The five made is to Mountain village, the party starts at 9 so the had a couple of hours. The needed to meet the client first and then find themselves a room. They planned to stay the night in the town after the party and they had captured the thieves, then travel to the mountains to see Helios in the morning. Ruby looked up at the very elegant mansion, it was almost like a castle. They had water fountains outside, thousands of different flowers, freshly moan law, marble steps, it had everything.

"Wow, this place is huge." Said Ruby looking at it. Sting and Rogue were behind her, both doing their best not to puke after their train ride here.

"It would make an awesome house." Said Lector standing next to Ruby.

"Fro thinks so too."

"Ruby I'm gonna hurl." Said Sting placing a hand over his mouth.

"As long as it isn't on me I don't care." She said gripping the backpack she had on her back. It had her new dress in it. The dress she had picked was the last one she tried on last. It was perfect for her but she hadn't shown it to the guys. What the woman in the shop had said kept replaying in her mind and she had thought about telling Rogue how she felt but every time she thought about actually doing it her face would heat up uncontrollable, her hands would become sweaty and her mind would become a haze and she couldn't speak.

"No seriously." Said Sting running over to a bush and puked up his guts.

"Honestly he is hopeless." Said Rogue. Ruby looked around and saw that he now looked completely fine.

"You recovered quickly."

"All dragon slayer might get motion sickness but we all deal with it in a different way. For some of us it is worse than others."

"Jacob used to get it really bad. He even asked me to knock him out when we went on train rides." Ruby said with a smile but then she stopped suddenly, realisation hitting her like a brick wall. She had just spoken about Jacob so easily and freely. She had never done that before, maybe what the woman in the shop was right. Maybe Rogue was slowly healing her heart. Maybe just being in love with him was enough...even if that love never did anything but just linger in her heart. Rogue watched Ruby closely. She was clearly deep in thought, Rogue had notice her speak of her ex lover Jacob so easily. This was clearly a big deal for her, the memories of him always seemed to be painful for her and she was always reluctant to talk about them, but that time was different. Almost as if her heart could now cope with talking about him like that. If that was true then her heart was healing...but what was healing it?

"Okay I think I'm done now. Let's go in and meet the client." Said Sting snapping them both out of their thoughts. Ruby walked up the steps with the others following her and knocked loudly on the large wooden door. It was opened by a sweet looking woman in a nurses outfit. Her blonde hair was tired in a neat bun at the back and her blue eyes looked at them expectantly.

"Hi we're the mages from Sabertooth. We received a job regarding tonights ball." Said Ruby.

"Oh master will be so happy. He didn't think anyone would actually take up the job. Come I'll take you too his study where we will explain everything." She said walking down the hall with the others following her. The hall was very large with thousands of different painted portraits of what looked like old family members. The carpet beneath their feet was soft and bouncy. The maid knocked on a oak door and a male voice from inside called for her to enter.

"Please wait here a moment." She told them before going in the room.

"This is one big ass mansion." Said Sting when she left.

"And creepy." Lector added while Frosch nodded in agreement. The door opened and the maid from before stood before them.

"Master will see you now." She said stepping out of the way so that they could enter. When they were inside she left the room, shutting the door behind her. The room was very large but also fairly plain. There was a oak coffee table with a lush looking sofa against the wall. There was a large window directly opposite the door and in front of the a large oak desk. Behind the desk was an old man with grey hair that was tired back in a ponytail. Stood to the left of him there was a very handsome young man with raven black hair and bright blue eyes. His eyes instantly landed on Ruby, to him she was beautiful. He smirked to the side and walked a little closer to them.

"Welcome Sabertooth mages. I'm glad you could make it." Said the old man behind the desk. He was the client the came for. His name, John Clinton. He was the current owner of the family business set up by his brother who died a few years ago, childless.

"Glad to be here. Could you tell us more about these thieves that come every year?" Said Ruby as the old man sighed.

"It started three years ago. I got a visit from a strange character, he wanted me to hand over my company to him as he claimed to be the rightful heir. This company was actually my brothers, I took over after he unfortunately died of a heart attack. This person claimed to be my brothers son but he didn't have any children. My sister in law couldn't have children so it was not possible. Every year they would come and take old family treasures from our home in hopes that I would give him the company to get them back. Now he knows that that will not work he went for something even more precious to me, my daughter. I got the letter two days ago and wrote back agreeing to meet him in the gardens at midnight to hand over my company to him in hopes to save my daughter. I don't want to do that though, this is why I called powerful mages to deal with them. He has gathered up an army of people that hate me and are using them to threaten me."

"Have you ever considered the fact that he could be your brothers son and that he had an affair?" Said Ruby.

"The thought had crossed my mind yes. Either way though I don't wish to give my company to him. If word got out that my brother had had an affair it would dirty the company name." He explained as the young boy next to him walked over to Ruby and took her hand without asking first. He held it gently with both hands. Sting and Rogue clenched their fists, getting jealous and angry at the nerve of this guy.

"I am Robert and may I ask the name of such a beautiful lady such as yourself?"

"So you may not and if you don't get your hand off me now I will break it."

"Ahhh why are you so cold to me?"

"Get the hell off me." Ruby said giving him a death glare. He let go and backed up slightly.

"Please excuse my son. He tends to be very popular with the ladies so be thinks he can just woo anyone. Robert go and make sure your sister is alright." He ordered his son.

"Yes of course Father. I would love to see you at the ball later. Save me a dance my sweet." He winked at her and left the room with Rogue and Sting glared at him...