Author/translator's note: Here the first chapter of Yankee-chan's new fanfiction! (well, the original idea comes from me but whatever, Yankee is the one who managed to distillate this idea until it became a complete scenario. Thank you Yankee, if I meet you someday, I'll marry you! ^^)

Since it is an AU, the story doesn't take place in the world of Fairy Tail from the manga, but a universe that Yankee invented. So this chapter contains mostly the info about this universe and the way it turn. So there are some economic and politic terms and, since I am still a poor little idiotic french woman, I'm not sure I translated well. ...actually I'm not sure AT ALL if you'll even understand what I wrote here -_-

It's rated T, maybe M later (we'll see). There will be many other background pairings like Gerza, Gruvia, Miried, Luxanna, Lucyxidk-who-yet. For the LuNa fans, sorry but Natsu will stay single (*runawaaaaaay from those fans*). Can you kill Yankee instead of me, please ? ^w^

Anyway I hope you'll like it. Please review and tell me what you think! Pleeeeease! TtwTT

I only own the translation. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima (who better hide from me if he decides to kill Gajeel) and Wolf in Sheep's Clothing belongs to Yankee-chan.

x_X

The night had fallen a few hours ago: myriads of stars and an inky veil had replaced the blue sky and its clouds. Near her bedroom window, a young blond woman sat before her desk. Fully focused on her work, she let the evening wind make her hair dance and lift the white curtains. Wondering what she is doing? Like every day, she was filling her personal diary.

«The old Makarov got angry again today. He should know however that his heart doesn't stand it. If he persists, he won't be here for my eighteenth birthday and I'd find myself without any tutor. Is my mother and my father were still alive, he wouldn't have to put up with the familial business in addition to his old age. I've got the feeling that I wouldn't be able to follow this path, even in one year. All these stories seems so deadly boring and complicated... Thus, if he could try not to manhandle himself, I think it would be a great advantage for all the inhabitants of the house of the Heartfilia.

When he read the newspaper journal this morning, I think he couldn't help himself. By dint of hearing the government keep harping that everything's for the best in the best of all possible worlds or that the economic crisis is lesser and require no attention, it was the last straw that broke the camel. It was about to break for a long time ago. How can we not be upset when we know it was the three richest families which condemned the economic system of former days? Based on the guilds of workers and on the money they used to obtain in exchange for some services, this system had allowed the technological advance of the whole kingdom. I conceive it was harming the Doma, the Journel and also the Heartfilia. But I think it was an irrational and too excessive decision to forbid the guilds so the State, then "us" who already possess such richness, could take those guilds' profits.

Of course, at that time I wasn't connected to Fairy Tail in any way, this guild whose Makarov was the master. I still feel involved now that I put its members up. This tacit agreement came into effect when the veteran became my tutor. Since I didn't find a job, it was with an immense joy that I welcomed everyone in the house of my parents. After their death, I felt the need to think about something else, to change my state of mind. The Fairy Tail members around my own age, it seemed the ideal solution. Since that day, they live with me, but each of them attends to their affairs outside or inside the propriety. Those who still didn't find a job work here and are also remunerated.

Anyway, I have the strong feeling that this trial – the one who forced Makarov to dissolve Fairy Tail – scared the former master indelibly. After all, it was question of a lifetime work. He considered his guild as his own family. Yet he knows that life doesn't limit itself to only this, the situation could be much worse. As long as we have health and friends, it's alright, isn't it?»

Sighing briefly and tiredly, the young woman's hand halted in the air, still holding her nib. She lost herself for a short moment into her reflexions then put it down, unsure of what she could add to this text whose length was already substantial. Instead, she slipped a simple newspaper clipping between the two pages dated from today. She stared intensely at the title and a saddened air appeared on her face. «It's completely ridiculous », Makarov had declared just by reading the first sentence. Lucy caressed the thin gray paper her fingers and read it for the umpteenth time.

The end of the guilds is announced with dismantling of Fairy Tail: The kingdom is entering in a new development age!

«Since now about one hundred and fifty years, the kingdom of Fiore knows a rapid growing expansion and its fame is proven. The technology is advanced and the economy stable thanks to the seventeen millions inhabitants. With the end of the guilds of workers, a middle-class government is established, based on money. The capitalism just appeared. The kingdom is now governed by three big families: the Doma, the Journel and the Heartfilia, that concentrate most of the wealth of the country. Guran, the man at the head of the Doma clan, had been elected representative a little while ago, becoming the official representative of Fiore abroad. From now on he makes the decisions for the country, authorization having been granted. Supported and advised by the two others families, he hurried to dismantle the guilds, aiming to restore an order purer. Fairy Tail was the last to fall after several months of struggle. It was impossible to obtain victory despite all the arguments its master managed to gather. Because the money that goes to those guilds was wasted instead of being used by the State. Consequently, this money wasn't used not in the least for technological progress. This is the aspect Guran wanted to eradicate. For the good of the country, he succeeded. An economic crisis he had anticipated soon followed. The disappearance of the most common way to lead a job search had entailed a massive unemployment that was however regulated marvelously. Now, people realize that things are better without the guilds and that life is easier and more peaceful.»

Lucy rubbed her eyes slowly, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion. A yawn escaped her, she tried to hide it behind her hand, and she stretched for a long time. Closing his newspaper, she turned off her desk light and got ready to sleep in anticipation of the hard day that waited for her the next morning. Life was easier and more peaceful indeed. She knew this sentence didn't apply to those who had money, she was one of the rares persons to enjoy the sense of peace.

~ It wouldn't last ~

The atmosphere in the bookshop was filled with the smell of the paper and dust. A rather pleasant fragrance for those who liked this kind of place. By the way, cups were scattered everywhere, principally on the large table in the center of the room. You couldn't even discern the varnished wood under the pile of papers and books. On the side of the press that was humming perpetually, there wasn't the slightest trace of some liquid. You know too well what kind of ravages they could cause and that press was vital. It was the only one this modest publishing house could have: everything was resting on this capricious machine that made the employees' life a misery. They were four of them, by the way.

All installed in a big room with an old and yellow tapestry, each of them had a precise goal. Jason was always near the computer and was keeping an eye on the telephone within reach, managing the orders of books. With him, everything was always done with a speed that easily made people think he was an hyperactive man. His friends were convinced that the source of this behaviour was only due to the coffee and that screen he was watching the whole day. He was fast to talk, fast to eat, fast to walk, fast to think. Even if, about this last point, the pertinence of his words wasn't always here. Then, there was Laki, a strange purple haired woman who used to be at the reception and spent her days to give people some advices about the books to buy. Stiff like a plank, she could stay up during whole hours. Fried – who also took care of the library of the Heartfilia – and was charged of the layout and the triage of the books. Dressed in his eternal red coat, his long green hair let a strong impression. He hated above all when Jason was chewing, especially because said man never went to the trouble of closing his mouth. He rarely got angry, his calm was legendary in any event. And finally, amongst this pretty little world, there was Levy.

She was a seventeen years old young woman, with long blue hair and cyan glints, curly and tied by an orange ribbon with square patterns. Her tender chocolate eyes, her cute little nose, her pink cheeks and her communicative smile made everybody happy. But it wasn't enough to hope for any serious relationship – love relationship – according to her. A lot of physical things seemed to be unfinished: too short and no appealing curve to attract the boys. She loved read above all and would have ardently liked to live a semblance of romance like in these fairy tales that was feeding her. It was obviously this passion that urged her to work here. She had a tendency to forget the reality that surrounded her when a good book fell between her hands. She was still a translator and a remarkable proofreader. No one was reading a book faster than her. Besides, she was blessed with a fantastic memory and remembered almost everything that had the chance to reflect in her eyes. Why wouldn't she use this gift to earn her life? Before, she was part of Fairy Tail, like the others. She got on very well with Lucy since their first encounter and the two girls became quickly inseparable.

Usually, she kept her distance with the others to read in peace, even if she managed to block the parasite noises reigning in the room (like Jason typing or the press trying to spit the paper). Today wasn't an exception, in silence, she was sitting at the end of the table and answered only when someone asked her a question, without even looking up.

Absorbed into a young author's essay that seemed fascinating and especially promising, she had once again forgotten the time. Levy was reading so fast and was so absorbed that she corrected the text only after she had read the work a first time. But today it was too late, as showed Jason's hand on her shoulder.

"Levy? It's closing time. Can you go home?" He asked. "You can bring the book with you if you want."

"Oh, I'm sorry Jason, I totally forgot the time!" She smiled, amused by her own distraction.

Bring the book with her? It was so nice she couldn't refuse. She didn't even considered this act as additional work, it was just a real passion. So she slipped it into her bag joyfully before she give a goodbye kiss to everybody. Like every evening, Fried was going with her and the two young people attracted multiple looks with their eccentric haircut. They didn't pay attention, preferring to talk about literature and philosophy. Lucy had sent a message to her friend to know when she will come back, saying she had a lot of things to talk about. No doubt like her crush with Loki, a great boaster with a lion mane who often came to discuss and relax. He had been seen in a few publicity at the television and he was also hanging around the nightclubs. Since he had touch the blonde right in the heart, she willingly accepted him to come and talk with her. The young woman, as for her, for a matter of security, never left the house without a bodyguard. Whose name was Elfman and he was rather... massive. To tell the truth, we noticed only him and he fulfilled his dissuasive role marvelously. No one dared approach the blonde, or they stayed three meters away from her. It was something that quickly turned stifling for the young Heartfilia.

If she needed an hour of walk to reach the house of the Heartfilia in the town center, only ten minutes were needed in a car if the circulation was flowing freely. And yet, Levy couldn't help herself: as soon as she sat on the passenger side in Fried's car, she opened the book and was absorbed in fascinating lecture again. She couldn't take her eyes out of it and was smiling at every line. It was a fantastic story, speaking about Dragons, magic, and of course about princess to save. Except that in this story, said princess had the particularity to prefer the Dragon rather than the Knight.

"Promising?" Fried asked suddenly, glancing briefly at her.

She looked up and adjusting her reading glasses before she answered.

"I think so, the scenario is really original!"

They shared a brief smile as they reached the gates of the propriety. Surrounded by a thick white painted wall, the entry was guarded by a man named Arzack and his girlfriend, Bisca. They didn't looked like it, dressed perfectly commonly, but they were excellent marksmen. Levy greeted them briefly as she pulled down the window then the car passed them, following an hard-pack surface path surrounded by an absolutely impeccable lawn. Fried drove up to the building where they had built a garage, a little away of the great house they could see far off. It was composed of white walls and multiple and huge windows on two floors. A single word was enough to qualify it: luxurious. Lucy's parents hadn't made the plans hastily: even without the gardens that spread on at least a kilometer, the house let a strong impression.

Levy's foot had barely touched the well kept flowery and grassy ground when two distinct voices rose in the air along with hasty footsteps.

"Levy-chan!"

"Okaeri, Levy!"

The two boys that just threw themselves at her were Jet and Droy. The first one loved the jogging and was running around the park several times a day. So it was normal he was holding the rank of guardian. He was the young girl's childhood friend, he even proposed her to go on a gallant date, but Levy had declined the offer. Just like Droy by the way. Said man was the gardener, since he loved plants, but he was also the cook. And he obviously loved to eat good food as much as cook it, he was rather... voluminous. But it never prevent anyone to cuddle him. Why did she always refuse to push things further with them? Well, she didn't want their friendship to break due to some quarrels or jealousy because of her. Besides she considered them more like big brothers than probable or future boyfriends. They had grown together, the bonds they created were different.

"Thank you boys." The young woman giggled as the two men hugged her heartily.

Every day she was greeted this way. Thanks to this reception, she always forgot her worries if something was wrong. She kissed them on both cheek, correctly put the shoulder strap of her bag in place on her shoulder, then left with her two friends to keep the discussion during a little walk. They will go have a lunch after, where she will find Lucy and the other girls. Everything was alright, Levy was happy, life was a bliss, there was no problem.

And yet, without even knowing it, the young girl was already the target of deep troubles that threatened to hit her.