(-")è
A huge black-painted house stood in front of him. The house gave a weird feeling, but that won't stop him from knock the main door. However, before he even touches the door, it cracked opened. He stunned, but he slowly pushed the door and entered.
"You shouldn't enter uninvited." A voice startled him.
A woman gracefully walked down a huge stairs. The dim light made her face hardly seen.
"The door wasn't unlocked," he replied.
"This is an old house. The lock is broken." The woman stood at the end of the stairs. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I come for a remedy," he said.
"Who are you? Is it hard to introduce yourself? You want me to help you but you are not introducing yourself. Who do you think you are? Do you think I'm going to help a rude person like you?!"
Sting cursed for his carelessness.
"I'm Sting Eucliff. I need a remedy for a friend. She's dying."
"Everyone that came here after remedy for all sickness. Why do you think I can save your friend?" she asked again.
"Someone said you gather medicines. So you might have one that can cure her."
The woman stepped forward. Her face exposed. She has a long face with a pair of pointy eyes and red lips. Her skin was pale.
"What happened to your friend?"
"Her soul was almost fed by an animal-soul feeder."
Her brow rose.
"Animal-soul feeder?"
She walked into a room and came back after a while. Her action was a bit confusing. In her hand was a thick book with worn out cover.
"Name?" she asked.
"Sting Eucliff."
She lifted up her face and glared at the dragon slayer.
"The girl's name!"
Sting stepped aback when she scolded.
"Lisanna Strauss."
"The feeder?"
"She called herself as Mariya."
The woman flipped the pages.
"You are?" she asked more.
"Sting Eucliff." She glared again. "Dragon slayer," he quickly answered.
"You killed her?"
"Mariya? Yes."
The woman took a deep breath.
"I can't save her." She closed her book.
"What?!"
"She is beyond save."
"No way! You have a collection of medicine and you say you can't save her?!"
"Mariya supposed to be immortal. Since you killed her, she might have feed on a dragon," she said.
"I don't care about Mariya. I come here to save Lisanna!"
The woman walked to a table at a corner of the house and placed the book on it. Sting followed her.
"What happened to Mariya after you killed her?"
"Who cares about that bitch? I came not for her."
"What happened to her body?" she repeated her question.
"Degraded. Like her insects."
"Insects? Oh, the gremlin." She bit her lower lips.
"You really can't save her?" he asked.
The woman shook her head. She turned and stared into his eyes.
"Would you do anything to save her?" she asked back.
"Why?"
"Would you?!" She raised her voice.
"Anything."
"Why?" Sting surprised with the question. "Why do you want to save her?"
"Because…" He turned his face away. "…because…" He cleared his throat. "…I have my own reason. Just give me the cure!"
The woman chuckled. She hinted the young mage to follow her into a room. She took a small bottle containing black solution. She handed it to him.
"It only works once you sacrifice something you have," she said.
"Sacrifice?" he confused.
"It was a flower that could cure any sickness. But you have to pay for it," she explained. "Now leave!"
The dragon slayer was still confused about the 'sacrifice thing'. He stared to the bottle.
"Go now! Or you'll never save her," she warned.
Hearing that, the dragon slayer ran out of the house, without even saying thank you.
"I hate visitors. Always come at the wrong time and never forget to NOT saying thank you. And that boy; he didn't even pay for my medicine. Did he think that was for free?"
The woman closed the door that was left opened. She took her book and put it back on the shelf. She reminded about the girl that was dying because of losing her soul. Even though she was a little mad toward the boy, deep inside, she prayed for the girl's safety.
(-")è
Mirajane stared at her little sister. She was hoping that the girl was just sleeping and she would wake up anytime soon. She touched the girl's forehead. The girl became colder. Mirajane pulled the blanket close to the girl's chin. And she put more pillows around her. She then gently kissed her forehead. She stood up. She couldn't stay longer. She didn't want Lisanna saw her crying. Before leaving, she opened the window, hoping that the summer heat would heat her sister too.
As she closed the door of Lisanna's room behind her, she saw Elfman staring at her. She couldn't hide her agony anymore. She fell on the floor. Elfman quickly hugged her.
"If I didn't force her to follow Natsu…"
(-")è
He stared at the white-haired girl slept on her bed. Then he looked at the bottle he took from the medicine collector. He felt like to not believing the woman, but he had no choice. The solution was the only way to cure the girl. He slowly climbed onto the bed, removing some pillows off his way. He opened her mouth a bit. He took a deep breath before carefully poured the solution into the girl's mouth.
Then he waited. He didn't know how long the solution would take to cure her.
Suddenly, her eye lids moved. A smile grew on his face. He waited till she opened her eyes. She blinked.
"What are you doing here?" She sat up, closed their distant. He moved away a little. "How did you get in?" she asked again. "Who are you, by the way?"
He shocked. He fell speechless. All he could think was; that thing worked. That woman claimed that the solution only works if he sacrifices one thing of his. And he did sacrifice. Their memories.
"You looked familiar," she talked, snapped him from his imagination.
"It's okay. I'm leaving already."
Shadow below the door stopped him. The door then slowly opened. Lisanna quickly pulled the dragon slayer and hid him under her blanket. She quickly grinned widely as her sister came in.
"Hi," she greeted her elder sister. "I'm feeling better."
Mirajane paused at the door, staring at her little sister. She almost not breathing. It was a few minutes ago when she checked on the girl that she was too far from getting better.
"Lisanna?" she called the girl.
"Yes?" She felt curious when her elder sister acted very weird.
Mirajane jumped onto the bed and hugged her. Remembering that she was hiding someone under her blanket, she quickly moved toward him, to avoid her sister from finding him. Sting almost fell off the bed. Second later, Elfman joined them. He almost stepped on the dragon slayer. Lisanna sometimes glanced at the dragon slayer, hoping that neither her sister nor her brother find him.
"I thought that I'm going to lose you again," said Mirajane in tears.
"A man will never let his sister die!" Elfman screamed.
Lisanna smiled.
"I died once. People only die once, right?" Her siblings hugged her tightly. "Oh, please. I can't breathe. I'm going to crush."
They quickly loosened their hug.
"I think I need a little more rest. I felt dizzy," she whined.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll prepare lunch for you. You must be very hungry after two days sleeping." Lisanna smilingly and vigorously nodded.
Right after her siblings left the room, she quickly pulled the blanket up. Sting fell onto the floor.
"You want to kill me?!" He whispered furiously.
Lisanna transformed into a cat girl. She put her claws at Sting's neck.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my room?" she asked.
"You think I will be scared of your little claws? I'm a dragon slayer," he replied.
"I should've let my sister eat you," she said.
She returned to her normal state and sat back on the bed. Sting climbed onto his feet.
"What are you doing here? For real," she asked again, but her tone loosened down.
At the same time, Sting jumped out of the house through the window.
"It's none of your business," he replied, walking away.
The white haired girl watched his retreating back. Slowly she sank into her blanket.
"His face indeed familiar, but I didn't remember seeing him before. Did he say that he's a dragon slayer?" Her forehead wrinkled. "There are dragon slayers other than Natsu? And Gajeel? And Laxus-san?"
(-")è
Sting walked alone on the street. He let his feet led the way. He thought that he should be relieved. Yeah, relieved that she had recovered. But she completely forgot about him. She didn't recognize him at all.
Well, that was how it supposed to be. They shouldn't meet in the first place. They were different. Fairy Tail and Sabertooth never get along together. Only one strongest guild should ever exist and it is Sabertooth, not Fairy Tail. And she was a… weakling. He, a dragon slayer, shouldn't befriend with such a weakling.
Sting unconsciously nodded. Agreed to his thought.
(-")è