Disclaimer ~ I do not own Fairy Tail
"This...is bad," Gray said. Natsu glances up from the papers she was reading to look at her companion in confusion. Gray passed her his papers and explained that it was the Guild's finances. Natsu's eyes widened the more she read.
"We're practically broke," she said in shock.
"Yeah. Apparently we were only staying afloat because of Gildarts taking all those decade and century quests. The money the guild gets from the mission rewards all went to...damage repairs," Gray said. A gloomy silence fell over the room as the duo stared at each other.
"We owe Gramps a huge apology," Natsu declared. Gray nodded in agreement.
"If we want to keep the guild going, we are really going to have to work on not breaking things," Gray said. Natsu sighed but nodded in agreement.
"Problem is, we will need to take the missions with the higher rewards in order to earn enough to keep the guild going. Those missions are harder and usually involve fighting, which ends up with the most damage. And as much as I hate to say it, our fights tend to destroy a lot of furniture that then needed to be replaced," Natsu said, massaging her temple. The silence returned, more depressing than the last one.
"How about we stop for the night and come back to this in the morning?" Gray suggested, setting his papers down with a sigh. The two of them had been holed up in the Archive Room all day, going over the things they would need to know in order to keep Fairy Tail running. If it weren't for Kinana bringing them meals, it was doubtful the two of them would have taken any breaks.
"Good idea. If we stay here any longer my brain is going to fry," Natsu commented. She stood and raised her arms above her head, stretching out her stiff muscles from sitting down so long. Gray copied her from across the table.
"I thought your brain fried around lunch," Gray teased, earning a laugh from Natsu.
"It did! But Kinana made that awesome steak and it was revived," she said. Gray shook his head in exasperation, despite the smile playing on his lips.
Since the two of them were the last people at the guild hall, all they needed to do was lock the Guild up for the night. They decided that Natsu would keep the main key to the guild, since Gray had a habit of losing his clothes and neither wanted to risk losing the key or a rival guild finding it. Since Gray could always use his Ice-Make magic to make his own key, they decided Kinana would get the spare key. She was always the first at the guild after Gray or Natsu. If they were late for some reason, she would unlock everything for them. It was decided that whoever arrived first would unlock the Guild for the day.
"Night Ice Princess," Natsu said with a wave as she began heading in the direction of Magnolia Forest.
"Sleep tight Flame Brain," Gray replied, walking the opposite direction to his apartment in town.
Try as they might, neither were able to get any sleep that night. Both had too many thoughts swirling around their heads to have any hope of sleeping. The Guild was in worse shape than they ever thought possible and it was their duty to fix that.
Natsu, after abandoning sleep as a lost cause, did what she usually did when she was unable to sleep. She went into the spare room of her house and began to look through the mementoes she kept over the years. She kept all kinds of things in this room. Pictures from the guild. Souvenirs from missions. Even the fliers of every mission she ever went on.
Occasionally she would come into this room and look through the stuff she's collected. Especially on nights that she felt stressed and needed a pick me up. Remembering all the adventures and fun she's had with her jobs always puts a smile on her face. Like this one. Some bandits stole treasure from some pirates, so the pirates hired her to get it back. This was the first ever mission she took Happy on. Normally, Natsu would leave the kitten with someone at the guild, but everyone that usually watched him were on their own missions or were busy. After thinking it over (and Macao suggesting it) Natsu decided to take Happy with her.
He was so amazed by all the new things (mostly the fish) that came from being outside of Magnolia. He would babble and try to show Natsu everything that caught his interest. She was all too happy to indulge the little guy. He was just so cute.
At one point, Natsu was afraid she had lost him somewhere in the crowded town. She panicked at first but quickly found him inside the bag of gems the pirates gave her on top of the reward money. He was so amazed by the sparkling gems that Natsu didn't have the heart to sell them like she was planning to.
Natsu blinked as she had an idea. She still has that bag of gems somewhere. If she sold them, then they could use that money for the Guild's budget. All she needed to do was find the gems and a place to sell them. Someone at the guild might know a good place so Natsu made a note to ask them in the morning. Luckily she keeps her place fairly organized so she was able to find the bag of gems quickly. They ranged from the size of a pebble to one that was as big as her fist. Natsu smiled widely. This would definitely help the guild out.
Natsu couldn't wait. She had to find Gray and tell him about this right away. The fact that it was two in the morning didn't matter.
Gray was lucky that Natsu was forced to use the door when she came over instead of breaking in through the window like she would do to Lucy. The reason for this was simple. Gray's apartment didn't have a big enough window for her to fit through. He had a small one in his kitchen but that was it.
"What's got you so excited, Flame Brain?" Gray asked, yawning widely.
"I figured out how we can get some money for the guild quickly," Natsu exclaimed, holding up the bag of gems proudly. Any exhaustion Gray had felt vanished when she dumped the contents of the bag onto his bed.
"What the- Where did you get these?!" Gray asked in shock. There had to be at least a couple million jewels worth of gems there.
"It was a reward for a job I did a few years back. I ended up keeping them in storage and only just remembered I had them. I figured if we sold them, all the money could go towards the guild's budget. That ought to help us out and keep us going for a little while as we try to get everything back on its feet," Natsu explained. Gray was impressed.
"We just need to find someone that can appraise them before we sell them. But Natsu. Are you sure you want to sell all of them? Is there any you would want to keep for yourself?" Gray asked. Natsu shrugged.
"When I first got them I thought about making some jewelry out of one of the rubies but never got around to it. It doesn't matter now. The guild needs the money more. Besides, I don't really get dressed up for anything that would require jewelry unless it's a mission," Natsu told him. Gray frowned but nodded in understanding. Natsu only dressed up if the mission called for it. In those cases, she would borrow something from one of the other girls in the guild. Gray made a mental note to make it up to her somehow.
"Regardless of how much we get from the gems, it won't last forever. We'll still need to figure out a better budget," Gray said. Natsu smirked at him.
"I thought of that too. We could use the money from the gems to take a couple months off from missions in order to do some hard training. After that, those who want to take missions will be stronger and able to handle some of the harder missions. We can offer training to those not currently on a mission in the meantime. That way, everyone can get stronger!" Natsu exclaimed happily.
"You've really thought this through," Gray said, impressed with his pink haired teammate. Natsu nodded with a wide grin. "We can discuss it with everyone later. If they all agree then we need to figure out where they are skill wise and plan out the training from there. We might just be able to make this work," Gray said as he returned Natsu's smile. She really was suited for the job as Master. This just proved it.
The two of them spent the next hour or so making lists of places they could sell the gems after they've been appraised, along with brainstorming ideas for training. Gray made some coffee at the half hour mark, since it was too late to try to sleep but too early to open the guild. It was at this point that Natsu noticed something on the table they were using as a desk.
"Hey Ice Princess, what's that?" Natsu asked, pointing to the item in question. Gray looked over and made an 'Ah' sound.
"It's a letter to the magic council. I was working on it before you came over. We need to inform them of all the events this past month, especially now that you and I have officially become the Masters. I figured I'd send the letter and if they want a better explanation then they can arrange a meeting with us," Gray explained. Natsu nodded in understanding.
"Good idea, though you might want to add in our plans to take a couple months off from missions," she suggested. Gray hummed in thought.
"How about I wait another day or two before I send it? That way we can figure everything out first," Gray said.
"Works for me! Now...What do you have in here for breakfast?" Natsu asked, getting up and opening the fridge. She ignored Gray's halfhearted protests and pulled out several items. Gray gave up trying to save his food supply and joined Natsu in the kitchen, mostly to help the girl find the stuff she would need without having to search through all his cabinets. Natsu wouldn't let him do any of the actual cooking.
Breakfast was eaten and the dishes cleaned after both had their fill. Gray had been shocked to discover Natsu was a great cook. Her reason for learning was that she got tired of making fish all the time and didn't always have the money to eat at the guild. So she asked Mira to teach her a few recipes, which turned into weekly cooking lessons. Since Natsu never had to worry about needing a stove, she had even more opportunity to practice when she would go on solo missions with Happy.
"All we need to do is have you become a cook and Fairy Tail will never have to worry about money again," Gray had said, half joking-half serious, earning a laugh from Natsu. Despite not getting any sleep, the two of them were eager to face the day ahead. To steal Natsu's phrase, they were "All Fired Up". All that was left was for the clock to reach a reasonable time for them to open the guild hall.
Only one more chapter to go! Hang in there! We're almost done!