NaLu: Just Experiments

CHAPTER 7: New

(Lucy's POV)

We found a train station and Erza copied enough money to buy us tickets to Wendy's town. You should have seen her eyes light up. Now, they're all asleep, except for me. I want to keep watch, just in case. I look around and count all the sleeping faces. There's Natsu, Erza, Gray, and Wendy.....and three cats?!?!
I'm about to kick the closest one when I stop and think. Weren't there three cats at The Indigo Project? What did they call them? Exceeds, they called them Exceeds! I poke the one I was about to kick and it slowly wakes up. It stares at me and I stare at it. "Are you and your friends Exceeds?" I ask. It doesn't answer, but goes to wake up its friends. One by one they stand on the seat next to me. "We are." the white one says. "Aye sir!" the blue one adds.
"So it's true. You can talk, but did they manage to give you wings?" I ask. "Yes," the white one says, showing me her beautiful, white wings then tucking them away, "my name is Carla, the blue one is Happy, and that's Pantherlily. We had been planning an escape for months and when we found out you were breaking out two, we just followed you out." "We were able to slowly bend the bars on our cages and squeeze out." Pantherlily explained, "After that we just followed you." I'm glad they made it out.
     I start giggling and tell them, "When the scientists wake up tomorrow, they'll find every experiment in the whole lab gone. I wish we could see their faces!" Soon, we're all giggling quietly. After a few more minutes of talking, we all drift off to sleep. Our first night not in the lab.
     I wake up the next day to yelling. "All off for Magnolia!" I hear someone yell. I wake up everyone and introduce them to the exceeds while we're getting off the train. "Well Wendy, which way?" Erza asks. "I can't believe I'm home! It's just like I remember it! This way!" she says happily. Everything else was a blur. As we walked down the street, I found myself staring at everything. I've never seen so many colors! Look at those clothes! How many people can there be in one town!? Every petal on every flower was new. I could have stayed on that street forever.
At the lab, after they give you a type, they also give you a extremely large database. We each have enough knowledge to graduate college with master degrees for every subject. Even little Wendy has more knowledge than most professors. However, understanding something and knowing what it looks like is totally different from actually having it right in front of you. I can't seem to close my eyes even for a second.
     Soon we reach Wendy's house. I watch as Wendy breaks into a sprint with us close behind. Wendy hammers on her front door. It opens, revealing a woman with blue hair like Wendy's and sweet eyes. She puts her hand to her mouth and steps back, like she doesn't believe what she sees. "Mom!!" Wendy yells, hugging her. "Mom?!" Natsu asks, unexpectedly running to her and joining Wendy in a group hug. "What?!?!" we all yell. Their mom just smiles and shakes her head. "Please come in, I can explain everything." she says shooing us inside, "I'm Mrs. Dragneel by the way."
     "This house is amazing," I say once we're inside, "and look at all the windows, oh, and look, there's even an upstairs!" "Aye sir!" I hear Happy agree with me. Mrs. Dragneel gives Natsu a weird look but doesn't say anything. "You must be hungry," she says, "and we can talk over a few snacks." The kitchen is gorgeous and I've never seen so many options for food.
At the lab, they gave you three meals a day. I have no idea what it was they fed us, but it was the same every day, three times a day. It was disgusting and if we refused to eat it, they would give us a feeding tube. I can't help but stare at the food set before me. I remember learning about this. It's called cheese.
I take a small nibble and immediately want more. "Cheese is so good," I exclaim, "and there's so much flavor in it." Everyone giggles at my sudden outburst, and Erza and Gray nod in agreement. I eat my cheese and watch as Wendy plays with Carla on the floor.
     "Okay, first I should explain." Mrs. Dragneel sits at the table, "Natsu, Wendy, you are brother and sister." "Really?!?" they both yell, facing each other. "There was no way for you to know, but yes." she continues, "After Natsu was taken, we were heartbroken. It was a few years until we decided to have Wendy. We moved, so those men couldn't find us again." she sighs, "They still managed to come back and take poor Wendy. When Wendy was here we didn't talk about you, and we thought she was just a little young. I see now, you two managed to find each other and come home." she finishes smiling, "And you brought friends."
     Now it was our turn to explain. We told her everything. Our names, how long we've been trapped there, the exceeds, our conditions at the lab, how and when we met, our types, our different abilities, our plan to break out, etc. After about two hours of talking, she knew everything. She had laughed, cried, been amazed and been disgusted. "Wow...." was all she could say when we finished.
     "Well, we can talk more tomorrow about school, clothes, and other things like that. For now though, it's all of your bedtimes." she said in a motherly tone. She led us upstairs and gave each of us a room. "I guess we always hoped Natsu and Wendy would come home one day, so we always made sure we had their rooms made for them." She told us.
     Natsu ran to his bed and plopped onto it, "It's so good to be home!" he said into his pillow. Wendy did a similar display. I would sleep in Wendy's room on her spare bed. Carla decided to sleep with us too on one of Wendy's fluffiest pillow. Erza slept in that room too on an inflatable mattress. Gray would sleep in Natsu's room with Happy and Pantherlily. Mrs. Dragneel offered the guest bedroom, but we all said no thank you. We've gotten so used to falling asleep with the sound of our friends' breaths that I don't think I could sleep well alone.
     "I can't believe you and Natsu are siblings." I comment while we get in bed, "Maybe that's why you responded well to the Dragon genes." "Hmmm, maybe." she says, "I'm really happy he's my brother. I've always wanted one. Besides, maybe one day you can be my sister-in-law." I can feel my face turn bright red. Erza, Wendy, Carla, and I start giggling uncontrollably. It was a good night. We met someone new, heard something new, and did many new things. Today was full of new.