Chapter 6: Cana Arrives
Noah's life fell into a steady rhythm of learning, training, and completing missions.
As his strength grew, the scope of his missions expanded from the area around Magnolia to the entire Kingdom of Fiore. By constantly reading the books in Fairy Tail's library and relying on his ever-improving memory and learning ability, his knowledge of magic became incredibly vast, and he learned many different spells.
After three months, Laxus finally received Makarov's approval to officially take on missions, also starting with jobs within Magnolia. Every week, Laxus would challenge Noah to a fight, but it always ended in his defeat. By now, Noah could beat Laxus with ease.
This clearly spurred Laxus on, and he poured all of his time outside of missions into relentless training. Noah also tried to teach Laxus the healing arts, but Laxus gave up after a short while of trying to memorize the medical texts.
Time passed in a blur, and two years went by. The year was now X772, and Noah was eight years old.
One day, after returning to the guild from a mission, Noah was sitting and reading while listening to the chatter of the other members. He happened to glance up and noticed a little girl sitting by herself in a corner.
Noah was curious. Whose child is that? he wondered. Did Makarov pick up another one?
He flagged down a nearby guild member and asked, "Who's that little girl over there? Is she a new member?"
"Oh, that little one? She's not a member, but she seems to really like it here. She's been coming to the guild every day for the past several days."
Noah thought for a moment, then stood up and walked over to the little girl, intending to ask if she needed any help.
"Hello there, little miss. What's your name? Is there anything you need help with? I'm Noah of Fairy Tail. This is my guild mark."
Noah held up his right hand to show her the emblem on its back. It had become a habit of his to display his guild mark whenever he introduced himself. He took a closer look at the girl before him. She looked to be about five or six years old, with short, solid brown hair. Her hair color and gender felt strangely familiar to him.
The little girl had been staring blankly at the table. She looked up when she heard his voice and replied, "My name is Cana. I'm looking for someone."
Noah paused, then observed the girl more carefully. So this is Cana. He remembered that, aside from Laxus, Cana was the earliest of the "Fairy Tail kids" to join the guild. So this was when she arrived.
"Have you found him yet? Do you want me to help you look?"
Cana hesitated before answering. "I... I haven't found him yet. But it's okay, thank you."
Seeing her attitude, Noah guessed she had probably already seen Gildarts. He recalled that Gildarts had returned a few days ago, taken a few missions, and left again. He likely wouldn't be back for a while. However, Gildarts was scheduled to return at the end of the year. Makarov had specifically asked him to come back for something important, an event that Noah himself was also looking forward to.
Noah thought for a moment and asked Cana, "Where are you staying now?"
"I'm at the church's orphanage."
"The church? I know Father Bullock. Let's walk over there together. It gets too loud in the guild, it's not a good place for a kid to stay for too long. Besides, I need to talk to the Father about something anyway."
"You know Father Bullock, too? Okay, let's go together."
"Wait here for a moment. I'm just going to grab something from my house, and then we'll go to the church."
Noah went home to his room and took a small package from his drawer. He then returned to the guild, found Cana, and they walked out together towards the church.
On the way, although Noah knew some of Cana's circumstances from his memories, he still needed to ask to be sure.
"How old are you? Who are you looking for? And where are your parents?"
"I'm six years old. My mother already passed away. My father... he's the one I'm looking for."
"What's your father's name? Let me see if I know him."
"My dad... My dad's name is..."
Noah could see that Cana was extremely hesitant. It was likely because she had seen Gildarts but hadn't been able to speak to him, making it much harder for her to say the name again. He stopped walking, turned, and squatted down so he was at eye level with her.
"There's no need to be scared," he said gently. "You have to say it out loud. I can only help you if you tell me. We can look for him together, and we'll find your dad much faster. Don't you want to see your dad sooner?"
Cana struggled with herself for a long moment before finally, slowly, speaking.
"My dad... My dad's name is Gildarts Clive..."
Hearing this, Noah knew his memory was correct. "So it's him," he said. "I can't believe he has a daughter. He really doesn't seem the type... anyway, never mind that. Have you seen your dad yet? I remember he just came back a few days ago."
"I saw him..."
"You saw him, but I haven't heard him mention anything. I take it you weren't able to tell him, were you?"
"No..." she mumbled.
"Don't worry about it. The next time I see him, I'll help you beat him up. To have such a cute daughter and not even know how to cherish her, making you go through all this trouble... he definitely needs a good thrashing."
"N-no, don't! It's my fault for not saying anything, it's not my dad's fault."
"Don't you worry," Noah said with a grin. "Even though I can't beat Gildarts for real yet, I can still give him a good smack. We're here. Let's go see Father Bullock together."
Cana looked up and realized they had arrived at an archway with an iron gate. A cross sat atop the arch. Through the gate, they could see a multi-story building with an even larger cross on its roof, surrounded by a few smaller, shorter buildings. All the structures looked rather old and worn, clearly a place that had been around for a long time. This was the church, which also housed the orphanage where Cana was now living.
The gate was unlocked. As they pushed it open, an elderly man wearing a tall hat with a cross on it and red and green robes was walking out. This was Father Bullock.
He had come out upon hearing the gate open. When he saw Noah and Cana, a happy expression appeared on his face.
"Cana, you're back! And isn't this Noah? How have you been lately? It's been a while since you last visited."
A bright smile appeared on Noah's face as well. "Hello, Father! How have you been? I just got back from a mission that took a while. I happened to see Cana and she said she was staying with you, so I thought I'd walk her back and visit you and the others at the same time."