A/N: In regard to the fight last chapter, I get that it is pretty unrealistic in terms of how Natsu and others reacted, but think about this: You find out you've been gone for 7 years. Wouldn't that make you pretty angry at the fact that you left everyone else behind for 7 years? It'd make me angry at practically the world. I wrote the fight to portray that Team Natsu was fighting because they wanted that time back, and more importantly, they wanted the time they missed out on with Wendy back. They just took it out on the group that was already ready to fight them back. Besides, it's Fairy Tail. They love to fight.
(A/N: Chapter has been updated with grammatical fixes since original posting)
"Ah, Crocus," Sting smiled brightly as he walked into the lobby of the large inn, "I've missed you."
Wendy smiled at her comrade, watching him jump onto the couch in the middle of the room. Sabertooth brought its entire guild to the tournament and, as a result of their recent wins, was given to best inn to stay at in Crocus. Every person got their own room and the rooms were pretty luxurious. They each had private bathrooms as well as huge and comfy beds to sleep on.
The rest of the Sabertooth guild walked in, and Jiemma saw Sting laying around and simply cleared his throat, making the White Knight immediately stand back up.
"You're just lying around? Must I remind you of who we are?" Jiemma asked the blond, who shook his head.
"Sorry, Master. I won't let my guard down, especially in such a week with this much importance."
Jiemma gave the teen a nod of approval before walking up the stairs to go into the biggest room there, the Master's suite.
A shadow appeared in the room and out of it came Rogue. "We're all checked in," he told the group. Jiemma used to be the one to take care of that, but now he just sits around and expects someone else to do that for him.
This year, as usual, team Sabertooth was comprised of the Triple Dragons, Yukino, and Orga. Rufus will be a reserve, though reserves are usually unneeded for this team. His real job was to just observe the other teams and memorize how to defeat them.
The team subsequently chose their rooms and placed their stuff in them. They all chose to be on the top floor and were next to each other. They enjoyed the top floor because of the amazing view the balcony was given. They were able to see the entire city there.
"Let's head to town. We have interviews to do," Wendy told the group after they had finished unpacking. Over the three months of training she and the others did, she had really given some thought to the fight that happened with Fairy Tail. It got a lot more personal than expected due to Sting's unwavering desire to defeat Natsu. She realized that Sting wasn't really fighting for Wendy...he was fighting to surpass Natsu. Natsu was all he ever talked about since team Tenrou got back. He could really get full of himself sometimes, but overall, he was pretty amazing.
"Are you sure you want to go, Wendy?" Sting asked, "No doubt they'll ask you about Fairy Tail."
Wendy shrugged and walked out the door with Carla. She didn't spend all of the three months building up her physical skills. Her mental strength was at a new high. She now has better control of her emotions. She made peace with everything that happened between her and Fairy Tail in the last seven years and was now sure that her former comrades were not going to be a distraction. "I'm not going to pretend that they aren't here. I'm going to be seeing them all week, so let the press ask whatever they want."
Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged before heading out to join Wendy.
"Where's our interviewer?" Sting asked as the team sat at their media station in the middle of the city. Fans were there waiting and the other guilds chosen to be interviewed were already almost done with answering questions, but Sabertooth's interviewer was nowhere to be found.
"Maybe they're too scared to ask questions," Orga smirked, his confidence as obvious as ever.
"Or they have no perception of time," Rogue calmly added. The 5 members sat in the order of Orga, Yukino, Rogue, Sting, and Wendy. Each one of them were tapping either their hand or their foot as they waited. Even the fans were beginning to leave, none of them walking up to the group to ask their own questions. The team then sat in silence for another 5 minutes before Sting's patience went to zero. As the blond was about to stand up to go back to the inn, the five all heard something...unpleasant.
"COOOOOOOOOL!" an unfortunately familiar voice shouted. The 5 members of Sabertooth, along with the three Exceeds, all went pale at the sound of it.
"Please don't tell me that's who I think it is," Rogue sighed as Sting sat back in his chair. Everyone's face darkened, all of them wishing they weren't about to go through the most annoying moments in their lives so far.
"Jason from Sorcerer Weekly here! And let me tell you, you are all looking so COOOOOOOOL!" the eager reporter ran up to the team.
"Just ask us questions please," Orga practically begged, internally dying.
"COOOOL!" Jason shouted, making everyone's ears fall off, "I'll start with Wendy!" he turned to the girl, who wished she would pass out or something to get away from this guy. He seemed so nice when she had met him, but now he was the one person every wizard hated to be interviewed by. "Looking beautiful as always, Miss Wendy!"
Wendy, not wanting to be rude, simply gave a nod of thanks and let the man start his questioning.
"How do you feel about going against your former comrades who the world viewed as dead seven years ago?" Jason asked, getting out his pad and pen.
"He went right out with it…" Rogue breathed out offhandedly as he sweatdropped at Jason's lack of consideration to how Wendy might feel about the sudden question.
"I think it will be nice to show them how much I've grown over the last seven years. There's no hard feelings, though. They should be able understand that Fairy Tail is in my past." Wendy told Jason, answering very maturely considering everything she went through the past couple of months.
"COOOOOL! And what about that fight that happened down in your guild hall? Care to explain what you were thinking during that?" Jason referenced the battle that took place 3 months ago. Memories flashed themselves in front on Wendy's eyes, forcing her to remember the horrific sight of her past fighting against her present.
"I've come to realize how immature it was on both sides. My old friends failed to accept that things have changed, and my current comrades," Wendy shot a look to Rogue and Sting and then one to Orga, "Just really love fighting. It wasn't necessary, but I guess they couldn't help it." Wendy lied, making sure she didn't make them look bad. Had she blamed it on them, the press would no doubt turn those words around and make this whole situation more dramatic than it needed to be.
"COOOOL!" he wrote down her answer, "Now, the fans are dying to know. Is it true that you three are in a love triangle?" Jason asked, pointing to the Triple Dragons. Yukino and Orga both sweatdropped as Wendy blushed greatly, hiding her face from the reporter to make sure he got no pictures of her in such a state.
"It's not like that!" Sting and Rogue yelled at the reporter, their bodies now outlined with light and shadows, respectively as embarrassment and annoyance washed over them.
Jason, instead of being scared, yelled, "COOL COOL COOL COOL COOOOOL!" as he wrote down the answer. He was definitely going to turn that around to make it seem like there really is a love triangle between them. Sting and Rogue sighed at this, knowing it wasn't true. Rogue saw Wendy as a sister, and Sting saw her as, well, someone he could trust with anything and never be let down by.
"What's with society these days? Always about love..." Sting grumbled to himself, rolling his eyes at the reporter for probably the 100th time today.
Jason, moving on from the topic, then turned to Yukino, "Yukino, any new keys you acquired over the past year?"
Yukino nodded, but refused to reveal which ones they were. "Sorry, Sir Jason, it's a surprise for the tournament."
"That's okay. I'm sure they're really COOOOOL!"
"Please don't call him 'sir' ever again," Rogue whispered to Yukino.
Jason then continued his questions for the next 5 minutes before leaving. Orga wasn't asked any questions, much to his displeasure.
"Oi, I'm Sabertooth's strongest mage! You have no questions for me?!" he yelled, but was ignored. Orga then crossed his arms, pouting. "I sat through this torture and the least he could do was ask me how my day was going…" The rest of his team only laughed at the poor guy. He started giving himself the title of 'strongest mage' when he was promoted to S-Class, but everyone knew that Minerva was the ace of the guild. Orga's power was definitely up there, but some Sabertooth members were convinced Wendy could beat him if it was a life-or-death battle.
The team then went out to eat lunch at a restaurant where all of the other guilds were eating. Wendy looked around the room to find Fairy Tail's team. She spotted Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Gajeel eating together. 'No Laxus...or Gildarts...or even Mira. Just one S-Class mage?'
The second Wendy spotted them, they spotted her. The two teams gave each other intense stares as tension began to fill the room.
"I don't like those two boys with Wendy…" Gajeel muttered to Natsu, who nodded as he downed his fifth bowl of noodles.
"Those are the Dragon Slayers I was talking about."
Gajeel looked at Rogue, his face familiar to him. He felt as if he had seen the guy many years ago. The Iron Dragon Slayer searched his memories, but he couldn't place a name to that face. "Who's the guy with the ponytail?" Gajeel asked about Rogue, who had put his hair up that day instead of keeping it in its usual down position.
"The Shadow Knight, Rogue Cheney," Natsu answered.
"Doesn't ring a bell..." Gajeel mumbled to himself.
Team Sabertooth approached Team Fairy Tail, led by Sting. The Fairy Tail group immediately stood up, Gajeel and Natsu grinning evilly. As a result, Sting and Rogue immediately got into a fighting stance. The entire restaurant fell silent, knowing what was likely about to happen.
Wendy worriedly stepped in front of her two best friends, giving them a warning look. They immediately backed down at the sight of her eyes.
"I'm sure you've anxiously waited these last three months. Just save it for the Games," Wendy glared at Sting and Rogue. She then turned to face her old team. They had the same look on their face as always. They were determined. They were ready to fight to be the strongest once more. "There's no need to make this any more personal than this needs to be."
"My apologies for what happened three months ago, Wendy," Erza spoke up, "This is not anywhere close to being about fighting for your return to Fairy Tail. You've made it clear that you're happy in Sabertooth, and we've accepted that."
"This is for the sake of bringing Fairy Tail its glory back," Lucy stepped up. "Fairy Tail must be number 1 again."
"And everyone who stands in our way..." Gray said as his clothes were suddenly off his body, "will be taken down."
Wendy let out a sigh of relief at this. The Games didn't need to be about her and her ties to Fairy Tail, so she was glad to see their new resolve. She really didn't want that kind of attention anyways. The girl then nodded at the group. "Understood. But let's save this rivalry for the cameras. I'm sure they'd love to eat this up."
Natsu nodded at the girl, the two sharing their own intense stare as if examining each other's souls. Wendy could see absolute determination in Natsu's eyes while Natsu saw the girl who once was a weak and timid now full of strength and determination. He then broke the stare with a bright smile.
"If we fight, give me your all, Wendy!" Natsu requested. The girl then smiled back and nodded. Seeing Wendy really made him curious as to how much she had improved while he was away. On top of that, Natsu wanted to keep his unintentional tradition of fighting every Dragon Slayer he knew. To him, fighting them was just more exciting than fighting anyone else.
Team Sabertooth then went to their own table to eat, leaving Fairy Tail alone for now. The rest of the room returned to eating, acting as if nothing just happened. "Are you okay, Wendy?" Yukino asked the girl in a worried tone.
"Don't worry. Yukino. I'm perfectly fine." she nodded, "I'm just glad they haven't changed over the course of 7 years." Wendy paused before giving a slightly concerned look. "Or maybe I shouldn't be. If they are still the same people, then we need to work extra hard if we want to maintain our title."
The rest of her team drank to that, knowing that this year would likely be the hardest one yet.
That night, at midnight, the five, along with the 3 Exceeds, returned to their rooms at the inn. As they prepared to go to sleep, a projection of the game's referee, Mato, appeared outside of everyone's windows. The 5 Sabertooth teammates all went straight to the balcony to check out what was going on.
"Welcome to the 7th annual Grand Magic Games!" Mato greeted. "As a result of the increasing amount of guilds participating, we've decided to make this year more interesting!"
"I don't like where this is going…" Wendy admitted. Suddenly, the balcony began to rise off of the ground, causing the 3 Dragon Slayers to fall to the ground, sick to their stomachs from the movement. Yukino and Orga sweatdropped at the rather pathetic sight.
"All these years of training and you guys still can't handle a little motion," Orga shook his head in disapproval.
"Shut...up..." Sting said between breaths, trying his best to not hurl all over the ground.
"This is the first ever elimination round! We're going to cut down the number of teams from over 100 to just 6 with a simple race! The first 6 teams to have all 5 members make it to the arena get to participate in the tournament!" Mato announced. The balcony stopped moving and the Triple Dragons got up from the ground, now completely able to move again. A path appeared in front of the balcony, leading to a large labyrinth in the sky.
"An elimination round, eh?" Orga got excited, black lightning appearing around him as his energy charged up.
"Only 6 teams make it," Sting smirked, "Let's get there first."
"Let the preliminary round, Sky Labyrinth, begin!" Mato instructed.
With that, the 5 of them all ran up the path. Wendy enchanted everyone's speed, making them the fastest of the teams. When they got inside, it was a three-dimensional maze in the labyrinth. However, with Wendy's heightened senses in the sky, the team easily found where they needed to go. They encountered no other teams, being far ahead of all of them. They may be tigers, but they were cheetahs compared to the speed of the other teams. They were hardly breaking a sweat. When they reached the center of the maze, the maze had shifted positions. It rotated a few degrees, but thankfully the Games officials took the Dragon Slayers' motion sickness into account and created a lacrima to make the Dragon Slayers able to handle the movements in order to make the race more fair. After a quick jog, the five had reached the end of it. Mato greeted them, not even shocked at how quickly they got there.
"Of course, you guys are here in less than 10 minutes," Mato greeted the 5, slightly disappointed that they were still dominating. Hopefully this year would be more interesting than the rest. After all, they needed to raise the viewership for the Games to earn more profit for the kingdom.
"You gotta make these things more challenging," Sting brushed off.
"Noted..." Mato muttered before letting the team into the arena. There, they got their team uniforms and proceeded to go back to the inn to get their sleep for the night.
"There better be another battle round this year," Orga spoke up to his teammates as they entered the inn. "That was our most fun win yet." he smiled, remembering the tournament from just 2 years ago.
"With Fairy Tail back, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a battle everyday," Rogue pointed out.
"Let's hope we go against Natsu and Gajeel," Sting gave the Shadow Dragon a smirk.
"I want to see what Lucy can do with her spirits," Yukino declared. If she got a closer look at Lucy's skill...maybe, just maybe, she'll be able to 'open the gate to changing the world'. Yukino read that somewhere on her travels, knowing it would happen when someone obtains all 12 Zodiacs. Whether that be Lucy or Yukino, that's up for fate to decide. Either way, having all 12 Zodiacs in one place will definitely be interesting. Jiemma will probably want Yukino to get Lucy's 10 gold keys, much to no one's surprise. He's wanted that from her since she joined the guild. Perhaps this is going to be her only chance to truly prove she is worthy of S-Class status, just like the rest of her team.
Many were wondering why Yukino was chosen over Rufus to participate in the Games. After all, Rufus is an S-Class mage and Jiemma trains the teen more than anyone else outside of the Dragon Slayers. According to many rumors Yukino's heard around the guild, Minerva was the one who convinced Jiemma to let Yukino participate over Rufus. Minerva and Yukino did get along pretty well, so that seemed reasonable enough.
"I hope Laxus participates for at least one day," the Lightning God Slayer announced, "I want to see the look on his face when he feels my black lightning."
Wendy looked out at the sky, feeling everyone still fighting in the labyrinth. She remembered what her former comrades told her a few hours ago.
"Everyone who stands in our way will be taken down." Gray's words repeated in her head. Wendy clenched her fists, her fighting spirit igniting. She was eager to show her old friends everything she's learned since they've been gone, and she wanted to see if they had improved any more since she last saw them, too. After all, three months of preparation before the Games was more than enough for anyone to get stronger. The girl then grinned as excitement ran through her. She was never one to get riled up before a fight, but this was different.
"Bring it on, Fairy Tail."
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Blame school...
Thanks for reading! Like I said, a very quick elimination round. Nothing exciting happening there. Just imagine Sabertooth kicking ass by running at the superhuman speed Wendy gave them.
Day 1 may or may not be one chapter. I will change a few things, but the concept is pretty much the same.
I have been contemplating for a long time whether or not I want to make a sequel. I'm also contemplating if Rogue will get a love interest. It'll likely be Yukino, but it won't be as developed as StingWen (I have officially declared that the ship name unless someone else had a better one haha).
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fairy Tail or its characters.