What's in a Name

Summary: "I've known you for how many years now? How come you never told me your name wasn't Cana?"

Disclaimer: I don't own

AN: this isn't related to any of my other fics, I just kind of want to make that clear. This is a standalone thing.

Levy was sweating buckets as she anxiously waited for the next question to come up- she really did not want to fall into the 'fun zone'- she'd rather play Master's punishment game!

"Question six," the cheerful announcers voice called out (and oh how Levy loathed that thing) as a picture of Cana appeared on the screen," This girl before you has been a member of the Fairy Tail guild since she was six-years-old! But what is her full name?"

Finally, an easy one! Levy rejoiced as she slammed on the buzzer," Her name is Cana Alberona!"

The buzz for an incorrect answer sounded as the bluenette's jaw dropped- huh?

The voice chirped out, "Incorrect!"

"Well, I must admit defeat on this one," Capricorn admitted from where he was seated. Well that was something at least, if he didn't know then that had to mean that this was some kind of trick question.

The cheerful announcer gave out the correct answer," Though she has been almost exclusively referred to as 'Cana' for the majority of her life, this is not her birth name! Her full name is Rebecca Arcana Alberona!"

Huh?! Oh, Levy was going to have words with the card mage when all this was over!

oOOOOOo

Later after the Celestial Spirit world had been returned to normal, Levy remembered her private vow during the gameshow and suddenly spun around to face the brunette.

"And you!" She exclaimed, causing everyone including the target of her ire to blink in surprise at the uncharacteristic outburst from the bluenette.

"Me?" Cana- Rebecca- asked in confusion, pointing at herself as if to clarify that Levy had been addressing her.

"Yes, you! I've known you for how many years now? How come you never told me your name was Rebecca?!"

That got surprised looks from everyone else as Cana just blinked again," Um, because you never asked?"

"Wait- your name's not 'Cana'?" Gray blurted out in shock- he knew about the weird birthmark on her butt, her stuffed rabbit named Mr. Fuffles, and that she couldn't stand bananas – but she had never told him her name?

"Uh, no," Cana responded, not really sure why everyone looked so shocked, it wasn't that big of a deal, " 'Cana' has just been my nickname since I was a kid- I've never really been called anything else."

"Wait if you're not really Cana then who are you?!" Natsu blurted out, as usual misunderstanding the conversation.

"You idiot!" Lucy snapped," She's still Cana, its just that the name she got when she was born is something else- just because she's got a different name doesn't mean she's not the same person!" The blonde had apparently been the only one who had known that 'Cana' was a nickname, and that was only because she had used Gemini to copy her while they were training for the S-Class Trials! It really wasn't that big of a deal.

"Wait- what is your real name?" Mira asked, she'd grown up with the other girl, why was this the first she was hearing about this?

"Its Rebecca," she answered, Levy had already told them that how had they already forgotten? Though given the confused looks she decided to clarify," My middle name is 'Arcana' which is where 'Cana' comes from- I don't really know why or how that got started, but my Mom was really the only person who called me that. I've just always been 'Cana'." The brunette just shrugged; it really was as simple as that.

Judging by the poleaxed looks she was receiving from everyone else this was apparently hard to grasp. Plenty of people went by nicknames, what was so hard to understand?

"How come you never told us this?" Erza asked, feeling slightly upset that she had been calling the other girl by the wrong name all these years.

"You guys didn't ask and it really didn't matter- can you all just drop this already," Cana asked visibly annoyed," It's not like anyone ever called me Rebecca before, as far as I'm concerned my name is 'Cana' and that is the end of it."

At the sound of her voice everyone wisely dropped the subject- you think you know somebody.

Natsu brought it up again later, "Hey does Gildarts know?"

That confused everybody at how abrupt it was asked.

"Know what?" Cana asked.

"That your name's Rebecca."

That actually gave everyone pause, Cana stopped and mulled it over before responding," Actually I don't think he does. Huh, oh well not like it really matters all that much."

Levy blurted out," Cana! He's your Dad- don't you think he'd be upset if he found out you didn't tell him your actual name? You should tell him! If nothing else, it'll give you two something to talk about!"

A snort and an eye roll from the brunette was her response, but the subject was dropped.

oOOOOOo

Cana was laid out on her bed, just mulling through her thoughts. Should she tell Gildarts about her name? It wasn't like she had a particular reason for not telling him, it just really didn't matter to her- she hadn't been called Rebecca in years and she barely remembered that it was her name on paper most days.

Oh well, it wasn't like it would hurt to tell the old man about it- Levy was right, if nothing else it would give them something to talk about. She hopped off her bed and moved across her room to the desk where she kept her cards, well one particular card. The first 'Call Gildarts' card had been ripped up, but she'd hung on to the second, she loved her old man even if their relationship was…strained.

Hooking up the card to the communication lacrima she'd swiped from the guild (what? they had extras!), she proceeded to call her father. It only took a few seconds before her dope of a father's voice enthusiastically filled the room.

"CANA! MY SWEET BABY GIRL! Daddy's so happy you called! I've actually been missing you extra hard lately- so you must have sensed it!"

"Pops," she barked," Cool it, will you?"

Gildarts sobered almost immediately," Is everything alright Princess? Do you need me to come beat someone up?"

It never ceased to amaze her just how quickly her dad could go from dork to the serious mage that was feared throughout the entire country.

"No, nothings wrong, Levy just brought up a good point during a conversation we had today so I figured I would go for it." Cana said, still debating on if she should back out before deciding to just go for it," Did you know that 'Cana' is just my nickname, because until it was brought up I never realized that apparently nobody knew that."

At the sound of her old man's sputtering it was apparent that he also hadn't known that.

"Wait what? Your name's not- what's my Baby's name?!" He practically wailed, distressed that he apparently didn't know what his own daughter's name was.

"It's Rebecca."

Silence met her at this, Cana actually was slightly concerned because she had kind of been expecting Gildarts to start getting sappy about how pretty it was.

"…Rebecca," the crash mage finally responded, sounding like he was close to tears.

"Pops are you okay?" Cana asked slightly alarmed.

"I-I… Conny named you Rebecca?"

"…Yeah Pops, legally anyway my name is 'Rebecca Arcana Alberona'. I've just always been called 'Cana', honestly I don't know how that happened, but Mom was really the only person who ever called me 'Rebecca'."

Gildarts sniffed, before responding to his daughter's admission," Its just, I didn't expect that. Back… back before everything between us fell apart, your mom and I talked about names we liked if we ever had kids, I… I told her that I didn't really have any preferences for boy names, but that I'd always promised myself that if I had a daughter, that I'd name her Rebecca."

Cana stilled, not sure what to think as her father continued on.

"Your Mom absolutely hated it- she said that 'Rebecca' was a name for a spoiled little miss-priss," he said that last with such affection that she just had to smile," She said that she would want something mysterious and unique, like 'Arcana', which I had to admit sounded really pretty. We wound up deciding that if we ever had a little girl that her middle name would be Rebecca- though it took a little work on my part to get her to give me that. She named you Rebecca… after everything that happened… Conny named you Rebecca."

It was as if a dam had broken as both father and daughter started sobbing uncontrollably, in a moment of just pure emotion. Cana didn't know exactly why or how her parents had broken up; and she wasn't sure she really wanted to. She knew that Gildarts blamed himself, even after all these years it still caused him pain to talk about it, and he had probably wondered in some of his darker moments if Cornelia had hated him. But her mother had named her 'Rebecca', that said a lot of things that words alone just couldn't.

She'd have to thank Levy later, a moment like this… a moment like this with her dad was pretty damn incredible for both of them.

AN: I don't really know where this came from, I was just watching the Eclipse Spirit arc and this just kind of appeared- mostly because I found out that Cana's name came from the Major Arcana and I just thought: well why not just have 'Cana' be a nickname? And I honestly have no clue where 'Rebecca' came from, I just started playing around with this and it just sort of… appeared. There really needs to be more Gildarts and Cana fluff, I just love those two so much, they really deserved so much more attention then they wound up getting. Though the ending is a little rough for me. Please tell me what you think!