Selling Your Nakama
"And the winners of the X791 Grand Magic Games are…" the announcer paused for suspense. The last day's event had come to a close, but the final points were shown to neither the guilds nor the general public for the entire day. Everyone in the stands were sweating in anticipation. Fairy Tail were confident that they were going to win, they had defeated every other guild member in the event, having only Gray losing to Sting in the last bout. Master Makarov was biting his nails and Mavis was clenching the boundary wall so hard, her knuckles were going white. All of Fairy Tail were sweating buckets. "…Sabertooth!" the announcer shouted out. There was a minute of silence. Then another. Then began clapping. Soon the entire arena was cheering for the victors. Sabertooth were standing in their place in the arena, looking smug and relieved. Fairy Tail, on the other hand, were silent, not making a sound. Then it dawned on them. They had lost. After all the fighting, after all the attacks from Raven Tail, they had lost. Makarov was the first to react. He broke down into tears. Mavis followed him. And so did nearly everyone in Fairy Tail, save for a few.
"W-We tried so hard and yet we still lost," cried Levy.
"Even with Fairy Tail's best members, it wasn't enough," said Romeo, holding back tears but failing.
"I can't believe those bastards beat us," growled Gajeel, not crying but looking as pissed off as ever.
"We lost! We lost all that money!" wept Makarov, banging his fist on the ground like a baby. The announcer then put up the final scores. Everyone was speechless, even Sabertooth. They had beaten Fairy Tail by one point! Most of Fairy Tail just fainted on the spot.
…...
A few months later
Master Makarov was sorting through a large pile of paperwork. He looked stressed beyond belief. Even with Master Mavis, Macao and Wakaba, Makarov wasn't having an easy time.
"Bills, bills and more bills," he mumbled to himself. "We're going bankrupt. We needed that money, but we lost it all to Sabertooth."
"Don't give up hope, Third. I'm sure we'll find something that can bring us money," Master Mavis said, trying to help his mood.
"Unlikely. Even with 4 new members, including Oberon, Fairy Tail is still looked down uponas nothing," said Wakaba, smoking a cigar.
"But when Sabertooth gets a new guild member, everyone just loves them," said Macao, shaking his head at the thought.
"I can understand why people would be so concentrated on Sabertooth's new member. He was instantly promoted to S class the moment he joined. But what's surprising is that no one knows who he is or what he looks like," replied Mavis.
"People! We're getting off track!" yelled Makarov, clearly more annoyed than before. "We have to find a way to get money and fast. Jobs are out of the question, we don't get enough because no one wants us. And we can't ask for a loan from another guild because they know we can't pay them back. " He moped down into his chair.
"I have an idea, but you might not like it," said Mavis.
"What?" asked Makarov.
"Well…" she leaned over and whispered her plan into her ear.
Meanwhile, downstairs
"We're back!" yelled out Natsu. He, Happy, Erza, Gray and Lucy had just returned from a mission.
"Hey guys. Welcome back," said Mira cheerfully, tending at the bar.
"Hey Salamander, we didn't finish our fight!" yelled Cobra. The Magic Council had released Cobra on parole after his assistance in the battle with Future Rogue. They made him join a guild, so he chose to join Fairy Tail to be with Kinana.
"Bring it on, poison freak," Natsu responded, egging him on. This lead to another of Fairy Tail's all-male brawls. Meanwhile, Lucy was sitting next to Erza and Yukino at the bar. Yukino had joined after the battle, not wanting to go back to Sabertooth. She had made a positive relationship with nearly everyone in the guild.
"So Lucy, how's your book going?" she asked. Yukino has become part of Lucy's close circle of female friends, including Levy, Lisanna and Meredy.
"It's going good, thanks." She then notices Erza wasn't eating her strawberry cheesecake. "Hey Erza, what's wrong?" Erza turns to her and smiles.
"Oh, it's nothing," she replied.
"She probably misses Jellal," said Meredy, joining the conversation. After Ultear disappeared, Makarov asked Crime Sorciere to join Fairy Tail. He even got clearance from the Magic Council to excuse them for their past crimes for their assistance at the Battle of Crocus. Jellal has become one of Fairy Tail's strongest mages, even being given the nickname Oberon, King of the Fairies.
"T-That's not it!" stuttered Erza, her face going red.
"There's not to be ashamed of being afraid for the one you love, Erza," said Lisanna, joining their conversation.
"That's not it!" yelled Erza, her face going as red as her hair. "Besides, what about you? You always get scared when Natsu goes on a dangerous mission."
"T-That's not the point," replied Lisanna, her face also going red.
"Attention brats!" yelled out Master Makarov. The men stopped their brawl and the women stopped their conversation. "Could the following please meet me in my office: Kinana, Lucy Lisanna, Mirajane, Yukino, Erza and Meredy. That is all." He then turned on his heels and went to his office. The seven women got up and followed him.
"I wonder what he wants," said Mirajane.
"He probably wants us to do a mission together," replied Erza.
"But why me? My magic isn't very good," asked Kinana.
"Kinana, you need to stop doubting yourself," said Meredy. As they entered the room, they saw Mavis standing by the window.
"So girls, you're probably wondering why we called you in here," said Makarov behind his desk. "But first, we need you to all sign this form." A sheet of paper floated towards them with a pen attached. Each girl signed her name at the bottom, but didn't have time to read it as it flew by them to quickly for them to read. Once they had all signed it, the paper flew back to Makarov. "Thank you. Now Master Mavis will explain why you're here while I go and start making plans." He left the room, leaving the girls in with Mavis. They all turned to her, wanting an explanation. She sighed and turned to them.
"Girls, you know that Fairy Tail is up to its neck in debt. And we can't pay it back because there aren't enough jobs." They all nodded their heads. "Well we've thought up a plan that can bring us a lot of money." All the girls smiled at this. "Girls, there's no easy way of saying this, but… we're going to have to sell you off." She let that sink in for a moment. All seven girls were left with their mouths hanging wide open at what they just heard. And, as if they were one mouth, they yelled,
"WWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT?!"