Prime Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 7, x791.
After the Eclipse Gate's destruction, the members of Fairy Tail that traveled to the Prime Timeline helped as many people as they could start to recover from the aftermath of the Eclipse Project. Though, they did make it a point to not meet with the Prime Royal Family of Fiore. And the reason for that was simple.
With the exception of Natsu, who was too dumb to understand the entire situation, they all thought that they were a group of royal morons, especially Princess Hisui. Believing Future Rogue without investigating his identity was near the height of stupidity for someone born into a royal family. Add to that the fact that they did not take any precautions just in case something went wrong, and no one could look at them with the level of respect that most royals would receive.
Instead, the members of Fairy Tail enjoyed interacting with the Prime members of the guilds they were familiar with. Even if a lot of the members they knew were not present in this timeline. Even so, all the wizards who helped protect Crocus during the Eclipse Project were gathered together in Crocus' central square, chatting, laughing, and getting to know each other to celebrate surviving the attack of the dragons.
"Wait!" Prime Kagura, usually stoic, shouted as she stood up at the table where she, Erza, Prime Erza, and the members of Prime Mermaid Heel's Grand Magic Games Team, Prime Millianna, Prime Risley, Prime Beth, and Prime Araña, sat. "Did you just say that my brother, Simon, is alive in your timeline?"
Prime Kagura was not the only one surprised by that revelation, as Prime Erza and Prime Millianna were also left with their eyes and mouths wide open in surprise.
"Yes." Erza replied with a nod. "After being defeated at the hotel when he and the others tried to abduct me, we brought them back to the Tower of Heaven. There, Elicia, Cana, and I fought Trinity Raven. Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Ultear helped Simon, Wally, Millianna, and Shô gather their belongings, advising everyone else in the tower to leave along the way."
Seeing the interest on all her listener's faces, Erza went on to explain all the events leading up to the Tower of Heaven incident in her timeline. First, how Ur gave Ultear tickets to Akane Resort, then how they played darts to see who would accompany Alfonzo and Ultear. Next, how Cana, Elicia, and she won the other three spots.
"So, you didn't go with the rest of your team?" Prime Erza asked with a slight frown. "But if Natsu wasn't there, who was it that defeated Jellal?"
"Alfonzo." Erza replied. "Although he was not the strongest member of the guild back then, he was definitely the strongest wizard in our generation. I can't even count how many times he had defeated Laxus by that point."
"Hey, you don't have to tell them that!" Laxus shouted from another part of the central plaza.
"Is what I said false?" Erza asked, sounding confused by Laxus' protest.
"Of course it's not." Alfonzo said from behind a grill he created with his [Metal Magic] to feed everyone gathered. "I've kicked his ass more times than I can count over the years. And he's never won even once."
"Damn you, Alfonzo!" Laxus roared angrily while glaring at Alfonzo.
In response, Alfonzo only smiled. Then, he casually opened his mouth, which Elicia, who was standing next to him with a smile of her own, gently put a piece of meat into. And when Laxus saw that, he could only grit his teeth. Because despite how badly he wanted to start a fight with Alfonzo, he knew better than to attack while Alfonzo was cooking.
"Tch!" Prime Laxus clicked his tongue. "And I thought you were really strong. Looks like you're still not the strongest in your world's guild."
With that, Laxus' head snapped in his counterpart's direction, arcs of lightning crackling in his eyes. Even so, he did not say or do anything. Beating up someone as weak as Prime Laxus would not bring him any level of satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo, while continuing to cook, watched the other wizards in the plaza with a smile. Seeing everyone interact with their counterparts was proving to be entertaining. And seeing Ur and Prime Ultear brought a much gentler smile to his face.
"*Sigh* It's too bad we couldn't cook the dragons, though." Elicia said, bringing Alfonzo's attention back to her. "But they said that eating one would turn whoever ate it into an unstable Dragon Slayer. And I really don't want that."
"Yeah, neither do I." Alfonzo added as he flipped a burger. He then looked around to make sure that no one was close enough to overhear the conversation and continued. "But seriously, to think that there was a continuation to Fairy Tail after we died in that car crash. *Sigh* I'm kinmda upset we missed that."
Yeah, but we get to live it now, don't we?" Elicia asked happily before bouncing up to plant a kiss on Alfonzo's cheek.
"Probably not." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head. "I mean, our world is so different than this one. Who even knows if the rules are all exactly the same there. But that 100-Years Quest is probably the same, though."
"Yeah… Now that you mention it." Elicia said, hanging her head to think for a while. Then, after organizing her thoughts, she looked back up at Alfonzo with a glint in her eyes. "Do you think we should give it a try?"
"In the future, maybe." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "But we still need to deal with Tartaros and Alvarez in the short term. After that, I don't see why not. Besides… Uh… Hold that thought."
The reason for Alfonzo's abrupt end to the topic was something that he had gotten used to in his own world. Currently, both Erza and Prime Erza were cowering away from Prime Ichiya, whose nose was flaring at the sight of two Erzas.
*Zap!*
*Bang!*
"Men~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"
"Master Ichiya~~~~~~~!"
*Boom!*
*Crumble!*
*Zap!*
As soon as Alfonzo stopped talking, he was covered in arcs of violet lightning before vanishing from behind the grill. Then, before Prime Ichiya could react, Alfonzo reappeared right next to him, threw a swift kick that landed on Prime Ichiya's ribs, and sent him flying.
Prime Ichiya's trademark exclamation caught the attention of the members of Prime Blue Pegasus, who called for him in worry when they saw him flying through the air. Then, when they saw him slam into one of the newly repaired buildings, which crumbled down on top of him, they all got up and scrambled to dig him out.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo kissed Erza on the forehead, told her not to worry because he was here, and flashed back to the grill. Then, the girls from Prime Mermaid Heel, other than Prime Kagura, began bombarding Erza with questions about her relationship with Alfonzo.
As for Prime Erza and Prime Kagura, they only stared at Alfonzo. Prime Erza because she was curious to know more about the man that won her counterpart's heart. As for Prime Kagura, she knew Alfonzo was one of the people who helped rescue that world's version of her brother and was curious to know if he ever existed in the current world.
On a side note, Alfonzo and Elicia did exist in this world. However, Bianca and Orlando were no wear near as strong as they were back in the other version of Earth Land. But like they did in the Metal and Threads version of Earth Land, they retired from wizarding, got married, and settled down in the village outside of Hargeon.
However, when the Cult of Zeref came to abduct the village, they were too weak to protect Prime Alfonzo and Prime Elicia. As a result, they were taken to the Tower of heaven. Though, they never interacted with Prime Erza, Prime Jellal, and the others. On top of that, with Prime Alfonzo's temper, untampered by the maturity from a previous life, he ended up getting himself beaten to death by one of the cultists. And shortly after that, Prime Elicia passed away from grief, as Prime Alfonzo was the only thing keeping her going after they lost everything else.
Unfortunately, that was a story that no one would ever find out.
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the central plaza closest to Mercurius, the Flower Light Plaza, a squad of nights had just arrived. This squadron was accompanying two important guests. And they were the Royal Family of Fiore, Prime King Toma E. Fiore and Prime Princess Hisui E. Fiore.
"Finally, we'll have the opportunity to meet with our kingdom's saviors." Prime Toma said as he walked among the knights. "Without them, we would have suffered much worse losses from the invasion of dragons."
However, Prime Hisui did not respond, only walking with her head down alongside her father. Over the last day or so, she had heard about what the visitors from another timeline thought of her actions. And although she was angered initially, she eventually took some time to think about it.
And the conclusion she came to was that they were completely correct. She knew nothing about Future Rogue. Yet, she listened to him like everything he said was the absolute truth. And when considering how intelligent she was usually that did not make sense. But for the life of her, Prime Hisui could not understand what was going through her head.
Eventually, with Prime Toma praising the visitors' actions and Prime Hisui's silence, the procession arrived in the corner of the plaza where Alfonzo, the leader of the group of timeline travelers, was cooking. And as they approached, the noise in the plaza slowly quieted down.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Elicia only shot the group brief glances before completely ignoring them.
"Visitors from another timeline… That is what you call yourselves, correct?" Prime Toma asked, his regal tone not matching his diminutive stature. "I, King of Fiore, Toma E. Fiore, would like to offer you our thanks on behalf of the people of Fiore."
After Prime Toma's words fell, an awkward silence fell in the plaza. All the wizards and knights waiting for a response.
Yet, Alfonzo and Elicia continued to ignore the king's gratitude. And while the members of Alfonzo's and Elicia's Fairy Tail expected something like this, the other wizards were dumbfounded by the blatant disregard for the king that was on display.
Eventually, the knights also realized that Alfonzo and Elicia had no intention of replying to the king. And as those who were most loyal to the Royal Family, they found themselves growing angry, their hands inching towards their weapons in order to teach these rude wizards a lesson.
"Is that all?" Alfonzo, just before the knights could grip the hilts of their swords, asked dismissively. "Then, please do not interrupt me while I'm cooking. It's one of the things I dislike the most in any world."
Once again, the plaza fell silent, the wizards of Prime Fiore's mouths wide open in shock. Meanwhile, the knights grew even angrier while Prime Toma was completely taken aback.
"How dare you!" Prime Arcadios shouted indignantly. "You stand before the King of Fiore. Are you trying to rebel?"
"Hmph! Rebel?" Elicia, in a much sharper tone than she usually used, asked. "Not only did we just save your capital city, but we also helped in the rebuilding efforts. On top of that, we're technically not even from this kingdom. So, how could we possibly be rebelling."
And with the more she said, Elicia's magic power began to leak from anger. As previously stated, the members of Fairy Tail from the other timeline had been avoiding interacting with the Royal Family. One of the reasons was because they thought that their actions that led to the dragon attack were completely idiotic. And the other reason was so that they did not sour relations with the Royal Family if they accidentally said something about it.
But hearing Alfonzo referred to as a rebel immediately crossed Elicia's bottom line. Though, it was not just Elicia who was angered, as one by one, Laxus, Gildarts, Ur, Ultear, Erza, Natsu, Mirajane, Gajeel, Wendy, and Irene arrived near Alfonzo and Elicia while glaring at Arcadios.
"Quick, protect the king!" Arcadios ordered after seeing all of the members of the group of visitors arrive. He then drew his sword and took up a defensive position in front of Prime Toma and Prime Hisui.
Following the orders of their commander, the other knights drew their weapons as well. Meanwhile, both Prime Toma and Prime Hisui looked on in shock. Neither of them took Alfonzo's words as provocation or a seed for rebellion. Unfortunately, because they were not expecting such a blunt response, they found themselves at a loss for words.
And when they saw that the members of the other Fairy Tail did not even seem to be worried, they understood that they did not see anyone present as a threat. Though, the way their eyes narrowed when they saw the weapons drawn did make the two royals worry.
"Let it go, guys." Alfonzo said casually as he dispelled his [Metal Magic], causing the grill and utensils to vanish and the food to fall to the ground. "It's not worth it. We'll just go home since we're clearly not welcomed here."
To be honest, Alfonzo was almost expecting an outcome like this. Thinking from Arcadios' shoes, having such power wizards in the kingdom, ones they could never hope to control, was a security risk. And although he did not appreciate being labeled a rebel after coming to help, he understood his point of view.
That said, he had no intension of putting up with it. So, after dispelling his magic, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the magic item responsible for transporting everyone across timelines.
"Let's go back to the Domus Flau." Alfonzo said while spinning the item in his palm. "We'll leave from where we showed up."
After nodding to Alfonzo's suggestion, the others all waved to those they had interacted with the most since they arrived. Then, they left one by one, leaving Alfonzo behind.
"Well, it was cool meeting parallel versions of everyone from our world." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "But this will probably be the last time you ever see any of us…"
As he spoke, Alfonzo made eye contact with everyone he interacted with, as well. He even turned to look at Prime Ichiya, who was being helped back to the rest of Blue Pegasus by the Prime version of the Trimens.
"Oh, and sorry about that, Ichiya." Alfonzo said. "The you in my world often gets too handsy with my wife, Erza. So, I kinda did that on reflex. Didn't mean to hit you so hard."
"Don't worry about it." Prime Ichiya replied with his most charming smile. "A true gentleman always protects a woman's honor. Men~!"
"Ichiya!" The Prime Trimens shouted in unison, tears of admiration welling up in their eyes.
Smiling wryly, Alfonzo took one more look around. Then…
*Zap!*
He vanished in a flash of violet light, making his way towards the top of the Domus Flau.
Seeing that, both Prime Toma and Prime Hisui wanted to stop him. But because of how quickly everything happened, they had no chance to do so. They then turned their glares onto Arcadios, who realized he had made a mistake by now.
A few moments later, a flash of light lit up the sky above the Domus Flau and the wizards from another timeline were never seen again, leaving those they had interacted with during and after the dragon attack a bit lost, as they still wanted to talk to the people from, what amounted to another, world.