I don't own Fairy Tail

Song of the Chapter: Find You, Duskus.

Chapter 25: You

Narrator POV (4 days until Acnologia arrives)

Lucy and Draco walked the streets with their hoods up, obscuring their faces. They had decided to patrol the streets to search for any possible dark guild members who were sympathizers with Acnologia. Meanwhile, Loke was in the colosseum trying to get the guilds on their side. Lucy felt so useless at the moment, but there was nothing more she could be doing on her part to better the situation. Still... She thought to herself-

-Suddenly she felt pressure between her brows and peered up so see Draco had just poked her in said spot. "Hey!" Lucy protested with a small smile, "What was that for?"

"You're gonna get wrinkles if you keep worrying like that ya know. Then Sting really won't want you," Draco teased easily.

Lucy pouted, "That's not very nice of you to say."

"Don't worry master, I'll always want you," He replied with a wink.

"Oh shut it!" Lucy punched his arm hard.

"Ouch! Yeah forget Sting, you need a monkey to go with your gorilla girl nature!"

"Grrrr… You!" Lucy cocked back her fist for another punch but before she could Draco ran ahead like a kid. He laughed deeply as Lucy chased him with clenched fists.

"See if you can catch me!" He teased and weaved through the crowd of people down the street even faster. Lucy caught a glimpse of his squinted yellow eyes as they crinkled with laughter and couldn't help but smile along with him as she chased him with flushed cheeks.

I forgot how handsome he is, she thought to herself. She realized he had once again made her forget her worries, and she was thankful for that.

Draco slowed and sped up to allow Lucy to get just close enough to be unable to catch him. Lucy got caught up in the game because in the next moment her hood caught on a passerby and was torn off her head. Draco hadn't noticed yet but Lucy froze in place, quickly rectifying the situation. Her head whipped around to catch the recognition in anyone's eyes.

Red eyes in the darkness locked with hers, they narrowed a bit and then disappeared.

Lucy's heart dropped. She had been recognized. She ran to the alley, but as expected there was no one to be found. The lights from the main street cast her long shadow in the empty alley.

"Hey what's wrong?" Draco was behind her in a moment, his voice laced with concern.

"I was recognized just now, but they got away."

Draco's face knit with worry, "Is there any way we can track them down?"

"It all happened so fast," She said.

Draco sighed as he dragged his hand down his face wearily. "Well, at least they didn't attack immediately. Come on, let's get out of here before they bring back more company-"

"-Red eyes!"

"What?" Draco said.

Lucy continued, "The person who recognized me, they had red eyes. There are only two people I know with those unique eyes…"

(3 days until Acnologia arrives)

"Guess who I saw yesterday."

Sting looked up from the match he was watching. The colosseum was loud, but he could single Rogue's voice out from the noise any day.

"You don't usually play games like this, just tell me who it was," Sting replied irritably.

He didn't want to admit that he was still in a bad mood from seeing Lucy at that time, even just admitting it mentally made him even more irritable. He realized he was being a dick to Rogue for no reason but was too prideful to take back his words or apologize.

Rogue looked at him as if he could see everything on his mind, Sting hated that about him in times like these, when Sting was ashamed of the way he acted. If Rogue was offended in any sense, he didn't show it per usual.

"Lucy."

Sting couldn't help the surprise that shot across his face, it was only a second later it was hidden behind his usual mask of indifference. Sting hated the fact that Rogue knew his weakness. Sting turned back to the match to feign his lack of interest. Minerva was battling the water ball, beating some poor fairy to a pulp.

"Is that so."

"Yes, would you like to hear about her?"

Sting wanted to yell. Of course, he wanted to hear about her! His lips instead pressed into a thin line. His eyes remained locked on the match, looking in the general direction but not seeing.

Rogue appeared to be unbothered by the silent treatment, it was more like he expected the conversation to go this way. Maybe he was being too meddlesome, Rogue had considered not even mentioning the sighting to Sting at all. In the end, Rogue thought that Lucy was the only remedy for the current Sting's attitude. Despite the shadow dragon slayer's initial anger, that had basically matched Sting's when she ditched him, he realized that Lucy had been good for his friend. The kind of chemistry they had together Rogue knew was the stuff that only came once in a lifetime. Time passed after Lucy's disappearance, Rogue's anger turned into disappointment, maybe because he considered Lucy a friend as well.

The deciding factor has been one of the first days of the tournament. Rogue witnessed the way that Lucy had looked at Sting from that crowd of fans, damn if he couldn't recognize how much Lucy loved Sting the same way he loved her. Even if Sting rejected her that day, even if Sting didn't see what Rogue saw in Lucy for him, Rogue decided he would do something for his friends' sake.

"I'll take that as a yes," Rogue said with a smirk.

Sting shot him a glare before turning back to the match, his ear cocked to hear what Rogue was about to say despite the attitude.

"She was on one of the market streets. She had a cloak on to hide her identity, but I recognized her scent and confirmed her identity when her hood was accidentally removed," Rogue paused, looking at Sting from the side of his eye as he pretended to watch the match as well.

Sting remained hunched over the railing, "That's it?"

"You want to hear more?" Rogue teased.

"F*ck off… It's not like I care or anything," Sting ended the sentence in a mumble, he didn't even believe himself.

Rogue decided not to tease his friend anymore, he didn't want to scare Sting off. Or maybe...

"She was with a man."

Sting's head whipped around to Rogue this time, he was unable to hide his jealousy.

"Or perhaps spirit is a better word for him, that dragon one, what was his name?"

"Really, Rogue? Don't be such a dick," Sting said. Despite his angry words, he relaxed with a satisfied smile, there was no way Lucy was with her spirit, especially not that playboy Draco.

Rogue continued unbothered, "She looked better than when we saw her the other day."

His smile faded at those words. It was true. He could remember despite how beautiful she naturally looked, she looked worn out, as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. He wasn't glad to hear she was doing better… Not at all!

Rogue felt he had said enough. He turned around to leave but what stopped when Sting caught his wrist.

"Where are you going? We haven't finished yet," Sting said.

Rogue shook his head, "Can't you see? The match is over."

Sting looked back, it was true, the Fairy that Minerva had been fighting looked half-dead, the match was long since over.

"Wait that wasn't what I was talking about…" Sting turned back around but Rogue had already disappeared into the shadows. The light dragon slayer stood alone, his fists clenched at his sides. The colosseum was unusually quiet in the face of the brutality in Minerva's match but Sting's thoughts clamored in his mind.

Sting collapsed to his knees.

"Sorry, Lucy. Natsu was too strong," He said before everything went black.

The coliseum roared around the fallen shadow and light dragon slayers, Natsu had won the battle and Fairy Tail was now in first place.

Lucy was watching a later rerun of the match from the restaurant at the inn. Her knuckles turned white as she clenched the mug between her hands. Sting had looked like he was in so much pain.

"Wasn't that an amazing match!" Remarked Vee from behind the bar.

Lucy hid her expression behind a swig from her mug, "Sure."

Vee looked at her with pity, "Aw Lucy, were you rooting for Sting?"

She sighed, "Yeah. I really was."

Another mug was set down in front of her. "On the house, for your troubles," Vee winked.

Lucy looked up at her bright face and couldn't help but smile, "Oh, you don't even know the half of it."

"You've had a bit much don't you think?"

"Shut up Rogue," Sting said. He obsessively held his glass before deciding to finish it in one gulp. A second later he very much regretted it, whiskey did not go down easy.

Rogue shook his head.

"Y-you know wh-what? I'm going to get some air," Sting slurred.

Rogue reacted slightly alarmed, he knew Sting was in no mood to have his company, so he gave a pleading look to Lector. Sting was already badly beaten from today, he might hurt himself this late at night.

Lector understood, "H-hey Sting?" He asked nervously, "Can I come with you?"

Sting's Exceed was the only one who could calm him down At this moment, but even so, he still wanted to be alone.

"Sorry, I just want to be alone," Sting said, softer this time.

Sting left on that note, the summer night air was refreshing and gave him the illusion of being sober. He welcomed the cool breezes that blew by now and then. He walked, away from the bustling hotel district and towards the quiet residential areas of Crocus. As he continued, all manners of people passed him in the streets. Groups of friends laughing joyously, office workers still in their work clothes coming back from a drink, and couples using the chilly July night as an excuse to cozy up in public. Sting had needed to get away but nights like these felt so lonely. He would have been fine if he hadn't gotten the taste of having someone, someone just for himself, then losing her. His eyes prickled.

Nothing went his way, ever. He thought today would be the day he would finally beat that asshole who hurt Lucy, but he wasn't even strong enough to pull that off. I'm so pathetic.

The negative thoughts began to make his head hurt, in fact, things were spinning and twisting in front of him.

"Ughhhh, I don't feel so good," Sting muttered.

Like the light at the end of the tunnel, a lone bench illuminated by a single street light appeared in his vision. He stumbled towards it, flopped down, and stuck his head between his knees. Sting really didn't feel like throwing up tonight, even if tomorrow was a break before the final day of the games. His whole body ached from injury and his head pounded.

"F*ck," Sting croaked.

Sting didn't know how long he held that position, but he sensed someone watching him a small distance away. He wearily picked his head up. They were just out of the light, so he tried to squint to see them.

"I know you're there, show yourself," Sting tried to sound more coherent than he felt.

The figure gingerly stepped into the light, slipping off their hood that obscured their identity. Sting's eyes widened.

Lucy POV

I couldn't sleep. Draco had reassured me that he could do the night patrol, but one more person on patrol could never be a bad thing, right? That's how I ended up on a restless walk down the street home to the hotel district of Crocus. The bustling streets at such a late hour made me feel a bit less alone, the walk was a perfect remedy. Despite my leisure, I was still on patrol and alert, that's how I spotted him.

He was drunk. Sting stumbled through the street, minding his own business, just looking incredibly out of it.

I felt a pang in my heart, he must be hurting so much right now. He was covered in bandages from his fight earlier, but I was sure the bigger injury was to his ego. That's probably why he drank himself to this state. At this rate, he could hurt himself...

... At least that's how I justified myself following him from a safe distance. Due to his inebriation Sting couldn't sense I was close by, so I was able to follow him quite the distance until he ended up at a park bench with his head between his legs. He stayed that way for a while, I didn't know how long I stood there, watching over him. Goosebumps rose on my arms from the cold wind, I rubbed my arms, distracted. That's when he caught me off guard.

"I know you're there, show yourself," Sting called out.

I froze. He didn't know it was me yet, I could turn and run, he wouldn't be able to catch me. His red-tinged eyes stared into the darkness, searching. Looking at his face, twisted with pain, I couldn't bring myself to walk away. So despite my better judgment, I stepped into the light.

To be continued….

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter! I was looking back at the old chapters and seriously cringing haha, thank y'all for sticking with me for so long, even through the cringe. Maybe one day I'll rewrite… Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. I plan to be back with another chapter soon, feeling inspired. Stay safe.

Song of the Chapter: Find you, Duskus.

~Pug