Phoenix

The Holy Dragon

"Blizzard!"

Sting's face fell and he paled as the snow came rushing at him.

"Okay, okay! I give in! You win."

The blizzard disappeared as quickly as it formed, leaving a beaming Emi. She scanned the area before asking where Lector went. They both started frantically looking for the missing exceed when Emi spotted a maroon tail sticking up from a pile of snow. Emi gasped before rushing over to the exceed and helping him out of the snowpile.

"Are you okay?"

Lector waved his paw as he assured. "Of course I am! A little snow can't hurt me."

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"Hot chocolate! Hot chocolate!"

Emi was skipping through the streets with Lector and Sting jogging behind her. She turned into the bakeshop and triggered the bell. She quickly took a seat at her usual corner table and waited for the two to catch up. They walked in out of breath and met her at the back table.

"You really...gotta not run off," Sting breathed.

The three of them ordered hot chocolate and apple pie. Emi happily ate her pie when she looked over to see Lector staring at her hot chocolate.

"What's wrong?"

Lector looked away once he saw that he was caught staring. Emi gently asked him again. He refused to make eye contact as he answered her.

"I want some marshmallows, too."

Sting scolded, "Lector, I asked you if you wanted some and you said no."

Lector looked at him indignantly before looking out the window. Emi poked Lector from under the table and winked at him before telling Sting that she thought she saw someone behind him. Once Sting was looking away, Emi quickly switched Lector's cup for hers. Lector's eyes widened with excitement as Emi winked at him one more time before engaging in conversation with Sting. Lector happily sipped his hot chocolate as they talked.

"Lector and I are heading out on a job tomorrow if you wanna come."

"What's the job?"

"A town has a power outage and needs someone to provide lights to the places where it's really dark."

"That hot chocolate was the best!"

Emi and Sting's attention was shifted to the exceed. Emi giggled before picking up a napkin.

"Lector, you have hot chocolate on your whiskers."

"Looks like you enjoyed it."

Lector's eyes filled with embarrassment before he turned to Emi for her to clean his face.

"Adorable," Lucy commented.

Lector went to defend himself but Levy pointed that the memory was changing.

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"Sting, it's not that bad."

"Says the person who enjoys train rides."

"We haven't even gotten on the train yet."

Sting grumbled and took a seat on the train. Lector and Emi sat together as she pointed out all the trees. The train started, causing Sting's stomach to turn. He leaned himself against the window before slumping over. Lector fell asleep halfway through, leaving Emi with Sting, who was struggling to get up from the floor.