"I think it would take less than that to bring me down," Happy murmured, a little despondently.
"Geehee! That's my cat! Toughest on the block," Gajeel grinned.
...
"So…" Aberforth Dumbledore suddenly announced in a slightly clipped, reminding everyone that he and the two witches were still actually present in the room and had witnessed all of that. "I take it that this lot are your friends… Wendy. One of them appears to have knocked my door down."
Wendy smiled sheepishly. "I'm surprised that's all he knocked down, Aberforth-san."
"Meaning what exactly?" Gajeel raised a brow.
"Gajeel, I think you know exactly what it means, and I think you can't really argue with it," Lily chided him.
"…True…"
"Anyway, yes, Aberforth-san, these are some of my friends from Fairy Tail. This is my closest friend and partner Charla, and the other two Exceed, Happy and Pantherlily. And this is Gajeel Redfox, my fellow Dragon Slayer. And this is Master Mavis."
"Master Mavis? Who are you pointing at, girl?" Aberforth looked around with a frown.
"He can't see me," whispered Mavis. "Only those with the Fairy Tail mark are currently able to see me."
"Oh."
"Dragon Slayer?" one of the witches scoffed. "You mean to tell me you've both killed dragons?"
Gajeel was about to growl at her and do something he might regret when Aberforth whipped out his wand and cast a spell over the two witches, which caused their eyes to go rather blank. "You two, out, now. Bar is closed," Aberforth instructed and the two witches dazedly turned and left, become lucid once again when they were down the street but not remembering anything that had happened since a moment or two before Gajeel bashed the door in.
Aberforth sighed and strode forwards, levitating the door up and reattaching it into its frame with a flick of his wand and a quick Repairing spell right as Wendy lowered her hands and said, "How's that, Lily?"
Lily flexed his shoulders and suddenly shifted into his battle form, which caused Aberforth to stumble backwards in shock and almost knock the door off again as he crashed into it. Lily lashed out a hand to grab his shoulder and steady him before twisting himself around painlessly. "I feel invigorated. Thank you, Wendy. At the risk of give a pun which I assure you is not intended - you are a marvel."
Wendy blushed and smiled. "It's my pleasure and my job to help."
"If I might interrupt," Aberforth huffed, recovering from his surprise at the sight of the giant cat and watching warily as Gajeel passed him his sword back. "I wasn't exactly expecting any more otherworldly visitors today. What exactly am I supposed to do with all you lot? I don't even remember the last time I bought cat food."
"Cat food? Ugh, repulsive stuff," Charla wrinkled her nose. "I could go for a cup of Darjeeling tea right about now."
"Darjeeling… we don't serve that kind of thing in this place," Aberforth grunted, almost sounding revolted.
"Oh? But they do have it in this universe? Well, that is a relief."
"I want fish!"
"Who's shocked? I'm not," Gajeel rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't mind a couple of kiwi fruits right about now actually," Lily patted his stomach, stowing his sword back on his back.
"…Kiwi fruits?" Aberforth coughed. "Did I just hear that correctly? The enormous, muscled cat creature likes… kiwi fruits?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Well, it is if you can't eat anything else, though I can't imagine for the life of me why you wouldn't. We don't have kiwi fruits here. Or tea. Or fish. I don't like fish."
"You don't like fish!? WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOOUU!?"
"Happy… need I remind you that I don't like fish either?"
"I TAKE IT BACK, CHARLA! I TAKE IT BACK!"
"Dear God you lot are noisy," Aberforth sighed, before he caught sight of Fawkes perched on a nearby table. "Ah, I see my brother's pet has paid me a visit. Does that mean he knows you're here?"
It was at this precise moment that a whoosh of green flames roared into life in the nearby fireplace and Albus Dumbledore stepped out. It took him but a glance to see that the room not only had his own phoenix, his brother and Wendy, but also the three cats and another of the Dragon Slayers he had seen in Wendy's memories.
"Ah," he said, his face focusing on Gajeel. "Well now. This is a surprise."
"And that answers my question," Aberforth muttered. "He does now."
"Who are you!?" Gajeel growled, taking a defensive stance. "What was that magic you just did."
"Be at peace, Gajeel Redfox - I mean you know harm," Albus raised a steadying hand. "And before you ask, I know what your name is because Wendy has, to put it simply, given me a vivid description of you."
"…Ah…" Gajeel blinked, not entirely sure what to say next.
"Perhaps it would actually be better if you didn't assume that anyone who appears in the room is a possible threat, Gajeel," Mavis rested a ghostly hand on the big man's shoulder. "You already terrified that poor boy back there. Besides, I sense no malice coming from him whatsoever."
"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel muttered.
Dumbledore's eyes rested on Mavis for a moment, which gave the First Master pause for thought. She knew he couldn't see her, but she had the distinct feeling he somehow knew that she was there. Not that that surprised her. She could sense great power and wisdom coming from this man and she winced slightly when she realised he reminded her somewhat of Purehito, before he had become Master Hades of course.
"Dumbledore-san is the one that brought me here to where I would be safe," Wendy explained.
"Then you have our gratitude, Mister," Pantherlily placed a hand on his stomach and degenerated back to his small size. "For looking after one of our own when we were otherwise unable."
"Mine especially," Charla nodded. "Thank you."
"It is both a fascination and a pleasure to assist beings from another universe such as yourselves. But, I am delighted to find that this reunion between you has taken place because I believe I may be able to make it even bigger. Excuse me." He turned back to the fireplace and threw a piece of paper and a little powder into the fireplace and with a whoosh of green light the paper, somehow unburnt, was whisked away.
"What did you just do, Albus?" Aberforth glared irritably.
"Only sent a message to let the Order know that the coast was clear."
"And… who else?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I see you're still as sharp as ever, my brother," he chuckled before there was a yell from the fireplace and a man without a shirt toppled out and crashed to the floor behind him.
"Damn it, I'm not sure whether I prefer that or that Apparition thing," Gray muttered as he rolled onto his back.
"Gray-san!" Wendy cried.
"Gray!" Happy echoed.
"Hey, it's the Stripper Boy," Gajeel snorted.
"Huh?" Gray looked up, startled. "Wait… Gajeel, you're here too? And all the Exceed? I thought it was just Wendy that…"
"KYAA!" Juvia squealed as she was almost thrust out of the fireplace, her arms windmilling as she tried to stay up before failing and toppling down to land right on top of Gray, just managing to catch herself before their heads clunked together painfully. And the moment Juvia realised where she was and how close her lips were to Gray's she immediately went as stiff as a board, the two of them staring at each other silently for a moment.
"G…G…Gray-sama…" she murmured weakly.
"You can feel free to get off me any time now," Gray coughed pointedly.
Juvia blushed and stuttered, "Um… sorry… Juvia apologises for… for landing on Gray-sama…" but notably did not get up.
However, Gajeel's voice suddenly registering to her when he said, "Jeez, Juvia, at least get a room before you try and pull the moves on the Nudist King," snapped her back to reality and her head shot up, wide-eyed.
"Gajeel-kun! It's you, Gajeel-kun!" she bolted off Gray and ran across the room and Gajeel suddenly found himself swamped in a hug from another blue haired Fairy Tail girl.
Though this time he reacted a little more aggressively and cried, "Gahh! Get off me, ye crazy water woman!"
Juvia smiled and refused to do anything of the sort. "Juvia's happy to see you're okay, Gajeel-kun."
Gajeel tried to pry her off for a moment but Juvia's grip seemed to be more iron than his own in his case, obscurely. So he just breathed heavily through his nose and muttered, "Yeah… it's good to see you too, I guess, rain woman."
...
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