Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

August, x774.

After their trip to see Porlyusica, Gildarts and Ur returned to the guild hall. When they arrived, instead of jumping right into instructing the younger wizards, they decided to watch and see how they were doing first.

To Ur's surprise, Alfonzo and Elicia, the children of her old friends, were quite strong. To clarify, she did not mean quite strong for their age. But quite strong in general. From what she could see, they were both at least C-Class wizards. And if they worked together, they would probably have little difficulty completing a B-Class quest.

Cana, Laki, and Alzack were also quite good from what Ur could see. It was obvious to see that they had not trained quite as long as the other two, though. But since they were all a year younger than Alfonzo and Elicia, it made sense.

Then, there was Levy, Jet, and Droy. Not only had they not had much time to train, but they were also younger than Alfonzo and Elicia. On top of that, Jet and Droy seemed to be jealous of the fact that Levy like talking to Alfonzo.

"This certainly is an interesting group." Ur said as she and Gildarts watched the kids from the guild's back door.

"Yeah…" Gildarts replied while glaring at Alfonzo.

Seeing Gildarts' glare, Ur could not help but smile wryly. At the end of Gildarts' glare was Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana. The latter two were both offering Alfonzo a towel to wipe his sweat. While Elicia did so with a bright, sunshine-like smile on her face, it was obvious to anyone with a bit of life experience that Cana was doing so with jealousy in her expression.

"Looks like Bianca's kid is going to be quite the heartbreaker, huh?" Ur asked with a smile.

Hearing that, Gildarts paled when he remembered how nearly every man that met Bianca was smitten. Then, he grew angry when he remembered how Bianca brush off almost as many of the men who approached her, himself included. After that, he gritted his teeth when he saw Elicia and Cana fawning over Alfonzo like the men did back in the day.

"Cana, Daddy's back!" Gildarts shouted, doing his best to get his daughter's attention from Alfonzo.

Seeing that, Ur's wry smile deepened. Then, she followed Gildarts toward the children, who were just finishing their training session.

At the same time, Gray and Ultear also noticed Ur's return when Gildarts shouted, so they both jogged over to see Ur.

"Mother, what about your leg?" Ultear asked, concern clear in her eyes.

Although Gray did not speak, it was clear that there was concern in his eyes, as well. However, not only concern could be seen in his eyes. There was also no small amount of guilt in his eyes to go along with it.

"*Sigh* My leg can't be reattached." Ur said, a bit of depression in her voice.

Hearing that, Gray lowered his head guiltily while Ur alternated between glaring at Gray and looking at her mother with concern.

"Ultear, stop looking at Gray like that." Ur lightly reprimanded. "It's not like this is the end of the road for me."

"Yeah, but you'll have to keep using your magic power to make a leg, right?" Ultear asked sadly.

After hearing that same thought once again, Ur could not help but giggle, causing Ultear and Gray to look at her questioningly.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at the two of you." Ur said, still giggling as she waved at Gray and Ultear dismissively. "I promise."

"Then what's so funny?" Ultear asked with a pout.

"It's just I thought the same as you when Miss Porlyusica said that she could not reattach my leg." Ur explained. "And when I said that to her, she called me stupid."

"Stupid?" Gray and Ultear asked simultaneously.

"Yeah, she said I needed to use my head more." Ur continued. "Then she told me that I could get a prosthetic leg."

Seeing Gray and Ultear's expressions, it was clear to Ur that neither of them knew what a prosthetic was. Thinking about it, it made sense considering that prosthetic limbs were a fairly new piece of magic technology.

"Anyway, I need to talk to Alfonzo about it." Ur said, starting to walk toward the group of children.

Hearing that Ur would need help from a kid who was around their age cause Gray and Ultear to be even more confused.

"Dad, stop bullying Alfonzo!" Cana shouted, causing Ur, Gray, and Ultear to look in Gildarts' direction.

At the end of the trio's gazes, Gildarts was standing in front of Cana and Elicia, who were hiding Alfonzo behind them, with is fist clenched and gritting his teeth.

"What happened?" Ur asked as she approached the group.

"Nothing at all." Gildarts replied with a smile that looked as if he would cry any moment. "I just wanted to have a spar with Alfonzo to check his progress."

Immediately, not only Ur, but Alfonzo, Elicia, Cana, Laki, and Alzack all rolled their eyes after hearing that obvious lie. Everyone present could see how much of a doting father Gildarts was. And they all knew exactly what he was thinking at that moment.

"You're not good enough for my baby girl, brat!" Or something like that.

*Smack!*

"Knock it off." Ur said as she slapped Gildarts upside the head. "You're a grown man bullying a ten-year-old kid."

"Nine-year-old." Alfonzo said, correcting Ur.

Briefly Ur glared at Alfonzo as she thought that he was a lot like his mother, before turning back to Gildarts.

"But… My princess…." Gildarts wined.

"Dad, you're being really gross right now." Cana said as she turned away and buried her face into Alfonzo's chest.

At the same time, Alfonzo could tell that Cana was just using that as an excuse to hug him. Then, he looked over to Elicia and saw her smiling happily.

'I wonder if she's just happy that we're getting along or is her harem plan finally getting off the ground.' Alfonzo asked himself while he listened to the sound of Gildarts' teeth grinding against each other.

"Anyway, I have business with Bianca's kid." Ur said, glaring at Gildarts. "So, if you keep bullying him, I'll freeze that little thing between your legs until it just falls off."

At Ur's threat, Gildarts began to shudder. He already had a bad memory about taking damage to the junk, after all. Then, he looked at Elicia, who was smiling at him very brightly. Unfortunately, the occasional glances she took at his crotch while clenching her fists made him shudder even harder.

"Fine." Gildarts said in a weak tone. "I'll let it go for now."

Hearing Gildarts' response, both Ur and Elicia nodded while Cana smiled at her father while still hugging Alfonzo. Seeing that, Gildarts' anger spiked once again.

"But don't think that means I'll let you have my Cana!" Gildarts roared with manly tears welling up in his eyes. "Got it, kid."

"Sure thing, Uncle Gildarts." Alfonzo said with a smile.

"Damn it, don't call me uncle, either." Gildarts roared.

"Sure, Uncle. Whatever you say, Uncle." Alfonzo said happily. "Oops, you said not to call you Uncle. Sorry about that, Uncle."

"Argh!" Gildarts growled before walking away annoyed.

"Well, that was fun." Alfonzo said as he watched Gildarts walk away. Then, he looked at Ur and tilted his head in curiosity as he spoke once again. "But… Um… You said you had business with me Au…"

"Finish that sentence, and you won't like the consequences." Ur said in a low, threatening tone.

"Fine, fine, I get it." Alfonzo said, barely bothered by the threat. "So, what do you need from me?"

"Miss Porlyusica said I should ask you to help me craft a prosthetic leg." Ur replied.

Hearing that, Alfonzo's eyes lit up. And when he looked over to Elicia, he could see that her eyes were glowing as well. Then, they had a short conversation with eye contact.

Alfonzo: 'Is she asking me to make what I think she is?'

Elicia: 'It looks like it to me.'

Alfonzo: 'Hell yeah! I get to make Automail.'

Elicia: 'Yeah, she's gonna have an Automail right leg like Ed.'

Though she could not tell what Alfonzo and Elicia were saying to each other, Ur could tell that they were both excited. And since they… Or more importantly, Alfonzo was excited, that would mean that he would put in some real effort to make her leg.

"I guess that look on your face means you'll do it, right?" Ur asked with a small smile on her face.

"Damn right I will." Alfonzo replied energetically. "I'll need to go see Miss Porlyusica about this, though. You should probably come with me, Lici."

"No, I don't wanna." Elicia wined.

"Oh, come on, Lici." Alfonzo said, trying to coax the girl to go with him.

"No!" Elicia said while covering her ears.

"Are you still scared after she chased you out with a broom?" Alfonzo asked, chuckling at the memory.

The last time Alfonzo and Elicia visited Porlyusica, Alfonzo had hurt himself during one of their training sessions. He had broken his shin while trying to change directions at high speed. Naturally, Makarov had him carried to Porlyusica's house with Elicia following behind them.

At first, Porlyusica had no issue with Elicia. In fact, she seemed to like both Alfonzo and Elicia quite a bit more than she liked the rest of the members of Fairy Tail. However, that quickly changed when Elicia began asking all sorts of questions while she treated Alfonzo. Eventually, when she got sick of it, Porlyusica picked up her trusty broom and chased Elicia out of her house with it.

"But if you don't go with me, who's gonna do the precise measurements?" Alfonzo asked in a teasing tone.

"I'm sure Mis Porlyusica can do it." Elicia replied while shaking her head furiously.

"Haha, fine." Alfonzo said, chuckling at Elicia's reaction. "If you say so."

Like Elicia said, Porlyusica was perfectly capable of measuring so that Ur's new prosthetic would fit perfectly. Alfonzo was just being the ass that he naturally is and teasing Elicia, who he knew was afraid of Porlyusica.

"Anyway." Alfonzo said, turning his gaze back to Ur with a much more serious expression on his face. "I'll have to talk about making this leg with Master Goldstein. But since I'm supposed to meet with her tomorrow afternoon, that should not be a problem."

Is he learning magic item crafting from Master Nell Goldstein as well?' Ur thought to herself. 'Now I see why Miss Porlyusica said I should ask him for help.'

"After I talk to Master, we'll need to talk, too, Ur." Alfonzo continued. "We'll need to talk about materials. Depending on if you continue to continue your career as a wizard or if you plan on retiring from wizarding, the materials needed to make your leg will probably change quite a bit."

Ur nodded at that reasonable assumption.

"We'll need to talk about price, too." Alfonzo said, rubbing the thumb and index finger of his right hand together to emphasize the point.

"You're gonna charge her for it?" Gray asked sounding a bit upset. "But you're members of the same guild."

"Gray!" Ur said in a reprimanding tone.

Even though Ultear did not say anything, she actually agreed with Gray. She was also just a little biased toward her mother, as well.

"So, you want me to create her leg for free, huh?" Alfonzo asked, looking directly into Gray's eyes.

"You are part of the same guild, after all." Gray replied, though it was clear that some of his earlier fervor had disappeared after meeting eyes with Alfonzo.

"In theory, that sounds great." Alfonzo said, nodding his head as he spoke. "But then what am I supposed to do?"

"Huh?" Gray and Ultear exclaimed simultaneously.

"By that logic, I should shoulder all the material costs, right?" Alfonzo asked, his tone dropping. "And what about---"

"Fonzie." Elicia said, interrupting Alfonzo before he could really get going. "He didn't mean it like that."

After Elicia stopped him, Alfonzo took a deep breath. He knew Gray meant no harm with is question. But asking him to work without pay would never slide.

"*Sigh* I know." Alfonzo said, calming himself down with that sigh. "But you know what Mom always said, anyone who tries to get you to work for free is an…."

"Yes… you don't have to finish that saying." Ur said, knowing that the saying ended with a few expletives. "But you don't' have to worry about that, I never intended to ask you to work for free."

"Good." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "Then, we should go see Miss Porlyusica. She should have some designs. After that, I'll talk to Master Goldstein tomorrow about the best materials…"

Like that, Alfonzo and Ur hashed out the details of their transaction. Eventually, they all returned to the guild hall and Alfonzo made dinner for the group as a way to celebrate Ur, Gray, and Ultear joining Fairy Tail.