Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 8, x790.
*Flash!*
*Clap!*
"Hey, Gremlin, what are you doing to my wife?" Alfonzo asked as he appeared between Erza and Ichiya from a flash of violet light.
Then, as soon as he appeared, Alfonzo clapped his hand around Ichiya's wrist, which was reaching out to hold Erza's hand. At the same time, Erza, who was on the verge of [Requipping] a sword into her hand, quickly hid behind Alfonzo.
"Ah! Alfonzo, my friend." Ichiya, his attitude not bothered at all from being stopped, said happily. "Come, let us sit together and have a cup of tea. Also, allow me to introduce you to my new friend. I'm sure the two of you would get along swimmingly."
"*Sigh* That's all fine and good, Ichiya." Alfonzo said while narrowing his eyes at the shorter man. "But how many times do I have to tell you not to try and put your hands on Erza. You call me your friend, but you can't do something so simple?"
"Ah! Yes, it would seem I have blundered once again." Ichiya said, though his smile did not make it seem as he was very remorseful.
Ichiya then took a step forward and raised his hands, trying to put them on Alfonzo's and Erza's backs to push them towards his new friend, Guy. However, before he could touch either of them, Alfonzo swiftly turned around and kicked him away.
*Bang!*
"Men~~~~~~~~~~~~~!" Ichiya shouted while flying across the ball room.
However, as this was a yearly occurrence, no one paid Ichiya any mind. Instead, they only glanced at him for a moment before returning to their own conversations. Some of the attendees did not even look at him, opting to focus on stuffing their faces with all the free food.
And one of those indulging in the food was Natsu, who was accompanied by Lisanna, Happy, and Miyako. However, his eating spree would be interrupted shortly.
"Natsu!'
Hearing his name shouted in a competitive tone, Natsu, who was holding a giant turkey drumstick, paused just before he could take a bite. He then turned his head in the direction of the shout. Happy, Lisanna, and Miyako also turned to look, as well.
When they did, they saw Sting, with Lector standing on his right shoulder, approaching with a determined expression on his face.
On a side note, as soon as Alfonzo left to deal with Ichiya, the five Sabertooth wizards left the table where Elicia, Mirajane, and Shizuka were sitting, as well. While Minerva went with Irene to meet Ur so she could establish an alliance with Fairy Tail, Rufus and Orga went to mingle with the other wizards, Rufus trying to improve relations with the others.
As for Sting and Rogue, they took similar actions. They went to find two of Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayers, Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox, respectively.
"Hmm?" Natsu hummed in confusion. "Who are you?"
When Sting, who had been looking for Natsu specifically, heard that, he stumbled over his own feet. He managed to catch himself quickly enough, though.
"Natsu, how did you forget who he is?" Lisanna asked in an exasperated tone. "That's Sting Eucliffe, the White Dragon Slayer from Sabertooth."
Hearing that Lisanna knew who he was, Sting straightened his back proudly. Yet, Natsu's next words made him fall to the floor in shock.
"Oh, he's the guy that kept taking balls to the face from Alfonzo, right?" Natsu asked after a moment of contemplation.
"Pause!" Alfonzo's voice rang out over the ball room immediately afterwards.
After falling to the floor, Sting looked at Natsu with resentment. Yet, Natsu looked quite confused about why Sting came to find him.
Meanwhile, Lector landed on the table and stared down Happy.
"So, there are more cats like me and Frosch, huh?" Lector asked. "Well, you don't look like anything special to me."
"He's literally a talking cat that flies." Lisanna said in a deadpan tone, that Lector ignored.
"Well, you're nothing special, either." Happy said before taking a bite of a fish he was holding in his arms. "I bet you don't even have a girlfriend."
"Wait! You! You have a girlfriend?" Lector asked while pointing at Happy in disbelief.
"Yup, and she loves~~~~~ me." happy said happily. "Then again, you probably don't even know about the other Exceeds, do you?"
Unfortunately, the rest of what Happy had to say was completely ignored by Lector, as he dropped to his knees and started pounding his little paws on the top of the table, jealous of the fact that Happy had a girlfriend and he did not.
Meanwhile, Sting finally managed to stand back to his feet. First, he glanced at Lector, who seemed to have been defeated already. Then, he turned back to Natsu, glancing at Lisanna and Miyako along the way.
"Natsu Dragneel, fight me." Sting said. "I'll show you who the strongest Dragon Slayer is."
In the past, this would have been enough to make Natsu drop everything and fight. However, even someone as thick headed as Natsu matured a little after having a child. So, instead of immediately accepting Sting's offer, he looked at Lisanna, who was smiling very sweetly, yet very menacingly.
Natsu then looked at Miyako, who was staring at him with stars in her eyes. Even though most of the fights she had seen Natsu involved in were at the guild hall in Magnolia and resulted in losses, she enjoyed seeing him fight. Though, like her father, she seemed to like fights in general.
"Well, I don't mind fighting you." Natsu said after grinning at Miyako. "But not now. I don't wanna get my daughter involved."
Hearing Natsu's reply, Lisanna nodded her head approvingly.
'If only he could show this much self-control at the guild hall.' Lisanna thought to herself. '*Sigh* But I can't blame it all on Natsu. Sometimes, the fights start so fast that there's no time to think.'
"Your daughter?" Sting asked in a dumbfounded tone while staring at Miyako, who waved at him with a smile on her face. "I never thought you, of all people, would ever have a child. I mean, you were just so..."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Natsu asked curiously. "You make it sound like you know me."
"*Sigh* Do you ever listen, Natsu?" Lisanna asked. "Igneel told you that you used to meet up with the other dragon slayers for joint training when you were a kid, remember?"
"Oh, yeah... That's right." Natsu replied. Though, it was clear that he did not actually remember.
Sting on the other hand, had a much bigger reaction to Lisanna's reprimand. His eyes opened wide. Then, he lunged forward and grabbed Natsu by his collar.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Natsu asked while swiping Sting's arms away.
Unfortunately, Sting was not prepared for the superhuman level of strength Natsu had after not being trapped in the [Fairy Sphere] for the last six years.
*Bang!*
Meaning, Sting was sent flying into the nearest wall, leaving cracks in the stone wall after he was imbedded into it. Yet, despite the fact that his entire body hurt at the moment, Sting climbed out of the human-shaped indent he left in the wall and slowly made his way over to Natsu once again.
"What do you mean, Igneel told you?" Sting asked as he reached out to grab Natsu again.
At that moment, Lisanna realized she said more than she should have. She then lunged at Natsu and clamped her hand over his mouth. Then, she smiled at Sting.
"That's actually a secret of our guild." Lisanna said with a drop of nervous sweat dripping down her forehead. But if you really want to know, you should ask Alfonzo. If he's in a good mood, he might tell you about it."
"Look, I only wanna know where I can find Weisslogia." Sting said, a hint of pleading in his tone.
"*Sigh* Sorry man." Natsu said in a sympathetic tone, something quite uncharacteristic for him, after taking Lisanna's hand off his mouth. "As much as I wanna help you out, I can't break the guild rules again."
Reaching that point, Natsu's expression turned to one filled with fear and he began to shake violently.
"I can't go through 'That' again, man." Natsu said, sounding as though he were on the verge of a mental breakdown. "I just can't!"
Stepping back in surprise at Natsu's change, Stings expression hardened as he started looking around the ball room to find Alfonzo again. He finally found a clue to where he could find the dragon that raised him, the White Dragon, Weisslogia, and he had no intention of letting it go.
Meanwhile, around the time that Sting found Natsu, Rogue also found Gajeel. However, instead of just walking up to him, Rogue stood a short distance away as he watched Gajeel kneeling on one knee in front of a petite, blue-haired, female wizard.
"I think I came at a bad time." Rogue muttered.
"Frosch thinks so, too." Frosch, who was standing on Rogue's shoulder, added.
With no further words, Rogue and Frosch just watched the spectacle in front of them. However, they were not surprised when the blue-haired wizard, Levy McGarden, covered her mouth after Gajeel pulled a small box out of his pocket.
"Levy McGarden, will you---" Gajeel started to ask. "Argh! Damn it! These two are getting in the way at a time like this, too?"
*Bang!*
However, what did surprise Rogue and Frosch was the fact that a blur slammed into Gajeel before he could finish, sending him flying. A moment later, the blur materialized into a man of average height with slicked back orange hair who turned around to look at Levy pleadingly.
"Levy, please don't do this." The orange-haired man, Jet, said in a desperate tone. "At least give me a chance."
"[Plant Magic: Knuckle Plant]."
*Bang!*
Yet, before Levy could respond, a plant seed rolled over to Jet's feet. Then, it grew rapidly into a vine with a fist-shaped end before the vine punched Jet in the chin, sending him flying, as well.
A moment later, a slightly shorter wizard with black hair and a plant stem shaped tuft of hair on top of his head rushed in front of Levy. However, he did not seem to notice the angry expression the petite wizard was wearing.
"No, give me a chance, Levy." The black-haired wizard, Droy, rushed to say. "No one cares about you more than I--- Ahh~~~~~~~~~!"
"[Solid Script Magic: Electrocute]." Levy chanted as she wrote the name of her spell, [Electrocute], in the air with a [Light Pen] she always carried on her.
Unfortunately, Droy was too engrossed in his own feelings to notice when Levy drew her [Light Pen]. So, when the [Electrocute] spell hit him, it hurt much more than it usually would because he never saw it coming.
Then, after dealing with Droy, Levy turned to Jet, who was just about to pick himself up from the ground.
"[Solid Script Magic: Glue]." Levy chanted as she wrote another word in the air.
Levy then pushed the word, [Glue], towards Jet. Then, just as it was right above him, each letter burst into globs of ultra-sticky magical glue before pouring down over him. As a result, Jet was unable to get off the floor. Instead, the only thing he could do was stare at Levy in confusion.
"Gajeel Redfox." Levy said in a stern, fed-up, no nonsense tone. "Get the hell over here and finish what you started, right now!"
Levy then turned to look at Jet and the barely conscious Droy with a deep frown on her face.
"As for the two of you," Levy said in a menacing, yet disappointed tone. "I've had enough of the two of you getting in the way of my relationship with Gajeel. So, let me make myself clear. This will be the last time. Do you understand?"
Instead of replying, both Jet and Droy lowered their heads in both shame and frustration.
"I asked you a question." Levy said sharply. "Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
"Yes, Levy." Jet and Droy replied in unison. Though, their tones were much weaker than usual.
"Good." Levy said with a nod. She then turned her head only to see Gajeel standing in front of her with a smile that was equal parts loving and thrilled at the dominance Levy just showed. "Well, get to it."
*Thud!*
Without a word, Gajeel dropped to one knee again. Then he held the box out in front of him before opening it to reveal a ring made of what appeared to be orichalcum with a diamond set into it.
"Levy McGarden, will you marry me?" Gajeel asked with the same time on his face.
"Yes." Levy replied simply as she reached out, took the ring out of the box, and put it on her own left ring finger. "Seriously, I was wondering how much longer you were gonna make me wait. I almost bought myself a damn ring."
"Hahahaha!" Instead of getting angry at Levy's brashness, Gajeel laughed uproariously. Then, he stood up and swept Levy off her feet, causing her to lose her harsh expression, as well. Then, the two shared a kiss.
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
On top of that, the little commotion caused by Jet and Droy had already drawn the attention of most of the ball room. So, when they saw the successful engagement, everyone cheered.
"I think I'll wait until later to challenge him." Rogue said as he slowly turned around. "Now definitely isn't the time."
"Frosch thinks so, too." Frosch said with a smile that was just a little bit wider than his usual smile.