Heheh, hi. *sheepish wave*


"This is boring!" Natsu complained, flopping onto the table dramatically. They had been waiting for Erza's guardian to appear, and now everyone was paying attention to the redhead now that she had been reunited with her guardian. They're not even that cool, he thought grumpily to himself, resting his chin on his crossed arms.

"Then let's go out! Explore!" Sting exclaimed jovially, electing to keep out the fact that they had been in the room for only a minute after Jellal and his friends had arrived. Natsu brightened, jumping to his feet on top of the table.

"Now I'm all fired up!" He cheered. Sting froze for a split second when he heard Natsu's iconic phrase leave the pink-haired boy's lips. The white dragon slayer proceeded to sweep Natsu off the table and plop him back on his shoulders, rather enjoying the moments with his former idol. They started bounding towards the doors, talking a mile a minute about where they were going to go and what they were going to do. Most of what they said was unintelligible, but they seemed to understand each other.

"And where do you think you two are going?" The commanding voice of Makarov sounded in the two exhilarated dragon slayer's ears. Their bodies went rigid.

"In the midst of this new peril, you both are galavanting off to who-knows-where? Natsu I understand, but Sting, you have responsibilities as the leader of Sabertooth!" Makarov scolded them. The two wilted under his powerful stare, and Natsu's head dropped onto Sting's in distress. Sting himself felt an annoyed yet upset expression start to settle on his face, because, after all, Makarov was right. As the leader of Sabertooth, it was his responsibility to be there for the guild.

"Lighten up, Gramps!" Surprisingly, it was Gajeel who came to the two dragon slayer's rescue. The metal mage let out a strange ghihihi before continuing. "I, for one, was excited to get rid of Salamander. He's a pain in the-"

"Oi!" Natsu bellowed, struggling to leap off Sting's shoulders. The blonde was clasping onto the enraged boy to make sure he didn't do anything stupid (which was interesting that Sting was the one being responsible). "Dare you to say that again, you-!"

"I take back all of my former statements. Sting, get Natsu out of here before he destroys something." Makarov rubbed his temples and sighed as the white dragon slayer bolted out of the guild doors instantly after hearing his words. The guild was much quieter now that the two had gone, though there was still excitement hanging in the air as Lucy was chatting with Juvia, Grey was grumbling to himself and Rufus whacked him upside the head (artfully, of course), and Erza was… sorting out some things with Jellal.

Gajeel's ears pricked when he thought he heard someone calling Rufus's name, and the voice sounded suspiciously like Levy's…

Outside the guild walls, Sting was bounding through the streets of Magnolia, Natsu clinging to the blonde's scalp and grinning all the way. A few residents shook their heads, muttering "Youths." under their breath with either an irritated glare or a soft smile. Sting and Natsu ignored them happily, sprinting straight for the forest.

Upon reaching the safety of the trees Sting slowed to a stop, taking in the light dappling the forest floor and the sound of the trees swaying in the breeze. The blonde started walking slowly, turning his head left and right to examine the area they were exploring. Natsu hummed lightly to himself, squinting his eyes at his surroundings. A tree branch nearly whacked him in the face and he wrinkled his nose.

An idea popped into his head and a mischievous smile spread across his face. He latched onto a branch when they walked under another tree and held fast, sliding off of Sting's shoulders to hang by his hands from the branch. Startled by the sudden lack of weight on his back, Sting swiveled on one heel to see Natsu scramble up into the tree, a laugh drifting down to meet the startled blonde.

"Natsu!"

"Hurry up, Sting! I can't go too high with you slacking off!" Natsu laughed joyfully, swinging around the branches of the tree without a care in the world. Sting weighed his options for a split second before leaping up into the tree to meet the pink-haired boy. They ended up being face to face, both grinning widely at the exhilarating feeling running through their veins. Natsu's eyes scrunched up and he jolted his head forward to give Sting a bonk on the head, his version of a kiss on the cheek or an eskimo kiss, before scrambling up higher into the tree. A nervous knot settled in Sting's stomach and he decided to act upon his new guardian status.

"Natsu, I think it's time you come down," he called up, hauling himself a little higher but not wanting to encourage the energetic dragon slayer.

"Stop being such a- whoa!" As he was shooting back a carefree comment he lost his balance on the branch he was standing on. Sting's heart stopped as he saw the boy fumble for a grip on any branches nearby but falling just short of them, his face turning to one of horror. Gravity quickly took hold and Natsu was streaking towards the ground, hitting thick branches on the way down. The boy himself had curled into a ball, instinctively attempting to protect his organs, when his small body crashed into a particularly thick branch. This all happened before he had even reached Sting, who was positioning himself to catch the tumbling dragon slayer. He finally reached his guardian, who caught him in his arms while swaying slightly to keep his balance, as he was still up in a tree.

"Natsu!" Sting jumped to the ground and carefully placed the boy on the earth, examining him for any injuries. And though he had been looking for them, he wasn't expecting to find a broken arm. This was Natsu for crying out loud! It took more than a little branch to sprain his wrist, let alone break his arm!

"Ow." Natsu gazed at his twisted limb, a blank expression on his face. It was unnerving to Sting to see such an emotionless expression on his usually jovial face. "I think I hurt my arm."

Sting stopped himself from yelling out "You think?!" and instead took a deep breath, calming himself and putting together a plan in his head.

"Okay Natsu, I'm going to bring you back to the guild to get your arm checked out, okay?" Sting lifted the boy up carefully with no protest from the small mage and started walking, checking on the strangely-quiet dragon slayer every now and then.

Sting longed to strike up a conversation, unused to the quietness that Natsu was displaying. Well, that is to say he was not used to being the serious one. That was Rogue. Rogue was the quiet, serious one… who was now a child, nonetheless…

He shook his head and tried to take his mind off his best friend and tried to focus his mind on Natsu's wellbeing. The boy was taking deep breaths and gazed at the canopy above him through half-lidded eyes, a tranquil expression spreading over his features. The up and down motion of Sting walking was curiously calming and he felt himself slipping off into the dream world…

"Sting?" The confused tone of Yukino filtered through Natsu's ears, and he perked up a bit when he heard his name mentioned. "Why are you carrying Natsu?"

"He broke his arm," he explained anxiously, shifting Natsu in his arms ever so slightly.

Yukino's eyes widened, and so did a few other mages who had listened in. "How?" It was rare, after all, to see the flame mage injured. Most of the time he popped back up as if nothing had happened, unless there was a serious fight or something.

"Tch. Just like that weirdo, forgetting we're…" Grey suddenly spoke up, causing everyone to turn towards him in surprise. His face flushed when he realized everyone was staring at him. He snapped his mouth shut and seemed to shrink into himself awkwardly. Tense silence followed, which Natsu broke, to everyone else's relief.

"I'm not… a weirdo!" Natsu struggled to break himself out of his sleepy state. "That's Lucy!"

"Hey!" Lucy's indignant voice sounded from the bar, where she was glaring in his direction. Juvia appeared just as offended as the small blonde.

"Well, it's true!" Natsu argued.

"Absolutely not!" Juvia exclaimed. Sting struggled with Natsu, who was trying to wrestle his way out of his arms to back up his claim with his fists, thinking he would be fighting Lucy in this situation, or maybe Grey…

"Stop it, Natsu! Your arm-!" Sting yelped as Natsu lit on fire and finally squirmed his way out of his guardian's grip. He landed on the floor, wincing slightly from the pain in his arm, and scampered around trying to find someone to fight.

"I'll show-" Natsu leaped towards Lucy, who was suddenly blocked by Juvia, who had a deathly glare that stopped the fiery mage in his tracks. Face paling when faced with Juvia's protective side, he swiveled and turned towards Grey, who seemed all the ready to fight his rival when Natsu was suddenly encased in ice, the confusion on Grey's face showing that it was not him who had attacked. A ghost of a smile passed Rufus's face and he touched his mask delicately, Natsu tumbling out of the ice in bewilderment. Sting saw his chance and took advantage of Natsu's dumbfounded state, swooping forwards and gathering him in his arms once again, sweeping towards the infirmary with an apologetic grin on his face.

And before anyone knew it, the two enigmatic mages were gone, having escaped to another room. Silence enveloped the room in their wake.

Meanwhile, Sting had placed Natsu on a bed and whipped out medical supplies, knowledgeable in this area at least. He carefully set to fixing Natsu's arm best he could, the boy himself a strange quiet. Eventually, Sting couldn't take it anymore.

"Natsu? What's wrong?"

His onyx eyes made their way up Sting's face, settling on his worried blue eyes. Natsu seemed to consider this, which was shocking in and of itself, then opened his mouth to speak.

"They… I mean, I know that I'm weaker, but I didn't think… well, that I was this weak!" Natsu burst out, peering at Sting to hear his confirmation that no, of course he wasn't weak.

Alas, Sting's mind was on something else. "They?"

Natsu's face twisted in confusion. "Well, I don't know… I wasn't always this weak, right? So someone made me weak. They."

It was strangely clever, in its own way. But this also meant the others knew of their weakness and were, maybe, trying to find the one that "did this to them".

Sting elected to stop thinking about it, and beamed at Natsu instead. "Well, you're gonna be just fine, so when we're done do you want to go home and play some more?"

"Yeah!" Natsu's face instantly lit up and Sting breathed a silent sigh of relief. He was not used to Natsu sounding so depressed. "Home! Where I li- wait. Your house? Wait. I think I have- ah ah ow!" The boy suddenly clutched his head, an unknown ache spreading through it at the thought of what may be his house. Where he lived, alone, as an adult. But he was a kid, and should not have those memories.

"Natsu! My house!" Sting yelped, fussing over the boy but not touching him in fear of messing something up. Bizarrely, at the words "my house" the headache promptly stopped and Natsu promptly forgot about it, adorning his trademark grin and reassuring Sting of his wellbeing. Before long, the two dragon slayers were off to Sting's house, where he originally lived with Rogue (though they had stayed at the Guild Hall with all of Fairy Tail after the party).

Natsu was back to his joyful, bouncing self, and Sting could have not been happier.


Lord, this is terrible. Also, I'm sorry. Mostly for the sheer lateness of this chapter. I never meant it to be so long, I swear! And then, school happened and life happened and writers block happened...

But I digress. The next part, Grey and Rufus (be prepared for the large amount of sarcasm in the next update), is already partially written, so it should not (key word: should) be as long of a wait.

Sorry again!

Angela Magic: Who doesn't love Gajevy? ^-^ And thank you, here's another update !

LadyLittleNecoLucy: Haha thanks! And here's an update, though it's not really soon per se...

Til next time! -Leaf