AN: Well guess what! It's another chapter! I don't know how I even managed to get one out with everything going on. I mean really it's only been just over a month. For me, that's not half bad. Well, enjoy!

Chapter 4: Natsu, Day 2

*Pat, pat, pat, pat, SMACK*

"Oh FUCK!" I yelled as Happy dug his claws into my scalp. I had been having a great dream about food and fire. Apparently, Happy's thoughts were on the same track but in real life.

"Alright, little buddy. Let's get some grub," Getting up, I got a quick shower and put on some clothes before heading down to my dining room for breakfast with Happy at my heels. Walking into the room, I admired around at the handmade mahogany walls and matching table set which was covered in multiple options of food for the staff who were about to come down. My eyes landed a previously dusty seat, now sparkling clean, which sat at the head of the table. Taking a breath, I headed to the table and sat in the seat. Normally I would have sat in the seat to the left and the new sight was unfamiliar. Just a few moments after sitting down, the cook came out with my breakfast and Happy's cat food.

I was soon joined by Gray and Atlas. Gray took the seat to the left of me and Atlas took his usual seat to my right. A moment later plates and utensils were placed in front of them and they dug into the food on the table.

"Morning, Flame Brain," Gray said between bites.

"Fuck off, Ice Princess." I snapped back.

Close to when I was finishing up my third plate of food, Gray turned to me with a serious expression. "Hey, hothead. We need to talk about yesterday… What happened?" He looked at me confused.

"What do you mean 'Yesterday'?"

"I'm talking about the girl you let go. The Dragneel Corporation has a reputation for being ambitious and ruthless. You weren't with her yesterday. Why?"

"I too would also like an explanation," Atlas chirped. "The girl flaunted out of here as though she owned the place. Our guards were at a loss when she came up to them drunk and rather… touchy…"

"I wish I could give an explanation for her being drunk but she wasn't. She was sober, maybe a tiny bit tipsy but sober. She broke in because she was angry. She was looking for Igneel…" At this Gray and Atlas shared a look. My hand was gripping the fork I was using so hard that the fork was starting to bend. "When she got the call in the room she was anything but sober… She said a girl named 'Lucy' was on a bad date and because her composure changed so fast when she got that call… I was just lost my own. I didn't really think of her leaving as an issue though. She lives in the apartment complexes behind us that we are trying to buy out. I'm sure it won't take long to find her if she's needed." I went back to eating as Gray and Atlas shared another look and the doors opened to more staffers coming in for breakfast.

Since it was only 8:30 in the morning by the time I was done eating, I decided to head to my study and work on ways to improve production like Atlas had mentioned. After a few hours of work, I found myself thinking about last night and how I had met a lot of people after meeting up with Cana at the Pub. I found out that Cana is just always drinking and that was why she seemed drunk yesterday. I also thought about how Levy and Gajeel were an odd couple, well working but odd none the less. The fight with Gajeel was refreshing though. The only people I had been able to fight the last few years were Gray, Elfman, and Bacchus. Apparently, Cana knows Bacchus because he showed up a couple times to talk to her while I was fighting Bolts for Brains, Gajeel. The only person I hadn't met yet was Lucy but she didn't interest me as much as everyone else. I talked to Cana about her on my way there yesterday and she didn't seem very interesting. For a girl who was said to be the life of the party, working at a library and going to school seemed pretty normal and boring to me. Pushing my thoughts aside I tried refocusing on my work but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in."

"Good Morning, Sir," Atlas said as he entered. "I would like to discuss your plan for taking charge of the company. I personally, would like you to study economics courses to have a base understanding of how supply and demand works."

"Are you implying my father didn't teach me before he disappeared?" I sat back and crossed my arms.

"No, Sir. I just know it has been several years since he has taught you anything and to make sure we start operating efficiently, I would like you to review the material with someone so they know you understand it. My top priority is making sure the company stays up and running. It's been my job since your father started the company."

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Can you bring me the popsicle? I think I'm gonna need him…"

"Yes, Sir." Atlas bowed and exited.

Around 11:30, the Ice Queen knocked and entered without waiting. By that point, I was almost to the point of downing half a bottle of whiskey to soothe a raging headache my documents were giving me.

"I was told you wanted to see me?"

"Yes I wanted to see you but not half-naked," I said and waited a minute for Gray to realize he was trying to take off his pants. "I've been advised to review basic economics and maybe even learn or relearn more complicated information. I have a small task for you."

"Uh oh…"

"Atlas wants me to review basic economic principles. I need you to collect books on that for me. Igneel taught me a bit but I just need to review it."

"Do you still have the books Igneel used to teach you?" Gray questioned.

"Yes… But they are in his study." I looked back down at my work and shuffled it to make it neater. Gray shuffled awkwardly a bit. Everyone in the mansion knew Igneel's study was off limits and if anyone broke the rule they would face major punishment, or worse.

"What would you like to do then, Hot Head? There's a library down the hall but there's no chance of having anything to what you're looking for in there. There's also a local library." I thought about that last part for a moment.

"Try the library in town. I'll even go with. I need a break from the house. Have Erza get ready to drive and meet us down there in twenty minutes."

"Sure thing, Flame Brain. Just make sure you aren't late, Erza might start ripping people apart to try to find you if you are." I tossed a pen at him as he left the room. Grabbing my coat, I left the room to go find Happy in his usual spot at the small pond out back. Picking him up, I headed to the front of the house where Gray was waiting with Erza who held the door open. I climbed in with Happy, followed by Gray. Erza drove silently, all the while making sure Gray and I didn't get into an argument.

Once we were at the library, Gray headed in to find some books and Happy and I explored the treeline just outside the building to help ease some of the motion sickness I had gotten while we were in the car. After a few minutes, I was starting to get hungry again, as shown by my growling stomach, so I went to go see if Gray was back. Since he wasn't in the car I took a peek into the library and saw him standing at the desk, talking to a blonde behind it. Ignoring the blonde I looked at the ice prick who was looking down at the floor with color on his face. Why he had color on his face was beyond me but I decided I would tease him about it when he came out. Gray grabbed the stack of books which was in front of him so I snatched up Happy who was in the middle of sniffing a white flower and bolted for the car.

Just a minute later Gray climbed into the car with his stack of books. After Gray set his books on the ground, I immediately jumped into questioning. "So who was the girllllll?"

"What are you even talking about? Has the heat finally boiled your brain?" Gray joked.

"I'm talking about the girl you were blushing at earlier when you were checking out the books." I nudged him and then put my hand back onto Happy's head when Erza looked back to make sure we weren't fighting.

"What's this about a girl?" Erza asked dangerously. Eyes narrowed in Gray's direction in the rear-view mirror.

"It's nothing. Squinty eyes over here thinks I'm flirting with a girl. Which I wasn't." Gray turned back towards me. "I had to give her my email… and since you've gone and locked me out from my professional one, I had to use the email I stupidly made back in middle school…"

I laughed so hard that Happy actually jumped off the seat next to me and went to sit next to Erza. I started feeling queasy so I laid my head where Happy had sat moments before to try and relax a little bit. What I really needed was a pillow because the seat of the car wasn't very soft.

By the time we made it back to the house, I was becoming very sick and had to rush to the bucket waiting for me when we arrived. Back in my study, I took a few hours to go over the books and eat a few snacks. Around 17:00, Atlas knocked on my door to remind me to come down for dinner so I grabbed Happy and headed down to calm my growling stomach. At dinner Gray decided, again, to be talkative while I was trying to eat.

"So where did you go last night? Erza said you left last night and didn't come back until late last night. You also have some new bruises too which I know I didn't put on you. Were you in a fight?" He inquired, pestering me even more than he did in the morning."

Annoyed that he had interrupted me while I was eating, again, I tossed a spoon at him before responding.

"I went out because I was tired of seeing your ugly mug all the time. I went to a pub down the street. I walked because I didn't feel like getting motion sickness before I got there. It only took a half an hour. I met up with a few people… one of which was the girl we captured last night. I had a refreshing fight with a musician there, he was definitely stronger than you are. I also enjoyed my time away from the house… I would have taken Happy but I didn't know pets were allowed at this pub." I told him a little annoyed. I was really getting sick of all his questions especially since he didn't have to be in my business.

"What pub did you go to? I don't know of any pubs around here that would let your dumb face in."

"I went to Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail? You mean THE Fairy Tail? Isn't that the place…" Gray trailed off at my warning look.

Everyone knew my dad was partially responsible for the building existence. He owned the place for a few years when he was younger and then sold it to a lady he knew growing up. Since they were so close they considered each other practically family and so he hung out at Fairy Tail a lot. Until he met my mother of course. Once Igneel and my mother got together it wasn't long until the Dragneel corporation was at its hight. Dads employees captured people and took them prisoner for days, weeks, even months at a time. Every one of them had something against the family and Igneel did everything he could to keep us safe. The painful memory burned in my eyes and made my stomach so uneasy, I put down my replacement spoon and headed up to my study which connected to my room.

Once I was there, I picked up Happy and headed for the small balcony outside my room. Looking at the sky, I put Happy in my lap and pointed my finger up. I traced the few constellations I knew. Libra was at its peak for the year and Leo's tail was slipping away. Just three more months until my birthday. I'll be 25.

"What do you think, Happy?" I asked my fuzzy companion, stroking his head with one hand as I traced constellations with the other. My mother taught me stars and constellations before she passed away. When I was born, both my mother and father decided on something they wanted to pass onto me, knowledge wise. My mother decided on the stars because that was her specialty. She was one of the greatest astronomers of the time. The only other astronomer to match my mother was her partner, Layla. Layla had been a kind woman but I didn't know much else about her other than she was just as smart as my mother.

My father, on the other hand, taught me what he considered a useful skill, how to run the family business. The electronic and oil businesses we owned were booming. So were the car manufacturers we had taken over before Igneel's disappearance. Igneel had left me in the middle of several deals with financial companies. Since the Dragneel Corporation was known for taking over companies but also for compensating the old owners of the companies generously, I knew I had to uphold on the promises we had made in the past and treat future partners the same way. The hard part was figuring out how to work our interests into theirs.

Happy wasn't too pleased with my trailing off into thought so he decided it was time to start netting my legs. Since I didn't want to have Happy claw up my legs and fall asleep, I decided to sleep on it and see how I felt about the new connections in the morning.

AN: Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter out faster so please stick around!

~Cal