Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May, x786.
"Hey everyone, I'm home!" Cana shouted while closing the mansion's front door. "I can't believe none of you were at the guild at this time of day. *Sigh* I wish Fonzie was home, too, though."
As she finished shouting, Cana heard the sound of footsteps rushing through the house. Tilting her head in confusion, she closed the front door. Then, she took a step towards the stairs, intending to put her luggage in the bedroom before getting cleaned up.
Before she could get too far from the front door, however, Cana saw the source of all the noise. And when she did, she opened her eyes wide in surprise. Then, she smiled brightly as she opened her arms for a hug.
"Lici, you're back!" Cana shouted as Elicia rushed into her open arms.
"Cana, I missed you!" Elicia said as she sank into her best friend's hug. "You have no idea how sad I was when I found out you were on a quest when we got back yesterday."
"Well, I'm back now." Cana replied as she took one of her arms from around Elicia. Then, she reached into her card pouch and pulled out her storage card as she continued. "And I'm happy to see you, too."
"Come on, let's go put your luggage away." Elicia said with a smile as she let go of Cana and started pulling her towards the stairs. "I'll tell you all about our trip."
Smiling just as widely, Cana allowed herself to be pulled along. After a few minutes, the two arrived in Cana's room. Then, while Cana put her luggage away, Elicia sat on Cana's bed and told Cana about everything that happened while she, Alfonzo, Marin, and Ikaruga visited Quatro Cerberus.
"Finally, you put that drunk idiot in his place." Cana said before chugging down nearly a quarter of the bottle of gin she took out of her storage card.
"Pot, methinks thy name is Cana." Elicia said while deadpanning.
"Whatever." Cana replied while rolling her eyes. "At least I've never mistaken someone for being in love with me and threatened to kill their wife so they could be free."
"Fair enough." Elicia said with a shoulder shrug. "Anyway, your dad is here, too."
"Really?" Cana asked skeptically. "Why?"
"Your stepmom didn't tell you when you went to the guild hall to report on your quest?" Elicia asked while smiling cheekily.
"Um.... I haven't reported yet." Cana replied while smiling sheepishly.
"What? Then, how did you know no one was at the guild?" Elicia asked curiously.
"Well, after the doors opened, I noticed that no one was inside." Cana said while scratching her cheek. "So, I left. It's not like giving my report a day later is gonna kill me, right?"
Instead of responding immediately, Elicia stared at Cana blankly. And as the amount of time that Elicia stared increased, Cana felt more and more uncomfortable.
"*Sigh* Fine~." Cana whined. "I'll go give my report after I get cleaned up."
"Good." Elicia replied while nodding her head. "Anyway, some potential enemies are in our house right now, too."
"What?" Cana asked in a confused tone. "What do you mean?"
Elicia then went on to tell Cana about Irene and Brandish. When she eventually finished her explanation, Cana tipped her head back and chugged down another half of her bottle of gin.
"Seriously, I thought my dad was a freak." Cana said after she finished drinking. "But where do people with more magic power than him come from? Wait... Did you call Ur my stepmom?"
"Wow! That was a really late reaction, Cana." Elicia replied in a dumbfounded tone.
"Yeah, I know." Cana replied. "But I'm really tired. Like, Really, really, tired."
"Was the quest that hard?" Elicia asked curiously with a hint of concern in her tone.
"No, not really." Cana replied while shaking her head. "But doing the quest without causing any collateral damage is really tiring."
Immediately, Elicia opened her eyes wide. Then, she quickly stood up and placed her hand on Cana's forehead.
"Hmm... No fever..." Elicia muttered.
"Of course, I don't have a fever." Cana replied sharply while sweeping Elicia's hand away. "I'm tired, not sick."
"Yeah, but you just said you didn't cause any collateral damage." Elicia said in a confused tone. "So, I thought..."
"Why does that have to mean I'm sick?" Cana asked in an offended tone. "I just wanted Fonzie to be proud of me when I told him about it. Besides, it's not like this is the first time I've..."
The more she spoke, the quieter Cana's voice became.
"Cana, you're so cute!" Elicia squealed as she lunged towards Cana for a hug.
"Anyway, I can put my luggage away and get cleaned up later." Cana said, clearly trying to change the subject. "I miss Fonzie. I wanna go see him. Oh, and I guess I'll go see my dad, too."
Roling her eyes at her best friend's antics, Elicia eventually shrugged her shoulders and released Cana from her hug, before turning towards the door. A moment later, Elicia and Cana were in the elevator, heading down to the training room.
"What are Alfonzo and my dad doing in the training room?" Cana asked curiously.
"Well, Fonzie asked Gildarts to spar with him." Elicia replied. "He said he wanted to check his progress.'
Cana's eyes opened wide when she heard what Elicia had to say. Then, she could not help but wish that the elevator would move faster, hoping not to miss the rest of the spar.
A few moments later, the elevator doors opened. Immediately, Cana ran towards the training room, hoping that the spar was not over.
*Bang!*
As soon as she opened the door, Cana was met with the sight of Alfonzo being sent flying backwards before heavily impacting one of the walls. However, before he could even fall to the ground, Alfonzo pressed his feet against the wall behind him before bounding forward.
"I see you can take more of a beating than before, eh, Kid?" Gildarts said with a battle thirsty smile. "We've been at this for at least an hour and a half, yet you don't' seem hurt at all."
"That's right." Alfonzo replied while wearing a similar smile. "I can do this all day. But you look like you're about to pass out, Old Man. You sure you're not ready to quit? Wouldn't want you to throw out your hip!"
"Damn brat!" Gildarts shouted as he blocked a punch from Alfonzo with his forearm. "I'm getting tired of all these old man jokes. I'm not even fifty yet!"
Throwing a punch of his own, Gildarts was forced to take a step back when Alfonzo slipped it and kicked at his left knee. Gildarts then lunged forward with [Crash Magic] coating his fist.
Once again ducking under Gildarts punch, Alfonzo turned his body as he gripped Gildarts' outstretched arm and performed a shoulder throw, slamming Gildarts' back into the mat covering the training room's floor.
"Gah!" Gildarts grunted as the air was forced out of his lungs.
Not giving Gildarts a chance to recover, Alfonzo immediately moved to put him in a triangle choke. Unfortunately, Gildarts recovered faster than he expected. AS a result, Alfonzo ended up putting him in an arm bar due to Gildarts moving his head.
"This isn't good." Alfonzo muttered.
"No, it's great." Gildarts replied as he hopped up to his feet with Alfonzo still clinging to his arm.
In the next instant, Gildarts tried to slam Alfonzo into the floor. However, as he was expecting Gildarts to take this action, Alfonzo quickly released his submission hold. Then, before he could be slammed onto the mat, Alfonzo managed to get his feet down. Then, with Gildarts' arm still in his grasp, Alfonzo forcefully spun before letting him go.
"Shit!" Gildarts exclaimed as he flew through the air towards one of the walls.
*Bang!*
A moment later, Gildarts slammed into the wall, back first.
"[Electromagnetism Magic: Thunderclap]." Alfonzo chanted as he dashed forward like a bolt of lightning.
Recovering quickly, though not quick enough to get out of the way of Alfonzo's attack, Gildarts raised his guard. However, when Alfonzo appeared right in front of him with a devious smile on his face, Gildarts knew he made the wrong move.
*Clap!*
Alfonzo, instead of attacking Gildarts' body, raised his hands and brought them together right next to Gildarts' left ear. As a result, a clap, as loud as thunder, echoed through the training room. On top of that, there was a blinding flash accompanying the loud sound.
Completely caught off guard by this unorthodox tactic, Gildarts ended up completely disoriented by the improvised flash bang. So, he put up very little resistance when he was slammed into the mat once again.
Not only Gildarts suffered from Alfonzo's spell, either. Elicia and Cana, who were watching from the room's entrance, were also affected as collateral damage. On top of that, the loud sound could be heard from every corner of the mansion.
A few moments later, Elicia, Cana, and Gildarts regained their sight and hearing. And when they did, they found Alfonzo kneeling next to Gildarts with his right index finger less than an inch away from Gildarts' forehead. On top of that, Alfonzo's outstretched arm was sparking with violet electricity while a small chunk of metal hovered between Alfonzo's finger and Gildarts' head.
"Damn, where do you come up with all these tricks, Kid?" Gildarts muttered while shaking his head.
"Well, when you fight people who are that much stronger than you, you have to think outside the box." Alfonzo replied.
"Even so, how did you get past the [Crash Magic] I coated myself in before you clapped your hands?"
"Because my magic never came in contact with yours." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "Instead, you were only hit with the light and sound my spell produced. Physics for the win, baby!"
"*Sigh* I guess that means I lose." Gildarts replied. "Now, you can get that electricity away from me. You're making my hair curl up. Dispel that piece of metal, too. Were you trying to kill me, or something?"
"Tch! It's not like anyone would be able to tell." Alfonzo replied disdainfully as he pulled his arm back and dispelled his magic. "It's just like Ur said, you look like a hobo, anyway.'
"Fonzie!"
Immediately upon hearing that voice, Alfonzo smiled while Gildarts frowned. At the same time, Alfonzo spun on his heels while opening his arms welcomingly.
"Cana, I missed you." Alfonzo said.
In the next instant, Alfonzo closed his arms as Cana sealed his lips with her own. Then, without any hesitation because of her father's presence, Cana snaked her tongue into Alfonzo's mouth, deepening the kiss.
With a frown on his face, Gildarts picked himself up from the ground. Then, his frown turned into sadness.
"Cana, Daddy's here, too." Gildarts said in a pitiful tone.
"I know, I'm kissing him right now." Cana said absent-mindedly after breaking the kiss. A moment later,however, she registered the voice that just spoke to her. "Oops..."
*Cough!* *Cough!*
*Splatter!*
After realizing who she had just spoken to, Cana slowly turned her head towards her father. When she did, she was just in time to see him cough up a mouthful of blood.
"Uh... Hey Dad, I'm back..." Cana said in a tone mixed with guilt and embarrassment.
Instead of responding, Gildarts glared at Alfonzo in an attempt to set him ablaze.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, Old Man." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly. "I never told her to call me that."
Without a word, Gildarts continued to glare at Alfonzo, clearly not believing what he said.
"Seriously, Gildarts, it's not Fonzie's fault." Elicia said while smiling sheepishly. "Cana... Um... kinda picked up that habit from... Uh... me."
Hearing that, Gildarts could only look at Elicia blankly. He eventually turned his attention back to his daughter, though. But when he did, he almost coughed up another mouthful of blood after hearing Alfonzo's next words.
"Cana, I think it's time that we got married, too." Alfonzo said with a smile. "I proposed to you and Lici on the same day. So, I think you've waited long enough."
Cana's eyes lit up like a pair of high-powered torch lights. Then, she pulled Alfonzo into a deeper, more passionate kiss. Meanwhile, Elicia and Gildarts could only watch. However, as time passed, the atmosphere for those two became quite awkward.
"Cana..." Gildarts whispered in a tone filled with a mixture of unwillingness and anticipation.
"Well, I guess that's a yes..." Elicia muttered while smiling awkwardly.
"Hey, what was that loud noise?" Ultear, leading the rest of the ladies to the training room asked after exiting the elevator. Her expression changed, however, when she saw Cana tonguing down Alfonzo. "And what's got Cana so excited?"
"Oh, Fonzie asked her to get married." Elicia replied with a smile.
Hearing that, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Marin, Sun, and Lucy's eyes lit up. Meanwhile, Saeko and Saya narrowed their eyes in contemplation. Rika, on the other hand could only smile wryly as she overheard Shizuka muttering to herself.
"I wanna get married, too." Shizuka said quietly. "Lici looked so pretty in her wedding dress."
Lastly, Irene and Brandish exchanged glances, thinking how they could take advantage of the event to complete their mission.