Return to Fiore

It did not take Alex much time to make it back to Bosco's Magic Council tower, he could fly in a straight line and didn't have to stop much for rest now that he wasn't keeping {Stealth} active all the time.

He did have to kill a couple flying monsters that tried taking a bite out of him though. Figuring he could fry them up later he just stuffed them into {Inventory} and carried on.

When he reached the council tower, there was quite a few of the council members waiting outside for him. 'Seems like they were tracking me with their weird monitoring magic' he thought wryly.

He thought they had probably tried following all his progress but couldn't because he kept stealth active the whole time.

He had to go through a debriefing with the council members but the atmosphere was very pleasant as they were happy this threat was taken care of.

When he showed them the corpse they were ecstatic and brought his reward right away.

For the emergency S-class quest he received 2 magic items and 4 million jewel, though he had to pass up on one of the items saying "I'm sorry but 'charm' magic is currently outlawed in Fiore". 'Charm magic is for losers anyway' he chuckled internally.

Taking his loot into his {Inventory} he headed out.

As he was flying towards Fiore he had a random thought that he should just take a detour and see some sights, he was no longer in a hurry and could enjoy the trip.

Making up his mind, he pulled out the communication lacrima that he had received from the master, he wanted to let Makarov know he was going to be longer than he probably should have been, but that the job was done and he was safe.

He also let Wendy and Carla know as well, he didn't want them to worry about him while he was gone and informed them to call him if they needed anything or just wanted to talk.

Makarov was happy to hear from him and told him to have a safe trip as he explored.

Ending the calls, Alex stored the Lacrima and headed towards Bosco's southeastern coast, his plan was to become a beach-bum as he made his way back to Fiore.

It didn't take him long to reach the coast but it was dark when he got there. Setting up a quick camp he fried up some of the meat he had collected on his trip and headed straight to bed.

Waking up early the next morning, Alex just lazed around. He had no desire to do his morning exercises, but still forced himself too albeit a little later than usual.

When the sun was high in the sky, he started walking down the beach. He was in no hurry to get back home and wanted to enjoy himself, he swam in the ocean and lazed around in the sun.

He even went surfing for a while, there wasn't actually any natural waves but that mattered little with {Mana Manipulation}.

Having had his fun on the beach, he started heading south again still not in any hurry.

If he passed any towns he would stop at the local taverns to enjoy food, drink and on some occasion women.

He didn't feel guilty about one night stands as it was made very clear beforehand that was all it was going to be and he never forced himself on any woman. It was always consensual.

Time passed in this way as he made his way down the coast like a drifter, taking in the sights and talking to the locals.

A month had passed since he left Fiore and he was finally stepping back into its borders, he was still in no rush and stuck to the coast.

The only real difference between the taverns and bars in Fiore and Bosco is that he heard all sorts of gossip about Fairy Tail in the taverns of Fiore.

'Looks like those guys are as destructive as ever' he thought with a chuckle when he heard about an entire port being destroyed in Hargeon.

'Wait... Port destroyed in Hargeon? I think that might have been Natsu, if that's the case it looks like the canon is going to start' he thought with a smile, he was looking forward to it and wanted to see what would be different with his interference.

"So I've been in this world for a year now" he muttered to himself as he walked out of the tavern.

He started heading in the direction of clover town, He didn't want to take all of Team Natsu's fights but he did want to test something with Lullaby. If he could get so much stronger from a "roided out" regular demon, what would he gain from an etherious?

He made his way quickly to Clover town as he didn't want to miss this opportunity and he couldn't quite remember how much longer it would be before Erza went after Eisenwald.

When he reached Clover he breathed a sigh of relief, the attack hadn't happened yet, in fact none of the guild masters at the conference even seemed worried.

He didn't approach Makarov as he didn't want to risk lullaby not awakening, he wasn't sure he could absorb demon particles from a flute after all.

He had to wait about 2 days in clover before a letter came for Master Makarov from Mira, letting him know that Fairy Tails "strongest team" had been formed.

Alex chuckled at the masters little breakdown before thinking 'I was either quicker than I thought or I was slightly off my mark on how many days into Canon we are'. Alex shrugged it off moments later as he was here now and could intervene however he wanted.

It did not take much longer after the master received the letter, that Kageyama of Eisenwald showed up and was confronted by the Master.

Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy showed up moments later and Alex chose that time to make an appearance.

"Yo! What's up guys? It's been a while" Alex greeted casually to the group. """"ALEX!"""" Natsu, Gray, Happy and the Master yelled at the same time.

None of them had even sensed his presence including Master Makarov.

"What are you kids doing here? And you too Alex, I thought you were still exploring?" the master asked them all curiously.

"I was just heading to the nearest train st..." Alex started his tale, it was this moment Lullaby got pissed off and activated its true form.

"I grow tired of you cowardly wizards and your antics!" Lullaby yelled.

Alex did not let it continue its rant before quickly using {Metamorphosis} and {Fel-Fire} in quick succession. Nobody but Erza and the master were quick enough to react to Alex's actions and they just looked on curiously.

A giant Green inferno ingulfed Lullaby in the middle of its monologue. Being born from pure Ethernano it was extremely susceptible to {Fel-Fire}.

Alex realized his mistake a little too late as he watched Lullaby burn to nothing.

He had stood between his guildmates and the fire so he could stop them from being affected by the heat and gave his fire the command to destroy Lullaby completely not realizing that he would have nothing to absorb from ash.

Staring at the pile of ash and the few burning trees behind it, Alex was mentally kicking himself 'Damnit! WTF was the point of all this then?!' he yelled internally.

"Well that was kind of anti-climactic" he said to his stupefied audience.

They all just kind of stared dumbly at him and the ashes before Natsu spoke in a disheartened tone "I think you're right about me not eating those flames... All I felt was death from them".

Natsu's words sparked life back into the people and everyone moved to contain the fire before introductions could be made.

When the fire was out the members of Fairy Tail all gathered together "I am Alexander Black, I don't think We've had the pleasure of meeting yet" he said to the armor clad red-head and blonde bimbo.

"I am Erza Scarlet, it is a pleasure to meet you Alexander. I heard a passing tale that you beat Laxus? It must have been quite the spectacle" Erza replied.

"And I'm Lucy! It nice to meet you!" the blonde girl said cheerfully.

"She loooves you!" Happy said mockingly before he bolted to get away from the enraged Lucy.

"Get back here you stupid cat!!!" Lucy yelled.

"Hey man, how did that emergency request in Bosco go?" Gray asked conversationally.

Everyone started paying attention at his questions so Alex started telling his story.

They were surprised and impressed by all he had to do to track the demon down, as well as it's strange ability to use invisibility.

Alex told them everything, including his trip down the coast and exploring.

Alex and the master went off to have a little meeting privately while Erza dealt with Kageyama getting turned over to the authorities.

Their meeting consisted of Alex asking how Wendy was and if she was fitting in, the reply was very positive before Makarov wanted to know the darker specifics of the 'demon hunt'.

Alex told him everything about the fight and body count. Makarov was happy Alex tried assisting in the reparations of the final village and knew there was nothing more Alex could have done.

Everyone eventually headed to the train station to head back to Magnolia, it was there Alex 'learned' of the damage his Guild members did to the station and the tracks.

Letting out a long drawn out sigh and not really wanting to walk through the ravine, he told them to pile back into the magic car and he would fix the track on the way by.

There was nothing he could (or would) do for the station at the next town over though, that would just have to come out of the groups own pockets.

Makarov was thanked Alex for fixing the bridge but was blowing a nerve at the others for destroying the station.

Alex used the Troia spell on himself and Natsu so they wouldn't get sick. Natsu spent his first time in a vehicle without getting sick, by antagonizing Gray and having them both get hit by Erza for being annoying.

Because of the magic-mobile and having both Alex and the Master powering it, they made it back to Magnolia before the end of the day.

Heading straight for the guild hall, they made quite the scene. It wasn't everyday the people of Magnolia got to see the Master of Fairy Tail driving a Magic-mobile with someone napping on the roof, two more were sticking out the side punching each other and two young ladies sitting in the back having a pleasant conversation.

Erza had evidently given up on Natzu and Gray, choosing to just let them hit each other.

This scene continued until they reached the guildhall, earning quite a few open chuckles from the towns folk along the way.

When they reached the guild Natsu was the first one off and sprinted to the door before kicking it in and yelling "We made it back alive!" at the top of his lungs.

Elfman told him about how real men do things and they quickly started fighting.

When Alex made his way into he guild hall with the others he laughed at how fast it had devolved into chaos as another guild brawl started.

Taking in the sight he headed to the bar with the Master and Erza went to get cake.

"Good evening Master, Alex, it's good to see the two of you" Mirajane said with a smile, she quickly grabbed a drink for each of them.

"Good evening Mira, you're as lovely as ever! Thank you" Alex said as he grabbed the proffered beer.

Mira gave him her signature smile before asking if they wanted food, they both agreed and ordered the daily special.

A random guy was thrown his way by either Natsu or Gray and Alex had to catch him before he hit the bar "Thanks, the name's Loki by the way" the guy said. "Alex, it's nice to meet you" was his reply before Loki charged back into the brawling pile.

After dinner he moved over to the table that Cana and Macao were drinking at in order to greet them and have a few drinks, he didn't spend much time in the guild before he headed back home.

He hadn't seen Wendy or Carla in the guild and thought they might be in bed already.