"Juvia doesn't think it is. Tonks-san seems to be genuine to me," Juvia threw in. "But still… Juvia truly does think we may have landed in an alternate world now. If Gray-sama and Lisanna-san look outside, they may see what I mean."
...
The two of them promptly did that, leaving the three of them staring out in amazement at the view - the London Eye seeming to stare at them a little even though it wasn't facing them. They could see all the cars and the boats down below, none of which looked anything like what they knew from back home and one of the bridges seemed to hold a railway line, giving them quite a clear view of a running train that was also unfamiliar in design.
While many of the things inside the apartment seemed normal, just about everything outside looked so… alien.
"If… if we are in an alternate universe… what are we supposed to do now?" Juvia asked. "We can't hide away in Tonks-san's house forever."
"Damned if I know," Gray huffed as he pulled away from the window and Lisanna trudged heavily back to the sofa and sunk down into the cushions. "Least when I was in Edolas I got given a mission to complete from start to end. I got pulled back into Earthland before I could even start worrying too much about anything in the long term."
Juvia nodded and turned to Lisanna, wondering if she was going to contribute anything, but she faltered when she saw Lisanna sitting with hands together, her face tight and with a tear beginning to roll its way down her cheek.
"Lisanna-san…" she gasped and hurried over, drawing Gray's attention. "Are you okay?"
"No…" Lisanna shook her head, sniffing as she wiped the tear away only for another to trail down the other side of her face. "None of us are. Not right now. But… it's just… not fair. How can this have happened to me again? And so quickly too?"
She placed her face in her hands and began to sob openly, her body wracking with her anguish. Gray stiffened visibly and began searching for something to say to try that didn't sound insensitive but Juvia beat him to it, placing a hand on Lisanna's shoulder.
"Don't cry, Lisanna-san. Please. You might start making Juvia cry too."
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Lisanna hiccuped, looking up slightly with her face already extremely tear-stained. "It's just… after two years stranded in Edolas, two whole years with a totally different Fairy Tail, who all thought that I was a different Lisanna because I didn't have the heart to tell them I wasn't the one they knew, I finally got back to where I belonged. I finally reunited with my
real brother and my real sister and all the friends that I'd grown up with. I was home. But I didn't even get to stay there for three weeks before suddenly I've been whisked away again. Separated from Mira-nee and Elf-niichan again. It's not… it's not fair…!" she choked, her voice strangled, as she sat there and cried her eyes out.
"Um… well… you never know…" Gray grasped for his words. "Maybe Elfman and Mira are somewhere in this universe too."
"Maybe, but that's another thing," Lisanna sniffled. "I both want and don't want them to be in this universe. I want them to be here so that I can find them and stay with them, but I don't want them to be here because this isn't where they belong either. I want them to be back home at Fairy Tail where we all should be. But at the same time I want them to be here with me so bad… is that selfish of me?"
"Not at all, Lisanna-san," Juvia assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders slightly. "There's nothing selfish about wanting to be with your family. Juvia… never really had a family until she joined Fairy Tail but in a way that means Juvia knows all the more how precious family is. Juvia wishes that Gajeel-kun was here, or Erza-san or Cana-san or any of the others. But Juvia knows that if Elfman-san and Mira-san are in this world then we will find them, no matter how hard we have to look, right, Gray-sama?"
"Absolutely!" Gray nodded, grateful that Juvia was taking charge of comforting Lisanna because he really didn't have a clue how to go about it. "We wouldn't be Fairy Tail if we didn't, would we?"
"I guess not," Lisanna-san sniffed. "But where are they? Where are we? Where are everyone?"
Juvia went a step further and pulled Lisanna into a consoling hug, which the younger sister gratefully returned, burying her face in Juvia's shoulder.
"Juvia doesn't know. But at least Lisanna-san is with people that she does know this time, right? She is not alone this time. Juvia and Gray-sama will be there with her no matter what comes now, and we can deal with all this together."
Lisanna smiled slightly through her tears and murmured, "Thanks Juvia. I'm… I'm glad you're here, even though I haven't known you - this you, anyway - for very long. You too, Gray."
"No worries," Gray chuckled. "You're right - this isn't fair. To any of us, but especially to you. But Juvia's right too. We'll take on the entire world if we have to until we find them all. It doesn't matter which world it is - that's what Fairy Tail would do. Right?"
"Right!" Lisanna nodded, looking up from Juvia's shoulder. "Thank you. Both of you." And it was right at this point that her stomach growled, and she blinked, giggling slightly sheepishly despite the fact she was still crying slightly.
"Well, I guess that answers the question as to what we do next," Gray remarked, striding into the kitchen. "Let's see what this woman has lying around."
...
It took some time before Tonks was finally able to get off from work. She'd been right when she'd guessed all of the Clippers would be rounded up and taken in to the Ministry of Magic, though with so many unconscious birds they had had to request permission to set up several Portkeys to transport them all. And of course the Obliviation began shortly afterwards - an enormous number of Muggles had seen not only their own magic, but the strange magic of the three Fairy Tail members, who had been seen by many of the other Aurors too.
Which meant this was likely to be a long stakeout as they wiped all the memories they could, making the people think that there had been a stampede of the cows they let wander through their streets which had caused all the damage and injuries. And it wasn't made easier by the fact a very large number of them had called the police.
Scrimgeour himself had seen Lisanna and Gray both doing a bit of fighting against the birds, and he was adamant that they be found and brought in. He and Tonks had both had a similar thought - could these people be somehow connected to the events in Portree yesterday, with that man they'd seen on the CCTV footage destroying the bank. But of course none of the Aurors found them and Tonks had to put on a show of looking for them for a while even though she knew they were not there.
But although Scrimgeour insisted on staying at the scene until this whole mess was sorted, he did permit Tonks to head home earlier than the others, since she had been on duty all the previous night as well, and could do with some rest. Tonks gratefully excused herself and Apparated back to her apartment, though rest was the last thing on her mind. She intended to start what might be the most interesting conversation of her life.
But when she arrived back in her living room, the first thing she saw was Lisanna and Juvia lying back on the sofa, arms around each other slightly and their chests rising and falling smoothly in their sleep.
It was right at that moment that Tonks was one-hundred percent sure she'd made the right decision not to bring these guys into the Ministry. The two of them looked so peaceful, Lisanna in particular clinging to Juvia as if for comfort and Tonks could see she'd been crying. Whatever the heck was going on with this lot, the last thing they needed was to be treated like interesting specimens or monsters.
"Back, I see," Gray noted from in the chair he was sitting on, swigging a glass of pumpkin juice that Tonks had stored in the fridge. "That way you appear out of nowhere's a bit disconcerting."
Tonks' eyes widened slightly when she saw what Gray was wearing… or rather what he was not wearing. "Er… I know I said to make yourself comfortable but… that might be pushing it a bit."
"What are you… YYAGH!" Gray yelled as he looked down at himself and realised that he'd somehow taken off his trousers without realising it, meaning he was wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. He immediately scrambled to grab them from where they were lying on the floor next to him, leaving Tonks blinking in surprise.
"Did you actually not notice that you'd taken those off?" she blinked.
"It happens all the time, okay!?" Gray gritted his teeth, his face reddening as he re-dressed himself.
"Er… right…?" Tonks faltered before she grinned slightly and said, "Well, I have to say the sight wasn't entirely unwelcome. Those are some great abs you've…" but before she could finish she practically felt the malevolence behind her and turned slowly to see Juvia, who had been awoken by Gray's yell, glaring daggers at her, her teeth grinding so hard they ought to be making the sounds of grating metal while Lisanna looked on in amusement.
...
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