Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
February 27, x781.
That night, A party was held at Alfonzo and Elicia's mansion. All of their friends, Laki, Alzack, Levy, Jet, Droy, Ur, Gray, Ultear, Erza, Natsu, Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, Bisca, Sun, Gozaburo, Ren, Masa, Fujishiro, and Marin were present to celebrate Cana's fifteenth birthday with Gildarts being the happiest person present, even overshadowing Cana's own happiness for her special day.
With Alcohol flowing for those loud enough to drink, the party gained a normal Fairy Tail level of rowdiness shortly after dinner. Then, for the next few hours, the group enjoyed each other's company in the mansion's game room.
However, the party came to an abrupt end when Ren was forced to knock Gozaburo unconscious after he tried to start a fight with Alfonzo after Sun hugged him. In fact, Gozaburo should have been thanking Alfonzo.
During one of the more intense games of cards, Gozaburo, who had lost quite a bit of money after losing the hand, slammed his palms on the table, resulting in a pitcher of water being sent flying. Unfortunately, Sun was in the path of the spilled water. To make sure that Sun was not drenched, revealing her secret in the process, Alfonzo flung himself toward Sun.
As a result, Alfonzo almost lost his footing, and Sun wrapped her arms around him so that he would not fall. In the end, Alfonzo with is back soaked was hugged by Sun while she looked at him with concern.
"Alfonzo, are you okay?" Sun asked, making sure not to put any pressure on his left shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Alfonzo replied with a somewhat drunken smile. "Just lost my balance a little."
"*Sigh* That's good." Sun said in a relieved tone. "It wouldn't be good if you hurt your shoulder again, ya see."
Before Alfonzo could reply, however, he felt a sharp killing intent locked onto him. Sobering up immediately before looking over his shoulder, he saw Gozaburo staring at him with bloodshot eyes.
"You damned beast!" Gozaburo growled. "What do you think you're doing to my Sun?"
To that, everyone looked at him in disbelief.
"Dude, are you fucking serious?" Alfonzo replied, less restrained in his speech due to the alcohol in his system. "I just saved Sun from your fuck up. So, I'm gonna need you to miss me with that shit."
"You little disrespectful bastard!" Gozaburo roared as he jumped out of his seat towards Alfonzo.
In an instant, Alfonzo released himself from Sun's grasp. Then, he turned around, shielding Sun behind him, and readied himself to receive Gozaburo's charge with his right arm. However, before Gozaburo could strike, he was thrown across the room and crashed into the wall.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Ren shouted, mixing the [Howling Voice] spell into her speech. "He cleaned up a mess you made, and this is how you repay him?"
Unfortunately, After taking the initial hit from the shockwave, the heavily intoxicated Gozaburo lost consciousness immediately. So, he never heard his wife's reprimand. Instead, he slid down the wall, that despite the collision was not even scratched.
"*Sigh* sometimes I wonder why I even put up with this man…" Ren muttered as she looked down on the unconscious form of her husband. "Masa, Fujishiro, we're leaving. One of you, take him with us. I'll need to have a long talk with him after he wakes up."
"Yes, Ma'am." Masa and Fujishiro replied simultaneously, not brave enough to disobey a pissed off Ren.
With that, Masa rushed to Gozaburo and slung him over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Ren made her way toward the game room's exit. Just before walking through the door, however, she turned around, briefly making eye contact with all those present.
"I'm sorry for ruining the party." Ren said while bowing her head apologetically. "I'll make sure that my husband takes responsibility for his actions."
With that said, Ren raised her head, turned around, and made her way out of the game room with Masa and Fujishiro following her closely.
Elicia, as one of the owners of the house, snapped back to her senses quickly. Then, she followed Ren, Masa, and Fujishiro to the front door to show them out.
Meanwhile, everyone else could only look at each other awkwardly. Unfortunately, the festive atmosphere was thoroughly destroyed by Gozaburo's outburst, resulting in most of the guests deciding to leave, as well. Natsu, who could not read the atmosphere had to be dragged away by Elfman and Lisanna, though.
In the end, only Alfonzo, Cana, Gildarts, Erza, and Sun were left in the game room.
"*Sigh* I'm sorry about this, Cana." Alfonzo said, feeling bad that Cana's party was ruined.
"No, you don't have to apologize." Cana said, not as upset as one might think.
In fact, there was a glint in her eye. One that Alfonzo recognized quite easily. One that had Gildarts seen it, he would have been put in another position where he would have had to defend himself. And that glint was lust.
"Yeah!" Sun shouted in irritation. "If anyone should apologize, it's my dad!"
Sun then approached Cana and grabbed her hands.
"I'll make sure he apologizes to you properly, Cana." Sun said, determination burning in her eyes.
Even though Sun had only known the wizards of Fairy Tail for a little over a month, she had come to see all of them as her friends. And considering that she was starved for friendship before coming to Magnolia, it was no surprise. And Cana, who she shared a roof with for the last month, or so, was even closer. She considered her, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Erza like she did her own family.
Before Cana could tell her not to worry about it, however, Sun let go of her hands. Then, she rushed out of the game room.
"I almost feel bad for Seto." Gildarts said. "He's gonna have a bad time when he wakes up."
"You actually feel bad for him after what he did?" Erza asked, a slight frown on her face.
"I said, 'almost.'" Gildarts clarified. "The next time I see him, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind, too. How dare he ruin my baby girl's big day?"
Hearing that, everyone smiled. Cana even wrapping Gildarts in a hug, bringing a smile with inhuman amounts of glee to the doting father's face.
"Well, since the party is over, I'm going upstairs." Alfonzo said after a few moments. "That water was really cold, and now I'm freezing."
With that, everyone just remembered that Alfonzo was still soaking wet.
"Yes, you should go and get warmed up." Erza said in a solemn tone. "You've only been cleared to use your arm for everyday activities this afternoon. It would be bad if you caught a cold shortly afterward."
"I don't think it's that serious." Alfonzo said as he scratched the back of his head. "But being all wet and cold is uncomfortable, so I'm gonna go take a shower and maybe a bath, too."
"Go ahead." Erza said with a nod. "I'll clean up the spilled water."
"I guess I'll show Dad out." Cana said, trying to keep her true desires hidden.
"Aww… Don't you wanna come and spend the night at Daddy's house?" Gildarts asked, not wanting to separate from Cana.
"Eww! That sounds so gross and wrong." Cana said, recoiling away from her father.
"No! Wait!" Gildarts said, reaching out for Cana, who was backing away from him. "I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to spend some more time with you, Sweetie."
"Dad, you're so gross!" Cana said, backing away even further. "Just go home, already!"
For the umpteenth time since he found out that Cana was his daughter, Gildarts felt an arrow pierce his heart due to her blatant rejection. Then, with lifeless eyes, he hung his head and let his arms fall limply to his sides before turning toward the game room's entrance.
"Fine…" Gildarts said in a lifeless tone. "I'll go home. I'll see you later, Cana."
Feeling slightly guilty after seeing Gildarts in that state, Cana resisted the urge to hug him and apologize. She knew doing so would make him perk up again. However, that would also lead to him pestering her to spend more time with him. And that could not be allowed, she had plans for tonight, after all.
So, instead of apologizing to Gildarts, Cana followed him out of the game room and toward the front door. At the same time, Elicia returned after seeing everyone else out, gazing at Gildarts with confusion when she saw his expression.
"What happened to him?" Elicia asked curiously. "He looks like he just got punched in the nuts, or something."
"Yeah, and you would know that better than anyone." Alfonzo replied with a smile.
"Huh?" Elicia exclaimed as she turned towards Alfonzo. "How would I know that? I don't have nuts."
Alfonzo only rolled his eyes in response, while Erza giggled quietly at Elicia's act. In fact, ever since Erza slapped some sense into her, literally, Elicia had changed. Quite a bit of her innocent behavior was replaced with mischievousness. Though, she still had the habit of speaking without thinking.
The reason for the change was simple. Since she no longer felt the burden of making sure Alfonzo did not become conceited, she became more relaxed. Though, Alfonzo, Cana, and Erza were the only ones who really noticed the change.
"Anyway, I'm going upstairs." Alfonzo said a moment later. "If you girls end up falling asleep before I get out the bath, good night."
"In fact, I think I might have drank too much." Erza said with a slight frown. "Perhaps I will go to bed."
"Okay~! See you in bed, Fonzie." Elicia said energetically as Alfonzo made his way out of the room.
Once Alfonzo was out of the room, Elicia and Erza exchanged knowing glances.
"What do you mean you'll see him in bed?" Erza asked. "Tonight is supposed to be Cana's special night, is it not?"
"Yeah, but considering Fonzie's stamina and the fact that tonight is Cana's first time, she'll probably need some help." Elicia said, licking her lips in anticipation.
In response, Erza could only look at Elicia with a blush. Immediately after hearing Elicia's statement, she began remembering some of the scenes from her favorite novels that involved a man with more than one woman.
"Maybe, you wanna join us?" Elicia asked, a smile mixed with both lust and mischief spreading across her face.
Immediately, Erza snapped back to her senses, her face glowing in the same scarlet hue as her hair.
"Huh? What?" Erza exclaimed in panic. "No! That's not what I--- I mean… Maybe another time…"
As Erza spoke, her voice grew quieter while she lowered her head and started pushing the tips of her index fingers together bashfully.
Seeing Erza's reaction, Elicia's expression changed immediately. Instead of a smile filled with lust and mischief, she now wore a smile filled with affection.
"Erza, you're so cute!" Elicia said as she pounced on Erza and wrapped her in a hug. "I mean, seriously, you're super-adorable."
Elicia's embrace only caused Erza to blush even more after realizing that she was being messed with. At the same time, she also understood that if she had replied with any form of yes, Elicia would have found a way to make her previous offer come true, as well.
Just then, Cana came back into the game room after sending her father away while telling herself to apologize to him the next time she sees him. However, when she saw the scene of Elicia gushing over the super-embarrassed Erza, she could only wonder what happened.
"Well, it looks like everyone is gone." Cana said, breaking up the current atmosphere.
"Yup!" Elicia said, releasing Erza from her hug. "And now, it's time to get you ready for the main event. Since he doesn't have to go anywhere, Fonzie should be in the bath for a while. He likes to relax, after all. So, we should have more than enough time to get you properly dressed."
"Alright, let's go!" Cana said excitedly.
Meanwhile, Erza, with her face still red, went behind the bar in the game room to get something to clean the spilled water with. Then, just as Elicia and Cana were about to walk through the game room's door, she spoke.
"Don't forget the silencing sigils." Erza said, not looking up at the girls as she heard them come to a stop. "But… I won't get upset if you forget them in the heat of the moment, either."
To that, Elicia and Cana exchanged knowing glances. After looking into each other's eyes, they knew that they had the same thoughts at that moment.
'Yeah, she's definitely next on the list.'