself enough that she'd be dead." His onyx eyes slid to hers, wary. "I threatened to kill her a while ago and she trusted me that much. I won't let her get hurt like this again."

Levy's gaze softened a fraction. "That's a good thing for you to say, Natsu. I'm sure she'll appreciate your protection like that."

He smirked and raised his chin. "Just 'cause I look like a freak doesn't mean I am one."

"I beg to differ," Levy teased and then giggled as she made her way over to the two dragons chained to the wall. Sting was staring at her phone, furious. "Everything okay? Is Miss Yukino going to-"

"She'll be here soon. She's gotta...she's going to drive over from Crocus." Sting raked a hand through his blond hair. "She had no idea that we were even alive...she's been looking for months-"

"Does she know that you guys are the way you are?" Levy demanded. "That's important, you know." Sting said nothing and she sighed. "Note to self. We'll explain it to her when she shows up. By car, Crocus is a few hours away...we might as well let you loose. You promise you won't try to kill anyone?"

"Why would we?" Rogue scowled. "Any reason we had is gone."

"Natsu, come let them loose," Levy ordered. The grumbling dragon reluctantly approached, glaring at them. He freed Rogue a little bit quicker than he did Sting. Levy rolled her eyes when he purposely burned Sting a few times, glaring out of the corner of his eye at him.

When they were free, they quickly hopped to their feet. Levy felt like a mouse among the tall men around her. While Gajeel was by far the tallest out of all of them, Sting and Rogue were still tall enough that she didn't even reach their shoulders. She eyed how Sting leaned heavily on one side. "I'll see if Wendy will get that leg fixed up. She'll leave the bruises. I'll get you guys some fresh clothes. There should be one or two rooms open on the main floor if you want to use them. I'm assuming you'll be hanging out here until you can control your appearance like Natsu apparently can, so…"

"Thanks," Sting said with a huff.

Levy only smiled. "No problem." Her gaze flickered to the miserable Juvia, who glared at all of them. "Will you watch her, Natsu? As soon as she can she'll probably be trying to escape the chains by turning into water…"

"Yeah," he grunted, dropping to sit and smirk at the blue-haired prisoner. "Let me know if Lucy needs anything."

"What the hell are you?" Sting muttered just low enough that Natsu could barely catch it. "Lovers?"

Natsu stared blankly at the blond. "...what is that supposed to mean?"

Levy turned scarlet when his eyes glinted with mischief. "Okay," she hissed, not hesitating to shove him forward. Sting stumbled, grimacing in pain when it flared up his leg. He cursed quietly. "Get going. Gajeel might try to kill you, a warning ahead of time."

"How kind of you to mention that we might die because you let us loose," Rogue said, rolling his eyes.

Levy decided that she might like Rogue if given more time to know him. He was patient with the far more energetic Sting, she quickly realized as the white dragon chattered anxiously about what his girlfriend would think of him now. His sarcastic comments on occasion were amusing, and he seemed to hold a sense of defeat that was unlike anyone else's.

When they reached the living room, Levy studied the occupants. Wendy and Lucy were on the couch, Lucy letting the small hybrid tend gently to her injuries. Wendy looked puzzled as she peered at the shoulder wound, her dark eyes anxious.

"It's not infected," Lucy sighed as they went over. "That's all that-" She caught sight of Levy with the two who had broken in and stared openly. Wendy made a nervous sound as she peered over the couch and Levy waved them off.

"They're fine, Lu," Levy soothed. "Miss Yukino's coming. She's not aware of what's happened to them, but...she wasn't taken like they thought. They have no reason to come after us anymore, so I had Natsu let them loose. I'm going to head out and get some groceries if that's okay?"

"Sure," Lucy sighed, eyeing Sting suspiciously when he smirked almost playfully. "Make sure you get enough for five starved people. Damn, I know I have a large amount of money in savings, but they're eating it all up!"

Levy laughed and warned for Sting and Rogue to behave before heading out. She grabbed her keys from a hook by the front door and slipped on her shoes before ducing outside, her eyes glowing with amusement.

Now they just had to figure out what to do with Juvia.

"Why the hell don't you believe me?" Natsu said impatiently, annoyed. "I told ya. He's not dead. Gajeel's runnin' around being a moron and makin' sure that no one else broke in."

Juvia glared at him. "Juvia won't believe ghosts."

"And I'm not a ghost! I'm…" Natsu paused. "I'm not entirely sure on what I am actually."

"Experiment," Juvia huffed. "Like Juvia."

"Experiment," he repeated. "I'm an experiment." He turned his face away with a scowl and puffed out cloud of smoke before looking back at the water woman out of the corner of his eye. She looked upset and hadn't tried to get away - yet. He felt guilty for keeping her chained up when the other two were booking it around the house after deciding to help Gajeel.

He cackled when he thought of Gajeel seeing them.

They'd get their asses kicked and hey deserved it for hurting Lucy and Levy.

It was while he was calmly watching Juvia through lazy onyx eyes that the water woman suddenly stiffened. Her body rippled and even Natsu looked up when he sensed it. "What the hell is that?" he rumbled.

Juvia shivered. "One of you, but not one of you," she rasped. She struggled to free herself. Her face went white, tears in her deep blue eyes. "Different. More powerful. He's probably-"

She didn't get the chance to finish before a scream echoed through the hall.

Natsu forgot entirely about guarding Juvia Lockser as he threw himself towards the living room, fire dancing on his lips. He growled as he burst into the living room, eyes widening at the damage.

"Wendy?" he shouted, panicking as he saw the smashed TV, the torn couch. The windows in the room had been blown out. On the other side of the room, the dining room had been ripped apart, chairs thrown everywhere and in pieces.

"What happened?" Gajeel demanded as he came barreling out of the hall. Natsu could barely see the eyes in his shadow, watching everything without a word, and the pink-haired man wondered if Gajeel even knew Rogue was stalking him.

A sob filled their ears as Wendy crawled out from beneath the smashed coffee table and sprinted towards them. Scratches decorated her skin as she crashed into Natsu. He caught her in a tight hug, pressing his face into her wild lavender hair.

"What happened?" Gajeel repeated as Sting sidled into the room, eyes darting around. He growled at the sight of Rogue peeling himself out of his shadow, but focused on the situation at hand. "Where's Bunny Girl and Shrimp?"

"Levy went shopping," Wendy whispered, shaking. "B-but someone...they broke through the front door. They were...they were huge and covered in markings and then they went after Lucy. I tried...I tried to help, but-" She began to weep. "He got Lucy!"

Natsu bared his teeth, head snapping around to look at the two newcomers. "What'd you do?! What the hell did you do?"

"Nothing," Rogue said calmly.

Sting agreed. "It's the rule. The second you're involved, you disappear."

Wendy had never cried like she did in that moment.

Bet you people didn't see that coming. Or you did. Either way, Lucy's gone "poof". And I'm sure you all know who broke in.

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