I watched a change in you

It's like you never had wings

Now you feel so alive

I have watched you change

It's early in the morning on our first official training day, and I'm in my cabin alone with Evergreen. We're both standing in my room, basically whisper-shouting so a certain dragon slayer couldn't overhear us.

"He gave you his coat?!" She gapes at me "He never lets girls keep it! Ever!"

I bite my lip, looking at the article of clothing. It's lying out on my bed and we're acting as though it may get up and move at any second. Though I'd never admit it, I had actually slept with it all night. Laxus's strong masculine scent clung to the fabric and it made me feel secure, lulling me into a deep sleep filled with dreams of pleasant lightning storms. I thought over what Evergreen said, questioning why he had let me keep it overnight if he was so attached to the fur-lined coat. I didn't want to get my hopes up that it could actually mean something. Then again, he also kissed me… I sighed, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

"I dunno… I mean, he knows me better than the random women he usually sleeps with, and can easily get it back whenever since I'm right next door. It's not that big of a deal."

"Your face says otherwise!" She says, pointing at me accusingly.

"Ugh, I know…" I can feel the light blush on my cheeks and I sigh, flopping back on my bed. I cover my eyes with my arm as Evergreen sits beside me.

"So, what happened?" She asks. I peek out from under my arm and see her prying eyes staring down at me. There was no way she was going to leave me alone when she knew I was hiding something, so I told her.

"We… We kissed."

"What?!" She screeches. I sit up, quickly clamping my hand over her mouth to quiet her shrieking.

"Keep your voice down!" I remind her, and I let go when she nods, eyes wide. She's trying hard to stay quiet but I can see a thousand questions running through her head. "Okay, yeah. He kissed me. It was… wow… Sudden, that's for sure. We stayed up late just talking and I really enjoyed myself. It started getting cold, so he lent me his coat. When I got up to leave, he had this look in his eyes… He told me I looked good in his coat, and before I knew it he was pulling me in for a kiss."

Evergreen smiles excitedly, clasping her hands together and pressing them against her chest. "Awh, (Y/n)! That's so romantic!"

"Oh whatever." I roll my eyes at her dreamy expression. No doubt she was imagining what our wedding would look like. "I kissed Bickslow too, it's not that big of a deal..."

She gets a disgusted look on her face and frowns "No way!"

"Yup" I grin, teasing. "It was pretty hot."

"Oh my god I just want to smack you right now." Evergreen shudders as she stands and swiftly walks out of the room. I chuckle, following her to the kitchen where she starts to make us some tea. It was early in the morning and she needed her caffeine, especially after hearing the latest developments in my life. She makes me a cup and hands it over the counter, and pours herself some. "Okay, so when did you and Bickslow kiss?"

"That day when I came to the guild after you all returned, when we went outside to smoke." I respond as I take a drink of the warm liquid. "We were talking, and he started flirting with me. I was really surprised when I found myself reacting to it. There was something between us that was new, and we both just kind of went for the kiss. It was… intense."

"Wow, and here I thought he was just joking around when he was flirting with you." She frowns, sighing dramatically as she leans against the counter. "I still see you as my little sister and here you're all grown up, kissing boys!"

"Well, technically I'm older than you but yeah. It was kind of weird suddenly having Bickslow's attentions focused on me. I'm used to being like his little wing-girl." I laugh, smiling fondly as I think about all the antics we used to get into. "Now, I think I'm starting to like him."

"And? What about Laxus?" She asks cautiously. "I know there was still a bit of tension between you guys, is everything resolved?"

I took a moment to respond, thinking hard about the lightning mage. "Yeah. He's changed, I can see that. He seemed really genuine when we talked and we were finally able to clear the air completely. I thought I was over him, but after last night…"

I trailed off, not sure what to say. When I thought about both men, I found myself comparing their kisses. Bickslow had thin lips and a wicked tongue, and his kiss had overwhelmed and excited me instantly. Laxus had full, soft lips and he had kissed me so gently that it was surprising. It sent my heart soaring. I couldn't stop the sigh as I remembered the two totally different experiences. Both were equally consuming my thoughts, however.

Fuck, this isn't good. I realized that trying to do anything about this right now would be bad for our dynamic. For the next three months I'd be around these guys every day. There was no way I could continue anything. I needed to train hard so that we could win the games! I couldn't afford any distractions.

"Wow, you're really in a tough situation." Evergreen giggles, seeing my serious expression as my thoughts consume me. "But I'm glad you and Laxus are good now."

I nod, smiling softly. "Me too. And I think I'm just gonna ignore all these awkward feelings and focus on training anyway," I say, determined. "The last thing I need is emotions getting in the way of us winning!"

Evergreen smiles sadly at me "You really have grown so much. But don't let your determination to win get in the way of your chance at happiness. After all this time, you really deserve it."

"Thanks Ever." I say, taking her advice to heart. However, right now my happiness depended on the results of the games. We hug, and after finishing our tea the two of us start getting ready for a long day.

We head over to the boy's cabin for breakfast after we finish getting ready. She walks in, and I quickly hang up Laxus's coat on the rack by the door as I follow behind her. Freed is already up and moving about in his room, and Evergreen goes to loudly wake up Bickslow who is passed out on the couch. I go to the kitchen and start making breakfast as Evergreen wakes Laxus up as well. Soon everyone is in the kitchen, sitting on the bar stools around the center counter. They start discussing the next three months and setting up a training regimen as I cook.

"I think we need to focus on strength." Laxus said. Bickslow, sitting shirtless next to Laxus in his pajama pants and visor, nodded fervently in agreement while his babies repeated "Strength, strength!"

"Of course you guys would think that." Evergreen rolls her eyes "We need to work more on expanding our magic power. What do you think Freed?"

The rune mage looks over to Laxus, smiling "I'm willing to do whatever Laxus-sama wants!"

Evergreen groans in frustration "I should have known you would say that… (Y/n), help me out!"

I giggle as I finish up my cooking and start laying out plates. She's going to hate my response "I just want to fight someone first."

They all laugh when Evergreen lays her head down in defeat.

"How about this?" I offer as I dish up the food for everyone. "I do my sparring with someone really quickly before starting actual training today. Then, we set up a schedule. We could do alternating days where we do different things. One day we train solo, other days we get together and all do the same thing. Today we can start off solo and tomorrow we can do something as a group. Then, one day of relaxing every week. "

"Sounds like a great plan (Y/n)." Freed says, and everyone nods in agreement.

We all grow quiet as we eat, with the occasional teasing comments between Bickslow and Evergreen. He never missed a chance to give the fairy mage a hard time.

We finish eating and Laxus and Bickslow go to the rooms to start getting ready. Bickslow's stuff had been put in Freed's room instead of leaving it lying around. They had just enough space in the closest and dresser to share, since most of Freed's stuff were books that had been placed on the bookshelf in the living room. The rune mage starts doing the dishes with Evergreen and I sit there with my head resting on my hand, watching them.

I start thinking about how I was going to spend my day. I can't decide who I want to fight first. Evergreen was obviously out, she refused to participate. I didn't really want to spar with Laxus, knowing he'd probably beat me if I did. Sure, I was strong, but I wasn't a beast like the lightning dragon slayer. Although I am pretty impervious to his lightning, he would definitely defeat me just with brute strength. Of course, there's the whole kiss thing too. That kind of makes things awkward.

I debate on asking Freed first. He was an amazing and clever mage and I would love to test my mind against his. Bickslow, on the other hand, I could use more of my magic with.I'm still struggling to decide when Laxus comes out of his room and sits next to me. He's wearing a tight-fitting black sweatshirt and loose sweatpants. I can tell he's using today to work on cardio and probably lifting too.

"What's got you looking so serious?" He asks, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the counter.

"I'm trying to decide who I want to fight first." I respond, glancing at him briefly.

He grunts "Of course you are."

Bickslow strides into the room wearing his full set of armor and fur lined cape, having heard our exchange. "I call first!"

"Guess that solves that." I chuckle. Freed and Evergreen finish the dishes and I stand up. "We ready to get started then?"

They all agree, and we walk to the front door. Laxus notices his coat already hanging up and he frowns, but doesn't say anything. I ignore his gaze, deciding it was better off if neither of us talked about what happened.

"So Ever, you gonna at least watch your 'little sister' fight?" I smile hopefully at her as we walk outside.

There was a vast open area away from the mountain and resort where there was no snow. It would be easier to go all out there without worrying about causing an avalanche or destroying any property. We walk down the steps of the front porch and take the path that leads down to the field.

"Sure, I wouldn't want to miss out on Bicks getting beat up." She laughs, dodging the seith mage when he tried to pinch her. They stick their tongues out at each other and I move ahead of them, walking next to Freed. They start hurling insults back and forth for a while. It finally gets quiet for a second before Evergreen shouts up at me. "Bickslow is checking out your ass (Y/n)!"

I roll my eyes and Laxus turns his head back to give them a dirty look "Do you two ever stop?"

Bickslow rests his hands behind his head, grinning mischievously "Don't act like you haven't been checking her out too boss man."

I face palm as Laxus zaps the perverted mage hard. He deserved every shock of lightning given to him. Laxus then continues walking ahead of our group, scowling with his arms crossed over his chest. I stare at his back, my cheeks turning red at the thought of him watching me in that way. Damn you Bickslow, why would you say that? Now I couldn't stop thinking about him and last night. I really needed to stop.

We reach the field and I clear my mind of anything except my fight with Bickslow. I run a thousand different strategies through my head, picturing different ways of counteracting his magic.

"I just want you to know, I ain't gonna go easy on ya!" Bickslow cackles as we face off.

The other mages stand off to the side as we prepare. I grin widely "Good, cuz I'm not going easy on you either."

We stand still for a moment before I let out a deep breath, and as soon as I see Bickslow tense up I move. I knew the seith mage was not as good at close range fighting, so I quickly teleport directly behind him. I go to strike out at him using the lightning from my teleportation, and he swiftly turns and jumps back, his babies following.

"Oh-ho-ho! You sure are fast!" He laughs "I won't let you get that close again!"

His babies start shooting beams of green light at me and I dodge, running around the open field. Explosions sound behind me, and for a moment they stop as I make my way back around. I take the chance to attack, sliding to a stop and holding my hands out. I summon my magic, shouting "Storm magic-Tornado!"

Clouds form above Bickslow's head, and the wind picks up speed as a tornado quickly touches ground and throws the seith mage across the field. I direct its path towards him as he goes flying back and his babies quickly move to cover him. They block the tornado and he lands on his feet, sliding as the wind dies down. He stands again and his babies get into a vertical line in front of him. His face is a bit more serious than before as he shouts "Line Formation!"

A huge beam of light shoots out, and I move to the side, using a strong wind to turn his attack back around and directing it at him. He narrowly avoids it and I attack. "Storm Magic-Earthquake!"

The ground starts moving violently under Bickslow's feet, and he does a flip into the air. His babies catch him and they soar high overhead. I continue attacking as they do. Large bursts of rock start shooting up at them and they fly wildly to avoid them. He cackles loudly from above me and I glare. "Get your ass down here Bickslow!"

"Try and make me, baby!" He shouts, jumping off his babies and onto a barren tree.

I glare at him as I think of what to do next. I needed to get him down on the ground. As long as he's up there he's got the upper hand. I stand there trying to catch my breath, but his babies begin attacking again. I don't want to use too much of my magic up with teleporting so I run and dodge, using my wind to stop any attacks that get too close. Dammit, this is annoying! I need to finish this soon.

"Storm Magic-Sandstorm!" I use the burst of sand to block his totem's attacks, but it does nothing against Bickslow. His visor does a good job of keeping the sand from his eyes and I curse when I realize that it was a poorly constructed assault.

"C'mon stormy!" Bickslow teases as my attack dissipates "I can tell you're getting worn out. Just give up!"

I growl "Fat chance! I'm taking you down."

"Alright, you asked for it! Baryon Formation!" His babies start spinning rapidly, glowing a bright green. A massive beam, bigger than all the others combined, forms from his totems and comes barreling towards me. It was an all or nothing kind of attack, and left him completely open from behind.

Now's my chance!

I focus on a spot behind Bickslow while he's distracted, and use the blinding light from his attack to my advantage. The beam gets close to me, and I teleport at the last second directly behind the seith mage. He looks behind him in shock and I grin. "Gotcha!"

I summon a powerful snow storm, knocking him off the tree and across the field. He falls to the ground hard, and I drop down gracefully into the snow.

"Shit, that hurt. I'm out!" Bickslow groans, laying his head back. His babies fall to the ground around him.

"Wow, you're better than I thought you'd be!" I giggle as I walk over to him. The other three come running up to us and I look around. There are broken trees and debris everywhere. "Damn, we did a lot of damage."

"Yeah, there were a few times I was afraid we'd get sucked in! Thank god Freed put up some containment runes." Evergreen laughs, "You are amazing Sis!"

"Yes, extremely well done (Y/n)." Freed says "I look forward to our match together."

"Let's save it for another day, I'm kind of beat." I sigh, sitting next to the seith mage who is still lying on the ground. He grunts as I lay against him, my back resting on his side. All his heavy padding is like a nice pillow.

"Shit (Y/n), you kicked my ass!" Bickslow groans, turning his head slowly to look up at Laxus "I'm gonna need the rest of the day off Boss."

"Yeah I bet you are." Laxus chuckles, kicking the seith mage's foot. He then looks to me and nods "Awesome fight (Y/n). Before our training is over, you might be able to beat me."

"You think so?" I ask disbelievingly.

"Hell yeah." He says "You're pretty impervious to my lightning, and you're quick enough that you might be able to keep up with me. It would be an interesting match."

I roll my eyes at the glint in his eyes "I still think I'm gonna pass. I don't want to die."

"You two ready to get up yet?" Evergreen asks after a quiet pause.

"Give us a minute will ya?" I sigh "You guys can go on ahead without us."

They nod, and begin walking back towards our cabins. I lay my head back on Bickslow's chest, closing my eyes. I can feel his slow breathing and it's oddly soothing. Just being here with him calmed me down and I had to fight to keep from nodding off. We're both quiet for a while before the seith mage groans again.

"I was nearly out of magic power before you beat me" Bickslow says, pouting. "That Baryon Formation was my last shot."

"Awh, don't be upset. I have had seven years to get this strong you know."

He sighs, "You know what would really make me feel better?"

"What's that?" I look over at him and he quickly shifts over me, pinning me beneath him.

"A kiss." He grins. I bite my lip, considering his request. However, I think about what I said to Evergreen. Both he and Laxus were amazing, but I didn't want to do anything until we won. Trying to figure out my feelings for the two mages would cloud my mind. The Grand Magic Games were too important to go into them with an unclear head.

"How about no?" I respond, pushing the seith mage off me and standing up. He leans back on his hands and pouts.

"Awh, c'mon (Y/n). Suddenly you don't wanna kiss me?" He smirks "You sure were eager the other night."

I roll my eyes "Hardly. Besides, someone could see us."

Bickslow frowns "Why do you care? Do you not want to be seen kissing me?"

"It's not like that Bicks!" I wave my hands in front of me. Despite his cocky attitude, the seith mage had lots of self-doubt caused by the way past lovers had treated him. "Look, I really enjoyed our kiss. And I wouldn't mind doing it again, it's just…"

"You don't want anybody finding out?" He grunts, standing up and crossing his arms "I get it."

"No!" I sigh "I just want to keep a clear head these next few months. I need to focus on winning the games. You're just too distracting."

He chuckles, looking at me intently as if he was trying to figure out whether I was being truthful. After a moment, he sighs and drops his arms "Fine, but when Fairy Tail wins, I'm taking you out."

"We'll see." I blush, turning away to hide my smile. So much for keeping a clear head. I turn towards the direction we came from and start walking back, and Bickslow follows behind me.

"You have some leaves in your hair." He chuckles, pulling them out.

"Yeah pretty sure there's dirt all over my ass too." I laugh, brushing off my backside. We walk up the path, laughing and talking like normal as we go. I was glad to have settled things with Bickslow. But the closer we got to camp, the more I started thinking about Laxus.

I wasn't sure whether to ignore what happened or tell him how I felt. Everything with Bickslow was so easy, but the dragon slayer was a wild card. I didn't know him as well. Then, I also had to worry about telling the seith mage what happened with Laxus. I groaned inwardly, not looking forward to that conversation.

Before I realize it, we were back at the cabins. I decide to go into the cabin I'm staying in to see if Evergreen is still there and wave to Bickslow as we part ways. Evergreen is walking out of her room when I get inside and invites me to go meditate and do yoga with her. I agree, and she waits for me to change before we leave. She peeks her head into the other cabin to let the guys know, and I see that Freed has multiple books laid out in front of him. Bickslow is sleeping on the couch and Laxus is gone, having already left to start his own training.

We head up the mountain to find a place along the path where we could do our yoga. Both of us agreed we should do it in the cold to strengthen our resilience. Evergreen took some convincing, but she understood that it was time to get to work on training, and we weren't going to take it easy forever.

We walk up the mountain for a few miles and along the way, Laxus passes us as he runs down. He has his sound pods on and simply nods in greeting as he continues on. I notice the way he avoids looking at me and realize he's probably decided that it was better if we ignored what happened. I turn away and continue walking, strengthening my resolve. If that was what he wanted then that worked for me. Now I could focus on one thing-training.

"So…" Evergreen begins when he's out of earshot. He may have his sound pods on, but you never knew just how sensitive a dragon slayer's hearing was. "Have you two talked about last night? I saw you snuck his coat back without saying anything."

I sigh at her prying. I loved her, but the woman was relentless. It was only a matter of time before she said something, and of course she took the first opportunity to bring it up. I didn't want to think about it anymore, but she, apparently, had other ideas.

"I've decided it's best to ignore what happened and move on. Both with Laxus and Bickslow…" I say as we come to a stop near a vast open ledge clear of any trees.

She faces me, frowning "If that's what you want, I guess there's not much I can do to change your mind... You told Bickslow? I imagine that's what you were doing when we left."

"Yeah, we talked." I shrug "I told him honestly that I wanted to wait before deciding to pursue anything with him."

"And?" She asks.

"He said that he wants to take me on a date after Fairy Tail wins." I can't contain my grin despite my feigned indifference.

Evergreen shudders and I laughed, quickly summoning some wind to brush all the snow off the ground. We started to stretch and do our yoga, talking aimlessly for a while before moving apart to do our own thing. The rest of the day was spent that way, with both of us on different sides of the clearing. She works on strengthening her fairy flight and accuracy with her attacks.

I focus on expanding my magic container after an hour of simple meditation. I started by summoning lesser storms around me. My magic power manifested in a strong wind that I worked hard to enclose in a small area while I created multiple different storms at once. I used containment runes to protect anything around me from becoming damaged. Freed's books had really come in handy when I was younger. I poured over those tomes often, and along with everything he had taught me, learned rune magic well. Of course, mine was nowhere near his level. Still, the runes I created did the job.

I continued casting my magic, trying to keep it up for as long as possible. Finally, I ceased everything at once and sighed. That had been so incredibly strenuous, and I couldn't believe how long I'd held it for. Sweat was dripping down my face, and the cold mountain air cooled it down quickly. I panted, falling backwards and grinning. "I think that's a new record!"

A/N: So this was my first time writing a fight, hope it wasn't terrible! I find it difficult to do, and really hate long fight scenes, so it's pretty short. Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think! See you next chapter :)