Chapter 39 - Erza's awakening and the anticipation of the fight!

In the morning of the next day, Erza finally woke up and found herself in the infirmary.

"W-where?" She murmured as her eyes began opening slightly.

-"You're at the infirmary located in the Fairy Tail guild hall."- Lazarus replied to the still half-awake girl.

-"I see…"- She said, unsure of what had happened. –"What happened after I fell asleep?"- Erza asked.

-"Well, best I just show you."- Lazarus said, simply replaying the more important scenes from the events of the last day or so in her mind.

A smile crept up on Erza's face, as she thought –"I did it…! I became an S rank wizard!"-

-"Aye, that you did."- Lazarus said with a happy tone, Erza had a feeling similar to that of seeing a warm smile as she looked to her sword.

"Thank you Lazarus, I think I can finally say I've gained some confidence in myself." She said softly, as to make sure no one heard her speak.

-"I'm glad that you have."- Lazarus said, before a short silence ensued.

-"Hehe, let's go see the others shall we?"- Erza asked, struggling to sit up right.

"Ouch…" She uttered with a monotone voice, looking herself over.

Erza was covered in bandages all over, the attacks she received left her with many bruises, albeit her armor managed to protect her from any real damage.

Mostly.

Slowly she got out of bed and took her trusty partner, Lazarus, placing him at her hip and walking limply towards the exit of the infirmary.

As she moved slowly towards the door, she realized that there was a lot of cheering going on in the main hall of the guild, seemingly loud enough to reach even the back of the building where the infirmary laid.

"Those guys…" She said with a small smile on her lips.

Over the course of her stay, Erza had grown quite fond of this little guild known as fairy tail.

It was a place she could truly call…

Home.

Though, her instability nearly failed her as she stumbled to the side, only stopping herself from falling by grabbing hold of the side of a bed, supporting herself up.

"Guess I'm farther from being healed up yet than I thought…" she muttered.

"Well of course, you did fight with yours truly." An arrogant voice coming from the side scoffed, the owner of it overly wrapped in bandages and plasters.

Erza turned to face the voice coming from the bed she had supported herself on.

Turns out she managed to wake up Laxus.

"Oh… Laxus… I, uh…" Erza didn't really know what to say, the man in front of her was in such a bad shape from her one strike that she honestly felt guilty.

-"I'll probably be fine in a week or two but he may stay in bed for months… I do admit he's irritating at times but… Do you think I went overboard?"- Erza asked her magical sword.

-"No, not at all. The guy deserved it after disgracing your honor the way he did. No warrior should step on another in an act of arrogance like the way he did."- Lazarus replied with a scoff of his own.

-"Still, we're both members of fairy tail. We should at least try to get along"- She replied to the sword.

"Go ahead, say it. Say that you're better than me Erza! I know it's what you're thinking." Laxus said, seemingly coughing up the words as he did so.

"No, that's not what I was thinking at all." Erza said, trying to deny the accusations.

"Damn it… Just… Just get out of my sight." Laxus said, turning his head to the side in indignation.

Erza complied with the request, knowing anything else she said here would only make matters worse.

-"I honestly don't get that guy, why does he seem like he's taking everyone around him as an enemy?"- Erza consulted Lazarus, who could only reply with most of the same.

Once the two of them managed to get out of the infirmary and the people who had been partying all night spotted Erza, a huge round of applause sounded across the entire hall!

"Congratulations Erza!" The entire guild said as one, shocking the poor girl and leaving her in her place, stupefied.

She had expected a drunk mess like always, but in reality most of the guild had been waiting for her awakening!

There had been no S rank wizard since Ur joined, and before her it was an even longer period of time. So now, seeing the girl who walked into their hall with nothing but rags climb her way to the top of their guild in a matter of but a single year was something worth celebrating in their eyes.

"You did great! What'd I tell y'all, Erza is the one who will carry this guild in the future hahaha!" Wakaba said, cheering with a mug of ale in hand.

"You weren't wrong for once! Goodie for her ain't it? Hahaha!" Macao joked with his friend.

"Haha! Thanks you two." Erza laughed together with her two guild mates.

"Erza, I see you finally woke up! I'm glad you passed the exam, the event gave me much inspiration you see! Oui!" Reedus exclaimed, showing Erza a painting of her triumphing over a beast of incredible proportions, standing over its body with her sword raised high in the sky and the sun shining over her!

The beast was obviously a metaphor for the grand hurdle known as the S rank exam!

"Ooh! That's an amazing painting Reedus! I quite like it!" Erza said, nodding to the artwork she was presented with.

"Erza! You're awake! I'm soo glad!" Ultear said running up to her worriedly.

"You had us worried there for a second you know!" Cana also said, moving in with Ultear up to Erza.

"Sorry for any trouble I may have caused…" Erza could only give them a wry smile.

"Forget about that! Erza being fine is natural, what I wanna know is what the hell that move was you used in the end!" Gray said, popping up in between the growing crowd.

"Yeah! That hammer strike was so strong it even shocked Arthur! Hahaha you should have seen the look on his face!" Natsu said laughing at the memory.

"It was admittedly quite hilarious." Lyon chipped in.

Erza looked to her friends but before she could explain a sudden thought crossed her mind.

"Now that you mentioned it, where IS Arthur?" She asked looking around the crowd.

"Ah! Nii-san is out in the mountains getting ready to fight my dad." Cana raised her hand and gave the answer.

"Why the mountains?" Erza asked.

"Keeps his mind clear or something, I dunno." Cana simply shrugged.

"And what of Gildarts himself? I don't see him either…" Erza asked again, commenting on the missing presence of Fairy Tail's ace.

"Well, about that… He's also getting ready, haha." Ur said as she walked up.

"Yeah! Everyone got so excited when he said he had to get ready! It meant this would be an actual serious fight unlike any of his other fights! Hahahaha!" Natsu said with a loud laugh, anticipating the looming battle.

…

The hours passed and soon it was time for lunch, unsurprisingly both Arthur and Gildarts showed up at that time for their meal.

Gildarts because he was starving and knew the food at the guild would taste best and Arthur because he was starving and didn't want to waste his now very limited stock of food that Natsu thinned down over the course of the last week.

"Oh! Here they come, here they come!" Wakaba said with a grin as they both walked through the doors.

They walked side by side and sat on the same table together.

The atmosphere had suddenly gotten heavy at the sudden silence the two displayed, staring at each other with glaring eyes as if shooting daggers at one another.

"Uh… Did something happen between those two?" Macao asked, obviously as nervous as the rest of the guild members.

It was then that a sudden THUD was heard, bringing everyone's attention to the other side of the table where Ur stood, hand extended and placing a giant plate of food on the table.

"Your food has been served, sir!" Ur said, grinning at Gildarts who was mesmerized with the giant roasted pig that stood in front of him.

Soon after Cana, Ultear, Lyon, Gray and Natsu also walked up to Arthur with a plate each held in their hands.

It was all manners of meat like chicken, beef and the like.

"The hell is this?" Most of the guild members couldn't help but mutter.

"Hahahaha!" Gildarts laughed. "Oh, it is but a competition in the form a feast! We can't be fighting on an empty belly now can we Arthur?!" Gildarts said, rising up his fists in the air before starting to chow down on his giant pork filled plate.

"I agree completely, I haven't eaten even a single grain of rice since yesterday's popcorn! It's time I pleased myself with some actual food!" Arthur replied, also burying down into his food.

Apparently, the master had been informed that they would most likely be starving upon their arrival, so he scheduled a feast for the two of them!

And not just them, everyone got a serving of food that they enjoyed to the fullest!

Natsu more so than the others, his fascination with food was one of a kind after all.

The guild drank and feasted for more than an hour and a half before the stock of food finally ended, Arthur and Gildarts clearing more than just a single table of servings!

While Natsu somehow cleared twice as much as them both combined!

Many were staring at Natsu amusedly with that thought in mind.

The poor boy could only ask in utter confusion, "What?" as the whole place blew up in laughter, confusing him even more so as to what was so funny about him.

After half an hour of resting and digesting their meal, everyone was ready to watch the upcoming event unfold itself!

Finally, the battle between the current and future Ace's of the guild was about to commence!

Though was Arthur truly the future or actually present ace? Only through witnessing the fight would they know that truth for sure.

The time had arrived…

For the fight between Gildarts and Arthur!