"It's just not fair! I want to go on a super awesome training weekend too! How come you didn't bring me along with you Zera?!" Natsu complained as he sprung up and down whilst waving his arms in distress whilst little Happy fluttered above our heads, grinning cattishly as I smiled bashfully.

"Aye!"

"And you even went with that sparkle-brained Laxus of all people! Why did he agree to go with you in the first place? No fair…I wanna train and get strong too! Happy, we're going out to train in the forest, right now!" Already burning with a passionate heat far too early in the morning, I felt exhausted just having listened to Natsu rant for the past thirty minutes about how it as unfair that I had gotten to go training with Laxus just the two of us. "By the way, what happened out there? Did you meet any monsters? Did you beat 'em all up?"

"Well, we did run into a few monsters and wild beasts, a couple of them were really dangerous and high levelled so…" Behind me Cana sniggered, already knowing full well what happened as I blushed with embarrassment.

"Don't try to sugar coat it Zee, you got your butt handed to you and had to let Laxus deal with it all. You even got captured by a bunch of Vulcans which he had to rescue you from." I hung my head in shame whilst facing a pillar, feeling dejected and hopeless in my shame. She's right, I was a total helpless failure and was such a burden on Laxus. Every time we went up against something, I'd try to deal with it but my magic was just too weak. My arrows would just bounce off even the weakest of creatures and I couldn't even hunt so much as a bunny rabbit because most of the edible food out there was just too cute to kill! Ugh…a training trip was a bad idea.

"Whoa really? Laxus had to rescue you?" Natsu chortled with laughter, finding it hilarious that I had been captured by a bunch of monkey brained beasts. "Haha! What's with that? You seriously can't even handle something as easy as that? Jeez Zera, you really are weak but don't worry. Next time, I'll be the one to save you, you got it? You can just depend on me, Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's most promising wizard!" Puffing out his chest Natsu made a rather ridiculous pose as Happy landed on his head, squeaking cutely which helped to lift my spirits as I tackled them both with a hug.

"Aw Natsu and Happy you're both just so adorable I can't help but feel better after seeing you try and act all tough like that."

"Hey! Quit it! Knock it off Zera, I'm serious!" Protesting greatly at my overzealous display of affection, Cana just giggled as Natsu fought me off then started to run away as I chased him in circles, wanting to hug him some more whilst Happy flew around with us.

"Will you stop running around like an idiot, some of us are trying to relax here." Gray drawled in annoyance, lounging at one of the tables wearing only his underwear. Strangely, it had become a usual sight for me now since I'd long since learned that Gray had an unusual habit of stripping off his clothes. The first time he'd done it, I'd screeched in shock and fainted from the sight of seeing him totally butt naked, which had made my sister punch him for his indecency and giving me a fright. Thankfully that seemed to knock a small fragment of sense into him, as ever since then he has refrained from stripping down completely to his birthday suit. "So noisy."

"What you say ice-breath?" Natsu immediately turned on Gray, skidding to a halt in order to confront Gray, however his sudden halt of velocity meant that I crashed into him with a yelp, unable to slow down in time and we both hit the floor with a clash of our heads. It hurt a lot as Natsu's head was a lot thicker than mine, so for a moment I just saw stars though I could clearly hear Gray laughing.

"Looks like Zera finally took you out Natsu! You got beat up by another girl!"

"Shut up! I don't get beat up by girls, you've been beat up by Erza plenty of times too! Take it back you pervert!"

"Oh yeah? Make me flame-brain!" Ah jeez, here they go again. Sitting upright I rubbed my head where I was now sporting a massive bump on my head as Cana rushed to me, worriedly asking if I was okay as Natsu and Gray started fighting with each other again. Happy knew to stay out of it and came to land on my head instead, mewling cutely as I groaned.

"Can this day get any worse?" I complained, feeling rather sorry for myself as Cana tried to console me with encouraging words and a pat on my back. Meanwhile, Natsu and Gray had continued fighting with each other, but now it had escalated to the part when they started to break things, yelling insults at each other.

"That's enough! No fighting in the guildhall!" Stomping her foot down, my sister slammed her hands against Natsu and Gray's face, forcing them apart and arriving just in time before they had head butt one another and probably would have given each other concussion. "For the last time, if you children can't play nicely…then don't play at all!" She punched them both in the head with such strength that they went flying across the room, yelling in terror and pain before landing in a heap which made me flinch. Excessive, but at least it got the job done. "Zera? Are you okay? Where does it hurt? I'll kiss it better for you." Changing personalities at the flip of a coin, Erza showered me with kisses and affection, worriedly fussing over my bump as I laughed easily.

"I'm okay big sis, this one was my fault because I ran into Natsu whilst I was chasing him." Of course, any logical person would understand that my injury was my own fault, but my big sister…well. Let's just say she has a special way of thinking and processing. A sword appeared in her hands and she appeared before Natsu and Gray like a wrathful demon, glowering down at them, mostly at Natsu as she pointed her blade directly at them.

"You dare hurt my sister with your thick head? I'm going to teach you both a lesson you'll never forget for the rest of your puny lives!" She yelled, making me and Cana blink as I mutely held out my hand towards her, trying to explain again but the words just failed me. How could she blame the thickness of Natsu's head for my bump injury?

"Wait Erza! I had nothing to do with that, you can't blame me and beat me up too, let me go!" Gray tried to plead, but following Erza's logic, Natsu was involved therefore Gray must be to blame too. Thus, they both get beat up. I watched helplessly as my sister raged at them violently, knowing full well that there was nothing I could do to save them even as they stretched out their hands and begged me to save them.

"Zera! Save us!"

"I shall pray for your souls after they depart from your bodies." I assured them honestly, weepily clasping my hands together in prayer as Cana just laughed again.

"At least it's never boring around here. That's for sure." She said as she helped me up and sat me down, Lisanna already coming over with the medicine box in order to help take a look at my injury.

"Here you go Zera, let me help you take care of your head. Oh wow! That's a really big bump, it's already the size of an egg!" Lisanna announced as she stood up on the bench to reach my head properly, pushing aside my hair as Cana put the salve on her fingers in order to gently dab it against the bruised area whilst I sparkled happily.

"Lisanna you're such an angel. What I wouldn't give for a little sister like you…how about you just call me big sis from now on, okay?" Grinning at each other, the three of us contentedly bandaged up my head as Natsu and Gray suffered Erza's torment until I was able to lure her away with cake, allowing them to be freed from her punishment as they then slumped on the floor, beaten, bruised and looking very sorry for themselves. "Look at you two, you really took a hammering this time huh."

"It's all your crazy sister's fault!" Gray yelled a little too loudly, making Erza look up and glower at him when she sensed anger rising from our direction so he quickly ducked his head again in order to submit obediently. Passing it off in favour of her cake, Erza continued to eat, savouring every bite with delight.

"I know Erza can be a little heavy handed with her methods, but she means well. Don't take it personally and don't hate her for it. Please? Forgive her? For me?" Giving them both my best simpering puppy dog eyes, both Natsu and Gray looked at each other before groaning in agreement, making me very happy. "Yay! Okay, now let's fix you both up. Gray, ice please." Beaming from ear to ear as I held out a hanky, Gray obligingly used his magic to make a few ice cubes which I wrapped up in my handkerchief then gave it to Natsu to press against his cheek which had swollen several sizes and looked very bruised.

"Geez, you two really never learn do you?" Cana sighed as she, Lisanna and Mirajane all came to watch as I patched up the boys. "One of these days you two are going to start a fight and Erza might just kill you one and for all."

"No she won't! One day I'm going to be way stronger than Erza and I'll beat her fair and square!" Natsu declared, making Lisanna giggle.

"You'll have to work hard Natsu. Hold still, don't be picky now, you have to let us put the medicine on."

"She really laid it on thick this time, you guys were dumb to get Zera involved, you know that's a trigger for Erza." Mirajane cackled as she teased Natsu and Gray for being idiots, though they protested heavily that me getting hurt wasn't anything to do with either of them, which was essentially true. They argued back so insistently the more Mirajane teased them that they started to get rowdy again, so when I sensed Erza's radar picking up their disturbance, I quickly laid a hand on each of their heads to rub their hair affectionately, smiling all the while.

"There, there now, I'll make sure to explain to Erza in a minute and get her to apologise to you properly, don't be mad. Come on now, you know you two shouldn't fight in the first place, so how about today you both just take a rest, okay?" I reasoned with them maturely, rubbing their hair and looking at them like they were my own little brothers. For a moment they both just stared at me, slightly surprised but eventually blushed bashfully and looked away, sullenly agreeing that they would behave. "Great! Alright, I'm all done now. Natsu, try not to get into any fights for a few days otherwise you'll break that head of yours. Gray, you too. With cute faces like yours, it's a shame to see them both so battered and bruised like this."

"We're not cute!" They both protested hotly, making me laugh as Mirajane grinned.

"You're calling them cute? Really?"

"Hey! We can be cute if we want to!" Contradicting themselves, both Gray and Natsu flinched when they realised their blunder, making all of us laugh all the more. Whilst they failingly tried to correct themselves, I skipped over to Erza in order to tell her what really happened and insisted that she go apologise for beating up Gray and Natsu a second time, and with my super powerful puppy dog eyes attack, my big sister was more than happy to agree.

She went over and apologised, but seeing her admit her mistake meant that Natsu and Gray teased her about it, which of course, ticked her off and she punched them again when they took it too far. For a couple of idiots, they sure were lovable. Ah well, there's no saving them now. My head sure hurts, Natsu's head really is harder than it looks. It's like rock. "Oh my, what happened dear child? You look like you've been in the wars." I heard master's voice behind me so I immediately twirled around joyfully.

"Master! This is nothing, you should take a look at Natsu and Gray over there. This is just a bump on the head, though it sure does hurt a lot. If only I had something sweet to make the pain go away…" Dropping the hint with a hopeful look in my sparkling eyes, Master Makarov laughed as he slipped his hand into his pocket and brought out some candy for me to eat, handing it over and rubbing the top of my head gently.

"It'll be alright, just be more careful from now on." Rubbing my hair affectionately the master then moved off to take care of some guild business and to also separate Natsu, Gray and Erza who were still going strong with their impressively violent confrontation. Those two boys won't last until adulthood with the way they're going. Shrugging it off, I quickly popped the candy into my mouth and chewed it happily, intending to go and buy myself a drink of juice when I was suddenly being presented with more candy from Wakaba and Macao.

"Here you go kiddo, make sure you don't eat it all at once okay? You'll rot your teeth if you're not careful." Excited to have more sweet things to eat, I thanked them both enthusiastically and pocketed the new offerings to save for later.

"Thank you! I love candy, it's the best! I feel better already." Macao laughed as he gently ruffled my hair, making me smile happily to feel such tender feelings from my fellow guild members.

"Well, in a couple of days you'll have to be the one giving out chocolate and candy to other people. You ever heard of Valentine's day?" He asked me but I just blinked at them both, never having heard the word before. "Really? You've never celebrated it? Well kiddo, it's a day when girls will give carefully handmade chocolates to the guys that they love. It's a way to express your feelings without outright confessing." Even more confused, I looked at Wakaba in hope for a better explanation.

"Say Zera, do you have anybody that you like in the guild?"

"That I like?" I questioned them both, frowning with a tilt of my head. "I like everybody in the guild. I like them a lot."

"What about more than that? Somebody that you love?"

"Well…I love Erza?" Becoming more bewildered by what they meant, I pondered for a moment as I tried to connect all the dots.

"We mean love in a special way." Wakaba tried to explain further, rubbing the back of his neck as he chewed on his cigar. "Like, you want to be close to them all the time and you want to marry them and have kids with them in the future."

"So like a husband and wife?" Nodding their heads, I tried to think if there was anybody in the guild like that for me, but honestly no one came to mind. I liked everyone, but I didn't want to marry them. Most of the people around my age I saw as siblings, the only other person I was close to was Laxus, but he was just a special friend. That being said, I was now curious about something else so I reached out and tugged on Macao's coat. "Uncle Macao, Uncle Wakaba, where do babies come from?" Both of them spat out their drinks, showering each other in a magnificent spray before they spluttered and coughed.

"Um…well…you see that's…a difficult thing to explain…and little girls don't need to know until they're a bit older…" Macao continued to cough awkwardly, both of them looking rather panicked. What's with all the fuss? I just want to know how babies were made. I mean, Happy was born from an egg, did babies come from eggs too? Did Erza and I hatch out of an egg like that once?

"Maybe you should ask a woman to explain those kind of things to you, like your sister or maybe even Porlyusica if you can keep her from trying to chase you off with a broom long enough." Wakaba suggested so I just shrugged acceptingly, figuring that maybe they didn't know either and were just trying to save face in front of a kid.

"Okay, I'll do that. So back to the chocolate giving thing, you say that on that particular day, all the girls will make chocolates to give to someone important to them, right? Is that basically it?"

"Right! Yeah that's exactly right, well done Zera, very clever." Both of them patted me on the head in praise, desperately trying to move the conversation on elsewhere. Giggling at their antics, I waved goodbye to them before turning around, intending to leave them to recover from almost choking on their drinks when I noticed Laxus was sitting not too far away with his headphones covering his ears.

"Laxus!" Yelling happily I launched myself at him, tackling his legs as he jolted at my sudden attack. "Laxus I got a bump on my head. Do you have any candy to make it better?" Fully intending to fleece as many people as I could for sympathy candy, I gave him my best innocent face I could muster, glittering up at him cutely as he sighed.

"Seriously? You got hurt again? These days you're always coming in with some kind of injury. Who did it this time?" Giggling as I knelt on the floor I folded my arms over his lap and smiled up at him.

"I smacked heads with Natsu and came off worse. So, do you have any candy?"

"No."

"I think you're lying."

"And I think you're a pain, pest. Go away." Already enjoying the fact that I was irritating him, I only grinned further. He glared down at me in annoyance before clicking his tongue at me, choosing to simply ignore me instead. Placing his earphones back over his ears, he closed his eyes to relax which allowed me to simply look at him for a while. I wonder what Macao and Wakaba meant by liking someone in a special way. I guess it's just another one of those things that I'll learn about when I'm older, it doesn't exactly matter right now.

As my eyes began to droop from feeling sleepy, I relaxed further against Laxus until my head was resting on my arms against his lap and I was drifting off quite contentedly. I felt him shift, a hand coming to rest on my head and brush gingerly against my bandaged forehead. "Cute." Did Laxus just call me cute? Oh my, I am never going to let him live this down. If I wasn't so sleepy, I'd tease him about it right here and now, but sleeping was far more important than pestering Laxus. He picked me up and let me cuddle against him, one arm easily curling around my entire body as I snuggled until I was comfortable, yawning tiredly until I was sound asleep. Against my ear I had the steady rhythm of Laxus's heartbeat to send me off, meaning that even as I slept, I was smiling.