Freed's sister (Fairy Tail fanfiction)

Chapter 18: Fro

3rd person POV

Serena had taken the liberty of walking through many of the carts. She paced from her cart to the last cart many times, refusing to go to her seat. She was angered, yes, but she also got a queasy feeling in her stomach whenever she thought of that day. By now her anger had subsided, and the train had started moving. She still wasn't ready to go back, she felt that her stomach might kick out her lunch if she sits. She was in the last train cart, the storage cart, and she opened the door to leave.

"U-uh-oh." A small voiced whimpered. Serena's hand froze for a second before she pulled the door shut. Her amber eyes scanned the cart, looking for where the voice came from.

"There's no point in hiding, I already heard you," Serena says dully into the room. Her hand flicks up, a small flame on her fingertips. Shuffling to the right catches her attention, "Who's there?"

"F-Fro sorry," A small figure says as it slips out from behind some boxes. Serena's guard drops when she see's an adorable little figure in a pink costume.

"Awww, well aren't you just the cutest little thing ever?" Serena cooed as she picked up the little shaking animal.

"Fro thinks so, too," It says quietly. Serena's heart practically melts when she hears this. The green haired girl begins to snuggle and cuddle it, gushing about how it's the cutest creature ever.

--Fro's adorable-ness make... Time skip--

"You can't keep it!" Freed exclaims. Sitting in front of him Serena holds up the adorable green cat with a pink frog costume. Her eyes become large and round, a pout forming on her lips.

"Bu-but, kitty..." She whispers sadly, allowing some tears to form in her eyes. Freed looks away, determined not to fall for his little sister's tricks.

"Isn't that...?" Nastu doesn't get to finish his sentence, having to place a hand over his mouth to stop from puking.

"Please!!!! Look at this adorable little face and tell me you could kick it out," Serena says, still holding up the small creature. Fro looks at Serena and the copies her expression, turning to Freed as well.

"And you say we're children? You can't just keep any animal you find," Laxus grumbles, trying not to show his motion sickness. Freed crosses his arms, eyes closed as he shakes his head.

Serena's pouty expression becomes sadder, a single tear slipping from her eye. Erza and Evergreen tilt their heads down as a shadow covers their eyes. The seating area begins to darken with the two mages scary aura.

--Dangerous duo make... Time skip--

"I think Fro is an adorable name," Lucy says as she pats Fro's head. Serena nods happily as they walk down the unfamiliar streets. The rest of the team for this mission walks behind them. Freed and Laxus have a large bump on each of their heads curtesy of Erza and Evergreen, which is why Serena got to keep Fro.

"He looks familiar..." Natsu said, staring intently at Fro. Serena slapped the back of his head. He held the area, "Ow, what the heck!"

"Don't stare at Fro like that," She scolds, hugging the creature close and nearly suffocating it with her... chest. They continue walking, asking for directions at one point, until they stand in front of a bit larger than average house with cream colored walls and a pale orange roof.

"This is a pretty normal house," Natsu says, Lucy nodding along. He begins examining it. He even sniffs the steps to the door, earning a eye roll from Gray.

"I don't think sniffing it is gonna change that, Flame brain," Gray crosses his arms over his chest, already having lost his spare shirt. He wasn't sure if Serena had thought to bring another spare, he hadn't, but he felt bad about being mean to her and thought that he probably shouldn't ask. Natsu and Gray bumped foreheads glare at each other and beginning to argue.

"No sniffing, Flame brain..." Fro said slowly with a smile. The costume covered pink arms waved up and down as Serena held Fro with an arm, pulling the cat-frog's back to her. Gray cracked up as Natsu glared

"Look you!" Natsu pointed an angry finger at Fro. Said finger was crushed by Serena. With a calm close eyed expression she held his finger for a few bone crushing seconds, releasing it before she turned around. 

"With the reward they're offering I was expecting a mansion," Lucy comments, walking up the four steps. She says as she looks up at the two story house.

"Maybe they're humble," Serena mumbled as she followed after Lucy. The blonde knocked on the door, not getting a response. So the two of the knock for quite a while but still no one answered.

"Maybe nobody's home," Bixlow said over the noise of the two girls pounding on the door. His dolls floated around him mimicking 'Nobody's home, nobody's home.'

"Then why don't we explore the town? We could come back later to see if they're home then," Serena piped up happily. There was a gleaming smile on her face.

"Fro thinks so, tools !" Fro says with wide innocent eyes. After a lot of grumbling from Laxus and Freed, and threatening glares from Erza and Evergreen, they decided to split into groups. The boys would stay around the house to wait for an owner while the girls went around to explore the town a bit.

"You look like you've never seen a town," Lucy said with a small laugh as Serena looked around curiously as they walked. The green haired girl had made them stop at tons of shops.

"I don't tend to get out much," Her voice was light and breathy, as most of her thoughts were occupied by her surroundings. The answer was a default, true but vague.

"What did you do before you joined the guild?" Evergreen asked curiously. At this moment she realized that the girl hadn't been their guild mate long, and yet she already felt like a vital pay if their family.

"Not much," Her voice has become quieter, less joyful. The question had taken her out of her carefree observations.

"That's right, you've only been in the guild for two months, it feels longer," Erza comments as she calmly looks at the sky. She thinks back on how the girl had transitioned so smoothly into the guild. Then again it was hard not to find a place in the wildly diverse guild.

"Yeah, I kinda just... You know, traveled around before. Nothing really interesting happened," She cuddled Fro closer to her. She looked down at her feet, remembering. The others shared worried looks.

"Well now you're with us, so don't let any old flame think he can just take you away," Evergreen changed the subject with a wink. She slung an arm over Serena's shoulders, giving her a squeeze. Serena let out a small laugh.

"Who could possibly like me? I'd be horribly unbearable," She joked, giving the girls a smile. Her eyes were closed and her smiling face gave off a warm glow, all the other girl's worries were pushed away by their memories of when they've seen Serena smile.

"Oh please, Hibiki was all over you. Remember how angry Freed was?" Evergreen said as if it was the most obvious thing. They all began to joke about her brother's many quirks.

"He was really quiet and reserved when we were little. I was kinda relived to see he hadn't changed all that much. I kept imagining that he must be this whole different person with a buzz cut, piercings, a tongue tattoo, and black clothing. I seriously had a heart attack when I saw Bixlow, I was so sure he was the remains of my adorable big brother. Looks like he just hangs out with a weird dressing guy, I can deal with that," Serena said with a sparkle in her eyes as she looked somewhere in the distance.

"You really love him, don't you?" Lucy said, giving Serena a gentle look. Serena turned to her with wide eyes, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Well yeah, he's my brother. He told you about how I disappeared when I was little, right?" The girls nodded apologetically. They knew they didn't have to answer after Gray's comment on the train. Serena nodded once, "It's okay, you guys would've found out anyways, it's not like it's a secret. Well when I walked into that water Freed probably told you that it kinda sucked me in right?" The three girls nodded.

"Well that's not what happened," Serena's expression turned deadly serious, her usually day dreamy tone gone. Fro looked up at her with a small frown and curious eyes. She sounded like her clones had that one day she 'fought' Laxus, when they were taking about taking things, "The water splashed up around me, so it probably looked like the water had swallowed me up... But that wasn't it."