Heyy!
Sorry for missing March guys! I went on a trip and then got sick and with school and work and stuff... well life's been crazy.
Now please keep in mind, I'm no business major, nor do I know much about corporations and how they work to begin with. This is a shot in the dark at best. If this isn't how it goes down in real life, then I'm very sorry :(
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
Read and Review!
Natsu watched Gray from the corner of his eye, concerned at the unmoving raven on the couch. Gray had been silently staring blankly at nothing since they had returned from Fairy Tail. Gray had completely shut himself off from the world.
Sighing, he eased himself off of the wall that he had been leaning against and sat down next to his charge, slinging an arm around him. Natsu didn't know what it was about his latest client, but something in him screamed for him to protect this man, even without the obligations of his job. Gray was special somehow. Natsu knew that much. He carded his hair through soft raven locks and hummed, recalling the events that had led them to this moment.
"What do you mean you're the president of Fairy Tail?!" Gray all but screamed. From where Natsu stood, he watched carefully, ready to spring into action if this Minerva person became a threat. However, the woman only scoffed and turned to her entourage behind her and brought out a blond man who didn't look much older than Gray himself.
"Well to be technical, Sting here will be the president," she said as she gestured to her acquaintance.
"Sting?!" Natsu shouted in disbelief.
"Natsu-san!" Sting returned, sounding surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Gray is my charge…" Natsu answered slowly, still trying to piece together the reason as to why one of his old colleagues was suddenly in front of him, dressed up in a suit and tie and claiming a position much higher than what he ever thought Sting was capable of. Suddenly, Rogue's words resonated in his mind.
"He's doing fine. He got hired at a very well-known company. I can't seem to recall the name though…"
Sabertooth?! It was Sabertooth that hired Sting?! Fairy Tail's most competitive rival? Really, Natsu wished that Rogue could have given him more of a heads up instead of finding out like this: in the worst possible way.
"Natsu-san, I didn't know you were working for Fairy Tail Corp!"
"I didn't know you were working for Sabertooth either."
Minerva's voice cut into the tense yet casual conversation. "As nice as it is I'm sure for the both of you to see each other again, I believe Sting has some more important things to be doing. Such as preparing for Fantasia," she said pointedly. Gray's head snapped up in her direction.
"This is a load of bullshit! There's no way!" he shouted.
"Unfortunately, it is. Sting Eucliffe now owns 51% of the shares of Fairy Tail Corporation. You can even ask your receptionist."
Gray turned his head to the lavender haired girl, who guiltily avoided his gaze. That was all the answer he needed and Gray was sure that everything around him was suddenly a shade darker than what it had been five minutes earlier.
"Now if you'll excuse us," Minerva sneered smugly, "Sting and I have companies to run. Your time is up, Gray Fullbuster."
Which brought them to where they were currently. Natsu sighed and brought Gray's head into the crook of his neck, close enough that he could smell the minty shampoo that the raven used.
"It'll be ok, Gray. I promise," Natsu said softly as he continued to run his fingers mindlessly through Gray's hair. A shuddering sob broke the silence and Natsu's heart clenched a little at the sound.
"Ur…" Gray hiccupped, too distressed to even bother stopping the tears running down his face. "I lost the last memento I had of Ur." Natsu frowned and wrapped his arms around the raven's shuddering frame. Gray made no noise as he cried, only shuddering and shivering in Natsu's warm hold. Natsu's expression softened and held onto the man in his arms tightly. He knew just how much a hug could do for someone grieving. He sure wished that someone had been around to give him one when he had needed it.
Gray eventually exhausted himself and fell asleep against Natsu's shoulder. Natsu watched the rhythmic breathing and the steady rise and fall of Gray chest. Smiling softly, he brushed the bangs out of Gray's eyes. He was just about to reach forward and touch Gray's cheek when he jolted and retracted his hand. What was he doing? He was getting too familiar with his client. He had never had this problem in the past, so what was it about Gray Fullbuster that made him so… forward?
Sighing, he picked his sleeping charge up and carried him into his room. Natsu looked around and rolled his eyes at the amount of navy blue covering the room. Just about everything was either blue or white with the occasional splash of black. Laughing fondly, he shook his head. He would have to reintroduce the concept of bright colours to Gray when he woke up. Just as he set the slumbering man down, he blinked and realized what he had just thought. Groaning, he stood up and marched back to his room and closed the door. Damn Gray Fullbuster for being so distracting!
Natsu had decided to read one of the many books that Gray kept around the house. He was currently on chapter twelve of The Hunger Games when a scream from the next room tore through the house. Happy was immediately startled but Natsu only stopped for a moment to reassure the cat that everything was fine before bolting down the hall into Gray's room. The raven was thrashing around in his bed fighting an unseen terror. Quickly, Natsu rushed forward and pinned Gray down. Gray nearly threw him off a couple of times, but Natsu had years and years of muscle training and was able to keep his hold on his charge.
"Gray! It's just a dream! Wake up!"
"Hello?" Gray called. He found himself across the street from Fairy Tail Corp and watched as the office lights that he knew so well flicker on. He took a tentative step forward, only to find his feet stuck in place. Grunting with effort, he attempted to pull himself free, but to no avail. Gray glared at the ground angrily and only looked up when a familiar sound caught his attention.
Flames roared up in front of him and licked his feet hungrily as Gray stared, terrified. The flames brought back horrible memories, things that he would rather forget. He flinched away from them but the flames had no interest in him to begin with. They crept forward, heading towards the one thing Gray treasured most in the world.
"No!" he shouted as the first floor of Fairy Tail Corp caught fire. He could hear the fire alarm being pulled in the distance, but no one was coming out of the burning building. He watched, helpless from where he stood, as the building and everyone in it was reduced to ash. Gray fell to his knees, eyes blown wide with shock. He felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and turned to meet the stone cold gaze of his foster mother. His heart caught in his throat as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
"U-Ur…"
"Don't call me that. You're no son of mine," she sneered and Gray felt bile rise up in his throat. "No child of mine would be so incompetent as to lose the company I worked so hard to build with Makarov and Gildarts. No child of mine would be so weak!"
"U-Ur… I…"
"What a disappointment you turned out to be."
And that was when the world spiralled into black.
The first thing that Gray noticed when he woke up was that there was something extremely heavy on top of him, holding him down. The second was that he was covered in sweat. The third was that the "heavy something" was none other than his bodyguard, who was staring intently at him, black hues boring into midnight blue. When Gray gulped, Natsu visibly relaxed.
"Thank god you're awake," he said as he eased himself off of Gray. "You were screaming and crying and thrashing around and I tried to wake you up but shouting didn't work and neither did shaking and…yeah. Do you want to talk about it?" Natsu asked lamely. Gray shook his head slowly and propped his elbows up.
"What time is it?" he asked, his throat scratchy from the screaming.
"It's just after 7 in the evening. Are you feeling up to eating?" Gray shook his head solemnly. Natsu felt his expression soften and rolled over to lie next to Gray. "I see. Well in that case, you should probably shower and try to fall back asleep. I'll see you in the morning. And Gray?" he asked. Gray turned to meet Natsu's gaze, concern evident in the bodyguard's eyes.
"Yeah?"
"If you ever want to talk about your nightmare, you can come talk to me." With that, the rosette
left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Gray alone with his thoughts.
Gray was surprised, to say the least. If this was Erza or Lyon, they would definitely be dragging him down to his kitchen and force feeding him right about then. But no, Natsu seemed to realize that he didn't want to eat anything and would likely end up throwing up if he did. For that, Gray was extremely thankful to Natsu, because of all things, he seemed to understand. With a heavy sigh, he pushed himself off the bed and grabbed a change of clothes from the dresser. He needed a shower after that nightmare.
Gray, Natsu remarked, looked like absolute hell the next morning. His hair was in disarray and his blue eyes were bloodshot. The bags that had been accumulated through all-nighters that had begun to fade were now making a reappearance. It took all Natsu had not to comment on the raven's haggard appearance that morning.
Happy, however, did not have the same restraint.
"Wow, Gray," the cat stated. "You look awful." Natsu cringed as Gray forced a laugh and petted the blue cat's head softly.
"I know. I couldn't sleep much last night."
"Why? Did you have bad dreams?"
"Something like that, yeah." Even Happy knew not to push the topic any further after that.
Breakfast passed in silence and Gray didn't really look like he was eating, more like he was forcing food down his esophagus. Natsu watched his charge carefully and Happy joined in on the concern— blatantly obviously might he add— yet Gray never said a word. And even though Natsu had not known Gray for very long, he knew one thing for sure and that was this:
Gray was stubborn and proud and if he were in his right mind, he would definitely be letting them have it right about then.
Natsu sighed and turned his attention back to his breakfast, shoving a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
When Gray excused himself to his room and slammed the door shut, Natsu expected him to stay cooped up in there all day. So when two hours later, the raven called out for Natsu to come to his room, he was pleasantly surprised.
"What is it?" Natsu asked. Gray's frame was tense in front of him, his guard raised. What for, Natsu did not know.
"I… I dreamed about Fairy Tail Corp," Gray began. Natsu leaned against the back of the door and watched Gray's expression carefully. The raven looked uncomfortable, to say the least. Natsu hummed as a prompt to continue as Gray took a deep breath.
"I was across the street. I wanted to go into it but my feet were stuck to the sidewalk. Then Fairy Tail caught on fire and I heard screaming inside. I-I tried to move towards it, but I couldn't, even after the whole thing burned to ashes. A-and then, Ur," Gray's voice broke, but he forced himself to continue. "She called me a disappointment. She said that I was weak and incompetent. And she was right! Lyon is so much more capable than I am!" he shouted.
Natsu was beside him in an instant, wrapping his arms around Gray's shaking body.
"You're not a disappointment, Gray. You're the best thing that ever happened to that company. Look at how well they've done under you. I'm sure Ur had a reason to choose you over Lyon. Don't ever mistake her intention, Gray," Natsu soothed. The two men stayed in their embrace for a few minutes before Gray lightly tapped Natsu, indicating that he was alright now and it was ok to let go. Natsu complied, although upset that he had to.
Natsu spent several moments standing there awkwardly as Gray composed himself. With a cough, the raven drew himself to full height and Natsu could almost believe that he was fine, if not for his red rimmed eyes.
"If I wanted to go somewhere… would you come with me?" Gray asked.
Natsu gave a blinding smile. "Lead the way, Gray!"
So what happened with Fairy Tail and Minerva is something called a hostile takeover. It's when 51% of the shares is bought out by an outside party and the ownership of the company changes (or at least to my knowledge).
Let me know how it was!
