Kapitel 177: Vacation Plans

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

September, x784.

Later that day, after the excitement from exploring the new guild hall and its facilities died down, Alfonzo, Elicia, and their usual group of friends settled down at a long table in the guild's common area. On top of that, because of the special occasion, Alfonzo agreed to cook, to break in the new kitchen as he put it, for the whole guild. Though, it would not be for free.

"Man! This new guild hall is amazing." Natsu shouted happily while holding a turkey leg.

"Yeah, we're gonna be able to get so strong with those training rooms." Alzack added. "Training under increased gravity is gonna be tough, though."

"But it will be worth it." Bisca said with a smile.

Seeing Bisca's smile, Alzack started blushing immediately before looking away sheepishly. Then, right after seeing Alzack's reaction, Bisca also turned red and looked away in embarrassment.

"It's so adorable that everyone, except for the two of them, can see how much they like each other." Marin whispered.

"I know, right?" Lisanna replied in a whisper.

"Less gossip, more feeding your stomach." Laki said, interrupting Marin and Lisanna.

After that, Laki glanced at Alfonzo briefly before shaking her head and going back to digging into her food.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Ultear said after wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Mom gave me a coupon for a three-day, two-night trip for five at the most famous resort on Akane Beach."

As she spoke, Ultear looked at Alfonzo with a smile.

"So, why don't you come and take a vacation with me, Alfonzo.?" Ultear asked. "After all the work you did to make sure that the guild hall was finished in a little over a month, you definitely deserve it."

"Sure." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "When we took that quest at Akane Beach a few years ago, we never got to visit the resort."

With that, Elicia, Erza, and Sun thought back to the quest Alfonzo was talking about and how he lost an arm, the reason why they never went to the resort.

"Did you bring that up just to rub it in our faces?" Levy asked with a pout. "I would have loved a trip to the beach, but it's clear that only a few people will be invited to join you if Alfonzo is going."

"Still, this could be fun." Laki said with a slightly sadistic smile on her face. "Alfonzo and his harem number seven. Yet there are only five spots. And two are already taken."

With Laki's reminder, Elicia, Cana, Erza, and Mirajane's eyes narrowed competitively.

"You guys can decide who else will go on your own." Sun said, excusing herself from the discussion. "I grew up on Akane Beach, so I've been to that resort a bunch of times."

Seeing that Sun backed out so easily, Ultear looked a little disappointed. In actuality, she was looking forward to seeing all five of Alfonzo's other girlfriends competing for the extra spots. At the very least, she thought she would find it amusing.

At the same time, just as the other four girls started discussing who among them would accompany Alfonzo and Ultear, a certain blue-haired girl was glaring at Alfonzo while hiding behind the corner of the bar. Though, she failed miserably at actually hiding her presence.

"Hey, isn't that girl from Phantom Lord?" Macao asked in a whisper to Wakaba while discreetly pointing at the blue-haired girl, Juvia.

"Yeah, but what is she doing here?" Wakaba replied in a whisper of his own.

"I'm not sure." Macao said while shaking his head lightly. "But she's looking at Alfonzo like he murdered her family or something. I wonder what that's about."

In fact, Juvia being in the guild hall was not all that strange in reality. The guild hall did not restrict entrance to anyone. Though, the security system would activate if anyone not registered with the guild hall started outputting more than a preset amount of magic power. So, no one questioned Juvia's presence. But they did find it strange that she was just staring at Alfonzo's group.

Naturally, there were three reasons for Juvia to be in the guild hall. Ur, Gray, and Ultear. Over the last month, Juvia had yet to speak with either Gray or Ultear. However, she did speak with Ur after she got fed up with the constant feeling of being watched. And to no one's surprise, Ur rejected Juvia's confession after Juvia told her about the whole soul mate situation.

Ur explained that she was not interested in women very bluntly, resulting in Juvia melting into a puddle of water on the spot. On top of that, rain clouds even started to gather in the sky above them. But that all went away when she told Juvia that she would help her win over Gray.

Hearing that, Juvia was so elated that she reformed her body instantly and tried to jump on Ur with a hug of gratitude, which ended with her being frozen from the neck down. But Ur also told her that she should give up on Ultear, if she did not want to incur her daughter's hatred that is. Knowing her daughter as well as she did, Ur knew that Ultear would not take too kindly to someone trying to break her and Alfonzo up.

Eventually, Juvia listened. Though, that would not stop her from hating Alfonzo for taking away one of her soul mates, even if she somewhat agreed with what he said a month earlier.

"Alfonzo Marcus." Juvia muttered under her breath. "If I ever find out that you made my sweet Ultear cry, I will be the first to punish you."

Back at the table with the young wizards in Alfonzo and Elicia's group, Elicia, Cana, Erza, and Mirajane decided that they would decide on the three others to go on the vacation with a game of darts.

The rules would be simple, Each of them would get three darts to throw per turn. And the last to reach a score of three hundred would stay at home. The order for their turns was decided by each throwing a dart and the one with the highest score on that one dart would go first.

After the order, Cana, Erza, Mirajane, then Elicia, was set, the game started.

In the end, Cana finished first and Erza came in second. And until Elicia's final turn, everyone thought that Mirajane would come in third. At that point, she had a score of two hundred ninety-two points while Elicia was sitting at a measly one hundred thirty-two points.

At that point, Elicia slipped into a strange state of hyper focus. Knowing that if things followed the canon, the Tower of Heaven arc would happen next, Elicia knew she could not miss this trip. Although she realized that most, if not all, of the cultists that killed hers and Alfonzo's parents were probably already dead, she wanted the opportunity to deal as much damage to that accursed tower as she could.

Then, in that hyper focused state, Elicia threw her three darts. And they all landed on the strip of triple twenty, gaining her one hundred eighty points and the final spot on the vacation roster.

"No way…." Mirajane mumbled just after the last of Elicia's darts landed on the board. Then, her expression distorted into one that had rarely been seen since the incident when she was demoted from S-Class two years ago before she continued. "What kinda bullshit luck is that!? I demand a rematch!"

"Mira~~." Lisanna said in a reprimanding tone after seeing her sister slip back into her old ways. "You lost fair and square. Don't throw a tantrum."

"Lisanna's right, Big Sis." Elfman said, placing a hand on his older sister's shoulder. "You have to accept your defeat like a real man."

"Oh, be quiet, Elfman!" Mirajane shouted while swiping Elfman's hand off her shoulder. "I'm not a damn man!"

In the next moment, Mirajane kicked Elfman In his abdomen and sent him flying across the hall, starting a guild-wide brawl. In the canon, and even until now, Mirajane would have never hit Elfman. However, because the tragedy of losing Lisanna did not happen, Mirajane started treating Elfman like the other rowdy boys in the guild after his personality change.

But because she was already emotionally unstable from having her victory snatched away, combined with the fact that she too was growing tired of Elfman's catch phrase and being told how much of a real man she was, Mirajane finally snapped. Though, she realized what she had just done a moment later.

"*Gasp* Oh no! Elfman, are you okay?" Mirajane asked, returning to her more mellow demeanor.

"Ugh… Yeah, I'm alright, Big Sis…" Elfman groaned after getting knocked back to where he started from another wizard's punch. "But I gotta say, you really do hit like a real man."

Hearing that, Mirajane deadpanned while everyone face palmed simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Elicia was finally coming out of her hyper focused state. And when she was back to normal, the first thing that caught her attention were the noises in the background.

"Huh?" Elicia exclaimed while tilting her head in confusion. "When did everyone start fighting?"

After that, she looked down at her right hand, noticing that the darts were no longer in her possession. Then, she looked at the board, seeing that the score from the three darts was one hundred eighty and tilted her head even further.

"Did I do that?" Elicia asked herself.

A moment later, her brain started recalling the memories from the brief time she was in her hyper focused state. And when she internalized that she was, in fact, the one who threw those darts, her confused expression turned into one of elation.

"I did it!" Elicia shouted happily. "I'm going on the resort trip!"

"Hmph!" Mirajane snorted in discontent. "I'm definitely going on the next vacation."

With that, the first brawl in the new Fairy Tail guild hall continued… Until Erza felt that it was getting out of hand and ended it by beating up all the participants herself.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Caelum, Unnamed Island.

South of the Kingdom of Fiore was the Kingdom of Caelum. And off Caelum's coast was a small, unnamed island. Standing on that island was a tall tower whose height could reach near the clouds. Though there were few that knew about this tower, those who knew called it, The Tower of Heaven.

On the top floor of the tower, a group of five young adults were gathered. While four of them were standing in front of the fifth, a young man wearing a hooded cloak that only revealed his chin, mouth, and jawline, who was seated on a throne.

"After so many years, the Tower of Heaven has been completed." The cloaked man said to the others. "Soon, we will be able to use it for what it was intended for. But before that, I think we should get in touch with our old friend that left us behind."

"Are you referring to… Erza?" A tall, muscular, black-haired man with an eyepatch over his left eye and a metal plate covering his lower jaw asked.

"Correct." The cloaked man replied. "I think it's time for her to see what we've been able to achieve over the years without her. Now, I want the four of you to bring her back by any means. Just don't kill her."

"Don't worry, We'll bring the dame back." A man whose body seemed to be made of blocks of all sizes said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Erzie-Werzie again." The only female in the group added.

"Yeah, when we bring Sister Erza back, we'll all be together again." The last of those gathered, a young man with tan skin and blond hair said.

A few moments later, the four tasked with kidnapping Erza left the top floor of the tower. Shortly after they were gone, a man with long black hair, dressed as a priest entered the room.

"I don't understand, why do you ask them to bring her back?" The man dressed as a priest asked. "Would it not be easier to simply kill her to tie up the loose ends?"

"I understand why you would think that way." The cloaked man said, standing from his thrown. "Now that the tower is complete, killing her would be the easiest way to keep it a secret. But I think she would serve better as the sacrifice for my ultimate goal. The resurrection of Zeref."