Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail
August, X791
It had actually been a bit disappointing when after all the incessant panic, all the bone chilling warnings, only three dragons emerged from the eclipse gate. The beasts were bested with relative ease and after the post-games banquet, all the wizards returned to their guilds and the spectators to their homes and places of business.
A sense of overwhelming pride overtook the Kingdom of Fiore and all of its inhabitants. In the days and weeks following the aborted dragon invasion, mage and shopkeeper alike saw themselves as invincible - powerful beyond measure. After all, what could possibly break down a people that defeated mythology's most frightening creatures?
And not a single soul could have anticipated that this great victory was nothing more than a fluke.
The first attack - the real one, that is - wilted Fiore's blooming capital while all its most powerful wizards were miles away. The devastation was as swift as it was shocking; the city reduced to ash and rubble and its citizens, those lucky enough to escape with their lives, ran off as a classless, nameless mass with nothing more than the clothes on their backs to tell the tale.
The nightmare had returned, ten thousand strong, and they were all but executed in their sleep.
November, X792
The first attempt to retake Crocus and send the dragons back through the eclipse gate.
The result: complete failure.
Three dragon slayers, slayed by dragons. Gone but never forgotten.
A team without its namesake.
A promise to return, forever unfulfilled.
Countless adventures never to be discovered.
Hope? The very thought of it all but irretrievably lost.
March, X793
As she sat at Sting's desk, balancing Sabertooth's expenses for the previous month, it dawned on Yukino how bleak her situation actually was.
"You do realize," Rufus began, standing in the office's doorway, "that only a guild master should be obligated to deal with such dreadful jobs."
"He'll be exhausted when he returns." She didn't put it past Sting to try and complete some menial task after a dragon slaying campaign. He was still in possession of that false kind of energy of those driven by their remorse.
"You always say when instead of if," the Make mage remarked. "I've never known you as one to rely on good luck."
"There is no luck involved, Rufus-sama," she replied, somewhat testily. This was not something she particularly wanted to discuss. "Sting-sama and Rogue-sama are incredibly strong."
"Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox were even stronger than they are," the blond pointed out. "And what, exactly, became of them? It escapes my memory."
Yukino shut her eyes, thinking of how worn Lucy had seemed the last time she saw her. Hollow, like the very soul had been sucked from her body. And Levy had been simply inconsolable. It hadn't occurred to her before then how physically taxing perpetually missing someone could be.
"What is it that you wish to accomplish, Rufus-sama, besides mocking my acts of courtesy?"
Courtesy? Was that what they were calling it now? The minstrel laughed tersely. "As your closest friend who hasn't yet died emotionally, or otherwise, I want you to tell that tasteless idiot that you love him; or at the very least that you're carrying his child, before things manage to get any worse than they are now."
The celestial mage paled considerably. "How do you...I mean, I'm not." She pressed a hand against her abdomen protectively. "I can't be. Not now, when the world is-"
"You are aware that this is not something you can simply wish away?" He gazed at her intently from behind his mask. Somewhere between the pool parties and collaborations on jobs, he'd come to care for the young woman like a sister. "Although there are ways to terminate this...circumstance. If you act quickly, that is."
"I know, you're right," she rested her head in her hands, eyes straining against a downpour of tears.
"But?" He prompted.
"But," the woman continued, "I need time." She needed to come to terms with it herself before she told him. Otherwise, she'd be a mess.
"Pity," the red minstrel adjusted his hat. "That seems to be the only thing that we don't have."
Later that night Yukino stood at her window with a steaming mug of chamomile tea, mulling over her nakama's words. Though usually a simple glance skyward would uplift her, on this particular night the familiar faces of stars in the sky did little to soothe her worries.
However, the sight of a certain dragon slayer turning the corner onto her street did the trick.
"Oi, Yukino! Can I come up?"
"Of course!" She called down, for once unconcerned with the her volume. The neighbors would be fine.
Just as she turned to head downstairs and unlock the door, the dragon slayer climbed up onto her balcony.
The celestial mage rolled her eyes at this. "Sting-sama," she sighed. "My landlord is going to think you're an intruder-" she was silenced by a pair of lips pressed against her own. "W-what was that for?"
"I guess I missed you." He shot her a smirk that heated every iota of her.
"Me too." She shut her eyes, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Every day she read about the dragons and witnessed the clues of their devastation in her daily life. It was like a knot of anxiety uncoiled within her every time he returned.
"Where's Lector?" she questioned, trying to change the subject to something less emotional.
"He went home with Rogue and Frosch," he explained. "I went to the guild first to finish up a few things but everything was done already."
At this Yukino shrugged, trying hard to seem inconspicuous. "Maybe you miscalculated the workload."
"Maybe someone's gotten better at forging my signature," he 'speculated.'
She giggled at that. It took a lot of practice to make her handwriting that sloppy.
"You don't have to keep doing my paperwork, Yukino." He didn't want to take advantage of her.
"It's alright," she said, picking up her mug and leading the conversation inside. "I don't have much else to do."
He smirked, lightly tugging at the loose belt of her robe. "Allow me to entertain you."
Yukino sighed, knowing exactly where this conversation would lead; straight to her bed. "Well," she nipped at the side of his neck. "I have been a bit bored."
Even as she was led to the bed to have every inch of her felt and fondled, a nagging voice in her head (which sounded suspiciously like Rufus) warned that she couldn't go on like this forever.
Still, once Sting's tongue swiped across her collarbone all thoughts of anything beyond the here and now escaped her. The pale haired mage pulled at his shirt, signaling in her quiet way that she wanted it gone.
After a moment's hesitation he complied, warning, "Don't overreact."
The question of what on earthland he was talking about stilled on the tip of her tongue when she saw three long gashes across his chest. Dragon claws.
"Oh my..." She gasped, covering her mouth. "Hold on, I think I have a first aid kit somewhere." Mirajane had warned her to always keep one around.
Sting sighed. "You're overreacting."
"I'm not." She scurried off to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit. She sat back on the bed and popped it open. "I think I'm reacting very reasonably, given the circumstances."
"It's not as bad as it looks." He knew how prone she was to bouts of pessimism.
Yukino bit her lip and wordlessly continued to dress his wounds, not trusting herself to respond. Her tears had not solved anything thus far in life so she saw no merit in shedding any more of them.
"It'll make a nice battle scar someday."
"That is not at all the point." She laughed, all the while loathing herself for blushing at the thought.
"C'mon, I can brag about it to my kids someday," he joked. "How many dads can say they've offed dragons?"
Her hands stilled completely as he said this and she felt a chill that had very little to do with the weather. Casual as the comment was, it was more of a sign than she could ever hope to receive.
"Sting-sama." The pale haired woman's voice sounded distant and foreign, even to her own ears. "We..." She struggled to find the words."We've done something incredibly stupid."
"How stupid?" The dragon slayer draped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "On a scale from one to Orga's haircut?"
Yukino looked up at him with amber eyes welling with frightened, damnable tears which refused to stay in their ducts no matter how much she tried to rationalize them away.
She swallowed thickly. There would be no returning those words once they were out. "I'm having a baby."
For exactly one tenth of a second his face showed that he was just as nervous as she was, and then he remembered who he was supposed to be and told her that it would be fine. "All it means is that me and Rouge have gotta kill these dragons faster."
And without that fleeting moment's hesitation forever etched into her memory, she sincerely could have believed it.
Author's Notes: Another StingYu fic. This one will involve some Rogura as well. Also, the story may get pretty sad at points. Thanks for reading, everyone!