Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May, x786.
"What… the hell…" Lucy muttered in confusion, her brain unable to keep up with what was going on.
Naturally, the other ladies of Fairy Tail were having similar thoughts about the situation, as well. One minute, Brandish was rampaging, ready to murder Lucy for revenge. In the next instant, Brandish had lowered her head politely to one of Lucy's Celestial Spirits.
Even Irene, who had been watching the show from a distance, made her way over to Brandish's side, curious to know why shoe would stop the way she did.
"So, I'm guessing you know this Celestial Spirit, right, Brandish?" Irene asked in a curious tone.
"Yes, that's right." Brandish said, not raising her head as she replied.
At the same time, Aquarius raised an eyebrow when Irene appeared.
'That woman, she's not human.' Aquarius thought as she focused on the new arrival. 'And she's dangerous… Really dangerous.'
With her eyes narrowing, Aquarius scanned her surroundings. Finally, when her eyes fell on Alfonzo and Elicia, they widened slightly. Then, after a moment, her eyes opened completely as she pointed a finger at Elicia.
"You! You're the one that made clothes for me and the rest of Lucy's Celestial Spirits, aren't you?" Aquarius asked in a shocked tone.
"That's right." Elicia replied with a nod and a smile. "Lucy asked me to make them for you all. She wanted to thank you for always being there when she needed them."
Immediately, Aquarius snapped her head back in Lucy's direction with an astonished expression on her face. Meanwhile, Lucy turned her face away with an embarrassed blush.
"Geez, Lici, it would have been fine if you told anyone else…" Lucy muttered quietly. "But why did you have to tell Aquarius?"
Lucy's mutter was enough to snap Aquarius out of her stupor. Unfortunately for Lucy, because she had turned her head away, she missed the loving smile Aquarius put on. However, her loving smile turned back to her usual, irritated expression before she addressed Lucy again.
"Well, at least you have some tact." Aquarius said haughtily. "How many times have I pulled your ass out of the fire over the years."
"*Sigh* And this is why I didn't want her to know." Lucy said exasperatedly.
While Lucy missed Aquarius' change in expression, the other Fairy Tail wizards did not. So, they simply smiled sweetly at Lucy and Aquarius, causing Lucy to be confused.
"Don't worry about it, Lucy." Alfonzo said as he approached the confused Celestial wizard. Then, he pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the forehead before continuing. "Instead, we should try to fix this problem."
"Okay." Lucy replied in an embarrassed tone as she buried her face in Alfonzo's chest.
Once again, Aquarius eyes widened in chock. Then, she pointed a trembling finger in Alfonzo and Lucy's direction.
"Im-Im-Impossible!" Aquarius exclaimed with a shudder. "You… You… You have a b-b-boyfriend?"
"Huh?" Lucy replied in confusion. "Yeah, I told you that more than a year ago, didn't I?"
"I thought you just said that to get me to stop making fun of you about it." Aquarius replied while backing away from Lucy. "I thought you were just jealous that I had one and you didn't."
Hearing that, Lucy could only look on with a dumbfounded expression. Then, she eventually gritted her teeth before putting on a sneer.
"Well, I do have a boyfriend…" Lucy said in an agitated tone. Then, she wrapped her arms around Alfonzo's neck, pulled herself upwards, and kissed him on the lips before she continued. "… and he's hot."
Having the words she usually used to mock Lucy thrown back in her face, Aquarius, despite the fact that she was floating in the air, staggered back. Meanwhile, the Fairy Tail wizards who were familiar with the relationship between Lucy and Aquarius could only shake their heads. At the same time, Irene watched in interest.
"Anyway, how bout we go somewhere so we can settle this little conflict." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly and combing his fingers through Lucy's hair. "You two are welcome to come have breakfast at my house. Then, we can hopefully squash this beef between you."
Hearing that, Irene's eyes lit up, though it was quite subtle. However, neither Alfonzo nor Elicia missed it.
'So, they really are after Fonzie, huh?' Elicia thought to herself. 'I guess Zeref wants to know more about him. What makes him tick, and how someone so young was able to beat up Serena.'
'*Sigh* This is gonna be a pain in the ass.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'I wanted to get those two to change sides before the invasion. But I don't' know how to get Irene to jump ship. Convincing Brandish shouldn't be too hard after the truth about Layla, Grammi, and Zoldeo comes out, though.'
"That sounds lovely." Irene replied, drawing the attention of the other ladies onto herself.
"Wow! She really does look a lot like you, Erza." Marin exclaimed in disbelief.
Naturally, the others had similar thoughts. And although they felt that before, Erza was not in Magnolia to compare them directly. But now, the similarities were so uncanny that no one could think of them as anything other than relatives.
Even Brandish, who has had her head lowered ever since she made eye contact with Aquarius, could not help but glance back and forth between Erza and Irene.
"Old Man!" Alfonzo shouted, bringing everyone out of their thoughts. "You can come over, too. But if you break anything in my house, I swear to God, I'll drown you in the lake!"
Hearing that, everyone turned their heads in a certain direction. And at the end of their lines of sight, Gildarts, who had been watching the altercation from a distance, could be seen approaching the group.
"Come on, Kid." Gildarts said while scratching the back of his head. "Don't embarrass me in front of the guests. You make it sound like I break everything I lay my hands on."
In response, Alfonzo only rolled his eyes as he turned back to the mansion with Lucy still in his arms. At the same time, Elicia glared at Gildarts with everything she had, sending him a warning that she would get involved as well if he broke anything. Meanwhile, the other Fairy Tail wizards could only shake their heads as they followed Alfonzo back to the mansion.
"Well, come on, Little Brandish." Aquarius said in an annoyed tone. "I wanna know what all this was about, too. *Sigh* I'm gonna be late for my date at this rate. I hope Scorpio won't be mad."
With that, Aquarius floated along to the mansion as well. Gildarts on the other hand, only shrugged his shoulders as he followed behind the rest, leaving Irene and Brandish behind.
Then, when the rest of the group were far enough to be out of earshot, Irene glared at Brandish.
"I don't know why you flew off the handle like that, Brandish." Irene said in a menacing tone. "But I guess I'll find out shortly. Either way, you almost ruined our plans. And you will be punished for that when we return to the hotel."
In response, Brandish only nodded her head minutely. Then, after getting the nod, Irene strode after the Fairy Tail wizards.
"Either way, this incident got us access to one of those restricted areas our magic power could not penetrate." Irene said. "So, let's go. We can't miss this opportunity."
Once again, Brandish nodded her head before following Irene towards the mansion on the lake.
A few minutes later, the entire group, minus Alfonzo, who was cooking breakfast, and Aquarius, who was floating, had taken seats at the kitchen table, waiting to find out why Brandish said that Lucy's mother killed her mother.
"So, are you gonna tell me why you were spouting that nonsense about Layla killing Grammi?" Aquarius asked impatiently, as Brandish had only sat with her head lowered since the group sat down.
Hering that, Brandish raised her head and looked at Aquarius for a second. Then, her gaze fell on Lucy, and her expression was filled with wrath in an instant.
Brandish then began her story. Stating that she could vaguely remember living in the Heartfilia Kanzen HQ when she was a young child. Then, one day, her mother, Grammi, took her away from there. And while they traveled, that was when she got to know Aquarius, who was contracted to Grammi at the time.
She also mentioned how Grammi would summon Aquarius to play with Brandish whenever she was busy, hoping to stop Brandish from feeling lonely when she could not be around.
At the same time, everyone else wondered what Aquarius could have done to such a young child that she was so afraid of her.
"Eventually, when we reached our destination, my mother left me with a friend so that she could return to the Heartfilia Kanzen HQ one more time." Brandish said, tears pooling in her eyes as she spoke. "However, that was the last time I ever saw her. She was killed while visiting that woman!"
"No, that's impossible!" Lucy shouted back. "I remember when Grammi came back. She stayed with us until Mom passed away from Magic Deficiency syndrome. Then, before she left, she gave me Aquarius' Key."
"Lies!" Brandish shouted angrily. "Your mother just wanted my mother's key. So, when she came by, she killed her."
With that, Lucy and Brandish continued to argue their version of the way events unfolded.
"Enough!" Aquarius shouted. She then continued in a stern tone. "Lucy's right, Brandish. Layla was too weak to have even considered doing anything to Grammi back then. She only lived another week after Grammi returned to be with her at the end. I'm not sure what happened to her after that, though, as my key had been given to Lucy."
Hearing that, Brandish opened her eyes wide. However, it was clear that she still did not believe her… at least not fully.
"Then… how did my mother die?" Brandish asked skeptically. "If it wasn't Layla wanting her Celestial key, then who was it?"
"*Sigh* It was Mom's disciple, Zoldeo." Lucy replied. "When Mom fell ill, she gave her three keys to Grammi, the butler, Sebastian, and her disciple, Zoldeo."
"Oh, I remember that guy." Aquarius said in a tone filled with disgust. "He always gave me a really bad feeling. And after what he did to Capricorn, that bad feeling was confirmed."
"Yeah, he enslaved his body for years." Lucy replied with a nod. Then, she returned her attention back to Brandish. "Anyway, he had fallen to the dark side of magic. As a result, he wanted all of Mom's keys. So, when Grammi left our house, he killed her, thinking she still had Aquarius' key."
"And where is this Zoldeo now?" Irene asked calmly. Though, everyone could tell she was furious.
"He's dead." Lucy replied with her head lowered. "When I freed Capricorn from his influence, his soul completely dispersed.
Hearing that, Irene nodded in satisfaction. Due to an incident in her past, she really hated treacherous men. So, she was happy that this Zoldeo got what he deserved. But if he had not, she would have taken the time to find him while she was on Ishgar and make him regret betraying those he should have been close to.
Meanwhile, Brandish only lowered her head in response to Lucy's story, causing the room to fall into a few seconds of tense silence. However, the silence was broken when Brandish raised her head with her eyes bloodshot and filled with tears.
"You're lying!" Brandish shouted in agitation. "You're just trying to protect your mother!"
"That's enough, Brandish." Aquarius said sternly. "Everything Lucy said is true."
With that, Aquarius snapped her fingers. Then, a torrent of water shot out of the urn she carried, encircling all those at the kitchen table.
"You better not cause any water damage, Aquarius." Alfonzo shouted from the kitchen. "If you do, your contract with Lucy won't save you. And if that boyfriend of yours, Scorpio steps up, he'll get slapped down, too."
Hearing Alfonzo's threat, Aquarius glared in his direction. However, when she made eye contact with him, all her irritation disappeared immediately. The promise of pain swirling in the depths of his eyes let her know that it was not an idle threat.
"Hmph!" Aquarius snorted as she looked away.
Despite the way she acted, Aquarius made sure to be extra careful while controlling her water. Eventually, all the ladies, and Gildarts, were enclosed in a bubble of water. And while inside, they saw everything that happened after Layla fell sick to the time Grammi gave her key to Lucy.
Then after showing everyone the past, Aquarius returned to the Celestial Spirit World. However, as soon as she was gone, another Celestial Spirit, Capricorn, summoned himself to continue the explanation. Then, once his explanation was complete, he, too, returned to the Celestial Spirit World.
A moment later, Brandish slumped lifelessly in her seat.
"What am I supposed to do now…" Brandish asked lifelessly. "I've been getting stronger all for the chance to take my revenge. What reason do I have to keep going now? The real target for my revenge is already dead..."
No one knew how to comfort Brandish, whose reason for living had just been taken away from her. So, they could only stare in silence. The silence was eventually broken, however, when Alfonzo arrived with breakfast.
On a large platter floating behind Alfonzo, there were freshly baked breads and rolls, thinly sliced meats, cheeses, and Liverwurst. Basically, a classic German breakfast.
"I'm not gonna say something hypocritical like it's not good to live for revenge." Alfonzo said as he lowered the platter onto the table. Then, as he made a plate for Brandish, he continued. "Hell, for thirteen years, that was the only reason I trained, too. You see, I lost my parents when I was a kid, too. So did Lici."
Hearing Alfonzo speaking from so close by, Brandish could not help but raise her head. Everyone else at the table focused on his words, as well.
"Unfortunately, because of a rebellion started by a certain redhead, the ones who killed our parents died before we could meet them and take revenge for ourselves." Alfonzo continued while smiling sweetly at Erza, who smiled back in return. "Still, that didn't stop us from living. We found other reasons to do so, after all."
As he reached that point, Alfonzo placed the plate in front of Brandish. Then, he began making another.
"Over the years we were preparing for our revenge, we found friends, love, hobbies, careers." Alfonzo said as he made the second plate. "So, although it left a void when we found out we were unable to get our revenge, we had other things to live for. And I wouldn't be surprised if you were the same. Unless you only spent the last few years training and doing nothing else."
Brandish did not respond to Alfonzo's words. Instead, she only stared at him blankly. Meanwhile, Alfonzo finished making the second plate. Then, he placed it in front of Irene, who watched him with interest. Once the plate was in front of her, she looked down at it.
'Although it smells amazing, it's a shame that I won't be able to taste it.' Irene thought to herself with lament. 'Still, I have to eat this or else, I'll look suspicious.'
"Anyway, instead of dwelling on the lost opportunity for revenge, why not relax your mind with a good meal?" Alfonzo continued with a smile as he took a seat at the head of the table. "Now, everybody, dig in."
However, all the Fairy Tail wizards remained still, other than Gildarts, who started making himself a plate, it had been years since he had Alfonzo's cooking, after all. The others, on the other hand, watched Irene and Brandish intently. It had become a form of entertainment for all of them to see people's first reactions to Alfonzo's cooking.
"Mmm~~~~~~~!" x 2
And just as expected, both Irene and Brandish moaned quite sensually, causing Alfonzo to cross his legs and Gildarts to stuff a napkin into his nostrils. Despite all that, Alfonzo wore a proud smile on his face.
'If you think losing your sense of taste is enough to keep you from falling victim to my cooking, you've underestimated me way too much.' Alfonzo thought as he finally started making a plate for himself.