A dad, paper roses and a wedding
"Gildartz has come!" Natsu announced for the whole guild to hear before he challenged the S-class mage to another duel but just as usual, the older man refused.
"Cana," the Crash Mage said as he spotted his daughter who seemed utterly shocked. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked and held up a cream coloured invitation letter.
"I am getting married," she muttered as she bit her lower lip. "So I invited you."
"And according to this … invitation, you marry Laxus, correct?" her father asked.
"Yes," she replied as she looked up to him. "Is there a problem?"
"No, darling, of course not," he said as he patted her head. "As long as you are happy, I am happy as well. And frankly, better Laxus than this creepy Bacchus-guy. Laxus is at least decent enough not to steal your top." He hugged her and nearly squeezed the life out of her. "I will stay until your wedding to walk you down the aisle, of course. And is there anything I can do regarding the preparations? I am a master in making paper roses!"
Erza and Mira exchanged a confused look while they mused if the ability to make paper roses was required for an S-class mage – especially since both of them didn't have any skill in this field.
"Oh well, if you ask like this…" Mira said. "Yes, we actually need someone to make enough paper roses for the decoration of the whole guild and if you volunteer…"
"Of course I do," the bride's father announced with a grin. "Just let me get the paper and I will start right away. And believe me, no one can beat me in this field!"
Natsu still tried.
"Well, if now really everyone is doing something…" Gajeel sighed. "I could bake a cake."
Everyone in the guild froze and Gray frowned slightly. "I knew that Bisca can bake … but I didn't know that you can bake as well, Gajeel…" the ice mage muttered.
"Oh, Gajeel-kun is really good at it," Juvia said as she folded her hands in front of her body. "He worked in a bakery before he was thrown out for eating the knives and joined Phantom Lord."
"Um, well, you never stop learning interesting things about your nakama…" Lisanna muttered.
"Hey, hey, Gajeel…" Erza grinned up at him. "Cam you make strawberry cake for me?"
"If you stop watching my every move, gladly," he sighed. "Anyway, we need music and I suggest the barmaid and her boyfriend to take care of this because they should be the best."
"I could call Lyra for the breaks in between," Lucy said as she waved her hand before she looked at her boyfriend who was still trying to understand how paper roses were made.
"Juv- I could manipulate the fountains," the water mage said as she smiled widely.
"I make some ice statues if no one stops me," Gray said as he wrapped one arm around his girlfriend. "And maybe I could get Lyon to make himself useful for once as well…"
"Did he get over his obsession with Juvia by now?" Mira asked as she looked up from her notes.
"Yeah and he is even dating someone right now," the ice mage said. "And believe me, I nearly died when I heard who. Let's say it this way: Erza isn't the only one who dates a member of our most favourite independent guild…"
"Ultear?" Lucy shook her head. "Who would have seen this coming?"
"I tremble in fear of the children they might have," Gray sighed.
"We all do," Lisanna said with a sigh. "This might get ugly, you know."
Freed cleared his throat as he stepped into the centre of the room. "Cana-san," he said with a little bow. "We, the Thundergod Tribe, want to tell you how incredibly thankful we are that you are kind enough to take care of our friend Laxus who needs someone just like you."
"Jeez, you make me sound like a socially retarded jerk, Freed," Laxus muttered as he crossed his arms. "I thought that you guys are supposed to make my reputation shine! That's treason!"
"Well, I never knew that you are such a cry baby, Laxus," Evergreen smirked.
"That's not manly – at all!" Elfman declared. "Be a man, Laxus!"
Needless to say, another all-out-guild fight started seconds afterwards because Laxus had answered with a lightening bolt and the rest was history.
"…just how many paper roses did Gildartz and Natsu make?" Mira asked as she stared in shock at the roses the both mages had produced. "This is more than enough for the guild building and the church, well, now we just need the decoration squad to take care of this issue."
"You called us?" Evergreen asked as she crossed her arms. "We are already here."
"And we will work like true men!" Elfman promised as he gave a thumbs-up sign. "But where is Lucy? She said that she would summon some spirits to help us…"
"I am here, I am here!" the blonde said as she slithered to a stop. "I just had to throw Natsu out this morning and Juvia dragged me to Erza for the measurements of my dress…"
"It's alright, we didn't start yet anyway," Mira smiled as she stared at the roses again. "Oh, and where is Bisca? She said that she would help us as well…"
"Bis is helping Gajeel with the cake," Evergreen shrugged. "It seems to be a good teambuilding idea so I say we let them be and get another helper instead…"
"Well, we don't need another helper because I will just summon some," Lucy smiled. "Aries, Virgo and Leo should be really helpful. I already sent Cancer to style Cana's hair…"
"Where is Levy? Wasn't she supposed to help us as well?" Evergreen asked.
"Well, I saw how Gajeel dragged her off to the kitchen along with Bisca," Lisanna said as she strolled into the guild building. "It was something about not trusting Bisca because of her guns."
"Yes, and I am actually the empress of Fiore," the stone eye mage chuckled. "Gajeel has a major crush on her and I am sure that poor Bis will be pretty disturbed afterwards."
"Bis?" Lisanna asked. "You have a nickname for Bisca, Ever?"
"I happen to hang out with her quite a lot – especially since I sometimes babysit Asuka-chan for her when she is out on a mission with Alzack," the older woman grinned. "And true Greens have to stick together, right?"
"You are disturbing me," Mira said drily.
"Well, that's a feat I can be proud of," her sister-in-law-to-be chuckled. "C'mon, Elfman, there are quite a few paper roses we have to deal with over there…"
"…that looks amazing, Ultear," Lyon beamed at his girlfriend. "Those ice roses … they are simply amazing. We should make more of them…"
"Exactly like this," Gildartz who was the supervisor ordered. "No fights. This has to be perfect for tomorrow evening and if you mess up, you will die."
"Someone is a little bit obsessed with his daughter…" Ultear muttered under her breath as she conjured another formation of ice roses. "Well, I think it's cute, Mr Clive."
"I wished that I had such an amazing wedding," Gildartz muttered as he stared into the distance. "Anyway, we have to make everything perfect for my daughter!"
"Understood, sir!" Gray grinned as he threw away his shirt.
"Gray, stop stripping in the presence of my girlfriend!" Lyon shouted.
"You stripped in Juvia's presence before so I will ignore this," the younger man replied. "But tell me, Ultear, will Meredy be there as well?"
"She actually looks forward to meeting Juvia-san again, Gray," Ultear said smoothly as she formed another set of elaborate flowers made of ice. "And I think that she might harbour a tiny little crush on a certain mage from Blue Pegasus. Not that Hibiscus-guy or Ren … no, the small one…"
"Eve," Gray said as he nodded. "Well, somehow, I can see this to tell the truth."
"It's just cute, isn't it?" his teacher's daughter chuckled as she looked around. "And there is Juvia-san … I heard from Lyon that she will help us today?"
"Yes, she will be in charge of the fountains. Today, she will try out a few things but tomorrow, she will unleash her full potential," Gray said as he waved at her before he created an especially beautiful flower. "I actually look forward to this whole event. I wasn't sure at first when Cana said that she will marry Laxus because he made quite a few mistakes but now, I think that everything will be alright and I hope that he will make her happy … because if he doesn't, I will kill him … and it will be a slow and painful death…"
"Cana is your best friend, isn't she?" Ultear asked with a small smile.
"Yes," he said with a shrug. "We were the first of our generation to join Fairy Tail, well, along with Laxus but he never talked so he doesn't count."
"That looks great, Aries!" Virgo smiled as the timid spirit finished the ornament of paper roses she had been working on. "Seriously, you are actually pretty good at things like this…"
"T-thank you, Virgo-nee," the Ram muttered quietly as she looked up to the other spirit.
"Great job over there, ladies," Leo said as he carried another box of roses over to another window. "Honestly, I knew that Gildartz was a man of many talents but I never pledged him to be the one who would create millions of paper roses for his daughter's wedding."
"Well, you never know how romantic and caring fathers are," Evergreen said as she flew up to the ceiling to attach a bunch of paper roses to a lamp. "I actually think that Elfman would be an even sweeter daddy than Gildartz but I am not too sure about this one … yet."
"You are still the most impossible woman I ever met – worse than Aquarius, actually," Leo shook his head. "But it doesn't surprise me that you are dating him now. I always had a feeling that you might like him … because you always stared into his direction when you were in the guild…"
"Give me a good reason not to kill you now, Loke," the stone eye mage glared at him.
"Cana might kill you for killing an important part of the wedding preparations and you would upset my fellow spirits," the Lion-spirit chuckled. "Oh, and you cannot even kill me properly."
"Seriously, your ego rivals Laxus' – and this is not a compliment, Loke," she huffed before she took another set of roses. "Another question: who are you dating right now, stellar spirit?"
"Well, I am dating the amazing Aries right now," he grinned as he wrapped one arm around the timid spirit. "Are you jealous now, Evergreen? Jealous that we get to spend all the time we want together while you and Elfman are always interrupted by annoying missions?"
"Leo, you are embarrassing Aries-chan again," Virgo scolded gently. "Honestly, you will never learn, will you? She is a very shy spirit and you seriously should consider her feelings sometimes because frankly, you tend to be a real jerk … worse than Aquarius, actually."
"You just had to compare me with the Queen of Moodiness, did you?" he sighed as he returned to his work. "Seriously, Virgo, sometimes you are as much of a brat as she is."
"Oh, well, this was the fourth cake we ate, wasn't it?" Bisca asked as she stared at the remains.
"The fifth, actually," Levy said as she shook her head. "We should stop eating them all on our own and finally bake the one for the wedding tomorrow because if we don't we will get in trouble."
"This would be easier if Gajeel wouldn't make such delicious cakes," Erza who had joined them sighed. "But we will be strong. We will resist the next cake, alright? We will be true fighters…"
"So, I tried to make a new kind of strawberry cake," Gajeel said with a hidden smile as he put down another cake in front of them. "And this time, you want eat it, Titania, alright? We are running out of time because of you. The first five cakes, alright, but not the sixth as well, okay?"
"Yes," she said with a nod. "We promised that we will stay strong and won't eat this one as well."
"Thank you very much," the iron dragon slayer sighed as he turned away. "I will make a few more because we will have a full house. Bisca and Levy, back to your positions … and Titania, stay away from the strawberry cake, understood? I saw the way you stare at it … freak."
"You just don't appreciate the taste of a good slice of strawberry cake," the redhead muttered.
"Actually, I do appreciate it just as much as you do but I am more careful about it because I don't want to end up poisoned just because I cannot keep myself from eating it," he replied.
"…finally…" Mira muttered as she leaned against the doorframe. "I thought that we would never finish with those damned paper roses…"
"I agree," Lucy said. "Maybe we should get the master to ban them – just for the future…"
"This might insult Gildartz and believe me, the last thing you want to do is to insult him," Lisanna sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Anyway, we still have to check if the dresses fit, Lucy-chan."
"Ah well," the blonde muttered. "I really wished that I could trade jobs with Wendy and Romeo. They just hang out in the hotel where the guests will sleep and greet them. This is the easiest job in the whole issue right now. I mean … Cana is my friend and I love her dearly but I still want to sit down and cool my feet before they can fall off. I've been running too much lately, Lisa-chan."
"Yes, they really got the easiest job out of all the jobs available," Lisanna agreed. "Still, we should be proud that we fulfilled such a difficult task … I mean who but a mage of Fairy Tail would ever deal with so many paper roses at once? This was nearly an invasion of paper roses, right?"
Mira blinked twice before she broke down in laughter. "Yeah, Gildartz newest attack: Invasion of Paper Roses – it's his unison raid with Natsu," she laughed out.
"Making fun of my skill, Mira," Gildartz asked as he walked over to the trio. "I am a little bit disappointed by this, you know? I always thought that you would see how … great they are, Mira."
"They are wonderful, Gildartz, but I never expected you to make so many of them," Lisanna said kindly as she smiled up at him. "Anyway, we have a lot to do until tomorrow evening."
"I agree," he said. "I need to take Cana out for dinner tonight to make sure that she won't see Laxus before the actual wedding. This is an important rule after all."
"Yes," Mira said. "For the rest, there will be a party at the old guild tonight."
"You mean the building we used before we return to our old strength?" Lisanna asked.
"Yes, the second building of Fairy Tail," her sister said darkly as she remembered the time of embarrassment for all the Fairy Tail mages. "I guess that Master Mavis might be there tonight as well. She usually likes to be there when there is a party."
"Just like every other Fairy Tail mage as well, huh?" Lucy smiled before she skipped down the road to go to her last fitting for her dress.
"I am actually nervous," Gildartz admitted. "I never did this before and I am nervous."
"Dad," Cana sighed as she smiled up at him from behind her veil. "It will be good, alright?"
"How can you be so calm about this?" he asked.
"I love him and I know that he loves me as well," she said. "Why should I worry, dad?"
Her dress was plain yet beautiful with a bodice with a pattern that showed the Fairy Tail crest and a skirt that allowed her to move without any trouble. Her hair was up for once and she wore her mother's jewellery.
"You make it sound so easy," he sighed deeply as they made their way into the church with the bridesmaids in the front. "You are really a lot like your mom, Cana."
"Thank you, dad," she smiled before they finally reached the altar.
Laxus took her hand into hers and smiled at her the whole time before it was finally time to say their vows. "Before our friends, our guild that is our family as well and those so special to us here, on this wonderful day of gladness and good fortune, I, Laxus Dreyar, take you, Cana Alberona, as my wife, in friendship and in love, in strength and weakness, to share the good times and misfortune, in achievement and failure, to celebrate life with you forevermore," he said calmly but loud enough for the whole church to hear.
"This is so sweet," Mira muttered as she wiped away her tears.
"I agree," Erza whispered. "Does anyone have a handkerchief?"
"Before our friends, our guild that is our family as well and those so special to us here, on this wonderful day of gladness and good fortune, I, Cana Alberona, take you, Laxus Dreyar, as my husband, in friendship and in love, in strength and weakness, to share the good times and misfortune, in achievement and failure, to celebrate life with you forevermore," the bride replied softly but her voice was also loud enough for everyone to hear.