Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August 29, x791.
"Fonzie, is something wrong?" Elicia, after seeing Alfonzo stop the awakening process for Amar'e's magic, asked in a concerned tone.
Instead of answering immediately, Alfonzo finished watching the video from the monitoring devices he set up on Tenrou Island. Then, with a bloodthirsty smile on his face, he locked his lPhone and slipped it back into his pocket while whispering to himself.
"Don't worry about it, Lici." Alfonzo said with his smile returning to normal. "I'll tell everyone about it after this. For now, let's focus on Amar'e."
Elicia was not the only one who was worried after seeing Alfonzo's expression when he checked the alert on his lPhone. However, everyone present trusted him enough to not dwell on it for now. So, they all nodded their heads before focusing on the awakening again.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo turned his attention back to Amar'e, who despite his impatience, sat in front of him obediently.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Little Man." Amar'e said as he ruffled Amar'e's hair, which was a little afro at the moment. "Let's awaken your magic."
"Yeah!" Amar'e cheered. "Hurry up, Dad!"
Alfonzo could not help chuckling when he heard his son's enthusiasm return. He then placed his right hand on Amar'e's back and once again started to circulate his magic power. Then, he pushed a very small amount into Amar'e's body.
As soon as Alfonzo's magic power entered Amar'e's body, he flinched.
"I know it feels weird, Amar'e." Alfonzo said, his tone serious. "But don't fight it. You have to relax."
"O-Okay, I'll try." Amar'e said with a strange expression on his face. "But it's hard. It really… really…"
Seeing the way Amar'e's expression was contorting while he seemed to be writhing in pain, all of the women, especially Elicia, showed worry on their faces. However, before anyone could tell Alfonzo to stop, Amar'e's following words left them slack jawed.
"Ahahahahaha!" Amar'e started laughing hysterically. "Dad, it really tickles. Ahahaha! I feel like I have to pee!"
While Alfonzo's lips were twitching at Amar'e's reaction, he did not stop searching for Amar'e's magic power container with his magic power. Though, the unexpected reaction almost made him retract his magic power in surprise.
"*Sigh* Just hold on a little longer." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly. "It's almost done."
Alfonzo's words were not just to comfort his son, as in the next few minutes, Alfonzo retracted his magic power. At the same time, Amar'e raised his little hands and put them on his chest, just over his heart with an expression filled with amazement on his face.
"How do you feel?" Alfonzo asked as he stood up. He then picked up Amar'e from the floor, as well, and looked his son in his eyes. "Do you feel it?"
"Uh huh!" Amar'e, snapping back to reality after hearing his father's questions, replied with a nod. "It feels warm."
"Good." Alfonzo replied with a nod of his own. "But don't try to start moving it yet, okay? Even though you probably can't tell, your body is probably really tired right now.'
Despite receiving a nod from Amar'e, Alfonzo knew there was no way that his son, a four year old child, would be able to resist playing with what was essentially his new toy. So, he knew he, his wives, lovers, and the maids would have to keep a close eye on him for the time being.
Meanwhile, the other ladies were approaching the father son pair now that the awakening process was over. And Elicia was naturally the first to arrive.
"I'm so proud of you, Mar'e!" Elicia squealed as she snatched Amar'e from Alfonzo's arms before raining kisses down all over his face. "You're gonna be such a powerful wizard one day. And as soon as you get some rest, Mommy will start teaching you [Thread Magic], okay?"
"Nuh uh!" Amar'e replied while shaking his head vigorously. "I wanna learn Dad's magic!"
Hearing such a vehement denial, Elicia actually froze mid-kiss. Then, her eyes widened and tears began to well up in her eyes. She then shot a fierce glare at Alfonzo, blaming him for learning such flashy magic.
"Hey! Why are you looking at me like that?" Alfonzo asked, his tone filled with mock indignation. "I didn't do anything!"
Though he spoke in that tone, the shit-eating grin on Alfonzo's face that practically shouted: "Suck it, Lici!" made Elicia even more irritated. However, she also knew that she could not take things any further than just glaring. Because as it had been mentioned in the past, Alfonzo was not above withholding meals to get back at her for wronging him.
Meanwhile, the other ladies, seeing the back and forth between Alfonzo, could not help giggling at Elicia's irritation as they approached.
"Aww, come on, Lici." Cana said as she threw an arm around Elicia's shoulders. "You know this isn't Fonzie's fault. His magic does look cooler than yours, after all."
"Et tu, Cana?" Elicia asked in a betrayed tone.
"Daddy!" Bianca called out, not caring about Elicia's distress at all, as she held out her arms for Alfonzo to take her from Mirajane.
"Hey, Princess." Alfonzo replied with a doting smile.
"Daddy, are we gonna have lunch soon?" Bianca asked with a sweet smile once she was in her father's arms.
"Yeah, I was gonna head upstairs to cook in a few minutes." Alfonzo replied with a nod.
"Can I help?" Bianca asked while blinking her blue eyes cutely.
"Of course, you can." Alfonzo replied with a big smile.
Hearing the affirmative answer, Bianca smiled brightly. Then, she reached out her little hands and grabbed Alfonzo's face before leaning in and planting a kiss on his cheek.
Meanwhile, Mirajane, who was standing next to the father-daughter pair, smiled at the sight. She then clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward to look Bianca in the face.
"Aww! How come you never wanna cook with me, Bi Bi?" Mirajane asked playfully. "You know, I learned how to cook from your Daddy, too."
Unfortunately, Mirajane forgot just how honest young children could be when she asked that question.
"Because Daddy is better." Bianca replied innocently as she hugged Alfonzo tightly. "My tummy never hurts after eating his food, either. Not like yours does sometimes."
In an instant, Mirajane's smile froze on her face. At the same time, she felt as if she had just been shot through the heart with an arrow. Then, like Elicia, she glared at Alfonzo as if it was him who told Bianca to say that.
"Seriously?" Alfonzo sighed in exasperation.
"Seriously?" Bianca said, mimicking her father's tone as best she could.
Alfonzo glanced at Bianca, who started giggling happily, with amusement before he returned his gaze back to his unhappy wife.
"You know I didn't tell her to say that, right?" Alfonzo asked while shaking his head.
"So what? It's still your fault." Mirajane replied as she straightened her back and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "If you weren't so much better at cooking than I am, this would have never happened."
Alfonzo could only stare at Mirajane with a blank expression on his face. All the while, Bianca continued to giggle while poking his cheek. Then, instead of trying to defend himself, which he knew was futile, Alfonzo decided to change the subject.
"Anyway." Alfonzo said, raising his voice to get everyone's attention. "Let's head upstairs. I'll tell you all what I was watching after we have lunch."
Alfonzo then turned his head towards Amar'e, who was still in Elicia's arms and smiled widely.
"And I'll be making all of Little man's favorites to celebrate his magic power awakening." Alfonzo continued.
Hearing that, Amar'e cheered happily as everyone made their way out of the training room. However, Alfonzo could still feel both Elicia's and Mirajane's unreasonably angry gazes on his back. Even so, he decided to completely ignore them in favor of talking to Bianca about what they were going to cook when they got to the kitchen.
Time passed quickly after that. And everyone had lunch together. Then, the maids took the children to lay them down for their naps while Alfonzo and his ladies remained in the living room. They also invited Mavis and everyone who was involved in the battle with Acnologia, whether it was the Tartaros subjugation team or the rescue team to come over.
"What's this about, Kid?" Gildarts asked after everyone was seated in the Mansion on the Lake's dining room.
"This." Alfonzo replied as he placed his lPhone on the table and pressed the screen.
In the next instant, a hologram shot up from Alfonzo's lPhone and began showing a video of the sky.
"Whoa!" Ur said as she stood up and leaned closer to the hologram. "When did you add that feature? And when will it be on sale?"
"For now, only mine can do this." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head with a smile on his face. "I'm trying to find ways to bring down production costs before I make it standard. But that's not what's important right now."
"But having something like that would make showing off all the cute pictures of Tear that I took when she was a kid so much easier." Ur said with a pout as she flopped back into her seat and crossed her arms.
"Mom~~~!" Ultear shrieked with a mortified expression on her face.
"Oh, now that you mention it." Gildarts said while tapping his chin with his left index finger and stealing glances at Cana.
"I dare you, Dad." Cana shot back while narrowing her eyes dangerously.
"Ha… Ha… Ha…" Gildarts could only let out a hollow laugh when he thought about what Cana would do if she ever found out he was doing something like that.
"Sun, we both agree that we should never let your father know something like this exists, right?" Ren asked Sun in a serious tone.
"Absolutely." Sun replied with an expression so sharp that it could cut Orichalcum. "I don't wanna have to cut Dad in half for going overboard, ya see?"
Hearing that, Ren nodded in agreement. Then, she turned her attention back to the hologram.
"So, is everyone done?" Alfonzo asked with a smile spreading from ear to ear. A moment later, Alfonzo's expression turned solemn. "Then, take a look at this."
Alfonzo then pressed a button on his lPhone and started playing the video. And when everyone saw Acnologia enter the frame, all of their expressions turned solemn, as well.
Meanwhile, as the video played and drew everyone's attention, Alfonzo was still smiling. Though, it was only in his head. At the same time, he was celebrating internally.
'Good.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Their reactions mean that a function like this will definitely sell. Even if I can't get the cost down as low as I would like, I can still make a shit-ton of money off of the holo-feature.'
["When are you gonna start working on making computers, though?"] Bedlam asked curiously. ["I'm sure you would make even more off the contracts you would get from the Magic Council."]
'*Sigh* As much as I hate to admit it, that's not coming as easy as I'd like.' Alfonzo replied. 'I mean, sure, I know how to make all the stuff in a modern world. But finding the right substitutes is weird. In theory, the shit that went into making the lPhone should work if I just scale them up in size. But no matter what I try, it just doesn't work. It's like there's a limit in the technology tree or something.'
["Yeah, I'm not gonna get into that."] Bedlam said while shaking his head. ["If that has something to do with the gods of this world, I'm not getting involved."]
["Just have the dragon kid come visit."] Riot said disdainfully. ["If he comes to help you and those gods get in the way, I bet his mom will do something about it."]
'No way in hell.' Alfonzo shot back.
["Absolutely not."] Bedlam said simultaneously.
'That would be the same as giving up.' Alfonzo said. 'And Alfonzo Marcus does not give up.'
["Tch! Whatever."] Riot said petulantly.
By the time Alfonzo's conversation with his [Armament Spirits] came to an end, the video had ended, as well. When it did, all the eyes that were focused on the hologram shifted to stare at Alfonzo.
"From where was this video taken, Alfonzo?" Mavis asked in a solemn tone.
"The top of the Great Tenrou Tree." Alfonzo replied. "And before you ask, it only happened about an hour and a half ago."
"What does that mean, exactly?" Laxus asked with his arms crossed.
*Bang!*
"And why didn't you tell us sooner?" Natsu shouted as he slammed his hands onto the table.
"Natsu, calm down." Wendy said, her tone a little shaky.
"It means that Acnologia recognized most of your scents. So, he must have gone to see if Tenrou Island was still there after remembering that he destroyed it all those years ago." Mavis was the one to respond to Laxus' question. She then turned to look at Natsu with a serious expression on her face. "And even if he told us earlier, what would we have been able to do? The only person that can defend against Acnologia's breath attack is in no shape to be fighting right now."
Seeing how tense the atmosphere in the dining room got after her answers to Laxus' and Natsu's questions, Mavis stood up from her seat. She then climbed on top of it so that her short stature was not so apparent.
"Like I said, there is nothing we can do right now." Mavis said as she briefly made eye contact with everyone in the room. "But that doesn't mean that there won't be in the future. So, I want all of you to train. Train like your lives depend on it. Because if Acnologia ever puts two and two together, they will."
*Bang!*
"But that won't stop us from doing what we have to protect our friends… our family!" Mavis continued, her tone growing more passionate as she raised one leg and stomped down on the table top. "We are Fairy Tail! We strive to do things that no one has ever done before! And we've already done two things that no one has ever done before when it comes to Acnologia!"
Mavis' passionate speech made the atmosphere in the dining room heat up quickly. And had they not been in Alfonzo's house, that would have been quite literal, as Natsu started to emit flames from all over his body until Alfonzo knocked him out with a well-placed metal ball to the head.
"First, seven years ago, we survived an attack from Acnologia." Mavis said while maintaining her passionate tone. "Next, only a few days ago, we managed to drive him off. So, why don't we train to take that a step further? Next time we see him, we will be the first ones to defeat him, as well!"
Mavis' speech whipped almost everyone in the dining room into a frenzy. And because of that, Alfonzo had to rush back into the kitchen and cook something for everyone before their excitement started damaging his house and he had to start hurting people.