7 Welcome to Fairy Tail!

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

May, x771

Just before night fall, the train from Hargeon pulled into Magnolia's train station. Shortly afterward, Alfonzo, Elicia, Makarov, and Macao disembarked.

"Kids, welcome to Magnolia." Makarov said with a smile.

As Makarov welcomed Magnolia's new residents, the quartet stepped out of the train station. When Alfonzo and Elicia looked around at their new surroundings, they were in awe. Like in Hargeon, Alfonzo and Elicia knew that they had seen better structures in their previous lives. But at the same time, they could not help but be attracted to the medieval architecture on display in front of them.

Once again, seeing the awe on the children's faces, Makarov and Macao could not help but smile.

"Come now children." Makarov said with his grandfatherly smile. "You'll have a lot of time to explore and get familiar with the city. But for now, I think it's time to introduce you to your new family."

With that, Makarov began to walk, causing Alfonzo and Elicia follow quickly. And like last time, Macao brought up the rear. As they walked, Alfonzo and Elicia noticed that the buildings were becoming larger. Eventually, they reached a large plaza.

"This is the Magnolia's central plaza." Makarov said, introducing the area. Then, he pointed to the four cardinal directions. "As you can see, The town is split into four regions by the two large roads that lead into the plaza."

Following the directions of Makarov fingers, they could see the wide streets that Makarov was talking about. While turning around, they also saw a large and beautiful building built on one of the corners of the plaza.

"Hey, Gramps." Elicia said excitedly while tugging on Makarov's cloak. "Then, she pointed at a large building. "What's that?"

The building Elicia pointed at was a large, rectangular building. Compared to the other buildings in the surrounding area, it had a more modern feel to it. There were four cylindrical towers adorning each corner of the building as well as a tower in the center. There was also a bell on the side of the center tower facing the large gates that served as an entrance.

"Oh, that's Kardia Cathedral." Makarov said after following the direction Elicia pointed with his eyes. "It is one of the three great churches in the kingdom."

"It's really big!" Elicia exclaimed excitedly. Then, she frowned and glared at Alfonzo.

'*Sigh* She knows me so well.' Alfonzo thought while smiling internally. 'Not being able to say, "that's what she said," almost physically hurts.'

"Anyway, if you look down that way." Makarov said, pointing down one of the wide streets. "To the East is the female dormitory for members of the guild, Fairy Hills."

Though they could not see it very well from the central plaza, Alfonzo and Elicia could see a rather large building at the end of the road. But combining the fact that they were so far away with the fact that it was nighttime, they could not make out any more than that.

"Elicia, that's where you'll be living until you can afford to buy or rent another place in the town." Makarov said.

In response, Elicia nodded happily. However, she frowned shortly after that.

"Does that mean I can't live with Fonzie?" Elicia asked in a sad tone with tears forming in her eyes.

"There's nothing I can do about that, Child." Makarov said gently. "Boys and girls live in different dormitories."

"*Sniff* Okay.. *Sniff*" Elicia replied trying to hold back her tears.

While Makarov was considering changing the rules after seeing Elicia holding back tears, Alfonzo rolled his eyes at the act Elicia was putting on.

'If I don't live with her, she'll have to wake up on her own.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'And that's what she's afraid of, since she's never been good at that.'

"Ahem!" Makarov cleared his throat forcefully to stop himself from doing something that he could not take back. Then, he turned around and pointed in the opposite direction. "If you look in the other direction, you'll see the park where the Rainbow Cherry Blossom Viewing Party takes place.

Hearing the term, Rainbow Cherry Blossoms, Elicia's attention was successfully diverted. She then stared down the street with excitement while wiping the tears from her eyes.

Elicia's change in mood caused Makarov to sigh internally. Feeling good that he did not cause a little girl to cry on her first day in Magnolia. At the same time, he heard Macao snickering at his misfortune. But he decided to ignore that for now. He could punish Macao later, after all.

"And the street that runs between those two places is where the Phantasia Parade happens!" Makarov said with vigor, spreading his arms with each hand pointed toward the east and west. "And when you're old enough, you'll be able to participate in the parade as well."

With that, Elicia's eyes lit up like a pair of torch lights. Even Alfonzo, who tried his best not to show it, was excited and looking forward to the parade. Before they could get too excited, however, Makarov pointed toward the north.

"But that is where we are headed tonight!" Once again, Makarov spoke with great enthusiasm.

Before Alfonzo and Elicia could asked what was in that direction, however, Makarov began to walk. Even though Alfonzo and Elicia knew what Makarov was referring to, they both showed excitement in their expressions. Their destination was exactly what they were looking forward to ever since they awoke their past lives' memories.

After Makarov took a few steps, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Macao all began to follow him. While they did, Macao smiled at the children who seemed to be excited by everything they saw along the way.

"Oh yeah, although we didn't walk past them, to the south, west of the train station are the Halfcocr Hotel Bar, the Toy Store, Tom, and the Magic Store, Lendis." Macao mentioned.

Although Alfonzo and Elicia heard him, Macao's statement did not really register with them at the moment. They were too excited to reach their final destination. Seeing that the kids were not interested, Macao could only smile wryly.

After a two and a half to three mile (approx. 4 – 5 km) long walk, with a short break to get a drink in between, the quartet finally reached their destination. When they arrived, they saw a three story tall building in the style of a pagoda with the higher floors built smaller than the ones below them. The roof tiles covering the first and second floors were long and curved at the end with tiles jutting out from the corners. At the very top of the building, there was a curved dome-like roof that came to a point. And sticking out of that point was a flag with the Fairy Tail symbol embroidered on it.

On the outer wall of the second floor, there was a cloth banner, held up by two poles, with a large Fairy Tail symbol on it. And the large doors that served as the building's entrance had a shape similar to the roof at the top of the building. Above those doors was another banner with the name of the guild, Fairy Tail, written on it with pictures of fairies on either side. Behind that banner was a stylized heart-shape that jutted out from the surface of the wall. Also, there were many pentagon-shaped windows on the walls with the same stylized hearts on their corners.

Upon seeing this large, slightly intimidating building up close, Alfonzo and Elicia's mouths fell open. They were both thinking that the building looked much bigger up close than it did in the anime and manga. However, they were broken from the revelry by Makarov's voice.

"We have arrived!" Makarov said after taking a few steps forward and stopping in front of the doors. "Now, I'd like to welcome you to your new home, to Fairy Tail!"

Because of Makarov's loud exclamation, the sound of people stirring could be heard from the other side of the large doors. Then, just as Makarov turned around to open the doors, the doors swung open with force.

*Bang!*

The large entrance door slammed into Makarov's face as he turned around and he was sent tumbling back to where Alfonzo, Elicia, and Macao stood. The trio could only look at Makarov, who was holding his nose in pain with dumbfounded gazes.

Meanwhile, from the now open door, a man with brown hair styled into a curly and fluffy pompadour, wearing sunglasses, a leather jacket, red shirt, blue pants, and black shoes stepped outside and looked around.

"Was that Master's voice?" The brown-haired man asked. Then, when he caught sight of Macao, he spoke once again. "Hey, Macao, I thought I heard Master's voice. Wasn't he with you?"

While Alfonzo and Elicia were trying to hold back their giggles, Macao covered his face with his left hand. Then, with his right hand, Macao pointed down toward the ground.

Following the direction Macao pointed, the brown-haired man saw Makarov lying on the ground staring at him with blood shot eyes.

"Oh, Master." The brown-haired man said while taking a step back into the building. "It's good to see that you're back. How was your trip to Hargeon?"

After not receiving a response for a few moments, the brown-haired man took another step back.

"Wow, would you look at the time." The brown-haired man said in a nervous tone. "I've got a quest scheduled for tomorrow. So, I really should get home and get some rest. Wouldn't wanna go on a quest in any condition other than my best, right?"

Just as he was about to escape, the brown-haired man came to a halt when he heard Makarov's angry bellow.

"Wakaba, you brat!" Makarov shouted loud enough that he could be heard over all the noise from inside the building. "Stop right there!"

Immediately afterward, Makarov jumped to his feet. Then, his right arm enlarged, and he grabbed the brown-haired man, Wakaba Mine, as he took his first step.

After a short scolding, Wakaba was released. Then, he lit a cigarette and looked at the two kids that came with Makarov and Macao.

"Hey, kids, it's nice to meet you. I'm Wakaba Mine, Macao's partner and best friend." Wakaba said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Alfonzo Marcus/Elicia Taylor." Alfonzo and Elicia said, introducing themselves in unison.

"Such well-behaved kids." Wakaba said with a chuckle, I wonder how long that will last when they get used to the guild?"

Ignoring Wakaba, Makarov ushered Alfonzo and Elicia into the guild hall. When they entered, they saw a rather noisy group of people drinking and chatting. However, there were not many children around their age, but there were a few. A quartet of children sitting at a table and a lone boy standing in front of a board with a lost expression on his face.

Making up the group of children, first was a group of four. A blond boy with grey eyes, who seemed to be around ten or eleven years old. Then, there was a boy with bluish black hair and dark red eyes, looking to be nine or ten years old. The third was a light green-haired boy with blue eyes. And the fourth was a bespectacled girl with light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

In front of the board, the boy with the lost look in his eyes had black hair and eyes.

*Clap!*

Once Alfonzo and Elicia were standing next to him, Makarov clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. Once everyone was focused on him, Makarov gestured toward Alfonzo and Elicia.

"Okay, listen up!" Makarov said loudly. "On our trip to Hargeon, Macao and I brought back two new members of the guild. Now, allow me to introduce you to Alfonzo Marcus and Elicia Taylor, the newest members of our family."

"Whoo~~~~~~!"

The guild hall exploded in cheers. Then, those who were drinking began to toast each other happily.

"Now, these two are only six years old!" Makarov said, raising his voice over the cheering. "So, give them a hand when they need it. But don't help them too much. Like all of the members of Fairy Tail, I want them to grow up strong. Not to be coddled. Got it?"

"Got It!"

The entire guild answered in unison. Then, Makarov guided Alfonzo and Elicia toward the group of four sitting around a table. At the same time, he called the lost boy over from the board and introduced them to each other.