Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
June 1, x785.
A few days have passed since Yoruichi made the decision to return home with Sui-Feng. And after she left the guild hall, that was the last time anyone saw her.
A few minutes later, Marin returned to Mermaid Heel's guild hall. And when she did, she noticed the gloomy atmosphere. So, she immediately asked Alfonzo what happened. And naturally, Alfonzo told her.
The next day, Marin wrote a letter and sent it back to Magnolia. She thought that the others living in the mansion needed to know that there was no longer a reason to come out there to get to know Yoruichi. However, she also mentioned that it would not be a bad idea to have someone there to take care of the menial tasks for Alfonzo, Wendy, and Carla.
And today, the girls received the letter just after they finished their morning training at the guild hall.
"Looks like Yoruichi went back to wherever she came from." Ultear said after reading the letter from Marin.
"Seriously?" Mirajane asked. "Why?"
"Good riddance." Cana said spitefully.
Ultear then explained the series of events that led to Yoruichi's decision to return to her continent of origin. And when she did, the girls flared up in anger.
"If that little bitch comes back…" Mirajane muttered in an ominous tone.
"That's why you should have never stopped me, Lici." Cana said while glancing at Elicia. "That girl needed to be put in her place."
"Yeah…" Elicia replied with melancholy in her tone.
"Lici, what's wrong?" Sun asked curiously.
"*Sigh* That means that Yoruichi won't be here for the wedding." Elicia said. "Although we don't' have an exact date yet, Alfonzo said it would happen when he finished preparing the venue."
While most of the other girls did not care either way if Yoruichi attended the wedding, and Cana was happy that she would not be here for it, they could all understand why Elicia was down. She, unlike the other girls in Alfonzo's harem, still considered Yoruichi a friend. Though, no one could understand why.
"Feeling bad about it won't help." Erza said. "The best thing to do is move forward."
"Erza's right." Lucy added. "And if you really want her to see your big day, I'm sure Alfonzo will be recording the whole thing. You can just send her a copy."
"Yeah, that's true." Elicia said, her mood picking up as she did so. "I can always aske Master Unohana to send it to her for me."
"That's right." Cana said while taking a sip from a bottle of liquor. "And that way, everyone wins. We don't have to see that scheming bitch and she gets to see the wedding."
*Sigh* x 5
Hearing Cana's statement, everyone other than Erza could only sigh.
"Anyway, now I'm a little jealous of Marin." Ultear said as she laid the letter on the table.
"Why?" Sun asked curiously.
"Because she got to punch Yoruichi." Ultear replied with a shrug and a wry smile. "I was kinda looking forward to that part."
With that, everyone started to giggle and laugh.
"By the way, now that we don't have to rotate, what are all of you gonna do about the trip to Mermaid Heel?" Elicia asked curiously.
"What about you?" Mirajane asked in return. "What are you gonna do, Lici?"
"I don't think I'm gonna go." Elicia replied while shaking her head. "I was really only going to make sure Cana didn't go overboard."
"Wait, seriously?" Cana asked in a tone filled with disbelief. "That's the only reason you offered to drive me over there? There's no way I'd let things get out of hand… right?"
As she asked the last question, Cana looked around the room for support. However, any time she made eye contact with one of her harem sisters, they would avert their gazes.
"Come on, you all can't be serious." Cana said in a disgruntled tone.
"It's not that we don't think you would be able to keep your cool with Yoruichi, Cana." Elicia said with a wry smile. "But if Sui-Feng started mouthing off, no one doubts that you would have been ready to put her in her place… with violence."
In response, the rest of the girls nodded their heads vigorously.
"Yeah, I mean, you were ready to fight her on Alfonzo and Lici's birthday, remember?" Lucy asked.
"Not to mention, you just finished saying that Elicia shouldn't have stopped you back then." Erza added.
"You know, I can accept anyone else commenting on me doing something reckless." Cana said while staring pointedly at Erza. "But you have no right to do so, Erza."
Once again, all the other girls nodded in agreement. Erza, on the other hand, tilted her head in confusion.
"I'm not really sure of what you could be referring to, Cana." Erza said in a tone of genuine confusion.
*Sigh* x 6
"And this is why she never gets any better." Mirajane said while shaking her head. "She doesn't remember the mistakes she makes. So, how can she ever learn from them."
"Erza, I may not know every reckless thing you've ever done." Sun said with an intense gaze. "But should I remind you about when you tried to take that attack from Yoruichi head on?"
As she spoke, Sun was cracking her knuckles in preparation to throw a punch.
In response, Erza began rubbing her jaw reflexively.
"No, I don't think that will be necessary." Erza replied. "I'll try and be more careful from now on."
Hearing that, the other girls opened their eyes wide in surprise.
"Holy shit…" Cana muttered. "Is Sun to Erza, what Lici is to my dad?"
"It looks that way." Ultear said in an astonished tone. "I think we might have found a hard counter for Erza."
"We should test that." Mirajane said with her usual pleasant smile returning to her face. Then, she turned to Lucy. "Since you're on the same team as Erza, you should take note of all Erza's reckless actions and report them to Sun whenever you guys get back from a quest."
"Wait, are you asking me to tattle on Erza?" Lucy asked with a weird expression.
"Seriously, it sounds like you're telling Lucy to be a snitch, Mira." Elicia said with an equally strange expression on her face.
"Yeah, and like Fonzie always says, 'Snitches get Stitches'." Cana said with a chuckle.
"That was actually the name of the first sewing supply shop I ever bought supplies from after coming to Magnolia, too." Elicia muttered while rubbing her chin in thought.
"Wait, seriously?" Cana asked in an incredulous tone.
"Yeah." Elicia replied with a nod. "Fonzie and I always thought it was a weird name for a store."
Like that, the girls continued to chat, laugh, and have fun. Eventually, a topic came up that made all the girls take it seriously.
"By the way, who do you think will be Alfonzo's best man at the ceremony?" Mirajane asked curiously.
"It'll probably be Alzack." Elicia said with a smile. "You know, until now, he's the only one he makes things for for free."
"Really, I thought it would be Laxus." Sun said with her head tilted.
"Yeah, me, too." Cana said. "After he got his ass kicked in the tournament, they've been a lot closer."
"They may be closer, but they still aren't part of our group." Ultear said. "It's not like all the years of antagonism just disappeared with that defeat."
"That makes sense." Sun replied with a nod.
"Oh, and speaking of the wedding, next time you see him, can you tell Gildarts I wanna talk to him, Cana." Elicia asked.
"Sure." Cana agreed easily. "But what could you possibly want to talk to my dad about? Especially about the wedding?"
"Well, since he was my dad's best friend, I wanted to ask him if he could walk me down the aisle." Elicia replied with her head lowered and tears pooling in her eyes. "Since Daddy isn't here to do it..."
In response, the table fell silent. In fact, the atmosphere fell so quickly that quite a few of the wizards present in the guild hall noticed the change as well.
"I'd be honored to walk you down the aisle, Lici."
In the next instant, before the atmosphere in the guild hall could fall any further, Gildarts, who had just finished reporting about his last quest and having a drink with Ur, appeared behind Elicia, picked her up from the table, and wrapped her in one of the warmest hugs he had given anyone other than Cana.
"What the…?" Elicia exclaimed in surprise while blinking her eyes repeatedly from Gildarts' embrace.
"Dad, where did you come from?" Cana asked, just as confused as everyone else at Gildarts' sudden appearance.
With that, Gildarts put Elicia back down on her seat. Then, he rushed over to Cana and wrapped her in a hug as well.
"I guess you were training in one of the sound proof rooms this time, huh?" Gildarts asked. "None of you even heard the alert for the Gildarts Shift. I got back about an hour ago. Then, I went up to report to Ur. After that, we had a drink together."
With that, the atmosphere in the guild hall returned to normal. No, it was actually a little more positive than usual. And the rest of the day passed in the usual Fairy Tail fashion with drinking, laughter, and a few brawls.
Eventually, the girls decided to go home. And without Alfonzo there, they did the things they like to do most, other than Alfonzo, until it was time to go to bed.
Like the others, Elicia spent her time doing what she loved most, making clothing. However, unlike most times, she was not worried about making clothes for other people. Instead, she was stitching her own wedding dress. And this time, she was not using her magic to do so, at all.
"I can't wait for the surprise Fonzie talked about when he said he'd take care of the venue." Elicia said as she sewed. "I wonder where it will be? The suspense is killing me."
At the same time, Lucy was in her apartment in Fairy Hills making sure she had everything she would need for her trip to Mermaid Heel's headquarters.
"I think it's finally time." Lucy said with a flushed face. "We'll be alone for a while, this time. So, I don't think there's any better time than now."
"You better not chicken out, Lu." Levy said while watching Lucy get packed. "I'm gonna ask you about all the juicy details when you get back. And I expect a detailed account."
In response, Lucy managed to blush even harder.
"And if you somehow mess up like you did after your first date, I'll never let you live it down." Levy added with a mischievous smile.
"Ugh… Do you have to keep bringing that up, Levy?" Lucy asked while hiding her face with her hands. "I don't get that nervous anymore."
"Yeah, well, this is a much bigger step than a first date or a first kiss, you know." Levy replied. "I just don't want you to mess it up."
"Whatever." Lucy replied while rolling her eyes. "Anyway, how are things between you and Gajeel? I've noticed he's even started training with you, Jet, and Droy."
"Ugh!" Levy groaned. "And those two make it impossible for me to get any closer to him. Any time I start talking to him, one or both of them insert themselves into the conversation."
"*Sigh* A man's jealousy can be quite ugly." Lucy said while shaking her head. "Not that a woman's jealousy is any prettier."
"That's true." Levy replied with a nod. "Anyway, you'll never guess who I saw walking around together today."
"Who?" Lucy asked in a curious tone.
"Evergreen and Elfman." Levy said excitedly. "They were even holding hands."
"Really?" Lucy exclaimed in excitement. "When did this happen?"
"It was when I was on my way back to the guild hall after checking out the bookstore's new shipment." Levy said as she started explaining the situation.
Like that, Levy and Lucy continued to chat. Eventually, Lucy took a look at the clock and realized how late it was. So, she ended the conversation with Levy, finished packing as fast as she could, and went to bed. She would have a long drive ahead of her tomorrow, after all.