Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Resenbool.
September, x781.
A few days passed since Alfonzo sent the Techno Organic Metal into outer space. Since then, he has spent most of his time relaxing in an attempt to restore his magic power. Even so, he still joined Sun in the mornings to do a few hours of training. Though, his training was only of the physical variety.
Eventually, however, Alfonzo's magic power was restored to full. And once it was, he and Sun decided it was time to return to Magnolia and complete the quest.
"*Sigh* Do you really have to go?" Winry asked in a sad tone. "Having you here was like having a little sister."
While Winry spoke, her arms were tightly wrapped around Sun, who was smiling wryly at Winry's attempt to get her to stay.
"I had fun, too, Winry." Sun said, patting Winry's back as she spoke. "But I miss my mom… and dad… I guess."
Hearing that, Winry sighed once again. Then, she reluctantly released Sun from her hug. Meanwhile, Alfonzo simply watched the pair of teenage girls from the side, next to Pinako and Den.
"I'll admit, it will be a little lonelier around here without the two of you." Pinako said while watching her granddaughter. "Winry, though a cheerful girl, smiled a lot more than usual while the two of you were here."
"Plus, you won't be able to pick my brain for more cooking tips." Alfonzo added with a cheeky smile.
"That's true, too." Pinako replied, not bothered by Alfonzo's teasing tone. "Still, although you were only here for a quest, you're welcome to visit at any time."
"Thanks, Granny." Alfonzo replied with a genuine smile on his face. "Next time, I'll bring my other fiancées, too."
"I still can't believe you're a polygamist." Pinako said while shaking her head. "Well, as long as those girls are fine with it, who am I to disagree."
"To be honest, it wasn't even my idea." Alfonzo said with a helpless smile. "But it makes Lici happy, for some reason, so I just rolled with it."
With that, Pinako looked at Alfonzo in disbelief. A moment later, after seeing the helpless look on his face, she realized that what he was saying was true.
"Truly a strange girl." Pinako muttered.
"Although that's the truth, I'd appreciate it if you didn't call my fiancée strange." Alfonzo said with a wry smile.
"Sure." Pinako said uncaringly. A moment later, she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a sealed envelope before continuing. "Here, this is the proof of completion. On behalf of the people of Resenbool, I thank you for your help."
"I always meant to ask about that." Alfonzo said as he accepted the envelope. "But shouldn't the mayor of the town be the one who issued the quest? I mean, his people were dying."
"*Sigh* He wanted to wait for the kingdom to send a knight to handle the situation." Pinako said with a disappointed expression on her face. "Since one of the boys from this town joined the Alchemist Division of the kingdom's knights, he thought help would arrive soon. But even after a month, there has been no sign of the knights."
"I see." Alfonzo replied. "So, do you know the guy who joined the knights?"
"Better than most." Pinako replied. "He's the one Winry Always talks about, Ed. I practically raised him and his younger brother."
"Oh, I see." Alfonzo said with a nod.
'So, that's how this world is playing it,' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'instead of State Alchemists, there are Alchemist Knights, or something like that.'
"Anyway, I think it's time you get going." Pinako said, still watching Winry try to convince Sun to stay in Resenbool. "If you don't leave soon, Winry may never let you leave."
Broken out of his thoughts, Alfonzo could only smile wryly after realizing that Sun and Winry had moved much closer to the house's front door during the time he was chatting with Pinako.
"Alright, Sun, it's time to get back home." Alfonzo said as he started walking toward the Vanquish.
"Okay!" Sun replied energetically.
A moment later, Sun hugged Winry tightly. Then, she released the hug before Winry could latch onto her again.
"Bye, Winry!" Sun shouted as she jogged toward the Vanquish's passenger side. "We'll come visit you again. And if you're ever near Magnolia, you should come see us, too."
"I'll hold you to that." Winry replied with a smile. "And I'll definitely come visit if I'm ever in that part of the kingdom."
Although Winry was reluctant to see Sun leave, she still put on a bright smile. Sending people off with a smile was the best way to say goodbye, after all.
"And Alfonzo, just wait, I'll make better Automail than you one day!" Winry shouted, igniting her fighting spirit. "And I'll do it without magic! Well, maybe with lacrima…"
"I look forward to it." Alfonzo replied. "Being at the top is lonely, after all. Hahahaha!"
With that, Alfonzo put the Vanquish in gear. Then, he pulled away form the Rockbell residence. The, while driving away, he and sun each reached out their window and waved the Rockbell grandmother and granddaughter goodbye.
After watching the Vanquish drive away until it could no longer be seen, Pinako turned to Winry.
"Don't look so down, it's not like you won't see them again." Pinako said. "Now, let's get to work, we've still got a few jobs to finish."
Watching the horizon where the Vanquish disappeared, Winry sighed one more time. Then, she turned around and started walking into the house.
"Right!" Winry exclaimed. "I'll never surpass him if I just mope around. You better look forward to what I've learned, Ed. Your next arm and leg are gonna be way better than the last ones."
Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Sun were driving through the town.
"I'm gonna miss them." Sun said with melancholy in her tone.
"Yeah, they were good people." Alfonzo said. "But you can come to see them any time you want, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Sun replied. "But I wish we lived closer."
"Them's the breaks." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.
While they chatted, Alfonzo and Sun drove past Resenbool's train station. However, because they were so focused on their conversation, Only Alfonzo barely noticed the people leaving the train station as they passed.
"Hmm… It's unusual to see such a nice magic vehicle in Resenbool." A short young man with long, golden-blond hair pulled into a ponytail, golden eyes, and no right arm who wore an all-black outfit with a long red overcoat said in a slightly bewildered tone after Seeing Alfonzo's Vanquish pass by. "I wonder what they were doing here?"
"Perhaps they were here to see the sights." A tall, massively, muscular man with very little blond hair on his otherwise bald head, a blond handlebar mustache, and kind, blue eyes and wearing a blue military uniform with gold accents and a long black overcoat said while carrying a large crate on his shoulder. "The view of the town from the train was breath taking. And the peaceful atmosphere is most pleasant."
"You're right, Major." A young-sounding male voice originating from the crate on the tall man's shoulder said in agreement. "There's no place in Fiore like Resenbool, after all."
The peculiar thing about that young male voice, however, was that if one were to look inside the crate, all they would see was a scrapped set of armor, with no people in sight.
"Yeah, yeah, it's a great town." The short blond-haired young man said dismissively. "Anyway, let's go see Winry and Granny. I need to get a new arm. And when I do, I can put you back together again, Al."
"Right." The young voice, Al, replied. "Then, we can do something about the strange disease, too."
"Yeah, we'll do everything we can to help." The short young man said.
"Edward! Alphonse! Your sibling bond and love for your hometown is truly awe inspiring!" The tall man, the Major, said with tears flowing down his cheeks as he pulled the short young man, Edward, also known as Ed, into an embrace.
As soon as the Major wrapped his arm around Edward, he began spinning with the crate in one arm and Edward in the other.
"Argh! Damn it Major, put me down!" Edward shouted in an annoyed tone.
Meanwhile, back int eh Vanquish, Alfonzo, while still chatting with Sun, was thinking.
'I wasn't really paying attention, but I think that was Major Armstrong walking out of the train station back there.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he drove through the town. 'I mean, in FMA, he stood out quite a bit due to his height. But in FT, his height isn't really all that special… I think.'
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
Several hours later, in the Fairy Tail guild hall, many members of the guild were doing what they usually do when they aren't on quests. However, the atmosphere in the guild was much darker than usual. The reason for that was quite simple, actually.
Sitting at the end of the bar was a man surrounded by empty mugs. Naturally, that man was Gozaburo Seto.
Ever since the day Alfonzo and Sun left on the quest, his mood had been rather strange. On top of not being allowed to travel with his darling daughter on her quest, he was holding onto the anger from being slapped by Alfonzo. However, those were not the only reasons why he was in such a somber mood.
The realization that his wife, Ren, was finally getting fed up with the way he carried himself hit him much harder than he expected, causing him to go through quite a bit of self-reflection.
'Ren and the old man might have been right.' Gozaburo thought to himself as he took another swig from a mug of ale. 'I've been seeing the signs for a while now. Sun is distancing herself from me. Does that mean I was going about this all wrong? Will Sun end up hating me?'
Meanwhile, on the other end of the bar, Makarov, Ur, Ren, and Masa sat as they watched Gozaburo wallow in uncertainty.
"*Sigh* It's really hard to see the Boss like this." Masa said as he gazed at Gozaburo in worry.
"Don't pity him, Masa." Ren said without any pity in her tone. "he brought this upon himself."
"I know… But…" Masa tried to retort.
"More importantly, do you think he'll try to take revenge on Alfonzo for bitch slapping him like that before he left?" Ur asked with slight concern in her tone.
"I don't know." Makarov replied. "But I'm pretty sure Alfonzo is strong enough to handle anything Gozaburo can throw at him. Besides, if he goes overboard, he'll have me to deal with."
Ever since that day, Makarov had been displeased with Gozaburo for attacking one of his favorite children. Even so, as the guild master, he tried his best to treat Gozaburo like any other member of the guild.
"Well, if I know my husband as well as I think I do, he's more terrified of losing his family than he's angry at Alfonzo." Ren said. "Regardless of how he acts, he knows that meeting Alfonzo was a good influence on Sun. I mean, she's started to grow in more than just strength since we joined the guild."
"Yeah, and thanks to Alfonzo and Elicia's ideas, she's even started developing her own sword style." Masa added. "Soon, the Young Miss will surpass me with a sword."
"Speaking of which, it must have been a surprise when you were defeated by Erza with pure swordsmanship. Ren said with a smile.
"Honestly, it was." Masa said while looking into his glass of liquor. "It made me realize that I haven't been training hard enough recently."
"I don't think any of us have." Ren replied. "We got complacent with where we were."
"Speak for yourself." Ur said. "I still train hard every day."
"I didn't mean you." Ren said, nudging Ur with her shoulder.
"I know that." Ur replied. "But you two were starting to get too serious. You meant the members of the Seto Group, right?"
"That's right." Ren replied. "After we were acknowledged for our strength, there weren't many who could, or would, stand against us. So, we relaxed. That's what led to us losing so many good men against the Leviathan."
"I bet that's why Gozaburo ended up the way he is now, too." Makarov added. "On top of always being praised for your strength and status, he probably started seeing everyone as less than himself. And he eventually got it stuck in his head that no one was good enough for his daughter. Even though he was far from the strongest person in the kingdom, let alone the world."
"*Sigh* You're probably right, Master." Ren replied. "And so many people speaking to him with both respect and fear probably didn't help the situation either."
At that moment, the guild hall's doors wee pushed open from the outside. Immediately, the four looked over to see who had returned. Seeing that it was Ultear, none of them were surprised, however, what did surprise them was the pink-haired little girl who was accompanying her.
1/3
For reaching 100 chapters, I'll be posting three chapters today. Thanks for sticking with me until now.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
September, x781.
"Ultear, who is this you brought back with you?" Makarov asked after seeing the little girl following behind Ultear.
"*Sigh* That's a long story." Ultear said while scanning the guild hall. Then, after not seeing who she was hoping to see, she started walking toward the bar. "I met her after I finished my quest. On the way back, I came across a village that was being attacked by a Dark Guild."
"Did you engage?" Makarov asked.
"I did." Ultear replied with a nod. "But by the time I got there, most of the villagers had already been killed. There were only a few weak wizards going around checking for survivors."
"Do you know which Dark Guild they came from?" Ur asked curiously.
"After calling the people from the Magic Council to pick up the ones I captured, they said they were from Grimoire Heart."
With that, Makarov, Ur, Ren, and Masa fell silent for a few moments.
"Grimoire Heart, huh?" Makarov said in a solemn tone before taking a swig from his mug of ale. "*Sigh* That village was really unlucky."
"Seriously unlucky." Ur added while shaking her head. "They weren't even taking prisoners. That means they were probably there just for resources."
"Wait… You know who they are?" Ultear asked.
"Of course we do." Ren said. "They're one of the big three Dark Guilds that make up the Balam Alliance."
"The Balam Alliance is basically in charge of all the weaker Dark Guilds in Fiore." Ur continued. "And according to rumors, they have multiple S-Class wizards among their numbers."
"Anyway, back to the matter at hand." Makarov said. "So, I assume you want to let her join the guild, correct."
"That's right." Ultear replied. "From what I can tell, she has a good talent for magic. But it doesn't look like she's awakened it yet."
"Hm…" Makarov hummed as he focused on the little girl behind Ultear.
Along with Makarov, the other three also focused on the pink-haired little girl. When they did, what they saw was a girl around the age of nine with short, straight pink hair and green eyes gripping onto the back of Ultear's clothes while only showing half of her face from behind the older girl.
"Child, come a little closer." Makarov said as he hopped down from the bar top. "I promise you are safe here. I just want to check your potential for magic."
Not moving immediately, the little girl first looked up to Ultear, who nodded at her encouragingly. Then, she let go of Ultear's clothes and took a step forward from behind her.
"What is your name, Child?" Makarov asked while wearing a grandfatherly smile.
"Meredy…" The little girl, Meredy, replied quietly.
"Quite the lovely name, I must say." Makarov replied, maintaining his smile. "Then, he extended his hand toward Meredy as he continued. "Please, give me your hand. I'll check for magic power in your body. And I'll awaken it if you do indeed have some."
Hearing that the old man standing in front of her would awaken her magic power, Meredy's eyes lit up.
"Does that mean I'll be able to do magic like the performers in my village?" Meredy asked excitedly. "Will I be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Or maybe cut a person in half and put them back together? Ooh, what about---"
"Hahaha!" Makarov laughed loudly at the quick change in attitude from a shy little girl who was uncomfortable around strangers to an energetic girl who was curious about magic, bringing an end to Meredy's excited ramblings. "Child, If it is true that you have magic power inside of you, you'll be able to do so much more."
At first, when Makarov began laughing, Meredy recoiled. Thinking that she had spoken out of turn, she lowered her head. However, when she heard Makarov's following words, she could not help her eyes lighting up again with a smile gracing her faced shortly afterward.
A moment later, Meredy finally extended her hand toward Makarov, the anxiety in her expression nowhere to be seen by now.
Meanwhile, Makarov, after taking the girls hand, closed his eyes to feel the flow of magic power in Meredy's body. However, less than a second later, he frowned slightly before opening his eyes wide in surprise.
"Master, is there something wrong?" Ultear asked after seeing Makarov's reaction.
"No, quite the contrary." Makarov replied. "It's no wonder you couldn't tell that this child's magic power had been awakened."
"Huh? What do you mean" Ultear asked in confusion.
At the same time, Ur stood from her seat at the bar. Then, after taking a few steps forward, she crouched down in front of Meredy, next to Makarov. Then, she swatted at the back of Makarov's head, who thought he was stealthily stealing glances at her behind after she crouched.
"Damn perverted old geezer." Ur muttered before focusing on Meredy again. "Would you mind if I inspected your magic power as well?"
Instead of answering immediately, Meredy focused on Ur's face for a few moments. Then, her attention turned toward Ultear, returning to Ur a moment later. This action repeated itself several times before Ultear spoke up, clearing up Meredy's confusion.
"We look alike, huh?" Ultear said with a smile.
"Uh huh." Meredy replied with a nod.
"Well, that's because she's my mother, Ur… Ur Milkovich." Ultear said with a smile.
"Oh~~." Meredy replied in realization. Then, she looked at Ur again. "I thought she was your big sister."
Hearing that, Ur puffed up with pride.
"Well, I do look good for my age, after all." Ur said as she took hold of Meredy's hand.
*Bang!*
"Aunt Ur! Gramps! I'm back!" Elicia shouted as she swung the doors to the guild hall open. "Is Fonzie---"
Elicia's words were caught in her throat at that moment. Feeling an intense dark aura, Elicia looked for its source. Eventually, she found it near the bar. Seeing Ur crouching in front of a pink-haired little girl while said little girl was holding back a giggle, Elicia immediately realized why Ur was so angry.
'She must have been bragging about how good she looks for her age in front of that little girl.' Elicia thought to herself after assessing the situation. 'Until I called her "Aunt" so loudly, at least. By the way, that little girl looks kinda familiar. That pink hair, those green eyes… Is that Meredy?'
"Damn you, Elicia." Ur said through gritted teeth. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Aunt? Even Alfonzo has stopped."
"But you're, like---" Elicia started to say while tilting her head cutely.
"If you finish that sentence, you'll regret it." Ur said in a dark tone.
"Come on, Lici, stop messing with Ur." Marin, who no one noticed walking next to Elicia thanks to her loud entrance, said with a smile on her face.
As it turns out, Elicia had taken Marin along with her on a quest to gain experience, much like Alfonzo did with Sun. Although Marin was sill only a C-Class wizard, and most of the wizards in her generation, with the exception of Levy, Jet, and Droy, took quests alone until they were B-Class, Marin was an exception, having started training much later in life than the rest.
"*Sigh* Fine…" Elicia said with a pout. "But I love seeing that look on her face. It's kinda cute."
"You have some really strange tastes, Lici." Marin said with a wry smile. "How can you call Ur's angry face cute?"
"I mean… She's really pretty, so most of her expressions are either cute or beautiful, right?" Elicia replied as she and Marin started walking toward the bar to report their quest.
"That actually… makes sense?" Marin replied, a little lost for words.
At the same time, after being praised as pretty, a lot of Ur's hostility vanished instantly. Meanwhile, Ultear could only look on with a wry smile.
'*Sigh* I need to take some lessons from Elicia.' Ultear thought to herself. 'Whenever Mom gets mad at me, I just freeze up. Yet, Elicia handles her anger so easily.'
"Anyway, what di you mean when you said it made sense that I couldn't tell if Meredy's magic power had been awakened, Master?" Ultear asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic.
"Ahem! Right." Makarov said, trying to cover up the fac that he was giggling at Ur's misfortune. "What I meant was---"
"Her magic power is awakened." Ur cut in. "But her magic power flow is so smooth that it's hard to tell. The only ones among you with this level of magic power flow are Alfonzo, Elicia, and Marin, but that's mostly due to the kind of magic she uses."
"Yeah…" Marin replied with a nod. "If my magic power moved to erratically, people would be able to tell that I was transformed."
In fact, Marin's magic, [Transformation Magic], was much more than the [Disguise Magic] Cana originally mentioned. Instead of just changing her outward appearance, Marin could change everything about herself to match the target. Everything except for her memories, that is.
On top of that, she could also transform any object that she touched into something else, too. Though, there were many more restrictions in that case. For example, she could [Transform] a knife into a sword if she wanted to. Though the sword would be much lighter than an average sword and much more fragile as well.
However, she would not be able to turn that same knife into a strawberry shortcake, something Erza pestered her to try while Alfonzo was not able to cook. And the reason was simple, the components making up the two were two different.
Another thing to take note of with Marin's [Transformation Magic] was that anything Marin transformed, including herself, would only last as long as Marin's magic power was inside of it.
"Then, that means her magic power control should be pretty good, right?" Elicia asked with a smile. Then, she approached Meredy and crouched down in front of her. "Hi, I'm Elicia. It's nice to meet you."
"Hi, I'm Meredy." Meredy replied energetically, much like Elicia had done.
"After deciding what kind of magic you want to use, you're gonna train with us from now on, okay" Elicia asked.
"Train?" Meredy asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"It's what you do to get stronger and learn how to use your magic better." Elicia replied.
A moment later, Elicia held out her hands out in front of Meredy. Then, from the tips of her fingers, a large number of threads were ejected before weaving themselves together into a pair of golden, wing-shaped accessories that she placed in Meredy's hair, just behind the little girl's ears.
"O.M.G. Those are like-uber-cute!" Marin exclaimed after seeing the accessories Elicia made.
Hearing that, Meredy slowly raised her hands to her ears. Then, she gently touched the ornaments in her hair. A moment later, she smiled happily before turning to Ultear.
"Ultear, are they cute?" Meredy asked with an innocent smile on her face.
"They are." Ultear replied with a smile.
'So, she's already imprinted on Ultear.' Elicia thought to herself. 'But with Ur here, she'll probably see her as a big sister rather than a mother… I think.'
"Anyway, the three of you need to report on your quests." Makarov said, breaking the fluffy atmosphere.
"Oh yeah, completely forgot about that." Elicia replied before sticking out her tongue. A moment later, her expression turned melancholy. "I wonder how Fonzie's quest is going. *Sigh* I miss Fonzie. I wonder when he's coming back. It's already been more than a week."
"Maybe it's taking longer than usual because he's trying to cure the disease." Marin said, patting Elicia on the shoulder. "But I don't think there's a reason to worry. After what happened with the Leviathan, Alfonzo will probably be even more careful than usual. On top of that, Sun is with him---"
"Sun~~~~~~~~~!" Gozaburo groaned loudly after hearing his daughter's name. "Where are you, Sun? Daddy misses you. I promise I'll even be nice to that brat if you come back to me!"
Naturally, Gozaburo's outburst caused… very few of the guild members to pay him any attention. It is not like this was the first time Gozaburo had shouted for Sun since she left with Alfonzo. So, they had all gotten used to it over the last few days.
"Geez, Dad, can you knock it off? That's so embarrassing." The voice Gozaburo had been waiting for sounded from the guild hall's entrance. "Still, You'd better keep your promise. If you don't, I'll never talk to you again."
Looking over to the source of the voice, everyone saw Alfonzo and Sun walking through the guild's entrance. While Alfonzo was smiling wryly, Sun wore an embarrassed blush on her face.
"Sun!" Gozaburo shouted, standing up in an explosive manner.
"Fonzie!" Elicia shouted with just as much vigor as Gozaburo.
A moment later, Elicia and Gozaburo had rushed to the newly arrived duo and wrapped Alfonzo and Sun in tight hugs, respectively.
"Welcome back, Fonzie/Sun! I missed you!" Elicia and Gozaburo shouted in unison.
While Alfonzo's wry smile morphed into a genuine one, Sun's embarrassed blush turned into awry smile. Even so, they both replied to the person clinging to them.
"I'm back."
2/3
Still got one more to come.