"That's great!" Mirajane said enthusiastically. "So what will it be?"
"Well back home, I used to have a tavern called the Boar's Hat. It's been destroyed but I think I want to make a small recreation of it for the parade. And from there, I'll serve ale to people as the float drives by." Meliodas replied with a large grin. He missed the Boar Hat after Hawk Mama's body deflated, heavily damaging it beyond repair, and this would be the perfect opportunity as a temporary revival as the tavern he held dear to him.
"That would certainly bolster up our guild image. But I don't think the guild has enough resources to serve ale to the town like that." Mirajane said.
"Well I have my sources. I'm pretty well acquainted with some local brewers. I'm a frequent customer of theirs. Shouldn't be too hard to get one of them to sponsor for the parade as that should really help with their sales. Although I'm not sure if I can build the float in the time we have left."
"Well what's the float going to be made out of?" Mirajane asked.
"Mainly wood." Meliodas replied.
"Oh perfect! I know just the person to help out. I'll be right back!" Mirajane said excitedly as she scurried back to the guild. Meliodas wondered what Mirajane was up to but he continued walking down the line of floats, admiring each one. After looking at each float, Meliodas took a seat on the ground and requiped a pen and paper where he began to draw out hypothetical blueprints of a float., to the best of his abilities.
Several minutes later, Mirajane returned. Walking next to her, was a slim young woman with short purple hair and oval lens glasses. She wore a light blue colored coat with dark blue trimmings, a red tie and tight fitting dark pants tucked into light blue colored boots.
"I'm Laki! I've heard all about you, Meliodas. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance!" The purple haired young woman introduced amiably.
"Likewise!" Meliodas said with a grin.
"You've met Gray who uses "Make" magic with ice. Well Laki uses Wood Make magic so she can help you with your float." Mirajane explained.
"Just provide me with the blueprints." Laki added.
"Well I got those drawn out already." Meliodas replied. He handed Laki a quick sketch of what he had planned for the tavern. It wasn't the best looking sketch, but it was enough for Laki to understand the main concept. She looked at it thoroughly for a minute before replying.
"I can work with this. It's a giant wooden tankard. But why is it called the Boar Hat?" Laki asked.
"Because it's the name of the tavern I used to own on top of a large green pig." Meliodas replied bluntly. Laki gave Meliodas a puzzled look, to which Meliodas simply smiled back.
"A large pig?" Mirajane asked. "I remember you telling me before that you had a tavern but you didn't ever mention it was on top of a pig."
"Hmm...Well that's...quite clever actually." Laki responded. She looked back down at the blueprints and began mumbling to herself. Somewhere in her incoherent mumbles, Meliodas could make out the words "giant pig."
"Well since you two have your float plans, I think I'll go work on the one Elfman and I are working on." Mirajane commented.
"Sounds good. Thanks for the help Mira!" Meliodas said as Mirajane left. Meliodas turned back to Laki, who was still looking at the blueprints.
"Hey I'll leave the main building to you. I'll be back in a bit, I have to get my supply of ale from a sponsor real quick." Meliodas said. Laki nodded in response.
---
Half an hour later, Meliodas returned to the back lot of the guild. There he saw Laki had finished making the base structure of the float. On top of the float was the towering skeleton of the tankard-like structure.
"Wow you did a good job!" Meliodas said as he approached Laki.
"The shape was pretty basic so now it's just a matter of filling it in." Laki replied.
"There's actually a small change in the blueprints." Meliodas said. He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over to Laki. Laki unfolded the paper and read it.
"Oh? We have to paint a logo for Magnolia Craft Ale on here?" Laki questioned.
"Yup. That was their requirement for sponsoring me with fifteen kegs of ale." Meliodas replied. "And I get to keep whatever isn't served."
"Sounds like a good deal! Should share a keg with me sometime!" A voice said loudly from behind them. Meliodas turned around and saw Cana approaching them. Her face had a tint of red and as she walked, and she stumbled around.
"Yo!" Meliodas greeted. Behind Cana, he could see Lucy and Levy running up to her.
"Cana you're already drunk?! We need to rehearse our dances for the parade!" Lucy exclaimed as she watched Cana sloppily try to walk to Meliodas.
"I dance better when I'm drunk so it's okay!!!" Cana laughed while nearly falling on the ground but managing to catch herself.
"I mean, she should be relatively sober by the time the parade starts right?" Levy mentioned somewhat doubtfully.
"Come on Cana, let's not bother Meliodas." Lucy said as she wrapped one of Cana's arms around her. Meliodas stared at the two girls as they tried to stabilize Cana when an idea popped in his head.
"Oh Laki!" Levy said as she saw Laki performing her wood make on Meliodas's float. "Could you help us on our float if you get the chance? The support beams are really shaky underneath and I don't think the float will hold for the entire parade."
"I apologize, but I'll be working on this for the duration of the parade." Laki replied.
"Oh I see, then-" Levy stopped mid sentence as she saw Meliodas staring at her. "W-what?" Levy asked nervously.
"I have a suggestion for your float issue." Meliodas replied.
---
Later that night, as the sky turned dark, bright fireworks of various colors, shapes, and sizes lit up the night sky, signaling the start of the Fantasia Parade. The main street of Magnolia was cleared for an occasion like this, with endless rows of people lining the sides of the main street. Starting from the Fairy Tail guild and going downtown, a row of brightly lit parade floats could be seen slowly traversing.
In front of the parade floats, were several of the guild members, dancing happily while displaying their various magics. Behind them, was the very first float. The float was the shape of a large wooden tankard that was slightly larger at the top. The handle of the tankard was designed into a swirled "S" shape. At the front of the tankard, was the Fairy Tail symbol and below that said the word "Boar Hat." Even below that, was a logo that read "Sponsored by Magnolia Craft Ale."
In front of the Tankard was a wide stage. Around the stage were various wooden tables. At the front were the women of the Miss Fairy Tail contest: Lucy, Levy, Bisca, and Cana. In their hands were trays filled with dozens of mugs of ale that they handed out to the people lined up in the sides. Behind them, were Macao and Wakaba, using their respective form shaping magic of fire and smoke. As Macao lit the air above them with intricately designed different colored flames, Wakaba assisted in handing out ale, creating several appendages of smoke to do the job.
As the woman finished serving all of the drinks they had in hand, they lined up standing next to each other and began their dance.
"I can't believe we let Meliodas talk us into wearing these outfits…" Bisca commented. The three of them were not wearing their standard Miss Fairy Tail attire. Instead, they wore frilly, tight fitting pink buttoned shirt that exposed their midriff, a dark miniskirt with a pink belt, and a black stocking on each of their left legs along with black heels.
"Well Master saw the outfits and demanded that we wear them." Levy commented.
"I just find it weird he was carrying these specific outfits with him." Bisca said.
"Well he said something about starting up his old tavern again and these were the uniforms for his bar maids I guess." Lucy mentioned.
Behind them, Meliodas stood next to Macao, watching the three girls in his signature bar maid outfits. 'I miss Elizabeth…' Meliodas thought to himself as he reminisced briefly of all of the sins gathered together working at the Boar Hat and wearing his designated uniforms.
"Meliodas, it's time!" Macao said. He raised his hands up in the air, releasing several floating orbs of flames of different colors. Meliodas nodded and grinned. He put his hand on Mel Force and jumped up into the air right underneath the orbs.
"Full Counter!"
Meliodas swung his blade at the orbs, causing them to burst upwards in an enormous swirling vortex of brightly flames of various colors that dispersed at the edges.
"And that's the signal!" Macao shouted. The group on the float with Meliodas and the subsequent groups behind it all stopped what they were doing. Everyone stood up straight and pointed their index finger up with their hand in an "L" shape, their palms facing towards them.
---
At the after party, Meliodas sat down at the table alongside Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Juvia, and Elfman. The table Meliodas was at was filled to the brim with plates of food as Happy sat on the table, content with a large fish in his mouth. Behind them, various guild members were dancing and cheering while Mirajane served them drinks.
As Meliodas prepared for another round of ale, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw it was from Makarov.
"What's up?" Meliodas asked. Makarov gestured for Meliodas to follow him and Meliodas agreed. Makarov brought Meliodas to a more silent corner of the room where people were not paying attention to them.
"It's about Laxus." Makarov said.
"Speaking of Laxus...what happened to him?" Meliodas asked. He stared at Makarov who looked down at the ground, breaking eye contact.
"I had no choice. He's been excommunicated. I'm sure you understand why. It's not something I could bring up to the rest of this guild during this time of celebration. Some of them aren't ready for this news yet..." Makarov said in a solemn tone. Meliodas nodded silently in response.
"Meliodas." Makarov said as he looked back up at Meliodas, his eyes meeting Meliodas's own.
"Laxus... Before he left. He told me to tell you "thank you." Makarov finished. "He told me himself that he will use this time away from the guild to try and redeem himself."
"Well that's good. Glad he's brightened up a bit." Meliodas said with a grin.
"And one more thing. This is personal from me to you...Thank you, Meliodas." Makarov said. He looked down at the ground as tears began to stream down his face. Meliodas put a hand on Makarov's shoulder. As Makarov looked up, he saw Meliodas with a large smile on his face.
"That's what family does right?"