Juvia had thought herself familiar with the concept of a seedy bar. She had read books where they featured, seen movies where the heroes got their drinks there, heard Happy's tales about illegal fish served there (she had her doubts about this one), so she had always thought it was not necessary to actually visit one of these establishments. In a pinch, she thought Fairy Tail's guild hall was a fairly good approximation.

As a result, she was totally shocked when she entered 'Albert's Pub and Bar' together with Lucy. Not because of how seedy it was, but because of how much it wasn't. Everything was lit fairly well; she could see the faces of the people at the table, who were laughing at jokes a bit too naughty for her taste. There were neither any mysterious lone strangers nor any mob bosses with lots of giggling girls around them. Nobody glared at them, and the barkeep actually gave them a friendly smile.

"Juvia is disappointed" she whispered to Lucy. "Even Phantom Lord's guild hall was seedier than this. Are you sure that this is the right place?"

Lucy nodded. "Don't let this fool you. The kind of gangster we need are all nice, honorable and friendly, right until not being that works better for them. They won't rob us here, but we should stay away from dark alleys for a bit after leaving."

Juvia was a bit concerned about the summoner's knowledge of these things, but she tried not to let it show. What if Lucy was the one planning on robbing her later? She wanted to check whether her valuables were still there, but stopped herself when she realized that doing so would only tell everyone else where her valuables were. And what if her behavior was now seen as suspicious?

"Calm down, Juvia. You're giving off puffs of vapor" whispered Lucy. "Now, where is… ah, there!" She steered them to a table where a single woman was sitting, reading a newspaper. Juvia estimated her about forty. Her outfit was not cheap, but not remarkable either, and her glasses had gone out of a style a while ago. A glass of wine was standing next to her.

"Lucy, so good to see you! How's your father doing? Oh, please sit down." she said as they approached. Juvia tried to find a place where she could keep the entrance in view and have nobody approach her from behind, but realized that the woman they were here to meet had already taken this place. Lucy did not seem flustered by such concerns, however.

"Oh, he's doing well. This is Juvia Lockser, a friend of mine. Juvia, meet Madame D'Arcachon."

They shook hands. "Juvia is pleased to meet you."

"Wonderful! Did Lucy tell you about me? Only good things, I hope?"

"That would have been a very short story, and you know it."

"Oh please, Lucy! Is that a way to treat an old friend of your father's?"

„Friend is an interesting choice of words. During my rebellious phase, I did some digging into what my father did. You didn't always appear in a good light there. The incident at Coroia, for example, or that nice business with Hiragoto…"

„Oh, you went behind Jude's back? That explains quite a bit, actually." She chuckled. „But you're not here to ‚bring me to justice' or some nonsense like that? I hate to be blunt, but frankly, if I go down, don't expect me to protect your father. Not when he has no way of paying me back."

„Nothing like that, no. All I need is a favor. You still owe my family one or two, if my information is correct."

Madame D'Arcachon took a sip out of her glass. „Ah, Lucy, there is the bluntness again. Just like your father. I told you, he and I were friends. I see no reason why we can't get along."

„When he thought I couldn't hear, he called you a rat."

"But a friendly rat! Rats can be very useful animals if you treat them with respect." Madame D'Arcachon saw that Juvia was looking more and more uncomfortable. "Oh, don't worry, just a bit of fun between old acquaintances. No, seriously, what did Lucy tell you? I don't like to discuss business in front of people I don't know."

"Lucy did not tell Juvia a lot." This was, technically, not true. Madame D'Arcachon was apparently someone Jude Heartfilia had relied on when dealing with criminals – something that he never liked, but apparently had no big moral issues with. Sabotage, break-ins, paying protection money or beating up criminals to stop them from demanding it, Madame D'Arcachon could provide it. Juvia was not certain whether she should tell any of that, though.

"Don't worry, she knows enough, and I trust her. Now, about that favor…"

„To be honest, I kind of hoped you'd be too proud to ask for it. After all, when your father went bankrupt, he never once asked for my help. And I thought you were too proud to follow in his footsteps as a businessman?"

„Yes, and I'm sorry to bother you like this, but I don't have any other options."

"Are you sure? You are a member of a mages guild, and if I remember correctly, not one of the weak ones."

„And my friends are great when it comes to destroying stuff, but right now, I'd like something a bit more subtle. We have no idea where Gray is being hid, and if we fight De Monza head-on, he may retaliate somewhere else."

"You seem to have inherited your father's talent for strategy, too." She sighed. "Alright. I'll help you, this once, for your father's sake. But favor this or favor that, I can't always work for free. Now, I read your letter, but I'm not sure what it is you actually need."

Juvia could not hold it in much longer. She whispered to Lucy. „Are you sure we can trust this woman? Juvia thinks she may betray us in some way, if there's money in it for her."

Madame D'Arcachon looked up. „No need to whisper, darling, I can hear you just fine. I don't know what they taught you in school about ‚no honor among thieves' or such nonsense, but I have nothing to gain from selling you out. Suppose I did. It would take half a week, and everyone around me would know it. Who wants to do business with someone who sells out her friends?"

„But De Monza has more money than we do…"

„Oh, but will he spend it on some poor girl like me who just happens to run along? De Monza might give me a few jewels, maybe. But I don't want to beg for his table scraps. You can trust me, I give you my word."

Juvia was not at all convinced, but Lucy cut in. „Good enough for me. Now, I don't need anything big. Just a few rumors…"

After much planning and throwing around of names that Juvia had never heard before, they left the bar. Lucy was smiling happily, as always, but Juvia was doubtful.

„Lucy, Juvia knows how important promises are to a stellar mage. But she does not think that that woman agrees. Is there maybe some magic "

Lucy nodded. „I know that. All she says about honor is just for show. But so is her reluctance. There is bad blood between her and De Monza, that's why I chose her. She'd rather die than help him."

„You chose her? How many criminals does your father know?"

„More than I like." Lucy sighed. „He always considered himself honorable, but I don't think you'd agree with him on that. If one of his enemies fought dirty, then he'd always do the same. A year ago, I did some digging in his files. He writes down everything. What I learned there was a huge part of why I left home."

„And Juvia thought her parents were problematic… What was Juvia doing there, anyway? It seems that you could have handled this on your own. You said you needed Juvia for intimidation, but Juvia is not good at that."

„Are you kidding? With all that ‚drip, drip, drop'? And how you beat up that one guy? You're very, very scary."

„Juvia wishes you to remember that when you start to think about Gray." She paused for a bit. „But Juvia works best in a fight. Just sitting there and making plots and being intimidating is not her strength."

„It's all about appearance here. People know that you were sent to capture me, back then. They also know you were beaten, and now they see us working together. If they were planning to attack, that makes them have doubts. If they did attack, we could absolutely beat them. But then we'd have no plan to get back to Gray."

Juvia nodded. „It did seem to work out."

„Exactly. Now, let's get back to the guild. Erza should have everything prepared by now."

Author's note: I just realized that I haven't specified when this story is happening. It's right before the "S-Class" arc, because I want a Fairy Tail at full power, and who knows what the hell will happen after the time skip. This whole story does not really need Lucy's father to be alive or dead (he won't appear in person), but I do think it's more interesting if Lucy can't just refer to her father's money in these kinds of dealings.