A/N: CHA! The last chapter for the Introduction Arc!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Please enjoy!
Chapter 8: We Came to Party Hard!
April 5, X792 - After Dusk
"Leave it to Cordelia to be late to her own party," Zinnia said, giggling to herself as she made her way down to the Murdock home. Bones trotted along next to her, his tongue lolled out to the side as usual, "Though, I do suppose it's not quite her fault since it's a surprise. We'll just blame Eli for her tardiness, right Bones?" she continued, looking down at the hound next to her. He barked loudly in reply as if to concur with her, "I'm glad we're in agreement," she said as they came to a stop in front of the familiar Murdock door. She could already hear yelling coming from the inside of the home, causing her smile to widen, "Sounds like home!" she announced before throwing the door open.
The scene before her had her laughing in almost an instant. The living room had been cleared away of all furniture, save for the recliner that Finn sat in while he continued to try to desperately ignore his family. Gamu was perched on top of the couch that had been moved up against a wall, a spinner in his hands with dots of yellow, blue, green and red covering it. Smack dab in the middle of the floor was the rest of the family in a tangled mess on top of a Twister board.
"Flick the damn spinner already!" Eli shouted, the man practically doing the splits to reach blue and green dots while the rest of his body was in between Cordelia and Seth, his hands stretching out for another blue dot as well as a red dot.
"Don't yell at him!" Cordelia snapped, her own body arched over Eli's in order for her hands to reach the correct colored dots. Her hair hung in Regina's face while she did her best to not step on Seth's hands, "He's been doing good so far!"
"Not when he keeps getting distracted after each spin!" Eli retorted, "Who even made him the spinner?! Oi! Old man! Go spin the next color already!"
"You did this to yourself," Finn replied, not bothering to look up from his book.
"I think it's been a fun game so far," Seth grinned, the large man somehow managing to keep his side from hitting the ground as he reach out for the correct colors from underneath Eli. Although the later half of his body was propped up a bit more in order to keep himself from smashing Regina against the floor.
"I agree with Seth!" Regina grinned, sprawled out across the board. Though, she was having a hard time trying not to sneeze from her daughter's hair tickling her nose.
"That's only because this was your idea!" Eli retorted, "How the hell did I get roped into playing again?!"
"Because you owed me!" Cordelia answered, "Gamu! It really would be much appreciated if you would tell us the next move. We've been stuck this way for ten minutes now."
"Ah," Gamu answered, having to pull his attention away from the stitched patches on the couch, "Sorry," he said as he flicked the spinning arrow. He grinned when it stopped and looked back up at the players on the floor, "Left hand yellow."
"Jesus Christ! You've gotta be kidding me!" Eli yelled since he would have to somehow contort his body to reach the specified color with his hand.
"It's not that hard," Seth said, being the first to slap a yellow spot with his left hand.
"Yeah, well, you're not doing the splits right now either," Eli grumbled, but somehow managed to touch his fingertips to a yellow spot.
"Stop complaining," Cordelia said, "At least you don't have to do the crab walk to reach one. Do you even know how hard it is to keep your back arched like this for over ten minutes?!" she continued, trying to reach out for the yellow spot. In the middle of her moving, her hair continued to brush along Regina's nose. The older woman finally couldn't take it anymore and sneezed hard enough to have everyone falling across the board with her. They all landed with a loud 'oof' while Cordelia and Seth quickly began to laugh afterwards. Eli sat stuck in between the two laughing idiots with a less than amused look on his face.
"Did I do something wrong?" Gamu asked, looking worriedly between the spinner and the fallen players, thinking that his spinning had caused the entire downfall of the game. This question only prompted Cordelia and Seth to laugh harder. It was then that Zinnia finally released her own laughter, causing everyone in the room to look over at her.
"Zi!" Cordelia shouted happily, jumping up off of the group on the floor and running to the door, "Where have you been all day?!" she asked as she smothered her in a hug.
"Around," Zinnia answered, "Looks like you all were having fun. And you even got Gamu to come out of his hiding spot!"
"I know, right?!" Cordelia said, "It really was thanks to my dad, but we'll be the ones taking him outside."
"That's great! I came to get you actually!"
"Get me for what?" she asked, rubbing the top of Bones's head.
"You're about to find out. Come on!" she answered as she grabbed onto Cordelia's hand and pulled her out of the home.
"You three better hurry up and follow her!" Regina smiled at the three younger men, "You don't want to miss the party!"
"Well, we need to figure out how to get Gamu outside first," Eli began. Though, he quickly jumped away from Seth in shock when he suddenly saw Gamu now perched on top of one of his shoulders, "What the hell?! When did that even happen?!"
"Don't know really," Seth answered with a shrug and a smile, "But it looks like he's ready to go."
"Ready to go," Gamu repeated, "Let's go exploring," he smiled down at Eli.
"You're not a parrot, I hope you know," Eli said, "But whatever. So long as this works, let's head up."
"Have fun!" Regina chirped, waving goodbye at them with a smile, "Say bye to the boys, Finn," she said, though she only earned a grunt from the man. This caused her to smack him in the chest hard, making him cough out in response, "Say goodbye to the boys, Finn," she repeated, still holding her smile.
"Don't do anything stupid," was his response and Regina supposed it was better than nothing.
She walked off into the kitchen after pecking him on the cheek, "Oh! And be a peach and put the living room back in order!" she called out cheerfully.
Finn stared out at the mess his family had left the living room in before letting out a heavy sigh, "Why am I always the clean-up crew?" he mumbled as he moved to start cleaning things up.
. : + : .
"What are you in such a hurry for, Zi?" Cordelia asked while she was still being dragged up to the top deck by the brunette in front of her.
"It's a surprise!"
"It better be a good one! You almost smacked me into the wall around that last corner!"
"It'll be worth it! I promise!"
Zinnia finally came to the stairs that would led up to the top deck and ran full speed up them. When the two women along with Bones broke to the surface, they were greeted with nothing but darkness. They stood there for a long moment, Cordelia being a bit freaked out by the lack of the usual noise on the ship.
"What's going on?" Cordelia asked, worry starting to overcome her, "Where is everyone?"
At this question, the three men that they had left behind finally came up from the lower decks. Though, they didn't seem as worried about the darkness and Cordelia didn't have any longer to worry either as lights exploded all around them and the entire guild shouted 'surprise' happily to their new guild master. Cordelia's jaw dropped as she stared at all the décor, food and drinks that covered the entire top deck. And she was surprised to see that everyone was there, even Gordon who stood off in the back with crossed arms.
Before Cordelia could say anything in response, Gamu beat her to the punch, "Do I get to have a party because Finn found me?"
Cordelia snorted out in laughter while everyone stared at the man with wide, surprised eyes, "GAMU!" they all shouted, not at all expecting to see him out and about.
"What is all this?" Cordelia asked.
"It's a party to celebrate you becoming the new guild master!" Hagi answered.
"Really?!" Cordelia replied, a huge smile splitting across her face when she earned nods in response. She then looked up at Gamu, "Well, what do you say, Gamu? Want to have a party?"
He cocked his head to the side as he thought about it. Another goofy smile quickly spread across his face when he came to a decision, "Yeah. Parties are supposed to be fun, right?"
"Right!"
"Then we should party," he answered.
"CHA! Well then, what are we waiting for?! Let's get this started!" Cordelia shouted, the guild cheering in reply to her answer.
Almost instantly people spread out across the deck as loud music began to play and drinks already started to pop open. Cordelia was dragged into the crowd by Zinnia, the two women walking over towards one of the bars. Though, half way there, Cordelia was quickly stopped by an arm slinking across her shoulders. She looked up to see Ingrid was the one currently pawing at her with a sly smile.
"GAH! YOU'RE TOUCHING ME!" Cordelia shouted, her eyes wide in anger and her teeth turned sharp momentarily.
"Oh, but my lovely Cordelia, isn't it the proper thing to do by giving someone a hug to congratulate them?" Ingrid practically purred into her ear, knowing that she would instantly get under the guild master's skin by doing it.
"I'm glad I stabbed your file!"
"Excuse me?" Ingrid asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.
"None of your business! What the hell do you want?!"
"I thought it was about time for another one of our wonderful challenges," she said, her sly smile returning, "How about a drinking contest this time?"
Cordelia eyed the woman for a moment before replying, "I don't know why you're requesting that. You lose every time we have one."
"Maybe I could win for the first time," Ingrid answered, "Maybe I wanted to give you a win as a gift for becoming my lovely new guild master. I suppose we'll never know now if you're not willing to play," she shrugged, beginning to walk away from Cordelia.
With a win against Ingrid on the line, Cordelia quickly stopped her, "I never said I wouldn't do it! So let me show you how real drinking is done!"
"Of course, my dear," Ingrid answered, following Cordelia up to the bar where Zinnia sat. Cordelia felt her eye twitch in even more irritation when she saw that Zinnia was speaking with Kasra at the moment.
"Miss Murdock," Kasra began when he saw the two women approach the bar, "What a wonderful party you have going on tonight."
"Yeah, so don't ruin my mood!"
"I wouldn't dream of it," he smiled over at her before taking a drink of one of his specialized black teas, the man preferring not to drink alcohol most of the time.
"Ah, Kasra, love," Ingrid smiled upon seeing the man and quickly made her way over to him. She slid her arms around him much like she had done to Cordelia previously. Even though it was quite obvious that Kasra preferred men, he never minded the affections of women; and over the short time that Ingrid had been part of the crew, he had come to quite like her company. Plus, it irritated Cordelia to no end when the two of them were together and around her, which both seemed to find amusement in.
"Hello Ingrid," he answered, allowing the woman to hang on him, "How are you on this spring evening."
"Wonderful as always," she said, "Especially now that I've gotten our lovely Cordelia to agree to a drinking contest. You will watch over me if I happen to drink a little too much, won't you?"
"Of course, just like always."
"Perfect," she said, turning to look back at Cordelia. The guild master wore a look of disgust while Zinnia was giggling next to her, "Well, are we going to start?"
Cordelia felt her eye twitch again, but reminded herself that this was for a win against her rival, "Oi! Bartender! Two beers and keep them coming!"
"Is it wise to let our guild master become inebriated?" Kasra asked.
"Yes, it is her party after all," Ingrid answered.
"And you better add in a shot of whiskey to that order!" Cordelia shouted, knowing she would need that extra punch to start off her night.
. : + : .
The party was well under way and Tazz and the boys were fully enjoying the atmosphere around them. They had been drinking just like everyone else and somewhere along way, Tazz thought it would be a good idea to travel around the deck in skates and had momentarily disappeared to go grab some from her room in the co-ed dorms.
"Can I ask why you just happened to have four pairs of skates in your room?" Chris asked after he had finished putting his own on.
"That's for me to know and you to probably never find out why," Tazz answered with a grin, "And don't complain! This is gonna be fun!"
"What if we're not very good at it?" Lance asked, trying to balance himself out when he stood.
"That's why we're gonna do this in a line! It'll be even more fun that way!" Tazz said.
"And everyone should learn how to skate," Rio smirked, taking off on the blades before jumping over a table and causing people to dive out of the way. He jumped a few more tables before grinding across one of the long bar tops, laughing in response when he heard people yelling at him as he zipped past them. He came sliding to a stop when he rounded back to his friends, "Just like that too," he grinned.
"What a show off!" Chris said, playfully pushing Rio in the arm.
"Well I'm glad to see someone else knows how to skate," Tazz smiled, "So I'll be leading the way and Rio can be in the back. That way we can put you two less experienced skaters in the middle to make sure you don't go flying off somewhere."
"Why do you get to be in the front?!" Rio shouted.
"Because I'm shorter than you!"
"Don't argue," Lance interrupted, "We're supposed to be having fun, right? Just be in the back, show off," he said with his own smile.
"Fine," Rio grunted.
The group lined up with Chris behind Tazz and Lance right behind him with Rio finishing up the group. Tazz grabbed what was left of her drink from the table they had been sitting at and quickly downed it.
"You boys ready?!" she asked, earning nods from them, "Let's do this!"
She took off quickly, the boys having to grab on tighter than they expected to make sure their line didn't break. They started off easy for Chris's and Lance's sake, but once Tazz felt they had gone slow enough and she could tell that Rio was getting annoyed with the slow pace, she kicked it up a notch. She grinned as they were about to pass the music booth, looking up to see Devin playing DJ for the night.
"Oi! Devin!" she shouted, managing to catch his attention, "Crank it up, would ya?!"
He nodded at her, smirking at the sight of the boys behind her. He flipped it over to a more upbeat song and turned up the volume, bopping his head to the beat. Tazz waved at him in thanks before taking off at a quicker pace, weaving around all the tables and chairs and people. She moved with the beat of the music as well, causing their line to sway back and forth slightly.
"See! It's not that hard!" she shouted, glancing back at the boys.
"You idiot! Look where you're going!" Rio yelled, pointing ahead of them.
Tazz turned back around to see she was heading straight for a table where Nanami, Securus and John sat at. Chris, Lance and Rio detached themselves from the line, leaving only Tazz to crash into the table and knock over Nanami in the process.
Securus and John grabbed onto the sake bottles and cups that had littered the table, making sure nothing would spill. John then looked down at the women sprawled across the ground, "You ladies alright?" he asked, moving to help Nanami stand back up. He moved to help Tazz next, but Nanami quickly intervened.
"Thank you, John-kun, but I've got this one handled," she said gently, waving him back to his seat, "Looks like we meet again, Tazz-san," Nanami smiled down at the younger girl.
"Ahaha," Tazz laughed nervously, knowing she was in for it know. She didn't have her bike with her to make a quick get away and she obviously couldn't do much in skates, "You wouldn't do anything too horrible at a party, right?"
"Why are you so nervous, Tazz-san?" Nanami asked, the smile still on her face, "I simply want to know if you would like to have a drink with us," she said, motioning back over to the two men she had been sitting with and the drinks that covered the table.
"Well…sure, if you're inviting me," Tazz said, surprised with the turn of events.
She finally stood back up and was about to move towards the table when Nanami quickly pulled her sword from its sheath. She cut a hole right in front of Tazz, the girl falling into it before she could stop herself. Nanami then cut a hole some feet above the first one and soon enough, Tazz came flying through that hole and straight back into the first one. Satisfied with catching Tazz in a continuous loop, Nanami returned her sword to its sheath with another smile.
"That's called payback, Tazz-san," Nanami said as she sat back down at the table.
Securus laughed loudly at the sight before him, "Who knew you had something like that in you, Shiraki!"
"Well, I can't let her get away with what she pulled the other day, Securus-kun," Nanami answered, "Now if you would be so kind, please pour me another glass of sake."
"Yes ma'am!"
"Is she going to be alright?" John asked, watching the young girl flip through the cuts in space.
"I'm going," Tazz shouted, her words being cut off as she fell through the hole again, "To get you…for this…just you wait…oh god…I'm going to…be sick….please make it stop!"
"Apologize properly, Tazz-san, and I'll let you out," Nanami said, sipping from the sake cup that Securus had handed her.
"Sorry…I'm sorry….please let me….out of this thing….dear god…I'm gonna…throw up!
"I suppose that will do," Nanami smiled before snapping her fingers and closing the holes.
Tazz slammed down into the deck, her face green and her eyes swirling. Chris, Lance and Rio quickly ran up to her and grabbed her limp body. They bowed in apology to Nanami before running off.
"Who knew we were going to get a show tonight!" Securus said.
"That was fairly impressive," John added.
"Thank you," Nanami answered with another proud smile.
. : + : .
"Looks like the girls are having fun," Jay said, smiling from the table he sat at with Ace, Drayden and Ajax. They watched as Amelia, Aria, Zipporah and Alisa danced not too far from them, having pushed some tables out of the way, "They even got Alisa to join them."
"That's probably more Mia's doing than anything," Ajax answered, "She's usually pretty good at getting people to join her in things like that."
"Yeah, but where'd Hagi go?" Drayden asked, "Isn't he usually with Mia?"
"I thought I saw him daydreaming off somewhere," Jay said, "Something about there being so many romances to start, I think."
"Sounds like him," Ace said.
"I can't help myself when it comes to romance," Hagi said, suddenly appearing at the table with the four men, causing the rest of the table to jump in surprise.
"Where the hell did you come from?!" Ace shouted.
"I'm not really sure," Hagi laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head, "I remember surprising Cordelia and then suddenly I'm here."
"What a weirdo," Ace mumbled, but Hagi didn't seem to pick up on the comment.
"All the girls look lovely tonight, right?" Hagi began, watching the men closely to see if any of them looked interested in any of the women dancing in front of them.
"It's not any different than any other day," Ace answered.
"And with an attitude like that, it won't be any surprise if you end up alone," Hagi retorted, causing Jay, Drayden and Ajax to laugh in response.
Ace rolled his eyes in response while he looked back over to the women. His eyes quickly went wide when he saw Aria handing over a beer to Amelia, "No! Mia! Don't drink it!" he shouted, but the brunette woman didn't hear him over the music.
The rest of the table looked to see what he was yelling about just in time to see Mia finishing off the beer that had been given to her. They all suddenly looked very worried and they all began yelling when Aria handed the woman another drink.
"Aria! You idiot!" Ace shouted loud enough to be heard this time, "You know she's banned from drinking!"
"Stop lookin' so worried!" Aria retorted with a grin, "We're supposed to be havin' fun tonight, right?!"
"Looking and having, dear," Alisa corrected her.
"Whatever," Aria answered, "It's still a celebration and Mia should be able to have a drink!"
"That's right!" Amelia added in, her cheeks already fully flushed. She then hugged Aria tightly, "I should get to drink tonight!"
"Oh no," all five men said, dropping their heads in defeat.
As Amelia continued drinking, she continued hugging the other women around her, being able to practically suffocate Alisa and Zipporah in her cleavage since the two older women were shorter than Aria. She then set her sights on the table full of men and began making her way over to them, swaying her hips as she moved. The women she left behind watched the scene play out with amused stares, Aria even laughing out loud.
"Evening boys," Amelia purred, her mind switching over to flirting mode.
"Evening Mia," they all answered, trying not to make eye contact with her, save for Hagi who had seen this happen more times than he cared to count.
"You all look handsome tonight," she smiled, "Who's going to dance with me tonight?"
"Ajax, you're the oldest," Ace grumbled, "Take responsibility!"
"You're the guild master's brother," Ajax retorted, "So you should take responsibility."
"Is it really that bad?" Jay asked, "I mean, Mia is really pretty."
"Prettier than Cordelia?" Drayden asked, smirking behind his cowl. Jay just looked down to the deck floor in response.
"And yes it's that bad," Ace answered, "Once she gets you, she won't let go for the rest of the night."
"You boys are making me wait an awful long time," Amelia pouted, "And it's getting hot. Maybe I should…"
"Mia! Wait!" Hagi suddenly shouted, knowing what she was about to do.
He was too late though. Amelia was able to pop off her corset top, leaving her in just the strapless bra she wore to cover her top half. Instantly, blood spurted out from the noses of the other four men at the table, knocking them back out of their chairs and onto the ground. Hagi quickly jumped away from them to make sure he wouldn't get any blood on himself while Amelia giggled playfully above them.
"Now, why does that happen every time?" she asked, leaning over to stare down at the men.
Blood poured out all over again at the sight of her chest appearing right in front of them. Thankfully before they died of blood loss, Aria appeared right behind Amelia and dumped a huge bucket of cold water on her. Amelia blinked a few times, trying to figure out what happened and why there were four men passed out on the ground in front of her. She then looked down to see that she no longer had a top on and that she was drench in cold water.
"AHHHHH! HAGI!" she cried, large streams of tears falling down her face as she ran over to the blonde boy, "I did it again!"
"Yes, you did," Hagi answered with a sigh.
"Please fix me up! Please! I can't walk all the way back to my dorm like this!"
"Don't worry," he began, "I'm not going to let you walk around like that. Costume Change: Stylist!" he shouted. His clothes changed so he was now wearing black pants and a white dress shirt with a waistcoat over it. The waistcoat had a plethora of pockets to hold all of his styling supplies and he had a measuring tape draped over his shoulders. He made quick work of giving Amelia a new shirt and hair style. Soon she was wearing a dark red cut off shirt with long sleeves that flared out at the ends of them. He had styled her hair into a side bun with a few long, curly pieces hanging from it, "There we are," he smiled as he released his magic.
"Thank you, Hagi!" she cried again as she hugged him.
He hugged her back and moved her away from the still passed out men, "Come on, you don't want to get blood on you."
"But what about the boys?" she asked.
"They'll be fine. I think you've done enough for them tonight."
Amelia blushed heavily at his comment, "Hagi!" she shouted in embarrassment as they moved away from the area.
. : + : .
"They're all a lot of fun to watch, neh Sho?" Haruna asked, looking over to the little maroon cat next to her. The pair sat near one of the food tables watching the other guild members in amusement. Squall sat on the other side of her, deciding to eat with Haruna. Since the two girls were fairly close in age and because Haruna always treated her so nicely, Squall could often be seen hanging around and playing with Haruna. Plus, both girls enjoyed eating all kinds of food, so they tended to make a good pair.
"If you say so," Sho answered, "So long as none of them try to pull anything on you! Drunk mages are worse than sober ones!"
"Not all mages drink to get drunk, I hope you know," a man said, appearing next to the trio that sat on the ground.
They looked up to see Jack and Zhuue smiling down at them. Excitement suddenly hit Squall when she saw Zhuue, the two having made an instant bond when they realized that neither of them could speak. Squall jumped up and latched herself to the blonde's side, causing Jack and Haruna to laugh. Zhuue quickly repaid the hug, swinging the small girl back and forth in her arms happily. The two soon dove into a conversation that Jack and Haruna didn't really understand, the two mutes having their own way of communication between each other.
"So things have been interesting so far?" Jack asked, looking down at Haruna.
"Yeah," she answered, "Everyone's having so much fun! And there's all this amazing food!"
"Good to hear," Jack smiled, "Just don't make yourself sick by eating all that food. You'll end up in the infirmary again with another stomach ache."
"I'll be okay!" she chirped in reply, "But I think you should be more worried about the others."
"Others?"
"Yeah! Looks like they're putting together tables to dance on top of them," she said, pointing over to the middle of the deck. Just as she said, mages were pushing a bunch of tables together in order to create a raised dance floor.
Jack sighed at the sight of it, "I'm sure someone is bound to get hurt. You don't mind if we stick around to watch and make sure nothing bad happens, do you?"
"Not at all!" Haruna answered.
Jack smiled in reply as he managed to find a chair to pull up and watch what was about to happen. He noticed Isaak walking over to the bar that Cordelia had been at and his smile grew, "Well, things should definitely be entertaining at least."
"Sorry for butting in," Isaak began, appearing in the middle of the group that surrounded Cordelia and Ingrid during their drinking contest. It was apparent that Ingrid had lost, the woman having to lean even more against Kasra from the amount of alcohol she had drank. Cordelia also had a flush across her cheeks, but she was still standing and able to talk without slurring, "But I'm stealing our guild master from you," he smiled before grabbing onto Cordelia's hand and pulling her away from the crowd. Zinnia quickly followed them, curious as to what was going on.
"Where are we going?" Cordelia asked with a wide smile.
"Dancing," he answered, showing her the large dancing space that had been created with the tables.
"Ohhh! Looks like fun!" Cordelia and Zinnia said together as they ran up to the edge of the tables.
A hand suddenly appeared in front of Cordelia's face and she looked up to see Jean smiling down at her, "Care if I have the first dance?"
"Sure!" she answered, reaching out to grab his hand.
Though, his hand was quickly pushed out of the way and replaced with Rin's, "I think I'll take the first dance," he grinned, not wasting any time and pulling Cordelia up on top of the tables with him.
"Rin!" Jean shouted.
"Wait your turn, my friend," Rin answered, winking over at him before turning his attention to Cordelia, "Ready?"
"Definitely," she answered with a laugh.
Rin quickly had them in rhythm with the music playing, spinning and dipping Cordelia dramatically along with him. He spun her out far enough for Jean to interrupt them and take over the dance. He continued the dramatic dancing style that Rin had been doing and soon enough, Cordelia found herself constantly being bounced back and forth between the two men. She eventually found herself flat on her back on a table when the two men entered into a sparring match.
"You all right there?" Seth asked, his face suddenly appearing above her.
She could only laugh in response for a moment, not even surprised by Jean's and Rin's antics, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good, up you go," he said, easily picking her up and placing her back on her feet. She looked around to see that many other people had joined the dance floor. She was surprised to see the twins dancing, but it was more like Alexander was forcing Alai to move around. Cordelia then laughed when she saw Matilda laughing loudly with a cup of coffee she had in her hands that she was sure was spiked for the night. Next to her was an exhausted looking Sam, Matilda periodically swinging the poor boy around before bringing him back to dance with her again. Many other mages filled the table tops and were dancing around and drinking.
Cordelia then looked up at Seth with a grin, "Let's dance!" she shouted, pulling the large man along with her into the middle of the dance floor. She noticed that he was less dramatic than Jean and Rin had been and much more gentle in his approach with her, which she supposed made sense for the man's personality. And so long as she didn't end up falling again, she didn't mind the pace.
"So where did Gamu go?" she asked.
"I'm not really sure," he answered, "He was with us for a while before he eventually wandered off. I'm sure he'll pop up again here soon," he said, earning a nod from the woman, "By the way, I never got to congratulate you for becoming the new guild master."
"That's because it was Eli's fault!"
"You still haven't forgiven him?"
"Well…I'm not mad anymore if that's what you mean."
"You know how he is when it comes to apologizing," Seth smiled, "Maybe you would take an apology from me for him?"
"Hell no!"
"I didn't think so," he laughed, "But just cut the poor guy some slack. This party was his idea, after all."
"Really?"
"Well, I might have come up with a few things to help him out, but he was the one to say we should have a party for you."
Cordelia was quiet for a moment before Zinnia suddenly interrupted the two of them and pulled Cordelia away from Seth, "No frowning during your own party!" she grinned. She began dancing with Cordelia, leading the guild master into the tango with her. A smile split across Cordelia's face again and both women could hear Seth laughing in the background.
The two women danced together for a while without interruptions, but Zinnia had a feeling it wouldn't last, her feeling being proven right when Isaak showed up behind them with a smile across his face.
"Mind if I cut in?"
"I'm sure you'll do it anyways," Zinnia answered as she moved away from Cordelia to find a new dancing partner.
Isaak easily took up Zinnia's place and soon had the two of them dancing rather formally compared to the people around them, "Been having fun tonight?"
"Yeah! It's great that everyone put a party together like this!" Cordelia answered, "I think it was something that everyone needed."
"I think you're right," he said, "I think it was time for everyone to let loose for a bit. And I think a guild master like you was worth celebrating over," he continued, causing Cordelia to blush lightly, "I already know you're going to become great and do great things. I'll be looking forward to seeing this dream of yours play out."
"Marzell!" Eli shouted, interrupting the small moment that had been created, "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm simply dancing with our new guild master. Is that such a problem with you?" he asked with a smile.
"Damn straight it is!"
"Is that so?" he said, spinning Cordelia out and letting her go so she was twirled right into Eli. She smacked gently into the man's chest as Isaak added, "Why don't you dance with her then?"
Eli looked down at Cordelia, surprised that she wasn't yelling at him again. She simply stood there, waiting for him to make the next move. Just as he began to reach out for her, the entire table dance floor creaked loudly. Suddenly, everyone on the tables dropped to the floor along with the top half of the tables, landing in a giant, tangled mess. A few of them managed to look up to see Kato in front of the fallen mess and assumed he had something to do with it.
"KATO!" they all shouted as many of them began running after him.
"I didn't do anything!" he shouted back as he took off at full speed.
At a table across from the mess sat Vi and Mac. Vi looked down at the woman next to her and let an unusual, small smile appeared on her lips, "That was a pretty good one."
"I thought so," Mac snickered next to her, having used her Wood Make Magic to cause the tables to fall over like they did, "Gotta keep them on their toes."
. : + : .
Cordelia sat at the front of the middle ship, hearing the party going on behind her still. She had managed to pull herself away from all the chaos to have a quiet moment for the night as she stared up at all the bright stars. She also needed a moment to cool off, the alcohol running through her system having her overheated along with all the dancing she had been doing. She took in a deep breath and let the ocean breeze wash over her just as she heard someone approaching her. She looked next to her to see Eli plopping down on the deck floor beside her.
"What are you doing all the way out here by yourself?" he asked.
"I just wanted to step away for a moment and cool off. It's always nice out here at night time."
"Yeah, I suppose it is," he said, looking up at the stars along with her. A moment of silence passed between them before Eli started talking again, "You know that I'm happy to see you as the guild master, right?"
Cordelia was quiet for a moment as she pulled her focus away from the stars to look over at him, "I know. That's not why I got so mad though."
Eli thought back to their argument the previous day and leafed through all the things he said that could have set her off. He then remembered her storming off after laughing at her about not being able to take missions with her anymore. He twitched at the thought of it, finally realizing how he had really sounded when he had said it, "Sorry, ya know, for laughing like that. It really is gonna be weird not being able to take missions with you anymore."
Cordelia stared over at him for another long moment and once she decided he was being sincere in what he said, she smiled at him, "You're forgiven," she said, moving in to hug him, "You did go and throw this party for me, after all."
"Yeah, well, I had to make it up to you somehow," he said, hugging her back with one arm, "I hope you've been enjoying it."
"I have been. Parties are lots of fun."
Both Eli and Cordelia froze when they heard that answer, the response not coming from either of them. They looked up to see Gamu perched in front of them with another smile on his face. Cordelia and Eli both screamed in response, having no idea where the man came from.
"Gamu!" they both shouted.
He smiled again as he began to answer them, "I came to bring you back…to…" he drifted off, beginning to play with pieces of Cordelia's hair again, causing the other two to sigh in response.
"Let's go back to the party," Eli said, picking up Gamu to make sure he came with them. He was slung over a shoulder while the man continued to play with Cordelia's hair.
A/N: And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!
This chapter was loads of fun for me! So I really do hope you all enjoyed it too! And that is the last chapter for the Introduction Arc! So now we get to jump into the next arc - Treasure Hunt! Soooo excited for it too!
And we have more pictures up! Ace, Gordon, Squall and Nanami have been added to my profile! Once again, another huge thank you to XLil MEkoX for making them!
Hmm, I don't think there's much else to say this time around. So I'll jump right into the reviews!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! And oh man! We've already hit over 100 reviews! Holy crap! You guys are amazing!
Origm2012 - Haha! Yep! Cordelia is always prepared for any situation, even if that situation calls for a squirt gun! And I'm glad that Seth is turning out so well for you! And yeah, I do believe he is the tallest. Sometimes those chapter titles take a while for me to figure out. Often times, I actually have to write out a chapter before I title them. But I'm glad you liked the twins and I thought they were rather interesting myself. And I really have way too much fun writing Eli and Cordelia! It's just so easy and fun to write them together. And I'm glad you liked Cordelia's mom and Gamu too! And those updates you made to your own stories were great! So thanks for those chapters! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Dreadburner94 - LOL! Part of me feels like I should respond in puns, but I'm afraid that might start another whole thread of them! But I'm glad you enjoyed the moments between Cordelia and Eli. And the poor guy does get a hard time from both Isaak and Cordelia…mostly because she was mad at him. And yeah, Cordelia was able to easily get Regina on her side, although, that's only because she got to her first. Things probably would have gone much differently if Eli would have been the first to complain to her. But I'm glad you enjoyed all the other characters as well! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
DarkHyena - Well I'm glad you like all those characters so much. And I don't think it's bad of you to pick Devin either, lol. But I'm glad that you liked Regina and the twins! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
silverhawk88 - Glad you enjoyed the last chapter so much! And that you like the Murdock family. And I ended up checking out those songs and I could see why you thought that Buck Thieves fit Storm's Helm so well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Joshua1277 - I have to wonder about damaged boats too, lol. I'm sure they've had to lose a good amount of them so far. And yeah, poor Alisa having that grammar habit. I'm surprised she hasn't lost it already, lol. And yeah, the twins haven't really gotten to know Cordelia, so I'll get to build on that during the story, which should be fun. LOL, yep! Cordelia will never have a problem with going to her mom like that no matter how old she is! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Benthino - Glad you enjoyed the family moments in that last chapter! And yes! Definitely! When I start to need villains, I will let you know! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Ogrespi - Haha, yeah, partying in a giant fleet of ships in the middle of the ocean with mages could always end horribly. But I hope you enjoyed how the party turned out!
XLil MEkoX - CHA! Thanks for the cookie for finishing the introductions! And the character visuals are turning out so awesome! And short manga strips?! You just love making my day! And I'm glad you enjoyed Zipporah's intro! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Momochan77 - LOL, I'm glad you love Gamu so much! He's totally adorable in my mind, so I'm glad he came out that way. And I'm glad I finished the introductions as well! Now we can really get into some pretty awesome stuff! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
PlaguedAmbition - I'm glad that the character interactions have been turning out so well for you! That's something I do worry about, so it's always good to hear that you guys are liking the characters and how they act with each other. And I'm glad you enjoyed that little scene with Securus putting the sign up. And we'll eventually get to see those intense action scenes! I have the next three arcs planned out…well at least outlined, so we'll get to see some pretty awesome stuff soon! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
reven228 - YOSH! Party time! I really hope you enjoyed all the scenes for the party. I'm sure that more parties will come and more chaotic things will happen during them since no one sunk a ship this time around, lol. But I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one!
frozenwolf94 - Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. And I laughed when I pictured the twins doing the fusion dance from DBZ. But I don't think it'll look like that, lol. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Sakura-Fiction - Yeah, I figured a party would be a good way to end the introduction arc. And no worries, there will always be plenty of food for Haruna to get into! And I'm glad that you liked Gamu so much! As well as Regina! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
RansomeNote - Glad you liked the last chapter! And I'm really happy to hear that Alisa turned out so well for you! And I'm excited to get more into the plot as well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Raiyane - I'm glad to see you're enjoying Storm's Helm! And no worries on when you get to read things! I know how busy real life can get! But I'm glad that you like the way the guild is set up as well as Hagi and Squall. And that rivalry between Cordelia and Ingrid is super fun for me too! And I'm glad you enjoyed Tazz's character too. She's quite the pistol! And I'm glad that you liked that crush that Jay has on Cordelia! And no worries on the length of the reviews either. I'm just happy to see you checking my stories out! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!
LightandDarkHeart - Glad to hear that Aria turned out the way you pictured her! And I'm glad you liked the Murdock family! They're always fun for me to write! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
AkumaXHwaorang - No worries on when you send a review in. I totally understand! But I'm glad that Gamu turned out so well for you! He's super fun for me to write and I'm really happy you sent him in! And I'm glad you're enjoying the fight scenes! And yeah, trying to make memorable characters can be a rather hard feat, but I'm ready for the challenge! But I'm glad to hear you have favorite characters so far! And I'm glad you're enjoying the interactions between Eli and Cordelia so far! And I'm also glad to hear that you're hooked on the story now! CHA! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
ThePrinceOfLight - Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! Yep, Eli and Cordelia are definitely childish when it comes to their fighting, but it suits them so well! And I'm glad you enjoyed Regina's character as well! And I'm glad you liked the interaction between Aria and Alisa. And yeah, poor Zipporah being added into the middle of them. And Gamu is definitely interesting, so it makes it pretty fun to write him! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
So that should be it for this chapter!
I'll have the next one up soon!
Please remember to review!
Yours Truly,
MyDearWatson