Just when Lucy Heartfillia thought that the day couldn't get any worse, it promptly did.

But let's rewind just a bit.

Approximately 37 minutes earlier, she had been scaling the walls of the new Magnolia Museum. A new set of diamonds had apparently been donated by a certain person, or as Lucy liked to think of him, that man. The man who had ruined her life and that she never wanted to think about again, except to hatch humiliating plans about him. Stealing the diamonds had been the latest plan. The plan that had gotten her caught.

The floor was full of crazy sensors that would trip an alarm at the slightest provocation, so she pretty much had to grapple her way around. Until her rope snapped, and she fell, effectively tripping off every single alarm in the place. Oops.

So, she had to use her backup plan, Plan Z, which she liked to call Black Friday, as it consisted of one step and one step only: Run and screw the world. And then that particular plan backfired as well when the pink-haired wacko grabbed the hood on her black sweater and whisked her up and away into a helicopter.

Wow, she thought. The cops are getting really efficient now.

And that was where she'd been for the past twenty minutes, alone except for said pink-haired weirdo, who was passed out on the floor due to motion sickness. Lucy briefly wondered how such a wimp could have caught her, then decided against thinking about it. She didn't need to start feeling even more worthless.

There was a jarring thud, and Lucy realized that the helicopter had landed. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen the pilot. She wondered if it was the cop whose car she'd spray painted bright orange. But then again, she wouldn't recognize him/her if it was.

The door to the pilot's seat (what was it called again?) opened and a girl stepped out. She had bright red hair and cold, calculating eyes that instantly softened when they landed on Lucy.

"Sorry for the rough pick up. The cops were after you, so I had to do it quick."

Lucy stared. Wait, didn't she work for the cops? So she wasn't arrested?

"Who're you?"

"My name is Erza Scarlet, and you are Lucy Heartfillia, if I am correct. Wake up, Natsu, we're here!" She gave a sharp kick to the pink-haired boy who'd grabbed Lucy.

"What…? My head hurts…" he moaned.

Erza sighed and whispered, "Natsu, if you don't wake up, Gray's going to kidnap Happy and dress him in doll clothes again."

Natsu sat up. Fast. "What?!"

He looked around wildly. "Where's Happy?!"

"Where do you think?" a voice snapped. "Take your stupid cat and get out, he keeps eating my goldfish!"

Another boy stepped out, holding a blue cat. He had spiky black hair and looked really, really mad.

"You wanna fight me, then, Gray?!" Natsu yelled.

"I'm telling you to get out of my way, loser!" Gray yelled back. They instantly began hitting each other.

Erza let out a sigh. "Morons."

She whacked both of them on the head and snapped, "Shut up! Can't you see we have a new student to introduce?"

"What?" Natsu blinked. "Oh, yeah!"

Erza looked at Lucy. "This is Lucy Heartfillia. Skills: Thievery and lock-picking. Lucy, the kid with the pink hair is Natsu Dragneel. Skills are fire-starting and pyrotechnics. The other one is Gray Fullbuster, and he is skilled in machinery, especially refrigerators, for some reason. I am Erza Scarlet, as I have told you, and I was recruited for my skill with swords. Welcome to the Fairy Institute for Troublemakers and Law Breakers, or FITLB, as most people call it. This is your new home."

Lucy blinked and said exactly what anyone else would have.

"Wait… Whaaaat?!"