Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.
Just a heads up; most of this chapter is describing the first event. (Which, no, unfortunately, is not the one where Lucy appears. Next chapter, promise. Trust me, I know what I'm doing now.)
Anyways, I owe a huge thanks to:
Casey-Pup
MisfitQueen
The-Element-Snow
juneJuly305
Molten-Ashes
SumWhat Sketchy
Amv20
OhannaLife
kotono3
RandomObserver42
Lecy98
YonaluDragonfilliaOTP's
RazenshiaSapphire1306
Nutellaaddict
serioushugsies
Kate. R12
BloodyAsylum
KameG
Lillz11
zxxphyr
D. S. Willow
kallen10
Zeroheart
bladzesword
NightKnight13- Thanks!
omgcrying-lovethis
powerade101
104688
aretha. nm
kthanksbye
NikkiFaeDragane
creative hahnaa
Renjihime143
TheKeyToDestiny
CatLikeRuby
Angel Dimond
narutoyaoifan- ...well, you do you, dude.
macy10495
EliteBookworm
MSch28
NVismyname
Nillaney
dusty999
The Bubbly Violin
felic42- I promise they'll meet soon. Next chapter. (Sorry.)
iheartpickles- I tried to make Lucy not as useless as she was in the show...
Thegirlwonder09- Really? Aww, thank you so much! That makes me feel... God, I can't even... just, amazing. Thank you for that.
OMGShamrock123- I honestly wasn't expecting her to beat him either but... I felt like Lucy finally deserved something good to happen to her.
urban flora- See how I decided to put Natsu in the Games. I think it was the right way to go.
BeginnerFanFictionWriter16- Angst is fun to write. Pretty much. That's how I started this story. and it just kinda evolved from there and... Yeah.
IbeWildBella- You don't have to be sorry, it's not like any of it was your fault. Thank you, though.
Ms. CookieSmugler- I know I love StingYu so much too... And I feel like hat with a lot of stories, where I just wanna reach into the book and just tell characters to stop being so stupid.
ShugoYuuki123- Don't worry, she will soon!
GoldenDarkness- Shhh not yet.. Shhh...
faithful2kh- Really? Beautiful? I'm just... at a loss for words. Thank you!
LavenderMoonRose- You guys rock. Really. And I promise, I'll try to not totally overwhelm you guys.
AprilJane01- Alright, will do! I've been imagining it too...
the-clumsy-one- See, that's what I was thinking. Great minds think alike, right?
maidenoftheluminousrapture- Thank you for what you said. And don't call yourself stupid! And... human... sized... statue?
Johnny Spectre- Oooh good ideas! Thank so much *tucks them away for later use*
Caecus Enkeli- See, I was thinking along those lines as well. Glad you understand how I felt about it.
Alicia Trinidad- I think I definitely Like 'Lucy the badass' more than 'Lucy the useless damsel in distress in every situation she's put in.'
nerdcandy- Aww, that's so sweet, thank you!
Tawny- turn me into a pumpkin? Well I suppose not I have to finish it... (P.S. you were right the second time, it's Senpai.)
READ THIS ONE BELOW IT'S IMPORTANT
Empress of Everything- THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! (And yes, I can feel your hugs all the way from the East Coast.) See, I decided on putting Yukino against Natsu, literally for the sole reason of: I've run out of opponents on the Fairy Tail Team. (It was either Juvia or Natsu so I mean... It'd be a bit too cliché for Lucy to just appear in front of Natsu so... Yeah... Java it is.) And writing Yukino and Sting is actually so frustrating because nghhhhh I don't even know how to explain it... Personally, I too think that watching them stumble around like oblivious idiots is... how did you put it? Vastly amusing, I find, describes it perfectly.
wishyouweremedontya- I WANT THEM TO MEET TOO... Oh, and thank you so much for that, it means a lot.
Fanfic Devil- Welp, at least the wait's finally over...
Darkangel-Luv- Sorry I took so long! I'll try harder from now on, I swear!
White Fang. A new guild, four out of the five the members in the team of five being male. The leader of the team was a Wind Mage, nicknamed Hiro ( pretty nice, who was still astounded at their stroke of luck. Gray had briefly spoken with him after the castle challenge; he was nice. But, he was also very realistic in terms of his Guild's abilities. (It was difficult to admit; and it hurt a little bit, but they were all rather sure they were it was a whim that they'd gotten in. Really. It was pure luck that they'd stumbled upon the last exit.)
Blue Pegasus. Mostly known for their womanizing Trimens, they had once again made it past the preliminaries. Of course, Ichiya (unfortunately) hadn't changed in the time that had passed
Mermaid Heel. Exclusively comprised of female, the leader of the team was Kagura. Solemn and intense, she wasn't an opponent you wanted to go up against one on one.
Lamia Scale. Well known for certain members, among them was the God Slayer Sherria, and the Ice Mage Lyon. Not to mention Jura, one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
Then the real powerhouses. The main events that everyone, everyone was anxiously awaiting.
Sabertooth. Possessing not one, but two Dragon Slayers on the team, there was a real uproar when the media had heard they'd be competing once again. Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney, the twins. And then there was Yukino Agria, the renowned Celestial Mage who was currently holding contracts with every gold key known to exist. (And, the one that's existence was not known. Though, the young woman herself wasn't aware of that. Yet.)
And then, there was Fairy Tail.
The big, badass Guild that had won the title of Fiore's strongest. The guild that had been through the most heartache, and suffering in the past year than some people experienced in their entire lifetime. They had endured the most press coverage (I say it like it's a bad thing mainly because it is a bad thing. How would you like someone always shoving a mic in your face, or always seeing yourself in the papers?) and were the most well-known faces on the continent but now.
Leading them all, was Natsu Dragneel.
It wasn't an unknown fact that the Fairies all were fiercely protective of their Guild Mates. And, they always fought much, much harder when someone they loved was at stake.
And now, Lucy's name was the thing they were fighting for. They'd all loved Lucy. No, they all love Lucy.
So, for her, they'd win.
They. Would.
Gray scowled.
"This is ridiculous," he growled, rolling his eyes. "It's a bad idea," he warned, not for the first time.
"My answer is final," the Master said, the tone of his voice indicating that it was not up for discussion.
"You and Gajeel with fight together for the first event."
The first event this year was two from each team, now that there were only six guild participating, rather than eight. (You know how the first events were a 'one from each Guild' kind of thing.)
Of course, what the actual event was this first round was a mystery, as usual. All participants were going in completely unaware of what the challenge would be, only that they needed to be on their guard. They had five minutes to pick a team of two.
And Makarov had decided to send in Gray and Gajeel. Together.
"But Ma-"
"Strategically, it makes more sense to save Erza and Natsu for the singular events. We agreed upon this the other night," Master said, watching Gray nod, so far following his trail of thought. "We agreed upon this already, so why is there question about this arrangement?"
"Because," Gray said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Juvia is my partner. Not Gajeel. Gajeel is the other single. Our Unison Raid has a really high success rate, remember?"
"Juvia wasn't feeling up to the challenge," Makarov answered shortly.
"Is she okay-"
"The girls all had a party for Lucy last night," The Master offered up solemnly.
Ah.
"They... I think they should take it easy for today, Alright? We've got two events today, so I'm subbing out Juvia for Gajeel, and since we planned on sending Gajeel and Erza in for the single matches, we'll have Gajeel take Juvia's place. Erza says she's feeling good enough compete, so Erza will take Gajeel's place and we'll sub in Natsu tomorrow for the single instead."
Gray nodded.
"Sounds like a plan."
The new arena was... huge. It was a grand, elaborate work of architecture that put last year's arena to shame. It was a monumental, spectacular Colosseum that was constructed of towering columns of white marble, and intricate carvings spiraling upwards into the seats.
Protective runes bordered the very edges of where the marble touched the dirt; ensuring that no bystanders would get hit by rogue blasts of magic. (It was pretty stupid looking back at it, that this procedure hadn't been used in the first few games. It had resulted in quite a few injuries, followed by more than a few lawsuits.)
And out stepped the first Mages.
Hiro and Asuka, from White Fang. The girl beside the good-natured leader had deep blue hair, darker than Wendy's. They were the newbies, but to their credit, they held their ground, heads held high. (Thought, they had to concentrate on keeping their knees from shaking when they thought about the possibilities if they were forced to come in contact with Fairy Tail or Sabertooth.)
Yuka and Sherry. Lamia Scale.
Araña and Risley. Mermaid Heel.
Orga and Rufus. Sabertooth.
When Gray and Gajeel stepped into the area, solemnly staring off at the Sabertooth, the whole area quieted. Considerably.
What on earth is going on down there? The Master thought to himself, squinting his eyes.
And then Rufus tipped his hat in recognition, and Gray cracked a smile. Master let out a sigh of relief.
Gajeel grinned, his canines sharp and pointed, and laughed the sky.
And then stone columns erupted from the ground. Pillars of stone rising to tower over even the audience. The whole arena even.
Gajeel's smile only widened at the prospect of what this might mean.
Then the arena went pitch black.
And then the lights focused down on them, and they were blinded by its brilliance.
"Alright then! Here begins the first official event of this years Grand Magic Games!" A loud voice boomed over the crowd. Slowly, the talking died out, murmurs slowly fading into nothing. "Here stands two members from each guild, as you may have noticed. And at random around the floor are stone towers. Each has a flag on top"
Each tower had a pathetic staircase slowly winding up, though it looked as though one wrong step would lead to someone plummeting down to the ground. They were tiny, just barely a few feet wide. And at the tops of the towers were flags.
"You'll also notice that the towers are all different heights. The higher the tower, the more points the flag on top is. Whoever gets to the top of the tower first and grabs the flag gets however many points that flag is worth," the voice explained.
Gray took this all in, already exchanging looks with Gajeel. They had to plan this; strategize with the few precious moments they had before it really began.
It wouldn't do for them both to go after the same tower. That much was obvious. Gajeel jerked his head to the side, nodding towards the second highest tower. Gray, narrowing his eyes, took this into consideration, before finally nodding.
Ah. What an interesting approach.
It was something they'd pulled on a job once, when Erza had been busy and Natsu had gone solo for a little to blow off some steam. He knew, he was certain that him and the iron Dragon Slayer were thinking the same thing.
"Do you know how to skate?" Gray muttered under his breath.
"Yes," Gajeel breathed back.
But before Gajeel had time to ask why, the horn had sounded and everyone went running.
The strategies were quite interesting, really. Some went for the closest towers, and the others (aka Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, and Lamia Scale) went for the bigger prize.
But no one had time to entertain this idea as ice rapidly coated the ground they stood on.
Gray smirked, and Gajeel gave him an appraising grunt as he pushed forward and was of like a lightning bolt.
Game on.
Gray praised Mavis when he saw Rufus taking off after Sherry of Lamia Scale, who was heading to the tallest tower. (He had faith that he could put up a good fight, maybe even win, though the odds were pretty even between the two, but he was glad he wouldn't be facing off a friend just yet. He'd been hoping to hold off on that for a little while longer.)
Him and Gajeel swiftly made it to the base of the second tower. They began the climb, Gray leading the way.
Orga was gaining on them, and finally Gajeel had that wonderful feeling tingling through his hands.
Time for some friendly competition.
Orga, having spotted that him and Gray were both after the same flag, laughed.
"Oh ho, what's this? Are Gray and Gajeel of Fairy Tail really stupid enough to compete against each other?" The voiceover sounded almost amused. The crowd was confused; puzzled as to why Fairy Tail would make such a tactical error.
But Gray grinned knowingly, knowing they could get this one. They practically had those flags in their hands already.
Gajeel, who had turned his arm into Iron to block Orga's attacks, suddenly cried out. Electricity had carried though his entire metal arm. Gajeel gave a warning shout, flipping over Gray. Gray shot out staffs of solid ice, like blunted lances; Orga reared back, almost losing his balance. They took the chance and ran for it. Each step brought them that much closer to victory, to winning in the name of Lucy. Quite some motivation.
And then they were at the top, the first people to make it. Rufus and Sherry still only half way up their chose tower. They both smirked in spite of themselves.
Gotcha.
Gajeel grabbed the flag, ensuring that Orga wouldn't be able to sneak up and steal the flag before they achieved their goal. The flag disappeared, vanishing as Gajeel's points appeared on the screen.
Eleven points.
Orga cursed, hurriedly descending in hopes of securing a decent amount of points. Gajeel cracked his knuckles, then his neck.
"You ready?"
Gray nodded.
So Gajeel simply grabbed him by the arms, spun in a circle until Gray feet were off the ground, and hurled Gray off the top of the column as hard as he could. Realization sparked in the eyes of many, and both laughter and cheers broke out all through the audience.
Brilliant, Master Makarov though to himself as Gray landed at the top of the highest tower, hand shooting out to grab he flag mounted at the top. Then there he was, Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail, towering over everyone. The flag glowed, then vanished.
Twelve points.
Even Levy, whose eyes were weary from the party the previous, had laughter bubbling out form her lips. She was clapping, rosy-cheeked and smiling radiantly. (It warmed his heart; seeing something that had simply vanished for what had felt like forever.)
That was when Master knew he'd made the right choice by entering them in the Games.
Also, his little hypothesis about Gajeel having a thing for Levy might have been a slightly off.
Perhaps it was the other way around.
Erza's match had resulted in a tie.
All the candidates had been matched up to a specific monster, and had been timed. The contestant with the lowest time would be awarded the most points. The monsters had been specifically chosen, by a group of experts as soon as the Guild who'd passed the preliminary match had been determined. Every member had been considered, seeing as there was no way to be sure who'd be competing for this round. All S-Class Monsters, regardless if the Mages themselves were officially S-Class mages.
Lyon's match had taken a little over two minutes, landing him squarely in second place. It wasn't bad, considering how the monster had been practically immune to temperature changes; extreme cold hadn't been effective in the slightest. Eventually, Lyon had managed to take it down with tactics he'd actually developed from Juvia, of all people.
She used fluid, graceful motions; flowing like water itself.
While him and Gray had originally operated through a rougher, more offensive style there definitely more opportunities and openings for an opponent to slip through their defenses. They were pretty tough, anyone would admit, but sometimes, simply being fast and strong wasn't enough to win.
Every time they struck, moving forward to deliver a blow, they'd somehow have to retract fast enough defend. The excess energy used to constantly go back and forth was both tiring and highly ineffective. But Juvia, her movements after striking out didn't suddenly stop. instead, she kept moving, twirling and carrying out her motions in long, graceful strokes. What had started out as a forward attack would then turn into a graceful twist around the enemy, and then a stance for defense.
It was very efficient.
But both Rogue and Erza had both placed at one minute and nineteen seconds.
Erza had cursed, letting her head fall with the weight of failure. But the rest of the audience? They were cheering. Clapping and whooping and screaming. They all greeted her with a huge group hugs and laughs, practically gushing over how awesome she'd been. For once, they were a family again. They were the guild that people recognized; the one they remembered from that last game. They were the old, loud, crazy family that had been buried in heaps of sadness.
And now, they were emerging.
Similarly, Sabertooth was all over Rogue, Yukino herself having tackled him in a hug the second he'd stepped out of the ring.
Sting's smile was frozen across his face.
She couldn't... I mean...
Rogue?
He would later wonder if anyone had even noticed him shove his hands in his pockets and leave.
They'd never been so happy. Not since she'd died, anyway. There was signing and dancing and a lot of drinking. A. Lot. Even Natsu, with an almost grimace-sort-of-half smile, he joined in the festivities. Lisanna had even draped a pathetic party hat on his head, threatening he'd pay if he took the thing off.
He'd decided to amuse her. For a little while.
Yukino had stopped by to congratulate them, despite her own guild having place just after them. (No hard feelings, remember? To them, it was just a friendly competition.) Natsu wisely not mentioned the Light Dragon Slayer who'd followed her. (Mostly because said Dragon Slayer had jut his head out from the shadows just long enough to send Natsu a seething glare. Natsu had then proceeded to choke down an amused smirk and welcome Yukino inside.)
And so ended the first day of the Games.
Yukino had never been more nervous in her life.
Sabertooth was right behind Fairy Tail in terms of points, but things seemed to be... slightly off with their Master MIA.
Rogue seemed to have an idea of what was going on, as did Natsu when she'd asked about it. Laxus, Gajeel, even Wendy seemed very knowledgeable to the subject. But no one would tell her, dammit! She'd seen the answer dawn on Gajeel, his eyes just so slightly gleaming with comprehension. But out of the corner of her eyes, if she'd been paying attention, she would have Rogue almost imperceptibly shake his head.
Sting needed time. He needed to process what was happening. Everyone, all of the Dragon Slayers that is, needed to help him put the pieces together.
But now, they had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Dragons had told them once, that Mates were a very powerful thing. But sometimes fate wasn't so kind, and while your soul could belong to someone else... that didn't mean their heart had to belong to you. The chances were one in a million but... Well, Sting seemed to have pulled the short straw. He was genetically engineered to make her happy, so he would let her go, his heart slowly shattering in the process.
He would let her fall in love with someone else, and he would watch her live her life without him.
They'd all seen her jump on Rogue. They'd all noticed how she cut Sting out, avoiding him like he was the plague. And then'd all noticed how she stuck to Rogue nowadays.
Maybe if Erik had been around, and willing to divulge in her deepest thoughts, he would, have told them it was because he reminded her so much of his brother that Yukino was always around the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Maybe they would have known that she just... couldn't look at the blonde without feeling something crack inside her.
But then Rogue had (hesitantly) shared what he'd walked in on the other night, and Wendy had just leaned back, saying that it'd all work out
Girls were so weird sometimes.
The day of the one on one matches, they had all come down to breakfast.
And now, looking down at her with cold eyes, was the man that had caused her more tears than she'd ever want to admit.
It made her eyes water, the way he was looking at her.
Like he had during those past years, in the old Sabertooth.
She felt like garbage.
He felt like crying.
Even in such a low state, it was amazing how Dragon Slayers and Mates truly did effect each other, whether for better or worse. (In this case it was obviously for the worse.)
"Hello," she finally managed, hoping she didn't look as taken aback as she felt. Even Rogue looked a bit startled at Stings new (well, old really) demeanor. Sting, on the other hand, was trying as hard as he cold to stay detached, so he didn't lose the (practically non-existent) dinner he'd forced down the previous night.
"Hi," he said shortly, once everyone had slowly wandered away.
"I just, uh," Yukino scratched the back of her neck. "I'm sorry for ignoring you the past few weeks."
Sting's spine straightened in spite of himself.
"I just, I had... stuff, I guess, to deal with. And I just... needed to be away from everyone and everything for a while," Yukino explained, eye downcast.
"But, I'm guessing my own brother wasn't included in that, am I right?" Sting asked, ignoring his throat, which was growing painfully tight. Yukino froze, knowing she'd been caught.
I knew he wouldn't have bought that.
"I-" she swallowed thickly.
There was no way to justify her actions. No explanation she could give that he would accept.
"Mates," she suddenly blurted.
Almost immediately she regretted it.
Sting shoulders wen taut, and she knew she should have just kept her stupid mouth shut.
Oh.
OH.
She... was disgusted. She knew and she was just...
His vision was blurring with tears, and from across the room, Sting knew Rogue could sense it all falling apart. A smear of black was heading towards the them, and he brought a gloved hand up to wipe away the tears. Yukino's eyes were glazing over, though Sting was too occupied with his own state to notice.
"So," he started, with his voice hoarse.
"Just... don't... This is already hard for me," Yukino interrupted.
"I bet she's beautiful."
Sting's head snapped up, eyebrows quirked. But she was already backing away, then breaking into a sprint, leaving nothing behind but a baffled blonde and tears on the ground.
She could feel eyes on her.
Thousands of people, watching her every move.
And thousands of eyes, including her own, on her opponent.
Juvia.
Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween!
-Pyro