Night in the desert. The silhouette of a cloaked man on a horse stood out against the star-filled sky. With the muffled sound of hooves on sand, another rider joined him. This one had a black, round-eared cat perched on his shoulder.
"You're late."
"Well, sor-ry," replied the new arrival, unapologetic. "I got what you wanted, though."
The first man held his hand out expectantly.
The cat hissed.
"He wants to know where the treasure is," the second man said, grinning. "So do I."
"We can't find it until you give me the relic piece," growled the first man. "Hand it over, Gajeel. You'll get paid."
Gajeel considered this for a moment. Finally he shrugged and held a small object up to the cat. "Okay, Lily. Give it to him."
The cat took the object carefully in his mouth, leaped onto the first man's lap, and dropped it in his waiting hand. Then he jumped back to Gajeel.
A pleased smirk spread across the first man's face. He took out a second, similarly-shaped object. The two pieces fitted neatly together and started glowing, then rose from the man's hand. He caught a glimpse of fairy-like wings and a tail before it darted away across the sand.
"Now we follow it," he said. He urged his horse into a run, and Gajeel was right behind him.
The fairy relic flew to a large dune of sand, then split and burrowed into it. The sand started to shift, rising to form a fierce dragon's head with eyes lit by the glowing relic pieces.
"That's somethin', alright," said Gajeel, trying not to show how impressed he was. "But where's the treasure?"
"Inside," said the other man. And as he spoke, the dragon's mouth opened, revealing a passageway.
The two men got off their horses, and the cat settled down to wait on Gajeel's saddle.
"You remember what to do?"
"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Gajeel impatiently. "Bring you the lamp, and I get all the treasure I want. I got it." He started towards the dragon's mouth.
Suddenly, the dragon moved, and a deep voice rumbled out of its depths. "Who disturbs my slumber?"
"Huh?" Gajeel looked a bit surprised, but decided it wouldn't hurt to answer. "I'm Gajeel. I won't bother you long. Just let me get in and out, and you can go back to your... slumber."
The dragon rumbled again. "Know this... Only one may enter here, one whose worth lies far within: a diamond in the rough."
Gajeel paused, but then continued on, undaunted. He stepped over the dragon's teeth and found a stairway leading down into its throat. He put one foot on the first stair. Nothing happened. Another step down.
With a roar, the dragon's mouth slammed shut, and the sand collapsed down into a dune again. The pieces of fairy relic tumbled down its side, as a last rumbling sentence died off into echoes. "Seek ye out the diamond in the rough... the diamond in the rough... diamond... in the... rough..."
The other man was left alone with two horses and a cat. "No!" he growled. "I'm never going to get a hold of that lamp, am I?!"
"That depends."
The man spun around to see who was talking to him.
The black cat jumped down from Gajeel's horse and picked up the fairy relic. "How patient are you?" asked the cat, holding up the pieces in his front paws.
"You can talk?"
"Yes," said the cat in a tone that made it clear he was not going to explain. "My name is Pantherlily."
"I'm Laxus." The man knelt in front of the cat and pushed his hood back, revealing short blond hair and a thin, jagged scar across his right eye. He took the relic pieces, careful not to put them together. "How patient am I... What do you mean?"
"Gajeel was obviously not the one person who could enter. So you must search for this one person." Pantherlily had a scar too, a crescent just above his left eye.
Laxus nodded. "The diamond in the rough..."