Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

June 30, x789.

Nearly three months have passed since Alfonzo unveiled the Blackbird. Since then, Alfonzo has taken his family on trips all over Ishgar to enjoy the different sights, sounds, and foods the rest of the continent had to offer.

Also, between trips, Alfonzo took quests, both alone and with his lovers and friends to keep Fairy Tail's reputation as stellar as it has been for the last few years. Though, that did nothing to stop the more destructive members of the guild from destroying everything they laid their hands on.

The only exception to that rule was when either Alfonzo or Elicia took quests with Erza and Cana. Though, it was much rarer for either of them to take a quest with Erza than Cana. And the reason for that was simple, Erza was a member of Team Natsu. Meaning, putting three of the four… five if you count Gildarts… most destructive members of the guild on the same team always resulted in high amounts of collateral damage.

However, today was the beginning of a break between quests and sight seeing trips, not just for Alfonzo, Elicia, and their family, but for almost every legal guild in Fiore. Because the following day, the Grand Magic Games would begin once again.

*Swoosh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*

At around noon, the sound of air being displaced at a high rate sounded over the capital city of Fiore, Crocus. And that sound caused all the pedestrians in the city to look up in the sound's direction. When they did, they all opened their eyes wide at the small black dot that was growing in size as it descended from the sky.

"What is that?" A woman asked while pulling her child into her embrace.

"It must be a magical beast!" A man shouted in fear. "It's coming to the capital to kill us all."

*Smack!*

"Cut it out, you idiot!" Another man shouted after slapping the other man upside the head. "Why don't you actually use those eyes in your head."

Reaching that point, the second man pointed up at the black figure that was descending from above.

"Look at that." The second man said while shifting his finger between the undersides of the black figure's wings. "That's the Fairy Tail guild mark."

Not only the first man, but all the other people in the vicinity also looked at the wings of the descending figure. And when they recognized the Fairy Tail guild emblem, they calmed down almost immediately.

"If that's the Fairy Tail guild mark, does that mean that's an airship?" A middle-aged woman asked curiously. "but since when did Fairy Tail have an airship?"

"I don't' know." A younger woman replied while watching the airship with an impressed gaze. "But I bet Alfonzo Marcus made it. It looks so cool. And it's so big."

Though none of them knew where the sound came from, everyone in the area would have sworn they heard someone yell, "that's what she said." But they eventually brushed it off as a figment of their imagination in favor of admiring the airship.

Eventually, the people in the city realized where the airship, the Blackbird, was landing. And it was on top of the Sixth Sense Hotel. However, just when they noticed that, they saw another airship, in the same shape as the first, in different colors, descending from the sky, as well.

Meanwhile, all the guilds who had come to Fiore to participate in this year's Grand Magic Games also noticed the descending airships thanks to the magic power they were giving off.

"Ooh! Fairy Tail got an airship, too." Bob, the master of the Blue Pegasus guild said while looking up in wonder. "No, they got two."

"Actually, I think one of those is probably Alfonzo's personal airship." Sorano said with a smile.

"Really?" Yukino asked with her eyes open wide. "That's amazing."

"Men!" Ichiya said while taking a manly pose. "Those airships are quite impressive. But they have nothing on Christina."

"You're right, Boss/Master/Big Brother Ichiya." The Trimens Hibiki, Ren, and Eve said in unison.

"Seriously, you idiots need to decide on one way to call him." Karen said in her usual haughty tone. She then turned a longing gaze in the two airships' direction and continued. "Elicia, you've finally arrived. I hope you'll take the time to punish me once again. Mm! I've really been a bad girl."

The members of Lamia Scale were also watching the two airships descend from near the Flower Light Palace, Mercurius.

"Hey, Rei, if we had joined Fairy Tail back then, we would be riding on one of those right now, wouldn't we?" Takashi asked quietly.

"Probably." Rei replied just as quietly.

"Oh, are you regretting your choice to join Lamia Scale?" Ooba Babasama asked in a threatening tone. Then, she raised her right index finger and invoked her [Spinning Magic] as she turned her finger round and round. "Why don't you spin it for me?"

Immediately, Takashi's and Rei's bodies were forced to spin in place at high speed. And no matter how much they flared their magic power to fight it, there was nothing they could do.

Meanwhile, Ooba continued to spin her finger while she glanced in the airships' direction.

"Even so, I must admit, they are impressive." Ooba said. "That boy really is a genius."

"Perhaps we should commission one from him." Jura said in a peaceful tone with his palms pressed against each other in front of his chest.

"No way." Ooba replied while shaking her head as she let Takashi and Rei go from her magic's influence. "He would charge us an arm and a leg for it, I'm sure."

"iNdeed he would." Jura said with a slight smile making its way onto his face.

At the same time, the rest of Team Lamia Scale, Lyon, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby were all watching the two airships in awe. However, there was a little more than awe mixed into Lyon's gaze.

"Oh, my sweet Juvia." Lyon mumbled. "This year, I'll show you that I am better for you than Gray. All you have to do is give me a chance."

Like Blue Pegasus and lamia Scale, the members of Quatro Cerberus were also watching the Fairy Tail airships land atop the Sixth Sense Hotel. However, they did not have much to say, as the members simply shouted, "Wild," repeatedly.

The only exceptions were Goldmine, Ikaku, and Yumichika.

"I bet fighting on top of that thing while it is flying would be a rush." Ikaku said with a battle hungry grin on his face and a beam of sunlight reflecting off his head.

"They are quite beautiful." Yumichika said with an appreciative nod. "it would seem Alfonzo has rather impeccable taste."

"*sigh* I'm surprised Makarov has not yet bragged to me about the new airships." Goldmine mumbled. "Maybe he doesn't know about them. He never misses an opportunity to brag like that."

And goldmine was right. Currently, Makarov was standing on the ground at the Sixth Sense Hotel's front entrance and looking up with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Damn it, Ur." Makarov growled. "How could you not tell me about something this good. Do you have any idea of all the bragging I could have done to my old friends?"

And that was exactly why Ur opted to keep the information about the airships away from Makarov. She wanted to surprise the rest of Fiore when the two airships, each carrying about a quarter of the guild, descended from the sky. However, if she had told Makarov, it would have taken less than a day for all of Fiore to know about them, as he would have told his old friends and they would have told their friends, and so on and so forth.

The last group of wizards who were paying a particular amount of attention to the airships landing on the Sixth Sense Hotel's roof were the ladies of Mermaid heel.

"Looks like he's made something incredible again." Anko said while shielding her eyes from the sun as she gazed upon the two airships. She then lowered her hand and placed it on the side of her neck. "But I should have known that nothing was impossible for him."

A moment later, Anko was wrapped up from behind by a pair of arms with brown skin.

"Oh, is he the reason that nasty mark on the side of your neck is gone, Anko?" Yoruichi asked in a teasing tone. "You never told any of us what it was. Nor did you ever tell us what happened to it. But now I think I get it."

"Yeah. Something like that." Anko replied with a grin. Anko then turned her head to look over her shoulder. "More importantly, this is gonna be the first time you've seen him in years. Are you nervous?"

"*Sigh* I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." Yoruichi replied while releasing Anko from her hug. "Still, I really wanna see him. I just hope his girls don't kill me when they see me."

Standing off to the side, Sui-Feng gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, as the memory of Marin punching Yoruichi in the face flashed in her mind. However, the trained assassin did not leak an ounce of killing intent. It seems that the re-education training she was forced to go through had some results.

"So, are you ever going to tell me the story with that guy?" Rangiku asked as she approached Yoruichi and Anko. "I mean, I've been dying to know for years."

"Actually, now that you mention it, I don't know the story either." Anko added.

"Oh, look!" Yoruichi said in an overly exaggerated tone of surprise while pointing at one of the many street vendors set up in the city. "That booth is selling dango. And the sign says they've got flavors that have never been seen before."

Immediately, Anko's head snapped in the direction where Yoruichi was pointing. And when she saw the stall, her eyes lit up as she forgot about the previous topic and sprinted off in the direction of the stall.

Yoruichi then breathed a sigh of relief before she turned her attention to Rangiku who would not be so easily fooled. However, she knew exactly what it would take to get her to drop the topic, as well.

"You're coming with me when I go to say hi to the folks from Fairy Tail, right?" Yoruichi asked while smiling at Rangiku. "I'm sure you could get Lici to make a few custom pieces for you if you asked nicely."

Like Anko before her, Rangiku's eyes also lit up as she seemingly forgot the previous topic when something more important to her was brought up.

"You better not forget to bring me when you go." Rangiku said while nodding her head vigorously. "The Taylor shop's clothes are to die for. And I'm not gonna miss the chance to get something made just for me."

"Don't worry, I won't forget." Yoruichi said with a smile.

'Good, I managed to give them the slip again.' Yoruichi thought to herself. 'I'm not proud of what I did back then. So, of course I don't' wanna talk about it.'

'Hmph!' Rangiku snorted internally. 'I'm not as easy to fool as Anko, Yoruichi. But I'll let you get away with it for now. Otherwise you won't take me with you. Then, I wouldn't get to find out what happened back then or get some custom clothes just for me.'

While the two Soul Reapers were thinking they just got one over on each other, Retsu watched over the more rowdy members of the guild with kagura by her side. As for the other members of the guild, namely Araña, Risley, Beth, and Millianna, they were exploring the festival atmosphere in another group.

"I hope Alfonzo and Elicia will be participating in the Games this year." Retsu muttered to herself while watching the members of her guild have fun. "Otherwise, this won't be all that interesting. Sure, that boy Laxus is strong, But Sui-Feng and Yoruichi have gotten a lot stronger during their training."

Shaking those thoughts away, Retsu continued to wear her usual, gentle smile as she continued to walk around the city with the rest of her guild. Though, unbeknownst to the rest of them, she was secretly evaluating them to see who would be the next guild master, now that Tsunade was the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Because, Retsu, having taken up the mantle of guild master once again, had already grown tired of it.