3rd Person POV – Fairy Tail Corp.
"Aaaahhhh… ugh," Natsu yawned loudly as he sat at his desk.
It was midday and Natsu was working tirelessly on the books that Erza demanded he complete by the end of today. While not exactly asking for it, Lucy helped him manage the ones he had done and not done, with the amount he had on his desk, it was easy to miss out on one.
Lucy entered Office 1C with a cup of coffee in hand.
"You're tired already, Mr Dragneel?" Lucy approached the young man with a cup of coffee in hand, "Didn't you get enough sleep yesterday?"
He took it gratefully and shook his head, "Eh, not really. I was waking up a lot in the middle of the night and had to do a bunch of pushups to go right back, I didn't know I'd be THAT knackered,"
Lucy chuckled as she held her finger up and gave Natsu a mocking grin, "I don't want to be a broken record, buuuut-."
"You told me so, I get it," Natsu grunted in slight annoyance as he drank his coffee.
"Needless to say, you've managed to power through most of the books today," Lucy smiled as she stacked one of the books he was working on in a different pile – this one being higher than the other pile that still needed doing.
Lucy stared at the books he was working on and was slightly confused, "Mr Dragneel, why does Mrs Scarlet have you working on these anyway? Is this what Business Analysts work on from day-to-day?"
Natsu raised a brow at the books then went back to working on one of them, "Not really, but they assigned me with this because of the Finance Manager,"
"Mr Fullbuster?" Lucy raised a brow and tilted her head at the pinkette.
"Yeah, that bastard… I think he's trying to test me or something…" Natsu told her, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"This is a lot of information to transfer and input into the system though," Lucy said with a concerned expression, she rested a hand on one of the books, "And isn't 24 a little much for one person…?"
"I can handle it." Natsu responded quickly, still keeping his eyes on his screen, "Trust me, if Erza and Fullbuster want to test and push me to my limits then they are going to have to try a lot harder than that!"
Lucy smiled cheerfully from ear to ear at the pinkette's determination, "With that kind of fire, I believe you can achieve anything, Mr Dragneel,"
Natsu raised his brows at Lucy's encouragement, slightly turning to her with surprise written all over his face. He gently smiled, "Thanks, that means a lot, Ms Heartfilia,"
Just then, a blue-haired woman entered Office 1C with her laptop sitting across her arm and her other hand typing at it, "Natsu. How are we coming along with those reports?"
"Sorry, Levy, I'm pretty slumped with all these books Laki gave me," Natsu replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"I assume you're helping him manage all of this, Lucy?" The woman known as Levy placed her laptop down by the complete pile and glanced at the blonde.
"With me pretty much shadowing Loke, I thought I might as well lend a hand to Mr Dragneel since all we are doing in the Sales Team right now is reviewing the charts," Lucy explained.
"At least we are getting some sort of help here, with Erza laying off half our team, it's down to me and Natsu now," Levy uttered, sighing with a hint of stress in her tone which the pinkette and blonde caught onto.
"Erza laid off the team?" Natsu repeated, his fingers coming to a halt on the keyboard as his eyes moved to look up at Levy who brought a hand to her mouth.
"I wasn't supposed to say that," Levy muttered, but it was out in the open now.
Natsu grunted, "You've got to be kidding me? Our team needs more people in order to get things done around here,"
"Yes, but there's been some slight complications…" Levy brought a hand to her forehead.
"Let's not stress about that now, you two. Mr Dragneel let's focus on these books first," Lucy suggested.
"Aye sir," Natsu muttered and turned back to his screen.
"And we'll let you know when we get to working on the reports, Levy," Lucy smiled up at the bluenette who happily hugged the blonde.
"Oh, Lucy, what would we do without you," Levy squished her cheek against Lucy who happily hummed and hugged her back.
Meanwhile, in the hallway, Erza and Gray walked down the hallway with somewhat menacing scowls on their faces. Erza casually strolled by whilst Gray stopped by Office 1C and waved in.
"Hello everyone," Gray opened the door and waved in. Lucy and Levy waved back whilst Natsu remained perfect in the position he sits to work.
"Sorry for barging in, I just want to check on you," Gray smiled. A calm aura surrounded him as he stepped into the office, Levy and Lucy acted no way towards it, but to the pinkette, he was…
Agitated by it.
"That's quite alright, it's great to see a Manager checking on us lower ones every now and then," Levy chuckled.
Gray frantically waved his hands in front of him, "Oh come on, don't think of it like that. I see you all on the same level as myself. Don't be intimidated by the position, please,"
The three laughed with one another and as the laughter dialed down, Gray glanced at Natsu, "How about you, Natsu? Are you doing okay?"
Gray stepped into Natsu's space and instantly, the vibe in the room… changed. Levy didn't notice it, but Lucy somewhat felt it.
It was like Natsu and Gray had a sort rivalry vibe to them both, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Natsu stood up and held out his hand to Gray, which Gray took and the two shared a firm handshake. The veins on Natsu's hand rose to the surface of his skin and showed the kind of strength he was putting into this.
"I'm doing well, Fullbuster, thanks for asking," Natsu said through gritted teeth as he glared at the Finance Manager.
"Please," Gray uttered as he firmly held Natsu's hand back, veins popping against his skin, "That's Mr Fullbuster. It'd be wise for you to remember that,"
Natsu tutted and the two let go of one another's hands.
"Anyways, we will be having a meeting later today, so please do attend," Gray turned on his heel and left the office, Levy and Lucy bowed on his exit whilst Natsu glared at the the door.
The elevator bell rang and out stepped Loke who was frightened by Erza who was standing in front of him with the most intimidating, angriest look he had seen.
He jumped back at her sudden appearance and held his chest, "Good grief Erza, you scared me... I got pizza,"
"You better be working and not slacking off," Erza grumbled as she slipped a hand into one of the pizza boxes, pulled out a slice and slowly began eating it.
Loke looked at her with a blank face as he thought, "Someone is going to die today, aren't they?"
"Don't mind her, she's in a mood with the changes that are occurring," Gray appeared from the side as Erza continued on into the elevator, "Let me know what you encounter at the warehouse, I'll make a quick phone call and someone will come to aid you,"
"I doubt I'll need it," She uttered.
Gray chuckled, "Don't get cocky, Boss,"
Loke stepped away from the elevator and turned around to face the scarlet haired woman who remained stoic. The doors of the elevator shut, leaving Gray and Loke staring at the metal doors before they turned to one another.
"We have a meeting later today, by the way," Gray shook his head with a smile on his face.
"Ugh! I saw that in my damn calendar earlier today, what's up with that?" Loke whined.
"Just some changes that needed to be announced," Gray took a slice of pizza and brought it to his mouth, "A lot of changes will be happening so you should ready yourselves,"
"For what…?" Loke blinked at the finance manager who chuckled and waltzed off in the opposite direction.
"Welp," Loke scratched the back of his head as he continued down the hallway, he then stopped in place, and took a glance into Office 1C, seeing Levy, Lucy and Natsu working together, he clears his throat and knocks on the door.
He waited for a second before he heard Levy's voice, "You may enter,"
He pushed the door open with one hand and held the boxes of pizza with another, "Hey-Ho! I got pizza! Oh, Dragneel! You're here, ol' buddy,"
Natsu glared at the redhead before turning away with a scoff.
"So, you were serious about that pizza trip?" Levy said with a cheerful smile on her face.
"Why wouldn't I be? We've been working our butts off like crazy after all the changes around here," Loke grinned as he opened up the boxes of pizza and placed them on the table, he gestured towards his other colleagues, pushing them to some, "Have a slice, Levy,"
Loke turned to Lucy and Natsu with a giant smile on his face, "Come on guys, I know you want some! Captain Loke of the Fun Brigade is not taking no for an answer,"
Natsu grunted, "Why would anyone leave you to be Captain?"
"Because I'm a trustworthy member to the team, Dragneel. I'm sure you can understand," Loke took a slice and brought it to Lucy's face, "I'm not taking no for an answer, Lucy! You either eat this pizza or you're on timeout for the rest of the day!"
"First off, you can't do that, and second, I don't eat that kind of stuff," Lucy raised a brow.
"You heard her, now can you leave, we are trying to get some work done," Natsu glared at Loke who kissed his teeth.
"Shut it, Dragneel," Loke hissed and turned back to Lucy with a sly grin, "Just a slice, Lucy. You don't have to eat the whole box, and don't worry, I'll accompany you when you try to work all of this off later,"
Lucy shrugged her shoulders and took a bite from the pizza; she chewed it slowly before swallowing. And with a big glow of red on her cheeks, she said, "It tastes really good! You should try this, Natsu,"
"I don't plan on working out after work today, to be honest, so I'll pass," Natsu sighed and continued his work, "And if you haven't noticed, we have a LOT to get through today,"
"Natsu is right, Loke. There's a lot to do today because of the changes, so I'll stay here for a bit, besides, I'm sure you can watch the sales on your own, right?" Lucy placed the pizza on a piece of paper in front of her.
Loke sighed and slouched over, "Ugh, Lucy, don't be a bore like Natsu,"
Lucy chuckled and remained in her seat, "Work comes first, Loke. You know this.,"
Levy smiled at this whilst Loke just shrugged and head out of the office with the pizzas under his arm.
"I'll leave you two to your work then, I have to tend to other matters that Gray asked me to focus on," Levy stood up with her laptop in hand and left the office, closing the door behind her.
The day had passed by swiftly for everyone in FTC, Natsu and Lucy managed to get through the books like Erza requested and they made their way to her office which was on the top floor.
Upon reaching it, Natsu shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a black fob that he tapped on the fob reader beside the door and opened it, the two were greeted by a tidier office room with black leather couches on either side of the room which faced the massive glass desk in the middle.
"You have a fob to get in here?" Lucy asked with curiosity in her tone.
Natsu didn't think much of it and waltzed into the office, "Yeah, the books I go through are considered confidential, so Erza always expects me to bring them back to her,"
Lucy hummed in response and placed her lot on Erza's desk, Natsu did the same but made sure to colour code them correctly, some of them were white, red, and green, so he assorted them properly in order not to piss off his boss.
Lucy glanced around the room, looking at the many awards on the shelves on the room. Once Natsu was done sorting the books on the table, he walked around the desk and pulled open the curtains to stare out of the window.
He rested his hand against the window as he looked over the grand scale of Magnolia.
"Hey, Ms Heartfilia?" Natsu called out to the blonde.
"Yes?" Lucy responded by glancing over at Natsu who had his back facing her.
"How long do you think it would take to reach a position like this…?" Natsu spoke, not thinking over what was leaving his mouth or how random that question was.
Lucy approached him and stood beside him as she also had a grand view of Magnolia from here.
"I don't know… I assume it would take a lot of years to reach," Lucy stood beside him, her hands folded behind her back.
They stood in silence for a moment before Lucy glanced up at him, "Mr Dragneel, are you aiming for Mrs Scarlet's position? Do you want to be the CEO-."
"Huh? No, heck no. That's way too much responsibility, I just…" Natsu then stopped and snapped out of his trance, turning to Lucy, he scoffed at her question, "Don't worry about it, we should go before someone catches us in here. We aren't typically allowed in here,"
Lucy watched his retreating back with a neutral expression and proceeded to follow him out of the office.
Later that Day…
Gray loosened his blue tie around his neck and removed it entirely. Everyone was gathered around the table; Levy, Loke, Lucy, Natsu, and two more Heads from the lower floors. Those two being:
-Macao Conbolt, a Director, and Manager of the Analytics Team.
- Cana Alberona, the Managing Director, and the one above all the Managers & Directors.
Macao was simply chewing as he waited for the meeting to start, and Cana was chilled back in the chair with a bothered expression on her face.
"This meeting must be very important if the Directors had to join," Lucy hummed as she sat in between Loke and Levy.
"Right, I hope it's nothing too serious," Levy added.
Natsu sat on the opposite side of Lucy and was glancing in Cana's direction. Cana caught Natsu's glance and slightly waved at him.
Natsu raised a brow, this meeting had to be of some importance if Cana was here.
Lucy slightly furrowed her brows, seeing the slight interaction between the two.
"So, what's the big call about, Gray? Hurry up, I don't have a lot of time to spare here," Cana yawned as she sat at the end of the table in a beige two-piece suit with a white shirt beneath that wasn't buttoned all the way to the top, her cleavage showing for all to see.
"Fairy Tail Corp is expanding again," Gray said and an exhausted tone came from both Cana and Macao.
"Give me a break," Macao grunted as he slammed his fist on the table.
"We literally don't have the manpower to spread our people across all the offices like that, what is the Chairman thinking?!" Cana gritted her teeth.
"Not thinking much, that's what," Macao added, "The more we expand, the more noticeable our traces of business will become,"
"Settle down, settle down," Gray said, trying to gain order in the meeting room even though it was mainly Macao and Cana raising their voices, "Our issue lies in the workflow and how much of that work gets put into process, this allows us to operate like any normal business out there. As the main branch, we need to keep on top of this,"
Natsu's breath hitched at this, but it wasn't noticeable.
Gray picked up a small remote from the table and pointed it at the screen behind him. The white screen flashed to two bar charts, "Just last month we had a total of 120 members in this building alone, this is where most of our important staff work hand in hand with one another,"
He then enhanced the second bar chart to show the drastic fall from last month to now, "And now, we are working with 40 people in this office, including ourselves,"
"This is ridiculous, what was the reason for the expansion anyways???" Macao questioned the black-haired man who stared at Macao for a few moments.
Gray sighed, "We got raided last night,"
Levy, Loke, Lucy, Macao, and Cana furrowed their brows at this news, as they began to take the matter seriously.
Natsu looked from left to right, slightly confused on Gray's choice of words, "Raided, how?"
"Probably by our rivals like Sabertooth or Blue Pegasus," Levy said.
"No federals?" Macao stood up with sweat rolling down his forehead.
"None. Our warehouses are too airtight for the federals to sniff around," Gray reassured the blue-haired man.
This made Macao sigh in relief and sit back down.
"That still doesn't answer why the Chairman has been stretching us across to different offices," Loke spoke up.
"We've been raided across five different locations, all within different parts of our territory." Gray responded which made Cana growl a little.
"Consecutive locations is preposterous," Macao said with a face that couldn't believe what Gray was saying, "We've been the head Hunchos for years and now a low-time business wants to take us out,"
"We are still unsure of the details. But it just means we have to work ten times harder to keep our dealings under wraps like it's supposed to," Gray told them, which earned him sighs from Loke, Levy, and Lucy. Grunts from Cana and Macao. And complete silence from Natsu, "In that case, our office will focus on our workflow within these three key teams: The Analytics Team, The Marketing Team, and The Sales Team,"
Lucy raised a hand and cleared her throat, "Can we not request for some help from the Zeus branch?"
"They are currently undergoing the same issue, not to mention they have two other departments to make a priority," Gray responded.
"Dad must be going through the same thing too," Cana bit her fingernails.
"I've sorted out groups that you will all be working within. You'll also be attending to other tasks outside of your original tasks. Cana…" Gray said as he glanced at Natsu who looked up at Gray with confusion written on his face, "I'll leave you to fill in the details with Natsu,"
"Babysitting you again," Cana muttered which caused a vein to rise on Natsu's head.
"Loke you will work within Erza's group. Lucy, I have heeded your request and find it remarkable that you want to learn a bit more from the Analytics Team, so I have placed you in the care of Levy," Gray said as he gently placed the remote on the table and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Lucy raised her hand, "Pardon me Sir, but there are a few odd numbers on each team,"
"Ah yes. Depending on both the workload and the expertise of those on the team, one team will have more than the others and vice versa. For the Analytics Team, a freelancer that some of us are well acquainted with will work very well filling in that spot. We will start on this tomorrow."
"Finally," Cana stood up, and turned to Natsu, "Walk with me, Natsu,"
Natsu sighed and got up from his seat, reluctantly following Cana out of the room. Macao followed suit with Gray following behind as well, he glanced back at Loke, Lucy, and Levy, "If you have any further questions, then please let me know and I'll try to fill you in the best that I can. Chow!"
Levy stood up and began to clear the meeting room alongside Loke and Lucy.
"I never knew you had a thing for Analytics," Loke turned to Lucy as he stacked the leaflets on the table and placed them on the chest of drawers that lined up against the window in the room.
"I already told you that I have more to me than just fitness and healthy eating. I'm looking to learn more from all my colleagues whilst being here,"
"That's the right mindset to have." Levy chimed in.
"See? Even Levy agrees," Lucy cheerfully said.
"Ugh, don't support her on this, Levy," Loke rolled his eyes. The three began to walk out of the meeting room and down the corridor.
Levy shook her head, "Not only is it good for the business, but it gives me and Natsu some extra breathing space to have someone else on the team,"
"That's true, I guess. But that lazy slacker, Natsu deserves to have more work on his plate," Loke grunted as he grabbed his belongings and put on his suit jacket.
"Now, you know that's not true. Natsu works very hard," Levy responded quickly as she placed her laptop in her handbag.
"He should work harder," Loke grumbled as Lucy giggled.
Immediately, Lucy and Levy delved into conversation that made Loke roll his eyes at Lucy's antics. She made it so easy to talk to people, to befriend them, and even make them like her just as much. How does she do it?
Fast forward and the three are already making their way out, Loke walks behind them as the two are in front of him.
Just then the elevator bell rang, and the doors opened wide.
A pair of white sneakers stepped out from the elevator, which made Levy and Loke smile at the sight of the person who came out of the elevator.
"Heyyy, sorry I'm late. The train lines were a complete mess," A silver-haired woman spoke up. She had short hair and dressed more like a Trainee than an actual member of the office. She wore a mint green and white tracksuit with the sleeves rolled up, two golden bangles on her left wrist, and gorgeous blue eyes that complimented her silver hair.
"No, no, it's cool. Arrive when everyone is just about to leave the office," Loke walked up to her with a massive grin on his face, "Haha, Lisanna, just what are you doing here?"
"To work obviously, Uncle Gil asked me to help out with the cutting of the workforce that the Chairman handed out," Lisanna told him.
"Welp, that makes sense," Loke rubbed the back of his head.
"How about you, playboy? You still the center of attention for the ladies?" Lisanna teased as she nudged him in the side.
"Ahh come on! Those times are way behind me," Loke chuckled as he lightly pushed Lisanna back and glanced over at the blonde to see if she noticed.
The silver-haired beauty ran up to Levy and brought her into a tight hug, "I haven't seen you in forever, Levy! How's Gajeel and the baby?"
"Oop! Babies, you mean. It's been a few years since we saw each other, Lis. But they are all doing great! Gajeel's taken up a lot of responsibilities, so he hasn't been able to drop by as much," Levy said as she moved back from the hug.
"It's not like he always wanted to," Lisanna giggled alongside Levy.
"Lisanna, this is our new member, Lucy Heartfilia. She will be in the same Team as you, as a superior, you should set an example," Levy said as she laid her hand on Lisanna's shoulder.
"You sound like Gray now, Levy," Lisanna walked up to Lucy who already had her hand out to shake Lisanna's hand.
"I'm Lucy Heartfilia, I hope we can get along Lisanna..." Lucy trailed off.
"Strauss. Lisanna Strauss." Lisanna shook her hand, "Come to me whenever you want to know the deep dark secrets of everyone here,"
To Be Continued