2/3

"Oh, I lied," the Quincy replied, not losing her focus as her eyes continued to scan any and all jobs posted. "I was sleeping on a bench when Lucy found me and said we could be roommates and stuff. No big."

"No big?" Levy simply freaked out then. "Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much this worries me now?"

"And that's why I didn't tell you," Bambietta replied with a shrug, still not looking back. "Besides, I figure I was already a big enough burden on you, what with having to sneak into Fairy Hills once. No way did I want to run into that Evergreen chick. And anyway, it wasn't that ba- What the heck is this?"

Bambietta all but shrieked then, staring at one of the jobs posted. She quickly ripped the paper down and began to eye it furiously. Levy could see that Bambietta was clearly shaking with rage, a low hissing sound slipping past clenched teeth. The Solid Script wizard grew concerned and peeked around the Quincy, reading out loud the request written on the paper. "A-Class wizards requested. Two hundred thousand jewel for anyone who slays the monster that was no doubt prowling the streets of Magnolia last night. My wife and I were unable to sleep thanks to the horrific noises it was making on Blueberry Avenue for several hours."

"Wait a minute," Lucy began to say, realization yet to dawn on her, "wasn't that where I found you sleeping last night, Bambi?"

The Quincy began to crumple the paper then, her voice betraying her irritation. "I can't help it if I snore!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Bambi," Levy offered up, patting the Quincy gently on the shoulder. "It's not that monstrous sounding."

Bambietta sighed then, slowly tearing the paper in her hands to shreds. Her face began to go red then, her eyes narrowing with irritation. "Are you trying to make me feel better, Levy?"

"Well, yeah."

"Good job." The Quincy rolled her eyes as she tossed the shredded paper into the basket by the board and returned back to finding work. "Let's see, there's got to be an A-Class job request that doesn't involve me killing myself..."

Levy turned towards Lucy then, curiosity overwhelming her. "So you two are going to be roommates?"

"Well, that's the plan," Lucy explained. "I mean, we're both new to Fairy Tail and Magnolia, so we've got to look out for each other, you know? Right now we've got this nice place on Strawberry Street but maybe if we pool our future resources together we could get a place up in Fairy Hills. Though I guess our first priority is to buy a new bed. I don't think Bambietta's going to want to sleep on the sofa forever. Then again," Lucy suddenly giggled, unable to control herself, "I guess that wasn't a problem when she spent the night at your place."

Levy's eyes went wide, her face overcome with a blush before she got a little snippy with Lucy. "Oh no! Don't you dare be getting the wrong idea!"

"That's," Lucy began to say with a smirk, "what she said."

"I heard that, Lucy." Bambietta sighed, never turning her attention away from the board. The Quincy began to mumble to herself. "Maybe I should find a job that requires killing myself. Good grief." Bambietta forced herself to focus then, allowing Lucy and Levy to exchange small talk while she continued to read job request after job request. "Walk my dog; too boring. Go out on a date to make my cheating wife jealous; too awkward. Help me finds a matching pair of socks lost in my drawers; seriously?" The Quincy was about to give up for the day but it was then that took notice of one A-Class mission pinned to corner of the board. She bent down then and began to read it off just as she had the others. "An A-Class treasure hunt? Oh that could be fun! And one hundred and fifty thousand jewel? Yeah, I think Lucy and I can work with that!"

"What about me?"

Bambietta turned to look at Levy. "You want in?"

"Well, I did say I'd help you with a job after all," the mage replied. "Besides, a treasure hunt could be a fun diversion."

"Okay then," Bambietta said with a smirk and placing a hand on both a shoulder each of Lucy and Levy. "Plenty of jewel to be split three ways! Let's do this thing!" The Quincy then began to march forward, the job request in hand as she moved towards the guild hall's exit. She pointed forward, her boundless enthusiasm leaving both Lucy and Levy to wonder what they had gotten themselves into. "Bambi Force, roll out!"

"Really?" was all Levy could say in response. "I guess we know who's in charge then."

"Come on, it could be worse," Lucy said as she grabbed Levy by the hand and began to move towards Bambietta. "Let's go have some fun."

"So that's it, huh?"

Bambietta could not help but be a little bit disappointed, the Quincy staring at nothing more than a manmade opening in a nondescript hill in the middle of nowhere. All around herself, Levy and Lucy was nothing but trees, the trio having hiked far away from Magnolia to a forest.

"Well this is just sad," Bambietta said with a sigh of disgust, scratching the side of her head in irritation. "A treasure hunt should lead to a cool setting, like an ornate temple of doom or an abandoned castle with a sleeping dragon inside!"

"Yeah, I don't think we have to worry about running into a dragon," Levy offered up. "Natsu has been looking for one in particular ever since he joined Fairy Tail and he hasn't found it yet. In fact nobody has seen dragons in years."

"Wait, he's looking for a dragon?" Bambietta glanced towards Levy then, her curiosity enticed. "Why? He wants to slay it or something?"

"No," Levy said with a sigh, wondering at first if Bambietta was simply fixated on thoughts of violence. Then did she have to correct herself, realizing that Natsu's title as a Dragon Slayer probably did give off the wrong impression. "He said he was raised by a fire dragon called Igneel and he's been trying to find out where he disappeared to."

"That kid's dad is a freaking dragon?" Bambietta nodded her head in response, her disappointment in the treasure hunt dwindling. "That's pretty chill actually. Though it sounds like this dragon is awfully good at playing hide and seek. Maybe Natsu's looking in all the wrong places. Speaking of looking for things..."

The three young ladies stepped into the cave then, Bambietta in the lead as the darkness swallowing them whole.

"Well this is nice," Lucy said softly at first, a little panic in her voice. "I hate the dark!"

Bambietta was not so worried. While she could not see yet, her eyesight not adjusted, she was used to the darkness. She had been adopted and raised underneath the shadows of the Vandenreich decades ago and thus could no such thing as the lack of light give her any particular pause.

"Leave it to me." Levy, however, had a solution. She began to write in the space before her and soon enough did the letters she had created illuminate the cavern around them.

Bambietta looked towards Levy then, the word 'light' floating by her side, the magic under her command. "I told you that was a cool power."

"You're just saying that to be nice." Levy brushed a few strands of blue hair back with her free hand, trying to not let the kindness make her smile too much.

"Well if you want I could be a real meanie," Bambietta retorted. "But that wouldn't be too fun for at least one of us."

"So, Bambi," Lucy began to stay, making sure to stay close by her friends and the light Levy was producing, "what exactly are the details on this job?"

Bambietta pulled out from her pocket the paper she had taken from the guild hall and held it underneath Levy's spell. "Well it says here that the Veronica Museum of National History would like for assistance in retrieving a treasure buried here by Principality's first ruler, King McGuffin the Fourth."

"So it's a little dark," Lucy replied, "and that makes it an A-Class mission?"

"Oh, there's more," Levy interjected, glancing at Bambietta's paper. "It says that the king was so protective of his prized Jewel of McGuffin that he put his love of traps to good use when constructing a place to hide it away from prying eyes."

Lucy shrugged. "It still doesn't sound that bad."

"And then," Bambietta said, still eyeing the paper, "it said that while they were reluctant to turn Fairy Tail again after a certain job involving a man named Gildarts turned into quite the mess, the museum staff felt they had no choice as the archaeologist they sent to this place never returned."

"Okay, that's bad," Lucy said, feeling a little nervous sweat poll upon her face. "Does that mean he's-"

Lucy felt it then, her foot bumping into something on the ground in front of her. The Celestial wizard stopped in her tracks completely, a chill running down her spine.

"Please tell me I didn't just find him. Please tell me I didn't just find him. Please tell me I didn't just find him."

"Lucy, what's the matter?" Levy moved her hand around, to shine her light in front of Lucy. Then did the three young ladies see before them a man lying on the ground, a long spike driven into his back.

Lucy and Levy screamed in response, backing up several feet and quickly holding on to each other. Bambietta, however, simply starred down at the corpse and shrugged.

"I've seen worse."

"And now you're scaring me again," Levy offered up, not willing to budge another inch as she held the light in front of Lucy and herself.

Bambietta sighed and backed up then to join her friends. "Well if you want I could try pretending to scream in terror."

"Actually I kind of prefer the creepy indifference under the circumstances," Lucy replied. "At least then I know there's someone here who can kick some butt if need be."

"That's the spirit!" Bambietta exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Lucy and Levy's shoulders. "I think. Anyway, shall we get back to work?"

The trio pushed further into darkness then, slowly moving down the incline of a narrow tunnel. As they continued their descent, the women began to feel as if they were heading towards the very center of Earthland. Levy, to her credit, continued to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of the traps that King McGuffin the Fourth had left behind. Then did the mage take notice of something ahead and she called out. "Look out!"

It was much too late, however, and Bambietta's foot touched down on a particular spot, the slab of rock pushing down underneath her.

"Oh no," Bambietta said, glancing downwards at what she had done.

Levy felt her heart drop within herself, the mage realizing that no doubt something terrible was about to happen. "I think we better run."

The trio of women could feel it then, their surroundings shaking wildly. Acting on instinct, Levy turned up the tunnel, shining her light and that was when she, Bambietta and Lucy saw it.

A boulder was rolling towards then at incredible speed, its massive dimensions leaving no room on any side.

"You think?" Lucy felt her feet about to move then, ready to run for her life, but Bambietta simply stepped beside her, facing the oncoming boulder with the utmost confidence. "Bambi?"

The Quincy began to roll up her sleeves, eyeing the boulder not thirty feet away. Then did her skin light up the darkness, pale blue light flowing underneath the flesh. "Don't mind me. I'm just going to go be awesome, all right?"

Then did Bambietta vanish from sight, Hirenkyaku closing the distance she desired in an instant. She appeared before the boulder and began to spread her arms out to the sides, digging her feet into the ground as best she could.

"Come on, you big stupid boulder," she said with a confident smile. "Come to mamm-"

Bambietta never got to finish her taunt to the inanimate object. Blut Vene kept her free from any harm, but the velocity and mass of the boulder still took the Quincy off her feet. She dug her heels into the ground once more, pressing against the boulder with both hands, unwilling to roll underneath it.

"Well that was just rude! You know, Mister Boulder, between you and that Fire Dragon Slayer I'm getting really tired of stuff trying to make me look stupid in front of my friends!"

The Quincy tried to hold her ground as best she could but still the boulder would not give in the slightest. Then, quite suddenly, did Bambietta feel her hat beginning to give way, the article of clothing slowly starting to slip off her head thanks to the increased velocity.

"Oh hell no!" The Quincy's temper flared then and she moved one hand away from the boulder and gripped down tightly on her cap. "You may have taken my pride and my dignity but there's one thing I'll always have... even if I have to staple my hat to my head!" Bambietta suddenly cringed then. "Oh, that just sounds awful."

Composing herself, Bambietta retreated with another step of Hirenkyaku and let Blut Vene fade away as she appeared by Levy and Lucy's sides once more. She had no hope of stopping the boulder with two hands, let alone one.

"Not a word," the Quincy said, not even giving them a glance. "Still being awesome!"

Bambietta then resorted to another of her specialties. Her bow formed within her hands and she raised it high. Levy and Lucy simply watched on, their fellow Fairy Tail guild mate standing her ground a second time. The Quincy began to fire arrow after arrow, tearing from the boulder piece after piece, the remains disintegrating under the duress. Little was left of the massive construct and Bambietta fired off one more arrow to finish things. It struck the remains, forcing them to vanish only a few inches away from the three members of Fairy Tail.

Bambietta sighed then, allowing her bow to fade away upon her command. She spoke confidently then, trying to brush off her initial failure. "See? Totally awesome."

Bambietta turned fast, unwilling to allow either Lucy or Levy to see the look of embarrassed relief on her face. She pressed forward then, slipping further down the tunnel.

"Hey, wait up!" Lucy and Levy ran to join her then, the latter making sure to angle the light so that the Quincy could see what was up ahead.

Yet then, as the ground began to become level, the three could see lights in the new chamber. Torches were lit along the walls, casting a hellish glow.

"I'm going to take a wild guess that King McGuirk or whatever didn't leave this for any archaeologists to see what they were doing."

"McGuffin," Levy whispered, correcting Lucy, "and I think you hit the nail on the head. Considering how long that archaeologist seemed to be deceased further back, I doubt these torches were lit by him."

"So somebody beat us to the punch." Bambietta smiled, gleefully rubbing her hands together. "And here I thought this mission wouldn't have any real fun..."

Lucy and Levy began to slowly creep into the main chamber, trying very hard not to draw any undue attention to themselves. The Solid Script mage undid her spell, the word light fading from view, and she quickly replaced it with another. The word shadow formed above the two women, casting darkness around them and further aiding the Levy and Lucy as they pressed against a wall.

Bambietta, however, simply stepped directly into the light of the torches, her hands on her hips. "Hey, if anybody here is up to no good and wants a fight, I'm game! Bring it!"

Then did an individual step forward, clothed in black, his right eye covered by a patch. In his hands he held twin swords, both of the blades catching the light of the flames. "Well now, what do we have here?" the man asked, twirling his wrists and the corresponding sword slightly. "Somebody after the treasure of King McGuffin I take it? Oh, we can't have that. No, not at all."

Levy and Lucy, still covered in darkness, lowered their heads in dismay, realizing that they had clearly been spotted by Bambietta's brash actions.

"We, huh?" Bambietta said to the man, folding her arms defiantly across her chest. "So, what? You and some stupid bandits here for my treasure? Well news flash, buddy. The Jewel of McGuffin and the one hundred and eighty thousand jewel its worth are going to be mine." Bambietta suddenly remembered well that she was not alone. "Well, actually, that's just plain greedy sounding. I'm splitting the reward three ways."

Then did Bambietta look back towards Levy and Lucy, nodding towards them. The two stared wide-eyed at her and sighed as they noticed the bandit seeing them as well. Levy dismissed her darkness spell then, seeing no more need of it.

"Oh don't act so down," Bambietta replied, noting their combined annoyance. "I can handle this jerk and a hundred more of him if need be."

"Are words your only weapon?" the bandit asked, taking one step forward. "I am Theo Laamer of the Sweeping Winds. Within my hands lie the blades of Talc, weapons from ancient times that have tasted the blood of all those who have dared to stand in my way. A path of carnage lies behind in my wake, chaos my trail into the future. You three will not leave this place alive. For I shall-"

A blue arrow struck Theo in the chest then, interrupting his never-ending speech. It burst apart on impact, sending the man to the ground with enough force that he simply fell into an unconscious state.

"All talk, no action. So boring." Bambietta derisively yawned as she let her weapon fade away again and simply walked over the defeated bandit, paying him no real mind as she motioned for Lucy and Levy to join her.

The two joined up with Bambietta then and thus did they begin to move forward once more. Now however they were on high alert for any bandits. More particularly, Lucy and Levy were. Bambietta was barely giving it a second thought.

"Now let's be careful," Levy said, keeping a close eye on Bambietta. "I'd rather none of us step on and activate another-"

Levy felt it then, a stone underneath her foot depressing. The mage closed her eyes for a moment, cursing that she had spent so much effort on watching Bambietta that she had been the one to mess up this time.

"Darn it."

Lucy began to panic then, turning around towards her friends to state the obvious. "It's a trap!"

The floor gave way then, dropping the three Fairy Tail members down into a pit. Lucy and Levy hit the ground hard, the former in a rather unbecoming manner, while Bambietta managed to at least come down in a crouching position thanks to reflexes honed over a long lifetime of training and combat.

"Oh, that hurt." Lucy winced, rubbing her bottom as she stood.

"Well hopefully you had enough padding back there to soften the fall," Bambietta said as she glanced around and took notice of what trap they had dropped into. "Oh, this is not going to be good."

"What's the matter?" Levy began to move when she suddenly felt a brief burst of pain upon her left arm. She moved away from whatever had poked her skin and looked towards the wall. She could see it then, spikes jutting out in a pattern all across the stone structure. She turned then and could see it on the other side as well. "It's a good thing nobody hit one of those on the way down Still, it could be worse"

Suddenly the room began to shake and the three members of Fairy Tail could see the walls slowly closing in on them.

"You just had to say it." Bambietta looked at the approaching heralds of death, growing slightly irritated. "Really, how over the top did this stupid king have to make this trap? The crushing walls would be more than enough to take care of just about anyway. But no, he had to go the extra mile and add spikes. I swear, some people just don't know the meaning of the world restraint."

The Quincy began to think over her past in the Vandenreich for a moment, recalling the creative endings she had been responsible for, whether it had been friend or foe.

"Maybe I'm not one to talk."

"Now's really not the time for this," Levy protested, trying to think of some way they could escape the current predicament.

Lucy began to fumble for the Celestial Keys within the pouch on her belt while Bambietta began to summon Blut Arterie. One had the plan to attempt to ask a Celestial Spirit to come to their rescue, the other intent on perhaps throwing her allies right out of the trap with all her might.

Levy, meanwhile, simply began to write in the air. Her work finished, the word iron formed into exactly that, falling to the ground with a loud bang.

"What are you doing?" Bambietta asked.

"Trying to make something to hold these walls at bay so we can get out of here. Still, four letters is hardly enough room. Maybe steel? No wait, I've got it!"

Levy wrote exactly the word that had come to her mind then, leaving Bambietta and Lucy to simply watch and try to spell it out. Then, the word fully formed, its magical properties came to life. The newly forged metal fell to the ground hard then, filling up more space than the iron had.

"Orichalcum," Levy said, staring down at the legendary metal alloy. "That ought to buy us some more space and time."

The walls suddenly came into contact with the 'o' and 'm' letters, no longer able to proceed any further. The Fairy Tail wizards glanced at the spikes then, breathing a slight sigh of relief.

"Levy, you little genius you," Bambietta exclaimed. "Say, now that I think about it, you could just write gold over and over again and we'd all be set for life! Certainly would be easier than this mission is turning out to be."

"It's not that simple," the Solid Script mage replied. "My magic only lasts so long. Besides, that would be really cheating the system, Bambi."

Bambietta sighed, her arms hanging limp for a moment as her head dropped. "There's always a catch." Then did the Quincy suddenly look at both her allies, Blut Arterie still empowering her body. "Oh well. Do you two trust me?"

"Well, yeah," Levy replied, feeling a little nervous, "but now that you ask, I'm kind of worried."

"Lucy?"

"I guess so."

"Okay then!" Bambietta suddenly scooped up Lucy and threw her up into the air and out of the pit. Then she looked at Levy. "Your turn!"

The Solid Script mage could hear Lucy suddenly grunting as she no doubt landed on the floor above and the Solid Script wizard grew a little nervous. "Now wait a minute, Bambi. I think I can come up a better way to-"

Levy suddenly shrieked as she went airborne, landing on the floor beside Lucy. She shrugged off the impact as best she could, taking note of the newest Fairy Tail wizard rubbing her backside again.

"Not your best day, huh?"

"Okay, so we're free," Lucy said, trying to ignore the comment. "But how's she going to get out?"

"Don't worry about it!" Bambietta shouted upwards. "You should already know I've got quite the bag of tricks and treats!"

Bambietta had not been particular worried about the spikes, not as long as Blut Vene was at her disposal. Thus did she shift from Arterie to the more defensive option. The Quincy reached out with both hands, taking hold of two spikes. There was no pain, not in the least, her hardened skin enduring the sharp surface. Bambietta began to climb then, finding purchase with her feet upon other spikes. Slowly but surely she made her way to the top and threw her arms up and over the edge of the floor. She could see the looks of amazement on Lucy and Levy's face but the Quincy simply shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm just that cool," she said. "Though I wouldn't mind a hand or two anyway."

Lucy and Levy shook off their shock and moved over then, gripping hold of an arm each. They began to pull Bambietta up then, none of the women able to hear the faint ripping sound coming from within the pit as Bambietta's lower body began to clear the edge, the sound drowned out by the grunting that Lucy and Levy were making as they struggled to help their friend.

"Thank you, thank you," Bambietta said as she stood up straight. She noticed then that Lucy and Levy were simply looking at her with wide eyes once more. "Listen, I know you think I'm amazing and all that and I appreciate it, honest, but enough with the staring."

"Okay, Bambi," Lucy began to say, trying to be as polite as possible, but-"

"You kind of lost your skirt," Levy finished, trying to hold back any laughter dwelling within her.

"What?" Now Bambietta's eyes went wide. The Quincy glanced down and sure enough could see that her black undergarments were on display, no skirt adorning her hips. Bambietta's face went red then and she quickly tugged on her cloak, pulling it around her body as best she could. "The fact that this happened does not leave this room, understand?"

Lucy and Levy each giggled slightly, but still did they nod their heads. "Fairy's honor," Levy answered, trying to stifle her mirth.

Bambietta shook her head slightly and turned back towards the pit. She bent down slightly and reached into the trap, gently pulling her white skirt from the spike it had been caught on. Glancing at it, the Quincy was disappointed to see that it was torn down one side, and in no position to be worn.

"In a perfect world Blut Vene would extend to my clothes too and then I wouldn't have mortifying experiences like this." The Quincy shook her head. "Then again, this sort of thing never happened to me back in the Vandenreich. Go figure."

Standing up, the Quincy tossed the damaged article of clothing back into the pit, seeing no further use for it. Sighing, she began to undo her cloak. She lower it then, wrapping it around her waist and hooking the fasteners together tightly. The makeshift skirt hung down to her knees and was hardly the type of fashion sense Bambietta would normally apply, but it would have to do.

"First thing I'm doing with the reward money is buy a new skirt," she said under breath, irritation evident. "Easy come, easy go."

The Quincy moved towards Lucy and Levy, ready and willing to put this mission behind her now more than ever.

"Okay," she said as she began to move deeper into the cavern, her friends close behind, "let's just go get this silly jewel, kick some bandit butt if need be and go get our reward."