Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
September, x784.
While Alfonzo, Elicia, Cana, Ultear, and Erza were having breakfast and preparing to check out of the Akane Resort, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe were finally returning to Magnolia after their long absence.
"Ha! Now that we're done with our little tour, there are a lot fewer Dark Guild's in Fiore." Bickslow said loudly as he walked with Laxus, Fried, and Evergreen towards the southern gates of Magnolia.
"Less Dark Guilds! Less Darrk Guilds!" A chorus of voices echoed from behind Bickslow.
"That's right, my babies." Bickslow said happily.
"Yeah, in a little over a month, we destroyed nineteen Dark Guilds." Evergreen said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they put a bounty on us after this."
"Even if they did, they would just be sending more Dark Guilds to their destruction." Laxus said, sounding completely unbothered by the thought of having a bounty on his head.
"Laxus, we ignored the guild's summons when it was attacked by Phantom Lord." Fried said, sounding a bit concerned. "Are you sure that was a good idea."
"For the last time, Fried..." Laxus said in an annoyed tone, coming to a stop as he spoke.
Naturally, when Laxus stopped, the rest of the Thunder God Tribe came to a stop as well. Then, Laxus slowly turned around and looked directly into Fried's eyes, causing his heart to begin racing. Whether that happened due to the nervousness Laxus' annoyed tone caused or for some other reason, only Fried would ever know.
"With all the recently added S-Class wizards, there is no way they should have lost." Laxus said, begrudgingly admitting that the top level combat strength of the guild was strong. "And if they had, that just proves that I should be named the new guild master."
"Even if they won, you should still be named the new guild master, Laxus." Bickslow chimed in.
"New guild master! New guild master!" Bickslow's dolls parroted.
"Indeed, there is no one better suited to become the guild master than you, Laxus." Evergreen said with a smile.
Although Fried agreed with the rest of them, he still did not think it was right to ignore an emergency summons from the guild. Because in the end, Laxus was not the guild master yet. Though, he was smart enough to not mention that thought aloud.
"I understand, Laxus." Fried replied, slightly bowing his head. "I won't bring it up again."
Nodding in reply, Laxus patted Fried on the shoulder before turning around to continue walking towards the town.
After that short conversation, the quartet continued as usual, engaging in small talk as they walked. Not long afterward, they arrived at the southern gates of the town and finally returned to Magnolia.
As they walked through the town, they saw that there were slight signs of the battle that took place when Phantom Lord attacked. Though, none of the damage the battle caused seemed to be too serious, other than a large portion of a certain apartment building being destroyed, that is. They did, however, hear the real reason why Phantom Lord decided to attack.
"Ha! Other than her pretty face, I knew there was nothing the new girl would bring to the guild other than trouble." Laxus said disdainfully. "On top of that, she's weak. Gramps should have listened when I said to send her away."
'You literally say that about everyone.' Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen thought to themselves simultaneously. 'You even said it about Alfonzo, who has beaten you up more times than I can count.'
"You're right, Laxus." Evergreen replied. "besides, she's not even that pretty."
"Of course that's what you're most concerned with." Bickslow said. "Whether she's pretty or not has nothing to do with being weak or strong, you know."
"Of course, it does." Evergreen replied, slightly raising her head with pride. "Just look at me. I'm absolutely stunning. On top of that, I'm the strongest woman in the younger generation of the guild."
When she got there, Evergreen gritted her teeth.
"Those bitches Erza, Mirajane, and Ultear just got lucky during the S-Class exams." Evergreen continued in an angry tone. "There's no way they should have become S-Class before me. And how dare those fools of the kingdom give Erza the epitaph Titania? The title, Queen of the Fairies, fits no one better than me!"
"*Sigh* And there she goes again." Bickslow muttered. "Besides, Elicia is definitely prettier than her."
As soon as Bickslow finished his mutterings, he immediately slapped his hands over his mouth. A moment later, he felt a glare hot enough to melt sand into glass focused on the side of his head. Then, after another moment, he felt a hand land on the shoulder opposite the glare.
Looking in the direction of the hand, Bickslow almost teared up when he saw Fried smiling at him. However, after hearing what Fried had to say, he actually started crying.
"Good luck, my friend." Fried said as he walked past Bickslow.
Following Fried with his eyes, he watched as the emerald green-haired young man picked up the pace of his steps to catch up with Laxus, who had also started walking faster.
'They abandoned me.' Bickslow thought to himself while the intensity of the glare he was feeling increased. '*Sigh* But I guess I did this to myself. Still, how could they just leave me behind like that?'
After having that thought, Bickslow slowly turned his head in the direction of the glare. And when he did, he almost soiled himself.
As he expected, Evergreen was the one glaring at him. However, unlike her usual pretty face, her expression right now did not look all that human. The anger contorting her facial expressions made sure of that.
'Has Ever been training with Mirajane and her siblings?' Bickslow thought absent mindedly. 'Because that's gotta be a [Take Over] of some kind, right?'
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
While Bickslow's mind was drifting away from reality, Evergreen opted to hit first and ask questions later. So, she punched him in the face with a devastating right hook. Then, she followed up with a left then a right hook to his gut, causing him to bend over. After that, she lowered a double handed smash on the back of his head before he slammed face first onto the street.
"What did you just say?" Evergreen asked while standing over Bickslow with her hands on her hips. "Because I know you did not just say that girl was prettier than me. I'll admit the clothes she makes are gorgeous but to say she's prettier than me? Has that eye magic of yours caused you to go blind, or something?"
While Evergreen continued to scold the barely conscious Bickslow in the middle of the street, Laxus and Fried continued walking towards the guild hall.
"*Sigh* Will he ever learn" Laxus muttered, still able to hear the scolding from Evergreen even though he and Fried had covered a considerable distance.
"Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder, after all." Fried replied. "But still, he definitely does not have to give his opinion aloud. At least not when Ever is around.'
"Maybe he just likes getting beaten up." Laxus muttered before recoiling in disgust. "Damn, that just made me remember that crazy blonde knight. The rest of my day just got ruined."
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
On one of the training grounds in the knight's barracks, a team of three, two males and a female, were practicing their sword forms on wooden dummies. While they all swung their swords gracefully, as expected of knights, there were only two sounds of the dummies being struck echoing through the training ground.
The reason for that is simple, the two male knights continuously struck the vital spots on the dummies. Meanwhile, every swing of the female knight's sword missed its target by a large margin, not even touching the dummy in front of her.
'How in the world did she get promoted to Squad Captain with sword skills like this?' The male knights thought to themselves. 'Has she been using her body to climb the ranks?'
After that thought, they quickly shook their heads after remembering their squad captain's usual antics.
*Sneeze!*
The sound of their captain sneezing broke the two male knights from their internal musings. At the same time, they stopped their sword practice and looked in her direction.
"Lady Dustiness, are you okay?" One of the knights asked with concern. "If you're not feeling well, perhaps we should escort you to the infirmary."
"Yes, Captain, you have to take care of your health." The other knight added.
"*Sniff* No, I'm fine." The captain of the three-man squad, Darkness, said while dismissively waving away her men's concerns. "There's probably someone talking about me. There probably saying something bad about me behind my back. Maybe, they're starting a terrible rumor about me that will get me demoted back to a squire. *Pant* And when that happens, my family will disown me. *Pant* After that, I'll be forced to live on the streets, *Pant* forced to sell my body for a stale loaf of bread *Pant* …"
"And there she goes." The two knights muttered simultaneously.
"Hey, let's go grab an ale." The first knight said, sheathing his sword as he spoke.
"Only if you're paying." The other knight replied. "I just spent most of my salary on an engagement ring for my girlfriend. So, I don't have the extra jewels."
"Oh, you're finally popping the question, huh?" The first knight said with interest as he started walking towards the entrance of the training ground. "When are you gonna do it?"
"On our next free day…" The second knight replied as he and the other knight left the training ground.
Meanwhile, Darkness, who had not even noticed the departure of her squad was writhing in place in the middle of the training ground with her hands covering her reddened cheeks as she continued to fantasize about the cruel fate that would be fall her because of the malicious rumors.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
Shortly after mention Darkness, Laxus shuddered. Then, he quickly scanned the surroundings, feeling that he may be in danger.
"Laxus, are you alright?" Fried asked in a concerned tone.
"Yeah…" Laxus said unsurely as he looked around. "I just feel like something dangerous happened. But I'm not sure why, or what it was."
"That is quite the odd occurrence." Fried said while tilting his head in confusion. "but the senses of a strong wizard should never be underestimated. So, I will stay by your side to help in case anything happens."
Shaking his head to rid himself of the strange feeling, Laxus started walking once again.
"Though that won't be necessary." Laxus said, regaining his normal tone. "I appreciate the thought."
In response, Fried nodded and started walking again as well. However, he noticed that Laxus came to a stop once again shortly after entering the central plaza.
"Laxus, did you get that feeling again?" Fried asked as he approached Laxus.
This time, however, Fried did not receive a response. So, he quickened his steps. However, once he entered the central plaza, he knew exactly why Laxus had stopped.
From their current position, now that they were past the Kardia Cathedral, Laxus and Fried could now see the tall, metallic building with a Fairy Tail emblem towering above the rest of the buildings in the town at the end of the road leading to the north.
"What the hell is that?" Laxus exclaimed after finally coming out of his daze.
"I heard that the guild hall had been rebuilt on our way back." Fried said, looking at the tall building with his eyes wide open. "But I never thought it would be something like… this…"
"How does something like that get built in only a month?" Laxus asked in disbelief.
"Hey, I can't believe you guys abandoned me!" Bickslow shouted as he approached the duo form behind. "You could have at least tried to calm… her… down…"
Like Laxus and Fried, Bickslow also came to a stop as soon as he saw the towering building at the end of the road.
"What the hell?" Bickslow asked in a confused tone.
"The hell? The hell?" Bickslow's dolls parroted.
Evergreen, on the other hand, was too shocked after seeing the new guild hall while she approached with Bickslow to say anything.
Eventually, Laxus was the first to break out of his stupor. And when he did, he started walking towards the new guild hall with determined steps.
Naturally, Laxus' departure pulled the members of the Thunder God Tribe out of their dazes as well. So, they all picked up the pace and followed Laxus to the guild hall.
'Although I'm not sure why, after seeing the new guild hall, I have a really bad feeling.' Laxus muttered to himself as he approached the guild hall. 'I need to talk to Gramps. If I do, I'm sure I'll understand what this bad feeling is about.'