Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Caelum, the Village Hidden in the Mist.
January 29, x792.
Another week passed after the package from Zeref was discovered in the Mansion on the Lake's living room. During that time, Alfonzo continued working on the training grounds in the Village Hidden in the Mist. All the while dodging assassination attempts from the village's Shinobi. At the same time, Elicia and Cana did the same while enjoying some leisure time in the village.
And yesterday, Alfonzo put the finishing touches on the last of the training grounds. Meaning today was the day they would leave the village and start the trip back home to Magnolia. And with Ao set to drive them back to the port town, Mei and Chojuro joined them at the gate to send them off.
"It's a shame to see you leave." Mei said while holding Alfonzo's hand with a lovestruck expression on her face. "Can't you stay longer?"
"Why does it feel like Fonzie is the only one she wants to stay?" Cana asked in a teasing tone while pointing the neck of a bottle of sake at Mei. "Feels like we're just an afterthought, doesn't it, Lici?"
"*Sniff* Yeah... I don't feel the love at all." Elicia added while pretending to wipe tears away from her eyes.
In response, Mei only rolled her eyes before smiling at the two. Then, she let go of Alfonzo's hand and pulled both Elicia and Cana into a hug.
"You know I enjoyed having the two of you here, too." Mei said with a smile. A moment later, however, she glared at Cana and spoke sharply. "I could have done without all the damage to the village, though."
"*Whistle* Wow, would you look at the time?" Cana asked, pretending that she never heard Mei's reprimand. "If we don't hurry, we're gonna get back to Akane Beach after dark. And we all know how much harder sailing at night is. Fonzie, we really need to get going."
This time, it wasn't only Mei who rolled her eyes, as Alfonzo and Elicia joined her. All the while, Cana did not even acknowledge any of the eye rolls, her Fairy Tail shamelessness on full display.
"*Sigh* I blame Gildarts for this." Alfonzo muttered while shaking his head in fond exasperation. Then, he turned to Mei with a genuine smile. "Don't worry, we'll come visit as often as we can. Next time, unless we're out here for a quest, we'll bring the kids, too."
Hearing the word "kids" Mei's eyes began to glow.
"That sounds lovely." Mei said with a smile. "Maybe next time, we can try to add to that number, too."
With that, Mei let go of Elicia and Cana and cozied up to Alfonzo while drawing circles on his chest with her index finger.
"Lady Mizukage, is that not a bit inappropriate?" Ao asked in his usual uptight tone. "Talk of children is a bit premature. You are not even married yet..."
In Mei's hearing, the rest of what Ao had to say faded into background noise. Instead, the only thing she could focus on were the two words "Not married."
'Is he saying that I won't be able to get married to Alfonzo?' Mei asked herself, her smiling expression morphing into one filled with anger. 'Is it because I'm older than he is? He's saying I'm too old to get married, isn't he? Damn that Ao!'
As those thoughts ran through Mei's head, Alfonzo, Cana, and Elicia looked at Ao with pity, an action the veteran Shinobi did not seem to notice. At the same time, Chojuro, who was standing next to Ao, turned slightly pale. Then, when Mei turned to glare at Ao, he quickly, yet quietly, moved a few steps away from his senior.
"Ao! Do you want me to melt you!?" Mei shouted as her magic power leaked and put pressure on the surroundings.
Naturally, Ao was dumbfounded. Not to mention terrified. Like always, he had no idea what he had said to make Mei so angry. Still, his survival instinct kicked in quickly.
"Of course not, Lady Mizukage." Ao said while bowing politely. "Well then, if you'll excuse me, I need to drive our friends from Fairy Tail to the port town. I'll make a full report once I return."
Ao then quickly turned to face the three Fairy Tail wizards.
"Then, if you are ready, shall we go?" Ao asked stiffly while gesturing towards the S 600, where the trio's luggage was already packed.
Seeing Ao's actions, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana could not help chuckling. They then bid their farewells to Mei and Chojuro before climbing into the magic vehicle, Ao pulling off shortly afterwards with no one saying anything about how he was driving just a little bit faster than usual.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Open Seas between Caelum and Fiore.
"*Sigh* I love sailing." Elicia said happily while stretching out on a deck chair with a cold drink in her hand. "It's always so relaxing."
"That's because the only thing you have to do is just enjoy the ride." Cana replied after taking a sip from her own drink. But Fonzie never gets to relax. He always steers the ship."
Currently, Elicia and Cana, both wearing bikinis, were sunbathing on the Sixth Sense's main deck as the ship cut through the water towards the port at Akane Beach. And just as Cana said, Alfonzo, though he could steer the ship from anywhere with his magic, did not join them, opting to steer the ship from the wheelhouse instead.
"Don't be fooled, Cana." Elicia said in a lecturing tone. "Fonzie enjoys steering the ship. If he didn't, he would have never built it."
"I guess that makes sense." Cana replied with a nod. "In that case, let's have another drink."
"On top of that, Mei said that these waters were cleaned up." Elicia said cheerfully. "So, that means we shouldn't run into a Leviathan this time."
*Smack!*
Immediately, Cana face-palmed loud enough that Alfonzo could hear it from the wheelhouse. Then, she looked at Elicia with an exasperated expression.
"Seriously, Lici?" Cana asked. "Couldn't you just leave well-enough alone?"
"No!" Elicia shouted indignantly while waving her arms and legs wildly, yet somehow not spilling even a drop of her drink. "I'm tired of being treated like I speak bad situations into existence. So, this time I'm gonna prove that all of you are wrong!"
"*Sigh* We'll see about that." Cana replied in resignation before chugging the rest of her drink and getting up and walking towards the cabin.
"Where are you going?" Elicia asked curiously.
"I'm a holder wizard." Cana said without looking back. "I can't fight without my magic items. So, I'm going to get them. That way I'll be ready for the inevitable encounter."
"There are no Leviathans!" Elicia shouted. "Mei said they cleaned them up. Stop being so paranoid!"
In response, Cana only waved over her shoulder and disappeared into the cabin to pick up her cards.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Akane Beach.
A few hours later, the Sixth Sense docked at Alfonzo's and Elicia's private pier in Akane Beach. As the three Fairy Tail wizards disembarked, they all had different expressions on their faces.
First was Alfonzo, who looked no different than usual. With a steady stride, he made his way from the pier towards the villa he and Elicia were gifted several years ago. Next was Cana, the expression she wore practically screaming, "I told you so!" And the last was Elicia. And her expression told everyone who was watching that she was not happy. Not at all.
"It's okay, Lici." Alfonzo said in a gentle tone. "It's not like we were set back all that much. We've fought enough Leviathans over the years that they're little more than an annoyance at this point."
"Yeah, but have you ever fought more than one before?" Cana asked in a tone that irritated Elicia to no end. "I mean, seriously, there were, like, six of them. Did we run into a whole family?"
After reaching that point, Cana coughed into her free hand, the one that was not holding a pint of liquor, before adjusting her voice to sound as much like Elicia's as she could.
"There are no Leviathans! Mei said they cleaned them up. Stop being so paranoid." Cana said while doing her best impression of Elicia. "I'm tired of being treated like I speak bad situations into existence. So, this time I'm gonna prove that all of you are wrong!"
Cana held the expression of righteous indignation Elicia wore earlier for a few seconds before breaking and bursting into uproarious laughter. Even Alfonzo found his shoulders shaking while trying not to join her.
"Okay! I get it!" Elicia shouted. "I raise flags! You don't need to rub it in!"
With Elicia's shout, neither Alfonzo nor Cana could hold back any longer. Cana started laughing so hard that she had to hold on to Alfonzo so she did not fall off the dock and into the water. Meanwhile, Alfonzo started laughing, as well. Though, he did try to contain it as much as he could. Unfortunately, he failed spectacularly in his attempt.
"Hmph!" Elicia snorted as she turned away, her arms crossed under her breasts. "I'm not talking to you anymore."
Then, without waiting for a response, she stomped away from the laughing duo, making her way towards the villa.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Cana took a few minutes to calm down. Then, once they both stopped laughing, Cana turned to Alfonzo with worry glinting in her eyes.
"I didn't go too far, did I?" Cana asked while glancing in the direction Elicia left.
"Nah... Don't worry about it." Alfonzo replied with a dismissive wave. "When we get inside, I'll cook something she likes, and she'll be back to normal in no time."
"I hope you're right." Cana muttered while looking at her best friend with worry.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
January 30, x792.
Around the time the sun set, a lime green magic vehicle modeled to look like a Bentley Flying Spur pulled up to the front entrance of the Fairy Tail guild hall. A moment later, the engine was turned off, and Elicia stepped out of the driver's seat with Cana stepping out of the passenger seat and Alfonzo hopping out of the backseat.
"I think this is the first time I've seen you ride in a backseat since you got that Automail arm back then." Elicia said, her sunny disposition back in place.
As Alfonzo told Cana the night before, after he cooked one of Elicia's favorite dishes, she sprung back from her sour mood immediately. In fact, Cana was certain that she had completely forgotten the whole mess about raising flags. Meaning, there was a non-zero chance that she would do it again in the future.
And by non-zero, Cana meant one hundred percent chance that she would do it again.
"I was tired." Alfonzo replied nonchalantly while shrugging his shoulders. "Unlike the two of you, I actually had to work while we were in the Mist Village. Then, I sailed back to Akane. Meanwhile, you two just relaxed for more than three weeks."
"Hey, that's not fair." Cana said with mock indignation. "We worked, too. We had to evade assassination attempts for three weeks. Come on, Tell him, Lici."
Unfortunately, Elicia did not take her side in this argument. Instead, she only turned her head away and pretended to be impressed by the guild hall that she saw nearly every day for the last seven and a half years. Because she could not, in good conscience, say that she and Cana had to put in any actual work to evade all those assassination attempts in the Village Hidden in the Mist.
"Hmph! Whatever." Cana grumbled. "I worked. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten paid."
"Speaking of that..." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. "After our report, all your points are probably gonna disappear. I mean, you really did a number on the village."
This time it was Cana's turn to look away and give the guild hall an impressed look.
Knowing he was not going to get a response, Alfonzo smiled. Then, he started walking towards the guild hall, Elicia and Cana following closely. When the doors slid open, Alfonzo took the same action he always did when he came back from a quest.
"Fairy Tail!" Alfonzo shouted with his arms spread wide. "I'm back!"
*Bang!*
Yet, as soon as Alfonzo finished, a wooden mug slammed into his face, beer splashing all over him. And when Elicia and Cana saw that, they quickly distanced themselves from Alfonzo and turned to look to see who threw the mug.
At the end of their lines of sight, Elicia and Cana saw Gray and Natsu standing nose-to-nose throwing insults with their magic power flaring wildly.
However, it did not take long for the guild hall, usually bustling with life, to fall deathly silent. Though, that was not to say that everyone noticed what happened immediately, as flying tableware was normal for such a rowdy guild. Instead, the reason they fell silent was the enormous amount of magic power that flooded the main hall.
And when the wizards of Fairy Tail saw Alfonzo standing at the entrance soaked by the drink that just hit him, they knew they would not be having a good night.
Well, most of them did...
Naturally, Gray and Natsu were the exceptions, as when they turned to look at Alfonzo, both of their eyes lit up with the will to fight.
"Perfect!" Gray shouted excitedly. "You were just the person I wanted to see, Alfonzo. While I was on my quest, I finally heard Valind's name. And now, I wanna fight you to show who's the strongest."
"Back off popsicle!" Natsu shouted. "If anyone's gonna fight Alfonzo, it's gonna be me!"
"Oh yeah?" Gray asked while turning to face Natsu again. "Well then, why don't we settle it with a fight, Flame Brain?"
"Any time, you icy stripper!" Natsu shouted back.
*Flash!*
However, before they could start fighting, nearly everyone in the guild hall was blinded by a flash of violet light.
*Bang!* x 2
While everyone was blinded, everyone heard the sound of two collisions. And when they were able to see again, Gray and Natsu were no longer standing in the middle of the guild hall. Instead, they were both lying on the floor with their eyes rolled back while Alfonzo stood over them with arcs of electricity flowing over his body and wearing a dark expression.
"It's good to see you again, Juvia." Alfonzo said, his dark expression turning into a smile as he turned towards Juvia. "I'm gonna go report my quest to Master Mavis. When I get back, I'd love to hear about your quest."
Though she wanted to yell at Alfonzo for beating up Gray, Juvia could feel that doing so would be a bad idea at the moment. So, she simply nodded in response.
Then, Alfonzo, without looking at the two he knocked out, turned towards the elevators and started walking. Elicia and Cana followed him shortly afterwards, the three disappearing into the elevator not long later.
Meanwhile, the rest of the guild hall stayed silent until Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana were gone. Then, as if nothing happened, they went back to whatever they were doing before they arrived.
Though, it should be noted that no one tried to wake up or even move Gray and Natsu. Not because they were scared of Alfonzo. Rather, it was because they were waiting for the ice and fire wizards to wake up so they could mock them relentlessly.