"Kept you waiting huh?"

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.

-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-

Arc 8: S-Class…?

Chapter 55: A Day at Akane Beach

Year: X758. 26 years till Canon begins.

Cade POV:

These last few weeks had been perhaps my busiest yet.

When I came back to the manor with my head held high and my confidence at its maximum, I announced to mother along with Pierce and Charles that I had asked Lilly to be my girlfriend.

Mother shed a tear, while Pierce and Charles jumped with joy at the announcement. Thought it was when they all began to ask me whether I kissed her or not, I realised that my life from here on out would be a long one.

I did say that I kissed Lilly, with us both having our first kiss for the first time. Mother squealed with excitement with her then giving me all sorts of dating advice, saying that my father would be proud and stating that I couldn't have picked a better girl for my first kiss.

Pierce and Charles practically drenched the carpets of the manor in tears due to how happy they were for me. They also started going off on a tangent, saying that I should be inviting Lilly over for dinner and many other things.

It was when my mother joked about her being a grandmother in the next few years that my face turned red, before I bid them all goodnight and heading upstairs in embarrassment.

The next day after that, me and Lilly decided to tell Cornelia and Gildarts together that we were dating. We both met up at her house, and we both walked to Gildarts house to tell them the good news. Us holding hands as we walked.

Cornelia had to stay at Gildarts house for a few days as there was an issue with her apartment. Apparently, the plumbing had gone off somewhat. Her mother was also ok, but she was quite sick right now and was staying in Magnolia's hospital. Gildarts was completely fine with this, him getting to spend more time with Cornelia. The two of them were definitely getting closer as a couple.

When we knocked on the door of his house, Cornelia answered it. She looked surprised to see us both here. She then saw that we were holding hands and that we were both smiling.

She nearly fainted with joy and quickly yelled for Gildarts to come and see. Gildarts came to the front door and saw me and Lilly holding hands, and then realised what had happened. He gave a cry of delight, with Cornelia crying tears of joy like Pierce and Charles before her.

We all then hung out in the small, yet cozy living room that Gildarts had in his home. Me and Lilly sat together and took turns in explaining what happened yesterday on our night out.

When it came time to talk about the unforgettable experience in the park, I found that I was a little embarrassed for some reason, yet I was able to get the words out of my mouth in the end. Lilly gave a dreamy sigh when she remembered the details of that moment.

I actually did take a photo of the both of us in the park after we had our first kiss. I brought it out of my Requip storage and showed it to the both of them.

It a photo of me and Lilly holding hands and standing quite close and comfortably together under some trees. Her head was almost resting on my shoulder, with me taking my other hand and holding her back with it.

When Gildarts saw that, he gave me a nudge on the shoulder, him grinning at me saying that I did a good job there with that move. I responded by elbowing him in the chest. That being some of the only damage that I have dealt to the man before.

For the next hour we sat and talked about some other stuff. Some was relationship related, while some was not. Gildarts then suggested that we all go into town for a good old walk.

Of course, I've known Gildarts for long enough now that I knew that he had an ulterior reason for this.

When we got into town, Gildarts smoothly broke away from Cornelia and convinced Lilly to head up and chat with Cornelia. Lilly raised her eyebrow at this, but she did as he suggested and headed over to talk with Cornelia as we were moving.

As I suspected, Gildarts started to ask me all sorts of things like what I planned to do now that I was together with Lilly. He kept whispering all sorts of things to me, and I swore that I could see Cornelia doing a similar thing with Lilly. I was able to cut him off right before he began to talk about the idea of marriage with my face red at the idea.

Gildarts smirked, but said that he was seriously curious as to what my plan was now with Lilly.

Honestly, I hadn't thought that far yet.

It was then I realised that I was a member of a wizard's guild that involved me going outside of town to earn money, I have magic that I have to study from time to time, a member of the Magic Council occasionally comes over here for a nice chat and now I have a girlfriend to be together with. That was quite a lot for a person my age to handle.

I found myself a bit panicked for a short moment at everything on my plate. Thankfully, Gildarts was here to give a bit of advice.

As a man that had been in a relationship for a while now, he suggested that I just try to schedule things the best that I could. Things like going on jobs, would be something that I could maybe try to hold back on, as long as I make sure that I wouldn't be missing out on rent. I could use those days in between to try and hang out with Lilly and work on my magic.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. My small worries quickly subsided, and Gildarts was pleased that he was able to help me.

For the next few weeks, I was able to make out a routine somewhat. Managing so many things may have seemed like an impossibility at first, but I was able to make it work in the end.

Me and Lilly had some rather loving times together, with plenty of photos and fond memories for the future. Also, I found that her mother also approved of the relationship. She was happy that it was me that asked Lilly out, instead of Lilly having to ask me out.

I had brought Lilly over for dinner a few times, and she was happy to be having some more of the lovely food here. Pierce and Charles giving it their best here when they were cooking.

Me and Lilly had also headed out to Hargeon for a date one time! We had booked a nice restaurant and had a great dinner that day. Later we walked around the various shops – me only getting to look in the one magic shop this town had, while Lilly got to look in the various shopping stores.

Seriously, why does Hargeon have only a single magic shop?

It had also been Lilly's birthday a few days after we had gotten together. I had spent some time at her house and gotten her a nice gift, that being a camera just like the one that my mother had gotten me. With that, she could take as many photos as she wanted whether they be with me or anything else in her life.

Magic progress had been a bit slow, as I was focusing a bit more on my personal life. After all, there was no rush in translating Malvel's spell book. Page 21 granted me another spell known as Delirium's Blades.

Now I felt like I was getting onto the good sort of spells this book had to offer.

This was a High Class Enchantment that summoned various magical swords. I could send these swords towards my opponent, but what made them unique was that the more magic I pumped into them, the more swords were summoned. The swords had pretty good strength and were able to slash away at many of the trees that I practiced sending them towards.

Still, such a new spell required some good time and training to be properly used in battle. This spell would still have its use, but that use would be limited until I could learn to harness it properly.

No other noteworthy magical process had been made in the last few weeks, yet I was not all to bothered by it.

One day though, while me and Lilly were walking through town, I remembered something.

The trip to Akane Resort! I could still do that with Lilly!

Summer was almost gone now, with my 16th birthday and autumn fast approaching. It would soon be too cold for me and Lilly to do all sorts of things outside. Winter made that an unlikely possibility. This trip to Akane Resort would be the perfect thing to commemorate our few weeks together.

Lilly was hyped about the idea when I told her about the trip. She said that she would be packing all sorts of things like sunscreen, food, clothes, a swimsuit along with many other things.

I at the time, thought that I would be packing just money and some food. Looking back, I realise that I was not thinking too much about this.

Thankfully, my mother was able to better prepare me for this trip when I told her about it. She helped me pack plenty of things for the trip, as well as telling me about the resort from what she had heard from Pierce and Charles when they went years ago. For one, there was apparently a huge gambling center there that was a part of the hotel we would be staying in.

I have never been that much of a gambling man, but… it wouldn't hurt if I took a few thousand jewels for that. I doubt I'd be winning much, but I think it might be fun to try out. What's the worst that could happen?

A bit of light reading told me that Akane Resort was one day's travel away on train, so we would both have to stay for the night while we were there.

The trip was planned for next week, the final few days of proper sunshine that we would have in Fiore. I had gone on another job to help pay back the money that was being taken out for this trip. Also Gildarts had wished for me to have a good time while I was there.

Eventually, the days flew in, and I found myself and Lilly standing at the Magnolia train station waving to everyone we knew as we left for the trip. This was early in the morning, so we would have some time to kill when we arrived at the resort.

A good few hours later, the both of us were standing on the docks that led out to Akane Beach and Akane Resort.

It was a huge beach that seemed to go on for miles and miles. There were dozens of people here sitting on the shady sands taking in the last few days of heat. In the distance, I could see people swimming in the cool water. I could only hope that the beach wouldn't get that busy while we were here.

Just off to the side of the beach stood Akane Resort on the docks. There were several attractions there for people to pay and play on. There were a few roller coasters and a very large ferris wheel that stood up tall and allowed someone to look over the whole area. That might be a place of interest to check out with Lilly. There was also the hotel that we would be staying at while we would be here.

Me and Lilly marvelled at the sight that was before us. "Just look at this place!" Lilly said in awe. "The beach goes on for miles and miles!"

"I know right?" I began. "This place is apparently one of the biggest tourist spots in all of Fiore." I explained as my gaze wandered to all the people on the beach. Then I turned back to Lilly. "We may want to get our room at the hotel booked and then come back down here. Just so we can dump our luggage." I suggested to her.

"Good idea Cade." Lilly said, as we then moved onwards to the hotel at get a room booked for the night.

When we entered the hotel, we booked a room that was for the two of us, and the receptionist gave us our key for it. We headed up and found that our room was a huge one. It had a nice carpet and a bathroom that connected to it from a side door, as well as two comfortable looking beds. The room looked out onto the beach and ocean where we could see all the people swimming and sunbathing.

"Wow. They spared no expense when making this room." I whistled as I took everything in.

"I'd stay in here for days if I had the money." Lilly sighed as she collapsed onto one of the beds. "This is my bed by the way." She stated, as if she was marking this bed as hers, Lilly slightly raising up her head to see me.

"They're both the same so I don't mind." I shrugged, as I put my bag that had everything I needed next to my bed. "So, wanna head down to the beach now? We can head down there for a few hours, then we can hit up the huge resort at sunset."

"Oh yes! The sun will be setting soon, so that only leaves us a few hours here." Lilly agreed.

We then picked out our beach gear and headed out of the room and down to the beach. There was a few changing rooms that would let us change out of our casual clothes and into some swimwear.

We both entered them, and I got changed into some red swimming trunks. I put the rest of my clothes into the small bag that I brought with me and exited the changing room. When I did I looked around for Lilly. I then heard the sound of a door open from just ahead of me, and out walked Lilly.

She wore a rather nice light blue bikini along with some sandals for her feet. She carried a small bag that I presumed held her that clothes.

I think my face turned a bit red when I saw her that revealed in front of me.

Lilly then saw me and gave me a sly smirk, as she moved over to me. "You like what you see?" She teased flirtatiously, as she put one hand on her hip.

"I've just never seen you so… revealed before." I said. "You look beautiful wearing that." I gave her a kind smile.

Lilly's cheeks turned a small shade of pink and red when I complimented her outfit. I then decided to give her a taste of her own medicine while she was a bit flustered.

"So do you like what you see?" I grinned as I tried my best to flex a bit in front of her.

'There's no way girls actually fall for this sort of stuff right?'

Lilly's cheeks suddenly turned redder than they were pink. In fact, I think some of it was crossing over to the rest of her face. She gave a quick huff, before she looked right towards the beach.

"O-Oh look! There's hardly any spots left! We've got to get going if we want to get a seat down there!" She decided quickly, before she then moved down to the beach.

I rolled my eyes with a grin on my face as I followed her down to secure a good spot. We were able to find one that was mostly away from the large crowds but was still in the sun.

"This should be good right here." I said as I summoned a beach towel from my requip storage and laid it on the sand.

In the last few months, my Requip storage had gotten bigger to where I can now hold my armour and a few other things that aren't any bigger than myself. I was able to fit in the beach towel and some other things like sunscreen.

Lilly fell back on the beach towel as soon as I put it on the sand. She let out a sigh when she was able to lightly touch the sand with her toes.

"Cade could you get my sunglasses for me?" She requested as she looked up at me with a smile.

I went into my Requip storage and pulled out some sunglasses that I then handed to Lilly. She then wore them, before she spoke up again.

"Now could you get the sunscreen out for me?" She asked kindly, now she sat up and looked up at me. I sat down next to her on the beach towel and grabbed the sunscreen from my Requip storage. "Now could you rub on my back please?" She turned away from me to where her back was facing me.

Ooh boy.

According to Gildarts, this is the one test that every girl tries to force upon their boyfriend. He said this to me before we set off here, him assuming that Lilly would try and get me to do this. The man was right, and now I was here in this very position.

"Alright." I stated, before I squirted some sunscreen on my hands and prepared to massage Lilly's backside. "I'll try to be as gentle as I can." I assured her, as began to rub it on her back.

Lilly giggled when I said that. "Well, I'd appreciate – Oh! It's cold…" She exclaimed with a bit of surprise as I rubbed it on her shoulders.

I felt her shoulders shiver a bit as I kept rubbing it in. Here's hoping I was doing a good job. I moved my hands in an rhythmic fashion on her back, moving them up and down to try and get as much as possible. As this was happening, I spoke up to Lilly to make sure this was not an awkward silence.

"You know. When I think back years ago, I didn't think I could have imagined me being here with you right now as your boyfriend." I mentioned as I rubbed her shoulders.

"Mmm. I've thought the same actually." Lilly commented.

"Do you think that the weather will hold up while we are here?" I asked, as I moved down to her back.

"God I hope so." Lilly muttered. "Could you imagine if it rained right now?"

"Don't." I said in warning at her jinxing this little vacation.

Lilly gave a laugh when I said that. "What? I'm just saying that I saw some big clouds in the distance while we were in the train."

I gave a groan in pain when she said that. "Please no… This weather has been great so far! Don't go and jinx it!"

"A little bit of water never killed anyone!" Lilly joked playfully.

"Speaking of water… do you plan to do down to the water?" I pointed a finger to the water in the distance.

"Hmm. No I like being up here. Maybe tomorrow. We'll still have some time then." Lilly waved my question aside.

It was then Lilly moved her head back to the left slightly, as if she wanted to look at me. "Cade?" She spoke. "You're still massaging my back." She reminded me.

Indeed, all the sunscreen had been rubbed all over Lilly's backside. The conversation I had with her made me forget that I was doing it in the first place.

"Oh sorry about that!" I gave a light laugh as I slowed down my hands.

"You don't need to stop." Lilly spoke up quickly.

'Oh?'

"It's a… good feeling." Lilly said. I bet her face was mega flushed by now.

"Well… if you say so." I grinned as I kept rubbing my hands on her back.

'Heh, guess I passed the test then.'

Soon, an hour had passed since I had put some sunscreen on Lilly. I did eventually remove my hands from her back and had to run to the water to wash them due to all the dried up sunscreen on them. Now me and Lilly were reading a book. The same book for that matter.

"What do you think of this part here?" I pointed to the page we had just finished reading.

"Hmm? Where he says that he'll run for mayor to win against his rival? I think it's a pointless move." Lilly informed me.

We were both lying chest down on the beach towel and were both sitting right next to one another, our feet touching the sand behind us. Lilly had moved her sunglasses up to where they were resting on her head now.

"Why? He is trying to win to stop him from taking over the town." I pointed out.

"Yes, but he could just try to make him confess him crimes instead." Lilly suggested.

"Well how would he do that?" I countered.

"How about blackmail?" Lilly hinted, with a sarcastic voice.

"Righhhhht. And that would go against all his morals. It's a bad idea and even then, I'm sure it's not that hard to run for mayor." I spoke.

"Really? You're too young to understand how running for mayor works." Lilly said in a sympathetic tone.

"Shut up! You're only a few weeks older than me!" I argued as I sat up. "You only turned 16 not long ago!"

"Well that still makes me the most knowledgeable and eldest out of us both." Lilly proclaimed as she also sat up, facing me. "At the age of 16 you can get your own apartment. What can you do at the age of 15?" She remarked with a smirk.

I was gritting my teeth, not being able to think of a response. I gave a huff and turned my head away from Lilly.

I could hear Lilly give a laugh to herself. "Ha!" She then poked my chest with her finger. "You see? Now you'll think twice before you try that sort of stunt again!" She remarked, as she kept poking my chest.

I then turned back to Lilly, me now smirking at her. Lilly gave a cocky look. "What?" She chuckled.

"I knew you liked what you saw." I grinned. "You haven't stoped moving your finger across my chest." I said.

Lilly then got a bit embarrassed, her taking the book and began to slap me on the head with it, her in anger about me embarrassing her. This did not hurt me at all of course, in fact it only made me laugh at how hilarious it must look.

Lilly eventually stopped hitting me with the book, her then laughing as well at how ridiculous she must have looked. After that, we relaxed once more beside each other.

It was beginning to turn sundown, and me and Lilly had left the beach to get changed into our casual clothes again. We had packed up the beach towel with me putting it back in my Requip storage.

We had planned to go to the amusements after this, the roller coasters and the ferris wheel looked like they could be fun to ride. Not to mention the many other things that are there for us to play at.

It didn't take us long to get changed, and when we did we headed over to the many different rides and attractions that were there for us to play on the boardwalk that connected to the mainland.

Some of the bigger rides were on the dry land, but the smaller and much more cozy attractions were at over the ocean. We both decided to see what was there over at the boardwalk, before we walked over and rode the bigger things that were here.

The boardwalk had some classic attractions like a few games that involved you hitting some glass bottles with a baseball. Or the games that have you try to catch a rubber duck with a fishing pole. While these games practically timeless classics that seem to have everyone try them and fail, I chose to miss out on them.

Lilly however, took her chance in trying to win some prizes at the games. She unfortunately failed on quite a few of them. By that I mean all of them, but she treated it like a learning experience for her future.

We did get some nice ice cream from a vendor. It was not the best ice cream I've had in my life before, but it was still pretty good. As we were walking away from the vendor, we saw an aquarium that was open for the public. As it was getting quite late right now, we decided that we would go tomorrow. We still had the roller coasters and the ferris wheel to go on.

The roller coaster was first on for us to try. It spiralled up and down and went in all sorts of directions. There was even a loop de loop! I was never great with tall heights, so this would be a challenge for me. Lilly was dead set on going on it, so there was now way I was backing out of it. We boarded the coaster and prepared for the ride ahead.

It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

I was sent flying flying forward in my seat due to how strong the startup speed of the coaster was. I had been flung through the air before while fighting in the quite frequent brawls in the guildhall, yet here I felt like I was hanging on for my dear life. There were seatbelts for us, but even then I felt like I saw my life flash before my eyes. We eventually came to the loop de loop, and I done my best not to look down to avoid hurling. It felt like an eternity, but the ride finally came to an end.

I got out of the cart I was in and took a few deep breaths to help me get my self relaxed after that. Lilly was of course, fine after that ride. She was not fazed when we went on the loop de loop, and she even let out a cry of delight when it happened.

The next ride was the ferris wheel, that was one that I was looking forward to. We got in the ever growing queue and waited to enter. It took a few minutes, but when we did it was the sun was now setting in the sky.

We got into the cartridge that would take us up and waited a few minutes for it to begin moving. We were sitting next to each other, and we had a nice view at the scenery out of the window.

"I bet there's gonna be quite a view when we get up to the top! We'll be able to see the entire beach and the ocean!" I said with a grin.

"We should gets loads of photos while we're up there!" Lilly suggested as she pulled her camera out of her pocket.

As she said that, the ferris wheel began to move upwards quite slowly. It was as if the wheel itself was listening to us.

We were able to snap lots of photos of the beach, the hotel and the ocean as we made our first rotation on the wheel. I swore I even saw a small island in the far distance as I looked ahead into the ocean.

When the ferris wheel made its second rotation around it went a bit faster and stopped when our carriage was coincidently, at the top.

We could now see the entire resort and beach. With the sun setting in the sky, it looked like we were in paradise. I marvelled at the sight before me, before I then turned to Lilly.

"What do you think?" I asked her.

"I think I'm in paradise…" She softly responded as she looked out the window to gaze at the view. She then snapped some more photos for her to look back on.

"Looking out the window like this; it makes you think that you're on top of the world. Yet at the same time, you can't help but feel a bit small compared to everything else." Lilly remarked. She then turned to me. "I… never thanked you for this trip. You were the one that payed for it all."

"There's no need to thank me. I think we both needed this. A nice chance to get away from Magnolia." I smiled back at her.

Lilly gave me a chuckle. "You say that like we're a married couple." She then gave me a smirk.

I can't help but admit that I blushed a bit at that. Lilly then gave another louder giggle at my response to that. "Relax, I was joking." She said as she rolled her eyes at me in a humorous manner. "But still…" She began to say.

Lilly then leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine, before she broke the kiss. "Thanks for this day out Cade." She whispered to me softly.

I then put my hands on Lilly's hands. "You're welcome." I was then the one to kiss Lilly on the lips. Our hands intertwined, before I broke the kiss.

"How long do you think we'll still be up here?" I wondered. "I reckon a few more minutes at least. That's plenty of time to get some photos of us both!" I declared as I summoned my camera.

"Your going to need a whole new Lacrima for those photos when this trip is over." Lilly gave me a smile as she got ready for some photos of the both of us.

By the time the ferris wheel had came back down to the ground, we had gotten plenty of photos of us both together up there. Now the sun was almost fully set by now. Now the park was lit up by some streetlights. Also the many different attractions were also lit up, which made the place look even more alive than it was before!

Unfortunately, my stomach rumbled for some good food. Lilly gave a laugh when she heard my stomach rumbling, but we both then heard her stomach rumble right after she said that. That's as a sign that we had to head to the hotel for dinner. Perhaps after that I could check out some of the games the hotel had to offer.

We entered the hotel and saw just how crowded it was. There were dozens of people coming in and out of the many corridors that had their rooms through them. Ahead of us was the hall that houses the many different tables for dinner.

We both headed up and got ourselves a table that connected to the balcony that looked out on the beach of the resort. It was outside, but the air was cool and brisk, so we weren't that cold.

For dinner, I ordered some lovely carrot cake, while Lilly decided to order a huge pizza. Hey, if she couldn't finish it, then I'd be happy to help her with it.

We had some light conversation as we waited for the food to arrive. When it did, we both didn't say another word to each other, as we both ravaged away at the food. I tried to keep myself holding back from eating the food too quickly, but my stomach hungered for more food. In less than ten minutes, we were all finished eating.

But of course, there was always room for dessert!

Dessert was flavoured plum pudding which was quite delicious when eaten. We then payed for the bill and we both exited the restaurant. Now while Lilly did suggest that we head back up to the hotel room, I decided to go and head to the games that this place had to offer.

"Are you sure that you want to go?" Lilly asked with skepticism at the idea.

"Ah it'll be fine." I waved my hand in the air, thinking that everything would be ok. "I'm only bringing around 100,000 jewels with me in there. The rest is up in the hotel room." I assured Lilly.

Lilly raised her eyebrow at me. "Does your mother know that you are doing this?"

I averted my eyes when she said that. "Ah, well… I can't expect to tell her everything that happens in my life right?" I spoke with awkwardness, as I flashed a grin.

Lilly then rolled her eyes. "Your funeral. I'll be at the hotel room." She waved at me as she walked up to the hotel room.

'Alright!' I thought, as I turned to see the huge hall that contained all the big betting games. I wasn't old enough to play at the huge tables that had games like poker, roulette wheels, blackjack. But there were some other things in there that I could do like play on the slot machines.

'Here we go!' My mind was dead set on winning tonight. 'This is it! Ah, I'm sure that Lilly was exaggerating. What's the worst that could happen?'

'This is terrible!' I thought with anger, moving throughout the casino. 'How have I already lost 50,000 Jewels?'

It had only been 15 minutes since I had left Lilly and entered here. I had played a few different machines and had failed to win anything at all! I still had half of my jewels left, but I was unsure if I should keep playing, or try and cut my losses here.

I stopped against a giant slot machine, thinking this through. I'd never hear the end of this either way.

"My, is that you Cadewell?"

I stood up straight hearing that voice, I turned to my left and saw someone who I just barely recognised. That was maybe because Lilly was always trying to read his books.

I believe her was wearing the same clothes as when I last saw him, which felt like years ago. A blue-greyish blazer and white shirt underneath it, along with his smooth blue jeans and white glasses were still sitting comfortably on his nose. One of Fiore's most famous authors was here… in a casino… Christopher O' Conner. It had been ages since I had last saw him.

"Christopher?" I greeted with amazement. "What are you doing here?"

Christopher moved towards me a bit more. "Ah, any celebrity much try to relax himself every so often. So how have you been Cadewell? Been climbing up through Fairy Tail?"

"Oh, no, I've just been doing what I've been doing before. Going on jobs, fighting monsters, fighting dark wizards and more." I answered, looking up to the man.

"Ah, how noble." He praised with a nod. "But what would such a prestigious wizard like yourself be doing here in a casino?"

"Well um, I'm here with my girlfriend on a small vacation. We just got together recently. I'm just here to… entertain myself…?" I chucked with an awkward smile.

Christopher chuckled a little under his breath. "A vacation. Well it's something that we all need once in our lives." He then moved next to me and pointed up towards a restaurant that overlooked the casino. "You know, that is a brilliant restaurant for having something to eat at. Marvellous I'd say."

"Ah, we already ate there." I answered.

"Is that so? Well I bet you had some great food while up there." Christopher said, nodding his head. He then looked around before he whispered into my ear.

"Now Cade, about our potential agreement regarding your magic…"

'Oh! I forgot he wanted my magic to document it.' I thought in remembrance.

"My deadline is coming up by the end of next year. There are still plenty of magics out there for me to document in my book, but yours would be an excellent addition more so than others." He persuaded. "You are free to give me the spells if you wish, but I only need the description of how the magic functions and works."

"Ah, yes, don't worry I hadn't forgotten." I smiled with a lie, as he stepped away from me.

"You don't mind if I think it over some more, do you?" I requested.

I thought I might have seen his face twitch a little, but I might have been imagining things. Christopher in actuality, gave a small laugh. "Why of course not. There's no rush, only until the end of next year! You can take your time deciding and then just contact me when you do make up your mind. I'd be round in an instant."

He then took a few more steps away. "Well, it was a pleasure seeing you again Cadewell. I do hope that you accept my offer, but again; there is no rush."

I smiled, as I moved away from him as well. "Yes, I know. See you Christopher!"

Moving through the crowds and giant machines once again, I tried to put that random encounter out of my mind as I looked at a few more of the slot machines, and games that were available.

'I bet I just got unlucky before.'

Later that night:

I opened the door to the hotel room with a slow motion of my hand. I saw that Lilly was sitting on her bed reading a book. She heard me open the door and turned to see me.

I was slumped over with a look of sadness, guilt and shame on my face. My arms were dangling by my side lifelessly. I heard Lilly give a small hiss through her teeth.

"Ah… that bad huh?" I heard her mutter, as I shut the door behind me. When the door closed, I moved over to my bed and fell down on it. My face was buried into the covers.

"Did you… lose all your money?" Lilly asked carefully.

I got up and turned to face Lilly, a look of shame on my face. I sighed before answering. "I really thought I could win at something in there…" I explained with guilt.

"What?" Lilly suddenly snapped to attention. "You didn't win a single game down there?" She inquired with interest.

I slowly shook my head.

"What!? You actually didn't win a single game?!" Lilly repeated as she cried out with shock. I sat in on the bed my head now slumped in my hands. Lilly gave a sigh, before she came over to sit next to me.

"Well I'd say 'I told you so', but you seem sad enough as it is." She said.

"Please don't tell my mother about this…" I gave a moan at the idea.

Lilly now had a chuffed expression on her face. "Well… I won't tell her. But I think you should promise that you won't gamble irresponsibly from now on." She suggested with a wink.

She was right. I had a bit reckless there with my spending. Good thing Lilly decided to take the rest of the money we had back to the hotel room.

"Ah, you're right." I spoke with a bit of embarrassment at my mistake. "Alright I won't start blowing my family's life savings on some slot machines or any poker games in the future. I promise." I said, as I now sat up to face Lilly.

"Was it just the slot machines you played on?" Lilly asked with some interest.

"Well it was mostly some slot machines. But there was also this one game with dice… I got pretty lucky with it last time I played it, so I thought I'd win." I grumbled.

After that whole mess, I got dressed into some pyjamas and got into bed to read a book before I decided to try and get some sleep. Thankfully, me and Lilly had somewhat similar sleep schedules, so we were both ready to go to bed at the same time.

I did not dream that night, and I woke up with the rays of sun seeping through the curtains of the hotel room. Lilly was still asleep, so I just decided to read a book until she eventually woke up.

When she did awake from her sleep, she just wanted to go back asleep, before I had to remind her that we had to be out of the hotel room by 12:00am. Now that got her attention. She quickly sprung up out of bed and hurried to get dressed.

It was currently 10:30am, so our time was somewhat limited to get washed, dressed and out of the hotel room. We had only brought two changes of clothing, so it's not like we had a lot to pack. When Lilly was having a shower, I packed my things in my suitcase. When she exited the shower, I went in to wash myself and presumably she packed her suitcase while I did that.

Now when we were both dressed, we left the hotel room after having one final check to see if we left anything there. We thankfully didn't, and we then handed in the key to the reception before leaving the building.

When we left and saw the beach again, Lilly and I did discuss whether we wanted to head back down there or not. We decided to just leave the beach today, as the tide still quite far in which meant that the beach was even more packed and crowed than usual.

And so, we decided to get some ice cream on the boardwalk before we then began the long walk back to the train station that would bring us back to Magnolia. When we got onto the train around an hour later, it was now midday. By the time we would arrive back to Magnolia, it would be mid afternoon.

As I was getting comfortable on the train waiting for it to start moving, Lilly (who was sitting across from me) spoke up.

"So, it's coming up to your 16th birthday Cade. By that point you'll have spent almost six years in Fairy Tail." She stated.

"Feels like that time has flown by. Can still remember the day I walked into the guild." I chuckled as I recalled that day. "I was so stressed when Master gave me that time limit to learn magic."

"You got anything planned for the next few weeks at the guild?" Lilly asked.

I lay back in my seat. "Nah, think I'll take things a bit easy till my birthday. I doubt Master Makarov would have anything planned for me."

As I said that, the train began to head back to Magnolia. While I sat back in my seat and got comfortable, I had no idea how ironic that last statement of mine would be in the next coming weeks.

WE'RE BAAAAAACK! And on the one year anniversary, no less. A big thank you to everyone who has kept with this story. Whether you followed it and immediately left, waiting until I got to Canon, or if you genuinely enjoy this story; thanks!

Ah, good to be back. I was able to pass my exams and get into university which is a huge relief! Now I can return to this story for the time being. Can't guarantee if I'll ever need to take another hiatus break for personal reasons, but if so, I'll definitely try to let you guys know beforehand.

These next two next arcs will be pretty crazy. All I'm gonna say.

Also Hundred Year Quest is confirmed for July 7th! Like I said months back, I'll be including some characters from there in this story.

Here we got the classic slice of life chapter where nothing bad happens. Had to get one of these written eventually for this story. I figured it might be nice to have a relaxing chapter after that rather dark and foreboding previous chapter.

Anywho, in the next chapter we will have some original cast members join Fairy Tail! Can you guess who they are?

Whether you can or not, you shall get to see them in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you then!