Levy fidgeted in her seat, letting out a huff of impatience and annoyance; she crossed her legs, and then a moment later, uncrossed them again. She leaned back, her spine causing the old rickety chair she was sat in to creak quietly.

Lucy, who was sitting beside Levy, was just as restless. She was tapping her foot repetitively, giving the table a little shake or jolt every so often with her knee. Her body was leaning over the table, her elbows on the hard wood, her chin in her palm. She began to drum her fingers against her cheek lightly.

Both girls stared down at the enormous book, expressions dejected.

Lucy glared down at the pages, running her eyes over the inner edge of the spine, over the little remains of the ripped pages. Those few missing pages…god, they irritated her. The fact that she couldn't figure out who'd stolen them was really starting to piss her off. What was the reasoning, the purpose? She had to figure it out. She was sure that this mystery was going to drive her berserk.

Levy let out a groan, letting her torso slide down; her forehead hit the table with a dull thump. "Ugh—maybe we should just ask everyone. You think that would work?"

"You think they'd willingly tell us?" Lucy muttered, letting out a heavy breath. "After going through all of the trouble of stealing pages out of a book, you think they'd just come forward if we asked?"

"No," Levy replied dully. "But I'm desperate."

Lucy nodded. "Me too. I just can't think of any sort of way to figure it out—there's way too many guildmembers to question individually, and we can't exactly ask the whole group, not if we are hoping someone actually steps forward…"

"This is hopeless! All we've got is a torn up book. If only the library tracked who entered and exited, at least we'd have a lead."

"That would've been nice." Lucy began to think, her mind running over the concept Levy had mentioned. A way to track who came into the library, who took out books…sure, they didn't have that set up, but in theory, there was a way to tell who used each book….

Lucy straightened up, eyes wide. "Wait!" She cried turning to look at her friend; Levy jumped at the sudden noise. "Do you think, maybe, we could check for fingerprints? I mean, it's not like this book is popular—maybe we could catch some fingerprints, do some comparisons, and figure out all of the people who've recently touched the book. From there, we could narrow it down. That's possible, isn't it?"

Levy's gaze scanned the room as she listened to Lucy brainstorm. She blinked, a determined little frown tugging at her eyebrows. After a long moment, she murmured out, "I mean…it's definitely possible. I'm not positive we'll find any prints, but we can sure try." She looked at Lucy. "How'd you think of that?"

Lucy shrugged, trying to contain her smile. "You said something about tracking book usage—it just got me thinking."

"You're a genius!"

"So, what exactly will we need to do this?" Lucy inquired, relying more on Levy's know-how and expertise. "I've never looked for prints before."

"It's relatively easy, actually. We just need a few items—I'm sure the lab downstairs will have them."

The celestial mage shook her head, still shocked as to how expansive the guild was. "This place has a lab?"

Levy grinned. "Yeah! I go down there to do experiments in my spare time. You're free to join me!"

"That would be so much fun!" Lucy gushed, unable to hide her smile.

Lucy could tell already that her and Levy were going to be great friends. They just clicked. They were kindred spirits.

The girls dashed down to the laboratory in the basement of the guild hall, going through drawers and cabinets in search of a few basic ingredients: iodine crystals, a large container, and starch water. After about a half hour rummaging through the lab's cabinets, they located everything they needed, and ran back up the library to get to work.

"The hardest part in our case is to find a sample that we think will contain fingerprints. I don't particularly want to risk pulling the book apart and testing each and every page for fingerprints, so I thought it might be easier to do it in bulk." Levy set everything on the table, organizing it as she spoke.

"That's possible?"

"Of course it is!" Levy pulled on some gloves, offering Lucy a pair. "We just needed to find a container large enough to fit the book. It took a bit of digging, but I think this bin will do."

Lucy nodded, snapping the gloves onto her hands. "So, what now?"

"First, we take our iodine crystals and dump a small amount into the bottom of our container." Levy unscrewed the cap and shook a few of the black chunks out into the bin. "Now, we place the book in the container on top of these crystals."

Lucy lifted the book up, groaning at its weight. She plopped it into the container, then gave a nod to her science partner. "All good."

"Now—" Levy began, hauling the lid of the container up and snapping it on, "We enclose the book in the container with the crystals." She turned to Lucy. "Now, go get Natsu."

Lucy frowned, lips pouting out. "Natsu? Why?"

Levy rolled her eyes. "I'll explain when he's here. Just go fetch him really quick—but don't tell him what it's about."

"Why not?"

"Everyone's a suspect, Lucy! Get your head in the game!"

"Ah, right," Lucy said with a fierce nod. "What was I thinking?"

She ducked out of the library, quickly making her way through the massive corridors; she jogged down the enormous staircase, scanning the hall below. The place was packed; she ran her eyes over the crowds, hoping she'd be able to find the boy quickly.

For whatever reason, she felt like they were close to figuring the mystery out, and she didn't want to halt that progress even a little bit.

After about a minute or two of searching, Lucy finally located the boy; he was currently in the middle of a threeway brawl between himself, Gray, and Gajeel. Lucy huffed out a sigh, knowing he wouldn't be happy that she was interrupting, but trudged forwards anyways, desperate to solve the mystery of the missing pages.

A circle had formed around the battle, and people were shouting out advice, chanting the boys' names in excitement. Lucy butted through, squeezing between people, practically falling into the middle of the little battle arena they'd created.

"Gah!" Lucy hissed, ducking as a fireball flew above her, nearly hitting her square in the face.

The fireball was followed by a quick, "Whoops! Sorry, Luce!"

Lucy turned, letting out a cry of exasperation. The boys were all wailing on one another, throwing fireballs and ice knives and iron pellets, screaming out insults and battle cries.

"Natsu," Lucy said, voice a little weaker than she would've liked. She'd intended to be strong and demand he comply with her wishes, but she hadn't expected him to be in the middle of a fight like this. In fact, she was a little worried for her safety right now. The boys were tumbling closer, brawling at maximum speed. "I need you to come with me."

She couldn't see his face, but she heard his reply. "Uh, little busy Luce."

A chunk of ice whizzed by her head. Lucy let out a whimper. This was where she was going to die, she could feel it. "It's kind of an emergency."

Natsu's head poked up as he caught Gajeel in a chokehold. "Can it wait 'till after?"

The corners of Lucy's lips turned completely downwards. "Levy said you need to come right now."

Gajeel perked up. "Levy? What's that little shrimp want?"

Natsu scowled down at Gajeel, tightening his hold on his throat. "Shut up, idiot." He turned and kicked Gray in the crotch, and then glanced back at Lucy. "Are you gonna interrogate me again?"

Gray, who was groaning and holding his groin, lt out a raspy, "They harassed you, too?"

Lucy sighed. "No, it's not an interrogation. We just need your assistance."

The crowd was becoming a little restless, unhappy that Lucy was essentially pausing the smackdown. Lucy shot the crowd an apologetic glance.

"Ugh, do I have to? Can't you get Erza, or something?"

"No," Lucy murmured, shaking her head. "We need you specifically. Levy's orders."

The boy sighed, releasing Gajeel from his tight hold. "Fine. But only because I like you so much."

Lucy rolled her eyes, desperately trying to stop the blood from flowing up to her cheeks.

"Oi—I'm coming, too!" Gajeel muttered, dark eyes shifting to give Natsu a little glare.

"Why?" Lucy asked. "We just need Natsu."

The boy's voice was gruff. "I'm bored. Besides, who'll bug the shrimp if I'm not there?"

"Ugh," The girl replied with a sigh, turning once Natsu reached her side. "Whatever, Levy's gonna kill me, but fine."

For a quick second, a smile broke through Gajeel's dark expression; he made his way, following behind Lucy and Natsu. As soon as Lucy caught sight of the smile, it disappeared, evaporating into thin air; his face twisted into a blank look, a clever mask to hide the burst of happiness that had bubbled to the surface.

Lucy was going to say something, tease the boy about how much he seemed to enjoy being near Levy, but she was distracted by Natsu's voice.

Natsu's elbow brushed against hers as they walked. The hallway was massive, but their bodies were close. And quite honestly, Lucy didn't mind—she liked being this close to him.

"Couldn't stand being away from me, eh?" Natsu asked, that same stupid smirk curling its way onto his lips.

With a roll of her eyes, Lucy snapped back, "Hardly. I'm just following orders."

Gajeel spoke up now. "I don't get it. Why would shrimp need this idiot?"

Natsu snarled back at the taller boy, shooting him a glare.

"Not really sure," Lucy shrugged. "It seemed important, though."

Gajeel's eyebrows tugged down, eyes narrowing at the boy in front of him unhappily. "Hmph."

The trio made their way up to library quickly; Lucy was in a hurry, desperate to finish this little experiment so she could unlock the truth between the missing pages.

Soon, she would know who had stolen the color pink.

They'd busted into the library—Gajeel and Natsu had begun to argue who would've won the fight, had Lucy not interrupted, and ended up wrestling and brawling as they charged into the library—making Levy jump and cry out in fear.

"I brought the twerp," Lucy said happily, taking a seat beside Levy at the table. "Unfortunately, he brought a friend."

Natsu gave a wave to the other girl. "Hiya, Levy."

Gajeel gave Levy a smirk; he made his way to her and plopped his big hand on the top of her hair, patting her. "What's with the gloves, tiny?"

Levy's expression instantly switched from excitement to dread. Her eyes narrowed and she let out a groan of disgust. "Ugh. Why are you here, Gajeel?"

He leaned down so his head was beside hers, a smug smile on his lips. "Had to see why you needed Natsu so badly. You got a crush on him, or somethin'?"

Levy shot Gajeel a glare. "It's a research project." Her tone was cold.

Meanwhile, Natsu had taken a seat across the table from Lucy; he kicked back, tossing his feet up onto the table, nearly kicking over the container with the book in it.

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded, smacking his shoes. "Get your dirty feet away from our project."

"But I'm tired!"

"You're getting mud everywhere!"

"Ugh," He growled grumpily, hauling his feet off of the table. "What did you guys need me for, anyways?"

Levy turned her attention to Natsu, ignoring Gajeel. "We're doing an experiment—we need you to lightly heat up the bottom of this big container."

Natsu's eyebrows raised. "That's it?"

"Yup," Levy replied with a nod. "That's it."

"Easy peasy!" He cried, sitting up and sticking out his hand. Flames erupted from his fingers, roaring out and engulfing his entire hand.

"Wait!" Lucy cried, eyes wide. "Natsu, just warm it up. Don't char it, okay?"

"Have some faith, Luce." He lifted the container with one hand, placing his other (flame-engulfed) hand beneath it. The flames simmered down, cooling slightly until they were minimal. Bit by bit, the container warmed up, and small changes began to take place.

A little bit of gas began to release in the container, filling the air inside with a wispy grey gas. With a couple minutes, the entire container was filled, so much so that the book wasn't visible anymore.

"So, what's the point?" Gajeel asked, leaning over to get a better look at the gas inside. "What kind of experiment is this?"

Levy didn't bother to look up at him—she was far too caught up in the experiment before her. "We're checking for fingerprints on this book."

Natsu made a face. "Why?"

Lucy looked over at him, eyes brightening a bit at his expression. He had a little frown on his face, his lips jutting out a bit, as he focused on controlling the flames. It was kind of…cute. "For science."

He snorted, tone sarcastic. "That explains it."

"It's a study into the degradation and wearing down of fibrous substances, such as paper, due to the introduction of diaphoresis or oils from human skin," Levy spurted out. It was a good cover for their investigation. Besides, the boys surely wouldn't understand the relatively big words she'd used. They'd never be suspicious. "So, basically, we're testing how fingerprints and human use can destroy paper and books."

Natsu's face was incredibly blank. "Sounds like a snore-fest."

Gajeel turned his head slightly, peering over at Levy. She turned and looked back at him, their faces close. He blinked twice, and then murmured, "You're pretty smart, Levy."

Levy looked at the boy, her eyes widening after a second. She seemed confused, for some reason—Lucy supposed it was just her surprised by Gajeel saying something nice. The girl's gaze dropped to the table in front of her, the corners of her lips contorting into a smile. "I—um. Thanks."

Natsu watched the interaction with a subtle curiosity, a happy yet reserved look washing over his features. His eyes darted from the duo in front of him to Lucy, lips widening at the sight of her. And they seemed to have a silent conversation, conversing only with their eyes; they smirked at one another, amused by their friends' quiet, timid flirtation.

Lucy felt a heat flush through her body, resonating in her chest like flames flickering through her soul. And she was happy, so deliriously happy right there, with her friends and her life and the adventure she'd begun.

And she knew that if her soul had a color, it would be a soft, cozy orange, just like Natsu's flames.

"is this good enough?" Natsu questioned, his voice breaking through the flirtation filled tension. "I'm gettin' hungry."

His words seemed to break both Levy and Gajeel out of their little dazes; Levy's head snapped up, eyes wide, whilst Gajeel returned to a standing position incredibly quickly, fidgeting.

"Oh—right. Um, yeah, you can stop. Thanks a lot, Natsu." Levy's voice was weird, still distracted.

He retracted his flames, setting the warm bin on the table, and patted his growling tummy. "You guys wanna go get some food?"

"Me and Lucy need to finish this up really quickly—but we can meet you two down there, if you want."

The boys stood, hopping to the door quickly, excited by the idea of a hot meal. They both gave a wave before quickly shoving each other out of the door. Even after they left the room, the girls could hear the two idiots bickering down the hallway.

Levy turned to Lucy once she was confident the boys were out of earshot, a strange grin on her lips. Her tone was still off, still a little fuzzy and distracted. "You ready for the fun part?"

"Of course. What do we do?"

"Well," the short girl began, tugging the lid off of the container. She cleared her throat, forcing herself back to reality. "If everything has gone to plan, our lovely book should be…" She paused, looking down at the big book, then turned back to Lucy with an excited grin on her lips. "Covered in fingerprints!"

Levy wasn't kidding—fingerprints littered the page, darkened by the iodine crystals placed at the bottom of the container.

"So, what now?"

"Well, these prints will only last a few hours—we want them to stay a bit longer than that for our investigation. So, we're going to spray the page with our starch water mixture—it will darken the prints so we can see every detail, and make them last a couple days."

The girls got right to work, spraying the starch water onto the page. Instantly, the grey toned prints turned black, and every single detail was noticeable.

Lucy whipped out her phone and took pictures of each full print—there were several that hadn't completely transferred to the paper, which made them pretty much useless in the investigation—and then nodded to her friend. Part one of their scientific approach was complete—now, they just needed to compare these prints to the members of the guild in order to come to a conclusion.

"And why exactly should I doing this?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Gray, just stick your fingers in the ink. It's not hard."

The girls had been making their rounds in the hall, approaching their fellow guild members and convincing them to give their fingerprint samples. They'd told everyone it was for their science experiment, that it would help them finish their project. Everyone they'd asked so far had agreed, happily squishing their fingers in the ink and pressing it against the blank paper, leaving their fingerprint smudge behind.

Everyone except for Gray, that is.

"I don't care if it's not hard," Gray muttered under his breath. "I'm not doing it?"

Natsu was sitting across the table, cheeks stuffed with food. "What's your problem?"

Giving the food-obsessed boy a cold look, Gray explained. "These two weirdos kidnapped me, interrogated me, and hurt my eardrums! Why the hell would I help them?"

Levy rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that bad."

"I don't care. I'm not helping you two. You're psychos."

Lucy frowned. There didn't seem to be any way of getting Gray to change his mind—he was pretty annoyed with them, at the moment—and without every single guild member's prints, they couldn't really come to a solid conclusion as to who had recently touched the book.

She looked at Levy, and they made a silent agreement. Levy lifted up three fingers, and mouthed the numbers.

Three, two….one.

The two girls pounced on Gray, tackling him to the ground; Lucy chucked her body across his legs, pinning him to the floor, while Levy sat on his neck and grabbed his fingers. Gray let out a cry of surprise, trying to throw the girls off of him, but ultimately failed. Levy pushed his fingers in the ink and then planted his digits on the blank paper, being careful not to ruin the sample.

"We're good!" Levy cried, releasing Gray's upper body.

Lucy pushed herself up off of his legs, dusting her skirt off with a huff of breath.

Gray was still laying on the ground, utterly shocked. "What the fuck?" He blinked up at the girls. "You two are nuts."

Natsu was laughing. "You just got taken down by two girls!"

Gray glared at him. "Hey—they were heavy, okay?"

"Look at 'em!" Natsu replied with a snort. "They probably weight forty pounds put together."

Gray rubbed his neck. "Yeah, right. I think Levy broke a vertebrae."

Gajeel's voice cut through the following silence, a little rougher than usual. "Watch it, Gray." His tone was a bit dark, like he was sending out a very pointed warning.

Lucy and Levy high-fived, ignoring Gray's comments. They'd gotten the samples of their most stubborn suspect, all thanks to the element of surprise.

"I'm gonna go run this stack of samples up to the library, okay? You finish up the last of 'em. Sound good?" Levy asked, still breathing a little heavy from having to tackle Gray.

"Sure!" Lucy gave her a nod. "I'll be up in a few minutes!" She turned, facing her last two guild mates that had yet to get their fingerprints inked.

Natsu and Gajeel.

Lucy took a seat beside Natsu, shooting an apologetic glance at Gray, seated across from her. "Okay, boys—I'm gonna need your samples, too."

Gajeel let out a groan. "Fine, as long as you don't tackle me."

She flashed him a sarcastic sneer. "Har har, very funny." She passed him one of her ink kits and a piece of blank paper, and then turned to the boy beside her. "C'mon, Natsu. I don't have all day."

His cheeks were absolutely stuffed with food, and his fingers were coated in mashed potatoes. Honestly, if he hadn't had a fork in his hand, Lucy would've assumed he was eating with his fingers. How he had gotten himself so covered in food was beyond her. "Right now?" He murmured, voice muffled by the insane amount of food in his mouth.

Lucy let out a breath in exasperation. "Yes, right now. Clean yourself up."

Natsu grumbled to himself under his breath, swallowing the giant lump of food and wiping his hands on his shirt until they were relatively clean. "Okay, fine, fine. Better?"

Lucy pushed her second ink kit to him. "Here you go."

"What do I do?"

"First, you stick your fingers in the ink, making sure they are coated." She explained everything to him in crystal clear detail. "Then, you push each finger on the blank paper, careful not to drag or smudge anything. Got it?"

"Easy as pie." Still, despite his confident tone, his focused little frown worked itself onto his face as he did it. After a couple minutes, he passed the paper back to the girl, a cocky grin on his face. "There you go, Luce. Looks good, doesn't it?"

Lucy glanced down at the paper, cringing once she saw how terribly awful the fingerprint samples were. It was like he'd been finger painting—every line was blurry, messy. "Natsu," Lucy said with a sigh. "You must've moved too much. It's all blurry."

He pouted. "I tried so hard."

An amused smile worked its way onto her lips, and she met his gaze. "Here, let me help."

Lucy grabbed a hold of the boys' hand gently, carefully dipping his fingers into the ink kit, ever so softly pushing his fingertips into the ink soaked sponge within. She twisted his fingers, making sure each and every one was coated equally.

Natsu peered down at her, watching how incredibly focused she was. Her body was leaning into his as she worked diligently, careful not to mess up the ink kit as she pushed his fingers into the sponge. And he couldn't help but grin down at her, watching her expression get all messed up into this look of absolute, complete concentration.

Lucy heard the boy let out a little snort of amusement, and she looked up at him. It was only then that she realized how close their bodies were to one another—her thigh was pressed against his leg, their arms touching every so often. When she looked up at him, their faces were so close that she could feel the heat rolling off of his skin, fanning over her.

Her heart hammered in her chest, although she wasn't sure why. "What's so funny?" She questioned, the heat beginning to creep up her neck and into her cheeks.

"Nothin'," Natsu murmured, his voice a low rumble in his chest. "I just like watching you work."

The heat was intense in her cheeks, and she turned back to his hands, not wanting him to get a full view of her bashfulness. She carefully lifted his fingers, pressing each one onto the piece of paper, holding them where they were so that the prints wouldn't smudge.

Lucy wasn't sure why, but her heart was fluttering, a rush of adrenaline working its way through her veins.

After a couple second, Lucy pulled Natsu's fingers back, revealing perfect fingerprint samples left on the page.

"Wow. You're good at that."

Lucy smiled, eyes flickering back to Natsu. "Thanks."

A comfortable silence settled between them, and they smiled at one another. For the second time today, that familiar sensation of heat radiated in her chest, reiterating the happiness that was clearly displayed on her face.

Gajeel ducked his head over Natsu's shoulder, his long arm shoving the ink kit and paper back to Lucy. "Here ya go. I really don't know how could fuck this up, Salamander. It was pretty easy."

The tension in the air fizzled back down to nothing, and Lucy was broken out of her daze. After a couple seconds of stammering, she realized she was still holding onto Natsu's hand—how embarrassing—and she released it quickly.

She stood, scooping up her things and turning to leave quickly, hoping no one would notice the rather dark shade of grey etching itself onto her cheeks as she blushed. "Thanks guys! Seeya!" She cried over her shoulder as she made a break for the stairs.

"Wait, Luce!" Natsu cried after her.

Lucy was already making her way up the stairs; she turned around, looking at him. "Yeah, Natsu?"

His head cocked to the side a little and he gave her a bright, beaming grin, one that Lucy swore lit up the entire room. "Thanks for your help."

Face as hot as the sun—and probably the darkest shade of grey possible—Lucy gave the boy a sheepish grin, then spun and ran up to the library as fast as possible, hoping no one could see her reaction.

Lucy crashed into the library, turning and locking the door behind her; she leaned against it, letting out a whoosh of air.

What the hell was happening? Why was she so…shy? It was Natsu, for god's sake! He was the biggest idiot she'd ever met. She should not be getting so flustered by his eyes, his smile, the way he said her name…

Lucy closed her eyes, leaning her head back on the door with a thump. Was she…starting to have a crush on Natsu? The first friend she'd ever made?

"Lucy!" Levy cried, glancing up from the stacks of fingerprint samples. She had her glasses on and her hair tied back—she was prepared for business. "I've already found two fingerprints that match those on the book!"

Lucy rushed forward. "Really? Who?"

"Well—Juvia, which we already knew about. But the second one is someone we'd never suspected." She paused, sucking in a breath—she was talking way too fast. "Gildarts Clive!"

"Gildarts?" Lucy repeated with a frown. He was one of the most elusive members of the guild—one who left on year long missions. He, much like Natsu, had never been photographed or featured in Sorcerer Weekly, although he was often speculated about. Luckily, he'd been home when Lucy had joined the guild. She'd seen him around—usually chatting up a woman at the guild's bar—but had yet to speak to him. "Why would he be looking at the book?"

"The real question, my dear Lucy, is why did he steal the color pink?"

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "You think it was him?"

Levy shrugged. "Maybe. Who knows? We'll just have to ask him."

"Let's go!" Lucy cried, tossing open the door and running out into the corridor.

Excitement began to chug through Lucy's veins, her heartbeat quickening as they made their way down the hall, on the lookout for one of the most powerful members of the guild.

They were close to discovering the truth—Lucy could feel it.

A/N: Hi readers! Thanks so much for reading my stuff! I love the reviews you guys are leaving me, they mean so so much!

To the anon reviewer with the really detailed theories: I LOVE IT KEEP 'EM COMING. I'm not going to say whether you're right or not (that would ruin the fun) but I am loving the effort and detail in your responses to each chapter! Thank you so much!

To the other anon reviewer that was worried about the Juvia/Gray pairing: I totally understand that the ship not being paired would turn you off of a story. Unfortunately, I'm not about to spill the future events of the story to the public, so feel free to message me and I'll tell you what will happen and you can decide on your own terms if you want to continue the story or not. I don't want to waste your time, but I don't exactly want to spoil the story for everyone. Message me! You can message me on here, or on my tumblr (url is in my profile) and I'll let you know what will happen.

Again, thanks for all of the love and messages and reviews. It really means the world to me. I hope I am doing right by you guys with this story. Please review!