Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
December, x777.
The next morning, Cana slowly opened her eyes in an unfamiliar room. While she was confused at first, her mind quickly rebooted, allowing her to remember where she was. The fact that there was another person latched onto her while drooling on her chest also helped her recollect the memories from the night before.
"That's right, I slept over at Fonzie and Lici's new house." Cana said quietly. Then, a silly smile found its way onto her face. "And Lici told me that I could be Fonzie's girlfriend."
A moment later, however, that smile turned into a sigh.
"But I have to share him." Cana said, still a bit conflicted about the conversation she had with Elicia in the bath last night. "I agreed on the spur of the moment, but I'm not sure how things will turn out in the long run."
After a few more moments of contemplation, Cana tried, and failed, to shrug her shoulders.
"She's so much smaller than me." Cana said with awry smile on her face. "How in the world is Lici this strong?"
"Hey, I'm heading to the guild!" Alfonzo shouted from the bottom of the steps. "Don't sleep in too long, or you'll miss breakfast."
As soon as Alfonzo's words ended, Elicia's eyes opened wide.
"No! Absolutely not!" Elicia shouted as she let go of Cana and sat up in the bed."
A moment later, Elicia looked left then right with confusion written all over her face.
"What's wrong, Lici?" Cana asked with concern. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"I think so." Elicia said while shaking her head. "I thought I heard that I was going to miss Fonzie's breakfast."
'She didn't even twitch when I tried to move earlier.' Cana thought to herself. 'But as soon as the possibility of not getting Fonzie's cooking was mentioned, she woke up immediately. What kind of glutton is she?'
"That wasn't a dream, Lici.' Cana said with a wry smile on her face. "Fonzie just said he was gonna leave for the guild to take his shift in the kitchen."
Before Cana began to speak, Elicia was in the process of laying back down. However, as soon as Cana said her piece, Elicia froze in a weird position. Then, using her core muscles, she sat back up.
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Elicia asked frantically. "We can't miss breakfast."
After that, Elicia grabbed Cana by the hand. Then, she rushed them both into the bathroom. After spending about half an hour getting ready, they both emerged from the bathroom wearing towels, with Cana looking a bit embarrassed.
"What's wrong, Cana?" Elicia asked after noticing Cana's expression.
"I didn't bring a change of clothes." Cana said bashfully.
"Oh, don't worry about that." Elicia said dismissively. "I have a few of the clothes I designed for you in one of the closets in me and Fonzie's room. You can just wear some of those."
Like that, Elicia and Cana started moving toward the master bedroom.
Meanwhile, in the guild hall, Alfonzo had already started taking breakfast orders. At the same time, Makarov and Ur were talking to Gildarts, who like Cana had rushed back after completing his quest.
"How early did you get back?" Ur asked curiously. "I didn't even hear the announcement for the Gildarts shift."
"It was pretty early." Gildarts said. "The sun hadn't even risen yet. But to think you slept through everything. You must have been exhausted after your quest."
"Yeah." Ur replied with a nod. "Right after we got back, Ultear, Gray, Cana, and I went to Alfonzo and Elicia's new house. Then, we had dinner and played around in their game room for a while."
"Oh, so you saw it, too.?" Makarov asked with a smile. "The house is quite impressive."
"It is." Ur replied, nodding once again. "But the main event of last night was the dinner."
"Oh, what did the kid cook?" Gildarts asked curiously.
"Searing Bull ribeye." Ur said with a smug smile.
Hearing that, both Makarov and Gildarts gasped in surprise.
"Damn it!" Gildarts exclaimed. "I knew I should have just destroyed that whole town where those dark wizards were hiding. Then, I might have made it back soon enough to have dinner with you guys, too."
*Bang!*
Immediately after Gildarts' words ended, he was slapped in the back of the head by Makarov's giant palm, causing his head to crash into the bar top.
"You damned brat!" Makarov shouted. "Are you trying to bankrupt the guild?"
"Damn it, Old Man." Gildarts muttered while rubbing his bruised face. "Stop pretending that you would have done anything different if you knew you could have a Searing Bull ribeye that the kid made."
Looking away with a blush, Makarov could no longer make eye contact with Gildarts because he knew that the younger man was right.
"Anyway." Ur said, deciding to continue her story with a mischievous grin on her face. "When it got late, I took Ultear and Gray back home. But Cana decided to spend the night at Alfonzo and Elicia's place."
Immediately, the atmosphere in the guild hall changed. Then, a powerful aura covered the entire hall, causing all the rowdiness to stop immediately.
A moment later, Alfonso walked out of the kitchen, carrying Gildarts order of Eggs Benedict.
"Damn it, Ur." Alfonzo's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Why the hell would you say that?"
"I was just telling the rest of my story." Ur said with an innocent smile on her face. "But I don't' know what happened after we left."
Gildarts, who was already glaring at Alfonzo from the moment he left the kitchen, started mixing bloodlust in to his glare when he heard Ur's insinuation.
"What did you do to my princess, you little bastard?" Gildarts asked as he jumped over the bar and picked up Alfonzo by the front of his shirt.
Take it easy, Old Man." Alfonzo said, not even trying to free himself from Gildarts grasp. "You should have asked that before---"
"Cut the shit, Kid." Gildarts snarled. "Just answer the question."
"You know, you really should get rid of that tunnel vision of yours, Old Man." Alfonzo said with a smirk on his face.
"I said just---" Gildarts said, even more anger filling his tone.
"Dad! What are you doing to Fonzie?" Cana's shrill cry cut through the otherwise silent guild hall.
Quickly turning his head toward the guild hall's entrance, Gildarts saw Cana, who was standing next to Elicia, with the rays of the morning sun shining behind her. However, he could not help but start to shudder when he saw the anger in his little girl's eyes.
"Hey, Sweetie, good morning." Gildarts said, with cold sweat trickling down his forehead. "I heard you just got back from a quest yesterday. How did it go?"
"Dad. What. Are. You. Doing. To. Fonzie?" Cana asked, emphasizing every word as she and Elicia began walking toward the bar.
"Oh… Haha… We were just talking about the new house." Gildarts said nervously.
"Really?" Cana asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she arrived in front of the bar. "Then, why are you holding Fonzie up by his shirt?"
"Oh… Um… Right!" Gildarts said. "Alfonzo was about to tell me a secret about the house. So, I brought him closer so that n o one else would be able to hear us, right?"
While Gildarts stared at Alfonzo with pleading eyes, Elicia, Makarov, Cana, and Ur deadpanned, unable to believe how the man in front of them could be so shameless.
"Actually…" Alfonzo said, giving Gildarts a reassuring smile that made him relax, only to mercilessly crush any sense of security he might have been feeling. "Gildarts thought I did something inappropriate to you when you spent the night at our house. And he was going to force me to spit it out. Probably with the use of violence."
Immediately, the relieved expression on Gildarts face froze. Then, he looked at Alfonzo with disbelief,
'How could he betray me like that?' Gildarts asked himself. 'Especially after all the things I've done for him. Like that time I… Hmm… Now that I think about it, him betraying me makes perfect sense. All I ever do is try to beat him up whenever he gets to close to Cana. Damn it, I brought this on myself, didn't I?'
"Dad." Cana said in a low, menacing tone.
"Y-Yes, Princess?" Gildarts stuttered out.
"Is that true?" Cana asked, already knowing the answer to her question.
"I mean, kinda?" Gildarts said, scratching his head with his free hand.
"And why are you still holding Fonzie like that?" Cana asked with her eyebrows twitching.
"Oh… Whoops…" Gildarts said as he slowly lowered Alfonzo to the floor.
When Alfonzo's feet were firmly planted on the floor, Gildarts released his hold on Alfonso's shirt. Then, after noticing a wrinkle in the location where he had grabbed the shirt, Gildarts did his best to smooth out the fabric.
"There, good as new." Gildarts said with a stiff smile.
Then, Gildarts hopped over the bar, landing in front of Cana, who was still glaring at him unhappily.
"I missed you, Princess." Gildarts said, opening his arms wide.
When he noticed that Cana made no move to enter his embrace, Gildarts stepped forward, intending to wrap his arms around his daughter. Unfortunately, before he could close his arms around Cana she took a step back.
"Dad, we need to talk." Cana said without changing her expression.
Once again, Gildarts froze due to Cana's words. And this time, he had a really bad feeling about what she wanted to say.
"What's up, Princess?" Gildarts asked, trying his best to put on a smile.
As a matter of fact, Cana did not know what she was going to follow up that statement with. She was angry at seeing her father treating Alfonzo like that… again. So, she let her emotions guide her speech. However, as soon as Gildarts asked her what she wanted to say, she had nothing. However, she knew she could not remain silent. So…
"I'm gonna move in with Fonzie and Lici." Cana said.
… she let her heightened emotions speak for her again, surprising not only herself, but Alfonzo, Makarov, Ur, and almost everyone who was watching the drama unfold.
While Elicia was also surprised, she smiled happily. Meanwhile, Gildarts paled rapidly. Then, he threw a death glare at Alfonzo. However, that did not last for very long as he could see that Alfonzo was just as taken aback as he was.
"After we're done with training, we'll go pack my stuff." Cana said, making tears start to form in Gildarts eyes.
"No, you can't." Gildarts said frantically. "Oh, I know! If I destroy the house, then you'll have no choice but to stay with Daddy!"
Before anyone could respond to Gildarts desperate cry, An extremely sinister aura began oozing out of Elicia while she switched between glaring at Gildarts' face and his crotch. All the while, she repeatedly opened and closed her fists.
"What was that?" Elicia said in an ominous tone. "I don't think I heard you properly. Would you care to repeat that?"
"*Gulp* Haha… Nothing… Nothing at all." Gildarts stammered as he took a step back. "It was just a joke. You know I would never do something like that to my best friend's kids, right?"
As if it were never there, Elicia's dark aura disappeared. Then, with a relieved expression on her face, Elicia patted her chest.
"*Sigh* You shouldn't make jokes like that." Elicia said, looking genuinely relieved. "You really scared me just now."
'I scared you? Yeah fucking right.' Gildarts thought to himself while his eyebrows twitched. 'I thought my soul was going to jump out of my body for a second there. And you say I scared you?'
"Haha… Sorry about that." Gildarts said, forcing a smile. "I hope you can forgive your Uncle Gildarts."
Just like that, the tense atmosphere disappeared. While Elicia and Cana happily discussed Cana becoming a new resident at the mansion, Gildarts did his best to dissuade his daughter while shedding manly tears.
"Holy shit…" Alfonzo muttered as he watched the three people on the other side of the bar. "Lici really became Gildarts hard counter with a single punch to the junk."
"I wish Bianca were here to see this." Ur said, wiping the tears from suppressing her laughter out of her eyes. "I can just imagine her rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically at Gildarts' expression."
"Yeah, me too." Alfonzo and Makarov replied simultaneously.
Sorry for posting late. I got tired after work last night and forgot to put a timer on this one.
For the next 4 days, since there is a holiday, I'll be posting at least 2 chapters a day.
Shout out to my new Patr3on!
Bubbs
Read ahead on my Patr3on at:
https://patr3on.com/SixthSense1029
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.
Comments, Reviews, and Power Stones are always appreciated.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May, x778.
Over the last six months, Cana had been living in Alfonzo and Elicia's mansion, despite Gildarts' vehement protests. Unlike the way Gildarts expected things to go, however, Cana slept in the room that she shared with Elicia when Alfonzo and Elicia moved in.
There were actually a simple reason for that. The first was that Cana had yet to build up the courage to confess to Alfonzo. She still felt a little weird about sharing him with Elicia, after all.
Other than the living arrangements, nothing else changed for the trio. Well… Other than Gildarts training regimen for Alfonzo growing much harsher. Something Alfonzo never complained about. As a result, Alfonzo's progress began to surpass Elicia's, who was more or less equal to him in strength before the change in his training routine.
Another thing to take note of was that the younger members of the guild, excluding Alfonzo, Elicia, Laxus, and the Thunder God Tribe, who were already eligible to take A-Class quests, were all allowed to take quests a rank higher than before, when the calendar rolled over to x778.
Meaning, Cana, Ultear, and Erza were qualified to take A-Class quests. Laki, Alzack, and Gray could take on B-Class quests. Meanwhile, Levy, Jet, and Droy were cleared to accept C-Class quests. However, if Jet and Droy had not been so fixated on questing with Levy, there was no doubt that they, too, would be qualified to take on B-Class quests as well.
So, now that Cana was finally allowed to take A-Class quests, she tagged along with Alfonzo and Elicia right after their thirteenth birthday party for an A-Class quest to slay a group of orcs, numbering in the hundreds, that had destroyed two villages. And now, they were on their way back to Magnolia after completing the quest.
Approaching Magnolia's south gate, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana were riding in the Escalade with Elicia behind the wheel and Alfonzo riding in the passenger seat. This naturally left Cana to ride in the backseat. However, Cana was not alone. In the backseat with her were a pair of young girls with white hair and blue eyes. Also, in the storage space behind the backseat was a boy, also with white hair and blue eyes. It was plain to see that the three new faces were related in some way based on their similar hair and eye colors.
While the younger of the two girls, Lisanna, was looking around curiously, having never come this far from home, the older of the two, Mirajane, wore a cloak that covered one of her arm while shes looked out the window, determined not to interact with Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana any more than necessary. The boy, Elfman, on the other hand, sat in silence with a timid expression on his face.
"We should be there in less than an hour." Elicia said while tapping her finger on the steering wheel. "I'm sure Gramps will be able to help you three settle down."
"You mean your guild master, right?" Lisanna asked with curiosity brimming in her eyes.
"That's right." Elicia said with a smile. "He's a really smart old man. So, he should know how to make that arm go away, too."
When Elicia mentioned "that arm," Mirajane visibly flinched. The arm in question had been a source of trouble ever since the day her and the other two's parents died. Ever since then, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna, the Straus siblings, had been left alone and hated by the rest of the people living in their village.
Mirajane's arm, sporting dark purple scales and long sharp claws at the tips of her fingers, changed its form after a demon attacked the village the siblings lived in and killed a number of the villagers, including the siblings' parents. Then, when the demon was about to kill the siblings, Mirajane, unbeknownst to her, awakened her magic, [Take Over Magic], absorbing the demon, and making its power her own.
Unfortunately, due to her unfamiliarity with, or rather, ignorance of her magic, she was unable to stop the partial [Take Over] that caused the change in her arm. This led to the villagers believing that she had been cursed to turn into a demon.
By the time Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana drove by the village, all the surviving villagers were surrounding the Straus residence, ready to burn it down with the three siblings inside. Luckily, the trio arrived to put an end to the villagers violence before Mirajane, who seemed as if she was about to lose control of her magic, could act to defend herself and her younger siblings. In the end, they were able to convince the Straus siblings to follow them back to Magnolia, where Mirajane could learn to control her magic.
"That means Mira's arm will be back to normal soon!" Lisanna cheered happily.
"Hmph!" Mirajane snorted. "Like some old man we've never met could get rid of the demon's curse."
Hearing their older sister's grumbling, Elfman and Lisanna lowered their heads, as they, too, thought that that Mirajane had been cursed by the demon that killed their parents.
"*Sigh* How many times do we have to tell you that it's your magic that made your arm like that?" Alfonzo said from the front passenger seat, annoyance seeping into his tone.
"And what would a kid the same age as me know?" Mirajane snapped back, turning her head from the window toward Alfonzo with anger in her eyes.
"A kid the same age as you that is already a high-ranking wizard." Alfonzo corrected. "A high-ranking wizard that can feel your magical reserves, clear as day."
"And why should we believe you?" Mirajane countered. "Just because you saved us? What's stopping you from using my curse to your advantage?"
'Ugh… I almost forgot how bitchy Mira was before something happened to Lisanna.' Alfonzo thought to himself while he shook his head, trying to dispel the annoyance. 'I hope that trait doesn't stick, since we don't plan to let anything happen to her this time around.'
"You know what…" Alfonzo said in a fed up tone. "You got it. I'm done trying to convince you. You can see if I'm telling the truth or not when we get back to Fairy Tail."
With Alfonzo's response, Mirajane glared at Alfonzo smugly, thinking that she had won there little argument. And Alfonzo, feeling Mirajane's smug glare, could only remind himself that Mirajane was still scared and confused after everything that happened. Otherwise, he would have started a shouting match with the stubborn, hot-headed girl.
Elfman and Lisanna, on the other hand, could only look between their sister and Alfonzo with trepidation. They were afraid that Mirajane would anger the people that saved them with her ungrateful attitude, and they would be abandoned.
Meanwhile, Cana was glaring daggers at Mirajane for being so rude to Alfonzo. She, too, could feel Mirajane's magic power. So, she also knew that her magic was to blame for her arm being in the state it was in.
"Hmph!" Cana snorted. "You've never even seen someone use magic. But you're telling a wizard that he's wrong about what's going on."
"What did you say?" Mirajane snarled, shifting her attention to Cana, who was sitting on the opposite side of the backseat.
"Cana, stop." Elicia said calmly.
"But Lici!" Cana exclaimed indignantly. "She's being so rude."
"It's only because she's scared, confused, and uncertain about the future." Elicia said. "You know what that's like, right?"
Immediately, Cana lowered her head, remembering how she felt when her mother passed away. Then, she turned her head and looked out the window on her side of the vehicle.
"Fine, I'll let it go." Cana murmured.
"Who did you say was scared?" Mirajane barked at the same time.
In response to the girls in the backseat, Elicia simply smiled. Meanwhile, Lisanna looked at Elicia with admiration. She had already come to like the cheerful older girl during the drive. But seeing her defuse the situation like she did, Lisanna was in awe.
"Oh, I always wanted to ask about this, Fonzie." Elicia said. Changing the subject quite obviously. "But how are the rides in the cars so smooth? I mean, I've walked on the roads of Fiore before, and they're really uneven. But it feels like we're riding on a completely smooth road in the cars."
When Elicia asked about his prized creations, Alfonzo's annoyance all but vanished in an instant.
"That's because of the suspension." Alfonzo said in an excited tone. "Using some special sigils that react to changes in the terrain, the car automatically adjusts itself to keep the ride as smooth as possible."
Like that, with Alfonzo chattering on and on about the technical aspects of the cars he created, the rest of the trip went by relatively peacefully. Then, after an hour or so, Elicia parked the Escalade outside the guild hall.
"Okay, we're here." Elicia said as she pulled the key out of the ignition.
With that, everyone disembarked from the vehicle. While Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana made their way toward the doors of the guild hall, The Straus siblings stared up at the large, slightly intimidating building in front of them.
"This building is huge." Elfman muttered quietly.
"Yeah!" Lisanna said excitedly. "Is this where the Fairy Tail wizards live?"
"It's just a big building, why are you two so excited." Mirajane said even though she was also unable to look away from the large building.
At that moment, Alfonzo pushed the front doors open. And when he did, the group of six were greeted by the sight of a scarlet-haired girl, clad in a silver chest plate and matching gauntlets, standing between two boys, one with black hair and one with pink hair, who were charging at her with their fists cocked back and ready to fight.
However, just as the two boys were only an arm's length away, with lightning speed, the girl brought her gauntleted fists down on their heads, causing them to slam face first into the floor.
"How many times do I have to tell the two of you not to fight?" The scarlet-haired girl, Erza, asked with her hands on her hips. "Now, you two should make up and be friends."
"Even when I worked with the ice cube, we still got beat up." Natsu said while rubbing the back of his head.
"Like I'm ever gonna be friends with the fiery mouth breather." Gray muttered.
"What was that?" Erza asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
Immediately, Gray and Natsu jumped to their feet. Then, they slung their arms over each other's shoulders and put on the widest smiles they could muster.
"Of course, Erza." The boys said in unison. "We'll be the best of friends."
Nodding in satisfaction, Erza then turned around to see who had opened the doors to the guild hall.
"So, they finally started working together, huh?" Alfonzo muttered, staring at Gray and Natsu with amusement in his eyes. "I guess getting their asses kicked solo so many times finally made them change their strategy."
"Ah, Alfonzo, Elicia, Cana, welcome back." Erza said with a smile after realizing that the newcomers were people she knew. "How did the quest go."
"We completed it!" Elicia shouted happily.
"Yeah, the quest was easy compared to keeping Cana from destroying stuff." Alfonzo said with a smirk and a shrug.
"It wasn't that bad." Cana said with a pout. "I only accidentally set an uninhabited forest on fire."
Hearing that, Fairy Tail's resident pyro maniac's, Natsu's, eyes lit up.
"I've never eaten a forest fire." Natsu said with a dreamy expression on his face. "I wonder how it would taste."
Natsu's magic, [Dragon Slayer Magic] gives its user near immunity to the element they wield. In Natsu's case, fire. On top of that, Dragon Slayers are able to devour their element to restore their magic power. However, they cannot eat any of the element created with their own magic power.
"Anyway, is Gramps around?" Alfonzo asked, not seeing Makarov when he looked at the bar.
"Yes." Erza nodded. "Master is in his office. He's preparing for the annual meeting of guild masters."
"Oh yea, that's next month, isn't it?" Alfonzo mused aloud.
"Yeah." Elicia nodded. "But usually, he doesn't start getting ready for it this early."
At that moment, the Straus siblings finally walked up behind Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana, entering the guild hall and taking in the sights.
"He probably wants to brag about all the young, promising wizards in the guild." Ur said, approaching the group. "I'm sure he wants to rub it in the Phantom Lord guild master's face."
"That makes sense." Cana said with a nod. "From what I've heard, Master Makarov and the guild master of Phantom Lord have been rivals for a long time."
"That's right." Ur replied with a nod. "By the way, who are the three kids?"
With that, all the attention was shifted to the Straus siblings, causing Elfman and Lisanna to hide behind Mirajane nervously.
"Oh, them?" Alfonzo said, looking over his shoulder at the siblings. "On our way back we helped them out of a sticky situation. Plus, the girl in the middle is having trouble controlling her magic. So, we thought we'd have Gramps take a look and see if he can help."
Alfonzo's explanation quickly caught Ur's attention, causing her to look at Mirajane. After detecting the magic that was flowing in the arm hidden by a cloak, she stepped forward toward the siblings. Then, before Mirajane could react, she grabbed Mirajane's transformed arm, pulling it out from behind the cloak, and began to inspect it.
"[Take Over Magic], huh?" Ur said after inspecting Mirajane's arm for a few moments while ignoring the girl's attempts to free her arm. Then, she released Mirajane's arm, causing the girl to fall on her butt after the counterforce disappeared. "I'm not too well versed in that kind of magic. So, the master will have to take a look."
"Well then, we'll head up to Gramps' office." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "You three, follow us."
1/2
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.
Comments, Reviews, and Power Stones are always appreciated.