My Life With An S&M Maid - NEW

by Curiosity44

Anime worlds are fun as a story, but what happens when that story becomes your reality? Join Dante on his journey through a world full of adventure, romance, immortals, magic, magical beasts, and a lovable S&M maid. Join him as he takes the world by storm as the Ouroboros Potioneer! Slight AU Fairy Tail, starts years before canon. At the moment - Solo Romance. Cross Posted on QQ.

16. Mr Booze

AN: Yo, sorry for the late release. There was plenty of reasons, but it would all sound like excuses so I'll just leave it be. I love writing this story, and many of my others, and I hope you all enjoy if you made it this far.

Future wise, expect at LEAST one chap a month of S&M during my busy months, cuz holy fuck nothing makes me more peeved than having content to write on my brain but being bogged down with stuff and not being able to write it down. If I get more time, I might get things out sooner.

This chapter will count as 'March'. I owe you the next one before the end of April at the latest.

Note for this chap: All character ages are adjusted to my preference at the point of their introduction. I won't change ages after they are introduced, but until then, it's open to adjustments.

Thanks to my awesome Beta Readers. Plum, DragonCat, sometimes Fish. You guys are great.

Final note, be sure to check out a little side story I'm posting tonight called 'Where Roads Mead'. It's something I've been working on the side and it's based on the 'Café' and 'Bar' genres with a twist.

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Disclaimer: I own no source material.

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Chapter 14: Mr. Booze.

An axe swung in the early morning forest air. A gentle mist hovered over the ground, covering the grass in a moist dew.

The sound of splitting wood was audible in the clearing in front of a picturesque fantasy home as Dante wiped some sweat from his brow. 'Humid today.'

He eyed the stack of wood he had worked on for the last hour in satisfaction and gestured with a finger as the split logs began levitating toward his woodshed, stacking itself in precise patterns under his delicate control. 'Should season nicely by next year.'

It might come as a surprise to many, but despite the fact that his entire career and magic path revolved around altering, changing, extracting, and combining the properties of various ingredients to get the result he wanted, Dante occasionally liked to do things the natural way.

Splitting and seasoning wood was a perfect example of that. It reminded him of times before he had magic when everything had to be done by hand. 'You can lose yourself in a fantasy if you forget to value what you have.'

Never forget his roots, and never forget the value of the life he now led. Simple actions went a long way toward reminding him of those values.

He leaned the shaft on his shoulder and breathed deep of the refreshing morning air. "I should get moving before everyone starts showing up."

Heading up the stairs, he passed through the large carved front door and removed his boots while leaving the axe on a holster on the wall. His eyes trailed over his kitchen and, subsequently, his coffee machine in a moment of hesitation, but he ultimately shook his head. 'Shower first, coffee second.'

The smooth wooden flooring creaked softly beneath his near-silent steps as he climbed up the stairs and made his way to the large onsen-style bathroom.

Halfway through removing his clothes, he paused as he realized they were out of clean towels. 'Virgo probably left them upstairs again, I keep telling her we should just build a closet in the changing area, but neither of us have bothered to do it.' He chuckled to himself and headed upstairs in just his sweatpants.

The rising sun just crested over the distant mountaintop in time to shine its rays directly into his bedroom as he climbed the stairs. His eyes trailed over the room to land on his king-sized bed, where a celestial beauty rested under the rays of the sun.

Dante couldn't help it; even years into their relationship, he found himself mesmerized by the sight before him.

Virgo had kicked off the covers in her sleep and lay on her stomach nude, sleeping peacefully just as he had left her a few hours before.

He walked up beside her as his hand ever so gently traced along her smooth legs. His fingertips slid along her skin in a trance as they made their way up.

Along her calves, up the back of her thighs, tracing the curve of her delicious pear-shaped rear, along the depression of her thin waist, and over the sinfully soft skin of her spine.

"Hmmm~, keep going." Virgo's sleepy voice rang out as she stirred.

Dante smiled lovingly and took a seat on the edge of the bed to hover over her. "Come on, love, it's time to wake up." His hand traced the curves of her shoulders, and she leaned into his touch with an arch of her back.

"Mnnn….come back to bed my love."

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss the back of her neck. "We'll never get up if I do that." His lips moved up to just below her ear as a wide smirk grew on her face.

"Sounds good to me~."

He laughed and pulled back. "Sadly, we have guests coming today. No time to sleep in."

She groaned and buried her face back in the pillow. "Uhhh, why did you have to keep me up so late."

Dante scoffed, and his hand came down to playfully slap her ass. The resounding clap of skin on skin and the jiggle of her rear was as much music to his ears as her mixture of a moan and a squeak of surprise. "You succubus, I think we both know who kept who awake. And I got up first."

She wiggled her ass hypnotically and turned her head to side-eye him over her luscious pink locks. "Mn~, why don't you punish me some more, m-a-s-t-e-r~."

The tantalizing sight hit him right in the resolve, and his hand twitched with the desire to play with her cheeks, but a suppressed giggle snapped him out of it as he turned back to the amused blue eyes of his lover. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Undoubtably."

He hissed and lunged back in to snap his teeth around her neck as she laughed unrestrainedly. "Oh no~, a rabid beast has caught me~. Whatever shall I do~?"

Dante rolled his eyes at her terribly fake tone and slid his arms under her body. "You shall come and join me in the bath you dangerously adorable creature."

Virgo squeaked in joy as he stood back up with her in his arms and snuggled into his neck. "You smell."

"One of us got up early to get the blood pumping."

"Hm~, you know what else gets the blood pumping~?"

"Are you a celestial spirit or a lust demon?"

"Who said either isn't mutually inclusive?"

Dante opened his mouth to answer, thought about it, and clicked his teeth shut. Some things he didn't want the answer to.

Virgo giggled and snuggled into him as he walked back down the stairs with a pair of towels idly floating behind him. She childishly kicked her legs in the air as he walked while enjoying the sensation of her hardened nipples rubbing against his chest. "How much time do we have?"

"I told them to come around noon, so we have a few hours to set up."

Virgo's eyes shined as her foot rubbed up against his side. "It will only take us an hour if we rush it."

He side-eyed the obvious woman with a dry gaze. "Don't make me drop you in the cold water pool."

"You would punish your dutiful maid so cruelly?"

"Considering you would only enjoy it, yes."

She giggled and kissed his cheek. "I love how you get me."

"Whats not to get? I'm practically joined at the hip to a celestial sex demon who stole my heart."

"You forgot to add maid to that my love."

"….you're not even going to deny the other points?"

"Why bother?"

The two matched eyes and laughed as they entered the bath. Dante requiped out of his sweatpants, seeing as his hands were full, and sat down in the shower chair with Virgo in his lap.

"You're getting better at that."

"Time and practice does wonders. Arms up."

Virgo idly raised her arms with a bemused smile as Dante ran his hands along her sides with the soap. A hum of pleasure went through her as she leaned back against his chest. "Must you be so gentle with me?"

Dante smirked at her breathy tone and leaned forward to nibble on the top of her ear. "Does it excite you love?"

She rubbed up against him with a rising heat. "You know it doe-Ah~!" She moaned loudly as his fingers brushed over her hardened nipples and gave them an abrupt pinch. "Master~."

His hands didn't stay put long as he thoroughly washed his lover's body, going slow and gentle in the areas he knew she was most sensitive, and rough in the places she loved most. Within minutes his maid was mewling puddy in his hands, and he loved hearing, seeing, and feeling the way she writhed in pleasure.

Her arms reached up behind their heads to pull his lips down to where she could reach them with her own, invading his mouth with her small wet tongue and trying to suck his soul out of him with a need as his hands roved her damp body.

She shivered in his grip as the stimulus was too much, reaching her release with a shudder as their lips pulled apart with a trail of saliva connecting them. "My love….don't tease me….." She breathed deeply against him as her chest rose and fell, letting him see her bosom sway in the lighting.

His hands came up to cup them in their palms as he leaned his forehead against her own with a whispered smile. "But it's just so much fun~."

She giggled and felt his arousal resting between her cheeks, twitching yet restrained. Her hips rubbed up against his own as she whispered back. "Let me take care of you now."

Her body began pulling away to turn around, but his hand suddenly came up to wrap around her neck with a light grip. "Is that how a maid asks for something?"

Virgo's arousal spiked at his tone. She knew he only did it to enhance her pleasure, and that made her love him all that much more.

"May I please you master?"

"You may."

His hand loosened, and she turned in his lap to rub herself against him, washing his body with the same amount of loving attention he gave her. But she wasn't the patient type as she quickly focused her attention on his manhood.

Dante groaned in pleasure as his hands ran through her pink locks, encouraging her further to take more of him inside her. She gagged and choked around his shaft with such a blissful expression that he was almost tempted to leave her be. But they only had so much time, and he needed to finish washing up soon.

He pulled out of her and ignored her whine to throw her over his shoulder. "Come love."

She giggled and laughed openly at being manhandled and clung to him as he walked into the steaming bath. Before he could even fully sink in, Virgo spun around his body like a serpent as she reached his front and pushed him into a seat, impaling herself with a moan of pure satisfaction.

He groaned in pleasure as his blade was sheathed inside her and pulled her body up against his own so he could get a grip on her handles. "Impatient."

She said nothing but rolled her hips as she clung to him, reaching out through their bond for the connection with an innocent request, almost like a child asking for a cookie.

His hands came down to sink into the flesh of her rear as he gave it to her, just as he always did without question. They gasped as one as the bond enhanced with them actively fueling its connection. They were connected, in mind, body, soul, and magic, driving them further into the throes of their passion.

The two made a mess of the bath as Virgo demanded attention and punishment in equal measure with a seemingly endless libido for more, and Dante quickly lost himself to the way her everything enticed him, drowning him in a need to bring her higher and higher.

It was only with his third release over an hour later that he looked up and noticed the position of the sun, snapping him out of his haze. "Shit. Virgo, we did it again. We got to go."

His lover had her legs wrapped around his waist in a vice, milking every last drop from him into her as she moaned. "Don't wanna."

She only gripped his length harder, and he had to fight the urge to push her down and plow her for everything he was worth. "Virgo. Now."

A shudder of pleasure went through her at his tone, but it only made her tighten up further. "Damn it woman!" He tried to stand and tripped over himself as her weight brought him down into the water, with the maid continuing to lose herself to the pleasure.

Fifteen minutes later, a chastised Virgo sat on her heels with a bump on her head as she bowed her head toward her master rushing around their bedroom to get dressed. "My apologies."

"If you're really sorry, put some damn clothes on!"

Virgo raised a hand to cover the smile on her mouth. "Hm? You seem to be in pain master~. Maybe I should take a look at you."

"You're not even the slightest apologetic are you?"

She shifted her gaze to the side with an innocent whistle.

Dante sighed and finished putting on his boots, standing up in his black cargo pants and white cotton V-neck that framed his musculature flatteringly.

He made sure his boots weren't loose before walking over to the kneeling woman and crouching down so their faces were at the same level. "Virgo." His hands came up to cup her cheeks and gently turn her head to face him. "What's wrong?"

She didn't look him in the eyes as she answered. "Nothing's wrong."

He chuckled at how adorable she looked and leaned in to lay a gentle kiss on her lips. "What's wrong love? Why so needy today?"

She breathed deeply of his scent. "Can't I be needy any day?"

"Of course you can. But there's a difference in need babe. Look at me."

Her eyes finally trailed to his own gentle gaze, and she pouted. "Don't look at me like that."

"I'll look at you with all the love I have for you every day for the rest of our lives. That won't change. Now, tell me, I'm right here."

They stared into each other's souls for a minute as Dante sent over feelings of reassurance and acceptance until she caved and looked down. "You're leaving for Stella in a few days."

"I am."

"And you're not taking me along."

"Someone has to make sure the valuable herbs we spent years collecting are taken care of."

"Why don't we just hire another spirit? I can have twenty ready in minutes if I asked."

Dante laughed gently and rubbed a finger along her cheek. "I don't trust others to know how to handle everything. Besides, I think my life's quota is all taken up."

Virgo's hand came up to press against his chest, where her key rested over his heart at all times. "Stop saying things like that." A heavy blush adorned her cheeks that made him want to tease her more.

"Never." He stole another kiss and lifted her up off the ground to hold her, resting his chin over the shorter woman's head. "Are you worried about me?"

She nodded with her cheek to his chest. "Mn. Who will be there to pull you out of the fire without me around?"

"I'll have the others. Laxus, Bacchus, Jenny, they'll have my back."

Her grip tightened around him. "They can't watch over you like I can."

Dante sighed and ran a hand along her back in soothing circles. "Virgo, you can't coddle me forever."

"Why not? I only pull you out of the danger before you get seriously injured."

He pulled back to look her in the eyes with a serious expression. "That's exactly why. You protected me for years. Watched me grow. Taught me almost everything I know about magic. You were my lifeline that I knew was always there whenever I did something stupid. But it's time to take off the training wheels. I'm not the same inexperienced mage from years before, and I can't keep growing if I know that lifeline will always be there." He leaned down to press their foreheads together. "You need to start trusting me love."

Her grip on him became all that much harder as she struggled with her insecurities. "I do trust you. But what if you don't come back to me? I….I don't want to lose you Dante. I can't."

Dante could feel the buried scars in her soul cropping up and did his best to send her waves of reassurance to soothe them. "I'll come back Virgo. Always."

She stared into his eyes, seeing the smile on his face and feeling the confidence in his soul as her own insecurities settled. Just like he said, she had seen him grow from his first days as a mage until now, with him every step of the way. "You really have grown, my love."

He barked a laugh in response. "Of course I have! I had the world's oldest, most ruthless, and most adorable sadist as a teacher. What's there to fear after experiencing all that?"

Virgo's face morphed into mock offense. "Mentioning my age wasn't necessary Dante."

"That's the only part you disagree with?"

She hmphed with a proud look and ignored him. "I am pretty amazing, aren't I?"

"You would be more amazing with some clothes on right now."

"Hm? From what I'm feeling, little Dante seems to disagree with you."

"Don't call him little, he'll take that as a challenge. And can you really blame him? I have a goddess in my arms."

Virgo snorted and slapped his shoulder playfully. "Get off me you lovable idiot. We have guests coming."

"Oh, nooow you say that, huh?" He leaned in with a laugh and stole her lips as she shook with her own laughter.

"Now I do. Now go. I'll get things ready from this side while you set up." She pushed him away with a palm to his chest and nudged him on.

"Sure thing." Contrary to her actions, he came back in and pushed her nude body up against the wall, lifting her so their lips were at the same height and pressing into her with his weight.

Virgo moaned in surprise and pleasure before he released her as she fell to her feet panting. "What… was that for?"

He smirked at her. "A reminder."

"Of?"

"That I love you."

She flushed all over again at his words. No matter how deep their connection, the words ringing with honest truth from his mouth with the way he looked at her when he said it never failed to make her heart pound. "Would you get out of here!"

He laughed openly and made for the stairs with a wave, but she couldn't stop from calling out to him. "Dante."

"Hm?"

"I love you too."

The way his face lit up made her heart pound all over again. "I know."

Virgo held a hand to her chest as he left. 'That man….spirit king above I love him.' She thought back to his words and sighed. 'But he's right. I can't keep coddling him. He's grown too strong for that anymore. But…' A heavy aura settled on the room as her eyes darkened. 'If anyone harms him beyond repair, I'll show the world exactly what happens when a Zodiac stops caring about conserving energy.'

Humans were a short-lived race, often taking their ancestor's lessons for granted and belittling them to little more than myth. They were a race that had to see to believe. It was why things such as dragons and gods were related to legend when mages existed with magics that had to originate from such beings.

Lessons learned were slowly forgotten with the flow of time. And in an age where neither dragon nor god stood at the top, where long-forgotten ancient beings slumbered, where human mages grew weaker than their forefathers without the threats they once faced, beings like celestial spirits never truly found partners that could unleash their full might.

A might that once re-shaped mountains and seas. A might that hadn't been seen in eras. A might even the spirits themselves put down in an age of peace.

Their keys had been spread out lazily, and the contracts had been degraded over the eras. The spirits grew less competitive and violent. More at ease and friendly.

But Dante had been funneling mana into Virgo for years, at great cost to himself that no mage would have been willing to do. Increasing the vitality of the spirit realm and enlarging Virgo's personal domain with stores of energy she could release in Earthland.

If someone took Dante from her, Virgo planned to remind the world what a Celestial Spirit was truly capable of, no matter the cost.

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Unknowing of Virgo's darker thoughts and curious as to why her soul suddenly felt so possessive, Dante shrugged and funneled back feelings of love. 'I guess she was really bothered about me leaving her behind. She's such a worrywart, but I can't help but love that about her too.'

He chuckled to himself as he descended into the basement floor of the house. The lines of fermenting barrels of liquid stood against the walls near the entrance, stacked a dozen across and three layers high on racks built to hold them.

'Hm….I think the Sakeyashi fruit sake is done. The stuff goes great in a summer cocktail.' He flicked a finger and levitated a barrel off the top rack before storing it in his requip space. 'I'll get on that after I get out the meat.'

Dante turned and walked down a man-made tunnel Virgo dug for them years back. While she tried to let Dante practice his magic on the house-building project, she personally handled the tunneling as that was too far out of his expertise area.

The tunnel went from beneath their house, through the thick root system, and into a chamber beneath the courtyard in front of the house.

And it was filled with ice lacrima's.

'Ah, there's that refreshing chill.' Dante breathed deep of the cold air, letting it wash over him after leaving the summer temperatures up top.

The freezer was kept at a set negative eighteen degrees Celsius at all times, and the walls were inlaid with metal to keep the cold temperature in.

A layer of ice coated dozens of crates containing cut-up carcasses of beasts Dante and Virgo had slain over the past few years. And due to magical beasts having been heavily infused with mana during their lives, their meat stayed fresh for years longer than non-magical meat, which had a shelf life of a year in a freezer at most.

'Celepig, Crab Pig, Ashurasaurus, Deep Sea Mammoth, Frenzy Cattle, Bloody Bull…' Dante read along the signs they placed in front of each crate before stopping at Sky Deer. 'Ah, Virgo loves this one, I'll grab a few steaks for her on the side.'

He popped open the crate and stored away half a dozen steaks. 'Sex jokes aside, behind that cute and innocent visage of a maid lies the heart of a carnivore. She eats more meat in one sitting than me.'

{"Did you say something my love?"}

{"You're pants make your ass look fat."}

{"….I don't wear pants Dante."}

{"Exactly. Never do. Let that glorious ass reign free."}

He could feel the eye roll from her side. {"Get moving you idiot master. I'm setting up the grill."}

{"Thanks love. Be up in a minute. Stopped to grab some Sake and Sky Deer steaks."}

{"I love you."}

Dante laughed openly and closed the connection after sending back a feeling of love.

He closed the crate and walked over to a different area labeled jokingly as 'Big Ass Sky Fish That's Not A Fish.'

It was a really convoluted combination of elements only made possible by magic and bullshit. Tovkezeera was how the world labeled them. A massive floating whale monster that lived in clouds and had meat that tasted like the highest quality beef.

'I think Virgo mentioned they used to be the favored prey of dragons back in the day before they got hunted to near extinction. When the dragons died out, they bounced right back. I can't blame the giant lizard dudes, these whales are fucking delicious.' His mouth practically salivated imagining it as he grabbed the handles on the crate before heaving with everything he had to lift it halfway off the ground and start dragging it over to the side where a set of chains were.

His face turned red with the effort as he took a step at a time. 'I get why it's good to keep meat from the same creature in the same place, but do we really have to put it all in one crate? This thing is made of metal!' He grumbled and grunted as he dragged it along the floor before dropping it at the bottom of a shaft that went up to the surface with a groan. 'Gah, I shouldn't have tried to act tough and say I could handle it when Virgo went over the designs for a freezer. She knew this would happen but said nothing. Damn I love that sadomasochist.'

Chains were set up for him to latch the crate into a shaft that allowed for easy vertical movement thanks to Virgo, the construction wiz. Although, she conveniently left out an automatic way to lift or lower things to get back at him for boasting about 'everything being training.'

He wasn't wrong, but she was feeling especially sadistic that day, and he's still suffering for it years later.

Dante shut the shutter door, cutting off the shaft from the freezer before climbing a metal ladder that went up to the surface. He pushed through a trap door at the top and came out onto the side of the courtyard in front of the house, where Virgo was in the middle of setting up a large grill.

She looked over at him as he dusted himself off with a smirk. "Having fun master~?"

He shot her a stink eye. "Loads. Want to help me with the shudder door?"

"I thought you could handle it, you big muscular man you."

He rolled his eyes while the woman giggled. "This would be over in a second if you used your magic."

"But then you wouldn't get any training!"

"Woman, one of these days…."

"You'll punish me?"

"I'll un-punish you."

Virgo gasped and took a step back like she was struck. "You wouldn't."

He had no idea where he was going with this. "I would."

She obediently walked over and bowed. "I'm at your command master."

The two stared at each other blankly before matching grins grew on their faces, and they cracked up. Dante pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "You're adorable."

"I'm Virgo."

"Same thing. Can you open the latch babe?"

She huffed in amusement and pushed him away gently to reach down and lay a hand on the shutter doors at the top of the shaft. There was the sound of half a dozen latches unlocking before the earth began pulling apart into a large circular opening, displaying air as it rushed up from the shaft below. "There you go."

Dante walked up to her side and kissed the back of her head. "Thanks love. That would have been a pain if I did it the manual way."

She dryly gazed at him. "That's only due to your paranoia my love."

Dante set up a dozen security features all over the underground freezer, exit shafts, and entrances. All because it led to the inside of his home and doubly so because it led to the chamber in his basement where he kept his booze. Triply and less importantly so because his potion lab was two floors above.

The house, on the surface, visually seemed less protected, but in fact, the outer bark of the tree, plus the windows, all had a coating of a unique potion Dante made to heavily increase the durability of a stationary object. Whatever it was placed on couldn't move, but he didn't plan on moving the tree his house existed in.

"Hey, its perfectly reasonable to consider that an earth mage could dig under the house."

"We are in a danger zone."

"I meant an earth magic focused beast."

"We own this territory. It's almost 40,000 acres of land. We would notice long before it arrived."

"…."

"…."

"Ok, I'm paranoid."

"Mn, I still love you."

"Aw, babe."

Dante stole another kiss as Virgo laughed and playfully swatted him away. "We have work to do. Go have fun with that." She nudged her chin at the hole and walked away as Dante pouted.

"You could just lift it yourself."

"But it wouldn't be training then."

He rolled his eyes and restrained himself from tossing a water ball at her. He knew from experience that she would respond in kind, and her magic had more oomph to physical strikes.

Dante bent down and grabbed the top of the chain, attached to a wheel and pulley that would raise the crate straight up without bumping into any of the walls. 'The things I do for a good BBQ….' He wrapped the chain around him, turned around, and heaved.

The chain pulled tautly, and the wheel groaned before it began to turn as he slowly took steps forward, lifting the crate higher and higher off the ground.

His feet dug into the soil with deep imprints as he put his enhanced body to the test. The chains were unable to dig deep into his skin, and his skeletal structure held up fine under the strain thanks to long-time usage of constitution potions and conditioning, but his pure strength was put to the test as he heaved.

Dante's face turned red, and veins popped out all over his frame as his pure strength was put to the test. But strength was never his strongest attribute. No, those heights would be attributed to his dexterity, hand-eye coordination, constitution, and the size of his mana pool. Things that made him an extremely lethal blade that could pick apart those far above him.

But that didn't mean he was stubborn enough to admit that as he heaved and made slow progress while Virgo, a distance away, gave him an approving nod. She truly had watched him grow and had been his strictest teacher.

A flash of light from beneath the house got her attention, and she looked over to see Laxus walk out of the teleportation array with a wave. "Yo."

Virgo bowed her head in politeness. "Sir Laxus, welcome."

Laxus cringed at the title as he walked over. "Virgo, it's been years. Can't you just call me Laxus already?"

"That would be inappropriate."

"Dante's like a brother to me and your basically his wife. It's more weird that you keep calling me that."

Virgo's cheeks flushed at the title, but she stayed stoic. "I'm his maid."

Laxus rolled his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, yeah, where's the snake bastard at anyway?"

Virgo silently pointed a finger to the side, and the blond-haired mage followed it to see a red-faced Dante heaving as he dragged a chain across the yard. He took one look at his friend's predicament and did what every male best friend did.

He laughed his ass off. "Hahahaha! Your face!"

Dante gritted his teeth and shot him a deadly look. "Get your ass over here and help you jackass!"

Laxus bent over laughing and wiped a tear from his eye. "Nah, I think I'll just stay here and watch. Virgo, you guys got any mead?"

"Certainly. What flavor?"

"Oh, do you have that-"

"I'LL GIVE YOU A BARREL!"

Laxus dropped his coat without hesitation. "Now you're speaking my language. Move over pipsqueak." He vanished in a burst of lightning and appeared by Dante's side to grab the chain with both hands and heave.

It took all of five seconds before Laxus's face likewise turned red, and he grunted as the chain started moving faster. "What the fuck are we lifting?!"

Dante threw the chain over his shoulder and pulled forward. "The BBQ meat."

Laxus's eyes lit up as his musculature expanded. "Lightning Dragon mode!" Electrical energy shot from his eyes as his pulling force increased by a factor of three with his increased strength.

The wheel turned even faster as the meat that weighed tons slowly made its ascent to ground level.

Laxus grit his teeth as he heaved. "I know I eat a lot, but is this much really necessary?!"

Dante sucked in air and pulled. "My kids will smell it and come for food."

Laxus grunted but didn't argue. He had seen Ed before, and the big lug thought he was the world's most interesting light bulb, much to Laxus's displeasure.

The teleportation circle flashed a second and third time as Bacchus and Jenny came out seconds apart. The two stopped to look at each other in surprise before Bacchus grinned and held up a fist with his thumb and pinky extended. "Victory is mine this time babe."

Jenny huffed and punched his shoulder playfully as she passed. "Never rush a lady you mutt."

Bacchus laughed and rubbed his shoulder. "Point me to the lady and I won't."

Jenny smirked and flipped him off before she came out of the house's roots and took in the scene before her of Virgo casually setting up a massive grill over a rising flame while Dante and Laxus shouted like comic book characters while pulling a chain.

"Virgo dear, did you do let out your S-side today?"

Virgo put a finger to her chin and looked up. "A bit? Master flipped my M switch today, so it might have rebounded."

Jinny giggled into a hand and went over to join her while waving to the wandering eyes of the two sweaty men. "Don't mind me boys. Where do you need help Virgo?"

Laxus and Dante ignored her to lock eyes with Bacchus. "GET OVER HERE, YOU DAMN MUTT!"

Bacchus snorted and took a drink from a hip flask as he waddled over. "What? You weaklings need a man to show you how somethings done?"

"Shut up and grab the chain!"

"Pull you fucker!"

Bacchus planted his feet hard enough to crack the earth and smirked. "Alright then." He grabbed the chain and pulled before he too turned red. "What the fuck is this?!"

""The BBQ meat!""

"PULL HARDER!"

Jenny shook her head from the side. "How many brutes does it take to lift one measly crate of meat."

Virgo didn't even look up as she put added more wood to the bonfire to get a large bed of smoking hot coals. "Three apparently."

Jenny snorted in laughter and covered her mouth to block the sound as she turned into a mecha form to help Virgo.

The three males dug in their heels and managed to get the crate to the top.

Dante's eyes gleamed. "Another few feet and then I can lock it!"

Laxus's dragonified arms bulged. "Final push!"

Bacchus pushed up mounds of earth as he heaved. "Grah!"

The teleportation circle flashed a final time as out walked the manliest of men, Ichiya, the man among men. The three-foot tall, one hundred twenty pound man of pure manliness and hair products took a single look at the clearing before springing to action.

"Men! My friends! I have come to assist you!" He stripped off his shirt without hesitation and leaped to his friend's assistance. Except, he took off his pants at the same time for some reason, and all three first-class mages with honed instincts to identify a threat turned their gazes at once and got a clear-sighted view of Ichiya's thong-covered body.

"GAH!"

"MY EYES!"

"IT BURNS!"

They each forgot to pull, and Dante realized at that moment why wrapping the chains around his body wasn't a good idea. Gravity took hold, and he had all of half a second to realize his body had just got yanked like the yo-yo of a giant. "FFuuuccckkkk!"

""Dante!""

"My friend!"

Not even Dante's body would be able to survive the force of tons of weight under the strain of gravity, pulling a chain and snapping his bones like a vice. In a moment of instinct, fire burst from the soles of his feet, and he reoriented his feet down to drag his heels into the earth. His fists turned backward and likewise ejected high-powered flames, slowing the force pulling on him to a crawl as massive bursts of propulsion left his arms.

Laxus whistled at the heat and flashed over to plant his feet behind his friend and push his back into Dante's own. "I got you bro."

Bacchus arrived a bare second later and reinforced them. "This is wild! Hahaha!"

Ichiya had somehow buffed up to a giant over seven feet tall with his perfume magic and grabbed the chain behind the three. "Men! On the count of three!"

The four worked in unison and heaved like a well-oiled machine as they brought the chain back into control, and Dante let his magic fade, once more relying on his strength to pull so as not to burn his comrades.

It went faster the second time around with all four pulling, and Dante finally heard the click of the chain reaching the required distance. "Hold is there! I'll lock it!"

The three males planted their feet with bulging muscles and veins popping out before giving Dante nods to go.

Dante barely made it halfway across the chain's length before his petite lover appeared in front of him with a dry gaze. "Master, playtime is over. The grill is ready." She took the chain with a single hand, and all three men resisting the force faceplanted as it vanished.

Dante's feet skidded to a halt before Virgo as his panting and sweat-covered form stared into her own calm gaze. "Virgo…"

"Yes?"

Dante sighed in defeat and just silently walked over to lock the chain. "Nothing…."

Virgo sent him a confused look while the three other men took great gulps of air on their backs a distance away.

"*Pant*, Dude just got showed up by a girl half a size."

"*Pant*, Savage."

"*Pant*, What a man."

""…..""

Jenny's laughter rang long and hard throughout the clearing.

00000

Dante grumbled and flipped the massive meat skewer on the grill. "Was that really necessary love?"

"Was what?" Virgo replied absentmindedly while spicing a second one.

"You know what you did."

"Do I?"

Many who hadn't been around Virgo long enough would miss it in her bland, innocent tone, but Dante knew his lover and the slight tick of sadism in her voice hidden under the surface. He bent down to whisper in her ear. "You're getting punished for that one later."

A shiver of pleasure went down Virgo's spine as she looked up with a bright smile. "Really?"

Dante rolled his eyes and kissed her forehead. "Never change love."

"Never leave me, my love."

A gagging sound from the side rang out as Laxus pretended to choke on his drink. Dante sent him a dry look, and the guy shrugged.

"Sorry bro, I think you added too much sugar to this booze. Feels like my teeth are rotting."

Jenny sitting up against his side on a luxurious outdoor couch slapped his chest lightly. "Don't be rude, baby. They're adorable."

"So you disagree with me?"

"…I didn't say that. I just think their adorable."

Laxus rolled his eyes while the others laughed.

Bacchus cackled as he downed a barrel of fruit sake with a blissful expression. "Ah~! That's the good shit. Dante! Another barrel bro!"

Dante idly pulled out a head-sized barrel and tossed it over his shoulder at the guy who caught it like a dog with a frisbee.

"Men! Bacchus, you must savor such noble liquor, not chug it like cheap beer."

Bacchus shrugged and cracked open the barrel with his knuckles. "I would usually agree with you man, but I know Dante's got hundreds of four feet tall barrels down in that cellar of his. This is the only time I get to enjoy fine liquor like this."

Laxus raised his own drink of Emerald Dragon Sake in a lowball glass with a block of clinking ice. "I gotta agree with him there Ichiya. Snake boy's got a stash that would make Ishgar bleed to get."

"That's Snake man to you sparkles! And I make my own shit, screw the others."

"Your manhood got revoked when your lady defanged you!"

"What does that say about you?!"

"…."

"That's what I thought."

Bachus cackled and made a drumming motion with his fingers. "Mutual destruction."

Dante went to comment when suddenly, the house's teleportation network flared, and the air crackled with mana as he turned to face it.

The rest, being S-class mages, jumped to their feet without missing a beat. Laxus cracked his knuckles. "You expecting anyone else to this party man?"

Starlight appeared on Dante's wrist, clinking from the chains as he shook his head. "No. I'm very careful with invites."

The two vanished in bursts of speed to appear at the sparking teleportation pad. Virgo and the others weren't far behind as the celestial spirit eyed the formation. "The security features caught something."

Dante studied it as well, having been the one to carve the runes himself after taking apart the old one. "And you called me paranoid."

"You are. That doesn't make it a bad thing."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence love."

"Anytime my love."

Jenny rolled her eyes and slapped the two of them. "Guys, focus. Whats happening?"

Dante stepped forward and channeled his mana into the formation. "Someone tried to force their way through but got caught in the hidden security features behind our initial firewall. Their trapped in the space between until I let them through."

Laxus grunted and sparked. "Then let them through. Let's see who has the balls."

Bacchus grinned at the challenge, and Ichiya spun in place and posed. "We shall face the danger together! Men!"

Dante matched eyes with Virgo, who gave him a nod, and he put in the code to power down the security. A flash of light came over the formation before two bodies materialized from the light with gasps.

"Ah! I'm alive!"

"Ha! I knew it would work!"

The group of S-class mages and celestial spirit blinked at the smaller forms of two teenage girls heaving on the ground with different expressions. One with a fierce excited grin and the other with a pale, trembling face.

Laxus was the first to recognize them and slapped his face with a hand. "Goddamn it. Cana! Levy! What the fuck?!"

"Laxus?!" Cana's head shot up, and she noticed the group of people standing a few feet away with a slowly dimming smile. "Um….wrong address?"

Laxus pushed forward to hover over the girl menacingly. "Cana. What the fuck are you doing here?"

The young, newly turned sixteen-year-old girl ignored the others to stand tall and puff out her growing chest. "I'm here for the liquor! Hand it over, and no one gets hurt!"

"…"

There was a moment of silence between the watchers before Bacchus broke it by falling over laughing. "Hahahaha! That's gold!"

Jenny was the second to crack a laugh and look away, followed slowly by Ichiya, who spun in place and praised the girl for her courage.

Virgo, meanwhile, seemed more concerned with the shivering girl on the ground and stepped forward to console her. "Oh, you poor thing. Come here." She pulled the girl into a hug without giving her a chance to protest, and the young fourteen-year-old Levy squeaked in surprise.

"Um…I'm sorry."

"Shh, it's ok."

"No, no, I'm sorry."

"No, it's ok."

"No, I'm so-."

Dante sweat dropped at the two very different face-offs going on, and he decided he had enough. He snapped two chains together loud enough to get everyone's attention as he eyed the two intruders. "I think we all have questions right now, but we have meat on the grill, and my kids will show up soon. Why don't we all sit down."

No one argued with him, and Dante made sure to close down the teleportation network entirely for the time being. No one would be using the channels for a few hours until he confirmed its safety.

00000

"So, let me get this straight." Dante stared into the shining eyes of one Cana Alberona sitting ramrod straight in her seat and the shy eyes of Levy McGarden half buried in Virgo's chest as the girl seemed to be shaking. His brow twitched at Virgo's weirdly mothering actions, and pushed on. "You." He pointed at Cana. "Followed the lightbulb here because you heard I was the 'booze magician,' as you so eloquently put it."

Laxus made a sound of discontent from where he was put on BBQ flipping meat duty, but Dante shushed him. "This is partially your fault."

The blond-haired man grumbled about Dante hurting his street cred but took his hits and focused on the grill. Jenny was nice enough to help him, but like any manly man, Laxus rejected help with the sacred art of flipping meat on a sizzling griddle.

Cana perked up. "So you really are the Booze magician!? I've been wanting to meet you for years."

Dante raised a finger and opened and closed his jaw a few times while his friends around him tried to suppress their laughter. "I'm…..I mean….kind of I guess? Look, that's not the point. Why would you copy Laxus's transportation formula invitation and try to get your friend to help you crack it? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? If I didn't let you through, you would have been stuck in limbo until the mana you fueled your side with vanished and then promptly erased by a closing space time bubble."

The confident teenage girl slowly paled under his description, and Levy trembled further, getting Dante a stern look from Virgo.

Dante twitched at the look and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, let's ignore what could have happened for the moment. You still gave your friend a near dose of mana exhaustion. I'm conveniently one of the few people on the continent who is capable of healing that right away without side effects with it being so soon, but you could have really hurt your friend."

Cana looked down at that, but surprisingly, Levy spoke up from her side. "Um…I…I wanted to do it." She spoke in a low voice, but everyone there had sharp enough hearing to hear her.

Virgo rubbed her shoulder in comfort. "Speak freely little one."

Levy flushed under Virgo's kind words and poked her fingers together. "C-Cana showed me the spell formula and…well….I got excited about cracking it."

Dante raised a brow at the girl who was flashing through with pockets of excitement through her shy demeanor. "You cracked it, by yourself?"

Levy shook her head. "Cana helped supply the mana. I have weak reserves."

Cana puffed out her chest. "And mine are huge. She's the brains, I'm the brawn."

Dante sighed and flicked the brown-haired girl's forehead. "Don't be proud of that."

"Ow!"

Virgo patted Levy's head. "That's a remarkable job for a girl your age."

Levy flushed further and hid her face. "It's not that big of a deal. I completely missed the secondary defensive line."

Virgo smiled gently at her and lifted her head. "Don't be modest. My master's paranoia isn't so small as to leave our biggest weak point defenseless. You broke his first line; take pride in that." Her eyes turned to Dante with a smirk. "Something that my master is sure to praise."

Dante rolled his eyes while Levy had a small smile grow on her face as she shyly looked toward him. 'Great, now I'm the bad guy if I try to interrogate them.' He sent a quick message to Virgo.

{"Oi, what the fuck babe?"}

{"She's terrified master. Leave her alone."}

{"Since when do you care so much about others?"}

{"She reminds me of Aries. I took care of her for many years."}

Dante paused at that and let it go. {"Fine. But try to get the method she used out of her. We can't have an unseen hole in our defenses."}

{"Understood."}

Dante cut the connection and nodded to Levy. "It was a good job, all things considered. And at fourteen? You have a bright future ahead of you with that kind of talent."

Levy's smile was blinding as she buried her face in embarrassment while Cana stood up. "Hey, doesn't that mean I'm great to?"

Dante's hand launched out to flick her a second time, making her hands fly to her forehead as she sat back down. "No. You almost got both of you killed or worse if you had gone somewhere else. And for what? Some liquor?"

Cana surprisingly bounced back without fear at his words. "Liquor is life! It's worth dying for!"

Bacchus, in the background, sipped his barrel with a sage-like nod before getting slapped over the head by Jenny.

Dante felt there was more to be said than those simple lines, but he didn't get the chance to comment before the nearby trees rustled, and a loud hissing sound echoed through the clearing.

Cana and Levy froze like deer in headlights as a titanic reptilian head emerged from the tree line.

"Um….B-Booze Magician….t-theres….behind you…." Cana trailed off.

Dante raised a brow and didn't even bother turning around as two equally titanic heads appeared beside the first. "Ignore that. I'm trying to explain why risking your life for liquor isn't right."

The snake heads got closer and blocked out the sun.

"N-no! B-Behind you!"

"Stop trying to avoid my lecture."

"WOULD YOU TURN AROUND!"

Virgo tossed a pebble at Dante's head. "Master, stop teasing them."

Dante flicked the stone away with a chuckle and shrugged. "Couldn't help it. Besides, Ed's not even looking at me." He didn't even need to look to know where his son's attention would be directed.

Laxus began sweating as all three massive heads locked onto him.

Ed's mind focused on the grilling meat and his favorite toy standing right next to each other as a happy hiss rang loud and clear.

"….Dante…."

"Have fun dude."

"*HISS!*" Ed charged like a freight train.

"Fuck!" Laxus cursed and vanished from his spot by the grill in a flash of lightning. "Ed! Heel!"

Ed did not heel.

One head grabbed a large slab of meat from the grill, a second greeted Dante and Virgo with a smile, and the last reached for Laxus smiling like the world's most giant reptilian puppy.

Cana and Levy could only watch with wide eyes as the massive snake chased down their guild's strongest mage after the master and Gildarts. Their image of the strong mage evaporating as Laxus sent a pillar of lightning at the snake, only for the great beast to get more excited.

Jenny laughed from the side and sipped a cocktail she made from Sakeyashi Fruit Sake and some liqueurs she had brought herself. "Don't look at Laxus like that sweethearts." The girls turned to her as she winked. "It's not that he's weak. It's that anything that lives here is crazy strong."

Levy blinked at that and raised a hand. "U-um, where are we?"

Bacchus cackled from the side. "You're in the Mirage Mountains baby~."

The blunette paled all over again while Jenny and Virgo shot him harsh looks. "The mutt's not wrong but you're fine sweetheart. This is Dante's territory. Nothing will harm you here."

"Mn, master owns the surrounding few hundred acres. You're safe in our home."

Levy did indeed calm down at that while Cana perked back up. "Wait, so Dante is the Booze Magician's name?"

Dante facepalmed while everyone laughed at his plight. "It's not Booze Magician you damn brat! It's Ouroboros! The Ouroboros Potioneer!"

Cana's expression flattened. "Oh, that guy….Booze Magician sounds cooler."

Dante deadpanned at the teen. "What ever gave you the idea for that name?"

Cana rubbed the back of her head with an awkward chuckle. "Welllll…. Laxus always thought he was sneaky pulling out bottles of liquor I haven't seen before, and I've tried every single brand of liquor that exists in every shop across east coast Fiore. I snagged a few cups when he wasn't looking, and I've been obsessed with finding his source. He wouldn't tell me where it came from so I named you Booze Magician in my head."

"I knew you were swiping my drinks you brat! Ed! NO!" Laxus zapped over to join Dante's lecture and promptly fled as the massive serpent turned his way.

Dante casually used a dozen water balls to redirect his son's excited charge away from the center of the clearing where everyone was sitting and turned back to a starry-eyed looking Cana. "Listen kid, my names not-.."

"Cana." She cut him off with a firm look, and he just sighed and decided to get to the point.

"Right. Cana. My names not Booze Magician. It's Dante Ouroboros. Yes, I made those bottles you took from Laxus. No, I don't sell liquor on the market. Officially anyway." He grumbled the last line, thinking of the crazy requests from his clients. "You can call me Dante or Ouroboros. Drop the silly name."

"Roger that Mr. Booze."

Dante's brow twitched violently, and Jenny and Bacchus to the side had to look away to hide their laughter when he shot them a look threatening violence. 'Thousands of people have been dying to know my name for years, and the second I decide to stop hiding and introduce myself normally, I get a rambunctious teen who refuses to accept my name. What is my life?'

He narrowed his eyes at the teen.

"Dante."

"Booze."

"Dante."

"Booze."

"Why are you so fixated on booze?!"

"Because booze is the sacred liquid and you provide it."

Even Virgo and little Levy looked away to hide their amusement at that one while Dante stood there cold-cocked. 'I knew her character loved liquor, but this is even more than I remember from canon. Or maybe canon just didn't show how far her obsession went….' He worked his jaw like a father who looked away for five minutes and came back to the mess his kids had just made. "Cana, I need…-"

Dante was once more cut off as hisses rang out from above before the group was undulated in colorful feathers courtesy of the Occamy squad.

Jenny squeaked in surprise and laughter as four of his kids swarmed the woman in excitement. They seemed to think Jenny was one of them with her natural beauty and had basically adopted her as a sibling years ago. "Hey there boys~, did you miss me?" She purred and rubbed Azure and Sky's heads as the Occamy chirped happily and shrunk their bodies to wrap around her like moving scarves rather than giant bodies of scales and feathers.

Edd and Eddy likewise slithered into the clearing and zeroed in on their favored humans. Edd saddled up to Bacchus with an expectant gaze in his six eyes, and the mage just laughed and tossed him a barrel. "Drink up, bro. It's time to get wild!"

Ichiya posed on his elbows with his legs hanging over his head along with Eddy, who twisted into a demented clock. "Men! It is good to see you, my handsome ally!" Eddy hissed in agreement, and the two matched sparkly gazes.

Cana looked on in wonder at the different magical snakes. "Woooo! Where did they all come from?"

"That's beside the point, I'm trying to lecture you here s-…."

Another hiss rang out from a different direction as Iris and Jade, the Horned Serpents, arrived through the air in a majestic fashion and descended toward Virgo, twisting around her without hesitation in a hug of affection.

Virgo laughed and patted their heads. "Hello to you too girls. It's good to see you."

Levy blinked up in shock at the massive snakes, and Iris looked down in curiosity, moving her jeweled head closer to flick her tongue at the frightened girl.

Virgo spoke gently with a small smile. "Go on, she won't hurt you little one."

Levy reached out a tentative hand, and Iris moved her head to push into her palm. The young teenage girl slowly turned from scared to excited the longer she petted Iris's head, and the big snake decided to smother the girl in a hug.

Dante's following words were drowned out by the blunette's laughter, and he just threw his hands up in exasperation. "I give up!"

"Master, miss Cana left minutes ago."

"What?!"

Dante looked around and found the girl trying to climb Ed's massive body as the snake took a break from hunting Laxus to fight over the meat it grabbed from the grill.

'Goddamn rugrat!' He rushed over to grab the girl by the collar of her shirt and hold her up as she flailed. "Didn't anyone tell you not to climb random people's children."

"Feel my pain! Taste my suffering!" Laxus shouted from the grill as he went back to flipping meat with a mug of sake Jenny casually handed to him from her cocktail table.

Cana wriggled in his grasp, trying to reach for Ed's body. "Come on Mr. Booze! He's so cool!"

Ed heard her words and puffed out his chest while Dante sighed. "Great, now he's got a big head. Heads. Whatever." He looked at the flailing brunette and just threw her over his shoulder. "Come on. I'll make you food."

"Yay! Can I have steak?"

"Yeah, yeah."

00000

The abrupt party was underway with the guests all gathered together. Dante used his extremely fine control of magic to work two dozen skewers at once while adjusting the heat and using the water in the seasonings to add sauce while it cooked.

Virgo was fussing over Levy for whatever reason, wiping the girl's mouth with a napkin as the young teen was wrapped in a snake chair by Iris, who took an interest in the girl.

Laxus had resigned himself to being wrapped in Ed's tail as the big guy showed off his prize to everyone like a kid who caught a rhinoceros beetle. But his tail was so big, Jenny could fit in and use Laxus as her own personal couch while the Occamy wrapped around her flew her around like a magic carpet of feathers.

The two lovebirds were laughing and whispering to each other as he watched, and Dante caught Laxus's gaze and sent his friend a thumbs-up.

Dante levitated the meat in lines onto platters and moved them over to a large table in front of the outdoor couches. "Alright, grills closed, you gluttons."

There were immediate hisses of disapproval, but Dante shut them up by sending them big pieces that had just finished from the grill. "None of that. We finished off an entire Tovkeezerah to fill your stomachs."

The massive crate of whale meat was already picked clean by his kids. Primarily by Ed, but the big guy just eats more.

Laxus snorted in humor at that. "How you caught that thing is beyond me. They are insanely hard to find and fast to flee. Even for me."

Dante chuckled and tossed his tongs onto the pile of dirty dishes. "My eldest caught it. He likes the challenge."

Jenny raised a brow while petting an Occamy who wanted her attention. "Ray right? How come we never see him?"

Virgo giggled while combing Levy's hair. "He likes to act tough, but he's just shy."

Dante nodded and plopped down next to Cana on the U-shaped couch. "Yeah, that's why I always leave his portions on the side." He nudged his chin to the side, where a large portion was left aside on a tall stand. "He'll come by and grab it when he feels like it…." His voice trailed off as he eyed Cana rubbing her cheek against a barrel of Emerald Wine Sake she grabbed from beneath the BBQ table. "Kid, you got problems."

"You wouldn't understand Mr. Booze. Liquor this fine needs to be enshrined."

"Then you wouldn't be able to drink it."

"Damn! You're right. I'll enshrine the empty barrel."

He scoffed in amusement and passed her the plate of food she had left on the table. "Eat up. I'll kick you out after."

Cana took the plate and pouted at him. "Do you have to? I just found the source of some of the best liquor I've ever had. At least let me taste all your goods."

Dante went to answer and paused on one part of her words. "Did you just say, 'some of the best'? As in there are better ones out there?"

The teenager blinked and put a finger to her chin in thought. "Yeah. I'm sure I tasted a few over the years. At least, from the ones I've tasted of yours so far."

"Thems fighting words."

"Does that mean I can taste test?!"

"Maybe."

"Can I have some barrels for helping?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I'll be the best taste tester ever."

"….Maybe." Dante might be a tad weak to that. He and Virgo loved to drink, but she wasn't the most descriptive on feedback, and he had to make do with what commentary she offered him. 'Nice,' 'I like this one,' and 'make more of this' were not very helpful descriptions.

"Yes!" Cana cheered and pumped her fist before diving into her steak with a smile.

Dante silently ate his own food and looked at everyone having fun in groups. 'This wasn't my original plan but it's fine. I can get serious after we're all done. I really wasn't expecting these two though.'

He gazed over Levy. 'One managed to breach my defenses at fourteen. Albeit, I'm no rune or tech mage, but that's still impressive considering I ripped those formations off from the Bank of Ishgar. My mastery is potions and what my native caster magic supplies me with. Hell, I'm not even a focused brewer. I just know how ingredients mix together well.' He switched his gaze to Cana and tapped his finger. 'The other one supplied the rune mage with the necessary mana to piggyback a teleportation circle. That's not a small amount of mana by any means. It would dry a B-rank mage dry just attempting it.'

He hummed and stretched out his mana sense before sucking in a silent breath at the feel of the girl's mana reserves. 'Holy hell. She's a monster.'

Dante had sensed the mana signatures of plenty of mages over the years, but he had never encountered a girl so young with mana that matched a grown A-rank mage at their peak in life. 'She could give even my reserves a challenge. Two years younger and without any of the resources I used to get where I am, and she has that much. Damn. What kind of monster is Gildarts?'

Gildarts Clive wrote the survival book on the Mirage Mountains. The man had been to the very center of the mountain range, an area Dante didn't dare go near at his current state. The man who had been able to hurt Acnologia, even if the dragon gave him a free shot, with magic unrelated to slayer magic.

Gildarts was one of the actual monsters out there that just kept growing stronger as his magic rebounded on his body, strengthening it, and thereby allowing him to output more of his magic without killing himself.

And he fathered a young girl at his physical peak in life.

'And the result is this.' Dante shook his head at the result. 'Does she even know how to handle all that mana?' His tattoo's silently lit up as he sensed closer and narrowed his gaze at what types of ethernano particles he saw flowing into her. 'Could she be…?' He coughed into his hand and got the girl's attention.

"Cana, what kind of magic do you use?"

Cana looked up with a piece of steak between her teeth. "Hm? Cards magic. It's holder type but it's really versatile and super fun." She flicked a deck of cards on her belt and made them float up.

Dante hummed and observed how her mana fueled into them rather poorly. "How many can you control at once?"

She grimaced and sent the cards back. "About three. I can launch new ones before the first even actualize, or set them up in advance for traps, but three at a time is my limit right now."

"You're being awfully forthcoming with answering."

"I'm hoping you'll give me more booze if I answer." Her eyes shined as she looked at him expectantly, and he barked a laugh.

"….you realize you have a problem right?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

Dante couldn't honestly refute that, so he coughed and changed the subject. "Nevertheless, why don't you use your caster magic?"

Cana grimaced and looked away. "Don't have one."

Dante's hand twitched as his guess just got confirmed. 'No way someone with those reserves doesn't have a caster magic. I always wondered why Gildarts daughter seemed shafted in canon despite Mavis saying she had incredible potential.'

Rather than say that, however, Dante chose a more educational approach. "Cana, are you aware of why some mages are born with caster magics, and the majority aren't despite being born with a mana core?"

The teenage girl looked back at him with a tilted head. "No?"

Dante straightened up and entered a lecturing pose, as his friends like to call it. It was simply a habit he picked up from years of learning under Virgo's style of teaching.

"All mages have a core inside them. The core is the connection between body and soul, and it converts the gaseous ethernano in the air around us into liquid mana inside us." Dante waved a hand to the air around them and formed a hollow ball of water with a mist surrounding it. The mist slowly entered the ball and formed into glowing liquid within, expanding to fill the interior.

"That is how mana comes about. And when a mage hits their maximum occupancy for mana inside them, their core stops converting. We call that maximum occupancy their mana pool." The liquid inside the ball reached the limit and stopped absorbing the mist. "The reservoir of mana inside us, waiting for our call to be used for magic. It fuels our pathways. Heightens our senses. Increases our durability. Speeds up our natural healing. Gives us greater resistances to illness. And so much more."

Cana watched the imagery while listening and nodded. "Yeah, I've heard some of that from Gramps at the guild and through some books. Although, you made it more clear than any of them ever did."

Dante smirked at that and dissipated the water sphere. "I like simplifying things instead of mystifying them. Anyway, back to the point, there comes the question of why many mages, despite having cores, don't have a caster magic."

Dante created two spheres of water this time and let them hover side by side. "There are two reasons. The first is due to affinity." He pointed to the sphere on the left. "When a baby is born with a mana core, their mana calls out to the ethernano particles in the air closest to their affinity. Now, scholars are unsure about the exact process but many are at least sure it relates to the soul aspect of our mana core. A connection is made between a mage's soul and the magic of the world, drawing in ethernano of a specific element, and forming a seed within their core over the course of a many years."

A few drops of a red-colored potion floated over to form a red dot in the center of the left sphere. "The sphere on the left resembles a mage's core with a caster magic seed." The mist got sucked into the sphere, flowed through the 'seed,' and filled the globe with pink-colored water. "Their internal mana flows through the caster magic seed like a filter and gets converted into mana used for the specific type of caster magic. Rather than converting the mana manually as Holder mages have to do to cast an elemental spell. As you might know."

Cana groaned at that. "I hate having to do it manually. Sure, I could cast a fire ball spell if I knew the formula but its so annoying! I have to memorize the damn formula, then convert my mana, and then cast it. It's so much easier to just channel mana into a card with a fire spell formula engraved on it and throw it without having to convert anything. I forgot those temporary formulas the same day I learned them."

Dante nodded. "Most do. Even me. It takes a special kind of person with the talent or patience to use individual formula's from memory. That's why caster magic has such an innate advantage over holder magic. It supplies the spells innately, engraving the formula's into a mages pathways for instant usage, and converts the mana to the element automatically. Caster mages can be said to be the true mages, while holder types are second hand mages." Dante dissipated the left sphere and brought the right one closer while Cana sighed.

"So Holder mages just can't match up? How will I ever become S-class..." She mumbled the last part in a low voice, but Dante caught it.

He gently flicked a pebble-sized ball of water at her forehead. "Don't get distracted. I'm not saying Holder mages can't be powerful. There are some truly incredible mages throughout history that could make caster mages look like children in comparison. Holder mages have their work cut out for them, but with the right mindset, willpower, effort, and luck, they can be just as, or more, terrifying than caster mages. Not to mention that due to not having a seed, they have an easier time converting mana to fit any mold, whereas a mage with fire-type caster magic will find it incredibly difficult to cast a holder water spell. But the main reason why Holder mages can become so powerful brings us to the second aspect of why some mages are born as casters."

Dante twisted his finger and made the remaining water sphere split into three smaller balls to form a triangle. "There are three aspects that make up a mana core." He pointed to the first. "The speed in which a core draws in ethernano and converts it." He pointed to the second. "The size of a mana pool." He pointed to the third. "And the durability of the core."

The three smaller spheres spun around each other and reformed into a big sphere. "Those three make up the mana core. The first relates to how fast we draw in specific types of elemental particles from the world around us. Ethernano does not like to be split up. The weaker the suction of our core, the harder it is to pull the specific ethernano we need, and the more likely we will draw in other elements that have to be filtered and stored in our reserves as neutral mana. It also relates to how fast we can make more mana but that's a different discussion."

"But how would you know how much mana someone else has?"

"Theres a skill for that called mana sensing. When taking to advanced stages, you can get an idea of how mana dense someone is. For example, I can tell you have roughly seventy percent of my own mana pool, and that's damn impressive for someone your age."

Cana perked up at that for a moment before she dimmed. "Yeah, real useful. I never really get tired but my cards use so little mana it doesn't even matter."

Dante hummed and ignored her comment to continue. "The second aspect of the core, the mana pool, is increased through experience. A mage has to drain their core and let it refill. This chips away at the walls of your reservoir when it runs empty, and lets it heal back stronger and wider when it refills. Just like how human muscles tear when we workout to be rebuilt stronger. We push the walls of our cores and expand them on a metaphysical level."

Cana tilted her head and tried to process that. "Ok..? I kinda got that one. Spend mana to get bigger reserves."

A chuckle left Dante's lips as he nodded. "More or less. And the third aspect is the core's durability. Just like how training your body too hard will result in injury and require a healer or doctor to help you, pushing the core too hard when draining mana before you're ready can injure it. It would be nice if we could simply drain the core every night before bed and let it refill while we slept, but that would make a core brittle and cause it to eventually shatter, making a mage lose their ability to cast magic at the best, and die at the worst."

Cana shivered as Dante made the water sphere implode to make his point. "Right. Baby steps."

Dante smiled at her. "Exactly." He reformed the sphere. "Taking things a step at a time. One battle at a time. One challenge at a time. Will allow the core to fracture and heal over and over without cracking until it gains a firmness that wont shatter even under incredible pressure. That is how the true monsters of the world form. One step at a time."

He let the sphere dissipate and refocused on the girl. "Now, as to how this relates to a mage forming a caster magic seed. Mages with caster magic don't tend to awaken their magic until somewhere around eight to twelve years into their lives. This is because it takes time to form the seed inside them. From the time they are born, those with the affinity draw in a specific type of ethernano into their core to form the seed. The time it takes relates to how fast their core naturally draws in ethernano, and how big their mana pool is. Those on the slower side bloom late, and those on the faster side bloom early. Of course, when the mana pool is full, they don't draw in ethernano at all, prolonging the birth of their seed."

Rather than water, Danter formed flames and controlled them with telekinesis to create images in the air before them. "The seed doesn't only help convert mana and give a mage inherent knowledge. It carves the spell formation into the mana pathways, and for a child who never cast magic before, it is responsible for actually carving those pathways in the first place." The fire spread out to form patterns surrounding a central sphere.

Cana marveled at the display while Dante mused to himself. 'Which is exactly why I had to make my own pathways all those years ago. I formed in a new body and only had to touch my magic to awaken it. It didn't have years to form pathways, making me responsible for doing it manually. It could be considered a downside, but Virgo was right, doing it myself only made me stronger in the long run. My mana is mine to control, and no foreign influence can invade my pathways without my knowledge or retaliation.'

The mana fog of the Mirage Mountains was a classic example of something that invaded the pathways like a parasite to eat the mana within and cloud the mind.

He came back to himself as Cana turned to him when the flames vanished from his mind wandering. "So for a mage to become a caster, they need to be born with affinity, and have a strong enough core. Those without affinity can have a strong core, but no seed will form. Those with affinity but a weak core will find it taking years longer to form a seed. The issue with the second example is that mages who bloom late are considered to be Holder mages by the general populace, so they try to find a way to channel their mana. Such as with Cards magic."

Dante pointed at Cana's cards on her hip. "By channeling your mana toward those items, you may drain your core and cause it to take in ethernano, but just like muscles, you train your core to convert the mana to your new channels instead of fueling the seed's formation. For those who don't use magic often, the seed can continue to grow slowly. But for those who use it often, the seed can shatter and dissipate during formation because it lost its fuel."

The young teen paled as he spoke and looked at her cards like they betrayed her. "A-are you saying that I had caster magic this whole time, and I crippled it because I used holder magic?!" She went to stand up with a frantic look to remove her cards, but a firm hand on her shoulder kept her seated as Dante spoke calmly.

"Relax Cana, I was only explaining the common theory. I think your situation was actually beneficial for you."

A giggle to the side got their attention as they turned to see Jenny on the couch beside them, casually petting an Occamy's feathered head while she listened in. "You always take roundabout ways to explain things Dante~."

Ichiya nodded from the other side of the couch. "Men. Indeed. But your explanations are always well thought out and researched my friend. I believe you should submit books on your findings to the committees."

Jenny clapped at that. "Oh! Yeah, you really should hun. It would put a bunch of those old fossils in their place."

Dante rolled his eyes fondly and leaned back with a reassuring nod to Cana, who likewise relaxed. "Like I need any more fame. Besides, most of my knowledge is already recorded. It's just spread through dozens of tomes because no one can agree on anything so they all have text's that are 70% wrong with 30% vital information that only becomes vital when paired with the 30% from other books. Let them stew in their wells of arrogance for all I care."

His friends chuckled and shrugged.

"Well, your advice definitely benefited me over the years."

"Men. You have advanced my perfume creation far faster than I could on my own. I am grateful."

"Meh, you two would have been fine on your own. Those two, however…." Dante trailed off as they all looked at Bacchus getting pissed drunk with an arm slung over one of Edd's heads as the three-headed snake eagerly drank from a barrel. Laxus was likewise playing fetch with Ed using an oversized whalebone leftover from the meat.

"Yeah."

"Indeed."

Jenny and Ichiya understood without him having to say more, and Cana laughed. Dante idly noticed Virgo and Levy were gone, but he had caught her taking Levy into the house from the corner of his eye earlier. 'Is she going to adopt the girl or something?'

He shook his head and focused back on Cana. "Anyway, answer me this Cana, how many life and death fights have you been in so far?"

"Do you mean missions?"

"No. I mean how many times was your life in jeopardy? How many real struggles have you went through magically? Missions where you weren't challenged, bar fights, playing around, that kind of stuff doesn't count. How many times have you been put through your paces magically speaking?"

Cana thought over his question for a moment before giving a hesitant answer. "Not….much I guess? I mean, I've done dozens, if not hundreds of quests over the years. I practically grew up in the guild so I've been in plenty of fights. Physically and mentally I've been challenged plenty. But magically challenged? I can count that on one hand and have fingers left over. I don't really get magically drained, ever."

Dante nodded and rubbed his chin. "I figured as much. You see, every mage here besides Levy has larger reserves than you. But we have all struggled immensely to reach this point. I myself spent years getting torn to ribbons in this danger zone to get to where I am. And the others had their own struggles."

Cana looked toward Jenny and Ichiya, who grimaced at the reminder.

"He's not wrong honey. I had my own fair share of struggles and forced bed rests to let my core recover after over taxing it. That only increased after this handsome stud here threw my delicate self into the wild around here."

Dante scoffed at her. "Yeah. Real delicate. You're far more destructive than I am, princess. You just needed the boost to your reserves to go from 'dangerous' to 'don't fuck with the girl who can become a giant robot."

Jenny hid a smile behind her hand. "No idea what you're talking about~."

"Mhm."

"Men. Overcoming struggles is how we achieve maturity and strength. Strength without a struggle is the same as giving a child a destructive magical weapon. If there is no struggle in the rise of a powerful mage, they tend not to care for the repercussions of their actions." There was a resolute spark in Ichiya's eyes, even if he was speaking while standing on his head for some reason.

Cana gave Dante a questioning look, but he just waved it away. "Ichiya's words are right. There are often cases of power-hungry people taking shortcuts and going wild with power they can't control. Hurting others and not caring for the aftermath of their actions. That's why most of us believe that growth is supposed to be linear. We learn through our experiences and grow from them while weaker, so we don't make the same ones when we get stronger." He turned to look at the younger girl. "But jointly with that, we learn how to wield our magic while weaker and control it. Sometimes, however, there are exceptions. As there are with all things."

Cana raised a brow at him. "I thought you said you like simplifying instead of mystifying?"

The group laughed at her words.

"She's got you there Dante."

"Patience is a virtue when dealing with you. Men."

"Bah, screw off. So I like being long winded, sue me." He focused on the girl. "Anyway! My point is that I believe you're an exception. Statistically, the stronger the mage, the less likely they are to have children. Why that is I can't say, but the main theory is that magic seeks balance. The stronger an individual becomes, the longer their lifespan tends to be, and the harder it becomes to reproduce. Proof of that comes from the fact that when strong mages DO have children, those kids tends to have monstrous mana cores from birth. If they have a core at all. The strength of a parent doesn't guarantee a core, but if a core exists, it's usually above average."

Cana paled slightly as she realized what he meant. "So my…" She trailed off, and he felt her hesitance, so he talked over her.

"Right, one or possibly both of your parents were strong mages. Meaning you were born with those crazy reserves I sense on you. Meaning that it's highly possible you do, in fact, have a caster magic."

Dante thought back to a similar female in the same category. Ultear was born to Ur, a powerful ice mage. The father was never stated, but Ultear had issues with her mana pool being too large for her mana core to handle, leading to her getting fevers, having her magic flare outward, and having her mother take her to the research center run by Brain for help. It was through incredible magical, physical, and mental stress that her core was fractured and strengthened until the point it could withstand her reserves and stabilize her condition.

Cana was a different case. Her reserves and core were equally strong, but her ethernano absorption was shit.

"So why haven't I found it yet?"

"Best guess? You have shit control."

"Excuse me?!"

Dante laughed at her outraged look and held up a hand. "You were born with crazy mana reserves and a core capable of withstanding it. But just looking at you right now, I can tell you never had a reason to spend much of that crazy mana pool, meaning your ethernano intake never had to work hard. The result? Your caster seed simply never got enough of the elemental ethernano it needed to form. And as you got older and turned to Holder magic, the mana you did spend formed mana pathways that directed whatever ethernano you gathered away from the forming seed."

Cana sat with a lost look as she took in his words. "So I had caster magic this whole time….and I crippled it because I was impatient?"

"Yes and no."

The girl shot him a harsh look. "Which one is it?! I've struggled for years to be a better mage, and you're telling me all my struggles and issues were for nothing?"

Dante looked back at her softly. "It wasn't for nothing Cana. Sure, you might have slowed down the formation of your seed by being impatient, but I doubt anyone of us wouldn't do the same. You can't live your life waiting for something to happen on it's own."

Jenny gave her a sympathetic nod. "I know I wouldn't. If my caster magic wanted to be a slow ass about forming, I would find some other way to progress. You only live once after all."

"Men. Indeed. If you wait around for tomorrow, tomorrow will pass you by. Seize the moment."

"See, and your situation can be considered a gift as well."

"How?"

"If my guess is correct based on what types of ethernano particles are being drawn to you, then you will have one dangerous caster magic at your disposal once it awakens. Something I'd be concerned with a child having access to. Thankfully, you had years to grow and mature a bit."

"Is it really that serious?"

"Mn, it can be. Not to mention, sometimes even if the core can handle the strain, magic doesn't account for a mages physical body and can hurt its caster. Do you know that Fairy Tail has a mage named Gildarts Clive?"

Cana flinched at the name and looked away. "Yeah? What of it?"

Dante smirked at her reaction but didn't push. "He is a perfect example. He was born with Crush magic. Crush magic is an extremely powerful Caster magic that smashes everything the user comes into contact with into pieces. Even other magic. But it also rebounds on the casters physical body."

Cana looked up with a concerned expression as he went on. "Crush magic is so rarely ever heard of simply because most users die from using it. A mage needs to be very careful with strong caster magic because the rebound will require a strong body. Gildarts is a monster of a mage because he managed to turn his magic into a benefit, using it to strengthen his body before strengthening his magic and vice versa."

Dante smiled gently at the relieved look on her face and continued. "So it might be a good thing you're a late bloomer Cana. It gave you time to grow to handle what will one day come."

Cana gripped her mug in a white knuckle grip. "But how long with that take?"

Dante leaned back and shrugged. "No idea. It depends on your mana control. You have to learn to reconstruct your mana pathways to funnel the ethernano your taking in back to the seed inside your core. The pathways have to be unique to yourself, and only can do it. When your seed awakens, it will likely try to re-arrange them, and well, that can be quite painful so its best to keep things simple."

"And how do I do any of that?"

Dante took a sip of his drink and kicked his feet up. "By improving your mana control. You said you could control three cards at a time? When you can do fifteen you should be at the starting line to mess with something that delicate."

Cana groaned. "Fifteen?! It took me years to reach three!"

"Maybe you just trained wrong."

"I never had a teacher."

"That explains it. Find one."

"Can you do it?"

Dante choked on his drink and quickly waved a hand. "No, no, no, I'm way too busy for that. Why don't you ask your guild master? He's a wizard saint right?"

Cana crossed her arms with a scoff. "Yeah right. Gramps is too busy drinking, ranting, or ogling women to actually help."

Dante raised a brow at that. "Really? I would have figured he would be happy to help."

A spark of electricity appeared by his side and Dante sensed more than saw as he reacted and lifted his drink off the couch when Laxus dropped down with a tipsy chuckle. "I heard what you were saying from over there man. Gramps has a ton of knowledge in that old wrinkly head of his, but he's a real stickler for mages growing at their own paces. Wanting the rug rats to enjoy their childhoods without giving them easy answers. I'm his own grandson, and the best I could get out of the damn raisin was directions to tomes that held answers to my questions." Laxus growled in annoyance, but a foot poke from Jenny had him sighing and letting the young woman put her flawless legs on his lap. "He's overprotective and extremely hands-off at the same time. Aggravates the hell out of me sometimes, but he's pushing eighty, so I just ignore him most of the time."

Cana damn near choked on her drink. "Eighty? How the hell does he have so much energy?!"

Laxus snorted in humor. "Booze gives him power."

"…." Cana considered that and actually almost accepted it until Dante flicked her forehead. "Ow! Why?"

"I literally told you the answer in my lecture. Think about it."

"Snake boy, I toned you out and I was halfway across the clearing, leave the brat alone."

"Shut it sparkles. Ed's looking for you."

He pointed to the side, and Laxus followed it only to sweat drop as the giant snake locked onto him all over again. "Shit." He vanished in a spark, and Jenny shot Dante a disgruntled look as her feet fell.

"I was comfortable. Bring my man back."

"The kids are just about done, relax." He waved her off nonchalantly and focused on Cana. "So?"

The teen thought it over. "More mana equals a longer lifespan?"

"Ding. Correct answer. There are exceptions and illness's of course, but generally yes. Even without having met Makarov in person, I can say he should live to a hundred fifty at least easily."

"Huh, and if you add the power of booze, I guess he'll live to see two hundred."

"….Sure."

"So can you be my teacher?"

'Yeah, because I want the future Gildarts the fucking crush mage on my ass.' He shook his head at the girl. "Like I said, I'm busy."

"I'll help with whatever you need! I can make the booze!"

Dante paused at that and eyed the girl speculatively. "Do you know how to make liquor?"

"Of course." She puffed out her chest. "If there is anything I've ever studied for more than an hour a time in life, it was alcohol creation."

"You're sixteen. I can't tell if I should weep or applaud you for that knowledge."

"I like what I like."

"Well, I can't fault you there."

Jenny and Ichiya had been watching along in equal amusement at the back and forth before the young woman threw in her two cents. "Just train the girl Dante. You know more than most what it takes to improve for a mage. Give the girl a chance."

"Men. I agree. Taking on students and sharing knowledge is the responsibility of the strong. I have taken on three students of my own just recently who seek the ways of men. They shall dazzle before long."

Dante, along with the females, made faces of disgust at that, and Laxus tripped in the distance while Bacchus conveniently chose to ignore reality and cloud watch with Edd through their buzz.

"You worded that terribly Ichiya."

"I know who he's talking about and I agree. Those three are womanizers to the end."

"I feel like a small girlish fantasy of mine has just died a horrible death."

Cana and Jenny shared a shiver while Dante tried to push past it. "Right, anyway. I hear you're points. But I really am busy these days. I have an almost full clientele list, and with this job I won't be around for at least two weeks."

Cana's expression started to drop before a voice called from the side. "She can come while you're away master. I shall receive her."

They all turned to see Virgo coming back with a smiling Levy riding on a floating Iris, with the young teen sipping away at a steaming mug topped with whip cream and kicking her legs happily.

"And where did you two run off to love?"

Virgo came up behind him and leaned down with a smirk to peck his lips. "Levy here has no interest in liquor and is far too young. I took her to the kitchen to make some coco."

Levy nodded happily and looked away from the two with a flush. "Ms. Virgo is really nice. Want some Cana? It's really good."

Cana threw an arm around her friend with a laugh. "I'll pass, Lev; this is all I need." She raised her mug, and the blunette rolled her eyes at her.

Jenny found the two adorable and jumped in to tease them while Dante and Virgo had a silent conversation to the side as she came around to sit against him.

{"You took the coco from my medicinal plant again didn't you?"}

{"No idea what you're talking about."}

{"You would lie to your master?"}

{"….It…originated from your plant. How it reached the kitchen is a mystery."}

{"You sent Iris or Jade to get it."}

{"….I should be annoyed by how easily you see through me, but it only turns me on. Curious."}

Dante laughed and kissed the side of her head.

{"You get the method out of her?"}

{"I did. I had to stop to berate the kids for getting too wild, but Levy explained how she did it. It was a remarkably simple yet efficient manner. She's an incredibly bright but shy thing."}

{"I know that gleam in your eyes, love. You want something."}

Virgo looked away with a flush but interlocked her fingers with his own. {"She reminds me too much of Aries from many years ago. It's been sad to see her regress with bad masters, but Aries is naturally a very powerful woman when she breaks out of her shell. Little Levy has a striking resemblance, not to mention her beautiful talent for all forms of written formula. Increase her mana reserves and mental fortitude, and she can shine."}

Dante raised an amused brow and brought their joined hands up to kiss the back of her palm. {"You do know you can do as you wish, right? I have never barred you from following your heart. Whatever you want, I'll support you."}

Virgo squeezed his hand and looked back at him with her heart in her eyes. {"I know. And I love you for that Dante, but my heart and soul belong to you. Even if I wanted to help her, I refuse to leave your side. I am your spirit, maid, and lover. You are the master."}

{"In the bedroom that may be true, but outside it you're my other half first and maid second."}

{"In the bedroom it goes both ways."}

{"Sure it does."}

She huffed and sent certain memories over the bond as it was his turn to avert his gaze with a flush. {"You know I'll get back at you for that right?"}

{"I look forward to it."}

Cana spoke up from the side in a weirded-out tone. "Why have they been silently staring at each other and making expressions for the last two minutes?"

Jenny rolled her eyes and waved it off. "Ignore them. They do this tooth-rottenly adorable mental soul link thing. There's no room for anyone in that world; trust me, I tried." She sighed and looked off at Laxus, laughing as he wrestled one of Ed's heads. "Besides, I think it turned out better this way."

Cana shrugged and turned back to Levy while the two lovebirds kept talking.

{"So you want Levy as a student?"}

{"No. I'm willing to mentor her, but you're my only student in this lifetime. I want you to take her as a student."}

{"If I take her, I'll have to take Cana. She's been asking me while you were away."}

{"Then do it. You would have to be blind not to sense her potential after everything I taught you."}

Dante twitched at just how much she 'taught' him versus described to him and told him to figure it out but ignored that argument for the time being. {"I'm busy with you and the potions, though."}

Virgo scoffed. {"You still end up having free time. Put it to good use."}

{"But I like being lazy."}

{"Master…."}

{"Fine! Fine. But if that girl's scary as fuck father shows up to wreck stuff, I'm hiding behind your skirt."}

Virgo gave him an amused look and shook her head. {"I'm not even going to ask."}

He chuckled and stuck his tongue out at her before turning to the girls. "Alright. I'll teach you."

Cana snapped her head to him and smiled. "Really?! Thank you!"

He held up a hand to stop her. "But only if that one joins you." He pointed at Levy, and the blunette blinked with wide eyes as the focus came to her.

"Me?" She shrunk inward a bit, and Virgo moved like a breeze to appear by her side and lay a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, you. We would like to help you reach your potential."

Levy looked up at the friendly maid that had been comforting her since she arrived. "Why?"

"Because I….*cough*, because we want to."

Dante rolled his eyes at her slip-up and waved a hand. "You broke into my security at fourteen years old kid. That's crazy talent. Frankly, you don't even need a teacher for the technical side, and you can learn on your own with enough tomes, but we'll help you increase those pretty sad mana reserves you got. You and Cana are almost exact opposites, magically speaking. One has crazy reserves, but no outlet or control, and the other has tiny reserves but a great outlet and control."

"Hey!"

Dante flicked her gently. "Shush, it's true."

"You don't have to spell it out though." She grumbled and rubbed her forehead.

Dante chuckled at her disgruntled expression and threw her a bone. "Maybe I can show you a thing or two about brewing while you're here."

"You mean it?!" She lit up like a nuclear reactor and got into his face.

He pushed her back with a palm. "Yeah, yeah. Brewing isn't even my passion. It's just a side hobby. Potions are the real art."

"You take that back! Liquor is life!"

"Well when you can make Liquor with magical effects that can trump potions, we can talk then."

"You're on! I'll make liquor so good you won't even be able to tell it's not a potion."

Dante laughed and held her at bay with a single finger. "I'm looking forward to it kid."

She growled and pushed back against his finger with her head. "Would you stop calling me kid? I'm only two years younger than you."

"Then start acting older."

"I'll act however I damn please."

"She's got you there Snake Boy." Dante turned to see Laxus reappear beneath Jenny as the woman squeaked and giggled in joy as she latched onto him. "You don't tell a Fairy Tail mage how to act and expect anything positive to come out of it."

"Or a female at that."

Dante rolled his eyes at the two.

"Oi Dante! We gonna talk about the mission or what?" Bacchus hiccupped from the side and the two younger girls perked up.

"Mission? What mission?"

Dante dryly gazed at his drunken friend and turned to the younger girl. "That's out of your pay grade. It's time you went home anyway."

"Aw~, do we have to?"

"Yes. You can come back in two weeks to start your lessons."

Virgo coughed from the side, and Dante sighed before correcting himself. "You can come back in three days. I'll give you two an access key." He narrowed his eyes at the two and released a bare wisp of mana pressure to get their attention, or more Cana's, as Levy didn't seem the type to lie. "The keys stay on you at all times. You do not give it to others. You do not show it to others. If anyone else comes with you, or if others copy the formation, I am immediately revoking permission to come here. If there is an emergency, we can talk about it when it happens. But it better be life-threatening. Understood?"

Cana shrunk under his gaze as his eyes seemed to shine with an unholy light until Virgo threw a pebble at his head. "Master, they get the point."

Dante reigned it in and realized his friends had taken a step away from him.

"How does he do that?"

"I can release my mana just like that, and I can't figure it out."

"Hic, maybe it's bloodlust. Should we kill more stuff?"

"Men. It's charisma~!"

Dante scoffed good-naturedly and stood up. "It's a skill. If you ever bothered to ask, I'd just tell you. But you didn't, so figure it out yourself."

His friends grumbled but didn't call him out. They had their own pride as mages as well and accepted the challenge.

Dante led the subdued girls back to the teleportation formation with Virgo as she rubbed Levy's back. "Don't worry, he wasn't trying to be mean. Master just takes security very seriously."

He almost tripped at her words. 'I've literally watched armies tremble before this woman for doing unspeakable things to anyone who tried to harm me, and she says I'm the extreme one?' The pink-haired maid must have sensed his thoughts as she turned and sent him an evil smirk that did things to him. 'And now I have a boner. I repeat, what is my life?'

Pushing past those thoughts, he patted the sullen Cana's shoulder as they walked. "Virgo's right, I was just making a point. Remember, I make my booze here. Can't have others knowing where its coming from, right?"

Cana immediately perked up at that and grabbed his hand. "Right! We need to protect it! So I can drink it!"

"….Well, priorities could use some work but you got the gist. While you're gone, I want you to practice trying to control more of your cards. We can deal with your caster magic when I get back, but for now, work on control."

"But how do I do that? I've been trying for years and got almost nowhere."

Her words had a bite of hurt expectations and confidence, so Dante stopped and bent down a bit to place both hands on her shoulders. Cana wasn't short for a sixteen-year-old, but Dante still had a good foot over her. "Kid, look at me."

Cana raised her eyes to his own as he smiled gently at her. "Whatever your motivations are, you havn't failed yet. Growing is a constant battle of overcoming challenges, and often times we don't see the progress we are making and assume the worst. You struggled and tried your best with what you had. Don't look down on that. All you have to do now is pick up your head and face forward with all you have, because I won't go easy on you. Even at my level, or the level of anyone back there, we all struggle to move forward. Keep fighting, and keep your chin up, you'll get to wherever you're heading. Trust me."

Cana stared into his confident blue eyes and found herself surprised to flush. "You promise?"

"If you do what I say and stick to your training, I promise. You got potential, and even if I was brow beaten into it." He shot the waiting and smiling Virgo a look that she shamelessly laughed at before looking at Cana. "I take my work seriously. You'll be a great mage one day. And if your insane addiction stays true, maybe even a legendary brewer one day. Don't be afraid to dream big."

A bright smile lit up Cana's face as she nodded and wiped away a tear at the corner of her eye. "Damn straight. I'll be the best damn brewer in all of Ishgar. Enough to make you say it's better than potions."

Dante laughed and straightened up while ruffling the brunette's hair, much to her disagreement. "That'll be the day. But I like that mentality. You want my crown, kid? Come and get it."

Cana mock attempted to bite his hand as she smiled fiercely. "My names Cana, not kid. I'll make you remember it."

There was a fire in her eyes, unrelated to liquor, that wasn't there when she first arrived, and Dante nodded approvingly at it.

"I bet you will. Now get. The grown ups need to talk about stuff."

Cana huffed as she walked into the formation. "Two years older and they think they're old people or something."

"It's about ability, not age kid."

She flipped him off in response, and he laughed as Levy approached him. "Um, Mr. Ouroboros, thanks for everything. You were kinda scary at first and at the end there, but you're really nice under that!"

Dante took a step back and had to block his eyes from the bright rays of innocence coming off a fourteen-year-old Levy's face. 'It burns!'

Levy ignored his actions to bow her head. "And thanks for helping me and Cana. I'm an orphan, and the guild has always been a family to me so I never felt lonely, but I never had a real magical teacher before. No one had the time, skill, or will to do it, and I don't blame them for it, but….well….thank you for agreeing to teach me! I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from you and Ms. Virgo."

Dante felt his skin steam as the rays of light intensified. 'Oh you sweet summer child.' He pushed through the pain to reach forward and ruffle the blunette's hair far more gently than he did Cana's. "You're always welcome her sweetheart. Virgo and I will give you the tools you need to reach S-class at the bare minimum. You have incredible potential up here." He poked her forehead gently and made the girl laugh. "Never lose that spark to learn and ask questions."

She bobbed her head. "Mn. I won't." She turned to go and got promptly glomped by Virgo with her legs hanging an inch off the ground.

"Love, they have to go."

"Just one more minute."

"Virgo, now."

"Fine…"

She put the laughing Levy down, who turned and gave Virgo a hug back. "I'll be back, Ms. Virgo, thanks for everything. You make great coco!"

Dante sensed her actions before she could move and restrained her in a side hug as he tilted his head to the formation. "Go on Levy, she'll see you in a few days."

Cana frowned from where she watched. "Why does it feel like you're being nicer to her than you were to me?!"

"She has manners."

"I have manners!"

"You demanded booze on arrival."

"….I usually have manners."

Dante laughed openly and tossed the girls carved wooden totems of a snake bracelet. "Here's your teleportation keys. Remember my warnings."

Both girls nodded at him.

"Good. Then be safe. I'm sending you back where you left from."

Cana's eyes widened at that. "Wai-..!"

She didn't get to finish before he activated it and sent them off.

Cana and Levy only had seconds to blink at the distorted spatial tunnel before they tumbled out the other side in a mess of limbs and groans.

"Ow. We should have done this over a mattress."

"Owie. Yeah, next time we'll know better."

"Oh? And where will next time's destination be?" An aged voice called out with seemingly harmless intent and both girls froze in fear.

Heads turned to look up at the diminutive figure of Fairy Tails guild master behind his desk, inside his office, looking at the girls with a smile that wasn't a smile. "You wouldn't have happened to follow my idiotic grandson to his friend's house while messing with spatial magic formations without a direct access key, now would you?"

The girls paled further as his form began to grow.

"To a place he wouldn't tell anyone of. Where unknown dangers could exist. Where even he comes back from with injuries despite his bright smiles. Riiiiggght?!"

Cana womanfully blocked Levy from the master's line of site. "Wait! I have a good reason!"

Makarov towered over the girls now with parental fury. A fury where every possible answer to his questions didn't change the outcome. "GO ON."

"It was for the liquor!"

"…."

"…."

Levy stared at the back of her friend in shock for the balls it took to say that in this situation. Makarov was likewise frozen.

The sixteen-year-old teenage girl stared into the eyes of parental death from a towering titan grandfather, and she won.

Makarov shrunk in the blink of an as he flipped onto his desk wearing his jester's hat. "Oh, why didn't you say so? Did you bring anything back?"

Levy hit the deck as Cana hissed. "Not for you! My liquor is mine!"

"I'm confiscating it as your legal guardian."

"Liar! You just want to drink it!"

"I'll return the container to you in the morning."

"Never! The hot guy with the gorgeous eyes gaze me it. I'd rather die than let someone else drink it."

She fiercely stared into the older man's easy smile.

"Oh? A hot guy with gorgeous eyes you say?" The desk groaned as his size increased all over again. "Why don't you tell me more about that?"

"Oh fuck." Cana paled as she realized her slip-up and turned to grab Levy, only to find that the girl had already evacuated. "You traitor!"

It was only the timely arrival of Laxus two hours later that stopped the old man from lecturing Cana further.

"Ha! You try to wiggle out info on Ouroboros from the brat old man? I think you doubt how much scarier he can be than you."

Makarov scoffed and sent off the dizzy girl. "I've got sixty years on you brats. Try me."

"He can make you change genders and believe you were born that way with a single drink."

"On second thought, age doesn't matter for this topic. Whats this about him taking on Cana and Levy as students?"

Laxus shrugged and took a seat on the office's sole couch. "Exactly what it sounds like. They asked for training, and he accepted."

The old man grumbled at that. "Can he be trusted?"

Laxus nodded without hesitation. "I'd bet my life on it."

Grandfather and grandson matched gazes for a moment before the older man looked away with a sigh. "I'd rather they enjoyed their youth more than rush off to get stronger."

Laxus softened a bit at his sole living relative he actually cared about. "Some of us want to get stronger old man. It's just our wish. Better to have someone we can trust teach them then have them seek out someone who will hurt them. You've always been stubborn about it, but I didn't take you for someone who would stop them from growing."

Makarov scoffed. "Of course I wouldn't. Can you blame an old man for wanting to keep his chicks innocent and smiling without burdens a bit longer?"

Laxus hummed and tossed his grandfather a barrel of sake he had brought home. "I may have blamed you at one point, but to be honest, Dante challenging me and giving me places to let loose and really get some things off my chest helped me realize a lot of my own issues. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be this mellow and relaxed these days instead of that high strung ready to erupt lightning bolt from years before. Sometimes, gramps, I think coddling can have opposite effects from what you want to see happen."

The older man sighed and popped the lid on the sake. "I'm envious of your connection brat."

"I know."

The two shared a look a laughed before Makarov sat back and looked at his grandson. "So what did he call you for this time?"

"Can't friends just get together to hand out?"

"Not when it just so happens to be a gathering of all three big guilds of Fiores S-class mages."

Laxus's eyes widened as he sat forward. "Who else-.."

"No one but me, Goldmine, and Bob. We only know cuz we happened to have a conversation today. Relax brat, your cover isn't compromised."

Laxus sighed in relief and ran a hand through his hair. "Good. Good. This would have been more complicated if questions started getting asked."

"You want to fill me in?"

Laxus hesitated, but at his grandfather's aged and wise eyes, he felt like the old man had already seen through him. "We're going to Stella."

Makarov didn't overtly react beyond looking down at his drink. "Stella huh? Figured."

"You knew?"

The old man shrugged. "I pay attention to world news brat. It's part of my job as master."

"I didn't know you did anything as master besides paperwork and yell."

Laxus flickered to the side to dodge a carelessly thrown paperweight that went through the solid wall. "Disrespectful brat. One day you might find out just how much work I actually do."

The younger mage's eyes widened briefly as Makarov chuckled. "Don't look at me like that. I'm old. One day someone will have to replace me. You were right about how you used to act before you met that friend of yours, and it's only recently that I started considering you for the position. All things said, I'm proud of the man you're becoming, Laxus."

Laxus looked away and scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Don't say sappy shit like that out of nowhere gramps."

Makarov barked a laugh. "It comes with age I guess. Now, if you brats are going to bring the hammer down on that clusterfuck of a political storm in Stella, then it's about time sometime did something, but take some advice from an old man for a moment. It might save you some troubles."

Laxus grunted in acceptance and listened in for the first time in a long while as the old man seemed to measure his grandson like the mage he had become instead of trying to coddle him like the boy he once knew.

To the rest of the world, to his own guild, Laxus was the same arrogant show-off many knew him as. But to the true friends he considered equals, to the girlfriend who snatched him like a hawk, to the grandfather he loved but would never admit to, and to his best friend that woke him up to reality, he would try his best to be there for them. Time had changed him, and he would change others.

But for now, his next goal was simple.

Three S-Class mages hired by Dante Ouroboros would invade a nation, cripple its chain of command, disable the termination switch on the slave collars, and open the gates for the armies of Fiore waiting at the borders in hiding.

The invasion of Stella would begin in two days.

AN: Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? I'm open to views. Let me know if you want to see more of something specific.

Side note #1 cuz a Beta reader mentioned it: Karen, the Blue Pegasus celestial mage, does not have Aries key at this point in time. We are still….6 or 7 years till canon starts.

Side Note #2: I know I aged up Levy. Cana was already aged up in previous chaps.

Next Time: Stella Arc Part 1: ?

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Response To Reviews:

/: Runelt99 – It's FT. I was just stating the laws set by the Magic Council of Fiore. Legal guilds can't have black marks. Not all dark guilds will have black marks, but many will because it 'declares' them dark or something. It's like gangs getting gang tats to make a point. It's not meant to say that everyone will 100% follow it.

Yeah, just expect the character who did have em to have something else lol. Glad you enjoyed the binge.

/: Shirou Alastor – Thanks. Hope you enjoyed the chap. I will expand more on the spirits down the road.

/: Heirx – Thanks for the awesome review! I admit the title is a bit misleading, but I didn't think anything else would be as fitting for Virgo lol. That Bootcamp arc will come, don't worry about that lol. Dante going mad scientist on the canon teens. Cana and Levy just shaking their heads in pity for what the kids are about to go through.

/: Viola – Continued!

/: Lusamine – I'm 100% stealing that line lol. I'll quote you.

/: Kyo – Layla will def have an impact. Glad you enjoyed, and hope you enjoyed this chap.

/: P3aceful – Thank you! That means a lot to me. I can't take 100% credit as a big inspiration to me is my personal #1 FT fic 'Making Waves' by Vimenthusiast. That guy is incredible. But I do my best to make my own way. I'm glad you're enjoying and I hope you enjoyed this chap. And for the record, a lot of the story grows as I write it. I make some plans, but the relationship between Dante and Virgo is like drugs to me to write lol.

/: T-B-R – Thanks! Virgo is love. Virgo is justice.

/: Mr. Brown Optometrist – Thanks as always bro! Hope you enjoyed the new chap.

/: UnkowingGodz – I'm glad you're having fun. Changes will appear here and there. Like Laxus in this chap is an example of changes. And the spirit world will have a dedicated arc later. Hope you enjoyed!

/: DimensionFish – Oh, it's you again…..heh. Thanks as always bro. Minor characters can become major characters with some tweaks. That's what makes fanfiction so fun. Hope you enjoyed the chap.

/: Yeasir – Glad you're enjoying.

/: L0upGar0u – lol that's fair. Feel free to share your views. I appreciate that you still enjoyed reading it at least!

/: Seruvius – Cool name. And I'm glad it surprised you. Hope you stuck around this far.

/: Uzu6 – Glad your having fun! Hope you enjoyed the chap.

I think that's everyone, if I missed you, sorry! Hope everyone's having fun.