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Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

September, x781

"Alfonzo, I want you to be mine."

Those were the first words Alfonzo heard after opening the doors to the guild hall.

Before being kicked out of Porlyusica's tree house she helped him put his shirt back on. Then, after leaving the house with his Automail arm, Alfonzo sat with his back against a tree in the forest for the next couple of hours. Although his arm was completely healed, there were still a few things that kept him from returning to the guild hall immediately.

First, and probably least important, was the fact that his arm was still too stiff from nearly turning completely too metal during the healing process. Second, was the fact that Alfonzo could still feel lingering pain from the reconnection. And Lastly, the fatigue brought by the process was still affecting Alfonzo heavily.

Eventually, after regaining enough stamina to make the trip back to the guild hall, Alfonzo stood up, dusted off his pants, and started walking, returning to the guild hall once again, not before making a trip to his mansion to store the Automail arm first.

As soon as he opened the guild hall's front entrance, he saw Laki, who was just about to leave, standing in front of him with a surprised expression on her face and her arm stretched forward to open the doors.

Then, once she regained her bearings, she spoke the above words.

"Well, that came outta left field." Alfonzo said, scratching the side of his head with his right hand.

Instead of responding to Alfonzo's clearly bewildered response, Laki simply stared him in the eyes, waiting for a response.

"*Sigh* Does that mean you want to join my little family, too?" Alfonzo asked after Laki's gaze made him a bit uncomfortable.

In response, Laki shook her head.

"No, I want you to be mine… Alone." Laki said, clarifying her statement.

Immediately, Alfonzo's gaze sharpened a little.

"Are you asking me to leave Lici and the others to be with only you?" Alfonzo asked.

Nodding in response, Laki continued to maintain eye contact with Alfonzo.

"I can't do that." Alfonzo replied. "And there are two pretty important reasons for that."

Though Laki's expression turned into one of disappointment, she waited for Alfonzo to continue.

"First, I don't really understand you, Laki." Alfonzo said in a serious tone. "I mean, I think I know you pretty well, and I think you're pretty cool, if not really weird. But I can never tell what you're thinking. Hell, I never even saw this coming, at all."

Showing no signs of how she felt about Alfonzo's statement, Laki simply continued to stare into Alfonzo's eyes as she asked her next question.

"And what's the second reason?" Laki asked.

"I could never betray their trust like that." Alfonzo said, his expression growing even more serious. "I promised all four of them that I would do everything in my power to make them happy. And I don't intend to break that promise, for any reason."

Nodding in understanding, Laki's gaze contained a bit of admiration, even if she was still disappointed that she could not have Alfonzo all to herself.

"Then, if I were to join them, you would accept me?" Laki asked.

"*Sigh* I wish I could say yes." Alfonzo replied. "But like I said, I don't understand you, Laki. And not having any idea of what you're thinking makes me think that I wouldn't be able to make you happy."

Nodding in response once again, Laki stepped to the side. Then, she walked past Alfonzo leaving only two words.

"I see."

With that, Laki continued walking without turning around.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo also refrained from turning to look at Laki. Though, unlike Laki, it was easy to see that he wasn't in the best mood. Having to reject Laki, who he considered a friend, a good friend, even, was eating him up inside.

"*Sigh* Whatever, it's better than leading her on." Alfonzo muttered to himself as he started walking deeper into the guild hall.

Before he could get too far, however, he was stopped when Makarov called out to him.

"That's one of the disadvantages of being popular, Kid." Makarov said, having seen the entire interaction between Alfonzo and Laki. "But you shouldn't feel bad. You did the right thing."

"I seriously doubt you really know what it's like to be popular, Gramps." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone.

"Why would you say something like that?" Makarov asked, a bit worked up from the statement. "I'll have you know, when I was only a little older than you, women around the kingdom threw themselves at me. They all wanted a chance to be with Fairy Tail's up-and-coming genius wizard."

"Yeah, I'm sure they were all over you just like Granny Pinako, huh?" Alfonzo asked sarcastically.

Hearing that, Makarov's eyes widened in surprise.

"How did you know about that?" Makarov asked gleefully. "Did Pinako talk about me? She's still in love with me, right?"

'Wow, did this shameless old man change his memories of the events, or something?' Alfonzo asked himself while he stared at Makarov with disbelief.'

"No…" Alfonzo replied after a few moments. "She didn't even mention you."

"*Sigh* The rejection must have hit her too hard." Makarov said, his tone laced with guilt.

'Seriously?' Alfonzo exclaimed internally. 'Is he really that shameless? Never mind, I already know the answer to that question.'

"I actually heard about it from Miss Porlyusica." Alfonzo said with a smirk.

Upon hearing that it was Porlyusica who gave Alfonzo the information, Makarov's face paled immediately. Then, when he made eye contact with Alfonzo, he began to shudder.

'Damn it, Porlyusica!' Makarov screamed internally. 'Why did you tell him about that? Now, he's gonna tease me about it for a long time.'

"Well, would you look at the time…" Makarov said in a desperate tone. "I've got some paperwork to fill out for the Magic Council. And you know how they can be if I keep them waiting. So, I'll see you later, Alfonzo."

"Yeah, you don't wanna keep them waiting." Alfonzo replied with a brilliant smile. "So, don't let me hold you up."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Makarov hopped off the bar and started walking toward the stairs leading to the higher floors of the guild hall.

"Since I don't think it's right to believe only one side of the story, I'll make sure to ask Granny Pinako about it on my next trip to Resenbool." Alfonzo muttered just loud enough for Mkarov to hear.

Having already reached the stairs when Alfonzo started speaking again, Makarov face planted and rolled down the stairs he had already climbed when he heard what Alfonzo had to say.

'A demon… That boy is a demon.' Makarov muttered internally as he hopped to his feet and ran up the stairs as quickly as he could to avoid the stares of the rest of the guild.

"Fonzie, what was that all about?" Elicia asked as she, Ultear, Mirajane, Marin, and Sun approached.

"Don't worry about it." Alfonzo said, waving it off dismissively. "I was just messing with Gramps a little."

"You must have got him really good if he tripped while he was climbing the stairs." Mirajane mentioned.

In response, Alfonzo simply shrugged.

A moment later, Elicia and the others arrived in front of Alfonzo. Then, Elicia wasted no time in giving him a hug.

"So, what did you go to see Miss Porlyusica about?" Elicia asked with curiosity in her tone as Alfonzo wrapped an arm around her.

However, when receiving Alfonzo's ug, Elicia immediately noticed that his movements were a bit uncoordinated. She then pulled back and started touching him all over. Eventually, when she reached his left arm, her eyes opened wide.

"Fonzie, what's wrong with your arm?" Elicia asked in a panicked tone.

Hearing that, Ultear, Mirajane, Marin, and Sun also wore panicked expressions as they waited for Alfonzo to answer Elicia's question.

"You all don't need to worry." Alfonzo said, subconsciously combing his fingers through Elicia's hair. "It's a good thing, trust me."

"Fonzie. What. Happened?" Elicia said, putting emphasis on every word while resting her hands on her hips.

"You remember the Techno Organic Metal Sun and I encountered on our quest?" Alfonzo asked with a wry smile on his face.

In response, Elicia, Ultear, Marin, and Sun nodded. Meanwhile, Mirajane wore an annoyed and confused expression. Annoyed because she was the only one who did not know what Alfonzo was talking about. And confused because she had not returned from her quest when Alfonzo gave his report yesterday.

Noticing Mirajane's confusion, Sun took it upon herself to explain to the older girl.

Although Mirajane was grateful for the explanation, she, being the tsundere she was, could not express it. So, she snorted and focused her attention on Alfonzo, causing Sun to smile wryly.

"Anyway, I went to Miss Porlyusica's house and injected my severed arm with the metal." Alfonzo said, waiting until Sun finished her explanation for Mirajane before he continued. "And just as I thought, it healed all the injuries on the arm."

Instinctively understanding where this conversation was going, Elicia, Ultear, Mirajane, Marin, and Sun's eyes lit up in anticipation.

"Then, I used it to connect my arm to the stump." Alfonzo said, shuddering as he remembered the pain the connection process brought with it. "And I gotta say, I never want to go through that again."

Getting confirmation that Alfonzo's arm had been reattached, the girls were visibly excited.

"Doesn't that mean your arm will be stiff for a while?" Ultear asked.

"Yeah, it will probably be a week or so before I can move it the way I want to." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "And another week after that until I'm used to it again."

"Wait!" Elicia shouted, gathering the attention of the entire guild hall. "Does that mean that you won't be able to cook again?"

Immediately, the entire guild fell silent.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo started feeling cold sweat flow down his back as he could feel all the greedy… hungry gazes landing on him.

"Lici, I think you said that a little too loud." Marin said while looking around cautiously.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go back home to get some rest." Alfonzo said, not wanting to deal with the storm of complaints he could feel coming his way. Then, after turning around and starting to walk toward the guild hall's front doors, Alfonzo spoke to the girls. "If you all wanna come over and hang out, you're more than welcome to."

However, just before Alfonzo reached the doors, a loud shout rang out through the guild hall.

"Wait just a minute, Alfonzo!" Wakaba shouted, pointing the pipe he now smokes from, after switching from cigarettes, at Alfonzo threateningly. "What did she mean you won't be able to cook for two weeks?"

"Yeah!" Chico C. Hammitt, a petite girl with brown skin, dark blue eyes, blonde hair, and wearing an orange cat hat, shouted shortly afterward. "Today was the first day in over a week since we've had your cooking. And now you're telling us that we have to wait another two weeks to get another taste?"

"Stop talking!" Macao shouted. "He's getting away! His cooking is the only comfort I've had since Enno left me! I'm not letting him get away!"

Just as Macao said, instead of stopping when he was called out, Alfonzo continued walking as if he did not hear anything. Then, he calmly opened the guild's doors and walked out. He knew that if he showed a panicked appearance, the wizards in the guild would act like sharks that smelled blood in the water, so he played it cool.

"Get him!" The rest of the wizards in the guild shouted in unison as they all stood up and rushed toward the entrance.

At the same time, Alfonzo started pumping his magic power through his body as he also started running from the chasing mob. On top of that, he stimulated his muscles with electricity as he ran.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Lightning Enhancement]." Alfonzo said as his speed nearly tripled, all but vanishing from the sights of the crowd.

"Damn, how the hell is he so fast?" Wakaba asked in confusion.

"That doesn't matter!" Reedus shouted in an uncharacteristically blood thirsty tone. "We know where he's going. Let's go to his house!"

"Yeah, we'll drag him out if we have to!" Macao shouted.

Like that, the guild hall was left practically empty. Meanwhile, standing on the guild hall's first floor with Ultear, Mirajane, Marin, and Sun, Elicia wore an embarrassed expression.

"Uh oh, I think I messed up." Elicia said with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Ya think?" Mirajane replied while scowling at Elicia.

"It's not a big deal." Sun said with a smile on her face. "As long as Alfonzo makes it inside the barrier before they catch him, he'll be fine."

"That's right." Marin added with a nod. "I saw what that barrier can do firsthand when Gildarts and Sun's dad ran into it."

"In that case, let's go hang out at Elicia's house." Ultear said with a smile. "But… Now that I think about it, maybe we should go get Ren, too… Those guys will probably need some medical attention."