When The Master Calls
It had taken a little time, but Gray had managed to get them tickets for an express line train that would run from the border between Bosco and Fiore to a stop at the Magnolia station on its route across Fiore. Of course it was a bit more of a hassle as the devil slayer had to load up the girls' luggages on his own, the coach driver had to immediately return to the mansion for obvious reasons so he could not stay to lend a hand. It was tedious, but he was just glad it all felt like carrying milk jugs and the two young ladies were willing to help as much as they could.
Still, he was responsible for two heiresses now and though he hated the idea of leaving them to his daughter, he knew that they were much safer at Fairy Tail than with him. Now that he thought about their safety, the hooded devil slayer needed to get them moving to a more secured car. Just knowing in which country he was in and the angered father he had taken his daughter's from is enough for him to know that trouble won't be far behind.
Both girls were ready to listen to him and had no room to complain, for they both had more than enough experience to tell them that the world outside of their estate was a harsh one. They learned quickly that their only real chance of starting anew was getting out of Bosco, so listening to Absolute Zero was necessary as he was their only guide. Though they still had their private reserves about him since he had done an unbelievable job of acting like all of the other scum they had been exposed to from the moment they were kidnapped when they first met.
In any case, all three had traveled through a couple of train cars before arriving to an empty one and Gray found it to be the perfect place to spend the rest of the ride. Once they all had stepped in, the hooded devil slayer froze the train door behind them and the young ladies didn't react to it negatively for the prior knowledge that it was his way of making sure they aren't snuck up on. With the entrance sealed the next thing on Gray's list was to contact Yuki and inform her of his upcoming visit, yet he was unsure whether or not to allow her to tell someone else about it. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in the hooded man's mind that someone's going to come along with her, so he had to be prepared.
"You two stay here, I'm going to make the call to my student so she knows that we are on our way." Gray informed them and made his exit at the other end of the train car, freezing that one as well once he stepped outside.
The devil slayer fumbled around inside the carry on bag he had on him underneath his cloak until his hands finally found the Lacriphone he still owned. His history with the device wasn't so intriguing as he was given one by Erza during his time as an undercover agent in Avatar and once Fairy Tail had been reestablished, he asked Warren to give him another one just in case he lost his current one. Surprisingly enough, the devil slayer never lost his main Lacriphone and merely had the second inside a box collecting dust until the entire incident with Alvarez and took it with him. He later gave it to Yuki when he believed it was necessary for her to keep in contact with him and the rest was history, though he was surprised to know that her Lacriphone was still functioning after so many years of inactivity.
He let go of the memories that were flooding through his mind and went back to thinking about contacting Yuki. There was no guarantee that everyone's safety would be alright if he immediately left Apryl and Madeline to Yuki, but if he surprised his daughter with his visit then there would be a lot more to deal with as soon as she learned of his arrival. He juggled with the ideas for a little more before he decided that it was better for Yuki to know that he was on his way so there were better safety measures for everyone in place once they made it to Magnolia.
Allowing his magic to flow into the device, Gray waited for the machine to connect to the other line and couldn't believe how far Warren has advanced communication that can travel miles away without the usage of a communication lacrima. He held it against his ear, looking out at the rolling hills as the train passed them and hummed a little tune to himself until he heard the receiver on the other end pick up. The first thing he heard was Yuki's labored breathing, trying hard to catch whatever air she could into her lungs and held back saying anything once she finally settled down.
"Did you run a mile before you answered me?" Gray questioned jokingly as the younger ice mage gave her apologies and greeted her master properly although the devil slayer merely gave a chuckle after it.
"No need to be so formal Yuki, it's just me and you've been a part of Fairy Tail for over a couple of months now so it should already tell you how "formal" they are in the guild." The hooded mage wondered when she decided to be so polite and expected the curt reply she gave to him on manners and lack there of with many in the guild.
"Glad to know that you're still standing strong, but I need you to listen to me very closely." Gray heard her stammer on her words before she agreed, though the devil slayer knew she wasn't expecting him to become so serious so fast.
"In about four days I need you to be waiting by the Magnolia Station with someone you can trust at your side." As expected, Yuki questioned his words and he wondered how she'd react to the news a little more now. "Because I'm placing two former heiresses under your care until they find a guild they wish to join."
The devil slayer now stood with his Lacriphone ten inches away from his ear as Yuki went into a tirade about her gaining new responsibilities over two strangers when she was already dealing with her guildmates as it was. She pointed out Cana the most for bothering her more than anyone else and Gray found it ironic that she was complaining about her mother like that. Although he couldn't blame his daughter for being mad as this was his first call to her after her birthday and the devil slayer was only calling to tell her of her upcoming duties. Though he couldn't let her go on as she would most likely garner attention to herself wherever she may be, so he decided to drop, what he could only guess as, the good news(?) to her.
"Sharp tongue as always, but will you still say that when I'm standing in front of you?" He questioned her and internally chuckled at how she repeated his question in an astonished voice. "That's right, I'll also be coming to Magnolia as well for a...short visit so that's why I want you to bring someone you can trust along for the occasion."
In came the apologies one after the other as his young daughter had realized her master was actually coming to Magnolia and he could only assume how much she was biting her tongue at her past remarks. He was happy to know that her time at the guild hasn't changed her attitude at all and hoped she'd made great connections with his former comrades as not only guildmates, but family as well. Gray let her go on for another minute before he decided that she had already made her point of being sorry for speaking to him in such a way.
"It's fine Yuki, just remember to be ready at the station by at least twelve o'clock. We should be arriving by then if we keep to the schedule." She gave her reply of confirmation to him and he gave a smile at the thought of her face when she sees him. "Good, see you then Yuki." The young ice mage gave her goodbye and he hung up, sighing exasperatedly as this would be marking his first time back in Magnolia in four years.
"I can only imagine how everyone is, maybe I should pay them a quick visit..." Gray thought to himself; looking back at not only his guildmates, but the other important people to him living in Magnolia.
With that, Gray went back into the train car and allowed his mind to wander about old memories he hadn't given a thought about in many years. As for Yuki, she was reacting much like Gray had expected.
The little brunette was inside the guild hall when her master had called her and immediately dashed outside to take his call as it was the first he's done so in a while. Many of her fellow guild mates watched her go, to which they had been curious at the sudden exit although they just let it be and went back to what they were doing. Except her unbeknownst grandfather had watched her go worriedly and a certain scarlet haired mage passed her once she was entering the hall. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that she returned looking slightly giddish which had both Erza's and Gildarts' curiously watch her as it was the first time either of them had witnessed such a look on the little ice mage.
Of course the orange haired crash mage was the first to move as he wished to know what made his granddaughter so happy. Lucky for him she sat alone at a booth as she, what he could assume, was mumbling about something and decided to slide into the seat across from her and she only realized he was there once he tapped the table in front of her.
"O-Oh hello Gildarts, when did you get here?" Yuki asked as the older mage merely chuckled at her words as he took on a more lax sitting position.
"Just a few minutes, give or take. The real question here is what's put a big happy smile on your face?" The crash mage asked and Yuki immediately began touching her face to realize that she had been sporting a smile.
"How long was I doing that?" She asked more to herself and just shook her head free of her current thought, regaining her cool exterior that her master had showed her. "That doesn't matter right now, I just need to focus on being ready."
"And what is this occasion you need to be ready for?" Gildarts asked watching curiously as the little ice mage looked to be summing him up for some reason, until she finally spoke up.
"As you know from where I come from and the circumstances of it as well, I can trust you to keep this between us." Yuki could tell that the orange haired man wouldn't tell a soul, but she still needed to inform the guild master about this and hopefully he'd be understanding enough about this situation like Gildarts would be. "I ran out of the guild because Master Zero had called me and he said that in four days time, he'd be coming here to Magnolia."
"That's great, I might get the chance to speak with him again after so long." Gildarts said although he was confused as to why the young brunette got up from her seat.
"Just make sure you catch up to him once he's here, for now please come with me as Master Makarov should be notified about his arrival." The crash mage quickly got up and followed after her towards the Master's office understanding that he should know that a banished ex-Fairy Tail mage was about to show up in the city he was watching over.
Although his attention was slightly diverted at the sound of Erza's harsh coughing, but focused on where he was going since he almost gave the pillar he was about to walk into a kiss with his face. Her team seemed to have said something to her from what Gildarts could perceive that most likely shocked her, but he was sure that it had something to do with Natsu as the requip mage's shock was focused on him. Hopefully the dragon slayer didn't insult her in some way subconsciously as he was more than likely going to have to clean up after the pink haired young man, something the Master always made him do if he ever was going to stay at the guild instead of go off on another request.
He followed the girl up the staircase for the second time that day and found it rather amusing that this time he knew her as one of his own blood, who was getting rather happy at seeing her father again. Of course "Daddy" was nothing more than "Master Gray" at the moment and his daughter had yet to become "Mommy", although the way she had been acting with her recently tells him that she may fill that role soon enough. One of these days the little ice mage he was following behind, down the hall towards the Master's office, will be riding on his shoulders with her mother and father at his sides like one big happy family.
"Now it's my turn to say what's got you smiling so big like that?" Yuki asked as she looked up at the S-class mage who shook his head casually.
"Nothing really, just reminiscing on old memories." He replied, inwardly embarrassed that his granddaughter had nearly caught him in the act of fantasising their family.
"Okay...?" Yuki had been curious, and slightly weirded out, by the older man's interesting behaviour when he was hanging around her, but he was truthfully fun company to have.
Their conversation ended there for the time being and continued to pass the random door until they arrived at Master Makarov's office. Yuki was rather pensive about entering knowing that although she wasn't aware of what Master Gray had done in the past, she did know that he had been banished from the guild by direct order of the current guild master. She was unsure how the elderly master would take the news, but the young brunette was slightly relying on the crash mage for his support on his coming and knew that the woman she met, Mavis, would take it with good intention.
Yuki looked up to Gildarts once again and the orange haired man gave her a reassuring nod, to which she sucked in a large breath of air and knocked on the Master's door. They both heard his reply to come in and, slightly shaky in the legs, Yuki walked in first with the crash mage following in after watching as Makarov turned around to face them as he had been previously speaking to the First Master.
"Ah Yuki, what can I do you for you my child?" He asked as the little ice mage took a few tentative steps forward and the aging master could see her mustering up her courage to speak her next words.
"Master Makarov, I've come to tell you that my Master will be arriving at the Magnolia Station in about four days." She said in one breath, noticing the rise of his bushy gray eyebrows but he was not the first to reply to her words. Rather it was the First Master who clapped her hands happily about the news.
"That's wonderful to hear Yuki, you'll be able to reunite with your master very soon." Mavis always saw the positive in certain information given to them and this was just one of those cases, which Makarov was reluctant to burst her happy bubble. "It has been three months since you've joined, but he must really be missing you if he's coming for a visit."
"I wouldn't say he was missing me..." Yuki's cheeks slightly tinted pink in embarrassment at the First Master's claim, although she was a bit wrong as she had only been a member for two months and three weeks so far. "Plus he's told me that two people will be coming with him as he wants to entrust them to me and I can only guess to the extent; Fairy Tail."
"Does he think he can dump people off on others? It's one thing that he'll be arriving here, it's another to have you look after a pair of strangers." Makarov spoke up this time seeing as the young man was shoving off some sort of responsibility on Yuki, but mainly on the guild it would seem. "As for his arrival, he should be well aware of the fact that he is not allowed to return here on my orders or we will have to use force against him."
"Come on Gramps, there's no way the brat would think about attacking the guild and his former friends. It's just not who he is and it wouldn't be right to have all the people he's ever known to be up in arms against him." Gildarts retorted to the last bit of the diminutive master's reply although he was then followed up by the First Master.
"No need to be so uptight eighth," Mavis said which garnered the surprise of everyone in the room for speaking to him like that. "I think it's fine for him to come, besides you told him that he was not allowed to come back to the guild and nothing about the city itself."
"Y-Yes well..." Makarov had no words to that as the First had managed to find a loophole in his words, much to his chagrin as not many have done so in the past. "Very well if the First is fine with this then I can allow his visitation; however, I want someone else to come with you to meet him."
"Of course Master Makarov, but the number of candidates is limited." Yuki replied to his proposition, but was right as only four people were the only ones who could come along. "I still would have to look for someone either way, so this is like killing two birds with one stone." She added mentally since it was also a request from her master to have someone she trusted to tag along with her.
"Hmm, that is true so I'm tasking Gildarts to go with you. Dangerous as it may seem to send him, he'll be able to stop Gray if he starts something." Yuki was rather shocked to hear that the old man had been this cautious regarding her master, was the thing he had done in the past that awful that they were worried he'd do it again.
"I'm positive he won't do anything Master Makarov, there really is no need to worry about Master Gray." She wanted to defend her master for the good man that he is as he had been banished from the guild for four years according to what Gildarts had told her.
"My child I only ask of him to go as my top priority is the safety of the city and my children, including yourself, as they are all my responsibilities. I do it not out of fear of your master, but caution for any resentment he may have against me or the guild for banishing him." He never liked to consider the ice mage a threat to anyone here especially as his memories would always portray him as the little boy in search of a chance to save his master, but the aging old man had his priorities to focus on for the greater good of the people.
"I understand, but please know that he doesn't hold anything against any of you, no matter what has happened to him in the past. Master Gray always speaks fondly of Fairy Tail and I see why now." Yuki added before nodding her head and stepping out of his office, while Gildarts still remained in the room.
"Is there something you like to add GIldarts?" Makarov asked as he expected the crash mage to leave following after Yuki, something he knew the orange haired man would've done so he could continue to speak to his granddaughter a little more.
"Actually I was wondering if you'd say anything to me personally, like how I should behave myself knowing that Yuki's my little girl?" Gildarts was always told to act accordingly by the old man, whether as a reminder or a strict order.
"Why would I need to? Gray's been taking care of your granddaughter by himself for two years and is fully aware of the fact that she belongs to Cana, so why should I question your behavior for acknowledging her as your own?" It would seem obvious to others that a grandfather would be ecstatic about their family continuing so Makarov couldn't come to deny the S-class mage his right to tell the former Fairy Tail member that he knew it.
"Yeah well aside from that, I know he's my son-in-law who helped bring Yuki into this world." He said smugly as this was going to be his first meeting with Gray, his daughter's baby daddy and not as the ice mage he knew. "Shouldn't you caution me not to bring a building down on him?"
Both masters had been stunned silent, Makarov for the reason that he had never expected Gray of actually being Yuki's father and Mavis was just realizing that the young woman she had entrusted Fairy Glitter to had a relationship with the now Fallen Fairy. She of course thought it was so close in relation to an old story of the child born between a walker of the light and another who had fallen to the darkness, one that she hasn't read in many years. While the First Master was lost in her memories about the story, Makarov just couldn't grasp the fact that the young man gave up his daughter to stay in a safer place with her mother nearby.
It touched the old man's heart that Gray had entrusted the safety of his own child to him and the guild, even after they had to banish him for his crime. The fact that he still trusted them this much told the aging master that Yuki was right in the sense that the ice mage still held Fairy Tail in a fond light in his heart. This also brought to light the reason as to how Gray knew Yuki to be Cana's mother, mainly from the point in which he had to give his blood for her necessary transfusion after the incident. It was the only logical explanation that would've stated that Yuki was a fifty percent match with him, if Makarov had to give his best hypothesis about all this.
"You two know that I'm still here right?" The crash mage snapped his fingers as he felt like he had been ignored, given to the fact that both masters had remained quiet for a couple of minutes.
"Yes, yes as I was saying," Makarov spoke up as he regained his senses and drew himself out of his previous thoughts, "I have said that I don't need to tell you how to behave and please do not cause any damage to the city, if there is one request I have for you then let it be that."
"Alright, deal." Gildarts agreed as he began to walk out of the office with his smug smile still on his face. "And be careful if you decide to send Mest out to keep an eye on us, I'm pretty sure Gray's not gonna like it." With that he finally stepped out of Makarov's office leaving the old man to reconsider the idea of doing just that, since he hadn't thought that Gildarts would've seen it coming beforehand.
During the similar time that Yuki had told Gildarts that her master was coming to Magnolia, a certain pink haired slayer had actually caught on to her words. To say that he was eavesdropping would be wrong as he had been slightly conditioned to hear what Yuki would say about her "great" Master Zero and what he's accomplished in his past and all that junk. Now to say that he was jealous of her master wouldn't be so off the mark, although he'd never admit to it out loud. It was more in part of the fact that a little bit of his fame might've gone to his head and he liked it when other young mages looked up to him, so Yuki was more or less his first challenge to the fact that she didn't regard him so highly. Even Lucy got praise from the little ice mage, not to mention his own wife got praise because Lisanna was said to be able to put up with him.
"Oh good, her master's coming isn't that great." Natsu remarked sarcastically grumbling into his scarf, but his team had all looked at him questioningly for it.
"What was that Natsu? Whose master is coming?" Lisanna asked as she sat next to him, hearing his grumbling clear enough even if it was slightly muffled by his scarf.
"Yuki's super special "Master Zero" is coming to Magnolia in a couple of days." He repeated adding a lot of emphasis and sarcasm on the Master Zero bit, although Erza had chosen the wrong time to take a sip of her afternoon tea.
"He's what!?" She coughed sharply as the intake of air only made her cough even more, but she tried her best to settle herself. "What could it mean?"
"No need to be so worried Erza, maybe he just wants to visit his student and see how she's doing." Lisanna offered as she believed that any master would want to see how their former pupils are doing out in the world once they left them.
"Lisanna's right, he might've gotten worried or something. Yuki does say that he keeps rather busy and it could be he hasn't been able to find a way to keep in contact with her yet." Lucy added as Yuki's stories do depict him as more of a traveler, even though he has a home. "I think it's rather nice that he's coming all the way from a different country to check up on his only student."
"Yeah well the first chance I get to confront him, I'm gonna fight this Absolute Zero!" Natsu proclaimed, but it was Erza who moved forward and dropped him back into his seat by his scarf.
"You will do no such thing." Erza reprimanded, knowing that they couldn't bring damage to the city and Zero would see it as some random unprovoked act of aggression against him. "If he ever comes to actually see the guild, I want to make sure that he sees this place is a stable enough environment for his student to be a member of."
Normally many people are always surprised by the way the guild acts, which gives its usual charm but she was unsure if Zero has ever even known about the guilds wild behaviour. Yuki's mysterious master could be a friend of Master Makarov who he trusted to watch over the little brunette and he might gain a negative opinion about them. She had a duty as the next guildmaster to make sure the guild's reputation is upheld, but also make sure that the guild's usual freedom they express is not impeded on. Holding up the guild's views became a completely different experience now, which allowed more of her respect to grow for Master Makarov and what he had to deal with for a number of years.
"No need to worry Erza, I'm sure he'll leave a big enough impression on everyone if he's just as strong as Natsu." Lucy said although she was still skeptical if having that many powerhouses in one place was a good idea, more so to the fact that Yuki's master and Natsu's magic were polar opposite so there could be some friction if the two meet.
"Big meaning on if Lucy, since his ice won't match up to my flames." Natsu cockily said, although it wasn't that unfounded as there were hardly many materials he couldn't melt through at this point, the arena back in Crocus being one of the biggest examples as he literally melted the stone all those years ago.
"I hope you're not getting any funny ideas Natsu, if you are then I have to put my foot down on any thought you have in mind. If necessary than on you as well." The requip mage announced as the pink haired dragon slayer shrunk back into his seat in fear of the Titania.
"No ma'am, there's nothing going on in my brain." He nervously replied inching closer to Lisanna for protection as she gave him a playful smile, but Lucy sighed to herself as one of the strongest mages in existence that she personally knew is cowering in fear next to his wife.
"Good, now do you know exactly when Absolute Zero will be arriving here to Magnolia?" The scarlet haired woman wanted to be prepared, possibly even welcome him to the city alongside Yuki who no doubt would be awaiting his arrival at the station.
"I think she said four days or something, I didn't catch it real good." Natsu replied as he thought back to what Yuki told Gildarts, but what he didn't understand was why she bothered telling that old man and not even Erza? In the end he didn't give it another thought and let it go, focusing back on Erza just in case she would test him if he was paying attention or not.
"Then we should be ready in four days time, I'll check in with the train schedules and figure out which one he'll be arriving in." Erza concluded to the rest of her team, although Lucy was skeptical of doing this without Yuki's knowledge but she knew that once Erza's set her mind on something there's nothing that'll stop her.
"I hope you're in for more than one surprise Yuki, not to mention your master when he sees the group of people that'll greet him." Lucy thought to herself as Erza continued to explain her thoughts of what should and needed to be done with more reminders that they needed to make a good first impression.