Smoke clouded the early morning light streaming into the kitchen. Laura hurried over to the waffle iron and yanked out the waffles before they could catch fire. She sighed heavily. Since they had come back from Caitshelter, Lyla had spent more of her time in her room than anywhere else, so Laura had been unofficially put on cooking duty. It was not going well.

Laura placed the pan on the stove. She grabbed a match and started the fire underneath the pan. She stepped over to the fridge and took the tray of eggs from the refrigerator while she waited for the pan to heat up.

Last time she had tried to use the stove, the house had almost burnt down. Hopefully, it would go better this time since Laura would be more careful with the temperature and time.

Her mind began to wander as she leaned against the counter and watched the flames. Finding Nirvana had been a trip, but it, thankfully, ended several days ago. Everyone had settled back into their houses and continued like normal. Fairy Tail had even managed to gain a new member-Wendy Marvell.

The girl had no human parents. A dragon had raised her just like Natsu and the metalhead slayer, whatever his name was, in their guild. In a way, she could relate to those three.

The wizard shook herself before cracking the first egg open. She did it a little too forcefully and it splattered into the pan, instantly sizzling and steaming. She reached for the spatula and waited. She was good at waiting.

With nothing else to distract her, all the thoughts she tried to ignore would barge into her home. More memories that she didn't care to think of.

Solid like stone, Laura stood and breathed in deeply. The scent of the waffles cooling on a plate to the side was nice. She enjoyed the light shining through the open windows and onto her, warming her toned skin and making it look like it was glowing. She looked at her old and torn black cloak and sandy brown pants. They seemed to absorb the light as it hit her.

Annoyance flickered over her serene features. If Master Makarov had paid Lyla and her, she would buy a new outfit. Perhaps, if they had any jewel leftover, she could buy a new, prettier outfit. She'd like to have something nicer since she didn't like to live in one set of clothes. The other teenagers in Magnolia always seemed to be laughing and goofing off. They spent their parents' money or their own if they had a job. It seemed fun.

A burnt smell filled the kitchen and stung her nose. Laura looked up and saw the egg had turned black. Smoke once again filled the room. She quickly started trying to scrape it off, but it stuck firmly to the bottom.

"Damn it." She had forgotten to add the butter. She stomped over to the trashcan by the doorway of the kitchen and scraped the charred mess into it. It couldn't even be called an egg anymore. At least it hadn't caught fire this time. "Cooking and all its bloody dumb rules."

She muttered more complaints while cleaning the pan and trying again. This time with the butter. Lyla mentioned Sorren and his family cooked. Sorren was particularly good at it.

She remembered that his father owned a shop and was skilled in butchery. Lyla would also occasionally go on tangents about his brothers. Especially one named Uragi, who still lived with his parents as the youngest. Laura had no interest in Sorren's family or Sorren. He talked too much and drank too much. No one could find that respectable. Plus he didn't deserve to take Lyla from her.

Lyla had said multiple times that maybe Sorren's mother could teach her how to cook. At least she hadn't mentioned letting Sorren teach her. Laura growled in rage. She didn't want any reason to hate him less.

Boots tapped on the wooden balcony from the second floor. Laura turned away from her train of thought and glanced at the window. Lyla stood there, leaning over the railing and gazing at Magnolia. She had good tastes in houses. This one had a memorable view and good placement. She wondered how much it cost.

Laura dropped her gaze back into the kitchen and scraped the slightly burnt scrambled eggs onto the smaller plate beside the waffles. She sighed in annoyance. If anything, she wanted to cook over-easy eggs. Like her Pa.

Footsteps softly tapped on the floor of the dark living room. Lyla's head poked around the doorway into the kitchen. She came in one of the windows. The sunlight highlighted her hair as she walked into the kitchen.

Laura turned away from the younger teen and went to the fridge. She pulled out half-gallon cartons of orange juice and milk.

"Which one?" She asked.

Lyla stared at the eggs, then said, "Milk."

Laura nodded and placed both cartons on the island in the kitchen. She picked two glass cups from the cabinets and filled one with orange juice and the other with milk.

Lyla took a seat at the island while Laura split the food evenly onto two plates. She placed them on the island, grabbed two forks, and sat in the seat next to Lyla.

She started eating the scrambled eggs slowly. Parts were blackened and burnt, but not as bad as her first attempt this morning. Cooking over a stove shouldn't be any different than a campfire, but they seemed to need different skills.

A thunk echoed from the marble countertop.

"Sounds pretty bad," Laura said to Lyla, keeping her eyes on her food.

Another thunk.

"We can visit the bakery if you don't like the food."

"No. It's not like your cooking will poison me." Lyla groaned and hit her head again. She turned her head to Laura, her cheek squishing her concealed eye. The scar that ran down her face peeked out from behind her hair.

"You didn't sleep well."

"Yeah."

It had to be something from Nirvana.

Lyla stood up and took her plate to the fridge. She placed it on a shelf and closed the door. She stood silently and stared at the fridge as Laura watched. She turned to her and gave a weak attempt at a smile, "How about you? We dealt some pretty, heh, deep-rooted stuff."

Laura flatly stared at her. "I don't appreciate that."

"What? The pun?"

"That." She sighed, "And the act."

"There's no act."

"Yes, there is."

"Be-leaf me, no."

"You can put on a show anywhere but in this house. I don't like it when you do things differently with me." Laura crossed her arms.

Lyla stared at her for a few moments. "We need to get you a dictionary."

"This isn't about my poor grammar. This is about you deciding to lie to me."

"It's not poor grammar, it's a lack of vocabulary." She corrected.

"Stop changing the subject!"

Silence took over. One glared at the other with disappointment. The other refused to meet her eyes.

Blue flames caught Laura's eye. She got up a little too quickly and ran to turn off the stove. She sighed before leaning against the counter. She still looked disappointed when she looked back at Lyla.

"I just don't want to worry you, you know?" The smaller teen said, "It's nothing I can't handle. I promise." She rubbed her arm anxiously.

Laura considered her words, then straightened her stance, "It's okay. Talk to me when you want." Her friend looked so small right now. She patted Lyla's shoulder gently, "I always got your back."

She smiled softly and exited the kitchen. She walked outside the back glass door. Her smile fell as she walked away from the house. The treeline of the forest wasn't too far. A bit of climbing would calm her.

Laura didn't want to, but Lyla had insisted. Whether it was to distract herself or simply to visit guildmates, they were currently in the guildhall. Wizards laughed and whooped and hollered and yelled, surrounding her with all kinds of annoying chatter.

From a dark corner on the second floor, she peered down and watched Makarov clumping around with angrily yelling. He was calling for Lyla to show herself from the ocean of wizards. He couldn't interrogate Sorren. The drunk bastard had finished all of the booze before lunch. He probably had already anyway. He had rested his snoring head on the bar table, hugging a large wooden cup. From the distance between them, she assumed it was empty.

The blond - Lucy Heartfilia - talked with Wendy and Carla at a table. Happy sat next to them, trying to make conversation. The two girls had left Caitshelter and joined Fairy Tail. Their guild had to leave and neither Wendy or Carla could join them. With nowhere else to call home, Fairy Tail offered them spots in the guild, and they accepted. Now there were two annoying cats, but at least one spent too much time drooling over the other to talk.

Boots clicking on the polished wood caught Laura's attention. She whipped her head to the man approaching her, her body quickly tensing. He motioned with his hands for her to ease up, and she did.

"It's nice to see you back." Macao Conbolt said. The man had slicked back dark blue hair stubble around his lips. He wore a white cloak with a shirt and pants and a silver chain around his neck keeping the large "S" to his chest.

"Am I supposed to say 'It's nice to be back?'"

He laughed awkwardly, "If you are, yes! I decided to drop by, that's all." He said, "Romeo missed you too. You should say hi to him."

"I-" She looked up at him, "I'll make sure to see him before I leave today."

Macao placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "It really is good to have you back." Then he walked downstairs to catch up with his friends.

Laura paused at his smile, then returned to looking out over the hall. Lyla had joined Sorren at the bar. They were talking and having fun.

She turned away and started looking for Romeo, Macao's son. Memories of first meeting him came back into mind. It traced further back in time to first arriving at Fairy Tail and noticing Macao. It took her days to realize they were the same person. It had been years, after all.

A young boy with dark hair and brown eyes watched Natsu and Gray bickering and headbutting each other like rams. She walked down the wooden steps and maneuvered between guildmates. Luckily, Romeo sat at an empty wooden table. Unluckily, a bunch of full tables surrounded it. Even from the second floor, she had a headache.

Romeo turned from the arguing and his face lit up at the sight of her.

"Laura!" He shouted, waving her over. Other wizards glanced their way. Some didn't know Laura enough to care. Some didn't know Laura enough to not care. The kid sounded so excited.

"Looks like you got a good view." She told him as she took the chair next to him.

"Yeah! I hope Natsu will win!"

Laura cocked her head, "Natsu? His head is nothing but a block of coal." She leaned forward in her seat. She watched with Romeo, trying to see what made it so interesting. Gray and Natsu exchanged poorly thought out insults while standing on top of a table. The guild took it in as if it was a show. "They're children!" She spoke to herself.

Romeo kept his eyes locked on the duo, too excited to hear her. She scoffed and rested her head on her hand, staring at them, bored. She couldn't look at Gray. Not Fullbuster. Instead, she kept her attention on the salamander. She focused on his name only. The other brought back things she didn't have time to worry about.

"Do you like Gray?"

Laura whipped her head to Romeo, whose eyes filled with genuine curiosity. She stared back at him with equally genuine disgust.

"It's okay if you do." He continued, "The water lady over there might get mad, though." He pointed to the wall across from the two main idiots. Juvia, a woman formerly from a guild named Phantom Lord, watched Gray. Her hand gripped the wooden beam she hid behind strong enough to rip a chunk out.

"I won't mess with her. And that ice guy is too stupid." She said, "I thought boys your age aren't interested in love?"

"I'm not. If anything I think it's gross."

"I do too," she muttered. Laura held her hands out as if the reason as to why children were confusing would appear magically. She shook it off and kept her eyes on the table instead. She could at least focus on something a little simpler.

If her life followed through how others planned, she'd be in a town thousands of miles away. She would have gone to school, get a normal job, maybe make friends, but she would have never been able to see Lyla again.

Her eyes began drifting around the guildhall again until they settled on Macao. He too became a part of the audience, laughing with a man named Wakaba. He had grown. He had offered her a different life as well. Maybe she could have grown up with Romeo. That could have been very nice.

Laura hid her mouth behind her fingers, trying not to laugh at the idea of a "happy" life. Maybe, maybe if she wasn't so heartbroken and scared, she would have taken Macao's offer. She could have been the older sibling, and seen Lyla sooner, and get to know the wizards better with so many years spent at the guild.

"Droopy eyes!"

"Slanty eyes!"

Natsu and Gray started throwing magic into their fight, knocking into tables near Laura and Romeo.

"You're such children!" Lyla tiredly shouted from the table across from them. She sighed and turned to Romeo, "Actually, even a kid your age could do better, right?"

Laura gave her a look that said, "You've been listening in on us?"

With a sly grin, Lyla stood up from her table and claimed the chair across from Laura. She leaned in and said, "Didn't know you socialized."

"I got bored." Laura crossed her arms, "Romeo's the most mature one here."

Lyla whistled, mockingly impressed, "You can say more than five words at a time?"

Laura gave her a flat look. Lyla's eyebrows twisted and her lips curved into a toothy grin.

A loud explosion brought the table's attention back to Natsu and Gray. They reincorporated physical attacks into the fight. Bored wizards jumped up and started throwing in their punches. A glorified bar fight had begun. And Laura's ears would hate her for sticking around.

Heavy footsteps stomped towards them. Master Makarov had a terrifying glare directed towards Lyla. He grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her to his office. Laura did nothing. Makarov would get to her next.

Romeo opened his mouth to ask. Laura answered before he could ask. "We… might have broken some rules."

"What? Really?!"

"The master told us not to leave to fight Oracion Seis, but we did anyway."

Romeo stood on his chair, leaning into Laura's personal space with twinkling eyes. "That's so cool! You're brave enough to disobey the master!"

Laura paused. Then echoed, "Brave enough to disobey the master." Years ago, she had a reason to be fearful of him. Now, maybe not so much.

A/N: AGH... I... did it again. I'm grounded this time... I'm sorry. *sniffles*