Disclaimer: All things used or mentioned from Fairy Tail go to the rightful owners of Fairy Tail. We do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 2
Shattered Things and Stolen Glass

"Why are these boxes so heavy?" Nina Kiplier complained setting the so called box down.

"Hey it was YOUR idea to rearrange Spade's office."
Toberio Maximay muttered annoyed, picking up the box Nina left. Lucas Spade was the Phoenix Lantern Guild Master who was always complaining about re arranging his office because it had "too much stuff" which wasn't entirely a lie. The walls were completely littered with old posters of bands no one has ever heard of. Once they got the posters cleared it was revealed that each wall was painted a different primary color. Actually Lucas had zero pieces of real furniture in his work space. Chairs were just unpacked boxes with cheap cushions that were losing their stuffing. More unpacked boxes were used as side tables with pointless mounds of touristy souvenirs and ancient looking bottles of liquor. It appeared that he was a hoarder.

"Geez how many CDs does this guy have?" Nina said examining a CD with the letters CTSREES written in black marker.
"I wonder what it stands for." Nina carelessly tossed the CD on the wooden floor.

"Probably nothing." Rio said struggling with the two huge boxes Nina had dumped on him.
"Nina, are you going to help or are you going to snoop though his old crap?" He nearly dropped the boxes.

"Fine I'll help." Nina said wiping invisible sweat from her forehead. She pirouetted across the room flipping her long pink hair humming loudly.

"Hey Rio?"

"Yes."

"Is this a chicken?" The pinkette asked shoving a small plastic painted chicken like thing in his face. Apparently Lucas was chicken obsessed.

"I DON'T KNOW NINA! HELP ME WITH THIS BOX!" Rio yelled stumbling to the door, about to topple over.

"Geez fine." Nina said casually walking over.

"Is this the last box?"

"Yup." Rio ran his fingers through his curly pale blonde hair.

"So can I go now?" Nina giggled playing again with her hair.

"Yes sir! Now scoot I have work to do!" She said shoving Rio outside and slamming the door. He blew air through his teeth. Nina was always coming up with new "guild improvement" ideas. However she was about as creative and ambitious as a baby kangaroo at the local zoo. As such there were many traces of all her unfinished projects throughout the entire guild. He didn't know why he was helping her because it was just another one of her multitude of failed plans. He'd probably end up unpacking all the boxes when Spade got back from wherever.

Rio crossed the floor and made his way to the in-guild coffee shop known as Della's. The owner of the shop, Della Darkling was three months shy of 19 and always had a cheery disposition. Aside from that she was the poster girl for Phoenix Lantern, plus she made a kick butt cup of joe. Adding all of those qualities together you get a world renowned coffee shop. People came from all over Fiore just to get a taste of her culinary genius.

"Hey Dell, the usual please."
Rio said. The usual was plain and black. It was bitter but he liked it better that way. The shop currently was closed to the public but that didn't mean Della stopped working.

"Sure thing Toooby!" Della said placing a tiny piece of chocolate dipped biscotti into her mouth.

"That's not my name!" Rio practically yelled. He hated whenever anyone used any part of his full name, other than Rio of course.

"And anyways where is everyone today." he scanned the empty cafe noticing the absence of his fellow guild mates. It seemed that even the members that never went on jobs were currently absent at the moment

"Oh, there was a flood of people wanting missions today." Della muttered pouring the searing hot delicacy in a plastic cup with the words Della's Delights written in red cursive, with a picture of the Phoenix Lantern guild mark in the background.

"Not sure why though". She added in a sing-song voice tucking a stray piece of her short, dark chocolate brown hair back behind her ear.

"Did Nina finish yet?"

"N- no she didn't." Suddenly he caught a flash of dark brown hair from across the street.

"I have to go. Thanks."

"No problem~" Della said turning back to her biscotti breaking it into smaller pieces.
Rio quickened his pace.

"Belinda! Hey Belinda!" He said now at a full run and waving his hands like he was a crazy person. Any normal person would have thought that he was being chased by rabid wolves at the pace he was at. However the people who had lived in the town of Ranunculus long enough had grown accustomed to the odd tendencies of people in that area. Ranunculus was a town located in the perfect location. It had sun, happy people, and wealth. Most people came annually to the town's parade of flowers. As the name dictates, the citizens make huge and breathe taking floats to show off the local scenery. It almost said we're rich and beautiful just try to stop us.

He had caught Belinda just in time. She was about ready to step into a carriage, probably to go back to her apartment which was located at the opposite end of town.

"Oh hey Rio." She said completely unfazed.

"How's your hand?" he said digging the toe of his black loafers into the ground, kicking a tiny pebble.

"Fine no thanks to you." Belinda said pursing her lips.
The last mission the team went on together Belinda separated from the group and being the good guy Rio was he followed her which ultimately led to him tripping and knocking Belinda down a well.
Could she still be mad about that? He had apologized so many times he lost count.

"I'm sorry... Again." he said lowering his voice. He suddenly found his hand intriguing.

"You've said that." She said adjusting her wavy, long, brown hair.
"Doesn't change the fact that my hand is still swollen." She held up her left hand which was an unnatural shade of purple.
Ah it seems she was still mad.

"I thought Spade healed it?" Rio asked confused. Lucas had a special healing power that could heal bones and any other ailment you could think of.

"Yeah well, it doesn't reduce swelling." She said painfully stating the obvious. Her sapphire blue eyes suddenly lit up.

"Can I have that?" she said pointing to Rio's coffee.

"You see I have a killer headache and-"

"Take it." Rio said extending his arm.

"You didn't drink out of it did you?"

"No w-."

"Great!" She said cutting him off.

"You are the best!" She grabbed the coffee and shut the carriage door.

Rio had a crush on Belinda for as long as he could remember. He loved the way she laughed, her hair, her eyes, the way she punched. The whole enchilada. Sadly, she never seemed to pick up on it.
Could it be all the girls he serial dated? No of course not. Besides he didn't like any of them, or at least the way he liked her.
He shook his head shuddering at the thought of her with someone else.

"Yo." A voice called snapping him out of his love sick daze. It was Dia Roselyn, one of his team mates. She came from an incredibly wealthy family of lawyers who owned at least half of the town.
On top of it all they were obsessed with roses; it was almost a little creepy. She had a smug look on her face. Could she have seen?
Her long black hair was blowing in the wind. He waved his hand acknowledging her greeting.

"It's cold today huh?" Rio said staring into the distance.

"Yeah. It is." Dia replied messing with her rose red pin on the lapel of her white blazer.

"What brings you here?" Guess she hadn't seen. He inwardly breathed out a sigh of relief. If she had seen he wouldn't hear the end of it. She was the only person who wasn't completely dense so she had figured out the Belinda thing quite easily. Must be from all the detective books she read religiously.

"Umm library." Dia said thrusting her box of books upwards so that they made a little thud sound.
"My mom wanted me to drop these off. I better get going."

"Kay later." he said too preoccupied with the thought of Belinda.

"What? No harassment today Blondie?" Rio and Dia were constantly bickering about something. It ranged from the color of the sky to why bugs flew. The two were constantly at each other about anything and everything. This conversation was as friendly as it got between the two of them.

"Nope you got lucky." he said back grinning.

"Whatever." She said turning around giving a small half wave to signify that the conversation was over.
Whew. He had just dodged a huge bullet. It was a little cold out. He shivered a little. He reached inside of his pocket and dug out a small box of pills. If he didn't have some form of caffeine he usually got a huge migraine so he was preparing since he had just given his lifeline for the day to Belinda.

He walked a few blocks down the road to a little antique store. It had no specific name and it always had some cool old magic items for sale. You just had to look hard enough. He entered the little shop and a bell at the top of the door jingled. It smelt oriental and woody mixed with dust. Most of the stuff in here was older than him. He loved this place. All of the old items were intriguing to him. He had stumbled across this place a few years back after a mission. Since that day he had been hooked on the quaint, eerie charm it had.

"Hello?" An elderly lady called from the back of the store.

"Oh Ms. Nadie, It's me Rio." He said turning his attention to the source of the voice.

"Oh hello dear! If you see anything you like let me know!"
She was the grandmother of Auden Maksimov another one of his team mates. Her husband had passed away a few years ago in a carriage crash. She was a sweet old lady but she had an odd habit of talking to inanimate objects or animals. For example she had a pet grey hound named Sir Marbles the eighth and she was always talking to it. This lady was the definition of animal whisperer. You had to feel sorry for her that her dog was her only source of entertainment and company. Rio thought it was weird but since she was nice enough he let it slide.
Auden had once mentioned that she was a talented Mage at one time. It was almost hard to believe but completely believe able at the same time. Such a strange character like Ms. Nadie had to have some tricks up her sleeve.

Rio turned to see a whole shelf full of old dolls and puppets. Most had cracks or were missing parts of their faces. It was eerily silent.
Where had Ms. Nadie gone? Probably to the basement.
The eyes seemed to be watching his every move. He spun back around on his heel making sure to avoid eye contact with the dolls. The first thing he saw was a lone doll in the back of the aisle. It bared a striking resemblance to Dia.

Perfect. She hated dolls and one that looked like her was sure to freak her out. He made his way over and picked up the mini porcelain replica. A sly grin spread across his face. He brushed his fingers through its bushy black hair. As he was admiring his genius plan, his ring got caught.
As he finally got it untangled, all of a sudden the Dia replica's neck slid off onto the floor smashing into a million pieces. He muttered curses under his breath as he hurriedly kicked the pieces under a nearby rug. Rio examined the headless doll. Inside was a necklace. It looked rather expensive and had a magic-esque feel to it. He slipped it under his coat and made his exit.

He had just stolen a necklace.
Holy. Crap. He was going to be in so much trouble. Panicking, he staggered as far as he could away from that shop as possible.

"Yo Rio." a light pleasant voice called casually. His breathing turned sharp.

"Hey Auden." he answered staring down at his feet. Suddenly an idea struck him.

"Here you go!" Rio stuck his hand out holding the stolen merchandise.

"What is it?" Auden question placing his hands on his hips and cocking his head to the side. He looked kind of like a lost puppy.

"Necklace I think. Give it to Dia or whatever. I have to go." he slumped over and walked at a pace that could have been considered a slight jog.

"Thanks?" Auden said, confusion laced into his single word.
Yes. He had gotten away with it. He closed his eyes hoping he hadn't just jinxed it. He listened to see if Auden was still tailing him with follow up questions. Rio hoped that he wasn't in a "Detective" mood today. No sound, just a mixture of wind and typical sounds that one heard in a small town.
Yes, he had gotten away with it.

Author's Note!
Hey y'all it's Ruby! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also Brie is writing the next two chapters for her characters.
If you feel ever so inclined please review! I would enjoy tips in how I can make my writing better!
Love ya Kidlings,
~Ruby V. |:3