LUCY GRINNED AT the excitement her teammates were showing. They said they had a surprise mission for her, and she couldn't wait to see what it was. It must be something extremely wonderful if it excited them so much.

"Lucy! Look!' Natsu said, running through the guild. Wendy jumped up in excitement. Natsu and Happy had been asked to fetch the mission papers; Lucy'd been sick most of the week and so they'd waited for her to be alright, but had gotten the papers signed off so that Master couldn't accuse them of "stealing" the papers without having gotten permission. Lucy was honoured they'd wait a whole week for her as she knew how impatient all of them-except Carla and Wendy, she supposed-could be.

Now that she thought about it, she'd never noticed that she had begun calling Wendy, Carla and Juvia part of the team, even though it was technically unofficial. They would tag along so often it seemed like they were a part of the team.

"What is it, Natsu?!' Lucy asked, her team's excitement contagious.

He passed her a paper. She scanned the content. Her eyes widened; A B class mission! These were rare, especially in Fairy Tail, because most of the times, any missions above C class would be taken right away. B and A class missions' rewards were in between 1000000-1400000, which would last a person-rent, food, clothes and other things they want-for more than a month.

And as mages, it was hard to earn so many jewels, especially if you weren't all that powerful. Hence, why most mages often had second-hand jobs along with being in a Mage guild.

Shaking the thoughts away, she continued reading.

Seven strong mages needed to defeat the Wyvern attack. Over 100 wyverns attacking a small village near the forest.

P.S Need mages with air magic and the ability to fly

Reward - 1, 200,000, a silver key, the Dress of Doom and ice magic enhancing bracelet.

Warning; Dragons sighted near!

It was a short and quite simple request, but she could see why it was a B class. In fact, it should've been S class, but for some reason, it wasn't. That made Lucy a bit suspicious.

"What's the Dress of Doom?' She asked, curiously.

Erza piped up, gleefully, "It is an armour that allows me to paralyze an opponent, as long as they are weaker than I am," She exclaimed. There was a determined fire in her eyes, as she said, "That means I must get even stronger so there is no one stronger than myself."

Natsu seemed offended. "That's not even possible! Igneel can easily kick your ass. And I'm gonna learn to do that too! I'm gonna be the strongest."

Gray scoffed. "Not with me here." He said, and soon they were clashing. Arguing again.

Something came to Lucy.

"Hey, guys? Isn't it weird that we're all requested here, indirectly enough? I mean, it's asking for seven people. There're seven people here. On top of that, it's asking for those that can fly, like Happy and Carla, and an air mage, like Wendy. It has rewards for all of us, and there are dragon sightings, that can easily tempt Natsu and Wendy! Plus, isn't it weird we're the only ones who got such an awesome mission? Normally, it would've gotten snatched straight away." Lucy pointed out.

Erza rubbed her neck, thoughtfully.

"Master gave it to us. I suppose even he thought it was strangely specific." Erza revealed.

"Does that mean that the person is asking our team to pick this job, specifically?' Wendy asked with Carla in agreement.

"It's cos we're so awesome." Natsu and Happy exclaimed simultaneously.

Lucy sighed in annoyance-although it never stopped her from being immensely fond of the two-and gritted out,

"Can't you get anything through your brains? It's obviously a trap!' As Happy was crying about how mean Lucy was, Master came from behind them.

"That, my dear, is where you're wrong. While it is peculiar how specific it is, the mission is from Asahara. He's the son of the mayor of the town attacked. And he's a trusted sponsor of the guild."

Recognition settled upon Erza's face, "He's the one won three silver keys from Duke Everlue!'

"He did?' Lucy asked incredulously. "He's a spirit mage?'

"No, he's just a kind man who didn't want the Duke's cruelty inflicted on the keys." Makarov smiled. Lucy immediately seemed to warm up to the man-whom she had not yet met-and was more than ready to go on the mission now.

"We hope your journey was pleasant." Said the handsome man who had just entered. "Sorry for the wait." He said, settling his glasses on his nose, his amber eyes twinkling.

They'd only waited five minutes.

"No, no. Thank you for sending this mission to Fairy Tail. We hope you do so again in the future should you need us." Erza smiled, politely.

"Ah, no need to thank me. Fairy Tail is my favourite guild!' He said, a childlike awe showing in his eyes, though he kept his voice steady and professional. "Anyway, down to business, my town has been attacked by these wyverns twice now. Luckily, we have our own solo mages who have been able to keep most people safe. Unfortunately, each time the number of the wyverns increases. We don't know why they're attacking, or where they come from. Three of our villagers are already dead; we can't afford to lose more lives."

Lucy gasped, Wendy staring at the stoic man in horror.

Natsu angrily got up, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's stop wasting time and go!'

Lucy stopped him. She squinted at the man, growing up an heiress, she knew very well how to negotiate. And when there were important things the other person wished to say.

"What?' Natsu whined, "You're gonna be all smartass now, I know it!' He said.

Lucy glared at him, then turned to the man. "There's something you haven't mentioned, isn't there?'

If he was surprised at her ability to read people, he didn't show it. "Yes, there is. Thank you, Miss Lucy.' He nodded gratefully. "I believe they are guarding something. I did some research and even investigated these attacks myself, well, as much as someone without magic could. And they're all coming from an ex-mining site located near here. There are many secrets in that mining site, hence why it got closed off by the magic council-" Natsu groaned. "-And there must be something important enough for the wyverns to not only guard, but for them to even attempt to drive us off and kill those who remain in this area If you go to the mining site, you'll be able to defeat most of the wyverns and please do take a look at what the object is if you can. I'm quite a curious person if I do say so myself."

Erza and Carla listened carefully, nodding seriously once he finished talking, in the promise of returning successfully.

The whole time Lucy couldn't help but ponder on what Mr Kaito Asahara had told them. Or the weird feeling she felt around him. She felt pulled towards him. At first, she thought she was attracted to him; and admittedly, he was a very attractive man. But this feeling was different than what she'd felt for others.

And for some reason, she hadn't felt that feeling in so long now. Maybe, none of the men around her were good enough. She was sure that wasn't true, deep inside, but she told herself that, it's not like she had a big ego anyway, so it couldn't hurt, right?

The feeling she felt for Kaito was more of an emotional bond as if she knew him.

But she'd never met him before.

As her team blasted any wyverns they met, she and Carla discussed what this treasure could possibly be.

"What if it's a rare jewel?' Lucy asked, not sure if she was asking herself or Carla.

"Why would a bunch of wyverns guard a jewel? That's something dragons do."

Lucy stopped. "Wait-"

"-there was a dragon mentioned in the mission papers. But Mr Asahara said nothing about that.

Why?'