This chapter will jump around a bit. Due to the fact that Cannon doesn't give us dates between the retreival of Macao and Fantasia I'm guestimating on Cannon vs Alanza AU timelines.

Lucy went on her first mission with Natsu on July 4th.

Mystogan accidentally sucked Alanza into Earthland on July 12th, the day I'm saying the Lullaby Arc concluded.

The day the Thunder Legion left to help with the rescue of Zen Pradesh from Pergrande was the same day Gajeel and Ryos joined the guild: July 23rd.

This chapter begins on the morning of July 27th. Alanza has been in Earthland a whopping 15 days and is exhausted. She has been running on adrenaline and the thrill of the whole sh'bang.

...

July 27th 8:19 AM

Wendy had stayed up way too late last night. She now had a headache and was having trouble focusing on what Wakaba and Alzak were saying about heat and molecular density and air currents. She was grateful for the blank look on Vijeeter's face. It made her feel less like a stupid little girl. At least she didn't have to get lectured by Carla once breakfast was over.

The girls had all been piled into Bisca's apartment for dinner and a detailed talk of requip magic and enchanted purses. Cana had passed her bag around and they had watched Bisca demonstrate the way she used requip. Erza was a special case. Requip being her primary magic made her use it a little differently. With practice and time the common mage's requip space was limited to about two outfits and what they could fit in a chest of drawers.

It had excited Wendy so much she had been vibrating...until the horror stories began. "It's a simple magic...if you do it right." Bisca and Levy had then gone on to list every instance of someone *not* doing it right that they could think of. Wendy had been horrified and her sleep had been restless to say the least.

She had ended up sneaking out of her bedroom and knocking on Alanza's door in the middle of the night. As much as she loved Carla she didn't need to be talked to. She just needed someone to cuddle to feel safe. The redhead had smiled a lopsided smile ad ushered her into the apartment without a word, letting her curl up under the soft blue quilt. She had slept soundly till the older girl woke.

"We shall dance on the breeze as cherry blossoms in the spring!" Wendy blinked at Vijeeter, then glanced at the other two men to see them looking as lost as she felt. "Come, Wendy! Dance with me."

"Umm…" Wendy found herself pulled to her feet. Dance like the wind. This was training. She could do this! "Okay. I'm a sky dragon. I can be the breeze!"

"Atta girl!" Alzak's cheer gained him Vijeeter's attention and all four of them ended up 'dancing' with varying levels of grace.

…...

July 27th 4:58 PM

Droy was starving. Starving. Tired. Sore. He hurt. He was hungry. He didn't want to ward off Mickey's little bird thing one more time. Or fight blind because of Loke flashing him in one of several disturbing ways. He had to keep checking his ass for blood because Lucy would sneak up behind him and snap her whip at him when he was focusing on something else.

They were so meeeeaaaan. He wanted Levy. Why couldn't he train with Levy? She was always nice to him. Always so sweet and encouraging. She would never demand he skip afternoon tea after working all morning on the Guildhall while training like this. Lucy was evil.

Droy grit his teeth and reached out with the plants. He was so...done with these tactics and being ganged up on that he sank farther into his link with the plants around him than he ever had before. Just for an instant he felt it. A flicker before it was gone. Pressure. Crushing, bending, 'don't kill me' pressure. He pivoted slightly as his magic surged, the branches of an oak tree whipping out to clutch at the light mage, yanking Loke off the little wildflower he had stepped on and dangling him like a shared rabbit. Helpless.

"Ow! I like that part! It's important! Droy! Put me down! I need that attatched!" Loke flailed and tried to get loose, but...oak tree.

Lucy stepped out from her hiding spot and grinned. "Fantastic! I knew you could do it!" Droy beamed at the praise till Mickey's bird slapped him upside the head and he faceplanted in the mud.

…...

July 28th 7:15 AM

Cana wanted a drink. She felt like she was dying. Normally she started her day with a few shots of something strong. She was trying so hard to cut back though. She needed to be sharp. It was important. For her, for her guild, for the world...for her father.

The card mage tossed back a pain releif potion for her headache. She made a face at the taste and tried to rinse it out of her mouth with a drink from her flask, gagging on the tepid water more than she had at the potion. She held an arm over her belly as she walked towards the meeting place for her training group, trying not to vomit.

She couldn't keep being 'the drunken slut'. She couldn't. She had to clean her act up. No matter what it took. This was temporary. It had to be. She couldn't live drunk and she wouldn't survive sober if this lasted.

Cana took a deep breath as she heard Gray and Carla bickering. She pasted a grin on her face and joined the group. Bisca gave her a sympathetic smile, knowing that she was suffering.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. You wait long?"

Gray shrugged, his shirt falling off as he did. "No problem. We just got here."

"Put your shirt back on you….brazen boy!" Cara huffed and turned away from Gray as he looked for his shirt. The look she gave Cana had her wanting to punch her furry face before she even spoke. "If you hadn't drank so much last night you wouldn't have been late this morning."

Bisca snorted. "And if you pulled the stick out of your ass your tail wouldn't be kinked." Carla gasped and grabbed at her tail, looking it over before she glared at Bisca.

Cana grinned and high fived the gun mage before pulling her cards out of her purse. "Right. Let's do this."

…...

July 28th 10:48 AM

Juvia finished wetting down the last of the sand piles that had been used to smother Natsu's... enthusiasm, turning narrowed eyes on the unconscious fire mage. "Juvia doesn't remember Totomaru losing control o his fire this often."

Max shrugged. "Natsu has always been a little wild."

Mystogan made a low sound of extreme displeasure. "I knew he ran a little hot, but I didn't realize Master Makarov had let it get this bad."

Max looked surprised. "He isn't...that bad...is he?" Mystogan just stared at him. What his expression was supposed to communicate was mostly hidden behind his mask.

Juvia puffed her cheeks out, the clouds overhead growing heavy and dark. "He killed Juvia's hat! While it was on Juvia's head! Juvia was no supposed to be his target!" Mystogan had the three lower ranked mages trying to pin him down all morning.

Max sighed. "Okay so...maybe he gets carried away."

Mystogan grabbed Natsu, tossing him over his shoulder and heading back towards town. "On. Juvia's. Head." Max drooped a little as he finally admitted to himself that Natsu had issues.

…...

July 28th 5:36PM

Ryos felt so much better once he started working the dragon side of his magic. Gajeel had...beat the snot out of him a couple times, technically as a 'learning experience'. He was eating properly for the first time since he lost Skiadrum, meditating deep enough to hear his father's voice, hunting. That had been fun. Gajeel had taken him out last night and they had brought in a deer for the guild that they were presently eating.

The group was working on stealth today. Mira had said something about a large group mission that Ryos would be allowed to go on. In and out of the shadows he had gone. After a little bit of persuasion on the part of Mira, and an asshole comment from Happy, Ryos had attempted to take someone with him into the shadows for the first time. Namely the loud mouthed blue cat.

Happy had screamed when they went in and cried when they came out. Gajeel had slapped him on the back hard enough to bruise and Mira had clapped and hugged the teen into her ample breasts. While Happy wailed and whined Ryos floated on a cloud of pride in himself and his magic.

"And Wakaba thinks I can learn to fly without Carla's help!" Wendy's excitment had Ryos smiling softly despite Carla's irritated huff. "Mystogan said he can help me learn." Mystogan nodded silently. The man was just as quiet as Ryos some times.

"That makes sense. You're a sky dragon. You should be in the sky." Ryos plucked a choice morsel of venison of his plate and moved it to Wendy's as he spoke. She was female. His dragon said she was precious. So he would take care of her. He didn't really think about it. He just did it. "Even if we don't have our own wings we're still dragons." He completely ignored Mystogan's little destressed noises and Gajeel's snickering.

Levy grinned at both youngsters. "The potential applications of elemental magic are so amazingly diverse when someone is as close to their element as dragon slayers are."

"Fro thinks so too!"

Ryos patted his exceed on her little head, ignoring the escalating men. All four females at the table ignored them too, as did the guild. Until somehow Gajeel's beer ended up on Droy's head. Chaos errupted.

"I swear on Mavis's family tree I will fucking cock punt anyone who spills my damn coffee!" Ryos cringed and hid from the crazy ginger behind Wendy and Levy's tiny bodies.

…...

July 29th 10:12 AM

Levy huffed and stood to her feet, dusting her leggings off. "Okay. Again." Her fingers twitched, holding her light pen and waiting. Reedus readied himself and his paintbrush beside her.

Joey's magic was...unique. He used a mixture of enhancement and copy magic to...share his buffness with his allies. In this spar his partner was Chico, a seith mage. That made them an ideal team to beat the ever living tar out of Levy and Reedus, who had... practically no combat magic. Not that they couldn't. They just needed to practice that side of their magic.

The blond Seith mage suddenly bulked up, laughing as her little...ghosts rushed around chucking rocks and branches at Levy and Reedus. Chico was the kind of Seith that only used the help of the ghosts around her. She didn't keep any of the souls. Levy wasn't sure why. Lack of training possibly. She was Fiorian born and raised, staying far, far away from her 'perverted', aka Boscan, male counterpart. In fact Bickslow was the reason Chico's father, the owner of Fairy Hills, had banned males from the apartment building. Looking back Levy found the whole situation very upsetting, and very unfair.

"Solid Script: Shield!"

"Pictomagic: Vulcan!" Levy cringed. This was not going to go very well.

…...

July 29th PM

Frosch giggled maniacally as she dove from the sky, dropping a slime bomb right at Jet's feet, sending the speed mage sliding out of control. She had been tasked with being 'the bad guy' and she was loving it. Erza had laid out a scenario where Frosch was the daughter of a magical frog king, who had hired Prince Nab and Prince Jet to rescue her. However...she wasn't supposed to want to be rescued, and Erza was the dragon tasked with protecting her.

Really... it all went over Frosch's head. She was supposed to bomb Nab and Droy while not getting caught and Erza had to keep her safe. Sometimes Frosch forgot what she was doing so that was harder to do than it sounded. Sometimes she also forgot she wasn't supposed to get Erza which was why Titania was covered in glitter.

Nab had tried to bow out of their 'exercise', but Erza said she would come after him directly if he stopped trying to catch Frosch. He had come close three times today. Once when Frosch got distracted be flowers, once when he used a frog spirit to bait her into coming right up to him, and once while Erza was occupied with Jet.

Frosch had noticed Erza having more trouble with the scenario than and of the rest of them. She had to be careful not to injure her trainees, forcing her to pay close attention to the strength of her blows. Frosch was also... unpredictable so Erza had to abort strikes and twist her body around at times to keep from hurting the 'Frog Princess'.

Frosch though...Frosch was having fun. She pulled another 'bomb' from a box in her 'tower' and flew up high before dropping it. A cloud of visible fumes blanketed the ground and all three humans started coughing.

"Oh Mavis. Erza! What did you give her?!"

"I don't...know." Erza was wheezing between words. "Natsu made them. Oh gods…that is foul."

Frosch watched as Jet ran in circles in an attempt to clear the air. She giggled when he stirred up something between a dust devil and a tornado, sending the exceed spinning through the air. This was fun.

…...

July 29th 9:03 PM

Alanza had her eyes closed, curled up in one of the booth that had been put into the 'guildhall' under the cover of the partially installed roof, Caelish coffee cradled in her hands. She was tired. She had bruises on her bruises from working and training all day.

She could feel an odd burn in her veins from the strain of using her magic the past few days. All she had done was activate simple lacrima and manage to requip a fork. Maybe...strain wasn't the right word. It was like a rug burn, or the painful tingle of a sleeping limb waking. She was pretty sure it was a sign of growth and not that she had injured herself.

She hadn't said anything yet because...why would she? She was fine. She just wanted to relax and her friends were letting her. Wendy had actual injuries to check on, like Droy's broken nose. Levy and Jet had already been healed and were consoling their teammate. Juvia was with Gajeel and Ryos, Frosch cuddled to her chest as they talked. Bisca was with Alzack...not flirting. Cana, Macao and Laki were at the 'bar' which was really lumber and supplies that hadn't been used yet stacked in a table type configuration. Elfman was helping Mira. Team Natsu was…being them. Mystogan was...who knew where.

She cracked her eyes open and smiled when she heard laughter from the newest Fairy Tail Mages. Frosch was dancing on the table, the three mages giving him pointers and smiling. Ryos rolled his eyes and said something that had Gajeel shoving the boy almost hard enough to knock him out of his seat. Juvia's clear laughter rang out across the room.

She felt an odd itch at the back of her neck before a smooth voice spoke in her ear. "Your muscles seem tense. I can help with that." Three days of drilling self defense moves and two weeks of Laxus and Gajeel guided Tai chi had the sound shooting from her ear, down her arm to the elbow that snapped back to break Vander's nose.