Okay so I wrote this hoping to gather my thoughts for this story, and I think I finally did.


It was early morning and the gang had barely opened their eyes when they heard them.

"What should we do about him?" one timid female voice asked.

Another female voice answered in a gruff tone usually reserved for men and Erza. "Nothing. If we just keep quiet then nothing should go wrong. Trust in me. I'll deal with it."

The voices died as they receded down the hallway.

"Yay, we can definitely get paid with that!" Lucy exclaimed, clapping he hands together cheerfully.

All guildmates glanced at each other, finally settling on Erza as she took the leader role. She sighed and crossed her arms. She narrowed her eyes as she assessed the situation.

"Okay, Lucy, Natsu and Happy, search openly throughout the staff. Ask questions and if you find who the voices belong to, bring them back here. Charla, Wendy and Gajeel, go get all the records of purchases, staff members and anything else you can get your hands on. Gray and I will scope this building by going undercover."

Natsu chimed in then, "Breakfast?" he asked.

The glare Erza sent was enough to silence a newborn puppy. With that they all went their separate ways, much to the dismay of Natsu's stomach.


The staircase down was pure grey stone and the dim lighting added to the ominous atmosphere. Happy was clutching Natsu's shoulder as they made their way down. Lucy was put at ease as she spoke to a guide that the client had supplied. Natsu could already feel his gut clenching with the situation. Who tests products in such dim lighting? He got his answer when they entered the testing area.

White light seemed to circle the room and they could only make images after the adjustment of their eyes. The room was one open space with a multitude of dividers. Every employee seemed to have their own space which was distributed by necessity, having people who change colours of clothing a smaller space than the people who make magical instruments for creating art made out of plants. Each employee wore a blue lab coat over tacky blouses normally worn by nurses.

The scene was the general consensus of what they expected, however the people were not. Each of them had an obsessive need to perfect whatever they were creating, blocking things from view for fear of judgement from the outsiders.

"Why are they so uptight? Lucy asked the guide, slightly miffed.

She grinned sadly. "We don't usually produce all of the products and the competition is tough. Only the ones who perfect their product get the big dough, and "perfect" here is being better than the competition."

Lucy nodded understandingly and the group felt themselves huddling together as they traversed the maze of experiments. The unease on Lucy, Happy and Natsu's face was as clear as day and it only grew as they came to a giant chunk of metal that was a door.

"And here," the guide said pleasantly, "is the most successful developer we have. Her success rate is so high she got her own room!"

The guide cheerfully knocked a few times on the door and waited until it creaked open.

"Follow me!" she practically screamed. It seemed the guide had an icon of sorts.

Inside the room was almost covered in a tasteful red with flowered wallpaper. A desk sat at the middle of the room towering over the entrance. Around the room were mahogany storage units. There was a corner which the floor had been raised and was surrounded by clear glass walls.

"My lady." Said the guide, curtseying.

A black leather chair sat behind the desk and its occupant away from the door.

"What have you come to bother me with now, Gertrude?" a cold voice answered.

It appeared Gertrude's spirit were lifted with what the woman said and she replied confidently, "We have guest's"

The woman's chair swiveled around to meet the new arrivals and all fairytail members stopped, astonished.

Pink hair