To Any Cost

Chapter 1: Financial Crisis

Hello to anyone that reads this! It's my first fanfic but... Hope you like it!!!

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   "I feel like this has happened before..." Natsu frowned in whatever thought that was whirling in his mind.

   Gray rolled his eyes, "That's because it has, Flamebrain." 

   "Hey! Who you callin' Flamebrane, stripper?" Natsu yelled at his childhood rival/friend.

   "I aint a strip- GAH MY CLOTHES!" Gray shreeked, momentarally distracted.

   "Oh, shut up you two," Erza glared at them.

   "Yes ma'am," they squeeked in perfect syncronization. 

   "Hey guys, why'd you-" a new voice stopped abruptly as the scene sunk in. 

   "Lucy," Erza sighed grimly, "It was like this when we arrived. I don't know who did it or why. But all I know is that they're cowards.

   "But... I thought it's illegal to attack the other guilds!" Lucy stooped down to pick up a battered stone from the rubble. 'This isn't fair,' she thought angrilly, 'Why does this keep on happening to us?'

   "Yeah, well, we aren't exactly as 'tight' with the magic council's laws anyways..." Gray muttered under his breath.

   "How are we going to get our guild back?" she asked bitterly as she tossed the stone back into the piles of rubble.

   "I'm not quite sure," Erza turned to face her, "I've called the Master to inform him about this-"

   "And we're supposed to have a meeting today," Gray finnished her sentence. 

   Lucy knodded silently, unsure of what to say next. She turned towards the ruins of what used to be the Fairy Tail Guild. Unlike the last time the guild was destroyed, there was nothing left to scavange, except for the battered stones that had once held the building up. All of the memories made there came crashing down, much like of what was left of the guild. Her eyes burned as tears began leaking out and onto her cheeks. 'No,' she thought furiously, 'I have to st-stay s-st-strong-' she stuffed her fist into her mouth in hopes of stiffling a sob, but only to find no luck.

   "Lucy?" Natsu whirled about to find his partner and best friend trying desperatly not to cry. His vision tunnled as tears began streaming down her facing and small sobs escaping her throat. "Lucy, it's going to be fine," he put his arm around her, wishing he could believe his own words, "We got through it last, what's so different about this time?"

   She mopped up her eyes, smiling a bit, "You're right," she laughed, "It's all going to be fine."

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   "Wh-What happened here?" Juvia's eyes were wide with shock as she arrived with the rest of the guild.

   Makarov, who was in the back, moved up to the front and onto the tallest piece of rubble he could find. "I know you're all wondering what happened. To be honest, I don't know myself. We're down a guild hall and the council will only pay for half of the reconstruction. Whoever destroyed our guild is going to pay, but that's not what matters right now. Our top priority is to get our guild hall back and figure out how to pay for it."

   "How much is it going to cost?" someone shouted from the crowd. 

   "2,000,000,000J."

   The whole guild sweatdropped. 

   "How are we supposed to raise that much money?" Jet shouted exasperatedly as Levy kicked his shins to shut him up.

   "The Mayor of Magnolia has already said that he'd pay for one forth of the original cost-"

   "Which was?"

   "4,000,000,000J."

   "WHAT?" the whole guild errupted in madness.

   "SHUT UP!" Makarov shouted. Everything returned back to instant silence, "As I was saying, Magnolia is paying for a forth, the council is paying for half, so that leaves us with 1,000,000,000J to pay in expenses."

   "I still don't see how we're going to be able to rake up that much money in a short ammount of time," Gray muttered causing Juvia to jump in surprise.

   "Gray-sama-" she began but was cut off by the Master shouting again.

   "Are there any ideas on how to earn the money by next week?" Makarov inquired.

   "NEXT WEEK?" and all of Fairy Tail was pandemonium again.

   "SHUT UP!" the Master shouted over again.

   "Excuse me, Master," a sweet voice sounded behind him.

  "Eh, yes, Mira?"

   She smiled sweetly, yet with a tint of mischief hidden behind the brightness, "I think I have an idea that just might work!"

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Sorry, it's really rough, but I hope it was ok!!!