Kabe recognized it immediately. That was the magic signal a guild master fired when they needed support.
Seeing it, he finally relaxed, flopped straight back onto the ground, and simply lay there waiting for Fairy Tail to come pick them up.
Sure enough, before long Macao, Erza and the others who had seen the signal came pouring into the forest and quickly found the three of them.
When they arrived, they were first stunned by the utter devastation of the surroundings.
Only then did their attention shift to Kabe, who looked absolutely miserable, and to Gildarts, who still had not managed to climb out of his crater.
Cana, Erza, Mira and the other kids their age rushed to Kabe at once.
The moment they saw him in rags like a beggar, his whole body covered in wounds big and small, the three girls were startled half to death and immediately started fussing over him, asking after his injuries one after another.
Over on Gildarts' side, Macao and a few others jumped down into the pit to check his condition. Judging from the pained screams echoing from down there, he was clearly in no better shape than he looked on the surface.
Only Makarov, who outwardly seemed to be in the best condition, was left standing there all alone, with not a single person coming over to check on him.
That made the little old man so jealous he could hardly stand it. He huffed and snapped.
"Hey, you lot, can you not see there is another injured person here? I am an old man and your guild master, should you not be worrying about me first?"
He really should not have said that. The moment the words left his mouth, Erza's face went dark.
"Master, it is exactly because you are the master that I do not understand why you went along with Kabe and Gildarts in this nonsense. We are all comrades of the same guild, we should be getting along more peacefully and affectionately. How can you act like children, sneaking off to duel in private over a small quarrel, and even fight until all three of you are hurt. On this point, as Fairy Tail's master you should be the first to reflect."
Watching Makarov, head bowed and unable to look up in front of little "adult" Erza, and then looking at Kabe leaning on Cana and Gildarts grimacing as Macao supported him out of the pit, the two idiots forgot their pain for a moment and grinned from ear to ear.
"And you two."
Erza suddenly turned, her sharp gaze sweeping over the pair who were snickering.
"This time the master bears the main responsibility for the mess, but you two do not get to escape either. Tomorrow, each of you will write a ten thousand word self reflection, and the master will write twenty thousand. Hand them in to me. I will check them."
Kabe and Gildarts immediately stopped laughing.
The same two who had been tearing up heaven and earth just moments ago now drooped their heads pitifully in front of "hall monitor" Erza.
..........
In the end, after a long round of pleading and wheedling, the three of them finally managed to lean on their status as "injured patients" and talk Erza into cancelling their punishment.
By evening, Kabe had been wrapped up like a mummy. His eyes were dead and glassy as he lay there, passively accepting the food that Erza was spooning into his mouth.
"Come on, say ah."
Looking at the strawberry cake arriving at his lips, Kabe dry heaved and tried to twist his whole body away in protest.
"S-spare me, Erza, I really cannot eat any more."
Erza set the spoon down with a frown and started lecturing him like a mother scolding a disobedient son.
"No. You are injured, so you have to eat more and replenish your energy. You usually eat so much, how can you be full after just this little bit."
But you are only feeding me strawberry cake. This stuff is nothing but cream, anybody would be sick of it after eating forty slices in a row.
Kabe screamed in his heart. If he had known it would turn out like this, he never would have accepted Erza's "kindness" and let her bandage him, turning him into a mummy.
Of course, he absolutely did not dare speak ill of Erza's beloved strawberry cake out loud.
All he could do was force a smile and jerk his chin at the whole glossy roast chicken on the other side of the table.
"Then how about that, feed me that instead. Meat is better for healing injuries."
"No. That is too oily, you are not allowed to have it."
"Th-then the takoyaki over there is pretty good too."
"Seafood is also not allowed."
"Bread, I can at least have bread, right?"
"Something with no nutrition, eat less."
Every suggestion he made was shot down by Erza. Kabe felt so wronged he was almost ready to cry.
At the same table, the three Strauss siblings could not stand watching anymore. Seeing the state he was in, they could not help feeling sorry for him and several times almost spoke up on his behalf.
Just when Kabe himself was about to resign himself to his fate, Erza seemed to notice the reluctance in his eyes and let out a helpless sigh.
"Honestly, there is just no dealing with you. Since that is the case…"
"You will let me eat the chicken?" Kabe brightened, color returning to his eyes.
"I will hold you while you eat."
"Huh?"
Before Kabe could even process what she meant, Erza's face had already gone red. She pulled him straight into her arms.
If it had been any other girl doing this, Kabe would have been grinning from ear to ear.
But this particular girl was Erza, who wore armor all year round.
Thump.
"So hard," he yelped.
A big lump swelled up on Kabe's forehead at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Erza, however, seemed completely unaware. Cheeks flushed, one hand supporting Kabe's shoulder, she calmly picked the spoon back up with the other.
"All right, this should give you a bit more appetite, right."
Not at all. Are you treating me like a three year old who cannot leave his mother's arms for a single bite?
Kabe could not accept this in the slightest. He felt like his glorious reputation had just gone up in smoke.
Mirajane, sitting at the same table, finally could not take it anymore. She slapped the table and stood up, face burning with a mix of shame and anger as she pointed straight at Erza and shouted.
"You, you, you, you shameless woman. In front of me and in front of the whole guild, what exactly are you planning to do to Kabe!"
A shameless woman?
It was the first time anyone had ever slandered Erza like that. She felt a string inside her, called reason, snap.
She shoved Kabe away, which hurt, then stood up, eyes blazing as she glared back at Mira and shot back.
"Who are you calling shameless, you belly-baring little delinquent."
"Who else but you, armor girl. I have had it with you for a long time. Taking advantage of Kabe being injured to torment him, and then taking the chance to, to…"
Mira suddenly faltered, stammering in embarrassment.
"In short, I cannot keep watching. I absolutely will not allow a woman like you, who only knows how to play little tricks, to get anywhere near Kabe."
"Since when did I need your permission to spend time with my friends. Sounds to me like you are just itching for a fight. Perfect, I do not like having little punk girls as comrades anyway."