"Hmm~Hhm~Hmm~Hmm~" A hum echoed in the air as Flare walked down the road towards the Quatro Cerberus guild hall, smiling and waving at the people she passed as they smiled and waved back.

"Hey, Flare! How are you doing?" An elderly woman asked as Flare continued on her path, the mage stopping in her tracks as she smiled and shrugged.

"As well as it could go, Mrs. Bian. How about you? You know you shouldn't carry heavy objects like those bags." She spoke with a disapproving look as her hair extended and took the bags from the woman, Mrs. Bian rolling her eyes as she shook her head.

"These bones ain't old enough to not be able to carry my groceries. Besides, the doctor said that carrying something while walking would be good for my back."

"I believe they probably meant something light like a pillow and that you're supposed to just be walking around in your living room, not walk with these heavy bags about two blocks away from your home. Let me help and I won't take no for an answer." She spoke before Mrs. Bian could deny her offer, the elderly woman grumbling and huffing in annoyance as Flare's hair formed a chair before picking her up & placing her on top.

"Now, I wish I didn't say hello."

"'Thank you, Flare. My back was killing me.' Oh, it was no trouble at all, Mrs. Bian." Flare spoke with a smile, Mrs. Bian just rolling her eyes before she blinked as she looked around.

"Speaking of annoying people, where's that red-eyed devil that follows you around like a lovesick puppy?"

"W-What? We're not in love or anything like that!" Flare quickly denied while hurrying her footsteps, Mrs. Bian letting out a cackle as she shook her head.

"I never said anything about you two being in love, dear Flare. I just asked where he was, but I guess there must be something between you two." The old woman spoke as she wiggled her eyebrows, Flare groaning as she hid her face in her palms while continuing to walk.

"W-Well, he's out on a mission right now with a few friends of his."

"I suppose that's a good thing considering how destructive the idiot is now that he's an S-Class. Did you hear about the mountain he destroyed to take out a scourge of Blizzard Wyverns two weeks ago?"

"Hehe, actually…that one was me and our friend Nobarly. He just took the blame because he couldn't bring himself to listen to Master scolding him to stop letting us attack as we please."

"…I take back what I said. You're the red-haired devil that I should be worried about." Mrs. Bian spoke with a nod of her head, Flare just shaking her head with an amused smile before a happy smile appeared on her face as she saw three purple flashes of light landing just on the outskirts of Oak Town.

However, as she walked closer to them with Mrs. Bian still on her hair-chair, she had to raise an eyebrow at the sight of Jäger and Rocker littered with sand and soot respectively while Eric looked as clean as a fiddle.

"What happened?" Was all she asked, Rocker and Jäger not answering as they glared to the side while Eric had an amused smirk on his face.

"Jäger here tried to take on a scourge of Desert Wyvern that attacked us during the mission and Rocker here tried to help only for them to set off a series of explosive barrels hidden underneath the Dark Mage hideout that we were supposed to take out. That left me to deal with not only the mages but also the Desert Wyverns before they destroyed everything."

"It was not my fault! I told you I had them cornered." Jäger spoke with a frown, to which Rocker just snorted as Eric rolled his eyes.

"We were in the middle of a desert and as you said when we started the mission, 'I'm not exactly weak in a desert, but I'm not as strong as I would be in a forest'." Eric responded as he turned to look at his fellow mage/ 'rival', who frowned as he grumbled under his breath while Rocker nodded.

"You, on the other hand, have no excuse since I should have expected you to be just as hot-blooded as the rest of us battle maniac idiots in the guild." He said as he turned to Rocker, who just crossed his arms & huffed as Eric sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I thought you two were supposed to be the strongest non-S Class mages in the guild." Flare spoke with a giggle and Eric just shook his head as the two mages nodded.

"They are strong, but that's only when their radar for fucking shit up doesn't go off. If it does, they're as gullible as a pair of Forest Vulcan and everyone knows how braindead those baboons can be. Oh, hi Mrs. Bian. How's your day been?"

"Entertaining so far. Your girlfriend is a good taxi." She answered, to which Eric just chuckled as hair wrapped around Flare's head & hid her face.

"Not a word from you two or else, I'm retracting more from your pay on our next mission." Eric spoke up as he interrupted both Rocker and Jäger, who just huffed as they made their way towards the guild hall.

"Now you know how Master feels when you do stupid stuff like this." Flare spoke and Eric snorted as he waved his hand, Mrs. Bian letting out a sigh of relief & Flare pouting as the floating old woman was picked into the air along with her shopping bags.

"Oh, that's not stopping. Who else is going to entertain me with their comical rage if not the Master?" Eric spoke with a grin as he wrapped an arm around Flare's waist, who just rolled her eyes with a smile before both gave Mrs. Bian a deadpan stare as the old woman gagged.

"Your love and your attempts to hide it is cute & all, but at least do it somewhere where this old woman doesn't have to bear witness to it."

"Yeah, yeah." Eric muttered as both he & Flare were coated in a violet glow before they floated into the air, Mrs. Bian looking pleased as she floated along with them before Eric turned and they began floating towards the old lady's home.

'…What?'

"What?" Eric repeated both in his mind and out loud, Goldmine snorting as Bacchus cackled.

"Yeah, I reacted the same way. The old heavy hitters from Fairy Tail have returned and I want to go meet an old friend."

'…It's already been a fucking year?! Oh fuck, the Eclipse thingy! I got too distracted with the power and completely forgot about the actual important shit that would cause the end of the world!'

"Okay, so why did you call me to your office?" Eric asked, looking as calm and relaxed as usual despite the raging panic attacks in his mind as Goldmine rolled his eyes.

"He wants us to escort him."

"Oh, so he wants to show me off?" Eric corrected Bacchus, who just smirked as Goldmine grinned and nodded.

"Makarov thought that he would be the only one with dragon slayers and so did those damn Sabers, but now let's see how they like it when I have my own S-Class one."

'Well, I always keep comparing myself to them and this would be the perfect opportunity to actually see where I actually compare to them.'

"Sure, count me in." Eric said with a shrug and a smirk, Goldmine grinning as he pumped his fist as Bacchus just rolled his eyes with an amused smirk.

"Good! We'll be leaving tomorrow at noon at the earliest. Also, we'll be flying with your Gravity magic."

"If we're flying, I'm bringing Flare. She wants to get used to it and I want her to make more friends that aren't just pumped to the brim with testosterone."

"…Good idea. She wouldn't look good with bulging muscles." Bacchus agreed and both he & Goldmine chuckled as Eric imagined that in his mind and shuddered.

'Yep, I really need to get her to make friends with the girls from Fairy Tail as soon as possible.'

"So, we're going along with Master tomorrow?" Flare asked as she placed a plate of steamed veggies and rare-cooked wyvern meat down on the table in front of Eric, to which the mage just nodded as he shifted the plate to be next to the other five plates.

"Yep and since I know how much you want to train your body to be used to the air pressure of flying, I asked him if you could come along and he said yes."

"You said you were bringing me along and he agreed, didn't he?" She spoke with an amused smile as she sat down next to him, to which Eric just gave a sheepish grin that made her roll her eyes with a giggle.

"I suppose you were right in what you said about the flying, so I'll forgive you this once time on one condition. I sleep on your bed tonight."

"…Don't you already do that? I mean when was the last time you actually slept in your bed?" Eric asked with a blink of his eyes as he started eating, Flare just staring at her boyfriend? as she blinked in thought before shrugging.

"Can't remember, but I still want a verbal confirmation."

"Sure. Flare, would you do me the honour of sleeping with me in my bed tonight? There will only be cuddles and cheek kisses."

"Why, I would be honoured." Flare responded with a giggle, Eric chuckling before an idea came to mind and he spoke.

"Hey, want to go on a date?" He asked, enjoying her bright red blush before waving his hand as she sputtered, catching the food that flew from her mouth as she stared at him before he sighed as hair wrapped around her head.

"I-I-I would l-like that."

'…Atlas, I know that you're laughing at me right now.'

"Finally! What took you two so long?" Goldmine spoke with an exasperated look as Eric and Flare walked down the path towards him and Bacchus, the drunk mage smirking as he saw Flare's blush & Eric's smirk.

"We were just…a bit busy with cleaning up our apartment.

"I think they were a bit too busy with each other and forgot about the time, Master."

"I don't want to hear about their love life, Bacchus."

"You're the one who asked." Bacchus spoke with a shrug, Goldmine just shaking his head before looking at the duo with a raised eyebrow.

"So, are you two ready to get on the road or do you need a few more minutes?"

"W-We're ready to go." Flare spoke up first, giving Eric a glare as he was about to say something, to which the dragon slayer just huffed as he took a deep breath and stretched out his ethernano.

"Huh, this is…quite the weird feeling." Goldmine spoke with a frown as he felt all gravity being released from his body, Bacchus smirking as he floated with crossed legs in the air while Flare sat peacefully next to Eric.

"Okay, so Magnolia is to the south west of here, right?"

"South South-West. Just follow the path in front of us until we get close to the Ikira Mountains and then make a slight left to follow the train tracks. We should reach it in about an hour if you fly at top speed."

"Okay, so it will be a two hour flight then." Eric nodded, making Bacchus chuckle as Goldmine rolled his eyes before the four of them began to float higher up into the air.

"Bye Master! Kick the butts of a few fairies of us, Eric! Don't drink up all of their alcohol, Bacchus! Make sure all three of them behave, Flare!" They heard Guy shouting and turned to see him, Warcry and the rest of the guild standing on the rooftops, Eric and Bacchus letting out chuckles as Goldmine rolled his eyes and Flare giggled.

"Make sure that Oak Town is still standing when I get back tonight!"

"No promises!" Was the last thing they heard before the air around them twisted as Eric blasted forward, a violet bubble forming around them all just as a loud boom echoed throughout the sky.

"Buckle up, people! Next stop, Magnolia Town!"

Magnolia Town looked as exactly as it did in the anime/ manga, with a canal network that split the town off into different parts that were connected by bridges.

In the middle of the town stood its centre piece and its most popular landmark, the Kardia Cathedral, and further south was a building nearly as big as it was, though Eric frowned slightly as he saw the dozens of grafitti and pain thrown onto its walls as well as how run-down it looked.

"Aw~Those Twilight idiots are gone. I wanted to torment them." Eric heard Bacchus whine and turned to see what he was looking at, his disappointment in the people of Magnolia disappearing as he smirked at what was left of Twilight Ogre's guild hall.

The only reason he knew it to be Twilight Ogre's guild was because of their giant Oni face sign lying on top of the rubble and their master shouting at the Rune Knights with him whilst pointing at his guild.

"Serves the bastard right. If there wasn't a law against inter-guild fighting, I would have taken Quatro and kicked his ass all over Fiore."

"Wait, weren't there rumours of him harassing the members of Fairy Tail? Why didn't the council intervene then?" Flare asked and Eric just snorted as Bacchus just shook his head.

"Two reasons. Firstly, Fairy Tail wasn't as popular with its town as it was in X784 so it would have been their word against Twilight Ogre and everyone of the town would have picked Twilight Ogre since they're the main source of revenue for the town. Secondly, why pay attention to something that you're paid to ignore?"

"So, corruption?"

"Got in one." Eric answered with a nod, Flare just shaking her head with a disappointed sigh before Eric turned to Goldmine as the man spoke up.

"I don't expect Maka to be in the old guild hall with how run-down it is and no one knows where their new guild hall is supposed to be. Eric! Find it."

"A please would be nice." Eric grumbled with a roll of his eyes, Goldmine just raising an eyebrow as Flare giggled and Bacchus snickered.

"Fine!" Eric whined as he reached up and peeled away the blindfold to reveal one eye, the dull red glow in it turning into a vivid scarlet as he felt his vision zooming out to reveal the entirety of Magnolia along with its inhabitants.

Looking to the south-western coast of Magnolia since Eric knew they were there from the anime, his eyes widened as he was greeted by pure, raw power.

Eric knew that the Fairy Tail mages were supposed to be the strongest, but nothing could prepare him for the sheer gargantuan amount of ambient ethernano radiating from within the small building they were in.

'Fucking hell! I knew they were strong, but what the fuck is that?!'

"I'm guessing you found them." Goldmine said with a smirk, to which Eric just nodded slowly as Flare looked concerned and Bacchus looked amused.

"…How the fuck are they human?" Eric asked after a moment to catch his breath, floating them over to the guild as Bacchus and Goldmine burst out into laughter while Flare just looked even more confused than she already was.

"What do you mean? I mean, I've heard the stories of Fairy Tail and how strong they are, but surely you're exaggerating."

"Flare dear, the weaker members of the ones that came back are on par with me in Hell Dragon King Mode and the strongest ones make Bacchus look like a toddler compared to a dragon."

"W-What?!" She exclaimed, Eric just nodding as Bacchus chuckled before nodding.

"Yep! I was on par with their strongest female mage seven years ago, but even now, I can feel that I'm just a bit stronger than her. That's not to mention Laxus, their ace Gildarts and Master Makarov, who are all on the level of a Wizard Saint."

"…I-I can see why they were the strongest now." Flare muttered as they all looked down, Eric frowning as they landed a few paces away from the guild door just as it opened.

"Ah, Goldy! Look at how old you got!" An extremely short & elderly man exclaimed with a happy grin as he walked out of the guild's doors & walked closer, Goldmine just rolling his eyes and scoffing even with the happy grin on his face.

"And you look like a short wrinkled mummy like always! Here I thought you had finally kicked the bucket only for you to prove me wrong! I just lost a bet to Bob because of you!" Goldmine spoke with a grin as he held out a hand, Eric watching as Makarov's hand expanded to shake Goldmine's before the short man grew to the Quatro Master's height and hugged his friend tightly.

"Remind me to tell Guy about this." Eric whispered to Bacchus, who let out a snicker as he nodded.

"And look at you, Bacchus! So much older compared to the brazen young idiot I used to punch around!" Makarov spoke with a grin as he broke away from his & Goldmine's bro-hug, Bacchus just smirking as he nodded before Makarov turned to the last two mages.

"Ah! You must be new mages to Quatro Cerberus! Makarov Dreyar, former Wizard Saint and the 3rd Master of Fairy Tail! Pleased to meet you."

"Eric Creed, new S-Class mage of Quatro Cerberus. It's an honour to meet you, Master Makarov."

"F-Flare Corona, mage of Quatro Cerberus. A-An honour to meet you, sir."

"Hahaha! No need for the sir, dearie, and must I say that it's quite refreshing to see that Quatro has a cute beauty such as you with the amount of testosterone their guild had when I last saw them." Makarov spoke with a wink, making Flare giggle and Eric just rolled his eyes as the other two mages with them chuckled.

"Be careful of flirting with the girl in front of her boyfriend, Maka." Goldmine spoke with a smirk and Makarov just blinked as he looked at his friend before looking back at Eric, who just rose an eyebrow despite the grunt he let out as Flare elbowed him in the side with a pout.

"Ah…hehe, sorry about that."

"Master, could you come back quick? Natsu and Gajeel are trying to fight Laxus aga-! Oh, I see you have guests." Eric looked away from Makarov and up at the guild door only for his eyes to widen at the sight of a scarlet-haired beauty standing in the door.

With her upper body & arms clad in silver armour, the blue skirt that showed off her thighs and the knee-high black boots that covered her lower legs, Erza looked every bit the warrior goddess in real life Eric imagined her to be before he quickly stopped his gawking.

However, it appears that he was not quick enough as he heard snickers coming from Bacchus, Goldmine & Makarov and he didn't even dare turn to look at Flare as he felt a burning glare aimed at the back of his head as well as scorching strands of hair wrapping around his right arm.

They didn't hurt, but he didn't dare to say that out loud.

"E-Eric?" He blinked at that as he turned to Flare before growing confused at her shocked look.

"What?"

"She wasn't the one who said that, kid." He heard Goldmine say and turned to look at the man to see him pointing back at the door.

"Y-You survived the rebellion?"

'…Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me with the plot twists!' Eric thought with wide eyes as he slowly turned to look at Erza, surprised to see the beautiful smile on her face and the tears flowing from her left eye as her hands trembled.

'Fuck whatever god that placed me in this position.'