(Wow this chapter is long, over 2,000 words. I just was so inspired by this chapter, it seemed I couldn't stop writing. Well, it's done. XD besides, some stories have single chapters that are over 10,000 words, so surely this is nothing much. Hope you like it!)

After that inspirational speech from the old man, I decided to look at the S-Class work board, just to see what we had.

Hmm… Well, A demonic monster terrorizing a small village at night. That sounded important but I was sure someone else would want it, and it had a high reward. There was a stealth mission to sneak into a threshold of a powerful wizards and retrieve an artifact he had stolen. I wasn't good at stealth missions… well I could turn into water and get in that way, but it was tedious and after I got in I sucked at moving around silently.

I let out a sigh, biting my lip as I searched. There were two other current missions. One was a ten year mission, and I definitely didn't want to do that one. That was for someone like uncle Gildarts, or Master Makarov, or Mira. I studied the last one, and by now a small scowl was beginning to show on my face. It was something about infiltrating a powerful business as an employee and finding out what they were up to. That would take weeks. I needed something simple.

I suppose I'll have to take a look at the other board.

"I don't understand why you join in on those stupid brawls. Those idiots just want to pass time and try to prove their strength, and you encourage it." A voice yanked me out of my thoughts.

I turned, hands on my hips, to look at none other than Laxus. He sat in a chair with his back to the wall, wearing those magic headphones. I hadn't paid attention to him before he spoke. I couldn't help but stare stiffly at him, especially his heaphones. I had gotten him those headphones for his fourteenth birthday, special order from the best magic shop. I had saved my jewels for weeks to afford them, the lightning ones were rarer.

"Well it's hard not to be dragged in, they disrupt any peace there is. Besides, better to join in then to be bored and sulk up here." I replied, my tone emotionless.

He gave me a look that said he couldn't care less. "The more you encourage them, the more they will fight. Looking for a job?"

I had no idea why he was trying to talk to me, though his tone was anything but friendly. "Might as well get some work done. I was just checking the S-Class missions. Nothing interests me, I'm going to check the other bored. I need something easy, nearby, and able to finish today."

"I saw one for bandits, in that hideout in the south forest. You should take a look at it." He replied, his eyes sharp as he looked at me.

I coldly replied, "Thanks, maybe I will. Have a good day, Laxus." I turned on my heel and walked away from his as fast as I could without being too noticeable.

Talking to him gave me chills. He wasn't the same Laxus that I knew. There was something about him I didn't trust, while I felt his heart was the same deep down, I felt like he was planning something… Like he had darker thoughts. I didn't like the way he looked at me, as if he was wishing I hadn't come back. It was unnerving, and even a bit scary.

I made my way down to the first floor, and I saw Mirajane stamping Lucy with her Fairy Tail mark. Lucy's mark was a light pink and on the back of her hand. You see, there were magic stamps that held the mark of your guild, each a different color. If you tell Mirajane what color you want and where, she'll stamp it anywhere on your body. I heard a rumor that wherever you placed your mark, that spot would be tender. I wasn't sure, but apparently it was one of those pleasure spots. That's why some chose to put their marks in places like the chest, tongue, or waist. I just chose my waist because that was the easiest spot for me to have it seen, considering the clothes I liked to wear.

I saw the stamp glow with magic energy as the mark was placed on Lucy's hand. I headed to stand by the request board, next to Natsu, who looked set on finding a job.

"There. Now you're an official member of the Fairy Tail guild." I heard Mirajane tell Lucy with a chirpy voice.

Lucy let out a sharp squeal like breath and ran over to Natsu, but I tried to ignore her, "Hey Natsu! Look, Mirajane just put the official Fairy Tail mark on my hand!"

Hmm let's see… I spotted the bandits job that Laxus had told me about. It was good money, and it did look easy enough, but I was relunctant to take a job he had suggested. There were all kinds of jobs. While S-Class jobs are far and few, and mostly had to do with fighting; regular jobs can be anywhere on the continent and there were all kinds of them. There were escort jobs, retrieving jobs, fighting jobs, collecting jobs. There were also those rare few jobs called Seduction jobs, mostly meant for female mages when flirting to find information tended to come in handy.

Personally I was fine with any kind of job, but I wasn't as good at stealth so retrieving jobs weren't my strong suit. And traveling made me uneasy so often I didn't go on escort jobs, though occasionally I did. I had done Seduction jobs before but since they were rarer there wasn't many to go on. Fighting jobs were easy for me, but whenever I went on fighting jobs, depending how hard it is, I would take someone with me.

Often when going on a seduction job, Mirajane or Master had the selected lady have at least one male wizard with her for protection, that way it was only flirting and seduction, and the female wizard wouldn't be… well, the person they were flirting couldn't get quite hands on them too much. Thankfully I had never run into a seduction job that I couldn't handle, and hadn't allowed anyone to trick me, so it hadn't bothered me.

Back to the guild members beside me, Natsu seemed to be trying even harder to pay no attention to Lucy, "Oh yea? That's cool, welcome to the guild Loony." His voice was bland, and he didn't even glance at her as she held up her hand.

She quickly showed a bit of anger, "The name's Lucy!" She snarled in a high pitched voice.

I smiled, "Don't mind him Lucy, he's just trying to search for a job." I called after her as she headed to sit.

I was reading a paper about 'The holy sword'. Someone was paying quite a few jewels for us to find a legendary sword called Excalibur that was apparently in a mystical cave. Sounded interested, so I was debating between Excalibur and Bandits.

The sword quest paid 90,000 jewel, and it was in a mage village that I could get to by train and if I was lucky I could get home by nightfall, though most likely it was a two day trip. It wasn't much jewel but enough to go towards rent. My rent was about 150,000 monthly, and that was only because of the size and location of the home I had bought. I could live at the women Fairy Tail dormitory, called Fairy Hills, but it wasn't somewhere I wanted to live.

"Make sure you pick one with a big reward Natsu!" Happy reminded him.

I was about to decide on what job to choose when Natsu grabbed ahold of the bandits paper. Well I kept calling them bandits, but really it was just some thieves.

"Wow, 160,000 Jewel just to get rid of some thieves?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me." Happy squeaked.

I smiled at them, "Sounds like you've both picked a good quest. I was looking at it too, but I think I'll take this Sword quest." I took ahold of the sword paper, feeling a bit disappointed that Natsu had grabbed the thieves quest.

I paused as I heard a distressed voice, "How come my dad hasn't come back yet?"

I felt a tugging feel on my heart as Natsu and I both looked at Romeo. Romeo was Macao's son, and he was an aspiring wizard, though he was too young to join Fairy Tail officially.

The young boy was bright and kind but he got bullied because his dad was a wizard. I understood how he felt, I remember the whispers that followed me around so long ago, so I knew what it was like to feel as if you were being looked down on.

Macao had gone on a mission to Mt. Hakobe a week ago, with a promise he'd be back in three days… We were all worried but Romeo's constant questions made it even worse.

Gramps, who had been drinking beer from a mug, lowered his drink. "You're starting to work my nerves, Romeo. You're a wizard's son, have faith in your father and wait patiently for him."

"But sir, he told me that he'd be back in three days! And he's been gone for over a week now!" His voice raised slightly, and I could feel the anxiety rising within the small boy.

I had felt the same when Herona first disappeared, that need to know why she wasn't there, that frustration and anger that I couldn't find her.

"If I remember correctly, he took the job of mount Hakobe." Gramps said.

"That's right and it's not that far from here so why won't somebody go look for him?!" Romeo yelled.

Gramps was getting angry too, not because of Romeo but because he shared the same worry, "Listen kid! Your old man is a wizard! And like every other wizard in this guild he can take care of himself! Now go home, have some milk and cookies, and wait!"

Romeo visibly made fists, tense and upset. I watched as he punched the master right in the face, "JERK!" sobbing, he ran from the room, "I HATE YOU ALL!" It was just like how I had stumbled in, sobbing, telling them Herona had vanished.

With one look at Natsu I knew the salamander felt the same feeling I did.

"That's got to be tough…" I heard Lucy say.

Mirajane spoke up, "I know it sounds like the master doesn't care. But he really is worried."

We all jumped and turned our attention to the request board when a loud crash sounded. Natsu had punched in the middle of the board, almost breaking it, right where the Bandit paper was.

Nab, who was standing near, yelled, "What do you think you're doing?! You almost broke the board Natsu!" Nab was a fellow guild member, tall and muscly with tan skin and a bobbish black hair style. He often wore Tribal clothing and skulls, and I didn't know him very well.

The Master, who's nose was now bandaged, let out a sigh as Natsu began to walk out of the hall, holding his traveling pack and having Happy at his side. We all knew that Natsu was going to find Macao.

Nab leaned on the bar, "This doesn't look good Master. You know how he can be. I bet he's going up to Mt. Hakobe to save Macao."

Krov spoke up, "When is that kid ever gonna grow up?!"

"Who knows? Going after Macao isn't going to do anything but hurt his pride." Nab replied.

Master Makarov spoke solemnly, "Remember Nab, we can't choose another's path. Just leave him be."

"I think Natsu is right. Sure, Macao won't be happy he had to be rescued. But he's not just a guild member, he's a friend. A Nakama. And if he needs help, if he needs someone to drag him back here, then Natsu is that someone. We can't leave him there if he's in trouble, so Natsu is the perfect person to help him." I said, staring at the Sword paper in my hand before glancing at the board again, mostly at the wrinkled and crushed thieves job paper.

"Why did Natsu get so upset?" Lucy asked innocently, sounding worried about him.

Mira answered from where she stood, polishing dishes, "Probably because he and Romeo have a lot in common."

Lucy turned to face her and I lifted my gaze from the papers to gaze over at them.

Mira's voice was soft, "I think he sees himself in Romeo. Just because we're members of Fairy Tail, it doesn't mean we don't have our own personal issues. We've all had our fair share of suffering and loss."

Mirajane began to tell Lucy about how Natsu's father igneel had left, and how he had been a dragon and had taught Natsu everything. She also mentioned me, but I just looked away as she talked to Lucy. I had heard this story a thousand times before, I had lived through it. She explained to Lucy how Natsu and I both live for the day we'd find our dragons.

Lucy stood, determined after hearing that, "I'm going to help Natsu bring Macao back."

"Good luck. I know you two can do it." I called after her.

Krov looked at me, "Don't you want to go with them, Mona? Surely you feel the same Natsu does."

I watched Lucy's retreating back and smiled.

"This is Natsu's mission, not mine. He doesn't need my help."

And it was true. Natsu was growing up.