Filia stared at the wall, unsure if she was seeing correctly. She had drawn a yellow curtain and against a newbie at that? Moving through the crowd of men, she ran towards Slash's room where she knew everyone would be. She burst into the room, "I have a yellow curtain against a newbie!"

Brandon looked up from his book, "Yellow curtain?"

Jace had been moving a pawn but paused at her sudden appearance, "Newbie?"

Slash just cocked his head to the side, his long white hair covering his eyes.

"Do you think it's real?" She took a seat at the end of the couch, placing Brandon's feet on her lap. She didn't miss the blush that painted his cheeks but she didn't point it out.

"If it's a newbie, then probably. They rarely do this unless it's one with great potential that can bring in loads of money in the future." Jace answered, returning to his game of chess versus Slash.

Filia looked at Slash who nodded in agreement.

"Our baby Filly finally drew her first yellow curtain!" Brandon teased, but the relief shone in his eyes.

"Oh, shove a sock down your throat, Brandon." Filia slapped his feet

"Ow! Fine, I guess you're just a grown Filly, now."

"She's been a grown filly," Jace laughed, "obviously, you haven't been in-between her sheets. Which is good, because I would have killed you if you had."

Both Filia and Brandon turned red as their hair, "JACE DREAGER. YOU," Filia stood up, "JUST DON'T SAY," she marched her way over to him, "THOSE THINGS AS YOU PLEASE."

Jace looked up at the fuming Filia, his timid side suddenly appearing, "Filly, I was—"

Filia was angry; she hated sexualizing jokes like that coming from Jace – or Brandon or Slash, who couldn't really that anymore. She had enough of that from the audience and customers. She didn't need any from them, especially him.

"Just when I was praising you for respecting me," she snapped, "and by the way, I can have sex with whomever I want, because as far as I know, as of right now, I am single. Get blood from some other hoar, vampy-boy."

She left the room in a flurry of angry footsteps, only pausing to hear Brandon say, "Guess I can get in-between her sheets like you said, now," and sending a book flying at his head, "Not the time for jokes, Brandon."

She paced around her room, her sneakers squeaking each time she turned, "Maybe I overreacted a bit."

Filia made her way to her closet, "No, I didn't. They know I don't like jokes like those," she mumbled picking out her outfit for the day's match.

"But you broke up with Jace over it," she argued back, donning on a cropped white T-Shirt.

She struggled putting on her black tights, almost tripping over them and then slid on her jean shorts.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting some respect!" She yelled in frustration when she noticed she was wearing her casual clothes, "Dammit, DREAGER."

In the end she decided to keep them on; it was a yellow match. There was no need for her to wear her traditional dress. Plus, she was counting on the fact that the audience would love the change in her style.

And love it they did. She waved at them, hoping to shut them up faster, but they were wild. Alright, no more casual clothes then.

She waited at the middle, kicking her feet in boredom and didn't bother to look up when her opponent entered.

He had been prepared to find her, to see her after so long but her scent, although changed, froze him on the spot. Memories of her sprung tears in his eyes but he wiped them away; Sting Eucliffe did not cry. At least not here.

When the great doors opened to let him in, he hid his surprise at her appearance. Her traditional blonde locks were gone, replaced with a flaming red mane. Her style had also changed; she wore leather boots with tights, shorts and a white T-shirt. He could have thrown himself on the floor and cried of happiness; instead, he approached her.

He wanted to take her entire appearance in, inspect every aspect of her new scent, hold her, talk to her, hear her voice, everything. His hand twitched, begging to go to her, hug her and scream, "I found you, Lucy," but her eyes held no recognition, blindly staring at his face without a hint of the Lucy he knew. A closer inspection of her scent told him Natsu's mark was still embedded on her neck. Her memories must still be suppressed. The thought relieved and disappointed him. He crinkled his nose; there was another scent. It was of a male; a trace of his magic coursed through her. Could he be the one suppressing the memories? He wondered and bristled with jealousy at the thought of another male touching her but he calmed down. Lucy didn't belong to him; she could do as she pleased.

He visibly jumped at the sound of her voice – calm, collected, cold, "It's a yellow curtain."

A meager, "Yeah," was all he managed to say. How could he fight her? Sting, she's survived an entire year here already, she's not weak. And boy, was he right.

She charged, aiming for his abdomen; he dodged them with relative ease and retaliated with his own punches. She caught his wrist and threw him to the dusty floor as if he were a dummy she was practicing with. Fuck. She's strong.

The world was spinning and Sting's breath caught as she brought her face close, brushing her nose against his, "I won't lose – yellow curtain or not," her warm breath sending a shiver down his back. She dug her boot's heel into his stomach, and he smirked, "I won't lose either, blondie." Shit. She's not blonde anymore. She scrunched her face, confusion and fear flickering in her eyes. He reached up to her, but instead of hugging her close like he ached to do, he threw her off.

"The Lion, Leo," she chanted, glowing, "outfit."

She wore a form-fitting suit; her hair tied in a ponytail. She'd make a damn fine lawyer. Sting was distracted; he couldn't fight fully against her even though she was dominating him at the moment.

"Sorry, Luce." He whispered, and released his dragon force, earning him an "Ooh" from the crowd.

She surprisingly kept up with his speed, but he ended it with a blow to her abdomen, "Light Dragon's claw."

"Fuck." She whispered and slammed into the wall

It took everything he had to not run and fuss over her while apologizing a million times. Every hit he had landed had hurt his heart; she was still his one and only. He strolled off the arena, towards the tunnel opposite of the one he had entered from. A man stood in the shadows, "Welcome to the Colosseum."

Sting grunted in reply; raising an eyebrow at his smell, but tucking the information in an alcove of his mind. He already hated this shithole – forcing him to fight Lucy. She'd gotten stronger and she hadn't fought all the way either. I guess yellow curtains put fighters at ease here.

He should have taken the other tunnel, but turning his back on Lucy had seemed wrong. He was scared of turning his back and her disappearing again. It was a long walk back to his quarters. He had infiltrated the Colosseum for her. It had been a long-shot but after dealing with Tartaros they had confirmation that Lucy was indeed in the Underworld. He had spent three months in preparation for his transfer to the Colosseum and he hadn't thought his first match would have been against her. Well, this makes things easier, I guess.

Lucy would now approach him for a rematch. He smirked; this wasn't the Lucy he had fallen in love with but he'd already been fucked over thrice and he wasn't going to let her go.

Filia had dragged herself up from her humiliating position by the wall; that had been the first official match she had lost. Jace, Brandon, and Slash were waiting for her in the tunnel and walked, in silence, to her room.

They stopped halfway; Filia knew this presence. She ran the rest of the way and whipped the door opened. She bared her teeth at him, "You."

She paid no mind to the frilly decorations that dotted her bare room with splashes of color, and made to hit the man sitting on her bed.

He turned and she stopped in her tracks, "Ah, Lucy. I never," he scooped some of the red petals off her bed, "you had such," he eyed the decorations with mild disgust, "dreadful taste."

"Damn, harsh." Brandon strolled in followed by Slash and Jace who scratched the back of his head, saying sheepishly, "We've never been good with color coordination."

Brandon yelled at Jace, "Why are you lumping me with you two?!"

"You're the one who said we should surprise her!" Jace yelled back to which Brandon responded with a punch to the shoulder, "You did a lousy job."

"Shut up." Filia growled at the trio, nodding apologetically at Slash who raised his hands, No offense taken.

"As fiery as always, Lucy." He caught a strand of her hair in his pale hands, rubbing it between his fingers.

She spat at him, feeling proud that it landed on his cheek. His bright green eyes darkened and in an instant she had been slapped and thrown across the room. Jace and the others simmered with anger; he had them paralyzed so they gritted their teeth in helplessness.

He crushed the petals and let them fall off his hand; he stood up. She raised her head in defiance; staring him down as he crouched in front of her. His red vest crinkled slightly as he leaned in to caress her face, "Remember who you belong to. I do," he ran his thumb across her lips, "decide the matches."

"Fuck yourself."

A sharp pain pierced her head and she whimpered, "I do hope you know what you have done," he tutted and disappeared.

"Filia!" the three ran to her

"I'm fine," She waved them off.

Why had he come? He never came unless he was playing.

"He's playing his games again." Jace stated

"He's the Emperor. He has to find a way to keep himself entertained." Brandon shrugged, flopping down on Filia's bed.

"There's nothing good that has ever came from one of his visits. Be careful." She pushed Brandon to the other side, and sat down, "So, what was this all about," she gestured at the pitifully decorated room.

Brandon and Filia stood at the entrance of the arena, dread emanating from both of them, unable to process the scene before them. The Emperor never made any unnecessary visits.

Jace clutched Slash's heart in his outstretched palm; his best friend's limp body held up by his other arm. His whole figure tremble, from exertion, from pain. Both Brandon and Filia ran onto the field, uncaring about the rules, "Slash!"

It had been a red curtain match.

One had to die.

Slash had been slain by Jace.

She had defied the Emperor too many times and her friend had been taken away from them.

End of Chapter 9

Double update this time! The story has certainly taken a turn! With new OCs and setting, the story has begun to head towards it end. Yes! Sting has finally returned! Sorry, it wasn't the reunion many were looking forward to. It'll get there one day. Lucy(Filia) doesn't have her memories of him nor of Fairy Tail at the moment so it's to be expected.

I know this is such a drastic change in the story, but I hope you'll grow to love it as it develops into its finished product. How'd we even get here?

Leave me your thoughts, please?

Thanks for reading!

P.S- I'm sorry for the change in Lucy's language. ;-; She's different now.