God, it's already the end of November?! Time passes wayyyy to fast and mock exams in January :(

Anyway, enjoy reading :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail!


Chapter 22

Lia's POV

The rest of the train journey was them telling me stories about the guild and how they joined Fairy Tail. All of them have their own tragic stories behind their happy smiles. Erza was kidnapped and imprisoned in a tower and was forced to work. Natsu's father (a dragon) disappeared on him when he was younger. Gray's parents died from the attack on one of Zeref's demon called Deliora and his teacher died sealing that demon. Wendy's mother (also a dragon) disappeared as well the same year X777 as Natsu's and as well as another Dragon Slayer named Gajeel. Lucy, whose mother died when she was very young and her dad also died not too long ago. I looked down at my hands thinking, 'my life wasn't the worst. I feel ashamed for being selfish.' I can feel their pain and sadness, and that causes tears at the corner of my eyes.

"Lia-san? Are you all right?" Wendy touched my hands.

I look up at her and force a smile. "Yes, I'm ok."

"You look sad." Lucy states.

I shake my head. "I-... All of you... All the pain, and, and loss. How...? No I feel so, so selfish for thinking, that I have, no had the worst life ever, dead father with a huge amount of debt and also homelessness, and here you people have experienced more, more sadness, tragic pain... I'm sorry..." At that point, I start to cry.

They are stunned, eyes wide. Erza smiles, "You have a high and strong empathy. That is a great value to have, being able to understand others well. Lia, there is a point in your life when it is really bad. Everyone in the world has gone through very bad and sad times. But we learn to forgive, to cherish and to love."

"Yes, what Erza said is right. From those times, it doesn't matter how bad the situation is, to each and everyone else's point of view, the situation they are experiencing is the worst. So, there is no point in comparing one tragedy to another and beat yourself up with it." Lucy says.

"All of us have our own stories, and you do too. Your story is equally bad to each of us. Just because you didn't go through a certain hardship like Erza did, or go through the pain of watching the very monster destroy everything, or even endured through endless loneliness - doesn't mean it wasn't bad and painful." Gray says. I notice it seems like they are continuing each other's...thoughts? Or feelings? Story? I can't find the words to describe... I sniff.

"Yes, Lia-san. We all have pain, sadness and loneliness inside us. But we learn and grow up in a way to move on and live for the future, for the friends, for the new family you have, and will have, for the ones you love." Wendy says.

"Because of my friends, because of Fairy Tail, I continue living. They take away my loneliness and my sadness. They made me realize there is much more to life than you think." She pats me on the shoulders, "So,it's ok. Don't ever compare yourself to others because each of us is different, unique. You're you and your past experiences make who you are right now. Sometimes it's ok to be selfish."

I sniff again and nod. 'They are right. I'm being too sensitive but I don't quite agree on the selfishness part. I still view it as a bad quality. Also, this conversation turned very philosophical.' I shrug in my mind, 'well I did start it.'

Soon we arrive at our destination at nightfall. Natsu is staggering behind us, slowly recovering from his motion sickness. We go on foot towards the village which is outside of Clover Town. We look out to the village from the cliff in silence.

"We should camp out here and head out tomorrow morning." says Erza.

"What?! Why not now? Let's go kick those Vulcan assess out of the village!" Natsu shouts. It seems he has recovered.

"It will give us time to prepare for it. Who god knows how many Vulcans there are." Erza replies in a stern voice.

"Well I am going-" Natsu says, about to walk away when Erza gives him a death glare. "Tomorrow..." He squeaks, stopping mid track. 'I don't want to be on Erza's bad side, ever.' I look at the goose bumps on my arms and rub them off.

We set up camp a bit further away from the cliff so no one would roll and fall off. Gray goes to collect some wood while Happy and Natsu go to catch fish. I didn't go with them in case the fishes disappear even before we arrive back to camp – especially if there are two fish lovers. Erza is polishing her swords and Lucy and Wendy are playing with Plue while Charle watches. I decide to ask Erza how she collects her weapons.

"Usually I buy them for the shops, or I get a blacksmith to make one special for me. Sometimes I get them as rewards from finishing jobs. That goes the same for my armors." She explains.

"Wow, that's so cool. I saw you used some from the Grand Magic Games." Man, Erza is awesome.

She laughs, "So you stole from the shops, didn't you?"

I look down out of embarrassment. "I didn't really have a choice."

"You did have a choice: to steal or not to steal."

I look up at her with a glare. 'Great now she's giving me some parenting advice.' "Yes, but then I wouldn't have learned requip. Plus, I think it's kind of a…" I pause, searching for the right word. "A skill." 'Yeah, it is a skill!' "And you're not my mother."

She laughs again. "Yes you are right."

"What do you suggest? I return them to the shop? It's been six years." I cross my arms, slightly irritated.

"No, I think you can keep them but do pay next time."

I nod and roll my eyes. 'Yeah whatever.' She has a point – Now that I start to do jobs and earn money I don't need to steal anymore.

"What's the reward for this job?" I ask Erza.

"I'm not sure. I think it said some kind of magic scrolls or possible new weapons and armors and a bit of money." She replies, still polishing her swords.

"Ohh~ Awesome! We can share 50/50!" I claim, bursting with excitement just at the thought of getting new weapons and armors, without having to steal anything. The fact about magic scrolls went in and out of my ears.

Erza laughs, "Someone's excited."

"Yeah! It feels like getting a gift!"

"That's why it's called a reward you idiot. It's a gift after doing a job for someone else." A male voice says behind me.

I turn around, glaring at the person. It was Natsu that insulted me. "I know that! At least I'm smarter than you in some ways, thought I was a cat instead of human. Who's the idiot here?" I retort.

"It ain't my fault you have cat ears and tail so it got me confused, annoying cat!" He counters.

I bare my teeth at him, "Obviously you're such a numbskull for getting confused with a simple thing like that, pinky-hair!"

Lucy and Gray are laughing at our little bicker. Wendy has an apologetic expression on while Charle shakes her head.

"It looks like Natsu found another person to argue with." Happy states, nonchalantly.

Natsu and I are staring daggers at each other when Erza said, "Natsu, it's good that you don't fight with Gray anymore, but that doesn't mean you have to go picking fight with someone else."

"It wasn't my fault!" Natsu shouts and at the same time as Gray shouts, "Who says we don't fight anymore?!"

I stick my tongue out at Natsu's loss. He whips his head and continues to lay out the bags of fish next to the pile of firewood Gray collected earlier. I walk over to Lucy and sit down next to her. We sit in a circle around the fire and Gray says to Natsu, "Natsu, you're so slow. Light up the firewood! We're hungry!"

"Sheesh, I was gonna do it droopy-eyes!" He yells.

"Then do it flame-brain!" Gray yells back.

"Stop talking to me then bastard!"

"Do you guys have to argue about the fire?" Lucy asks with Wendy watching, again with an apologetic expression on.

"SHUT UP YOU NOISY IDIOTS!" I scream at them. 'I can't even eat my dinner in peace.'

"NO YOU SHUT UP!" They both yell at me.

"DON'T FUCKING TELL ME TO SHUT UP YOU DUMBASS!" I yell back.

"I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT, KITTY CAT!" Gray yells at me.

"YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!" I yell at the same time as Natsu shouts, "WHY ARE YOU FUCKING LEAVING ME OUT OF THE CONVERSATION?!"

At this point, the three of us were up on our feet in battle stance, about to attack each other with magic.

"Enough." Erza says. She stands up and two swords appear in each of her hands and slash us with it. The three of us ends up on the ground, bruised. Then Erza claps me on the back while I am still on the ground, hard enough I thought my bones broke. "Good job Lia for trying to stop them. You and Lucy can keep an eye on them when I'm not around." 'When did I agree to that? Also, my body hurts!'

Lucy, Wendy and Charle start to laugh their heads off. I get up, dusting myself off while Natsu and Gray were still knocked out. 'Guess Erza didn't hit me as hard as she did to them two. Holy crap am I lucky!' I shudder at the thought of being knocked out by Erza.


Aha Natsu is mad because he suddenly felt left out of the conversation. Well, more like a big argument rather than a conversation. *sigh* Oh Natsu, he's so cute.

I am working on the next chapter at the moment, and it will take a while because I don't want to rush the story and turns out crap.

Thanks for reading! :D