Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Resenbool.
September, x781.
A few days passed since Alfonzo sent the Techno Organic Metal into outer space. Since then, he has spent most of his time relaxing in an attempt to restore his magic power. Even so, he still joined Sun in the mornings to do a few hours of training. Though, his training was only of the physical variety.
Eventually, however, Alfonzo's magic power was restored to full. And once it was, he and Sun decided it was time to return to Magnolia and complete the quest.
"*Sigh* Do you really have to go?" Winry asked in a sad tone. "Having you here was like having a little sister."
While Winry spoke, her arms were tightly wrapped around Sun, who was smiling wryly at Winry's attempt to get her to stay.
"I had fun, too, Winry." Sun said, patting Winry's back as she spoke. "But I miss my mom… and dad… I guess."
Hearing that, Winry sighed once again. Then, she reluctantly released Sun from her hug. Meanwhile, Alfonzo simply watched the pair of teenage girls from the side, next to Pinako and Den.
"I'll admit, it will be a little lonelier around here without the two of you." Pinako said while watching her granddaughter. "Winry, though a cheerful girl, smiled a lot more than usual while the two of you were here."
"Plus, you won't be able to pick my brain for more cooking tips." Alfonzo added with a cheeky smile.
"That's true, too." Pinako replied, not bothered by Alfonzo's teasing tone. "Still, although you were only here for a quest, you're welcome to visit at any time."
"Thanks, Granny." Alfonzo replied with a genuine smile on his face. "Next time, I'll bring my other fiancées, too."
"I still can't believe you're a polygamist." Pinako said while shaking her head. "Well, as long as those girls are fine with it, who am I to disagree."
"To be honest, it wasn't even my idea." Alfonzo said with a helpless smile. "But it makes Lici happy, for some reason, so I just rolled with it."
With that, Pinako looked at Alfonzo in disbelief. A moment later, after seeing the helpless look on his face, she realized that what he was saying was true.
"Truly a strange girl." Pinako muttered.
"Although that's the truth, I'd appreciate it if you didn't call my fiancée strange." Alfonzo said with a wry smile.
"Sure." Pinako said uncaringly. A moment later, she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a sealed envelope before continuing. "Here, this is the proof of completion. On behalf of the people of Resenbool, I thank you for your help."
"I always meant to ask about that." Alfonzo said as he accepted the envelope. "But shouldn't the mayor of the town be the one who issued the quest? I mean, his people were dying."
"*Sigh* He wanted to wait for the kingdom to send a knight to handle the situation." Pinako said with a disappointed expression on her face. "Since one of the boys from this town joined the Alchemist Division of the kingdom's knights, he thought help would arrive soon. But even after a month, there has been no sign of the knights."
"I see." Alfonzo replied. "So, do you know the guy who joined the knights?"
"Better than most." Pinako replied. "He's the one Winry Always talks about, Ed. I practically raised him and his younger brother."
"Oh, I see." Alfonzo said with a nod.
'So, that's how this world is playing it,' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'instead of State Alchemists, there are Alchemist Knights, or something like that.'
"Anyway, I think it's time you get going." Pinako said, still watching Winry try to convince Sun to stay in Resenbool. "If you don't leave soon, Winry may never let you leave."
Broken out of his thoughts, Alfonzo could only smile wryly after realizing that Sun and Winry had moved much closer to the house's front door during the time he was chatting with Pinako.
"Alright, Sun, it's time to get back home." Alfonzo said as he started walking toward the Vanquish.
"Okay!" Sun replied energetically.
A moment later, Sun hugged Winry tightly. Then, she released the hug before Winry could latch onto her again.
"Bye, Winry!" Sun shouted as she jogged toward the Vanquish's passenger side. "We'll come visit you again. And if you're ever near Magnolia, you should come see us, too."
"I'll hold you to that." Winry replied with a smile. "And I'll definitely come visit if I'm ever in that part of the kingdom."
Although Winry was reluctant to see Sun leave, she still put on a bright smile. Sending people off with a smile was the best way to say goodbye, after all.
"And Alfonzo, just wait, I'll make better Automail than you one day!" Winry shouted, igniting her fighting spirit. "And I'll do it without magic! Well, maybe with lacrima…"
"I look forward to it." Alfonzo replied. "Being at the top is lonely, after all. Hahahaha!"
With that, Alfonzo put the Vanquish in gear. Then, he pulled away form the Rockbell residence. The, while driving away, he and sun each reached out their window and waved the Rockbell grandmother and granddaughter goodbye.
After watching the Vanquish drive away until it could no longer be seen, Pinako turned to Winry.
"Don't look so down, it's not like you won't see them again." Pinako said. "Now, let's get to work, we've still got a few jobs to finish."
Watching the horizon where the Vanquish disappeared, Winry sighed one more time. Then, she turned around and started walking into the house.
"Right!" Winry exclaimed. "I'll never surpass him if I just mope around. You better look forward to what I've learned, Ed. Your next arm and leg are gonna be way better than the last ones."
Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Sun were driving through the town.
"I'm gonna miss them." Sun said with melancholy in her tone.
"Yeah, they were good people." Alfonzo said. "But you can come to see them any time you want, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Sun replied. "But I wish we lived closer."
"Them's the breaks." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.
While they chatted, Alfonzo and Sun drove past Resenbool's train station. However, because they were so focused on their conversation, Only Alfonzo barely noticed the people leaving the train station as they passed.
"Hmm… It's unusual to see such a nice magic vehicle in Resenbool." A short young man with long, golden-blond hair pulled into a ponytail, golden eyes, and no right arm who wore an all-black outfit with a long red overcoat said in a slightly bewildered tone after Seeing Alfonzo's Vanquish pass by. "I wonder what they were doing here?"
"Perhaps they were here to see the sights." A tall, massively, muscular man with very little blond hair on his otherwise bald head, a blond handlebar mustache, and kind, blue eyes and wearing a blue military uniform with gold accents and a long black overcoat said while carrying a large crate on his shoulder. "The view of the town from the train was breath taking. And the peaceful atmosphere is most pleasant."
"You're right, Major." A young-sounding male voice originating from the crate on the tall man's shoulder said in agreement. "There's no place in Fiore like Resenbool, after all."
The peculiar thing about that young male voice, however, was that if one were to look inside the crate, all they would see was a scrapped set of armor, with no people in sight.
"Yeah, yeah, it's a great town." The short blond-haired young man said dismissively. "Anyway, let's go see Winry and Granny. I need to get a new arm. And when I do, I can put you back together again, Al."
"Right." The young voice, Al, replied. "Then, we can do something about the strange disease, too."
"Yeah, we'll do everything we can to help." The short young man said.
"Edward! Alphonse! Your sibling bond and love for your hometown is truly awe inspiring!" The tall man, the Major, said with tears flowing down his cheeks as he pulled the short young man, Edward, also known as Ed, into an embrace.
As soon as the Major wrapped his arm around Edward, he began spinning with the crate in one arm and Edward in the other.
"Argh! Damn it Major, put me down!" Edward shouted in an annoyed tone.
Meanwhile, back int eh Vanquish, Alfonzo, while still chatting with Sun, was thinking.
'I wasn't really paying attention, but I think that was Major Armstrong walking out of the train station back there.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he drove through the town. 'I mean, in FMA, he stood out quite a bit due to his height. But in FT, his height isn't really all that special… I think.'
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
Several hours later, in the Fairy Tail guild hall, many members of the guild were doing what they usually do when they aren't on quests. However, the atmosphere in the guild was much darker than usual. The reason for that was quite simple, actually.
Sitting at the end of the bar was a man surrounded by empty mugs. Naturally, that man was Gozaburo Seto.
Ever since the day Alfonzo and Sun left on the quest, his mood had been rather strange. On top of not being allowed to travel with his darling daughter on her quest, he was holding onto the anger from being slapped by Alfonzo. However, those were not the only reasons why he was in such a somber mood.
The realization that his wife, Ren, was finally getting fed up with the way he carried himself hit him much harder than he expected, causing him to go through quite a bit of self-reflection.
'Ren and the old man might have been right.' Gozaburo thought to himself as he took another swig from a mug of ale. 'I've been seeing the signs for a while now. Sun is distancing herself from me. Does that mean I was going about this all wrong? Will Sun end up hating me?'
Meanwhile, on the other end of the bar, Makarov, Ur, Ren, and Masa sat as they watched Gozaburo wallow in uncertainty.
"*Sigh* It's really hard to see the Boss like this." Masa said as he gazed at Gozaburo in worry.
"Don't pity him, Masa." Ren said without any pity in her tone. "he brought this upon himself."
"I know… But…" Masa tried to retort.
"More importantly, do you think he'll try to take revenge on Alfonzo for bitch slapping him like that before he left?" Ur asked with slight concern in her tone.
"I don't know." Makarov replied. "But I'm pretty sure Alfonzo is strong enough to handle anything Gozaburo can throw at him. Besides, if he goes overboard, he'll have me to deal with."
Ever since that day, Makarov had been displeased with Gozaburo for attacking one of his favorite children. Even so, as the guild master, he tried his best to treat Gozaburo like any other member of the guild.
"Well, if I know my husband as well as I think I do, he's more terrified of losing his family than he's angry at Alfonzo." Ren said. "Regardless of how he acts, he knows that meeting Alfonzo was a good influence on Sun. I mean, she's started to grow in more than just strength since we joined the guild."
"Yeah, and thanks to Alfonzo and Elicia's ideas, she's even started developing her own sword style." Masa added. "Soon, the Young Miss will surpass me with a sword."
"Speaking of which, it must have been a surprise when you were defeated by Erza with pure swordsmanship. Ren said with a smile.
"Honestly, it was." Masa said while looking into his glass of liquor. "It made me realize that I haven't been training hard enough recently."
"I don't think any of us have." Ren replied. "We got complacent with where we were."
"Speak for yourself." Ur said. "I still train hard every day."
"I didn't mean you." Ren said, nudging Ur with her shoulder.
"I know that." Ur replied. "But you two were starting to get too serious. You meant the members of the Seto Group, right?"
"That's right." Ren replied. "After we were acknowledged for our strength, there weren't many who could, or would, stand against us. So, we relaxed. That's what led to us losing so many good men against the Leviathan."
"I bet that's why Gozaburo ended up the way he is now, too." Makarov added. "On top of always being praised for your strength and status, he probably started seeing everyone as less than himself. And he eventually got it stuck in his head that no one was good enough for his daughter. Even though he was far from the strongest person in the kingdom, let alone the world."
"*Sigh* You're probably right, Master." Ren replied. "And so many people speaking to him with both respect and fear probably didn't help the situation either."
At that moment, the guild hall's doors wee pushed open from the outside. Immediately, the four looked over to see who had returned. Seeing that it was Ultear, none of them were surprised, however, what did surprise them was the pink-haired little girl who was accompanying her.