19 Cana's Resolve

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

July, x773.

After Cana ran away from the guild, Alfonzo chased after her immediately. At the end of the short chase, Alfonzo caught up to Cana in Magnolia's park. Seeing her sitting under a tree hugging her knees to her chest. Seeing her like this, Alfonzo could only feel sadness for the girl.

'*Sigh* The logical part of my mind says that she should have expected this outcome.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he approached the clearly depressed Cana. 'But at the same time, I can't help but think Gildarts is an asshole. I mean, he was thinking about Cornelia and Cana was sitting right in front of him. How did he not put two and two together with them looking so alike?'

At the same time, Although Cana heard the approaching footsteps, she did not look up to see who was approaching. As Alfonzo was thinking, Cana was expecting that Gildarts would not recognize her. That said, it did not make it any easier.

"Cana." Alfonzo said gently when he was just in front of the younger girl.

Hearing her name, Cana flinched. However, after she registered the owner of the voice, she looked up hesitantly. Sighing in relief when she saw Alfonzo, Cana then lunged forward and hugged Alfonzo while continuing to cry.

Hugging her in return, Alfonzo chose to stay silent and rub Cana's back while running his fingers through her hair tenderly. He knew he did not have the skill to console a crying girl, in fact, Elicia had always said he sucked at it, so he chose to simply give her a shoulder to cry on.

"*Sniff* Does he... *Sniff* not want me?" Cana asked after crying for a few more minutes. "Is that why... *Sniff* he didn't recognize me?"

Wanting to sigh, Alfonzo swallowed that feeling quickly. He knew that was the wrong action to take in this situation. So, he took a moment to think of an answer. He was unsure what would lift her spirits in this situation.

"Cana." Alfonzo said softly while raising Cana's chin so that he could look into her eyes. "You and I both know that's not the reason... Right?"

Instead of replying, Cana averted her eyes trying to look away. However, Alfonzo was still holding her chin, so she could not turn her face away.

"Up until the point we left the guild, Gildarts didn't even know he had a child." Alfonzo continued. "So, it's not that he didn't want you. But he didn't know about you."

Continuing to comb his fingers through Cana's hair, Alfonzo could feel the tension leaving Cana's body. After noticing she was calming down, Alfonzo released her chin. But Cana maintained eye contact as if she had not realized it.

"I've spent a little over a year with you, so I know you're a brave girl." Alfonzo said with a smile. "So, if you want Gildarts to know about you, you have to tell him. Even if the thought of rejection scares you."

Hearing that, Cana clutched Alfonzo's shirt tightly and buried her head in his chest.

"But... What do I do if... he doesn't want me?" Cana asked in an almost inaudible voice.

A moment later, Cana could feel that Alfonzo's fingers were no longer running through her hair as he took a few steps away from her. Losing the comfortable feeling, Cana looked up with a discontented pout on her face. However, she almost started laughing when she saw Alfonzo's current position.

Standing in front of Cana, Alfonzo was performing various body builder poses, flexing his still developing muscles as hard as he could.

"If he doesn't accept you, then Lici and I will beat him up." Alfonzo said in a confident tone. "Either way, whether he accepts you or not, Lici and I will be your family. Just like everyone else in the guild, right?"

Hearing those words, Cana could feel tears welling up in her eyes again. However, instead of a sad and depressed expression, she was smiling brightly. Over the past year, she had grown to see everyone in the guild, even Laxus and his friends as family. So, she knew that she was not alone. It seemed that she just needed to hear those words from someone else to get her thoughts in order.

"Thank you... Fonzie." Cana said with a slight blush on her face as she used Alfonzo's nickname.

Widening his eyes in shock, Alfonzo used all his will power to not frown at the use of his nickname. Even though he had gotten used to Elicia saying it, he actually hated being called that way. Unfortunately, he was never able to get Elicia to stop in this life or the last one.

"Fonzie~~~~! Cana~~~~! Where are you?" Shouted Elicia from the distance.

With the atmosphere broken, and the chance to tell Cana not to call him Fonzie gone Alfonzo simply sighed. Then, he held out his hand toward Cana with a smile.

"Let's go." Alfonzo said. "I bet Elicia is on the verge of tears already. If we don't find her quickly, she might flood the town soon."

Smiling in response, Cana reached out with both hands and held Alfonzo's hand tightly. Then, she approached even closer and snuggled into Alfonzo's side with a slight blush on her face.

"Okay." Cana said with a beautiful smile on her face.

At the same time, a glint of determination sparkled in Cana's eyes.

'I'm sorry, Lici.' Cana thought to herself. 'I know you like him, too. But I'm gonna take Fonzie for myself.'

If Alfonzo knew what Cana was thinking, he would have a headache brewing. On top of the nickname, Fonzie, being firmly etched into his identity in Cana's mind, he could only imagine the drama that would come with Elicia and Cana fighting over his attention.

Meanwhile, back at the guild, Gildarts was laying in one of the infirmary beds. A moment later, his eyes shot open. His instincts were telling hm that he was in the process of losing something very important to him. Unfortunately, he had no idea what that something was.

A few seconds later, Gildarts looked around the room he was in. Immediately recognizing that he was in the guild's infirmary, he pulled away the sheet covering his body and tried to stand up. However, as soon as he began moving his legs, he felt a sharp pain from his crotch.

"Gah!" Gildarts cried out, almost falling unconscious again due to the pain he was still feeling. "What the hell is up with this pain? Did I get kicked in the nuts by a horse?"

"Not a kick, and not by a horse, either." Makarov, who was sitting on the adjacent bed, said in a mirthful tone. "To think that an eight-year-old girl would be the first wizard to knock out the great Gildarts Clive in close to a decade."

After making that statement, Makarov began to laugh uproariously. Meanwhile, Gildarts looked at him in annoyance. However, he started to remember what led to the pain in his balls.

"So, Orlando's little girl punched me in the junk, huh?" Gildarts asked, rubbing his head in confusion. "But why?"

Stopping his laughter, Makarov looked at Gildarts sternly.

"Because you made the other little girl who was sitting with us, Cana, cry." Makarov said in a solemn tone. "And based on what Elicia said after you passed out, though I'm sure she was unaware that you were unconscious, you deserved that punch."

"What do you mean?" Gildarts asked, frowning with incomprehension.

"*Sigh* Although Fairy Tail has the strongest wizards in Fiore, they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, are they?" Makarov muttered with a bit of sadness in his tone."

"Hey, are you calling me stupid, Old Man?" Gildarts growled in irritation before wincing in pain.

"You're damn right I am, Brat!" Makarov shouted. "What other guild has to fork out a fortune to remodel a whole town because its strongest member can't be bothered to walk around the buildings in his way?"

Looking away with a sheepish smile on his face, Gildarts decided to stay quiet regarding this topic. There was no point in starting a battle that he could not win, after all.

"Hell, if it weren't for the stipend I receive from the country as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, this guild would have declared bankruptcy a long time ago!" Makarov shouted agitatedly. Then, with tears running down his face, he continued. "I'm gonna skin those cultists who killed Bianca and Orlando alive! Ever since they retired, there hasn't been a single Fairy Tail wizard who tries to avoid property damage!"

With his instincts telling him that things could get dangerous for him if this topic continued, Gildarts quickly spoke up to change the subject.

"Master, what did you mean when you said I deserved to get punched in the dick?" Gildarts asked, wincing at the mere memory of that punch.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Makarov looked at Gildarts sternly again.

That girl, Cana, is Cornelia's daughter... with you." Makarov said solemnly. "At least, that's what Elicia said before she ran off to find her."

'Cornelia's daughter... with you.'

Those four words echoed loudly inside Gildarts head. He now understood why Elicia punched him. And as Makarov said, he felt he deserved it. On top of that, he also understood why Makarov called him stupid. How could he be anything else when he did not notice the similarities between Cornelia and Cana.

A moment later, ignoring the pain he was feeling and with resolve burning in his eyes, Gildart stood up from the bed, as his paternal instincts kicked into overdrive, and he ran through the infirmary's door... literally.

"Cana~~~~~!" Gildarts shouted as he ran away from the infirmary. "Daddy's coming~~~~~!"

Meanwhile, Makarov sat in the infirmary with a dumbfounded expression. A moment later, however, his dumbfounded expression turned into a smile. However, after another moment, his smile morphed into a frown as he saw the state of the infirmary's door and its surrounding wall.

A few moments ago, on the path leading to the guild hall, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana were walking back to the guild. With Alfonzo in the middle Elicia and Cana clung to his left and right arms, respectively. And while Cana was smiling brightly, Elicia was pouting.

"You're so mean, Fonzie." Elicia said in a pitiful tone. "How could you leave me like that? Do you know how worried I was about Cana?"

"*Sigh* But if I had waited for you, I would have lost Cana, too." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone.

"Hmph! You should have waited for me and kept track of Cana." Elicia pouted. "Stupid Fonzie."

Meanwhile, Cana could only giggle while watching the interaction between her two best friends. Eventually, the trio reached the doors of the guild. Then, just as they opened the doors...

"Cana~~~~~! Daddy's coming~~~~~!"

Gildarts roar of paternal love rang out through the entire building. A moment later, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana saw Gildarts running toward them with the light of his [Crash Magic] coating his entire body.

Paling in fear, Alfonzo and Cana knew that they were not fast enough to avoid the incoming threat. Elicia, on theother hand, acted quickly. With her right hand, she wrapped her threads around Alfonzo and Cana's waists, she simultaneously shot threads from her left hand at the Fairy Tail sign above the doors. Then, with all her might, she pulled the three upward.

A moment later, barely missing the three kids, Gildarts charged through the guild hall's front doors, completely destroying them in the process.

Before he could get too far, however, a giant fist came flying through the now destroyed front doors of the guild hall and punched Gildarts into the sky.

"Damn it, Gildarts! Stop destroying the guild!" Makarov shouted in a deep menacing voice. His tone changing with the use of his [Giant Magic]. "When you come back, the town better be intact. We're not implementing the Gildarts Shift. And any damages will be paid by you!"

With that, Elicia lowered herself, Alfonzo, and Cana back to the ground as the trio watched Gildarts shoot off into the sky before disappearing past the boundaries of the town. Then, they simply turned around and entered the guild hall as if nothing happened.

"Well, I guess you'll have to wait a little while before you can have that talk with Gildarts." Alfonzo said to Cana with a shrug.

Unfortunately, the wait would be longer than expected. Upon landing, Gildarts landed crotch first on a tree branch, causing him to lose consciousness again after stacking the damage he took with that of Elicia's punch.