Forever Blue

Chapter 1

            Gray Fullbuster sat alone in his office staring blankly at the rain tapping against his floor to ceiling windows. Spring storms had finally rolled into the city, ushering out the winter snow.

Gray didn't mind the rain, he found it peaceful. The rain was a steady and soothing reprieve after the chaos of the last few weeks.

It had been about three years since Gray first joined Fairy Tail Private Investigation and Security. He'd excelled, naturally, and had not long ago been promoted to head of the Security Department.

Fairy Tail dealt with the full spectrum of security needs- from investigating cheating husbands to full sting operations taking down human traffickers and drug dealers. Gray's department was the boots on the ground, private security guards, witness protection, the full gambit. When shit hit the fan, when there was imminent danger, Gray and his team were there.

He glanced at his watch. He was running late for a meeting with his least favorite co-worker. Sighing he turned back to his desk.

A profile for a member of a local crime family known as Tartaros was spread over his keyboard. Gray frowned as he leafed through the pages for the millionth time.

He slammed the file shut and shoved it in the top drawer of his desk, grabbed his suit jacket and headed for the door.

Passing the elevator Gray took the stairs up to the next floor and then shot down the hall towards Natsu's office.

Natsu Dragneel. He was Fairy Tail's lead PI and the bane of Gray's existence. The guy was good at his job and, yeah, they were friends. But damn that guy had a unique way of always pissing Gray off.

Now that they were working a top secret investigation together, Gray was forced to bite back his complaints and be a team player.

That's what the meeting was about.

There was a mole in Fairy Tail feeding information out of the firm and destroying evidence. And all of it revolved around the Tartaros Family.

So far as Gray could tell, there was only a small group of them who had figured out that there was a security breach. But without knowing where the breach was, they couldn't risk bringing anyone else in on the investigation. Who knew how deep this rabbit hole went- or how high up in the ranks.

Gray pushed into Natsu's office without bothering to knock.

Natsu sat leaning into his chair, his feet propped up on his desk.

"Thanks for finally showing up Gray," Natsu jeered immediately, his wild pink hair contrasting his slick black suit. "We've been waiting forever."

"It's been five minutes, get over it," Gray snapped back, making his way across the room, choosing to lean into the wall rather than taking a seat. "Hey Levy," Gray greeted the small blue haired girl seated across from Natsu.

"Hi Gray," Levy returned with a bright smile. She was already scribbling in her notebook, her glasses at the edge of her nose. Gray laughed to himself- that was Levy. Part of their Cyber Security team, Levy lived and breathed her work. At least, she did. Recently her focus had taken a sharp detour when she started seeing one of Fairy Tail's newest operatives. He should be at this meeting too, Gray thought, finally noticing the other man's absence.

"Where's Gajeel?" Gray asked Levy.

"He should be here," she replied glancing at the clock on the wall. "He's probably just-"