Lyon's Determination

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Margaret. 

January, x786. 

With his sights locked on Juvia, Lyon slowly made his way towards the guild hall's entrance. Meanwhile, feeling rather uncomfortable thanks to Lyon's stare, Juvia hid behind Ultear, who could only smile wryly at what was happening. 

'I guess she knows how Mom, Gray, and I feel when she's stalking us, huh?' Ultear wondered as she looked over her shoulder at Juvia. 'At least Lyon is watching her up front. I mean, having to use [Magic Power Detection] to find the source of the creepy stare makes it even creepier.' 

Despite her thoughts on the matter, Ultear decided to help Juvia out. So, she turned her attention back to Lyon. 

"So, you're not gonna return my greeting, huh, Lyon?" Ultear asked as her wry smile vanished from her face. 

"Huh?" Lyon exclaimed in surprise, pulled out of his daze by the sound of Ultear's voice. "OH, Ultear, it's nice to see you again… Haha… How long have you been there?" 

Feeling the change in atmosphere around Ultear, Lyon immediately realized that was the wrong thing to ask. 

"You should go and give your quest report to Master Ooba, Lyon." Ultear said with a sweet smile on her face, a smile that made Lyon shudder in terror. "When you get back, I'm gonna carry out that assessment Mom talked about." 

*Gulp!* 

Hearing Ultear's declaration, Lyon swallowed his saliva involuntarily. 

"Oh, okay…" Lyon said in an apprehensive tone. "I guess I'll see you later, then." 

With that, Lyon quickly spun on his heels and began walking towards the stairs at a brisk pace. Meanwhile, Juvia, after seeing Lyon turn away, breathed a sigh of relief. However, it would appear that she relaxed too soon. 

"Oh, Ultear, when I get back, you should introduce me to the others who came with you." Lyon said as he stopped and looked back over his shoulder. 

Although he asked to be introduced to the others, Lyon's eyes were set firmly on Juvia, barely registering Alfonzo's presence at all. Because if he had, he would have known that he met Alfonzo back in Magnolia when he attended the wedding. 

"Sure, we can do that after I assess your progress." Ultear said, waving off Lyon's request. "Just get going." 

Nodding in response, Lyon hurried up the stairs. A moment later, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby also followed him upstairs to give the report on their quest. 

"I was ignored from the beginning to the end of that whole episode." Alfonzo said as he watched Team Lyon climb the stairs. 

"Well, I'm glad he paid more attention to a pretty girl than to a sexy man with a god-like physique." Ultear replied with a smile. 

At first, when Ultear called her pretty, Juvia smiled brightly. However, when she heaped even more praise onto Alfonzo, Juvia could not help but start to pout. 

Ignoring Juvia's pout, Ultear took Alfonzo by the hand. Then, she pulled him into the guild hall. Eventually, she reached the table where Jura was sitting. 

"Sorry, Jura." Ultear said with an apologetic smile. "We'll have to postpone our match for another day. Since Lyon came back, I have to test him like mom asked me to." 

"I understand." Jura replied in a peaceful tone while nodding his head. "Unfortunately, it will be at least a week before we can have that spar. I have to return to Era, to discuss something of great importance, tomorrow." 

As Jura spoke, he looked towards Alfonzo. 

'For some reason, the way he's looking at me is giving me a bad feeling.' Alfonzo thought to himself while he made eye contact with Jura. 'But he's such a nice guy. So, I doubt he's plotting against me. Maybe he's just looking forward to our next spar? But if that were the case, I wouldn't be having this bad feeling. Damn it, I don't know what's going on.' 

Unbeknownst to Alfonzo, the reason Jura was staring at him the way he was had something to do with the letter Ur received a few days ago. More specifically, the fact that Alfonzo's name was on the list of candidates for the open spot among the Ten Wizard Saints. 

And because Jura had fought with Alfonzo not long ago, he was leaning towards voting for him when the meeting took place in Era. Though, it would be quite some time before Alfonzo ever found out about this. 

With that, Ultear and Jura continued to chat. Meanwhile, Juvia was content to just stay near Ultear. At the same time, Alfonzo excused himself and made his way down to the guild hall's basement to continue his work. 

About half an hour later, Lyon, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby made their way down the stairs. And when they did, Lyon's eyes zeroed in on Juvia once again. Then, as soon as his feet touched the floor, Lyon sped up his steps as he made a B line towards the table where Ultear, Juvia, and Jura sat, leaving the rest of his team behind. 

"What's up with Lyon?" Toby asked while scratching the side of his head. "Aren't we gonna celebrate our successful quest?" 

"It looks like Lyon has a thing for that blue-haired girl." Yuka replied while watching his leader walk across the guild hall. 

"That's right." Sherry said, taking her usual pose. "I think he's in {love}." 

Hearing that, Toby looked between Sherry and Yuka with confusion on his face. A moment later, he realized that the third of the visitors was not present. 

"Hey, where is that other guy?" Toby asked while scanning the guild hall. 

"He probably went to work on the new training chambers." Yuka said as he began approaching the table where Lyon was. "That was Alfonzo Marcus, the one Ooba Babasama hired to build them, after all." 

"Oooooon" Toby exclaimed in excitement. A moment later, Toby's confused expression returned as he followed behind Yuka. "But what does that mean? Don't we already have a place to train?" 

"*Sigh* You'll see the difference when they're done." Yuka replied, not wanting to waste the energy it would take to get Toby, who was not the smartest member of Lamia Scale, to understand. 

Meanwhile, Lyon finally arrived in front of the table where Ultear, Juvia, and Jura were seated. Then, while ignoring Ultear and Jura, he reached for Juvia's hand. 

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." Lyon said with what he thought was a charming smile. "My name is Lyon Vastia, an A-Class wizard of Lamia Scale. May I ask your name, beautiful lady?" 

Recoiling at the fervor with which Lyon introduced himself, Juvia quickly pulled her hand away before Lyon could grab it. 

"Juvia's name is Juvia." Juvia said while scooting away from Lyon. "And Juvia already has a soul mate. Three, in fact. So, Juvia is not interested in getting to know you." 

Upon hearing Juvia's blunt refusal to talk to him, Lyon staggered back, feeling as if he had taken physical damage. However, the flames of determination burned brightly in his eyes. 

"Ooh…" Yuka muttered as he heard Juvia's reply to Lyon's introduction. "That's gotta hurt." 

"Yes, it must." Sherry added. "To have your {love} denied so bluntly… It's so sad." 

"Oooooon!" Toby exclaimed angrily. "Don't be mean to Lyon!" 

However, Toby's outburst was ignored. 

Eventually, Lyon got himself back together and took a step towards Juvia once again. 

"Please, at least give me a chance." Lyon said in a pleading tone. "I can show you that I'm better for you than any of the three you mentioned. And if they aren't willing to give you up, I will challenge them for your hand." 

Hearing that, Juvia recoiled even further. Then, she glanced at Ultear, who was smiling at her with a sense of schadenfreude. 

'Is this what Ultear feels like when Juvia asked her to leave Alfonzo?' Juvia asked herself while inching away from Lyon. 'Now, Juvia feels bad for the way she acted. Still, Juvia doesn't wanna give up on Ultear. But now Juvia can see why Ultear doesn't like it.' 

'No, Juvia is fine with things the way they are.' Juvia replied. 

"Besides, it sounds like you wanna challenge me, Lyon." Ultear said, finally deciding she had had enough of being ignored. "It sounds like you wanna challenge Mom and Gray, too." 

"Huh?" Lyon exclaimed in confusion. "What do you mean, Ultear? When did I say I wanted to challenge you or Ur?" 

Noticing that Lyon did not seem to mind challenging Gray, Ultear grinned. Seeing the two of them fight might be entertaining. Putting that thought to the back of her head, Ultear decided to answer Lyon's question. 

"Do you remember when we took on the Oración Seis?" Ultear asked. "And we told you that someone called Mom, Gray, and I their soul mates?" 

"Yeah, I got beat up pretty bad for making it seem like no one would ever fall in love with the three of you." Lyon replied as he winced at the memory of the beating he took. Then, his eyes opened wide in realization. "Don't tell me… It was her?" 

As he asked his question, Lyon pointed a trembling finger at Juvia. Meanwhile, his expression was screaming: "Please tell me I'm wrong about this!" 

"Exactly." Ultear replied with a nod, crushing Lyon's hopes in the process. "And although I don't agree with being her soul mate, challenging the ones she's deluded herself into believing are meant for her means that you've challenged not only me, but Mom and Gray, as well." 

Hearing that, Lyon took a step back in fear. However, he quickly regained his determined expression. 

"Even if I have to fight you and Master Ur, I won't back down." Lyon said resolutely. "I'll prove that I am better for Juvia than any of you." 

"*Sigh* His {love} is so beautiful." Sherry said with stars in her eyes. "Now I wish I could see Ren. I really miss him right now." 

"Although I agree that you're probably better for Juvia than Mom and I, I can't ignore the fact that you challenged me." Ultear said with a battle hungry grin. 

"There's no way he's better for Juvia than you and Ur!" Juvia shouted in protest. Though, she was completely ignored. 

"So, why don't we head out to the training grounds." Ultearr continued. "Then, you can show me what makes you so great for Juvia." 

Nodding in return, Lyon turned away from the table and made his way towards the training grounds. Meanwhile, Juvia looked at Ultear as if she had been betrayed. 

"Why are you looking at me like that, Juvia?" Ultear asked as she stood from her seat. "I've been telling you for years that I'm not interested in you like that, right?" 

"But you are Juvia's soul mate…" Juvia muttered. 

"*Sigh* Alfonzo was right." Ultear said as she started following after Lyon. "We really do need to talk." 

Hearing that, Juvia trembled as tears began pooling in her eyes. Still, she stood up as well, deciding to follow Ultear and watch the fight between Lyon and Ultear. 

Ultear, on the other hand, was thinking something totally different. 

'Good, with Lyon so fired up, I'll be able to see exactly what he's capable of.' Ultear said with a smile that no one noticed. 'Then, I'll be able to tell Mom exactly how much he's improved.' 

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia. 

At the same time, Gildarts had just arrived in Ur's office after completing a 10 Years Quest. And when he did, he noticed that Ur was in a pretty good mood. And when he saw her smile, he could not help but remember the fact that Ur had told him she was interested in him, should he be able to stop his womanizing ways. 

Little did Ur know at the time, however, was the fact that Gildarts had not been up to his normal womanizing ways ever since he found out about Cana being his daughter. And the reason for that was simple, he did not want to end up with any more children that he did not know about. 

Unfortunately, he had laid with too many women over the years to find out if there were any more unknown children of his running around Ishgar. 

"Oh, welcome back, Gildarts." Ur said with a smile. "How as the quest? I would assume you completed it." 

"Yeah, I finished it without a problem." Gildarts replied with a shrug. 

Nodding in response, Ur wore an expression that said: "As expected." A moment later, however, her expression changed into a slight frown. 

"And how much property damage did you cause?" Ur asked while glaring pointedly. 

"None." Gildarts replied while puffing out his chest proudly. 

Naturally, this caused Ultear to look at him skeptically. 

"I highly doubt that." Ur replied. 

"It's true, I promise." Gildarts replied while smiling wryly. "I might have collapsed an entire mountain, though. But that didn't belong to anyone, so…" 

"*Sigh* I knew it…" Ur replied while rubbing her temples. "And where did that quest take place again?" 

"Seven." Gildarts replied. "It was a request to find a certain magical ore that could only be found in the interior of a certain mountain. Unfortunately, those scholar types did not have the fire power to get past all the magic beasts inhabiting the mountain." 

"*Sigh* I guess I should look out for a compensation request from Seven's government, then." Ur replied in a tired tone. 

"Huh? What do you mean?" Gildarts asked in a confused tone. "That mountain wasn't anyone's property." 

"*Sigh* For someone who's been a wizard for so long, it amazes me how little you know about the world." Ur said while shaking her head. 

Ur then went on to explain that even if a person or a group did not own a piece of land, it falls under the ownership of the country. 

In response, Gildarts wore an aghast expression. 

"And to think, I've been taking quests outside of towns for the last year to avoid property damage." Gildarts muttered as he lowered his head in contemplation. "Now I understand why I haven't been getting any of those guild points." 

Shaking off that thought, Gildarts raised his head and made eye contact with Ur. On top of that, he wore a serious expression on his face. 

"Anyway, now that I'm done giving my report, there's something I need to say to you, Ur." Gildarts said in a solemn tone.