DISCLAIMER: Fairy Tail is created and owned by the brilliant Hiro Mashima.

I am merely an aspiring writer who has a lot of love for this anime.

Anyways, enjoy!

...

Chapter 1:

"Gate of the Archer I open thee, Sagittarius!"

Sagittarius immediately fired his arrows the moment he appeared in front of me. And as always, it never missed its targets. The thugs fell down one by one while some of them luckily managed to find cover in time.

I heard an explosion behind me, and closed my eyes in frustration. Of course, why did I even think that we could avoid destroying anything whenever we work on our quests?

"Lucy, look out!"

I snapped my eyes open and found a massive pile of debris falling over me. My mind was telling me to move but my body isn't listening.

"Hold on, Lucy!" Happy said as he got to me and managed to fly me out of the building before it completely collapsed.

"That was close," Happy breathed out as he carefully placed me back on the ground. "I hope everyone is alright."

I stared wide-eyed at the ruins in front of us, telling myself to calm down. That there was a perfectly good explanation why this happened and that I just needed to wait for my teammates to tell me that everything is going according to plan.

"Hey, it's Erza,"

The scarlet-haired mage was running towards us, clad in her silver armor and holding her sword.

"I'm glad you guys are alright," she said the moment she reached us. "Where's Natsu and Gray?"

"Good job Natsu," I heard Gray say, as both he and Natsu were heading toward us. "You just have to destroy the whole place, don't you?"

"It's not my fault the building isn't strong enough to withstand my attacks," Natsu argued. "And besides, the job was to capture those thieves and we got that part covered."

"No, the job was to protect the jewel located in the building. We're supposed to guard the place, not destroy it!" I couldn't help but yell out in frustration.

Natsu tilted his head. "Huh? I guess I got that part wrong."

I took in a giant breath as I tried to calm myself down. This was our second job for the month and the second time that Natsu didn't fully understood the mission. And as a consequence, we only get paid half of the payment.

"Relax, Lucy," Gray said. "It's not Natsu's fault that he's stupid."

Natsu glared at Gray, clenching his fist. "What did you say, stripper?"

Gray smirked. "Want me to say it again, stupid?"

Natsu's fist ignited in flames. "Oh yeah? Who's the dumb one here?"

"Enough of that, both of you," Erza thankfully intervened. "Let's get this over and done with."

...

"But we managed to capture the thieves and the jewel is safe," I finished.

We were at our client's house and I was doing my best to explain and to make him see how losing a hundred year old building was not really that big of a deal. Also taking into consideration that the said building had been in his family for generations and was in fact built by his great-great-great grandfather as a family home.

Maul Takeda stared at me, his dark eyes unreadable. He was a middle-aged businessman. He sought out our help after he caught information that a band of thieves were planning to steal a jewel sealed in his family home.

"Well, I am grateful that you caught the thieves," he started, "but I have to admit, I didn't expect our family home to be one of the casualties."

I gave a small tight smile. "We deeply apologize for that."

Natsu scoffed. "It's just an old, ugly building. What's the big deal?"

I sharply turned to Natsu and knocked him out before turning back to our client. "I apologize for my friend. I understand that that building meant a lot to you."

"Are you kidding me?" Maul laughed and I turned to my guildmates, with a confused look etched on our faces.

"I hated that building," Maul admitted. He turned to Natsu, "You're right, it's old and ugly and I have you to thank for getting that place out of my way."

I suddenly felt like a ton of weight was lifted out of my body. I let out a breath of relief and I could tell my friends did too.

"Alright, then we have nothing to worry about I guess," I answered.

"Well there is one thing," Maul said. "I am still worried that other thieves will hear about what happened here and would try to steal the jewel again."

"Then you can just hire new guards again," Erza answered. "I'm sure a lot of wizards will take the job."

"That's the idea, but you destroyed my family home, remember? And I really don't have the time or place where I can keep the jewel safe until I come back."

"So you're leaving?" I asked.

Maul nodded. "I'm going on a business trip for about a month and I don't want to take the jewel with me. I figured it is much safer if a mage were to guard it while I'm away."

He looked at us. "So, I'm thinking what if you guys were to guard it?"

"Yeah, I think we just finished that job," Gray answered.

"There's no reason for you not to take it again and besides, I'll pay you double than what I offered as payment for this job."

"That's a big offer," Erza said.

"Yes, and when I return from my travels I'll pay you an addition of one million if the jewel is safe and in your hands," Maul gave us a smile.

Wow, that's a lot of money. I could pay my rent for almost half a year and would still have more than enough for my daily expenses. I looked at my teammates and sure enough, they were in on the job.

"Alright, I guess we'll take it," I answered, as I heard my friends murmur their approval.

Maul clapped his hands together. "Excellent."

He took out a necklace from the inside pocket of his coat. It was silver with a small blood-red diamond on the center.

"This is my family's most prized possession and the thing that you will be guarding with your life," he stated. "Which one of you should wear it?"

"Wear it? But I thought—

He raised a hand, cutting me off. "This is a special type of jewelry. You can't just keep it hidden away somewhere. See the diamond in the center? It's actually a magical diamond that gets its energy from the warmth of blood. It would become rusted and broken if it doesn't get that. Every day I would go to the family home and would wear it for some time and then tuck it away safely again. Don't worry, it only needs the warmth, it doesn't literally drain your blood."

Maul looked at the diamond. "This necklace was created by my grandfather who also built my family home. It has been in my family for generations. We believe it's what brings us luck and fortune in our business."

He turned to us again. "Now, who would like to have the honor to wear it?"

...

It had been a long while since I wrote a GraLu fanfic, but now here it is!

This idea came to me as I was watching a documentary about Greek mythology. Aphrodite caught my attention and then I sat down with my laptop and found myself typing my first chapter for this story.

I hope you like it. And enjoy reading!