LAST POLL RESULTS ON THE BOTTOM A/N. NEW POLL UP: Would you like me to start naming the chapters?
Somewhere in the mountains surrounding the Domus Flau, a loud cry of anguish could be heard followed by the roar of crumbling rocks.
With the scent of blood and sweat entangled in the air around him, a lone figure who had exhausted himself bloody reemerged from the rubble. The skin around his guild stamp had gone raw from all the hours of angrily throwing himself at inanimate objects, the paint only just beginning to wear off.
He was covered in an array of open wounds and bruises, having left them mostly untreated after leaving the arena in what he thought was a few hours back.
Keeping track of the time was not a priority when he awoke in a clean bed hours ago with Lector tucked under his arm.
Sting Eucliffe was beyond mad when he blacked out after the battle with the Fire Dragon Slayer.
He knew Gemma would be too and he was well aware of the current guild master's angry antics.
And he wasn't one to be laid victim to it; his pride wouldn't allow it.
"Sting..." he remembered hearing his Exceed whimper in his sleep, a lone tear falling from the red cat's shut eyes.
An image had flashed behind his own at his partner's voice, a distant form walking further and further away from him the more he blinked. The Sting then wouldn't have even hesitated to fall deeper into the dream, chasing after the figure and telling her to stop- but the Sting now?
The moment he had realized he was having a sick dream, he bolted. Storming out the room in a furry of emotions as Lector continued to sleep unknowingly of his soon disappearance.
Lector...
Oh how disappointed his friend would be of him.
"Damn it" he croaked, slumping onto the gravel in a mess of ripped clothes and heavy breaths. His lips were so chapped and eyes so tired that he couldn't even see where he was under the shadow of the night. He cursed a thousand times over, slamming his fist against the ground with each breath that escaped with his dry voice, "damn it. Damn it. Damn it..."
He laid there for who knows how long, shutting his eyes after a while when hot droplets of water began streaming down his face.
The sun was already up when Sting finally woke up, cold and hungry as he pulled himself up to collect his thoughts. He wasn't alone this time, however.
"Lily?" He asked in confusion, his throat still dry. Beside him sat the girl he cremated the other day alongside Salamander. The White Dragon Slayer rubbed his eyes in confusion, slowly readjusting his tired vision to see thatthe girl he had thought was his old 'fallen' team mate had a blank white mask covering her face, "who are you?"
The masked girl only tilted her head curiously, letting her pink hair- letting Lily's pink hair, waterfall onto her lap. Sting didn't dare move an inch as she started to creep closer to him, eerily not making a noise. It sounded like she wasn't even breathing.
There was no exchange between the two of them when she slowly but not subtly raised her hand and-
"Miss Lilian, if you'd please relax..." Azalia's medic cooed over top of me as I shivered under the cold metal stick he was previously prodding me with. From the corner of my eye, I could see my sister smiling halfheartedly at my discomfort.
It had taken longer than she expected to actually set up for this ritual as the old man would put it- most of the early hours of the morning were put into drawing out intricate magic circles with sand along the floor of the basement cellar. The next few were just us trying to successfully sneak candles and what not down there without being caught. It was pretty amazing how Azalia hadn't left us to her own interests yet.
I fidgeted nonetheless from my spot in the middle of the circle; in all honesty, the basement cellar reminded me more of a prison cell than a wine cooler. It made me suspicious of the precautions my noble sister took if in the event of me losing control, she was attacked...
"Do I have to be wearing this thing while laying down on the ground?" I complained for the thousandth time that hour as I fidgeted with the flimsy white dress Azalia had made me wear from my spot at the middle of the sandy magic circle. "Is this all necessary? I thought you said operation."
"Patience, young one," the old medic cut in before Azalia could even open her mouth. We both stared at him uncertainly as he waltzed around the room and added the finishing touches to the circle, "no man can ever hope to control one's magic as magic itself is its own spiritual self."
I had to crane my head entirely just to give my sister the now horrified look on my face. Seriously? She says she'll help me and then she goes and finds me the looniest medic there is in all Fiore? I am never going to trust her ever again.
Across from me, I could see Azalia shrug her shoulders dismissively, crossing her hands over her chest as the old medic finally stopped fixing the circle and looked back at me.
I swallowed nervously as the man signaled to place my face back down onto the pillow he gave me earlier and relaxed.
I listened awkwardly as the man began to chant, light footsteps dancing around my head as I heard the occasionally clicking of the stick he used to prod me with earlier against the ground. Azalia didn't make a sound and I wasn't going to be surprised if she left when I was finally allowed to get back up.
Suddenly I felt something tickling me from the ground I laid on; like a snake slowly trailing up to my knees, like a thousand dainty little fingers drumming around my hips, like it was raining from the ground. And then just as fast as the sensation began, it changed and I let out a loud gasp before blacking out.
"What was that?" Sting asked with wide eyes as the masked girl dropped her hand. The hazy vision condensing into the air with just a flick of her wrist, "and you still haven't answered my question. Who are you?"
Masky, as he would call her now for lack of a better name since she hadn't even spoken a word for the past few minutes, just stared at him before sitting straight. Well he assumed, she was staring at him- she was facing his general direction.
Something about her (that is... if Masky was even a her) scent didn't seem to want to click with him; he knew that scent, he knew he smelt it a billion times over. He just couldn't put a name to it.
Masky smelt human, that he was sure of and he/she obviously didn't even smell remotely close to how Lily smelt. He liked Lily's scent, but he would never say that out loud even on pain of death, and Masky? Masky made his nose burn with its almost manly smell.
"What was the point to that anyways," He started suspiciously as he too sat up from his spot on the ground. "I don't even know who that was."
Got to keep up the charade, he reminded himself as he glared at the mysterious person evenly, not daring to take his eyes off of him/her as he stretched. Masky gave a small androgynous chuckle.
"Don't take me as a fool, White Dragon Slayer."
Sting knew for a fact she didn't say it out loud- if it did, the words would've been muffled by the mask. What he heard though was clear as day, "she's in trouble."
Telepathy, he realized and immediately jumped onto his feet, seething. "She's enough trouble as it is. I'm not going to play your mind games."
Masky only threw its head back and laughed in that same voiceless chuckle that seemed to send shivers up his spine; in the distance he could hear the distinct sound of cheering and the loud cry of the announcer announcing the start of day 5 of the Grand Magic Games.
His glove-less fists clenched so hard that his knuckles were turning white.
"Speaking of games..." Masky started as it stood up and made a circle around him with Lily's body. He tried his best not to stare at her pink hair, "shouldn't you be there?"
He didn't dare answer, instead he glared at the masked girl and sneered. The blond watched as Masky stopped in its tracks as if to snap at him and before he knew it, he was blasted several feet backwards and right slam into a boulder he had ruined his fists on a few hours ago.
Whoever Masky was, they seemed to have the same magic Lily had as Bunny girl. Sting wasn't about to get tricked though, it could have very well been an illusion.
"You know you're disgracing my dead friend," he yelled out as he picked himself back up, watching as Masky advanced towards him, cracking Lily's knuckles. He smirked, "I'm going to have to kill you..."
"Two can play at that game." Masky replied smugly and they were off.
"Oh my god, you killed her!" Was the first thing I heard when I felt myself waking up from my odd dream. I knew immediately that it was Azalia from the fake horror in her voice. Or maybe it was just by the way she talked- no one but my family had that kind of accent anyways. I was just fortunate enough to lose it.
"Relax, Madame. She is merely sleeping. she'll wake up soon enough. Though there might be a chance she might actually be-" I heard the medic try to apologize before he was dismissed brutally by my sister.
I sucked in a deep breath once his hurried steps started to get quieter and quieter. I almost winced when I realized that the first thing I would have to see when I woke up from that ritual was Azalia's bewildered face which she managed to hide very quickly when she saw that I was staring back at her.
"Oh good, you're alive." The way she put almost made it seem like my situation was disappointing, "Get up, I've wasted most of the day because of you."
"How long was I out?" I asked after lifting my feet off the bed and realizing I was still wearing the dress. I wanted to ask how the heck I ended up here but quickly changed my mind at the ticked off expression on her face.
"Nothing you need to worry about; you did just miss the main event of the Games today however. But I think they're going to start the battles in a moment."
"The ritual?" Azalia scoffed as if it was a better memory.
"Waste of time really. After he knocked you out, he started chanting nonsense and laughing like a maniac, your friend took care of it though." If it was all taken care of then why was he still there when I was waking up?, I wanted to ask but something else in what she told me struck me uncertainly.
"What friend?"
"Is that all you got?!" Sting taunted as he dodged the punches Masky was throwing at him. He let out a loud laugh and aimed a swift one to its gut, watching as they shriveled in pain. The masked girl quickly recovered however and aimed a mad kick up his chin, causing him to bite his tongue painfully.
As childish as it was, he could feel his eyes tearing up from the pain.
"Not at all cocky are we now," Masky said in his head and Sting let another punch fly. He could've sworn he saw the corners of the mask twitch upwards in a smirk as the masked person flicked Lily's hair into his face and flipped him onto his back, "I hope it's not distracting you."
Sting wasn't sure just how it turned into a wrestling match; after Masky snapped at him, she stopped using magic all together and just started trying to initiate a fist fight. One that he accepted gratefully even if it was against someone using Lily's body. Which really wasn't much different than fighting a guy seeing as Masky was wearing a mask anyways.
"Actually it's motivating me," he let a big smirk dance on his lips as he quickly grabbed her knees and brought her down with him on the ground before jumping onto Masky, grabbing their wrists in one hand before they had a chance to escape.
"Now let's see who you really are..." He ripped the mask off the impersonator's face and with the mask came the illusion.
Sting turned green almost immediately.
"Y-you." He quickly jumped off the man he knew quite well once it was clear the illusion he had cast on himself fell away and took a few steps back, cupping his head in his hands and groaned in disgust, "but the crowd..."
The spiky blond jabbed his thumb towards the direction of the Domus Flau, a hand still soothing the oncoming headache, "the cheers."
"Memory make: cave's echo." The other blond said simply and snapped his fingers. The cheers, the announcer, even the dull echo of festival music died immediately.
"Rufus, you're a bloody son of a bitch," Sting groaned angrily, giving his team mate an angry glare. The bard only chuckled at his expression and toyed with his own red mask.
After the thought of him actually straddling the bard didn't seem to bother him anymore, the two males fell into a small momentary silence before Sting chose to speak up.
"So how did you find me?" The White Dragon Slayer started as he ran a hand through his hair and stared at the bard until he answered. The masked man just smirked at him and fixed his red elaborate masquerade mask.
"In my memory..." Sting could almost groan at the way the man chose to word his sentences, "you always seemed to like coming far from the arena yet still close enough to hear the commotion to cool off."
Sting just had to roll his eyes at that; he had never really teamed up with Rufus on any other occasion other than the games and the bard had a knack for picking up every little detail. It just made hiding things from him all the more harder since he practically memorized your body language by your second meeting.
"Gemma wants to see you," Rufus continued and Sting only scoffed as he kicked a rock nonchalantly.
"Would've known."
"You however, have something you need to do first... and it concerns that girl whether you know her or not." The White Dragon Slayer snapped his head back so quick he almost got whiplash. The bard however continued talking, cutting him off before he could even think up a white lie, "and it could turn out to be a life or death decision."
"Sting Eucliffe?!" I gaped in confusion at the figure pushing the big oak doors open. Sting merely only waved at me halfheartedly before I turned my head back towards Azalia, ready to yell.
Surprisingly enough, it was Sting who cut me off- not my younger sister.
"That medic was going to sped up your magic rate so fast that your body wouldn't be able to catch up with it. No matter your history." He muttered as he leaned against the door frame. I exchanged a confused look at the young noble and she only nodded to prove what he was saying, "You need to rest; I came when he was in the middle of summoning one of your... pets"
I wanted to ask so many questions then- like why was he even allowed inside the palace and why he chose now of all times to act so familiar with me when we had an agreement. And why Azalia hadn't said a thing yet. But the more I thought, the more my eyes starting to grow heavier and the more Sting talked, the more the lull of his voice pulled me to sleep.
Finally, when I was slipping in and out of consciousness where I had to stare at people through my eyelashes, I could someone trailing their cold finger down my forehead to my nose slowly. Like how one would try to make a baby sleep and for the first time in the short few days that I've been Lilian Evan Orelohr and not Bunny Girl, I finally felt safe.
Completely and utterly safe.
A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time, I just started High School and you guys know how important education is. I hope this chapter satisfies your wants and everything... I'll work on the next one as soon as possible.
POLL IS FINALLY CLOSED. It seems as though 8 out of 8 people voted for a happy ending, typical, I'll try my best. Now for a different topic... Would you guys want to me to tittle the chapters or just leave them as is? Vote in the poll!
I am actually so excited for October; Sting and Rogue's voice actors were finally released and it appears that the Great Magic Games Arc will start during the fall with the premiers of the animes of some of my favorite mangas. I can't wait.
I fixed all the grammar and the economic stuff that I messed up last chapter so um… please review? Sorry if it's getting too stressful to read, this is actually the first story that I have enough motivation to actually finish and so… I tend to jump around a lot over the original plot outline I made for myself back in February to actually further develop the characters. So I apologize.
I am still in the process of trying to develop Sting's character so please just bare with me since I totally don't want to pull out the clichés and stuff…