Gray cursed under his breath and kicked a disfigured piece of metal on the floor. "We lost them! What do we do?!"
Erza looks outside, a massive hole burnt through the walls that gave a refreshing evening blow into the bedroom. "We search. Until wherever these thieves have gone have been found." Gray softened at seeing Erza's relaxed, yet determined, expression, with the calming breeze passing by him. Until he realized something about that scene seemed wrong. Were inside. Why did he feel a breeze?
"NATSU! YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT! WHY DID YOU DESTROY THE MANSION THAT WE FOUGHT TO KEEP INTACT?!"
"WELL IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT WE FOUGHT INDOORS! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH OF OUR REWARD COULD BE TAKEN OUT OF THIS?!"
Lucy looked around, realizing how right Gray was. It wasn't only the whole back wall that was smothered from Natsu's attacks, but the whole floor was ripped up from Diesel's metal attacks. Well, at least it was just this room… She thought, trying to make the situation seem better. She couldn't help but think that she was forgetting something, or someone…
"Mrs. Blackwood!" Lucy shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. She raced towards the closet (That was thankfully still intact) and opened it, finding Ida in tears, hiding behind a fortress of clothes she made. "Mrs. Blackwood! The thieves are gone now! There is no need to cry now…" The older lady wrapped her arms around Lucy, thanking her and the team over and over again. Lucy can imagine how scared she felt, especially not knowing that they were coming to save them.
Ezra stepped forward, bowing her head. "My apologies, Mrs. Blackwood. We were not able to catch the thieves who robbed your house, and we left your bedroom in shambles. You can hit us, if you must."
The lady stopped sobbing, her dreary face turning into a soft smile. "In shambles? My whole mansion would have been blown to pieces if it wasn't for you all. I-I can't thank you all enough! You saved my family! And please, do not worry, the thieves did not steal everything from me, because I didn't tell them where our real treasure is…" Ida said, walking over to under the bed and pulling out a chest. She opened it, revealing a key resting on a soft cushion. "We have a vault in the basement. "That's where we keep all of our money." Ida turned back to the mages. "Please, the least we can do is give you all a reward. You came here, risking your life to save ours!"
Lucy was surprised by this. She didn't expect to get an award in the past as well. Does that mean double the money?! She leapt forward, excitedly reaching for the key, when Erza held out a hand as a kind declination. "Thank you, but we'll have to decline. We are simply doing our job; we did not expect to be paid by your family." Lucy froze in midair, her heartbeat stopping too. Did Erza seriously reject our paycheck? She was baffled, but she straightened up with a smirk. Who am I kidding? She's right, we shouldn't be taking money from them if we are going to get it from them in the future. But the women persisted. "Please! We are in your debt!"
The door burst open, with frantic people rushing in. A younger version of Louis was on his knees panting. He had less gray hair on his head and seemed a bit taller in height. Next to him, a young woman and a man ran in, looking like the children of Louis. A butler and two maids rushed in as well. They all froze, looking at the scene in front of them. The jutted-out floorboards, the burnt walls, the Fairy Tail mages, and Ida Blackwood holding the key to their basement vault. But Louis could care less. He ran up to Ida, grasping her into his arms. She dropped the chest, dramatically enclosing her own arms around him in joviality. They wept, sinking to the ground as their children ran to them to join the cherished reunion. "Ida! You don't understand how afraid I was when the first window broke! Sandra and Preston were with me in the library, but we were fearful as to where you were! We searched everywhere, but then we ran into one of the thieves! I am so glad you are okay!" He cried, squeezing her closer into his embrace, as if he was afraid that she would disappear.
"Oh, Louis! You wouldn't believe what had happened! These mages came in and saved me, driving the thieves off our lot! They threatened that they were going to detonate the house with bombs! If it wasn't for them, I don't know what would have happened!" Ida tearfully explained before grabbing her children and attacking them with kisses. Louis looked up to the mages, his eyes watering. "You don't understand how grateful we all are! Do tell us; what are your names?"
Natsu puffed his chest, prepared to pridefully introduce himself, but Gray shot a deathly glare at him. "We… are just your friendly neighbor mages, willing to help anyone who is in trouble." He said smoothly, easing their way out of the question.
Louis stood up, his hand delicately holding Ida's to help her stand as well. "Very well then… allow us to reward you with our gratitude." He said, picking up the chest that fell on the floor. He pulled out the key, and headed towards the door. "Follow me," He suggested, leaving the room with his family and staff following him. Natsu looked at Lucy with a shrug, before heading off to follow them.
As they made their way to the basement, butlers and maids were found swiftly cleaning of the house, sweeping glass shards and picking up fallen picture frames, and as well as fixing any other destruction that occurred. "Mr. Blackwood," Ezra started, staring intently at the man in front of her. "We did not catch the thieves; they had only escaped. You are not entirely safe yet because those thieves can come back again to attack."
Louis turned around, giving her a reassuring smile to her concern. "Do not worry, young mage. It was a fool of us to not have enhanced security in the first place. That is something that we will work on to prevent future break-ins." Lucy smiled when he said "future", thinking on how the Blackwood's life would be like in the present now that they stopped the thieves.
They were led to a door that opened up to a staircase leading to another floor beneath the mansion. At the bottom of the staircase, a big stainless steel vault door stood in front of them. "Thank goodness I didn't tell that metal thief where our money is stored, because he could have easily wielded the door open." Ida said, making her way down the stairs. Louis grabbed hold of the spokes to the vault door handle and twisted it, struggling to make it budge. Gray and Natsu appeared behind him to offer help, and with ease, they twisted the vault door open. Louis's face flushed red as he rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I guess I'm not as strong as I used to be…" Lucy giggled at the sight of this.
They entered through the door and approached a metal door, and Louis pulled out the key to open it. He inserted the key into the hole and unlocked it, pushing the door to an open room. Loads and loads of money overflowed containers that were stacked across the walls. Gold bars were also neatly assembled into pyramids, displaying the amount of wealth they contained within them as their luminous quality sparkled in the light. Looking at the room, one could estimate that the money in here was worth over 300 million jewels. The Fairly Tail mages felt their jaws hit the floor as they look at the wealth in awe. Louis walked over to a container and pulled it out, collecting 8 stacks of money from it. He then walked over to the mages, handing them 2 stacks each. "I hope this will show our gratitude." He said, in a heartwarming smile. Lucy flipped through the stack of bills, counting the amount that was given. There are over 200,000 jewels in each stack! This is definitely more than what they said on the request! Natsu, Erza, Gray, and Lucy all bowed their heads in unison. "Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood! We are all very grateful!" Lucy chirped.
Ida rubbed her chin. "That's odd… I never remembered telling you all our last names…" Heat rosed into Lucy's head, but Gray stepped forward. "Who wouldn't know your last names? You are all one of the wealthiest families in Fiore!" Lucy physically slumped in relief, releasing a breath that she did not know she was holding. Erza gestured to the door. "We should be going now. Thank you once again for your kindness."
"Oh, don't thank us! This was the least we could do for your heroic acts!" Sandra responded, beaming a smile that replicated the one of her brother's.
Natsu waved off his hand as they made their way out of the building. "Stay safe! And try not to get robbed again!" The team walked away from the mansion with the Blackwood family standing at the entrance, eagerly waving them goodbye.
The sun was touching the horizon, with the sky darkening to richer shades of pink and purple. After walking far enough from the family's sight, the Fairy Tail mages arrived at the gazebo they left the present Louis in. He was taking a nap on the hooded bench with Happy curled in a ball beside him, waking up to see his heroes arrive. "Ah! You all made it! How did it go?" He asked, sitting up to greet them. Erza smiled and nodded, causing him to glow with glee.
"The mission was a success, although the thieves escaped. There is no fear, however, because your past self promised to enhance your security systems to prevent future robberies. The most important thing is that your vault was untouched, and we knocked out the lady who was in control of the explosives, causing them to disable." She explained, satisfied to see the cheerful expression on the man's face. "Ah, that sounds splendid! And it seems that my past self has already awarded you!" He said, noticing the stacks of money they held in their hands. "Do not fear; I will still award you in the present…" His words trailed off as he looked at each one of them. "Sorry, but if I'm not mistaken, weren't there four of you?"
Lucy looked around, finding no trace of their pink-haired dragon slayer. Where's Natsu?!