Popularity is not my goal with this fic, I just want to explore something new and fun. Characters my be a little OOC but that's the fun of FF in the first place! I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! :: Fairy tail is property of Hiro Mashima, I only own the events of this particular story::

I could feel the vein in my temple pulse at the scene before me. Cana was flirting with our employer, shamelessly I might add. A part of me couldn't blame her though; he was the real deal: looks, brains and money. Any socialite would find him the perfect catch; I felt a shudder of disgust shoot through me. The men of society had no use for a woman of low birth, not unless she came with money. My own father had tried to use me as currency in that crazy messed up world.

I knew Cana was just looking to satisfy an urge, but it wasn't a good idea, not with this kind of man.

He turned his eyes on me causing my skin to crawl. His deep blue eyes held a trace of recognition, like we had met somewhere before. I couldn't place his face, no matter how hard I tried to wrack my memory for it. I would remember eyes like those, I'm sure.

"You said your name was Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia, right?" I hated the way my name sounded in his mouth, the insinuation of familiarity in his tone made me reluctant to even hear more about the mission. His eyes racked over my body, a smirk deepening the creases that age had carved around his mouth. He had to be at least a decade my senior, not my type at all.

"Just Lucy is fine." I smiled sweetly, secretly tugging at the lack of fabric my skirt offered me. I became painfully aware that my shirt offered little coverage as well, leaving my mid drift completely bare to the world.

Why couldn't I wear something more modest?

"I'd heard rumors about Jude's daughter joining Fairy Tail. Seems they were true, what a pity. You had such potential." Cana must have sensed my discomfort, because she lazily set back to work on getting his attention. She went as far as to perch herself on the edge of his desk, leaning forward so he only had a view of her cleavage.

"So the request says we are supposed to retrieve an item for you." Her voice came out in a low seductive hum, dragging his attention in with her sultry nature.

"Ahem, yes." He adjusted the papers on his desk, taking an envelope labeled 'Fairy Tail' from a stack. "All the details are in here. I expect you within three days or the reward will be reduced by half." If I hadn't developed my self-control over the years, my jaw would have been on the floor.

"Three days, that seems a little hurried don't you think?" He gave a smile in response explaining that he needed the item in time for a special event. Something didn't add up here. "Three days," I opened the pack, looking for the map inside. A quick glance told me it would take us two hours to walk to the location, a system of caves. It shouldn't take more than a single day to complete this kind of task, so why is he so worried it would take longer. "If we complete it in less time, you'll double our reward."

It was risky, I knew, but something about his urgency made me feel like he would agree to anything so long as he got what he desired. He stared for a long moment,as if measuring our abilities, and nodded his approval to my wager. Somewhere deep down a voice was screaming that he wasn't telling me something, but I silenced it once he had agreed.

"If you can manage to bring my item to me in the next seventy two hours I will award you with 500,000J. My condition will be that for every hour past that the reward decreases by 50,000J." I wanted to object to the condition, but I knew that we would never get a chance like this again.

"You have a deal." He and I shook on it, and he called the butler to show us out. A part of my mind screamed that something wasn't right about this mission, but the thought of 500,000J overpowered that little voice easily.

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Cana and I stayed silent as we left the grounds; she was staring at me out of her peripherals the whole way, I could feel the heat of her gaze. I was nervous as to what she might say, the whole atmosphere was just plain awkward. So I played it off like I hadn't noticed her watching me.

Once the gate clicked shut behind us she let out a low whistle.

"I never took you for a gambler. That was a dangerous bet if you ask me, I hope you know what you're doing." She took the envelope from me and proceeded to inspect its contents, shuffling through papers till she found what she was looking for.

"I blame it on my team, mainly Erza." I bit back a laugh, the red haired demon would be proud of me. "You'd never believe it, but she loves the casino more than anyone I've ever met."

She grunted a response, as she continued to read through the packet. She shifted papers, raising a brow a few times, maybe this would be more difficult than I thought.

"Damn it, we should have brought Levy along." Cana hissed.

I raised a brow of my own and took the papers, and after a quick inspection I could feel the nervous sweat break out on the back of my neck.

"Of course there is a protection spell; he wouldn't be paying for something he could have gotten easily." I took a deep breath. "It's a good thing I've been studying disenchantment spells with Freed."

Cana began to laugh again, tears streaming from the effort.

"What? I never, ever want to get myself stuck in a rune barrier again. It seems like I had the right idea, and now I get to use my skills." A true smile spread across my face; I wasn't just a one trick pony anymore. I gave a quick thumbs up and a wink to drive the point home.

"Well then let's pick up the pace, 500,000J are on the line!" I nodded, tucking everything but the map back into the envelope.

That was more then enough to get me through this, I could pay my rent and go on a shopping spree. I was giddy just thinking about the new boots I could add to my collection, but in the back of my mind the little voice sputtered that something was off. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, forcing me to make a quick survey of our surrounding. I couldn't see anything suspicious so I shrugged it off.

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We walked for nearly an hour through the thick brush of the forest floor; this was always my least favorite part of a job. The sense that someone else was there kept the hairs at the back of my neck on high alert, I kept my eyes sharp as I listen to my partner excitedly talking about a time when Elfman had completely failed as a man. For the most part, it was an uneventful trip, almost boring. I had never been on a boring mission before, since Natsu and Gray would be fighting by this point. Erza would be to focused on finding our target to stop them, and most of the forest would be either burned or iced over.

Never in a million years did I think that one day I would miss their craziness. Being without them was harder than I had thought it would be; I wanted nothing more than for things to go back to the way they had been before, comfortable and crazy. I sighed, trying my best to push aside the feelings of longing that were making my heart feel heavy.

Cana must have noticed that my mind was traveling, maybe I had stopped acknowledging her, because she stopped dead in her tracks. The concern was clear in her big brown eyes, she must have known I was thinking of them. She was going to ask if I was alright, so I beat her to it, mumbling something about strange noises coming from the tree line. I wanted her to believe that my silence was due to listening, making sure we weren't followed by a group of mercenaries or something. My profound declaration got a laugh out of her, and we continued walking another ten minutes or so before we got within range of our final goal.

I could begin to see the faint shimmer of the magical barrier; I would have to break it before we could scope out the caves to find this item our client was so intent on owning. It was finally time to test out my new capabilities.

I took a deep breath, banishing every thought from my mind, focusing solely on the materials I had spent months training with. My bag hit the ground with a thud, and I set to work.

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Seventeen hours, it took me seventeen hours to break the protection spell. I needed to take short breaks here and there of course, I had never attempted something so complex before. I never expected there to be such a complex set of rules to protect something so seemingly insignificant. I managed to crack it though, without help from anyone. Freed would surely be pleased when I told him about my accomplishments, that I was able to surpass my own misgivings.

My body was weak, my mind fatigued, but I was proud. I turned to Cana exclaiming that I was finished when my vision went black, pain shooting across my face as I fell to the ground.

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I woke slowly, my mind in a fog of discomfort and gnawing hunger. There was a deep cut across my cheek, I could tell from the feeling of caked blood that had gathered at my chin. My breath hitched, and I could tell my ribs had taken a serious hit. I would bet my reward money that there would be a deep purple bruise raising over my left side, and my right leg in less than a day from now. It felt as though I got in between a guild wide fight with these injuries.

Cana was no better; she was slightly limping as she carried me on her back. Blood was caked to her whole body, mixed with sweat and possibly tears. I couldn't tell what her exact injuries were, but her arm looked as though it wasn't strong enough to keep my weight up any more. I made a noise, alerting my friend to the fact that I was finally awake, and she handed me a water bottle, with a soft smile. We settled at the foot of a large tree, taking a break from the hike back to our client's home.

She updated me on the current situation, explaining how I had been injured, where she had found the item we had been sent to retrieve, and inform me that I had been sleeping for several hours. Apparently she felt guilty for my injuries, because she wouldn't look me in the eye when she told me about it.

"The protection spell, my guess is that breaking that damn thing released the monster, or summoned it. I didn't have time to react, it was on top of you before I could get my cards out."

I could see her injuries properly now; she had taken a claw to the face, leaving three distinct marks across her cheek, the same pattern was torn into her arm and the side of her stomach. It seemed she had gotten them protecting my defenseless body.

"All this for a stupid little trinket, hardly seems worth it right?" Cana mused patting her purse where a small gemstone lay hidden.

"Of course it was, now I can pay my rent!" I shuffled my bag, trying to keep the weight off my injured side as we got ready to head out again. "250,000J is enough to cover a few months with some leftover to go on a shopping spree." I needed to rest, since using a magic that wasn't my natural affinity was extra harsh on my body, but I wouldn't let Cana see me stumble. I needed to be brave, and tough it out. After all she had carried me half way back, so we would make the seventy two hour dead line.

"Is rent the only thing you care about?" Cana growled through her teeth, the pain in her arm must have been substantial, even if the cuts didn't appear to be that deep. She was stubborn for sure, carrying me while she was so injured.

"Yeah, pretty much." I was laughing with my partner on the outside, yet deep down I knew this was my doing. I wasn't ready to take on jobs like this by myself, that was painfully clear now. Natsu was always with me before this, he had always been able to pick up my slack. The loss just kept growing inside me, making the pit in my stomach expand.

I didn't want to think about him, not when remembering made me feel like the walls were closing in on me. I knew tears were just under the surface, waiting for a moment of weakness. I wouldn't allow that, not while on a mission.

Cana handed me a napkin that had a smashed up sandwich inside with a crooked smile. My stomach groaned at the sight of it, and I was quick to gobble the whole thing down. It was enough to quiet the pangs of hunger that washed over me, at least for a while.

I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings anymore, it didn't matter. I wanted to focus on something positive, to push all thoughts of that pink haired idiot out of my head. Hosenka, the last time I had been there was before the our fight on Tenrojima. I let that thought sink in for a moment, fascinated by how much had changed since then. I was so distracted by my reminiscing that I failed to notice Cana stop just in front of me. She hissed in frustration, shifting her bad arm away from me as we collided.

"Sorry." My cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Be more careful, you opened the wound on your cheek!" Cana shuffled through her bag until she found a substantial piece of cloth for the blood that was now dripping down the side of my neck.

"I'm a mess, aren't I?" The cloth burned as I put it to the gash, Cana must have splashed it with alcohol. She gave me a look, conveying that I didn't look half as bad as she did, before she starting cleaning the wound I reopened on her arm. It only took me a minute to mop up the mess, my shirt on the other hand, well, it was absolutely ruined. "Right let's get in there, no point in trying to look pretty."

We entered the manor, the butler hiding his shock behind a stoic expression. He announced us the same as he had the first time, and explained that the master of the house had other company and that we were to wait patiently.

"You have to be joking right?" I could hear his voice carry out into the hall.

"The job was to observe, you never asked us to interfere." A cool masculine voice replied.

"Dammit all, take your pay and leave!"

It was a moment later that we were summoned into the office.

To my amusement our client had a nervous look on his face, his eye wide at our disheveled appearances.

"What? Not happy to see us so soon?" Cana teased with a wink. "And here I thought you'd miss me." She sauntered across the large room, ignoring the guest who was seated in a wing-backed chair near the fire place.

"There is no way you completed the mission already." I could distinctly hear the sound of disbelief in his voice. "I've had my men working on it for MONTHS."

"You should never underestimate a mage's abilities, especially not the women of Fairy Tail." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. Cana pulled the trinket from her pouch and held it out in front of the man, waiting for his inspection. "I won't lie though; if you had mentioned the protection spell on the flyer we would have brought a mage who could break it in a quarter of the time."

"Impressive as always." I turned my attention to the other presence in the room, unsure of his concern in the matter. "Looks like you took a lot of damage though, pity." His blazing eyes stared at me over his inter locked fists. Half his face nearly obscured by his billowy black hair, but I could clearly see the smirk he was giving me. A switch flipped in my brain as recognition dawned on me. Sabertooth's Rouge Chenney was sitting there, making fun of me, and I didn't like it.

"Who were you again, I can't seem to remember?" My words were laced with sarcasm.

"What a coincidence, I can't seem to remember your proper name either, blondie." We stared at each other for a long minute, neither willing to be the first to look away.

"Did you honestly call in another guild while we were still on the job?" Cana's playful attitude disappeared, her brow creasing as she pulled back the trinket.

"It doesn't matter, the mission is already over. A deals a deal, you have your prize, so we'll take the reward and leave you to your business." I moved towards Cana, intent on handing over the item we had worked so hard to acquire.

"R-right." He reached into his desk draw, and pulled out a sack. "250,000J as stated in the request." He placed the sack in my waiting hand. Cana gave him a look that would rival Erza, filled with murderous intent.

"Have you ever met a Celestial Spirit Mage before? Our words are verbal contracts, and you agreed to my wager." Anger seeped into my tone, and I knew I couldn't hold back for much longer. He watched my fingers twitch as I reached for my whip. "I don't want to forcefully take what you owe me, so pay up."

"F-fine I'll pay you the rest, please, I just want the jewel." I raised my brow at him once more, and he gulped. He reached back into his desk pulling out a second pouch and placing it next to the box. Cana grabbed the bag while I placed the trinket on the velvet cushion.

"Full disclosure works best when dealing with Fairy Tail. Please make sure you remember that if you want the help of our guild again." I nodded my head in a respectful bow before high tailing it out of there.

"You picked the wrong guild if you were trying to cheat them." I heard the young man in the chair chuckle as he got up to leave as well. "The same thing goes for Sabertooth, we don't appreciate having our time wasted."

"I-I promise to be more careful if I ever process a request with either guild again." The man hollered so that I could hear him across the room. Once I made it to the office door, I sped up knowing my way out.

"250,000J a piece! Way to go Lucy!" Cana sang as she hugged her share of the reward. "Now let's go get patched up, before these things leave scars." I nodded enthusiastically, wanting to change out of my blood cakes clothing as soon as possible.

Not far behind I heard a chuckle, Rouge was amused by us. I could feel the heat burning my cheeks and neck just thinking about it.

"So your mission was a bust huh?" A little good natured conversation couldn't hurt, after all our guilds were getting along at the moment.

"I got paid, so not a total loss." He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Cana gave me one of her looks, implying that I was trying to flirt with the dark haired man. I laughed openly at her silent accusation, I didn't have the heart to flirt.

"See you around!" I waved, as Cana and I sprinted down the long gravel drive. She mumbled something under her breath about stupid Sabertooth mages, but I didn't catch what it was because my mind was on the hot springs back in Hosenka.

A certain someone had been watching my back the whole way through our departure, amusement tugging his face into a smile.