Lucy Hearthphilia sat in front of the bar of the famous guild, "Fairy Tail", after doing a long and tiring job. She was now chatting with Mira, Lisanna, and Levy. Erza ate her strawberry cake, Natsu and Gray were fighting, Juvia watched Gray, Cana drank beer straight from the barrel with Macao and Wakaba beside her, Laxus, the Raijinshuu, Gajeel, and Panther lily were at the second floor of the guild minding their own business, Alzack and Bisca were spending some time with Asuka, and Elfman kept ranting on things about being a "man". Yes, it was just another ordinary day at the guild. It was already nightfall, and most of the guild members had already left. But then, the master came out of his office and stood at the bar, calling everyone's attention.

"What's wrong master?" Mirajane asked. He simply ignored her and started explaining.

"The council-" he was however cut off, by none other than Team Natsu.

"It was Natsu's fault! He did it!" Gray yelled.

"What?" Natsu looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, blame him! Not the whole team!" Lucy shouted.

"Not you too, Lucy!"

"Aye!"

"Master! I'm sorry!" Erza fell to her knees and bowed at the wizard saint in shame. "I wasn't able to stop Natsu in time! So please forgive us for destroying the entire city of Hargeon!"

"Wait, I didn't say any- YOU DESTROYED THE ENTIRE CITY OF HARGEON?" The master shouted in disbelief.

"Oh, dear." Mira smiled at them.

"It was Natsu's fault!" Gray and Lucy said in unison.

"It was their fault too!" Natsu defended himself.

"Aye!"

"Forgive us!" Erza yelled, still on her knees.

"Wait a minute! I haven't heard of this yet!" The master said feeling like breaking down into tears after finding out what they did.

"Y-you haven't?" they sweat dropped.

"No!"

". . ."

"It would be best if you were to forget everything we had said." Erza was back to her feet again, regaining her usual calm and confident expression. They sweat dropped.

"Fine. I will forget about it for now." The master replied.

"You will?" the whole guild shouted in shock.

"You will?" Erza shouted after them. But she immediately regained her initial behavior. "I-I mean, thank you master. It will not happen again."

"But only because I want you to do me a favor." he said. All the attention was back on him; even Cana had stopped drinking to see what was going on.

"The Council has sent us a very special job. Do this . . . "The master started explaining. "And the guild would be given 20 million jewels!" his eyes started to shine at the thought of the huge reward.

"20 million jewels?" they yelled in shock. Indeed, it was a really high reward.

"The ones who will be going are Natsu, Grey, Erza, Lucy, Laxus, Mira, Elfman, Lisanna, Juvia, and Gajeel. Each one of you will be given 500,000 jewels after completing this mission."

"Fine with me!" Natsu yelled.

"Alright! Let's do it!" Gray said.

"It does have a pretty high reward." Lucy commented.

"As you wish, master." Erza replied.

"Why not?" Mira said to her siblings who only smiled in reply.

"If it wasn't for the reward money, I wouldn't be going." Laxus said.

Gajeel only 'hmph'-ed and then said: "I won't be enjoying this since I'd have to work with a bunch of idiots."

Juvia, on the other hand, was only glad that she would be with her beloved Gray-sama.

The master grinned that they would happily go on the mission. Other than that, the guild would still have 15 million jewels after giving them their share.

"Well then, come with me to my office." He said leading them the way. When they were all inside, he started explaining the mission to them.

"A dark guild from another country is reported to be entering Fiore. They are said to be a very dangerous guild and there had been dark rumors about them. In order to prevent any chaos from disrupting, the council had requested a guild to take it down and have its master sent to them." he explained. "The guild's master is very mysterious. I've heard that he was a very powerful mage but no one knows what kind of magic he uses. He appears to never fight anyone no matter what, therefore concealing the identity of his magical power."

"That's strange." Gray said. "Then how come you don't just capture him? He never uses his magic or fight back, after all."

"He has very powerful bodyguards."

"Body guards?" Happy asked.

"So they're like Laxus and the Raijinshuu?" Natsu asked.

"Well, yes. But I hear they are much more stronger than those three. There are rumors about that group. They call themselves: 'The Family of Malevolence'."

"Family of Malevolence?" Gajeel wondered out loud.

"Yes, they are very similar to the 7 kin of Purgatory. But they are much more sinister." The master's eyes darkened. "That guild started traveling around the world for the past 5 years and wherever they go the Family of Malevolence would cause chaos. They destroyed homes, caused countless people to suffer and die, stole, and I hear they've been so close to ruling a country 5 years ago. But the master had gotten bored and then decided to leave that kingdom."

"How terrible!" Lucy said.

"The rumors about those body guards are a bit odd. The leader of the Family of Malevolence is said to be called the 'Dark Angel' or simply 'Angel' for short."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"Well, she is said to be: 'The woman with the body of a human and the soul of an angel'." The master said as he started telling them the rumors. "'Make her angry and she will send you to God's judgment', 'The Angel of death and corruption, she follows the orders of her master who has a soul of a demon', 'Angelic looks and angelic powers, but she has a demonic heart.', 'She would make you experience your worst nightmare'."

"She sounds pretty strong." Natsu said.

"What about the others?" Erza asked.

"Well, let's see . . . 'The underlings of the Dark Angel', they are known as 'Robust', 'Rapid', and 'Enigma'."

"What's with those names?" Laxus asked.

"Robust, Rapid, and Enigma . . ." Lucy recited. "Strength, Speed, and Mystery?"

"Yes. 'Chaos will reign wherever they go',' 'They are the subordinate of Death', 'If you see them, you won't be living any longer', 'The signs of Death'."

"They're feared that much?" Gajeel asked.

"Yes, they are."

"So you think that we can take them down?" Mira asked.

"Of course I do!"

"Well then, what's the name of their guild, master?" Mira asked, curious.

"I believe it was called the Rayless Vile." he said. Lucy's eyes widened in shock. The Rayless Vile. She knew that guild.

"Anyways, your mission will start in two days 6 am sharp. Be at the guild by 6 or don't be here at all!" he told them.

"Oh, and this is the last time I should ever hear of this, I don't want to hear any trouble of who wants to go and who doesn't." he added while yelling before having them leave his office. The guild members started talking about the job request and how high the reward money was.

"Man, imagine what we can buy with that kind of money!" Natsu yelled.

"Aye, Sir! We can buy a lot of fish!" Happy said.

"You weren't mentioned. So you won't get the 500 grand." Gray deadpanned and Happy started sulking in a corner. This caused another fight to break between Natsu and Gray.

"I could buy a new set of armor!" Erza said to herself, not noticing the two who were quarreling behind her.

They were all excited about the mission except for Lucy. The Rayless Vile was an incredibly dangerous guild. More than any of them could imagine.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" Mira suddenly asked, making her flinch. "You've been awfully quiet. Is there something wrong? Aren't you excited about the job?"

"Ah, of course I am, Mira-san!" she said with a radiating smile. A radiating yet forced smile. "Ah, I gotta go. I just remembered that there was a new bookstore in town and I wanted to check it out. Well, see you tomorrow!" she said waving goodbye and ran out of the guild.

"Ah, see you tomorrow, Lucy!" Mira called out at her blonde friend's retreating figure.

As soon as the guild was out of sight, Lucy sat on a bench at the park. Her eyes were still wide on shock. She couldn't believe it. After all these years, she didn't think that she'd ever come across that guild again. Ever since that incident . . .

Suddenly Lucy remembered three blonde girls and one blonde boy from her childhood. She covered her face with her hands. No, she had to be strong. She needed to move on. She slowly recalled a short memory from when she was still a child.

FLASHBACK

Lucy was running down the halls of a great mansion. She was looking for some people and she wanted to find them quick. She ran faster and stopped in front of a wooden double-door room. She opened it and saw three older blonde girls and a blonde boy who was the same age as her. The room was very big and had a lot of space, but there were only a few chairs and a couch inside. And at one side of the room, there was a big classical piano.

"Ah, Lucy. You're awake." The eldest of the group, a tall young woman, said. She was wearing a plain white gown that reached above her ankles and matching white high heeled shoes. On her head was a tiara with diamonds. It looked like she was reading a book before Lucy entered. The second eldest, who was 15, was wearing a pink and purple frilly gown that was long and it didn't reveal her shoes, she was also holding a pink fan and her hair was tied with matching pink ribbons.

"Why are you wearing those clothes?" she asked pointing at her dress with the fan. Lucy looked at her clothes. It was a black dress with dark blue laces that reached below her knees. She was wearing blue shoes with white socks and her hair was tied up to the side with a blue ribbon. Lucy looked up to the older girl with confused eyes. That was when the third blonde girl stepped in the conversation. She was wearing a plain black dress with her hair held back with a matching black hairband. Her dress only reached her knees and revealed her black combat boots. She was almost as tall as the second girl so it's unbelievable to know that she's only twelve.

"I picked it out for her. As I thought, it really suits ya, Luce!" she said patting Lucy's head. The 15 year-old girl got annoyed and smacked her in the head. "Don't turn her into a gothic bitch like you!" she shouted. The girl rubbed her head and glared at the older woman.

"What'd you call me?"

"Stop it." the blonde boy spoke up. Unlike the four girls, he was dressed in a rather casual kind of attire. He was wearing blue shorts and a plain black t-shirt. His hair was messy and ruffled and his hands were in his pocket. He was 10 years old, the same age as Lucy.

"The both of you should really stop fighting already. Especially so early in the morning." he said.

"I agree with Lucas. Jade, Joan, the two of you should really stop fighting." the eldest of them said.

"Well, I understand the clothing but what's with the way your hair is tied?" the girl with the fan, whose name is Jade asked confused. Joan shrugged.

"Ah, well . . ." eyes were on Lucas. They all had a look of confusion on their faces. Lucas shrugged.

"She asked me to tie her hair and, well . . . that's the best I can do." he replied. Jade groaned and the eldest girl slapped her forehead.

"I think its fine though." Lucy said.

"Yeah, it saves the trouble." Joan added. Lea got more annoyed and looked at the woman older than her. But she simply shrugged.

"Well, I must say that her taste in fashion is a bit odd, but you must admit that she's not the only one in here who's . . . well, weird."

Lucas chuckled. "Yeah, Jade, you're weird cause you dress like a clown."

"I do not!" Jade yelled at him.

They began to laugh.

"Like I said, you're not the only one." she repeated.

And they all started to laugh again, this time, with Jade joining along.

END FLASHBACK

Lucy smiled sadly. Those were some of the greatest days of her childhood. She had so many happy memories with them, yet remembering those happy memories was so painful. She remembered the woman whole-heartedly. Leila. She had smiled, but then frowned at another memory.

Rayless Vile. Lucy frowned as she remembered the name. 'Don't worry you guys, I will . . .' she thought as she stood up. 'Along with everyone else, I will . . .' She felt tears form in her eyes as remembered the four of them. How she missed them so much. Rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times to keep her tears from falling, she left.

Instead of going home, she headed towards the library she had told Mira about, unaware of the unwanted visitors that were currently at her apartment.