Lucy got up out of the guest bed she had stayed in for the past three days and stretched. She glanced around the room while spreading her arms, to see if there was anyone else in the room. Lisanna's bed was empty, having gotten up earlier without her noticing, and luckily Natsu hadn't invaded for a third time. Looks like he took that threat of her summoning Cancer and making him bald seriously. As she got changed, she thought about what she had done over the past two days. After spending some time looking for available places to live, she spent the rest of her time taking it easy at the Guild Hall, as Porlyusica had ordered. That gave her plenty of time to meet all her new guildmates.

First was the Ice-Make Family. Ur, Grey, Lyon, and Ultear. While they didn't all hang out together, they were easily recognizable as related through two features. One, they all used variations of Ice-Make Magic. Two, they were constantly stripping.

Lucy's first meeting of them was getting a shirt thrown into her face by Grey without him even noticing it was gone. Lisanna said it was a habit due to their method of training, which Lucy found rather hard to believe, but she supposed it wasn't the craziest thing in the Guild. Not to mention she didn't mind the eye candy sometimes. Ultear seemed to be close with Erza and Mira, but there seemed to be an underlying tension related to not being S-Class yet.

There was also Jellal's group. While the "Rising Star" of Fairy Tail wasn't around currently, she managed to meet some of the members that hung out with him. First was Milianna, a cat-obsessed girl who spent most of her time at the guild hunting down Happy and Carla. Then there was Sho, a young man who used card magic and liked to make a game of everything. Wally was a 'dandy' man, by his own words, and Lucy would be inclined to believe him. Despite his oddly polygonal appearance, that didn't stop him from dressing and acting rather fine. He apparently had an older brother in another guild. Finally, there was Simon and his little sister Kagura. The two were very close to Erza and seemed to know each other for a long time. Kagura didn't know much magic, so Erza gave her weapon fighting lessons, which made Simon nervous, and Lucy imagined she would be too if she had a little sister playing around with swords.

Lucy had gotten the most familiar with Levy of Team Shadow Gear. She honestly seemed to be one of the most normal people and the guild, and they both had a similar hobby in writing. The two of them spent most of yesterday evening comparing their works, and she couldn't help but be thankful for finding a kindred spirit.

There were plenty of other members that she had met, however. There was Macao and his kid, Romeo, that Natsu had talked about earlier. Cana was intriguing, as she was the child of the legendary Gildarts. Or at least she said she was. Not that she didn't believe her, but information related to Fairy Tail's strongest Mage was so elusive that even a superfan like her didn't know he had a kid.

Lucy walked down into the kitchen and found everyone had left already. She hoped she hadn't slept in too long, as she was feeling better now, and didn't want to have to go on her first mission alone. As she grabbed her breakfast, the sound of the front door opening reached her ears, and Lisanna ran into the kitchen.

"Lucy, your up already? Perfect!" Lisanna said excited. "You feel up to a mission yet?"

Lucy put a hand to her stomach, trying to feel any disturbance. "I'm all good. Honestly, I was worried I'd have to go out alone today. Need to start working on that rent soon." Luckily, she had managed to find a place for the not so low price of 70,000 Jewels a month. But it was better than Fairy Hills, so now she just needed to get working.

"Of course not! In fact, I've already picked out a job for us to do. Ta-da!" Lisanna said, holding up a job contract. Lucy leaned in and looked at the details.

-Job: Steal a Certain Book-

-Reward: 200,000 Jewels-

-Location: Shirotume Town-

-See Kaby Melon at the address below for details-

"That much for a single book? Seems rather high. And thievery? Is that allowed?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"Aren't you the one who told me that writing was an unappreciated art? Besides, it might be in some cursed crypt or something. It's not like we're going to rob a public library. We don't have to do it if it seems illegal." Lisanna reassured her friend.

"… Alright. Let's go find Natsu and-"

"Actually, I was thinking maybe it could be just the two of us?" Lisanna interrupted. Lucy looked confused, and she continued. "It's just… this mission will probably require subtlety, which isn't really his strong suit. Don't want to mess up your first mission and all."

"I guess…" Lucy felt kinda bad not telling Natsu, but she needed that money. Besides, she was sure she'd go on plenty of missions with him in the future. The guy could barely leave her alone if she was honest.


The two soon found their way onto a train heading to Shirotume town, but as the train was pulling away from the station, they heard someone yelling outside the window of their car. Lucy opened the window and looked out to see someone flying after them. "Get back here!" Natsu yelled, as Happy carried him forward.

Lisanna poked her head out next to Lucy. "Don't worry Natsu, we'll be back in no time!" she said nonchalantly, waving at him.

The train began to speed up, and Natsu couldn't catch up. "Damn, I'm dead weight. Happy, drop me!" He yelled.

"Aye Sir!" Happy said. He released Natsu, how landed on the ground in a roll, before he rocketed toward the train. Quickly picking up speed, Happy launched himself into Lisanna's arms, who flew back into the train. Lucy looked back to see Natsu disappear in the distance, becoming nothing more than a pink dot on the horizon.

"Oof!" Lisanna landed back in her coach seat and started rubbing the blue felines belly. "Jeez, you've sure gotten faster, haven't you? You're gonna end up knocking someone out like that eventually."

"hehehe! No, that tickles!" Happy squealed, wriggling in the Take Over Mage's arms.

"Not until you tell me who snitched!" Lisanna said, increasing her assault.

"Haha, ah! I-It was Elfman! He t-thought we were going with you!" Happy managed to get out through fits of laughter.

"Elfman… I'll get you back for this." Lisanna lifted her hands from Happy. "I suppose you get to live for now."

"Thank you." Happy said, rolling up into her lap, still out of breath.

"Is it that big a deal?" Lucy asked.

Lisanna sighed before petting Happy, who started making a purring sound. "I wanted it to be just the two of us. Natsu can be a bit… insistent on tagging along with me. It's sweet, but having him around on jobs all the time can be tiring."

Lucy thought back to her first encounter with the two. She had thought that the chaos that was their meeting was an exception, but her short time at the Guild Hall told her it was the norm. "I can see that. It'll be nice to go on a job without setting everything on fire, huh?"


After reaching their destination of Shirotsume Town they met up with the client, Kaby Melon, who gave them more details on the job. Thus, the two women found themselves hiding out beside a rather large mansion, scouting the estate out.

"What do you think about this job?"

Lisanna continued looking up and down the manors walls, pondering at the question. "The place is pretty secure, so we might be better getting invited in instead of sneaking. But this doesn't seem impossible-"

"I meant in general." Lucy clarified, making Lisanna look over in confusion. "I mean, the price was already rather ridiculous for destroying a book, but 2 million Jewels! I don't care how rich the guy looked, there's no way this is legit. Why doesn't he just buy it if he's that loaded. Do you think we should still do it?"

Lisanna looked deep in thought, before shrugging. "Like I said, the job shouldn't be too hard. If he doesn't pay, we can always complain to the Magic Council. Its law that if we complete the job, we get the money… as long as we don't cause to much property damage."

"So basically never…" Happy said sadly, flying down from above the girls.

"Why do you think we left Natsu. Can't have him ruining a score like this. Well Happy, did you find anything we can use." Lisanna laughed.

"Maybe, none of the windows are open, but there are plenty of balconies to get onto. Couldn't see where the library is though."

"Then looks like we'll have to find a proper way in like you said. But how?" Lucy asked.

"I told you, the Duke isn't interested!" A deep but feminine voice cried out. The Fairy Tail members looked toward the voice to see a pink haired giantess of a maid throwing two other maids out the front gate.

"But we're professionally trained and everything! You're the one's asking for help, aren't you?" One of them complained.

"We're looking for a very specific set of talents, and you don't have them." The larger maid said, before turning back and closing the gate behind her. The two now jobless maids walked off, grumbling at their misfortune.

"Well, I guess we have a way in now." Lisanna said.

"You've got to be kidding me. Where are we supposed to get a maid outfit anyway?" Lucy said unpleased.

"Those two won't need them. Besides, all we need to do is get in for a while. Not like it'll be a permanent job." Lisanna said.


"This is never going to work."

"Give it a chance! At least I remembered to cover our guild marks."

"Fine… Jeez, this top part is way to tight."

The two girls stood outside the gate of the vast Everlue Estate in their newly acquired maid outfits, waiting to be let in. They had pushed some sort of button, so someone should be coming by soon. Happy was off to the side in a nearby tree, keeping watch.

Suddenly the ground between the two of them cracked and the giant maid from before burst out, leaving behind a hole in the bricked street. "Hmm, are you two here for the job offer?" She asked deeply.

"Y-yeah?" Lucy replied weekly.

The maid glanced between the two of them, before turning back toward the tunnel she emerged from and shouting down it. "Master, there's two girls who came for the maid position!"

Everything was quiet for a moment, before the ground bulged once again, and another figure flew out from the earth. Upon landing, the figure revealed itself to be a short, fat man. "Hoho, is that so? I sure hope that these ones are better than the last." The Duke said, looking between the two girls. "hmm…"

Lucy couldn't help but sweat at the intense scrutiny. 'Sheesh, is this guy is seriously checking us out? Maybe we'll actually get in like this-'

"Rejected! Go home you two."

"WHAT?!" Lucy couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. "But why? You didn't even give us a chance."

"It's rather simple, for someone as great as I am, I deserve only the most beautiful of maids…" At the mention, many other maids shot out of the ground, revealing a rather large… difference in appearance compared to the Fairy Tail Mages. "…and you two are ugly." He finished

"Ug-" Lucy couldn't believe this was happening.

"That's it then, time for you to leave, uglies." The giant maid said, picking up Lucy and Lisanna by the back with each hand, and tossing them away from the estate.

"AHH?!" Lucy screamed out as they landed near the tree Happy had been perched in down the road. As Happy flew down to check on them, she looked back to see that the Duke and his servants had disappeared, likely down the holes from which they emerged. She got up and turned back to her friend in annoyance. "Jeez, that man clearly has no taste, right Lisanna?"

Lisanna, however, was still sitting where they had landing with a blank look on her face, Lucy's question having obviously gone unnoticed.

"…"

"Hey, Lisanna!"

She suddenly snapped out of her trance. Looking up suddenly. "uh?! Wha-"

"Don't let what that buffoon said get to you. He clearly has a demented idea of what the word 'beauty' means."

"…You're right. It's not worth getting bent out of shape over." Lisanna agreed, with a forceful cheer in her voice. As she got up though, Lucy could here her muttering something under her breath. "…Silly, there's no way he'd know…"

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing! Guess we'll have to find another way in though. Looks like we're going to be doing things the hard way."

Happy landed on the road dispelling his wings. "Aye sir! The best jobs always involve busting heads!" he cheered. "But how come you two didn't even make it through the front gate? You guys look perfect for it."

"Not for this guy. His standards are a bit… different than usual." Lucy sighed. "I still can't believe he called the two of us ugly…"

"HE WHAT?!" Happy yelled in anger. He turned toward the front gates and began stomping towards them as angrily as a feline of his size could muster. "I'm gonna go teach that guy a lesson!"

"Wait, Happy!" Lisanna said quickly. "Don't worry about it, really."

"But he-"

"It's fine, lets focus on the mission. Please."

Lucy stood to the side awkwardly, not sure what to make of recent events. It's not like she was surprised that Lisanna was upset by the Duke's comment. Any woman would at being dismissed so easily and for such a ridicules reason. But for her to take it like that was weird. And that's not even taking Happy's reaction into account. Now that Lucy thought about it though, her sister Mira was basically a supermodel, what with all the shoots she does for Sorcerer Magazine and other groups. 'I guess it wouldn't be out of the question to develop a complex about it…'

But Lisanna was right, they had more important things to worry about right now. "Right, so it looks like we're going to have to force our way in. What's our point of entry? Happy could fly us up to one of the balconies."

"I can only take one of you at a time. But Lisanna can fly up herself!" Happy said.

"Actually, I have a better idea." Lisanna said, looking back at the front gate. Her hands glowed and transformed into a unique set of paws. "Animal Soul: Mole. It looks like they didn't bother to clean up the holes they made. Since they go to the mansion, it would be silly not to use them."

"I don't think I could get through those holes as easily though." Lucy said, glancing at the row of pits a way off.

"Then let's split up. We can cover more ground that way and won't have to worry about failing if we get caught."

Lucy really didn't like the idea of splitting up, but she couldn't argue with the facts. "Alright. Good luck then. Let's go Happy."

"Aye Sir!"

And with that Happy jumped onto Lucy's back, spread his wings, and the two flew up and off toward the Everlue Estate. Lisanna stood alone watching the two fly off, trying to steady her breathing as she slowly walked toward the tunnels in front of her.

'I can do this. I can do this, without Natsu or Mirajane to baby me. I'm not ugly, and I'm not useless. I'm all better now, I'll show them.'


"Alright, here looks good. Set me down."

"Aye!"

Lucy and Happy both landed on one of the many balconies of the expansive estate. Lucy glanced in the large window door to make sure that no one was there. "All clear. Now to get in quietly."

"And how do we do that?"

Lucy checked the door handle, and seeing it locked, reached to the keychain her waist and pulled up one of her golden keys. "Open, Gate of the Crab, Cancer!"

In a flash of golden light, a celestial spirit appeared before the two of them. The spirit looked like a casually dressed man and could be mistaken for one if not for the six crab-like legs sticking out of his back. "Lady Lucy, what sort of hairstyle do you need today-Ebi?" Cancer asked, while striking a pose and snipping the two scissors in his hands.

"-Ebi? Shouldn't it be -Kani?" Happy asked confused.

Lucy shook her head and pointed to the glass behind her. "You're not here to give a haircut today. Think you can cut a hole in this window without making a sound?"

"Hmph, of course-Ebi." He responded, looking the window up and down. Then in a flash and a flurry of limbs, Cancer cut a perfect square in the window. He then put one of his scissors near the top, and plied the cut segment from the pane, gently setting it aside. "Another job complete. Good luck-Ebi." And with that the crab-spirit disappeared just as easily he had appeared.

"Alright, quiet now." Lucy whispered as the two of them finally walked into the interior of the mansion in search of their goal.

*crash*

"Ahh!" Lucy turned around at the sudden noise to see Happy rustling through one of the boxes in the storage room. "What are you doing?!"

Happy raised his head from the box, having somehow gotten a skull mask over his head in his exploration. "…Looking for the book?"

"It won't be here. It's probably in his library or a personal collection. Now stop making so much noise." Lucy said.

Lucy opened the door into the hall and glanced around. The door led out into the second floor of the main hall, looping around the first floor. The two slowly walked out of the storage room and toward the next door down the hall. She peeked in and could barely contain the gasp that came up her mouth.

"What's wrong?" The skull faced Happy asked worried, noticing her reaction.

Ignoring Happy, she quickly glanced around the hall then back in the door, before opening it more and ushering him in.

When they entered Happy looked around and realized why Lucy reacted how she did. "A library!"

"I could barely believe it myself." Lucy said excited. "Now get looking, it's gotta be in here… somewhere."

The two of them glanced around at the room, wall to wall with shelves full of books.

"I wonder if Lisanna is doing any better than us…"


'I hope Lucy and Happy are doing better than I am…'

Lisanna snuck around the depths of the Everlue Estate, looking for anything that could help her find the book they were after. She assumed that this 'Daybreak' was worth a lot, if the job reward was anything to go by, so she was looking for a safe or display. But it was clear there was nothing down here other than rats. There was nothing else, including the maids. Which was weird, considering she entered the same way they did.

'This isn't working. Guess I'll have to risk going higher up. But that would mean a higher chance of getting caught.'

She was lucky so far, but if she went up to the manor proper, she doubted it would keep up. If she went up there, she would probably have to use her Animal Soul Magic in its entirety to remain undetected.

'But if I do that then she'll see me! I have to find another way through.'

She'll just have to take her chances. She can't fail now, not after getting this far.

"I can do this. I'll get it, burn it to bits, and feed the embers to Natsu! Look out Daybreak, I'll tear this whole place down if I have to!"

"Hoho? So that's what you all are after."

Lisanna looked around in shock, recognizing the voice as Duke Everlue. 'Where the hell is he?'

The sound of stone crumbling met her ears and she turned to the noise to find the Duke… swimming backstroke through the brick floor? "I knew those mages from earlier were more than just your average bandits, but to think they were after something as worthless as that trash."

Lisanna glared at the man's cavalier attitude. "If it's so worthless, then maybe you could save everyone some time and just hand it over?"

"Never. It belongs to me, so trying to steal from me is worth a punishment, no matter it's worth. The principle of it, you see."

'Worth a shot' Lisanna scoffed. "What's so important about the thing anyways?"

"It's the last book ever written by the great Kemu Zaleon, with yours truly as the main character. It's a total piece of crap though! To think a man of his talent would write something like it is insulting." He ranted. "I don't know why anyone would want it so much as to hire others to steal it, but your going to tell me who, and then I'll make their life a living hell!"

With a snap of his fingers a half dozen maids flew out of the ground, including the giant one with the pink hair, ready for a fight. "We will not allow you to harass our master any further. Attack!"

Lisanna immediately began digging through the ground at incredible speed thanks to her Animal Soul: Mole, putting distance from the group and trying to split them up. She popped out elsewhere, only to find the large one right on her tail.

"You'll have to try harder than that!"

At least she was proving an effective distraction. She really hoped Lucy was having better luck than she was.


"I found it!"

Happy flew over to Lucy from the other side of the library, holding a book with a golden yellow book cover wrapping it. He looked like a flying skull with the mask still on and his body covered by the book. The words Daybreak could be seen along the top in bold letters, with the writer's name along the bottom.

"Kemu Zaleon?!" Lucy said in shock at seeing the author of the book they were searching for.

"Oh! Do you know the book Lucy?"

"Kemu Zaleon was a famous writer and mage, and he's written plenty of books. I've read every single one, but I've never heard of this book before." Lucy wouldn't be surprised if the man had a couple drafts from his years of working, but an entire book? And how did the client even learn about it? "Maybe it's a fake or something. Let me look at it."

Lucy reached into her back pocket and pulled out her pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses. She began looking through the book at a truly lightning speed, her eyes flicking between the pages so fast you could barely tell they were moving. She could immediately tell that there was something wrong with this book. Beyond the surface level of its obvious self-indulgent story, there were grammar and spelling issues throughout the whole thing. There was no way the great Zaleon could have wrote this, there were so many problems with this book she almost believed they were on purpose! Wait a minute…

She tried looking another way than with her eyes. The way her old teacher had. Closing her eyes, she reached out and felt something else. Something magical. "That's it."

Happy looked at her confused. "What is it? Is this our target?"

"Yes. But we can't destroy it, not yet." Lucy explained. "This job has been weird from the start, and the truth is in this book."

Suddenly, the sound of large mechanisms moving could be heard behind them. They both turned to see two of the bookcases moving to the side, revealing a secret passageway containing two men in the shadows. "Is that so? Then would you mind handing it over? Our client would most certainly like a look at it then."

"Who are you?" Lucy said, shoving Daybreak into Happy's paws. Something told her these two were tough customers.

The two men walked into the light of the library, revealing their features. One was exceptionally tall, wearing a jacket that didn't cover the tattoos going down one arm. The other was slightly taller than Lucy, and had a tattooed face, lacking any hair on his head besides a long braid coming out the back. He also seemed to be wielding a giant frying pan, and Lucy doubted that its primary purpose was cooking. Most noticeable about the two of them was the square cloth on both their arms, bearing the symbol of a guild.

"I recognize that symbol! You guys are with the Mercenary Guild, Southern Wolves! What are you doing here!" Happy yelled in shock.

The smaller one looked at the talking skull in confusion, before answering. "We are known as the Vanish Brothers. We were hired to deal with our client's recent rat problem. The Duke went off to deal with the problem himself this time though. Hopefully we can exterminate this one before he gets back, younger brother."

Lucy stared down the two professional mercenaries with fear. She really hoped Lisanna was having better luck than her.

Next Chapter: Exit the Everlue Estate