Episode 003: Arrival at the First Request

"So... this is Lucy's new place," Ragna said thoughtfully aloud as he stared at the building before him. "For the price she's paying for this, looks like she managed to make quite the steal."

It seemed rather large to him (even as someone who'd never owned a home before), having three whole floors to live in and being just off of the small canal that ran through Fiore. There didn't appear to be any signs of the wood chipping or the paint fading, so it appeared to kept in good condition. As he approached the front door he saw that all of the windows were wiped clean and without stains, further cementing the place's appeal. Using his good arm to knock on the door, he stood patiently and waited for the owner to open the door.

"It's open!" came Natsu's voice from inside. Shrugging to himself, the Reaper entered the premises. The inside of her house looked nice too, well maintained and no dust to be seen. Heading upstairs he saw Natsu and Happy waiting in... Lucy's bedroom.

"Uh, guys? Where's Lucy?" he questioned glancing at the pile of the chip crumbs and other snacks the two had created upon themselves. Such a nice place and they were already ruining it.

"Taking a bath," Happy told him.

"She's doing that now? When she's expecting company?" Ragna questioned starting to get a sinking feeling.

"Lucy's expecting company?" Natsu asked.

"You told me to meet you here!" Ragna shouted.

"Aye, and?" the tiny blue cat questioned.

"And-!" Ragna was about to respond before shaking his head and leaving down the stairs, heading out the front door, and waiting just outside. "It's not my problem," he muttered grumpily as he took a small book out of the inside of his coat and waited. He hadn't gotten too far into it when he heard the expected result.

"Get out of my room!" came Lucy's shout from upstairs as the entire house seemed to shake.

"Hmm, an impressive kick I'm guessing," Ragna said without looking up from his book.

"Come on, we were just trying to help you break the new place in," Natsu tried telling her.

"Yeah, well I'll try breaking your neck for doing this if you don't get out of here!" Lucy shouted from inside the house as the chaos continued.

"This place seems pretty lively," said one Gray Fullbuster as he walked in front of the house (fully clothed at least).

"With Natsu involved, I'm not exactly surprised," Ragna explained without looking up from the book in his hand. "Natsu invite you here without Lucy knowing about it?"

"Nah, just heading to the guild before I saw you standing here," Grey told him before more screaming and further shaking was heard from within the house. "...Shouldn't you go break that up?"

"And get her steamed at me? I'll hold off until I'm done with this chapter at least so I don't have to feel the full force," Ragna told him as he turned the page.

"Remind me never to take you along as backup," Grey told him only somewhat sarcastically as he walked off. "Later then."

"Hmph."

Eventually Ragna did head back inside Lucy's estate and managed to pry Natsu and Happy away for Lucy's rage long enough for her to get changed into some actual clothing. The four were now seated at a table, each with a piping hot mug of tea before them.

"Look, I'm not ready for guests right now, so drink your tea and go," Lucy told them rather moodily, especially to Natsu and Happy who sat across from her.

"That's no fun," Natsu told her before taking a long sip out of his tea.

"Your fault for being inconsiderate," Ragna told the two before waving his left hand and causing a magic circle to appear. "I at least brought something with me."

"Wait, that's-!" Natsu began with shock.

"Aye," Happy said with a dark expression.

Out from the magic circle appeared a small bottle of wine, which landed soundly in Ragna's hand. The Reaper smirked at the object before presenting it to Lucy. "This is for you; it's not much, but I thought I'd at least get you a house warming gift."

"Aw, you didn't have to get me anything," Lucy said with a smile as she took the bottle. "But what was that magic you used? It didn't seem like any form I've ever seen before."

"It's called Requip magic," Ragna told her. "I haven't gotten too far into learning this style, but supposedly it allows you to store inanimate objects like weapons and armor and equip them later as needed when you use them. It's pretty useful, but..." The two then looked to Natsu and Happy seated before them, their heads slumped over with dark clouds over them as their eyes expressed a mix between dread and sorrow.

"What's with them?" Lucy asked.

"No clue, but that's the common response whenever I use it in the guild," Ragna told her with little idea himself. Shaking his head, he decided for Natsu and Happy's sake, he'd try and change the subject. "So how's your magic going?"

"Same old same old really," Lucy admitted. "Since I'm a celestial wizard the main way that I get fight is by using my Celestial Spirits. I don't have too many keys, but I have managed to get a few of the rare golden ones that are keys to the Zodiac."

"You mean like that pervy cow from a few days ago?" Happy asked.

"Pervy cow?" Ragna repeated with left eyebrow raised.

"Taros the Golden bull," Lucy told him with a sigh. "He's one of my most powerful, but yeah he's kind of a perv. Besides him though I also have Aquarius the Mermaid, and Cancer the Crab."

"CRAB!" Natsu and Lucy shouted with droll emerging from their mouths and sparkles from their eyes.

"If they're her spirits, I don't think she's going to let you eat them," Ragna told them with a sigh, at least relieved that their cast over expression had fallen completely. "So that one that you picked up when we first me, that snowman thing? It's not a golden one is it?"

"No, it's not. That one's just a cute little guy that I want to keep around as a pet," Lucy told him before she realized. "Oh, I never got a contract linked with the little guy. You guys wants to see how a celestial wizard forms a contract?" No one seemed to object so Lucy grabbed out the key Ragna had seen her buy when they'd first met. "OPEN GATE OF THE LITTLE DOGGY!" A bell tolled as Lucy's magical energy began to gather until it formed the small, strange snowman creature that Ragna had seen Lucy form a while ago.

"All right, so you summoned the thing again," Ragna muttered as he crossed his arms. "Now what?"

"Now we form a contract," Lucy told him as she took out a notepad. The next few minutes consisted of Lucy asking the creature a series of questions regarding its schedule which resulted in either a nod or a shake of the little guy's head. Natsu and Happy occasionally griped about how boring it was, but Ragna just knew it was best if he just sat and drank his tea. "Sorry for waiting, but as a Celestial Wizard it's imperative that you make a firm contract and that you always follow up on your promises. Okay, now all I need to do is come up for a name for the little guy."

"Didn't know you could name them," Ragna muttered as he was silent for a pregnant moment as he thought it over. "What about Jack? Like the Jack Frost, the spirit of winter?"

"Kinda cheesy, isn't it?" Natsu whispered to Happy.

"That sounds like something an old man would give it," Happy whispered back.

"I'm not old, damn it!" Ragna shouted at the two, able to hear their conversation and very ticked off.

"Sorry Ragna, but I already came up with a name," Lucy said as he held her arms out for the creature to approach her. "Come here Plue!""

"Plue!?" Natsu and Happy shouted at once.

"Uh huh, isn't it like the cutest name ever?" Lucy asked with a smile.

"Whatever floats your boat I guess," Ragna said with a sigh.

"You're just upset that you didn't get to name it," Happy berated him.

"That's not the... well... kinda," Ragna had to admit before he rose from the table. "Anyways, if that's all we're here for I'm gonna take off and try to see if I can grab a couple of jobs."

"Jobs, huh?" Natsu said as he scratched his chin while Plue the snowman put on a strange sort of dance. "You've got that right Plue, I was thinking the same thing."

"You can understand him!?" Lucy shouted with surprise.

"Alright, I've made my decision!" the Fire Dragon Slayer shouted without bothering to answer Lucy's question. "All of us are going to form a team!"

"Eh? A team?" Lucy asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's probably just a formal term for regular team-ups in the guild," Ragna guessed.

"Yeah, so how about it; do you two want to join our team?" Natsu asked happily.

"You've got it! I promise I'll be a huge help!" Lucy accepted with energy. The two then performed a strange form of a high five mix, making Ragna curious if they'd done it before.

"Well, that works for now I guess," Ragna admitted. "No promises long term though."

"Fine by me, now let's get started on our first job," Natsu told them as he took out a piece of paper the job board and handed it to Lucy.

"Wow! Two-hundred thousand just to steal a book from someone?" Lucy said with excitement as she looked over the letter. "Let's see, the target is Duke Everlue who... IS A DIRTY OLD MAN LOOKING FOR A BLONDE MAID!?"

'Don't tell me they planned this,' Ragna thought darkly as he looked to Natsu and Happy who appeared to be quiet pleased with themselves.

"We happen to know a blonde girl, don't we?" Natsu said, stating the obvious. "And you said that Celestial Wizards honor their promises, didn't you?"

"Aye, she did say that," Happy said mischievously. "Looks like we're-"

PPZZZAAAP!

"GAH!" the Dragon Slayer and talking cat screamed in pain as both of the two were struck with a torrent of electricity, causing their skeletons to show briefly before they hit the floor. Nervously looking up as the lightning still lingered on them, they found themselves staring at Ragna with a few sparks of lightning emitting off his left hand and he was PISSED.

"Hey… now I've got a great idea," the Grim Reaper said darkly as he towered over both of them. "How about you both tell me what the hell you were thinking so I can carve what idiots you were on your tombstones?!"

"C-C'mon, we can explain," Natsu told him fearfully. "We'll make sure that nothing happens to Lucy; that's why we're going with her and why we're bringing you along, to make sure she's safe."

"And you couldn't have just told me that without tricking her to join?" Ragna said, still obviously peeved. He then glanced to Lucy who was reading the job description to get the final call from her.

"I mean... it is two-hundred thousand," she admitted. "That's a pretty large amount of jewels, even after we split the money. I don't see why we shouldn't take this job."

"But still..." he was about to begin before sighing. "Alright fine, let's get going and get this over with."

And Then -The Open Road-

"Uuuuuhhhh... This is the last time I get on a carriage," Natsu moaned.

"You say that every time," Happy told him.

"Well this time I mean it," the Dragon Slayer responded.

"You always say that too," Happy told him again.

"Poor guy," Ragna muttered while he had his book open which he was continuing to read.

"Are you alright master? Can I get you something to make your trip smoother?" Lucy asked, trying to keep her voice as pleasant and cutesy as she could. "Maybe a pillow to rest on or a drink to calm you nerves?"

"Yare yare... Save it for the pervert that you have to convince; It's unnerving watching you do it here," Ragna told her as he tried to keep his head in his book.

"I'm just trying to get in character," Lucy told him. "Am I doing a bad job?"

"Honestly I can't say one way or the other, but... I dunno, it just feels weird seeing you do it," the Reaper admitted.

"Probably because you're way too protective of her," Natsu moaned from where he was seated.

"Aye, it's almost like he thinks he's her father or something," Happy added.

"Shut it..." Ragna growled. "First off, I'm way too young to have a daughter Lucy's age."

"You don't look like it," the cat told him.

"Damn brat," he muttered. "Second..." Ragna was about to continue, out of the corner of his eye he saw Lucy. The blonde now seemed to carry a deep sadness in her eyes, though it was obvious she was trying hard not to show. Ragna figured it might be better if he just left the subject of fathers there. "Changing subject, what's with Natsu? I saw him get seasick back when we first met, does this always happen to him?"

"Aye, Natsu's never been any good on moving vehicles," Happy told Ragna.

"For whatever reason though, he doesn't have a problem when Happy carries him though," Lucy added before she thought of an important question. "By the way Natsu, why did you want to form a team with me in it?"

"What do you mean why?" asked the motion sick Natsu asked. "It's 'cause you seem like a nice person." Ragna was a little surprised, but chuckled while he continued reading. "I just wish I could figure out why you're so dang weird."

"Coming from a fire-eating, dragon raised, house intruding, motion sick wizard with a talking blue cat for a companion, you have absolutely no room to talk about someone else being weird," the Reaper said harshly.

"Aw Master, you're so nice coming to my defense!" Lucy said in her best girlish maid voice.

"...I told you, save it for that Everlue guy," Ragna grumbled to her, bringing his book closer to his face so no one would be able to see his bright red blush.

And Then What Happened -Restaurant in Shirotsume-

"Man, this meat's delicious!" Natsu shouted as he tore into his lunch with gusto.

"Mmm, I prefer the fish! Aye!" Happy shouted in response.

"Jeeze, and here I thought you had motionsickness," Ragna muttered as he stirred his curry, mixing it with his brown rice. "Looks like your stomach recovered almost instantly at least."

"If anything motion sickness only makes me hungrier!" Natsu laughed as he continued to chow down. "Still miffed that Lucy didn't join us."

"Don't talk with your mouth full Natsu; we're in public," Ragna scolded, earning a whimsical and snarky 'okay dad' from under the fire eater's breath. "She probably just had some stuff that she needed to take care of. She'll be along soon enough, so save some of the food for her."

"Aye, I'll be sure to keep the fatty parts," Happy told him. "Judging from her, that's the sort of thing she likes to eat."

"...Is your only point here to piss Lucy and I off?" Ragna decided to ask. Happy only merrily continued to bite into his fish. "No response huh? That about settles it."

"That about settles what?" came Lucy's voice. Ragna turned to address their only female member, but words wouldn't come out of his mouth. "Teehee, like what you see?" Lucy was dressed in a simple maid attire complete with a frilly white bonnet and apron. "Are you enjoying yourselves masters? Is there anything I can get for you?" she asked cutely.

"She... she's actually wearing a maid's outfit," Natsu said with surprise.

"Did she really think she'd have to do it to complete the job," Happy whispered to him.

"Or did she really just want to dress up as a maid?" Natsu whispered back.

"I can hear both of you, you know?" Lucy told them, slightly miffed. "Well, at least I can get Ragna's opinion," she said as she turned only to see Ragna reading the book he had earlier. "Um, Ragna? What are you...?"

"I need to read my book," he told her trying once more to use it to cover the blush on his face.

"But you're eating-"

"I NEED TO READ MY BOOK!" he repeated as a shout, praying that the book he was using as a shield was large enough.

Later -Contact's Residence-

"So he's the guy issuing out the job?" Ragna thought as he looked at the man sitting in front of the group. The man appearing to have hired them had grayed hair and a thin bush mustache. He was well dressed and smiling pleasantly enough, as was his wife who was standing behind him. 'At least he doesn't appear to be the kind of ass that would stiff us the bill.'

"Thanks for agreeing to take this job for me, and for coming this far to meet me in person," their employer told him. "My name is Kaby Melon, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Melon?" Happy exclaimed with drool emerging out the side of his mouth.

"Oh man, your name sounds tasty!" Natsu examined.

"Seriously guys? I'm sorry about these two, they both seem to have a mind for food, magic, and little else," Ragna told the employer.

"That's quite alright, I've been told that several times before," Kaby waved off pleasantly. Ragna raised an eyebrow (well, the only one he could currently) at the man's calm demeanor. Most people with this sort of cash would normally take that insult far more personally.

"We're just here to confirm the specifics of the job really," Lucy told him pleasantly. "According to the job we're supposed to steal a book, specified by you the client, from Duke Everlue's manor and return it to you for 200,000 Jewels. Am I right?"

"Almost, there were two recent changes Kaby informed them. "I've actually increased the reward to Two Million."

"What!?" Natsu, Happy, and Lucy shouted at once. "Two Million!?"

'Still not as high as my bounty,' Ragna thought to himself before thinking. 'Wait, what's the conversion rate then? ...I guess if it can't buy a country, mine will still be larger one.'

"Oh man, even after we split it, think of what we'll be able to get!" Natsu thought aloud. "Imagine the kind of food we could eat~!"

"Fish~!" Happy shouted happily.

"You two could dream a little bigger than food you know," Lucy decided to tell them. "But if that's only the first change, what's the second one?"

"The second change is... I want the book destroyed, not returned," Kaby instructed.

"Destroyed?" Ragna questioned. "What brought about that change?"

"...I'm afraid that is something rather personal," Kaby told them. "Regardless, this should be good news for your group, rumor has it that Fairy Tail has a somewhat... flashy reputation."

"You're not wrong..," the Reaper muttered. "Well, I guess that's not any of our business anyways. What's the name of the book we're supposed to find?" Ragna could see the client was hesitating for some reason, something about not wanting to tell them even the name. "Look, we need a name or we can't get the job done."

"...Daybreak..." Kaby finally chocked out. "Promise me that you'll complete this job, no matter what."

"No sweat," Natsu told him. "If all we have to do is burn the thing to ashes then there's no way we could screw this up."

"Natsu! I'm not going to jail just for you arsooooooooooooooon!" Lucy screamed as she was dragged off by Natsu and Happy.

"LET'S GO GET RICH!" the dragon slayer shouted at the top of his lungs.

"AYE!"

"PUT ME DOWN YOU IDIOT!"

"I better follow 'em," Ragna said with a sigh as he rose from the couch. "We'll be back soon enough with the ashes."

"I look forward to it," Kaby said to him, trying to keep a pleasant smile upon his face. As the Reaper exited and closed the door behind him, he stayed near the wall for the briefest of moments to listen in. "Daybreak... Its filth and evil must be burned away..."

'That's a lot of aggression to have over some book,' Ragna thought to himself as he continued heading off after the others.

And then -The Everlue Manor-

"So... this is the place," Ragna said as he observed the outside of the manor. "Any clue exactly why this guy has so much money?"

"Not really, but I'd say that he's had at least a few shady dealings," Happy told. "The truth is not many people have even managed to get close to Duke Everlue in the first place. Half of the town probably doesn't know what he even looks like."

"Given the job, I'd guess he probably gets rid of whoever he doesn't like," Ragna said as he watched Lucy approach the front gate in her maid uniform. "Damn, I don't like this." Using his left arm he reached for his sword... only to remember there was nothing there.

"You're doing that again," Natsu told him. "You're acting like you've got a weapon on you."

"Yeah, I lost my sword not too long back. I've been managing without it, but..." Ragna said as he briefly thought back to the battle that had brought him to this strange new world; the titanic blows he'd had to endure, the countless near shaves with his demise, and the goodbyes he'd had to say and how he'd convinced himself that it was on his terms. "...Old habits die hard I guess."

"Are you sure you're not an old man?" Happy asked, bringing the Reaper back to the present with a harsh scowl on his face. "Lucy's at the front gate."

Down below at the gate, Lucy took a good long look at the place before taking a deep breath. "Hello!? I'm here for the maid position! I heard that you were looking for blonde girl!" No response. "Funny, I was sure this was the right place. Is there something you're supposed to ring or-?"

All at once a giant shadow covered her leaving her to jump back and scream at the last instant as a huge... something, crashed into the ground before her. Once the smoke cleared, Lucy saw a giant woman with pink hair in a maid outfit. Woman was sort of a generous term though, this thing looked like giant ape had only evolved halfway to a human.

"You're here for the maid job?" the... creature asked in a demanding and barbaric voice.

"Y-Yes!" Lucy told her. "I swear that I'll do a good job! I have a lot of experience and-!"

"Boyoyo. A lot of experience you say? Do tell," came a creepy voice. The ground itself seemed to open as Duke Everlue leaped out. When Lucy had seen the job illustration of the man, she'd hoped that it had been drawn as a caricature by a spiteful artist... turns out there would have been no need for a caricature. The Duke was a strangely shaped man whose mustache seemed to actually be abnormally long nose hairs. He wore a black tuxedo which was normal enough, though it clashed with the clump of brown hair atop his head.

'C-creepy,' Lucy thought to herself as Everlue looked her over with strange yet observant eyes. 'All I need to do is keep a smile on my face. I just can't let this guy's pervy nature get to-'

"No good! Get out of here ugly!" Everlue said as he blew her off.

"EXCUSE ME!?" Lucy shouted.

"...That's not supposed to happen," Ragna commented as he watched from his look out.

"You're ugly, unappealing, garbage," Everlue informed, each insult hitting Lucy like an awful punch to the stomach. "You should look more like my maids."

"Your maids-" Lucy began as the Duke's maids suddenly appeared at to his side from out of the ground. The woman were even more cartoonist than Everlue, their heads and bodies had such strange shapes and proportions that they looked like they were the result of an abstract artist. Their noses and mouths were bent strange directions and it looked like a few of them had whiskers on their faces.

"Yeah, get out of here ugly girl," one of the maids insulted.

"The master deserves only the best, not an awful girl like you," another told her.

"Master's the greatest," a third said.

"Now get out of here, you make us sick to our stomachs," the fourth and final one said.

"Boyoyo!" Everlue laughed perversely, apparently reaching nirvana while he was surrounded by his maids.

And then

"Th-that jerk," Lucy cried in the woods against a tree, her pride apparently having been broken to bits.

"Your useless, you know that?" Natsu chided as he came in with Happy.

"Don't mock me!" Lucy yelled at him as she continued to cry. "I can't believe someone called me ugly... And after all that time I spent watching my weight and staying in shape some perv actually goes and calls me ugly..."

"...Uh, shouldn't you just take this as a good thing?" Ragna asked aloud, causing Lucy's crying to lighten for a moment.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" she demanded as tears continued to fall.

"Well..." Ragna began with a sigh. "You saw the kind of maids that creep had right? How they were... pretty hard on the eyes, putting it lightly."

"Y-yeah, I was the closest to them," she told him, tears still in her eyes.

"Lucy... If he thinks that you're ugly it means he sees you as the opposite of whatever the hell they were," Ragna patiently explained.

"Then that means I'm-!" Lucy began as her eyes cleared of tears and began to sparkle. "STILL BEAUTIFUL!" Her smile at Ragna was positively glowing. "Thank you Ragna, I hadn't thought about it that way. You're the best!"

'You would have realized that yourself if you'd taken two seconds to consider it,' Ragna thought exasperatedly as he let out a sigh. "Everlue's bizarre tastes aside, we still have to get that book. So, now for our plan B."

"Alright," Natsu said as his fists glowed with fire. "Time to toast the place!"

"Aye!" Happy shouted, strangely now dressed in Rambo-esque gear.

"Calm down, we're not going to go inside guns blazing," the Reaper explained. "This will be a stealth mission from here on out. We go in, we find the book and destroy it, we leave. No detours of any kind. Got it?"

"...So no hiding his slippers somewhere or switch his shampoo out for hair gel?" Lucy asked. Ragna wasn't sure whether to be relieved or incredibly disappointed that Lucy's ideas of revenge were so tame. "But if this is a stealth job, then we'll have to sneak around like ninjas, won't we?"

"Ninja!" Natsu and Happy shouted at once, immediately giving Ragna yet another sinking feeling.

Later

"Alright, we're in. Nin-Nin!" Natsu said, his voice slightly muffled by his scarf that he was using as a ninja mask. The group had infiltrated the manor by Natsu melting a hole in one of the glass windows.

"We must find the book with great stealth. Nin-Nin!" Happy agreed, that cat also having covered his face in a cloth for a makeshift mask.

"Knock it off, the both of you," Ragna growled at them. "You two are the worst..." He paused at his statement as he thought back to a rather colorful figure from his past.

'GRIM REAPER! IN THE NAME OF LOVE AND JUSTICE I, BANG SHISHIGAMI, SHALL BE THE ONE TO BRING YOUR REIGN OF TYRANNY TO AN END!'

"...Scratch that, the lot of you are the second worst ninjas I've ever seen," Ragna informed them.

"Only second worst? Really?" Lucy asked him with surprise. "You've actually met a worse ninja than them?"

"Trust me, I've seen some shit," the Reaper explained before once more addressing Happy and Natsu. "And if you make another old man comment, I swear to god I'll... Wait..."

"Intruders!" came a sudden shout as the large gorilla of a maid suddenly blasted herself out of the ground. Lucy screamed with fright while the maid barreled towards them to crush them. As Natsu was covered in shadow, the dragon slayer obliviously raised his head to- "GAH!" the maid screamed as she was blasted into a wall, crashing through and creating a massive cloud of dust.

"Annoying," Ragna muttered as the hand he'd used to punch his opponent through the wall actually had some smoke on it. Hearing a small crackle he noticed that the other maids had burst out from out of the ground.

"They beat Virgo!"

"Get them!" they shouted with their weapons ready.

"NINJA POWER!" Natsu shouted as he blasted them all away with a fist glowing with fire.

"So much for a stealthy approach," Ragna muttered.

"I told ya we should've just burned this place down from the beginning," Natsu reminded.

"That's still arson," Lucy told him. "But I have to admit the more we see of this crazy Duke, the more we see that he's got some pretty creepy earth powers."

"Look, let's just grab find the library before something else happens," Ragna told them as he began checking the doors. "Found it."

"Well, we found the room easily enough, now we just need to find Daybreak," Lucy told them.

"So we need to search, and that's gonna take a while," Natsu groaned.

"Aye," Happy glumly agreed.

"Look, the sooner we get started, the sooner we're done," Ragna told them gruffly before and odd feeling covered his body. "Hold on a minute... Is it this one?" Pulling the book out he managed to find... "Holy crap, Daybreak..."

"How'd you get it on the first try?" Natsu asked looking surprised.

"I don't know, I just got this weird feeling and I managed to grab it..." the Reaper told him as he held the book. "Wait, could I have sensed some sort of magic inside this thing?"

"A magic book, some of those can be really rare!" Lucy told him as she took a look at the book herself. "No way! This was written by Kemu Zaleon!? I've read all of his books and I've never heard of this one!"

"Well, we can still burn it can't we?" Natsu asked with a smile as his hand glowed with fire.

"Wait just a moment, was the Kemu guy a Wizard?" Lucy nodded as Ragna's question. "And if what I sensed was really magic... there's something bigger at play here. I don't think we should destroy this just yet."

"Boyoyo! You won't be burning that book at all now," echoed Everlue's laughter. Once more the strange man sprouted out of the ground with a haughty smile. "I knew you'd be back; Wizards have been trying to rob me for some time now, I could never find out what they were looking for... But it's that damned book of all things, really?"

'There's still a secret here, and whatever it is we can't let Everlue get to it,' Ragna thought. "Lucy..."

"She just ran off with the book," Happy informed him.

"WHAT!?" Ragna shouted as he turned, seeing that Lucy had indeed run off through the door behind them. "What the hell's she doing?"

"You said that there was a secret, so she wanted to read it," the cat told him.

"WE'RE STILL IN THE MANSION!" Ragna shouted in return.

"Not the best coordinated group are you?" Everlue noted condescendingly as he began to sink into the ground. "I'll be going after the girl then! The three of you will be left to my hired help!"

"Hired help?" Natsu growled as a secret passage opened to reveal two bizarrely dressed men, one of which was carrying a large frying pan. "...How long did he make you wait there for your reveal?"

"About ten minutes," the unarmed one told him. "Now you wizards face the Vanish Brothers of the South Wolf Mercenary Guild."

"Natsu, Happy, go after Lucy; I'll take them," the Reaper promised as he stepped forward to meet the Vanish Brothers.

"What? And miss out on a chance for a good fight? You're crazy!" Natsu told him. "I'm going to go all out!"

"Then do it on Everlue; that guy's hiding something and I don't like where this is going," the Reaper told him. "In fact he's probably stronger than these losers here."

"He might have a point; Lucy could be in trouble if he can tunnel with his magic," Happy agreed seriously. Natsu finally gave Ragna a nod and started running off. The Reaper kept between Natsu and the mercenaries until his allies were a good distance away before he remembered something.

"Hey, Fire Breath!" Ragna called. Curious with what he was trying to do, Natsu turned his head only to see Ragna create a dense fireball in his hand and tossed it his way. "For the road!"

"A fire wizard," the Vanish brother holding the frying pan commented as a Natsu opened his mouth wide and consumed the entire fire ball. "And a... fire eater?"

"Thanks for the snack! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu shouted as he kept running after Lucy, now with a noticeable increase to his speed.

"Now then..." Ragna said before turning his attention back to the Vanish Brothers. "Sorry for keeping you both waiting..."

"Heh, this will be an easy fight," the other Vanish brother taunted. "A Fire Wizard of all things... you're our specialty to handle."

"Is that right?" Ragna asked as he kept a very passive stance trying to see what the two were trying to do.

"We have special techniques for handling Fire based magic," the one with the frying pan told him. "And we know a wizard's true weakness: their weak bodies..."

"Never heard that before," Ragna muttered as he thought back to the constant brawls in the Fairy Tail guild.

"It's the truth; wizards spend far too much time on their magic without bothering to develop their physical abilities," the unarmed brother told him. "And that goes double if the wizard in question happens to be a crippled old ma-"

"QUIT CALLING ME OLD DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as he rushed forward and blasted the first of the brother's through the walls with an enraged haymaker and caused the entire mansion to tremble at the might.

"He did that with just his fist!?" the brother wielding the frying pan shouted before he readied his massive weapon and launched his body into the air. "No matter! I'll crush you all the same!" He brought down the frying pan on top of his target with enough power to again cause the entire manor to quake, but his target had not been under the attack. "Where did he-!?"

Out of seemingly nowhere, Ragna appeared in front of him and delivered a jaw shattering kick to his face. Dropping the massive frying pan, the second mercenary was sent flying the opposite direction as his brother and once more crashed through the walls.

"Fire Wizards are your specialty, eh? You must really suck at your jobs then," Ragna muttered. "I don't have much time to waste. I should catch up with the others before they... Hmm?" The sound of footsteps came in quite clearly to the Reaper. Turning his head, he saw that a new figure had come to enter the library. "Frickin' great, another one..."

"Apparently I chose an interesting day to arrive," the figure said as it stood in the doorway before the Grim Reaper. It's armor was a combination of thick ladder padding with metal plates over its weaker points as well as metal pauldrons. Its face was shrouded by a metal mask carved into the shape of a face with a strangely designed beard and the mark XIII on the forehead. The rest of its head was covered by a brown hood that appeared to be attached to the mask and armor. On the figures back was a massive two-handed war blade which also carried a XIII mark on it.

"Who the hell are you?" Ragna demanded as he turned to face the new one.

"I am the Thirteenth Blade of Gilgamesh; Gilgamesh XIII for short," the figure told him, its male voice both matured and refined. "Have you ever heard of our order?"

"I haven't, but I'm not exactly from around here," the Reaper admitted at he kept himself in a ready stance.

"Even if you are from across the seas I would have thought you'd have heard rumors of us at the very least. The Order of Gilgamesh is a collection of some of the greatest mercenaries. Its goal is to show the world that humanity does not have the rely on the ways of the Arcane to move forward, training our bodies to the absolute peak is more than enough to accomplish anything a wizard could... which brings us to why I am here."

(Cue RWBY Red Like Roses II)

The figure then took the massive blade out from behind his back, removing the weapon from its leather carrying straps. "Duke Everlue has told us of Wizards threatening his property and attempting a break in; he's paid in advance to stop them. I can clearly see you're one such wizard."

"If I tell you no, will you walk away?" Ragna asked, receiving only silence as a response. "It was worth a shot, I guess..."

"Enough talk; your death stands before you!" Gilgamesh told him as he rushed forward with his massive blade at speeds faster than Ragna had been expecting. He barely had time to flip the Vanish brother's massive frying pan up from the ground using his foot, catch it with his left hand and defend himself with the new weapon.

"You're trying to bring death to a Grim Reaper? Don't make me laugh!" the red coated rebel shouted as he managed to force the swords man back before swinging with his frying pan, causing the two weapons to clash against one another.

"I've never heard of a Grim Reaper using a frying pan in place of his scythe," XIII said as he leaped back and unleashed a vicious slash that shot a massive blade of non-magical wind at Ragna. Turning the frying pan around and using it as a shield, Ragna managed to block the attack without resistance. Once it had finished, he swung the weapon around and rested it on his shoulder... grimacing slightly at the unusual feeling.

"Point taken..." he muttered in partial agreement to Gilgamesh's comment.

Planting its massive blade into the ground as slashing forward, Gilgamesh sent a total storm of debris at Ragna. Instead of countering with its own weapon, Ragna instead rushed forward and carried the over-sized frying pan with him through the wreckage, swinging it at XIII when he was within range. The mercenary leaped up into the air to avoid the attack, using his great sense of speed to run up along the walls before leaping to the other side of the room.

Vaulting himself into the air, the Reaper and the Mercenary swung at each other with their massive weapons clashing with each other and generating wicked sparks. Using one of the attacks to vault himself higher into the air, Ragna somersaulted forward and blasted Gilgamesh through the libraries door. XIII grunted as he fell to the ground floor and crashed into the wall on the other side of the room.

'Damn, if I hadn't blocked that attack he could have killed me with that one shot,' Gilgamesh thought as he rose. 'That power behind his attacks... Is he really a wiz-' The massive fireball heading towards him from the Library snapped him back to reality as the orb exploded sending countless small wisps of fire raining down upon him. Readying his blade, Gilgamesh managed to swing his blade dozen of times in the mere blink of an eye... but Ragna had managed to gut under his guard. 'HOW!?'

Gilgamesh swung again out of desperation, but Ragna backed up and dodged the thick blade with ease. Swinging again, this time the mercenary's blade raked harmlessly off against the thick iron. Before XIII could go in for another swing, Ragna brought the pan's handle back and thrust it, hitting his opponent's diaphragm. XIII gagged as he stumbled forward, right before Ragna swung the pan upwards and knocked Gilgamesh off of his feet. The mercenary then saw the massive bludgeoning weapon raised above the Reaper's head.

'Damn it...'

Every window in the Everlue manor shattered to pieces when Ragna brought the massive pan down, the very force causing a great tremor that was felt by the surrounding town.

(End Theme)

Ragna looked down at the battered form of the mysterious Gilgamesh and sighed. Shifting his gaze back at the massive frying pan in his left hand, he nodded to himself before letting his Requip magic store the weapon for later use. He turned and began walking away to chase after Lucy, but paused as the masked figure behind him started to rise.

"You'd be doing us both a favor if you played dead," Ragna said darkly, keeping his back to his opponent.

"You... you didn't kill me... even though I wouldn't have done the same for you... Why?" XIII demanded.

"I've killed plenty already, and I didn't think leaving you alive would come back to haunt me," the Reaper told him with confidence. "Don't get in my way; I've still got work to do."

"Wait," Gilgamesh demanded as he threw his sword. Ragna grunted as he managed to catch the thing without turning. "As of right now both my blade and my title belong to you."

"...I'll take the sword, but don't bother giving me your damn title. Aren't you supposed to hate wizards anyways?"

"Indeed, but I think the others will quickly see that you're not just any wizard... plus it's either this or I fall upon the blade here and now," XIII told him. "Truth is... I'm the first one to give their blade and title away."

"Fine, fine, I'll take this so you don't have to commit seppuku or whatever," Ragna reluctantly agreed. "Still, get outta here. Something tells me that the rest of my team's just about to get warmed up."

"Very well... I'll take the sage advice of a seasoned veteran," XIII said as he slowly stumbled away.

"The sword feels pretty good at least," the Reaper muttered as he began catching up with the others. Heading into the same door that he'd seen Natsu and Lucy disappear into, he came to the sudden realization. "Wait... did I just get called old AGAIN!?"

Author's Note

S: Whelp, guess this turned out to be a two-parter. I could've made this and the next episode into one chapter, but then this would've been delayed a week.

H: You know people are just going to complain now that they'll have to wait a month or longer for the conclusion.

S: C'mon, it's not that bad. I mean how many followers does this story have?

H: Over a hundred.

S: What!? But there are only two chapters out!

H: Aye! People must want to see more of Happy!

S: I wonder... Anyways guys, be sure you leave a review. Until next time!

S and H: Ciao!