Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August 31, x791.
Two and a half hours passed after Alfonzo left the Mansion on the Lakes' living room with Irene slung over his shoulder. All the while, Retsu remained sitting on the couch where Alfonzo left her, occasionally rubbing her throat with a manic smile on her face and a blush on her cheeks.
When Alfonzo returned, he was supporting Irene, who was clearly having trouble walking under her own power, making it clear just how he punished her for doubting his... capabilities.
When Retsu saw this scene, she narrowed her eyes, clear jealousy swirling in their depths. And when Irene saw that, she smiled mockingly.
*Smack!*
"Kya!" Irene yelped in both surprise and pleasure when Alfonzo interrupted her taunting by slapping her on the butt.
Irritated that Alfonzo interrupted her fun, Irene glared at him. However, that glare only lasted for a moment when she felt Alfonzo's large hand massaging the spot he just slapped.
"*Cough* Sorry to keep you waiting." Alfonzo said after Retsu's stare got a little too heavy. "Since you're here, I'm guessing Master Tsunade has solved the issue of Mermaid Heel's guild master, right?"
"That's right." Retsu replied with a nod.
"And that means you intend to move in here." Alfonzo said as he led Irene to the couch Irene was sitting on earlier.
Just at that moment, Grayfia entered the living room carrying a serving tray with two teacups and a pot of tea on top of it. She then placed the two teacups in front of Alfonzo and Irene before pouring each of them a cup of tea with graceful movements.
"Thank you Grayfia." Alfonzo said while catching Grayfia's hand before she could pull it away.
"Master Alfonzo, not while I'm on duty." Grayfia replied in her usual tone as she gently removed her hand from Alfonzo's.
Then, before Alfonzo could reply, Grayfia bowed, turned around, and made her way out of the living room.
"Well, I guess I saw that coming." Alfonzo said while shaking his head with a fond smile on his face. He then turned his attention back to Retsu with a curious expression on his face. "So, what did Master Tsunade come up with?"
In response, Retsu narrated Tsunade's plan for Mermaid Heel and the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And when Alfonzo heard it, he could not help but chuckle to himself.
"Looks like Kakashi's gonna be swamped in paperwork soon." Alfonzo said with a smile. "I wonder how Laki's gonna feel about that. She already doesn't have a lot of time to spend with him. And now, whenever she goes to the village, he's gonna be busy as hell."
"Indeed." Irene said with a nod. "All because a certain someone is being selfish."
"Yes, Tsuna is quite selfish." Retsu replied, ignoring the fact that Irene was definitely talking about her and not Tsunade.
The room fell silent after that while Retsu and Irene stared into each other's eyes with serene smiles hiding daggers within.
'Ugh! This is gonna get tiring real fast.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he raised a hand to rub his temples.
["You act like you expected anything different."] Bedlam said, clear amusement oozing out of his tone.
Alfonzo only shook his head in response to his [Armament Spirit's] comment.
Yet, before the conversation could continue, the sound of little feet pitter-pattering through the mansion's halls could be heard. And before long, three children, all under the age of five, ran into the living room with Cana, Ultear, Mirajane, Lucy, and Brandish following behind them.
"Daddy!" Bianca shouted as she ran at full speed towards her father.
"Hey, Princess.' Alfonzo replied with a smile as he opened his arms for Bianca to jump into.
Seeing Alfonzo's gesture, Bianca's eyes lit up. Then, to everyone's surprise, she picked up her pace and actually passed Amar'e, who had been running at the front of the group. She then, with all her might, leapt into the air and threw herself at Alfonzo.
Though he was surprised by Bianca's burst of speed, Alfonzo reacted quickly, using his arms to gently receive his hyperactive daughter before she slammed head first into his chest, which was just about as hard as some magical metals thanks to all the torture he put himself through with the Techno Organic Metal over the years. Then, after catching her, he sat her on his lap.
"That was dangerous, Baby." Alfonzo said gently. "You could have really hurt yourself."
"I knew Daddy would save me." Bianca said with firm conviction before bouncing up to kiss Alfonzo on the cheek.
The next to arrive next to Alfonzo was Amar'e. However, it did not seem to bother him that his sister was faster. Also, he did not try to jump into Alfonzo's lap. Instead, he stopped next to him and looked up with hope and expectation shining in his eyes.
"Dad! Let's go train!" Amar'e shouted energetically.
While Cana, Ultear, Mirajane, Lucy, Irene, and Brandish were not surprised to hear Amar'e's request, Retsu raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. She then took a good look at Amar'e, and her eyebrow rose even further.
"Has Amar'e unlocked his magic power already?" Retsu asked rhetorically.
Despite the fact that Retsu was not asking anyone in particular, an answer came quickly.
"Yeah, Fonzie unlocked his magic power a few days ago. *Burp*" Cana, with a bottle of scotch in hand, replied casually. "Since none of us would ever allow those three to go through something traumatic to trigger their magic power's awakening, we thought this would be the best way."
"No!" Bianca shouted, interrupting the conversation.
When everyone turned to look at Bianca, they saw her hugging Alfonzo tightly while glaring at Amar'e. Though, thanks to her cute appearance, she looked more cute than threatening.
"Daddy is going to cook with me!" Bianca shouted again.
"Don't be selfish!" Amar'e shouted back. "Dad cooked with you this morning. It's my turn!"
"No! No! No! No! No~~~~~~!" Bianca shouted repeatedly while shaking her head in objection.
Meanwhile, Calvin finally arrived near Alfonzo. Then, while ignoring his siblings, he tried to climb up onto Alfonzo's lap. However, before he could get too high, Bianca noticed him.
"No!" Bianca shouted once again while lunging to push Calvin away.
However, before she could, Alfonzo grabbed her and lifted her up high, allowing the single-minded Calvin to climb up.
"Bianca." Alfonzo said sternly. "That's enough. You can't be like that with your brothers."
Hearing her father's stern tone, tears came to Bianca's eyes immediately. And when Alfonzo saw that, he almost faltered. Seeing his daughter cry was almost too much for his heart to take. Luckily, someone stepped in before he could start to back pedal.
"Your father is right, Young Lady." Mirajane said sternly as she stepped closer to Alfonzo. "Just what were you about to do to Calvin?"
Bianca did not even pretend to be listening to Mirajane's reprimand. Instead, she continued staring at Alfonzo with her teary eyes.
Unfortunately, that was the wrong move, as the veins on Mirajane's temple started to twitch violently. However, instead of letting her anger control her, she reached out her arms in Alfonzo's and Bianca's direction with an expression that would not take no for an answer.
"You've done it now, Princess." Alfonzo said while shaking his head.
Then, Alfonzo closed his eyes so he would not have to see the tears rolling down Bianca's cheeks. A moment later, Bianca's weight was taken out of his hands and Bianca's wailing began. Unfortunately for her, Alfonzo would not save her from the punishment that was coming. What she tried to do to Calvin was dangerous, after all.
Meanwhile, all the eyes in the room turned to Bianca, who was struggling to get away from Mirajane, which turned out to be futile. There was no way that a girl who was coming up on three years old would be able to get away from an S-Class wizard unless said wizard allowed it.
"See? That's what happens when you spoil her too much." Lucy said as she sat down on the arm rest next to Alfonzo. "You have to learn how to be more firm with her."
As Lucy said, Alfonzo found it extremely hard to discipline Bianca. Because whenever he saw tears start to well up in her eyes, his heart would go soft, no matter how much he told himself that he had to be firm.
"*Sigh* I know..." Alfonzo said as he slowly opened his eyes. "I'm trying... I really am. But it's hard."
"That's what she said." Cana added with another burp and a chuckle.
That caused a small smile to curl Alfonzoo's lips. Meanwhile, everyone else looked at Cana with exasperation in their expressions.
Deciding to ignore Cana's crass joke, Lucy patted Alfonzo on his shoulder while smiling wryly. She could understand what Alfonzo meant. Bianca was quite cute, after all. And seeing that cute face getting sad was hard to resist. However, that sight did not hit anyone else in the house nearly as hard as it hit Alfonzo. The only one who even came close was Irene. However, that was more than likely because she did not get to raise her own daughter, Erza.
After that, Alfonzo decided to take Amar'e and Calvin outside to play. Though, he came up with a game to play, it also served as light physical training for Amar'e. So, he was able to kill two birds with one stone.
Earth Land, Alakitasia, Alvarez Empire, Vistarion.
In the throne room of the castle standing tall in Vistarion, the capital of the Alvarez Empire, the remaining members of the Spriggan 12 were gathered, standing in neat rows before the throne. However, alongside the eight expected to be there, there were three new faces standing among them.
The first was a tall, young man with slicked-back, short blond hair, bluish-green eyes, a scar running across his forehead and nose, and a square jaw wearing a grey trench coat with crosses on the sleeves over a blue outfit, black gloves and boots, and a silver chain with what appeared to be a dog tag hanging from it.
The second was a slender young woman with long, straight brown hair and brown eyes wearing a white hooded cloak, a thigh-length trench coat, a white mini skirt, knee-length white boots and gloves, each with red trim, black stockings, and a white cap with gold and black trim, as well as the Alvarez Empire's insignia on its front.
And the third was a man Alfonzo and Elicia would be familiar with had they been there. This man was the same one who was lucky enough to run away from Crocus before Alfonzo, Elicia, Erza, and Marin performed their raid on Father and his Homunculus several years ago, Greed.
"How the hell do I always end up in situations like this?" Greed asked himself while scratching the side of his head. "All I want is everything this world has to offer, money, power, women, wealth... Is that so much to ask? Instead, I end up working for someone with grand designs on the entire world. Am I cursed, or something?"
"Be silent." Invel barked while glaring at Greed and adjusting his glasses. "You will show the proper respect when in the emperor's thrown room."
Greed immediately fell silent while raising his hands disarmingly. All the while, he considered just how feasible it would be to run away again.
'I knew I should have never stopped at Caracole Island.' Greed thought to himself as Invel looked away. 'The only thing I wanted to do there was see if there was anyone worth recruiting into Hotel Moscow... But almost as soon as I stepped off the damn ship, that bitch, Demaria, found me, killed all my men, and kicked my ass for a while until she realized she couldn't kill me. Then, she tied me up and dragged me to Alvarez to present me to its damned emperor like some kind of fucking trophy. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, he forced me to join the Spriggan 12 to replace the three members they lost. And what makes it even worse... If the emperor is unhappy with me, he actually has the ability to kill me. Just what the hell did I do to deserve this?'
On a side note, when Balalaika received the report about Greed's disappearance, she threw the largest party in Hotel Moscow's history.
While Greed was lamenting his situation and the other two, who like Greed, were recruited to fill the vacancies in the Spriggan 12, were a bit nervous, the other eight members of the Spriggan 12 who were present were waiting patiently. And before long, the one they were waiting for, Zeref, faded into existence atop his throne.
"Your Majesty." The eleven members of the Spriggan 12 said in unison as they bowed respectfully.
Meanwhile, Zeref let his eyes scan the members of his elite unit. And when he saw that only eleven of the twelve were present, he tilted his head in slight confusion.
"Where is Serena?" Zeref asked curiously.
"He is still in Ishgar, Your Majesty." August replied in a solemn tone. "He has been relaying information about what has been happening there."
"I see." Zeref replied with a nod. "Call him back."
"It will be done." Invel replied immediately while making a mental note to contact God Serena as soon as this audience was completed.
"Actually... Tell him to return after destroying the Etherion." Zeref said after a moment of thought. "Although such a toy isn't much of a threat to us. It would still be better to have it out of the way."
"Understood." Invel replied, mentally revising the note he just took.
"Also, I have noticed there are some new faces here." Zeref continued after a nod. He then turned towards August and continued. "Why don't you introduce them to me, August."
"As you command, Your Majesty." August replied. He then gestured to the blond young man. "This is Seifer Almasy. He was raised as a member of the Final Fantasy guild from Fiore. However, after desiring more power, he left the guild and travelled to Alvarez."
Feeling Seifer's magic power reserve, Zeref noted that he was near the bottom when compared to the rest of the Spriggan 12. Even so, he was qualified to join their ranks, even if just barely. He then nodded at August to continue.
"Next, this is Bambietta Basterbine." August continued. "Apparently, she has admired Your Majesty for quite some time. She has also wanted to join the Spriggan 12. But until you ordered us to recruit replacements for the two traitors and Jacob, she could only wait. Yet, when we began recruiting, she stood out immediately with her [Explode Magic], she should be quite an asset during our Ishgar campaign."
Once again, Zeref only nodded. He did note that Bambietta had magic power reserves on par with Brandish before she and Irene defected, though.
"Lastly, we have the last living homunculus, Greed." August continued. "But I'm sure you know more about his capabilities than I do, Your Majesty."
"Yes." Zeref replied simply. "There's no need to introduce him any further. Instead, I have an announcement to make."
Hearing that, the eleven standing before their emperor straightened up.
"Fairy Tail is growing far faster than anticipated." Zeref said in a grave tone. "We no longer have the option to take our time preparing to invade Fiore. Therefore, I want all preparations for the war to be completed by the end of the year. And once the preparations are complete, we will set off. Our objective, the [Fairy Heart]."
"As you command, Your Majesty." The eleven members of the Spriggan 12 replied in unison.
"Dismissed." Zeref said with another nod.
With that, the Spriggan 12 quickly left the throne room to begin preparing for the invasion, leaving Zeref alone to think in silence.