afterglow | natsu x reader

Chapter 19: Hidden

A white haired man stepped in for Quatro Cerberus.

"From Quatro Cerberus, Yeager!"

A small red head from Mermaid Heel.

"From Mermaid Heel, Beth Vanderwool!"

"Raven Tail, Nalpudding!"

"Eve from Blue Pegasus."

And I look at Sabertooth and both Fairy Tail teams. If it's like hide and seek then Wendy would be perfect since she's so small. Then from Sabertooth, a male with long blonde hair steps forward and it makes the crowd go crazy.

"Rufus is here for Sabertooth! He seems to be the crowd's favourite."

"He's not that cute." Bonnie comments, not knowing why there was so many feminine screams. I look at the Fairy Tail teams and see Juvia come in for team B.

"Fairy Tail Team B, Juvia Lockser."

I cheer for her and wait for Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail A to announce their members. Lyon goes in for Lamia Scale and Gray for Fairy Tail.

"Sabertooth's Rufus seems to be the favourite, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Fairy Tail can do." Yajima says into the microphone.

"And who will you be rooting for, Jenny?" The announcer asks the guest judge.

"Obviously Eve is going to win. He's strong!" She responds and the crowd starts cheering for the small blonde from Blue Pegasus. All the contestants then meet in the middle of the arena, around the pumpkin.

I really don't want to misgender it, so I'll just call it an 'it.' "Field open" The pumpkin says and I watched amazed as a whole town appears in the arena. It's amazing and I've never seen magic like it. The participants then appear in the town and a lacrima screen appears in front of us.

"So it is a game of hide and seek except everyone is a hider and a seeker." Levy explains.

"The rules are simple. You can attack any player with any sort of magic. Damage does not matter, just one blow is all. The person that attacks gets one point and the one hit loses a point. There's a twist," Then the inside of the town starts to glow and hundreds of copies appear around the participants.

Dummies? To make it harder to find?

"Attacking a copy will result the attacker losing a point. If you are attacked or attack a copy, you will appear 10 seconds later in a new location. You can restart an unlimited amount of times. There is a time limit of 30 minutes, let hidden begin!"

"Oh I love hide and seek! I wish that was me out there." I say and Bonnie takes a seat on my lap. In the corner of my eye I see someone waving in my direction. I look and it's Sting. He blows a raspberry and shoots me a thumbs down.

I roll my eyes and mimic him. I look back at the game and see both Juvia and Gray just walking around. "Y/N... I want a snack." Bonnie begs. I lift her off my lap and start heading to the concession stand. As I'm looking through the menu, someone pokes both my sides. I jump and swing behind me.

"Chill!" Sting says and dodges my fist.

"Don't do that!" I gently slap his arm. He laughs and I look through the menu again. The only apples they have is caramel apples and Bonnies hates that. I guess a cup of popcorn will have to do.

It's my turn in my line and Sting stands next to me, leaning on the table. "Your team sucks." Sting tells me. I decide not to respond yet and order the popcorn. "Shut up for once, will you?" I ask him. I look at the lacrima screen at the concession stand and see Sabertooth has zero. "You have no point." I point out. He looks at the board and smirks, "Better than the negative. And Rufus has a strategy."

The lady comes back with my popcorn and Sting places jewels on the counter. "I could've paid for it myself." I say and pop a piece of popcorn into my mouth.

"Just say thank you." Sting grabs a handful of my popcorn and leaves. I huff out in annoyance and make my way back to the Fairy Tail booth. As I have a seat, I see Gray attacked by Nalpudding from Raven Tail.

"He's been targeting Gray this whole time." Bonnie says as she takes some popcorn.

"C'mon Gray!" I cheer. As Juvia and Gray were talking about a deal Master made with team B, Nalpudding comes from behind and attacks both of them. I look at Master and see he looks furious.

"I want you to replace Juvia for day two. I don't think Ivan understands who he's messing with." Master tells me and I'm the only one to hear.

"Sabertooth's Rufus has not moved an inch!" The announcer points out. I look at at Rufus and it's true. He's been standing in one position. He had a cocky smirk on his face. "It's all too simple. I remember it..." And he places his index and middle finger on his temple.

The skies turn black. "Everyone's heartbeat, their magic, their footsteps, all memorised." A magic seal appears over the town. "Memory Make..."

"Memory make?" I question and wait to see what he does. Everyone's bodies start to glow. It showed Rufus who were the copies and who were the real ones.

"Night of the falling stars!" Yellow beams of light shoot down on every participant. I stand up from my seat, shocked. One attack hit everyone. Only one managed to dodge on time, Nalpudding.

He jumps up and goes for Rufus, but doesn't hit. "That's not a copy, so don't worry. Simply a memory of me standing there." And the same beam hits Nalpudding. "Ancient magic..." Mavis mumbles.

"And with that Sabertooth's rufus makes it to first place with seven points! The power of Sabertooth!" And the crowd cheers. The town starts fading away and the scoreboard is displayed. Juvia and Gray take the last two spots.

"Wasn't that interesting..." Rufus comments. Sabertooth was first and Raven Tail second. Everyone in the crowd starts yelling rude things towards our members. And a shadow is casted over their eyes as they walk back to their booths.

"Good job Fairy Tail!" I try encouraging, but my screams were overpowered by everyone else's. I look Natsu and see him yelling at the people around him who were being mean. Then I look at Sting, who has an ugly smile on his face. Then at Master who is shooting a death glare at Raven Tail.

I place my hand on Master's shoulder, he turns and looks at me. "It's day one, old man. And I promise, I'll try my hardest tomorrow." I tell him.