I do not own the song Wings, it is by Little Mix. It's a very good song; you should check it out!
This occurs in between the GMG Arc and the Tartaros Arc.
Also, I deny that _ is dead *hisses*
"Another one!" Cana Alberona shouted out from a table at the Fairy Tail bar. Swiftly, a barrel of beer was delivered to her side, and the brown-haired guild member grinned madly, still intoxicated by drink. She lifted up the barrel of alcohol, and started to drink straight from the barrel.
Her new male companion that day draped himself all over her, drunk too. He sighed dreamily, staring up at her with bloodshot eyes. Cana had forgotten his name, but it didn't matter. He reached over to hug her, but she missed him and hugged her barrel of beer instead.
Finally, at last call, Cana stumbled blearily back to her apartment, and collapsed on her bed. It was some miracle that Cana barely got drunk, even with her love for liquor. Must be something in the genetics. Whatever. Slowly, she fell asleep on the mattress, still in her day-clothes. She dreamed that her boyfriend was the barrel of beer.
The next day, Cana's alarm clock went off bright and early. Promptly, she proceeded to sleep-roll off her bed, snoozing the noise. Of course, rolling off the bed was just as good as her other wake-up call. She groaned, and stood up, stretching out her achy limbs.
Maybe Cana would go on a mission today. The past week, she had merely had fun with her drinking buddies, and now, she was dying for some real action again. Well, it was closer to the truth that she did feel like she had a purpose, not really, when all she did was drinking. She quickly showered, changed into a different outfit, and threw a rock down at the men ogling after her, even at dawn.
The guild was pretty empty, except for a few men just mulling around the place, now sober. At first, she stared up at the S-Class Missions on the second floor, but then shook her head. Cana hadn't won the tournament. Well, it had been canceled. But she didn't really care, now that she'd told Gildarts that she was his daughter, something that she'd sworn she would do when she became S-Class.
Instead, she headed towards the normal mission board, scanning the list to find a job that A) wasn't entirely insane and B) paying a reasonable amount to cover her monthly rent.
No, she did not want to murder a stampede of violent beasts... No, she did not want to pose in a very revealing bikini for a restaurant... Aha! Cana read over the details of this new mission. Participate in a showy public duel with a barmaid, and for 5000J! She plied it from the board, and smiled.
But first she would need some, ah, sparkle. Perhaps some Fairy Glitter?
After conveniently being gifted some Fairy Glitter from Mavis, who was all too eager, Cana set out for the job. Okay, so she definitely wouldn't need it for a barmaid. But hey, they wanted a show, so she would give them a show.
Luckily, the location of the bar was a small town on the outskirts of Magnolia, so it wouldn't be too far of a walk.
As soon as Cana arrived at the town, panting and sweating slightly from being more out of shape than she'd thought, she was immediately dragged into a nearly deserted bar, presumably the place who'd posted the job, by a very short man, presumably the bartender.
Even now sitting down at an empty table, she could still stare him down. The man in question sweated nervously, obviously worried about the mage now in his town. Cana guessed that this town was one of the small places where the locals didn't use or need for any magic; or even just used charms brought from magic shops.
"You're the wizard from Fairy Tail?" the man asked, eyes darting around. Jeez, was he always this nervous? But she nodded in confirmation, then introduced herself. "Cana Alberona," she said, reaching down the shake his hand, which was, surprise surprise, pale and sweaty.
"My name is Higuchi, and I'm the bartender here," he told her. "And this is my barmaid, Cornelia," Higuchi said, with a gesture behind him, where a middle-aged woman stood. She was probably in her early forties.
Cornelia... That name sounded familiar, but she didn't know from where. Nobody important, most likely. Cana smiled at the lady, and Cornelia smiled back, a sad twinkle in her eyes.
Higuchi cleared his throat. "You'll be to mock-battle Cornelia outside the bar, hopefully to attract some customers. Of course, make sure to miss a lot, since Cornelia will only be using souvenir charms, but still keep it dramatic, showy, and long-drawn-out," he advised Cana, coughing again.
They both nodded, and stepped outside into the sun. At once, Cornelia's face contorted into a sneer, playing the part. " Oh no you didn't," she hissed, staring daggers at Cana.
"Oh yes, I did," Cana growled, leaping into action by shooting a spray of Fairy Glitter at Cornelia, making sure to go right above where Cornelia ducked. In retaliation, the barmaid used a ring to summon a fireball, but Cana caught it with a carefully thrown card that then sliced through the air right to the left of Cornelia's face.
The fight continued on like that for an hour, visitors flocking to the bar, intrigued by the new magic. When Cana finally 'defeated' her opponent, she shot some sparkles into the sky for pretty victory fireworks.
Cana helped Cornelia to her feet again, and shook her hand. "That was a lot of fun," the mage said, smiling again. Cornelia... the name was still ringing a bell.
"And it certainly made Mr. Higuchi happy," she added with a chuckle, glancing inside the bar where he was jumping for joy with customers surrounding him.
She narrowed her eyebrows... "Cana, you probably don't remember me."
Ah, now she remembered who Cornelia was. "Mama!" Cana embraced her mother gleefully. "Have you been working... here for all these years?" she asked, worriedly.
Cornelia nodded sadly. "Yes. One drunken night, I sold my soul to Mr. Higuchi. And the next day, when I had second thoughts, and threatened me. Well, he threatened your life. I... I just left you there, all alone to work with this fame-crazed drunk bartender. And your father, Gildarts... he believed I was dead as well," she said with a melancholy air.
"Cana, if I never see you again, if I can only give you one tidbit of advice, it would be this: Don't let alocohol ruin your life. I can smell it heavily on you; I smelled it since I first saw you today, an hour again. Drinking can take over, and makes bad decisions for you. Get the freedom you deserve. Your wings are meant to fly."
That night, again at the Fairy Tail bar, Cana sat alone at a table, having dumped Boyfriend #153. Wakaba stumbled over to her, a grin on his face. "Cana, you up for a drinking contest?" he slurred, again in a tizzy.
She thought about her reunion with her mother that day. About her advice.
She made the new answer that she hadn't ever said before.
"No."
Everybody in this bar needed their freedom. They had thought alcohol was giving it to them, just like Cana had before. But instead, it was just restricting them, binding their wings to their back.
Cana kicked over a barrel of beer, and left the bar silently. It might have been only a simple deed, but for Cana it meant just a tiny little bit of having her feet off the ground. A little bit of flight for her unused wings.
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