Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.


"Is this... really what one of these places looks like?"

Everything was... rich. There were deep reds and full, brown colors mixed with royal purple. The carpet was plush under her feet, making her little heels sink into the floor. The tables were painted black but she could tell by the sounds they made when people set down their drinks that they were thick, heavy tables made of a high-quality wood.

The night started off on a rather good note; with Gajeel disguised and herself dolled up for her plan, they'd set off towards their destination. The fact that they hadn't run into any other Fairy Tail members was, she thought, a very good omen. Yes, good things were supposed to happen tonight and they were meant to do this. What she saw when she actually got there, though, was a little more discomforting than what she'd originally thought. She had prepared herself to see a rowdy group of tough men with scars, poor language and a short fuse. She had effectively imagined a hundred Gajeels piled into the same room, sharing information through their fists. For the place to, instead, be refined and akin to a quiet restaurant, already she was starting to feel shaken. What if she was wrong about other things, too?

Gajeel could feel Levy tense under his hand where he held her, fingers wrapped around her little waist. "What'dja expect, shorty?"

"Not this," she whispered, keeping her voice low and looking around. It was a bit cleaner than she thought it would be, and the people looked a good deal more... refined. Black ties, hair pinned up in fancy spirals, and body glitter just for a nice touch. None of them would blend into the high society without giving it a good effort, but they weren't the masses of bumbling, screaming, fighting people she thought they'd be.

"This ain't so unusual," Gajeel gave her a firm nudge, trying to push them further into the room, wading between tables and overstuffed chairs, "The people who collect information ain't the big type. Can't defend themselves." Sort of like Levy herself! That meant, though, that places that dealt with information needed to be controlled; no one got in who might injure one of the information officers.

Glancing around a little more, Levy realized it was true. The walls were lined with mirrors but, she assumed, they were really one-sided windows – on the other side were hoards of guards ready to pounce if one of their officers was mistreated.

"The underworld ain't so bad in these parts," Gajeel shook his head, "People take care of their Brains."

"Right..." these people were the Brains. If anything was happening above ground, they would know about it for the right price. In this world, though, Gajeel and Levy had nothing to lose – this world was a copy and they could give away any worldly possessions without truly losing anything.

"There's our guy," Gajeel mumbled, turning her with his hand to approach a small area in the far back. Four chairs surrounded a circular table, low to the ground. A candelabra in the center flickered orange light around the circle, illuminating the thin legs of a figure sitting in one of the chairs.

The entire room, several meters wide and long, was full of similar arrangements. Each had a table and each had 4 chairs; one chair was reserved for the Brain and the other three for the clients. Only three clients were allowed to see the Brain at one time for security purposes, and to prevent the Brain from being overloaded with questions.

"Mm," Gajeel grunted, stopping her just before they reached the tables. He bent low to whisper in her ear, closely enough to brush his lips against her lobe, "I think you should do a lotta the talkin'... y'think ya can? I've dealt with this guy before and I don't want'im recognizin' my voice." He was in his disguise, but there was no hiding that deep, vibrating voice that Gajeel had.

Levy swallowed hard but nodded, plastering on the confident face that she'd been practicing earlier with Gajeel. If she was really going to do this then she needed to look fearless; Brains respected people who respected themselves. "I can do this, Gajeel."

The dragon slayer smirked and raised himself back up, pressing his hand to her back again. He helped her into a chair, holding a dainty hand until he pulled away to take his own seat just beside hers. A certain level of manners was expected between the clients and the Brains, and if he showed how careful he was with his woman then he'd seem less threatening to the Brains.

There was a long, awkward silence wherein Gajeel glanced sideways at Levy, who was staring at the dark form of the Brain. She couldn't recognize his face given that it was shrouded in darkness, but then, since both Gajeel and Levy were illuminated by the same candles, they were also in that darkness. Gajeel, with his superior vision, saw the hesitant expression on her face and crossed his hand over to grab hers, giving it a little squeeze.

Levy jumped just a little when his hand touched hers, remembering suddenly where she was and what she was supposed to do. That's right... they had a job to get done. She took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter, pulling her hand away from Gajeel; she didn't want to have to lean on him. Not today.

"My partner and I are hoping that you can relay some information to us... This is very much a last resort to us, and we hate to take up your time, but if it's possible-"

"What is it?" the Brain asked, voice sounding thick and slick. It was almost oily in her ears! "If you really don't want to take up my time, then you should just ask what it is that you came here to ask."

Levy's mouth dropped open a little, but then closed it and frowned. She was used to people being blunt and rude like that thanks to Gajeel, so she just nodded, cleared her throat, and started to explain the situation.

"Several members in our guild have died."

Author's Note:


Oh mmyyy...

Also, when I first wrote this chapter I forgot that 'Brain' was the name of an actual character from Fairy Tail. I just wanted to clarify that Brain from Fairy Tail and 'the Brains' from my fiction are two totally different things. In my fiction, 'Brain' is more of a title or a job. It's sort of like 'Receptionist' or 'Bodyguard' or 'Supervisor,' it's just the name of their position in the intelligence field.

So, 'Brain' or 'the Brain' isn't actually the man's name. I wanted to clarify that in case people got confused! I kind of like using Brain as a position so I decided not to change it.