Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Some Sweet Advice

Sting sat down in his black chair that was in the guild master's office while he looked at the papers that were on his desk, and they were all simply applications sent in by people who had wanted to join the Sabertooth guild. These people had all used Lacrima Communication Crystals for Sting to interview them on why they wanted to join the guild, as he wanted to see who the guild's newest mages could possibly be, and Sting had told them all to contact him again if they wanted to join Sabertooth. All of the applicants had told him they'd keep their options open before officially deciding, and Sting had no problem with that.

The only downside to that decision, however, was that all three mages that he interviewed ended up setting their sights on other guilds. Those interviews took place two months ago in the week where a frosty celebration known as the Fiore Winter Games was happening, and the female mage that he interviewed ended up deciding to be part of the guild called Winter Snowflake. That was certainly unfortunate, since the guild didn't have any new members since last year, and Sting sighed in a somewhat bored manner as he hoped that Sabertooth would regain the feeling of excitement that came from having someone new around.

"If we got to have at least one or two new mages, then things would be more interesting around here. It's nice to handle jobs with Rogue and Yukino, but the days have seemed so monotonous." Sting thought to himself with a bored facial expression, as he laid his head down on his desk.

"Sting-sama, can I come in?" A familiar female voice asked in a kind tone while giving two soft knocks to the door.

He responded in a calm tone while proceeding to let his blue eyes look up from the papers, "Yeah, you can come in."

The girl who opened the door with her left hand was Yukino Aguria, Sting's teammate who had silvery-blue hair while she was a Celestial Spirit Wizard, and she had a gold plate of chocolate cookies in her hands. Yukino smiled kindly as she walked up to Sting's desk and set the plate down next to the papers that featured how the three mages he had interviewed also sent in essays on why they should join the guild, but their minds changing at the last minute was not exactly sweet as the cookies that Yukino had made in the Sabertooth guild's kitchen.

Sting wondered if eating some of these cookies would lift his bored mood, and he picked up two of the chocolate treats. He quickly bit into the cookies and chewed them, really liking their delicious sweetness, and Sting felt like Yukino made the cookies to perfection. He wasted no time with swallowing the cookies, and the light dragon slayer started to smile while feeling his mood improve. However, it wasn't a major boost that could completely make him forget about the fact that the guild was not having any new members.

Yukino witnessed Sting's faint smile turn into a facial expression of boredom again, causing her to look somewhat down, and she had seen that expression on Sting's face for the past five months. Even though he enjoyed doings jobs with her and Rogue, Yukino had seen Sting feel like it was a bummer that the Sabertooth guild never had any new people join them. She really hoped that he would become thrilled about something again, even if it was for a moment, and seeing Sting happy would make Yukino feel happy. He was the one who allowed her back into Sabertooth, after all.

Yukino's hazel eyes caught glimpses of the papers on Sting's desk, and she guessed that Sting was in the interesting situation of where the aspiring wizards turned down the guild master who would've probably been happy to have them in his guild. Their essays had let him know that they were all nice people who had confidence in their abilities, but the female mage's paragraph about her ultimate goal in her essay talked about how she hoped to someday meet the famous woman known as Clair Emperté and hopefully learn from her. Yukino thought it was good for someone to join Sabertooth, but why use it as a stepping stone to become someone else's apprentice?

"Sting-sama, I think that those people won't join Sabertooth because of how they have other goals. One of your applicants even desires to only join us for the purpose of taking down those possessed mages in Voltage Town, and it's better to have people who will be here to help Sabertooth thrive instead of leaving when their goals are fulfilled." Yukino explained to Sting with a calm look on her face, wanting Sting to pick the right people.

The light dragon slayer replied in a bored manner as he picked up two more cookies to eat, "Wow, they only acted nice because they just wanted to use me to fulfill their goals. It's like when Minerva wanted to use me to make us win the Grand Magic Games last year, but at least she wouldn't have abandoned Sabertooth if we had won."

Yukino kindly told her friend as she smiled gently, letting her right hand touch his left hand, "Don't worry, Sting-sama. Maybe you'll eventually meet someone who wants to genuinely join Sabertooth, and they'll be happy to be here. They may not be the perfect person and they may make some mistakes, but I know you'll be accepting of them."

Sting looked at Yukino's teal tank top and her light teal miniskirt, before his blue eyes glanced down at her teal flat shoes, and he wondered if she would be right about that. Sabertooth had become less popular after Fairy Tail won the Grand Magic Games in X791, and Sting wondered if they would win again in X792. If they won again, then more people would probably just leave Sabertooth to the point where the guild would nearly be empty. Sting was the master of this guild, and he definitely did not want that to happen.

He looked into Yukino's hazel eyes that were filled with kindness and confidence while choosing to have no doubt about her words, and Sting told Yukino that he would think of a way to attract more members to the Sabertooth guild. They may not have been as popular as Fairy Tail, but there would surely be someone or something that could help Sting and Yukino change that. They both enjoyed having fun in their guild, and it would be great to share their fun times and great adventures with some more people. However, Sting wouldn't do any crazy jobs with them unless the situation was pretty serious.

Yukino soon took her hand off of Sting's hand as she nicely told him to just cheer up and be patient, since good things could come to people who merely waited for them to occur, and she walked towards the door while telling Sting to also cheer up. Yukino would not want any new people to see Sabertooth's guild master in a bored mood, as that would probably make them think that Sting was a boring guy, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard knew that Sting could be a very exciting person. In fact, anyone would probably be glad to see Sting smile with a great amount of confidence.

As Yukino opened the door and left her plate of cookies with Sting, the blue-eyed dragon slayer thought about Yukino's advice. He felt like it would be nice to cheer up and smile, but could he really just wait for new people to walk through Sabertooth's yellow entrance doors? That could probably take days or weeks, and Sting could even be out on a job when someone wanted to join. However, Yukino was always nice to assure him that things would get better when he was feeling down. Sting certainly wouldn't mind if Yukino was right about the newest member not being the perfect person, and their quirks could probably be unexpected enough to make things interesting for him.

How was the first chapter of my new story? Did you like it? Feel free to review, and I'm sorry if this first chapter is pretty short. This is my first Sting x Yukino fanfic, but it's only just a friendship between them. Also, as stated in the summary, this is a prequel to "The Feeling of Rejection" while it focuses on Sabertooth's characters. This should be exciting! Happy holidays!