AN: Forgot to do a next time bit for the last chapter, but since nobody read it, I don't think it matters that much. Geez though, just one review? I don't really like to beg for them, but man that felt crappy. Just a little bit of love folks? Please?

Daddy Issues

The guild doors swung open to reveal and bedraggled Goku and Erza stumbling around with their arms over each other's shoulders. They walked right past the staring guild members around them carefully deposited themselves into chairs side by side at the bar. Launch took a single look at the pair, clicked her teeth, and walked over with a pair of oversized beer mugs.

"Well, Monkey Boy, I see you don't have a sword in your chest this time. I'm guessing that talk went well." she said, dropping the mugs in front of them. Erza directed a deadpan stare at the bartender and wordlessly accepted the mug. Her other hand came up with the exact change for her favorite item on the menu. Goku passed over his entire wallet and pointed wordlessly at the noodle section of the menu. Launch snagged the money with a chuckle and wandered off to fetch the requested cake just as Master Makarov hopped up onto the table.

"You kids seems to keep finding yourselves in all kinds of trouble lately. I'm starting to get worried that you're going to bit off more than you can chew one of these days. Makes an old man worried."

"We don't mean to worry you Master." Erza replied. "These situations seem to find us just as often as we find them though. But we are your S class elite for a reason, you don't need to worry about us too much. Regardless of who challenges us, or what anyone says about us, we will pull through in the end." Makarov sighed and brushed off the young woman's attempts to comfort him.

"This guild has been threatened with annihilation nearly a half dozen times in just the last year, let alone the council trying to shut us down. I trust you to look out for yourselves, but I wish that you didn't have to. The world just keeps getting more dangerous, no matter how many foes you knock down. The council has gotten irritated enough that they have started asking me for permission to send along an observer to witness the S-class trails at the end of the week. I think they're trying to figure out just how strong we've gotten over the past few weeks and whether or not it would be in their best interest to make another attempt at trying to reign us in."

"Hmph. They can try if they wish. We don't have anything to hide from them."

Makarov quirked an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Goku's tail.

"Of course, of course." He nodded amiably. "Nothing here that could overthrow the entire government at his leisure at the request of his best friend, right?" The old man snorted quietly to himself as he hopped off of the bar top and started his way towards the second floor. "Don't you kids worry, I'm sure that as long as you stand together, you'll pull through over anything else. Just stop making me worry so much! I'm old, my heart can't handle stress!" Launch placed the food down in front of the pair and watched in amusement as Goku's food quickly began to vanish from sight. Erza's cake sat quietly in front of her untouched as she watched the elderly master disappear into the upper floor.

"…I think I shall be accompanying you and Kagura from now on once you restart your training, rather than it just being an occasional thing. We need to become far stronger than we are."

"Of course!" Goku said with a wide grin. Then the smile grew wider to show off just a few too many teeth. "Just as long as you think you can keep up with us." Even through her exhaustion, Erza felt her hackles rise at the challenge.

"You think yourself stronger than me Goku?"

"Yep. If you can't use the fae thing, that means you are weaker right now. I may not be able to go past Kaio Ken, but that's until my body manages to patch itself back together all the way. You can't use your boost at all. Maybe you should try Kagura first?"

"…Did you just insinuate that I would struggle in combat against a ten-year-old?"

"What? She's a really strong kid!" Goku exclaimed. Erza sighed.

"You are that eager for me to pound your face into the dirt?" She asked. Goku tried and failed to look innocent.

"…After lunch then. With the trials right around the corner, it couldn't hurt to begin working immediately. We shall not waste even a single moment." The girl said seriously. "You best take this seriously though, for I shall not be made light of!" She declared with her finger pointed right at Goku's face.

SPLAT

Caught up in her talk as she was, Erza completely missed Lucy sneaking up beside her, grabbing her cake plate, and flipping it straight up into her unsuspecting face. The instant the pastry landed, Lucy bolted straight for the door, screaming as she went.

"I'msorryLisannaandImadeabetandIlostandshemademedothiseventhoughIreallydidn'twantoPLEASEDON'TKILLME!" Cana watched in complete disbelief as Lucy vanished out the door, looked to see Erza slowly rising to her feet, and then booked it out of the room herself. Lisanna would soon hear about the event and the blurted confession, and wouldn't feel safe less than five feet away from her older sister for the next three days.

Before Erza could begin her pursuit, Launch dropped two more pieces of the cake down in front of her, along with a towel.

"Come on Red, give the kid a break. It was just a prank, no harm done right? The sheer stones it must have taken to pull that off, just let it go for now, right? If you really need to, just save it for that trial coming up." Erza swiped the towel away from the blonde and wiped off her face. She sat back down with a huff and began shoveling food into her mouth. Goku took a single look at her expression on her face and turned back to her food.

At the very least, their spar would be an intense one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The night before the guild had been stolen away into the Edolas reality, Lucy had come home to find Cana using her bathroom to taking a bubble bath. The summoner had long since grown immune to having her friends invading her home, but she had been a bit annoyed when Cana offered to let her join. Join her, as if it was her house. She had still gotten in of course, but the distinction mattered. Lucy should have been the one inviting Cana into the tub.

The ensuing conversation killed whatever fun ideas she might have had about the location though.

"Why are you even thinking about that Cana! Did I do something? If I did, I'll try and fix it! Please, you can't just leave Fairy Tail!"

"Easy there, Lu!" she held up her hands placatingly.

"Easy? You just told me you're thinking of leaving Fairy Tail!"

"…Okay, maybe I could have led up to that a little better. But it's got nothing to do with you at all. It's just…it has to do with why I joined the guild in the first place. My Dad."

"Your Dad? You've… never really talked about family before. Did he send you to join the guild when he died or something?"

"No, that was my Mom actually. She told me when she fell sick that I should go track my Dad down at Fairy Tail, and that he would love me and take care of me when I met him. I'd hardly even heard of my Dad before that, so I was kind of excited. I'd finally get to meet him, you know? But then I found out who he is."

Cana had sighed, sinking a little deeper into the sea of bubbles. "He's not a bad guy, not really, but he sleeps around so much that I can't help but wonder if I'm just one of a whole lot of kids that he's left behind all across Fiore. I don't think he'd do anything like that maliciously, but he's so absentminded. I had no idea whether or not he'd accept or reject me after that, and I got too nervous to try and talk to him."

"You honestly think he might reject you."

"…Kind of. I know, in theory, that he isn't the kind of guy who would just ignore it outright. But I've got no idea what he might actually do.

I somehow got it in my head that I'd just wait for the right moment, that I'd do something amazing enough for him to notice me on my own merits, and then I could reveal that I was my daughter after he had already accepted me."

"So what did you try to do?"

"I kept trying the S-class trail. I thought if I joined all the other young powerhouses, that he would acknowledge me for sure. Instead, I set a new guild record for most failed promotion attempts in a row. Four straight years." The young woman chuckled darkly at herself.

"I barely even get what I'm doing here anymore. I mean I love our guildmates, and I wouldn't trade you for the world. But…what am I doing here? I know I should just go in and talk with him at this point, but I'm so scared of what will happen that I can never get myself to move. I've stalled out with my magic; I haven't gotten any stronger in months. At this point, I'm starting to think I'd be better off just giving up and getting away from all this. What do you say Lu, want to run away with me and start up a little bar somewhere quiet?"

"But…come on Cana, it really can't be that bad right? Why do you think your Dad would even care about how strong you are?"

"I don't know for sure, I really don't. But with how strong he is, I can't get the thought out of my head. I mean really, how could I ever even come close to someone with as much power as Gildarts?"

At the time, Lucy had just barraged Cana with praise for her magic, promises to support her for the upcoming trails, and everything that she could to convince the part-time drunk that she didn't need to leave the guild in order to figure herself out. Now though, fresh out of an alternate dimension and a few panic-filled days wondering if she would ever see Cana again, her priorities had gone through a rather abrupt shift. So now, Lucy had an entirely different plan in mind.

Lucy didn't use her silver key spirits nearly as often as the golden ones, not when the gold were so much more powerful, but with how little strain the silver spirits put on her nowadays, and with Crux's ability to know anything about what the spirits or there summoners had done or were doing, it made for a useful, if slightly tiring set of days for the blonde.

Every morning, Lucy sent out her spirits and then spent the day conserving her strength the best she could in the guild hall. Cana was more than happy to keep her company, even if she didn't know just why Lucy kept looking so tired.

On the third day, Crux appeared next to her just as she was finishing off her lunch.

"Mistress Lucy," the spirit said. "I'm pleased to inform you that Nikora has found the one you requested we seek. He is awaiting your arrival outside the limits of this city. I would urge you haste, for Nikora is unsure how long he shall be able to stall." He reported. Lucy had already grabbed Cana and started dragging her towards the door before he had even gotten half of the words out of his mouth.

"Whoa, uh, Lu? Where are we rushing off to all of a sudden? Who's this mystery man your spirits are stalking?" Cana asked as they rapidly made their way through the streets.

"…Okay, I know it's not the best to just spring this on you," Lucy explained, dodging around a group of people. "But I've been having them keep an eye out for your Dad." Lucy's arm jerked as Cana dug her heels in, grinding them to a halt.

"Lu…" Cana said, her face scrunched up. "Don't get me wrong, I know that you're just trying to help me out, but really? What the heck!? I'm not ready to confront him like that right now!"

"Yes, you are! Cana, you are tough enough that you get into fights with demons while drunk. You have effectively replaced water from your life with alcohol and you haven't died. But most importantly, you managed to get me out of my own head." Lucy stepped right up to Cana and slowly wrapped her arms around the slightly taller woman.

"You dragged me out of depression kicking and screaming, Cana. You didn't care how messed up I was, you just grabbed on and didn't let go until I could smile again. So now, we are going to go out into the woods where Plue is probably running around with your Dad's stolen belt or something, and we are going to find him, and we are going to find out what he thinks about having a daughter that can drink him under the table." Lucy said resolutely. Cana bit her lip and nervously wrung her hands. Seeing the hesitation, Lucy grabbed her arm once again and began gently pulling her towards the woods.

"But…what if he doesn't care? Or if he gets angry? Mom told me that he'd care about me, but it's been so long…would he be upset that I kept it from him?" Cana asked quietly.

"I can't promise that everything will turn out perfectly." Lucy said slowly. "Family isn't like that. My mom passed away when I was young too, and then my dad was always too busy running his business and worrying about making more money to ever care for me. But Gildart's is a Fairy Tail mage, right? Family is kind of our thing, right up there with property damage. But even if I'm wrong and things go horribly, I'm still going to be right here with you. Got it? You didn't leave me, so I won't leave you. Just try to get rid of me. See what happens." Lucy finished with a small smile on her face.

"Right…right. Okay." Cana reached into her pocket and pulled out a little handle of vodka and downed the glass in one gulp. "Lead the way, Lu. Let's get this done before I lose my nerve."

"Just try it. I'll kick your ass."

"I already said okay!" Cana scoffed. "Calm down."

"I will not." Lucy grinned and took off at a jog through the rest of the city and lead her friend down one of the dirt roads built around the city.

The two made their way deep into the forest, far enough that they were well out of the sight of the response team who was normally on standby watching for Gildarts' approach to move the city out of his way.

It took Lucy a little while to figure out where exactly Plue had ended up. She had sent the little canine spirit to patrol a couple of ways into the city, so tracking him down again took slightly longer than she would have liked to admit.

When they did, they were greeted to the sight of the strongest mage in Fairy Tail sitting cross-legged and watching intently as her littlest spirit did a complicated jig.

"I see." Gildarts nodded, as Plue did a blackflip. "And then what happened?"

"Poon."

"No!"

"Poon."

Gildarts whistled. "And I thought I got up to some crazy stuff."

He shook his head and caught sight of them. He stood up as they approached and gave each of them a wide grin.

"Hey, Cana! Don't suppose that friend of yours happens to be a spirit mage, is she?" The red-haired man asked easily. Somewhat surprised, Lucy gave a hesitant nod. "This little guy is yours, right?" Gildarts pointed at the white spirit. "I recognized him as a celestial spirit, and I kind of figured that he might have wandered off and gotten lost on you. I've kept an eye on him for you. He tells some wild stories."

"You can actually understand him?" Lucy asked, then shook her head. No, that was not important. "Never mind. I appreciate it." Lucy smiled at the man in return, and not so subtly began to push Cana forward. "But I actually sent the little guy out to find you!" Lucy said, carefully keeping her voice light and bubbly. She couldn't afford to make Cana even slightly more nervous now.

"Oh? Did you need me for something?" The man asked. "I haven't been banned from entering Magnolia again, have I?"

"Uh… no? Actually, it's Cana that wants something. She has something important to discuss with you." She said, then carefully took a few steps back out of the way of the pair. "I'll be hanging out right here in case she needs me, but this talk is between the two of you."

Gildarts shrugged and turned his attention to the brunette who was now worrying her hands once again. Seeing her nerves, he shifted his posture to something as nonthreatening as he could manage, and subtly used his cloak to hide his mechanical pieces and the evidence of some of his more gruesome wounds.

"Hey there kiddo, it's not like I bite or anything. Take it easy. Take a breath, calm your thoughts, and just tell me what's up."

Cana nodded shakily to herself, gathered up her courage, and blurted out a single word.

"Cornelia!"

Gildarts blinked, his jaw dropping. "That's…how do you know that name? I haven't even talked about her with anyone for over a decade!"

"I…uh…when I was a kid, my mom got sick and passed away. Before she did, she told me that I needed to find my dad. She said that he was a mage at Fairy Tail, and that he'd take care of me when I found him. But when I got there, and I found out that he didn't even know he had a daughter, and I got too scared to say anything. I ended up spending a few months in the town's orphanage before I joined the guild officially." Cana's gaze slid off of the stunned look on Gildarts' face and down to her feet.

"What…you…but…" Gildarts stuttered, his eyes wide and bulging. His attempts at sentences fell apart into garbled noise, and in his hesitation Cana forced herself to press on.

"Then I could never work up the nerve, and kept putting it off again and again until I was a grown woman and still too scared to do something. I…I know that this is totally out of the blue for you, and that you had no idea about any of this at all, but I finally had to tell you. It was driving me insane, sitting on this as long as I did. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, so long after the fact. I…ah, I understand if you want to just ignore this past today." Her gaze still on the ground, Cana began to step away, back towards Lucy. Not matter how much she might have wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to raise her gaze and look at her father's face. "I wouldn't blame you. I…just this once…I wanted to be able to call you Dad…" Cana voice broke and she spun around, ready to dash off into the woods. She made it half of a step before a warm hand closed around her wrist and pulled her backwards into a tight hug.

Cana found her head pressed tight against Gildarts' side, enough so that she felt the tears trickling down from his face into her hair. Her arms hung limply at her side and eyes were wide in disbelief at the sudden emotion.

"I never knew. I swear, I never knew." Gildarts' declared. "If I had known, you would have had a home from the moment you set foot in Magnolia. I would have taken care of you, and protected you no matter what!" The man squeezed her tight once more and then pulled her away, with an arm on each of her shoulders so that he could look her square in the eye.

"Cornelia was the only woman that I've ever loved." The man confessed. "We were childhood sweethearts, and we married fairly young. Those were the best years of my life. But then, when I developed my magic into what it is today and started taking more of the longer and more dangerous jobs for Makarov, I couldn't spend enough time with her anymore. She felt that I was neglecting her…when I wouldn't cut back, she decided to leave me. I came back from a mission one day, and half of our things were gone and there was a note on the table telling me to find her when I got my priorities straight."

"I jumped into the jobs even worse than ever after that. Got it in my head that if I burned through enough jobs, I'd be able to make enough money that I could retire young and spend the rest of my life with her. Then…she died. I didn't even know that she had gotten sick…" The man trialed off and began roughly scrubbing tears from his cheeks.

"So… you don't need to worry about justifying yourself to me. If there's anyone that understands regretting poorly made decisions more than I do, I've yet to meet them." He said bitterly. "But so long as you'd have me, I'd like to be in the life of my kid. However much you want, whatever way you want. But if I'm a Dad, if I've been a father all this time, I can't just let you walk away again like it's no big deal. I mean…" he held her at arm's length, uncertainty clouding his face. "If that's alright?"

For the first time since she had stepped into a forest, the tension eased from Cana's shoulders. With a shuddering breath and a quick swipe of her hands to dry her own cheeks, Cana smiled at her father.

"Uh…yeah. I think I'd like that." Gildarts' smiled turned massive and he yanked the girl in for another hug. The two clung to either other for a long moment before Cana pulled herself away again.

"Okay, so…uh, something else we should probably get out of the way. Lu, c'mere!" The woman barked behind her. Lucy, who had been rather intently studying literally anything besides the emotional reunion going on beside her, looked over with a sheepish grin and stepped up next to the brunette.

"Dad, this is my girlfriend, Lucy." She said, throwing an arm around the blonde. "She's the one that finally got me the nerve to talk to you." Gildarts blinked and looked Lucy up and down.

"This is your girlfriend?" he asked.

"…Yes." Cana answered, her eyes narrowing.

Gildarts whistled. "That's my girl!" he raised a hand toward Cana as if asking for a high-five, then paused. Cana had buried her face in her hands and Lucy was pretty sure she could feel steam coming out of her ears. "It occurs to me…" Gildarts said slowly. "That I have just done something very awkward."

"Yes." Cana groaned. "Very."

"I'm… going to put my hand down now."

"You do that." Cana said, not looking up.

"Sorry."

"Well… Levy did tell me that parents could be embarrassing." Cana mumbled.

"I could try to do dad jokes instead?" Gildarts perked up. "I always wanted to try those!"

"NO!"

"Okay, okay… too soon. Time for that later." Gildarts shook his head and smiled at Lucy. "Well, thank you very much young lady." He said sincerely. "Knowing this, it means a whole lot. So, thank you for supporting my daughter when I couldn't."

"It's not a problem at all." Lucy said as her face returned to normal temperatures. "With how much she's done for me since we've met, I couldn't not help."

Gildarts smiled. "So, I bet you both know why Makarov's called me back here, right? Either one of you going for the S-class trail in a few days? Going to be trying again Cana?"

"Oh…ah, maybe not this year." Cana said uneasily. "I…uh…I had been using the trial as a marker for when I was ready to finally talk to you. I was planning on confronting you when I had an S-class title of my own. I…I thought that if I was already an S-class mage when we talked that you'd be more likely to be proud of me…that there'd be less of a chance that you'd turn me away."

"Oh." Gildarts said, looking unsure what to say. "I would never have done that."

"I think I know that now." Cana replied. "But I just got stuck in my own head for so long." She shook her head. "I think I'm going to step back from it this year. Try and get things sorted, train myself up, and make sure that the next time I go for it that I'm really ready."

"Really ready, huh?" Gildarts mumbled to himself. Humming in thought, the man began fishing through his pockets. "You know," he said thoughtfully. "Once I started developing my magic, Makarov strong-armed me into writing everything about it down, to take notes. Said that with how scattered brained I am, I'd forget details about how to use it and end up making it impossible to teach it to anyone else if I didn't have instructions somewhere." He scowled lightly. "I'd resent him for that if I wasn't so darn sure he was right." Finally finding what he was looking for, Gildarts pulled a small, leather-bound journal from his belt. The man reached down and grasped Cana's wrist once more, gently turning her palm upwards and pressing the book into her hand.

"Take this."

Cana and Lucy eyed the book like it was live grenade.

"Dad…did you just give me the keys to using your magic?" She asked hesitantly.

"Hmmm…sort of. This thing is pretty bare bones, it would take some crazy work and a good idea of my head to get to where I am from just that. Even then, if you don't have the enough power behind you, it's going to be about as effective as slapping people with a fish. But I've seen you in action before at those trails. Power definitely isn't something that you lack. Consider it my way of making up for all those missed birthdays! With that, you can learn how to do what I do." He paused, his face suddenly becoming serious. "Do not let Natsu see that."

"I'm not an idiot, Dad." Cana answered, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, you must get that from Cornelia." He grinned.

"Can someone really learn magic like yours just from reading a book?" Lucy asked, skeptical.

"Of course not," Gildarts snorted. "But it can teach you the principle. Then, after the exams, I can come back and train ya! I'll get you doing my style in no time, and help you polish up your own style while we're at it!" He rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"You'll train me?" Cana looked up.

"Of course! I've heard it said that the parent is supposed to make sure that the child surpasses them! That's something I've gotta see." Gildarts grinned. "Just you wait, Cana, when I'm through with you, Fairy Tail is going to have a new strongest woman!"

Next Time: Memory Manipulations VS Cognitive Recallibration