Chapter 18: Duck and Cover

"Why don't we just have a family day?" Ken asked Beth as she was about to leave for the guild.

"Because I have to work. And I was gone how long?" Beth asked, turning to face her uncle.

"Three days."

Beth smiled. "You just don't want me to get into another unexpected adventure, don't you."

Ken hung his head. "Yes."

"It'll be alright," Beth said, hugging her uncle, who returned it worryingly. "How about this? I'll check in with the others and make sure they're alright. Then I'll come right back home. Okay?"

"That sounds like a plan to me." They broke the embrace.

"I'll see you later," Beth said, grabbing her bag as she opened the door. She walked out without another protest from her uncle.

Beth spotted Siprix once she was outside. She walked over to him.

"Hey," she greeted. "What're you doing here?"

Siprix looked up from the ground and smiled at her. "Just waiting for the receptionist. Hopefully I don't get blasted with fire again."

"Hopefully. So other than get a place to stay, what do you plan to do now?"

"I'm not in a guild yet, so I thought about joining your's. I already have some friends," he responded, gesturing to Beth. "And there's the others too."

"Okay then. I'm gonna head to the guild. See you later." Beth waved at Siprix and started running to the guild. She arrived barely winded five minutes later.

Beth opened the door and spotted Mira. She walked up to her. "Morning Mira," Beth greeted.

Mira looked up and smiled. "Good morning, Beth. You aren't taking a job today, are you?"

"Nope. Promised my uncle I wouldn't. Guess he's not the only one worried about me," Beth said teasingly.

"I'm just making sure you aren't going ot do anything stupid. Like jumping into danger again, like Natsu."

"What did he do?"

"He took a flyer for a S-class job and tried to get Erza to come along so he could go. Erza refused," Mira said gesturing to the table Team Natsu was sitting at.

"Just like Natsu," Beth said chuckling.

BANG!

Beth's head shot up to where the sound came from. It was Gray and Natsu going at each other again. It took only a minute for the entire guild to be fighting each other and making a mess.

"Again?"

"It's always like this." Mira looked at Beth questioningly. "Didn't you know that?"

"Yeah, but I didn't see it that often. I was always on jobs for the past month."

"I guess that's true."

Natsu landed beside Beth from dodging Gray. "Oh hi Beth. Want to help me with Gray?" He jumped away as Gray took his place.

"Sorry Natsu! Not getting in on this one!"

"Stay still you flame brain!" Gray yelled, launching at Natsu again.

"Get back here you two!" Erza said as she chased them around. "You ruined my cake!"

"Does Erza always have a piece of cake?" Beth asked.

"Very often," Mira replied. The two mages looked on as Natsu and Gray, now running side by side, were chased around the guild hall. Beth felt a tap on her shoulder and saw Siprix next to her.

"Is it always this crazy here?"

"Yes." Beth smiled. "Everyday there's a new fight. I haven't seen much due to being in jobs and then the beach incident."

"Ahh, okay." Siprix nodded at Mira in greeting, which she returned. "Is it okay if I join the guild?"

"That's fine!" Mira said, pulling out the stamp. "Where would you like your stamp?"

Siprix rolled up his right sleeve. He pointed to the top of his arm, and Mira placed the stamp. It was an ocean blue color.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail Siprix!" Mira said.

Siprix rolled his sleeve back down and looked around. Beth then pulled him down as a spell flew over their heads. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." They stayed ducking as more spells that missed their targets and hit around them.

Eventually Makarov broke up all the fighting and the two wizards stood up.

"I'm going to check out the job board," Siprix said, walking off.

"See ya." Beth turned to Mira. "I'm gonna head back home. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye Beth." The Forest Dragon Slayer walked out of the guild and ten minutes later arrived at her apartment building.

"Hey Uncle Ken, I'm back."

"Hello Beth. How was the guild today?"

Beth set down her bag and walked into the kitchen. Her uncle was playing Solitaire at the table. "Nothing much. Talked with Mira, avoided a fight between Natsu and Gray, Siprix joined the guild, and we spent a good portion of the day under the bar avoiding stray spells." She sat down by her uncle. "Normal day at Fairy Tail."

"Uh huh." Ken laid down an eight and sighed. "That's another lost round."

"Want to play Go Fish?"

"Sure." Ken started shuffling and dealing the cards.

"Do you have a red ace?"

They played for a good while, stopping once for dinner, before a knock came at the door. Beth opened it and saw Lucy, who looked very serious and worried.

"Hey Lucy, what's up? It's, like, around 20:30." (AN For people who don't use a 24 hour clock that's 8:30 pm)

"Do you have any tracking or healing spells?"

"Not really unless you need plant remedies. Why? Did someone get injured in a fight?" Beth started shifting her weight to different feet.

"Sort of. You know how Siprix went out on a job?" Beth nodded, now really concerned. "Well, things didn't go as planned. Makarov got a letter that said that one of ours was captive and injured. We checked to see if anyone was missing who normally isn't, and it was Siprix. Everyone else was present, except you."

"Good thing I told Mira I was leaving."

Lucy nodded. "Otherwise we would've thought you were captured as well. But Makarov didn't send me here to check. Do you think you can help?"

"Of course." She turned to her uncle. "I'm going to have to go. Do you think you'll be fine for a while?"

Ken sighed, got up, walked over to her, and embraced Beth. "Your friend needs you. Go, and for goodness sake stay safe." He let her go.

Beth turned to Lucy. "Let's go."

Well guys I'm back! I'm sorry I've been gone so long. I have excuses, but you guys probably don't want to hear them. So I'm VERY sorry. I hope you guys like this chapter and I will be back to regular posting. So, onto Review Replies!

Guest: Thank you so much for the support! I'm sorry that this wasn't posted sooner. To answer all your questions: Beth's opinion on 5th Generation Dragon Slayers would be very disturbed because that would be people eating her adoptive mother for nine years. I also don't think I'll have Beth learn any new magic soon, but I will keep the idea in mind. Plans can change. I also don't do a lot of depressing stuff. I also just wanted to break the trend and put a twist, cause it is always orphans who join Fairy Tail. I think it makes it more interesting. And if you let Beth get into a greenhouse of any kind, she will touch all the plants and you get a very powerful Dragon Slayer. I will keep that in mind if she'll need a power boost in the future. I'm also not sure if I'm going to make a post-time skip sequel to this yet, it depends on what the readers want and if I have support. The story is not ending anytime soon, so I'll ask that question when the time comes. I will also keep the Water Dragon Slayer Siprix in mind if I want to add more plot twists to the story. It could be a good one if I plan it right. I should first ask if you don't mind me borrowing these ideas? I can't answer the dragon-has-its-own-mind question because it would be spoilers. I also laughed way to hard at the Atlantis joke. And thank you for the good luck on the exams. They thankfully were easier than I thought. Again thank you so much for the support, it made my day reading the reviews! Sorry this reply is so long.

Well, if you're all still here through the Replies, have a good weekend! Enjoy SUMMER! Go get 'em tigers!

-ThinMintE