Daybreak arc

The Daybreak arc is the second story arc of Fairy Tail series.

It details Natsu, Lucy and Happy first mission together as they go to retrieve a book from a corrupt politician. However, there may be more to the mission than the client lets on.

New House and a New Team
Lucy finally managed to find herself a new home within the town of Magnolia. After enjoying a bath, she comes out to find Natsu and Happy milling around the place, having somehow broken in without her noticing. After the freaking out and scolding the two, Lucy decides to let them stay. The three sit around a table and begins to chat with the conversation moving onto Celestial Spirits. After showcasing both the Silver Keys (ones which you can bought in stores) and Gold Keys (which are the rare ones), Lucy remembers she that hasn't made a contract with a recently acquired Silver Key and goes to do so. Showing the two boys how a Celestial Mage make contracts, in this case with the spirit Nikora which Lucy renames Plue. After doing so, Plue gives Natsu the idea of forming a team with Lucy. Lucy instantly agrees with the plan and thus Team Natsu is born. Natsu soon pulls out a flyer for a new job in Shirotsume Town which is to simply get a book back. The pay for it being 200,000 Jewels upon completion, Lucy however is a bit weary when she sees that they'll have to deal with the perverted Duke Everlue, and even more so upon hearing that Natsu and Happy already had a plan in store for the mission. Meanwhile at the Fairy Tail Guild, Levy McGarden, along with Jet and Droy, have notice that the flyer for the particular mission is gone, which Mirajane reveals Natsu has already accepted it. Makarov, however, states his suspicion when he reveals that the reward got bumped up to 2 million Jewels, much to the shock of the other guild members. Elsewhere, Team Natsu is already on their way to Shirotsume town, unaware of the new information.

The Mission Begins
The trio soon reach their destination with Natsu and Happy getting something to eat while Lucy checks around town. She soon meets up with the two dressed as a maid as part of the plan to infiltrate Duke Everlue's mansion (though the two reveal they were just joking). Soon the trio go to meet their clients, Kaby Melon and his wife. After the formalities (which draws Lucy's suspicions as she find the Melon name familiar), Kaby revels the plan is to get a certain book and destroy it as well as the 2 million Jewel payment should they succeed. To say the least, the trio are shocked upon hearing this and Natsu is more pumped then ever to get started. Lucy inquires about the pay raise but Kaby simply responds that he can't allow the book's existence. Before he can elaborate further, Natsu grabs Lucy and the trio head for the Everlue mansion unaware that security has been tightened due to another guild failing the mission a week ago.

The trio soon arrive at the mansion and Lucy goes to front door, posing as a maid applicant in hope of distracting Everlue. One of the maids, a very burly and ugly looking one, suddenly smashes through the ground to answer her followed by the Everlue himself. After taking one look at Lucy, Everlue rejects her as he considers her "ugly" which means, judging by his other maids, that he has a strange taste in beauty. Lucy regroups with the others, her ego damaged to which Natsu decides to change to the plan. However, the trio are unaware that Everlue knows their Mages having manage to catch a glimpse of Lucy's Fairy Tail mark on her hand and he, along with two other guards, are prepared for them.

Infiltrating Everlue's Mansion
The trio make their way to the roof via Happy's Aera, having decided to just sneak in and take the book (though Natsu just wanted to bust in, beat people up, and take it). Natsu melts a bit of a window then opens it from the inside to allow the trio access to the house. From there they try to sneak around the mansion unnoticed. Almost immediately they're detected by Everlue's maids and are attacked but Natsu manages to take them down quickly. The team then makes its way to one of the rooms which incidentally is the study. They quickly look through the bookshelves and find the book, Daybreak, thanks to Natsu's dumb luck. Before they burn it though, Lucy notices that its a book written by Kemu Zaelon, one of her favorite authors, and prevents Natsu from burning it as she wishes to read it. Everlue suddenly finds them as they squabble on what to do, having purposely let the trio roam free in the mansion to find out what they're after. Natsu scolds Lucy for holding them up but Lucy refuses in letting him burn the book and goes to read it right then and there.

The Body vs The Mind
Soon Everlue's guards reveal themselves, being mercenaries of the Southern Wolves guild named the Vanish Brothers. Both sides soon confront each other save for Lucy who continues to read. She then realizes there something more to the book and tells Natsu to buy her some time. Everlue, curious about what secrets the book could hold, goes after her as Natsu faces down the Vanish Brothers while Happy goes to help Lucy. The two mercenaries gloat that Natsu will be an easy target since he is a flame Mage (having found this out from Everlue's crystal ball). Natsu is indifferent however and the three begin their battle, with the Brothers claiming Mages are weak against them since Mages train their magic rather then their bodies. Natsu points out they haven't hit him yet, so the the brothers proceed to do their ultimate attack. Natsu gets hit by it but survives much to the surprise of the brothers. Natsu then uses his Fire Dragon's Roar against the two but the younger brother uses his frying pan to catch to the flames and throw them back at Natsu. However he just eats the flames, powers up, then hits both brothers with a stronger fire attack knocking them out. Natsu then goes off to look for Lucy, unaware that Everlue's head maid has recovered.

Lucy vs. Everlue
Meanwhile, Lucy is in the sewers having finished reading the book thanks to the Gale-Force Reading Glasses she had on her and surprised at what was inside. She vows to deliver the book to Kaby Melon but before she can leave. She is held down from behind by Everlue using his Diver Magic to ambush her, knocking her keys off her belt in the process. Everlue tries to get Lucy to spill what was inside the book but she refuses even under the threat of getting her arms broken. However before the Duke can carry out the act, Happy flies in and save Lucy, kicking Everlue in the face. Now freed, Lucy grabs her keys just as Everlue goes on the attack. As Lucy dodges his attacks. Lucy reveals that Everlue forced Zekua Melon to write the book for him after he refused to do so the first time with the Duke himself as the main character. However as Everlue was a politician he could easily ruin the Melon family by revoking they're citizenship keeping them from getting jobs as merchants. Zekua gave in and did so, but Everlue, angry at the first rejection, put Zekua in a solitary cell and forced him to stay there till the book was finish, crushing Zekua's spirit as a writer.

Surprised that Lucy knows all this, Everlue quires on where she got the information which Lucy reveals is all in the Daybreak book as Zekua was a Mage first and cast a Magic spell to reveal information not seen by the untrained eye. As Everlue is a vain and shallow person, he wouldn't have noticed it the first time. Lucy also reveal that the real message is to someone else and the Duke doesn't have the right to possess the book. She then calls her Celestial Spirit, Cancer, while Everlue begin to panic thinking the book might have information on his corrupt business practices. He then reveals that he too is a Celestial Spirit Mage and calls the spirit Virgo who turns out be the head maid of the mansion. However, she didn't come alone as Natsu had grabbed onto her as she was being summoned (which is suppose to be impossible as no human can survive in the spirit world) much to his confusion. Lucy yells for Natsu to take care of Virgo which he does with one punch. Meanwhile, Lucy wraps her whip around Everlue and sends him flying into Cancer who delivers the final strike, cutting off Everlue's hair and defeating him in the process.

DEAR KABY
With the book acquired, the trio head back to Kaby Melon's mansion and present the book to Kaby. Kaby is shocked that the group didn't destroy the book but Lucy figured out why he was so desperate to; he is the son of Kemu Zaelon (whose real name is Zekua Melon) and he wanted to protect his father's pride. Kaby explains that 31 years ago, his father had suddenly come home after three years and no sooner then he made it back, had promptly cuts his own writing hand off with an axe vowing to never write again. He was soon taken to the hospital and treated, Kaby scolded his father for writing such a trashy story for the Duke. Zekua agrees but his reasoning that the pay was good. This angers Kaby who turns his back on his dad for supposedly throwing away his pride as a writer. Not long after, Zekua committed suicide. Kaby however came to regret his actions and wishes to destroy the book to make amends to his father.

Before he can do so however, the magic in the book activates and the words on the title begin to rearrange themselves into the word "Dear Kaby". Lucy explains that that Zekua, under the pen name Kemu Zelaon, cast a spell on the book that shuffled the words (which begins to do so as the book glows) and that he quit being a writer not because he wrote the worst book of his career. But rather the best book he ever made, one specifically for his son, Kaby. Realizing what Zekua's last words ("You were always on my mind") meant, Kaby breaks down in tears and thanks the trio for bringing the book to him.

With that, Natsu declines the reward, since they didn't technically fulfill Kaby's request. Kaby and his wife are more then happy to give it to them, but Natsu steadfastly refuses, much to Lucy's dismay. Natsu then turns to leave, telling Kaby to return to their real house, revealing that Kaby wasn't rich and in fact was just using a friend's house to make himself look as such to attract Mages for the job. Natsu, however, figured it out due to his sense of smell. Still, Lucy is happy that everything turned out alright for Kaby. Natsu can't help but tease Lucy for this as he figured out she was a writer herself, which was why she was so insistent on not burning the book. Lucy is shocked that he figured this out and makes Natsu promise not to tell anyone as the trio head back to Fairy Tail, with their first mission together accomplished.