Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August 12, x790.
"You really are one of us, aren't you?"
While returning to the place where all the fighting started, Ur heard those words coming from above. When she looked up, she saw Mirajane, who was still in her [Satan Soul Take Over] floating above her with a smile on her face.
"*Sigh* I'm expecting to hear that at least three dozen more times." Ur replied as Mirajane lowered herself to the ground. "*Sigh* And I don't even know how many points I'm gonna lose for this, either."
"Yeah, I bet Master Mavis isn't gonna b happy." Mirajane said while shaking her head as she reverted back to her base form.
"By the way, did you really need to unseal Bael to deal with the guy you were fighting?" Ur, having sensed Mirajane's short spike in power during her fight, asked curiously.
"Not really." Mirajane said while smiling sheepishly. She then started scratching the back of her head as she continued. "But he said something he shouldn't have. And well… I got a teensy, tiny bit angry. So, I might have kinda atomized him…"
'That guy must have made a threat against Bianca, huh?' Ur thought to herself. 'Well, I can't really blame her. I'm a mother, too. Even though Tear is an adult now, if anyone were to threaten her in front of me, I'd probably freeze every drop of blood in their veins.'
"I completely understand." Ur said with a nod. "As a mother, there was really no other way that could have ended, after all."
"Exactly." Mirajane said, her sheepish smile turning proud thanks to Ur's words. "I would do anything to keep my little girl safe."
Continuing to make their way across the plains, Ur nodded her head as she and Mirajane continued to chat.
'By the way, isn't it about time for Tear to give me a grandchild to spoil?' Ur asked herself while listening to Mirajane gush over Bianca. 'I think I need to sit down and have a long talk with her. And if that doesn't work, I could probably convince Alfonzo to convince her.'
At the same time, Ultear, who wanted to join everyone in fighting Akatsuki but was excluded from the operation by Mavis since her mother was there, shivered. She then, looked around the mansion's backyard from the seat at the table where she and the others were sitting while waiting for everyone to return.
"Tear, is something wrong?" Cana asked curiously while pouring a drink for Ultear.
"I… I'm not sure." Ultear replied warily. "For a second, I felt like I was being plotted against. But there shouldn't be anyone around who would do such a thing after the others left to take care of the enemies."
"That's weird." Lucy, who was sitting across from Cana and Ultear said with a small frown on her face. "Maybe it's that guy from the Oración Seis, Brain, plotting his revenge from prison."
"That could be it." Ultear said in an unsure tone. "Since he couldn't beat Mom, he's probably thinking of taking me hostage to get to her."
"Too bad for him, you're like, totes stronger than Ur was back then." Marin chimed in with a smile.
Smiling in return, Ultear picked up the drink that Cana poured. However, just before she took a sip, Shizuka and Rika led Amar'e and Bianca outside while Shizuka carried Calvin in her arms.
When Ultear's eyes landed on the children, she smiled happily at first. However, the memory of something from the past popped up in her head a moment later. Then, the smile turned into an expression filled with uncertainty.
'I know where that feeling is coming from, now.' Ultear thought to herself. 'Mom's probably thinking about having grandchildren again. I always get the same uncomfortable feeling whenever she brings it up. *Sigh* But if she only knew. I'm terrified of the kids being born with as much magic power as I was and getting sick because of it.'
["*Sigh* I've been listening to you have this same back and forth with yourself ever since you found out that Lici was pregnant."] Kinsi, Ultear's [Armament Spirit] that took the form of an ice phoenix, said in an exasperated tone. ["I wanted to let you figure it out on your own, but I've grown tired of all this."]
'What are you talking about, Kinsi?' Ultear asked, the confusion she was feeling showing up on her face.
["*Sigh* You weren't this slow-witted when you were a child."] Kinsi replied, her exasperation growing quickly. ["You always thought that Gray and your mother were the only ones affected by Fairy Tail's cumulatively low IQ. But it would seem that you were affected, as well."]
'Just get to the point, Kinsi.' Ultear ordered in annoyance.
["*Sigh* Fine."] Kinsi said while shaking its head. ["The only reason there was a problem with your high amount of magic power was because there was no one who knew how to deal with it in Iceberg when you were born. But now, you're guild mates with the best doctor on Fiore, though Master Tsunade would probably disagree with that statement, and you're married to the best magic item craftsman in the world. Is there really anything to worry about?"]
In the next instant, Ultear froze completely. A sound bomb with the words, "Is there really anything to worry about?" exploding repeatedly in her head.
Meanwhile, although she was unaware, the other ladies sitting at the table, Cana, Marin, Lucy, and Brandish, were watching Ultear's facial expressions change rapidly while she spoke with Kinsi. However, when they saw her freeze with a shocked expression on her face, they all grew worried.
"Tear, is something wrong?" Marin asked quickly when Ultear stopped moving for a few seconds.
"Did you figure out who might be targeting you?" Lucy asked as she reached for her Celestial Key pouch. "Do we need to get moving so we can stop them before they can do any harm?"
"I don't think that's it, Lucy." Cana said as she examined Ultear's expression. "She's not pale or angry. So, it's probably not that. Maybe she's just caught off guard by how good the alcohol is. This is from Fonzie's stash. He let me open it for the occasion. So, it's really good, you know?"
"How long did it take you to get him to agree to that?" Brandish asked in her usual, flat, bored tone. Though, there was a bit of curiosity in her gaze.
"Almost an entire year." Cana replied as she picked up her own glass and took a sip. "Honestly, I never thought he would."
*Bang!*
"Kya~~~~~~~~~~~~~~! No~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"
As soon as Cana reached that point, Ultear finally snapped out of the daze that was caused by Kinsi's analysis. When she did, she let her body slump forward, her head slamming into the table and causing a loud noise.
That sudden bang made all the ladies at the table jump. Especially Cana, who was holding her glass to her lips. Unfortunately, when that happened, Cana accidentally poured most of the contents of the glass all over herself, and thus the scream from a moment ago.
"Ultear, are you okay?" Lucy asked in a worried tone.
"What happened?" Marin asked, sounding just as worried.
"She better be!" Cana growled. "Because if she's not, I'm gonna feel a little bad for kicking her ass after making me spill my drink."
Hearing that, Marin, Lucy, and Brandish turned to look at Cana blankly while Shizuka and Rika hurried their steps to check on Ultear. Meanwhile, Amar'e and Bianca, who found Ultear's actions funny, laughed as they ran to keep up with Shizuka and Rika.
"He… Hehehe… Hahaha… Ahahahahaha!" Ultear, starting with a snort, began to giggle then laugh before her laughter turned uproarious. "Stupid! I was so stupid! Why didn't I think of that before. It was so simple! Ahahahahaha!"
Ultear sudden bout of laughter made the other ladies even more worried. Yet, Amar'e and Bianca hurried their steps to get closer to Ultear, who they thought must be having fun based on how she was laughing.
Feeling the children climbing all over her, Ultear finally raised her head. Then, she hugged them both tightly and started to tickle them while laughing along.
Meanwhile, the other ladies, minus Cana, breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Ultear was fine. Cana, on the other hand, stared at Ultear with wrath in her eyes. However, she knew she could not make a move with Amar'e and Bianca in Ultear's arms.
'Oh, I'm gonna get you back for this, Tear.' Cana thought to herself while glaring at Ultear, who did not seem to notice at all. 'It took me forever to get Fonzie to agree to let me open that bottle. And you made me waste so much of it. Just you wait, my revenge will be something you've never seen before.'
At the same time, Alfonzo and Elicia, with Konan in tow, approached the place where Nagato was hiding. When they did, they were impressed by what they saw.
"If I didn't' know any better, I would think this was a real tree." Elicia said as she looked Nagato's hiding place up and down.
As Elicia said, Nagato appeared to be hiding inside a rather large tree. On top of that, because it was on the outskirts of the forest East of Magnolia, it did not even look out of place, as it blended in well with all the other trees.
"Yeah, it's rather well made." Alfonzo said with a nod. "This chick is pretty good at what she does."
"Seriously, it's hard to believe it's made of paper." Elicia added with a nod of her own.
Konan, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded by how easily the hiding place she had created with her [Paper-Style Ninjutsu] was seen through.
In fact, in normal circumstances, Alfonzo and Elicia would not have been able to see through the tree Konan made. But there were two reasons they were able to do so. First, they both were expecting something like that, having seen something similar in the Naruto anime. And second, Alfonzo had found Nagato's hiding place when he released Riot and Bedlam and followed the magic power connecting the Paths of Pain to their origin.
Had it not been for those reasons, they would not have even known, despite having lived near the forest for most of their lives.
"Anyway, there's no point standing around like this." Alfonzo said as he stepped forward. "Why don't we go in and say hi. I'm just dying to meet the son of a bitch who tried to kill my kids."
*Zap!*
With that, Alfonzo took another step forward. Then, in the next instant, Alfonzo's right leg was engulfed in arcs of violet electricity before he threw a devastating kick at the artificial tree's trunk.
*Boom!*
The moment Alfonzo's kick connected; a thunderclap sounded around the area. At the same time, all the animals, mammals, birds, and insects all scattered while the entire tree, hardened as it was, broke down into individual sheets of paper that flew away before fluttering in the gale that was kicked up by the force of Alfonzo's kick.
"Knock, knock, mother fucker!" Alfonzo shouted among the commotion his kick created. "I noticed we had some new neighbors. So, I came to say hi. Maybe even borrow some sugar if you could spare some."
Hearing that, Elicia could not help giggling. Though, she never took her eyes off the mess that Alfonzo had caused. Meanwhile, Konan, after seeing how easily one of her strongest paper constructs had been destroyed, could only gape in dumbfounded amazement with her eyes and mouth open wide.
Unfortunately, there was no response to Alfonzo's declaration. Not that Nagato, who had been hiding inside the artificial tree did not want to. Rather, he could not respond. The force behind Alfonzo's kick, which had caused a gale, also sent Nagato flying, eight-legged walking contraption, and all. And while everyone's ears were ringing from the thunderclap, he slammed into a tree behind him.
And because of his body, weakened from years of having a pair of Rinnegan that did not belong to him implanted into his eye sockets, Nagato fell unconscious as soon as he slammed into the tree. Luckily, he was not too injured from the collision. Though, the same could not be said about his walking contraption.
"Oh… Uh… Oops." Alfonzo muttered sheepishly. "I… Uh… Didn't mean to kick it that hard? I actually did want to talk to him, you know. Wanted to know why he thought destroying my house with everyone in it was such a good idea."
"It's okay, Fonzie, I understand." Elicia, giggling slightly, said in a comforting tone as she patted Alfonzo on the back with her free hand. "I probably would have over did it, as well. But he probably wouldn't have survived my greeting. Since, I was thinking of shredding the entire tree with my [Thread Slicer]. I would have probably minced him, too, though, since I'm so angry that he tried to kill Mar'e."
Konan could only shudder in terror upon hearing Elicia's casual statement. She then realized how lucky shew as to be alive after being pursued by Elicia earlier.
Lucky for Konan, Elicia already knew that Konan usually tried to be Nagato's voice of reason, a voice that was often ignored. So, she held no grudge with the blue-haired kunoichi, who was not even a criminal, having never had a bounty posted for her, unlike Pain and the other members of the Akatsuki.
"Oh well." Alfonzo said, shrugging off his sheepishness. "Let's just take this guy to Porlyusica. She'd probably love to study the Rinnegan after all the fun she had with the Sharingan. Besides, if we don't' get those things out of that guy soon, he'll probably die before we can question him about his stupidity."
"Yeah, and I wanna have a nice, long, talk with him, too." Elicia said with a sweet smile that did not reach her eyes.
"Wait! What?" Konan exclaimed in panic. "So, you were only after his eyes? I should have known."
"Not really." Alfonzo replied with another shrug as he started walking towards Nagato. He then slapped anti-magic restraints on the unconscious redhead as he continued. "Honestly, if he had left well-enough alone, I wouldn't have even bothered with the dumb mother fucker. But he did something he shouldn't have."
"Besides, they weren't even his to begin with." Elicia added with a shrug of her own. "Why do you think they were killing him like this?"
Hearing that, Konan did not even know what to say. She could only open and close her mouth like a fish out of water as she processed what she just heard.
"I mean, seriously?" Alfonzo said after picking up Nagato and slinging his unconscious body over his shoulder. "Have you ever heard of anyone else who naturally awakened special eyes being killed by them? That only happens when they're not natural."
'Just look at Kakashi.' Alfonzo thought to himself as the image of a spiky, white-haired man with a perpetually bored expression, carrying, a little orange book popped up in his mind. 'He can't even turn that Sharingan of his off. And if he fights seriously for more than half an hour, he passes out from magic power exhaustion.'
Not wanting to reveal one of the Village Hidden in the Leaves' secrets, Alfonzo kept that thought to himself. Then, along with Elicia, he walked deeper into the forest, intending to drop Nagato off at Porlyusica's so she could remove the Rinnegan and heal him enough so that he could be questioned. As for Konan, she would be taken to the guild hall, along with the other members of Akatsuki who were captured alive until the guild decided how to deal with them.