3rd Chapter
Laxus had always admired Gildarts and therefore he was very enthusiastic when his grandfather told him that he would be staying with Gildarts for a few days. That was very strange on one hand since Fairy Tail's strongest mage seemed to be very busy with his own child but on the other hand, Laxus was not one to question his grandfather when he was fine with the old man's decisions. And the little girl was cute too. Cana, Laxus liked that name. It was pretty and therefore, he wondered if the girl would be pretty too if she would grow up a little bit.
Gildarts' house was awesome too with all the colourful magical cards scattered everywhere and Laxus liked to play with Cana. There were no other children in Fairy Tail and definitely no other child related to someone as great as Gildarts. And her relation to Gildarts made Cana already very awesome even though she could not even write her own name.
The only strange thing about the current situation was how so many strong mages from other guilds visited Gildarts' house all the time. Laxus recognised the master of Zephyrus Heart and his sister who also was his second-in-command because he had met the duo once at a party of his grandfather's strange friend Bob. He remembered Mermaid Heel's master Serena Alen just as easily as he recognised Lamia Scales' resident Takeover Mage who still went by her maiden name, Katharina Summers. And all of them gushed over Cana.
"That's amazing!" Katharina laughed as her green eyes twinkled. "She looks really just like Conny! She is so adorable if you ask me."
"Interesting choice of words for a Satan Soul Takeover mage," Gildarts said drily. "But yes, she will be just as beautiful as her mommy one day – I am sure of it!"
"She is really adorable," the calm voice of Zephyrus Heart's master declared as his sister nudged him. "I haven't seen such a cute little child in a very long time."
"Time for you to become a daddy, little brother," his sister teased as she took the little child from Katharina. "My, my, she got a lot of magical power. You will have lots of fun with that one, Clive."
"I am sure that I will be able to deal with it," the proud father shrugged. "And if anything fails, we got Porlyusica. I am sure that she would be able to find a way to deal with these problems."
"Gildarts?" Laxus tugged on his coat. "Can I hold Cana-chan too?"
"Of course," the Zephyrus Heart mage grinned as she bent down. "Just try not to drop her, yes?"
"Sister," her brother said warningly but Laxus did not understand why but then again, the little boy was very focused on the task not to drop the girl.
"Gildarts," Serena Alen said calmly as she grabbed her coat. "We need to return to our respective guilds. Philippe and I have to attend a meeting of guild master in a few days and before we leave, we have to organise a few things. Kat will most likely stay in the area for a few more days so before you blow up the kitchen, give her a call. Cornelia gave her a card as well, I guess."
The white-haired woman nodded as she waved around a card. "I will be around until the end of the week – afterwards I am on another leave," she said softly. "After Mirajane and Elfman, I am going to have another child – I personally hope for another girl."
"Congratulation," Serena smiled. "I guess that this is the reason why you came here, you wanted to tell Conny, didn't you?"
"Yes," she said before she turned to leave. "Anyway, the S-class job won't get itself done. I will stop by again tomorrow, Gildarts. Try not to blow up the house and make sure that Cana sleeps enough. I babysat her quite a few times and she loves to refuse her naps."
"I noted that," the father said before he nodded into the direction of the third woman. Zephyrus Heart's infamous S-class mage who towered behind her brother rolled her eyes before she moved forward to hug him. "I am not mad at you, Clive," she stated. "I only hope that you know what you are doing. C'mon, Phil, we are leaving. It was a pleasure to meet you, Laxus Dreyar."
She rushed out of the room, leaving behind nothing but cold air.
"I apologise for my sister's behaviour," the guild master said calmly as he sighed deeply. "Even I can hardly understand her these days. She is getting restless from being stuck at the guild for so long but after her last solo mission, I can hardly let her go on her own until she healed completely. She is unhappy and frustrated because it was the first job she failed – ever."
Gildarts' eyes widened slightly as he looked at the blond woman for confirmation and when she nodded, he sighed deeply. "In a world where she fails a job, everything is possible," he said as he stared out the window. "Master Serena, Master Philippe, please ensure the safety of the mages in the area controlled by Poseidon's Spear. This worries me. No ordinary mage would be capable of defeating her … can I ask which mission she took and what she said afterwards?"
"She took an S-class quest known as the Hundred-Year-Mission. I heard you are interested in this one as well," the female master said.
Laxus who watched the exchange without truly understanding anything remembered what his grandfather had told him about the both big guilds in this area. There was Mermaid Heel and there was Zephyrus Heart and together, they formed the alliance known as Poseidon's Spear because both guilds were too small to defend themselves against dark guilds properly.
"Gildarts – I know what you are thinking," the blond woman said before she looked around. "And I can tell this because you think just like Philippe over here. But neither of you can do anything right now. Let the Hundred-Year-mission alone for a few more years. And the current point, no one in any guild here in Fiore would be capable of completing it. I will inform Makarov about the ongoing problems and I will highly advise him to forbid any of his mages from taking it. I have taken it from the request board the moment I heard from her failure."
"What did she say about the attacker?" Gildarts repeated a part of his original question calmly.
"She claimed that a huge black dragon attacked her," Philippe Tempest replied. "And I believe her – not only because she is my sister. I believe her because no human being and no regular monster – not even the King of Beasts – ever managed to injure her like this. She spent three weeks under the care of the best healers in both our guilds. Clive, we are aware that it is not our place to forbid you from accepting this mission but … don't do this. Cornelia knows about what happened and … don't do this to her, alright?"
For a moment, Gildarts was eerie silent and looked from the both masters to his daughter who had fallen asleep while Laxus held her. The little boy was still holding her and looked up to him with a strange mixture of worry and hope. "I understand," the Crash Mage said. "I won't take the mission anytime soon. Give her my regards, Master Philippe, and I would appreciate it, Master Serena, if you would not tell Cornelia that I originally considered accepting this mission. I do not wish to worry her when the danger does no longer exist."
"Of course not," the woman said before she took her bag and bowed her head. "I see you around, Gildarts Clive. Keep a close eye on Cana-chan, she is quite creative for someone this young. Oh, and I would prefer if you would not even mention to Cornelia that I mentioned the Hundred-Year-mission in your presence. She asked me not to tell you anything about it. She probably feared that my friend's fate would encourage you to seek out the danger."
A quick movement and she had left, leaving behind nothing more than the scent of the sea.
"There will be a time for you to take this quest," Philippe Tempest said as he patted Gildarts' shoulder. "But for now, it is your duty to protect your family and your guild, of course."
He left as well in a simply smooth movement and like his sister he left nothing but cold air in his wake. Laxus carefully stepped over to his idol and tugged on Gildarts' sleeve once more. "Why did no one call the hurt woman by her first name, Gildarts?" he asked.
"She has no real first name," the man replied, lifting both children onto his lap as he sat down. "It is a long and complicated story, known to only a few people. When she was a very small child, she was kidnapped by criminals who hid her in the forest. Her parents grieved her loss and passed away when Master Philippe was eighteen. Beforehand, they had burnt all the official documents about their daughter because they had lost hope that she might ever return. They believed her to be dead…" Gildarts shrugged helplessly. "Master Philippe became master of Zephyrus Heart after leaving Lamia Scale along with Master Serena who became master of Mermaid – and twenty-one years after her disappearance, Philippe's sister returned. She too first joined Lamia Scale under the name of Lexa because she needed a name and this was the first name that came into her mind and later on, she switched guilds and joined her brother's guild. She did not need a name there. She is the Master's sister or the second-in-command. Seeing that she is mostly away anyway and seeing that she usually avoids human beings, it's okay."
"But her brother … can't he give her a name?" Laxus asked, fascinated with the story.
"He would – if she considered it necessary which she doesn't. She gives herself names when she needs them and changes them once she gets sick of hearing them all the time," the S-class mage shrugged. "So, I call her Tempest when I directly speak with her and feel like giving her a name, she calls me Clive – so we are even. We consider each other equals and that's alright."
Cornelia tapped against one of the cards that surrounded her and sent it at her current opponent. "I really don't get why you don't spare yourself the trouble and the pain and surrender," she sighed. "Listen, I am a member of Mermaid Heel and an S-class mage at that. So I would be very glad if you guys were slightly more cooperative and don't try to fight me. This will only lead to tons of wasted band aid … and I am not sure whether this has to be like this."
"How did you find us in first place?" her current opponent asked. "We hid so well!"
"Trying to hide from a card mage is as impossible as trying to lie to psychic," she replied as the card she had sent at him exploded. "This is tiresome and pointless. Since you refused my offer to end this peacefully, I will have to fight this all out from this point. Ace of Cups, Two of Swords – Stabilised Water Prison!"
She was the heir of a long line of Card Mages and therefore, her spells were divided in two large categories: traditional ones which she had been taught by her mother and her grandmother and those she had created herself. This gave her quite an advantage because even those who had fought strong Card Mages before had no idea what she could do because she united her traditional training with her own ideas, with her own, partially more powerful spells. The Stabilised Water Prison was the Card Magic version of the Water Mage's powerful Water Lock which was nearly impossible to break apart.
"Three of Staves, Ace of Coins – Earth Shackles," she went on, easily tying up the bandits she had not managed to catch in her enormous water bubble. "Moon, Chariot, Tower – Mysterious Change."
A bright flash of light brightened up the dark cave for the fracture of a second and afterwards, it was empty – neither the Card Mage nor the bandits were present any longer because this was the power of Mysterious Change – it changed the position of everyone in the between the three cards to a place where the caster wanted to be.
Gildarts realised that the current downpour was not natural because he had known Serena Alen for years since she was both his wife's guild master and his own guild master's friend and she was a Water Mage with a temper that could literally turn clear blue sky into the kind of grey sky that announced thunderstorms. This rain was different. He knew that it was caused by magic out of control but he also knew that this was a mage far younger than and not as experienced as Mermaid Heel's guild master. He looked at Laxus who was daydreaming on the couch while Cana was on the floor, hugging a bunch of magical cards close to herself. (He wondered where she had gotten them from this time because he and Laxus had spent the last hour on trying to hide all the cards from her.)
"Laxus," he said calmly as he grabbed his coat. "I need to go out for a second. Can you promise me that you will protect Cana as long as I am gone?"
"Sure, Gildarts," the boy nodded seriously. "I can even promise you that I will always protect Cana-chan … even when you are there. I think that she's cute after all."
"Thanks, champion," Gildarts said as he ruffled the boy's hair. "I promise that I will be back right after I checked something out. Um, you can play with Cana so long … and maybe make sure that she does not eat the cards. Conny might get mad if this happens."
The blond boy nodded before he took away one card from Cana and for once, the girl did not cry at the loss of her favourite toy. Gildarts could not help but grin as Cana even held out another bunch of cards to Laxus who started to build a card house. Well, at least they would not blow up the house from the looks of it.
The S-class mage rushed out of the house, trying to locate the source of the rain and following the looming feeling in his gut. It was strange. Usually, he would not have left Cana on her own even when a war had broken out in the middle of the peaceful village but this time, he felt a strange emotion of urgency. He had to seek out the source of the rain for one reason or another.
He hurried through the empty streets and as his hair became drenched, he finally reached the bridge and this bridge was not empty. There stood a man who carried a bundle of pink sheets, a bundle that obviously contained a small body – and he threw this body into the river before he ran away. Gildarts cursed as he dropped his coat and jumped right after the bundle which had screamed and therefore indicated that it was alive. The water was freezing cold but there was a life on the stakes and what kind of Fairy Tail mage would allow a little child to be killed like that.
He hardly saw anything as he dove through the water and panic dwelled inside of him before he finally saw the flash of pink. He grabbed the bundle and made sure that he got the hell out of the freezing water. He grabbed his coat which was dripping wet by now and made sure that he got home as fast as possible – for the sake of himself and of the little one.
While Cornelia loved to travel to a job by train, she hated nothing more than to miss her train back. And because this had happened, she checked whether she had an audience or not and when she figured out that no one was watching, she quickly used the spell she considered the most useful for this kind of situation: Moon, Chariot, Tower – Mysterious Change. This was everything she needed to vanish at one point to reappear in her own bedroom.
She smirked as she dropped the heavy bag of jewels she had gotten for the completion of the S-class job along with her coat onto the bed and she was still amused as she headed for the kitchen where she intended to make herself a cup of tea. She froze, however, when she saw the unfamiliar pair of shows, bigger than Cana's yet smaller than her own, next to Gildarts' favourite pair of boots. She exhaled to keep herself calm but this failed when she heard the voice of an unknown child from the living room. She ran one hand through her hair before she straightened and stepped into her living room – only to witness a strangely adorable scene. Cana sat there as she handed outdated magical cards to a small boy, maybe five or six years her senior, who was currently building a card house. She relaxed as she heard her daughter's gleeful squealing but this did not explain where Gildarts was and why he was not present to keep an eye on Cana.
The boy turned his head into her direction and got up before he bowed. "You have to be Gildarts' wife," he said politely. "I am Laxus Dreyar. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"So, you're Makarov-san's grandson?" the woman asked as she bent down. "I'm Cornelia and I guess that you look a lot like your grandfather, Laxus-kun."
"Do you think that Cana-chan will be as pretty as you are when she is older?" the boy inquired.
She spluttered and could not help but giggle. "I have to give you some credit, Laxus-kun, you are more charming than your grandfather," she smiled. "And, well, I hope that Cana will be prettier than me one day … but could you tell me where Gildarts is hiding right now?"
"He went away and said that he would be back soon," Laxus said. "That was about four minutes ago. He told me to protect Cana-chan while he's gone."
"At least he thought of the important things," she muttered as she ruffled her daughter's hair, then she looked up and stared outside where the rain was slowly lessening. "Looks like Master Serena got mad at Master Philippe again…" she sighed. "Anyway, do you want hot chocolate, Laxus-kun? I just got home from a job and could use something warm."
"That would be very nice, Cornelia-san," he said. "I play with Cana until then, okay?"
"That's a great idea," she said and left the room to head for the kitchen. She made it to the hallway where Gildarts just opened the front door as his clothes and hair which were dripping wet left small puddles on the floor. "Where the hell have you been?!" she asked worried.
"Got to save a little child," he said, holding the pink bundle out of her. "She was alive by the time I got her out of the water. Please check on her while I get changed, please, Conny."
She sighed deeply, saying goodbye to her calm afternoon off and accepted the baby. "Get changed and make hot chocolate for me and Laxus – and get yourself warmed up, you are freezing cold," she said. "I am upstairs, tending to the girl."