Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

July 5, x790.

"We're back." Alfonzo said as he led Erza and Irene into the hotel suite where his other wives and lovers were getting the children ready for their trip to Ryuzetsu Land. "We're not late, are we?"

"No, you're right on time." Elicia said while putting a pair of swimming trunks on Amar'e. "We've got everything packed. Now, we're just waiting for everyone to finish getting dressed."

"Good." Alfonzo replied. "I'm just glad we're not late. Things got more... intense than I was expecting."

"Yeah, I think we can all tell." Rika said with a grin. "Irene and Erza are practically glowing. And look, is Irene actually skipping?"

Rika's question drew all the ladies' attention to Irene, who was actually skipping while on her way to her luggage to pick out a swimsuit. When she bent over to look through her bags, Irene finally noticed all the gazes that were locked on her.

"What?" Irene asked while smiling brightly.

"Damn, you must have dicked her down really good, Fonzie." Cana said while shaking her head.

"Cana!" Elicia, Mirajane, and Shizuka shouted simultaneously, startling Cana in the process. "Don't talk like that in front of the kids!"

In response, Cana looked away sheepishly.

"Cana is not wrong, though." Erza added as she looked through the swimsuits she had stored in her magic [Requip: The Knight]. "I also learned a lot from Mother. It was quite informative."

Hearing that, most of the ladies shifted their gazes between Erza and Irene repeatedly, wanting to know the details when the kids weren't around. Even so, no one slowed down their preparations for the day.

Meanwhile, like most of the people in Crocus for the Grand Magic Games, Minerva of Sabertooth was out and about on her rest day. However, unlike everyone else, she was not enjoying herself. And the reason was simple. Her father, Jiemma, the guild master of the Sabertooth wizarding guild, ordered her to find a way to win the Grand Magic Games. But she could tell that was not a realistic request.

"He doesn't seem to care what methods I use." Minerva muttered to herself while walking aimlessly through the streets of Crocus. "But what could I possibly do to make them bend their knees to us? Because the only way I could see us winning is if they forfeited. But that doesn't seem too likely."

At that point, Minerva fell into her own thoughts. When she did, she could not help but remember her conversation with Irene.

"If I'm gonna do it, I should do it with all my might, huh?" Minerva asked herself.

She then shook that thought off. Not only was Minerva not sure that she would be able to kidnap any members of Fairy Tail as she had originally considered, on her own. She felt like doing something like that was beneath her. Unfortunately, she was willing to do something so despicable if it meant fulfilling her father's orders, as her instinctive fear of him from her childhood was too much for her to go against his orders.

Deciding she would only do something that drastic as a last resort, Minerva continued to wander aimlessly, ignoring the looks and the greetings from the people who recognized her as one of the contestants in the Grand Magic Games.

"Daddy, swim with melater, 'kay?" A young boy's voice pulled Minerva out of her ponderings.

When she looked, she saw a group of women, a man, and three children walking down the streets of Crocus. And Minerva naturally recognized most of them.

"Alfonzo Marcus and his wives." Minerva said as she watched the group pass her. "They have their children with them, too. Perhaps..."

As soon as that thought started to form in her mind, Minerva squashed it almost immediately. Because despite not even making eye contact with anyone in Alfonzo's group, she could feel all of their killing intents locking onto her.

Yet, when she turned to look at them, she could only see them chatting and smiling happily while making their way in the direction of Ryuzetsu Land.

"What in the hell was that?" Minerva asked with cold sweat streaming down her forehead while she watched the Fairy Tail wizards get further away. "Even if I don't do something that drastic, I still might be able to find out some of their weaknesses if I observe them."

With that, Minerva started following the Marcus family to Ryuzetsu Land, completely unaware that she was not being as stealthy as she thought she was. Especially since she had been within the range of most of their [Magic Power Detection] from the moment they woke up.

However, Minerva was not the only one who kept an eye on the wizards of Fairy Tail. A pair of rogue shinobi were doing the same. Though, like Minerva, they had been detected long ago, as well.

"Hey, Itachi, why don't we try and kidnap the Nine-Tails brat now." Kisame asked while he and Itachi jumped from rooftop to rooftop to follow Alfonzo and his ladies. "I mean, he's not following them right now."

In response, Itachi shook his head.

"Don't forget, Naruto Uzumaki can use the [Flying Thunder God]." Itachi said. "Meaning, unless we can take him down without being detected, there's a good chance that he would just teleport away from us. And if we're unlucky, he would teleport straight to Alfonzo Marcus."

'Plus, Naruto is with Sasuke right now.' Itachi thought to himself. 'And I'm still not ready to confront Sasuke yet. I hope he's gotten strong enough to kill me, though. It would be the perfect end for what I was forced to do all those years ago.'

"I guess you're probably right." Kisame replied while scratching the side of his head. "But why didn't we try to make a move while Alfonzo wasn't in Crocus."

"We still would have had to deal with Elicia." Itachi said. "And we already know that she's capable of delaying us long enough on her own for help to arrive."

'Plus, I'm not sure if we could take her if she's not restricted by protecting Naruto.' Itachi added mentally.

"Besides, the same thing still stands." Itachi continued. "He could have just teleported to Alfonzo, who was somewhere out of the city. And we would have exposed ourselves for nothing."

"I see." Kisame replied. "*Sigh* I don't understand how things got so complicated just because the brat joined Fairy Tail."

"Either way, we can only hope that things are going better on Hidan's and Kakuzu's side." Itachi replied. "They should be hunting down the Seven-Tails right now."

And Itachi was right, at this very moment, two members of the Akatsuki, Hidan and Kakuzu were on their way to intercept a certain, tan-skinned kunoichi with short, layered mint-green hair and orange eyes once she left the Village Hidden in the Sand to return to her own village.

Unfortunately, the two rogue shinobi were unlucky enough that Fairy Tail's most destructive member, the one who Magnolia had been completely renovated for, would be passing by that area in the future and would take an interest in the commotion.

"I suppose." Kisame replied. "Well, if they are successful, we'll be called to do the extraction soon enough.'

"Indeed." Itachi said with a nod. "It seems they truly intend to relax on their rest day."

As Itachi said that, he pointed ahead of Alfonzo and his group towards the entrance to Ryuzetsu land.

"So, how are we gonna do this, Itachi?" Kisame asked. "Should we use the [Transformation Jutsu] and follow them inside. Or should we just watch from outside?"

"I don't think there's any reason to follow them inside." Itachi thought aloudf. "If we get too close, there's a chance they could feel our presences."

"I guess that's true." Kisame replied. "Well then, I guess we're waiting until they've had their fun. Even though I could probably do a lot of damage with all that water."

With that, Itachi and Kisame found the vantage point that gave them the best view of the park. Meanwhile, Alfonzo and the others made their way into the theme park with Minerva following them a short while later.

So she would fit in, Minerva rented a swimsuit from the park. Because it would look strange if she sat around watching her targets while wearing her fancy Chinese-inspired dress all day.

And for the rest of the day, Minerva simply watched the Fairy Tail wizards just play around and have fun. And if she were being honest, she was quite envious of them. In her whole life, she had never been allowed to have fun like they were. Because her father was a tyrant. He was the dictator of Sabertooth.

"*Sigh* I've been watching them all day long." Minerva muttered to herself while letting her head lean back on the pool chair she had been watching her targets from. "But the only weakness I could identify was their children. But every time I thought about doing something to them, I felt as if my death was close at hand."

"That's because you have good instincts."

Hearing that familiar voice, Minerva shifted her eyes in its direction. And just as she expected, Irene was standing nearby and smiling at her.

"*Sigh* I should have known you'd find me." Minerva said in a tired tone. "You were the one who said that if I were to try anything, I should use all my might, after all."

"That I did." Irene replied with a nod. "But it seems you've decided against doing anything drastic."

"Yeah, my instincts are telling me just how stupid that would be." Minerva said while rolling her eyes. "And I only want to win the Grand Magic Games, not commit suicide by someone else's hand."

"*Sigh* It's too bad you're stuck with that over confident fool you call your father." Irene said in an exasperated tone. "I could probably make you into one of the most powerful wizards on the continent if I were allowed to train you. Instead, you have to put up with a manchild who is a lot less powerful than he thinks he is."

Hearing that Irene seemed to think so highly of her was a surprise to Minerva. However, Irene's following words surprised her even more.

"Oh, I know." Irene said in a somewhat excited tone. "Why don't you leave that guild and join ours? And before you reject me outright, you wouldn't have to worry about what your father might do if you were to leave. He's not strong enough to do anything to Fairy Tail, anyway."

'I won't tell her that Alfonzo found out that he seems to be connected to Tartaros.' Irene said to herself. 'She doesn't really need to know that right now. In fact, it would only make her distrust me even more.'

While Irene was thinking that, Minerva could only stare at her with her eyes and mouth wide open. Never in a million years did she think that the rumored most powerful wizard on the continent would try to poach her from her guild.

"I..." Minerva started to say. However, she was stopped when Irene placed a finger over her lips.

"I know you're terrified of your father, Girl." Irene said gently. "And it's completely understandable, too. I would more than likely fear anyone who would beat me so viciously as a child, too. But you need not fear him ever again. If you take my hand, that is."

Once again, Minerva did not know what to say in response. She could only look at Irene with confusion in her gaze. In the end, this was all she could say.

"I'll... think about it..." Minerva said in a shaky tone.

"That's the right response." Irene said with a satisfied nod. "Had you agreed right away, I would have walked away and never looked back. Because anyone who would so easily betray their guild would not be worth my time. But you must remember, you only have until either Sabertooth or Fairy Tail leaves Crocus to make your decision. Because if you wait any longer than that, I truly am not so interested in your well-being to be bothered to care."

After saying what she wanted to say, Irene walked away from Minerva, leaving the young woman to think about what she wanted. Meanwhile, Irene made her way over to Alfonzo's side, who was sitting on the edge of the pool watching Elicia, Mirajane, and Shizuka play with Amar'e, Bianca, and Calvin.

"So, how did it go?" Alfonzo asked as Irene sat behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso.

"Only time will tell." Irene replied. "But at the very least, I believe I sparked her interest."

"Well, you don't need [MPD] to tell just how powerful you are." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "So, when you said you wanted to train her, basically take her as a disciple, if she wasn't at least interested, then she would have to have a heart made from stone."

"Still, I'm not sure if she's strong enough to step away from her father's control." Irene said with a smile.

"I doubt she took too kindly to leaving her guild, either." Alfonzo added.

"Indeed." Irene replied. "That seemed to be what bothered her the most about my proposal."

"Well, it's a good thing that we don't actually care if she leaves Sabertooth or not." Alfonzo said with a smirk. "We just need to know if she's really willing to turn against her father. And since she has no idea that he's in contact with Tartaros, this is a perfect test."

"That it is." Irene said with a smile. "And I must say, this is much more entertaining than watching you and the girls dominate all your competition like you have been."

"Hahahaha!" Hearing that, Alfonzo could not help laughing uproariously.

"Hey, if you two are done just sitting around, come and play!" Elicia said while waving at Alfonzo and Irene."

"Play! Play!" The children shouted, as well.

"Shall we?" Alfonzo asked.

"After... You!" Irene shouted as she used her immense strength to push Alfonzo into the pool, causing him to skip across the surface like a stone.

"Kya~~~~~~~~!" Irene screamed in surprise, sounding much cuter than anyone expected when she was pulled along behind Alfonzo thanks to a metal wire that wrapped itself around Irene's ankle without her notice when she pushed him.

And just like that, the water war of the century started between two of the most powerful wizards on Ishgar. And unfortunately, no one visiting Ryuzetsu Land's water park area was safe from its influence. Though, no children were harmed during Alfonzo's and Irene's altercation. So, there was that, at least.