Poisoned by Choice

Chapter 16: Town of Thieves

Disclaimer: I own neither Fairy Tail nor Naruto they belong to Mashima Hiro and Kishimoto Masashi respectively

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon/Dragon Talking"

'Demon/Dragon Thinking'

"Telepathic Conversation"

'Flashback'

Magic/Magic Item

Location/Time Change


Knox Bank

All was quiet and dark in the bank. There was no need for guards to patrol the hallways. The owners had paid top dollar for their security system: magical cameras, motion sensors, and microphones had the entire place covered and they had been sure to leave no blind spots. If any alarm was tripped then solid steel doors that were four inches thick would drop down from the ceiling and seal their captives inside while magic dampeners would activate at the same time to prevent anyone from using magic to escape. The alarms were wired directly to the local Rune Knight station and they would arrive within five minutes to apprehend the would-be thieves. It was the one of the top five best defended places within Fiore—second only to the royal palace. No one had ever managed to make it inside.

Until tonight.

Two small figures darted away from the bank with a bag in each hand. They silently made their way up onto a rooftop far away from their latest job. Breathing hard in excitement and a little fear, the pair waited with baited breath to see if they had finally been caught. After ten minutes of silence, they calmed their heartrates and shared a smile at their success.

The two began to take off their disguises. When the masks came off they were revealed to be older-looking men with gray hair and a few wrinkles each. One had a pair of green eyes and the other had black ones. Green eyes had a small scar under his right eyes and a thick mustache while the other man had a full beard. Their clothing and anything disposable from the heist was thrown into a pile in the middle of the roof. Green eyes pulled their homemade accelerant from one of his bags and covered the pile with it before throwing the bottle on top of the pile. Last was the Fire Lacrima—the only magical item they had used on the job. The timer was set for a random time between thirty minutes and an hour and left at the top of the pile. The building below them was empty and would remain that way for several hours. No one would notice their evidence until it was nothing but ash. Several cigarette butts were scattered away from the pile with some empty beer bottles they had pulled from the trash a few days ago. The Rune Knights would write the fire off as a bunch of kids dicking around where their parents couldn't find them and forget about it within a week. Same as they had every other time.

The pair took off into the night. They were almost done. All they needed now was to pull off one last job and they'd have all the money they needed.

Next stop, Lavender Town.


Lavender Town

Naruto, Sanji, and Cana walked through the streets of Lavender Town and let the sounds of the merchants hawking their wares flow over them. The street was lined with stalls selling anything anyone could want and many things that no one would. Lavender Town was home to one of the most popular markets in Fiore and millions of people came through the town every year. And with those people came those that would try to peruse the stalls in the hopes of getting the five-fingered discount. Hence the town's tendency to hire protection.

Naruto grabbed a man by the back of his shirt and slammed him onto his back a little harder than necessary. His foot pinned the man in place while he leaned down to glare into his face. "I believe that you're supposed to pay for the ring before leaving, right?"

"What rings?" the man nervously asked.

Naruto reached down and cut open the man's sleeves with his claws. A few pieces of assorted jewelry and rings fell out of the pockets that had lined the inside of the man's clothing. He gave a pointed stare at the man.

"Oh. You mean those rings," the would-be thief laughed nervously.

Naruto grabbed him by the collar and threw him up into the air, "Got another one."

Sanji caught the man in midair and shook his head. Seriously, what was wrong with this town? That was the sixth today and they had started at noon. They had been in the town for two days, didn't word get around? "And the stuff?" he called down. A pouch was thrown up in response. "Thank you." Sanji then flew off to the jail to turn in their finds.

Naruto handed the ring back to the vendor, "Here you go."

"Many thanks, mage-san. These rings cost very much. You save me from trouble with Boss-man," the man said in a heavy accent. "I only here one day and no-good thieves already at work. Bah!" he spat on the ground at the mention of thieves. "I show you my thanks. You drink with me later, yes?"

Naruto opened his mouth to decline his offer only for another voice to cut him off, "Of course!" Cana walked up with a man under her arm in a headlock. "We'll see you in the bar tonight."

"Hello to you too, Cana," Naruto greeted his partner. "Work's going fine, thanks for asking. Yes, we should try to swindle free drinks out of a random person that we just met and obviously doesn't know what he's getting into. What an excellent plan!" he sarcastically said.

"Don't worry, Naruto. This guy sounds like he's from Iceberg. Right?" she asked the man and got a nod. "See? It's a cultural thing. They show appreciation with booze."

"Sounds like your kind of place," he drily remarked. "We can't just let a guy we've talked to for less than five minutes pay for our drinks all night."

"I not mind," the vendor said, but was ignored.

"Then we'll just let him pay for one round so he'll feel better. It's free booze, Naruto. The best kind of booze. Right?" she asked the man she was choking. He rapidly nodded his head in agreement. He would have agreed with the scary woman even if she had said that the sun rose in the west. Anything to get her to slacken her grip.

"There," Cana declared as if the word of a thief that she was choking was law. She turned to the vendor, "We'll be at the bar until closing. Drop in anytime." Cana then grabbed Naruto with her free arm and dragged him away before he could protest.

"Cana, I can walk on my own," Naruto finally said after they had left the stall. She let go of him and Naruto straightened up. "I can't believe that you're making that guy pay for our drinks."

"What am I supposed to do? None of the bars will run us a tab and catching thieves isn't enough to keep up with our drinking. We haven't exactly been taking things easy since, you know…" Cana awkwardly trailed off.

The two silently stood in the middle of the busy street. The reason for their little getaway fresh in their minds. Naruto had gone straight to Loke's house to fulfill his request and had dropped off the letters that he had found. Before heading to deliver the letters addressed to the girls living in Fairy Hills, Naruto had grabbed the first job he could find on the board and scrawled out a note saying that he was taking the job. He had shoved all the letters in the girls' mailboxes and then snuck inside to Cana's room. She had answered the door to find Naruto standing there with tired eyes that were red from crying and knew what had happened. She invited him in to talk about it and the pair had cried their eyes out over Loke's passing.

Eventually, Naruto gave her the letter and told her about the job he was taking. Cana had asked about a funeral, but Naruto had said that there was no body to bury and it would just be symbolic—like Lisanna's. Cana had understood, Naruto and Natsu were the only ones that refused to visit Lisanna's grave, instead going to the one that Natsu had made up in the woods. Now he would be avoiding two graves at the cathedral. Naruto had gone home to get Sanji and she had read the letter Loke wrote. After crying some more, Cana packed enough for a short job and met Naruto by the guild. They left before the sun came up and slept on the train to Lavender Town. Now they spent their time catching thieves by day and drowning their sorrows by night. Unlike their normal drinking, the pair had spent most of their time nursing a glass and being miserable. Loke's death was too fresh. They'd spend a couple more days here. It was too early to go back to the guild—where the depression would hang over everyone's heads and they'd be seeing Loke's ghost everywhere they looked. For now, they were fine with what they were doing. No need to confront those demons when they could just ignore them.

Naruto grumbled about the drinks, but gave in. If the man wanted to buy them a drink then he'd buy them a drink. It wasn't any skin off his nose.

"Anyways, I got word from the mayor. He wants to talk to us about the job," Cana told him.

"Did we do something wrong with the thieves?" Naruto asked while trying to think of what the mayor could possibly want with them. They hadn't done anything destructive so far except to the town's crime rate. Maybe it was about trying to set up a bar tab?

"No. It's about that big job he mentioned when we first got here."

"Ah. Lead on then," Naruto said with a wave of his hand.


Mayor's House

Cana and Naruto dropped off Cana's captive at the prison and met up with Sanji before going to the mayor's house. Unlike their last job, the mayor of Lavender Town was a simple man with brown hair and eyes that was wearing a collared shirt and plain pants. He greeted them with a genuine smile and welcomed them into his office. "Please have a seat," he offered while rummaging in his desk for something. After the mages were seated he pulled out a file and set it on the desk so they could see it. "This is the real reason I sent out a job flyer to the mage guilds. A famous and affluent man named Edmund is transporting a large amount of recently mined jewels into town and then depositing the money he'll make into the Knox Bank. Now, it is no secret that Lavender Town is known for both our market and our muggers. Our location and reputation makes it so that most people are willing to risk losing some of their goods in exchange for the potential to sell the rest of them, but this isn't a normal merchant or a normal shipment. Edmund-san has made it very clear that if even a single jewel were to go missing without being sold he will do his best to ruin this town. I have faith that Lavender Town's reputation will be able to withstand any blow that he could attempt to make, but would rather not test that faith. So your real mission starts now. You are to make sure that every single one of those jewels is sold and the money is kept safe as long as they are in this town."

While the mayor was explaining the job, the trio had taken turns reading over the file. It seemed that Edmund's arrival had been announced beforehand and he was planning to sell out in only a day or two. There was going to be a spike in the people coming into Lavender Town while he was there along with the crime rate. "What about the other merchants? Are we supposed to keep guarding them as well?" Cana asked.

The mayor shook his head, "No. The town's guards will be resuming their duties in patrolling for pickpockets. To be honest, the only reason I had you three come early and spend time catching cutpurses was to get your faces known around town and hopefully drive some potential pilferers underground. How successful my plan was remains to be seen, but I don't have high hopes."

"We'll take care of it," Sanji easily said. "We'll guard the jewels like a jealous dragon from the moment they come into eyesight of the town. When would that be by the way?"

"Tomorrow morning at eight," the mayor immediately answered with a speed that could only have come from hours agonizing over the date. His nerves were showing with the sweat on his brow and his twitchiness. He was more worried about the job than he let on. "Edmund-san is planning to arrive and set up before dawn so that he can spend as much of the day selling as possible. He's even gone ahead and rented out half of a street."

"Where? There aren't any empty spaces in this town," Naruto pointed out.

The mayor gave him a confused look. "Of course not. Edmund-san only rented a portion for two days. Why would we waste space before he's even arrived? Merchants are constantly swapping places every day based on who bids the highest for a location. Haven't you noticed?"

The mages stared at the mayor. Everyone in the town swapped positions every day?! It was absurd. How did they keep track of locations? How did they do that with the stalls they saw out on the streets? Some of those looked like they couldn't be moved without tearing the entire structure down.

"That explains why I kept getting lost," Cana finally said.

They hashed out a few more details with the mayor regarding Edmund's shipment and then the mages left the mayor's house. They had a previous engagement to attend.


The Golden Keg

"Cheers!" Cana cried while hoisting her mug into the air. Naruto and the man from earlier dutifully clanked their mugs into hers. They had gone to the bar immediately after picking up their pay for catching the thieves and general guard work for the past two days. It hadn't taken long for Cana's new best friend to arrive and meet up with them.

"Yes. Cheers for the thief-catchers," the man thumped his cane in agreement. "Very good fortunes that they be here."

Naruto had been surprised when the man walked in with a slight limp to his step and his cane thumping away, but he didn't seem to be having a hard time with it so it must have been an older injury. Now that he got a good look at him, Naruto saw that the man was older, with hints of gray in his blonde hair and goatee, and had blue eyes. He was a slim man, with narrow features that seemed odd on a man from Iceberg, but Naruto wasn't one to talk. He could end up looking the same in thirty years or so. While he was examining their current benefactor, Naruto realized something embarrassing, "We never introduced ourselves, did we?"

"No," the man bluntly stated. "I did not either. That was rude. My name Sam. Sam Dougal."

Cana slung an arm over Naruto's neck and gave Sam a big grin. "Nice to meet'cha. I'm Cana and this is Naruto. Fairy Tail mages at your service. Oh, if you see a yellow cat in a suit and smoking that's Sanji. He's with us too."

The blonde man didn't show any reaction to the strange description. "Ah. You magika users, yes? Must be much strong to guard town," Sam said while waving for more beers. The waitress quickly brought them three new mugs that Naruto and Cana drained nearly immediately while Sam drank at a much slower pace.

"That's right. One of the best teams in Fairy Tail. Me, Cana, and Sanji," Naruto said with pride.

Sam shot him a bright smile, "I very lucky then. You three guard the stalls and keep us safe from thieves. Many thanks for future help."

"Sorry, pops, but we won't be watching over you guys for much longer," Cana told him with genuine sorrow. He seemed like a nice guy. A bit hard to understand at times, but nice overall. "Mayor's got us watching a big shipment coming in tomorrow for a few days then our job's done."

Sam's smile dropped. "Too bad. You nice people, and good at job. I hope my sons turn out like you."

"You've got kids?" Naruto asked, recognizing a leading statement and going with it. No good parent could resist talking about their kids.

He was right and Sam's face lit up as he began to talk about his kids. "Yes. Two boys. Tom and Caleb. They are nice boys, but young. Tom always lazing around and sleeping, while Caleb is full of energy. Keeping up with them tires out my bones, but I love them," he said with a laugh. "They're asleep now. Were exploring the town all day. They love the colors and noise. It good for them to burn energy."

"Oh, they travel with you? What about your wife?" Cana immediately knew she had made a mistake asking that when she saw Sam's face fall and the light that was in his eyes dim. There obviously wasn't a happy story there.

"Mary been dead for long time now. She die when boys young and they not remember her. I only family they have," Sam sadly said. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a locket and flipped it open. He looked inside it for a few moments before returning it to its hiding place.

Naruto and Cana looked at each other awkwardly. The conversation had taken a turn for the exact opposite of where they wanted it to go. They needed to get this conversation back on track before their own sad memories began to rise. "Tell us more about your boys, Sam. We've got hours to kill and drinks to enjoy before we go back to work," Naruto said, forcing a subject change.

Sam was pulled out of his thoughts and lit up again. "Yes. You are right. No good to think about the bad times. Focus on the good," he waved over another round of drinks. "Drink! Drink! Drink and listen to the tales of my boys."

That was how they spent the night. Sam regaled the duo with stories of his boys' antics and childhoods. Sanji soon joined them and Sam expressed his amazement with Sanji's magic. They soon got on the topic of magic and Sam revealed his ignorance in the subject. Cana and Naruto were then roped in to show off their own and soon drew a crowd while performing. Sam kept the drinks coming and the mages obliged with showing off their skills to the crowd and telling some stories of their past jobs. It was the happiest the trio had been since Loke's death and they appreciated Sam's efforts to make them forget about their worries. Unfortunately, they had to end the night early to avoid being too hungover in the morning for Edmund's shipment. They waved goodbye to Sam and thanked him for the drinks. He made the three of them promise to visit him again before they left and meet his sons.

Sam walked into his temporary apartment and flicked on the lights. He emptied his pockets of several wallets and laid them out on the counter. As much as he hated to steal, he didn't have any other way to pay for all the drinks he had treated the mages to. Selling jewelry didn't exactly rake in the dough if you were just a salesman. He'd sort through the money later and then burn the wallets in the fireplace so they couldn't be traced. He limped his way into the living room and found his boys asleep on the couch with a pile of pilfered goods on the table. He smiled a bitter smile at that. He hated teaching them how to steal, but he wasn't as young or spry as he used to be and no one wanted to hire an ex-thief. It hurt his heart every time that they brought him a stolen good with a big smile and pride shining in their eyes. He always made sure to hide the pain that it caused him and return their smiles while telling them how proud he was of them. It was true, he just always left out the part how they were hurting him more with their stealing than hunger or the cold ever could. But it was worth it to see them happy and healthy and lacking visible ribs.

They were young and small boys. Thin for their age despite how he had been giving them larger portions than himself. Tom was the older boy, with ginger hair and amber eyes that always seemed to be half-closed and inattentive—a skill he had honed to avoid letting the world know how closly he was watching them. He always thought before acting and took his time to plan things out. Excellent skills for a thief planning a steal. Caleb was the younger sibling that couldn't seem to sit still unless he was asleep. Tanned skin that complimented his dark hair and eyes and when combined with his loud voice and a sad expression made for the perfect distraction to draw the attention off of Tom. Caleb also had some of the deftest fingers Sam had ever seen and was able to pick locks and pockets faster than Sam himself. Finding them in the streets after running away from their orphanage was hands down the best thing to ever happen to Sam.

Sam gently picked up Caleb first and carried him to the large bed in the only bedroom. He laid him down on the right side and went back to get Tom. After picking him up, Sam kicked something that was sticking out from under the couch. He nudged it and frowned when he recognized the duffle bag for what it contained. He seemed to age several more years as he nudged the bag under the couch. It seemed that his boys were up to their tricks again. He would have to tell them about the mages in the morning during breakfast. He could pass it off as a warning to be careful during the day and they'd be none the wiser. With a sigh, he set down Tom on the left and climbed in between them. The two instinctively moved closer to the warmth of his body and he gave them a soft smile before covering them all with a blanket. "Good night, boys," he said without a trace of his earlier accent. It looked like it was going to be another cold night, but that was fine. They were together and that was all that mattered.


A/N: That took a little longer than expected. I blame being sick. So the new job should only take one more chapter and then we'll get back to Fairy Tail. As for Loke's fate… I'll get around to it eventually. Till then, later.