It wasn't long before Natsu and Lucy returned with a leash. Wendy explained to them who Percival was and what her idea for him was, Lucy agreed to help but Natsu wasn't too keen to go along with this.
"No way!" He said. "There is no way this slobbering beast is staying here a moment longer!"
"But Natsu." Wendy pleaded. "He won't be here long. I just need to help him move on."
"I don't care."
"You don't care if a dog who's in unbearable pain due to something beyond his control doesn't find any peace? You just want him to spend the rest of his afterlife suffering?" Her eyes started to swell with tears and her lip quivered.
"Oh no. No. That's not going to work. You can do that all day if you want, it's not going to change anything." Natsu tried to keep a stiff face and ignore the little girl threatening to cry but in the end he couldn't resist. Much like Gray guilt had a way of making crumble to pieces. "Fine."
"Thank you." Wendy then hooked Percival up to the specially made leash and tied the other end to a nearby pole that was in the room. "There, now he shouldn't give you all any trouble."
With that said and done she left the flat. The four ghouls looked at the leashed up hell hound nervously.
"Just so we're clear, you guys did get a strong brand right?" Gray asked.
"Yes." Lucy said.
"Then he shouldn't be able break loose." Juvia said. "We should probably just relax and get some sleep now."
Percival turned his piercing gaze toward them which made them all feel as if they couldn't move an inch. He then moved to bark viciously at them. On instinct Gray and Juvia moved to hold each other protectively as did Natsu and Lucy. Their artificial bodies trembled with fear as they held on to the other person, hoping that the hound's leash wouldn't suddenly break and they would be attacked. Luckily the leash was very strong and it held the hell hound back. When Percival realized that he couldn't get to them he stopped barking and decided to just settle down and sleep.
"I really hate dogs." Natsu blubbered.
"Hard to believe that anything like that could have once been lovable." Lucy shivered.
"I think we all better sleep with one eye open tonight." Juvia trembled.
"Agreed." Gray gulped.
It wasn't until now that the undead gentlemen realized they had their arms securely around the waists of their female roommates while the undead ladies realized that they had their arms around the necks of their male roommates.
"Oh my!" Juvia gasped.
"I apologize!" Gray said.
They immediately let go of each other and took a few steps away from the other person.
"Okay this is awkward." Lucy said feeling relieved that she didn't have sweat glands anymore because if she did she would have been sweating like crazy right now. "Sorry Natsu."
"It's okay. I kind of like this." He said with a grin.
Her embarrassment quickly turned to irritation.
"Get your hands off me!" She demanded.
"Hey you grabbed me first babe! Not that I'm complaining."
He removed his hands from Lucy's body and she moved as far away from him as possible. As for Wendy, she went back into the living room to talk to her parents about her grandfather.
"Mom and Dad." She said. "I was wondering, could we invite Grandpa over for a visit?"
"What brought this on?" Jellal said.
"Well after talking about him I realized that we haven't seen him in a very long time and he must be so lonely."
"He's not that lonely sweetie. He lives with your Unlce Mystogan remember?"
"Oh yeah but still he probably misses us and I miss him. So why don't we invite him over?"
"I think that would be a wonderful idea." Erza said. "We'll call him tonight and ask him to come over tomorrow."
"Thanks Mom." Wendy said. "Listen I'm getting tired so can I go to bed now?"
"Sure. We'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight Mom. Goodnight Dad."
"Goodnight Wendy." Her parents said before going upstairs to her bedroom.
"Do you really think that inviting my dad over is a good idea." Jellal said.
"You don't want to see your father?" Erza asked.
"It's not that it's just that Dad hasn't really been the same since Mom died and well he's...He's gotten to where he barely knows his own name."
"But he's still a sweet man and you know how much he adores Wendy. Remember how he reacted when she was born?"
"Yes I do." Jellal chuckled. "He said that she was most beautiful baby girl he had ever seen and even though we were teenagers when we had her, Dad said he was so proud of me for stepping up to be a devoted father and husband. Unlike your mother."
"Now you know that Mother was just as happy about Wendy's birth as we all were. She held her and said that she could already tell that Wendy would be a bright and talented girl."
"Yeah and then she said what shame it was that she would have an idiot for a father."
"She was joking Jellal."
"Oh please there was no way she was joking. That woman has no sense of humor."
"Enough about Mom. I'm going to read a little while before turning in. Why don't you call your father?"
"Alright."
Jellal picked up the phone and dialed the number for his brother's house. Three years prior Jellal's parents had been in a car accident which took his mother's life and left his father with a little brain damage. Both the death of his wife and the damage to his brain had taken a huge toll on the poor man. He fell into a depression, his health declined, his memory tended to come and go, it was just terrible. Recently he had gotten better and had moved in with Jellal's twin brother Mystogan.
"Hi Dad it's me." Jellal said over the phone. "It's Jellal...Your son Dad...Yes Dad you have a son, two in fact. You're living with one of them... No Mystogan is not a live in nurse he's my brother! Your son! We've been through this a hundred times...Anyway Dad I was wondering if you would like to visit me tomorrow...Because I want to see you and so do Erza and Wendy...They're my wife and daughter...Yes I got married and had a kid, you were at my wedding and you were there when my daughter was born...Look do you wanna come Dad or not?...Okay good. I'll see you there. Love you too. Goodbye."
He hung up and went upstairs to join his wife.
"So is he coming?" Erza asked him.
"He's coming." Her husband sighed in frustration. "But I doubt he'll know who the heck we are when he gets here."
He then pulled the covers over himself and fell asleep.