"We're back!"
Lucy pushed open the guild doors, her voice bright and cheerful, her mood soaring after days of work well done.
Unfortunately, in Fairy Tail, cheerful entrances rarely ended as planned.
Her radiant smile met the back of Natsu's head head-on.
Rhodes heard the impact, a clean, satisfying thunk, and instinctively pulled Wendy aside just as Lucy and Natsu rolled past in a tangled heap of limbs and groans.
"Lucy-nee…" Wendy, still suspended in midair by Rhodes's grip, looked genuinely worried even as chaos unfolded beneath her.
Rhodes sighed, perfectly calm. "Don't mind them."
He took two steps further into the guild, just in time for a blur of motion to fly straight at him.
He almost countered with a kick on reflex, but the size was too small. Instead, he caught the projectile midair, pressing a hand to its back to soften the landing.
"Romeo?" Rhodes blinked and set him down. "How'd you get dragged into this?"
"Brother Rhodes, you're back!" Romeo grinned sheepishly, brushing off dust. "Because I'm also a Magician of Fairy Tail!"
"That's not really something you say in a moment like this," Rhodes muttered under his breath, echoing Lucy's exhausted sigh.
"Are you hurt?" Wendy asked kindly.
Romeo beamed. "I'm fine, Wendy-nee!"
Rhodes tilted his head. "Wait, Wendy-nee? Between the two of you, who's older again?"
If memory served, Romeo was thirteen this year. Wendy, counting her sealed years, was technically… thirteen as well.
"How mean! Of course I'm older!" Wendy puffed out her cheeks, her tone uncharacteristically fierce.
Currently, the only ones who called her Big Sister were Romeo and Asuka. And now her brother Rhode was trying to take half of that away. Too cruel!
Romeo, sensing the danger, quickly recovered: "You can't count age like that! Wendy-nee's already nineteen!"
Wendy froze.
She was technically acknowledged… yet somehow, that didn't feel like a victory at all.
"Romeo!" Natsu roared, bursting back into view like a human explosion. "You were too careless! The battle isn't over yet!"
"Yes, Natsu!" Romeo replied instantly, charging right back into the chaos.
Rhodes pinched the bridge of his nose. "This kid's being completely corrupted by Natsu…"
"Rhodes!" Natsu's eyes lit up. "Perfect timing!"
The déjà vu was almost nostalgic, Rhodes didn't even think before moving.
With a sharp spinning kick, he sent Natsu flying right back out the door he'd just come from. "Go help Lucy up and bring her in!"
"Whoa!!!"
"Ahhhh!!!"
Lucy had just managed to stand when Natsu's body crashed into her again. The resulting bang sent both tumbling into a pile of chairs.
She went cross-eyed before collapsing in a daze.
Carla watched blankly. "You seem a bit… heavier-handed this time."
Rhodes scratched his cheek. "I really didn't mean to."
The guild remained as chaotic as ever, tables overturned, laughter echoing, magic sparks flying everywhere, until a calm, melodic voice cut through the noise.
"Could you please make way?"
No one responded.
A moment later, a heavy thud sounded, and suddenly a neat path cleared straight through the crowd, as if an invisible bulldozer had rolled through.
Over toppled chairs and groaning bodies, Mira strolled forward, hands folded behind her back, smiling serenely.
"Welcome home, husband," she said warmly.
Rhodes smiled faintly and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm home."
Together, the two walked hand in hand toward the front desk. The chaotic battlefield around them parted automatically.
"These people are so careless," Rhodes remarked dryly, stepping over what used to be a table, and possibly Elfman. "They suddenly all just fell down."
"Indeed," Mira replied, laughter in her voice as she gracefully stepped over her brother without breaking stride.
Wendy and Carla followed with matching expressions of long-suffering resignation.
Romeo stood at attention, torn between admiration and fear, wondering whether he should rejoin the "battle"… or wisely stay out of the line of fire.
Upstairs, Laxus heard the noise gradually die down.
He leaned over the railing and glanced down.
Oh. It was just another case of someone getting flattened by the Demon.
Nothing to worry about.
Still, he squinted slightly.
'Has Rhodes gotten stronger again?'
Noticing Laxus's gaze, Rhodes looked up and waved casually.
Laxus gave a faint nod before sitting back down and taking another sip of his drink.
As Makarov passed his grandson, he chuckled. "I thought you'd go down and challenge him."
"Why do such a boring thing?" Laxus replied, not even looking up. "I'm not Natsu."
Makarov only shook his head with a sigh and continued downstairs.
By the time he reached the main hall, the chaos had mostly settled.
Rhodes was sitting beside Mira, quietly going over the mission report. Wendy was perched nearby, sipping juice like a model student, while Carla clutched her own cup protectively with both paws as if guarding treasure.
Lucy had a bandage on her forehead and still looked a little dazed, so she just sat there listening, smiling faintly whenever someone spoke.
"Master," Rhodes began, "I actually have something to discuss with you."
Makarov's eyes brightened immediately. "Oh? Have you finally decided to accept promotion?"
"Stop, stop, stop." Rhodes raised a hand, already feeling a headache forming. "We've been through this, remember? It's about something else."
He straightened a bit, voice turning serious. "There are a few missions completed by other guilds that I'd like to investigate in detail. But we'd need to contact their guilds officially, through you."
"Hmm…" Makarov rubbed his beard. "Mission records, eh? That kind of intelligence is usually off-limits… unless it's important. Is this serious?"
Rhodes nodded. "Something's happening in the Celestial Spirit Realm. It could threaten Lucy and other Celestial Spirit Mages. I need to confirm the scope."
That was all it took. When it came to his children's safety, Makarov didn't hesitate.
"Understood," he said firmly. "We'll handle it."
"Good," Rhodes said, then patiently explained everything that had happened over the past few days, about the Hellhound, the Bee Zodiac, the Quadrans Lyrids, and the strange pattern emerging.
By the end, Makarov was chuckling.
He didn't catch half of what was said, but the gist was clear enough: Fairy Tail had triumphed again.
"Haha! Another victory for us!" He laughed heartily to himself. "Take that, Goldmine!"
"Master...Master?"
Makarov blinked, snapping back to reality. "Hmm? Ah, yes, yes, do as you say!"
Rhodes raised an eyebrow, expression blank. "Really? Because I just said Mira's been overworked lately and should take a week off, and that you should handle all the guild's duties in her place."
"Absolutely not!" Makarov barked immediately.
Mira giggled behind her hand, and Wendy tried, and failed, to hide her laughter.
Rhodes sighed good-naturedly. He knew the old man too well. At least, this way, the Master would end up handling all the cross-guild communication.
For now, Rhodes pulled out the mission logbook from the front desk, flipping through pages until he found one particular entry.
"Let's see… ah, this one, Gray's mission to subjugate the Ghost Reindeer."
He remembered it clearly. The Council had even praised Gray for it.
"Lucy," Rhodes asked, "is there a constellation related to reindeer?"
"Eh? Hmmm…" Lucy tried to coax her still-slow brain into motion. "Yes, there was one! It got merged into the Camelopardalis constellation about three hundred years ago."
Rhodes nodded thoughtfully. "Figures. Gray! Come here for a moment!"
Silence.
He turned, and saw the aftermath of the "battle" still scattered across the hall.
The guild looked like a natural disaster zone.
Gray was half-buried in a table, completely naked as usual, his lower body sticking out like a flag of defeat. His legs dangled uselessly, and it was unclear whether he was unconscious or just asleep.
Rhodes sighed. "Honestly…"
Makarov rubbed his forehead.