Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x790.
"So, now that we're the Grand Magic Games' champions, what are we gonna do to celebrate?" Marin asked excitedly while she, Alfonzo, Elicia, Sun, and Brandish walked through the streets of Crocus towards the Sixth Sense Hotel.
"Yes! We definitely need to celebrate!" Sun cheered excitedly, looking as good as new after getting out of the Domus Flau's infirmary. A moment later, however, she tilted her head to the side and continued. "But aren't we going to do that right now? I mean, we're gonna celebrate with the guild, right?"
In response, Marin ran a few steps forward before turning around and continuing to walk backwards. She then raised her right hand and started wagging her finger at Sun.
"No, no, no." Marin said while smiling at Sun. "Although celebrating with the guild will be fun, that's not what I'm talking about."
Marin's response only caused Sun to tilt her head to the other side, confusion evident in her expression.
"I mean, just the five of us." Marin said while smiling brightly. "We need to celebrate as Team Steel Threads!"
*Clap!*
With that, a proverbial light bulb lit up over Sun's head as she understood what Marin was getting at. She then straightened up and clapped her hands excitedly as she started to bounce on the tips of her toes in excitement.
"Ooh! I get it!" Sun cheered happily. Yet, after a moment, she once again tilted her head. "But what are we gonna do to celebrate with just the five of us?"
"That's what I just asked." Marin said while rolling her eyes as she turned around and slowed down enough to fall in step with the other four.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Brandish only watched this little two-man show. And while Alfonzo and Elicia both had wide smiles on their faces, Brandish cracked a small smile of her own. Because despite stating that she did not want to join in next year's Grand Magic Games, she was still proud of the fact that she had been on the team that won the championship.
"Well, I'm definitely down to celebrate." Elicia said with a slightly lustful smile on her face as she snuggled up to Alfonzo's side and started rubbing a hand on his chest.
Seeing that, Marin's and Sun's eyes lit up while Brandish blushed slightly before turning her head away.
"Well, you four can do that." Brandish muttered. "But that wouldn't really work for me, would it?"
At that moment, Elicia, Marin, and Sun all turned to look at Bradish with confused expressions. Meanwhile, Alfonzo rolled his eyes at his three wives. But he remained silent.
"Huh?" Sun intoned in confusion. "But isn't that what you wanted all along, Brandish?"
"Seriously, Brandi." Marin added. "I mean, that was the whole reason you decided to join our team in the first place, right? You even wanted to be the leader so you could be the dominant one when it happened. At least, that's what you told me and Erza when we were talking about our fet--- Mmph!"
Before Marin could finish, Brandish's hands shot out and clamped over Marin's face, muffling anymore words that could possibly come out of her mouth.
"Marin, for goodness sake, please stop." Brandish said, basically hissing, as she stole glances at Alfonzo.
In response, Alfonzo only rolled his eyes again.
"Hmm... I never would have guess that you had such a fetish, Brandish." Elicia said while tapping an index finger against her chin. "Then again, it's always the quiet ones, right? Then again, you would look pretty hot dressed as a dominatrix. Should I make you an outfit like that?"
"A dominatrix, what's that?" Sun asked curiously. "Can I dress as one, too?"
Immediately upon hearing Sun's question, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Brandish came to a sudden stop. Naturally, Marin, who's mouth Brandish was still covering, was also forced to a stop along with them. Then, an image of Sun wearing a tight leather corset, stockings, high-heeled boots, and carrying a whip with a bright smile on her face flashed through their minds.
"Yeah, I'm definitely making that happen." Elicia muttered to herself while looking Sun up and down.
"I kind of want to see that, too." Brandish muttered.
"Um... Is something wrong?" Sun asked, feeling a bit self-conscious with everyone staring at her like that.
"Well, as interesting... and kinda hot... as that image sounds, I think it's 'bout time you let Marin go, Brandish." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly as he pointed at Marin. "Otherwise, you're gonna accidentally un-alive her, you know?"
"Huh?" Brandish exclaimed in confusion.
As she did so, Brandish, along with the other two ladies, turned to look at Marin. When they did, what they saw was Marin weakly flailing her arms while her eyes had rolled up into the back of her head and her face had turned somewhat purple.
"Oh!" Brandish said as she quickly released Marin, who she had been suffocating as she accidentally covered her nose along with her mouth. "Sorry about that, Marin."
Instead of responding, Marin only breathed in greedily as she started to fall to her knees. Luckily, Alfonzo reacted quickly and caught her before pressing her body against his.
"*Pant* *Pant* thought I *Pant* was a goner." Marin said while clinging to Alfonzo as if he were a lifeline.
"*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*"
However, before anyone could respond to Marin, the sound of another person panting drifted over to the group. And when it did, all five Fairy Tail wizards stiffened momentarily. Because they were all familiar with the sound of this panting.
"OH my! *Pant* To have one's air flow cut off so violently." The blonde knight, Darkness said from nearby. "I could imagine something like that happening to me on the battlefield. *Pant* Then, once I lost consciousness, instead of killing me, my attacker would take me back to his base as a trophy of war. *Pant* After that, he would throw me into his quarters to have his way with me. *Pant* Yet, no matter what he did to me, I would not be broken, vowing to return to my home. *Pant* Still, once he got bored with me, he would pass me around to all his comrades, but my will would remain strong, no matter how many I was forced to serve. *Pant* But that wouldn't even be the worst of it. *Pant* For after they grew bored with my body, to make a bit of extra money, they would sell me off. *Pant* But because I was so thoroughly used, they would have to sell me off to a low-class brothel where..."
And just as they expected, when the shifted their gazes to the source of the panting, Darkness was standing there with her hands covering her burning red cheeks and writhing in place while spouting nonsense about what would happen if she had been asphyxiated on a battlefield. Then, after being stunned for a moment, the five exchanged glances and continued walking as if they had not seen her, continuing their trip to the Sixth Sense Hotel to celebrate with the rest of their guild mates.
"So, what should we do to celebrate as a team?" Marin asked once again while walking alongside the rest of Team Fairy Tail?
"How 'bout a trip to Balsam Village?" Alfonzo asked with a smile. "It's been a while since I've been to a hot spring, after all."
Immediately, Elicia's, Marin's, Sun's, and Brandish's eyes lit up with excitement. And while Elicia, Marin, and Sun smiled brightly at the thought of a hot spring, Brandish's expression did not change. But she was emanating an aura of contentment at the thought.
"Well, I guess that's decided." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "Now, all we have to do is book the reservations. But we can think about that once we get back to Magnolia."
"Yeah, for now, it's time to party!" Marin shouted excitedly.
"Are you gonna cook, Fonzie?" Elicia asked while staring at Alfonzo with puppy dog eyes.
Seeing that, Marin and Sun also joined in, the power of the puppy dog eyes increasing by three. Even Brandish, though she did not use the puppy dog eyes technique, stole imploring glances at Alfonzo as they walked.
Alfonzo could only look at the four women speechlessly.
'We just finished the longest event of the Grand Magic Games, right?' Alfonzo asked himself in dumbfounded amazement. 'They know I should be tired, right? Shouldn't they let me get some rest?'
["You ask that like Fairy Tail wizards care about other people."] Bedlam said in Alfonzo's inner world with a smirk on his face. ["But you already know they don't. Hell, they would be just as destructive as always if it wasn't for the points they get for completing missions without causing excessive damage. Making it even clearer that they only care about themselves."]
["Quit your bitchin'!"] Riot shouted immediately after Bedlam's voice faded. ["Lici is asking you for something. So, what reason do you have to refuse?"]
While Bedlam's statement made Alfonzo look at himself to see if he were the same, Riot's outburst pulled him right out of that introspection. Then, he decided he would just ignore the simp and go on with his day.
["Quit calling me a fuckin' simp!"] Riot shouted in response to Alfonzo's thoughts.
"Fine. I'll cook." Alfonzo replied to the stares.
"Yay~~~~~~!" x 3
In response to Alfonzo's agreement, Elicia, Marin, and Sun cheered happily. Meanwhile, Brandish nodded her head with satisfaction.
["And you called him a simp."] Bedlam said in a teasing tone.
'That's not me simping. 'I only agreed because three of my wives asked me to. Plus, Brandish deserves a good meal after working so hard during the Games, too.'
["Uh huh."] Bedlam replied with a knowing smirk on his face. ["Whatever you have to tell yourself, buddy."]
Like that, the group continued towards the hotel, leaving Darkness standing on the street by herself, fantasizing about all the unspeakable things that could be done to her in a certain situation.
On a side note, until Darkness was able to break out of her... let's call them daydreams, that entire city block found itself with much less foot traffic than usual.
Back at the Sixth Sense Hotel, Alfonzo and the ladies were welcomed warmly. After the greeting, Alfonzo dragged Grayfia, Maria, Ai, and Miyuki into the hotel's kitchen to start preparing the victory feast. Meanwhile, Ikaruga and Mey-Rin were left to serve drinks and appetizers as Alfonzo and the other maids finished making them.
After the meal was done, everyone, including the maids sat down together to celebrate together. Though, it did take quite a bit of convincing on Alfonzo's part to get Grayfia to put down her maid duties for the evening. Luckily, Alfonzo had a trio of trump cards for situations like these.
And the names of those trump cards were Amar'e, Bianca, and Calvin. Because, there was no one in Magnolia who could refuse when all three of them were staring at them with hope and expectation in their eyes. And Grayfia was no exception.
"Well, it looks like the party is winding down." Gildarts said while swirling a glass of liquor. "*Sigh* It's about time for me to get going again. That 10-Years Quest isn't going to complete itself, you know?"
"Which one were you going to do again?" Ur, who was leaning against Gildarts arm and watching Alfonzo viciously beat up the other Fairy Tail wizards for letting the brawl that started not too long ago get out of hand and damage parts of the dining hall, asked.
"Oh, I'll be going to Desierto." Gildarts replied. "Something about a monster in the desert, or something. Apparently, this makes it hard for the Village Hidden in the Sand to get supplies delivered... I think that's what it said, at least."
"Ah! Now I remember." Ur replied with a nod. "Yeah, I don't know why their Kazekage didn't just get rid of that monster. I mean, they're supposed to be quite strong, right?"
"That's because each Kage is their village's last line of defense." Alfonzo, who had finished laying out all the troublemakers, said as he casually strolled over to Ur and Gildarts. "So, they can't leave the village so easily. You never know when an enemy force will show up."
"I guess that makes sense." Ur replied. "It's kinda like how I don't get to go on quests any more as the guild master of Fairy Tail. *Sigh* I miss roaming the world and going on adventures."
A moment later, Ur's eyes lit up as she looked at Alfonzo with hope.
"Nope." Alfonzo replied. "Not gonna happen."
"But I didn't even say anything." Ur said with a pout. "You're such a rude brat."
"You were gonna ask me to become the guild master so that you could start taking quests again." Alfonzo said while rolling his eyes. "Ur, if you want to hide your intentions, try schooling your expression first."
Ur, like a little girl, blushed after having her intentions pointed out so blatantly. Meanwhile, Gildarts could not help laughing at her expense.
"Ow~~~~!" Gildarts shouted in pain after Ur stomped his foot as hard as she physically could in retaliation.
'I'm glad she didn't decide to use any magic power when she did that.' Alfonzo thought to himself while cold sweat streamed down his back. 'Otherwise, this whole hotel could have probably come crashing down.'
"Damn... That hurts." Gildarts muttered while flexing his foot." Anyway, it's about time I get going. I'll see you when I get back."
With that, Gildarts leaned down and planted a kiss on Ur's cheek. Then, he nodded at Alfonzo before walking towards the eastern wall.
"Gildarts, if you don't go out through the front door, I'm gonna kick your ass." Alfonzo said in a menacing tone. "After that, I'm gonna charge you for all the repairs."
"Hah! An all out fight with you don't sound so bad, Kid." Gildarts said with a smile as he continued to walk. "So, maybe I'll just---"
"Fine, you're gonna make me take out the big guns, huh?" Alfonzo asked, after seeing that his threat was having no effect. He then took a deep breath before shouting loud enough for everyone in the hotel to hear. "Lici! Gildarts is about to break through one of the hotel's walls.!"
Immediately, Gildarts froze in place. He then turned back to Alfonzo, who was smirking at him, with a dumbfounded, fearful, and betrayed expression on his face.
"Kid, you..." Gildarts muttered.
"He's gonna do what?" Elicia asked as she appeared at the dining hall's entrance. "I don't think I heard you properly, Fonzie. I was all the way up on the top floor, after all. I even handed over the job of giving Mar'e a bath when I heard you."
Seeing Elicia, long buried memories resurfaced in Gildarts mind. So, when he saw Elicia gaze at him before letting that gaze fall downwards to his crotch, he began to shudder violently.
"OH, come on, Lici." Gildarts said with a smile so ugly that he was only a step away from crying. "I was just joking with the kid. Of course I wouldn't break the walls of such a nice hotel. But since I gotta get going to complete that quest, I'll see you later. There really isn't any time for jokes."
With that, Gildarts started speed walking towards the door where Elicia was standing. Elicia then stepped aside for him to pass with a smile and a wave.
"Oh, okay, be careful out there, Uncle Gildarts." Elicia said happily, causing Gildarts to stumble for a moment. "Don't forget to bring back souvenirs."
Not long later, Gildarts was outside of the city. And surprisingly, he did not destroy anything along the way. Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Elicia were grinning victoriously while Ur could only shake her head.
"*Sigh* Even after so many years, he still can't oppose you, huh, Lici?" Ur said with a small smile on her face. "Well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that to him anymore. Although I'm not young, I'm still able to have another child. And if you hurt one of the essential parts, that would end."
Hearing that Ur was considering having another child, Elicia's eyes lit up. She then dashed over to Ur and started bombarding her with questions. Meanwhile, Alfonzo decided that he would head up to the suite to see his children before they went to bed.