The room was silent, I could feel a tear forming in my eye, but I tried to choke down my emotions for the moment, I still was unfamiliar with the Fairy Tail guild, even if I had been researching their members since Lucy ran away from home. The Pink haired boy, Natsu Dragneel, or "The Salamander", can I trust him? My mind felt like it was going to explode from what I was thinking, but I could tell that Natsu was trying to pick me apart as well, assess if I was a threat or not. Lucy was broke the silence, "I don't have any siblings, I've been an only child since birth, give me one reason that I should believe what you say?"

"Why should you believe me?" I said as if I didn't understand the question, I was caught off guard by her disbelief. I opened my mouth, but I didn't have anything to say, how was I supposed to convince her of our relationship? Then it came to me, "Jude and Layla Heartfilia had one thing that they treasured more than anything else, a small golden locket, it is inscribed with two words. On the front it says Love and on the back…"

"... it says Lucky…" Lucy finished and pulled out a small, golden, heart shaped locket from around her neck. The exact locket that I had described, I didn't think she would have it in her possession and was shocked that she was wearing it. "I was given this on my third birthday by my mother and father, how did you know what it was and what it said?"

"Because, like I said, I'm your older brother."

"He's telling the truth, he smells just like you and your father." Natsu commented. I had almost forgotten he was in the room because of how quiet he had been, "Lucy, this guy is your brother, but I have one question. Why didn't you try and find her sooner?"

I explained my story of being kidnapped and killing the leader of the dark guild. They both sat quietly listening intently, holding onto each word and trying to understand why I had chosen now to return to Lucy.

"... and that is why I can't let my sister be at risk anymore, I want to be by her side so that I can protect her and be there for all the time I wasn't before." Just as I finished the door to my room opened and 5 people walked in. Well, three people walked in and two cats walked with them talking with each other about catching some bandits.

"Oh you guys are back, how was the last job?" Natsu said to the group of people who just walked in. They smiled back at him and the tall red-haired girl replied, "It was all right, I see the patient is getting better, good job Wendy."

"Oh it was no problem, I was just happy to be of help once in a while." The short blue haired one replied. She was young, she must be the sky-dragon slayer, Wendy Marvel. The red-haired one was confident and wearing armor, Erza Scarlet, Titania.

"Oh come on Wendy, those guys would have gotten away if you hadn't been there to block the exit." The boy with black hair, Gray Fullbuster, he didn't seem to be the strange boy that people had described. He was wearing a collared jacket and pants, not really the image of a stripper that people had talked of.

"Well, is he well enough to come on a job, or does he still not feel well?" Erza asked Natsu.

"How am I supposed to know, why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Well how do you feel… sorry I don't think I ever caught your name."

"Oh, me. I'm Jake Heartfilia, Lucy's older brother." I said. Wendy and Gray both turned toward me with shocked looks on their faces, but Erza just stared at me and nodded.

"I can see the resemblance, but that doesn't answer my question, are you feeling well enough to go on a job?"

"I don't know, I feel fine, but I haven't even tried. Why do you want me to go on a job?"

"To test your skills, I want to assess if what Romeo said is true?" I was shocked, Romeo seeing me use my abilities had completely slipped my mind, did everyone know about my abilities?

"So you just want to see what I can do?" I paused to think if I should reveal how much I

can do. I could feel the immense amount of power that Natsu, Gray, and Erza each possessed, if I made the wrong move they might find me an enemy. "Why not, I feel much better and would love to get to know each of you a little better."

"Then its settled, we'll all go on a job together, but we want to see what you can do Jake, we're only there if you can't handle it. Alright lets get going."

"Aye sir!" The blue cat yelled.

"What, the cat can talk?"

"We aren't cats, we are a highly advanced race known as the Exceeds." The white female cat said.

"Don't mind her, we are cats. I'm Happy and she's Carla, nice to meet you Jake." Happy said to me, he smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Well now that we have that settled, lets pick a job to go on." Natsu said and ran out of the room, each of them followed behind him until it was only me and Lucy in the room.

It was quiet, she hadn't said anything since I she had brought out the locket, she hadn't stopped looking at it since then. "Why didn't they tell me, why keep it a secret that I had a brother?" she said in a quiet voice, she was shaky and I could tell she didn't understand everything that was happening so quickly.

"They loved you and they thought I was dead, I think they wanted to put my memory behind them. I'm so sorry I wasn't there in the past, but I was always keeping tabs on you and dad. I wanted to be there to stop him from hiring that guild to kidnap you, or when he lost all his fortune." I started crying, but it was no use trying to stop. I wanted to confess everything to her and try to make thing right. "I will never stop trying to protect you, but if you want me to leave after this job I'll understand. I will return to the shadows and never bother you again."

"Why would I want that?" She began crying, but she had a grin on her face. "You're the only family I have left, I'm going to keep you close to me forever, we are the Heartfilia Heir, it is our responsibility to bring honor to our family name."

I got up and hugged her, this was my purpose, to protect her and restore the honor that once belonged to our family.

"Well they are waiting for us, I guess we should get going." Lucy stood up and wiped her eyes and smiled. "Are you coming?"

"Of course." I smiled and followed her out the door.