(So the next chapter is going to be a flashback chapter because Mona is telling some stories… so yeah.)

"Hey guys wait up!" I called as I ran after Team Shadow Gear.

The sun was beginning to set, so the town of Clover was illuminated in the view of the reddish pink sky. I had pulled the blue bow from my hair and tied it around my wrist, so my short brown curls were slightly in my face, but it was nice for it to be loose sometimes.

I had left the hotel and ran after my friends, hoping they weren't too far ahead. Due to Levy being considerate, they had stopped to wait from me not far from the hotel.

Soon we were continuing through the town towards Irvin's Swordship.

As soon as we walked in there was a demanding voice shouting at us.

"YOU, MAGES OF FAIRY TAIL. HAVE YOU BROUGHT ME EXCALIBUR?!"

A tiny sword was pointed in our faces, and there stood a green haired little man with a serious attitude. I would be so glad when this job was over.

Levy held out the sword, "Yes sir, We've got it."

Irvin glanced at the sword before stating, "Report to me what happened."

I spoke up, "We found the cave. Once going in there was a kid, a boy about 15 years old. He trapped Jet and Droy," I paused so Jet and Droy could raise their hands to show they were the ones that got trapped, "In runes. And then he told Levy and I to fight him. He came at me, I quickly beat him, and got the sword. And we returned here."

Irvin was quiet a moment before giving a wise looking nod. "Good, Good. And what happened to Benji?" I was surprised he knew Benji's name.

"We brought him back into town and dropped him off at the hotel, not far from here. I talked to him, and he won't be causing any more trouble." I hesitantly explained.

Irvin chuckled, "Good to hear. You've fulfilled what I asked of you. I'll get you the 90,000 jewels, as promised. And you may keep the sword."

Levy, Jet, Droy, and I all had dumbstruck expressions. We had been asked to get the sword… now he wanted us to keep it?

"Huh?!" Jet and Droy echoed.

"What do you mean we can keep the sword?!" I asked, shocked.

Irvin chuckled, and swished his sword in the air. "I'm no mage, I could never wield a sword like Excalibur. And furthermore, I cannot sell it in fear it would end up in the wrong hands. I knew Benji had the sword, the brat. He is my assistant on occasion, he's had an obsession with that sword for years. I knew he was just going to cause trouble or get himself in danger. In truth I just hoped you could get the sword from him, I never intended to keep it. I'll reward you for your trouble and you can keep the sword safe."

"So… you're saying we came here to get the sword, and now we're being told to keep it and protect it?" Droy asked him.

Irvin fiercely pointed his small sword at Droy, "That's exactly what I'm saying! Are you incompetent, boy?! Only a mage can handle that sword. I am a true purveyor of the magical weapons of history! My true love, my dear weapons. And as such, I must protect them from falling into the wrong hands. There is nothing worse than a priceless weapon being used improperly, for the wills of those who follow the paths of the evil and the greedy. As a swordsmen, I must keep such a weapon out of those hands."

He began to pace back and forth, standing tall despite being so small, "Which is why I entrust it to Fairy Tail. Do with it what you see fit."

All four of us were stunned by his speech.

"Thank you, Irvin. We'll protect it. Now um… about our jewels…" I began.

"Earn some patiences, wench!" Irvin fumed at me, "And put on better clothes!" I scowled at the mention of my clothes. What a tight wad.

A half hour later, after thanking Irvin again, we left. We had gained our rewarded jewels and split them up between the four of us.

And so the complaints begin to be known.

"I can't believe we didn't even get to fight that brat." Droy whined.

"We didn't even get to do anything, Mona-Chan and Levy-Chan did all the work!" Jet agreed miserably.

"Will you two shut up?" I groaned, annoyed. "We did the job, we got the sword, we got our reward. Do you two seriously need to show off on every job? You'll have your chance in the morning, on our other job to do."

Levy spoke up, "Mona-Chan is right, we have another job to do. Speaking of that, what should we do tonight? We could stay at the hotel or we could camp out in the canyon near the Train station, so we can leave for Magnolia in the morning."

"Hmm. Well I'll make a list of pros and cons for each." I decided.

We had stopped by a fountain in the middle of town.

After thinking a moment, I spoke, "If we stay in the hotel we get comfy beds. We get room service, any food we want. We get hot baths. But we also might have to deal with noisy other guests. As well as the fact hotels are really boring, and we'd all be cramped in a small room. Plus I don't trust hotels. If we camp out we get to make a nice bright warm campire. We get to eat camp worthy foods, including smores. We would be able to lay out on blankets and watch the stars, and tell stories, scary or not. And with Levy-Chan's Solid script it would be pretty easy to camp out. The bad things… well it is a canyon, might be some snakes, but that won't be too bad. It's a nice night out so we don't have to worry about being cold or hot."

It was really getting dark now, only a few lanterns lighting up the area, but not too dark as the stars began to come out, shining in the dark sky.

Levy seemed to agree with my thinking, "Well I'd love to go camping. We haven't gone camping in a long time."

"I agree with Levy!" Jet and Droy said together.

I shrugged, "Camping sounds good."

"Then it's decided. Let's find a place to camp outside town, but near the station. We'll get up early and get on the first train to Magnolia." Levy told us.

I nodded and together we headed to find a good spot to camp.

Once darkness had completely fallen, we had found a cave in the canyon beneath the station. It was perfect.

Levy was busily summoning solid script items, first she summoned wooden logs, which I set up for the fire, then she summoned fire. Then she summoned blankets and sleeping bags.

And finally she summoned marshmallows, chocolate, and those delicious cinnamon tasting crackers.

"it's been so long since we've had a proper camp out like this. Remember that one time, Levy-Chan?" I said happily.

We were all sitting around the fire now, making smores, ready to share some stories.

"Oh right! The first mission when you came back to Fairy Tail." Levy remembered, grinning.

Droy blinked, "What mission?"

I glanced at him and Jet, who both were munching on their smores, "Oh I almost forgot, you two didn't go on that mission. It was the first mission I took when I came back to Fairy Tail, a couple months ago."

"Oh, we must have been on that mission with Elfman." Jet realized.

I nodded, taking a bite of my warm gooey smore. Once I swallowed I said, "It went like this."

Flashback

(Note: For when she's telling flashback stories, the italic writing is part of what she's saying to them in real time… not everything she says but specific parts. And colored Italics are what others are saying.)

Levy-Chan and I were on a mission together, an escort mission for some timid boy who was scared of everything.

"A F-Fire?! But that's dangerous! Shouldn't we find a hotel or somewhere to say? Camping in the wilderness is scary!" The little boy cried out.

I sighed, "Calm down. Once you do that, you'll see that not everything is harmful. And once you see that, you can have fun. Have you ever once had fun? It doesn't seem like it."

"Fun?" He asked, his blue eyes wide. He wasn't little, actually, he was about 13.

"Yeah. You know, hang out with your Nakama, go crazy a little, relax? Having fun. Stuff like that."

Levy nodded, "She's right. Or even by yourself you can have fun. Like a nice new book."

The boy blinked at us, as Levy set up a fire. He was so busy sitting there, dumbstruck, that he didn't notice his ridiculously long caped outfit had caught on fire.

"AHHH HELP! WATER! WATER! MY CAPE'S ON FIRE!" He was screeching while running around hysterically.

I have to admit it was Hilarious. Levy had to convince me to put out the fire because I was too busy laughing.

When I stopped laughing and used my water to put the flames out, the boy was so upset it was nearly impossible to calm him down.

"So how did you calm him down?" Droy asked me.

I knew how to calm him down. I simply began laughing and I said, "At least you know you're alive."

That made him stop. And he looked at me, bewildered, "What?!"

"You know you're alive. Fire is one of your fears, isn't it? Well you just faced fire, and won. When you ignore your feelings and run from your fears, you aren't really living your life. You're being a shadow of yourself, letting your fears and feelings control you. But when you're strong enough to face your fears, you know you're alive. My uncle told me once that fear isn't a bad thing. Your fear shows you what your weakness is, and you can be a stronger person because of that." I explained.

When I saw the young boy looking confused, I smiled, "It's hard to explain."

Levy had looked at the fire I had put out and asked him, "Is it okay if I relight the fire?"

And to both our surprise, the boy nodded.

End of flashback

"Oh wow. So you taught that boy to face his fear." Jet sounded surprised.

I made a light snorting sound, "Not really. By the end of the trip he was still scared by everything."

"But Mona, he did overcome his fear of fire." Levy reminded me.

"He sat so far from the fire he probably couldn't even feel the heat." I told her.

"True…"

Droy spoke up, "Let's hear more stories. Mona, you haven't really told anyone about what went on while you were off training. In fact, I don't even know how you met Herona and became a dragon slayer. And how are you related to Gildarts again?"

I sighed. "Okay… this will take a while to tell you all."

And so my story telling began.