That Wretched Makarov

As Cana watched the man before her descend into confusion, scenes from the past flashed through her mind.

She remembered when she was still a tiny little girl, stepping into the guild for the first time with White beside her, full of anticipation as she came across Gildarts just as he was leaving on a job.

"Hm?" The tall man had noticed the little girl at the entrance.

"O..." It was the first sound of the Japanese word for father, too little to tell what she meant.

Cana's sparkling eyes had brimmed with anticipation. But before she could say the word she longed to call him most, Gildarts swept past her and patted her head with a smile.

"Run along home, little girl. Stay in a place like this, and your clothes will start smelling of booze."

Gildarts disappeared into the sunlight, leaving the little girl frozen in place, utterly at a loss.

That's strange... why... why didn't he realize who I was?

I didn't even get to say it...

She remembered waiting at the guild entrance day after day, gazing into the bustling hall, tirelessly watching for that familiar figure.

"Little girl, did you need something?"

"It's dangerous to wander around a place like this." Macao and Wakaba had noticed her on their way back from a job and offered her a kindly warning.

"Excuse me, when will Gildarts be back?" Cana turned around, her two little hands timidly clutching the hem of her clothes.

"Hey, don't tell me you're..." Macao eyed her with some suspicion.

"One of Gildarts's little fans?" Wakaba finished with a hearty laugh.

"No, that's not it..." Cana lowered her head in disappointment, her voice barely a whisper.

"He's off on a pretty tricky job right now." Macao scratched his head as he tried to remember.

"It might take two or three days, or it might take a month. Hard to say. We don't really know either," Wakaba guessed.

Watching the light slowly fade from Cana's eyes, Wakaba hurriedly put on a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry. He'll come back for sure. Want some juice?"

She remembered finally seeing Gildarts again one noisy afternoon after she joined the guild.

"Sorry, sorry! Oh, it's you!" Gildarts laughed.

Cana looked up, her heart swelling with joy. For that instant, she thought the man before her had finally recognized her.

"You're the little girl who was standing by the entrance when I was heading out before!"

"I see! So you've joined the guild too." At those words, the light in Cana's eyes faded once more. She clenched her fists tight, but summoned the last of her courage to look up.

"Um, well! Actually, I wanted to tell you..."

"Gildarts! Sorry, I know you've only just returned, but-you need to come upstairs with me." The Guild Master suddenly appeared as though out of nowhere, cutting off the words caught in her throat.

Several years passed, and the helpless little girl had grown into a young woman. Watching Gildarts pack for another long journey, Cana gathered her courage once more and stood in his way at the guild entrance.

"You've grown so much, Cana." Looking at the graceful young woman before him, Gildarts's eyes softened with nostalgia.

"Um, well..." With Gildarts finally looking straight at her, Cana straightened her back and tried to bury all her fear and insecurity deep inside.

"Hey, hey! Gildarts! Keep dawdling, and you'll miss the last train again!" The Guild Master's perfectly timed reminder came crashing down once more.

At the Guild Master's words, Gildarts instantly panicked.

"Oh, crap! See you next time, Cana!" He waved a carefree goodbye and tore away like a gust of wind, never looking back.

She hadn't managed to say a thing.

Time slipped mercilessly away through one missed chance after another.

"A lot happened, and I never managed to explain it to you." Cana's voice was hoarse, her lips twisting into a self-mocking smile.

"W-wait! You..." Gildarts was stunned beyond belief. His eyes were wide, his hands shaking so violently that he couldn't even put together a complete sentence.

"It's hard to accept, isn't it..." Cana lowered her head dejectedly, afraid to look at him.

"Whose child are you?!" Gildarts's brain plunged into a frantic, overloaded storm. Countless long-buried faces flashed before his eyes in rapid succession.

"Sarah? Naomi? Kleya? Fina? Mary? Elisa?"

His legs gave out from shock, and he dropped to his knees with a thud, trembling as he counted off his past on his fingers.

"No, no, no, no! The hair color's wrong!!!"

"Emma? Layla? Jane? Sidonie? Kate? Yuko? Françoise?"

Watching the man kneeling before her, frantically rattling off names as cold sweat poured down his face, Cana went from nervous to speechless, before finally exploding.

"Old man! Just how many women have you been with?!" Cana finally roared, a vein bulging at her temple.

Gildarts flinched at her shout. At last, he thought of someone who looked similar, and with sweat pouring off him, he forced a smile in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I... I've got it! Sylvia! You're practically identical! Like... your gender and stuff!"

Cana couldn't take it anymore. She could hardly believe that the father she'd longed for all these years was such a scumbag.

"Argh! I'm so mad! You're infuriating!!!"

"I never imagined my dad would be some sleazy old womanizer!" All her earlier nerves, anticipation, and fear vanished.

The tears she'd held back for years turned into flames of anger. Cana stamped her foot, turned around, and stormed toward the mouth of the alley.

"Anyway, that's how it is. That's all I wanted to say!"

"W-wait." Gildarts called after her in a panic.

"That's all I wanted to say!" Cana turned back indignantly.

"I'm not expecting anything at this point! Things can stay just as they were. Nothing has to change..."

Before she could finish, a figure rushed forward. Gildarts dropped to one knee and pulled Cana tightly into his arms.

His chin rested on her shoulder, his body trembling violently. Then an extraordinarily gentle voice, filled with unshakable certainty, sounded beside her ear.

"You're Cornelia's child. There's no doubt."

Hearing that long-buried name, Cana went rigid. All her feigned anger and resistance crumbled in an instant. Tears welled in her eyes as she weakly pushed against his broad frame.

"Let go of me."

"Why did you keep it from me all this time?" Gildarts buried his face deeper against her, his voice choked with tears.

"Because I couldn't bring myself to say it..." Cana finally let down all her defenses and leaned into her father's embrace. "Little by little, things ended up like this."

"Cornelia was the only woman I ever truly loved." Gildarts closed his eyes, two trails of tears sliding down his weathered cheeks.

"She was the only woman I ever married."

"Twelve years ago, she left me because I was always so caught up in my work."

"Later, I heard rumors and learned she'd passed away... but I never imagined she'd left a child behind..."

"I'm sorry I never realized..."

"It's all right. I was the one who couldn't say it." Feeling his heart pounding almost wildly in his chest, Cana felt the ice that had sealed her own heart for years melt away completely. She gently pulled out of his embrace, wiped her tears, and smiled through them as she tried to comfort him.

"My daughter... was right here, so close, all along." Gildarts remained kneeling there in a daze. His head hung low, his fists struck the cold ground, and his body trembled faintly, steeped in regret.

"Come on, don't be like that. I'm the one who should apologize. This all happened because I was too scared." With her secret finally out, Cana felt much lighter.

"I didn't tell you because I wanted to make you take responsibility. Things can stay the way they were. It's just..."

Cana drew a deep breath, and the brightest, most unguarded smile she'd worn in six years blossomed on her face.

"I just really wanted to say this once-I'm so glad I got to meet you, Dad!"

Gildarts jerked his head up. Looking at the girl's smile, so nearly identical to Cornelia's, he remembered every lonely look she'd cast his way as she quietly watched him in the guild, from the time she'd been a tiny child until now. The emotions he'd held back to their breaking point finally burst forth like a flash flood.

"Cana!!" With tears and snot streaming down his face, Gildarts lunged forward again, sobbing as he crushed his daughter to his chest. His cries were heart-wrenching, without a trace of his usual dignity as the "strongest wizard."

"I'll never let you have lonely memories again! Never!"

"From now on, whatever job I take, wherever I go, we'll always be together."

At that excessively clingy declaration, Cana couldn't help retorting even as tears of joy rolled down her cheeks.

"That's a little annoying."

"So... please give me the right to love you."

At the mouth of the alley.

At some point, an entire wall of people had packed in behind Blanc and the Guild Master.

Macao, Wakaba, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Mira... all their guildmates had somehow sneaked over.

At that moment, those normally fearless wizards were huddled together with the Guild Master, quietly sobbing their hearts out. Tears and snot flowed everywhere, and their crying nearly drowned out Gildarts in the alley.

Blanc leaned against the outermost wall with his arms folded. Watching the father and daughter cling to each other amid the mingling sunlight and shadows, he shook his head helplessly, but couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from rising. Even his own eyes quietly reddened.