The next morning, after trading a good morning kiss with Hisui, Kabe left and flew back to Magnolia. On the way, he flew along muttering to himself.
Guess being Queen changes a person. Even during exercise, she likes staying on top now.
He thought back to how, no matter how far past her limit she'd already been the night before, Hisui had still gritted her teeth and insisted on staying up there looking down at him, and the memory alone was enough to send a rush of heat through him. He silently resolved that next time, he'd have to put a proper stop to that arrogance of hers.
Once back at Magnolia, he didn't rush straight to the guild to announce he'd be leading the campaign against the Element 4. That arrangement had only been a private understanding between him and Hisui, and forming an actual alliance would still have to wait until Hisui formally issued the paperwork, whether as a request or a commission. Landing in the back garden of his own estate, he headed inside, took a shower, and changed his clothes. While he cleaned up, the women of the estate had already started stirring for the morning as well.
By the time Kabe stepped out of his room, Mira and Erza were already hard at work in the kitchen. Ultear, Lucy, Brandish, and a few of the others were already sitting at the dining table waiting for breakfast. Besides them, Cana, Juvia, and Bisca, who had just gotten back from a mission not long ago, had returned as well. Seeing Kabe, they all understood perfectly well that he hadn't spent the night at home, but not a trace of displeasure showed on any of their faces, and they simply greeted him with cheerful good mornings.
Kabe walked over and took his seat at the head of the table, chatting easily with everyone as usual, listening to whatever bits of gossip they had to share. After these past weeks of living together, Lucy had already grown comfortable with all of them, and their banter over breakfast was warm and lively. Once they'd finished their cozy meal, the group set off together for the guild.
But the moment they pushed open the guild's doors, everyone was met with quite the amusing sight. Natsu and Gray were ganging up on a black haired young man.
"You damn tin can, I'm gonna flatten you!" Natsu shouted.
"Get out of the way, Natsu, let me deal with this bastard!" Gray shot back.
The two of them kept trading insults without their hands ever slowing down for a second. In moments, fire and ice were tearing through the guild hall, leaving the whole place a wreck.
"That all you've got? You two sissies! I'll show you what a real attack looks like, this old man's Iron Fist!"
For all his big talk, the black haired man was actually on the losing end of this thoroughly unfair two on one. He struggled to defend himself against both of their attacks at once, only occasionally landing a hit of his own, and paying for it immediately with several more from the other two. Only a few exchanges in, and he already had a good number of bruises to show for it.
Watching the scene unfold, Erza, the guild's self-appointed enforcer of order, couldn't just sit by any longer.
"Stop this at once! What do you two think you're doing? Fighting is banned inside this guild!"
But Natsu and Gray, caught up in the heat of it, seemed not to hear her at all and kept right on tangling with the black haired stranger. Watching this, Meredy couldn't help but murmur under her breath, "Those two are in for it now."
"What do you mean?" Lucy started to ask, but Erza answered the question with action before she could even finish.
"You three, get a grip!"
She flashed into place behind Natsu and Gray in an instant, grabbed a fistful of hair on each of them, and slammed their heads together hard. Both boys instantly felt like their skulls were about to burst, minds going completely blank as they collapsed straight to the floor without a shred of fight left in them. The two of them, who moments ago had been pressing their advantage against the stranger, had been dealt with by this red haired woman in the blink of an eye.
The black haired young man froze for a beat, staring at Erza with wariness in his eyes, mixed with a flicker of genuine admiration.
Even braced for it, when Erza's gaze swept toward him and that dainty little fist of hers filled his vision, closing in fast, he still couldn't react in time.
"Boom!"
The young man went flying backward and slammed into a wall, half his body sinking straight into it, taken down in a single punch just as cleanly as the other two, without landing so much as a scratch on her.
Watching just how brutal Erza remained, the crowd of guild members who'd been enjoying the spectacle all shrank back nervously, quickly looking away rather than risk meeting her eyes. Erza turned, ready to lecture the crowd of onlookers who'd been more than happy to watch the chaos without lifting a finger to stop it. But before she could, Kabe walked up beside her, patted her on the back to help calm her down, and glanced over at the black haired young man still half embedded in the wall.
"So what happened here? Isn't this the new recruit the Guild Master went and found, Gajeel? Did he actually join the guild? What'd he do to get into it with Natsu and Gray?"
He fired off the questions one after another, then turned his gaze toward Makarov, who was calmly drinking with Macao and the others, and shot him a pointed look. Talk about not having a care in the world. Those three had nearly torn the guild apart, and here he was, still perfectly content with his drink.
Makarov, on the other hand, was in a fine mood, having just successfully recruited a promising new member, and he waved off Kabe's question without much concern.
"Just some horseplay between young men, nothing more. Gajeel apparently got a look at the photo collection Natsu and the others took and had a few laughs at their expense. Those two brats got riled up, and that's how the fight started. It's nothing to worry about. A little sparring between the young ones isn't a bad thing. Might even build some camaraderie."
Kabe stared at the old man's already reddened nose for another couple of seconds and confirmed, without a doubt, that he was already drunk. If he'd actually been sober right now, he'd never have taken this attitude. He would have already stepped in to discipline any little troublemakers reckless enough to wreck the guild and rack up unnecessary damage.
With that thought, Kabe wrapped an arm around Erza, still fuming, and said, "Come on, even the Guild Master's not bothered, so don't you worry about it either."
Then, after a beat, he added, "Just chalk it up as a lesson for him. Hopefully he can still laugh about it once he's sobered up."
Hearing that, Erza finally let it go, though she kept her expression stern as she let Kabe lead her off to the side. The women then filed past the two boys sprawled on the floor and made their way into the guild hall.
Laki walked over to Natsu and Gray and gave them each a few light kicks.
"Time to get up, you two. No sleeping in the guild's walkway."
Erza's blow must have really landed hard, because no matter how much Laki called out, neither boy showed any sign of waking. Left with no other choice, Laki turned and beckoned toward Happy, who was hiding behind Makarov, a stolen fish still hanging half eaten from his mouth.
"Happy. Come drag these three off. You've got one hour to wake them up and clean up whatever mess they've made. Otherwise, I'll be having a talk with you about that fish you're not supposed to be eating."
At that, Happy quickly swallowed the rest of the fish tail, hopped out from behind Makarov, and snapped to attention with a salute.
"Aye sir! Mission accepted, will complete without fail!"
With that, he flapped his wings and flew straight over to Natsu and Gray, claws bared.
"Get up already, Natsu! Gray!!"
He howled the words as he swiped his sharp little claws mercilessly across both their faces.
Natsu and Gray: "Aaah, that hurts!!!"