Word count: 3, 184

Date started:

May 13, 2015

Date published: May 16, 2015

Date finished: May 15, 2015

Chapter 2: Mirrors

July 13, x791, 8 PM

"You've got to be kidding me."

Five people stood facing each other, all with different expressions. One happy and eager. One shocked and unbelieving. One passive and indifferent. One calm and smirking. The last one mildly confused.

"You guys... You guys are our partners?" Lucy, the only girl among them and the confused one, asked.

"Yes." said the passive, indifferent one.

"Yes," said the calm, smirking one.

"Hell yeah!" All eyes turned to him, the happy and eager one. "'Yes' is too mainstream."

"Luce, please tell me we are not going to spend the next following years with monkeys." Laxus, aka the shocked and unbelieving one, told her sister figure pleadingly.

"First of all, Sting is the only monkey here. Second, if we are going to be monkeys, I would like to be a Tarsier. They're so cute, don't you think. Lastly, we should discuss job matters in a more comfortable area," the calm and smirking one proposed.

"Hey! That's rude, Rufus! But you're right. We should talk to about this somewhere else and I know just the place," said the happy and eager one, that we shall now formally introduce as Sting Eucliffe.

"We are not going to a light bulb shop, Sting," the passive and indifferent one said.

"But they're cheap and buttery and tasty, Rogue!"

"They're not even food."

Five or so minutes later, the group have come to an agreement to eat at a local diner. Now, they are seated around a rectangular table, patiently waiting for their food to arrive.

"So..." Lucy started, "Anyone have an idea what we're supposed to do?"

All of them looked amongst each other in question. None of them knew what they were going to face or to expect.

Rogue spoke up first, "We were hoping that you knew. All that was told to us is that we'll be temporarily removed from the guild as the mission will take years and we should meet you in the train station."

Soon the food arrived and the group began eating. Oh wait! Did I say eat? I mean inhale. The group began to inhale the food, save for Lucy who had a normal appetite and Rufus who still ate a lot but in a neater, more dignified way. Fries flew and soda spilled as a storm known as dragonslayers' stomach devoured their respective meals. Soon enough, the plates were licked clean and needless to say, the dishwashers wil have no problem removing grease and spots.

"Oh yeah," Sting exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you guys! We aren't allowed to decline the mission and that once were together, we need to go to this place." He took a slip of paper from his pocket and showed it to the others. On it was an address. Then suddenly, the white dragonslayer felt four pairs of eyes glaring at him. Confused, he asked, "What?"

"Sting," Rogue smiled at him and it wasn't a friendly one either. It was the kind of smile that makes your blood run cold. "We were at lost on what to do and you decided to share this vital information just now."

The man in question smile sheepishly, "Sorry... I was hungry."

"I am very tempted to hit you right now, you idiot." Rogue said in a false-cheerful way. Laxus and Rufus shivered in fear. Sting however remained utterly oblivious of the murderous intent in the brunet's eye and just pouted.

"Wait," Lucy took the paper from the one-half of the Twin Dragons duo. She read repeatedly the all-too-familiar words, eyes widening from disbelief.

"Is there a problem Lucy-san?" Rufus asked the blonde celestial maid, inching away from Rogue who sat between him and Sting.

"I know this place. It's the address of our estate, the main mansion to be specific," she said seriously.

"You own an estate?" Someone among the group inquired.

"Yeah, the Heartfilia Estate but that's not the point." Lucy's eyebrows furrowed in worry, "What does it mean? My parents have been dead for a long time. The workers are sent away and the whole place has fallen into disrepair. Anything valuable that's not in the bank is probably stolen too." Tears pricked her eyes as she remember the memories of her childhood and the parents who spent too little time with her.

Laxus patted the blonde woman's back awkwardly. "There, there. Maybe will learn what we're supposed to do when we get there."

"I'm fine," the celestial mage wiped her eyes and gently pushed away her brother figure's hand away. "But you know, the mansion is huge and filled with all sorts of rooms and secret passageways some of which runs underground and lead to other parts of the estate. It would take hours or even days to fully inspect it and we don't even know what where looking for!"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Sting, once again, cried out. "That address slip came with this picture of a map." He pulled out a photograph from his other pocket and laid it on the table. His 'twin' vehemently slapped the back of his head, still grinning creepily. "Ouch! That hurt, Rogue."

Lucy examined the photo and shared with the group of her findings, "It's a blueprint of the third floor. An 'X' marked a room in the west wing with dots leading to it from the servant's staircase."

Rogue, this time, just pinched the White dragonslayer's cheek to show his annoyance.

Rubbing the sore face part, the mildly-but-supposed-to-be-comically abused man asked, "Do you know how to get there, Lucy-san?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go!" Sting bolted from his chair, very eager to get this over with. He, however, was seated down again by an irritated brunet.

"We should start tomorrow, it's getting late already," Rufus proposed. "If what you say is true and the whole place is dilapidated, then there should be no electric source whatsoever. It'd be easier to search when the sun is up."

"Yeah, but we can always light it up with my magic because I'm awesome like that." Do I even need to say who this is?

"Rufus is right, Eucliffe. We better use our energy when we really need it instead of wasting it," Laxus agreed with the long-haired, hat-wearing blond.

"We should stay in a hotel room for the night," suggested by the said long-haired, hat-wearing blond.

After paying for their meal, the mages left with bags of personal belongings either in tow or slung on their bodies or a combination of both. A few minutes of asking around and walking, they finally arrived into the lobby of a decent-looking hotel. Lucy decided to check themselves in while the four men accompanying her sat patiently in one of the couches and made small talk about stuff guys stereotypically like. Soon, the blonde maiden returned with a frown on her face.

"I've got good news and bad news." She inhaled deeply, then, "Good news, room service is free, they charge cheaply per night and there's an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet that serves only from 8 to 10am."

"And the bad news?"

"Bad news is that because this place is worth every penny, they are full. We got the last room but they only have two beds, one of which I get. One of you will sleep on the couch and the two on the floor. I'd ordered a small extra futon for it, which is rather expensive in the contrary so I expect to get paid tomorrow."

Then all hell broke loose.

"I get the other bed!"

"No way! I do!"

"Can't we settle this upstairs?!"

"Maple..."

The group rode an elevator up to their room carrying their own things. While Lucy excused herself and took a shower in the bathroom, the men came to an agreement by playing a verbally colorful game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. They settled it without violence. And like real men. In the end, Rufus got the remaining bed while Laxus gets to sleep on the couch. Sting and Rogue has to sleep on the floor. They came to an agreement by playing a rather verbally-colorful game.

"So..." Laxus began as he sat on his couch and stripped of his shirt. "Touch my sister, and you'll die."

"My! Someone has a sister complex. Well anyway, touch my fabulous hair and you'll die," Rufus, magically dressed into his nightwear, replied, flipping his straw-colored locks. He also took off his ever present mask revealing a small patch of red scales around one of his eyes. He took his phone from its case and went outside to have a call, leaving the three dragonslayers in the room.

"Eh? You and Lucy-san are siblings?" A shirtless Sting curiously asked, his arms wrapped around Rogue who sat next to him on the futon they shared.

"It's probably an adopted relationship or something. Please let go of me and put on a shirt," Rogue, now placid and emotionless once again, pushed away the other man.

"No and no. I feel like giving you hugs and wearing a shirt is too hot and stuffy."

"But anyway, don't you guys have cats?" Laxus questioned as he change into a clean white tee.

"Yup! I already called Lector and Frosch. They told me that their mission was a success and that they'll meet us here by 7."

"Seriously, Sting. Let go."

"Let it go! Let it go! Can't hold it back anymore~"

"Oh good gods, stop singing!"

"Spare our fragile ears!"

When Lucy finished her half-an-hour long shower and changed in to pajama bottoms and white camisole, all the boys have fallen asleep. Probably because they're hyperactive idiots that ran out of energy. She stifled a laugh as she saw sting draped over Rogue who laid still as a rock. Rufus looked a bit funny and feminine too with him laid in a manner similar to Sleeping Beauty's. All that was missing was a rose in his hands. Laxus looked a bit gentler when asleep. He slept on his side with a gentle expression on his face.

Lucy sighed as she tucked herself in. Maybe the following years won't be unbearable afterall. Her companions did prove to be quite interesting in the few hours they've spent together so far. Soon, she fell asleep and before the members of our little crew knew it, morning came.

"Good morning!" Sting suddenly shouted, waking almost everyone in the room up. He spread open the curtains and let it in the bright rays of sunshine. On his face is a smile equally as bright. On the others, not so much.

"Idiot. It's only 6:30. I need my sleep," Rufus complained as he sat up, only to lay back down again. Mumbling, he told them, "Wake me up at 7:30."

"I figured you guys will fight over the shower and most likely wake up when the breakfast buffet is gone so I took the liberty of waking you guys up so that you'll be prepared to go downstairs by 8," the white dragonslayer said enthusiastically, not even noticing the glare coming from the eldest of their group.

"Good morning," Lucy was the first to greet back. "How long have..." She trailed off to yawn then continued, "you been awake?"

"Since the crack of dawn!" Clearly, the Sabertooth mage is a morning person.

"How the hell does Rogue put up with you in the morning?" Laxus asked as he began making his 'bed'.

"He doesn't," Sting pointed to the sleeping figure on the floor. Rogue was lying face down with a pillow over his head to block noises out. "He's a deep sleeper and wouldn't wake up until noon. Unless you bribe him with chocolate, he won't budge either no matter how loud you are... Well, if any of you guys need me, I'll be taking a walk."

"Be back before 8," Lucy called after him before she began to fold the blanket and smooth the covers. "Hey, Laxus-nii?"

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't we begin searching the mansion now? I mean the sooner we get there, the sooner we find out what we need to do."

"Yes but it's way too early. Let Rogue and Lohr have their sleep. We can head out after breakfast."

"Alright."

7:45am

"I'm back! And look who I found!" Sting bursted throught their hotel room's door, too energetically that it was knocked out of the frame and cracked into two. Laxus sidestepped just in time to miss getting hit by one of its pieces. "Ooh... We're probably gonna be charged for that but anyway I found the exceeds. Oh and we need wake up Rogue too..." True to his word, two cat-like creature were perched on either side of his shoulders. The red one we know as Lector greeted the others or at least the present one, Laxus, as Rufus and Lucy were having tea outside in the annexed balcony. The adorable green one known as Frosch or Fro, whatever floats your boat, just smiled and hopped off to greet his master with a bar of chocolate.

"Ne~ Ne~ Wakey-wakey, Rogue-kun~!" The frog-costume-wearing exceed poked the shadow dragonslayer. "Fro has Hershey's."

That did the trick as the said mage quickly rose from his slumber. "Frosch?"

"Good morning~!" Fro quickly hurled himself to his owner giving him a hug.

Rogue smiled a friendly smile, not a deadly one, and wished him good morning too. "Now where's my chocolate?"

"Sting-kun said I can only give it to you after breakfast."

Silence, then crimson red eyes peered murderously into brilliant blue ones. "Bastard, I'm gonna kill you."

Luckily, the five mages plus two exceeds managed to reach the reception/dining hall unscathed. They now sat around a table with mountains of waffles, pancakes, fruits and all-in-all breakfast galore in front of them. In between spooning heaps of food in to their mouths, they discussed details about their mission.

"Now that we've narrowed down where to look, how do we get there?"

"We need to ride a car to the edge of Acalypha and cross to the other side of the mountain by foot..."

"Then?"

"That's it. That's the shortest way to the Estate or at least the back part of it where the mansion is located. Down side though is that there may or may not be wyverns and wolves along the way but we can handle it. If we leave by 9, we'll be there by 3pm. Or we could also ride the train to the next over and make way to the front of the estate but that would take probably a day."

"I have an idea! We could just light-, shadow-, lightning-travel and carry everyone else instead. It would save us time and money too."

"Yes but it's unstable and takes its toll on extra passengers. It would work if we didn't have Rufus, Lucy-san and the exceeds with us."

"Then let's just do what Lucy suggested and take turns driving..."

"Okay but how about our things?"

"What do you mean?"

"We don't know how long we'll take. We could leave our things here and pay for another night or we can bring it along and leave in the SE vehicle."

"It's only a few bags. I could ask Loke to take it to the Celestial Spirit world."

"Oh don't bother your spirits. I have a bottomless bag."

"Really? Isn't that expensive?"

"Yeah but with high-paying jobs like ours, money isn't a problem."

"Lucky you. I need to get extra jobs just to pay my rent. Most of the rewards goes to repairs because... You know what? I'm not gonna finish that sentence. Anyway, if we ever need spend the night we can stay in the mansion. I'm sure looters wouldn't want old mattresses. "

"I wouldn't be sure about the looters. Some of them can be desperate, you know?"

"Well, it seems that everything's settled."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Sting, sit down and finish eating."

"We still need to pack our possessions and check out. You guys owe me for the futon, by the way."

"We should also pool funds and buy medical supplies just in case."

"I say Lucy-san keeps all our money."

"Why me?"

"'Cause you're a girl."

"How very rude of you!"

"Am I the only one wondering how we suddenly get along considering are guilds were at each other's throats just a few weeks ago?"

"We were united by one cause?"

"Sabertooth changed for the better?"

"Technically, we aren't part of Fairy Tail and Sabertooth anymore."

"Don't you think this mission is odd?"

"It is. It was directly given by Minerva."

"It was given to us by Master Makarov. We weren't even allowed to decline."

"I know this sounds weird but I felt like I needed to do this mission. Like something great is waiting for us in the end."

Silence.

"I think you had enough bacon for breakfast, Sting."

"Alright fine, but I couldn't help feeling that this mission is important and maybe even personal."

They all stopped talking altogether and just focused on their meals.

"Okay, I'm done eating."

"Same here."

Soon enough, the group finished all preparations, rented a car, and are on their way to the only place given in their mission. The first step in the unknown journey they're about to take. Little did they know what was waiting for them.

Unknown place, Unknown time

"Thank you for having us, your Highness," a merman said as he bowed downed his head in respect for the majestic black-and-gold dragon in front of him. Behind him were two identical mermaids, doing the same as him. They were in a large and decorated room, the Queen's throne room, with ceiling as high as can be and light coming from orbs floating all-around. Specifically, the mermaids were in a sizable bubble of crystal clear water.

"It is my pleasure, my dear friends. I hope that all will be well in your realm." The dragon replied, her eyes kind. "I only wish for peace amongst our worlds."

"Yes, your aide will be most helpful. Our king will be most delighted."

The dragon gave a lighthearted laugh, "Tell Ol' Triton I said hello and best wishes. Shall I send for the Dragoness of Flusso to escort you home?"

The mermaids nodded and soon another dragon, a viridian one a bit smaller than the first dragon, came. They left the room and black-and-gold dragon was now alone. She morphed into a human and sighed. She was beautiful, the kind that was simple but had an elegant atmosphere around her. But despite her beauty, there was sadness in her heart that sometimes she cannot hide behind a smile.

"My queen, are you alright?" A third dragon, a scarlet one this time, arrived and asked the fair lady.

"Yes, I'm fine, Igneel," she half-heartedly answered.

"Thinking about them won't help you know..." The red beast transformed to man. He was handsome with hair as bright as his scales.

"I know but I still worry..."

"C'mon, let's get you to your room. You have an inspection scheduled as well as an appearance in the Lucida domain for the arrival of Hebian representative.

Yeah, I actually managed to update. If you're wondering why I wasn't able to update for weeks is because I was distracted by Hetalia fanfics and summer vacation. Also, I've been busy drawing and designing. Feel free to check it out on my deviantart account. You can find the link in my profile here.

Anyways, about Sting and Rogue. They may seem a bit OOC but I honestly pictured them to be that way after the GMG-dragon thing. Same goes for Rufus. Like this is how they really act and their attitude with the old Sabertooth is something forced upon them or something. Meanwhile, Rogue's chocolate addiction and three dragons make their appearances. Virtual cookies to those who get the Hetalia reference here. Lastly, about the conversation during breakfast, I didn't give the nsmes of who is speaking but gave some hints on who's talking. That was intentional and feel free to imagine who is who.

In case you guys forgot, Flusso is the name of the water clan and domain. Lucido is the light one. Hebian is a word I made up for people from Hebi which is the serpent realm mentioned in the prologue.

God bless! And hopefully, I'll actually be able to stick with the update schedule.