Hi guys! Sry for the wait XD I just couldn't bring myself to write a certain scene between two certain Dragon Slayer *cough* Anyways, thank you guys again for the support, special thank you to one of my friends (Meredy_of_Crime) who talked about this story on Instagram (No seriously dude, you didn't have to do it XD) And to my Beta Reader for putting up with my kinda stupid grammar mistakes.

And this chapter is pretty much based off episode 157, so not A LOT happens (I left the actual game part out cause it was getting a little long and I was getting tired *cough* writing in the middle of the night *cough*) Anyways, let's just get on with the story.

Chapter 17 (Stolen Kiss and the Opening Ceremony)

Normal POV

It was early morning in Crocus. Most people, after yesterday's events, had decided firmly that they weren't going to wake up until at least eight in the morning, an hour before the Game's opening ceremony at the Domus Flau.

Lucy stood silently on the balcony connected to her shared room. She hadn't slept at all last night despite how tired she was - her mind just refused to shut off. She knew why too, and she could do nothing to stop it. Today was the first official day of the Grand Magic Games.

The day where she'll have to see her old guild again after so many months. Her heart jumped at the idea of seeing the rowdy guild again. One, because her heart ached for her to go back home, her real home and two, because she'll have to face all the people that she was sure to the bone, still held a grudge against her.

Plus, she was on a separate team, competing for the title of Number One Guild in Fiore. What was she supposed to do, anyway? Compete with all she's got? Or let them win? They deserved it - after all, they had been losing for seven years. Shouldn't she, as a former Fairy, let them win?

Maybe not.

Because she knew if she didn't give them her A-game today, she would not only be throwing away Sabertooth's pride, she would be throwing away Fairy Tail's too. How would the world react when they realised Fairy Tail was given a cheat? An advantage?

Not so well. She owed them that much at least - besides, she had promised them already.

She turned around, getting ready to go back to bed to try and sleep for a few more hours only to bump into Sting, who looked a little dazed himself. "Oh god, I'm so sorry.." Lucy began to mumble as she tried duck around Sting and get back into the room. But Sting cut her off and grabbed her two arms, pinning them to her side.

"Lucy..." He whispered, his blue eyes so intense, it felt like he was burning the expression in his eyes into the back of her skull. Suddenly they were moving back until Lucy was pressed against the railing of the balcony and Sting was just in front of her.

"Sting.. Sting!" Lucy yelled, but her voice, even to her, sounded small and insignificant. She tried to struggled against his arms, trying desperately to prove to herself this was some a joke, but the grip only tightened, leaving red marks on her skin.

Lucy couldn't believe this - she was a Dragon Slayer now. She should have enough force to break away from Sting.

Sting didn't seem to notice the struggling girl writhing beneath him. All he knew was that he needed her and he needed her right now.

Somewhere in his mind, where he was still conscious, he felt sick. Rogue had warned him about this, that his mating tendencies might get... Too strong to handle. But he didn't believe that he really wanted Lucy as his mate. He didn't want to.

But now look at him. Grabbing her just before dawn, when everyone would still be asleep and not hear or see either of them? Perfect.

But did he really want it?

"Lucy..." He breathed as his face got closer to hers. The conscious part of him looked at what he was doing with a detached guilt and sadness. He couldn't do this to her. Not to Lucy. The girl who looked so fragile when she was asleep, usually so solemn but so happy when she was - the very definition of beauty to him.

Unable to control himself any longer, he gently touched the side of her cheek and bought her face to his. His lips enveloping hers invitingly. He felt Lucy's entire body stiffen in shock. But Sting wouldn't take no for an answer and kissed her harder, fiercer then he had ever thought he could.

Lucy crumbled under his passion and slowly, ever so slowly, kissed him back. Sting's other hand gently pushed her bangs behind her ear so the hair wouldn't get in the way, earning what felt like a response from Lucy who had had her hands wrapped tightly around his neck.

They went on like that for a few more seconds before they broke away, gasping for air. Sting's mind finally returned back to normal, only to see Lucy on the other side of the balcony, blushing like a tomato.

It took Sting a few seconds to realise what he had just done, he wanted to run over to Lucy right that minute to apologise but something kept him from running.

He didn't know what it was.

"Lucy... I..." Lucy only nodded. "I... I'll be going back to bed.." She mumbled as she pushed the sliding screen door open and walked inside, leaving Sting standing alone outside.

He stared at the retreating girl for a minute before sitting down, his face buried in his hands. "Oh my god, I screwed up." He groaned.

Neither Dragon Slayer talked for the whole day after that.

"Alright folks, it's that time of the year again! It's the annual magic festival, the Grand Magic Games! I am your emcee, Chapati Lola!"

The Domus Flau erupted into cheers and enthusiastic clapping. Hundreds of people from all over Fiore lined the thousands of seats in the Domus Flau, including the participating guild members and their guild masters.

Four separate statues stood on either side of the giant oval. It didn't have a roof, revealing the giant dirt circle inside where the battles were performed, right in the middle of the arena.

Seated a little bit higher from the rest of people were the three commenters of the day: Chapati Lola, a young man with a troublesome balding problem and a relatively nice personality. Yajima, who was once part of the Magic Council and is friends with Makarov Dreyar. He has since retired from the Magic Council and is now managing his own restaurant.

Finally was Jenny Rearlight of Blue Pegasus, who had taken a day off from the rest of her guild that day and was commenting with both Chapati and Yajima.

Suddenly, Chapati spoke up again, his voice echoing through out the arena. "Yesterday, we had cut down the numbers of teams entering this year by our preliminary round, Sky Labyrinth. And we have only picked the best of the 113 teams that had signed up."

There was a gasp from the crowd and everyone looked towards a wide hole in the north side of the Domus Flau where the teams are made official.

"Starting with the eighth ranked team - will they capture their past glory?! The group whose name clashes with their rowdiness, Fairy Tail!"

Fairy Tail's Team A suddenly appeared from the other side of the arena, faces smiling, chins high but were only met by a stiff silence. Murmurs all around.

"Fairy Tail? Who are they?" "Are they some kind of new guild? Heh, fresh meat!" "I don't think we should have bet our life savings on them."

Chapati tried his best to silence the crowd by talking over them, but that only made them louder as he hurriedly made their introductions.

"Fairy Tail has come in last place every year but they survived the elimination round this year, though even in that they were in eighth place. Will the Tenrou bunch that created a racket with their homecoming now become Fiore's Number One Guild?!"

The murmurs continued, some with realisation still fresh on their faces. Natsu couldn't help but feel annoyed at these people. How dare they talk about Fairy Tail like that?! Fairy Tail is about family and trust and loyalty and-

Natsu looked sharply behind him. Erza, seeing his swift turn, tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "What's wrong, Natsu?" Natsu's stiff shoulders relaxed and he sighed. "I... I just thought I smelt something. The Dark Energy, it's here." Erza's worried eyes hardened.

"Do you know where you sensed it?" Natsu nodded towards the entrance they had came from. "Over there." Erza tensed. "You mean... The Dark Lord is among us?" Natsu shook his head. "I don't know, this doesn't feel like Zeref to me. I've felt him Erza, back on Tenrou."

Erza didn't answer - she didn't seem to be listening to Natsu anymore, her gaze on something else entirely. Something, Natsu had to agree, that was just a little more important.

"Hooray, hooray Fairy Tail!" Cheered a small female voice from the balcony where the rest of Fairy Tail was sitting. She was a petite young girl that didn't look a day over 12, but she was actually Mavis Vermillion, the founder of Fairy Tail. And must have been a few hundred years old.

Makarov stared at Fairy Tail's first master's ghost in wide-eyed shock. "F-first m-master?!" He squeaked as he scanned his eyes over the glowing blonde girl again. She smiled and waved at him. "I've come to show support!" She said happily as she gazed at the other Fairy Tail members.

Only Makarov found the wits to speak to the deceased girl. "You.. Came?" She laughed and nodded. "I was getting bored being cooped up at Tenrou all the time, so I decided to come! Don't worry, no one without our guild mark can see me."

Makarov couldn't help but slam his face into his hand. "That's... Not that point." She grinned but didn't say anything. Soon the crowd quieted, giving Chapati the opportunity to speak.

"Alright moving on to the seventh finishing team, the hounds of hell, Quatro Cerberus!" Everyone looked over to the large opening in the wall again, only to see team Quatro Ceberus walking out, yelling two words over and over again. "Wild Four!" They screamed, as they entered the main part of the Domus Flau.

The crowd clapped for them anyway, as enthusiastic as before. It wasn't long before Chapati announced the sixth guild to have finished. "In sixth place, the all-female guild, the dancing girls of the great deep, Mermaid Heel!"

Team Mermaid Heel then walked in, water jets exploding beneath their feet. Erza couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. She didn't know why but she just got the feeling that she knew the person in the back with team Mermaid Heel. She was just familiar looking.

Erza shook it off and didn't think much of it. Besides, the Dark Energy didn't seem to be radiating from them anyway so she didn't need to worry. Maybe she had met that person before at the cake shop or something.

It was then her thoughts were cut off by Chapati who was busy announcing the fifth team to enter the Grand Magic Games.

"In fifth place are the bright blue wings in pitch darkness, Blue Pegasus!" Erza's gaze automatically fell onto the leader of team Blue Pegasus, Ichiya. She couldn't help but gulp. She wasn't scared of Oracion Seis or Grimoire Heart, but Ichiya... Oh god, Ichiya.

Just at that moment, Ichiya looked over and winked. Erza felt her eyes roll to the back of her head, as she stumbled ever so slightly before being caught by Gray. Gray didn't say anything to the re-equip Mage, only looked at her with a slightly amused expression. He was still surprised that a Mage like Erza was fazed by Ichiya, a pervert who constantly sniffed people for their 'parfum', as he called it.

It was definitely surprising but entertaining to watch. While Erza recollected her wits, Chapati continued with the count up. "Continuing with fourth place, the goddess of love and war, the holy destroyer, Lamia Scale!"

Everyone looked over to the opening again and stared as bright pink smoke erupted into the air and out walked team Lamia Scale. Both Gray and Natsu stared curiously at the new-comer, or 'Sherry'. "Why isn't she going on about her and her love crap today?" Gray muttered.

Natsu shrugged. "I don't know." Suddenly, as if hearing them, Lyon turned towards Gray. "This is Cheria, she's actually Sherry's cousin."

Cheria looked up towards them and smiled. "Hello!" Lyon suddenly glanced sharply towards Gray. "You remember our agreement, don't you?" Gray smirked. "What agreement?" "That Juvia would come over to my guild if you lose this." Gray couldn't help but chuckle at his love-struck friend.

Gray was sure he would be glad to give up his stalker/admirer/creeper friend, but what's the fun in just giving up?

"I don't remember agreeing to anything like that but I ain't letting you guys beat us that easily!" Juvia squealed behind him as she completely overthought what Gray had just said.

"Gray-sama is fighting for me! He's so romantic!" Suddenly, Ichiya came over to them and made a beeline straight to Erza. "In that case, I will take Erza-san!" Erza sighed and inched a little farther away from the short man.

"You're not taking me anywhere!" Erza growled, scowling. Ichiya completely ignored the red-haired Mage's discomfort and sniffed at her. "Exquisite parfum as usual, Milady." It was at that point Erza had enough and kicked Ichiya away from her, and probably somewhere on the other side of the arena.

"I'll take Wendy-chan!" Eve cried walking over to the blushing Wind Dragon Slayer.

"Eve-san..." She mumbled as she stared awkwardly at Eve and then at her shoes, and then at Eve again. "Maybe I'll join Mermaid Heel!" Cried Hibiki, breaking the awkward silence. "That's off topic!" Toby screamed, growing angry again at nothing in particular.

It was then Chapati spoke again. "Next up, finish third in the elimination round. Oh my! This comes as a surprise! The first appearance of the guild and in third place! The midnight mobile force, Raven Tail!" Everyone stared at the hole, recognising the name almost immediately.

Raven Tail.

Both Erza and Natsu stared at the opening as team Raven Tail walked out. They could feel dark energy coming off them in waves, like a stinking sewer tsunami. Somewhere in the background, Makarov was yelling about how unfair that they were going to let a guild like them play in the Grand Magic Games.

Because Raven Tail's master was actually Makarov's son and Raven Tail was a Dark Guild.

"According to official records, Raven Tail has been around for seven years but they've only been recently recognised as a legitimate guild."

The crowd in the stadium slowly began to panic. A dark guild? In the Grand Magic Games?!

But even with all this Dark Energy rolling off team Raven Tail, Natsu knew the Dark Energy he had felt wasn't the same thing he was getting from them.

Slowly, Natsu put his hand on Erza's shoulder and shook his head, signalling that the Dark Energy he felt wasn't from them. Erza relaxed but didn't lift her gaze away from the Dark Wizards. They may think that they were legitimate now, but Erza knew a Dark Guild will always be a Dark Guild, no matter what happens and how much time passes.

"Alright, there are two more teams that made it through the elimination round." Chapati said, breaking Erza out of her thoughts. She couldn't help but get a weird feeling at the bottom of her stomach. Two more teams? Most of the major teams had already been said, so who could this mysterious other team be?

It didn't take her too long to find out.

"The second place finisher... Oh this is shocker! Will they become the soaring key for their tattered wings? The unbelievable, improbable Fairy Tail Team B!" Team A all stared at their own guild's members in shock. Gajeel, Laxus, Elfman, Mirajane - hell, even Mystogan was here.

Wait, Mystogan?

Erza gazed at 'Mystogan' for a few minutes. This is impossible, she had been Edolas, she had left Mystogan in Edolas she was sure of if. It wasn't until 'Mystogan' actually walked over to her did she realise it wasn't Mystogan after all.

"Jellal?" She whispered as quietly as she could from the others. Jellal nodded. "Have you felt anything yet?" He answered back, his voice a little muffled underneath his mask. "Yes, Natsu felt something inside the waiting rooms. We believe the Dark Lord might be among us." Jellal nodded.

"I thought you said you were going to stay away from here." "You have a very understanding master." Erza only looked at him grimly. Suddenly Laxus appeared, swinging his arm across Jellal's shoulders. "Mystogan is a lot more tight-lipped, you know."

Jellal responded softly with a, "That's right." And left quickly, leaving Erza and Laxus alone.

"This is a little unfair isn't it?" Jenny asked into the microphone, directing her question towards Yajima. "Yes, but when we checked through the rule book this year we found out that a guild could not only have just one team but have two. Which is a lot more interesting."

Jenny frowned. "But what are they going to do on the last day when all the teams are out against each other?" Yajima grinned. "I'm sure they'll figure something out."

Not far from them Makarov and Mavis were also having a discussion over team B. Needless to say Makarov was a little more than ashamed. "I am so sorry, so sorry First Master! So, so sorry!" Mavis only stared at Makarov grimly. "That man, that man doesn't belong in Fairy Tail does he?"

Makarov shook his head and gulped. Was Mavis going to unleash her wrath on him? "Is he strong?" "Y-yes, he was once considered one of the Ten Wizard Saints." Mavis was quiet for a few seconds, making Makarov brace himself before she turned around and smiled at him.

"I'll support this, so Fairy Tail can win!" The others behind Makarov all sighed. "That's the First Master for you." They muttered, looking ashamed.

Beneath them, Natsu and Gajeel were busy staring each other off, both mad to see each other on the playing field. "Why are you here, Iron-Butt?" "Because I can, Flame Brain. And trust me, I'll win this thing easy!" "Oh yeah?! Try me!" Gajeel tried to land a punch on the other Dragon Slayer before Chapati interrupted them again.

"Alright, we've got one last team to introduce! That's right you know who it is! Sabertooth!" The entire arena erupted into screams and shouts. Some even chanting 'Sabertooth', over and over again.

Everyone, even the people on the field focused their attention at the opening again, especially Natsu as he realised that the Dark Energy was back. He smirked - so someone on Sabertooth is using black magic? He looked back towards the opening grinning smugly, only to see five figures walk out - Lucy among them.

Hope you weren't too bored just re-reading/watching the episode again XD I wanted things to be as legit as possible. I hope it was alright anyway, read and review!