The Blue Pheasant Flies On
Chapter 11: Graduation
Erza was sent flying through the air by Kuzan's blade. She used the momentum and flipped herself around so that she landed on her feet. It was a hard landing, but the ice covering the training grounds behind Kuzan's house didn't even crack under the pressure. She had a moment to be annoyed by the thickness before a wave of ice came at her and she was forced to move. A quick hop to the side almost caused her to slip and smack her face off the ice. She was able to catch herself in time, but that left her exposed to one of Kuzan's Ice Block: Partisan. She didn't know why he called them that. He never used them to block anything and they were shaped like tridents.
They also stung like a bitch, even through her armor.
Erza went skidding along the ice with her armor leaving a trail of faint scratches along the surface. That gave her an idea and she used the pommel of her sword as a makeshift rudder to try and steer herself. It was a partial success and allowed her to get out of the way of Kuzan's next trident.
"Good," was all Kuzan said, but that was normal. When she first started he talked a lot, mostly advice on how to correct her stance and reminders to watch her footwork. As time went on he started talking less and eventually was completely silent during their training. That had worried Erza at first, but he always told her what he thought of performance and where she could improve after they were done. It was only when he gave her his first compliment during their spars that Erza realized why he had stopped; he had run out of things to correct. Knowing that, she started trying even harder to hear those scarce words. Even now, hidden behind one of the ice lumps Kuzan had added for cover, that single word brought a smile to Erza's face.
She lost her smile when she felt something hit her cover and it began to crack. She quickly rolled to her feet and began to run across the ice. Erza may not have been able to naturally move across the ice as if it was solid ground like an Ice Mage, but she was almost as good. It was getting started that was the real challenge. If she found her rhythm, then there was no stopping her. Kuzan knew that though, and targeted the ground in front of her. Ice shards were kicked up into her face and holes appeared in the ground. Erza grit her teeth through the stinging and jumped over the holes. She requipped a pike and began to intercept the tridents before they could hit the ground. Kuzan adjusted, but he had to hit too far ahead and Erza had more than enough time to see the hazards and adjust.
She began to work her way closer to him while keeping her focus on the tridents and ice ahead of her. After so many hours sparring against her teacher she knew where he was. He never moved during their training, even when she snuck around him to try and attack. He still managed to block her attacks and send her flying. It was like he had eyes in the back of his head. This time though, she was going to catch him off guard. Ever since the first time he finished a spar without his feet moving an inch Erza had been trying to come up with a foolproof way to make him. It had taken her months of failing to figure out, and then more months to complete her preparations, but she had done it. Now was the time.
Erza waited for Kuzan's next barrage of tridents and then made her move. She used her spear to pole vault over the tridents and requipped a pair of skates to her feet. She landed smoothly and began to swiftly glide across the ice towards Kuzan. Her change of pace momentarily threw him, and his next trident went wide. Erza closed the distance and requipped a pair of swords to her hands. Kuzan stopped the tridents and waited with his ice saber for her attack, causing the redhead to smirk. Just as planned.
Erza skid to a stop just short of Kuzan and threw up a wave of ice, momentarily blocking her from view. In that moment, she requipped her final weapon and attacked. Through the ice she pirouetted like a ballerina and unleashed a flurry of slashes against Kuzan. He easily weathered the storm and waited for Erza to slow down before knocking her blade upwards. But Erza had been waiting for that. She swung her skated foot up at Kuzan, hoping to cut his chest with the blade. He blocked with his arm and raised an eyebrow at the unorthodox attack.
"Arara. Very clever," he complimented. But Erza's smirk hadn't disappeared, and he glanced down at her other foot just as his Haki warned him about the dagger she was holding with the toes of her bare foot. He was only just able to jerk his head out of the way from the flung weapon, but still felt it cut some of his hair off.
"Yes!" Erza cheered in triumph. "It worked!" She began to hop around on the ice to celebrate her plan's success, and because her foot was freezing.
Kuzan briefly considered freezing her—he hadn't called an end to the spar yet—but decided to let her have this. It was a rather brilliant plan and had managed to catch him off guard. With a wave of his hand the ice disappeared and Erza landed on solid earth instead of ice. She nearly fell over, but Kuzan's hand kept her steady. "Excellent work, Erza. When did you come up with this?
The smile on her face could have melted his toughest construct as she began to tell him every step of her plan. It started with when she convinced Ur and Kuzan to set up an ice skating rink behind Fairy Tail after Makarov had taken the younger mages to one while the S-Class mages were out and he was babysitting them. She used that to hone her skills on ice and bought a pair of skates in secret during her last shopping outing. Then she spent her free time figuring out how to first hold a dagger with her toes, then how to throw it correctly. She managed to bribe Gray with sweets to make an ice rink for her to practice on and had spent weeks making sure she got it all done right.
Kuzan nodded along with Erza's animated explanation and finalized a decision he had been mulling over for a while now. His mind made, he ruffled Erza's hair and chuckled. "I was wrong, Erza. That was better than excellent, it was a brilliant plan, and I'm proud of how much time and effort you put into it. Why don't you hop in the shower and then we'll go have some strawberry cake at the guild. After that, you can pick out the next job."
"Okay!" Erza said before rushing inside, eager to both eat her favorite treat and let everyone at the guild know that she had actually hit Kuzan.
Kuzan ordered Erza her cake slice and sat down at his usual spot across from Ur. The redhead took a seat next to him to wait for her treat. Mira was out on a job with her siblings, so there wasn't anything around to ruin her moment of triumph! Though, she would like to rub it in Mira's face. From what Lisanna told her, none of them had gotten Gildarts to move either. Technically, Kuzan hadn't moved from his spot, but she had cut off a bit of his hair. She used the usual ten-minute wait for her strawberry cake to regale Ur with the tale of how she actually hit Kuzan for once.
"Congratulations, Erza. That plan of yours was a stroke of genius," Ur praised, "And I can't think of many people that could throw a blade with their foot like that. Quite an impressive feat."
Erza basked in the older woman's praise just long enough for her cake to arrive. She savored it while Kuzan and Ur made small talk over her. After she was done, Erza went over to the other kids to boast about her accomplishment.
"So," Ur asked once Erza was out of earshot, "You let her hit you, right?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kuzan denied.
Ur gave him a "don't bullshit me," look. "Kuzan, I've sparred with you. Trying to hit you is like trying to hit smoke. At first you mostly turned to ice, but then you started avoiding my attacks like you knew they were coming. Nowadays, its easy to forget that you have an elemental body since you're apparently clairvoyant. If Erza hit you, it's because you let her."
That was back when he first started using magic. It hadn't been limitless like his Devil Fruit was, and for some reason his Haki started running off of it too. But it worked like a muscle and turning your Observation Haki on for the whole day while you were doing nothing more than laze about made for a killer workout. He wasn't back to full power—and probably never would be based on how magic worked—but he was probably as close as he was going to get, and he doubted that anyone in this world could give him a run for his money. Anyone that could beat him magically he could just kill with a quick Shigan to the head.
Kuzan held up his hands. "You got me. I let her cut some hair, but she earned it. I didn't even catch that knife in her foot until it almost cut me." And wasn't that some crazy shit? Who used their feet to wield a blade?
"I've never even heard of anyone fighting like that," Ur admitted. "With blades on their boots yes, but to hold a weapon with their feet, and to still provide enough force to deal damage with it, let alone throw the damn thing." The pair looked over to where Erza has demonstrating her pirouette. "And knowing her, she won't stop with just a knife."
Kuzan's chair creaked as he leaned back into it. "Yeah." He ran a hand through his mostly black hair. "She won't learn how to from me though. I can't teach her any more. Her technical skills are damn near perfect. All that she needs now is experience and for her body to catch up with her skills."
"You can't teach muscle mass," Ur agreed with a nod. "When are you going to tell her?" she asked.
Kuzan looked over and saw that Erza had finished telling her story to the kids and was now at the request board next to a young man with tattoos and black hair that he thought was named Nab. He seemed to hang out around the board a lot, but rarely took a job. Erza snatched a job off the board and headed over. Kuzan downed the last of his drink and answered, "Right now."
"Sensei, I've picked a job," Erza declared as she held out the job. On it was a request for help dealing with a relatively new dark guild that was terrorizing a popular trade route. A relatively simple job that she would be more than enough to handle. Hell, most of the jobs they went out on nowadays were handled by Erza herself. He still got a cut, but that went into a special fund.
"Looks good. Have fun," Kuzan casually said as he ordered another tea.
Erza stared at him in shock, the job still clutched in her hand. "Huh?" was her intelligent response.
"Good luck. Have a safe journey. Break a leg?" Kuzan listed. "More encouraging phrases. I don't actually know that many," he admitted.
"Aren't you coming with me?" Erza hesitantly asked.
"Nah, I think it's time you started doing jobs yourself. I mean, you practically have been for the past four months. Now's the time to make it official," Kuzan told her with a smile. "Don't worry, you'll do great."
Erza was silent for a moment and Kuzan was worried that he might have said something wrong, but then she rushed forward and wrapped him up in a hug that made his ribs creak. "Thank you, Sensei," Erza said into his chest. She released the hug and stood up straight. "I won't let you down!" she declared.
Kuzan gave her a small smile. "I doubt you can. Now go get 'em."
"Yes!"
And with that, Erza strode out of the guild; a confident swagger in her gait and with a smile that would put Kizaru's fruit to shame.
"Wow, that's the most emotional I've seen her," Ur said with a hint of surprise in her voice. "I kind of feel sorry for that guild. What's it called?"
"Me too, and I think it was called Black Octopus." Kuzan thought back on the brief glimpse of the job request he had seen. "Not like it will matter in a couple of days."
"I guess not," Ur admitted before shooting a sly glance at Kuzan. "So, how does it feel to have your little cardinal leave the nest? Are you overcome with a lack of purpose and sense of loss?" she teased. "Do you want help finding a hobby to fill the void?"
"One, I've already handled that before. It should be easier the second time. And two, Erza's working on her own, not moving out. It's not like I'll magically stop seeing her," he rebutted.
"You sure? Because I could teach you how to knit. We could make cute little sweaters together and you could complain about how she never visits or calls."
Kuzan chuckled. "Hey now, don't project your stuff onto me."
The mirth went out of Ur's eyes and Kuzan realized that his joke had hit a deeper issue, one that he hadn't noticed. He reached out and grabbed Ur's hand. "Hey," he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice, "You feeling okay?"
Ur gave him a smile that was far too sad. "No, but that's good isn't it? It be worse if I didn't, wouldn't it?"
He could tell that she wanted an answer, so he tried to give her a good one. "It would, but that doesn't mean that feeling bad about it is a good thing." She gave up on the smile and let him see the sadness she was hiding. It wasn't pretty. He wiped just under her eyes and removed some of the makeup on them, revealing the bags beneath. "Oh, Ur," he murmured, guilt starting to creep in.
She gave his hand a squeeze, recognizing the tone of self-disappointment. "It's alright, I've got plenty of practice hiding them."
"That's not a good thing," Kuzan pointed out.
They didn't say anything after that, just held each other's hands. Eventually, the moment of silence was broken when Gray and Natsu started yelling at each other. Judging by the tones, a brawl was imminent.
Ur let go first. She gave Kuzan a genuine, if small, smile this time. "Thanks. I mean it."
"If there's anything else I can do…" Kuzan trailed off, not quite sure where to go with that.
"You're already doing it. Just keep your promise," Ur said. "I've got you, I've got Gray, I haven't lost everything." This time echoed silently between them. An unspoken acknowledgement of her painful past. "Besides, what did you say? The second time should be easier, right?" She left to go break up her student's fight, leaving Kuzan sitting at there table with a cold cup of tea and a sour taste in his mouth.
A small weight settled down at one of the extra chairs at the table. "Jewel for your thoughts?" Makarov asked with a bit of a grin under his mustache.
"You saw that, huh?"
"That's the thing about sitting at the bar. You tend to see everything that happens in the guild," Makarov said. He took a drink from his beer and slid one over to Kuzan. "You look like you could use a drink."
"I wish that's all it took to fix things," Kuzan melancholically said as he accepted the beer.
Makarov nodded over to where Ur was holding the two formerly fighting boys up by their ears. "She'll be fine. Give her time and she'll bounce back to her old self and you two will be dancing around each other's feelings in no time."
Kuzan shot him a glare, but the older man merely smiled wider with mischief dancing in his old eyes. He decided to let that comment go in favor of asking a question. "How do you know she'll bounce back? Because she's done it before?" He genuinely wanted to know. During his time in the Marines he had see people undergo all kinds of trauma. Sometimes they bounced back, sometimes they broke immediately, and sometimes the ones that bounced stopped bouncing. They just found their limit and were crushed by it. He was afraid that was what was happening to Ur.
"No," Makarov said solemnly, all traces of his previous mischief gone. "Because out of everyone I've met in this long life of mine, she's one of the strongest." He preempted Kuzan's next question. "Not just in magic, though she is up there with that as well, but in strength of will. It takes a lot to endure the tragedy of losing your first child, but to lose your lover, your family, your home and everyone in it before that? That should have broken her. Hell, it should have broken anyone but the most emotionless of sociopaths. But it didn't. She stayed strong. Sure, she retired, but did she truly? She didn't swear off magic and go on to live her life as a secluded widow out in the middle of nowhere. No, she found a private patch of land in a remote area and helped the people there. People so far away from each other that they had little chance of sending word of a problem magic would be needed to solve. And she did that. She wandered around and helped people, despite what had happened to her. She kept her dream of raising the next generation alive, and she started completing it." The old man took a sip of his drink. "That is a true testament of strength. You said that she was preparing to sacrifice herself to seal away Deliora?" Kuzan nodded. "I'm sure that if she had gone through with that she would have had no regrets. That's a kind of strength you don't work for, that's the strength that you're born with. And when she was born, she got more than the lion's share of it."
"The strength of the king," Kuzan whispered. If Ur had been from his world, she definitely would have possessed the rarest type of Haki.
"Hm. Yes, though it would be queen in this case," Makarov agreed.
Something Makarov said had caught Kuzan's attention, but he waited until he had finished what he was saying. "She told you her past?"
"You're not the only shoulder she cries on, kid," Makarov said. He saw that Ur was finishing up her lecture to the guild's second most-troublesome duo and got to his feet. "One person can't shoulder another's burdens by themselves. Don't try to be the only pillar holding up the world's problems, Kuzan. You'll get crushed, no matter how strong you are."
Those words resonated with Kuzan. He cleared his throat before Makarov returned to his spot on the bar. "I have to leave for a few days to get Erza a gift. Will you look after things while I'm gone?"
Makarov grinned back at him. "Of course. That's what I'm here for. To look after all my brats, even the big ones." He chuckled to himself as her finished the rest of his beer and left the table.
"Hey, what were you two old men talking about?" Ur asked as she returned to her seat.
Kuzan smiled into his beer. "Just old men stuff. You wouldn't be interested," he said in mock offense.
"Whatever," Ur ordered a new glass of something strong and lifted her mug. "To friends?"
Kuzan clinked his glass off hers. "To friends."
Across the guild, Cana watched the two adults drink while adding a little something-something from her secret and cool-as-hell hip flask that Gildarts had given her for her last birthday to her cola. "I don't see why Ur gets so upset at me drinking when her and Kuzan are drinking before noon. Right guys?"
Her two chastised companions rubbed at their sore ears and moaned what Cana was taking as an agreement. She nodded with them. "Yeah, adults are weird."
Kuzan biked through Magnolia Town six days after Erza left for her first true solo job. It had taken a bit of searching and more than a pretty penny, but he had managed to find an appropriate gift to commemorate Erza's graduation from Kuzan's School of How to Use a Bunch of Weapons (name pending), but he was more than happy with the result, and was sure she would be too. He walked into the guild just in time to watch Erza telekinetically lift ten swords around her in a circle and quickly spin them around her before slicing through the watermelon Natsu threw up for her.
Pieces of freshly cut watermelon landed around the guild floor as Erza had caught sight of her teacher and didn't bother to catch them on her sword as planned. She quickly rushed over to Kuzan and began to talk in such a rush that her words began to blur together. "Erza, stop. Breath," he ordered. The redhead complied, and Kuzan sat down at a table and ordered two glasses of water. He made Erza drink the first one and sipped at his own. "Now repeat yourself, slowly."
"I learned how to control my Telekinesis!" she proudly declared.
"I can see that," Kuzan said while glancing at the swords that were still floating behind her. "Congratulations. If I had known that sending you out on a mission by yourself was all it took then I would have done this years ago," he joked.
Erza shook her head. "No, that wasn't it. It's because I got stabbed by Raken, the guild master of Black Octopus." Kuzan just noticed that she wasn't wearing a breastplate as she lifted her shirt to show a set of bandages wrapped around her stomach. He also noticed that his glass was currently crushed in his hand and the water that had been in it was now crushed ice. "He used this weird magic that let him make a bunch of magical hands to attack. I couldn't keep up with them, so I got cut a lot and he almost beat me. But when he stabbed me, it brought back memories of… back then." Erza trailed off.
Kuzan put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and gave her a confident smile as he internally debated what to do to this Raken. An experience that would make Level 5 of Impel Down look like Level 4 was probably appropriate. He was probably tough enough to survive that too. After all, he stabbed a—his—little girl. That was the sign of a tough guy.
Kuzan was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Erza's voice. "I remembered what it was like back then, and my magic went wild again, but this time I was able to feel what I was doing. It was all subconscious, but I was able to reach out and use it. It let me pick up all the weapons I lost and defeat Raken in one blow!" She held up a clenched fist. "His eight arms were no match for all ten of my swords! Then the Rune Knights arrested him."
"That's great, Erza," Kuzan absently said as he contemplated how difficult it would be to break into the Council's prison. He'd have to accompany Ur or Makarov on their next visit there, give himself an alibi. He reached into his bag, "I actually have two things for you. First, is this." Kuzan pulled out a katana with a long handle that had a gold tip at the pommel and a blue rope with three pearls coming out of it. The guard was red and gold and shaped like a flower. "This is the Demon Blade Crimson Sakura. It's a magic sword and my gift to you for completing your training with me."
Erza carefully took the blade from her teacher and examined it. She could feel the magic infused in the blade, though she didn't know what it did. She gave it a test swing and was amazed at how light it felt. "Thank you, Sensei. This is amazing. What does it do?" Erza eagerly asked while continuing to swing her sword.
"The more magic you put into it the stronger it becomes, but to do that you need to focus all of your magic into it for one decisive blow," Kuzan explained. "That includes the magic you'll be using to maintain your armor."
Erza halted her swing. "But you're always telling me to rely on my armor more," she pointed out in confusion.
"Yes, but sometimes your opponent will be too powerful for any armor to hold up against. When that happens, your armor will turn into more of a detriment than an asset." Kuzan leaned forward to emphasize his seriousness. "This is a trump card, Erza. Only use it as a last resort." He leaned back and smiled to relieve the tension. "I'd rather you'd not have to get stabbed to win again. Do try to avoid that."
"Okay," Erza agreed, feeling the weight of her words. She gripped the sword tighter. "I swear I'll only use it in an emergency." The sword user requipped her new weapon into her storage space. After making a vow that important she shouldn't be swinging it around like a toy.
"Good girl," Kuzan ruffled her hair. "Now why don't you show me what your Telekinesis can do?"
"Right!" Erza said with a sharp nod. She began to head over to where the other kids were eating the watermelon before remembering something. "Wait, what was the other thing?"
Kuzan waved off her question. "It's not important right now. I'll tell you later." Erza said she'd hold him to it, and then started showing off tricks with the rest of the fruit they had lying around the guild.
After watching her have fun with her magic for a while, Kuzan took a seat next to Ur. She slid him a drink with a "Hey," and nodded over to where the kids were still fooling around. "She seems pretty happy with herself."
"Yeah. It figures, that's her natural magic. Using Telekinesis should have been as easy as breathing once she started figuring it out. But that tower," he shook his head and glanced over to Erza, specifically at her right eye. It may have looked whole, but he'd seen her cry, usually after a nightmare of her past. No tears ever came out of that eye. "That fucking tower ruined it for her."
"At least she figured it out in the end, and at the most opportune time to."
"If that asshole killed her I don't know what I'd do," Kuzan muttered half to himself as he tightened his grip around his mug until cracks began to form.
"Go on a murderous rampage and freeze them all to death," Ur suggested as she reached across the table to place her hand over his. Kuzan's death grip relaxed. "At least, that's what I'd do. You know, after slowly giving them frostbite on all their extremities and worked my way back to their torso."
Kuzan absently nodded in agreement to the brutal torture method. "Yeah, that sounds right." He ran a hand through his now grayer hair. "I just wish that I'd been able to help her through her block. Instead of her breaking through it due to getting stabbed and suffering a flashback to that hellhole."
Ur shrugged, "What can you do? Your magic is ice, Kuzan, not a psychiatric cure-all. We can't solve every problem we come across. Just be happy it's fixed."
"You've been talking to Master," Kuzan noted. Ur shrugged as if to say, "What can you do?" before sipping her drink to hide her smile. Watching Erza have fun, he supposed that wouldn't be too hard. He raised a brow as Erza grabbed one of the kids he didn't recognize and led her over to him. "Arara, who's your little friend, Erza?" Kuzan asked.
The blue-haired little girl in a yellow and red dress tried to hide behind Erza, but the redhead moved aside and actually picked her up under her arms. Erza held her out to Kuzan and declared, "This is Levy. She's my new little sister and is staying with us." An uncomfortable Levy nervously waved at Kuzan while Erza beamed at him with stars in her eyes.
Meanwhile, something in Kuzan's head had stopped working and he had frozen in place with his drink halfway to his mouth. His eyes shifted over to Ur, who wasn't trying very hard to stifle her laughter. "It's true. She showed up right around the same time as those two boys over there. I'm taking care of them, but Erza generously volunteered your house as Levy's home." Ur's body then began to rock with silent laughter as Kuzan felt his drink slip from his fingers. A wave of ice from Ur's side kept it from shattering, but Erza still noticed.
"That's okay, right Sensei?" she asked nervously. Only now did she realize that maybe she should have waited until Kuzan got back from his trip to guarantee a place to stay.
Kuzan turned to look at the two girls only to find not one, but two sets of big, brown eyes staring at him, beggingly. Everything he planned on saying disappeared from his head, replaced with, 'Oh god, there's two of them now.' Kuzan smiled as he crouched down to their eye level, "Of course it is," he reassured the two girls, freeing himself from their adorable, bewitching gazes. They must never learn the power their eyes held. Now that he was looking at Levy—who was still being held up by Erza—he could see that she really was a tiny thing. Probably around eight or nine years old. "Nice to meet you, Levy-chan. I'm Kuzan. I'll be taking care of you from now on," he said in the tone that most adults used when talking to young children.
"I'm twelve."
Kuzan's smile became strained. The look on Levy's face said that she had heard that many times before was not amused with his slipup. This was not the way he wanted his introduction to go.
'Off to a great start.'
Omake: Ice Skating with Gramps
Makarov watched the young mages run around the ice rink's locker room with a smile. They were supposed to be on their best behavior, so they were keeping their fighting to boasting and name calling instead of punches and wrestling. "Alright, brats, settle down," he called out. "Now, does everyone have their skates?" A chorus of 'yeses' answered him, and he nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now I got you all two hours on the ice starting at two, so make sure you're laced up and ready to go by then. If you need any help, just ask."
The kids said their thanks and started working on their skates. Gray and Lyon had stripped down to their bare feet and claimed that they didn't need skates. Natsu was taking that as a challenge and declared that he wouldn't need skates either, causing the two to start arguing until Lisanna called Natsu over to help her tie her skates. Happy was sitting on her lap and the two giggled over Natsu's struggles to tie a knot properly while still looking over his shoulder to yell at the ice mages, making Makarov smile as he walked by.
"Thanks for taking us skating, Gramps," Mira said as she helped Elfman with his laces. "We've never done this before." Elfman nodded in agreement as he fumbled with his other skate with his large fingers. He was going to grow to be a giant one day, Makarov could tell.
"I'm not surprised. The lake never freezes thick enough for safe skating and this ice rink is relatively new," Makarov said. It had only been recently constructed by a retired Ice Mage in Pine Town who wanted to try and bring in some tourism. "I hope you two enjoy it. And maybe you could convince Gildarts to bring you back here."
"Yeah!" the siblings said in unison.
Makarov continued on and stopped at Cana and Erza. The brunette kept sitting back down on the bench and scowling at her skates in frustration. "This sucks," she complained, "I can't even walk straight in these things, and not for a good reason."
"And what reason would that be?" Makarov asked the budding alcoholic. He made sure to use the stern parent pose, complete with raised eyebrow, crossed arms, and the "You really expect me to believe that?" face. It was a pretty good face if he did say so himself. He got a lot of use out of it.
Cana let out a little "eep!" at the sound of Master's voice and turned around with a guilty look on her face and a forced laugh. "Oh, Master. Hi. Uh, the reason is, uh, you know… Hey what's Erza doing over there with those knives?"
Makarov looked at Cana a little longer just to make her sweat before turning around to see where she had pointed to. The sound of her wobbling away brought a brief smile to his face. She and Gildarts thought they were so slick hiding her little drinking habit, but Makarov knew. Kuzan and Ur may not, but he did. After all, he had invented some of those tricks to get by Porlyusica when she made him stop drinking to help rest up an injury. It was a good thing he looked too, because Erza was trying to wedge a dagger into her skate as a makeshift blade. And she was still wearing her armor. Makarov sighed in exasperation before heading over.
"What are you doing, Erza-chan?" he asked.
"I saw that the blades on the skates were too notched and thin for proper use, so I'm substituting them with one of my own blades," she explained without looking up from her work.
"I see," Makarov said. "And why haven't you changed out of your armor yet? It can't be safe to wear when it's this cold."
"Don't worry, Master. Sensei ordered me a new set of armor that is specifically designed to withstand cold temperatures without harming the wearer or sticking to their skin. I'll be fine like this," Erza reassured him with a thumbs up.
"Right, but won't you be cold wearing just that?"
"I'm wearing leggings," Erza pointed out. It was the only change to her usual clothes. "Besides, while I'm wearing this armor, the cold never bothers me anyways."
Makarov let out a heavy sigh of defeat. "Erza, the skates are fine. Just ask them to sharpen them up at the counter. And take your armor off before you hurt someone by running into them. If you're cold you can just put on a sweater."
"But—"
"No buts," Makarov firmly stated.
Erza complied, and shortly after the Fairy Tail mages' time on the ice started and they all excitedly hopped on the ice and started sliding everywhere. Makarov kept a careful eye on them from up in the stands with his hot coffee. It was nice to watch them play with each other instead of fighting all the time. It let them be kids instead of mages, and that warmed him up inside better than any coffee. Plus, it was a lot better than having to deal with everyone scrambling to do more jobs in time for the S-Class Trials. He could see why Gildarts, Kuzan, and Ur always went off on their "S-Class secret mission" around this time. It was certainly relaxing.
Makarov's relaxation lasted for about fifteen minutes. During that time, some local kids recruited the Fairy Tail kids for a game of ice hockey. Seventeen seconds after the puck dropped, Natsu and Gray got into a fight. Twenty seconds after that, Erza and Mira got into a fight. Two minutes after that, the Fairy Tail patrons were politely asked to leave the rink and informed that they were banned and would be receiving the repair bill in the mail.
"More iced tea, ma'am?" one of the resort's waiters asked Ur.
"Yes, thank you Charles," she said without opening her eyes.
"And for you, sir?"
"I'm good, Charles, thanks." Kuzan said without opening his eyes.
"Of course, sir," Charles said before heading back over to his place by the bar.
Kuzan and Ur were lying out on chaise lounge chairs at a beachside resort located on Fiore's southeast island. Gildarts had invited them along during their first pre-Trials week and the trio had turned it into an annual event. It let them relax and avoid the tension and urgency that filled the guild and get some time away from their kids before they went on vacation. All three adults loved them dearly, but they would all be a handful for an octopus.
The two Ice Mages were using this opportunity to work on their tans with the tanning mirrors provided by the resort. They were clad only in their bathing suits and a pair of sunglasses as they relaxed at the poolside. "Do you know what this evening's events are?" Ur asked.
"I believe that there's dancing in the ballroom tonight," Kuzan replied.
"Oh, I haven't danced in forever," Ur said with a hint of excitement. "What about you, Kuzan?"
"I learned how to during officers training, but that was years ago," he admitted.
"We should go," Ur decided. "It'll be fun."
"Okay," Kuzan agreed. "But I should warn you that I've probably switched back to my original two left feet."
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Ur reassured him with a wave. "Just make sure that if you're going to step on my toes you step on the left ones."
"I was being serious," Kuzan said.
Ur sat up in her chair and raised her large sunglasses to look down at Kuzan's feet. Sure enough, he had gone and changed his ice leg's right foot to a left one. She rolled her eyes at the goofy grin on his face and told him a sarcastic, "Hilarious." While she was eyeing the tall mage, she noticed something missing to his left. "Hey, where did Gildarts go?"
"He said something about reconnecting with an old friend while you were ordering the drinks."
Ur glanced around the pool for the destructive mage when she found him—unsurprisingly—flirting with the lifeguard that had recently got off duty. She watched with a dull look on her face as the two shared a deep kiss. "The only thing he's reconnecting is their tongues," she dryly remarked.
Kuzan looked over and lifted his smaller sunglasses. He watched them head into the resort with disinterest. "Hmm. At least his room is down the hall," was all he had to say before lying back down.
"Agreed." Ur went back to absorbing the sun's rays. After a few seconds she said, "Of course, that means that you're the only one that's going to help me pick out a dress for the dance tonight."
Kuzan let out a noncommittal grunt.
"I'm also thinking of getting a new bathing suit, this one is kind of old, so it might take a while. We should probably go now."
Kuzan snored unconvincingly.
Ur glared at him, but then had an idea. Her face morphed into a devilish smirk as she reached out next to her and grabbed the top of Kuzan's chair. He continued to fake snore away and that was perfect. With a bit of Ice Magic and a mighty push, Ur sent Kuzan's chair down some ice rails and into the water with a splash.
The older mage breached the surface with a wave of water coming from his mouth and an annoyed look on his face. He glared over at Ur's laughing figure before a smirk appeared on his face. He grew to his full height and reached across the patio to grab Ur's chair. Her laughter stopped when she felt herself start to move and only had time to shout, "Kuzan don't—!" before she joined him in the pool.
Ur burst up with a spray of water and glared at Kuzan who was now the one laughing. "A joke's never funny the second time around, you know?"
"It is if you tell it better," Kuzan said through his laughter.
"Oh yeah?" Ur asked as she swept her arms back.
The two adults were later asked to pay for all the water damage they caused during their splash fight. They also missed the official ballroom dancing and instead danced with each other in their rooms.
Ur stepped on Kuzan's left toes.
A/N: Now Levy, Jet, and Droy are here. That's only a few years later than they were supposed to be. Whoops. I wanted to have them in at the same time as canon, but it clashed too much with Ur and Lyon's old dynamic and giving five kids to Kuzan and five to Gildarts, but only two to Ur seemed too unbalanced. So, they get to show up late. Next time Gildarts will be showing back up. Until then, later.