"I can't believe you." Erza through a gauze pad soaked with antiseptic on one of Cliff's wounds, earning a loud hiss. "First you leave in a hurry for some mission, then you come back like this? Didn't I raise you better?"

"It's just a few scratche- OUCH!" Cliff was cut off by his mother pressing the gauze pad into a particularly deep gash on his back.

"Cliff, you dislocated your shoulder."

"Zach popped it back in for me." The teenaged boy muttered, bracing himself when he saw his mother pick up the bandages. He had been treated by her enough times in his life to know that healing was often times more painful than the injury. His mother meant well though, which was why he always let her take care of him after a particularly rough mission. That, and the fact that she would drag him home by the ear the second she saw him cut up and bloody.

"Yes, but you should be better than this Cliff." Erza started wrapping the bandages around her son's torso. "I trained you, so you should be strong enough not to come back like this."

"And there it is, the real reason she's upset." Cliff rolled his eyes. That was just like her. He knew very well that his mother cared about him more than the world, but her competitive streak was always clear as day. Of course, he payed for his sarcastic remark with thumb jammed into a bruise on his side. The pain from that alone caused his entire body to tense up. The only reason he didn't scream was because he had bitten down on his lip hard enough to silence himself. Erza continued to treat him nonchalantly, as though she had done nothing wrong. Cliff, on the other hand, had to take a moment to ground himself before he was able to speak again. "I apologize for my rudeness towards you, as well as my incompetence during the mission."

"Being formal with me isn't going to lighten my mood Cliff." Erza let out a sigh. Her lips curled into a slight smile. "But I'll always forgive you. As long as you keep coming back alive, I won't be mad at you."

"I don't plan on dying, so I'm ok with that."

"Good." The two sat for a while longer. Erza finished wrapping medical tape around a newly cleaned wound on her son's shoulder. She then dug around her first aid kit until she found a large square cloth, with which she made a sling to support his right arm, which Cliff had previously dislocated. "There. All patched up."

Cliff stood up and moved his good arm and shook his legs. He adjusted the sling so that his arm rested comfortably. "Thank you Mamma." Cliff watched the smile form on his mother's face. He rarely called her that, but when he did it always made her happy. "And now that we're done here, I'm going back to the world of the living."

The teenaged boy said a goodbye to his mother and went to Fairy Tail's guild hall. "Zach!" He yelled when he entered the large hall.

There was a pause before any response came. "Present." When Cliff looked in the direction the voice had come from he saw his friend, equally as bandaged, sitting on the bench of a wooden table. The boy sat next to his mother, who held open a book for her son, and flipped the pages as well. Zach's hands were bandaged in a way that would have made it extremely difficult to read without the help. He and Levy read together often though, so it wasn't a problem for either of them.

"Hey Cliff!" Kory and Jenny, Levy's other children, came running up the the table. The twins had a tendency to speak in unison or finish each other's sentences. "Did Erza yell at you?"

"I bet she's the reason for half those injuries." Kory laughed.

"Leave him alone, both of you." Levy gave her children a discretely stern look. "Why don't you go bug your father. The twins clamped their hands over their mouths and giggled before running away.

"Kids will be kids." Cliff shrugged with his good shoulder. He winced when he tried to do the same with his other, and immediately regretted the action.

"What does that make me?" Zach looked up from the pages of the book. He managed to pick up his bookmark on his own, and fit it within the binding of the book before Levy closed it and lay it gently on the table. It took Cliff a moment to remember the age difference between him and the boy who was arguably his best friend. Zach was only nine years old, putting a five year difference between them. But he was tall and well built for a book nerd, and acted much older than he really was.

"It makes you weird."

There was a pause. "That's fair." Zach looked down at bandages that covered his fingers. "Mom, when can I take these off? It's going to make reading hard."

"Just keep them on long enough for the antibacterial cream to work." Levy leaned to the side and kissed her son on the forehead. "I'm still amazed you managed to get so banged up. You're just like Gajeel in that case though."

"Dad get's hurt a lot." Zach agreed.

"He's just reckless sometimes. Well, most of the time." The blue haired women corrected herself. "You're much better than he is already though. Just be careful next time."

The conversation was probably going to continue, except for a large laughing overwhelming any other noises in the guild hall. Cliff turned around and saw Layla, pointing at him and clutching her stomach. "You look ridiculous!"

Cliff clicked his tongue against his cheek. "Wow. Thanks for finding my pain amusing."

"Are you kidding? It's hilarious!" Layla got closer and reached out to poke at the other teen's wounds, but Cliff managed to swat her hand away. The sudden and forceful contact with a bruise on his forearm made him wince, which only encouraged Layla's laughter.

"Shut up." Cliff said bluntly.

"I'm only teasing." The blonde slowed herself. "Don't be so uptight."

Cliff stared at her for a while. He contemplated his chances at beating her in a fight at the moment. He wouldn't exactly be at an advantage, but it would it really hurt to just pull out a really big sword? "Nope, can't do it." He walked past the blonde, hoping to escape from her, maybe sit with his mother and her friends for a bit. Unfortunately, Layla followed after him.

"Stop being such a butt Cliff." She said. "Why did you go on such a hellish mission anyways."

Cliff didn't respond. 'Just ignore her. Don't pay attention to her. Just leave it be, and move on.'

"I see how it is." Layla crossed her arms and stood in place, tapping her toe to the hardwood floor. "You're still all pissy, aren't you."

"No, I'm just peachy." The teenaged boy rolled his eyes. The level of sarcasm did not go unnoticed.

"No girl is ever going to like you if you're always like that."

Cliff stopped. He smacked himself with the palm of his free hand, his fingers rubbing at his temples. "You have got to be kidding me." He muttered. 'Just my freaking luck.'

The two started drawing attention to themselves, which wasn't abnormal. They fought often. Everyone in the guild was used to it. Bar stools turned around as surrounding mages watched the two teens bicker. One table in particular had Natsu, sipping from a beer mug, next to Erza. Gray and Juvia were seated at the same table with their children. Natsu and Erza exchanged a glance. They didn't expect a violent fight with Cliff in the condition he was in, so the single parents made the silent agreement to watch the situation unfold on its own.

"Can we not today?" Cliff turned around to look at Layla. He took a few steps closer to the girl. "I'm tired. I can't move my arm. Be mature for once."

"You're two years older than me. We're still kids. Stop being so uptight." Layla had a stubborn sense of logic.

"You mean you're a kid." The requip mage could feel himself getting wound up. He watched as the girl across from him began to crack her knuckles, small sparks appearing around her fingers. He prepared himself to open a magic circle to pull out a sword if he needed it. "You're always so goo-goo eyed, following that guy around like some kind of lost puppy."

"Excuse me?" The sparks grew into flames.

Off to the side, Natsu could be seen downing his drink and preparing himself to jump after his daughter if he needed to. Shana beat him to it though. The young girl ran up to Layla, placing her ice cold hands on top of burning ones.

"You shouldn't do this right now Layla." Shana said. "Please save it for later."

"Oh looky. Now you need Shana to keep your magic in check. You really are a little kid."

In retrospect, Cliff should have kept his big mouth shut. He knew damn well not to go poking a dragon with a stick; that didn't stop it from being his favorite game. He had to thank his mother for training him to have fast enough reflexes to stop a giant ball of fire with a blade, even when he was injured. Somedays he felt like half of his arsenal was to deflect fire-based attacks. This was one of those days.

After Layla launched the first fire blast, Natsu made sure it was the last. One large fist grinding into the top that blonde head of hair was all it took. "Don't go picking a fight with someone who's injured."

"But Daddy!" The pout on her face made it look like she was told she couldn't have dessert, rather than being told not to beat up her already injured guildmate. "He's always teasing me and I'm tired of it!"

"Go ahead and start fights if you want to Layla." Natsu said. "But at least wait until he's in somewhat decent shape."

"At least wait until I can use both arms." Cliff stuck out his tongue.

"Fine." The young Dragneel puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms. "But the second you take the sling off I'm gonna give you a third degree burn or two."

"Want to make a bet?" The suggestion sparked interest immediately. Cliff smirked as he saw Layla's eyes twinkle with the possibilities.

"What are the stakes?"

"Loser is a servant for a day on the town." Cliff began explaining the terms. "Mean, we'd go into Magnolia, and you'd do anything I want and buy me whatever I ask for."

A grin appeared on Layla's face. "I think you mean you'll be doing all that stuff for me. But sure, bring it on. I'll take you down."