Chapter Text
"What'cha working on Levy?" Lisanna asked curiously.
"Oh I got a restoration job!" Levy said brightly, pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "It's an ancient book of spells written by Mikhail Renfred."
The bluenette gestured to the aged tome," It's almost a thousand years old but it's in pretty good shape all things considered. The translation rune was actually still usable!"
"Translation rune?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like." Levy explained," The rune makes it so that anyone reading it can understand it perfectly."
"That's so cool!" Lisanna gushed as she plopped down into the seat next to the bluenette," What kinda spells does it have?"
"They're all themed around fate, destiny, desire, and luck." The bookworm gestured to the page she was working on," This one right here is supposed to make your deepest wish come true."
Unnoticed by either girl, Cana stopped sketching her new card designs and began to listen intently.
"Basically, it's like giving the universe a little push in the direction you need in order to make your heart's desire a reality."
"Sounds romantic," Lisanna said with a dreamy sigh as she settled her chin in her palm."
"I see what you mean." Levy said with a small giggle," But I wouldn't recommend using it as a love spell."
Before the white-haired girl could respond a loud yell cut through the relative quiet of Fairy Hills.
"LISANNA WE GOT A JOB! GET MOVING!"
"Coming Mira!" Lisanna called and pushed herself out of the chair," By Levy! See you later!"
"See you!" The bookworm called out cheerfully, before going back to work, unaware of the gears turning in Cana's head.
oOOOOo
'Light thine candles in the mark of the pentagram around thy purified water and begin thine spell precisely at the Witching Hour'
The Witching Hour.
What bullshit.
The Witching Hour was whenever she felt like doing some witching. Today it was two PM.
Cana gave the diagram in the book another cursory glance, as she checked to make sure that she had everything in the correct place.
Five candles arranged like the points of a star? Check.
Enough plants and herbs to make her room smell like a kitchen? Check.
Bowl filled with tap water? Check.
Creepy-ass dead bat in the bowl of water? Plush would just have to do.
This was either going to blow up in her face or everything would work out just fine. There was no in between.
When Levy had started gushing about this book of spells she'd been hired to restore, Cana hadn't been all that interested. Levy was always gushing about some book or another and after a while she just tuned her out.
Then she'd heard her talk about the wishing spell and how it could make your heart's desire come true.
It was like a sign.
Cana felt a little guilty about stealing the book out of Levy's room, but she was going to put it back exactly where it was, in the same condition she found it in. That had to count for something. And it wasn't like she was going to use the spell for anything bad; all she wanted was for her dad to know who she was.
The brunette took a deep breath as she held the stolen lighter to each candle (Gray needed to quit smoking anyway). The white wicks caught fire quickly and she was ready to begin.
With the sheer amount of substitutions, she had to get this exactly right.
"Ring out, ring out, O Lullaby of the Night. Sing out, sing out, O Fair Child of Hawthorne." Taking the sticks of incense, she carefully lit the first on one of the candles, placing the burning stick directly within the sightlines of the plush bat, then repeating until she had five burning sticks of incense in front of her.
"Bruja, Bruxa, Bruixa." She tossed a handful of rosemary leaves into the bowl, then placed the bundle of white sage over where the bat's heart would be. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as a chill rolled down her spine.
Time for the prayer.
"O Great Mother Goddess I beseech you." She said clearly, scattering purple aconite petals into the water. "I ask for your aid to grant my deepest desire. See into my heart and know that it is true. Please allow my father to find out the truth, so that I may know what it is to have his love. This is my prayer and I bow to your will, O Great Goddess of Everything."
Cana bowed to her makeshift altar and spoke the final words.
"Sey-O, Sey-O. Sing Muse, and let this Gate now close."
There was a sudden rush of wind and all the candles went out simultaneously.
Okay… that was fucking creepy. But if that meant the spell worked then she'd take it.
She'd given this her best shot, now all that was left was to return the book with Levy none the wiser and hope for the best.
oOOOOo
Okay, it was possible that the Powers That Be were offended by the plush bat.
Or maybe they just didn't like tap water.
Either way she'd gotten no results.
Cana walked home, feeling slightly put out.
It had been a week now, how long was that stupid spell supposed to take?
One full week of walking on eggshells and hanging around Gildarts as much as possible, waiting for something to happen. For him to look up and just know. For him to try and go visit an old fling and find out about her, hell- maybe her mother would come back from the dead and whack Gildarts over the head and tell him who she was.
The brunette irritably kicked a rock as she continued to head back to Fairy Hills.
Maybe it hadn't even been a real spell. It wasn't like bogus spells were particularly uncommon.
Nine times out of ten those giant spell books that weighed more than a small child were usually full of shit. In retrospect, she probably should have been expecting this. A spell that would make her deepest desire come true- what a load of crap. She should have known it was too good to be true.
The air vent in her room had been busted for weeks- it easily could have just been a draft that put the candles out.
The only miraculous thing was that Gray hadn't figured out that she'd been the one who stole his lighter.
(Although… maybe if she'd followed the instructions to the letter- no. She was not going to go there.)
Though, maybe she should take this as a sign that Gildarts just wasn't meant to know.
The brunette jerked when she heard the sharp crack of a twig being stepped on, and she barely had a second to process the sound before someone was on her.
Cana let out a shriek as she was grabbed from behind, but before she could begin to struggle a rag was shoved over her face.
Then everything went black.
oOOOOo
When Gildarts Clive woke up that morning to find a letter nailed to his front door, his initial thought was that Natsu was getting more creative with his challenges.
Then the Ace had ripped open the envelope to find a lock of dark hair and a badly written note.
We have your daughter. Show up at Angel's Peak in Clover Canyon tomorrow at midnight or she dies. Come Alone.
Gildarts was no stranger to being threatened- but this was a first for him.
Usually, the ones doing the threatening had done enough homework on him to know that he didn't have any kids.
Still… on the off chance that whoever this was had kidnapped some random girl he couldn't sit back and do nothing.
He would never forgive himself if someone got hurt because of him.
So, he did the smart thing and immediately went to the guildhall.
Makarov scrutinized the note with a frightful intensity, before looking up at the Ace. "This was nailed to your door?"
"Yes Master." Gildarts confirmed.
"Did they leave any kind of identifying information?"
"No. Well- "Gildarts pulled the envelope the note had come in out of his pocket and carefully pulled out the lock of dark hair," They did leave this."
The old man took the lock of hair from the crash mage and came a conclusion," This is most likely their version of proving they have whoever this is referring to." He said gesturing to the note," You understand that we have to follow protocol and alert the council? This could be the work of a dark guild."
"Is that really necessary?" Gildarts asked with a raised eyebrow," I mean we don't even know if this is legit."
Makarov shook his head," I know that, but we still are required to do it. In the meantime- JET!"
There was a rush of wind and Fairy Tail's resident speed demon appeared.
"Yes Master?" The boy asked eagerly," There something I can do for you?"
"Yes." The old man said, scribbling out a message onto a piece of paper," Take this down to the records office and ask them to check Gildarts' file. Tell them it's urgent and radio back if you find something." He ordered, handed the note to the boy.
"Roger that!" The boy said with a chirp, disappearing with a rush of air.
"Why are you having him do that?" Gildarts asked curiously as the old man hopped off the bar.
"If you do have a child then it should come up in an official records search." The old man said nonchalantly as he scanned the guildhall, quickly locating who he was looking for," Freed- front and center!" He yelled, ignoring Gildarts offended protests," Suck it up Gildarts, we need to be sure."
"You called Master?" The green haired wizard responded formally.
Makarov held out the lock of hair," Gildarts has received a threat- can you make a lineage rune with this?"
"Linea- "Freed asked in shock as he stared from the lock to the Ace, before snapping to attention," I can sir."
"Excellent, you do that, and I'll go call the council."
Gildarts watched, feeling lost as the old man made his way up to his office.
"Gildarts." Freed said, pulling the Ace to a nearby table. "I'm going to need a sample of your blood."
oOOOOo
"Bets taken! I'm offering good odds on a Clive lovechild!"
It was official.
His entire guild was filled with nosy idiots.
Gildarts scowled as everyone crowded the table he was seated at as Freed constructed the runic matrix that would tell them whether or not he was related to the person the hair came from.
It wasn't often that he was mad at his guildmates, but it seemed like he was the only one who remembered that whoever the hair belonged to might be in danger if not already dead.
"Put me down for 'it's legit'."
"Master!" Gildarts yelled indignantly as the old man tried to look innocent.
"What?" Makarov asked plaintively," I'm simply bonding with my children while we wait for information."
"I can't believe Cana's missing out on this." Levy said with a small giggle," This sounds right up her alley."
"If Cana was here then we wouldn't need to bother with any of this." The guildmaster said as he settled himself on the bar," All she would need to do is do a reading and she would know whether or not this is real, who's behind it, and probably their shoe size."
"Where is she anyway?" Macao asked curiously as he took a sip of his beer.
"I don't know." Levy said with a small shrug," I didn't see her at breakfast this morning- maybe she and Gray took a job?"
A loud ring cut through the chatter like a knife as everyone zeroed in on the crystal ball sitting on the bar.
Makarov's smile faded as he answered the call," What is it Jet? Did you find something?"
"You're never gonna believe this- Gildarts is on some kid's birth certificate!"
The world tilted beneath his feet.
All the shocked chatter faded into a background buzz in his ears.
He was- he had- this was-
SLAP!
Gildarts slowly raised a hand to touch his stinging cheek and realized that Makarov was standing right in front of him, looking very concerned.
"Is it a girl?" He asked numbly, still not entirely functional.
"Jet?"
"Gimme a second!" There was a rustle of paper before his face popped back into view of the crystal," It is- her name's Rebecca!"
Once again, the world tilted, and it was all he could do not to fall with it.
Rebecca… but that would mean-
"Is the mother's name 'Cornelia'?" He asked, ignoring the guildmaster's stunned face.
Jet looked surprised," Yeah- how did you- "
"Because I told her how much I liked that name."
It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The redhead turned back to the peanut gallery who were frozen in place," Is it ready?"
Freed started, but nodded and pushed the paper towards him, the intricate black ink forming a Celtic knot with two open spaces woven into the pattern, with the lock of hair occupying one of them," I'll need a drop of blood."
Gildarts nodded and held out his hand, not even feeling the slice of the small knife used to nick his finger.
The scarlet drop moved in slow motion as it fell down and splashed against the parchment.
The runes sparked with electricity and the lines that connected his blood drop to the hair glowed a warm shade of gold.
Gildarts didn't need to anyone to verbally confirm the results, one look at Freed's face did the job.
"This is real."
He had a daughter with the love of his life, and she was being held hostage.
Oh hell no.
oOOOOo
"Gildarts be reasonable- "
"Reasonable?!" The Ace roared," They have my fucking kid! I'm going to hunt them down for this- "
"You don't even know who has her!" The old man tried to reason, he understood where the younger man was coming from but charging blindly when they didn't have the information they needed would do more harm than good.
(It didn't help that he had the strangest feeling like he was forgetting something. It was really beginning to bother him, something about the name 'Rebecca' sounded awfully familiar but he just couldn't put his finger on why.)
"I'll figure it out." Gildarts snapped like a caged tiger. "She's probably scared out of her mind right now- I didn't do right by her mother but I am damn well going to do right by her."
"Bind!"
The crash mage let out a furious yell as ropes sprung out and wrapped him head to toe.
"Let me go- "
"Not until you listen." Makarov thundered, sending the anxious father into grudging silence," We have alerted the council and confirmed the threat. Now we need to make a plan. This is a hostage situation; one wrong move and they could kill her. We need to play smart first and annihilate them after she's out of danger."
Gildarts slowly nodded, letting out a long breath through his nose.
"Untie me."
Makarov snapped his fingers, and the ropes came loose.
Gildarts stood up and surveyed the serious faces of his guildmates.
The old man stepped forward," A child of one of our own has been taken- are we going to take this laying down?"
"HELL NO!" The entire guild roared in unison.
"Let's make this scum wish they were never born!"
oOOOOo
Under normal circumstances Fairy Tail was a hurricane with its many members moving in every direction at once, causing chaos and destruction wherever they went. But when push came to shove, they could work together like a well-oiled machine.
Differences were temporarily put aside as everyone prepared for war.
Whoever had taken Rebecca was gonna die- and they weren't in the mood to be quick about it.
Although, there was one little problem.
"I'm telling you something's wrong!" Gray yelled.
"Gray, Cana is a resourceful girl, and we have bigger problems right now- "
"She's in trouble!" The ice wizard yelled in frustration," I found her cards on the side of the road- she'd never just leave them behind! I'm telling you something happened to her!"
"Cana can take care of herself Gray." Makarov said sternly," You don't even know if she's missing- we all remember the Great Disappearing Act. We have to focus on one thing at a time."
"You'd rather go save some girl you've never even met than save Cana?!" Gray asked in disbelief.
"Gray." The old man said with the authority of a general," We know for a fact that Rebecca is in danger- if Cana is still gone by tomorrow then we can worry, but for now we need to focus on the known threat."
The ice wizard stared at the old man in disgust," Do what you want." He said bitterly," But I'm gonna go look for her."
"Gray!"
The dark-haired boy didn't listen to any of the calls and bolted out of the guildhall in determination.
Makarov let out a long sigh, but several of the other wizards were looking amongst themselves.
"Master," Macao started," What if Cana actually is in trouble? You know her as well as I do- she wouldn't just leave her cards lying around. Something could have happened."
"You're right." The old man agreed," But we all know Cana can take care of herself- if anyone tried to take her against her will then she'd give them hell. Still…"
Makarov silently warred with himself.
Rebecca or Cana?
(That sensation that he was missing something blared in the back of his mind, if only he could figure out what it was.)
The child he'd raised or the innocent he'd never met?
Removing just one person could mean the difference between success and failure- they still didn't know who they were up against.
What should he do?
"Wakaba." The man snapped to attention," Go get on the emergency lacrima's- I want everyone who's on a job to drop what they're doing and head to Clover Canyon. After that- Trixx, Fu, Marin, Shayla!" All four wizards straightened their spines," You four are going to back up Gray. If you find anything to suggest foul play, call me immediately and we will regroup as needed."
"Yes sir!" They all chorused, running to their assigned tasks.
"You know you could just let me handle it." Gildarts said quietly.
Makarov rested a hand on his shoulder," We want to help you Gildarts. Your daughter is part of this family even if we have never met- we will rescue her, destroy whoever took her, and if Cana is still missing after that, we'll save her too. I can forgive a lot, but people who hurt my family deserve what they get. Now come on- we all have to get going if we're going to make it by midnight."
oOOOOo
Gildarts fiercely resisted the urge to start pacing.
This had to go just right- or else Rebecca-
No. He wasn't even going to go there.
Rebecca was going to be fine and when he killed the people who'd taken her, he was never going to let her go.
Maybe it was a good thing Conny had never told him about her (oh how that thought drove a spike into his heart) if it had kept her from being used against him all these years.
Would she even want anything to do with him after this?
It didn't matter, whether or not she wanted him in her life was her choice. As long as she was happy, healthy, and safe, nothing else was important.
'Gildarts do you read me?' Warren asked, speaking directly into his head.
'I read you.' The Ace responded; telepathy had always creeped him out- just the idea of someone being in his head made his skin crawl- but he would do anything to save his child.
'Good. We're all connected on the same link and everyone is in position, the lacrima on your cloak is letting all of us see what you're seeing- we won't act without your okay.'
'Thank you.' Gildarts thought, 'All of you.'
There was a rustle of leaves as multiple sets of feet moved through the brush.
'They're here.'
A small carriage emerged from the forest, moving out to the edge of the canyon.
There were two figures driving the carriage, and six walking on either side of it.
All of them were wearing black robes that covered their faces.
'Geez cliché much.' Somebody muttered over the link.
The carriage door opened, and another cloaked figure emerged, and the second he saw Gildarts he raised his hands and gave a slow, mocking, clap.
"Well, well, well." A voice that practically dripped with slime said smugly," Look who's showed up."
"Give. Her. Back." Gildarts snarled, not willing to play anymore games.
"Not just yet." The figure said, clearly of the mistaken impression that he was in charge of the situation. "My men are going to put binders on you- just to make sure you don't get any ideas."
"Fine." The Ace growled," But let Rebecca go."
"Ah ah ah!" He said as though he was talking to a child," That comes after we get what we want. Crabb, Goyle!" He snapped at two of his lackies," Put the cuffs on him."
They nodded and approached. Gildarts held out his wrists and they snapped sealstone cuffs onto his wrists.
Having his magic sealed always felt like his skin was too tight- just that uncomfortable feeling that made him avoid the bracelets whenever possible.
"I must admit I was surprised to find out about her." The soon to be dead man said with the same gloating tone," To think the Great Gildarts Clive had a daughter hidden in plain sight, how could this have turned out any more perfect?" He took a step towards the cuffed crash mage, and though he couldn't see his face, Gildarts didn't need to in order to know that the man's features had twisted into a mocking sneer.
"My how the mighty fall."
"Cut the crap!" Gildarts snarled like a rabid dog, the two lackies stepping back in fear," Let. Her. Go."
The idiot in charge was startled, but recovered quickly and turned to a different minion," Get the girl."
"Yes sir." The minion replied with a female voice, and quickly walked over to the carriage. "Delms- "
"Coming." Another minion echoed, hurrying over to help her. Together the two grabbed an unconscious form from the carriage and dragged her closer to him.
Gildarts bolted forward.
"Rebecca!" He blurted out as he grabbed the girl from the two," Rebecca can you- "
His voice died in his throat as finally got a look at her face.
'Wait. Is that-?'
'What the- '
'CANA?!'
Gildarts lowered his head so that no one could see the complete confusion on his face.
Elsewhere Makarov froze as he finally realized what had been nagging at him.
"Middle name." He said dumbly, his eyes wide as saucers.
"What?"
"'Cana' is her middle name." The old man said slowly. "I remember it caused all sorts of grief when she first came to the guild."
It didn't take long for everyone to realize exactly what the old man was implying.
'Master.' Gildarts thought, feeling far calmer than he thought he should be under the circumstances,' If it's her middle name, what's her first?'
"It's Rebecca."
Cana was Rebecca.
Cana was his child.
She had been right in front of him all these years and he'd never had a clue.
"Why isn't she waking up?"
"Oh, we gave her something to calm her down." The soon to be dead man said smugly (that seemed to be the only way he could say anything). "It's completely harmless."
"Thanks for the information." Gildarts said as he straightened up," But if you don't mind, I'll be taking my daughter home now."
And the trap was sprung.
Furious Fairy Tail wizards appeared like ninjas from all directions, the once calm area turning into a battlefield of spellfire and screaming morons.
Funny, a few hours ago he thought he'd be right there in the thick of things with them. But now that he had her in his arms- nothing could make him let his little girl go. Even revenge didn't seem worth it anymore.
"Everything's going to be okay Cana." He said quietly and pressed a kiss to her head," We all came to get you- you're safe now."
He'd get his pound of flesh once this was all over, for now he was content to let his guild handle the rest.
oOOOOo
"So let me get this straight." Gray said, raising a finger," Cana is Gildarts' kid, and somehow these guys found out about that and kidnapped her, just so they could use her as a hostage to get to Gildarts."
"Yup." Macao said from his place by the brunette's bedside.
"And the reason they wanted Gildarts was because they wanted to use his magic to summon some kind of demon."
"Uh-huh."
"And they were going to use that demon to take over the world."
"That about sums it up."
Gray spat on the floor in disgust," There any left for me?"
"Of course." Gildarts answered, having not let Cana out of his sight. "The council agreed to give us carte blanch for the next twenty-four hours- there's some set aside for both of us."
"Why'd they do that?"
"They heard the words 'evil old man', 'kidnapped', 'kept unconscious', and 'fourteen-year-old girl' and made their own conclusions."
The ice wizard's eyes widened," They didn't- "
"They didn't." Gildarts assured him, giving his girl's hand a gentle squeeze," Porlyusica ran a kit before you got here- other than being a little dehydrated she's okay."
"Thank fuck for that." The boy groan, before walking over to the bed and dumping Macao out of the only other chair.
"Hey!" The man said with an offended squawk as Gray proceeded to sit down.
"Sorry were you sitting there?" Gray asked with a raised eyebrow.
Macao gritted his teeth but decided to let it go just this once.
"When's she gonna wake up?"
"All we can do is wait and see."
"I'm staying."
"I don't have a problem with that."
"Good because I wasn't asking for permission."
oOOOOo
What the hell did she drink last night?
Cana let out a long groan as she pawed at her pounding head.
"Cana- can you hear me?" Gray asked, sounding almost desperate.
"Yes." She moaned pathetically," What happened last night?"
"You thought you magically gained the ability to talk to squirrels."
A pause.
"…kind of glad I don't remember that."
"It's okay, I got it all on video."
At that Cana's purple eyes shot wide open and she jerked in the direction Gray's voice had come from… only to see him snickering behind his hand.
"You ass!"
Gray gave up on trying to hold it back and broke out into a deep belly laugh that put a smile on Cana's face.
After her surrogate brother finally calmed down, the brunette asked again," Seriously though- what happened?"
The ice wizard winced, which made something sink in Cana's chest.
"Was it better or worse than the Incident?" She questioned somewhat desperately (please be better. Please, please, please don't let her have repeated a fuck up the likes of that night.)
The black-haired boy contemplated for a moment," …Better." He said finally," Not good, but better."
Cana felt a wave of relief at that as she leaned back onto the bed and raised an eyebrow at her best friend," Than what did happen? My head's pounding like I got run over by a magic mobile."
Gray hesitated," I- I don't know if I should be the one to tell you."
Now she was concerned," Gray, what did I do?"
"It's not what you did- "
"Answer the goddamn question."
"You got kidnapped." He blurted out and the room lapsed into a stunned silence.
"…what?" Cana asked, eyes wide," Why the fuck would anyone kidnap me?"
The ice wizard winced again," It- well it actually didn't have much to do with you at all really."
"Gray if you don't start giving me a straight answer, I am going to shove a cactus up your- "
A loud crash echoed from behind the closed door of the infirmary, distracting both wizards from the conversation.
"GILDARTS STOP BREAKING THE WALLS!"
"Sorry!"
The sound of boots tapping down the corridor became progressively louder until the infirmary door opened, with Gildarts carrying a small tray.
"I brought lunch- "The crash mage's voice died in his throat when he noticed that Cana was sitting up in her bed, giving him a look that he could only describe as someone who wasn't sure whether or not they were hallucinating.
"You're awake!" He yelped, dropping the tray to the ground with a crash and clearing the entire room with a leap so that he was by her side. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked anxiously, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms again," Does your head hurt? Do you need me to get -"
"What the fuck is going on?" Cana demanded incredulously, sending a spear through his heart.
Of course. He'd expected this.
The bastards had kept her drugged the entire time, and he sincerely doubted they would have bothered to tell her why they were kidnapping her.
So- how do you tell your daughter, who doesn't know that she's your daughter, that you are her father and that a group of moronic dark wizards had tried to use her to get to him?
"Gildarts is your dad and a group of moron dark wizards kidnapped you to get him."
Oh, thank you Gray.
Cana's jaw dropped and she stared frome her best friend to the crash mage, eyes getting progressively larger until they were almost popping out of her skull," Are you fucking kidding me?"
Gildarts winced," Yeah, I know this must be hard to believe-"
He was cut off by Cana leaning back and shouting," Is this some kind of payback of stuffed bat?!" She yelled at the universe, not even caring that the two most important guys in her life were staring at her like she'd lost it.
Seriously though- what the fuck?
This was how the universe chose to answer her? Getting her drugged and kidnapped so that her Daddy had to rescue her?
She was going to set that fucking book on fire.
"Ummm…" Gildarts stared at her, clearly not sure what to do (funny, she'd never seen him like this. He'd always been so confident). "Are you- do you- "
Cana sighed and shook her head. This was so far from how she'd hoped this would go it wasn't even fucking funny. Still, it was all or nothing now.
"Gray, can you give us a few minutes?"
The ice wizard eyed the two of them and slowly nodded," Yell if you need me." He said, before walking out the door, the soft click of it closing resonating like a gunshot.
Leaving father and daughter together in awkward silence.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this." Cana said quietly," Of all the ways I wanted you to find out this never made the top hundred."
"…You knew?"
As the brunette slowly nodded, Gildarts felt something in his chest shatter.
She knew. She knew who he really was, and she never said a thing.
Did she think he would be a bad dad?
"Gildarts." Cana's soft voice brought him back to the present, she tapped the place on the bed next to her and he obligingly sat down.
"I found out a while ago." She admitted," But I every time I tried to tell you… I guess I just froze up and I could never get the words out. I didn't know what to say or what to do, and that kept eating at me."
She took a deep breath," So, I borrowed a spell book from Levy- the whole book was focused around destiny and fate. And there was a spell that was supposed to make my deepest wish come true."
Gildarts stared at the violet eyed girl in disbelief as Cana curled in on herself.
"I just- I felt like I'd tried everything and I just wanted you to know who I really was and-"
Whatever she'd been about to say died on her tongue as Gildarts wrapped his arms around her, holding her like she was as fragile as sugar glass.
"I love you so much Cana." He whispered into her hair, tightening his hold on her as the surprised girl slowly let herself melt into his arms." I'm sorry this happened. I'm sorry you never felt comfortable telling me, I'm sorry that you got hurt because of this-"
"That one's on me." The brunette responded, hesitantly wrapping her own arms around her father," I'm the one who couldn't woman up and I'm the one who decided to mess around with a spell I didn't understand."
"…I'm glad you did though."
"Yeah… I guess I am too."
Both father and daughter smiled as they remained in the embrace.
There were still things to figure out and revenge to be had, but all of that could wait. For now, all they wanted to do was enjoy the moment.
'Thanks Universe, God, Whoever- but next time I'm bringing lawyer.'