Earth Land, Ishgar, Stella, Altair.
October 9, x791.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
{"Alfonzo, is everything okay?"} Mavis asked, a hint of worry in her tone after Alfonzo stopped speaking without finishing his sentence.
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Alfonzo replied in a dumbfounded tone. "Everything's fine. But hey, Master Mavis, can I call you back."
{"Sure…"} Mavis replied in a confused tone. {"Just be careful. Even though all the fighting is over. The quest doesn't end until you're back home."}
"Got it… Talk to you later." Alfonzo replied in the same dumbfounded tone as he ended the call.
Standing at the entrance to their hotel room, Alfonzo, Cana, Ultear, and Sun watched with blank expressions on their faces as Elicia threw punches at what looked like a heavy bag hanging from the ceiling. However, they were all aware that that was no heavy bag. Instead, it was a middle-aged man who had been wrapped up in her [Thread Magic].
On top of that, the muffled groans that escaped the middle-aged man, Zash Caine, with every punch that Elicia landed made it clear, as well.
"Uh… Lici… What's up with the… Uh… Punching bag?" Alfonzo asked in an awkward tone.
Hearing Alfonzo's question, Elicia froze momentarily. She then lowered her hands from her fighting stance before slowly turning around to look at the new arrivals. When she recognized them as Alfonzo, Cana, Ultear, and Sun, she began walking towards them with unsteady steps.
"Lici, what's wrong?" Cana asked, taking a step forward with worry on her face when she saw Elicia's red eyes.
Yet, Elicia did not answer immediately. Instead, she continued walking forward until she was right in front of Alfonzo. She then tightly wrapped her arms around her husband's waist and pressed her forehead against his broad chest.
"Lici?" Alfonzo asked unsurely as he wrapped his own arms around Elicia's back. And when he felt his shirt starting to get damp, his uncertainty turned into worry. "Lici, what happened?"
A few moments passed with Elicia crying in silence while Alfonzo, Cana, Ultear, and Sun looked at her with worry. She eventually opened her mouth, her head still buried in Alfonzo's chest, and told them about what she found in Zash's underground facility. And when she got to the part where she found Zash's sex dungeon and all the tortured women, her arms tightened around Alfonzo's waist.
Though, she did make sure to keep what Zash said about making her into another one of his sex slaves to herself. Otherwise, all the restraint she showed while bringing Zash back to the hotel would go to waste when Alfonzo killed the man for even considering something like that.
'Restraint my ass.' Zash would have thought if he could hear what Elicia was thinking about her actions.
"So, that lump of man-shaped flesh is Zash Caine, Fiore's traitor?" Ultear asked while glancing in Zash's direction.
"Mhmm…" Elicia hummed with a small nod.
"Wow!" Sun exclaimed in surprise. "You caught him in one day? That's amazing, Lici!"
Sun's enthusiasm brought a small smile to Elicia's face despite herself. Even so, she did not pull away from Alfonzo's embrace, his warmth settling her emotions over time.
"Hmph!" Cana snorted angrily. "You let that asshole off easy. You should have cut off that thing between his legs and made him eat it. That would show him what we think of people like him."
"Eww, no." Elicia said with disgust. "There's no way I was touching that thing. Not even with my magic."
"Fair enough…" Cana said while frowning at the thought of touching another man's penis. "Still, you should have at least stomped it into mush, or something."
Though barely conscious, Zash shuddered at the venomous punishment Cana suggested.
"Anyway, it looks like we won't be driving back to Fiore this time." Alfonzo said while shuddering minutely, as well. "Looks like I'll need to get someone to bring the Blackbird. Luckily, there's enough space in the cargo hold for the three cars."
"But who's left at the house that knows how to fly it?" Sun asked curiously while tilting her head in curiosity.
Instead of answering immediately, Alfonzo unwrapped one of his arms from around Elicia's back and reached into his pocket to grab his lPhone. He then called one of the numbers he had only called a few minutes ago.
{"Master Alfonzo, do you have any more instructions for me?"} Grayfia asked from the other side of the phone.
"Sorry to interrupt you again, Grayfia." Alfonzo replied, his tone much more solemn than when he called for Cana's punishment. "But yeah, I need you to do something for me. We need the Blackbird for extraction. We've got a high priority target in our custody. So, driving back isn't an option."
{"I understand."} Grayfia replied in her usual tone. {"I'll begin prepping the Blackbird immediately. How soon do you need me to arrive?"}
"Tomorrow afternoon." Alfonzo said. "We still need to finish the last parts of the quest before we can come back. So, we'll be ready by then."
{"I understand."} Grayfia replied. {"Then, I'll set off tomorrow morning. I'll use the position of your lPhone as a beacon."}
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Grayfia." Alfonzo said with a nod.
{"Rest well for the evening, Master Alfonzo."} Grayfia said before Alfonzo ended the call.
After hanging up, Alfonzo did not put his lPhone away immediately. Instead, he began texting the rest of his team, letting him know that he would pick up their proofs of subjugation tomorrow morning before bringing them to the client. He also let them know that they would not need to drive back, as the Blackbird would be there tomorrow to take them back, cars and all.
Naturally, the one who was the most excited about the news of the Blackbird coming to get them was Gildarts, who was forced to walk all the way from Magnolia to Altair because Ur did not want to chance him destroying her purple Z3 by accident.
After sending the texts, Alfonzo put his lPhone away again. Then, he wrapped his arm around Elicia's waist again before lifting her off the floor.
"Anyway, tonight we'll take it easy." Alfonzo said with a faint smile as he felt Elicia wrap her legs around his waist and move her arms to hug hum around his neck. He then looked down at her and continued. "For now, let's see what we can do to get your mind off the unpleasant things you saw today. And the first thing we'll do is take a nice hot bath. That should help all of us relax."
Hearing that, Cana, Ultear, and Sun smiled. Then, they followed Alfonzo through the room and made their way to the bathroom to join him and Elicia in the bath.
An hour and a half later, Elicia, Cana, Ultear, and Sun were the first ones to exit the bathroom. Each donning a bathrobe provided by the hotel, they walked into the hotel room's common room with their hair still damp and slightly flushed cheeks from the steam.
Shortly afterwards, Alfonzo walked out of the bathroom shirtless wearing a pair of loose pants while drying his hair with a towel with one hand while checking messages on his lPhone with the other.
While Alfonzo read the messages, the ladies all took seats on a couch. And it was clear to see that Cana, Ultear, and Sun were slightly more attentive to Elicia, who was still a little gloomy after the day's events.
"So, what else are we gonna do to relax, Fonzie?" Cana asked, shooting a wink in Alfonzo's direction when he looked up from his lPhone, from her spot between Elicia and Ultear.
Knowing exactly what that wink meant, Alfonzo smiled at his wives before tossing his lPhone onto the nightstand next to the large bed in the middle of the wall opposite the couch where the ladies were sitting.
"Oh, I have a few ideas." Alfonzo said, his voice dropping down to a deep bur.
Knowing what Alfonzo's tone meant, all four ladies perked up a bit. However, before they could get too excited, they turned to look at Zash, who was still hanging from the ceiling by Elicia's threads.
"At least Lici had the foresight to not hang him upside down." Ultear muttered while turning away from Zash. "If she had, he might have already died by now."
*Snap!*
"Ah! I knew I forgot something!" Elicia exclaimed loudly while snapping her fingers.
"Huh? You did that on purpose, right?" Sun asked while tilting her head innocently. "The point was to keep him alive, right?"
"Oh… Of course." Elicia said while smiling sheepishly. "I totally meant to do everything I could to keep him alive… Ha… Ha… Ha…"
While Sun nodded in understanding, Cana and Ultear were not so easily fooled by Elicia's transparent excuse and hollow laughter. And the skeptical, teasing glances they threw at Elicia made it clear that they would rather believe that Natsu turned into a Frost Dragon Slayer than the fact that Elicia actually wanted to keep Zash alive.
"Anyway, if we're gonna do what I think you're talking about, don't we need to do something about… that?" Cana asked while glancing at Zash, who still did not look like he had regained his senses.
"Yeah, I should probably do something about that." Alfonzo nodded in response.
*Tap!*
Then, Alfonzo tapped his right heel against the floor. A moment later, a sheet of metal appeared under his heel before it began spreading over the rest of the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. At the same time, when the metal spread under Zash, four new sheets began to rise from the floor.
As those new sheets rose, sigils were simultaneously etched into both the inner and outer surfaces before they connected with the sheet of metal that spread across the ceiling where similar sigils were already etched into the floor, walls, and ceiling, as well.
"There." Alfonzo said, his expression making it clear that he was pleased with his work. "There are silencing sigils on the outside while there are [Seals] for the [Bringer of Darkness Jutsu] on the inside."
"So, you turned it into a sensory deprivation cell?" Ultear asked with a glint of sadism in her eyes. "Sounds like a delightful punishment."
"*Sigh* Your dark side his showing, Tear." Cana said as she reached up to poke Ultear on the cheek.
"Stop it!" Ultear squealed while swatting Cana's hand away.
"He won't suffocate in there, will he?" Sun asked curiously. "I don't see any gaps for air."
"Don't worry about that, Sun." Alfonzo said with a smile as he tossed the towel he used to dry his hair away. "Though they aren't very big, there are slits for air flow at the bottom and top of the cell. As long as he doesn't use up the air inside too quickly, he should be fine. And at worst, he'll just pass out. And when he does, his breathing should slow down enough for him to get enough oxygen again."
"I see." Sun said with a nod. Though, it was unclear if she actually understood or cared enough to continue the topic.
"Now, I think we should get back to business." Alfonzo said as he approached the couch. "And believe me when I say this, relaxation is serious business."
Elicia, Cana, Ultear, and Sun could tell that the actual relaxation would only begin after the "serious business" Alfonzo was referring to was over. And being the diligent wizards they were, they were ready and willing to get down to proper business.
Meanwhile, Gildarts, Ur, and Levy were walking through the city after cleaning up their own battlefield. At Alfonzo's request, Ur and Levy were assessing the damage caused by Bickslow, Evergreen, Cana, Ultear, Elfman, and Sun during their battles with the Phantom Troupe. He would need to report the damage to Mavis so that she could offer the right compensation when everything was over and done with, after all.
"*Whistle* Those kids really went to town, didn't they?" Gildarts asked while he, Ur, and Levy walked past the buildings that were destroyed during Bickslow's fight with Feitan.
"You actually have the nerve to comment on the damage someone else caused?" Ur asked while shooting a disdainful glance at her man. "You do more damage than this without even noticing."
Gildarts could only look away while smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of his head.
"This was definitely Bickslow's doing." Levy said while examining a small crater in the side of a building. "Only his dolls cause damage like this."
"That's right." Ur replied. She then pointed in a certain direction. "And I'm guessing that' where the fight started between the others. They then split up to not get in each other's way."
Ur then shifted her finger in a different direction, the direction where Evergreen led Shalnark so that Elfman would have enough space to deal with Franklin.
"Yeah, if I had to guess, Elfman fought where that big crater is." Gildarts muttered. "That's probably a product of both him and Evergreen. And everything in that direction is because of Evergreen. *Sigh* Alfonzo's gonna be really pissed off about this, isn't he?"
"Definitely." Ur replied with a nod while estimating how much it would cost to repair all the damage. "And we haven't even seen what your little girl did. But I'm sure it's even worse."
While Gildarts REALLY wanted to defend his daughter, ana, he could not bring himself to do so. Because he has taken more than a few quests with her in the past. And never has he seen someone with less regard for their surroundings during a fight… Other than himself, that is.
On a side note, Gildarts has never gone on a quest with either Erza or Natsu. So, he had no idea just how destructive those two could be when they were focused on a fight. But had he seen the amount of damage Erza usually left in her wake, he would have wanted to question her on how she could bring herself to lecture other members of the guild about collateral damage.
"Anyway, let's hurry up and check the rest of the town." Ur said. "Although that fight wasn't very hard, [First Dance, White Moon] still uses too much magic power. So, I wanna lay down."
"By the way, why isn't the Kid doing this? Himself." Gildarts asked curiously. "It's not like him to push work like this onto others."
"He's probably reporting something of even more importance to Mavis." Ur replied. "He did say he would be having us extracted via the Blackbird, after all. So, something big must have happened somewhere else."
Shrugging in response, Gildarts stopped thinking about it. He wasn't exactly the thinking type. Instead, he just chose to look around at the destruction. But when he did that, he noticed that Levy was staring down at something on the ground.
"Hey, Levy, did you find something interesting?" Gildarts asked curiously, causing the short, blue-haired wizard to jump.
"Huh? What!? No! Nothing!" Levy yelped in panic as she, while blushing all the way to the tips of her ears, kicked something away before Gildarts could come close enough to see what it was. "It's nothing at all. Certainly not something that I thought might make nights with Gajee more fun when we got back! Eek! Forget what you just heard!"
As a matter of fact, one of the stores that was destroyed in the fight between Bickslow and Feitan was a sex toy shop. And the thing that caught Levy's eye was this year's most popular couple's sex toy. Though, she and Gajeel had never used anything like that during their intimate moments. Just seeing it made Levy imagine what could be if they did.
Like that, Gildarts, Ur, and Levy continued to check the damage to the city of Altair while Bickslow, Evergreen, and Elfman relaxed in their hotel. And before long, after checking the rest of the city for damage, Ur's team also returned to their hotel to rest until they had to meet up with Alfonzo and the ladies tomorrow morning to hand over their proofs of subjugation.