The Blue Pheasant Flies On

Chapter 12: I am your Father

Levy is not Erza.

Kuzan had no delusions that raising her would be the same as raising Erza when he agreed to become the blue-haired girl's guardian. He had trained enough Marine recruits to be able to recognize a fighter with a glance and Levy was no fighter.

Sure, her magic could be used offensively, and she clearly showed aptitude with it—probably because it was her natural magic and she was very creative with it—but just because she knew how to throw a fireball in the right direction didn't mean that she was a fighter. He could see it in her eyes. Those brown orbs weren't the eyes of someone that lived for the fight, the sound of steel meeting steel, her blood pounding in her ears and adrenaline rushing through her system. That's what Erza's eyes looked like. Levy's were the eyes of a scholar, someone that thirsted for knowledge and understanding, not battle.

Now, it wasn't like Kuzan couldn't train that out of her. Give him enough time and he'd turn those soft chocolate orbs into jaded brown rocks; he'd done it before. But that was back when he was a Marine. Where the world was kill or be killed and softness had a tendency to get you killed quickly. Not here though, here you could be soft and live.

Not completely soft, of course. And Levy did have a bit of hardness in her eyes. You didn't live in an orphanage without it. But it was so small, so insignificant, that Kuzan was willing to overlook it. Sure, she'd get tougher as she got older—everyone did, it was part of growing up—but he wasn't going to expedite the process. So, when Levy didn't want to wake up and join him in sparring with Erza at nine in the morning (three hours after the redhead woke up) Kuzan let her. If she didn't want to learn how to hold a sword or break an opponent's guard with a series of precise punches that was ultimately her decision. He still made her learn how to at least throw a punch without breaking her thumb and how to take a hit, but he didn't make her train any harder than necessary. It didn't earn him any brownie points, but she'd thank him when she was older and didn't die on a mission because she couldn't defend herself without magic.

Speaking of magic, Levy's was interesting. She used a version of Letter Magic called Solid Script that let her write a word in the air and it would be made of whatever she wrote. Writing 'fire' created a flaming word, 'hole' made holes in the ground in the shape of the letters, etcetera. He had asked if there was a limit to what she could write and she told him that it was all based on how much magic she used. Stronger things did take more magic, so she wouldn't be sucking them all into a black hole anytime soon. The size could vary though, so if she wanted a huge hole, she just had to write with huge letters. That was a very versatile magic that could make her into a real terror in a fight if she was creative with it. Kuzan was reminded of several of the more unorthodox Paramecia Devil Fruits that both pirate and Marines alike had turned from a joke fruit to some of the strongest fighting styles out there. Kuzan had never personally gone through the process of figuring out how to abuse his fruit's abilities—one of the perks of having a logia fruit—but that didn't mean he couldn't help the budding bookworm do the same with her magic.

Speaking of being a bookworm, Kuzan wasn't sure if Levy was so obsessed with books because of her magic or if her love of literature came first and affected which magic she developed. Regardless, he now had a book-obsessed child to join his weapon-obsessed one. Now he had to make sure that Erza didn't overexert herself in her training and that Levy got enough sleep every night. The number of times he found her sitting up late in his chair that he had custom ordered to fit his true height (that he rarely got to use anymore as it was often occupied by a small blue-haired girl wrapped in a blanket) was ridiculous. When he told Ur that, the Ice Mage had laughed at his "constantly tired ass" having to take care of a "night owl."

As excessive as it was, Levy's reading habits had gotten into Kuzan and Erza. When she first moved in, Levy had insisted on reading every night after dinner despite having spent most of the day reading as well. Erza, who had been struggling to connect with her "new sister," had tried getting invested in what Levy was reading. Kuzan had smiled at the way Levy's eyes lit up when Erza first asked her what her book was about. The petite girl immediately launched into a twenty-minute lecture about the series' plot, characters, themes, and a general overview of how great it was. To Kuzan's surprise, Erza hung onto every word and the next day she bought her own copy and joined Levy in reading each night. Kuzan had been thrilled that his girls were getting along, especially since they were being so quiet about it. He started "resting his eyes" after dinner to catch up on all the sleep he had missed while training Erza. It was a good system, but he noticed that when Erza went out on jobs by herself—something that he wasn't confident enough in Levy's skills to allow her to do yet, even with those two boys that followed her around like lost puppies—she would be less enthusiastic about reading. Setting her book aside to read something else in her backlog so that she wouldn't surpass Erza's progress.

Kuzan had been proud that she was willing to do that for Erza, so he offered to read a different series with her, something that the two of them could do while Erza was gone. Once again, Levy was ecstatic at the prospect of reading with someone. She introduced Kuzan to one of her favorite series and they started sharing this nightly ritual. They'd read together when Erza was gone, then Levy and Erza would read together if she wasn't working. Obviously, it became ridiculous for the three of them to not read together, so the trio soon found themselves working on a third series together. Since they were all reading the same thing, they started reading aloud to each other, each one of them being assigned characters and reading them in various voices. It was... nice to share something like this. Kuzan had never been much for reading back when he was in the Marines, especially after watching Sakazuki burn Ohara, but with Erza and Levy he was able to forget about the smells of burning books and human flesh mixing together and relax.

His hope that Erza's work ethic would rub off on Levy like her reading habit had on the redhead was never fully realized. While Levy did start taking her own training more seriously, she never did more than Kuzan told her would be needed to keep in decent fighting shape. She mostly spent her time reading under a tree while keeping half an eye on Erza's practice and would sometimes throw some words at Erza if she asked, but that was about it.

So, Levy wasn't Erza. She loved books more than swords, was always calm while Erza was prone to bouts of anger (especially when she was around Mira), understood that diplomacy was more than demanding compliance at sword point, and enjoyed working together more than competing against others. She never joined Erza on her jobs, preferring to work with Jet and Droy on less dangerous jobs. She was different, and Kuzan was happy with that.

One crazy daughter was more than enough for him.

Kuzan watched the two girls head over to the corner of the guild that had been informally dubbed 'The Kid's Corner' which was distinguished by the large grooves, holes, burns, partially broken but still functional chairs, claw marks, and general signs of destruction surrounding two tables that had somehow managed to survive being at ground zero for most of the guild's fights all these years. Determining that he wouldn't have to break up a fight between Erza and Mira this morning, he grabbed a cup of coffee and went to sit next to Ur. She folded back the top of her paper to greet him with a grunt and lifted coffee cup that he returned before focusing on his drink. They'd talk after coffee.

Kuzan sipped at his cup and watched Levy and Cana set up for another chess match. Levy had been quite surprised when she had lost to Cana the first time they played. She hadn't been expecting the playful semi-alcoholic to put up a challenge and had accepted her loss in good cheer and requested a rematch, believing that if she took Cana seriously from the beginning she'd defeat her easily. Then she lost the second game, albeit it took longer, but she still lost and her acceptance was a bit more strained. Three games later and the best she'd managed to do was play Cana to a draw once. To give the brunette credit, she had waited until the fourth game to start taunting Levy. A fierce rivalry was born that day, one that was just as fierce, but far less destructive, than Erza and Mira's. Kuzan had no idea what the standings were, but Cana had built a decent lead in the beginning that Levy was still chipping away at.

"Thinking of throwing those two into a room together?"

Kuzan waited to roll his eyes until after he turned around to see Ur's teasing smile half-hidden behind her coffee cup. "Haha," he dully replied.

"What? You said that it had the best success rate back where you're from," Ur reminded him, taking care not to directly refer to his profession or organization. She had noticed that he tended to withdraw into himself a little when he wasn't the one to bring them up. "They aren't Erza and Mira, there's no risk of them destroying the guild when they finally boil over and start punching it out."

Kuzan dismissed his past excuse with a shake of his head before saying, "I doubt that would resolve their rivalry unless I locked a chess set in there with them. Besides, the problems start after they get out of the closet."

"Oh?" Ur raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember that part of the story."

"That's because I could order them to not do anything about it," Kuzan took a sip of his coffee, "I don't think that'll go over as well now as I'm lacking a position of official authority over them." That was an essential part of dealing with the fallout of his problem-solving method. If they hadn't managed to maim or kill each other, the people he locked in together tended to team up against him and try to get some payback. He quickly learned to order them not to retaliate in increasingly specific ways that came from some rather creative methods of revenge. He had never told anyone in his original world why syrup had been banned from his ship and he wasn't going to tell that story anytime soon. "Besides, I prefer an obsession over winning a simple game than a constant need to prove who's physically and magically superior."

Now it was Ur's turn to dully laugh, "Hilarious." She groaned and lowered her head onto the table, "I swear to god, how are the three of them worse than Lyon and Gray were?" Kuzan absently patted her shoulder while he started reading the paper. He would take this opportunity to catch up on the news while she vented. "I mean, none of them use the same magic so you'd think they'd have less things to compete over, but nooooo, they've somehow managed to turn everything into a competition."

"Boys will be boys," Kuzan said, barely managing to hide his smile by sipping from an empty cup.

Ur's glare made Kuzan idly wonder if she was practicing how to freeze people with her eyes. "That's the most bullshit phrase ever invented and you know it."

He did. Many a time had he had to deal with the results of several of his men "being boys" during shore leave, but Kuzan didn't remember as many assault charges, public drunkenness, and property damage from when he was a boy compared to what they racked up. "At least it's a healthy way for them to blow off steam," he offered to lessen her ire.

Ur snorted, "That's what training is supposed to be for. I swear, Gray didn't have nearly this much energy when he was training with Lyon. I can barely keep up with the little rugrats."

"Have you tried asking Gildarts for help? He's in charge of Natsu and Mira after all," Kuzan suggested. Keeping those two occupied and preventing them from causing too much destruction had to be more exhausting than Gray, Jet, and Droy's constant competitions. Gods knew that he had enough trouble keeping Erza under control in the early stages of training her.

Ur considered his idea. "That might work. I'll have to ask him if he ever bothers showing up this year. Where the hell has that bastard been? He should have run out of jobs days ago."

Kuzan did a quick glance around the table and confirmed that the were relatively alone. The mages in this guild were worse gossips than a ship full of Marines on leave at a new Marine base. He still leaned in and spoke in a low voice when he suggested, "Maybe he found a lead about Cana's father."

Ur's face twisted into a smile that would not have looked out of place on a wolf. "That would be nice. A little distraction from how hectic things have been."

Kuzan let out a very neutral grunt. He wasn't sure that beating the shit out of a deadbeat dad should be considered a distraction, but he wasn't going to be a part of that, so he didn't care. Let Ur and Gildarts deliver righteous parental vengeance, he was going to stay and watch the kids. It wouldn't be fair to Makarov to leave him alone and in charge of all of them again. He feared that the kids may have accelerated his hair loss by several years after he took them ice-skating.

They didn't hear anything from Gildarts until the next week when Makarov called Ur and Kuzan into his office. The grave look on his face and the way that he told them to shut the door let them know that this wasn't going to be a fun talk.

"What happened?" Kuzan asked. He had unconsciously straightened his back and stood at attention in front of the guild master.

"It's Gildarts."

Those two words made the already uneasy mages tense even further. The temperature in the room noticeably dropped as both mages' magic spiked in concern. "What's wrong?" Ur asked.

Makarov dropped several letters onto his desk, "These are complaints and bills for property damage. Gildarts has apparently been trying to drink Magnolia dry on his way back and he's managed to kill the few brain cells he had that knew how a door worked in the process."

The two mages shifted through the papers and grew even more concerned as they read them. Most of the damages were for Gildarts walking through bar walls and tables before leaving, but several of them included damage from bar fights where his magic had been let loose. Gildarts never had the best control, and it was understandable since Crush Magic was the hardest magic to control in the world, but this was excessive even for him. He had destroyed a whole storefront in one of these fights with his magic. Gildarts didn't need magic to destroy a storefront. Hell, he didn't need magic for any of these fights. Something was wrong.

"This isn't like Gildarts. His control is much better than this, even when drunk," Ur said what they all knew. Gildarts could be drunk enough to see six of Kuzan and mistake him for a young, hot chick while still having enough control of his magic to not wreck the bar. They had witnesses to prove it.

"I agree. Something's wrong, and I need you two to go find out what it is." Makarov looked at both mages with the utmost seriousness in his eyes. "I don't know what's wrong with Gildarts; mind control, body possession, illusionary enemies, invisible attackers, or something completely outrageous, but I do know that if there's anyone that can figure out what's wrong with him and fix it, it's you two."

The pair unconsciously stood a little taller and prouder at the old guild master's confidence in them. "We won't let you down, Master,"

Makarov grinned his toothy grin at them, "You can't. Now go bring Gildarts home."

"Yes, sir!"

The two spun on their heels and left his office with purpose in their stride. Behind them, the old man pulled out a bottle and filled up a glass. He was really starting to feel all eighty-three of his years these days. As he watched two of his strongest mages walk away, he considered that maybe it was getting time for him to retire after all.

Unsurprisingly, they found Gildarts in a bar.

He was the only person in the place besides the bartender. The shattered remains of several stools and tables surrounding his barstool told them why. Gildarts didn't react when they walked into the bar and stopped on either side of him. He just held up his glass for another round from the terrified bartender. He didn't even say a word as the shaking man spilled alcohol over his hand, just ignored it in favor of downing the full glass in one gulp. Only after his glass was refilled again did he acknowledge their presence.

"Ur! Kuzan! Wah brins youse twose here?" Gildarts drunkenly asked. He gestured to the bar stools on either side of him, one of which was sitting in front of an empty space. "C'mere, Lemme buys youse a drink. Barkeep!"

Ur sat down on Gildarts's right and Kuzan took the left after filling in the missing part of the bar with ice. The bartender put three mugs down in front of the them and shot a panicked look at the two new arrivals that was begging for help. "How're you doing, Gildarts?" Ur cautiously asked.

"I'm great!" he declared. "Thursty though. Where are thouse dwinks?!"

"Right in front of you, Gildarts," Kuzan said. He slid the man's drink closer to him with a bit of magic. "See? Now drink up."

"Than'ss." Gildarts threw back the mug and ate a face full of frozen beer. He fell off the back of his stool and hit the ground with a loud crash and burst of magic. The two mages looked down at the mini-crater their friend was lying in.

"Kuzan!"

"What?"

Ur made Kuzan drag Gildarts over to a table while she calmed the bartender down. Once she was sure that he wasn't going to call the Rune Knights, she got two barrels of water and carried them over to the table.

"What's with the barrels?" Kuzan asked when she arrived.

"It'll help us sober up Sleeping Beauty over here." She jerked her head at Gildarts, who was frozen to the stool and table, "What's with the ice?"

"He kept falling over."

"Hm," Ur grunted as she set up the barrels. "Now you just keep dunking his head in these until he can speak in complete sentences again."

Kuzan ran an appraising eye of the barrels. "Wouldn't it work faster if the water was colder?" he innocently suggested.

Ur smirked in agreement and waved her hand over the barrels. Chunks of ice appeared in the water and she lowered its temperature to just above freezing. "They're all yours," she told Kuzan with a grandiose gesture and an evil grin.

Kuzan matched her grin before grabbing the back of Gildarts's head and shoving it into the first barrel. The man immediately came too and started thrashing at the lack of oxygen. Kuzan pulled his head out and Gildarts had just enough time to take a deep breath and scream, "What the fu—" before being shoved back under into the second barrel. This continued for a few minutes until the Ice Mages were satisfied that Gildarts was both sober, and they were thoroughly amused.

Kuzan let go of the spluttering man and froze the water on his hand before breaking off the ice. "You good?"

"Good?! You nearly drowned me, asshole!" Gildarts spluttered as he tried to wipe the water off his face. He snorted water out his nose then rounded on his tormentors. "What the fuck did I do to deserve that?!" Ur responded by shoving a sheet of paper at his face. "The hell is this?"

"Read it."

A rebellious look crossed Gildarts's face, but Ur's tone and expression brokered no argument. He snatched the paper out of her hand with a muttered curse and began to read it. His face slowly got paler as he read and when he turned back to look at the two that had been sent for him he wore a sheepish expression. "So… is this all of it?"

"No. There's probably more on their way to Fairy Tail as we speak, plus the damages for this bar too." Ur crossed her arms and gave him a stern glare, "You've really done a number on our finances this time, Gildarts."

The chastised mage collapsed onto a seat with a heavy sigh. "Shit. I really did it this time," he echoed. "Goddammit, Gildarts! You're supposed to be better than that!" he yelled at himself. He did manage to stop his arm from hitting the table and breaking it. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration before looking down at the table, not meeting either of their gazes. "I bet Master's real pissed at me, huh?"

"More concerned than pissed," Kuzan said. "He's worried about you."

"We all are," Ur added without her earlier disapproval. She sat down next to Gildarts and put her hand on his arm. "What happened, Gildarts?"

Gildarts took a deep breath before letting out an explosive sigh. "Do you guys really want to know?" Kuzan clasped his shoulder while Ur gave his arm a squeeze. The Crush Mage looked up from the table and they could see the sad smile on his face and the pain in his eyes. "I found out who Cana's deadbeat dad is."

"It's me."

The words seemed to echo throughout the bar as Kuzan and Ur stared at Gildarts in shock. He had lowered his head again in shame and waited for them to process that. Hell, he still hadn't processed it. He was a father. A shitty father who hadn't know his daughter even existed until two weeks ago. Just thinking about it filled him with regret and shame. Regret that Cana hadn't grown up with a father in her life and that he had only met her after Cornelia died, and shame over how he had acted after they had met each other. He hadn't just been letting her drink while underage, he'd been fucking encouraging it! That was something he'd have to rectify once he got back.

Ur recovered first. "You're Cana's father?! How?"

"Well when a man and a woman love each other very much…" Gildarts sarcastically began. He stopped when the tip of an ice sword appeared before his eyes. He held up his hands in a placating gesture, "Alright, alright, just trying to lighten the mood."

Ur dispelled the sword and motioned for Gildarts to start. He stared at his hands for a moment to gather his thoughts and Kuzan clasped his shoulder again, startling him out of his thoughts. The orange-haired man looked up at the taller mage and found an encouraging smile looking back at him. "Whenever you're ready."

Gildarts nodded his thanks then began. "So I stopped by the orphanage before my latest set of jobs and looked into where Cana came from. They told me Begonia Town, so I stopped by there after I was done and asked around to see if anyone remembered her or her family. Their directions led me to the local graveyard. I found… I found Cornelia's grave there." Gildarts's voice wavered and tears started to gather in his eyes. The pain of seeing her grave was still fresh in his mind, but he tried to power through it, "I knew… I knew then… I mean on the inside. On the outside… I was still… I mean, the shock was…"

Words failed Gildarts and he could taste the salt from his tears. Ur grabbed his hand with both of hers and rubbed circles on the back of them. "Take your time," she encouraged. Gildarts nodded and let the tears fall.

A few minutes later, Gildarts had regained his composure and was ready to continue. He gratefully accepted the class of water from Kuzan. "I asked if Cana had had anyone to look after her, but they told me that there was only ever the two of them; Cornelia and Cana Alberona. She was pregnant when she moved here, gave birth to Cana, and never left until she died."

"Did you ask when she moved in?" Ur asked.

Gildarts nodded, "Yeah. The time adds up."

"Who was Cornelia to you? She seems like more than just an ex-girlfriend," Kuzan asked.

Gildarts was silent for a moment. "Yeah. Yeah she was." He reached under his cloak and grabbed something. He placed it down on the table and the two Ice Mages' eyes widened and sharp inhales were heard as they stared at the gold wedding band sitting there. "She was my ex-wife."

Ur's grip on Gildarts's hand tightened at the news. "Gildarts," she slowly began, "You never said anything that implied that she was more than a past fling. Why?"

"It was easier," Gildarts sadly admitted. "Easier to talk about her like she was just another fling than the woman I loved." He let out a broken chuckle, "Ironically, it was love at first sight. She knew I was a playboy, so she put up a cold front, but I could see it in her eyes. I kept going out of my way to stop by her town and see her with all kinds of excuses that she didn't buy for a minute and I never really tried to sell. Hell, I spent more time in Rose Town than I did in Magnolia back then. Six months of that before I asked her to marry me and she agreed. We were so excited that we skipped the ceremony and just eloped. A year later we split. She wanted someone who was around more, and I couldn't stay put. I tried, gods did I try, but I just couldn't, even when I was just traveling back and forth between Magnolia. I'd start to go stir crazy from being in one place for too long. It made me irritable and messed with my control. Soon we were constantly fighting; her about me never being around and breaking everything and me about how much she nagged and was so clingy. Eventually, we realized that while we were a great couple, we terrible spouses. She was waiting for me with the divorce papers after my latest job. There was nothing left to say. I signed them, and we spent one last night together before going our separate ways. That was fourteen years ago, and I've been trying to drown out the pain since."

He didn't have to elaborate on what that meant. Cana was thirteen now. They could do the math.

The Crash Mage's free hand clenched in frustration. "And now, now I find out that she had a kid, our kid, without telling me and I just don't understand why? She knew where I lived! Where I worked! I must have told her a million times to call me if she ever needed anything, but she didn't!" His fist slammed into the table and splintered the wood, but it held. Tears were flowing freely again. "So, now I learn that she died seven years ago and that my daughter's been right in front of me this whole time without saying anything. And what have I done for her?! All I do is let her drink like a fish and swear like a sailor and show her how much of a womanizing piece of shit her dad is!" The table didn't hold this time, but Gildarts didn't notice. "How pathetic am I, that that's all I've done for her?" he miserably asked.

"You've done more than that for her," Kuzan reassured him. "You built her a house, helped her with her magic, taught her how to fight."

"You've taken her on family trips, helped her get close enough to people she could call brothers and sisters, have gone on fun adventures with her," Ur continued. "Don't sell yourself short, Gildarts. I'm sure she still loves you."

"Then why hasn't she told me she's my daughter?"

Ur had no response for that. Cana obviously knew who he was, why else would she have traveled all the way to Fairy Tail?

"Maybe she's afraid."

Gildarts's head snapped over to Kuzan. "Afraid?! Why would she be afraid of me?" he demanded, angered at the implications.

"Not you, your reputation," Kuzan clarified, diffusing Gildarts's anger. "You're the Ace of the strongest guild in the country and she had never met you before in her life. That had to be pretty intimidating to a six-year old."

"But I've been looking after her for years!" Gildarts pointed out. "Why hasn't she said anything yet?"

"She probably wants to prove herself. Do something that'll make you proud so that you'll accept her," Kuzan told him.

"But I am proud of her. I'm proud of all of them!" Gildarts insisted.

"And you tell them all that?"

"Of course!"

"There you go," Kuzan said. "If you're giving everyone equal praise, then she probably feels that she has to do something more to stand out, something big, noticeable, and praiseworthy. That's not easy to do when you're competing with Natsu and Mira, two naturally flashy mages her age with flashy, destructive magic. Compared to them, Cana and her cards are barely a blip on the radar."

"But Cana's strong! She completes just as many jobs and wins against the others more often than not!" Gildarts protested. "How could she think that she doesn't stand out as much?"

Kuzan shook his head before elaborating, "It's not a matter about winning, it's about standing out. She could complete twice as many jobs with double the difficulty, but Natsu's still going to make the papers for burning a priceless painting or breaking a famous monument. She can have a winning record in their spars, but Gray and Natsu's fights catch everyone's attention while everyone knows that either Mira or Erza are going to be the next S-Class mage. Compared to that, Cana's skills don't stand out or draw attention. And because they draw more attention, even when it's negative, you have to spend more time with them trying to help, which means less time for her."

Gildarts thought about it and realized with horror that Kuzan was right, he did spend more time with the kids that acted out than with Cana. Natsu's constant challenges and destructive ways meant that he spent a lot of time either fighting with the Dragon Slayer or lecturing him on how to minimize his collateral damage. With Mira, he was helping her train and get stronger in preparation for the upcoming S-Class trials that he was sure she was going to dominate in. Hell, he even spent more time with Elfman trying to help the boy get over the block on his magic that limited his transformations to his right arm. Goddammit, even when he tried to spend more time around the guild so that the kids wouldn't feel neglected he still couldn't get it right. Fuck!

"I'm a fucking failure," Gildarts swore. "Goddammit!"

Kuzan caught his arm before he could break the table again—and probably a good portion of the ground under it too. "You're not a failure," the older man reassured him. "Many people have made the mistake of ignoring the kids that don't struggle in the past and many more will make it in the future. It isn't something that you can just know or be taught to see, you have to learn to look for and recognize the signs through experience."

"How did you learn it, Kuzan?" Ur quietly asked, hoping that his story would restore some of Gildarts's confidence.

Kuzan contemplated how much detail to go into before deciding that, as his closest friends, he could tell the two of them. "Back where I'm from, reputation is everything. Marine, pirate, bounty hunter, royalty, commoner, it didn't matter where you came from, what mattered was what the government and the underworld thought of you. Pirates took pride and measured each other's strength based on how much the government would pay for their heads and a Marine's strength was based off of how much pirates feared them. Naturally, this led to a lot of people on both sides of the law doing a lot of stupid shit to get noticed. Pirates would take huge gambles, betting their lives and the lives of their crews on one attack or one target that would make the headlines and gain everyone's attention. They'd try to hit above their weight class, make suicidal plans to pull off jobs that never could be done, or challenge the government itself with nothing more than a small crew at their side. It was a good thing when they failed, then we'd get them off the seas and into cells where they belonged. But when they succeeded, when they succeeded then everything got worse. Every year like clockwork there'd be some new rising star making big waves in the world with their crazy plans that worked. And when the spotlight was on them, everyone else would start acting out to get that spotlight back." Kuzan's face had become more and more stony as he talked about the pirates and the cold look in his eyes sent chills down Ur and Gildarts's backs. "There's nothing a pirate loves more than attention, and there's nothing more dangerous or reckless than a pirate that's lost that attention."

A heavy aura seemed to surround Kuzan, one filled with sorrow and anger. Ur did her best to ignore it and ask, "And what about the Marines?"

The question seemed to snap him out of his dark thoughts and the feeling disappeared. "Right, the Marines." He rubbed his forehead for a bit before continuing, "Marines looking for attention are even worse than pirates. They don't have a crew or captain that makes them seem strong by association. It's just them trying to carve their way in the world. They all make stupid mistakes when they're trying to prove themselves, especially the young recruits. They stop thinking and make mistakes that cost them and their fellow Marines their lives. Attacking big-name pirates, walking into obvious ambushes, falling for traps that they should've been smart enough to avoid," Kuzan listed. "Anyone that survives those kinds of mistakes usually end up wishing that they hadn't." Command didn't look kindly upon fuckups of any proportion, especially large ones. No matter what your status was. Spandam learned that the hard way after the fiasco with Enies Lobby.

"And the ones most likely to take those risks and make those mistakes are recruits with a famous parent," Kuzan made sure to send a significant look Gildarts's way when he said that. "I've trained plenty of legacies and hotheads and they're always trying to make a name for themselves. They're cocky, overconfident in their skills and willing to get in over their heads to prove it and themselves. They think that a lack of attention from officers is a bad thing and start to do things to gain that attention. They end up ignoring orders to go after strong pirates to show that they're strong. It usually ends poorly, but when it doesn't they get what they want and are praised for their initiative. Then they get the idea that they just have to repeat their success and they'll get praised again. It never goes as well the second time, though."

Kuzan paused for a moment and remembered the incidents that he heard about over the years. They always saddened him, especially if it was someone that he trained before he had learned to watch for the signs of a recruit that thought they were being ignored. "I lost a lot of Marines before I learned what to look for," he quietly admitted.

They respectfully stayed silent and let him gather his thoughts, which he greatly appreciated. Mistakes were fine as long as he was the only one affected. When it cost others their lives they weighed much heavier on his mind. But back to his point, "Cana's circumstances aren't exactly the same, but they're close enough that my idea should work. She wants you to acknowledge her as a strong mage and someone that you're proud of, but if you treat her the same as the Strauss siblings and Natsu then she might do something stupid to try and stand out."

"What should I do then?" Gildarts worriedly asked.

"Let her know that you're watching her and are proud of what she specifically has done." Kuzan advised. "It might not seem like a lot to you, but it will mean the world to her."

Gildarts nodded in agreement, "Okay. I'll do that." He got to his feet and pulled each of them into a hug. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused but thank you. I needed this." He gave them a lopsided grin, "It's nice to know you have people to lean on." He should know. Before Ur and Kuzan showed up he only had Makarov to confide in and the old man had the whole guild to worry about, not just one mage.

"Always."

"Now I think I'll head back to Fairy Tail," he announced. He slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. "I've got some mistakes to fix."

"You may want to sleep off the alcohol before that," Ur warned. "Dunking you into ice water makes you more focused and cohesive, not sober. And it's only temporary."

"I'll keep that in mind," Gildarts said before waving his hand over his shoulder as a goodbye and walking through half the doorway.

Ur sighed at his action and just slumped back into her seat. She looked over at Kuzan, "Do you think what you told him will work?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It didn't always work with the Marines, plenty of them still got themselves killed even after I gave them the attention I thought they wanted, but Cana's situation is different than theirs. She just wants her dad's acknowledgement. So it should all work out."

"We think," Ur reminded him. Everything they were doing was based on speculation. They could be completely wrong, and Cana didn't know and only came to Fairy Tail because it was one of the strongest guilds in Fiore and Phantom Lord was too far away. "What happens if it doesn't?

"Then we just have to be there for Gildarts. It's all we can do at that point."

"It's hard enough to lose someone you love, but to lose your child so soon after they come into your life is even harder," Ur absently said. Kuzan could tell that her mind was far away from the "No one should ever have to go through that pain."

Kuzan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the two of them just sat there in the broken bar for a bit. Eventually, Ur shrugged off his arm and got to her feet. She offered him a hand, "Well, we'd better go make sure Gildarts hasn't walked through some famous landmark and put the guild even further in debt."

Kuzan smirked as he accepted her help, "Shouldn't be too hard. We'll be moving in a straight line after all."

Ur snorted at his joke and hauled Kuzan to his feet. The two left the bar and quickly caught up to Gildarts. "C'mon, old man, we'll walk you home," she told him as they took position on either side of the slightly swaying mage.

"I know the way," Gildarts insisted with amusement. "And I'm not going gray yet!"

"Hey, if he's an old man then what does that make me?" Kuzan asked with mock offense.

The two younger mages took a moment to study him with serious looks. "Hmm. If I'm old then you're ancient," Gildarts declared.

Kuzan flipped him off as Ur laughed. He soon dropped the façade and laughed along with them. "Well if I'm ancient then Makarov must be a dusty old fossil."

That set off another round of laughter that got them strange looks as they walked down the street. A devious smirk crossed Ur's face before she asked. "Now if you're old and he's ancient, what I am?"

The two men shot each other knowing glances and Kuzan wisely answered, "A beautiful young lady being escorted by two handsome older gentlemen."

"Good answer," she said with a laugh. Ur then moved in front of the two of them and stuck her elbows out to each side. Kuzan and Gildarts dutifully stepped up and put their arms through hers. Ur smiled at them, "Let's go home, boys. The kids are waiting for us."

A/N: A bit of fluffy interactions between Levy, Erza, and Kuzan in the beginning before taking care of the whole Gildarts is the father reveal. It's not a perfect fix that will magically make them reconcile, but it's a start. There should be about 4 chapters left until we reach the start of canon. Until then, later.