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)
Remembrances and Forgiveness
Nina sighed as she thought back. "Well, one day, he just snapped. Apparently, Fairy Tail had gained 'a bad reputation' in his eyes... I should've seen it, but, I was too young at the time to see past anything. When Gajeel joined, everyone hated him to a point where Jet and Droy, from Levy's team, just beat him up without reason... That's apparently when Laxus attacked him as well..." She grimaced. "From what Jet told me, he and Droy stopped when Gajeel said all he wanted was to be recognized as a Fairy Tail member... However... Laxus didn't like that... And when Levy tried to protect him, Laxus attacked Levy, too. But, Gajeel was injured because of protecting her."
Yukino's eyes misted over and went to hug her. "It must've been bad..."
Nina took comfort from her sister-in-law's hug as Sting reappeared. "Hey, you..."
"Hey yourself... You alright? I finished my talk with Erza when I told her you were starting to feel sad." He explained, gently holding her hands.
"I was... Explaining why Laxus is the way he is now..." She said with a tiny smile.
Sting blinked and nodded before leading them to a table in the hall, sitting on her right while Yukino sat on the left as Yukino caught him up with the story. "Wow."
She nodded. "Like I said, I was around... Let's see... I came to Fairy Tail at seven and Lucy joined when I was nine... So I was I think almost ten-ish when the Battle of Fairy Tail happened..." She grimaced slightly. "When Gajeel took the hit meant for Levy, he left and later told me, while we were on Tenrou Island, that he had to leave otherwise he would've lost his progress at the time... I saw Laxus that day and, while I was unaware of the attack, he just rubbed my head with his normal grin and he acted like nothing happened..." She thought back and wondered if the hints had been there to begin with. "However, he did say..."
"I said I would make Fairy Tail a better place for her." Laxus interrupted, having returned from where he had gone and stood at the end of the table. "I assume you're telling that story?"
Nina flushed and nodded slightly. "Sorry... I know I shouldn't..."
He merely sighed and took a seat. "Nah... It's something that reminds me I ain't a great person."
Rogue blinked as he saw how much Laxus hated his past self, similar to how Rogue himself hated his future self. "So, what happened afterwards?"
"I just snapped. I had Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen defeat the Dark Guild Ghouls Spirit to reinforce that Fairy Tail wasn't a joke and that the old man was done as guildmaster. It was oddly around the time of Fantasia, celebrating the harvest from that year." Laxus stated.
Nina sighed slightly. "It wasn't until the Miss Fairy Tail contest that, if I remember correctly, everything went to shit. I was just enjoying the contest when Ever used her Stone Eyes on the participants, including Erza and Juvia. I was actually stunned at the events when he announced that there would be a game to determine who the strongest Fairy Tail member was."
"I excluded Nina because I knew she was strong. At the time everyone else, in my eyes, was weak. When Evergreen said that they had three hours to hunt us down or else, I had no idea what I started. Freed used an enchantment preventing stone figures as well as those older than 80 from leaving..." Laxus added. "Something inside me just exploded when I learned of their defeats and, in a blind rage, I used my Thunder Palace, unaware of anything besides wanting a strong guild."
Nina's eyes watered. "I was in the guild hall when Gramps apparently had a heart attack or something afterwards. When Madam Porlyusica told me and Levy that he was gonna die, I had Levy stay behind while I went to try and find him to get him to stop, having heard the defeated cries of the other members. Gajeel and Natsu, of course, came with..." She sighed. "I guess it was a good thing too. When we arrived, he was completely out of his mind."
"That's when I made the worst mistake of probably my life. I could only see foes and attacked without thinking. It wasn't until afterwards, when Natsu beat my ass, that he told me I attacked her in my blind rage." He admitted and saw the anger on the Twin Dragons. "Like we said, I had snapped and couldn't see straight. If I had an ounce of the amount of control I have now back then, I would have never done that... I'll never understand how she forgave me when she woke up."
Nina smiled softly. "Cause I knew why you did it, plus I believe I've always been that way..."
That got Rogue to blink and finally calm down with a nod. "That's true... She always had the most forgiving heart out of the two of us..." He replied. "If Lita forgave you, I kinda have no choice but to agree, least she cut me out again."
"You hush up, Ryos~ I can't help it. It's who I am. If someone doesn't like it, they can screw off." Nina said with a giggle at his stare. "But, I reasoned with Gramps to let me at least write to him. If he didn't I believe I would've left to find him. I was almost attached to his hip most of the time."
Sting sat and let the information sink in before he relaxed his own glare. "I suppose it works out she's so nice.."
Laxus chuckled. "Yeah. I realized that when I came to Tenrou Island to save her from Hades."
"Hades?" Minerva asked.
Nina huffed. "Hades was known beforehand as Precht Gaebolg, one of Fairy Tail's founding members and the Second Guild Master... He got tainted by evil and left, forming Grimoire Heart, who quickly became one of Fairy Tail's enemies." She grinned. "I had fun for a bit... Until Hades decided to try to use my head for a boot cleaner. If Lax hadn't appeared, I think I might've been dead."
Yukino blinked. "Is that how you got your other form?"
"Yup. He transferred his power to me... Oh, I nearly forgot! Before I joined to fight Hades, this guy named Zancrow kept flirtin with me, even though I was only eleven..." She let her head hit the table in defeat.
"Tch. Good thing he's dead... I would've killed him right away." Sting stated.
Laxus smirked as Nina looked up, getting her to frantically shake her head. "Hmm... Makes me wonder..."
"Laxus, don't you dare!" Nina warned, bolting up to shake a finger at him in warning.
Yukino laughed, as did Rogue and Minerva at the interaction. "What?" The Celestial Spirit Mage asked.
Nina plopped back down with a groan. "Before Zancrow, there was another guy that decided he wanted me: Lord Benton Ambrose Armitage the Fifth. It was around a year or so before Tenrou Island, so I was only eleven... He wanted me to leave Fairy Tail and marry him, saying I would 'will bloom into a lovely woman' with him... That was after he forced me to dance... Laxus, however, made it clear I wasn't leaving... He punched him so hard, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a busted face afterwards."
"Tch. I was protectin my sis from SleezeBall McGee." Laxus snorted, seeing the anger return to the Twin Dragons.
"If I see that bastard, he will learn the true power of shadows." Rogue promised.
"That's if ya get a chance. I'll break every bone in his body." Sting added as he held her possessively to his side.
Nina had to laugh at how much anger even came from Yukino and Minerva. Yet, she was glad to have so many protectors of her younger self as she relaxed into Sting's hug. "I'll let ya if either me or Lax smells his stupid scent. Just, try not to go overboard." She agreed.
"I have a hunch you told that whole story for a reason?" Laxus said with a smirk.
"Well, kinda... I did promise Rogue I'd tell him about how I grew up with probably the most hot headed people in the world." She replied with a grin as Evergreen, Freed and Bickslow came over from the board.
"Well, that is a grin we remember to well: you're reminiscing about Fairy Tail." Freed pointed out.
"You are easy for us to read, Nina." Bickslow agreed.
"It's not that hard to hide things from the Thunder Legion. By the way... I have to say it's slowly feeling like a family here." Evergreen stated with a smile.
Nina sighed in agreement. "But I wonder why Gramps did what he did... Now I got another headache..." She deflated at all the probable reasons for disbanding her family like he did. "As if I didn't have one beforehand." She pouted.
Freed laughed slightly. "That's a first... You never complained about headaches before, Miss Rose."
She sent him a look before shaking her head. "That's because I had no reason to get 'em. I was young and thought I didn't need any knowledge."
Evergreen was the one to laugh at that comment. "No wonder Erza had to literally tie you down to learn to write when you first came to the guild."
That had the other four stare at Nina with a shocked look, which had her blushing. "I didn't like learning... And Erza is scary." She defended her past self, but was grateful that she had taken time to teach her.
Rogue nodded. "She is. I can't blame her, though. We barely knew how to spell our names right in the end."
Nina laughed. "Maybe that's why he went with four letters instead of more? To make it easier on him."
That got her brother to laugh as well. "That could be true."
Sting merely shook his head. "Sounds like you grew up in chaos, Lita."
She shrugged. "That's one word for it. We just call it family."
Freed chuckled. "A strange one, but a family no less. I would assume you've kept in contact with Lucy?"
"Of course! I know it's tearing her up. After all, like me, Fairy Tail was her entire world. But, she said she's doing articles for Sorcerer's Weekly now, only being an assistant editor." She explained with a smile before using her magic to get an article from that week's edition for them. "I'm proud of her."
Evergreen tilted her head as she picked it up to read before handing it around. "Well, she always wanted to write, didn't she? I'm glad."
That got her to giggle at a memory of Lucy actually letting her see what she was working on, knowing the other mage truly trusted her more than she did Natsu. She remembered having Lucy show her and explain certain words because Lucy used rather difficult words at times. It was because of Lucy that Nina actually developed a love for reading, only easy books to begin with before she made her way into other ones. "I should thank Lu-chan... She got me into liking reading."
"So, she turned my not-interested-in-words sister into the bookworm I know now?" Rogue teased with Laxus flat out laughing at that statement.
She merely stuck her tongue out at the two. "What's your excuse for not reading, Rogue? I know you'd be in the same place I was!" A triumphant grin grew when Rogue's smile faded away.
Minerva had to laugh at the dynamic. "You truly are related."
"What gave it away?" Nina laughed.
"The fact you can easily get under his skin without trying?" Minerva answered with her own smile.
Laxus blinked before chuckling. "Fuck it... I can't keep a grudge to save my life nowadays..."
Nina's eyes brightened at that, while Minerva looked utterly confused at the words, which made her grab both hands of the Spacial Mage. "That means he forgave ya! Just need to get ya to forgive yourself, too!" She said so brightly that Minerva was stunned at how positive she was being.
"Uhhh... I suppose... Alright... As you've said: 'it's in the past', right?"
"There we go!" Nina cheered.
Been a while! But I am building up until they get to the Alvarez Empire arc/Avatar War/The one arc where they fight against Zeref's kingdom, especially for the Sting-Larcade fight!
~~Kiwi~~