Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but here ya go! I'm really sorry there's no Rogura in this chapter, but it should be coming up in a bit, don't you fret! Anyway, as always I hope you enjoy it.

Notice: I own nothing, for I am not Hiro Mashima. Amen.

Chapter 13: For All of You

"Shit," Sting muttered, coughing from the cloud of sand entering his lungs. He staggered to his feet, listening carefully around him for the sound of his opponent. It was impossible to see anything through this cloud of grit billowing around him. He could hear the sounds of swords clashing and various explosions through the smoke, but there was no sign of the lion, Fang. Evidently, he was much stealthier than he looked.

All of a sudden, a massive claw flashed out of the dust at Sting. Sting jumped aside, but even the force of the claw striking the ground below him was enough to blow him off his feet. Struggling to his feet after a painful crash, Sting coughed up blood. He agonizingly lifted his head to glimpse the dust cleared, and Fang standing over a massive crater. He had his back towards Sting, his long mane blowing in the wind.

"So this is the master of the mighty Sabertooth guild. How did such a pathetic runt ever get to be master? What happened to the old one who made Sabertooth so strong, anyways?"

Sting grimaced. "That old geezer Jiemma? I killed him."

Fang was silent. He did not reply, nor did he turn around.

"And… and now Sabertooth is way better off!" Sting continued. "We support each other when we fight. We laugh together, we cry together, and we grow together. Under Jiemma, we were a collection of mercenaries. But without him, we're… we're…" Sting searched for the right word but ended up going with the one that made the most sense to him. "A real guild! A FAMILY!"

Fang's muscles began to shudder. "You say you're actually stronger now? You think that thanks to the power of love and friendship, you can heal your battle wounds? You think you can ever be anything other than a ruthless killing machine, bred for battle?"

Fang slowly turned around. His face was contorted into an expression of pure hatred. His next words came out as a roar:

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSH-"

For a brief second, all was white.

In the place where Fang once stood, there was now Sting. He was looking down, so you couldn't see his face. His knuckles were steaming. Twenty feet away, Fang struggled to his feet from a long trench his body had left in the sand.

"So you think because I once worked for that monster, I'm a ruthless killer forever, huh? I suppose that's a fair enough statement. But…" He looked up, and Fang's eyes widened at the bulging veins in Sting's forehead. "Don't you ever insult my family! A very special friend taught me the secret to true guildship, and I won't ever let anyone mock our bond!"

Fang brushed himself off. His once-white fur was now matted with wet sand. "You dared to fight me not at full strength?"

Sting was taken aback. He searched for several moments for an answer, but he came up empty.

Fang repeated his question. "You dared to fight me without using your full strength? You held back? You dared show me mercy?"

Sting shrugged. "Not anymore, you bastard!"

Fang stepped forward and roared. The earsplitting sound brought Sting's hands to his temples and his knees to the ground. Fang's muscles were bulging outward, doubling his body's bulk.

"IN THE PIT, THERE IS NO ROOM FOR MERCY!"

Fang slammed his fists into the ground. The sheer force of the impact ripped the ground apart, plunging Sting and Fang into the resulting twenty-foot-deep crater.

Battered and bruised all over, Sting struggled to his hands and knees. Looking up at Fang's figure towering above, Sting felt something come over him. A burst of adrenaline overcame his body, and he turned tail and scrambled up the side of the crater.

Sting made it no further than five feet before he felt the crushing pain of claws closing around his chest. Fang effortlessly yanked him up with one arm and held Sting at arm's length by his neck.

"You feel it, don't you? The fear of the pit."

Sting tried to choke out a retort, but it was impossible for him to breath. His face was turning deathly pale.

Fang smashed Sting face-first into the ground. He gestured at the crater surrounding them. "This is a place where gladiators bout. This is where the two of us will kill each other for others' enjoyment. This is not a place for fear." He began to mercilessly kick Sting in the back over and over again. "IT IS A PLACE FOR NEITHER FEAR NOR MERCY! IT IS WHERE FEAR GOES TO DIE! FIGHT ME FOR YOUR LIFE! FIGHT ME FOR REAL!"

A pulse echoed through the ground. Fang's next kick glanced off Sting's back. Sting's body was glowing with white energy. Little phosphorescent wisps littered the ground around his form. Slowly, slowly, he rose.

"You sure you want me to do that, buddy?"

Sting had entered Dragon Force.

Fang let his head back and laughed. "Well then," he roared. Looks like it's time to fight seriously, huh? HAHAHA! This is what I was made for! This is why I live!"

Sting roared back equally fiercely. "Shut up! You're just like Jiemma!" As Sting ran towards Fang, his surrounding light grew ever brighter. "You care only for your own power! I'll teach you what it means to fight for others!" Sting concentrated all his energy into one, single punch, which he unleashed right at Fang.

It was met by Fang's open palm. Fang's palm was keeping Sting's magic trapped, locked inside his palm, unable to burst, no matter how much it longed to. "You foolish boy," growled Fang. "I was made this way by the emperors of Corynth. Ever heard of the Grand Coliseum?"

Sting's eyes widened. "Wait… Corynth? That country to the far west where war prisoners are made to fight each other to the death for the amusement of the Four Emperors?"

Fang grinned. "Yeah, that one. To win your freedom from the Pit, you have to win one hundred fights to the death. They say only one gladiator ever accomplished this feat. Wanna hazard a guess?"

Sting grimaced. Come on, burst! Blast this guy to bits! "Let me guess. He's big and hairy and smells like fleas."

Fang grabbed Sting's shoulder with his free hand and squeezed hard. Sting gasped, feeling his bones crunch in Fang's crushing grip. "I wouldn't be cracking jokes if I were you, or something else might crack first," Fang growled. "You little prissies out here think you have it rough with your stupid little guild wars… I had to kill my own brothers and sisters to make it out of the arena alive! Don't talk to me about your comrades, because in the end, they're worthless! All you can rely on is yourself!"

Something inside Sting snapped, and the energy inside his fist exploded outwards, throwing him backwards and sending another cloud of smoke billowing up into the air. Fang's cry of shock and pain reverberated across the sand.

As the dust cleared, Sting saw Fang still standing, but something about him seemed… different. His white fur was stained and matted red. Sting's eye twitched. Fang's left arm… was gone.

For minutes on end Sting and Fang stared at each other and stared. Finally Fang began walking forward, ever so slowly closing the distance. His eyes had turned blood-red.

Sting's vision blurred. There, instead of one Fang, there were now five. But the figures looked hazy… slowly they began to refocus. Oddly enough, the five Fangs all looked different now. On the far left, a man almost as massive as Fang, dressed in a purple dress shirt, letting an empty-sleeved fur-lined cloak dangle around his shoulders, the look on his face one of incredible clout. On his right, a black-maned man with iron studs piercing his face, his expression one of fierce arrogance and pride. To his right, a strong, fierce, red-haired female warrior, willing to put her life on the line for her comrades again and again. To her right, another fierce blue-haired woman willing to put her life on the line for one comrade in particular, but empowered by the strongest bond of all. On the far right, that same man, shirtless as ever, fighting for his third family with memories of his first two kept close to his heart.

Fang broke into a charge, preparing his remaining arm to strike a lethal blow on the defenseless Sting.

Although the five are all very different, they have one thing in common.

"I shall not be defeated! I am Fang, Conqueror of the Arena!"

That, of course, is their bond of guildship.

Fang came within striking distance. Like the judgment of a god, his claw came crashing down.

Sting is now faced with a choice. Of course, it never really was a choice, was it?

That had already been established at the last Grand Magic Games.

Sting sank to his knees.

"THIS IS THE END! FAREWELL, FALSE MASTER!"

For Rogue.

For Sabertooth. For Kagura, and for Yukino.

For Lector.

For Fairy Tail.

And even for you, Natsu-san.

"For all of you, I will not lose!"

Sting's body once again became enveloped in an even more blinding light. He began to float ever so slowly, ten, twenty feet above the ground.

Sting took a deep breath. He was now fifty feet up. He could feel the light of the sun filling the dragon lacrima in his body with strength.

Fang stared upwards, openmouthed. "What… what is-"

"Dragonslayer's Secret Art!"

"What? No, it can't be-"

"White Sun's Holy Meteor Wrath!"

Sting landed in a crater, although it was a much larger one than the one that Fang had created.

When Sting's broken body crumpled on impact from his fall, he was smiling, for he had won.

So? Let me know what you thought! Follow, favorite, review, all that good stuff. Blah, blah, blah. Since I've got vacation from school right now, I will hopefully have an update by the end of this week- but it may not be on this story... (Dun dun dun)

Also! I received a guess review saying they didn't like the parts where Ksgura was "clingy." I want to address your concerns, but I am unable to PM the reviewer since it was done as a guest. Therefore, I'm going to address it here.

First of all, I want to make absolutely clear that I greatly appreciate your criticism, perhaps more than praise. Whoever wrote that review, know that I DO appreciate it and I DO take it into account. Now, the thing is, that was a concern of mine as well. I was worried someone would point it out, that, yeah, it does seem a little OOC for Kagura to be so clingy. However, this was how I choose to rationalize the decision.

So for the most part, all we really know about Kagura's character comes from the Grand Magic Games arc. During this arc, she is aloof, proud, quiet and serious- not the traits of an over-attached girlfriend. She loosens up a little towards the end of the arc- forgiving Jellal after her battle with Erza, or getting drunk at the Grand Magic Ball. Now, the thing is, this story takes place after the Grand Magic Games, so at that point we really don't have much to go on with how her character develops. See, Kagura's whole identity was based on revenge, on hatred for Jellal. When that's gone, there's not much left to go on in terms of Kagura's character.

So I figured she's the type of person who might be referred to as going through "phases." That is, they're very focused on one or two things at a time. For instance, my phases as a kid were, in order, plastic animals, Thomas the Train, Bionicles, Legoes, Pokemon, etc. So, Kagura's gotta find something else to define her. And what does she latch on to? Rogue.

That's where I got Kagura's clingy personality from. I mean, it's still my interpretation, and of course you're welcome to disagree with me. I'd just like you to know my reasoning for it.

Anyways, I hope you have a sweet day/week! Thanks for reading!