Shock Blanket
Summary: The entirety of the guild was in shock at the revelation of Cana's parentage, one thing everyone agreed on, though, was that Gildarts should be the one to tell her. But its so hard to stay quiet about something this huge.
Disclaimer: I don't own
Warning: Description of bone ripping through someone's skin and a lot of blood- its not that detailed but I figured that I would mention it.
AN: Medical stuff is 'meh' accurate- mostly because when I worked in a hospital it was in the morgue- I know what can kill you but survivable stuff is iffy (tried to get out of the morgue, only lasted one shift in the ER- I was so traumatized I begged to go back to the morgue). Also not sure if first responders/EMTs exist in this world but they were necessary so they exist here. Thank you cowseatgrass for the picture idea.
"Why do people keep on trying to put this blanket on me?" Cana asked petulantly, fending off another person trying to put the grey wool around her shoulders.
"Because you're in shock." The patient first responder replied, once again trying to put it on the struggling girl.
"That doesn't mean I need a blanket. It means I need booze."
"Say's the girl whose bone is sticking out through her skin." The man shot back snarkily.
Cana blinked before looking down at her left leg- huh. The bone really was ripping through her skin, how about that? Funny, would have thought she would've felt that. "Still don't need a blanket." She retorted childishly but allowed it to be wrapped around her as she was lifted into the magic mobile that was functioning as a makeshift ambulance.
She'd taken a job in the middle of nowhere fighting off giant monsters to save a small town. Sounded simple enough, pay was nice, so she'd grabbed it. Turns out what the townspeople failed to mention was that the giant monsters were being controlled by a dark guild with a weird bondage theme and that the monsters were essentially stone Vulcans that had laser beam eyes. All of that would have been nice to know.
Still she'd taken out all twenty-five monsters and the dark guild, but when defeating the last of them, she'd been grabbed by the ankle and flung just as she made the finishing blow. Wound up landing on a bunch of rocks which lead to her current predicament.
"I've got a communication lacrima in my bag- can somebody call my Master?" She asked blandly, starting to feel a little woozy. "Hospital fees better not come out of my pay." She had plans for that money!
One of the guys gave her a pat on the head, and she resisted the urge to bite his hand off- what was she, a dog? "Don't worry- you did all of us a huge favor. Hospital bills are on us. We'll get somebody to call your Master once we get back to town."
"Okay." She nodded calmly, before deciding to try her luck," So about that booze- "
"No way."
"Oh, come on!"
"Your bone is sticking out through your skin and you're in shock- I'm not throwing alcohol into this mess. If your doctor says its okay- which he won't- I'll personally get you whiskey: how's that sound?"
Well, somebody was certainly sassy. The brunette pouted before nodding glumly, that was probably the best she was going to get. Oh, well- actually right now a nap sounded good…
And so, the card mage lost consciousness on the way to the hospital.
oOOOOo
Gildarts wasn't particularly put out by being sent to pick up Cana- she was a sweet kid and he'd do the same for any of his guildmates who were bashed up that badly if he was in the area.
He was constantly on the emergency lacrima, radioing the details of her condition every time the doctors gave him an update on her. Apparently she had an open compound fracture of her left tibia and had a resulting hemorrhage at the wound site- which a kind nurse helpfully translated as 'she broke her leg, the bone ripped through the skin and she was bleeding a lot, but we fixed it'.
Poor Cana needed a lot of stitches and surgery to fix her leg, but she was going to be alright eventually- just had to stay off the leg for a while.
Master had been pretty sympathetic and apparently this meant Cana was going to have to give up her part in her dance recital this year (turned out she'd been dancing for years- who knew?). But the red-haired man knew he was just trying to distract himself from the surprise he'd gotten.
He'd arrived at the town, grabbed her Jewels with little fanfare, but when he'd gotten to the hospital… when he'd gotten to the hospital he'd asked for Cana Alberona at the front desk, only to be told they didn't have a patient by that name, they did, however, have a Rebecca Alberona.
Rebecca Alberona.
Cana's real name was Rebecca Alberona.
What the hell were the chances of something like this happening? He tried to play it off at first- 'Rebecca' was far from an uncommon name and he was sure 'Alberona' was too, but… together?
Now all he could think about was Conny and the 'might have beens'. That wasn't fair to poor Cana, he should be focused on making sure that she got home safely where she could recover- not spending all his time thinking about baby girls that didn't exist.
"Mr. Clive?"
The Ace looked up to meet the gaze of a mousy-haired nurse, "Yeah?" He asked, standing up.
She smiled at him," Miss Alberona is out of surgery and should be waking up in a little while, if you could follow me, I'll take you to her."
The crash mage smiled," Sounds great!" The sooner Cana was up, the sooner he could get her home, and the sooner he could drink the memories away.
She looked a hell of a lot smaller than the fifteen-year-old firecracker he knew. Hospital beds always had a way of doing that. Her busted leg was elevated, and they'd fitted her with a bright purple cast (he'd have to ask if he could sign that later- what? It was tradition!).
"I have to go check in on another patient- you okay waiting by yourself?" The nurse asked him.
"Don't worry- I'm more than capable of staying put." He said with a slight grin, pleased that he got a giggle out of the woman- hey, he had a reputation to defend!
Idly he looked around the sterile white room for something to distract his bored mind when he noticed her chart hung at the foot of the bed. He picked it up and flipped it open. And froze.
This… this had to be some kind of freaky coincidence.
Rebecca Arcana Alberona.
Cana's full legal name was Rebecca Arcana Alberona.
What… what were the chances? This- this had to be some freaky one-in-a-million thing, right? That a girl would wind up with the names that he and the love of his life had picked out for their hypothetical offspring (not in the right order though- that was something.).
A freaky coincidence. That's all this was- a freaky coincidence.
oOOOOo
"Put me down! I have crutches dammit!"
"Your doctor said you need to rest as much as possible- I don't count using crutches as resting when I'm perfectly able to carry you." Gildarts retorted down at the irate brunette in his arms (she looked so much like Conny like thi- stop it! He was seeing things that weren't there!).
The card mage futilely tried to get down from the Ace's hold as he approached the front doors of Fairy Hills. They'd been having this argument for hours now, ever since they gotten off the train.
He rapped on the door hard and was rewarded when it opened with Erza Scarlet staring bemused at the site of them.
"Welcome back Cana." The armored wizard said fondly toward the other girl," Master told us about your injury."
Cana frustratedly blew her hair out of face," Yeah it sucks." She said dryly, before once again pushing at the Ace's chest," You can let me down now Gildarts- no men allowed."
Erza raised an eyebrow before pointing out," Your room is on the second floor Cana."
The violet-eyed girl blinked," Yeah, and?"
"Sending a girl up the stairs on crutches is not conducive to her recovery," The scarlet haired girl said primly," I think we can make an exception to the rule just this once."
Gildarts smiled at the same moment as Cana's jaw dropped.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"Well come on, don't want to stand in the doorway all day." He chirped happily, letting Erza key him into the wards, easily ignoring Cana's protests.
He was probably the first man to set foot in Fairy Hills in years- and honestly it was a little underwhelming. He'd kind of been expecting a lay out like a teenage girl's slumber party, instead he got a normal apartment building.
Trying not to pout, he carried the injured girl up the flight of stairs to her room and easily set her down on her bed.
"Where do you want your Jewels," He asked, eyes roaming around the small room for a place to drop the sack.
"Just drop it by my bookshelf please Gildarts," The card mage requested as she adjusted herself on her bed.
The red-haired man obediently dropped it and was about to leave when his eye caught a picture frame on a shelf, and he froze. It was Conny- his Conny.
It was a picture of his Conny holding a smiling baby.
"C-Cana who's this?" He asked shakily, gesturing to the frame (this couldn't be real- this couldn't be happening).
The card mage looked puzzled until she spotted the frame, then she stilled.
"That's my mom and me." She answered hesitantly.
"Oh." He said dumbly," J-just out of curiosity do you know what your Mom's name was?" He asked, his voice going up several octaves on the last word.
The brunette stared at him for a moment before she responded," … Her name was Cornelia, why?"
Ice flooded through his veins," Oh- she just looks a lot like someone I used to know is all." He said, lying badly even to his own ears, before giving a wide (fake) smile. "Well I've got to get going- hope you feel better soon kid." He gave her head a pat, narrowly avoiding a swat from the girl as he exited her room.
He walked out of Fairy Hills on autopilot- he was definitely in shock. Well, only one way to fix that: booze.
oOOOOo
Gildarts had a high alcohol tolerance- both naturally and earned from a lifetime of liver abuse, but from the way he was feeling right now he was probably reaching the ceiling of his limits.
Still he continued to drink (good thing booze at the guild was so cheap- he'd spend the rest of his life in debt if it wasn't), trying to come to terms with the reality he was now faced with.
He had a daughter.
He had a beautiful daughter with the love of his life, and she had been right in front of him for years. Years. And he'd never realized this.
Why had Conny named her Rebecca?
They had split on such horrible terms, why had she given their daughter the name he had picked out? The name she had hated so much. He'd never be able to ask her.
Because Conny was dead and if he was doing the math right then she would have died when Cana was six- how the hell had she wound up at Fairy Tail? He remembered that wide-eyed little girl, one of the cutest things he had ever seen (or maybe that was his own bias clouding his memory), she had been so tiny. How had she gotten from wherever Conny had raised her to Magnolia?
Well, he'd just have to ask her later. Maybe if he got down on his knees and begged she'd let him into her life.
"Gildarts… is everything okay?" Someone asked hesitantly (Macao- that was Macao).
"Peachy- why do you ask?" He said tightly, wanting to go back to drowning out the entire world.
"…You don't usually day drink like this- you sure everything's okay?" Wakaba, that one was Wakaba.
In another life maybe he wouldn't have answered, would have continued drinking and then stumbled to Fairy Hills, begged until they let him in and hugged the life out of his little girl- would have kept promising to be a good father if she gave him a chance. But in this lifetime…
"Cana's my daughter."
"…HUH?!"
Oh, guess he'd said that louder than he'd meant to.
"Cana's my daughter." The crash mage repeated once again, slightly taken aback by how quickly he was surrounded by his guildmates- their questions becoming gibberish as they all talked over each other.
"QUIET!" Oh, thanks Master. "Gildarts- please explain."
And so, he did. He told them about picking her up at the hospital and seeing her full name (at least he apparently wasn't the only person who didn't know about that), and then earlier the picture of her mother- how Cornelia had been the love of his life and had wound up leaving him. By the time he finished everyone sat around him in stunned silence.
"Gildarts…" Even Makarov was at a loss for words, staring at the Ace who was trying to drown himself in alcohol. "Gildarts… first thing you're going to do is sober up and then you're going to tell Cana the truth."
"How?" The crash mage asked desperately- how did he tell a girl that he had barely spoken to that he was her father?
"…We'll figure something out, just- just go rest for a little while, alright?"
"Okay." He said shakily, getting to his feet with the gait of a royally wasted man and mechanically walked home to process the insane day he'd had.
oOOOOo
Now it has been said that few things travel faster than gossip in a small town, but the same could be said for wizard's guilds. Within an hour everybody in the guild both inside and out of town knew about the bombshell Gildarts had dropped.
And, naturally, Cana's newfound parentage was the hot topic of conversation among everybody.
"- can't believe it- Cana?"
"Damn- says a lot about her power levels if you think about it, she's the same age as Erza and Mira but she hit S-class worthy a year before they did- "
"-imagine what she'll be capable of if he trains her- "
"Do you think she'll move in with him? I mean they should be a proper family- "
Among all the gossip and debate that enthralled the guild, one thing was made absolutely clear- the only person who should tell her any of this was Gildarts, meaning they had to keep their mouths shut around her until then.
But… it was so hard to keep quiet about something this huge…
oOOOOo
Something was going on. She'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to realize it.
Every time she passed by someone in the hall they would stop and seem to vibrate in place for a moment before quickly running off. Whenever anyone heard the tell-tale sound of her crutches, they all immediately stopped talking and stared at her like deer caught in head lights.
Then were the awkward conversations.
Levy who came to her room to check up on her, casually making conversation.
"Soooo, I don't think I've ever asked Cana- what was your life like before Fairy Tail?"
The injured brunette had stared at her in bewilderment before deciding to answer," Well, I was raised by my mom in a little town called Sugarhill a couple days away from here. It was a nice place, always had fresh cookies at home, and I had a puppy named Lila. Mom died when I was about six and I wound up having to give Lila away when I joined the guild."
Levy bounced on her knees, not looking her in the eye as she continued her questioning," Oh that's so sad- but what about your dad?"
Cana blinked," Um- Mom never really talked about him, why?"
"Oh, no reason." The bluenette squeaked, looking like she desperately wanted to say something, before suddenly bolting out the door without warning.
There had been other conversations just like that and no matter what she did nobody would tell her what was going on- they were all just playing dumb.
Which lead to her grabbing her crutches and slowly making her way to the guild, even if she couldn't get anyone to fess up, she'd been going stir crazy trapped inside all day.
As soon as she stepped into the guildhall all the chatter died, every single person turning to stare at her with wide eyes- like she had spontaneously grown an extra head.
"What?" She snapped irritably, and everyone quickly averted their stares, futilely trying to pretend nothing was wrong.
Just as she was getting herself settled at a table near the bar, a loud yell broke through the awkward silence.
"CANA FIGHT ME!" Natsu roared, fists on fire as he lunged toward the startled girl.
Cana was forced to throw herself onto the floor, narrowly avoiding Natsu who hit the table with an almighty crash.
"What the hell Natsu!" She yelled furiously from her position on the floor, with multiple of her worried guildmates trying to help her back to her feet (so to speak). "I'm fucking injured you jackass! You could've killed me!"
The pink haired boy huffed from his place among the shattered wood of the table," I just wanted to fight you."
Confused the card mage incredulously asked," Why the hell would you want to fight me?"
"I figured since Gildarts is your dad you gotta be strong like him." He said petulantly, crossing his arms like a pouting child, but Cana wasn't paying attention anymore.
Had- had Natsu just said-?
"YOU IDIOT!" Gray yelled, punching the dragon slayer in the head," Why'd you tell her?! Gildarts was supposed to be the one- "
"How the fucking hell do you know about that?" Cana demanded furiously, getting a round of confused stares from the entirety of the guild.
"…Know about what?" Gray asked in confusion.
"That Gildarts is my dad."
Everyone was openly staring at her again, but this time with slack jaws and looks of utter shock painted across their faces.
"…You knew?" A familiar voice quietly asked, the brunette froze before slowly turning to face her shocked and dismayed father.
oOOOOo
A few minutes later the two were sitting across from each other in Makarov's office. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Cana decided to be the one to break the silence," The reason I joined the guild was to find you," she quietly admitted," Before she died Mama told me who you were and how to find you, I don't know what she expected- I think she expected me to wait until my teens before trying to get to Magnolia."
"How," Gildarts stopped to swallow for a moment," How did you get to Magnolia? Its just- you were so little…"
The card mage just shrugged," I walked." She said nonchalantly.
"…You walked."
"Yup."
"… Cana Sugarhill is almost two hundred miles away- "
The brunette shrugged again," I know. It took a while, but I obviously made it in one piece."
The red-haired man just gaped at her. Six years old. At six years old she walked two hundred miles to try and find him and she was treating it like it was no big deal?!
He wet his lips again," … why didn't you tell me Cana?"
The violet eyed girl stiffened before softly answering," I tried. I tried the day I arrived, I tried the day you got back that first time, every time you were at the guild I tried to tell you, but things just kept getting in the way. Then, then at some point I was just too afraid of rejection to tell you."
Gildarts just stared at his daughter, tears beginning to fill his eyes- all these years, all these years she had been trying to tell him who she really was. How different could things have been?
"I'm so sorry Cana."
She looked at him with a half-smile on her face," Don't worry I don't expect anything from you Gildarts. Things can stay like they are, but if you don't mind, I'll say it just this once, I'm glad I met you Dad."
He couldn't speak, he just stared at the beautiful girl right across from him. Then he finally gave into impulse. He quickly snatched her out of her seat and pulled her into his lap, crushing her against his chest. "Baby everything's different now." He sobbed," I'm never going to make you feel sad again! We're always going to be together- I don't care if its in a bar or on a job, just- please just give me the chance to be your father!"
Cana swallowed, tears of her own starting to fall, even with the smile on her face," I'm more than okay with that Dad."
They stayed like that for a while, Gildarts holding her like she was made from glass and Cana content in her father's arms eventually being lulled to sleep by the steady sound of his heartbeat. Talk about a good start as a family.
AN: The opening is a prompt that I found on pintrest and immediately thought 'Cana, Cana would say this'. The town 'Sugarhill' was just invented because them saying 'the town I/you were raised in' just sounded bad to me. The name doesn't have any particular meaning and since we still know nothing about Cana's life pre-guild I figured why not invent one. The walked thing is also something that I put in- ever since her back story was revealed I've been wondering how a six-year-old managed to get to Magnolia with no adult and thought her just being totally nonchalant about walking some incredible distance was amusing. The puppy's name I got from some other fic that I don't remember the name of (I've been looking- when I find it I'll put it in to give credit to the author).
The bit about her being S-class level before Erza and Mira is canon as far as I can tell- though that may have been a misunderstanding on my part. You may be wondering about why Cana wasn't more suspicious of everyone's behavior combined with Gildarts' reaction... I would say that she was given painkillers for the broken leg that made her a little off, but the truth is I didn't notice the plot hole until heavy editing. By that point I just decided to leave it. Also him knowing that she came from Sugarhill... yeah I just figured that he would assume she grew up in the town her mother was buried in.
And to all those still reading at this point: thank you everybody. I never imagined that I could write this many stories and keep this going for this long. Thank you so much for all the support and I hope you keep enjoying this.