Years had gone by since Fairy Tail had reclaimed their title as Fiore's strongest guild and even to this day, they have still upheld that title. While some wizards had passed on, a whole new generation of wizards had been born in their place. One of them was a young girl around the age of sixteen named Ame Fullbuster. Taking on the name and short black hair of her father, Gray Fullbuster, she was to become a great ice wizard just like him and yet, she also had the ability to perform Juvia Lockser, her mother's, magic as well. Ever since she was young, she had been taught how to use both types of magic and even use them simultaneously. Accompanying her on various jobs was her little cat, Growl. Growl was a little light gray cat with white stripes running all over his body and big, green eyes. His pink Fairy Tail insignia laid right in the dead center of his back, which he would always parade around with immense pride. Together, Ame and Growl would go on jobs despite Juvia's constant worrying over them. Unlike Gray, Juvia was extremely overprotective of her family and she always tried to stop Ame from going on jobs. Of course, she never succeeded and would instead wait in agony for her child to return to the guild.

That morning, Ame had planned to go out on a job and she was standing by the board where various jobs were being pinned up. Being Fiore's strongest guild amounted for more complex and higher rewarding jobs to be posted up, which gave the wizards the more opportunities to test out their skills and make more money. Her dark blue eyes scanned the board while Growl was watching the louder guildmembers bicker and chug down large amounts of alcohol, "I wonder if your old man's gonna get in a fight today. It'd be weird if he didn't." Growl said, peering up at Ame, but she wasn't listening, "Ame? Yo, Ame! Did you hear what I said?" he shouted.

Ame nodded her head, "Yeah, yeah. I heard you." She was too focused on the board to listen to the cat, "You think that we're ready for a more complicated job? If I complete it successfully, maybe mama will quit bugging me all the time." she asked.

Growl shrugged his shoulders, "I guess so. I mean, your old man does hard stuff all the time and he always comes back successful. You'll be fine." he assured her, though again, she wasn't listening.

Lily stood upstairs with her head down while her mother berated her.

"Lily, you can't just leave the guild! Do you know what the life of an unregistered mage is like? Your father and I have worked so hard to make Fairy Tail what it is, and now you're just going to throw it all away. Why?" Lily clenched her fists and bowed her head further, biting her lip to prevent it from trembling. It was no use. The tears spilled down her cheeks and she choked on a sob. The Titania wouldn't cry, she tried to tell herself, but it didn't help.

"I don't know, mom," she managed to choke out. Both of them knew perfectly well why. Her mother wasn't trying to hurt her, she knew. But for two powerful mages to end up with a child who could barely open the weakest of the celestial gates, let along become a dragon slayer . . . She was a stain on the family name, and it stressed her parents out. It stressed them out that she was more bookish than her mother and less smart than her father. Besides that, she had almost no magic. Her only redeeming quality was her strength, but even though she trained in swordfighting for hours every day, she was hardly a genius. She could hold her own if they gave her a magic sword, but she'd never deserve to be a member of Fairy Tail. Her blue mark pressed on her chest like a heavy weight.

It was a few weeks ago when Lily had first thought of leaving the guild. The idea had come upon her like a bright light, cutting through the heavy sadness that had settled in her heart and muddled her thoughts for all the seventeen years of her life. If she left, went to a non-magic school, maybe made something of herself in the world out there, her parents wouldn't worry so much about her, and the guild wouldn't feel ashamed of her. So she'd decided, and today was the day she'd told her mom about her plans. Lucy would react better than Natsu, and if Lily could convince her mother, her mother might be able to explain it to her father...

Lucy looked down and shook her head with a heavy sigh.

"Lily..." she looked up at her daughter with a pained expression. They looked so much alike, except Lily had pink hair the color of a water lily flower, which had inspired her name. "Why don't you go on one last job," Lucy looked around in a panic while Lily hugged herself tighter, almost wishing she could take it all back, just so that the pain in her mother's voice would go away. "Look," her mother continued, "Ame is looking for something," Lily looked up at her mother, whose eyes begged her to listen, "Just go with her, just once more. Please." Lily didn't know what one more job would change, but she couldn't say no to her mother. She nodded, dropping her chin again, and Lucy let out a sigh of relief.

"You may not be the strongest mage, but you're still one of us. And it's not always strength that wins the battle, you know." Lucy hugged her daughter. "Go." Lily turned and went without another word.

Nervously, she approached Ame. They had been best friends when they were little, but it had been years since they'd spoken, since Ame was so talented and spent so much of her time with her guildmates. Lily usually helped wash the dishes or tend the bar, or teach lessons to the smallest children. She coughed quietly.

"Ame..." she called, hoping the other girl would notice her, "Um, Ame, um..." she didn't really know how to continue, "H-how are you doing?"

Growl was the first to notice Lily and he had to bite his tongue to restrain himself from spewing out a rude comment. He had heard from Ame that the two of them were best friends as children despite their fathers downright hating one another. For some reason, the two of them drifted apart once they hit their teens and now they almost seemed like strangers. The cat knew that unlike Ame and the other guildmembers her age, Lily was pathetic and had little to no magic abilities whatsoever. He wondered how the guildmaster even allowed her to stay if she contributed almost nothing to the prosperity of the guild. "Ame's busy trying to find a job for us. Now buzz off!" the cat hissed.

Ame heard Growl's rude comment and she turned her back to the board. Seeing Lily always made her smile and she used her foot to nudge Growl away, "Don't listen to him. He's always grumpy in the morning." She told her. Even if the two were essentially no longer friends, Ame still liked Lily. They would always play as children and she was the first person that she ever showed her ice and water magic too. It was even enjoyable for the two of them to watch their fathers argue and fight each other using their wickedly powerful magic. But all of that was in the past and that hurt the girl a little bit each time she saw Lily, "I'm doing good. Growl and I are about to go out on a job. We just gotta find one that'll get us a lot of Jewels." She told her before spinning back towards the board.

Her finger moved across the board before firmly pressing against a sheet of paper, "There! We'll do this one!" Ame carelessly ripped the paper off the board and showed it off to Growl and Lily. The job was to capture an escaped convict who was known for murdering wizards all across Fiore. On the bottom of the paper read a glorious 2,000,000 Jewel reward for his capture, "This is perfect for us, though we'll need a little bit of help." Ame peered over at Lily, "Would you like to come with us? Once we get him, we can split the money so you can have some too. Your mom and dad'll be so amazed when they see that you got 1,000,000 Jewels for completing a job! I know mine will. So, what do you say? You in?"

Lily hugged herself tighter. Ame was always so cheerful, and her magic was so beautiful, and powerful. Lily had been in awe of it since that day when they were little and Ame had made it snow on a crisp spring day. The black-haired girl had inherited both of her parents' talents, and truth be told, Lily felt . . . small standing next to her, even though she was of average height, like her dad, and built like the Titania. It didn't make her attractive, by any means, and her strong shoulders looked even stranger when she hunched them over with shyness, her pink hair pulled back in a childish half-ponytail. She thought she looked like a shy elephant, or something else just as awkward. Every day she wished she would grow out of it an turn into a beautiful woman like Erza, but even her hair, pink as it was, seemed like a watered-down, girlish version of her idol's wine-red hair.

"Um, um, I'm sorry, Growl," the cat was fierce, and almost as bad-tempered as Mr. Fullbuster. Except where Mr. Fullbuster had a soft heart and cared for his friends even when he was fighting them (as he did almost daily against' Lily's father), Growl seemed to be mean through and through. Worse, he seemed to be personally offended by Lily's existence, which didn't help her already dismal self-esteem. In fact, his comment almost made her apologize and leave, but she remembered the pained look on her mother's face and knew she couldn't very well back out now. She swallowed, gathering her courage, and looked up at Ame.

"A-are you sure it's OK? I mean, I'd love to," she tried to smile, but it went sour, and she looked down at her toes again. What was she thinking? Of course it was a joke. She'd only be dead weight on this trip, or a luggage-watcher. And one million jewels? Well, she glanced up at Ame's expectant face, maybe Ame could do a job like that, but it would be unfair to split the reward like that.

"You don't have to, you know," she went on, her voice getting quieter, "You know I'm not really . . . " She didn't need to say it. She was the elephant in the room and everyone already knew.

Ame nodded her head, "Sure! I'd love for you to come along. It'll be fun, trust me. Plus, you'll get a ton of money to spend on new clothes! Won't that be exciting? I plan to give some of the money to my parents so they can have a nice night out. Maybe that'll convince them that they don't need to treat me like a baby whenever I go out on a job." she said mostly to herself. She could tell that Lily had issues with her self esteem, but she wasn't going to give up on her. They were friends practically from birth. Ame knew Lily for her entire life. She didn't want to give that up now. Sure, she had friends in the guild like Growl, but Lily was special to her. She didn't really understand why they had been drifting apart and she wanted to do all she could to stop it. Going on a job with her and succeeding could perhaps boost her spirits a bit, "What do you mean? If we do it together, then it's only fair to split the reward. Besides, I bet you'll be much more helpful than Growl. He boasts about being all great and whatnot, but his magic is useless in battle. I bet your magic is much better than his!" she laughed.

Growl gave Ame a dark look before looking back at Lily. It was true that he didn't like Lily, but he wasn't going to try to exclude her from their job. Once Ame was sure about something, it's almost impossible to convince her otherwise. Besides, these two girls were friends. They were friends even longer than he had been alive. There was no way that he could tear apart that relationship, "My magic is very useful, thank you very much. What if you needed to escape from a dangerous situation but couldn't? I could easily fly you outta there in no time! You don't have to go as far as ridiculing my magic to get Lily to join us." he hissed.

"O-okay, I guess that settles it, then!" Lily tried another smile, and this one came out better. She'd forgotten how Ame could make anyone cheer up and feel better about themselves in second, and in spite of everything, it even worked on her. "Although, I don't really know much about clothes . . . " she laughed until she realized she wouldn't be going clothes shopping with Ame. She would use the money to leave the guild and set out on her own, to rent her own apartment and go to school. Somehow, she felt more upset about leaving now, but she shook the feeling off. Still, she decided not to tell Ame her plans. She turned to Growl.

"I hope you won't have to fly me out of anywhere, I'm kind of heavy . . . " her smile faded at the cat's glower, and she turned back to Ame, "Were you planning on starting out today? I mean, I'm ready whenever, my bags are all packed and everything, I'll-I'll go get them now!" With a nervous nod, Lily dashed to the bar. She had stuffed them in a cupboard underneath the bar that morning before going to talk to her mother, along with her prize sword and dagger, which the Titania had given her for her birthday several years ago. They were magical, Erza had said, looking at Lily strangely, but the user would have to unlock their powers for themselves. Since Lily had no powers, they were just very, very nice swords to her, and she loved them more dearly than anything in the world.

"Going somewhere, Lily?" Mirajane, beautiful as ever, smiled down at Lily. The girl looked up from where she was crouched on the ground.

"A... I guess I'm going on a job," she said, almost to herself. She couldn't believe it, now that she was saying in out loud. She'd dreamed of doing this, and she was so happy that she would get to go with Ame. A little smile crept onto her face, and she even hugged Mirajane before walking back over to Ame. All the eyes in the guild were on her, judging her, as usual, and Lily dropped her eyes to the floor and hunched under her heavy pack. Then she realized that it wasn't that they were staring at her because they were ashamed of her. No, she looked just like a young mage going on a mission. She looked like a member of Fairy Tail.

Ame had about the largest smile on her face and she couldn't contain her excitement, "Really? I expected you to make up another excuse and I didn't think you'd actually say yes! Oh, did you hear that, Growl? Lily's gonna join us on our mission! Isn't that great?" she lifted the cat up off the ground and squeezed him like a teddy bear. Growl didn't say a word; he wasn't exactly thrilled to have Lily on their team. He knew that she was going to weigh them down and he couldn't do a thing to stop it. He just had to let it happen and allow for both girls to get themselves in trouble. She eventually let the cat go and he crawled over to her shoulder and managed to leap up onto her head. Firmly grasping the poster, she picked up her bag that she had tossed aside on the floor and she excitedly ran towards the front doors. The other guildmembers watched Ame dash like the giddy child they remembered from years ago. Ame was a particularly happy girl, but they had never seen her this happy before.

Ame pushed the door open with her hand and she held it for Lily, "All right! Let's go!" she shouted before exiting. Once they began to walk away from the guild, she peered back down at the poster for any details on a location. It stated that the convict, who was a man named Arata, was last seen in a town called Esbon. From what her father told her, Esbon was a very old town in Fiore that was most well known to be the home to various underground tombs of ancient monarchs and other aristocrats. She didn't know why a criminal would choose Esbon out of all places to hide, but it didn't matter now. He was there and they had to go at once.

"Are you all right with transportation? I know your dad gets motion sickness and I'm not sure if you have it too, but our best bet to getting to Esbon is by taking the train. Walking there would take too long and Growl can't carry both of us. He's too small." Ame asked, a worried look immediately being pastured onto her face.

"Ame!" Lily yelled, and ran after her, chugging along at a steady run until she caught up with the girl. Damn everything else, but she was strong, strong than even some of the boys their age, and she could run for miles without tiring, and she was proud of it. Still, on the hot summer day, she was soon coated in a sheen of sweat, her sleeveless white zip-up, from Erza's new Heartkruz fashion collection, just a touch too tight for the weather. She stopped to wipe the sweat off her brow and unzipped the vest just a little. She felt more comfortable around Ame, though she wasn't comfortable in her own body. That was the only explanation she could think of for being so relaxed. "And, um, trains are fine, we can travel any way you want," wiping another arm across her forehead. "I've never actually, um, been on a train . . ." she added quietly, biting her lip and keeping her eyes on her feet.

The station was only ten minutes away walking, but the heat was brutal, and trying to stay dry was proving to be a useless exercise. As they stepped onto the platform, Lily stopped to pull her hair into a high knot on her head to keep it from sticking to her face, revealing her long, slender neck -- perhaps the only attractive thing about her. She looked up at Ame, and was surprised to see worry on the other girl's face. She immediately felt uncomfortable and looked back down, unconsciously fiddling with the straps of her backpack. "I, um, I can buy the train tickets, since you let me come on this mission, if you want . . . " she said.

Ame was a little bit shocked, "You've never been on a train? Aunt Lucy never brought you onto a train? My mama used to take me on the train whenever she went somewhere. It's a lot of fun, especially the overnight ones. There's beds and restaurants inside the trains. It's really cool!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up like a giddy child. The platform was becoming busier when the trains began to arrive at the station and Ame was being pushed aside and shoved by people rushing to get on them. Growl too was being stepped on and he crawled back onto the girl's shoulder to prevent being squashed like a bug, "It's okay. I can buy the tickets. You just wait there, all right?" she asked Lily before getting on the line at the ticket booth. The line zoomed by quickly, as the trains were just arriving and Ame managed to snag the last two tickets to Esbon (Growl didn't count as a person according to their standards. Animals weren't allowed on the trains, so she would have to hide him in her bag.) Holding onto the tickets with a firm grasp, Ame returned to Lily and handed her a ticket, "The train's here, so come on!" The girl grabbed onto Lily's arm and nearly yanked her towards the red and gold train. On the very front of the train, the city's name of Esbon was written in white script, which meant that this train was specialized to only head to Esbon and nowhere else.

Growl had slid into Ame's backpack, so he wasn't visibly seen as the two girls boarded the train. Ame kindly showed her ticket to the conductor and he punched a hole onto the side of it. The conductor smiled at the girls and allowed them to board with ease. There was no specific seat assignment, so they were allowed to sit wherever they wanted. Ame chose a spot that was a booth with a table and she sat on one end close to the window and threw her bag on the seat next to her. A few moments passed and Growl popped his head out from the bag. He was panting and he had his paw to his chest, "I nearly died in there, for God's sake!" he panted, his ears drooping onto his head and his tongue lapsing out onto the side of his mouth.

Ame couldn't help but laugh at the cat, "Hey, at least you got on without any trouble. We can't lose a team member before we even get there. Isn't that right, Lily?"

Lily followed Ame in a daze, letting the girl pull her along the crowded train station. She tried to play it cool, but in reality, she was so excited to be travelling. She'd rarely left the guild, and it had always been her secret dream to go on a grand adventure with a friend. She'd thought it might be Ame often, especially when they were kids; she couldn't believe this was actually happening.

They were seated before long, large backpacks tucked under their seats. She was glad she'd thought to hid her sword and dagger in the backpack itself. If Growl wasn't allowed on the train, then she was sure her sword would be even less welcome. She stared out the window while Ame and her cat arranged themselves. So many people, all rushing somewhere. And now she was one of them, too.

"We can't lose a team member before we even get there. Isn't that right, Lily?" Lily looked at Ame, startled. Did she say . . . team member? She couldn't help it, she smiled stupidly before realizing she'd been referring to Growl.

"Yeah, you guys have to keep each other safe so you can go on more jobs, right?" her smile thinned and her gaze dropped to its usual place on the floor. The train started and pulled away from the station, and Lily looked back out the window.

"Um, who else is on your team, Ame?" she asked, hoping that the question wasn't offensive.

The train remained at the station for ten more minutes before a final boarding call was announced. The conductor came down to aisle to check tickets for the last time and Growl had to hide back in Ame's bag that was stuffed underneath her seat. Once the conductor passed their row and the train slowly began to chug down the tracks, Ame leaned back in her seat and Growl leapt up onto her lap. He moved towards the window and he pressed his face and paws against the window, staring out at the moving scenery. Listening to Lily, she nodded her head, "That's right. Team members have to look out for each other. I mean, there's no way that a single wizard can go out on a job alone. That's pretty much a suicide mission. Plus, it must be kinda lonely to be by yourself. I would be so sad if I went out on a job and I didn't have anyone to share the adventure with." She said.

Ame's smile dropped to a neutral expression and she shrugged, "It's just Growl and I for now. We've tried to make a bigger team, but it's never worked out." The girl's eyes went to Lily while Growl completely ignored the two, "Why do you ask? Do you want to join our team? Because I'd be more than glad to have you. I want to spend time with you again. It's been so long!" she exclaimed, her voice almost sounding desperate. For some reason, Ame really wanted to have Lily join her. She didn't care what Growl said. Lily was her friend and she wanted her friend to be with her.