Reunited... So Soon?

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

January, x781.

"Damn… What kinda shit luck is that?" Gildarts exclaimed after Alfonzo, Elicia, and Erza finished their report on the quest.

"Seriously, that thing was still alive after having almost half of its head blown off." Ur added, looking at Alfonzo in an incredulous manner.

"More important than that, I'm just glad you came back alive, my boy." Makarov said with a solemn expression on his face.

"*Sigh* Yeah, but it looks like I'll be out of commission for a while." Alfonzo said, clearly feeling down about the way the time he would have take to recover.

With that, both Elicia and Erza hugged Alfonzo in an attempt to comfort him. Naturally, this caused Makarov, Gildarts, and Ur to raise an eyebrow in surprise. As experienced as they were, they could all tell that Erza's relationship with Alfonzo and Elicia had advanced. While Makarov was having his usual delusions about the good ol' days, Ur looked on with a bit of concern. She knew how her daughter, Ultear felt about Alfonzo, after all.

Gildarts, on the other hand, was ready to challenge Alfonzo to a "friendly" spar for adding more girls when he already had his princess's heart. But when he looked at Alfonzo's missing left arm, that idea died in its infancy.

"*Cough* Anyway, good job completing the quest." Makarov said, trying to alleviate the depressing atmosphere. Then, he shifted his gaze to Sun, who had remained silent during the report on the quest. "Now, we should talk about you, little lady."

"Huh? Me?" sun asked, surprised that she was the new topic of conversation.

"That's right." Makarov said with a nod. "You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Sun replied with an energetic nod of her own.

"Then, I would assume that you can use magic, yes?" Makarov continued with a question.

"Yes, I can." Sun answered. "I can use [Voice Magic]."

While Gildarts and Ur looked at Sun with interest after hearing the magic she could use, Makarov looked at her with a bit of skepticism.

'[Voice Magic], huh?' Makarov mused. 'I don't know if it's one hundred percent true, but from what I I've heard, only merfolk, specifically female merfolk, can use voice magic. I guess I'll have to see what comes of this. Then again, it's not like there's anything wrong with people of other species joining the guild. Hell, we even have a talking cat in our guild, so it should be fine.'

"I see." Makarov said, not thinking for too long. "Well, welcome to the family. Tomorrow, we'll meet here and assess your abilities. Then, we can assign you a rank. That rank will determine what quests you'll be able to accept."

'It looks like Gramps suspects something.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Well, with age comes wisdom, and all that shit.'

After that thought, Alfonzo exchanged glances with Elicia and Erza. Who also realized Makarov knew more than he was letting on. But since they did not want to get Sun in any trouble, they decided to keep their thoughts to themselves.

"Yes!" Sun exclaimed happily. "Alfonzo, Elicia, Erza, I'll be able to go on quests with you all!"

With that, Sun enveloped Alfonzo, Elicia, and Erza in a hug. It was clear to anyone that could see her that she was happy. In fact, other than another merfolk girl that was the same age as her, Sun did not have any friends. And with a father like Gozaburo, it was no wonder why.

But now, on top of being able to go on adventures, there was an entire guild full of people that could be her friends. And that was what truly excited her.

"Now, where do you want the guild mark?" Makarov asked, reaching into one of his desk drawers. When he pulled his hand out, he was holding a magic stamp.

"Oh, put it right here." Sun said after releasing Alfonzo, Elicia, and Erza from her hug. Then, she pointed at the front of her right thigh.

Naturally, Makarov wasted no time approaching Sun's legs that were exposed by the skirt she was wearing. However, when Sun saw how Makarov's nostrils flared a bit more than usual, she took a step back.

*Smack*

*Bang!*

"What the hell are you doing, you perverted geezer?" Ur asked, slapping Makarov hard enough to make him face plant on the floor. "Gimme that stamp, I'll put the guild mark on her."

Before Makarov could respond, Ur bent down and snatched the stamp out of Makarov's hand before quickly standing back up.

"Geez, Ur." Makarov groaned as he picked himself up from the ground. "You do know that I'm not a young man anymore, right? You really should be more gentle with me."

"Hmph! So, you know you're old, huh?" Ur replied while approaching Sun. "Then, maybe you should act your age. Instead of acting like a horny boy in puberty."

"Haha! She told you, Old Man." Gildarts said with a hardy laugh.

That naturally led to Makarov bickering with Gildarts. At the same time, Ur had finally arrived in front of Sun.

"Don't worry about the old man." Ur said as she crouched down in front of Sun. "He's actually harmless."

"I see." Sun replied unsurely as she glanced at Makarov, who was still bickering with Gildarts.

"Yes, there's nothing to be scared of." Erza said while placing a hand on Sun's shoulder. "Master would never hurt any of us."

"Besides, even if he tried anything, Fonzie would have stopped him." Elicia said with a smile.

*Thud!*

As if to prove Elicia's point, one of the nails that held down the wooden planks that make up the floor of Makarov's office was pushed back in place. The sound it made drawing Elicia, Ur, Erza, and Sun's attention.

"Really, Alfonzo?" Ur asked with her eyes narrowed. "You were gonna hurl a nail at the old man?"

"Don't look at me like that, Ur." Alfonzo said, foregoing the "Aunt" due to his current condition. "I would have hit him with the head of the nail, not the pointy end."

"Oh, that's fine then." Ur said, turning her attention back to giving Sun her guild mark. "So, what color do you want, Sun?"

"Umm… How about light blue?" Sun replied.

"Light blue it is." Ur said, injecting a bit of her magic power into the stamp before pressing it on Sun's thigh. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, let's go back downstairs. We've got a party to throw for a new member, after all."

With that, the conversation in Makarov's office came to an end. Then, the seven left the room and made their way back to the guild hall's first floor. And in the usual Fairy Tail fashion, the entire guild partied in honor of the new guild member.

During the party, Alfonzo and Elicia introduced Sun to their group of friends. While most of them like Sun instantly, Cana, Ultear, and Mirajane looked at her skeptically. However, Cana would come to know wh Sun had been engaged to Alfonzo before too long.

Nearly six hours later, the party began to wind down and everyone started to make their way home. Naturally, Alfonzo, Elicia, Cana, and Sun were no exception. However, on their way out, they had a short conversation with Erza as they piled into the Escalade.

"Erza, aren't you coming with us" Elicia asked as she sat in the driver's seat.

"I don't think I'm ready for that step yet." Erza replied. "This all happened so fast."

"That makes sense." Alfonzo said with a smile from the back seat. "Take your time. There's no rush."

"At least she didn't beat me to it." Cana muttered to herself from the front passenger seat. "I'm definitely gonna be next."

"So, you're not coming back with us, Erza?" Sun asked, a little sad to be separated from her new friend.

"No, but I'll see you tomorrow at the guild." Erza replied with a confident smile.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." Sun replied, infected by Erza's smile.

"Well then, let's go!" Elicia said, closing her car door. "We've gotta show Sun her new home."

A moment later, Elicia started the engine and pulled away from the guild hall.

Erza, standing in front of the guild hall, waved until she could no longer see the rear lights of the Escalade.

"*Sigh* This is really happening." Erza murmured to herself.

*Smack!* x 2

A moment later, Erza smacked both her hands on her cheeks. Then, with determination in her eyes, she started walking toward Fairy Hills.

"I have to start packing." Erza said in a determined tone. "As soon as I pack all my things, I'll move in with them, right away. If I knew this was gonna happen, I would have started packing before the quest."

Although she did not yet have as much luggage as her canon counterpart did, it would still take Erza quite some time to pack all her belongings. On top of being a fanatic for weapons and armor, Erza loved clothes just as much. In fact, she actually rented out three rooms in Fairy Hills, just so she would have enough space for all her clothing.

While Erza was walking back to the female dormitory, Elicia had stopped the Escalade in front of the gates to the mansion. They did not stopp for any normal reason, either. Instead of losing the device that opened the gate or the device not working for some reason, she stopped because there was something in the area that was not there when they left.

Usually, the lot to the left of the mansion was vacant. However, the four people in the vehicle noticed an eastern-style mansion where there should have only been a field of grass.

"Is it just me? Or does that mansion look familiar?" Elicia asked in a daze.

"No, it's not just you." Alfonzo replied in a similar daze. "I'm pretty sure I've seen that mansion before."

"That looks just like my house." Sun said, dazed like the other two.

"Oh, someone bought that lot about a week ago." Cana replied with a frown. "Then, they had people working around the clock in shifts to build the house. They just finished earlier today. Ugh.! It was so annoying that I went to my dad's house to sleep for a few nights."

"I bet Gildarts was ecstatic." Alfonzo said with a smile.

Before the conversation could continue, the gate to the house next door opened. When it did, four people stepped through it. Four people that Alfonzo, Elicia, and sun were familiar with.

"Wow… they really followed her here." Elicia said with her eyes wide open.

"*Sigh* I knew this was gonna happen." Alfonzo muttered to himself. "But I didn't think it would happen so soon."

"Mom? Dad?" Sun asked in a tone of disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

The people who stepped through the gates, as Sun said, were Gozaburo and Ren Seto, accompanied by Masa and Shark Fujishiro.

"Hey, Sun!" Gozaburo shouted with a happy smile on his face. "Daddy missed you!"

Hearing that, Cana turned around and looked at Sun with empathy. Then, she reached toward the back seat and patted Sun on the shoulder.

"Looks like you've got it rough, too." Cana said with a wry smile.

"Oh, don't misunderstand, Cana. You can't even compare the two." Elicia said while shaking her head. "Sun's dad makes Gildarts look cute."

That statement caused Cana to widen her eyes.

"Is that possible?" Cana asked in an incredulous tone. "But my dad is so annoying."

At that moment, on the other side of Magnolia, Gildarts felt as if he had been pierced in the heart by an arrow.

"I don't know what happened, but I feel like crying all of a sudden." Gildarts murmured to himself.

Back at the mansion, The Setos approached the Escalade.

"It's good to meet you, neighbors." Ren said with a smile when her group was standing next to the passenger side door. Then, she introduced herself and the other three, more for Cana's benefit than anything else. "I'm Ren Seto, Sun's mother. And this is my husband, Sun's father, Gozaburo. These are our subordinates, Masa and Fujishiro."

After making all the introductions, Ren reached her hand toward the open window for a handshake.

"Uh.. Hi, I'm Cana… Cana Alberona." Cana replied as she reached out the window and took Ren's hand.

"So, why don't you invite us inside." Ren said after releasing Cana's hand. "There's an important talk we need to have. Especially for this young lady's sake."

While Cana was clearly confused by what was going on, Alfonzo and Elicia sighed in unison. Meanwhile, Sun was just happy that she could see her family again so soon.