I flew backwards, the sheer force of his kick to my chest sending me flying. I felt myself crash through the pair of double doors behind me. I flew through a large room and collided with some piece of wood…like a bar table. I groaned. The problem with fighting mages is that when they hit you, —I mean really hit you, not like a bitch-slap across the face—it hurts like hell. I forced my eyes open.

My back had made a dent in what was indeed a bar. I pulled myself to my feet, broken boards falling off of my body. I had a cut on my arm from where a jagged piece of wood had stabbed into me. When I'd finally managed to get to my feet I cracked my neck and my knuckles. It was time to get serious.

"Bastard!" I screeched, "That actually hurt, Sting!" Sting was strutting into the room I had been knocked into. He probably thought he was hot shit, but I knew better. Just because he'd landed a hit on me didn't mean he was stronger than me. I wiped some blood from the side of my mouth and then spat.

"That was the idea, Jay," he said, stopping a few feet away from me. His light blue eyes bore into mine. I had to admit, he was a little handsome. He had sharp features and catlike eyes, which most girls would go wild for. Me? I just wanted to punch him in the face...hard. His light blond hair shone as he stared me down. I'd had my fair share of running from his fan girls.

"Don't get cocky," I said, flipping my long, jade hair out of my eyes with a toss of my head. It usually fell over my eye, which was actually a nuisance during fights. Note to self: cut hair.

"I don't see what the harm could be," he said, shrugging.

"I'll show you the harm," I snarled. He smiled, "That's more like it. I always thought you were better than that show you put on earlier. Let's see what you can really do." He gestured for me to come at him with his two front fingers. Wrong choice.

I felt my magic brimming inside of me, just waiting to escape along with my rage. Brilliant green light began to emanate from my clenched fists. Sting grinned and braced himself for my attack. I sprinted towards him, readying my fists. He moved quickly to where he thought I would be, but I had outsmarted him. I slid on my knees through the gap between his legs and then lashed out with my own legs. My heavy black boots plus the force of my kick was enough to knock him down. He fell on his face, but caught himself before he slammed into the wooden floorboards.

I sprung back as he jumped to his feet. We exchanged a series of quick blows to each other's torsos and lashed out with lightning fast reflexes. I'd been in fights against people that were more powerful than me due to my particular line of work, and Sting wasn't one of those people. I grinned as he started to lose ground.

"Wishing you hadn't picked this fight?" I said to him as I landed a blow on his chest and sent him flying. He slammed into the railing on the second floor and it broke under the force. I launched myself up to the second floor with a burst of my magic.

By the time I'd reached the second floor Sting was already upright, "I don't see why I would."

"You've never won a fight against me before. What made you think you could win one today?" He just shrugged and hurled another blow at my face. A lot of the time, when I was fighting men, they went easy on me because I'm a girl. I liked it that Sting and my fights were no holds barred: everything went. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he entered dragon force, white light shimmering around him and his magic energy increasing. I quickly landed a punch to me and I flew into the railing, a broken shard of it implanting itself in my leg. I yanked it out. When I was in a fight, pain didn't register.

I leapt off of the second floor and back into the center of the room, landing on a table. I was vaguely aware of people screaming and someone shouting something at me, but the only thing that mattered was Sting: he was my opponent. He leapt down after me and I grinned. I crouched down and entered my own dragon force. Jade-colored light shimmered around me and I relished in the power.

"Roar of the," I began, tilting my head back and charging the spell, "JADE DRAGON!" Sheer magical energy shot towards Sting and his eyes went wide. He sprinted across the room, but my magic followed him. It tore up the wall behind him, sending slivers of wood flying. I closed my mouth, Sting panting like a dog. I felt satisfaction rise in me. I leapt onto Sting, pinning him down with my legs. I was breathing hard and so was he.

He grinned. "Why are you smiling? You lost," I said. I leaned over him, my hair draped over one shoulder.

"Because I haven't lost yet," he said. I was about to ask him what in the world had made him think that when he lifted his neck. His lips met mine. They were strangely soft, but not soft enough to keep me kissing him. I reeled backwards and stumbled on my ass. He jumped on top of me and pinned me down in the same position that I'd just had him in. He grinned, "You can try it, too, if you want." I struggled, but I was in no position for escape.

"I can't believe you kissed me," I growled, "Just so that you could win a stupid fight."

"Who says that's the only reason I kissed you?" he said, cocking his head to one side. I head-butted him and he grimaced. I grinned. I'm not going down without a fight.

As the adrenaline from our fight started to wear off, I glanced around where we were. I didn't bother pushing Sting off of me. We were in what looked like I guildhall. I groaned. Guilds suck. There are so many rules and you have to be buddy buddy and go out on missions with guild mates. Plus, you only get dumb jobs like going to put on a lame play or fetching a book for someone. That was not how I rolled. I liked living it up and taking on some adrenaline pumping, almost-piss-your-pants out of excitement jobs. That's how I'd been living even while Zirconis was teaching me Dragonslayer magic. The other dragons thought it was strange that Zirconis had taken on a kid like me, but he didn't think of me as a kid…more like a dwarf-like dragon. I guess that's how I acted, too.

"I don't mean to interrupt your fun, but you just destroyed my guildhall," said a voice. I turned my head, still pinned down by Sting. I heard a board clatter to the ground somewhere and a mysterious cracking sound echo throughout the guildhall.

"Sorry?" I said more of a question than a statement. I really didn't give a rat's ass about this dude's guildhall. "Get off, asshat," I said to Sting and he immediately complied. I struggled to my feet; my leg hurt a little more now due to the obvious lack of adrenaline. That wound was probably going to leave a scar, but it didn't really matter. I had my fair share of scars littering my body, including one from where I'd stabbed myself with a fork. It was unintentional and was followed my a string of cusses…don't ask me how I accidentally stabbed myself with a fork, I'm not proud.

"Do you think sorry will cut it?" asked the man. He was a pretty short guy and hide white hair.

"You the guild master of something?" I shot at him.

"Yes," he said with a straight face. At first I though he was joking, but then I realized he wasn't. I started trembling while trying to hold in my laughter. I looked at Sting, "Seriously?" He nodded.

I turned to the man and cleared my throat, "I-I'm s-s-sorry." I tumbled through my words, clutching my sides while trying not to laugh. Suddenly someone lunged out at me, fist flaming. I caught his fist with one hand and twisted his arm behind his back. His fist was still flaming.

"That stings," I growled, shoving him away.

"Natsu, that's enough," said the old man, "My name is Makarov. Pleased to meet you." I grimaced. Honestly, I didn't want anything to do with this guy, but I'd feel kind of weird if I didn't introduce myself. The people who had surrounded us were staring, too. This was the definition of pressure.

"I wish I could say the same to you. My name's Jay," I said, crossing my arms. My fingerless gloved were ripped. My black leather jacket covered most of my arms, but there was a gaping hole in it now from where a shard of wood had pierced it. Shit, I liked this jacket.

"What do you intend to do to make up for this mess?" he said, crossing his arms just as I had.

"Seriously? You can't just let me off with a slap on the wrists and an apology?"

"No." I frowned. This was a tough old geezer, but he'd gained some respect from me. I didn't like pushovers. "Join my guild," said the old man. A chorus of shouts erupted from the guild members. Most of them were in protest.

"I don't think they want me to. Also, do I look like someone with a guild mark on me?" The man nodded. He was probably taking note of the variety of tattoos that covered my body. I had designs covering my stomach, my upper arms, and my chest. The one on my chest was my favorite: it was a dragon whose tail was slithered down between my breasts. The tattoos on my stomach were visible because I was wearing a crop-top with the words bite me on it.

"I refuse," I said.

"Then what do you propose instead?" I remained silent. "I thought so. You will join Fairy Tail and give me 50% of your pay for each job you take," he said turning to leave.

"It's called Fairy Tail? What so I'm going to be a little fairy now?" The old man turned and eyed me. He said nothing and walked down the hall, "Mirajane, give her the mark of Fairy Tail. I've got to go to that guild master's meeting." He disappeared around the corner and left me gaping after him. I face palmed.

I heard Sting crack up, "I feel bad for Fairy Tail." I turned and punched him in the face, hard. "That was harsh," he said, holding his nose.

"You should be happy. I could have broken it and messed up your perfect face."
"You think my face is perfect?" I growled.

"Excuse me, Jay, was it?" said a delicate voice. It made me want to punch something again, and I considered Sting's face. I decided against it.

"We need to get you your mark," said the girl who stood beside me. She had practically white hair like an old lady, except she looked only a little older than I was. She was holding a stamp-like thing in her hand.

"Seriously? A stamp?" was all I said. She approached me and asked me, "Where do you want it?" I looked down at my body. A lot of the convenient places were already occupied by tattoos, so I stuck out my wrist. She nodded and pressed the stamp to my skin. When it came away I looked at my wrist and frowned. What I guessed was this guild's insignia covered my wrist. It could have been a cool tattoo if I didn't know the meaning behind it. Its black color stared up at me, tainting my previously pale white wrist. The girl, Mira if I remembered correctly, left we standing in the middle of their wrecked guildhall.

I turned to Sting, "Just leave already. It seems I'm stuck here, so we won't be seeing each other as often." I flopped down onto one of the chairs at the nearby table.

"Actually, Sabertooth has quite a few dealings with Fairy Tail," he said. I banged my head on the table, then, feeling like it wasn't enough, I banged a few more times.

"You're going to get brain damage doing that," he said.

I glared at him, "Do you want me to give you brain damage?" He backed off and headed for the door. I massaged my eyes. This was probably the worse thing that could happen to me. I lived my life outside of guilds. They were a bother. When someone had a job that wasn't necessarily legal I would take it on. I'm not talking killing people off, leave that for the dark guilds, I'm talking about the occasional stealing, torturing, blackmailing, and other illegal pass times.

"You sleeping?" said a gruff voice. I cracked one eye open.

"Do I look like I'm sleeping?" The dude had black hair and sick piercings. He looked pretty badass, "Nice metal."

He nodded, "Same to you." I had a line of piercings up one ear, reaching all the way to the top.

"You look pissed," said the man.

"You smell like Dragonslayer," I replied.

"Nice way to start a conversation."

"Same to you." We stared at each other.

"Don't like guilds?"

"I'm more of a freelancer."

"Right, so you do illegal stuff."

"Pretty much."

"Sounds fun."

"Better than this shitty guild."

"It's not that shitty." I shot a disbelieving look his way. "I thought so at first, but it's not all that bad."

"And how did a guy like you get into a guild with the word fairy in its name?"

He shrugged, "I destroyed their guildhall and then they just let me in."

I laughed, "Sounds like we're two of a kind." He shrugged and leaned back in a chair.

"Gajeel," said a voice. The man, Gajeel, turned, "Want to meet my cat?" I raised an eyebrow. It seemed improbable that a guy like Gajeel would have a cat. I was proved wrong in a few seconds. A badass looking cat—as badass as cats can look—walked over. It struck me as a little odd that the cat was walking on two legs and even more odd that it had a sword slung across its back; most off of all was that it could talk.

"Your cat talks. That's cool," I said, not bothering to be surprised of even impressed.

"Panther Lily. Nice to meet you," said the cat. I frowned.

"That's a weird-ass name, man…I mean cat. Mind if I call you Lily?" I asked. He shrugged and I took it as a 'whatever'.

"Gajeel, we need to go on a job soon," said Panther Lily. Gajeel nodded and turned to me. He smirked, "Want to come?"

"Honestly, no, but apparently I have to, so…sure." Gajeel nodded and stood up, "Be seein' ya." I grinned sarcastically as he stalked off. What was I going to do until I'd paid Makarov back? This whole thing was just a giant pain in the ass. I sighed and entertained myself with my magic. My magic, Jade Dragonslayer magic, was pretty unique. I was able to create attacks similar to Sting's, but also create green mist that affected other's magic in different ways. I mostly used it to blind my enemies, creating thick clouds of fog-like green mist. Zirconis also taught me his favorite trick, which, when applied to a human, wasn't that useful. Despite this, I still enjoyed using it. I was able to use my magic to make people's clothes mysteriously disappear. It always cracked me up. Now, though, I didn't strip anyone against their will. While that would be entertaining, it would create enemies…and I didn't need any more of those, especially not in a guild that I was stuck in for an undetermined about of time.

I let out a big sigh, and a hand tapping my shoulder interrupted my trance. "Would you like some medical care?" said the little girl. She stood about eye level, even though I was sitting down. She had long, blue hair and innocent eyes. She must have only been 11 or twelve.

"You a doctor?" I asked.

She shook her head, "No, but I use Sky Dragonslayer magic. I can heal you…if you'd like." I weighed the pros and cons and came out with mostly pros. The only con was that I wouldn't look badass with a little girl healing my injuries. I shrugged, "Why not, right?" She grinned. I stripped off my jacket. The wound was deeper than I'd initially thought it was. The girl leaned forward and hovered her hands above my arm. I felt relief flood through me.

"You're pretty good, huh, shrimp?"

"My name's Wendy," she huffed. I smiled, "Right, sorry."

"Wendy Marvel, what do you think you're doing?" cried a voice.

"Healing someone who's injured," Wendy replied, beginning to heal the hole in my leg.

Another talking cat, this one with white fur and no sword, approached us, "Don't help that hooligan!"

"Look, I don't see what your problem with me is," I said, standing up. Wendy withdrew her hands.

"You want to know what our problem is?" said another voice. I moaned and turned towards the source of the complaint.

"You came into our guildhall, wrecked it, and then went and insulted not only our Master, but also our entire guild!" said the guy, striding angrily towards me. He had weirdly pink hair and a totally feminine scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Trust me, I regret it," I said flippantly. The guy scowled.

"Natsu, don't," said a woman with bright red hair. "Yeah, Natsu, she doesn't seem that bad," said another voice. It was a girl with blond hair. I scowled. I hate blonds. I took her words as an insult.

"I think she needs to be taught a lesson," he said, rearing for a fight.

"Who's going to teach me?" I sniped. That really made him angry. The girl with blond hair looked desperately to a creepy dude without a shirt on, "Gray, do something!" He just shrugged, "It's none of my business." I grinned. I automatically thought about old men when I heard the name Gray, not the chiseled stripper I saw in front of me.

"Let's take this outside," said Natsu, "I don't want to mess up what's left of the guildhall." I shrugged and headed towards the door, my heavy boots clunking with each step. Once we were outside he stared me down. I yawned.

"You better take this seriously. I'm a—" he began.

"Dragonslayer? I know. Now let's get this over with," I said. He nodded and his entire body lit up in flames. I'm not going to lie; his magical power was unusually strong.

"If you can beat me, I'll forgive you," he growled. I nodded.

"You should know, I'm a third generation Dragonslayer," I called to him, engaging in dragon force. My hair whipped around me violently. I smirked. His eyes were burning with anger. I didn't think this sort of loyalty existed…but apparently it did.

"I took down two at the Grand Magic Games," he called back.

We stared each other down for about a minute. I wasn't going to throw the first blow; I was patient. I was ready for him when he leapt towards me. I was pretty tired already from fighting Sting, but Wendy's healing had helped. I reacted perfectly. His fist flew past my head as I dodged. I lifted my leg high enough to reach his eye level and slammed my boot into his face. I struck him with a fair amount of magic and plowed his head into the cobblestones with my foot. I kept my leg there. His fire had been extinguished.

"Nice try, though. Are you sure you really beat two third generation Dragonslayers?" I jested. He groaned. I eased my foot off of him and crouched beside him. I peered up at me. I stuck out my hand, "Forgiven?"

He nodded and took my hand. I hauled him to his feet. I heard some cheers from the crowd that had gathered. A few people still glared at me, but I was pretty sure my respect level had risen a little bit.

A large hand clapped me on the back, "That's my partner." I turned to see Gajeel standing beside me.

"Since when was I your partner?" I demanded.

"Don't fight it," he said sternly.

"No," Natsu said through clenched teeth. Apparently I'd done a number on him. I'd only intended to rough him up a bit, but sometimes I didn't know my own strength. "I want her on our team," he said. I face palmed. Me kicking the shit out of him had made him want me on his team. What a weird guy.

The two started fighting about whose team I was going to join. Gajeel had the best point, "I had her first!"

"Who cares?" retorted Natsu.

"What do you mean who cares? Ever heard the saying: finders keepers, losers weepers?"

"No!"

"Oh right, I forgot you were dumb." I fought the urge to smack the shit out of them.

"I agreed to go on a job with you, Gajeel. It was more of a favor to your piercings and badassery. I never agreed to join your team. Natsu, same goes for you. I fly solo." They both looked disappointed.

"It's not up to you," said Natsu. He was walking on eggshells. I fumed. He stepped close to my face, close enough that I could feel his body heat.

"I want you on my team," he whispered to me. I felt my face flush and that only made me angrier. Why would I blush because of this dumb masochistic, pink-headed fool? I didn't step back, though. I stared up at him as he was about and inch or two taller than me.

"What are you going to do about that?" I hissed. Suddenly I felt a strong hand on my arm. I was yanked backwards forcefully. Gajeel wrapped his arms around me.

"She's mine. I found her first," he repeated. My blush got even more intense. I pushed him off. My temper had snapped. I sucker punched Natsu in the stomach. Gajeel let out a strange geehee, thinking I'd chosen his side. I then punched him, too. The two crumpled to the ground, clutching their guts. I grinned, clapping my hands together as if I were getting rid of dust.

"Well, that solves that," I said, walking away from them. I left them complaining to me and arguing with each other at the same time. I rolled my eye and folded my arms behind my head. This guild was already annoying. It was only going to bring me more trouble.