The Dragon's Vessel

“She’s still asleep?” Laxus craned his neck as he drove himself, Ryujin, Kimi, Natsu and Gajeel home.

“She’s used a lot of energy shifting Natsu and feeding Gajeel,” Ryujin commented, checking on Kimi every few seconds or glancing outside into the dark streets, alert at oncoming traffic and people walking by.

Gajeel sat in the front passenger's seat scowling. “The attack… it was way to co-ordinated to be random and the fog… something was wrong with that fog.” Gajeel shook his head, knowing he’d be in deep trouble for involving Jinxx but what else could he do? Kimi wouldn’t have been able to heal herself and Natsu after shifting him as well. He’d have to plead his case once everything had calmed down a little.

It seemed like a long drive home but was in fact only ten or so minutes, when they pulled into their garage they parked up and cautiously got out. Laxus and Gajeel were the first to step out and look around as Laxus closed his own door and opened Natsu’s door up. Ryujin by then had unbuckled Natsu and Kimi’s seatbelts as Laxus opened Natsu’s door and helped steady the barely conscious nakama to his feet, closing his door behind him. Gajeel opened Ryujin’s door after closing his own and watched Ryujin skilfully slide out with Kimi in his arms.

After locking the car the group moved off, remaining vigilant all the way up to their apartment, only taking a breather once they were inside and the door was locked.

"Most of our stuff is already over at the new house," Ryujin stated, he moved over to lay Kimi on one of the only couches still at the apartment.

Laxus helped the more conscious Natsu inside, "they attacked us out of nowhere, they knew to target us." Natsu grumbled. "I swear I've been careful, after the whole warning from Andrei I've been careful about where I talk." He muttered as he was sat down against a bare wall that once had the tv against it.

Erik moved to the door and unlocked it, as if on cue, Andrei stormed in through the door. "What the hell happened!?" He asked, glancing between everyone and assessing the situation.

The room stilled as all eyes peered at Andrei. "Vorpal Agents attacked Natsu and Kimi as they were coming home from Kimi's work." Ryujin spoke up as Erik locked the door back up and headed over to Kimi. He lifted her head and sat down, placing her head on his thigh. "Gajeel stepped in, Natsu was hurt bad and Kimi is fine now, drained but fine." Erik spoke up.

"Fuck.." Andrei cursed under his breath as he approached everyone. He glanced at Kimi before looking around. "How did they know...?"

Erik narrowed his eyes as he sifted through Kimi's memories as she slept. "It was a specific attack, they knew to target Kimi at her work” Erik paused to hear more information. “I can see them lurking from the corner of Kimi's eyes." Erik hesitated as he looked for an answer. "Fog, a type of fog is masking their scent, that must be how they surprised Natsu..." Erik lent away and rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache forming.

"Fog?" Andrei pondered. "I've not heard about this fog before. Have we encountered it before?" He asked.

Laxus shook his head, "they must be upgrading their weapons," he concluded with a frown.

"Maybe we should up our defences?" Andrei folded his arms in thought, "I can get Priscilla in here."

"We're about to move into our new place, we might as well build defences there, it's roomier and has better potential, plus it's in a private, gated community." Gajeel spoke up.

“I’m going to agree with Gajeel on this one, Natsu snores so loudly he creates mini-earthquakes and I’m going to guess that the girls would be keen for their own space,” Laxus stated, agreeing with Gajeel on moving into the bigger place. At first he hadn’t been keen on the idea but when they’d gone to look at the house they’d all fallen in love with it and the idea of finally having their own rooms.

"Where is the new place? I am yet to go," Andrei tapped his forehead. "Maybe I could stay nearby for the next few days? Until Priscilla arrives?" Andrei suggests. "I'm sure Evergreen wouldn't mind."

"It's a twenty minute drive northeast from here, 77 Gulligans Lane," Ryujin informed. "The place comes with a guest house," he stated.

"Sorry. All I heard was.. There’s a place for you to stay, Andrei." Andrei chuckled.

"Evergreen is also welcome to stay," Ryujin invited, knowing that Evergreen doesn't get to see Andrei much with his work.

"Woah hold up, we just got a nice big place and you're trying to cram even more people into the space," Gajeel retorted.

"I'm sure she'd be delighted." Andrei said. "Yes. Yes we are, especially if it's for the safety of everyone here." Andrei nodded.

"There's one more thing," Ryujin cleared his throat. "Another human knows about us, the human patched Natsu up, stopped him from dying, she's a vet friend of Gajeel's."

"What..??" Andrei looked to Gajeel then back to Ryujin. "I thought we weren't telling people for all of your safety.. can we trust this woman?"

"It was either get Jinxx's help, let Natsu bleed out or force him to feed off Kimi and probably kill her in the process. I picked neither of them dying. And Jinxx took it well, for the most part. She's a classy, smart witted girl who does her job well." He defended.

"But can we trust her?" Andrei repeated. "Does she understand the importance of everyone hiding?"

"Yes, she hates poachers, all kinds of poachers. She said if we ever needed help we could count on her. She's good for it," Gajeel promised.

"Okay." Andrei took a deep breath. "Okay.. What now? When do you fully move in?”

"Tomorrow is the final move in day," Ryujin stated.

"Good. I'll give Ever a quick ring now but I'll stick around for tonight." Andrei nodded as he pulled out his flip phone and punched in Evergreen’s number as he went outside.

"Get comfy then, tonight's gonna be a long night," Laxus muttered, finding some space and sliding down the wall as everyone found their own space to fall asleep.