*I already did the disclaimer in Chapter 1 but I'll say it again; Fairy Tail doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Hiro Mashima, and I only claim Shiori as my own*

Chapter 2: Secrets of the Past

It took me a couple days to recover from the battle with Natsu, but those few days weren't that bad. Natsu came into the infirmary and was as playful as ever, while Erza and Gray just watched him, smiling and shaking their heads. The days felt like they flew by as I met most of the members of the guild.

With me joining the guild on day one, I was already going on jobs. Even though I proved to be on par with Natsu and even Erza, the S-Class floor is still restricted for now. I took the next best thing; going on jobs with the BEST team in Fairy Tail! Natsu found a job on the board that was worth a whopping 800,000 Jewel, and it was for beating up a group of rogue wizards. We showed it to Makarov, and he told us we could start tomorrow so he could contact the client for the job.

I was a giddy mess. Lucy had asked me before if I wanted to sleep over at her apartment and I agreed, so I was on my way there now. The building that stood in front of me was actually pretty small. Warm brown colored building with a brown-tiled roof. There was a small balcony for the second floor, but there were only six windows, so it was safe to assume that there weren't many people living here. As I walked up to the door, a hand landed on my shoulder, making me jump. I turned and saw a blue-haired girl standing next to me. She was a little shorter than me, about three inches shorter, and she was wearing a sleeveless orange dress with two separate sleeves tied to the middle of her upper arm. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Um, who are you?" I asked. She blinked before laughing. I didn't get what was so funny, so I kept our eye contact.

"I'm sorry! I'm Levy McGarden. You're the newest member of Fairy Tail, right?" I nodded. "It's nice to meet you in person!" She held her hand out and I shook it. With a sigh of relief, I opened the door for us and we made our way to Lucy's apartment. The door opened before I could even knock and Natsu came flying at me, colliding with me. I groaned in pain, trying to push the dragon slayer off of me.

I could hear Lucy apologize as she came over and helped me. "Sorry, Shiori! Natsu just barged into my home, so I kicked him out like usual. I didn't know you were gonna come over so early," she explained, pulling Natsu to his feet. Levy was laughing on the side, her hand covering her mouth to suppress her giggles.

Natsu and a flying blue cat ran out the front door of the apartment complex, yelling about Lucy being scary. A smile appeared on my face as Lucy opened the door for us to come inside. Her apartment wasn't bad at all, except for the fact that almost everything was pink. Not that there was anything wrong with pink; I just prefer light blue. Levy made herself comfortable on Lucy's bed, kicking her shoes off by the edge of it and laying down. I just followed what Levy did, sitting down in the orange plush chair. My body sank into the cushions and I gasped, not expecting that to happen.

Lucy walked out of her kitchen area with a tea tray in hand. "I'm so glad we could get together after so long!" she sighed. "It's also a good opportunity for you to get to know each other." I picked up one of the tea cups and a saucer, making sure I had a good grip on the tiny handle before placing it in my lap. Raising it to my lips, I took a sip and hummed in content; it was amazing! It tasted like regular chai tea, only it had a hint of honey and cinnamon.

"So, what did you plan for tonight, Lu?" Levy asked. She was now laying on her front side, hands cradling her chin as she kicked her legs back and forth in the air.

Lucy placed a hand to her chin in thought. "Well, I thought that because you and Shiori don't really know much about each other, you could open up about your pasts a bit. If that's okay with you, Shiori," she said, turning to look at me. It took me a second to realize that they were waiting for me to answer, which made me feel pretty awkward.

"T-That's fine," I stuttered. Lucy laughed a bit before grabbing a cup of tea and drinking some herself. "I think Levy should go first, though," I added. She nodded and took a breath, and I could see her eyes reflecting a feeling of nostalgia.

Her eyes closed, a frown taking the place of her smile from earlier. "The truth is, I don't remember anything from before I joined the guild," she began. "The last thing I remember was that I woke up in Magnolia's wizard hospital, a cast around my right leg. When I asked the nurse what had happened to me, she only told me that I was an only survivor on an attack on Crocus. For some reason, I had a sort of amnesia; I could only remember my personal information, like my age and name, but I couldn't remember anything about my family." My eyes were wide and Lucy looked like she was about to cry. "The good thing about not remembering your past is that you have the ability to live on without any burden from before weighing you down," she added softly. Her brown eyes were blank, not reflecting any emotion as I continued to stare at her in shock.

That's just like… No, I can't start trying to dig up the past, I thought to myself. I coughed to try and get their attention.

"Levy, Lucy… I know that was a sad story, but Levy's right. The past may be something people like to reflect on, but some memories may be better off forgotten. Who knows? Maybe she was caught in a "pants down" moment and everyone would tease her about it," I explained, trying to lighten the mood. Levy laughed, tears poking out from the corners of her eyes, and Lucy cracked a smile, joining in Levy's laughter.

Their laughter died down and Lucy turned to me. "So, are you gonna share, Shiori? You don't have to if-" I cut her off by shaking my head.

"I don't mind sharing some of my past, but you have to promise to keep this between the three of us for the time being. Got it?" They saw the serious look on my face and nodded, sitting next to each other on Lucy's bed.

A sigh escaped my lips as I began to recall my past in my mind.

~~Fifteen Years Ago~~

It was the year X776, the year of my third birthday. My parents were never around, so I was sent to the Heartfilia household to learn the ways of a noblewoman, much like Lucy did when she was young. In fact, over the few months I was there with her, we grew to be the best of friends. On November 7, X776, my parents were supposed to come home. I was excited to see them, but I had told Lucy that I would try my best to come to visit when I could.

That was the day… my world was turned upside down. My parents did come home that night, but I was asleep at the time so I didn't know they had come home. My dreams were interrupted when I heard a scream. I almost screamed in response but quickly covered my mouth. At the time, I wasn't in control of my magic, so I would "blow up" a bit when I was feeling intense emotions. I grabbed the small wand my parents had bought me before I was even born and walked out into the hall. There was another scream and I pressed myself to the wall, praying that nobody that was there could see me. There was a muffled voice coming from their room and I crept closer, trying my best to listen. I could hear the window opening and, when I couldn't hear anything else, I slowly opened the door.

The sight before me was absolutely horrifying: my parents were lying on the ground, both cut on their midsections and backsides and bleeding profusely. I stepped closer, the thoughts of being alone flooding and taking over my mind. Without a second thought, my magic burst out around me, messing up the furniture and items in the room, and raced out the window. The forest that was miles away from our house was now in front of me, the moonlight illuminating each green leaf that was connected to a branch. Before long, I fell to my knees, bawling on the spot. I didn't know how much time had past; I didn't have it in me to care. My parents had been murdered and I was now alone.

As I cried my eyes and heart out, a calm, soothing voice called out to me. "My child… Why do you cry so?" I looked up slowly, trying to find the source of the mysterious voice, but nobody was there. The voice called out again, beckoning me into the forest. Shaking, I stood up and started walking towards the forest. Daylight had made its way into view while I was crying, lighting the way for me so I didn't trip and fall. I took me a few hours to find the source of the voice, but I found it.

The forest was aglow with light from the noontime sun. As I walked through, I could feel a presence far greater than any known to man. The magic coming from the presence was dispersing and flowing through the wildlife as if it was the source of all this life. I walked into a clearing and gasped. Right in the middle sat a dragon. It was beautiful! Its green scales looked to be glowing, just like all of the plants in the area, and its piercing red eyes were staring at me as if judging whether or not I was worthy of its presence. My tiny three-year-old body ran up to the mythical beast and embraced its leg tightly, tears falling free.

The puff of warm air soothed my soul as the dragon nuzzled me gently. "Do not be afraid, small child. If you have come for a safe place from the outside world, you may stay here," it whispered. I could hear the motherly undertones in the dragon's voice as it looked at me sympathetically. The smile that graced my face that day was never seen again after she died, but I didn't know that at the time. I only wanted to have a family, a parent, that loved me…

As I finished the story, I saw that Lucy was crying while Levy had the same reaction that I had to her backstory. I looked out at the window by Lucy's bed, sighing as I felt tears try to escape my eyes. Before they could fall, I wiped my eyes, covering my face with my hands.

I could hear Lucy walking over to me and she wrapped me in a warm hug. "I didn't know… that was why…" She was having trouble piecing together full sentences, so I just shook my head, resting it in the crook of her neck and returning the hug. Another pair of arms wrapped around us and I could feel the warmth I thought I lost when Shinonomi died. The tears that I tried to hold back were now flowing freely down my face as the emotional damage of the events snapped me.

We stayed like that for a few more minutes before Lucy and Levy stepped back, stretching a bit and wiping their eyes. "Let's get some sleep. I'm worn out from crying so much," I suggested. They agreed and I set up my makeshift bed on the floor. Levy was sleeping on the floor as well, only her "bed" was closer to the kitchen. With one last sigh, I closed my eyes, the better memories of my "mother" swirling around in my dreams.

~~The Next Morning~~

I woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon. A grumble made itself heard from my stomach and I sat up. After stretching my arms, I stood up and walked over to the kitchen area. Lucy was cooking breakfast and Levy was reading an old-looking book with her wind-reader glasses. I walked over to her and sat down, looking over her shoulder to see what she was reading.

She looked at me from the corner of her eye and smiled. "Good morning Shiori. Did you sleep well?" I nodded and she went back to reading.

Well, that was brief, I thought. Before I could spark up some sort of conversation, Lucy told us that breakfast was done. She had set out three plates, one for each of us, but she also made another plate.

"Hey, Lucy?" She poked her head up and looked at me. "Who's the fourth plate for?" I took a bite of the eggs and melted in my chair for a second before coming back to reality from my "food heaven."

A smile graced her face as she looked towards her apartment window. "Any minute now…" she muttered. As if on cue, Natsu and that blue cat from yesterday barged into her apartment through the window. Levy and I screamed before shutting up and seeing that it was just them.

My eyes narrowed at the two. "You bust into Lucy's apartment at random? That's just rude, you two," I chided. They looked over at me and Natsu hid behind Lucy, the blue cat following him. Levy only giggled before finishing her breakfast and standing up to bring her plate to the sink.

"She's right, Natsu," Levy said. "Just because you're Lucy's friend doesn't mean you can just break in whenever you want to. Right, Lucy?" I looked over at my best friend and she nodded, standing to follow Levy into the kitchen.

Natsu and the cat looked at each other before looking at me. "By the way, Natsu? Who's the cat that's with you?" I guess Natsu's friend took offense to that because he flew over to me, standing on top of my head.

"How can you not know who I am? I am happy, the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail!" His narcissism was so cute! I laughed, picking him up off my head and hugging him.

Despite his protests, I continued to hug him. "You're too cute!" After a minute, I let him go and he immediately flew over to Lucy for what he claimed was "protection from me."

"Just wait, you won't think he's cute after you get to know him. Trust me, I thought the same thing at first," Lucy warned me. As we were talking, I saw Levy walking towards me.

She gave me a small hug. "I'm gonna go now. It was really nice to meet you, Shiori. I promise to keep your story a secret," she whispered the last part in my ear so Natsu wouldn't hear. Lucy waved to her and she was gone. Natsu was scarfing down the plate Lucy had fixed for him while I was cleaning my own plate.

Maybe Natsu knows anything about Shinonomi… Probably not, I thought. In the end, I decided to not ask him anything about the dragons in general.

The day went by fast up until we were all at the guildhall, ready to leave for the job. Erza brought WAY too much luggage, Gray was half-naked, and Lucy and Wendy were just laughing at Natsu and Gray's childish fighting. Wendy and Carla, the youngest guild members, were introduced to me only a few hours ago but I could feel a strong connection to them as soon as I saw them. We were making our way to the station when I felt a tug on my pants leg. Looking down, I saw that Carla was trying to get my attention.

I turned to pick her up, but she shook her head and flew up to be at face level with me. "Shiori, right?" she asked. I nodded and she took a deep breath, placing her paw on my cheek that had my guild mark. "I can't tell you much, but… just don't let your emotions take over your sense of reason when we get there. Alright?" I nodded again, slower than before, as confusion was clearly written on my face.

Erza paid for our tickets and we boarded the train. I was sitting with Wendy and Carla, while Lucy rode with Natsu and Erza rode with Gray. When I looked over at Lucy, I had to cough a bit to suppress my laugh. Natsu had his head resting in Lucy's lap, his suffering all too apparent to the rest of us.

"Does Natsu have motion sickness?" I asked. Erza explained to me that all dragon slayers, at least the first and third generations, had motion sickness. "I see. Lucy, switch seats with me." She raised an eyebrow at me before getting up and taking my seat. I rested Natsu's head on my lap, the same way Lucy had only seconds before and started combing his spiky pink hair slowly. Everyone, even a few of the passengers, was staring at us as I tried to soothe Natsu's illness.

I started to sing softly, my voice being carried through the train on a soft breeze.

A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain

Softly blows over Lullaby Bay,

It fills the sails of boats that are waiting,

Waiting to sail your worries away.

I could hear soft snoring and, looking down at my lap, I saw that Natsu was fast asleep, his face no longer showing any sort of sickness he was feeling before. Carla was staring at me as if trying to find out if I was hiding a secret about my power, but I ignored the looks everyone gave me and stared out the window, watching as the scenery flew by. My mind wandered as I fell into unconsciousness.