Earth Land, Ishgar, Stella, Altair.
October 19, x791.
While Alfonzo was on his way to finalize the quest with Kurapika, the rest of the team drove to the coordinates Alfonzo sent them. Of course, Gildarts was made to make his way to the extraction zone on foot because Ur did not want to chance him destroying her magic vehicle.
Also, Elicia, Cana, Ultear, and Sun strapped Zash's coffin to the top of the Escalade, all while it was hidden by Elicia's [Camouflage Magic] and brought the Traitor of Fiore with them.
Now, the entire team was standing in an open area outside of Altair waiting for both Alfonzo and the Blackbird to arrive.
"Ah! I'm ready to go back home." Gildarts said while stretching his arms over his head. He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a flask as he turned to look at Cana. "By the way, Cana, I found some pretty good booze in the city yesterday. How about having a drink with your dear ol' dad before we leave?"
Because he, Ur, and levy were not around when the rest of the group discussed punishments for causing property damage, Gildarts was expecting Cana to jump on the chance to drink on his dime. However, when he saw Cana look away with a pout on her face, he was thoroughly confused.
And he was not the only one who was so surprised.
"Did Cana just turn down a free drink?" Levy asked in a dumbfounded tone. She then looked up at the sun's position in the sky and continued. "Did the sunrise from the west today?"
"Hmph!" Cana only snorted in response while not turning to look at anyone else.
"Sweetie, is something wrong?" Gildarts asked in a concerned tone. "Come on, have a drink and tell your dear ol' dad all about it."
"Leave me alone, you annoying old man." Cana said gruffly.
*Thud!*
Immediately, Gildarts fell to his knees with a pale complexion. Meanwhile, Ur let her gaze roam over everyone else in the surroundings.
Levy's confused expression was still present, which did not surprise Ur in the slightest, as she, too, was confused by Cana's response. However, when she saw the expressions on Bickslow's, Evergreen's, and Elfman's faces, she started to put two and two together.
'Those three look really nervous.' Ur thought to herself. 'But why? What do they know that we don't?'
Next, Ur let her gaze sweep over Elicia, Ultear, and Sun. And when she saw Elicia giggling at the situation while Ultear and Sun were also fidgeting nervously, she finally understood.
"Alfonzo is punishing everyone who caused property damage, isn't he?" Ur asked calmly with a slight smile forming on her lips. "But it's not only Cana who's being punished, is it? He's probably gonna punish Tear, Sun, Bickslow, Evergreen, and Elfman, too. Am I right?"
The nervous fidgeting increased from the five Ur mentioned, letting her know that her conjecture was correct.
"Really?" Gildarts asked as he shot up to his feet. "How dare he? I'll teach him a lesson for bullying my little girl!"
"[Ice-Make: Fist]." Ur chanted as she made her casting gesture.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
Faster than Gildarts could react, a fist made of ice appeared over his head before slamming down viciously. As a result, Gildarts was hit on the top of his head before slamming face first into the ground.
"Shut up for a bit." Ur said casually as she let the [Fist] dispel. "First of all, you need to stop enabling her. If you were stricter, things like this wouldn't' happen so often. And second, how do you intend to teach him a lesson when he can beat you up with no issue now?"
"Ur~. That hurt." Gildarts whined while rubbing the top of his head.
"It was supposed to." Ur replied dismissively.
Ur then turned her attention to the rest of those who caused property damage on this quest.
"That goes for the rest of you, as well." Ur said while resting her hands on her hips. "When are the lot of you going to stop causing so much trouble."
"You act like you don't cause damage on quests." Ultear muttered in a disgruntled tone. "You're just lucky that you were assigned outside of the city this time. That giant ice pillar you created would have caused more damage than the rest of us combined…. Well, except for Cana, that is."
"Did you say something, Tear?" Ur asked with an eyebrow raised and a hand covered in [Ice Magic].
"Eek! I didn't say anything." Ultear squealed frantically after seeing the ice on her mother's hand. "Nothing at all! I promise!"
*Snicker!* x 3
Hearing several snickers, Ultear snapped her head in their direction only to see Elicia, Cana, and Sun laughing at her.
*Voom~~~~~~~~~!*
However, before Ultear could snap at her sister-wives, the sound of engines coming from the sky drew everyone's attention in their direction.
"Looks like it's almost time to go." Ur said while looking up at the dot on the horizon that was growing larger as it approached.
"Finally." Elicia said as she shot a glare at the metal coffin strapped to the top of the Escalade. "I'm tired of sharing the same air as that thing."
"By the way, what did he do to make you so angry?" Evergreen asked curiously.
With that, Elicia exploded into a tirade about what she found in Zash's underground facility, causing all the other Fairy Tail wizards to grow angry, as well.
*Zap!*
"Looks like I made it in time." Alfonzo said as he appeared next to Elicia in a flash of violet light. "Huh? Oh… You just told everyone about his disgusting hobbies, huh?"
Noticing how angry everyone was, especially the women, Alfonzo immediately understood the situation he just stepped into. Shaking his head, he eventually turned his attention to the Blackbird which would be landing in a moment or so.
Before long, the Blackbird landed near the group. After that, it did not take long for the cargo bay to open, lowering a ramp for the vehicles to enter. Yet, to everyone's surprise, the entrance to the cargo bay was not empty, as Mirajane, Shizuka, Amar'e, Bianca, Calvin, and Miyuki were standing there.
"Dad! Mommy!" Amar'e shouted as he started to run down the ramp.
"Daddy!" Bianca also shouted as she followed after her older brother.
"Papa!" Calvin shouted while he was led down the ramp by his mother, Shizuka.
Seeing the children, two more of his wives, and his personal maid, Alfonzo smiled. The others smiled as well at the sight of the children and other members of the guild.
Amar'e and Bianca, who had been training their magic power and magic power control, reached Alfonzo and Elicia much faster than any child should have been able to. And Alfonzo and Elicia knelt down to scoop them up with Alfonzo wrapping an arm, each, around Amar'e and Bianca while Elicia also hugged Amar'e along with Alfonzo.
"Mar'e! Mommy missed you!" Elicia squealed happily before she rained down kisses on Amar'e's face.
"Daddy! I missed you!" Bianca squealed just as happily as Elicia as she peppered Alfonzo's face with kisses, as well.
While Amar'e squirmed to get away from the torrent of kisses from his mother, Alfonzo only smiled as his daughter rained kisses on him. Eventually, Alfonzo and Elicia stood up with the children in their arms. AT the same time, Mirajane, Shizuka, Calvin, and Miyuki arrived near the rest of the group. Also, Grayfia, after stepping away from the pilot's seat, made her way to the cargo bay entrance and started approaching the group, as well.
"So, how did the quest go?" Mirajane asked the group after pecking Alfonzo on the cheek.
Meanwhile, Shizuka walked behind Alfonzo before putting Calvin on his shoulders and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"We missed you, Fonzie." Shizuka said as she tightened her hug.
"Missed you, Papa!" Calvin cheered while holding onto Alfonzo's dreads.
"There was no issue completing the quest." Ur said with a smile. She then let her gaze roam over Cana, Ultaer, Sun, Evergreen, Bickslow, and Elfman. "But there will be quite a bit of punishment when we get back."
Hearing that, Mirajane's gaze followed Ur's with a raised eyebrow. Then, her gaze zeroed in on her younger brother.
"What did you do, Elfman?" Mirajane asked in a strict, elder sisterly tone.
"Big Sis… I only did what would be expected of a Fairy Tail wizard." Elfman replied in a nervous tone. A moment later, however, he puffed out his chest as he continued confidently. "I fought and defeated the enemy like a real man!"
*Smack!*
Mirajane could not help face-palming when she heard Elfman's catch phrase.
"Elfman. What? Did. You. Do?" Mirajane asked with her hand still covering her face while speaking in a menacing tone.
Hearing his sister's tone, Elfman could not maintain his proud stance, instantly lowering his head in fear.
"I… Kinda… destroyed a portion of a street in the city." Elfman said, his tone softening with every word.
"I see…" Mirajane replied. She then turned to look up at Alfonzo. "Punish him harshly, Alfonzo. Without a harsh punishment, he'll never learn."
"Oh, I plan to." Alfonzo said with a devious smile on his face. "He's part of the reason my perfect record has been broken."
*Gulp!* x 5
Bickslow, Evergreen, Ultear, Elfman, and Sun all gulped audibly. While Bickslow, Evergreen, and Elfman gulped at the thought of being Alfonzo's training, or rather sparring partners, Ultear and Sun gulped because Alfonzo still had not told them how they would be punished.
"Anyway, let's get outta here." Alfonzo said, no longer wanting to continue the conversation. "I wanna go home."
"Yeah, let's go home!" Amar'e shouted. "I wanna show you my magic."
That was enough to make Alfonzo raise an eyebrow. Although he had started to train Amar'e, he had only read the [Electromagnetism Magic] book to him once. So, hearing Amar'e say that he wanted to show off his magic was quite the surprise.
Either way, that ended the little pow-wow happening outside the Blackbird. After the magic vehicles were loaded and everyone was in their seats, Grayfia took off and set a course for…
Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
Sitting in her office with Irene, Mavis set her lPhone on the desk after ending a call with Alfonzo.
"So, they're on their way back?" Irene asked casually as she swirled a glass of wine while sitting on a couch in front of Mavis' desk.
"Sort of." Mavis replied as she picked up a document. She then continued while filling in said document. "First, they'll be heading to the capital. Apparently, they were able to capture Zash Caine, the one who tried to start a coup earlier this year."
"Oh, that pathetic little man." Irene said, a hint of disgust leaking into her tone. "They should have just killed him outright. His hobbies were rather… distasteful."
"Hobbies?" Mavis asked while tilting her head in confusion.
"Don't worry about it." Irene replied with a dismissive wave. "It's not something suitable for polite conversation. And since he's been taken in, it surely won't come up again."
"If it's so bad, how do you know about it, Irene?" Mavis asked.
"Let's just say I saw something I didn't want to see the last time I was in the capital." Irene replied. "But because we were dealing with those time travelers, I didn't make time to put an end to his disgusting practices. And by the time the Grand magic Games were over, I had completely forgotten about that cockroach."
"I see." Mavis said before going back to filling in her document.
"By the way, is that a compensation report?" Irene asked while looking at the document Mavis was filling out.
"Yup!" Mavis said, sounding way too energetic for the task she was completing. "Alfonzo and Ur assessed the damage in Altair. And Alfonzo was even able to give me an estimate of how much the repairs would cost based on Sixth Sense Constructions' rates."
"Constructions?" Irene asked while raising an eyebrow. "That boy has his hands in all sorts of pies, doesn't he?"
"Yes, he's quite the entrepreneur." Mavis said with a smile. "I'd say, he's probably even better than Jude Heartfilia was in his prime."
"That's Lucy's father, correct?" Irene asked rhetorically. "I heard he was quite good at what he did before his wife passed away. But after that, he started making enemies left and right. As a result, he was forced into bankruptcy after Lucy ran away from an arranged marriage."
"That's about it.' Mavis replied with a nod. "But now, from what I've heard, he's trying to start over. I'm actually surprised that Alfonzo did not offer him a spot in his company like he did with Marin's father."
"If I had to guess, it's probably because that man is too ambitious." Irene mused aloud. "I doubt that man would be satisfied working under someone, even if he had all the freedom he needed to succeed."
"That's true." Mavis said as she finished filling out the document. "Anyway, let's go. I'm gonna put this in the mail. Then, let's see what the youngsters are doing downstairs."
"Sure." Irene said with a shrug before finishing her glass of wine.
Mavis put the document in an envelope and sealed it before getting up. And when Irene saw that Mavis was ready to leave, she stood up, as well. Then, the two oldest members of the guild made their way to the elevator and headed down to the ground floor to send off the mail and interact with the younger members of the guild.