Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May 8, x785.
"Do mine first!" Marin shouted happily as she raised the two wrapped packages in her hands.
"Why not." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.
Getting confirmation, Marin hopped up and walked towards Alfonzo and Elicia briskly. Then, she thrust the gifts in her hands into their chests.
"Here, open it! Open it!" Marin said energetically.
Wasting no time, Elicia immediately tore the wrapping paper around the soft gift in her hands.
"Oh, they're costume designs." Elicia said as she looked through the bundle of papers in her hands. "But, wouldn't these be pretty revealing?"
"Exactly, they're to spice up your night life." Marin replied with a proud smile on her face.
"You mean to spice up your night life, right?" Ultear said, answering in Elicia's place.
"What's the difference?" Marin asked with a confused expression. "We usually spend nights together, anyway."
"Still, I could use these." Elicia said with a glint in her eyes. "There are a lot of nobles in the capital with rather.... special preferences. And I'm sure they would buy clothes with these designs if I marketed them the right way."
"Huh? But it was supposed to..." Marin said in confusion after hearing Elicia.
"That's so like Lici." Mirajane said with a smile. "She and Alfonzo are always thinking about how they can make more money."
"Just let it go, Marin." Cana said before taking a swig from a bottle of ale. "You know they'll always be like that."
Hearing that, Marin slumped her shoulders in defeat. However, after hearing Elicia's next words, her expression brightened once again.
"What did you get, Fonzie?" Elicia asked curiously.
That question drew everyone's attention to Alfonzo, who had just been watching everyone with a smile on his face.
"Well, let's see." Alfonzo replied as he created a small knife with his [Metal Magic]. Then, with the knife in hand, he cleanly split the wrapping paper around his gift. "It's a cookbook. And the recipes are from the Alvarez Empire."
"Wow!" Everyone exclaimed in unison.
"Marin, how did you even get that?" Mirajane asked curiously. "After Alvarez tried to invade a few years ago, weren't all trades and diplomacy between the two continents stopped."
"I have my ways." Marin replied with a smug smile.
"More like her dad has his ways." Ultear replied. "Even if he's not working for Heartfilia Kanzen anymore, he wouldn't have lost all his contacts."
"Tear! Why can't you just let me have my moment?" Marin shouted in an anguished tone.
Immediately, all the house's residents began laughing at Marin's expense. Even Yoruichi could not hold back a giggle while Sui-Feng's lips curled at their ends.
"Alright, alright, let's leave Marin alone." Sun said, pulling Marin into a hug. "Instead, you two should open mine next."
With that, Sun released Marin from her hug. Then, she picked up the two small boxes on her lap. After that, she walked over to Alfonzo and Elicia to hand over the boxes.
"I wonder what it is." Elicia said as she accepted the gift box.
"You should open them together." Sun said with a smile.
Hearing Sun's suggestion, Alfonzo and Elicia exchanged glances. Then, they looked down at the boxes in their hands with curiosity. Not only them, but the others in the room were curious to know what was in the boxes, as well.
So, they opened the boxes together. And what they saw were a pair of golden lockets with rose gold accents in the shape of half a heart each. However, there were no necklaces to hold them included in the box.
"Ooh, they're so cute~~~~~!" Elicia squealed excitedly.
"We can open the lockets, too." Alfonzo said while fiddling with the mechanism to open his locket.
*Click!*
A moment later, inside the locket Alfonzo saw a picture of Elicia, one that he recognized.
"Really?" Elicia asked as she two fiddled with the locket's mechanism.
*Click!*
Then, just like Alfonzo did, Elicia opened her locket and saw a familiar picture of Alfonzo.
Inside both lockets were a part of a picture Alfonzo and Elicia took together. In the picture, they were hugging while staring into each other's eyes. And Sun had cropped the picture so that they would each have the other's face in their locket.
{A/N: The picture is the cover image.}
"With those, no matter where you go, you'll always have a piece of the other's heart with you." Sun said with a sweet smile.
In response, Elicia jumped off the couch and pulled Sun into a tight hug.
"Sun, you're so sweet!" Elicia squealed excitedly while rocking Sun back and forth.
Meanwhile, Sun simply returned the hug with a gradually widening smile.
"Damn, now I don't wanna give them my gift." Mirajane, with her old, more competitive personality leaking, said under her breath.
"I'm glad I went first." Marin said while patting her chest in relief.
Meanwhile, Cana and Ultear could only agree with Mirajane's muttering while looking at Marn with envy.
Eventually, Elicia released Sun from the hug. Then, as she sat down next to Alfonzo again, she opened her mouth to speak again.
"Thanks, Sun." Elicia said with a smile. "I love it."
"Yeah, Thanks, Sun." Alfonzo added with a smile of his own. "It's a great gift. And I'll never take it off."
A moment later, Alfonzo created a pair of gold necklaces with rose gold accents to match the lockets. Then, he handed the larger of the two and his locket to Elicia. At the same time, Elicia handed her locket to Alfonzo. Then, they both strung the lockets on the necklaces before helping the other to wear them.
"I think I'm getting diabetes. Yoruichi muttered. "There's just too much sweetness in the air."
With that, the room fell silent. However, it was not because of what Yoruichi said. Instead, it was because Cana, Ultear, and Mirajane were glaring at each other and Erza to determine who would go next.
"Well, since no one else has moved, I'll offer my gift next." Erza said, after realizing that the other three were reluctant to go first.
Then, Erza stood up from her seat and reached down to pick up the large, heavy package.
"Erza, you don't' have to move it." Alfonzo said, hastily stopping Erza. "I'll just come to you. Besides, it's too big to hold with Lici and Lucy next to me."
"Ah! That indeed makes sense." Erza replied as she stopped her movements. Then, she stood up with a nod. "Then, I'll give this one to Elicia while you open that one."
As Erza spoke, she picked up the other package. Then, she started walking towards the couch where Alfonzo, Elicia, and Lucy sat. Meanwhile, Alfonzo stood up and crossed paths with Erza to arrive at the side of the heavy object next to Erza's seat.
"Thanks, Erza." Elicia said with a smile. However, she was more curious about what Erza got for Alfonzo.
At the same time, Alfonzo, using the same knife as before, split the gift's wrapping paper. A moment later, the wrapping paper fell to the floor revealing a fang-shaped chunk of metal that was nearly as tall as Alfonzo.
"Hmm… Interesting." Alfonzo muttered as he placed his palm on the chunk of metal.
"What is that, Erza?" Lucy asked curiously.
"It's the fang of an S-Class magical beast." Erza replied. "I was tasked to slay it on a quest a couple of days ago. Apparently, it had been eating the contents of the mine near the village that posted the quest. And it's fangs and claws took on some of the metal's properties. Though, I'm not familiar with the type of metal."
"You managed to get Fonzie and unknown metal?" Cana asked while waggling her eye brows suggestively. "Looks like someone's gonna get a big thank you tonight."
"Just because it's unknown to Erza doesn't mean it's unknown to Alfonzo, though." Mirajane pointed out.
"That's true." Cana replied with a nod. "Well then, why don't we ask the man in question? So, what's the verdict, Fonzie?"
"Well, I already know of the metal." Alfonzo replied. "Or rather, I know about the metal in the mines Erza went to protect. But this is something new."
Hearing that, all the girls' curiosity peaked.
"Well, don't just leave us hanging like that." Mirajane said excitedly. "Erza's the only one into that kinda thing."
"Mira, not in front of the guests." Marin scolded Mirajane playfully.
"Oh, oops." Erza replied as she glanced at Yoruichi and Sui-Feng. "I kinda forgot they were there."
While Yoruichi could only smile wryly, Sui-Feng clenched her fists in anger at the blatant disregard.
"Anyway, what can the metal fang do, Alfonzo?" Sun asked in a curious tone.
"From what I can tell by running my magic power through it, it has the ability to weaken the gravity in its surroundings." Alfonzo replied. "And despite being mostly organic, I can control and recreated it with my magic. Which is kind of weird."
"Weaken Gravity?" Erza asked while stroking her chin in contemplation. "If my memory serves me correctly, the beast did something like that to increase its speed during our fight. And it almost threw itself in to orbit accidentally when it tried to run away from me. Luckily, Astraia allows me to control the wind. So, I was able to chase it down and slay it."
"So, the fang has the magical beast's properties?" Marin asked in a confused tone. "What's the big deal about that?"
"Normally, that wouldn't be out of the ordinary." Yoruichi said from her seat on the recliner. "But that's usually a passive effect of a magical beast's materials. However, Alfonzo said he felt it only after he ran his magic power through it, right?"
Although most of the girls were not happy to hear Yoruichi insert her opinion into the conversation, they simply nodded without paying her much mind. The only exception being Cana, who glared at Yoruichi with blatant hostility.
"Keep looking at Lady Yoruichi like that, and you'll lose your eyes." Sui-Feng said while reaching for the wakizashi on her back.
"Oh, really?" Cana said, while reaching for the [Soul Armament] on her left hip. "I'd like to see you try."
After Alfonzo created the second round of [Soul Armament Embryos] back in March, Cana had evolved hers into the basic form of her [Soul Armament], a deck of blank magic cards. And with these magic cards, she did not have to shuffle through her existing magic cards to form combinations. Instead, she could insert her magic power to create the cards she desired. Then, once the spell was activated, they would automatically be sent to the discarded cards on her right hip before they rejoined the active deck a short while later.
And not only Cana, but Ultear, Mirajane, Marin, and Sun's [Soul Armament Embryos] had evolved into [Soul Armaments], as well. Though, none of them has been able to break their first seal, yet.
"Cana/Bumble Bee, stop." Elicia and Yoruichi said simultaneously.
"Tch!" Cana and Sui-Feng clicked their tongues simultaneously in response.
Immediately after taking the same action, at the same time, Cana and Sui-Feng glared at each other. Then, they both clicked their tongues once again and averted their gazes.
"Sorry about that." Yoruichi said while rubbing her temples.
"Me, too." Elicia replied while lowering her head.
"Anyway, Yoruichi is right." Alfonzo said, seemingly not bothered by the hostile atmosphere in the room. "This fang's ability to weaken gravity should be a passive ability of the beast. But after ingesting all that metal from the mine, it became an active ability."
"And that's because of the metal it ate?" Ultear asked, helping to dispel the previous atmosphere.
"That's right." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "In fact, I use the metal in a lot of my magic items that involve magical beast parts. It's actually got a pretty simple name, too. Activation Metal."
"Does that mean it lets the users of those magic items activate the magical beast's abilities at will?" Mirajane asked curiously.
"Exactly." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "That's why I suggested that someone take that quest. I didn't' want to lose my supply of this metal to a magical beast. I just didn't think Erza would be the one to take it. We had just returned from the quest in Rosemary Village, after all."
"I took the quest because it seemed important to you." Erza replied with a smile. "And I knew you could not go because you were waiting for the shipment of materials for your work at Mermaid Heel's guild hall."
In response, Alfonzo smiled lovingly. Then, he shifted his gaze to Elicia, who was still holding her gift from Erza.
"Anyway, are you gonna open that, Lici?" Alfonzo asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah.!" Elicia exclaimed in surprise after the focus of the conversation was shifted to her so abruptly.
Then, like she did with Marin's gift, Elicia ripped the wrapping paper haphazardly, scattering wrapping paper all over the couch and floor.
"Oh, wow!" Elicia exclaimed after seeing what was inside the wrapping paper. "I should be able to make a pretty cool cape for Fonzie with this."
"Hey, isn't that…?" Lucy asked in surprise, as well.
"Indeed." Erza replied with a nod. "It's the pelt of the mutated Lightning Mink we hunted during the time of the trial."
"So, that's why you insisted on keeping it." Lucy muttered. "I would have fought harder for it if I knew that's what you were gonna use it for. I was thinking the same thing back then, after all."
"Don't worry, Lucy." Elicia said with a smile. "I'll consider this a gift from you, too. The two of you took it down together with your team, after all."
"That was actually the plan from the start." Erza said while pointing at a piece of paper mixed in with the scattered pieces of wrapping paper on the floor.
Hearing that, Lici looked at Erza. Then, she followed the direction where her finger pointed. A moment later, she picked up the piece of paper and read its contents.
"Happy birthday from Team Natsu!" Elicia read aloud. "Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Lucy Heartfilia, Wendy Marvel, Happy, and Carla."
In response, everyone in the room looked at Erza in shock, surprised that she would think that far ahead. Though, it was just like her to not tell anyone about it.
"Hehehe." Elicia giggled happily. Then, she lunged at Lucy and wrapped her in a hug. "Thanks, Lucy. *Muah* I'll make sure to give the others a hug and tell them thank you, too."
As Elicia spoke, she gave Lucy a big kiss on the cheek.
"And I bet they'll all be thoroughly confused by the sudden thank you." Mirajane said with a smile. "Especially Natsu and Gray. They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, after all."
Hearing Mirajane's words, everyone nodded in agreement. The exceptions being Yoruichi and Sui-Feng, who did not know Natsu or Gray well enough to comment.
"Anyway, who's next?" Alfonzo asked while glancing at Cana, Ultear, and Mirajane.