The ability to breath was always an underrated one. Cliff was beginning to learn that as his lungs started coming very close to failing him. His ash-grey hair clung to the sides of his face, sweat dripping off the ends and falling under his armour to soak his clothes. He looked down at the demented monster that lay dead on the ground in front of him. It somewhat resembled an ogre mixed with a badger and an ape. Cliff would have just described it a ugly.

The teenager took a moment to calm his heart rate before taking a gulp of air. He reached a hand out and wrapped his fingers around the sword protruding from the monsters back. He pulled the sword out in one motion, scrunching his nose when clumps of blood drenched fur still stuck to the blade. "That's just gross." He whipped the flat edge of his sword off on the carcass in an attempt to clean it off some. While it did remove the solid debris, the weapon would need a good cleaning later.

Seconds later another monster, similar in looks and build, was launched across the area Cliff was standing it. The large body slammed into a tree before colliding with the hard ground. It was only second later that Zach followed. The nine year-old jumped into the area, his feet skidding on the dirt before he caught his footing. "They just keep coming. Were there supposed to be this many?"

Cliff stepped over the monster he had killed and stood next to his partner. He pulled the flyer for the job they had taken out of his back pocket and unfolded it to look over the job description again. "It says that there are twenty or so of these things that are actually documented. It doesn't say we have to get rid of all of them, just most."

"We've only taken care of seven. That's not even half." Both boys let out a groan. "I need to find my bag." Zach said. He turned back to the direction he had come from and began looking through bushes. He finally found it covered in dirt and possibly stepped on. He looked inside to check the contents for damage, and was satisfied to see that nothing was missing or destroyed.

"It's not like we have too much more to go." Cliff created a magic circle. In it, he deposited the bloody sword and exchanged it for a clean one that he could strap to his belt, and his backpack. "Let's at least find a good place to rest for a bit though."

"Right." Zach agreed. He slumped his bag over his shoulders and followed the older mage.

(...)

"I just can't believe him!" Layla yelled as she swung a fist towards Loke's head. The celestial spirit easily blocked it with an arm, as well as the second one that followed. "How could he say something like that?" The blonde girl ducked low to avoid a counter attack. While crouched on the ground, she swung a leg to sweep at Loke's ankles, but missed due to him jumping a few meters away. "I mean seriously. There has to be something wrong with his head!"

"Layla." Loke called to the girl only to be ignored. Instead, he was on the defensive again with a set of punches and kicks aimed at his torso.

"Who does he think he is anyways? My father? I already have one of those!" Layla's voice became angrier. Her anger turned into flames that build up around her fists and feet.

"Layla!" The celestial spirit lunged out to grab onto Layla's wrist. He spun the small girl around, wrapping his other arm around her waist and pulling her so that her back was against his front. "I thought you wanted to train, not rant about Cliff again."

The blonde let out a deep breath. She didn't try to escape from Loke's hold. "It just pisses me off."

"I know, I know." The orange haired male leaned down and rested his chin on her forehead. "But from what I can tell, wasn't Cliff just being his usual high-strung, overly defensive, slightly moronic self?"

"Well... Yeah. But he was still out of line." Admitting that Layla was too harsh on her rival was never going happen, especially not to Loke. He got her to admit to being wrong too many times, and she didn't want to give him the pleasure of being right again.

"Of course he was." The hand around Layla's wrist dropped and went under the girl's knees. Loke lifted her up and carried her like a princess over to a shady patch of grass and sat down, his back leaning against a tree.

Layla situated herself between his legs, leaning against his chest. Her face formed a pout. "I just don't understand why he had to do that, and in front of Caden too."

"I really hope you aren't talking about that Caden fellow in front of Natsu." Loke warned. He knew full well how Natsu would react if Layla got too close to the visiting mage. The dragon slayer was overprotective of his daughter enough as it was. Fairy Tail really didn't need to have the guild master to have to go over to Lamia Scale and apologize for sending a member home in a burnt body bag.

The two sat in silence for a moment. It was a very sunny, warm day, and the clearing they had been practicing in was completely empty, so the two were able to relax without worrying about the usual craziness of the guild. Layla leaned her head back to the point where she was practically looking upside down at Loke's face. She could just see that his eyes were closed underneath his sunglasses. "Hey Loke?"

"Hmm?"

"How do I get a boyfriend?"

(...)

"It's official. I hate mountains." Cliff and Zach made their way up the side of the mountain. Even in their young age, they were having enough problems walking on the rocky, uneven ground. So much so that Cliff was using one of his spears as a walking stick. Zach was managing on his own by using his magic to create iron spikes that he could stab into the ground if he started slipping. "Why can't there be a cable car or something?"

"I think it would defeat the purpose of this mission if any random person could get up here and fight off monsters." Zach explained. "I think we'd actually be out of a job."

"We've already killed sixteen-"

"Seventeen, actually."

"Fine. We've already killed seventeen of these things." Cliff looked as though he was about to pop a vein. "I was supposed to be venting anger, not stockpiling more!" He opened a magic circle and pulled out a sword to swing at a branch that was in the way of his path further up the mountain.

Zach followed close behind. The younger boy looked closely at a map of the mountain. "I'm fairly certain this is the fastest way to the peak, but I may be wrong. The magnetism in the rocks is probably messing with my compass."

"You brought a compass?"

"Internal compass." Zach looked up and saw Cliff had stopped walking and was just staring back at him. "It's an iron mage thing."

The older boy let out a chuckle and started forward again. Both were in the middle of climbing over a large log when another one of those monsters lunged out of the bushes. Zach immediately raised an arm, his fist becoming a large iron rod that extended and forced its way into the center of the monster's chest. The force of the attack knocked the monster backwards in time for Cliff to slash its chest with his sword. The creature tumbled to the dirt. Zach gave one last slam into the thing's skull, knocking it out of commission for sure.

Cliff sent his sword back through a magic circle into his storage dimension. "That's eighteen, I guess."

(...)

"I am not having this conversation with you." Loke made his voice stern as he tried to walk away from the blonde pre-teen in his care. Unfortunately for him, Layla was quite persistent when she wanted to be. The girl followed him around the dusty clearing.

"Oh come on!" She whined. She grabbed hold of the sleeve of Loke's suit jacket, forcing him to walk with her. "It's not like I can just go ask Daddy."

The celestial spirit stopped in his tracks. He lifted a sweaty palm so that he could rub his temples. His finger then combed through the bangs of his mane-like hair, and ended resting on top of his head, still holding the hair out of his face. "Layla, I think you're forgetting that I practically raised you too. I'm not answering this question."

"Why not? I don't see the big deal here." Small cheeks puffed out to draw attention to the pout Layla had set up on her face.

"The big deal is that you are thirteen years old! You don't need a boyfriend, girlfriend, or any other kind of significant other." Loke snapped. "Now I'm sure this whole thing was brought on by some boy you've seen around the guild, and I'm pretty sure I know who it is. You, young missy, better hope Natsu doesn't know too otherwise you're not gonna be seeing that boy without having a fist-sized burn in the middle of his face."

Layla's hand dropped from Loke's sleeve to her side. She let her head hang down and she kicked at the dirt with the toe of her shoe. "Everyone keeps saying the same thing. I don't think Daddy would hurt someone if I really liked him."

Love turned and knelt down to be at face level with Layla. He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I think that he'd hurt someone because you like them that much actually. You know he's not the best with thinking someone might take you away from him."

"There's a limit though."

"Well..." Loke took a moment to gather his thoughts. "How about this?" He brushed the dirt off of Layla's clothes for her. "Now, just for the record, I'm not saying this at all. But I think talking to Mirajane, Erza, Juvia, or Levy might do you a little better in this case. Any of the ladies really. This is more of a 'girl talk' kind of subject, don't you think?" The shine in those chocolate brown eyes of Layla's came back. Arms wrapped around Loke's neck in a hug and a small pair of lips met his cheek.

"Thanks Loke!" Layla let go and ran ahead toward the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"I still don't approve!" He called after her, watching the young mage run farther and farther away. He rubbed the cheek that she had kissed. "That little minx is getting to a handful."

(...)

"What do you mean I need to 'keep a check' on Layla?" Natsu lifted an eyebrow towards the woman on the other side of the bar counter. He rested his beer mug back onto the wooden surface.

"Let's just say that a little birdy told me that Layla might be growing up faster than you'd like." The smile on Mira's face was that same all-knowing one that would usually scare anyone it was directed towards. It was never good news.

"Is that little birdy blue, and actually a cat?" The fire dragon slayer took another sip of beer. "Cause if so, then I don't trust a word of it."

"Natsu, I think you should actually listen here." Gray, who sat next to him, chimed in. "All of the kids have been acting weird lately."

"Oh, they just all know things that the rest of us don't." Mira pulled the mug away from Natsu and began washing it out. She replaced it with a cup of water. That was her way of cutting someone off if she didn't feel like serving them more alcohol. "It's just like how we used to keep secrets from those older than us. Just the other day actually I walked into Julia's room and saw her and Emma whispering about something. When I asked what it was, they both smiled and said it was nothing. I'm sure I heard them whispering and giggling about it the second I closed the door again though."

"All you have to do is read their diary." Suggested Gray. "I took a peek at Shana's once. Sure, I got the hell kicked into me by Juvia for it, but otherwise we wouldn't have known that she wanted to go to school."

"Is that why she's not here some days?" Natsu asked.

"Yup. Juvia takes her to classes across town two or three days a week." The ice mage explained, lifting his own mug to his lips. "It's just some history and math really. Nothing we couldn't have taught her, but she wanted to actually have a teacher and classmates."

"Kid's will be kids." Master Makarov walked across the bar countertop. He used his staff as a cane nowadays, and plopped himself, legs crossed, so that he was seated near Natsu. "I may be getting too old to lead a guild, but I still have my eyes and ears all over this place. You all were such devil kids when you were younger, I'm amazed at how well behaved your kids are."

"Are they really that much better though?" Natsu chuckled as he reached into his glass to pull out ice cubes and watch them melt instantly in his fingers.

"You don't even remember how horrid you were, do you?" Makarov batted his staff against Natsu's forehead. "You even burned mountains down. The worst Layla's ever done is catch a bush on fire, but she even put that out herself. Julia, although sweet as she can be, plays a few pranks and leaves a bunch of rune traps in random places. The worst is honestly Shana. The poor girl starts crying and suddenly we have a blizzard on our hands, but even that's not too bad in comparison to you lot."

"Wow Gramps, glad to know you have so much confidence in us as people and as parents." Natsu joked.

"You know I think the world of you, but you gave me hell in my years as guild master."

(...)

"I..." Cliff gasped. "Hate..." He clutched onto his left shoulder with his right hand. "These things."

"According to my count, we only have three more to go." Zach looked at the back of his hand where he had tallied up the number of monsters they had killed in marker. "We could just stop now."

"No. I need at least one more to be satisfied." The gray haired teen reached down to pick up the sword he had dropped in the dirt. He slid it back into its sheath and slung it over his uninjured shoulder.

"Cliff, that's what you said the last six or so times we've come across these monsters." The young iron mage followed after his team mate. "I get that you're blowing off steam here, but is it even helping?"

"Of course it is." Cliff looked almost shocked. "Every time I stab one of these thing, I just imagine it's that Lamia Scale trash's face, and suddenly I feel all my tensions go."

There was a brief pause before Zach spoke again. "Riiiiiiight. I'm gonna guess you mean Caden, and I'm gonna assume that this is exactly what you needed."

"Thanks bud. Happy you understand."

"But you know," Zach continued. "Do we really have to kill each and every one?"

(!)

Author's Note: Hey guys! I don't normally write little notes to you guys, but since we're now 25 chapter's in I thought I'd actually talk to all of you really quick! So, I've got two things really:

1. I know a lot of you have been wondering about how old the kids all are, and who exactly belongs to who, so I made this chart for all of you so just look over real quick. I hope it helps! (The link I wanted to put up isn't working right now, so you can go to DeviantArt and search AkatsukiGirl123 to find the... No judgement on the name please)

2. For those of you who would like to participate, I actually have been wantingto take a little poll on who of the FT children you guys pair together? Basically, if there are any of the kids that you like shipping or pairing up, let me know by leaving a with their names! You can list as many pairings as you like. Then, the next time I update, I'll share the numbers for how many people voted for which pairing.

Thank you all again for reading!