Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May, x772
In the blink of an eye, another six months passed. In those six months, Alfonzo and Elicia turned seven years old. Also, they continued their training, the density of their metallic wraps increasing several times, as well. On top of that, Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen also started using Alfonzo's metallic wrappings as well. Though, they were more polite when asking Alfonzo to make them. Not by much, though.
Also in those six months, Elicia completed quite a few sets of clothes for both her and Alfonzo. So, they were often seen in outfits consisting of their three favorite colors. Today, after their training, Alfonzo and Elicia went out to pick up another batch of fabrics. On top of making Alfonzo and her own clothing, Elicia was also taking commissions to make clothes for the members of Fairy Tail.
Now, like Alfonzo, Elicia was also making her own source of income. So, she also had to start paying rent at the dorms. And because the female dormitory, Fairy Hills was more luxurious, she had to pay 100,000 Jewels a month. Luckily, there were a lot of members in the guild whose clothing got damaged or destroyed during quests.
"Fonzie, when I'm old enough, the first thing I'm gonna do is open up a clothing store." Elicia said excitedly.
"That's a good idea, Lici." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "It looks like everyone loves the clothes you make, after all."
"I know, right!" Elicia said, smiling brightly. "But what about you? Are you gonna open a repair shop like you did before?"
"Nah." Alfonzo denied while shaking his head. "I was thinking of opening a restaurant."
"Really?" Elicia said, beginning to drool from just thinking about Alfonzo's cooking.
"Yeah, but before I do that, I wanna learn about black smithing and magic engineering." Alfonzo said casually.
"Magic engineering?" Elicia asked in confusion.
"Yeah, like how to make the magic vehicles." Alfonzo said. "Frankly, the designs for those things are horrendous. I wanna make cars and motorcycles that look more modern."
"Oh, I get it." Elicia said, nodding in understanding.
"Plus, the fact that they only work on the user's magic power is a huge detriment." Alfonzo added. "I mean, if someone is using one to get to the scene of an emergency, the chances that they will be completely out of juice when they arrive is pretty high."
"Kinda like Erza was when Team Natsu faced Eisenwald, right?" Elicia asked excitedly. "That was the first battle that had any real meaning in the series."
"Yeah, just like that." Alfonzo replied with a smile and a nod. "I mean, there should be a way to power those vehicles with lacrima. I'm surprised no one ever looked into that."
"Now that you mention it..." Elicia said, slipping into contemplation. "I don't think there was anything like that, all the way up to x791 in the anime and manga. But it's been a while since I watched or read it, so my memory could be off."
"Either way, we know that it wasn't made into reality before the Tenrou Island incident." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "So, I have at least twelve years to figure out if that's even possible."
"I know you can do it, Fonzie." Elicia said encouragingly. "If you put your mind to it, you can do anything."
Hearing that, Alfonzo could only smile wryly. When Elicia talked to him like that, it made him feel like he really was a child again.
While continuing to chat, Alfonzo and Elicia steadily closed the distance between themselves and the guild. When they were walking the last stretch, they felt a gaze glued to them. It was a gaze they had noticed for a few months, now. And both of them were pretty sure they knew who it was.
"That's Cana, right?" Alfonzo asked in a quiet voice.
"Yup, it's definitely Cana." Elicia replied in an equally quiet voice.
"Well, I guess it's about that time." Alfonzo said while scanning the area discreetly.
Eventually, he found a pretty young girl with dark brown, thick, wavy, mid-back length hair with strands of hair that framed her face, brown eyes, and tan skin, who they knew to be Cana, watching them as they approached the guild. Judging from her clothes, they knew she was not particularly well-off. In fact, they knew that she had been living at an orphanage for the last few months.
Cana, an orphan who lost her mother a few months ago, spent most of her time since that day watching people enter and leave the guild. Though, no one really paid attention to her. Alfonzo and Elicia had noticed her for a while. They also knew that she was hoping to meet her father, a member of the guild that had no idea she even existed.
"*Sigh* That Gildarts was such a rolling stone." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone. "I wonder how many other kids he has running around the continent."
Gildarts Clive, currently the strongest member of the guild and a well-known womanizer. From what the two have heard over the last year, it was common for Gildarts to have one-night stands while he was out on quests. So, the chances of more of his children running around is quite high.
"Hmph! I hope he catches something ad it falls off." Elicia said disdainfully, surprising Alfonzo quite a bit. "Who does he think he is? Getting his rocks off and not thinking about the consequences of having unprotected sex. If he ever tries to flirt with me when I get older, I'm gonna kick him in the nuts, no questions asked."
Immediately, Alfonzo felt a chill down his spine and phantom pain in his nether region. Then, doing his best to appear calm, he changed the subject.
"Anyway, should we go talk to her?" Alfonzo asked, his voice shaking a bit from the intensity Elicia showed when talking about Gildarts.
Perking up immediately, Elicia looked at Alfonzo with a smile.
"We should." Elicia said, nodding her head energetically. "But you should do the talking. You know she was one of my favorite characters, right? So, I might mess things up if I start the conversation."
"*Sigh* You know she was one of my favorites, too." Alfonzo said with a wry smile. "I mean, she had the best hips and ass in Fairy Tail."
Hearing that, Elicia deadpanned.
"Don't look at me like that." Alfonzo said with a chuckle before combing his fingers through Elicia's hair. "Back then, even you said you wanted to slap her ass if she were real."
"Shut up! Stupid Fonzie." Elicia said with a blush that was barely noticeable due to her darker skin tone.
In their past life, Elicia was not bisexual by any means. When it came to 3D girls, anyway. But when she got to watching anime or reading manga, she found herself attracted to quite a few of the female characters, often saying that if she had the chance, she wouldn't mind giving quite a few of them a go. She even made off-hand comments about Alfonzo starting a harem if they were both transported to an anime world. That way, they would be able to play with the many heroines together.
'Now that I think about it...' Alfonzo thought to himself as he approached Cana with Elicia. 'We're in an anime world now... I wonder if she'll push me into a harem, now. Either way is fine with me. I'm not even sure if I could make more than one girl happy. Hell, I'm not even sure how Elicia stays happy with me. Especially after how I basically neglected her feelings back then. Eh, whatever. We'll just cross that bridge when we come to it.'
At the same time, Elicia was actually thinking about that old conversation that she and Alfonzo had as well.
'Even though I really meant it when I said that back then, I only considered it because I didn't think it could ever happen.' Elicia thought as she and Alfonzo drew nearer to Cana. 'But now that we're actually in an anime world, should I really go through with it? I just don't know. But it would be pretty hot, though.'
Contrary to her usually innocent and energetic personality, Elicia was quite the passionate lover in the bedroom in their past life. Even though she had only ever been with Alfonzo, she was quite passionate and enjoyed learning new things. Plus, her libido was high. Really high. Most of their love making sessions would last for three hours at the very least, by Elicia's insistence.
Eventually, Alfonzo and Elicia reached Cana, breaking them both out of their thoughts. Immediately after coming back to her senses, Elicia hid behind Alfonzo as if she were shy, when in reality, she was trying to minimize the chance of her letting something slip that she should not.
At the same time, Cana noticed Alfonzo and Elicia approaching. Looking at them nervously, she was afraid that they were going to ask her to leave.
"Excuse me, can we help you with something?" Alfonzo said with a small smile on his face. "We've noticed you staring at the guild's entrance for a while. A couple of months, at least. So, we were wondering if you needed the guild for something. Did you want to commission a quest, maybe?"
Exhaling a sigh of relief when she was not asked to leave, Cana took the chance to get a good look at the two children who approached her. The boy was a little taller than her and had a light brown skin tone that was darker than her tanned skin by a few shades and an afro hairstyle. While the girl had short straight hair and skin a shade darker than the boy she was with. What surprised her, however, was how good looking the two in front of her were.
"Um... No, I don't' want to commission a quest." Cana said, snapping out of her thoughts. "You see... my mother passed away earlier this year. Before she died, though, she told me to come to Fairy Tail. She said that they would definitely take me in."
'There's no way I can tell them that my deadbeat dad is a member of Fairy Tail.' Cana thought to herself as she explained.
"Oh, so you wanna join the guild." Alfonzo said with a nod, even though he and Elicia knew the real reason Cana came here. "Then, you should follow us. Even though, like us, you won't be a full member until you're old enough, I'm sure Gramps wouldn't mind taking you in."
"Really?" Cana asked skeptically.
"Yup." Alfonzo replied with another nod. "Like you, we're both orphans, too. In fact, we weren't even living in Magnolia. But Gramps, he's the guild master by the way, came all the way to Hargeon to get us when he heard that we had magical talent. By the way, can you use magic?"
Surprised to hear that the two children in front of her were orphans just like her, Cana looked at their clothing with skepticism. She had never seen any orphan kids that dressed that well before.
Noticing the direction of Cana's gaze, Alfonzo smiled wryly, understanding exactly what she was thinking.
"The only reason our clothes are so nice is because Lici and I are talented in things other than magic, too." Alfonzo said. He then pointed at himself and Elicia in turn as he continued to speak. "I'm a pretty good cook, so I made some money working in the guild's kitchen. Then, I bought the fabrics that she told me to. After that, she made our clothing."
Once again, Cana was surprised. That story sounded both believable and unbelievable at the same time. Believable because he did not say that they simply bought the clothing and that they were made by themselves. Yet unbelievable because she could tell that neither of them was much older than she was.
Noticing yet another skeptical gaze directed his way, Alfonzo simply shrugged in response.
"You don't have to believe us for now." Alfonzo said with a smile. "Instead, why don't you answer my earlier question. Can you use magic?"
"Oh... Yeah... I can use [Card Magic]." Cana replied.
"Okay, good." Alfonzo said with a nod. "Since you can use magic, there really should be no problem taking you in. Come on, let's go."
With that, Alfonzo turned toward the guild's entrance and began to walk with Elicia following him closely. In shock, Cana stood in place for a moment. Then, she quickly followed them as well.
A few moments later, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana entered the guild building and made their way straight to Makarov, who was tipsy and sitting on top of the bar, downing a pint of beer. When they reached him, it only took a few moments, and Cana was accepted into the guild.
Naturally, Cana was mind blown at how easy that was. After Alfonzo explained her situation, Makarov did not even stop to think before saying...
"*Sigh* Child I'm sorry for your loss. Although we'll never be able to replace the family you've lost, if you let us, you'll have a place you can call home and people you may come to see as family. Now, Alfonzo, introduce her to the other children around your age."
… Before letting out a huge belch and fainting on top of the bar.
After that, Alfonzo and Elicia turned around without even flinching. As if this were a common occurrence. Then, they walked toward a table that had four children sitting at it.
"Is it really that easy?" Cana asked, still in disbelief.
"Yup. It's that easy." Alfonzo replied.
A moment later, they arrived at the table Laxus, and the others, occupied. But before Alfonzo could introduce Cana to them, Laxus spoke.
"A new member, huh?' Laxus asked in his usual superior tone. "What kind of magic can you use?"
"[Card Magic]." Cana replied with a slight frown on her face, uncomfortable with the tone Laxus used to speak to her.
"Worthless." Laxus said harshly. Then, he looked at Alfonzo and continued. "Send her out."
While Cana was caught off guard by Laxus statement, Alfonzo was instantly at his boiling point. Something that Elicia noticed just as it happened. However, unlike she usually does when Laxus gets out of hand, this time she did not try to stop Alfonzo from escalating the situation. Since she was also displeased by Laxus attitude.
"I'm not your servant, Cuzz." Alfonzo said in a low tone. "I've been putting up with your crap for a while now. So, if you don't want any problems, you're gonna start talking to me with respect from now on."
Hearing Alfonzo's threatening tone, Bickslow, Fried and Evergreen frowned and prepared to teach the younger boy a lesson. However, before they could act, Laxus held up his right hand, signaling them to stop.
"Oh really?" Laxus asked in a condescending tone. "And why would I do that. Do you really think you could give me some 'problems'? Do you actually belive that you could force me to do anything?"
"Trust me Laxus, you don't want this smoke." Alfonzo said in the same tone.
Although he had never heard that term before, Laxus knew what Alfonzo meant and he smiled widely before responding.
"Oh, but I think I do."