(So this chapter might suck because it's sort of a mixture of Mona explaining and having flashbacks. But I thought it would help to have a bit more background on her life and bring together the timeline a little more. Italics are her talking to team Shadow Gear, back in normal time. And colored italics are them talking back to her, but not replying… more like tidbits of conversation.)

So You wanted to know how I'm related to Gildarts? Well you three already know Cana is my cousin.

My mother was Gildart's Sister. And Cana's Mother's Brother is my father. In fact that's how Cana's mother and my uncle Gildarts met, is Gildarts met my Mother's boyfriend, and then met Cana's mother.

So I get my looks from my father, my hair color and eyes, so that's why I look more like Cana than Gildarts. But Uncle Gildarts often says I'm just like my mother is personality.

My father and my mother was a member of Fairy Tail, my mother a requip mage like Erza, while my father had giant magic, a lot like Master.

How I met Herona? Well… now that's a story to tell.

I had been sitting in the guild hall, very young. Many members we know of today weren't there. But there was Gramps, and of course I knew Laxus, but I wasn't really close with him back then.

My father and mother had gone on a quest, and they were late getting back. They had gone with Gildarts.

And that's the moment when Gildarts walked into the guild.

I looked up with joy, hoping to see my parents with him. I was so happy they… he was back. I wore a purple short sleeved shirt, and a black skirt, my brown hair that was long back then was in pigtails.

As soon as I saw my uncle's expression, I knew something was terribly wrong.

"Uncle… Gildarts?" I asked softly, standing up.

Master had also noticed, "Gildarts. What is it? What happened? Where is-"

Gildarts interrupted him but falling to his knees, tears welling in his eyes, "Dead. They're dead, both of them."

Gasps rang around the room. Two of Fairy Tail's S-Class wizards… My parents… dead?

Mirajane, a friend of mine, looked at me with wide eyes.

In fact, everyone was staring at me.

Tears welled in my eyes and I ran out the door, not realizing it was storming out. Shouts of my name followed me but I kept running, into the rain.

Once I was far from Fairy Tail, I came to my senses. The lightning, the thunder, the dark clouds. I was terrified. And I was lost, in the dark, I couldn't even tell where I was.

"Woah, Mona. What did you do?" Jet asked me. The whole Team Shadow Gear was watching me with wide eyes as I told my story.

Well Being lost, and scared, I did what any little kid would do. I kept running.

Hours of running later I stopped, as the storm began to clear and the sun showed a new morning.

I had ended up deep in the woods, right next to a waterfall. Now, I was tired and scared and hungry, and distraught. So I walked to the waterfall, and sat on the shore.

I cried for a while, releasing the feelings of embarrassment from running away, the feelings of sorrow and hate from my parents dying. I hadn't stayed long enough to hear the details, I had just… froze. And I had been a coward, and ran away.

I was all alone now.

"Little girl. How have you come across my home?" A deep voice hissed at me. I knew right away it wasn't human, it's difficult to describe the almost hiss like sound of the voice.

I turned startled, and found myself face to face with a dragon.

Herona, The Water Dragon. She was shaped very much like Igneel, with tough scales that were shiny greens and blues, the colors of the freshest parts of the sea, with a few dark purple scales mixed in. She was magnificent, huge, with wings that were currently folded shut but I could imagine they were gigantic when held out at full length. She had gill flap wings on each side of her head, and her tail was long with big spikes to help with swimming fast. She was curled around a big rock at the top of the Water Fall, her cerulean eyes on me, sharp but kind.

My eyes widened and I tripped backwards, landing on my butt in the shallow water. "A dragon! Y-You're a dragon!" I exclaimed, shocked.

Herona let out a low chuckling sound, "Yes, I am. Now please, answer my question. Why are you here? And why do your eyes let out rain drops?"

I found that incredibly funny, it made me giggle. I wiped the tears from my eyes, standing, "I ran away from my home, because my parents… My parents died." My voice shook, my bottom lip quivering as I fought the urge to cry again, "So I ran away… And that's why I'm crying."

I had heard stories of dragons. They were rare creatures, so many wouldn't believe it if you said you'd met a dragon. But they were beautiful, powerful, and I couldn't help but be amazed just by looking at one.

"Do not weep, child. The sun is out, you must rejoice." Herona told me. She always had an old fashioned, soft way of talking. "My name is Herona, The Water Dragon, dragon of the sea. Can you tell me your name?"

"My name is Mona!" I declared strongly. "Mona Alberona, from Fairy Tail, the strongest guild in all of Fiore! Well… I don't know magic yet but someday I'll be an S-Class mage, just you wait and see!"

Somehow it seemed like the memory of hearing my parents had died was far away, and the dragon in front of me was opening my future.

Herona let out that same chuckling noise and began uncurling herself gracefully from the giant stone, almost like a snake, making no sound as she slithered gently down the rocky top of the waterfall, and onto the shore beside me, her huge feet making marks in the soft river bed dirt.

"If it is magic you wish to learn, I can certainly teach you. How would you like to become a Water Dragon Slayer? It is fate, after all, only the chosen few come across a dragon. I have been waiting for my dragon slayer for many years, and here you are. I will teach you to be a strong as a powerful current, as agile and quick as a hurricane, as gentle and quiet as the dawn's first ray of light, and as calm as the moment before the storm." She told me.

I was stunned, "A… dragon slayer?" I asked.

That was how I met Herona, and how I started my path to learning the ways of a Dragon.

"But Mona-Chan, What about when Herona went missing, and then you left Fairy Tail again. What did you do to train for so many years?" Levy asked me.

Good Question, Levy-Chan.

I traveled. In my time as Herona's apprentice… no, her adopted daughter… She had showed me everything she could. She showed me all the water dragon slayer spells, even the secret ones that she forbid me to use unless really needed. She told me of other dragons, ones of fire, light, shadow, lightning, ice, earth, iron, even sky. Any type of element really, and there was a dragon for it.

She used her magic on me to make my body as strong as any dragons, my teeth as sharp as their fangs, my skin able to turn into strong scales, my fists able to strike with the force and water of a water dragon. I even am able to store water in a special part of my body, and use it in my fighting, or even make it boiling hot, or freezing cold.

I learned of dragon slayers like me, like Natsu, who would learn the same things but in their own elemental version. Herona told me we were chosen children, fate had brought us to lose our family so that we would find our dragon. And somehow, I got over my parents death, accepting Herona and Fairy Tail as my family.

But the most important thing I learned from her was her wisdom. The calm before the storm, as she likes to say, is the most important thing to use to my advantage. I learned the strengths and weaknesses of water, I learned to accept water as an extension of myself. In a way, everything I learned changed me into who I am today.

So the second time I left Fairy Tail, I was prepared. I still had the mark, I still was a Fairy Tail wizard. But I knew I needed to learn more if I ever wanted to be worthy of being in Fairy Tail.

I had left a note to Laxus, and ran away, taking a small bag of clothes and other keepsakes.

Well… I didn't have many keep sakes. I had the ring that Laxus gave me, which was able to be used like a communication Lacrima, but I hadn't contacted the guild the whole time I was gone. I also had a picture of my parents.

In fact, Reedus had drawn me it.

When I returned after the first time running away, I was about eleven or twelve years old. Everyone was happy I was safe and sound, and I was welcomed back and became a mage of Fairy Tail, since I had learned magic from Herona. Surprisingly they had accepted the fact I was a dragon slayer.

It had been a week after my return when Reedus walked over to me.

"Mona. I wanted to give you this, I drew it shortly after you left, so you wouldn't forget what they looked like. You were so young… I saved it for when you returned, and now here you are." He told me, handing me the paper.

On it was two people drawn out. My mother and father, standing side by side. My mother was a tall, slender woman, with the same curves as me, the same chest size too. She had Long straight ginger hair, tied up in a pony-tail in the picture. She had big beautiful brown eyes too, almost doe like. She wore a short sleeved pink dress with a skirt that flowed long in the back but was cut open from the right thigh and down, to reveal her long legs. She was beautiful, much more beautiful than I could ever be.

Next to her was my father. His short yet curly brown hair framed his strong, cheerful face. They used to say my father didn't know how to stop smiling. I had heard he was quite the ball of energy. He wore along sleeved white dress shirt and black pants, his arm curled protectively around my mother's waist. He too had brown eyes but they were sharper, more refined, and in the light they looked purple.

My eyes filled with tears at the sight, and my bottom lip trembled, "Reedus… Thank you. I…" I was speechless.

But you wanted to know about my second time traveling.

Well, without Herona, it was difficult. I became a sort of independent mage, taking jobs, meeting people. There were two humans Herona knew, who taught me more magic. One taught me thought projection.

The other taught me transformation magic… kind of like Take Over but different.

"Transformation Magic? I've never seen you use that, Mona." Levy told me.

"I don't use it. Unless it is needed. You wouldn't want to see me use it, trust me." I assured her.

And so I traveled. From age fifteen to age twenty-two, I was on my own. I never stayed in one place too long. I met many people, mages with so many different kinds of magic, or even normal people.

But I said goodbye to them all.

I trained my dragon slayer magic, I learned thought projection, and now Erza is teaching me the basics of requip, though I won't use it for armor or weapons like she does.

And that is the basic story of how I met Herona, how I'm related to Gildarts, how Reedus helped me remember my parents, what I learned from Herona, and how I traveled on my own to train.