Hello Minna! Here's the next update! Thank you for your reviews! I'm sorry if it seems slow now but I really want to develop a relationship among the characters before the next bit. However, in a few chapter: the drama begins.

Enjoy and let me know what you think! Arigato!

"Poppy! Are you ready to go the guild today?" called Erza from her room.

I sat up from my bean bag putting a book Levy recommended down and rushed to her, knocking her down and hugging her.

"Ooof," exhaled Erza, chuckling slightly and running her hands through my hair as I laid on top of her, "You are lucky I heard you and reequipped out of my armor to normal clothes. You could have been hurt otherwise."

I looked up to her before siting up and away from her, remembering that I had been hurt before.

Erza leaned on an arm before lifting my chin to meet her eyes, "Poppy, I will never hurt you. I'm sorry you were hurt but, now that you are here, I will protect you. That's what nee-san's do."

I nodded before leaping and hugging her, knocking her down again and causing her to chuckle, "You're pretty strong Red."

I giggled before sitting up and looking at her eyes, "You have always protected me Erza-nee. Sometimes, life is crazy and I might get hurt. It'd be weird if I never got hurt! But I know nothing bad will ever happen when I'm with you!" I smiled and she smiled back, before poking me.

"When did you get so smart?"

I laughed, "Way before you did!"

Erza raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? May I remind you who was the youngest S-Class mage in Fairy Tail?"

I sighed, "You."

She smirked, "That's right." Erza stood up and ruffled my hair, causing me to pout, "Now then, are you ready to go the guild?"

I instantly nodded before jumping up and giving her another hug.

"You're quite the hugger today. Is everything okay?" she stated, running her fingers through my hair and fixing the mess she had created a moment ago.

I nodded into her stomach before letting go. "Let's go to the guild!"

Erza looked at me for a moment before ruffling my hair again and nodding, "Let's go."

She walked out of our room and I quickly followed after her, attempting to fix my hair, mumbling "That's mean Erza-nee."

"Did you say something about me?" Erza asked, looking back at me as she reequipped into her daily armor.

"You're a meanie," I responded sticking my tongue at her before catching up to her and grabbing her hand to hold. Erza looked surprised by the action for a second before ignoring it and replying to my comment, "It's easy to mess up your hair. Besides, you look so kawaii when you pout after I'm sure Mira will be all over you."

I pouted angrily, "I'm not a little kid so not everything I do has to be cute. I'm 10 years old! I'm practically an adult and I am a mage after all."

"Ah, you are. You a mage of Fairy Tail, the strongest guild in Fiore but you are the youngest member and still a child. And you are pretty cute."

"Hmf." I stated, not having a reply. Erza chuckled and we continued to walk together in silence. The citizens of Magnolia would wave and Erza would wave back, smiling and wishing them a good day. I smiled shyly but held on to Erza's hand tight, unsure of how to act.

Every once in a while, we would stop as someone thanked Erza for her last mission success or for helping them out with a favor. I would stand slightly behind Erza and watch their interactions before they asked who I was.

"I'm Poppy," I'd say before Erza would explain that I am her younger sister and a new Fairy Tail member. They would then congratulate me and we would continue on.

"See, I'm not the only one who says you are kawaii. The citizens here also agree," stated Erza as we walked away from a woman who had thanked Erza for rebuilding her garden house after it had burned down.

I sighed, "I guess."

"Ne, Er-nee?" I asked, looking down at the ground and kicking a pebble on the road.

"Yes, Poppy?"

"You work a lot right?"

"I do."

"And everyone has said that you are the strongest member of Fairy Tail…."

"Every member is strong in their own way."

"Do you…do you think you can train me? I want to be strong like you…" I asked.

Erza took my hand out of hers before pulling me into a sideways hug, being wary that I don't hit her armor, "Of course Poppy! As your training activity, we will race to the guild." She ruffled my hair before taking off, the guild being a block away.

"No fair!" I yelled, running after her, my hair instantly flowing behind me.

She pushed the doors to the guild open, arriving moments before I did and I slid in as the doors were closing.

I looked and saw Erza causally sitting at the bar with a strawberry cake in front of her before walking up and taking a seat beside her.

"That…was…unfair…" I huffed in between breaths as I stared at Erza who shrugged.

"My my my, what has you all worked up?" asked Mira as she slid a glass of water and vanilla ice cream in front of me.

"Erza-nee and I had a race here but she cheated," I answered, reaching for the water to drink.

Mira giggled, "That's Erza for you."

"It was a test to see how quickly she can respond given that Poppy wants to start training," added Erza, fixing my hair once more, "She did a pretty good job."

I smiled at the praise before eating my ice cream.

"Ano…" stammered Wendy quietly behind us. Erza and I turned to see Porylscia next to Wendy. "Porlysica-san is here to check up on Poppy-chan."

"After hearing about her wrist yesterday, I want to make sure Poppy has recovered properly and does not have any hidden binds we should know about. I could not check last time I saw her given that much magic was used to heal her."

Erza nodded, "Arigato Porlysia-san."

"Ano," I looked to Porlysia nervously, "Does this mean I can't train with Erza-nee?"

"We will see how the check-up goes. Let's go to the infirmary for some privacy from these idiots who are sure to start a fight soon enough." Porlysia turned and waked towards the infirmary with Wendy by her side, asking medical advice.

"Come on Poppy. It's alright. We can still train, just maybe not with magic," stated Erza, standing and nudging me off my stool.

"I didn't even get to finish my ice cream," I mumbled, following her.

Erza chuckled, opening the door to the infirmary, "I am sure Mira will give you more later in the day, after you eat a proper meal."

"I did have breakfast this morning. With you," I responded, taking a seat on the bed I had designated as mine given the amount of times I had visited the infirmary.

"I do hope you have fed her properly Erza, as we discussed," stated Porlysia glancing at Erza as she nudged me to lie down in order to perform a magical diagnostic.

"She has!" I spoke, needing to defend Erza-nee who stammered at Porlysia's glare, "We ate a traditional western breakfast this morning!"

"Tch. Stay quiet so I can properly look at you."

I closed my mouth and pouted before relaxing and closing my eyes, her magic calming me down.

"Good job healing her wrist Wendy," stated Porlysia, "It seems that you will need to do it again once a week in an effort to weaken the bind and prevent her from receiving an infection, given her weakened immune system."

I felt Porlysia's magic traveling from my wrist to the rest of my body, causing me to stiffen before relaxing.

"Porlysia-san, what do you mean by her weakened immune system? Is the bind causing more problems?" asked Erza, her voice coming from the right of me as I felt her hand brush my hair back.

Porlysia's magic stopped and I opened my eyes to look at her.

"This bind she has is an ancient dark magic, much more than I originally believed. Not only does the bind remove her magic when activated but it weakens her immune system to prevent complete healing. However, the bind keeps her alive as long as she is under it. She can only fully recover once the bind is removed."

I closed my eyes after hearing that, hoping that was the end though Erza's quick shift next to me caused me to open my eyes once more. I caught Porlysia giving a quick nod to Erza before turning to Wendy, who remained at the foot of the bed.

"You and I can gather herbs to make more medicine for her to take to prevent illness from falling upon her."

Wendy nodded, "Hei!"

Porlysia turned to me once more, "As you are one of the brats in this infuriating guild, I'm sure you will continue to find yourself in some trouble. I won't even try stopping you. However, I'd prefer not to come here for a while."

"You will continue to take medicine every day to strengthen your immune system and prevent what we can. Rebandage your wrist once a day and Wendy will heal it once a week. You can use magic but as do not be like the idiots in the guild and overdo it. Preferably, use as little magic as possible. You can train so long as you don't feel ill. If you feel odd, stop and rest. I do not know the full scope of the bind and one of the brats can research more about its effects."

"I ask that you contact me should something change in the healing of your wrist or if you begin to feel differently so that I can check on you."

I nodded and Erza stood up and bowed to thank her. I followed suit and stood up as well, "Arigato Porlysia-san!"

I heard her with my sensitive ears mumble under her breath "It's a pity for this to happen to someone so young" before she spoke up, "That is all. There is nothing else we can do until the bind is removed." She motioned to Wendy "Let's go prepare the medicine now."

Wendy nodded and with that the two left the room.

Erza looked at me before ruffling my hair, "I have to go speak to Porlysia for a minute to tell her how much medicine we have left. Why don't you go to the bar with Mira and order that ice cream?"

I could tell Erza was lying and wanted to speak to Porlysia for something else, given that I caught the nod between the two of them but decided to go along with faking innocence, "Sure Erza-nee!"

I walked towards the bar, keeping an eye on Erza as she walked towards the Master's office where Porlysia and the Master stood waiting. I looked around and began sneaking up the stairs to listen in to the conversation.

"Porlysia, there's more to the bind than you told Poppy. Can you fill us in as to the power of the bind?" I heard Master ask, Erza humming in her agreement and I could picture her standing with her arms crossed and nodding.

Porlysia sighed, "That bind is an ancient dark magic used by dark wizards to control their enemies and enslave workers. It can keep their victims of life, but just barely. However, to be used on a child is unimaginable and was never done because-"

"Mini-Erza! What are you doing?" asked Natsu behind me, making me jump to the ground.

"She looks like she's sneaking around!" exclaimed Happy, flying by my face.

I immediately put my finger to his mouth to quiet him down and stood up, "I'm…Exploring the guild!"

"But you were just standing here doing nothing!" replied Happy.

I looked around me to find some excuse to not get caught and keep them from making noise to alert Erza before Natsu jumped in,

"Well, if you wanted to explore why didn't you just say so?! Come on! I'll show you around!" said Natsu, grabbing my hand and dragging me along with him around the guild.

"You've already been at the bar and the infirmary. Up those stairs is for S Class mages only. We were there once on a mission with Team Natsu."

"Aye! We sneaked a request and went on an S Class mission even though we aren't S Class mages yet!" added Happy.

Natsu nodded in agreement before continuing on "The library is down these stairs but I never go down there since it's boring." He dragged me in front of a giant board, "And this is the mission request board where you can pick a mission to go on."

"Natsu! You better not be dragging Poppy-chan on a mission with you!" yelled Lucy, looking at Natsu angrily and placing her hand on my shoulder as a warning to him. "You know Erza AND Mira would kill you and I wouldn't help you."

Natsu shook his head furiously, "No way! I know better than that! Mini Erza wanted to explore so I'm showing her around the guild."

Lucy nodded, a bit surprised, "Well, that's nice of you Natsu!"

Natsu smiled, "Now, mini-Erza! Do you want to fight?"

Lucy smacked him to the board before leading me with her, mumbling under her breath, "That baka will never learn."

"Ano, Lucy where are we going?" I asked, noticing that we were walking out of the guild. She let go of my shoulder before smiling down at me, "I noticed you were sneaking around trying to listen into Erza's conversation so I decided I would take you out and show you the city more to leave their conversation in peace. Don't worry, Mira will let Erza know that you are with me."

I blushed red, my face matching my hair. "Was I that obvious?"

Lucy chucked before pulling in for a side hug, her arm wrapping around my shoulder as we walked, "My teammate is Natsu and he has done the same thing before so I expected it. Especially after you didn't come back to the bar for more ice cream."

"Whoops. I didn't think it through properly."

"Nope. Now, why don't we explore the town more and maybe get Cancer to do your hair since…it's a bit…messy," stated Lucy, brushing my hair back.

"Blame Erza-nee…" I mumbled, bringing a hand up to smooth down my hair and reaching for her hand to hold with my other hand. Lucy glanced down at this but just smiled and continued walking.

We visited store after store with Lucy telling me the stories of what her team has gotten in trouble for in the stores. Lucy bought us ice cream before we sat down at the park and Lucy told me of how Natsu once took a tree out for her when she was ill during the Blossom Festival.

"Ne, do you like Natsu-san then?" I asked curiously, taking a lick of my vanilla ice cream.

Lucy blushed, "We're teammates and best friends! He's the one that brought me to the guild."

"You likkkkeeee him," I responded, rolling my tongue like Happy.

Lucy blushed deeper, "I do not! He's my friend!" She stood up and held out her hand to me, "It's getting late. Why don't we go to my apartment and have some dinner?"

I nodded, eating the rest of my ice cream and wiping my hands on my pants before accepting her hand and standing beside her.

"Is something going on that you've been distracting me all day away from Erza-nee?" I asked, avoiding Lucy's eyes as I swung our hands back in forth.

Lucy stopped swinging our hands and looked at me, "What makes you think that Poppy-chan?"

I pointed to my left wrist which was right above her hand, "Because Erza-nee has been quite protective me with this bind and I haven't seen her since she went to speak with Porlysia-san even though she said it would be a minute."

Lucy sighed and led me into her apartment, letting go of my hand as I sat at her table as she took ingredients out of her fridge. "Master needed Erza to go to the council after her meeting with Porlysia-san but Erza didn't know about it so she couldn't tell you earlier. I offered to spend the day with you since we haven't spent much time together yet. I hope you don't mind and that you had fun…"

I nodded eagerly, "It was a great day! I had lots of fun Lucy-san!" I looked down at the table, "I just miss my Erza-nee…"

"Oh Poppy-chan!" said Lucy, coming over and giving me a hug, "Erza will be here soon enough. Mira-san should have told her that you would be with me and she will come straight here after her business with the council. She will never leave you behind."

I nodded and hugged her tightly before letting go and wipe my eyes, "I feel like such a baby for missing her even though I saw her today."

Lucy brushed my hair, "There is nothing wrong with missing your sister Poppy-chan. You haven't seen her in years after all. I know I miss my mama every day and I would be the same way if she came back."

"I'm sorry Lucy-san," I mumbled, remembering that Lucy had it worse from me from what she had told me when I first met her.

"Don't be. It's okay Poppy-chan" Lucy brushed my hair once more before standing up and holding her hand out, "Now why don't we go clean out your wound so Erza won't have my head and get started on that dinner. I'll have Cancer work on your hair while I change your bandages."

I nodded, jumping up. "As long he makes it so that Erza-nee can't keep messing up my hair…"

Lucy laughed, "I'm sure he can."

"Have you never heard of knocking?!" hissed Lucy from the couch at Erza as Erza broke the front door and walked in, placing the door behind her crookedly.

"Yes, but I felt it would be insufficient as it is late and I was unsure if you were awake," responded Erza, "Where's Poppy?"

"I'm surprised she didn't wake up with that…" mumbled Lucy before pointing down at her lap, where Poppy was sleeping under a fuzzy pink blanket. "She started falling asleep when Cancer was doing her hair and barely made it through dinner before I brought her to the couch where she instantly fell asleep."

Erza smiled, reequipping from her armor into her normal clothes. "I'm guessing she had a long day with you. You did remember her medicine, right?"

"Of course I did! I think that's what made her fall asleep so easily. We also spent most of the day going around the town which must have taken more out of her than she realized."

Erza nodded in agreement, "It was her first full day without any naps."

"Well, she did great. She really missed you though," stated Lucy, brushing back Poppy's hair as she slept.

Erza frowned slightly, moving towards Poppy and slowly lifting her up into her arms, bridal style, smiling slightly when she saw Poppy snuggle closer to her. "Was she okay?"

Lucy stood up and stretched. "Yes, it seemed like it. She was a bit more…nervous without you and she kept calling your name when she first fell asleep but she stopped shortly after I sat with her."

Erza sighed, "She still has nightmares. No matter what I do, I can't help her when she's sleeping."

"Did Porlysia mention anything?"

With that, Erza grimaced and she held Poppy tighter, "Yes." Her voice cracked slightly, "I failed her Lucy… I didn't protect her… And if I can't get this bind off of her…"

Lucy put her hand on her friend's shoulder, noticing the tears threatening to fall from her friend's eye and ignoring her own fears, "You did the best you could Erza. No one could have known that that would have happened. And you will get that bind of off her and live happily with her and us. You're not in it alone Erza. All of Fairy Tail will fight for Poppy."

Erza nodded, swallowing her sorrow, "You're right Lucy. Arigato. And thank you for watching Poppy today."

Lucy smiled and gave Erza a hug, minding Poppy in between them, "That's what Nakama are for!"

"I'll come fix your door tomorrow," said Erza, looking back to Lucy as she walked back to towards Fairy Hill to go home.

"You better!" called Lucy, waving them off and attempting to place her door back, "Good night Erza!"

"Good night Lucy" replied Erza, before turning the corner and looking down at Poppy, who shifted slightly in her arms. "It seems like you've already gotten a head start to the night Red."

She moved Red to be carried front piggyback style with Poppy's legs wrapped around Erza's waist and her head resting on Erza's right shoulder.

"Er-nee?" whispered Poppy tiredly into Erza's ear as Erza opened the door to their apartment.

"Hm?" hummed Erza, carefully changing Poppy's clothes to pajamas without disturbing her semi-awake sister and tucking Poppy into the bed they've shared due to Poppy's nightmares.

"I love you," whispered Poppy, opening her eyes to meet Erza's. Erza reequipped to her pajamas and joined her sister in bed, opening her arms as her sister snuggled into her, Poppy's breaths evening. Erza kissed her sister's forehead before resting her head above Poppy's ahead.

"I love you too Poppy. Forever and always."