Chapter Twenty - Gildarts, Part Four
I popped straight into Cana's room, where she had her clothes put in her requip space.
"I can't fit anything else," she said. "Sorry, Elle-nee-chan."
"It's fine," I told her. "My space has gotten huge, just from carrying things around in it, and I've got plenty of extra room for your things."
I went around the room, requipping things as I went, before I had a thought.
"Fuck!" I yelled.
"What's wrong?" Cana asked.
"I don't know where he lives!" I yelled. "I forgot to ask."
Cana laughed. "It's off of Orange Boulevard."
I nodded. "Alright."
There was a section of the city that was pretty close to the guild, where each road was named after some sort of fruit. They tried to make alliterations, too. Like 'Strawberry Street', the road Lucy's apartment is on.
I requipped Cana's bed and we looked around the empty room. "Ready?" I asked her.
She smiled at me. "Yeah."
I took her arm and we popped to the corner of Orange Boulevard and Raspberry Road.
"This way," Cana said, leading me down Orange. "He lives on the edge, near the woods."
I nodded and we sped up, nearing his house (which was surprisingly run down for an S Classer).
"Thank you, Elle," Cana said quietly. "I really do consider you a sister."
I smiled at her softly. "No problem. I consider you guys my sisters, too, and you deserve to be happy. I wasn't going to let your own stubbornness get in the way."
We were outside the doors now, and Cana merely looked at them. "If I hadn't done it now…do you know when I would have?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "When you were eighteen. I wasn't going to let you guys dance around this problem for twelve years."
She nodded. "Thank you, Elle. Hey…do you think he's going to fix up the house?"
"He will if I have anything to say about it," I growled.
Cana laughed and knocked on the door. Gildarts let us in and into Cana's new room, which was probably the cleanest of the whole house.
"I suggest you just put the things you need down for now…I'd like to repaint when you come back in a few days," he said.
I nodded and put most of her things off to the sides, so Cana could freely move throughout the room.
"Goodnight, guys," I told them. "I'm giving Freed instructions for tomorrow, alright?"
Gildarts nodded, as I popped away.
I appeared at my house, and went inside to find Freed reading.
"Freed, your room is ready at Fairy Valleys," I said.
That name was supposed to be a joke.
"It is?" he asked, straightening up. "Alright, then I should put my things away."
I nodded and we packed up a few things before I requipped them. I took his hand and we moved to the building he was staying in.
Makarov was waiting for us, and we walked up the stairs. "I had them build bookshelves into the walls," he said.
"Thank you, Master," Freed said.
I opened the door and put down Freed's bed, followed by most of the things he owned. "Freed, I suggest you start organizing how you want things. I need to write a letter, if you don't mind."
He nodded. "That's fine. I would like my dresser over there, and my desk over here. You can write the letter there."
I placed the furniture where he wanted it and put his books on his bed. Freed immediately started organizing them as I sat down at the desk and wrote a letter with instructions for the following day.
I finished and looked up. "I'm finished. Do you need any help?"
Freed shook his head. "No. You may go home, Ella-sama. Thank you for letting me stay with you. I must admit, I'm going to miss your cooking."
I smiled at him. "My cooking actually wasn't that good; I just know how to follow a recipe. I'm only really good at making deserts, or bread. Bakery type things. But that's it. The rest…I just have a good cookbook."
"I may have to borrow that," he murmured.
I laughed. "That's fine. Tomorrow I'll be out with Laxus, and I probably won't be home for the rest of the day, and maybe another. I have instructions for training here, alright?"
He nodded. "Good luck."
"Thank you, Freed," I said, before popping home and going to bed.
Gildarts arrived at the guild the next morning with Cana beside him. He was so proud of her – of all of them. He was also looking forward to Elle's training instructions.
They went inside to the training room, where Freed was waiting with Levy and Cana. Makarov was there as well.
"Alright," Freed said. "Ella-sama left a note."
Before he could read, the door creaked open. Macao, Wakaba, and Enno stood there. "We were hoping that we could join your training session."
"Sure," Freed said.
"How come you're in charge?" Cana asked.
"I'm Ella-sama's third in command," he said proudly.
"Who's second?" Enno asked.
"Laxus, and he's not here," Freed said.
"Why are you third?" Cana complained.
"Because I'm older than you," Freed said.
"That's not fair," Cana said. "Both Juvia and I have been here longer than you, and we're stronger than you."
"Yes, well, Ella-sama left the note with me, so I'm in charge!" Freed said.
"Just read the note! Jeez!" Levy said.
Freed cleared his throat.
"Hello, everyone. Laxus and I have gone to get his birthday present, and also possibly fight some monsters. But that's debatable.
As for training, I want the usual routine in the morning; meditation for three hours."
"Three hours?" Macao and Wakaba cried.
Freed glared at them. "Do not interrupt me when I am reading Ella-sama's note."
He continued.
"After that, I want at least Cana and Juvia to try using Gildarts as a magical battery. Doing this, you would set your own magical power aside, take his magical power, convert it into your own, and then cast it. I will admit, this will probably be hard, and you probably won't be able to hold it for more than a few seconds at best. Despite that, this is very good for expanding your magical capacity and for future Unison Raids. Make sure you do not use your own magic; it must be Gildarts's.
When that is done, I want the four of you to use your magic to make Laxus a birthday present while you rest from using your magic. First come up with what you want to make while you relax. You can team up, and work together, and if you need extra supplies, like lacrimas or something, that's alright; just take an adult with you, so you're not scammed. I'll pay back the adult for what it costs (just try not to go overboard 2,000 J), and I would like a receipt, please. Then work on building whatever it is.
As for anyone else joining in on this session, such as an older generation, I want them meditating the entire time. A whole day, meditating. That's it. Breaks only for bathroom and eating. Gildarts, make sure you remember to wake them up for meal times, otherwise they'll be in a trance-like state all day.
I don't want to hear your complaints. Either follow the instructions and meditate, or get out."
On the words 'get out', Freed pointed at the door, almost as if he was channeling Elle.
"Are we really going to meditate all day?" Wakaba asked.
"Yes," Macao said, smacking him.
"I wonder what Elle-chan is doing," Levy muttered.
With moving Cana, Levy, and Freed's things, my storage space had gotten much larger. It was probably the size of the first floor of the guild, and it was almost completely empty.
There was a section where there were a series of drawers built into the 'walls'. In the top one, I kept all the keys I had.
Under that, I kept any food I had.
The third drawer down held everything from a first aid kit, to pain medication, and potions that I had gotten from Porlyusica. (Back to that in a bit).
Under that I had two drawers full of clothes for me.
There were several sections on the walls that were adorned with the magical instruments and the weapons we found.
Looking at the map on the wall, I took down several cards that were pinned up there.
As I mentioned before, with Cana's help, I had made cards for the members that I was unsure about. Since I wouldn't be at my house to monitor them, I pulled them from the wall and set them in my top drawer, that was split into fourths.
The first three were for keys; one for silver, one for gold, and one for platinum. The last section is the one where I put the cards in, along with Sagittarius's thumbtack.
Not long after arriving in this world, I had gone to Porlyusica's and politely knocked on her door. I asked her if I could borrow the recipes for her potions, because I wanted to be prepared. I told them that I would store them in my requip space.
To my surprise, she softened (very very very slightly) and instead of simply letting me borrow the recipes, taught me how to make them herself. When she was sure that I could make them perfectly, she let me leave - or kicked me out, it depends on your perspective, I guess.
As for the cards, I would concentrate on the person. Cana would then tie two spells to that person's card – one to track how they're feeling, and one to track their location.
Since I didn't know when these people came to the guild, I had the cards specifically look out for distress. By using our extra magic cards, I was able to keep them running easily, monitoring for any sort of change. If there was distress, I could send some magic through the card and find out where they were. Simple.
That being said, I put the cards for Evergreen, Bickslow, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren, Laki, Nab, Alzack and Bisca in my storage space. If their distress reached a certain level, I would activate the card and find them.
So I took them with me. Just in case.
Just in case.
Guess who's next!
Also, my anxiety has been acting up...I almost didn't post the fight with Gildarts...so if I could have some sort of reassurance, that would be very nice...
Also I know that Elle shouldn't win all of these fights, and she's not. There was a small mention in Gildarts Part One that when she fought against Cana and Juvia, she lost.