13 Waking Up

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

May, x772.

"Fuck..." Alfonzo said, opening his eyes in a daze several hours after Wakaba knocked him out. "I really lost my shit back there, huh?"

With his eyes open and focused, Alfonzo looked at the ceiling in a daze. After a moment, he began scanning the room. When he did, what he saw was a white room with a couple of windows and several beds. One of which he was currently laying on.

"I guess I'm in the infirmary." Alfonzo thought out loud. "Fuck, Wakaba must have hit me harder than I thought."

"Yeah, he had to stop the rampage you were about to go on." Makarov said from the infirmary's doorway.

"Gramps... How long have you been there?" Alfonzo asked, without looking in Makarov's direction.

"Long enough to figure out that you take after your mother's bad habits." Makarov said. "Even as a child, you have quite the foul mouth."

"You knew Momma?" Alfonzo asked, snapping his head in Makarov's direction with a slight blush, that was hard to see due to his darker skin, on his face.

"Of course, I did." Makarov said with a nod. Then, he walked into the room and sat on the bed next to Alfonzo. "Like Elicia's father, she was a member of the guild several years ago."

Alfonzo could only look on blankly. Although he knew the story of the anime and read a lot about the world and lore on the internet, there was no way to know all the members of the guild, former or present. Most of the guild members are never even named. But finding out that his mother and Elicia's father, in this world, were former members of Fairy Tail was quite the shock.

Snapping out of his daze a few moments later, Alfonzo looked at Makarov, deciding that he could ask about his parents later. Instead, he knew there was something more important to worry about.

"So, what kind of punishment will I get for what I tried to do to Laxus?" Alfonzo asked with a solemn expression on his face.

"*Sigh* This time there will be no punishment." Makarov said, wearing an equally solemn tone. "So long as it never happens again, it should be fine. A good lesson for Laxus, even."

Although Alfonzo sighed in relief, he still felt guilty for losing his head like that. Closing his eyes, he began to reflect on his actions. However, he did not get to think for too long.

"Elicia told me why you lost your cool like that." Makarov said soothingly. "So, I can understand why you did what you did. But you should know that Laxus wasn't targeting your eye."

"*Sigh* I know, Gramps." Alfonzo said, opening his eyes slowly. "But this was the last thing Momma gave me before that day. So, I..."

"I know, and I understand." Makarov said, giving Alfonzo a smile. "Speaking of which, could you tell me about what happened that day?"

Pausing at Makarov's question, Alfonzo's expression began to twist with rage. However, he forcefully suppressed it. He knew there was nothing he could do about it. In fact, he knew that he would more than likely never get the chance to have his revenge. By the time he was strong enough to do anything about it, the ones who killed his and Elicia's parents would have probably died in the breakout that Erza led.

"That day, they wanted to capture everyone in the village." Alfonzo squeezed out. "To build something called the Tower of Heaven."

"The Tower of Heaven?" Makarov asked curiously. "I've never heard of it."

"I heard some of them talking about using the finished tower to resurrect someone named Zaref." Alfonzo continued. "They killed me and Lici's parents because they hid us away. They were mad that they lost some of their workers. And they took out that anger on our parents."

Expecting Makarov to be looking at him with pity, Alfonzo was shocked to see Makarov's face contorted in anger. A moment later, however, he remembered that his and Elicia's parents were former members of Fairy Tail.

"Damned Zaref cultists... Even though they retired as wizards, they were still my children." Makarov said, rage rolling off him in waves. "I... No, we do not allow anyone to harm our family. If we find them, we will have revenge. They will be made to regret their actions!"

As he spoke, Makarov's magic power began to leak, making it hard for Alfonzo to breathe. On top of that, the pressure Makarov was giving off caused everything in the room to shake. A moment later, Makarov got his magic power under control and looked at Alfonzo apologetically.

"Sorry about that." Makarov said while smiling sheepishly. "I guess you'll fit right in with the rest of the guild. We would all go to war for members of our family, just like you."

Although he already knew Makarov would react like that, Alfonzo still felt a warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest after hearing those words and seeing how outraged Makarov was over the loss of his and Elicia's parents.

A moment later, Makarov hopped off the bed he was sitting on. Then, he started walking toward the infirmary's exit.

"You should rest for a bit longer." Makarov said with a smile. "Wakaba hit you pretty hard. And for what it's worth, Laxus said he didn't mean to spit that lightning so close to your eye."

"I know..." Alfonzo replied. "He probably didn't apologize for the way he's been treating me, or how he treated Cana, right?"

Instead of replying, Makarov only looked away awkwardly. Alfonzo already knew that Makarov wouldn't do anything to Laxus unless he did something completely out of line, so he didn't really react to it.

"Well, if he keeps getting outta pocket, I'll just put him in his place again." Alfonzo said with a shrug.

"That's fine." Makarov said with a nod. "Just don't go overboard again."

"That's just as much Laxus' fault as it was mine, if not more." Alfonzo said. "I was about to end things with him pinned to the ground if he hadn't tried that sneak attack."

Knowing that Alfonzo was right, Makarov shook his head. Before he could leave, however, Alfonzo asked a question.

"Hey, Gramps, do you know anyone that could teach me blacksmithing and magic engineering?"

"I do." Makarov replied. "I'll ask them if they could teach you tomorrow."

"Thanks, Gramps." Alfonzo said with a smile.

With that, Makarov left the infirmary. When he did, he found Elicia and Cana standing outside the door. Then, with a smile, he stepped aside.

"You two can go in, he's already awake." Makarov said.

Without a word, Elicia rushed straight past Makarov. Cana, on the other hand, thanked Makarov while bowing her head before following Elicia into the room.

"Lucky kid." Makarov said with a smile. "So young, yet he already has two pretty girls concerned about him."

Makarov then started stroking his mustache.

"He really reminds me of my younger days." Makarov said to himself. "Handsome and loved by the girls... Yup, he's just like I was back in the day."

Meanwhile, Elicia rocketed toward Alfonzo as soon as she was let into the room. Immediately, when she was close enough to the bed, she jumped on top of Alfonzo and hugged him tightly. She knew why he lost his cool and at the moment, all she wanted to do was comfort him.

Smiling wryly, Alfonzo freed one of his arms and began combing his fingers through Elicia's hair.

"I'm pretty sure you came to comfort me." Alfonzo said maintaining his wry smile. "But why does it feel more like I'm pampering you instead."

"I am comforting you, Stupid Fonzie." Elicia said, hiding her face by burying it in Alfonzo's chest. "I'm hugging you, right?"

Cana approached the bed around the same time.

"Are you okay?" Cana asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alfonzo said, giving Cana a smile. "Just a headache is all. That Wakaba really got me good."

Involuntarily, Cana blushed after seeing Alfonzo's smile. Then, she lowered her head shyly and gripped the hem of her dress.

"Thank you for standing up for me." Cana said softly. "But if it weren't for me, you would have never had to fight that boy... Laxus?"

"Don't mention it." Alfonzo said, freeing his other arm and waving dismissively. "And don't' worry about the fight with Laxus. Trust me when I say, it would have happened eventually."

"Yeah, Laxus is a bit of a meanie." Elicia said, turning her head to look at Cana.

"Oh... Okay." Cana said.

"Anyway, we'll introduce you to the rest of the members of the guild tomorrow." Alfonzo said with a smile. "You can start training with us, too."

Nodding her head, Cana returned Alfonzo's smile. Seeing how well Alfonzo was getting along with Cana, Elicia smiled as well. However, she was still conflicted about pushing Alfonzo into starting a harem. On the one hand, she was afraid that Alfonzo would get a big head for having a lot of beautiful women around him in the future. Plus, she would have her alone time with him reduced drastically if she did push him into starting a harem.

On the other hand, she would get the chance to have a few sisters, something she always wanted, ever since her past life. Plus, Fairy Tail had some of the best, and hottest waifus in anime.

Eventually, Elicia just stopped thinking about it.

'Whatever happens, happens.' Elicia thought to herself, shrugging her shoulders while still laying on top of Alfonzo. 'I don't really have a problem with it either way.'

After chatting with Alfonzo for a little while, Elicia and Cana left the infirmary, so that Elicia could show Cana to Fairy Hills. However, before they left, Alfonzo asked Cana to help wake up Elicia in the mornings. He then gave her the same tip he gave Evergreen for waking Elicia up quickly.

After the girls left, Alfonzo laid back in bed and began to think about what was to come.

'Over the next few years, a lot of the current generation members of the guild should start joining.' Alfonzo thought. 'Other than with Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe, the rest of them should be easy enough to get along with. Hell, I'd even like to get to know Laki. I wanna know how she came up with those weird ass names she gave her spells.'

Like that, Alfonzo continued to think about the future. Eventually, he fell asleep in the infirmary.

The next morning, when Alfonzo woke up, he headed straight to the male dorms and cleaned himself up. Then, after getting dressed, he returned to the guild hall. Like always, he began cooking, taking breakfast orders for the members of the guild.

This time, Evergreen and Elicia were accompanied by Cana when they arrived at the guild. However, today would be the last time Evergreen walked to the guild with them. Now that Cana was there to wake up Elicia, she could start showing up early. Just like she used to.

Another thing that changed from the day before was Elicia taking a seat away from Laxus and his group. Naturally, this displeased Bickslow, considering that he had a crush on Elicia. But there was nothing he could do about it, considering what happened between Alfonzo and Laxus yesterday. However, because of that, he was even more determined to separate Elicia from Alfonzo, someone who was so disrespectful to Laxus. Or that is what he told himself, anyway.

At the end of his shift in the kitchen, Alfonzo carried not only his own breakfast, but Elicia and Cana's breakfasts, out of the kitchen as he joined them at their new table.

"Breakfast is served." Alfonzo said, setting the plates in front of their owners. "For Elicia, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, and two slices of French toast. And for Cana, Chicken and Waffles with blackberry jam and honey."

Alfonzo then sat down with his own breakfast, a steak and cheese omelet with onions, green peppers, salsa, and sour cream. Before digging into his meal, though, Alfonzo watched Cana take her first bite of her food.

"Mmm~~!" Cana moaned in delight. "Ish sho goo."

Nodding in satisfaction, Alfonzo cut into his omelet and began to eat happily.

After breakfast, Alfonzo and Elicia took Cana into the guild's backyard and began helping her train her magic and physique. Just like they had done, they encouraged Cana to try as many things she could think of with her magic. Then, once her magic power was nearly exhausted, they started running, doing push-ups, squats, and sit ups. After Cana's magic power recovered, they rinsed and repeated.

The trio would continue this routine for the years to come. And over the years, their little training group would expand by quite a bit.