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Try as we might and as early we thought it was, sleeping was out of the question. To fall asleep would cause the terribly awkward situation of who gets the bed and who gets the couch. Even if our friendship was rekindled and I might be harboring a not-so-small-of-a-crush on the guy; I wouldn't take advantage of the situation considering the reason behind his visit. That'll just be coldhearted.

And sort of cliched.

Besides, Sting seemed to want to stay awake for as long as possible; so I wouldn't- couldn't question him.

"Why do you do that?" He asked, as he pulled a loose strand of my hair mischievously. I let out a loud yelp and I could just hear the smirk in his footsteps.

About an hour had passed since I told him about the picnic and he seemed adamant on meeting one of the guild members before then. The only problem was that he had already met two- Auguston and Emily and maybe En briefly and knowing him, I was pretty sure Sting had meant more than just having a simple civilized exchange and introduction with said L'arc Sibyl member.

There was another problem too- it was so early (well at least to most people it was early) in the morning (I think) that I was pretty sure no one was awake at this hour... well no one but Auguston Krued.

And the last time Sting had encountered Krued, he sent him flying into a circus tent.

"Do what?" I asked, pulling up the high collar of the black vest I had thrown on randomly back in my room and returned to listening to the light padding of feet as we twisted and turned through the halls.

Somewhere in the last hour, Sting had convinced me to walk down the halls barefoot for the rest of the time we were inside for as long as possible. It started out as a light comment about some guy in Fairy Tail who had a knack of running around with no clothes on and then it turned into a dare and then things escalated from there until I finally threw the slippers I was wearing down the stairs and gave him a sort of try-me look. A look that managed to get a chuckle out of him as we made our way to the front entrance.

"do that." As if to prove his point, he ran a finger through the bun I had just messily tied up moments ago, untangling a strand from the knot sitting on top of my head.

I let out a loud squawk as I slapped his hand away and glared at him, "don't touch the hair"

"Why not?"

"Just because." I looked away and continued walking, pulling the hair tie off the bun and letting my hair fall into tresses on my back. I was about to put it into a ponytail when I felt Sting grab a fistful of my hair and pull.

He didn't even say anything either; just stood there, holding the end of my would-be ponytail like a five year old holding onto their mother's hand. I almost laughed at the irony.

It had been sort of hard to get Sting's mind off the loss of his best friend, but somehow in the last hour I managed to do it. Even if he still sometimes slipped and frowned and sniffled whenever he thought I wasn't paying attention.

"You look funny," he said finally when we turned a corner- or I turned a corner and he was a bit too slow to follow. Nonetheless, the situation resulted in a painful yank as he lost sight of me- or the body the clumps of hair he was still holding onto belonged to.

I pretended I missed the part where I caught him taking a loud panic gasp and whispered my name under his breath. He didn't need to know I heard that.

"You look funny," I shot back and smiled reassuringly at him as I back tracked a few steps to look at him. Almost immediately, he relaxed when I playfully punched his arm.

"Real mature."

"You're real mature."

Sting only looked at me with an eyebrow threatening to shoot off his hairline before I finally relented and released my hold on the would-be-ponytail. He let out a loud sigh and let the strand of hair he was still holding onto fall from his fingers. I just groaned and massaged that part of my head.

We made small talk after that, with me continuously pushing my hair over one shoulder so he wouldn't be able to treat me like a pony again as we walked further down the halls. He didn't seem to say anything about it though, even though it was so obvious I was doing it as I always complained about the strands getting in my mouth as we strolled down the halls. However, it seemed like he was more dazed into his thoughts than he was listening to me ramble.

I let out a quiet sigh, trying to hide the sharp intake of air as I stepped onto another sharp rock. We were getting closer, and I could only hope that someone was going to hold true to their promise that they were going to lend me their shoes.

My wondering was put to a stop though when a pair of large doors filled my vision.

"Took long enough," Sting muttered beside me flatly as he shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. His blank face betraying no emotion. I almost laughed.

Krued was standing as still as a toy soldier by the castle wall when we were finally able to find him.

Truth be told, I had no idea what the time was- I was sleeping so much that I thought the day was going to start off with a late morning only to find out that the Games had just ended the moment Sting and I wandered out the room. But we didn't know that and it wasn't like Sting was a big help either- he practically hated the thought of keeping track of the time.

So to think it was still early morning due to the fact that Krued looked like he was about to fall asleep had a perfectly logical reason behind it.

"Morning, Krued!" It wasn't till later I figured out just why his eyes darted towards me and his brows scrunched up together as if to say what the fu- when I said that.

"How are you faring?" He asked with a straight face, still standing completely still and not even bothering to turn his head towards me. I could hear Sting stifle back a chuckle from behind me.

I wasn't kidding when I said Auguston Krued took his job a little too seriously.

"Well." I replied and bounced on the balls of my feet awkwardly, stretching my fingers like the magic surging through my system had shocked them stiff. Somewhere in the distance, I heard the hushed sound of the bell tower, "are you free?"

I heard him breathe a loud sigh the moment the sound of the bell tower reached the acting lieutenant colonel's ears. And just like a balloon that had its air leaked out; he deflated, slumped in his spot and turned fully towards us, live with an awkward jumpiness, "what's up?"

I turned to look at Sting curiously before introducing the two only to find him standing right beside me, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the acting lieutenant colonel and L'arc Sibyl mage. I didn't even get to say anything more when Auguston gave the white dragon slayer a sort of challenging look, relaxing into an offensive stance as he inched closer to me. Their eyes never left the other's but the moment Krued placed a hand over my head, Sting let out the angriest growl I've ever heard.

All hell broke loose after that.

There was hair pulling, biting, lots of name calling and I swear to the almighty being up there, I could've sworn I heard the ever so calm and awkward Auguston Krued call Sting Eucliffe a prude and that he belonged in a senior's home, knitting scarves with her friends.

I stopped listening to my sanity the moment I saw them jump onto each other as I looked on in confusion.

Sting, god bless Sting, managed to pull the other mage off of him by the hair and sumo flip him into a bush of roses. Lots of pouncing and growling followed after that. Like fighting another male was a common occurrence in their species, especially in random places like here for example.

At one point, I could even hear one of them scream out in frustration with a voice that cracked like a twelve year old going through puberty.

I watched in confusion when they finally tore apart from each other, with violent red scratch marks decorating both their cheeks and necks and bruises coating their faces. Maybe to say they had a catfight was a little too much, but it didn't matter how much I exaggerated what actually happen, it didn't change the fact that they honestly pounced on each other the moment they locked eyes.

I was honestly so confused when I heard Sting give a huge laugh, throwing his head back and letting a smirk grace his face. His usual facade returning little by little, "You fight like an old hermit."

"You throw punches like a baby," Krued chuckled as he wiped the back of his hand over the corner of his mouth.

"Sting."

"Auguston, but you can call me Krued."

"Whatever man," Sting smirked and lifted himself off the ground, "I'm starving."

Krued glared at him then, a vein popping out of his forehead as he folded his arms and sneered at the dragon slayer, "fat ass."

"GUYS!" I cut in quickly before another fight broke out between the two, "the um... picnic?"

"Can wait," Sting finished for me, pushing me behind him with one arm as he cracked his knuckles and smirked at Krued. "It's time we get serious."

The other mage didn't say anything but throw his knight uniform's cape off his shoulders and matched his challenging glance.

I was about to groan in horror when all of a sudden we were all suspended upside down in the air by thin wires and a cool sharp gust of wind brushed past all of us. No one seemed to notice my distress as all the blood rushed to my head and I yelped in surprise as the bright face of one Moon Dragon Slayer appeared in front of all of us from absolutely nowhere.

"PICNIC!" Emily screamed in delight, thrusting a wicker basket in the air and nearly punching Krued in the face at the same time.

This was going to be a long day...

Wow there was really no point in this chapter actually... I just wanted to write something to lead up to the picnic hahhah, since it's really important- kind of sort of maybe.

Sorry I know how OOC everyone is… I'm very bad at that… I'll go back and change things when I get this whole thing over and done with.

I have a four day weekend so expect a new chapter soon!