Chapter Twelve

A/N: Yasssss, finally I sat down and wrote this whirlwind of a chapter! It was so hard to figure out the reunion scene. Hope you guys like it!!

If you haven't already, go check out my art book! I upload tidbits of my life there and it's a good chance to get to know me better! I love interacting with you guys, my best budssss :3

Posted this on 11:11! Make a wish in the comments!!

- - - -

Gray

One moment we were in the air, hovering over the streets of Starlight City, and the next we had touched land, and I was taking off in a run for my old home.

"Gray!" Natsu shouted after me when I ran away from him and Eight. "Damn it, stop leaving us behind!"

I hardly heard him as my feet pounded against the dirty sidewalk of the city's impoverish suburbs. My house was the second-to-last on the street, exactly as I remembered it. Dark blue paint that was peeling, the old white shutters, and the broken gate latch. I kicked the gate to open it instinctively, like I had done countless times in the past.

I bolted through the uncut grass and up the front porch stairs. My eyes flickered to the bench swing on the porch, half-expecting to see Ultear sitting there, curled up with a book. My hand reached for the door handle, but stopped in mid-air.

Why am I hesitating? I thought, sadness creeping up on me. I stared at the door, knowing right behind it were the people I loved most. This is my home, so why does it feel like I have to knock?

The answer was obvious in my head. Because everything has changed, you idiot.

It wasn't long before I heard footsteps thumping up the stairs, then silence. I felt a presence watching me, and when I turned my head, I saw Natsu gazing sadly at me.

"Hey," He said, quietly enough for only me to hear, even Rogue's sensitive hearing wouldn't pick up on it. "What's wrong?"

I was already speaking the truthful answer before I could even comprehend what to say. "I'm scared," I whispered, feeling tears threatening to fall. I rushed to rub my eyes, wipe them away, remove any trace of emotion of my face. Damn it, I cursed myself, blinking rapidly.

I felt Natsu's hand on my shoulder, grounding me and holding me steady. "It's okay," He murmured, eyes trailing to the concealed wings tucked tightly behind my back. Of course, it was like he could read my mind. "They're your family. No matter what, they'll always love you."

There was something about the way he said it that made me fully believe in him. My hand shaking, I raised it once again, balling it in a fist to knock.

But before I could, someone had already opened the door.

There stood my mother, almost exactly as I remembered her. The only differences were her long white hair was cropped into a short bob, and her skin looked perfectly polished and shiny. I couldn't spot a single wrinkle anywhere, even on her no-makeup face. Dark circles lined her empty blue eyes that widened when she caught sight of me on the front porch.

A look of surprise flashed on her face from seeing someone at the door before pure shock set in. Her hands flew to her mouth as she began to shake, tears welling up in her eyes.

"G-Gray...?" She whispered, her hands trembling.

"Mom," The biggest smile erupted on my face. The tears I had held back before were falling freely now, but I didn't care. "I'm home."

She cried out a strangled sob before jumping towards me, enveloping me in the tightest, warmest hug. As she was significantly shorter than me, she cried into my chest. She squeezed me tighter, hugging me like she would never let go.

"Y-you came back," She sobbed, her words muffled into the stretchy fabric of my outfit. "I didn't think I w-would ever s-see you again."

I shushed softly into her ear, rubbing small circles into her back. I squeezed her tightly, listening to her mumble and cry and laugh all at once until she finally quieted down, and she pulled away, her hands still around my waist. She looked around, noticing Rogue and Natsu by my side.

"I see you've brought friends," She commented, her gaze flickering to Natsu. "Angel, it's a pleasure to see you again. Thank you for bringing my son home to me."

"No problem, ma'am," Natsu nodded, blushing a light pink. "And Natsu is just fine."

"Right of course, you have to keep your double life a secret, right?" Mika smiled, shaking her head bemusedly. "And you are?" She looked at Rogue, smiling kindly.

When Rogue didn't answer, staring down at his feet, I butted in quickly. "That's Rogue, an-" I struggled to find the right word, "-ally we've made along the way."

She turned back to me, looking me up and down, taking in every little detail because she remembered how precious the small details really are when they're gone. "You've grown taller," She noticed, laughing a little. "Is that possible? You've only been gone a few weeks. But it's felt like an eternity, so maybe it has been longer than I think. I've just been so confused lately...."

"Well," I swallowed nervously, bracing myself for the worst, "A lot has happened, just... don't freak out, okay?" I explained vaguely, and she nodded encouragingly before I slowly unfurled my wings to show them to her.

Mika gasped, staggering backwards. "Y-you have wings now too?" She stuttered, unable to tear her eyes away from the jet-black feathers. "Oh God. I think I'm going to faint."

I grabbed her arms to keep her from collapsing. "Mom, it's okay. I'm fine, I promise."

She looked dazed, like her knees could buckle underneath her at any given moment. "D-do they hurt?" She reached out to touch the feathers, grazing her fingers lightly over them. "They're pretty."

"Yes, they are," I smiled at the tenderness of her touch. "And no, they don't hurt, not anymore. Like I said, I'm fine. I'll explain everything later, once I see everyone else."

Mika shook her head to clear her thoughts, before nodding, murmuring to herself. "Yes, that's right. Oh, everyone will be so delighted to see you're back! Come in, come in! You too, Natsu and Rogue! You both are welcome to stay as long as you like." She stepped back and pushed the door open wider. "Everybody!" She screamed into the house. "Gray's home!"

We stepped through the door, and it felt like I was crossing a supernatural threshold. Everything was so overwhelming; the smell of our house I had forgotten from my time away, the same homey decor collecting a thin layer of dust, even the old grandfather clock that continued to tick softly in the foyer.

"Gray?" Voices from all over the house shouted excitedly. I saw Lyon first, barreling down the hallway and throwing himself into my arms. I nearly toppled over from the impact but Natsu managed to catch me from behind, stifling a giggle. Next came Ultear, who ran from the kitchen, her mascara already running from crying tears of happiness. Lastly, my dad rushed out of what I presumed to be his his office, thundering down the steps and joining the group hug.

"My son!" He cried out hysterically. "You're home!"

I breathed in happily, relishing in the cries of joy and my family squeezing me in a group hug.

I'm home, I thought.

- - - -

As much as I wanted it to, the happy family reunion didn't get to last forever.

Somehow, we had fallen back into a usual routine of sorts, almost like nothing had happened, like their oldest son hadn't escaped a psychotic laboratory and had sprouted wings from a miracle elixir.

It was nearing dinner time, and my parents had thrown on aprons, cooking dinner together like they always did. Mika, who was chopping up carrots and tossing them into a pot, was creating a vegetable stew while Silver simultaneously stirred a pot of bowtie pasta and a buttery roux to put on top.

While Ultear sliced lettuce to make a garden salad, Lyon helped her by halving cherry tomatoes and olives. Rogue lingered by the side dish preparation, trying to help by cutting tiny blocks of cheese for the salad but nearly chopping off his finger twice. Natsu and I worked on setting the table - as I was a terrible cook, I almost never was involved in the cooking process - stacking up plates and silverware before dishing them out on the formal dining table.

Everyone was acting like an over-glorified version of their usual selves; Ultear with her OCD tendencies, Lyon's chattiness, and the witty banter between my parents. Even Ur was throwing in comments here and there as she worked on an assignment for university.

It was so absolutely normal, it unnerved me to no end. Something didn't feel right, I thought with worry, glancing around me paranoidly.

Shut up, Gray, I berated myself. Stop trying to make every good situation a bad one.

A voice broke me out of my internal argument. "You know," Ur, who came to stay with the family after my sudden disappearance, muttered to me as I placed napkins under the forks, "They haven't been this spirited in weeks."

"What do you mean?" I gulped, already knowing the answer.

"After you disappeared, it was like everyone else was gone too, hiding in their own corners of the house. Lyon's been acting up in school, harassing students and failing his classes, and Ultear's hardly spoken a word to anyone. Dad would lock himself up in his office with alcohol, drinking for hours and forgetting about everyone else. But Mom's been the worst. She'd sit by the phone for hours, forgetting to eat or sleep for days. She's get this look in her eyes, all glazed over, almost robotic." She shuddered, biting her lip. "Needless to say, we've all been pretty fucked up since you've been gone."

Guilt rushed through me, bubbling in the pit of my stomach and rising to the forming lump in my throat. "I-I-," I whispered, "This is all my fault."

"It's okay, Gray," Ur pulled me in for a hug, wrapping her long arms around my waist tightly. I sighed into her bosom, squeezing my eyes shut to hold back tears. "You're back now. That's what matters."

Natsu tore into the room, balancing eight glasses of water in his arms. He barely managed to set them on the table, sighing in content loudly. "Phew!" He breathed, wiping the imaginary sweat off his forehead. "And here I thought I was going to spill- oh. Oh. I'm sorry. I'll just-" He jutted his thumb behind him, averting his eyes before spinning around and barrelling out of the room.

"Quite the strange one you got there," Ur commented amusedly, quirking an eyebrow at me as we tore away.

I laughed, not even bothering to deny the underlying accusation. "You don't know the half of it."

- - - -

"Alright. So here's the story. It's kind of hard to believe that it happened, but hear me out."

Seven heads turned towards my voice as I set my fork down, putting my hands in my lap Everyone stared me down expectantly, save for Natsu, who knew all the dirty details.

"I was taken by a group of scientists from an under-the-radar experimental facility for ransom, to get to Natsu here," I ushered to the pinkette by my side. "As you may have figured out, he's the Black Angel, and he was genetically mutated in this laboratory for science."

Everyone looked at Natsu, who waved meekly. "It's true," He said quietly.

"However, and we're not quite sure why, Natsu was different from the hundreds of other experiments at the lab, and when everyone else was dying off, he stayed alive, stronger than ever. So they wanted him back, and they did, using me. However, he was captured as well, and we were both held hostage for an unknown amount of time."

I sighed shakily, wanting to skip over the details. "I don't want to talk about what they did to me," I whispered, albeit still audible in the dead-silent room. "But after some time, I woke up in a glass tank, about to be injected with a certain solution that the head scientist created from Natsu's mutated blood."

The lump in my throat came back, and the words came out broken as I choked them out. "It was none other than Lucy who drove the needle into my skin," I croaked, tears pooling in my eyes. A collective gasp filled the room, and I buried my head in my hands, breathing erratically and trying - failing - to calm down.

I felt a hand on my leg, and a soft squeeze. Natsu, trying to console me. "It's okay," He said so quietly, only I'd be able to hear with my heightened hearing ability. "It's in the past now."

"That doesn't make it any less jarring in my mind," I mumbled back bitterly. He gulped and didn't say anything else.

I took a deep breath before managing to continue. Natsu's hand found mine under the table, giving it a squeeze as a form of encouragement. "Suddenly, alongside excruciating pain, a pair of black wings sprouted out of my back," I explained to my family, who were hanging on to every word I spoke with bated breaths. "It hurt to fly, it hurt to run, it hurt to move. But somehow, we managed to get out of there safely. We resided in safety for a while, to keep you out of danger in case the scientists decided to strike again, meeting Rogue along the way. When we heard about the attacks in Starlight City, we knew we had to come back."

"Gray..." Silver started, eyes softening. "That's so... so..."

"Brave," Ur finished breathlessly.

Mika said nothing, as she was unable to, silent tears trailing down her face.

"Yeah," I responded lamely, staring at the half-eaten food on my plate. "Well, this is only the beginning. The bird mutants at fault for these attacks, they're out for blood. Mine and Natsu's, to be exact. And they're not going to stop until they find us so they can fulfill their mission: bring us back to the lab."

Natsu added in a comment before I could explain. "Actually, they'll stop in about two days, when they self-destruct." Upon the surprised expressions of my family, Natsu explained himself. "The Lab put special trackers into the twelve mutants' bodies, connecting them. Rogue here was one of the twelve, but he managed to remove his tracker. The thing is, we aren't sure how damaging these self-destructions could be."

"So, Rogue come up with a plan to simultaneously keep them occupied until we can secure the city," I explained, eyes traveling to Rogue, who had been silent the entire dinner. His food was gone, and he was reaching for seconds. Blushing when he noticed everyone was staring at him, he ducked his head and folded his hands tightly in his lap.

"I just thought we could use me as a spy to the other eleven," He said quietly. "If I can infiltrate where they're staying, I can figure out the details of their plans to strike again. Considering they know who I am and all."

Silver gave him a scrutinizing glare. "And how do we know that you're not actually a spy for them?" The last word came out venomously, like a hiss of a poisonous snake. Mika placed her hand on top of his, calming him down.

Rogue's eyes widened at the sudden accusation, and he waved his hands out in front of him rapidly. "N-no, I swear I'm not!" He cried. "The only reason why I even found Gray and Natsu in the first place was because I broke away from the rest of the flock! I don't want to be like them, trapped in cages! I just want to be free!"

"Honey, give the poor kid a break," Mika muttered to Silver, giving him a look. "Look at him, he's practically shaking in fear."

Silver sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Right. Sorry, Rogue."

"Anyway," I cleared my throat to change the conversation topic and ease the awkwardness, "If Rogue can figure out their plans to strike, we can be prepared to have everyone evacuated and fight them on our own."

"But how do you plan to take on eleven mutant children with skills just like Natsu's?" Ur asked, looking at the logical side of the equation.

"You can't beat them on brute force alone," Ultear mused, agreeing with her sister. Her food was scraped to the corners of the plates, not one thing touching another. I noticed during dinner that she ate one bite of each in a rotation, a common practice of hers. "Three against eleven isn't fair."

"You're right," Natsu agreed with them. "Which is why we have to be creative. Beat them in another way."

"Luckily, we have the upper hand; we know what they really want," Rogue added quietly, shocking everyone that he spoke once again. "Freedom. Asano granted the person who found Natsu and Gray escape from their cage forever. No one knows that he's lying, though. They were all too excited about the idea of freedom that they saw beyond his lies."

"You can tell when people are lying?" Lyon asked. Rogue nodded. "How?"

"Their heartbeats," Rogue whispered. Lyon exclaimed about how cool that was and Rogue flushed crimson yet again, avoiding his admiring gaze.

"We can't promise them freedom," Natsu argued. "We don't have the equipment to remove eleven trackers in that short amount of time."

"Yes we do," Mika piped up quickly. "I still have connections at the animal hospital I worked at. I'm sure I can pull a few strings. With that team of veterinary experts, the trackers would be removed in no time."

"Great," I nodded, clapping my hands together. Everyone was on board. "Meanwhile, you guys all need to get out of here."

"What?" Silver asked, surprise apparent on his features.

"You heard me," I said. "It's for your own safety. Since they haven't already, the flock will most likely find this house and demand answers out of you guys, possibly killing you in the process. If something happened, I c-couldn't-" My words got stuck in my throat. I swallowed nervously. "I couldn't live with myself. You need to leave, tonight."

"Tonight?" Mika echoed.

"Yes, tonight," I repeated. "Pack your bags, get as far away as possible from the blast zone, go anywhere but here." My voice became desperate at the end of my sentence, my words hanging in the air on strings.

"What about you?" Mika's lip quivered. I silently prayed that I didn't have to see her cry again.

"I'll be fine, Mom. I promise," I reached across the table and grabbed her hand, which was shaking. "You don't have to worry about me."

"B-but, wh-what if-"

I shushed her. "I can take care of myself. Please, Mom. If everything happens to go wrong, at least I can have that peaceful thought of my family's safety in the back of my head."

"We want this to play out as peacefully as possible," Natsu assured her. "No more deaths. Including us."

"No deaths," She repeated monotonously. The word death looked like it tasted bad in her mouth. Lost in thought, her eyes glazed over into a disturbing expression for a split second. If I hadn't been looking her way, I wouldn't have noticed it.

I shook my head and blinked, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me.

And then, quickly as it began, she was back to normal, her usual watery-smiling herself, asking for Ultear to pass the salad. Glancing around the room, staring closely at each individual member of my family, I  couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong. Beyond the relieved smiles plastered on their faces, the conversations they sparked, something didn't sit right with me, but I wasn't quite sure what.

It's just the newness to the situation, I thought to myself firmly. You were gone for weeks, scaring them shitless. They're just getting back into the swing of things.

Having convinced myself, I shook off the feeling that sent a shiver down my spine and pushed it out of my mind, joining in on the conversation.

"So Gray," Silver twiddled his fork into his pasta, giving me an innocent look.

I knew that look, I thought. He was about to say something embarrassing.

"Are you and Natsu dating yet?" Silver practically batted his eyelashes, giving me a wink.

My cheeks lit up in a warm blush as I gave him an angry glare. "Dad!" I swatted at him, not denying his accusation.

"Oh son, don't even deny it. You aren't kidding anyone."

Everyone at the table lit up in a chorus of laughs, even Rogue, who had a knowing smile on his face. Natsu hid his laugh with a cough, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye with a small smirk playing on his lips.

I rolled my eyes, blushing darker and looking away. This was going to be a long meal.

- - - -

A/N: They totally are, Silver. But when will they make it official? (Lmao probably never because I'm so bad I forgot to have them get together officially before this shitstorm. JK. Don't worry, it'll come soon. Aka next chapter. Get pumped for that!!)

Predictions for upcoming chapters? *grins evilly*