Chapter 3: We Meet Again Once More
Natsu keeps on sniffing the trail of Gildartz. Lucy and Happy stay behind so that they could give Natsu the room. The cloak is their only clue to find him. "The scent is getting a bit stronger." He tells them as he stands up. Happy flies up to him. "Got any idea on which way he went?" He asks the pink hair boy. Natsu nods, "He's heading back towards Magnolia. We should get there as well." He runs up ahead. Lucy knows that there's no stopping Natsu when it comes to something he's eager to get to. Thanks to that year in training, Natsu's running improved drastically. Unlike before, his only way to run so quickly is his Fire Dragon Iron Booster. He used that technique during that 24 hour endurance road race event. But this time, he doesn't use it. So something else must've replace that technique. If only Lucy could know about it.
"Natsu wait!" Lucy shouts as she tries to catch up to him. But it's no use, Natsu is way ahead of her. "Don't worry Lucy." Happy flies up and scoops her up from behind and soars towards the spiky pink hair boy. "Lucy, it's best that we don't bother him about his training." Happy seriously said to her. Lucy looks up at him in confusion. "Why not? Did something happen through the time?" She asks to him. "I'll tell you some other time. Right now, we have to catch up to Natsu." Happy counters as he uses his own speed to get to Natsu.
Gildartz comes to the outskirts of the town of Magnolia. As such, the bells of the church, Kardia Cathedral begin to ring very loud. "Attention to everyone. Gildartz Clive is approaching. Prepare for crash maneuver." A flying horn calls out the the citizens. On cue the areas of the city begin to shift and move around to form a line that is made just for him. According to Erza Scarlett, this only happens because the citizens don't want their properties to be destroyed by Gildartz's Crash Magic. Gildartz walks casually across the makeshift path of the city. But this time, it's not the same like the last time he returned from his last century quest. He looks up to see the citizens with sad looks in their eyes. "I wonder what happened while I was gone?" He murmurs. He doesn't want to upset them.
He makes it to the other side of the city, towards the guild that he is to return to. But when he gets a look at the place, it's not what he had in mind. Instead of the nice guild building that he remembers the last time he was here, it's not what he had in mind. The spot is full of rubble. He doesn't have the slightest on how this could've happened. "What happened?" He asks himself unaware that someone else from the guild has the answer.
"Dad, the master decided to disband the guild." A female voice gets his attention. Gildartz turn around to see a girl in her teenage years with long dark brown hair down. Her wardrobe shows a bikini covering her chest, with her stomach exposed with the black Fairy Tail mark on the left side of the stomach. She has jeans on with low heel sandals on. "Cana." He smiles sadly to see his daughter again. He walks to her slowly, but Cana runs up to him and hugs him. Gildartz didn't waster another second and embraces her. "Dad, I'll explain to you what happened." She tells him as she leads him to her home.
A few days later, Natsu, Lucy and Happy make it back to Magnolia in record timing. "Oh yeah Gildartz is here for sure." Natsu grins and runs up ahead. But to Lucy and Happy, they're exhausted from traveling by foot since Natsu refuses any form of transportation. No carriage, no car, not train. "So much for walking on our feet for the last few days." Lucy groans as she drops down to her knees. Happy comes up to her. "Don't worry. I know where Natsu is." He smiles up to her. Lucy smiles weakly and does her best to get back onto her feet.
Natsu sniffs the trail of Gildartz's scent. He laughs as he runs towards where it's coming from. He finally finds the destination. "Oh man, it's back with his daughter Cana." He drops his jaw. "Finally there you are." Lucy shouts as she catches up to him with Happy riding on her shoulder. She comes close to turn to see where he's looking at. "This is Cana's house." Happy said to him. Natsu runs up to door and bangs on it. "Natsu what are you doing!" Lucy comes up to him to stop from his continuous banging. But she didn't expect that Natsu training went over the top. He unexpectedly knocks Lucy back to the ground.
The door opens up to reveal Cana. "Oh hey there Natsu. What's up?" Cana greets him. She leans towards one side to see Lucy with swirls in her eyes. Happy shakes her body. Cana comes down to Lucy's other side. "Hey Lucy you okay?" She asks her former partner to S-Class Promotion Trials. Lucy groans as she tries to stop the headache. She sits with Cana's support, "Natsu, you idiot. You could've killed me." Lucy glares at him. Natsu rubs the back on his neck, inside of his scarf. "Oh, sorry about that." He apologizes. "So Cana, where's Gildartz?" Natsu turns to the dark brown girl. "He's inside." Cana answers him. Natsu grin like crazy and goes inside. Cana shakes her head and helps Lucy get back onto her feet.
Natsu goes into the room where Gildartz is drinking some beer. "Hey Gildartz!" Natsu shouts as he runs to the older man's side. "Hey if isn't Natsu." He hits the kid's back, but goes too far with his brute strength. Compared to Natsu's strength, is mere child's play. "Hello Gildartz." Lucy greets him nicely. Gildartz smiles to her. "Hey there." He greets back. Cana comes back to have bottle of liquor. "Hey Gildartz" Happy chimes as he flies to his other side. He spots Natsu down of the ground, with a big dent on the floor. "Some things never change." Happy comments the scene. "So…" Gildartz gets their attention. What happened to our guild?" He asks them. The kids all look at each other, "It's a long story." Lucy tells him. Cana sits by him with sad look. Gildartz comforts her by patting Cana's shoulder. "I've got time." He tells Lucy to encourage her.