Omg I'm literally the worst. I got so absorbed in watching/reading/writing fanfic for Seven Deadly Sins this story fell by the wayside. I'd also reached a point where I had no idea where this story is heading now that it's reaching the final story arc. And with everything w/ COVID I was so unenergized and lacking any sort of motivation that it was difficult to write this. But better late than never! I apologize if this chapter isn't written as well, I was just so anxious to get this out. As always, your reviews give me life.

"Are you any closer to finding my brother?" Evelyn asked Erza as the girls headed back to Fairy Hills for the night.

"We know he's in Alvarez, but it's getting to him that's the problem. We need to be careful about getting him and Lucy back. Zeref's cautious and more importantly he's smart. There's a promise he's holding over Natsu's head that we don't know anything about."

"Have you tried to get in contact with him?"

"No we haven't," Wendy replied reluctantly, already predicting how Natsu's adoptive little sister was going to act.

"Why not?" The words came out loudly and they reverberated inside the car.

"If Zeref finds us communicating with them, or even attempting to, he could hurt us, or more importantly take it out on them," Erza explained patiently. "I understand you're upset Evie, but we need to be careful about this."

"You're not doing enough!"

"Evie we can't—"

"I'm coming with you and I'm helping you plan," Evelyn announced.

"Natsu wouldn't want—"

"Natsu's not here!" Evelyn shouted. "And until he's back you can't stop me since you seem incapable of getting anything done yourselves!" Evelyn huffed and crossed her arms as she glared out the window, as Downtown Magnolia gleamed in the orange light from the setting sun. Erza and Wendy continued talking softly to each other, not wanting to disturb Evelyn as her eyes drifted shut. Inside Evelyn's mind, her thoughts were racing. She could sneak out and buy a last minute ticket on a flight or boat ride to Alvarez. Surely she would have some success with that and it would be easier than traveling with a group. Of course, there was always the risk that she would be discovered, but hopefully they would realize her connection to Natsu and she would be brought to Zeref. Unless she let herself get caught and openly declared herself as Natsu Dragneel's little sister. The only problem was getting out of the house. She knew how to bypass the security system, that wasn't the issue. She could text Gray but then he might go to Erza.

Evelyn tried not to furrow her brow as she thought through the list of people who could help her. Although, she did know how to operate the cars, it's not like it was difficult and she had watched Natsu do it for years, though she had more success with the GPS than he did. Mind made up, she fought the smile that tried to rise to her face. When they pulled up to the house, Evelyn dragged her feet and made the show of being tired even though this was the most alert she had felt in years. Adrenaline at the idea of what she was about to do was pumping through her veins. She grumbled good night to Wendy and Erza and made a beeline for her room. Evelyn opened her laptop and hacked into the cameras to see when everyone was asleep. Once Erza was soundly sleeping, Evelyn changed into black clothes, grabbed her phone and a knife which she tucked into her boot. With a few minutes of rapid hacking she had disabled the alarms and was proud that she directed when the alarm should turn back on. After shuffling through her dresser, she found a wad of jewels that easily was double the price of a boat ticket.

Evelyn took care to tread lightly over the floor on guard for a stray squeak that would betray her plan. When she safely made it to the garage she breathed a sigh of relief. When she was seated in the car, Evelyn put the car in stealth mode and turned it on. No noise was emitted and she was thankful that Fairy Tail had invested in silent vehicles. It made sneaking out so much easier. Once she was further down the dark road, Evelyn plugged in the address of the commercial dock and set the car in automatic drive. The car would let her know when she was there. Evelyn slumped down until she was lying down on the plush, leather seats and fell asleep.

Evelyn awoke with a jolt when the GPS beeped several times. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before driving the car to a crowded parking lot a block away from the ocean. The aroma of foods being served in multiple restaurants intermingled with the salty sea the car was parked and she had gotten out, the stealth mode wore off. She shrugged, by the time the others found her she would be gone. Evelyn took her time meandering down to the water's edge. When hse got there, Evelyn tapped through the menus and then entered her money into the kiosk. The ticket got spit out and she walked up to the boat that was currently being loaded. She was thanking every god she could think of that she had somehow made it in time for the boat.

Evelyn handed her ticket to the attendant and froze when a hand was placed on her shoulder. "Are you traveling with anyone, miss?" the man asked. Evelyn shook her head. "Aren't you too young to be traveling by yourself to Alvarez?"

"I'm older than I look," was the response she gave before she slid the remainder of her money into the man's hand. The man blanched at the money she had given him before waving her through. Evelyn took a deep breath as she found an isolated region of the cabin and she sat on the hard, plastic seat with a deep sigh. She could only hope that Natsu was safe.

~~~linebreak~~~

Three days had gone by since Mavis had arrived, and both she and Zeref had been locked up in his lab for hours on end each day, only coming out to join Lucy, Natsu, and Happy for meals. When they were taking breaks Lucy would ask how things were going, to which the response was a shared glance and a vague answer guaranteeing something was being discovered but they really hadn't gone into specifics. Understandably, Natsu was a basket case and had taken it upon himself one day to quite literally bust the door down and see what was happening. Lucy had reluctantly followed so he wouldn't get into too much trouble.

"Have you made any progress yet, or what?" he demanded.

"Patience Natsu," Mavis chided gently. "Rewriting DNA isn't easy and we don't want to accidentally make things worse."

"How are you going to see if this thing works without testing it on me?"

"We need to see if there's a viable way to do it for something less complicated than a human before we even begin to attempt to do this to you," Zeref explained. "If we remove too much things could get bad. Incredibly so. Believe me, I wish this were moving along faster as well." Zeref sighed and looked away from the book he was leafing through. "There is also a problem that your friends are deciding to break you out." Natsu choked on nothing and he pressed a hand to his heart.

"Seriously?" he whispered.

"They're planning to infiltrate the continent and somehow extract you and bring you back to Magnolia," Zeref said. Natsu groaned and resisted pulling his hair out.

"They can't. First of all, they would get caught the second they show up anywhere near the continent whether from sea or air. Second of all, how exactly would they get in here? Your security is unbeatable." Zeref shrugged.

"You're their leader, you should know." Natsu glared and snarled at his older brother. "Don't get mad at me, I'm just letting you know."

"Zeref, they can't find out. Gray swore that he would kill END. It was his father's dying wish," Lucy said. "I can't let Natsu die—"

"Like he could beat me in a fight," Natsu sneered.

"Natsu," Lucy pleaded. "Even if we did tell them the truth, they probably wouldn't believe us. They have no reason to."

"They would believe me," Mavis spoke up.

"I'm not so sure," Lucy argued. "They would probably think that Zeref was manipulating you into saying whatever he wanted. Even if we knew that that's not what's happening here." Natsu was quiet before he finally talked again.

"Unless nothing changes and I learn to control this stupid thing myself."

"Natsu you can't do that to yourself," Happy protested. Natsu closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

"I could. It's not like it's impossible."

"Just incredibly difficult," Lucy finished. She fixed him with a scowl. "I'm not letting you do that to yourself."

"We might not have a choice." Natsu's voice started to raise. "If they come here and somehow do actually make it far enough to 'bust us out' it'd be easier for everyone if we just left with them."

"Zeref you know I'm right," Lucy implored. "You know how difficult it would be to control." Lucy turned back to Natsu. "Even now your eyes are starting to turn red. They're going to find out sooner or later and it's not going to be pretty."

"If Natsu wants to leave, I won't force him to stay," Zeref relented.

"Or we could just move to a different location," Mavis suggested. Everyone stopped talking to stare at her. "Zeref I know this is your favorite house, but you have a continent full of others that have the same lab equipment you have here."

"Why didn't you just mention that in the first place?" Natsu demanded of his brother. "This is all could've been avoided if you just said that." Zeref grumbled something under his breath that had Natsu snickering.

"What did he say?" Lucy asked Mavis. Mavis hid a giggle behind her hand before answering.

"Something about blondes being know-it-alls," Mavis translated. Lucy blinked before laughing as well.

"Maybe it runs in the family?" Lucy whispered to Mavis and the two shared smothered giggles. Natsu and Zeref looked and each other and shrugged.

"Girls," they said in unison.

"And somehow I'm the only sane one in this room now," Happy said with a sigh.

"Oh shut it, cat!"

"Wait, Mavis have you been to Zeref's other houses here?" Lucy asked. Mavis looked down at her bare feet and toed the carpet.

"Zeref what the fuck?" Natsu yelled but it wasn't out of anger. Or maybe a little bit. Natsu remembered glimpses of the others. But one in particular had always caught his attention. That house had a large bonfire circle that Natsu sat in front of when it was dark and would watch the flames, mesmerized.

"Can we go the one with the—" Natsu started.

"Yes, because even if I didn't plan to you would whine about it for weeks," Zeref interrupted. The glee on Natsu's face made it so hard to believe that there were demonic thoughts and behaviors coming up in his mind.

He let out a cheer that bordered on a cackle. "C'mon Luce we need to pack up!"

"Wait Natsu—" Lucy couldn't finish her sentence because she was being pulled through the halls and it was taking all of her effort to not trip over her feet. "You seem excited," Lucy panted when they reached their bedroom. Natsu was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"The house has an amazing firepit," he crowed. "You'll love it. Now hurry up and pack!"

"Don't you need to?" Natsu shook his head.

"There's already clothes there for me already."

"Are you sure?" Natsu blinked and grumbled something under his breath that Lucy didn't catch. He went to the closet, pulled a bag down off a shelf and threw clothes in haphazardly.

"There." He nodded his head, pleased with himself. Lucy rolled her eyes and started folding up clothes to put in her bag.

"Natsu?" Natsu hummed in acknowledgement. "If the others do come, what do we do?" Natsu stopped moving. His silence meant that he was either furious or unsure. Or a combination of both.

"You'll stay with me, right?" Lucy nodded her head before verbally confirming it. "What if I told you to go back and leave me here?"

"That's out of the question," Lucy snapped. "I'm not leaving you!" She took a deep breath and said in a softer voice, "it's more fun when we're together." Natsu turned around.

"Let's worry about it if that actually happens. Now that Mavis is here I think things will speed up. Zeref's being cautious and I understand why, but now hopefully they'll figure something out faster than if he was by himself."

"They are both geniuses after all," Lucy smiled. Natsu stretched out his hand.

"Shall we?" Lucy grinned and took his hand and they walked back to the kitchen together.

"Are the two of you ready?" Happy asked from where he was perched on the counter talking to Mavis. Naturally he was gnawing on a fish.

"As we'll ever be," Lucy replied.

"Do you have a room at this next house too?" Natsu asked Mavis. Mavis had the grace to blush.

"It's the house we go to in the winter," the blonde replied.

"Just how often do you come here?" Natsu demanded. Mavis laughed and shook her head.

"Natsu are you annoying Mavis?" Zeref called from down the hallway.

"Not any more than you do!" Natsu yelled back. Zeref responded with a swear in the different language that had Natsu's eyes widening and he started rapidly shaking his head.

"That was a low blow and you know it!" Lucy turned to Mavis again but was met with a shrug.

"I think Natsu was only able to hear that due to his advanced hearing," Mavis explained.

"Can we take the jet?" Zeref heaved an exhausted sigh.

"Yes, Natsu, we can take the jet." Natsu whooped and proceeded to drag Lucy outside, Happy floating lazily in the air beside them.

"Lord Zeref," Invel called as he approached them. "A situation has developed." Zeref arched an eyebrow. "We have someone claiming to be Natsu's little sister." A smile flickered across Zeref's lips. Natsu froze.

"Does she now? Do you have a picture?" Invel pulled out a small tablet and showed it to the brothers. Sure enough, there was Evelyn, black hair and dark green eyes. Natsu stumbled backward, bumping into Lucy who tried to steady him.

"Evie," he murmured. He felt his eyes go out of focus as he stared at the ground, suddenly feeling sick. His fingers went to tracing the healing cuts on his wrists. He knew exactly what had happened and felt dread build up in his stomach. He knew what happened because he would have done the same thing.

"She's being brought here as we speak." Invel pushed up his glasses as he waited for his boss's response.

"Did she put up a fight?" Natsu demanded.

"No Prince Natsu." Again with that damned smirk with his title. "She seemed quite eager to cooperate." At least she was that smart.

"Was anyone else with her?" Natsu followed up.

"No."

"The others are going to show up on a rampage," he muttered. "Just what we needed."

"Evelyn will understand, won't she?" Lucy asked. "She loves you more than anyone and if you explain what's happening she'll see why this is for the best." Natsu was shaking his head as he rested his hand on his forehead.

"Let me know when she gets here. Zeref you better not do anything to her, otherwise I'll kill you." Zeref's lips twitched, seemingly amused at Natsu's threat but held up his hands.

"I had no intention of hurting our adoptive sister," he reassured. Natsu's fists clenched at Zeref claiming to be her older brother and Lucy saw his eyes flash red which seemed to wipe any humor from Zeref's face.

"He won't do anything Natsu," Mavis promised. She gave Zeref a glare that had him swallowing nervously.

"No I will not hurt her. Besides, Mavis wouldn't let me." Natsu grunted in satisfaction with the response and stormed off with Lucy and Happy chasing after him.

I swear I'll update again before school starts at the end of August. Now that I have an idea of plot this will be easier to write. I hope everyone is doing well and I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!