"Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave."
Madagascar
Cana hadn't expected her client to have acted so quickly.
When the man storms through the gaping hole where the guild door used to be, Cana is almsot tempted to groan.
"Mr. Elbak-"
Her sentence is cut off when a bag of gold coins flies through the air and lands in her lap.
"Thank you for your work, Ms. Alberona. I can take it from here."
He's surrounded by armed guards, none of them part of the Fiore army so she assumes that they are his personal detail.
"Evan."
When he turns to face Elbak, there is a small grin on his lips that greatly contrasts the glint in his eye that is far from welcoming.
"Carlisle Elbak, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."
The man nods in greeting.
"Funny... The last time I saw you, I was falling off a cliff after you sold me out to Therese and her henchmen."
Elbak looks almost ashamed at the words,
"Yes, well that's all in the past now, isn't it?"
Harry only hums at the words.
"I'm here to ask you a favour on behalf of my daughter, Cecile."
Harry's eyes narrow but he doesn't say anything. He had history with both of them; though with Cecile it had been much more pleasant.
"Perhaps we could take this conversation somewhere more private?"
Five minutes later and they're situated in an empty room, just the two of them.
"Cecile... She's dying. Therese lied when she said she had an antidote to the poison. I... I've tried everything, Evan. Please... You have to help me."
Harry's tempted to say no, but he can't. Cecile had helped him frequently over the past few years and he'd been devastated when she'd confessed that she had limited time on the Earth due to a poison that lingered in her system after a botched attempt by an assassin to take her fathers life.
"Please... I'll-I'll pay you anything, anything you ask. Just... Please... Please help me."
He's crying now, face buried in his hands as sobs wrench through his body. Morgana, Harry had always been a sucker for tears.
"Look. I can't help you, because I don't know anything about poisons or their antidotes."
The devestation of Elbak's face is so much more heart-breaking than his tears were. It wasn't pleasant seeing a grown man cry.
"There's a house to the east of Hageon, about 3 days walk. There's a woman there, Helena, that plays a mean game of poker. Tell her that I'll pay for your buy in the next time I see her."
"P-Poker? H-How is that meant to help?"
The older man is absolutely miserable in his despair.
"Helena doesn't play for money. She plays for years."
"W-What?"
When Harry shoo's the man out of the room and starts forcing him towards the gaping hole of Fairy Tail, he is grasped by his forearms.
"Th-Thank you. Thank you. I swear, I'll never forget this, I-"
"Seriously, just go see her. Don't take any guards with you, just a photo of Cecile."
In the wake of the retreat of Elbak and his guards, Harry turns to Erza. She's not impressed and he cringes inwardly at the rant that will mostly likely be coming. He decides to go for gold when he throws all of his charm and charisma into an award-winning smile that would have melted the heart of Hades himself. He points idly to the crumbling concrete behind him and smiles for all he's worth,
"I'll pay for that."