Wow. It's been a while since I've updated. Here's the next chapter! This is dedicated to grither55- I hope you're doing well!

"How did you win?!" I called out, looking at Erza sitting at the bar of the guild, chatting with Mira as I stomped towards her panting.

Erza looked up and smiled, "I am just fast."

I pulled myself up to the chair next to her and slumped over the bar, mumbling "You cheated. There is no way you won fairly."

Mira handed me a glass of water and a plate of pancakes, "Erza is one of our strongest mages Poppy-chan."

I glared at her and Erza before taking a bite of my food, "But I'm fast."

Erza chuckled and reached over to ruffle my hair, causing me to glare at her more and stick my tongue at her, "But I'm faster."

I shook my head, a bit irritated. "No! You cheated! I'm fast. Super-fast. I had to be."

At that, I pushed my half eaten plate forward and hopped off the stool, not wanting to discuss anything further.

"Poppy!" called Erza, instantly wanting to follow me but I heard Mira stop her and whisper, "Let her go. She needs a minute."

I stomped out of the guild and went to the back gardens where a training field had been set up. No one was out there yet so I walked up to the first training dummy and began hitting it – just like I was taught.

"Don't tell Violet I brought you here, alright Poppy-chan? I don't think she'll be too happy but I thought I would show you a few moves to start your training."

I jumped up and down before giving Hana a hug "Arigato Hana-san! I won't tell her anything!"

Hana ruffled my hair before directing me towards a training dummy. First thing first, you have to learn how to properly fight. Proper punches and kicks will go a long way. A bad mage is one that solely depends on their magic and doesn't also train their body."

I nodded, "That's why Violet-nee makes Kagy work out every day before she uses any magic."

Hana chuckled, "That's right squirt. Now, here's how you throw a punch correctly…"

I punched the dummy over and over, ignoring the sweat rolling down my face.

"Gaia-san! I know how to hit and kick. Why don't you teach me something cool?" I complained, looking up to Gaia and pouting.

She scoffed and used one claw to knock me over. "I can still knock you down."

I glared at her before standing up and holding on to her paw, causing her to bring me up to her eyes.

"You're a dragon! I'm a kid! You're big and I'm small! That's why you can knock me down so easily."

"And you are a dragon slayer. Not just any Dragon Slayer but the daughter of the Earth Dragon which means you, like a tree, should be able to plant your roots and stay strong."

"Now then, show me what you have little one."

I nodded before jumping off her paw and looking at the boulder before me.

"I will make you proud Kaa-san," I said, kicking the boulder and causing it to disappear into a pile of dust.

I kicked the dummy down, ignoring the tears running down my face and moved to the next dummy, throwing more punches.

"Power child. You need to increase your power so that we can use it and change the world," stated Midnight, watching me take down the wood dummies in front of me with ease.

I shook my head, "No, I just want my Erza-nee or Violet-nee or Hana-san or Kagura or Gaia-san. I just want to go home."

I looked at her as I finished off the last dummy.

Midnight chuckled, causing me to flinch away from her, "You are home here. They all left you. We saved you and cared for you."

I shook my head angrily and fearfully, "No….you took me away from them! They…they still want me! They love me…"

Midnight laughed more, coming near me, "If they loved you, why didn't they watch you? Why did Gaia leave you alone in the forest? Why didn't anyone look for you? Face it child. You are alone. You belong to us now. We are all you have left."

I shook my head, blinking away the tears before running away from her towards the exit of the training room, "No. No. No."

Midnight just laughed more, "Run all you want little one. You can never outrun us."

At that, the training room rotated, the exit blocked by steel dummies and Midnight allowed a minion to come fight.

"Try and fight," he smirked, hands up and sparking.

At that, I punched the ground, causing all the dummies to crumble to dust and felt myself kneel. I panted for air and let the tears fall from my eyes.

"Why can't I be good enough?" I whispered to myself, my hands deep in the ground as I thought of everyone who had left me and all the times I lost because I was weak.

"You are. You've just had some unfair situations that are hard to deal with alone," said Natsu from behind me.

"Natsu-san!" I exclaimed, standing up to face him and wiping the tears from my eyes, "I…um…did you hear?"

Natsu pointed to his ears, "Dragon-slayer."

I nodded, "Right. I'm sorry Natsu-san. I've been keeping you away from missions with the team and now I destroyed the training ground and you had to see me cry like a baby and-"

Natsu stopped me as he gave me a hug. He felt warm…like a dragon….and I stood there eyes wide and shocked. He had knelt down so that my head rest on his shoulder.

"I know how hard it is to be alone. I was like that when Igneel left. But you're not alone anymore. You have your sister and the team and Fairy Tail and 3 older dragon slayer siblings!" he stated letting me go and grinning.

I nodded and grinned back, "I guess I do!" before I looked at the training ground, "But now we don't have a place to train…"

Natsu smirked, "This is Fairy Tail. It happens all the time. Gramps will get it fix by tomorrow morning. You're really strong Poppy!"

I blushed, "Not really… You're stronger Natsu-san!"

"I don't know about that… You're definitely stronger than I was when I was your age."

I looked up to Natsu, "Ne…Natsu?"

He looked down at me curiously, "Yeah mini-Erza?"

"Can…can you train me? I want to be strong, like Erza-nee and you and Gray-san and Lucy-san," I said.

Natsu grinned and nodded, "Yes! I've always wanted to fight you!"

I looked at him like he was crazy as he got in a fighting pose.

"Natsu-san?"

Natsu looked at me, not dropping his hands, "What are you waiting for?! Let's fight!" With that he threw a punch at me which I instantly blocked and we began to fight. He would block my kicks and I would block his punches. Every once in a while, we would both get a hit in but neither of us relented and we ended up knocking down a few trees during a scuffle. We didn't stop until we heard Lucy calling our names and we glanced over.

"Oi! Lucy! What's up?" asked Natsu, trying to pull me off his back as I had just climbed on him.

"Are you two fighting?!" she yelled, coming closer looking a bit angry.

I quickly shook my head, "No Lucy-san! Natsu is training me!"

Natsu added in agreement, "We're just training. Mini-Erza is pretty strong."

I blushed and playfully hit Natsu's shoulder, "Natsu-san's just being nice. I'm not that strong."

"To hell you are! You had me on edge the entire time!"

I chuckled and leaned on Natsu's shoulder, relaxing as he seemed to have no problem holding me.

Lucy looked between the two of us before smiling, "I'm glad you two had fun but you have destroyed the training grounds and the trees around."

"Mini-Erza was the one that destroyed the training grounds!" exclaimed Natsu, causing me to blush and look down sheepishly.

"I… I didn't mean to! It just…happened… I can fix the trees though!" I said, wiggling off of Natsu's back and instantly using my magic to bring the trees to their proper positions.

I swayed a tad, but kept standing, turning around to face Lucy.

"Tada! Fixed."

Lucy frowned slightly, looking at me carefully, "You're exhausted. You need to rest and to take the medicine. Come on, Mira, Erza, and Wendy are waiting for you."

Both Lucy and Natsu began to walk forward and I tried to follow but I was tired and hungry. I walked slowly, barely taking one step for their three steps and they were halfway back to the guild before they turned around looking at me.

Lucy's smile turned into a frown and she quickly jogged over to me, Natsu on her tail.

"Poppy, are you okay?" asked Lucy, holding my shoulder.

I nodded, "Yes! Just…really tired…I didn't realize it 'til now…But… I'm exhausted…I want to sleep…"

"Shoot! I knew you two overdid it! And you haven't eaten much!" said Lucy, brushing my hair back as I kept blinking to stay awake.

"Well, we can't have a sleeping and hungry dragon on us, can we? Up you go!" stated Natsu, lifting me up like a sack of potatoes over his right shoulder.

"Natsu-san!" I yelled, feeling more awake as I bounced on his shoulder.

Lucy just laughed and walked beside him, "At least he's getting you into the guild Poppy-chan."

I frowned and crossed my arms which looked ridiculous and only caused Lucy to laugh more as she opened the door and Natsu carried me into the hall.

"Natsu! Why are you holding mini-Erza like that?" asked Happy, flying above my head and chuckling.

"Natsu-san! What are you doing to Poppy-chan?!" exclaimed Wendy, walking towards us as Natsu quickly set me down on a seat on a table.

"She was too tired to walk so I carried her here!" replied Natsu, grinning.

"Oh my! You two are quite the mess!" exclaimed Mira, carrying trays of food to us and handing me my medicine.

"Natsu…" growled Erza, coming up behind us.

I, as quickly as I could stumbled in front of Natsu and wrapped my arms around Erza's waist.

"Natsu didn't do anything! I asked him to train with me and we lost track of time! Don't be mad at him Erza-nee!"

I felt Erza's anger subside, knowing she couldn't be angry….Especially when I looked at her with my puppy dog eyes. She sighed and brushed my hair back, "You're a mess."

I grinned before sitting back down next to Natsu who had hidden slightly behind Lucy.

"Itadakimas!" I stated, before grabbing the food in front of me, eating much like Natsu was just more lady like.

I felt Erza stand behind me as she put my hair in a ponytail before she sat down on my right side with Lucy, Wendy, and Mira sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Erza and Lucy began a conversation as well as Wendy and Mira. Happy was trying to charm Charle. Gray soon joined and began to tease Natsu, challenging him to another food contest while I finished up eating and was just sipping at my glass of water.

"Poppy, can I speak to you for a moment?" asked the Master behind me, startling me.

I nodded, "Y-yes."

Erza looked as I left the table, "Master, I hope this doesn't take long. Poppy needs to rest."

Master waved his arm, "It won't take long."

I followed Master to his office, nervousness of speaking to him keeping sleep at bay.

"Sit, Poppy," he said, gesturing to a leather chair across his desk. I sat down, stiff as a board.

"You do not have to worry. You can relax. I just want to know how you are doing," stated the Master, leaning back against his chair and smiling at me.

I looked surprised and began to swing my legs back and forth on the chair. "Oh. Um, I'm good! I'm happy to be back with Erza-nee! And Lucy! Mira-san and Wendy-chan and Natsu-san are all so nice! So it everyone else in the guild!"

Master nodded, "They're all rambunctious but good kids."

I hummed in agreement.

Master sighed and then leaned forward, causing me to gulp- the last master I had known having hurt me.

"I saw you training today…" Master began.

At that, I stood up, "Master gomen nasi! I didn't mean to destroy the training grounds I promise it won't happen again! I'll even fix it for you. Please don't make me leave. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I cried out, crouching down on the ground and beginning to cry.

Master looked at me in shock, "Poppy…It's okay. You aren't in trouble…I wanted to congratulate you…Poppy?"

I could hear the Master speaking to me but my brain couldn't process it. I was exhausted from training and from the medicine that I couldn't stop remembering all the times I got in trouble with Kumori, the master of the dark guild that took me away.

I heard the door slam open before being picked up by a warm being. "Hey, Poppy. It's okay." Said a deep voice.

"Natsu- what in the- POPPY!" exclaimed Lucy, "Master what happened?!"

"Poppy?! Poppy! Are you okay?!" I felt myself being transferred to soft, strong arms. Arms I had known my entire life.

"Poppy-chan!" exclaimed Wendy followed by a gasp by Mira who instantly turned to the Master to find out what had happened.

"I was about to congratulate her on her training recommend her to train more often with Team Natsu but she believed she was in trouble and began to cry. Natsu came in soon after."

Natsu grunted, "I smelled her tears before they fell and felt her heart rate accelerate so I came up, hearing her concerns."

"I think all the training she had done with little food and water stressed her body too much and hearing the Master might have been the tipping point. It's a panic attack and she should be calming down soon," said Carle with Wendy nodding in conformation.

"You can hear her. She's stopped crying. Poppy, can you hear us now? How are you feeling?"

I sniffled and then buried myself into Erza's shoulder, "I'm sorry. You didn't have to come."

Erza leaned back, causing me to meet her eyes, "I'll always come Poppy. Don't apologize."

"Yeah! We won't leave you alone!" chimed Happy.

Natsu, Wendy, Lucy, and Mira, nodded while Master looked sad, "It should is I who should be apologizing Poppy. I should have realized how much your training would have affected you and have realized that your past would cause you to feel uncomfortable with me. I promise that was not my intention. I merely wanted to congratulate you on your skills and suggest you train with Team Natsu more often to regain your strength as you heal."

"Oh… I… Um…" I stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"I definitely want to fight her again!" interrupted Natsu, winking at me and saving me from having to say more.

"Yeah," I nodded, smiling at him.

"I will work on a training schedule for you the team. It would be better if someone else monitored to prevent Poppy from pushing herself too far because she's still healing," added Mira.

"I can update Porlysia-san," said Wendy.

"Arigato Minna!" I stated, smiling at everyone before leaning into Erza's shoulder, tired of fighting sleep, "But I think I'm going to rest now."

Erza chuckled, as did the others, "Rest now Red. You deserve it."

With that, I fell asleep.