"Wow, really? You can't be harmed by some types of spells?" Levy asked eagerly. She was nice, and Ace liked her. Her partners she joined were named Jet and Droy and also interesting. Droy's magic seemed a bit boring, but being super fast seemed very cool. Marco was reading at the other end of the table.

Ace nodded. "But there's a limit before I fall asleep. Even when I'm asleep, it doesn't hurt me. But it makes me more tired," he explained, eating his slice of pie. It wasn't the last piece, so Erza wouldn't get upset. Levy was amazed by it, and was writing it all down in a notebook. Ace was called over by Mira, who was holding up a big box. It had Boodle's logo on it.

He got up from the table with his pie, eating it still on his way to the counter. "Seems like it's something big this time. He sure does invent a lot of lacrima products," Mira said lightly. Ace nodded and put his empty plate n the counter, sitting down and opening the box. He was usually sent new types of lacrimas to use, along with the money. It had been flour years of getting monthly payments without stop.

Ace was sure Boodle didn't really even remember sending the monthly payments. He was super rich and successful. He said he was inspired by the first outlandish discovery that the functions of lacrimas were endless, and so it gave him motivation to use his imagination to invent. And it was going very well for him!

This shipment's lacrimas were new rings. They didn't have a lacrima ball, they were carved out of the crystal. There was a dot on it, and the instructions in the box said that it would release the magic all at once when pressed. Ace couldn't try it out, since his magic hadn't returned yet. It had been two months since he changed into a dragon, but the magic wasn't back.

It wasn't a big deal, which Ace was happy about. He wasn't upset or felt off by not having any magic still. It had become so excessive he felt he was better off without it. And he knew he wouldn't be changing into a dragon very often considering how much magic it took up for one. While he wanted to be able to control it sooner, he wasn't going to be in a dangerous hurry. He never wanted to feel that agony again.

Ace handed Mira the ring to try out, and she did. When the magic came backout once the button was pressed, it came out in a sticky substance. She picked it up with her fingers, looking perplexed. "Well this is a little strange," she said. The magic was a sticky goo. And it smelled kind of bad. "I think this invention is a dud."

"Yeah," Ace agreed with a snicker. "Well, out of all his inventions, some hafta be stupid, right?"

"What's that, what's that?!" Natsu shouted, hurrying over. Mira explained it was Boodle's newest lacrima. "I wanna try!" the pink haired teenager demanded. Mira gave him the ring and tossed her sticky magic into the trash. When Natsu's magic came out, it was also a sticky goo, but it burnt what it touched. Then Natsu tried eating it, and promptly choked on the sticky substance.

Happy flew over and started slamming down on Natsu's back for it to come out. He spit it out and it hit Mira's stomach and burnt a hole in her dress. She just smiled there, clearly trying to not get angry. "Ahahaha! Sorry, Mira!" Natsu said, not sounding sorry at all. Erza hit him in the head to knock him down, and offered to get Mira some burn cream.

"No, no, I'm fine." She changed into another outfit. Transforming clothes and appearances sure was cool. "Would you like me to put the money in the safe?" Mira asked, turning back to Ace, who accepted. It had a locker in it full of Ace's money that he didn't use, didn't need to, but was nice to have in case something bad happened.

He opened the locker with the special spell only the Master and S-Class wizards knew how to open. Ace was surprised Laxus hadn't stolen anything yet, truly. But the Master kept good count of what was in it weekly, so he'd know if anything went missing. When Ace turned around, Marco had a flyer in his hand.

"Let's do this job," he said brightly. "It sounds super fun," he added. Ace took the paper and saw it was to help excavate a cave with lacrima stones in it. But it was the location that was fun, it was at the beach! A cave that was partly underwater. It did sound fun! So they went home and packed their backpacks.

They headed to the station to go to their job. The train ride was not long, but the walk to the beach was very long, so they rented a magic powered bike. Ace sat on the back since he couldn't produce any magic right now. But Marco did fine on his own, and they got there in under a half an hour. The blonde was barely tired at all after that.

They found the place, a camp with lots of magic energy coming from it, and put their things there. It wasn't a house or building they were staying at, but a camp on the beach. It would be fine. "Hello, we're from Fairy Tail, here to respond to the job you listed," Marco said in his adult form. He was always in this form when doing jobs so they weren't looked down on or rejected.

Ace usually got a strange look, but didn't usually take it personally. Even though much of the guild was kids when he was young, people still thought wizards were mostly adults. But they had Marco, who was able to use simple magic other than his main ability. He could use magic tools. Ace wasn't able to very well anymore.

"Thank you for taking the job. It's simple, we just need help clearing out the lacrima in a partially underwater cave. It's not dangerous work, don't worry." They took their words for it, and got suited up. Ace's needed to be shrunk to his size. They were excited for this, and were lead to the cavern. The water was up to Marco's knees and Ace's waist. He was he one to have more trouble with it, but managed.

The cave was very humid and wet, with barnacles on the walls. The salt water splashed against it, making work a bit hard. Ace wondered how they found lacrimas here. He'd never heard of one from a water environment. He and Marco chipped the stone away to reveal the crystals. They weren't the ones to handle the lacrimas, but help reveal them behind the weaker stone covering them. They were careful and gentle. Most of their jobs didn't require magic to do. Ace's senses were very useful sometimes, but they didn't need offensive magic for the jobs they chose. Which weren't the best paying ones, but enough to get by splitting rent and getting food mostly at the guild.

Ace did chip too hard on one stone, and some of the lacrima fell into the water, which apparently ruined it. Salt water damaged raw lacrima stone. "Hey!"

"I'm sorry, it was an accident," Ace said in a hurry. The man who was angry suddenly cooled down a bit, and apologized for yelling. It was just that lacrima were very expensive and finding them before Boodle's company did was important. Ace was working for a place competing with the others. Well, Ace had no doubt that Boodle would keep producing and keep raking in the money. He wasn't worried about any competition for him.

"We're being careful," Marco assured him. The two got back to work, Ace being extra careful and slow now as he chipped away the stone gently. When they came across a huge stone, it was removed carefully by the professionals. Ace smelled something rancid from the hole, but it wasn't a chemical smell of any sort, but more like rotting fish and animals. Something he didn't feel like exploring.

He wasn't the only one, as multiple workers made disgusted noises and plugged their nose. "That reeks," a man with red hair complained.

"Well, we still have some to remove, but not much," the leader said, though he looked uncomfortable as well. "Why don't we let it air out for a bit and take a break?" Everyone were more than happy to do so, and get away from the smell. They watched their feet as they walked through the water and back to the beach.

They took off their suits and equipment and all gathered to eat some watermelon. Sitting on the beach was relaxing and comfortable. Watching the waves splash against the rocks and slush against the sand. The sounds and scents were relaxing, and Ace felt himself falling asleep. He was allowed a fifteen minute nap before work resumed. The smell had indeed dissipated a bit, but was still there.

"I'm betting something's rotting in that space. The lacrima might be contaminated if something is," Marco mused.

"We have to try anyways. Boss says so," Ace mumbled. They all plugged their noses and walked inside, the flashlights on their heads being how they saw. Since the sunlight didn't reach there, all that was lighting it was the flashlights. It was really creepy, and Ace didn't like it. He didn't smell any lacrima there, and said so. His magic was super senses.

A flood light was placed inside, lighting up the entire cavern. It was quite large, bigger than any of them expected. Very tall and wide. They heard a deep rumbling sound from deeper into the cave, seeing there was a big hole, going inside deeper. Ace backed away, and hear the sounds of scuttling feet running at them.

He started to run as the huge lizards rushed them all. Komodo dragons! They were huge! The length of Ace's body with his arms stretched above his head. The workers screamed and fled the cave from the angry creatures, hurrying into the water and back to the beach. When they were away, sure that they weren't being followed, the main excavator announced that their work was over.

They'd found no more lacrima in the cave, and now that the working conditions were dangerous, it wasn't safe or right to keep trying when they saw none and Ace had smelled none, too. They had only had two small crates worth of usable, undamaged crystal. So the job wasn't too successful, but the two wizards were happy enough with getting a paid trip to the beach.

Once everyone had their suits and equipment back in the trunks they were to be stored in, money was given to the two boys, and they were sent on their way. But the two took the magic powered bike and went to the beach a bit away from the original site and on the other side of the big cliff they'd disturbed, and played in the water.

It was a fun time, and Ace was happy they were the one to answer to this job.

-x-

"Sorry, Marco," Ace mumbled, his arm in a cast. "I lost you your job." Marco smiled and said it was his fault, too. For not stopping him. "I'm old enough to take this mistake as my own. Don't blame yourself. But I can't go with you. You should try going to with another team." Marco was unhappy with this, but with Ace's arm in such a terrible state, there wasn't much choice. He wasn't going to accept Ace paying for his half, because he was stubborn.

Levy offered to take Marco with their team, and he agreed. He sighed, and went with them on their job. It was different than Ace and Marco's usually chill jobs without much magic effort involved. He looked uncomfortable as a guest for the team, but he left with them anyways.

Ace sat at the table, and put his head down on it. Natsu walked over and asked why he was moping. "Marco went on a job without me," he grumbled.

"You should have gone anyways, just push through the pain!" he insisted. Ace snapped that he had to regrow the skin of his right arm, he couldn't go on jobs for awhile. "Well… still, you could just take meds to heal it." Ace was irritated, and told him to go away. He always forgot things and then upset others by rubbing it in their faces.

No magic medicine had healed Ace's arm. He had to take daily doses of stronger medicine as his arm slowly fixed itself. It was a sight nobody would want to see. So, Ace learned the hard way that it seemed impossible for him to transform only parts of his body. What a waste it had been. And Ace had nightmares about the sight days afterwards.

Natsu walked away with a dismissive shrug. "Maybe having some fish would help," Happy suggested.

"I really don't think fish would help," Ace mumbled into the table. "I want to go on a job with Marco, I want to be better."

"Heh, next time don't do something you're clearly not strong enough to," Laxus sneered on his way out with his group. They laughed at his misfortune, always meaner when Laxus was around. He was a bad model for them, a bad influence. But Ace was glad they were on their way out. It was surprisingly empty, with many out on jobs.

"Don't feel so bad. It'll get better," Mira said. Though when she said it, it wasn't patronizing or dismissive like Natsu's was. She was kind and concerned. It did hurt. It was uncomfortable, and a terrible image every time he had to shower. He wished the magic worked on him, but it didn't work on this wound.

He seemed to only hurt himself. Other things didn't harm him, it was his own doing that would be the thing to hurt him. It sucked. But it was better than being able to get injured all the time and all. Ace asked how she dealt with being the barmaiden all day. Surely it was boring. "I like getting to be around everyone. It's not unpleasant," she answered. "Besides, there's plenty of action inside the guild already."

"But you have to help clean up the messes."

"That's true, but I don't see it as a bad thing. How about you go shopping to get your mind off of it? Some new books. A new payment came in, after all." Ace heard Natsu run out of the place after hearing someone saw Igneel. It was a lie, no doubt, but at least that got him to go away and not bug Ace with just his presence.

While he didn't like shopping, it would give him something to do. So he left the guild with his pocketbook of money, and went to the book store. He looked around for awhile and found nothing very interesting. But when he found a fantasy story, he decided to buy it. The cashier seemed more than happy to sell it, which made Ace question why.

"That book keeps getting returned. It's frustrating. If you don't like it, don't bring it back! Toss it!" Ace was affronted by the man, but didn't want to cause any trouble, and just left with the book. He had it in his good hand, and wondered what was so bad about the book that had it returned so often.

He took it home, and flopped onto the couch. He took his medicine and then opened the book to read, wondering just how bad it was, and if it was so bad, how it even got published in the first place. When he opened the cover, he saw there were magic runes on it. If he was affected by magic, he had no doubt something would have just happened to him.

But since he wasn't affected by magic most of he time, the runes did nothing to him. He flipped through pages, finding more and more runes before he came across a page with a long list of names. Names of random people. There were a lot. Maybe people affected by the runes. He put the book down and hurried to the magic store to purchase some rune translators. It was very expensive, but worth it.

He got back home and put the rune translation sheet over the first page, a clear paper that would change the runes into words. It was a story, but there was a spell intertwined with the plot. It was a trick, a trap. Ace would definitely not give this to anybody else. If just looking at it did something, nobody was safe but him.

It was about a story with pirate wizards. Sounded really fun, but it was a story. And the names on the second page showed up a lot, like these real people were intertwined with the story. He read the whole book, translating each page, and when he reached the last one, the book dissolved, and three people appeared and ruined his coffee table under their weight.

Since there were nine names in the book, he wondered what happened to the other six. The three looked quite disoriented and confused. "Uh, hi," Ace said awkwardly. He got up and got some glasses of water for them.

"Where are we?"

"In my apartment." These three were teenagers. Two older ones, older than Natsu and Gray, and one that looked to be Natsu's age. "You came out of a book I bought."

"What?! That was all from the book!?" the one with black hair and a scar under his eye cried out. "Where the Sunny?!" Ace didn't know what they were talking about. The one with a curly eye brow told Luffy it had all been fake. "Noooo."

"We knew that from the beginning, dumbass," the blonde said. "Thanks for somehow getting us out of there. Don't be pouty, did you want to die in there? My name is Sanji, this is Luffy, and Zoro," Sanji said politely.

Ace said his name, and asked how long they'd been inside the book. Zoro yawned, and Ace saw he had three swords on his side, but they didn't seem like magic. "We were there four years. I didn't think we were going to get out, honestly," Sanji mused. Luffy was mopey and upset, and Ace wondered if freeing them was the right thing. They couldn't get back now that the book was gone.

"Should I have gotten you out?" He didn't use the word "help" in case they didn't see his actions as helping in the first place. Zoro told him to ignore Luffy, and that it was good they were out. "Okay," Ace said. "So… where'd you come from before?" Zoro shrugged noncommittally. Ace was kind of annoyed by that. "Do you have anywhere to go?"

"What's wrong with your arm?" Luffy asked bluntly, seeing the cast. Ace said he hurt it. "Heh. How? Is it bad?" Ace said it was a pretty bad wound, but he was fine. He asked again where they came from. "Dunno. Don't remember. Would it hurt if your arm was hit."

"Of course it would! It's hurt!" Ace finally snapped. Luffy started laughing, and Sanji asked Ace how old he was. "Eleven." Zoro told Luffy he was acting less immature than an eleven year old. Sanji sighed at the both of them, and asked if there was someplace for them to go, as they were clearly homeless now. "I mean, there's a shelter…"

Sanji seemed very mature and calm, and told the other two they should try and get some money or something. Luffy wanted to go back into the book, but Ace told him it disappeared. He couldn't go back. The teen pouted and crossed his arms. Ace kind of wanted them out of his apartment. So they left.

Ace watched them walk away, all three looking pretty at ease despite having nowhere to go. But none of them had magic, so they couldn't go to the guild to work. Ace was a special case, they were regular people. He sighed, and just wanted to go to sleep. He went to his room, and put the earmuffs on to help him sleep, and closed his eyes, drifting to sleep.

When he woke up, it was dinner time and he was hungry. He got off the bed, putting his arm back in the sling, and went to the kitchen to make a sandwich. He wished Marco was here, it was strange being anywhere alone. They were always together. He looked down at his arm, and realized he needed to reapply the cream and gauze.

After stuffing his face with the simple sandwich, he went into the bathroom and to the sink. He carefully took the gauze off. He nearly gagged at the sight, really. The raw, pink and sticky looking surface. How long would this take to heal? He could see there was a thin layer on some parts of it. The beginnings of a new layer of top skin. But it was far from nearly healed.

He reapplied the salve and rewrapped it and then returned to his room. He sighed, wanting Marco to come back. Why did Ace have to push things? When other people pushed themselves, it didn't end up like this, so he couldn't say nobody should push themselves. He should just know his limits, maybe.

-x-

Ace couldn't find the three teens again. Their scents went down the main road and disappeared there. Did they really just leave without money or anything? Where were they, what was their plan? He had to admit he was impressed with how not panicked they'd been when they returned from the book world. Ace did wonder if he should have just left them inside.

But he didn't know them well enough to be able to tell if they were truly unhappy being back. He hoped they were alright, even if Luffy pissed him off. At least he had Zoro and Sanji to take care of him. When he went to the guild, he expected to hear about them more, at least in passing, but they were gone.

Hopefully they were doing alright.

When he got to the guild, he paused, and saw there was something off about everything. It was fizzy, and his senses started to change. It didn't smell right, it didn't smell like home. It started to burn his nose, and he ran to the front doors, throwing them open and finding he wasn't there anymore. Magnolia faded away until he was in a dark room.