IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE READING: This story takes place after Edolas but before the S Class Exam. I've written another Fairy Tail FanFic, it's called "I'll Be There" and it's a GaLe fic. That one goes hand in hand with this one, so Levy and Gajeel are a couple in this story. I think that's all you need to bear in mind… the rest of the story will tell itself!

The Light of the Night

When darkness creeps into your sight,

Your vision robbed of all its light,

Legend speaks of mortal girls,

One of dull and darkened curls,

One of flooded holy light,

Stolen futures tall and bright,

Do not trust all that you see,

Know La Lumiére de la Nuit.

The sun was high in the sky when Lucy stretched her arms above her head to shake off the sleep. It had been nice, having a few weeks to relax after the whole Edolas business. Her brain was tired and moving slowly; a good week of sleep had done her wonders. But now Lucy was ready to take on the world again- if she didn't she'd surely be kicked out of her apartment.

She swung her legs lazily over the side of the bed. The floor was cold beneath her feet; it sent a shiver from the base of her spine to the top of her head. Hurrying so she wouldn't be in the cold for long, Lucy snatched up some clothes from the apartment floor and prepared her daily shower.

It never took her long to make herself presentable. Once she had, she hooked her little leather pouch of keys to her belt and slipped quietly out the front door. She had briefly contemplated taking the window to avoid the frightening possibility of running into her landlady, but decided if she showed her fear it may make her vulnerable. She shuddered at the thought of the bitter old woman's wrath.

Outside the weather was perfect in Magnolia- mostly sun with a slight aftertaste of rain. Lucy smiled and set off at a leisurely pace towards the guild. Turning the corner onto one of the busier market streets, she lost herself in the buzzing city. It was difficult to imagine even small crimes occurring in a place like this; the vast majority of the people were so friendly and welcoming.

"Hey Lucy!" She turned and saw the waitress at her favorite café waving to her from the entrance of the restaurant. Lucy grinned and waved back, making a note to return there soon with Natsu. He had bothered her so often to go there that when she finally gave in and loved it, he insisted on being with her every time she went. She smiled to herself. Natsu had become one of her closest friends during her time with Fairy Tail; she almost couldn't remember a time before he was there.

Then suddenly he was there.

Lucy collided with a solid wall of chest with enough force to send her spiralling to the ground in a heap of frustrated confusion.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, dusting herself off. Her body ached with the pain of free-falling onto a stone surface. She was sure she had scratched and bruised herself in multiple places, "Watch where you're going!" She grumbled, her good mood evaporating swiftly. "Just who do you think you-?"

"Lucy!"

She stopped. Lucy opened her eyes and looked up slowly, blinking in the bright sunlight. About two inches from her nose she found a pair of twinkling dark eyes, pale pink hair, and white pointed teeth, all adding up to a grinning Natsu, devilish joy etched into his features.

"Jeez Natsu," She groaned, rolling her head back in exasperation. "Watch where you're going would you? You could've killed me!"

Natsu ignored her, his grin solidly in place. "Have I got a job for us!" He exclaimed happily.

"A job?" Lucy repeated, her fall completely forgotten at the prospect of rent money. Her interest was suddenly peaked. "What kind of a job?"

"Just trust me! You'll love it!" Natsu reached down and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to her feet roughly. Lucy stumbled, her balance put off by the sudden change in position.

"See, every time you say that we end up on some ridiculous mission that almost gets us killed, or majorly embarrassed." She criticised. Natsu simply winked at her knowingly and, with a gulp from Lucy, started at a brisk run.

"Natsu- Wait-!" Lucy yelped, her legs flying out from under her as Natsu dragged her along behind him. "You know I can't keep up with you like this!"

Natsu laughed.

.

"I don't see why we couldn't take the train," Lucy groaned, her feet aching. She seriously contemplated bringing out Horologium to carry her, but decided better of it. It was just her, Natsu, and Happy (he'd joined them on the outskirts of town) so she felt it would be unfair to them if she just disappeared inside a clock because she didn't want to walk anymore. If Natsu was being carried by Happy, however, it'd be a much different story.

"Because of my motion sickness," Natsu replied happily, strutting ahead. Lucy shook her head at him. He wasn't even beginning to sweat, and she was close on wheezing. How could he be so content on foot?

"So where exactly are we going?" She asked again, not expecting an answer. Natsu had been very vague with his descriptions of the job, giving her next to no details. She didn't like that. So she'd been relying on her eyes to give her an idea of what this mission entailed. Taking in her surroundings had not been the most effective of plans though; first they'd passed through a forest, one she didn't recognize, and now were in a field with no town in sight.

"Seriously Natsu, where are we going?"

"The old Madison place!" Natsu answered at once, saying it as though it should have been obvious to her.

"The old Madison place?" She repeated, tilting her head to the side. "I've never heard of it. Why couldn't you have just told me that?"

"We didn't think you'd want to come," Natsu mused, glancing back at her mischievously. Lucy didn't like what usually followed that look, and she almost stopped herself from asking her next question.

Almost.

"Why wouldn't I want to come?" She asked cautiously. "It's just some old house right?"

"It's supposed to be… haunted!" Happy cooed, jumping suddenly to wave his paws in Lucy's face menacingly. She sucked in her breath. Definitely shouldn't have asked.

"H-Haunted?" She stammered. Her heart rate was rising exponentially. "Like… by ghosts?"

Happy nodded gravely, floating along beside her head. "The super scary kind," He elaborated, moving his paws in wild gestures that Lucy guessed were supposed to be frightening.

"Why do people say it's haunted?" She whispered. The field around them seemed to have fallen silent, echoing the beating of her own heart in her ears. Lucy's insides were churning with nerves, slowing her steps to a crawl.

"The locals hear noises," Happy explained, demonstrating a loud bumping sound that made Lucy jump. "And every once in a while, they call in a group of wizards to check it out… and they never come back!"

"N-Never?" Lucy's eyes were wide. There was a slight tremor in her voice that caused Natsu to glance back at her again, but she didn't notice.

"Not even once! They say the house is haunted by the ghost of old man Madison," Happy continued, lowering his voice to a whisper. "They say when he was alive he used to experiment on wizards like us…"

"…Experiment?" Lucy's throat was tight. She had trouble getting the words out. Her hand crept up to her heart, clenched in a tight fist to hide her shaking.

"Horrible, bloodthirsty experiments…" Happy suddenly jolted forward, ducking behind a rock that was coming up on their right. Peeking out over the top of it at Lucy, he continued "His favorite to experiment on was celestial wizards."

"Really?" Lucy gulped. She didn't realise it but she'd stopped moving, frozen in place with fear. Happy nodded.

"He would tie them up, cut them open, and eat their insides raw!" He exclaimed, "Just to see how they tasted with fish!"

Lucy let out a small squeal, missing the last comment about the fish that would've tipped her off to the exaggeration of Happy's story. Ahead of her, Natsu stopped walking and turned to face them.

"Happy, cut it out," He scolded. Lucy looked to him in surprise. He was looking at her with a comforting smile. "Madison was a theoretical magic user. He didn't go out in the field much; he just liked the history behind magic. His specialty was celestial spirits. When he passed, his house was preserved. Some of the locals heard noises from there the past few nights, so they wanted someone to check it out."

Lucy blinked at him. Happy had joined the two of them glumly, his ears drooping in disappointment. Natsu reached a hand out to Lucy, taking hers with a friendly squeeze. "Come on Luce; let's go kick some bad guy ass!"

Lucy smiled, returning his grip on her hand and starting at a light jog with him up the path.

It didn't take long for them to reach the Madison House. When Lucy saw it, she was slightly shocked. It was a quaint stone cottage on top of a hill, with miniature trees standing in a wide circle around the structure. It had a dusty look, but that was the only feature betraying its age. Not what she'd expect of a monumental residence.

"It's cute," Lucy commented in surprise. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years."

"Well then job done," Natsu smiled, stretching his arms above his head. She heard a pop as his shoulders rolled, shifting under the fabric of his open vest.

"No way," She crossed her arms, jutting her hips to one side. "We've come this far, we're going in there." She gestured to the house a few feet away from them. "This job was your idea, and you're not bailing now."

"What happened to being scared?" One of Natsu's eyes opened, his gaze shifting lazily to her. Her cheeks flushed.

"That was Happy's fault!" Lucy shrieked, gesturing wildly to the little blue cat. He grinned at her maliciously. "Now you dragged me on this job and we're going to finish it!"

"Ok, ok," Natsu sighed, shaking out his body after his stretch. "Let's do this quickly and get home. I'm hungry!"

They approached the door slowly, not wanting to alert any possible burglars of their presence. Happy hung back, munching on a fish he'd brought with him for snacks. Lucy had rolled her eyes, but didn't argue with him.

The door was wooden, rotten, and dusty. It looked like it was untouched, but that didn't rule out the possibility of someone breaking in another way. Lucy pressed her ear to the door, listening intently for any signs of life.

"I don't hear anything," She stated after a few seconds of silence. "Maybe we should wait a bit longer. Stake it out."

"Or we could bust in and ambush them!" Natsu suggested, firing up his fists. The fire spread to his eyes, and it was easy to see the energy radiating off him in waves. Lucy jumped on the idea quickly to squash it.

"Ambush what? We don't know if anyone's in there!" Lucy's voice was exasperated. Natsu looked discouraged, but extinguished his flames and considered her words very briefly.

"True, but if we burst in and no one's there we can just go home!"

"Really, that's your logic?" She groaned. "Ok, I say we go in through the window. That way we have less of a chance of tipping someone off that we've been here. We scope it out, see if anything's off about the place, and if not we bail. If so we go from there. Sound good to you?"

Natsu's shoulders slumped, but he nodded. Standing there in that defeated stance reminded Lucy of a child hearing his idea isn't plausible. She couldn't help but smile.

The window was opened, indicating to Lucy that maybe someone had been here recently; why would an old abandoned house like this have an open window? Storing the oddity in the back of her mind, Lucy fell to the aged floor with a soft thump, Natsu beside her.

The room they were in now was small, but organized. It looked like a kitchen with places for a stove and fridge on either end of what seemed to be a sink. The place had a coating of dust about an inch thick, and mold had begun to grow in some places. It didn't seem to be very well preserved, Lucy thought to herself.

She and Natsu began to move from room to room then, giving each a quick once over. Nothing of Madison's house stood out as strange or special; Lucy began to question the legitimacy of Natsu's information. There was a single bedroom, a bathroom, the kitchen they were in previously, and a small living room.

"It doesn't seem like anyone's been snooping…" Lucy trailed, examining the faded pattern on the old couch. "The only footprints around are ours. Maybe it was an animal or something?"

"Wouldn't they leave footprints too?" Natsu argued, coming up behind Lucy to look at the couch. He looked puzzled, like he was trying to figure out the significance of the piece of furniture. Lucy giggled to herself, deciding to leave him wondering.

The living room was dotted with pictures of sunsets and beaches, animals and faceless people. Lucy looked at each one in turn, deciding they were nothing of significance- just a random batch of pictures. She moved onto her next thought train.

"Oh yeah, I guess they would…" She said, answering Natsu's previous question. Her gaze fell to the battered rug beneath their feet. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. "Hey Natsu help me lift this." She gestured to the floor, gripping two of the corners. Natsu caught on to her plan, gripping the other corners and lifting the rug onto the couch. A cloud of dust and debris surrounded them, causing Lucy to cough viciously. When the dirt settled, she began to feel around the wooden floor. It didn't seem out of the ordinary.

"Hmm, I guess I was wrong…" She bit her lip. It was tempting to leave the house now and call it a day, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something. Finally, she sighed and stood.

"Maybe there really is nothing here," Lucy admitted, hanging her head. "I don't know what these people were hearing, but it's nothing I can see here."

Natsu raised his eyebrows. "You're done already? We haven't even checked the basement!"

Lucy balked. "…Base…ment?"

Natsu placed his hand on one of the paintings on the wall, pressing in. The wall shook violently and then collapsed to reveal a spiral stone staircase littered with leaves and spider webs. Lucy's jaw dropped.

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS THE WHOLE TIME?!" Natsu scratched his head, chuckling sheepishly.

The basement was dark and dank, leaving a bad taste in Lucy's mouth from the heavy air. Her footsteps resonated loudly off the bare walls, hurting even her own ears. They didn't have to descend far to reach the bottom of the stairs, thankfully, but it plunged them into almost complete darkness.

Lucy felt around for something to center her, allow her to position herself. The walls were made of slick stone, cold beneath her palm. She shuddered and exhaled sharply, sure that if there were light she'd be able to see her breath.

All of a sudden the room burst to life around her, a warm glow bouncing off the various objects in the room. Natsu stood behind her, his hand illuminated in a flickering flame. He stepped closer to her, holding the warmth between them comfortably. Lucy smiled at him gratefully, her shoulders relaxed in the absence of cold.

"What the…" Natsu trailed, glancing around the room in confusion. Lucy followed his gaze, taking in the mess of their surroundings. Unlike the rest of the house, the basement was cluttered and utterly unorganized. There were only a desk and bookshelf in the small round room, but books were thrown about the floor precariously. Some were large and bound in leather, others small and bound in paper. Each book was unique in size and shape it seemed, even the odd round book popped up every few feet.

"What in the world?" Lucy gasped, bending to pick up one of the mistreated books. Its pages were dry and cracked, something expected of old books. The letters were still crisp and dark, easily legible.

"Looks like someone was busy," Natsu quirked an eyebrow, kicking a pile of books near his foot. Lucy gave him a hard look. "Well other than the fact that Madison wasn't as big of a neat freak as I thought, this was a bust. Let's go get the money and bail."

"Hold on," Lucy held up a hand. Natsu sighed, his features collapsing in impatience. Lucy ignored him, her attention on one of the books. There was something off about it, something that didn't sit with her. She chewed her lip in concentration whilst trying to tune out Natsu's exaggerated sighs. She fingered one of the pages thoughtfully and as she did, something clicked.

"Wait a minute!" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Natsu stumbled, taken aback by her outburst. "These books! They weren't left here by Madison!"

Natsu blinked at her.

"The pages," Lucy explained, brandishing the book towards him excitedly. "They're crisp and clean, the words are really easy to read. If it had been left open like this the whole time, the pages would be damp and almost illegible." She could see the wheels turning in Natsu's head; his black eyes were focused and unwavering, the way they were when he was lost in thought. "Someone's been in here Natsu, I'm sure of it."

Natsu straightened, glancing over his shoulder at the mess around them with a new perspective. "If that's true then they were probably looking for something."

"You're probably right. The question is: did they find it?" There was one book left on the shelf untouched, and Lucy zoned in on it now. It didn't look any different from the other books, perhaps a bit newer but nothing extraordinary. It struck her as odd that the people who ransacked this place would leave one lonely book on the shelf untouched. She was drawn to it, reaching for the leather bound pages.

"It's a long shot," She muttered to herself, recognizing the title as a semi-recent history of a town north of Magnolia, "But it could be something…" She plucked the book off the shelf lightly, easing the cover open with a resounding pop.

She felt the magic before she saw it, flinging the book away from her just as it exploded into a bright white cascade of ash.

The room shook with the force of the blow, the shelf toppling and bits of stone falling to the floor around her. Lucy heard Natsu yell as she dove to the floor, covering her head with her arms. The part of the wall where the book made impact was now gone, a gaping jaw of a hole left in its place. The hole went about two feet into the surrounding soil.

For a while all Lucy could see was smoke, dust, and the occasional piece of rubble clouding the air. She coughed into her arm, trying desperately to get a decent breath. Finally the air began to settle, giving her a visual on Natsu just inches from her.

"Are you ok?" She choked, clearing the dirt from her throat. Natsu shook his head angrily, leaping to his feet.

"Alright come on!" He roared, his fists flaring. "Come out you bastard! A rigged lacrima is the most cowardly trick in the book!"

Lucy glanced to where she'd thrown the book and, sure enough, there were tiny shards of crystal embedded amongst the rocks.

"Come out and fight face to face!" Natsu was still yelling; his feet were spread and his knees bent, his fists and jaw clenched for action. Lucy propped herself up on her elbows, waiting for someone to answer Natsu's challenge. No one did.

"I don't think anyone's here," She offered, pushing herself to her feet. "Whoever set that lacrima is long gone by now."

"Damn," Natsu muttered, extinguishing his flames once again. He took a second to collect himself, pursing his lips in thought.

Silence filled the room, leaving Lucy to her thoughts. She looked at the lacrima pieces, the hole in the wall, and the horribly mangled remains of the basement. "What on earth was this guy looking for?" She wondered aloud, more to herself than to Natsu.

"I don't know," He answered anyway, turning to her with a determined grin, "But I'm going to find out."

And there's chapter one! Comments, questions, concerns? Drop me a review! I read each and every one carefully :)