She longed to learn who she was and only he had the answer. Problem? He was in Sabertooth and she was in Fairy Tail, two rival guilds. On the road to get answers, she finds herself falling for his partner. [StingxOC] [RoYu] [NaLu] Other pairings inside.
The Shadow's Light
Sting X Nina (OC)
Reunion and First Round!
She saw a slim, yet muscular, toned young man of average height with spiky blond hair, which is kept in strands jutting outwards in every direction, and a smaller, frontal cowlick of hair partially hanging over his forehead. He has slanted, slit pupil-ed, dark blue eyes; above the right one is a thin, diagonal scar. His left ear is adorned with an earring which, in itself, is attached to by a prominent metal pendant that is crystalline in shape.
He wore a blue vest with golden outer edges and inner edges covered by a prominent trimming of gray fur that appears similar to a feather boa over a short, cream top, leaving his muscular upper abdominals exposed. His arms are covered by dark blue gloves reaching up to his mid-bicep, with their upper edges being adorned by light gray bands hanging down several centimeters. He wears loose, cream-colored pants, similar to Natsu's, but held up by suspenders, which are attached to the pants' loops by square-shaped rings that are gold in color. Over them, he dons distinctive dark blue galosh-esque footwear that reaches up to his thighs and attach to the upper edge of his pants. The prominent soles of the "boots" are distinctive in their own right; it has rectangular protrusions pointing upwards on their front portion, reminiscent of square fangs.
The other man was a slim young man of average height with rather messy black hair, which almost reaches down to his shoulders, along with some strands pointing upwards on top of his head and a prominent tuft obscuring most of his forehead. His hair is later brushed to the right side of his face covering up his right eye. He has red eyes with slit pupils similar to that of a snake's. She noticed he was like her now that she took a look at him. He wore a long, black cape reaching down to his feet, with golden edges, a much lighter collar circling his neck, and a prominent, white ribbon hanging down on his chest. Such cape bears a light guild mark symbol on it, almost in correspondence to his left shoulder. Below it, he seems to wear a plain gray shirt with prominent brown cuffs and what looks like a large metal band circling each of his biceps. From a light sash circling his waist hangs a distinctive, pale blue cloth waistguard, consisting of four long pieces of cloth reaching down below his knees. Each of these pieces is adorned by a large, dark cross with fan-shaped arms. Below such waistguard, he wears a pair of armored boots, which, on the front, bear plates bearing the very same motif which appears on the waistguard.
The two looked to her, the dark-haired one's eyes widened a little bit at the sight of her while the blonde smirked. "Yo, Rogue, lookit this cutie. She must be a fan of yours or somethin'."
"Hmm.." Came the reply from Rogue, who recovered from his surprise and looked at his partner. "She's not Gajeel, so I have no interest in her, Sting."
Rosie shot up and glared. "So, you're the infamous 'Twin Dragons', eh? You have nothing on Gajeel or even Natsu, that's for sure..." She sighed as Natsu caught up.
"Rosie, you just took off, what's up?"He asked.
"It's Natsu, right? Man, have I waited a long time to meet you. Sad that you're in the weakest guild." Sting taunted.
"What did you just say?"
"We're Sting and Rogue, the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, the strongest guild in Fiore." Sting jeered. "Hard to think you were beaten by a dragon! Me and Rogue could've killed it, no problem, since we're the true Dragon Slayers, being third generations."
"Like Rosie, then?" Natsu smirked. "She's one and even she couldn't do it."
"Gee, thanks, Natsu." She replied. "But, yeah... Four Dragon Slayers couldn't even mark that blasted beast." She stood up and dusted herself off. "I'm not here to talk about that. I wanna know why you changed your name, Ryos..." She said, seeing Rogue go wide-eyed. "What happened in X780? Why did you abandon me?"
"What? Rogue, you know this girl?" Sting asked, seeing his partner blink at the name.
"Oh, he knows me... In fact... I believe it's more... Isn't it?" She asked.
"..." Rogue hadn't replied since she called him Ryos, staring at her before he glanced at the flower behind her ear. "That..."
She inhaled when he seemingly went wide-eyed at it before she spoke. "Do you have the answers I need?"
Natsu whipped his head towards her. "What?! Him?! That's the one Skiadrium was telling you about?"
"I'm guessing so... If not, then who? His scent is familiar, after all.." She replied, glancing his way for a few seconds before looking back at Rogue.
"Wait, Skiadrium? Rogue, didn't you tell me you killed him?" Sting asked.
"I... We did.." He said, sighing. "So, it's true.. You are still alive, Nina..."
"Nina? That's my name?" Rosana asked.
"Yes..." Rogue nodded before the two noticed that Natsu and Sting were arguing. "Is he always that?"
"Mhm. Natsu'll always start fights if anyone bad talks Fairy Tail... Same here..." She sighed before heading over. "Natsu, calm down. Save it for the Games... How about a wager, Rogue? If Fairy Tail wins the Games, you answer all my questions about our past. If we lose, I'll leave you alone and never mention this again."
Sting chuckled. "Better get ready to leave him alone... Cause Sabertooth hasn't lost ever."
Rogue gave a tiny smile. "Alright, I agree."
Rosie nodded and the two shook hands before she noticed Sting was still grinning. "What's your problem?"
"Just finally got to look at ya. Pretty, for a girl in the enemy guild." He shrugged slightly before the two left.
"Ros, why'd ya bet that?" Natsu asked, raising an eyebrow as they made their way to the Honey Bone Lodge.
"I want to prove that he is the one I can't recognize. Just because he smells familiar doesn't mean much... Well, it's gonna be fun to say the least for the next few days. I have hope we can and will win this." She eeped when the pinkette threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Course we're gonna win, we're Fairy Tail. We don't really know the meaning of losing when we do it for our family." He said, grinning.
The day after, the Grand Magic Games finally began, now that there were eight teams. Rosana was with Lucy and Erza getting the outfits her grandfather picked out, all were purple with the Fairy Tail emblem on the left breast for their entire team.
Hers was a square neck and shark-bite hemmed shirt with a long ruffle back blazer and black leggings that went under her purple knee boots, which had the Fairy Tail emblem on the back. Her hair was up in two buns, with the flower she had as a child tucked securely in the left one. She saw that Lucy was having problems and helped her out. "Better?" She asked as they met up with the other two, listening to the crowd cheering from their own spots.
"Wow. Would ya listen to that crowd?" Erza commented.
"I didn't think there'd be so many people watching..." Lucy said, amazed.
Rosie was taking deep breaths besides Erza, her fear of so many people creeping up on her due to her trauma at the cause of her memory loss: a large group running around her. She needed to try and get over this fear, but never could figure out how.
Erza noticed and faced her. "Hey, Rosie, look at me." She got fearful ruby eyes to meet hers. "Just focus on our team. We will be right beside you... The Guild is beside you at all times..."
"Where'd her confidence go?" Lucy asked.
Gray grimaced. "Rosie is terrified of crowds larger than the Guild... It's because of what happened to her that caused her amnesia..."
Lucy went wide-eyed and frowned. "Oh... Right..."
Erza nodded and saw her calm down. "There we go... Breath and just stay beside me, okay?"
Natsu chuckled slightly. "Between me or Erza, we got ya, Rose."
She nodded and took a few more calming breaths before responding to Lucy's earlier statement. "Well, Lu, the city is full of wizards from all over the country. of course people will want to see them in action." She saw Natsu frowning at his clothes. "Something wrong with the choice?"
"Man, purple is so lame. I'd rather wear my regular clothes instead of this crap." He whined.
Rosie sighed and shook her head as Lucy huffed in his direction. "Well, purple or not, you'll just have to deal. Unless you wanna tell Master why you think the clothes he picked are lame."
Taking confidence from being besides Erza, Rosie grinned. "It's not that bad, they're really cute~"
"You won't hear me complaining, I think they're adorable, especially on little Rosie here." Erza squeezed Rosie like she used to when Rosie warmed up to her a few months after she arrived.
"Erza-chan~" Rosie whined while smiling.
"And comfy. Skin tight." Gray agreed.
"They're not skin tight, you're half-naked!" Lucy scolded.
Rosie beamed with a laugh after Erza let her go from the hug. "Get used to it, Lu-chan..." She clapped her cheeks. "Alright... Let's get this over with so I can go back to hiding until it's my turn!"
"Nuh-uh. I'll drag you out to watch each time, so don't bother." Erza said as they got ready at their entrance, waiting for their turn.
"Out there... Rogue... He has my answers... I'm sure of it..." Rosie said, clenching her fists. "He'll solve my past, I know it."
Gray tilted his head. "Rogue? The guy from Sabertooth?"
"Apparently, he's Rosie's blood brother..." Natsu informed before facing Rosie. "I'll help get you those answers, I swear."
"Thanks, Natsu..." She truly saw the Fire Dragon Slayer as a brother, due to the bond they had as children. And it's how she could almost get his full feelings for Lucy out when it was the two of them.
Meanwhile, out in the arena, Chapati Lola began speaking. "We're just moments away from the start of the Grand Magic Games. I'm lead commentator, Chapati Lola and I'll be handling the play-by-play while former Council member Yajima provides commentary. Mr. Yajima, glad to have you with us, sir."
"Glad to be here." Yajima said.
"And let's not forget our special guest: a member of Blue Pegasus and current holder of the title Miss Fiore, the ravaging Jenny Realight."
A woman with long, wavy and flowing blonde hair, gathered on the back of her head and tied in a ponytail that reaches down to her middle back, with two short bangs framing her face, and a decorative flower with large petals adorning the right part of her head, above her right ear. Her face was soft in shape, and she had large light blue eyes with long eyelashes and full lips, colored red. She smiled. "Blue Pegasus is bringing home the gold this year!"
"Ready? Let's go." Natsu said as they started walking, with Rosie right between Erza and Gray.
"Now, the time has come to meet our competitors. First up, in 8th place, an old school bunch of wild wizards from Magnolia! They had luck in the prelims and now they're raring take back first place by force! It's Fairy Tail!"
Rosie had he hands on her hips, a sign she was serious and to hide her nerves as Natsu held a fist up, to boo's. She went wide-eyed at how loud the boos were and started mentally panicking. 'I... I can't be out here...'
"What the hell!?" Natsu said, clearly as shocked as the rest of the team while Erza stayed beside Rosie.
"I didn't see that coming." Gray said, giving a worried look towards his fellow guildmate, who appeared to slowly turn white as a ghost. "H-Hey, Rosie... Calm down."
"C-Can I go home n-now?" She whimpered.
"Who would've thought they would make it this far after losing every year? Securing a spot in the prelims was no small feat for them. Will the Tenrou team's sensational return help Fairy Tail become Fiore's greatest guild?" Chapati questioned.
That pressure deflated Rosie's weak esteem immediately and she bit her lip to prevent from crying, though she knew her nails had dug a little too hard into her skin, since she immediately smelt her own blood, which Natsu also picked up on. "Yo, relax... You've already hurt yourself!" He said, trying to snap her out of her trance. "Erza." He stated after he managed to make her hands unclench and showed it to the Requip mage, who dug out some cloth to wrap her hands.
"Don't let them get to you, okay?" She said softly.
"I'm proud of them! Way to go kiddos! Now go out there and show 'em what you can do!" Yajima said with a thumbs up.
"CHEER TILL YOU BUST A LUNG!" Makarov's loud voice ordered the remainder of the guild, to which they did so. "HURRAY! HURRAY! FAIRY TAIL IS NUMBER ONE!"
"See? The cheers of our comrades are all the support we need... Even Master is cheering, see?" Erza made her look up to their spot in the stands.
Seeing her family cheering despite the boos and jeers made her snap out of her fear and look at her hands before nodding as she blinked at a new voice joined their family. "Who..."
"You see that, too?" Natsu said, surprise coloring his voice as, true to their question, the First Master herself had appeared and was cheering for them too. "Even Master Mavis came out to cheer us on! We got this in the bag!" Natsu said with a laugh.
"At least the ghost likes us..." Gray mumbled.
Rosie gulped at that. 'A ghost... likes us more than humans... Is that low or some underhanded jib at me being here?' She shook her head and saw a banner bearing a guild emblem she had no knowledge of until Chapati spoke again.
"Next up, the team that came in seventh place in the prelims: the roudy army of hell hounds: Quatro Cerberus!"
The middle man looked way too energized for his age. "Let's get wild!" He got the rest to imitate his 'wild' with a roar.
"And coming in sixth is a guild filled to the brim with the fairer sex: the damsels of the great blue sea: Mermaid Heel!"
Rosie saw how gorgeous they all were and felt ugly in comparison, especially when she saw all the males in her guild in the stand seemingly start drooling at the same time. It made her slowly cover herself up as the memory of that creepy lord came back, shuddering at how gross she had felt. Sure, she looked like her age finally, but apparently she was leagues away from Mermaid Heel's beauty. She wanted nothing more than to vanish away again.
Lucy blinked and saw her shivering. "Hey... Rosie... Why're..."
Erza frowned and shook her head. "Lucy..." She then went over to her friend and gently put her hands on her shoulders. "Don't compare yourself to them. You're beautiful in your own way... Remember we love you as you are. What happened back then won't happen again so long as I live, alright?"
"A-Alright... Thanks... I know I shouldn't try to, but I can't help it..." She said softly.
"In fifth place, with azure wings that glimmer in the darkness, it's Blue Pegasus!"
"Hey guys, do your best!" Jenny cheered.
"Next, in fourth place, the goddess of love and strife, the sacred destroyer: Lamia Scale!"
Rosana gulped, knowing that was Lyon's guild and, true to her gut's hunch, Lyon and his team were making their way to their spot. "Ooooh boy..." She said.
Gray grumbled. "Look, Lyon's not gonna get near ya. I will make sure of that... Him and Eve won't get near you."
"Thanks... I'm not ready for any of that stuff yet..." She said, relieved as she saw Lucy's questioning look. "I wanna know who I truly am before I look for a relationship those two seemingly want. I don't want my past to be a mystery when I find the one I want to spend my life with... Besides... It'll mean a lot to me as a Dragon Slayer, too.." She imagined a handsome man whose face was obscured by her daydream, laughing with her on a stroll; standing beside her as she trained; helping her with a child who was equally obscured; holding her hand when she was sick.
"Earthland to Rosie~" Lucy said, giggling at the flush on her face. "You tell me I daydream too much..." The two watched a crimson-haired girl trip and fall flat on her face.
"I never seen her before."
"She looks like a smaller version of that girl Sherry." Gray commented with a grin.
"Please try to stay on your feet." Lyon scolded.
"No promises Lyon..." She said sheepishly.
"This is Chelia, one of Sherry's cousins." The eyebrow man explained. "We only breefly met, remember?"
"Riiiight. Chelia!" Lucy said. "She's the one who informed us of Sabertooth..."
"Makes sense..." Rosie agreed.
"And she's crazy strong to boot." The dog man said.
"Being love-crazy must run in the family." Gray commented, getting Rosie to laugh softly.
"Don't forget our agreement, Gray." Lyon said, walking over before looked at Rosana and blushed a little. "Still divine..." He faced Gray with a sly grin. "If we win, Rosana becomes a member of Lamia Scale."
That floored her as she glared at Gray. "You placed me as bet!?"
Gray ignored her with a grin of his own. "Last time I checked, I didn't agree to that bet... Not that it matters, since you guys are gonna lose... And I'd rather not deal with her brother."
Rosie watched as each of their friends that helped search for them try to bet for someone to join their guild, which made her suddenly realize: Rogue was in Sabertooth... Fairy Tail's sworn enemy during the Games... Even when they win, there was no hope of her ever learning about her past because their only communication would be lost due to the hatred that burned in her guild's gut. 'Perhaps... I was stupid to make that bet... When we win, I won't get my answers from Rogue... I'll never know who I truly am and I'll rot away..'
Lyon blinked and faced her. "What's got a frown on your face, my dear?"
Natsu grabbed his shoulder. "Butt out, pal... It's something she won't tell you, no matter how much you butter her up with those words." He said, glancing at Gray. "Can't believe I had to do this. He's your problem!"
"I shall also try for Miss Rosana!" Eve said with a laugh.
"Now to introduce our third place contestants: what a shocker; swooping in from a midnight dreary, this dark and gloomy bunch is making their debut int this year's Games! Give it up for: Raven Tail!"
Rosie was assaulted by a smell that was almost like Laxus's, yet fouler as she covered her nose to keep it from getting into her lungs. "Wh-What's that scent..."
Natsu tilted his head before sniffing. "I don't smell anything bad, Rose... What is it?"
"It's... Like Laxus's but much fouler... I might be sick from how terrible it smells." She held back vile as she spoke.
"Huh?" Lyon was confused. "People have scents?"
Natsu deflated and grumbled. "Yeah, dummy. For us Dragon Slayers, scents help us tell who's a friend and who's our enemy... And it's way more sensitive than yours..."
Gray nodded. "And Rose's nose is even more sensitive... And she knows Laxus's scent from training with him as well as living with him for a few months now."
"Y-You mean, my Rose is another's?!" Lyon looked heartbroken.
"Oh, stop it... Laxus is her brother." Gray groaned. "He's been her brother since she was a kid."
"That means I have a chance!"
"Lay off her!" Gray snarled.
"This is bad." Erza said, giving Rosie a rag to help with the smell. "Their leader is Master Makarov's son, Ivan."
"That means..." Lucy said in shock as she tried to soothe Rosana as Chapati explained that Raven Tail had all their documents in order, thus could compete as an official guild, explaining their history for a bit.
Rosana gulped, knowing little about her adoptive grandfather's son and Laxus's father, Ivan. They avoided the conversation and she learned to avoid the topic to a point that the idea now was both enraging and sickening that someone who was never mentioned by her grandfather was now in this competition.
She couldn't look away from the man in the mask with the rag over her nose as she went towards Erza for some safety, earning his apparant attention. "Ahh, little Rosana... I truly hope that nightmare didn't scare you too much..."
"You're the one that caused that nightmare?! I'll burn you to a crisp!" Natsu stated, his growing anger clear on his face. He had woken up to her tossing and turning in her sleep, tears running down her face. The memory was a reason he made her the promise.
Natsu yawned and sat up from his spot in the hotel. He rubbed his eyes as he made his way over to the sound that had woken him up and was shocked awake at Rosana's quivering and flailing form from under her sleeping bag. Against Lucy's wishes, Natsu had taken it upon himself to be in Rose's room to keep her safe due to Erza being with Mirajane and Lisanna. He also explained that Rose was his sworn sister and he needed to guard her until Laxus showed back up. And apparently it was a good thing, too. He rushed over and slowly put a hand on her, causing her to bolt up with a silent scream.
"Hey, Rose, it's only me... What's wrong?" He asked as the Shadow Dragon Slayer teared up and threw herself at him. "Hey, I'm here... Calm down, okay?" He soothed her by repeating what he had seen other do to comfort her, petting her hair.
When she seemingly stopped crying, her eyes almost matched her ruby eyes due to how red they were from crying. A cold sweat was still over her as her lower lip quivered. "I-I-I... had a nightmare... and... it felt so real..." She said with a crackly voice from crying. "I had a nightmare where... everyone... ignored me and let me die on a field... Not even... you or Laxus... paid me any acknowledgment... It was like I never existed..." She began to tear up again. "The worst part... was the fact it made me feel unloved..." At that word, she broke down again.
Natsu felt anger boil in his gut while he softened. "That would never happen. I swear it. You will never disappear nor be forgotten.. I promise to find the cause of this and I will burn them for this." He waited before she looked at him again. "This is my promise to you: No one will ever hurt you and make you cry like this again. I will protect you as your Dragon Slayer brother. If anyone even makes you uncomfortable or tries to force a relationship, they'll have to go through me."
Rosie felt that promise lock inside her heart and mind, knowing a Dragon Slayer's promise was a bond.
"What?!" Erza snarled, keeping a calm face, her anger in her tone before looking to Rosana with a tender smile. "We're by your side..." She nodded in understanding as she slowly stood back up, keeping the rag on her nose.
"Hold on, we still got two teams who made it through the qualifying round!"
Lucy looked towards Rosana. "That's right... And we know one of them is Sabertooth..."
"The one that has Rogue in it..." Natsu said slowly. "I wonder who the other team is though..."
"Could the other one be tied to Zeref then?" Rose asked from beneath her cloth.
"It's likely..." Erza said. "Assuming Jellal's intuition was correct. I guess we'll know soon... Let us know if you sense anything new, Rose."
"Will do..." She said, preparing her nose for a magic like Zeref's. What she least expected was a familiar magic that had her nearly scream in joy.
"Our second runner up is... Oh, wow! What a surprise! This year's got a whole lot more interesting folks!" Rosana's eyes lit up while Natsu looked floored at who appeared in the arena as well, a familiar lightning shield showing the Fairy Tail mark evaporated, showing all-too-familiar faces. "It's Fairy Tail Team B!"
"Mira?!" Lucy asked.
"Gajeel!?" Natsu sputtered.
"Brother!" Rosana said with joy from under her rag.
"Juvia?!" Gray was shocked at that.
"How is that fair!?" Lucy asked. "We need some answers! How is Mystogan here?!"
'Mystogan' held a finger up and Rosana knew the scent was Jellal's, which Erza questioned to him 'shh'ing them. "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!"
Rosana didn't mind it when she went to her brother's side, her eyes shimmering. "Heya, bro."
"Hehe... Heya, too. I'm not surprised that you knew..." He then noticed the rag and her hands. "The hell happened?"
"Well... You might've heard how they announced my team, I kinda froze up from both fear and the pressure, so..." She held her hand palm up for him to inspect. "As for this rag, I have to keep my nose from the smell of Raven Tail's middle man. It makes me queezy, but now that you're here, I can actually focus my nose on you, like you trained me to." She put the rag back with a smile before frowning.
"What else?"
"Well, the first night we were here... I had a nightmare..." She explained the exact same thing she did to Natsu. "Natsu promised me, ya know... To be my sworn Dragon Slayer brother and to step in for you if need be. I'm glad he did."
"Same here..." He walked her over to the other group. "Natsu."
"S'up?"
"Thanks. For being there for her."
"Don't get all sappy on me, Laxus... I hated hearing her cry just as much as you do." Natsu said honestly.
"Aww. Did Salamander make a new friend?" Gajeel taunted, even though he nodded at Rose, as if understanding what happened.
Rosie beamed slightly. "Oh, look at what Gramps picked out! Erza said I'm adorable!" She looked up for his approval.
"She's right, you're too cute to even be out here, but.." He said, rustling her hair slightly.
"Beautiful... You truly shine..." Lyon murmured, getting Chelia's attention.
"So she's the one you've been fawning over."
Rosie gulped and looked up at her brother. "Uh... I left out a little problem..." She said, pointing at Lyon. "He wants me to join Lamia Scale if they win... As if I were a trophy."
"Huh..." He stated and made his way towards Gray. "Gray... Mind explaining why he wants my sister in his guild?"
Gray began sweating slightly. "The guy's lovesick over her. No matter what I do, he just bounces back... I told him she wasn't a part of any hair-brained bet he came up with!"
Laxus looked from Gray to Lyon, who was busy looking at Rosana to notice him. "Since she's on your team, Gray... You will keep her safe from him. I know Natsu's good for his word... But since you know that guy, he's your problem for the Games." Gray nodded and nearly looked relieved as Laxus re-joined Rosana as Chapati, Yajima and Jenny went over how it might be bad that they had two teams, but apparently it didn't seem to phase Yajima, since he knew them pretty well.
Rosana shook her head. "Explains why so many entered... Huh?" She watched in confusion as Natsu got angered.
"THIS IS A BIG LOAD OF CRAP!" He shouted, making Rosana nearly lose her footing at his shout. "Being in the same guild don't mean jack. If I fight against any of you, I'm not pulling any punches! As long as we're in this tournament, you're my enemies and I ain't gonna lose to any of you!"
Gajeel apparently saw that as a challenge and got into his face. "I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm looking forward to making you eat dirt, Salamander."
"Lucy, what's the matter? You look terrified." Mira giggled.
"Well, yeah! How can I even manage to fight you, Mira?" Lucy said, as nervous as Gray had been earlier.
Rose watched as Laxus went to remind Erza that Jellal was 'Mystogan' and rarely talked before returning to her. "Alright, bro, Imma show ya that all that training hasn't been for nothing!"
"You're on, sis." He said with a smirk.
"And last, but certainly not least, is the team that came in first place in the preliminaries! That's right! You know them, you love them. Now give a new finished scream for the most powerful guild in all of Fiore, the one and only: SABERTOOTH!"
Rosie's head whipped around and she stared down Rogue as him, Sting and three others walked in to deafening cheers. She tightened a hand as she felt the magic power almost match theirs.
"Hey..." Laxus said, noticing her tension. "What's up?"
"That... Rogue.. He has my answers... He's the misty person in my memories... The one I need to learn of who I was before I was brought to Fairy Tail... His true name is Ryos... And I'm apparently Nina..." She said, not once leaving Rogue, who must've sensed her looking and met her gaze. For a few moments, time seemed frozen as she heard him speak, as if it were just the two of them.
"Nina... Once the games are over, whether or not you win or lose, I will answer any questions you have... Or, should I call you Rosana?" He said.
"Whichever comes natural to you... I might let Ryos slip... I apologize." She replied softly, getting the very faintest of smiles grow on his face, only barely seen by her.
"I am not proud of that name, so, call me Rogue." He said before time seemingly returned to normal.
"Can't wait to bring them down." Natsu said.
Sting waved a finger. "Why so serious? It's just a game."
Rosana felt the anger rise when Gajeel noticed Rogue staring at him longer than normal. "There a reason you keep gawking, pretty boy?"
"Nothing important." Rogue replied simply.
Gray turned serious. "At least we know who our biggest competition is..."
Shina noticed the two other Exceeds, as did Lily and Happy. "Well, Lily, looks like they have an Exceed cheer squad..."
"My thoughts exactly." He agreed.
Shina and Lily had become quick friends once he came to Earthland from Edolas. The two would often pick on Happy, who was pretty much Shina's brother due to them hatching at the same time. She and Carla got along famously and often gossiped like Rosana would with Wendy or Lucy. It was Wendy's idea that she wear a mini-version of whatever Rosie wore.
Looking at her partner, Shina smiled. "She's doing it."
Lily blinked. "Doing what?"
Happy, being Happy, spoke. "Rosie has a fear of crowds! She would pass out sometimes when she would be surrounded by strangers."
Rosie ignored the cat while listening to the rules. Her entire future really hanged on the outcome of the Games and she wanted to win. She watched in awe as the schedule was announce via tall stone obelisk.
"There's gonna be a lot of action the next few days..." Gray commented.
Chipati then began to explain the rules and how they would be scored for that particular event, from last to first, with first earning a total of ten points and last getting zero. And she learned that following that competition would be a battle that pinned one team against the other based on the crowd's recommendation.
"That means the matches are in their hands." Rosie commented, turning thoughtful. That was before she heard the first event was something called hidden.
"At this time, we'd like each team to select one member to compete. Once they are chosen, the rules will be explained." He let them take a few moments. "The first challenger has stepped forward. From Quatro Cerberus, it's Jäger!"
"The first one should be easy, I'll go size up our opponents."
"We're counting on you."
"From Mermaid Heel, the adorable Beth Vanderwood!"
"Nalpudding. You go."
"I won't let you down, boss man."
"From Raven Tail, Nalpudding!"
"I'll take this one." Eve stated.
"We're sending you out there in style!" Ichiya said.
"Look out ladies, here comes Eve!" The other two chanted.
"Blue Pegasus sends out Eve Tilm! Gotta love those lively cheers!"
"I shall handle this. I'm feeling inspired by the birds' lovely songs."
"Keep your eyes on this one, folks. From Sabertooth, the minstrel who sings to the red moon: Rufus Lore!"
That earned a lot more cheers, which annoyed Natsu. "They're going nuts for the pretty boy? I don't get it..."
"Whatever the rules, I'm sure the name is a clue. I have a feeling that stealth and guile will be essential to win."
Lucy smiled. "Well, we have our little sneaker here, so..." She stared at Rosie, as did the other three members while even Lamia Scale went about choosing, before Lyon stepped up.
"We shall take the lead from the start." He said. "Just leave it to me."
"From Lamia Scale, Lyon Vastia!"
"Yeah? Well, take our secret weapon, you ready, Rosie?" Gray asked.
Rosie inhaled and, after looking around, smiled. "This should be easy for me."
"From Fairy Tail Team A, the Shadow Mistress herself, Rosana Dreyer!"
"Alright, if Rosie's in, I'll join as well!" Juvia said.
"From Fairy Tail Team B: Juvia Lockser! The competitors have been chosen and the long wait is over! Hold onto your seats, for you won't want to miss a single moment of Hidden."
So yeah, instead of Elfman, Rosie's in the games and takes Gray's spot. That doesn't mean much, though... :3
I had to really rewatch the first couple episodes of the Grand Magic Games to get it back, but I got it back!
~~Kiwi~~