Disclaimer Hiro Mashima owns fairy tail and all it's awesomeness. I also do not make any money at all off of my fanfics either...unfortunately lol.

* Hibiki's p.o.v*

"Do you think Fairy Tail qualified?" I asked nervously, as we waited to be called out into the arena to see the other seven teams we would have to face in this years games. I hadn't seen any fairy tail members since we'd arrived at Crocus yesterday evening, which could mean two things: either they hadn't arrived yet or had decided against participating at the last minute. The second option was unlikely after all the rumors and evidence I'd seen and heard but it still had crossed my mind as we hadn't bumped into them when we were doing the maze qualifying round. Though knowing Fairy Tail, they had been up too late partying and had only just managed to scramble onto the last train that would arrive in time for the starting ceremonies then they'd either been knocked out earlier in the maze or beat it. If I were a betting man, which I'm not, I'd place money on them being in the top 8 which is just about to be announced.

"I'm sure they did." Eve beamed, lacing up his shoes and straightening out his outfit before the roll call. I'd never felt this nervous before about any public event, normally I was all cool calm and collected and nothing makes me feel like this. Yet here I was, pacing nervously over the fact in just a few minutes I may be face to face again with the love of my life after a seven year absence. Or in her case a 3 month absence...

"Woo, the crowd sure is hyped up about something." Eve chuckled as we all heard a large amount of noise erupt from the stands.

"The last team to qualify must have been announced." Senpai smiled, smelling a rose and handing one to our newest teammate, a guy in a large bunny costume?

"Um about the rabbit..." I started to ask just as the speaker in our room sparked to life. Guess it's our turn to make a grand entrance.

"In 5th place, Blue Pegasus." The announcer yelled out. The audience let out a loud chorus of screams and cheers as we made our way onto the field, as we stood on the field greeting our adoring fans, in our famous trimen pose. I noticed that a large section of the crowd were sporting 'Hibiki' banners.

"Guess my popularity and follower are still as big as ever." I chuckled turning to face Eve. I'd made a point of not looking at the other teams as I didn't want to see them just yet...Yes I know even though I'd made up my mind to speak to Lucy and clear things up I was still being a coward over it. What can I say I'm not good with break ups, especially when it's the old love of my life.

"Third place Raven tail."

I turned to see a group of weird people lead by a guy in full body Armour and a helmet to boot. Raven tail...Where had I heard that name before?

I remember now it was the name of the guild Master Makarov's son set up. Well that should lead to some interesting events if Fairy Tail managed to make it through. Speaking of I should probably check out the other guilds who would be participating against us now. Be brave Hibiki you can do this!

"In second place Fairy Tail team B."

I snapped my head around to see who was walking out in 2nd position, expecting to see Lucy and her teammates, but instead I was greeted with the sight of Laxus, Gajeel, Juvia, Mystogan and Mirajane.

"So Lucy wasn't apart of the Fairy Tail team then?" I asked Eve, as I turned to face him. I was jumping for joy inside as it meant that I wouldn't have to possibly face Lucy or any of her team members in a fight.

"What are you talking about Hibiki?" Eve said waving in the direction behind me. "Lucy is part of Fairy Tail's A team."

I slowly span around to see just who and what my teammate was waving and talking about. The chances of both Fairy Tail teams making it this far already was impossible...wasn't it?

"Oh." I whispered at the sight that greeted me. There she was, golden hair shining in the sun as she tried to stop Natsu and Gajeel from brawling and injuring themselves before the day even began. My legs seemed to freeze and rooted me in place as if they had a mind of their own and were saying 'don't move'.

"LUCY!" Eve yelled jogging over to her when he saw that she was finished keeping the peace between her two guild members. "You made it through."

"Just barely." She laughed as Eve threw himself on her in a glompish sort of hug. The sound of her laughter almost brought me to tears, how many nights had I stayed awake wishing I would hear it just one more time?

"Hibiki, get over here." Eve demanded, waving me over. I looked over to the pair of them, they looked just like brother and sister it was ever so slightly alarming. How had I never noticed that before?

"Hibiki..." Lucy started, her smile dropping from her face and being replaced by a look of sadness and worry. Why? I wanted her to smile again! I loved seeing her smile and hearing her laugh.

"We will now announce the rules of the competition and the first event of this years games."

Some how the announcement seemed to break the spell on my legs and allow me to move again, so I gave my lovely Lucy a small smile before turning abruptly and heading back to Ichiya and the bunny suit guy. I tried desperately to compose myself so that I didn't give away just how much seeing that sad expression on Lucy's face had rattled me.

"Hey wait up," Eve called as he caught up to me. "What was that all about? Didn't you say you were going to talk to Lucy."

"I was but unfortunately the announcer called us for the beginning of the games." I lied, trying to cover up my cowardice. It was sort of true, but the real reason was that,the look Lucy had shown to me, had me both rattled and on edge. Because it had brought up all the old feelings for the blonde that I had been trying for so long to suppress and these feelings had caught me so off guard that before I could do anything or respond the announcer had called us all for the rule of the first event.

"Fine." Eve huffed, obviously not buying into my lie, before we both stopped talking and tuned into what was actually being said to us. As the pumpkin mascot started to explain the rules of today's event and what was to follow, I started to use my archive to devise a plan of action. From what I understood of the first challenge, conveniently named 'Hidden' I could summarize that it was something to do with avoiding your fellow contestants at all cost. So being smaller would be an advantage and having a more attack based magic would also help, so Eve or Ren would be the best choice for us to use. Ren would be easier to spot though as he was much taller, so the only logical choice for me to make was to suggest Eve take this one on.

"Eve.."

"I already know, I'm going to take this one." He beamed giving me a nod of his head as he stepped forward to announce himself as our candidate. I saw the other teams debating who to use for this round and noticed a few starting to send out their own candidate. So Eve was going to be up against Rufus from Sabertooth, Null pudding from Raven, Beth from Mermaid heel, a member whose name I wasn't sure of from Cuatro Cerberus, Lyon from Lamia and Juvia and Gray from their respective fairy tail teams. This could be a hard match for him to win.

"This could be hard for you." I stated facing my teammate before he left for the arena. "Two mages who use a similar magic to your own and the Saber guy isn't to be underestimated."

"No problem, I can handle this Hibiki." He smiled before walking off. I sure hope you can as I don't have any records of the Sabertooth guys power or that Null pudding's either, but if I had to guess I'd say it was to do with that hideous spiky body he had.

"Do your best." I encouraged, with a pat on the back.

"Mhmm." Ren nodded in agreement. With that all the participating members stepped into the large town like illusion that had been created a few feet in front of us all and as soon as they stepped inside it seemed to randomly transport them to a different location than the place where they first entered. Then just after they'd all been teleported, hundreds of idle projections appeared scattered around. My theory had been correct then, this was going to be a large version of hide and go seek.

"It'll be interesting to see how this plays out." I contemplated out loud to Ren, Senpai and Bunny suit, after hearing the specific rules for this game. Eve really was the best choice as his magic was good for both attacking and identifying where enemies might be hiding, though that particular trick may not work on the two ice wizards who were competing, but we would just have to wait and see I guess.

Only a few minutes into 'hidden' and my hypothesis about it being an interesting game was proven right. Null pudding the Raven Tail entry wasn't going after anybody other than Gray, while Eve and Rufus seemed to have disappeared from the game completely, but as Jenny was saying from the commentary box our Eve was especially smart so I wasn't too worried about him. Gray on the other hand was another story. He seemed to be having a hard enough time avoiding the Raven tail guy while also trying to score points for his own team. I decided to risk looking to my left where all of Fairy Tail A were shouting and encouraging their teammate, Lucy was there holding her hand to her mouth as Gray took a hard blow to the back. Her face was showing just how worried she was about her friend, and instantly the urge to dash to her side and comfort her sprang up inside my chest. The feeling was so strong it seemed to rob me of my breath and it felt like I was going to suffocate.

You still love her.

I shook my head and returned my focus back onto the game, and away from that disturbing thought, to see Rufus unleashing several beams of what could be either Lightning or light magic, attacking all the participants at once. I also noticed that Eve had managed to score us three points so far after a few had been deducted because of him being hit by another persons attack.

Suddenly the signal sounded to let us know the first event for the day was over with so now it was time to announce the two mages who would be taking part in the battle portion. Wow that didn't seem like it took long at all or maybe I was just too distracted to notice the amount of time that had passed...the second option seemed likelier.

"Well done Eve-kun." Ichiya praised our returning teammate. Senpai was right Eve had done a great job and gotten us into a comfortable mid-table position without getting overly hurt or magically drained in the process, so if by any chance he got called on to be a member of the battle portion he should still be able to beat his opponent.

"And thanks to you I have a lot more data to upload for my archives." I smiled and looked around the other groups, but the group that made me stop my intake was Fairy Tail A team, because I saw Lucy stood still with her arm outstretched as her beaten comrade walked away with a dark aura of defeat surrounding him. From what I could remember Gray was a very proud wizard and any sort of defeat was a blow to his ego, so he would not be in a good place right now emotionally.

I watched as she turned back around a look of concern etched on her face over the fact that her fellow friend and guild member was hurting after his humiliating defeat. The urge to rush to her and tell her it was all going to be okay once again sprang up on me like a tidal wave, I wanted to hold her in my arms, smell the strawberry scent of her hair and never let her go again. How come with just one look that woman could turn me back into a teenager, who's just experiencing love for the first time? I was a grown man now darn it and I had moved on from the time when we were together...

"We will now announce who will be taking part in today's first battle."

"I hope I don't get picked straight off the bat for the battles." Eve said, snapping me out of my inner turmoil once again.

"I doubt they'll pick anyone who's just taken part in Hidden." I replied. "It's only the first day after all, they'll probably pick someone who hasn't shown their powers. That would make for a much more interesting battle."

"From Raven Tail; Flare Corona."

We all looked over to where Raven was stood to see a Red haired girl standing in front of her other teammates. She had a weird look in her eyes that spooked me a little and I had the feeling whoever she faced would have a problem as she might be slightly mentally unstable which would mean she could be highly unpredictable during the course of the fight .

"And from Fairy Tail A: Lucy Heartfilia."

I felt my heart stop as her name got called, why did it have to be Lucy that got picked? It's not that I doubted her abilities for a second but she could only summon one spirit at a time and she hasn't used her magic in seven years plus as I remarked earlier this Raven woman seemed unstable... Lucy could end up getting really hurt.

"Don't worry about it Hibiki." Eve reassured patting my arm as we exited the arena so that the battle could commence. "Nee-san has gotten a lot stronger and I'm sure she'll surprise you." He winked as we all went over to our balcony so we could get a good view of what was about to happen.

"Who said I was worrying?" I lied, fixing my eyes on the beautiful blonde mage who had a fighting fire alive in her eyes. I'd seen that look before, I thought with a smile. May be I was worrying about nothing.

"That creased brow of yours." Eve deadpanned as he too turned his gaze to the women below. "Though I have to say Nee-san does look especially hyped for this battle."

"I've only ever seen her look like that when there was a 50% off sale in a clothes shop." I laughed remembering the time when we'd been talking one evening while we were on one of our lacrima calls , and I'd mentioned seeing a leaflet for a sale in the Hargeon shopping center. Lucy's eyes had gone sparkly then determined as she quickly cut our call short so she could make it to the last train of the night. I'd never really let her live that one down, though today it was a good thing to see her with that determined expression. At least she couldn't spend all her rent money on new clothes this time, I chuckled mentally.

"It's about to start." Eve semi yelled, as he rushed over to lean on the balcony so he could get a better look, as did I.

"Open gate of the golden bull, Taurus."

I watched as Lucy took the opportunity to attack and summoned her first spirit, who burst out of thin air and smashed his hammer into the ground narrowly avoiding Flare, as she jumped backwards to dodge the attack.

"Open gate of the scorpion, Scorpio."

Then before her opponent had a chance to counter Lucy called out a second spirit alongside Taurus.

"She can summon two spirits at once now." Me and Eve gasped at the same time, watching in awe as Scorpio's sand buster got blocked by Flare's hair...She must use hair based magic then, like that Radaldo that Lucy told me about a long time ago.

I think my earlier worries are mute now, I mused taking in all the new information so I could update my archive later.

"Now Taurus use Scorpio's sand." Lucy commanded, not letting the block phase her in the slightest. It didn't appear as if the seven year gap had affected her at all. In fact she seems much more confident and sure of her actions than she was before...I had to admit watching her fight was amazing and was making my heart beat just a little bit faster.

"Wow." Eve clapped, as the joint attack hit the red haired woman and sent her flying up into the air.

"Thanks, you can go back now." Lucy thanked her spirits as they shimmered back into the celestial realm. Why was she doing that? The match wasn't over yet!

"Dog hair, Wolf fang." The raven tailer shouted, seeing the fact that Lucy had left herself defenseless. I couldn't take my eyes off the two women, especially as I saw a cunning gleam enter my sweetheart's eye. It was as if she planned for her opponent to think she was defenseless all along.

"Open gate of the giant crab, Cancer!"

"Go Nee-san!" Eve cheered, as Cancer chopped the wolf hair to pieces. How could I have forgotten that Lucy had 10 of the 12 Zodiac keys? And especially her favourite last minute makeup artist Cancer! I felt embarrassed for ever worrying about her and doubting her abilities.

"She sure doesn't look happy about her new hair style." I pointed out, seeing the crazed look that was plastered all over the redheads face.

"You'll pay for that blondie." Flare screeched, flinging her hair underground before a few seconds later, when it reappeared grabbing Lucy by the ankle's, hosting her off the ground and throwing her around the arena like a rag doll, before slamming her into the ground.

"Go, Lucy." "Fight." "You can do it." Were being screamed from her teammates and from the section of the stands where the rest of her guild were stationed.

"My red hair does anything I want it to." Flare sneered at the battered looking blonde.

"Funny, so does my Fleuve d'Etoile." Lucy replied, unclasping her whip from her belt and lashing out and wrapping it around her opponent's ankle. At the same time both women went flying into the air doing cartwheels. As both girls hit the deck once again, I noticed Lucy wincing as she stood up as she pulled her burnt boots off.

"Wait a minute how come her boots are burnt?" I asked, feeling like I'd missed something.

"Flare must use fire based magic through her hair." Ichiya commented as he pulled his usual cool pose.

"Both mages seem to be neck and neck at the moment, though I'd say that Fairy Tail are slightly in the lead." One of the commentators said over the loudspeaker, and I had to agree Lucy did seem to be in the lead and showing all the signs of winning this battle.

"My red hair barely did any damage?" I heard the redhead stuttered out, sounding more deranged by the moment...

"Watch out!" I heard Gray and Natsu call out, so I snapped my attention back to the fight to see that Flare had once again sent her hair underground. Was she aiming for Lucy's feet again? And if so, now that she has no shoes on, Lucy could take some serious damage!

"What is she planning?" Eve mused after the rather anticlimactic amount of time we had been waiting to see what miss red had planned to do next. Then I saw her point to the side, as if telling Lucy to look in the direction of her finger. So I followed her example and saw her point to the cheering Fairy Tail crowd, but I was too far away to see any form of detail or make out what she was trying to show my beautiful blonde.

"ASU..." Lucy attempted to scream but was stopped abruptly by a tendril of red hair lashing out and wrapping around her mouth, shutting her up. What was going on here? Fight back already!

I watched as Lucy just seemed to go limp and accept the beating that the Raven Tail woman began to dish out to her. The only reason I could think of for her to just stop fighting was that, either her magic had run out or she was under duress...the latter seemed more likely after her attempt to scream someones name earlier. Dirty tactics then? Wouldn't surprise me, Raven Tail had been a dark guild until just recently. I'd just have to hope that someone could intervene before she got knocked out and allow Lucy to make a comeback!

"That's too cruel." Eve cried, once again dragging me out from my internal world of thought. As I saw what he meant, I felt my stomach coil in horror, Flare was just about to use her flaming hair to brand over Lucy's pink fairytail mark with the raven tail one. No one should be allowed to permanently scar my girl! That thought brought me up short, as the implication of it's meaning hit me. Lucy wasn't mine anymore and I was over her!...Oh who am I kidding, it was obvious I was indeed not over my beautiful blonde, but maybe after a good heart to heart we could still be friends. If she could ever find it in her heart to forgive me for betraying her like I had.

"Yes!" Eve, Ren and Ichiya cried at once, making me jump.

"What?" I inquired, turning to face them. Eve simply pointed back to the field, where two Lucy's were now stood and one was simply wrapped up in a towel. "wow." I felt my heart speed up dramatically and I felt hearts spring to my eyes. Lucy truly was the definition of a babe.

"We're going to do that." Lucy commanded the second Lucy.

"But we haven't practiced it enough." Second Lucy protested. Oh I'd finally figured out who that was, it must be Gemini transformed into Lucy. I was seriously not on the ball today! But why would she have Gemini turn into herself? Could she be trying to increase her own magic to summon more spirits?

Measure the heavens, and open them wide...

"What magic is that?" Eve asked, wide eyed as the magic in the atmosphere increased. I had to say the pressure Lucy was radiating with her magic was impressive and at least double if not triple the amount she had seven years ago.

Through the shining of all the stars of heaven,
Make thyself known unto me
O Tetrabiblos...

"She's finally mastered it the ultimate magic of the stars." I clarified for my fellow teammates and I had to say I said it with pride, as I remembered the first time I'd downloaded that spell into her head to help us defeat Angel, all those years ago. How long had she researched it before finding out how to cast this for herself? I thought Id wiped all trace of the spell from her memory...Then again Cruz probably told her what spell she used to defeat Angel later on.

I am one with dominion over the stars...
Release thy aspect, a malevolent gate

"Here it comes." I almost squealed in awe, as I watched the magic energy swirl around Lucy and Gemini. She truly looked gorgeous standing there commanding so much energy and the way it was making the arena look was impressive.

O eighty-eight signs...
Shine!
Urano Metria!

Flare on her part looked terrified, as she should. As the spell activated and the 88 planets appeared in the sky around us all, then just before the spell hit...Nothing! All the pressure disappeared, the energy went blank and Gemini disappeared. I watched shocked as Lucy's eyes went blank and she fell sideways before hitting the floor with a thud that was audible due to the entire audience having gone quiet. Though after she had fallen to the floor, they started erupting in laughter and sneering at how useless Fairy Tail was. Which made me angry, Lucy was not useless or powerless! That Flare had, had outside help.

"What happened?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Did the spell backfire?" One of the commentators also asked, mirroring Ren's question.

"No." I ground out between gritted teeth, as I desperately tried to rein in my temper. "There was outside help to cancel out Lucy's magic."

"Poor Nee-san, she must be devastated." Eve stated shaking his head from side to side. "I'm going to help her up." He turned and started to jog to the exit of our balcony. I started to follow after seeing that Lucy was still on her side. Her legs must be more damaged than I first released. It was only a gentlemanly thing to do, any true man would help a damsel in her time of need.

"Wait up." I called after Eve as I caught up to him on the stair well.

"Hibiki?" Eve raised an eyebrow at me. "Why are you coming?"

"Well...I mean...it's only to show some moral support." I nodded sharply, deciding that was the best course of action.

"Of course." Eve snorted as we hit the opening that lead into the arena. The sight that greeted us made me stop in my tracks. Natsu had his hand out stretched to Lucy and he was looking at her weirdly, as if he wanted to lean in and wipe her tears away.

"Save the tears for when we win," He smiled as Lucy reached out and grabbed his hand tears streaming down her face. My blood seemed to freeze in my veins and my vision started to turn green. Why did it feel as if my girlfriend was being stolen away from me, right under my nose?

"Are you okay?" Eve asked timidly, placing his hand on my shoulder. He'd obviously seen me stop then noticed what had caused my abrupt halt.

I shook my head at him, not once taking my eyes off the two figures that were now leaving the pitch, one being piggy backed by the other. "I want Lucy back. I think I still love her."