The Dragon's Vessel

The next morning’s arrival crept into existence and everyone seemed to stir awake within close proximity of each other. Andrei double checked that everyone was okay before declaring that he was going to head off and gather Ever and his things and meet at the new house.

Ryujin came out of the bathroom, having been the first to wake up and use it. He moved over and nudged Laxus awake, informing him that the rental truck needed to be picked up and to take Wendy with him.

Much to his annoyance Laxus got up and went to clean himself up in the bathroom before grabbing his wallet. He gave the still sleeping Kimi a once over as he headed out with Wendy to pick up their truck.

Natsu whined from his corner, with his power drained he was taking a human length of time to heal but knew that he’d have to suffer a little while longer until Kimi had recovered to feed from her.

The rest of the morning went by in a blur, a couple of hours later the last of the packing was done and Kimi emerged from the bathroom for the last time, dressed in casual comfy clothes but still looking ghostly pale and exhausted.

She passed Ryujin who gave her a small smile of encouragement. He hated seeing her so drained and zombie-like, “take it easy, the others are already downstairs, go hop in whichever vehicle you want. I’ll be out in a moment, just doing a final inspection of the place and handing the keys back to Ms Hilda.” He let Kimi know, prompting her towards the door.

“Okay, sounds good,” Kimi replied, giving a tired smile and heading downstairs, finding Laxus, Gajeel, Erik, Wendy, Natsu in a circle near their car and the rental truck.

As soon as Kimi approached, Laxus helped Wendy into the back of the car, buckling her in as Natsu sent a guilty look in Kimi’s direction but was shoved into the car by Gajeel as he got in as well. Laxus jumped into the driver’s side of the truck, awaiting whoever was going to come with him to hop in. Kimi waved to her Weyr in the car but moved to the passenger’s side of the truck, opening the door and attempting to climb in only to have Erik boost her further into the truck by pushing her butt as he got in too.

The three of them waited, finally spotting Ryujin exit their old apartment building. He waved at them before hopping into the driver’s side of the car and once they had started to leave Laxus followed them.

“We haven’t told Wendy about the attack,” Laxus spoke up, breaking the silence.

“If that’s what you and Jin thinks is best then that’s fine,” Kimi replied, having to think about the wording of her conflicted reply for a moment.

“The last thing we want is for her to be scared,” Laxus growled, annoyed his and Jin’s decision was being second-guessed.

“I know but I also don’t want her to think we’re keeping secrets from her. I don’t want our family to start keeping information and secrets from one another. It’ll cause unnecessary resentment and conflict.” Kimi replied.

The truck was consumed with silence for what felt like a long time before Erik decided to add his thoughts.

“Wendy’s smart, she knows something is wrong, Kimi is under the weather and Natsu hasn’t fed to heal his injuries. We should at least tell her the bare minimum amount of details.” He concluded, staring at the passing scenery.

“Fine, I’ll talk to Jin when we get to our new place and we’ll pull Wendy aside and talk to her properly,” Laxus grunted, hating being ganged up on especially by Kimi.



Twenty minutes went by and they finally arrived at their new house. Ryujin and his carload of people had arrived first, followed by Andrei, Evergreen and an unfamiliar person. They were all huddled on the porch, talking amongst themselves. Wendy and Natsu were nowhere to be seen, presumably inside claiming their bedrooms.

Laxus skilfully reversed the truck into their new driveway, parking it up close to the porch itself as it rolled to a stop allowing Erik and Kimi to climb out.

"We've double-checked the perimeter, added our own security," Andrei stated as they walked into the house. "This is Priscilla, the person I mentioned last night," Andrei introduced, realising that even though he knew Priscilla from his previous mission that the rest of the Weyr clan didn't.

"It's an honour to be here," she said as she watched the dragons unload the truck. She approached Kimi who stood close by and put a hand out to Kimi to shake her hand.

Kimi having been instructed to rest and take it easy again paused and lent forward to shake Priscilla’s hand. "Hi, thanks for helping Andrei secure the place," Kimi thanked.

"Of course, Miss." Priscilla said formally, "also I'm sorry about your most recent.... attack," she was scared she stepped over the line.

Kimi could only shrug in reply, glancing around to make sure Wendy hadn’t accidentally overheard, she still wanted Ryujin and Laxus to tell the youngest dragon what had happened so she was aware of the situation. Kimi’s injuries were healed but she was still shaken from the experience and Natsu was wincing through his pain every time he moved. "Thanks, I just hope one day we don't have to hide anymore. I'd like to be able to walk to the bookstore without being scared of being murdered," Kimi joked before frowning in sadness, clearly tired of being a victim.

"And that day will come I swear it to you, we will wipe out these Vorpal bastards," Priscilla said with disgust in her voice as she emphasized the word Vorpal.

"Thank you," Kimi stated again as she moved to let the guys pass through the threshold to place the last of the boxes down in the entryway.