Sorry for the long-ass wait! I've been highly addicted to Ni-Oh, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn AND Persona 5. All of which are amazing games I highly recommend. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
July 10, X791
As the banquet continued, Yukino was walking around the ballroom with Mirajane and Lucy in lovely dresses. The white-haired Celestial Wizard stopped when she saw a friend sitting at a nearby table taking a bite out of a turkey leg.
"Kyo?" Yukino spoke to get his attention.
Kyo froze up when he heard her voice and quickly put the leg back on the plate and wiped his mouth.
"H-hey, Yukino." Kyo stammered as he tried his best to sound casual.
"How come you're not wearing a suit?" Yukino asked like an agitated parent.
"Because I hate suits."
"This is a royal banquet! Is it really too much to ask to put on something nice?"
"Yes, it is."
"Quit being such a child!"
Kyo didn't say anything back and exhaled deeply. "… No."
Yukino sighed out of exasperation, but her tone then became serious. "Kyo… When that tower was falling on top of you… I thought you were about to die…"
"… My Steelbody… remember?" Kyo plainly pointed out.
"O-oh! R-right!" Yukino nervously chuckled and lightly blushed.
"You were worried about me, weren't you?" Kyo teased with a smirk of amusement.
"Of course I was! Huh?" Yukino noticed the bandage wrapped around Kyo's arm where he had his Sabertooth guild mark. "Kyo, you still haven't removed that bandage yet."
"Huh?" Kyo looked at his arm. "Well… I look cooler like this."
"But how will anyone see your guild mark? Here, let me take it off." She began removing the bandages.
"Yukino, please stop."
Once the gauze was completely undone, Yukino gasped a little when she saw a scar in place of a guild emblem.
"Kyo! What happened to your mark?" She asked.
Kyo sighed. "There's no point in not telling you. I've had it with Sabertooth. The master, Minerva, Kyrin… All that mattered was always coming out on top and abusing anyone they pleased… After what happened to you and that Phoenix girl, they were pissing me off… So I left."
"If you're not in Sabertooth anymore, what are you doing after the banquet?"
"Don't know. Didn't put much thought into it."
"W-well…" Yukino was lightly blushing and her hands were fidgeting. "Wherever you go… I…"
Yukino trailed off when she noticed Sting and Rogue with Gajeel. The attention of Kyo, Mirajane and Lucy were also drawn to them and the air felt like it became thick in an instant until an adorable voice alleviated the tension somewhat.
"Yukino!" Frosch was the one to break the silence.
"E-excuse me…" Yukino quickly turned away. "I… knew I should not have come…"
"Hold it!" Sting tried to get Yukino to stay without coming off as aggressive.
She turned around to Sting and Rogue.
"We're sorry…" Sting apologized with genuine sincerity. "We didn't know you'd be here… The master, the princess and Kyrin are gone. So we're going to start the guild over. We want to rebuild Sabertooth from the ground up."
Yukino just looked at Sting, listening to his words.
"We were… pretty rotten to you, but…" Sting continued. "I want Sabertooth to be a guild that treats its members like friends!"
"Why are you telling me this?" Yukino asked.
"'Cause I want you back…" Sting answered. "I know it's asking too much, huh?"
"Yeah, Yukino." Kyo walked up to Sting and wrapped his arm around the Dragon Slayer's shoulder. "We want you back. Ain't that right, Sting?"
Kyo held out his fist for a fist bump, but Sting just leered at him.
"… Don't leave a fellow man hangin'!" Kyo said.
"Didn't you leave?" Sting asked.
"Yukino, you know my offer still stands." A strong, yet feminine voice caught everyone's attention and the speaker revealed themselves as Kara. "You'd be more than welcome in White Valkyrie."
"NO!" Another person shouted.
Kagura came up to them, completely hammered from wine.
"Yukino should join Mermaid Heel! Hic!" Kagura said.
"Go home, Mikazuchi!" Sting said. You're drunk!"
"Quiet, you!" Kagura snapped back.
"Stop right there!" Erza shouted as she was backed by the other members of Fairy Tail. "Do you think we'd just stand by and allow that to happen?"
"That's right!" Lucy said. "Yukino fought with us, so she should be joining our guild!"
"Right!" Gray expressed his agreement.
"Juvia does not want any more love rivals…" Juvia pouted.
"Fairy Tail, even you…?" Yukino started blushing bashfully.
"Why not join Phoenix Dawn?" Jayden joined in.
Kagura gave Jayden a death glare and he stepped back a bit.
"… Forget I said anything." Jayden said.
Blue Pegasus then came up to Yukino.
"No…" Eve said. "A sparkling beauty such as yourself…"
"… would only best suited in Blue Pegasus." Hibiki finished the sentence.
"You do shine!" Ren said without being coy.
Ichiya sniffed the air. "What beautiful, fragrant parfume!"
"Come join us!" Jenny said.
Now Lamia Scale entered the argument.
"If it comes to that, Lamia Scale will join in the battle for Yukino's affiliation." Lyon challenged.
"You'd better come join us!" Toby barked aggressively.
"What're you getting angry for?" Yuka asked Toby.
"W-wait just a moment, everyone…" Yukino nervously stammered.
"Take that!"
Everyone started physically fighting each other over which guild Yukino would join, even the guild masters. Witnessing the huge brawl in front of her, Yukino fell to her knees and started sobbing.
"There's nothing to cry about." Lucy said.
"I can't help it…" Yukino turned to Lucy with a warm smile on her face, "Even if they don't really mean it… It makes me so happy…"
"It's good to see you smiling again, Yukino." Kyo said with genuine warmth coming from him.
Yukino stood back up and looked at the clustered scuffles happening in front of her.
"Everyone! I've made my decision!" Yukino shouted.
Everyone froze upon hearing Yukino speak up, but Sakura wanted to get one more punch on Toby's face and did just that.
Yukino turned to face Sting. "Sting… if you really wish to restart the guild… I will come back to Sabertooth."
"Really?" Sting's face lit up with a smile.
"On one condition…" Yukino stated. "If Kyo will come back, as well…"
Kyo was taken back a bit when she said that. "Y… Yuki…"
"No way." Sting replied without hesitation.
"Very well then." Yukino calmly said. "Kyo, which guild would you choose?"
"Huh?!" Kyo exclaimed. "Why're you asking me?! It's your choice!"
"I never finished what I wanted to say, did I?" Yukino guessed. "Wherever you go, Kyo… I want to be there with you."
A light blush appeared on Kyo's cheeks. "W-well… maybe… Mermaid Heel?"
"Hell no!" Kagura resolutely replied.
Yukino slapped Kyo's in the face.
"H-hey, it was just a joke!" Kyo chuckled.
"Alright…" Sting spoke up. "Kyo, you can come back to Sabertooth."
Yukino's face lit up with a big smile while Kyo was left a little dumbfounded.
"But… on one condition." Sting interrupted.
"And that is…?" Kyo asked.
"You'll know when we get back, heheheh…" Sting grinned devilishly.
Sting's expression made Kyo uneasy and he gulped.
After an unexpected mishap where Natsu was pretended to be the king, things settled down and the dancing had begun. Many of the guests were participating, while others were left alone at various tables. Aqua was one of these people and as she looked around, the site of another blue-haired woman caught her attention.
"Juvia, why are you all alone?" Aqua asked her as she came up to the rain woman.
Juvia was quietly sobbing and pointed directly at the dancing guests, where Gray was dancing with Wendy.
"That's just cruel." Aqua said the only thing that came to her mind.
On the dance floor, Jayden and Kagura were dancing, but the latter was still a bit tipsy from all the wine she drank earlier.
"…" Kagura was largely quiet with a bright pink flush on her face.
"Now that I think about it, you and Jason danced together, didn't you?"
Kagura looked down in sadness. "… Yes…"
"I know you still feel responsible for what happened to him, but… I know I'm going to sound heartless for saying this… Maybe his death was a blessing. Based on his memories, the day before he died was nothing but anguish and he would have to live out the rest of his life like that. He wanted his life to end, but he had responsibilities that kept him from doing so. But Alexander made that choice for him."
"Don't you DARE talk about Jason like that!" Kagura shouted at him.
"Do you think I WANT to talk about him like that?!" Jayden yelled back. "Those were his thoughts as he died! And if he didn't die, Alexander would still be abusing me and my clones!"
Jayden and Kagura were silent as several people just stared at their brief argument.
"I'm sorry…" Jayden spoke up. "I know Jason is a touchy subject for you…"
"I… I must also apologize…" Kagura said. "Let's… forget we said anything and just enjoy the night."
Jayden and Kagura resumed dancing, although some people were still staring at them in confusion as to what they were arguing about.
Yukino was sitting with Lucy at another table, the silver-haired wizard looking on at the pairs dancing and sighing.
"Yu-Yukino?" A voice stuttered a bit.
She looked toward the voice and saw Kyo wearing a nice suit, despite his body expressing clear signs of discomfort.
"Kyo! You're wearing… a suit?!" Yukino gasped.
"Would…" Kyo was having a hard time getting his words out of his mouth, evident by the blush on his cheeks. "Would you like to dance?"
Kyo held out his hand to Yukino while slightly looking away from her. After a few seconds of silence, Kyo felt his arm getting pulled and saw that Yukino was taking him to the dance floor. Yukino clasped Kyo's hand with her own and cupped her other hand over his shoulder.
"Oh damn…" Kyo mumbled under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Yukino asked.
"I… I don't… I can't dance." Kyo stumbled over his words somewhat.
Yukino giggled at Kyo's embarrassment. "Don't worry. I'll lead."
Yukino guided Kyo's movements to match her own while he just stared at his feet. With each step, Kyo was feeling a bit more comfortable with his current position. Eventually, Kyo looked up and saw Yukino's smiling face and wide eyes. For whatever reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
The next morning, everyone was leaving the capital to head back to their respective homes. As Kyo was waiting with the members of Sabertooth for their train, an old lady was passing by. When Kyo saw her face, he froze and his mind immediately thought of the woman he hit on back in Rose Lake, Ultear.
*Is that…?* Kyo thought as he looked at the old woman as she walked away and eventually he smiled. *… She's still as beautiful as when we first met.*
"All aboard!"
Kyo finally returned his attention to the line and saw that it was his turn to board it.
On another different train making its way to Roseshade, Sakura, Spiral, Jayden, Azusa and Aqua were seated together. Most of them were staring at Aqua's missing arm, feeling bad for not stopping Minerva sooner. Sakura, however, was just staring outside the window.
"Sakura, you've been surprisingly quiet this whole time." Spiral said. "Is something wrong?"
"What do you mean 'surprisingly'?" Sakura quickly leered at him before looking back out the window. "Those Crime Sorcière guys were in the capital when the dragons attacked…"
"You're wondering if they're okay?" Jayden asked.
"… I don't know why… But…" Sakura began trailing off.
Jayden saw a teardrop fall down the side of Sakura's face.
"I feel like we lost someone…" Sakura confessed.
"D-There's nothing to worry about, Sakura." Spiral tried to raise her spirits. "I'm sure the next time we see them, everyone will be there and accounted for."
"… Yeah…" Sakura continued staring out the window, unable to shake the feeling that there was a huge loss during the big battle.
A/N: I FINALLY got this done! One more chapter to go! A word of warning: the next chapter might be longer than normal so I can properly end it while leaving things open for the second part of the story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!