Ace of Hearts

Chapter 1: The Plea

"Hey, its been a while since the last job that we took," Lucy thought to herself as her curious hazelnut eyes carefully scanned the guild's Request Board. "It shouldn't be a bother to go on one soon enough." Her gaze drifted from one sheet of paper to another, each of them containing a mission that was either too easy, too hard, or the reward simply wasn't worth the shot.

"Looking for a new job as well, Lucy?" The legendary redhead queried, descending the last few steps of the staircase and standing beside the celestial spirit mage.

Lucy emitted an exasperated sigh, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear. Truth be told, she was standing there, staring at the cascade of words, numbers, and pictures for the past hour, trying to decide which job to pick yet to no avail. "Well, yeah... but I don't really think I'll be able to find one that's actually worth the time and effort."

"Here, I found one on the second floor." With a smile, Erza held out a different sheet of paper for Lucy to see. Utterly curious, the latter took the paper in her hands and skimmed through it.

"But aren't we.. uhm.. not allowed to go on these kinds of quests? Because you know.. we aren't S-class like you." Her lips curved up to a slightly embarassed smile, hearing herself speak.

"Oh come on, this one's an exemption. I already asked Master about it, and he said it was okay as long as I go with you." Erza replied, matter-of-factly. "And look, the reward's a fleeting four million jewels. We can split it up among the four of us. That's got to be more than enough." Indeed, the team was desparate for a new job, seeing their depleted supply of jewels that will have to last through the next few weeks.

A few meters away, Gray pushed his chair back from the counter and started walking towards the girls. "Hey, what's that you've got there?" He asked, gently pulling the paper out of Lucy's hands and carefully examining its contents on his own.

The goal sounded easy. All they had to do was to retrieve a girl from the city of Valencia, about a six-hour train trip away. Nothing else was stated aside from that, the client's current address in Magnolia, and the whooping four million jewel reward upon successful accomplishment. But still, everyone agreed on a single thought, this job was definitely well worth a try.

"Well, what do you think, Gray?" Erza spoke after a few moments of thoughtful silence, eyebrows raised in a questioning tone.

"Four million jewels... just to find a girl." He muttered in reply, utterly aghast. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I wouldn't bet on it, though." Lucy said on the contrary. "I mean, this one is from Ellice Parestine, for crying out loud." She read the client's name out of a sudden realization.

"Why? Is she someone you know?" Erza turned to the blonde girl beside her.

"Wait here," And with that, Lucy set off in a haste towards the guild's archives in search for one of the countless works of literature that snared her interests. A few minutes later, she came back, brown eyes bright with knowledge, a hard-bound book covered in dark red grasped in both hands.

"The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece," the ice mage tilted his head slightly, aiming to get a better view of the golden letters embossed on the book's cover as he read the title out loud. "What, are you saying that Ellice is some kind of water nymph who gets extra holiday bonuses by polishing Poseidon's trident on a daily basis?" He earned a head smack at that.

"No! Stupid." Lucy said, totally ignoring Gray's protests and Erza's suppresed laughter as she flipped through the yellowed pages.

"Her husband is the author." She turned to the last printed sheet of paper bound to the book, where a short biography of the writer is briefly written along with a black-and-white photograph of a distinguished looking man. He was perhaps in his early thirthies, with a pair of circular glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, hands buried deep into the pockets of his lab coat.