Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

May, x772.

"Trust me, Laxus, you don't want this smoke." Alfonzo said in a threatening tone.

"Oh, but I think I do." Laxus said with a feral grin, even though he had never heard the term Alfonzo used before.

After that, Alfonzo and Laxus stared each other down for a short while. After a few moments, Alfonzo turned around and started walking toward the back of the building. Naturally, this caused Laxus to sneer.

"Good, it seems you know your place." Laxus said.

Hearing that, Alfonzo looked back over his shoulder at Laxus as if he were an idiot.

"Are you stupid, or did your lightning fry your brain?" Alfonzo asked disdainfully. "Do you want people and furniture getting in the way? If you don't mind, then I'll beat you up right here."

"Hmph!" Laxus snorted, clearly unhappy with Alfonzo's words.

Laxus then stood from his seat and began to follow Alfonzo to the backyard of the guild building. Naturally, Elicia, Cana, Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen followed them, too.

At the same time, Makarov also opened his eyes and watched the kids step outside with anger in their expressions.

'*Sigh* I knew it was only a matter of time before Alfonzo would stop putting up with Laxus.' Makarov thought to himself. 'I wonder what set him off, though? He's been putting up with it for a year already.'

"Hey, listen up you brats!" Makarov shouted, his words reverberating over the entire first floor of the guild hall. "Do any of you know why Laxus and Alfonzo look like they're going to fight?"

"Yeah, I heard everything." Wakaba said before explaining the situation.

"*Sigh* That Laxus." Makarov said, shaking his head in disappointment. "I blame Ivan for this."

Ivan Dreyar, Makarov's son and Laxus' father, was exiled from the guild several years ago because he found out about something that only the guild masters of Fairy Tail should know about. That, however, was not enough to exile him. But his desire to possess the thing he should not have learned about and his thirst for power is what eventually got him kicked out of the guild. Before he left, though, Makarov was certain that he had instilled his ideology of a guild only needing the strong to Laxus, causing him to act the way he does.

"*Sigh* Someone go watch over them." Makarov said in a melancholic tone. "Make sure they don't take things too far."

After a few moments, Makarov did not hear a response, or even any movement, for that matter. So, he raised his head. When he looked around, he was met with the sight of an empty guild hall.

While Makarov was reminiscing about the past, and before he could give his order, everyone followed the kids out of the building, wanting to see the fight.

A moment later, Makarov blushed in embarrassment. Then, he hopped off the bar top and walked out to the backyard.

At the same time, Alfonzo and Laxus were standiing opposite each other in the area of the backyard where they usually trained, glaring at each other.

"Last chance kid, I'll forgive you for your disobedience if you send that girl away." Laxus said arrogantly.

"You talk too much." Alfonzo replied before taking his fighting stance.

"Fine." Laxus said, coating his arms with lightning. "Don't say that I didn't give you a chance."

Raising his arms, Laxus pointed his palms at Alfonzo and fired off several bolts of electricity at the younger boy. Alfonzo, however, without panicking simply created several large spikes of iron around him and let them fall to the ground, standing upright after piercing it.

A moment later, each of Laxus' lightning bolts were attracted to the metal spikes before being ground harmlessly. Because of this, Laxus gritted his teeth and charged forward. When he was in range, he threw a lightning clad fist at Alfonzo's face.

Side stepping Laxus fist, Alfonzo threw a right hook to Laxus abdomen. Though, it did little in the way of damage. It did serve to break Laxus momentum for a moment. Something that Alfonzo took advantage of. Following his gut punch, Alfonzo threw a left kick that landed on the back of Laxus' right thigh. Once again, this attack did not do much damage, but it caused Laxus to flinch.

Even though Alfonzo had been training intensely for a year, he had no illusions that his seven-year-old body could overpower Laxus' eleven-year-old body. Especially since Laxus had also been training his body, too, and for much longer.

So, instead of going for a one-hit K.O., Alfonzo chose to slowly accumulate damage to bring down his foe.

After flinching, Laxus, with his right hand still coated in lightning, flung his right arm back, trying to back hand Alfonzo. Unfortunately, Alfonzo had anticipated that incoming attack and ducked under it. Then, he threw a jab into Laxus armpit.

Shouting from the pain, Laxus grew even angrier at the fac that he was actually hurt by Alfonzo's attack. But before he could retaliate, Alfonzo swept his legs out from under him.

Before Alfonzo could capitalize on getting Laxus off his feet, however, Laxus managed to get his hands on the ground and break his fall, before springing back up to his feet again.

'I didn't think his reflexes would be so good already.' Alfonzo thought, clicking his tongue mentally while creating some distance with Laxus.

Having been almost knocked to the ground, Laxus began taking Alfonzo a bit more seriously. However, due to the difference in age, he still did not see him as a threat. He only thought that he had been careless.

Just as they had at the beginning, Alfonzo and laxus stood opposite each other, waiting for the next move.

Meanwhile, Cana, seeing Laxus magic and how little damage Alfonzo's attacks had done began to worry.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Cana asked Elicia, whose name she still did not know.

"Yeah, Fonzie will be fine." Elicia said with a smile.

Naturally, Cana looked at Elicia skeptically. To her, it seemed as if Elicia's words were just to comfort her. However, when she looked into Elicia's eyes, she noticed that she had complete confidence in Alfonzo.

"Look at it this way, Cana." Elicia said, noticing the skepticism in Cana's gaze. "Fonzie didn't even use his magic to attack yet. But Laxus was already caught off guard."

Before Cana could ponder Elicia's words, Alfonzo broke the stare down and made the first move.

"[Metal Magic: Spring Dash]." Alfonzo said calmly as he bent his knees.

A moment later, a thin metal wire coiled around Alfonzo's calves and feet before lifting him off the ground by a bit and coiling under his feet. Then, the coils released their tension, shooting Alfonzo forward much faster than Laxus expected. In the next instant, the metal coils disappeared.

One thing that should be noted about Alfonzo's magic thus far is that none of his metal constructs have been permanent. That's not to say that it is impossible for him to create anything permanent. However, he simply does not possess the necessary amount of magic power to make any permanent objects.

In fact, the amount of magic power used when creating an object is directly proportional to how strong and how long said object will last.

After approaching Laxus, Alfonzo created a titanium Eskrima stick in his right hand, and swung it down on Laxus' left shoulder, a part of his arm that was not covered by his electricity. Feeling the pain, Laxus gritted his teeth and grabbed for the piece of metal in Alfonzo's hand with his left hand while wearing a sadistic grin on his face. However, before he could reach it, it vanished.

With his momentum mostly unimpeded, Alfonzo rotated along with his right arm's centrifugal force. Then, as his left arm was passing by Laxus' left side, he created another titanium Eskrima stick in his left hand and slammed it into Laxus' ribs.

"Gah!" Laxus grunted as he felt his bones creak under the blow.

However, Laxus smiled viciously through the pain. Then, he clamped his still lightning clad arm down on the Esckrima stick before it vanished. Unfortunately for him, Alfonzo had simply let go of the stick before the electricity could travel through the low-conductivity metal.

Creating one of his metallic arm wrappings around his right forearm, wrist, and fist, Alfonzo continued his rotation. Using all the force he could muster, he swung a right hook into Laxus' jaw, causing him to stagger back a few steps. Before Laxus could recover, however, Alfonzo followed up with a high kick aimed at Laxus chin.

This kick lifted Laxus off the ground. Then, he fell on his back with his arms spread out to the sides. An instant after Laxus hit the ground, a pair of lead restraints formed over Laxus wrists and pierced into the ground, immobilizing Laxus' arms. Then, Alfonzo wasted no time mounting his downed foe.

"So, Laxus, does this count as forcing you to show me some respect?" Alfonzo asked with a mocking grin on his face.

"Hmph!" Laxus snorteed while turning his head away. "You only won because I was careless."

"If you really feel that way, I don't mind repeating this little song and dance whenever you want." Alfonzo said, preparing to stand up and release Laxus. "But you should prepared to get spanked every time you challenge me."

Unable to stand Alfonzo's mockery, Laxus angrily spat a small bolt of lightning in Alfonzo's face. Although he did not have enough control to actually do any damage to Alfonzo with this little sneak attack, the bolt would have hit Alfonzo in the eye if he didn't move his head slightly in reflex.

Alfonzo, as someone who had lost his eye sight in both his past life and for a short time in his present one as well, flew into a rage when he realized how close that little sneak attack was to hitting him in the eye. With wrath clear in his expression, he raised his fist over Laxus head as magic power began to gather around it.

Noticing Alfonzo's anger, Elicia began to panic.

"Fonzie, don't!" Elicia shouted.

Before Alfonzo could do something he would regret, his body was wrapped up by a thin cloud of pink smoke. Tracing the smoke back to its source, it was coming from a cigarette in Wakaba's hand.

"Alright, kids, I think that's far enough." Wakaba said, manipulating the smoke to pull Alfonzo off of Laxus.

"Let me go, Wakaba!" Alfonzo shouted, enraged.

"*Sigh* I think you need a nap, kid." Wakaba said. "[Smoke Magic: Smoke Crush]."

With that, a magic circle appeared on the tip of Wakaba's cigarette. A moment later, a second stream of smoke was produced and formed into a fist. That fist then struck Alfonzo on the head and knocked him unconscious.

After he fell unconscious, Alfonzo's lead restraints vanished. However, Laxus did not move. Instead, he laid there, remembering the look in Alfonzo's eyes.

"Alright, everyone, show's over." Makarov said as Wakaba took Alfonzo inside to the infirmary. "Elicia, I'd like to talk to you, though."

Looking at Elicia with worry, Cana hesitantly followed everyone back into the guild hall. Meanwhile, Elicia made her way over to Makarov who was currently checking on Laxus. When she arrived next to Makarov and Laxus, Makarov began speaking without even looking back at her.

"Elicia, child, do you have any idea why Alfonzo lost it like that?" Makarov asked with little inflection in his tone.

Hearing Makarov's tone, Elicia grew nervous.

"Is Fonzie in trouble?" Elicia asked with her voice shaking.

"No, Child, you don't have to worry about that." Makarov said in the same tone. "I just want to know why that happened."

"Well..." Elicia said, struggling to begin. "For most of his life, Fonzie was completely blind in his right eye and partially blind in his left."

Although this wasn't completely true for this life, it held true for Alfonzo's past life, so Elicia, who was a terrible liar, did not give anything away. However, it did hold partially true in this life as well. At the age of four, Alfonzo had fallen ill and also lost most of his eye sight.

"I don't know how much money they spent, but I know that Aunt Bianca went to find a special herb that could help Fonzie get his sight back." Elicia said, starting to tear up. "Healing Fonzie's eyes was the last thing they did before the bad people came and..."

Unable to finish, Elicia began to sob, causing Makarov and Laxus to fall silent. Even though Laxus still didn't like the guy, he did understand that he probably went too far with his sneak attack. And thanks to Elicia's story, he knew why Alfonzo lost his cool like that. Makarov, on the other hand, showed sadness on his face. Then, after making sure that Laxus was alright, he stood up and pulled Elicia into a hug.

"It's okay, child, let it out." Makarov said while patting Elicia gently on her back.