I posted two chapters today, so make sure that you've read the previous one.

Chapter Nineteen - Gildarts, Part Three

Gildarts awoke with a start on the infirmary bed he was lying on. "What happened?"

"Well, for one, you won me several thousand jewels," Macao said.

Gildarts stared at him. "You bet against me?"

"Yep. Or, more accurately, I bet with Elle."

Wakaba nodded. "Girl's crazy scary. You hear her shout 'Number 7'?" he looked at me. "Did that mean you had seven different attack plans?"

"I thought we only had six," Cana muttered.

"The last one was a contingency plan in case you froze up," I told her.

"What's con-tin-gen-cy mean?" Juvia asked.

"It's like an emergency plan, or a backup," Levy told her.

"Gildarts, you may be…you," Enno said, "but Ellie-girl can be…very creative."

"Yeah, how else did Cana end up with a 'Sexy Lady Card'?" Macao muttered.

Enno hit him. "Are you still on about that?"

"Stop flirting," I told them. "Cana, you're up. Is there anyone you want me to kick out?"

She looked around at the group of us, with the rest of the guild hanging in the doorway. "Can Master, the rest of the kids, and Macao and Wakaba stay?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Enno said, walking out the door and closing it behind her, cutting everyone else off.

Freed walked to the door and quickly put down a set of runes blocking sound from escaping. "All set."

Cana nodded, breathing heavily. I put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked at it and breathed out before turning to look at Gildarts. "Did you know that I came to Fairy Tail to find my father?"

"No," he said. "Wait, does that mean that he's a part of the guild?"

"His name…is Gildarts Clive," she said quietly.

His eyes opened wide, and I could see Macao and Wakaba exchanging glances, finally figuring out what Cana's obsession with Gildarts was.

"You don't need to change anything," Cana said quietly. "I'll stay at Fairy Hills if you want, and you can still go on long missions, but I thought you-"

Her words cut off as he hugged her. "Nonsense. I'm your father, and I've got to say, I'm proud to be." He smiled at her. "My little girl is adorable and badass!" and then he burst into tears.

"What did I tell ya?" I whispered in Cana's ear. "Though to be fair, I didn't think it would be this extreme."

"Alright," I said. "Let's give them some time together. When you're done, Gildarts, please come up to Master's office. We've got some things we want to tell you privately."

He gave me an odd look, before turning to glance at Makarov, who nodded.

The rest of us filed out of the room and I closed the door behind us.

"Alright everyone," I told them. "Good job today."

I walked over to the table and requipped a giant cake onto it. It read, Congratulations, Gildarts and Cana.

Then I pulled out a second one that read The Youngest Generation Reigns Supreme!

We had won the fight. If Gildarts had used any of his serious moves, like Empyrean or Absolute Heaven we would have been toast. But because of a mixture of underestimation and hesitation from using such destructive powers on kids, we managed to win.

Also the fact that we had surprised him with our powers, and our…unconventional attacks.

And, you know, the cheating with Freed's Runes.

Still, we had won. We knocked him unconscious, and in a world full of mages, that was really all that mattered. If it came to dark mages, there was no such thing as fair.

If we hadn't won, I would have just kept the cake.

Gildarts and Cana exited the room later and I requipped a party popper, setting it off. "Alright everyone, let's get this celebration on!"

We cut up the cakes and started handing out slices.

"Enno, maybe she should take over for you," Macao said. "You really know how to cook, Elle. Where'd you learn? Aren't you nine?"

I gave him a deadpan look. "I'm a nine year old who lives alone. How do you think I learned?"

"Yeah, speaking of," Wakaba said. "You don't stay at Fairy Hills, do you? You know you don't have to pay rent there."

"She doesn't have to pay rent where she lives either," Laxus said. "She owns her house."

"How? You're nine." Gildarts turned a questioning glance towards me, and most of the rest of our guildmates were paying attention, too.

I smirked. "Magic."

A small shock hit me.

"Ow!" I turned to glare at the culprit. "The hell, Laxus?"

He shrugged. "I'm trying out convulsive shock therapy. Every time you're a smart ass, I'll shock you."

I glared at him. "You wanna go?"

He paled. "No, Elle, I'm just telling you to stop being a smart ass!"

"You don't see me telling you to stop being a tsundere!"

"Dammit, Elle, stop saying that! I'm not a tsundere!"

"Liar!"

Gildarts cleared his throat. "You wanted to talk to me?"

I nodded.

Gildarts turned to Cana. "Pack up your stuff from Fairy Hills, you're going to move in."

She brightened. "Okay."

"Cana, grab as much as you can carry," I told her. "I'll drop by later for the rest."

She nodded.

I started walking up to Makarov's office, with Gildarts right behind me. "What do you mean, drop by later for the rest?" Gildarts asked.

"I've been teaching Cana requip," I told him. "So she'll put as much as she can in her storage space, which is still pretty small, and then I'll put the rest in my space. Then I'll teleport us to your house. Simple."

He gave me a look. "You can requip and teleport, too?"

I smiled. "Yep."

Though I'd have to use the magic cards; my own container was empty as hell. No point in waiting on fixing the training field either, I guess.

I opened the door and lead Gildarts inside. Makarov was already sitting by his desk.

"So what's this about, Master?" Gildarts asked as he entered.

"I don't know," he answered. "Elle called this meeting."

Gildarts gave me a strange look. "You let her call meetings?"

"Yes," I said. "Because I happen to know the future."

He stared at me. "Really?"

"I have undeniable proof she knows the future," Makarov said. "I cannot share all of that with you, but she gets full authority on this."

"She's nine," Gildarts said.

"Technically, I'm mentally nineteen," I told him. "Anyway, I'm here to tell you a few things. One is that I knew Cana was your daughter. I also know that if I wasn't able to convince her to tell you today, she would have waited until she was eighteen."

Gildarts froze. "Eighteen…I would have missed twelve years of my baby girl's life…" He burst into tears and embraced me, squeezing me half to death. "Thank you thank you thank you."

"You're welcome," I breathed. "Please let me go, I'm going to pass out if you don't."

"Oh, sorry," he said, loosening his grip.

"Another thing," I said. "Have you considered taking a century quest?"

He gave me a weird look before sighing in recognition. "Future, right. That's how you know. Yeah, I was considering it, but I decided to wait a few more years. Now that I've got Cana though…"

"Good," I told him. "Don't do it."

"Why not?" he asked.

"One, we're going to have some tricky problems in the future, and your help would be greatly appreciated. Another thing, you would have gotten really hurt."

"How hurt?" he asked.

"Well, I dunno," I said sarcastically. "How hurt do you count being mauled by a dragon and losing two limbs?"

His eyes widened.

I winced. "Sorry, I probably should have put that better. Anyway, in the other timeline you ran into Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. He was not happy to see you."

"Which limbs?" Gildarts asked quietly.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

He breathed out. "No I suppose it doesn't, since it's not going to happen this time around.

I nodded. "That's the spirit. Remember that. Anyway, since you're here, maybe you can whip the older generation up to shape. I'm doing fine with the younger one, as you've probably seen."

He whistled. "Doing fine is an understatement. Some of those attacks were incredible. I still can't believe Laxus managed to do a unison raid with a five year old."

"Juvia has had magic since she was born. I brought her to the guild earlier in this timeline so that she could practice her magic, and so she could be happier. In the other timeline, she didn't join the guild until she was seventeen, and she was in Phantom Lord before that. Before she joined Phantom Lord, she was even more miserable, because she couldn't control the rain. It would always rain around her."

"And the others?" he asked. "Freed and Levy? Are they other members?"

I nodded. "I don't know what time they originally joined, but Levy's parents were killed and she was kidnapped. When I recognized the name, I took the other three – Freed hadn't joined us yet – and saved her."

"You took three kids to take on bandits?" Gildarts asked.

"Cana and Juvia didn't have to do anything," I said. "Laxus did one attack and I did two, and then one more spell to keep them where they were. It was extremely easy. Easier than I thought it'd be, actually."

"What is with your magic?" he asked. "I know Earth Magic, but I've never heard of those spells, and your magical seal looked a bit different. And then you turned into a shadow…"

"That's because it's not just Earth Magic," I said. "It's Planetary Magic. Earth is just the first element I learned. I've started with Pluto, too, for defense – I can turn my body intangible, that's what that was. Other than that, I'm planning on going to Tenrou sometime after Christmas so I can learn Venus, Mars, and Neptune."

"That's…light, fire and water, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "The only ones I'm worried about are Jupiter and Saturn. I have a few theories for Jupiter, but Saturn – which is wind – has got me almost completely stumped."

"Work on the others for now, Elle," Makarov said.

I sighed. "Alright. Also, when is Laxus's birthday? Next week, right?"

Makarov nodded. "November 23rd."

I can't believe it's already November. And Laxus's birthday is in five days. "Alright. I'm going to be stealing Laxus tomorrow for his present. We might be a few days."

"...Alright, just be careful," Makarov said, sighing. "Where are you going?"

"Galuna Island," I said.

"Are you sure you want to go there? Can't that place be a bit dangerous?" Gildarts asked.

"That's why I'm taking Laxus. I need to go because there are keys there, but I had a specific warning from Virgo to take a partner. Since it's with a pile of treasure, Laxus also gets to have fun. He also gets first choice from a lot of the things I find, before I share the rest with the other kids."

Makarov nodded. "Alright, I'll accept that."

"Cool," I said. "Now I should probably get to Cana's and then your house, Gildarts. And also tell Freed to go home. When will Fairy Valleys be done, anyway?" I asked Makarov.

"They're already done, I was going to tell you today, but then Gildarts arrived."

I smiled. "Alright, that's good. I'll move him in tonight, and that way I don't need to worry about him while I'm gone."

I turned to Gildarts. "When I'm gone, I want you to be a magical battery for the kids."

"You what?" he asked.

"I want them to practice moving your power through their core. They won't be able to hold it very long, because their magical cores are a lot smaller, and your magic is a lot different, but I would like Cana and Juvia to at least try. Not only will it help boost their magical power, but it will also help them with Unison Raids. Though Juvia has a certain knack for them…"

"What do you mean?" Makarov asked.

"She managed to do a Unison Raid with me, too," I told him. "That's what one of the other formations was. Levy and Freed were always together, but me, Juvia, Laxus and Cana would rotate our pairs."

"Interesting," Makarov said quietly.

I snorted. "You think it's interesting now, give it two years."

"Two years?" Gildarts asked curiously.

"Yeah, I won't be able to interfere with their timeline before then, but by the time X774 comes around, I'll be able to bring them in."

"Is there anyone else you specifically need to wait on?" Makarov asked.

I nodded. "Again in X776 and X777. And actually X778. Though you're going to be getting the most in X777. You'll be getting anywhere from one to five in X774 (depending on if I can pull it off), anywhere from one to six in X776, and anywhere from seven to fourteen in X777. And also another seven in X778. Though four might not count."

They both stared in shock.

Makarov cleared his throat. "Elle, are you telling me that you can definitely confirm seven joining in X777?"

I nodded. "Yep. Definitely. One of them might end up joining a bit later, but I've been visiting her every once in a while, and even though she's not here currently, she's training pretty hard on her own."

Makarov stopped to think. "Is she the Celestial Mage you're gathering keys for?"

I nodded. "Yes, and she isn't allowed to get another Zodiac until she can open all of her other Zodiacs at once."

He stared at me in shock. "That's…that's impossible!"

"No it's not. Future, remember?" I asked, tapping my head. "I'm just speeding up the process. She's currently contracted to four Zodiac keys. If she can hold them all open at Christmas, then I'll give her Sagittarius's key. Simple. She accepts it, and she understands, too. She's very determined."

"You have Sagittarius?" Makarov asked curiously.

"Not yet," I said, smirking. "I will in a week. That's why I'm going to Galuna Island."

I looked at my watch. "Alright, guys, gotta pop. Don't worry Gildarts, I'll grab Cana when I teleport. You just go home."

He nodded, and using a card, I popped downstairs, outside. Burning through that card, I quickly fixed the training field so it was back to normal, only a little singed. No sign of there being an earthquake though. I popped back inside next to Freed.

"Hey, Freed, I'm going to help Cana move into Gildarts's house," I said. "Can you get home on your own?"

He nodded. "I will see you later, Ella-sama."

"Goodnight Onee-sama!" Juvia cried, hugging me.

"Goodnight, Juvia," I said, ruffling her hair a bit.

Levy swallowed her cake. "Goodnight, Elle-chan!"

I smiled at her. "Goodnight, Levy. You have a bit of cake on your nose."

"Ahhh?" she cried. "Solid Script; Mirror." A MIRROR popped out, shiny and reflective, and she used it to wipe the cake off her face.

I was still laughing as I teleported away.

I would love to see your guesses. *hint hint*