Chapter 5

Fairy Tail's Little Terror

The next day, Alu was sitting alone at one of the long tables in the Fairy Tail guildhall. Boredom clearly showed on her face, and she just draped over the table like student disinterested in a class discussion.

Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had just left on a job request and wouldn't be back until the end of the day; Ash went up to Mt. Hakobe with his father so he could learn a new Ice Make technique; and anyone else that Alu could hang out with had already gone off on job requests.

"Man, restriction sucks," the girl mumbled to herself. "If Erza hadn't threatened to suspend me from the guild, I'd be out of here by now."

"Hey, Alu."

Alu lifted her head when she heard a sweet, gentle voice call her name. She looked over to her left and was surprised see a small piece of chocolate cake with whipped cream on top had been placed down beside her. She looked over to see who had given it to her.

"Auntie Lisanna."

Lisanna Strauss, smiling as always, sat down next to Alu. Her pearl-white was tied in a small, side pony tail that draped over her left shoulder. She had on a pale blue sleeveless shirt, a pair of short jean shorts, black leggings that went up just a little past her knees, and a pair of grey sneakers.

Her bright blue eyes were sparkling with optimism and cheerfulness. While Alu wasn't feeling particularly happy at the moment, those blue eyes made it impossible for her to be annoyed by Lisanna's presence. In fact, Alu didn't mind it at all.

"Thought you'd like some cake." Lisanna said kindly. "You looked kind of bored."

"That's an understatement," Alu grumbled, "but thanks anyway."

Alu picked up the fork beside the chocolate cake and began to eat it. She wasn't exactly in the mood for cake, but since Lisanna went through all the trouble of getting it for her, she might as well look like she was enjoying it.

Lisanna was one of the very few people that Alu still had respect for. Probably because Lisanna was the one who babysat her the most when she was a little girl. Whenever Natsu, Lucy and Happy went out on missions, they would leave her with Lisanna.

Because of all their time spent together, Lisanna knew Alu better than most people. She could tell when Alu was happy, sad, frustrated, or angry. In many ways, she was like an aunt to Alu. Which is why Alu always called her "Auntie Lisanna".

Lisanna didn't say a word the whole time Alu ate her cake. It was only after Alu swallowed her last bit and set her fork down that she finally spoke up.

"I…heard about what happened yesterday," she admitted.

At the mention of yesterday, Alu's expression glazed over.

"Now I see why you got me the cake," she groaned.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Lisanna assured. "I had a feeling that you were still down about it."

Alu roughly pushed the plate away and let her head fall back down onto the table. Lisanna frowned.

"Mom and Dad driving me insane." Alu moaned. "Why can't they leave me alone?"

"It's because they care about you." Lisanna said. "I mean; you are their only child. They would be really upset if something bad happened to you."

"Yeah, I know that. But I just want them to get off my back for at least one day. It's like they've become more paranoid than usual."

"I'm sure it's because you're their only child and they don't want to lose you. You're the only family they have now."

Alu gave a small frown and kept her head down. She knew the stories of how Lucy's mother and father died, and how Natsu's foster father, Igneel the Fire Dragon King, was killed by Acnologia. For the longest time, they were both orphans and had no family outside of Fairy Tail. It was only after they had married each other, and after Alu was born, that they did have a family again.

Seeing as how they lost their original families, Alu couldn't say she blamed them for being so protective of her. However, that didn't stop the fact that it also irritated her to no end.

"And you have to admit," Lisanna continued, "you do kind of give them a reason to worry."

That made Alu flinch in anger and sit up straight. A look of resentment painted itself on her face.

"Oh sure, it's always my fault!" she snapped. "That's what everyone says! Why don't people just blame me for every little mistake that happens around here while they're at it!"

"I'm sorry, Alu," Lisanna apologized, "I didn't mean to upset you."

Alu just grunted and turned away with a sour expression. Lisanna was about to say something again when a sweet female voice called her name from across the guildhall.

"Lisanna! It's time to go!"

The white-haired woman looked over to the entrance of the building and saw her two older siblings waiting near the door. Mirajane was waving to her with a big smile on her face, and Elfman just stood tall with his arms folded across his chest.

Lisanna got up from her seat and turned back to Alu.

"Listen, I gotta get going," she said. "But we can talk some more when I get back. We can have some more sweets, too, if you like. That sound okay?"

"Whatever." Alu replied grumpily, not looking at Lisanna. "See ya around."

Lisanna just gave one small frown before deciding to leave Alu alone. She quickly made her way across the guildhall and met up with her siblings. The three of them briefly discussed the mission they were about to take before heading out.

Once again, Alu was left with her own thoughts.

"Geez, even Auntie Lisanna takes everyone else's side," she mumbled miserably. "I'm surprised nobody's kicked me out of the guild yet. If they find me so annoying, then they might as well for all I care."

It was then that a voice caught Alu's attention.

"Let me guess, you got busted again."

Alu gave an irritated expression. She lifted herself up and turned around to see who had spoken to her. It was a tall, brown-haired woman dressed in a bikini top with brown capris and black sandals. In her right hand was a large bottle of wine.

"Cana," Alu said unenthusiastically. "What do you want?"

"Heh, I've had warmer welcomes," Cana said in a slurred voice.

Alu wrinkled her nose with nauseous disgust and quickly turned away. She held her head as her strong sense of smell picked up a nasty pong of alcohol coming off of Cana. The scent was strong enough already, but with the woman standing close beside her, the scent punched Alu in the face and gave her a headache.

"Ugh." Alu groaned, plugging her nose. "Geez Cana, has anyone ever told you that you smell like ten breweries?"

"Hey, it's not my fault that the drinks here give off a stench." Cana replied nonchalantly. "Besides, what's it matter to you?"

"Because the smell that you always have on you gives me a headache, that's why." Alu replied with irritation. "Seriously, take Erza's advice and cut back on the beer."

"Yeah, right. Like I'd listen to a squirt like you." Cana said, waving her hand dismissively. "This is my drinking time, so just deal with it."

"Drinking time? Oh, please." Alu scoffed. "Every hour is your drinking hour. Heck, I'm surprised you haven't poisoned your liver yet. But it's going catch you some day."

"Well, when it does I'll collapse," the brunette woman said. "At least I don't try to get myself killed on missions. I'd rather be known as "Fairy Tail's Heaviest Drinker" than "Fairy Tail's Little Terror"."

Alu shot a glare at Cana before turning away with a scowl.

"And people wonder why you're still single," she grumbled spitefully.

Cana responded to that with a sharp look of her own.

"Watch it, kid; I'm single by choice," she frowned. "Besides, I'm not the one dating the son of my father's greatest rival."

Alu's face turned tomato-red with embarrassment and she leapt out of her seat to get up in Cana's face.

"Ash and I are not dating!" she yelled, flustered. "We're just best friends, got it?!"

"Whatever," Cana shrugged, "it's not of my business. Although, that does remind me of your mom whenever people said she was in love with your dad. For so long she denied it. And look at those two love-birds now. They tied the knot and got busy."

"Oh, shut up." Alu snapped. "You make it sound dirty."

"Well, you are the living proof of that." Cana pointed out, making Alu scowl even more. "And I guess we should've expected any child of Natsu's to be as rambunctious and troublesome as him."

"What?!" Alu said sharply, feeling insulted by that comment.

"C'mon, pipsqueak," Cana smirked mischievously, "you're just as big of a troublemaker as your old man. Everyone knows it. You're totally your daddy's little girl."

"I AM NOT!" Alu screeched loudly.

Alu yell was so loud that everyone in the guild heard it. They turned to look at her with surprised and confused expressions, wondering what she could be screaming about. Alu seemed to sense all eyes on her and whipped around to scowl at everyone.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKIN' AT?!" she shouted viciously.

That gave everyone the cue to just go back to minding their own business. They definitely didn't want to have to deal with an angry Alu. Cana, on the other hand, just snickered at the scene before her. She didn't even stop after the pink-haired girl in front of her turned back and glowered at her.

Finally, Alu let out a deep exhale.

"I'm not daddy's little girl." Alu frowned, turning away and folding her arms across her chest. "And I have no romantic interest in Ash whatsoever. I just like hanging out with him and that's all. Now would you please leave me alone?"

"Fine, have it your way," Cana replied casually. "I'm just going to get back to my drinking time. Have fun sulking."

And with that, Cana walked away.

Alu gave an aggravated grunt sat back down into the seat, still keeping her arms crossed. For a while, she just sat there with her eyes tightly shut and her lips pressed together. She was irritated enough already, but that little conversation raised her ire even more.

Then, like a spark of lightning, and idea popped into Alu's head. Her eyes slowly open as she thought over it for a moment. An impish grin spread across her face as she settled on the plan.

"Thanks, Cana," she said mischievously to herself. "You just gave me a great idea."

Although her mind was racing excitedly with this new idea, Alu casually got up from the table and began to walk down to a secluded part of the guild. As she did, she clutched at one of the keys on her belt. When she was out of sight of the other guild members, she took the key off the chain and held in her hand for a moment.

"This is payback for calling me "daddy's little girl"," she snickered. "Time to have some fun."

Later that day at sunset…

Natsu and Lucy were walking side-by-side down the street with Happy gliding above them. All three of them looked tired and worn out, but they still kept walking. They had to report back to Laxus that they had completed their mission.

Not to mention, Natsu and Lucy had to pick up their daughter from the guildhall.

"Oh man," Lucy sighed heavily, "no wonder Laxus wanted us to take that job together. It might not have been an S-Class mission, but those bandits were certainly a handful."

"Yeah, no joke." Natsu grinned and shrug. "Still, we at least got the mission done. All's well that ends well, right?"

"Right." Lucy nodded. "I just hope Alu's okay."

"Knowing her, she's probably found something to do." Happy said. "I just hope it doesn't involve setting the guild on fire again."

"Oh, heaven forbid!" Lucy groaned. "I don't to have to go through that again!"

The group then turned a corner and soon found themselves at the entrance to Fairy Tail.

"Well, it's still standing." Natsu pointed out. "That's a good sign."

However, the moment Natsu, Lucy, and Happy opened the doors and stepped inside the guild, they were forced to stop as Natsu was suddenly confronted with a very angry Makarov bellowing straight into his face.

"NATSU! WILL YOU EVER GET THAT KID OF YOURS UNDER CONTROL?!"

Natsu leaned away from the enraged man and shut his eyes. His spiky pink hair stood up on end even more than it already did.

Needless to say, that was enough to tell both Natsu and Lucy that the retired Guild Master was a little more than angry. He might have been confined to a wheel chair, but the old man could still grow large enough to get up in their faces.

"SERIOUSLY!" Makarov continued to bellow, opening his mouth so wide Natsu could see his tonsils. "YOU LEAVE ALU ALONE FOR A FEW MOMENTS AND THE WHOLE GUILD SUFFERS FROM HER PRANKS!"

"Why?!" Natsu asked apprehensively. "What'd she do?!"

"I'll tell you what she did!" a female voice replied furiously.

Both Natsu and Lucy turned to see Cana marching up to them. They immediately noticed that she didn't have any alcoholic drinks on her. She was scowling so hard that Natsu was amazed the skin on her face didn't split apart.

"Cana?" Lucy blinked in worried surprise. "What happened?"

"That little rug-rat of yours stole all of the booze from behind the bar, that's what!" Cana replied fiercely.

Natsu and Lucy's eyes widened and their mouths dropped open. Happy cupped his paws over his mouth and tried as hard as he could not to laugh.

"She didn't!" Natsu groaned.

"She did!" Cana scowled. "I don't know how she did it, but somehow she took every single alcoholic drinks from behind the bar and hid them somewhere!"

Lucy covered her eyes with her hand and groaned, "Oh, where is she now?"

"Right over here," a deep, gravelly voice answered.

Natsu and Lucy turned to see a tall, black-haired man named Gajeel holding up two people by the scruffs of their vests. One of them was Alu herself, but the second person was someone who looked exactly like her, even down to the most minute detail.

Upon seeing the second Alu, and sensing the energy that was coming off of them, Lucy scowled with irritation and exclaimed,

"Gemini! You helped Alu on a prank like this?!"

The second Alu suddenly disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and revealed two little Celestial Spirits that were nearly identical in appearance. They were both light blue, and had two antennae on their heads. However, the one called Mini wore orange pants and had a smiling "V" for her mouth, while the other called Gemi wore black pants and had and upside down "V" for his mouth.

"It was just a bit of harmless fun, Lucy." Gemi said cheerfully.

"That's right," Mini replied in the same tone. "Besides, Alu's our key holder now."

"I didn't give your key to her just so you could help her with her pranks!" Lucy replied irritably.

"Piri -Piri," was all the twin spirits said in response before disappearing back to the Celestial World.

With those two gone, Alu was left on her own. However, for someone who had just been caught in the act of a prank, she didn't look too worried. She just kind of looked put out.

"I caught her carrying three bottles down to the basement." Gajeel explained, carelessly letting go of Alu's vest. "Was kind of surprised at first since I saw her just seconds ago by the door. But once I saw her downstairs, I figured out what was going on. Still, she must have been at it for a while. Nearly all the liquor behind the counter is gone."

Natsu face-palmed himself. He could just feel every eye in the guildhall glaring at him and his family. It was easy to see that they were all angry about having their drinks taken from them. It was an unspoken rule in the guild to not mess with another person's drink. Of course, Alu would break that rule and go above and beyond.

While Natsu and Lucy didn't have anything to do with it, they were guilty by relation to the one who did it.

"Took you all long enough to find out it was me." Alu sneered, looking like she was pleased with herself. "Although, considering how everyone loves that nasty stuff, I'm not surprised you were too brain dead to figure it out sooner. I was just doing you a favor."

"I wouldn't push my luck if I were you, kid." Gajeel warned, glowering. "You're in enough trouble as it is."

"Well, you're not me, are you?" Alu rebuked. "Grunkle Gajeel."

Gajeel stiffened in annoyance at that name while nearly everyone else in the guild snickered. Just seeing the mighty Black Steel Gajeel get ticked off by a little girl like Alu was always funny to watch.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT?!" the Iron Dragon Slayer bellowed.

"You should've figured out by now that I don't listen," Alu replied snobbishly.

"That's enough, Alu!" Lucy said firmly as she walked up to her daughter. "Why in the world would you do something like this?!"

"'Cuz I was bored." Alu replied flatly. "There was nothing better to do so why not? It was just a prank. Geez, no one around here can take a joke."

"Don't you take that tone with me, young lady!" Lucy scolded. "Now you're going to apologize to everyone, and you're going take all of the drinks you hid and bring them back up here, AND you're not going to complain about it! Understood?!"

Alu frowned, staring at her mother with fierce intensity. Lucy stared back at her daughter with just the same amount of tension. Finally, Alu shut her eyes and dropped her shoulders, exhaling gruffly.

"Fine," she grumbled loud enough for everyone to hear her. "I'm sorry. I'll bring the drinks back up."

Alu then began to walk away.

"You better!" Cana snapped as Alu walked past her. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm dying of thirst here!"

Alu stopped and turned around quickly, giving the brunette woman a near-death glare.

"Just shut your face for once!" she snarled.

Cana stepped back and fell silent. As did everyone else in the guild.

Alu gave one last scowl and stormed off.

Shortly after that, Natsu felt a firm hand grip his shoulder. He turned around to see Laxus standing behind him with an exasperated expression.

"Natsu," he said, "You and Lucy in my office. Now."

A few minutes later, Natsu and Lucy were standing in the middle of Master Laxus's office. The Lightning Dragon Slayer had his back to them and was looking out a large window. Makarov was also present. He had parked his wheelchair in the corner of the room.

"I'm sorry," Laxus sighed heavily, "I just don't know what to do with that girl."

"No, we're sorry, Laxus," Lucy said, looking down at her feet. "We don't know what's gotten into Alu lately."

Laxus turned to look at the two wizards. His expression was a rare solemn one.

"I understand," he said in low voice. "But as Master of Fairy Tail, I consider everyone in this guild as my children. That said, I have to consider the well-being of all of them. While Alu hasn't done anything to jeopardize the guild, this behavior of hers is getting out of control. I'm sure you both can understand, being parents yourselves."

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other.

"Yeah," Natsu admitted, "but we only have one kid."

"I know," Laxus nodded slowly, "but you still get where I'm coming from. I'm afraid I've got no choice. If Alu pulls another stunt like this again, then I will be forced to suspend her from the guild for a time."

Natsu looked down at the Master with alarm.

"Whoa, hold on Laxus!" he said. "Don't you think that's a little too harsh?! You said so yourself that she hasn't endangered anyone!"

"Yeah, I know," Laxus replied calmly, "but even you know that her behavior's gone too far."

"Yeah, I know, but still!" Natsu continued. "Alu just wants to prove that she's a Fairy Tail wizard! You really think suspending her is going to help?! She's already miffed about not being able to enter in the S-Class trials as either a contestant or the partner of one! Not to mention, the Grand Magic Games! I just don't see how suspending her would be a good idea! If anything, it'll make things worse! I know Alu! The only reason she's like this now is because of what that rogue wizard said to her the other day!"

Laxus grimaced. He had also heard of the incident with the rogue Dark Guild wizard.

It was at that moment that Makarov decided to intervene.

"I understand what you're saying, Natsu," he said in a low, gravelly voice. "And I hate to even consider that option, but I don't see any other way. When Alu isn't putting herself in danger, she's disrupting the lives of our other guild members. She has to learn that she can't get away with that."

"But Gramps-!" Natsu tried to argue.

"This is for her own safety as well, Natsu!" Makarov said forcefully. He then immediately softened his tone. "I know she wants to become and S-Class wizard. But I'm sorry. Alu was born with a Magic Deficiency. Both you and Lucy know that."

Natsu fell silent. Lucy looked at her husband for a moment, clasping both of her hands together in a kind of silent distress. While Natsu had pretty much said what she was thinking, but she couldn't quite find it in her heart to believe those words.

"I'm sorry to say this," Makarov continued sadly, "but…I'm afraid she'll never be strong enough to become an S-Class wizard."

Natsu scowled angrily at Makarov when he said that. Lucy simply lowered her head, causing her bangs to fall over her eyes and hide them in shadow. Laxus cast his gaze down to the floor.

Just then, Natsu's ears twitched as he picked up the sound of movement outside the door. He turned around just in time to see a purple cloth brush past a small opening in the doorway. At the same time, he heard light footsteps running down the hallway.

He immediately realized that it was Alu. He didn't need to smell her scent to know that. It was definitely his daughter.

And he knew she had overheard everything.

"Oh, no," he whispered to himself.

Alu ran out of the guildhall and down the streets of Magnolia as fast as her legs could carry her. Tears brimmed her eyes, and threatened to fall with each step she took. She fought them back with every ounce of resistance she had. She wouldn't let anyone see her cry. But the ache in her chest was soon becoming a physical pain that was trying to squeeze those tears out of her.

As she ran, her mind yelled with hurtful thoughts.

"They don't believe in me! No one believes in me! Not even the Master! I was right! They just think I'm…A WEAK LINK!"

As Alu reached the edge of the town, she shut her eyes. Her tears began to flow down her cheeks and were carried away by the wind.

Alu's mind screamed with pain-induced anger, "I HATE THEM!"