Phoenix

Picnic Bonding

Lector came flying towards the group and held up white flower with a yellow center.

"That's really pretty! Do you know what it is?"

"Can you tell me about it?"

"It's a chamomile. It can be used as a natural remedy for all sorts of illnesses."

Lector dropped the flower onto Sting's head. He opened one of his eyes and questioned the exceed.

"It's so you can use it later. Lady Emiko said that you're training."

"Miss Demon--"

Emi laughed loudly before turning back to Hisui and speaking, "Please don't call me that. You can just call me Emi."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Besides, you're a princess. You shouldn't have to address a regular person with an honorific."

Hisui smiled and nodded. They went back to talking, focusing mostly on what Emi had been doing the entire time. The princess listened intently when she heard that she had lost her memories.

"Do you...remember me?"

"I was able to regain all my memories very recently, so I remember."

"Hey Em, do you have another sandwich?"

Emi rolled her eyes while smiling and rummaged through the basket and pulled out another wrapped sandwich, handing it to Sting.

"Lady Emiko, do you have a jelly sandwich?"

"Of course I do! How could I invite you to a picnic and not have a jelly sandwich?"

Lector smiled brightly and took the sandwich in his paws before taking a big bite. Sting rolled his head to the side and laughed when he saw that the exceed had breadcrumbs on his face. Emi seemed to notice as well. She carefully wiped his face with a napkin and smiled. Lector looked away embarrassed, but Emi just rubbed his head in comfort.

"You guys really are like a family," Laxus spoke up.

Sting turned to the lightning dragon slayer and gave him his first genuine smile.

"She's like a mom to him most of the time," Sting explained. "He really loves her."

They both looked over to see that Lector was bringing flowers over to Emi and gathering them in a pile. Emi helped him sort them and started weaving the flowers into a necklace. Both dragon slayers looked on with small smiles on their faces. They looked at each other and gave a small nod before Sting laid down again and closed his eyes to take in the slight breeze.

---------

"Is there a reason you're dragging us around the city?" Laxus asked, slight annoyance in his voice.

"I figured we can all do a bonding exercise. We can work on your spells and hang out at the same time."

Sting and Laxus looked at each other and sighed. They arrived in the field where Kira and Emi would spar and dropped the picnic stuff under the big tree. Sting and Lector instinctively laid down under the tree, leaving Emi and Laxus standing in the field.

"Sting!"

He hummed and opened one of his eyes before smirking and closing it again.

"I guess some things don't change," Emi mumbled and turned to Laxus. "I guess we're sparring again."

Lightning engulfed Laxus's fists and went to strike her when she countered with her Light Whip and dragged his fist to the ground. The force of his fist hitting the ground sent a large tremor across the field.

"Hey, don't go forming another storm," Sting scolded. "Everyone is still recovering from the last one."

"But that's how the fight will go as long as he uses magic."

Sting groaned and flipped up to his feet. He cracked his knuckles and joined them in the field.

"I guess that means it's my turn then," he said as he smiled devilishly.

Emi returned his smile, and Laxus sat under the tree to watch. Laxus looked over at Lector to see that he was intently watching the two.

"So you're always traveling with Sting, huh?"

Lector looked up at him surprised before assuring him that they traveled together since they were both young.

"Who do you think will win?"

"Sting is the strongest wizard I know...but Lady Emiko is really strong."

"My bet is on her."

"I think this will be a big battle, yes."

They turned back to the fight to see that they were just starting.

"Are you ready to lose, Sting?"

"I think you've been out of practice for a couple years. I've been training."

They both smirked before rushing at each other. Blinding light, rubble and lightning all surrounded them once they were finished. Sting lay trapped under her feet as she stood on his wrists.

"You're lucky you're light or else you would be squishing my hands," he muttered.

Emi just smiled sweetly and shifted so she was standing beside him.

"You wanna go again?"

"Hell no. My head hurts from all the lightning you shocked me with."

---------

"Were you two even able to come up with a plan for your Unison Raid?" Emi huffed as she watched the two struggling.

They both stayed silent and turned away from her.

"We picked one but we couldn't get it to work."

"Holy and lightning magic...we could try something I read about, but it's a close-range spell. That means that it's super dangerous and really shouldn't be--"

"Teach us," both Laxus and Sting spoke.

Emi smiled and dragged them both to the edge of town. She turned back to both of them and laughed.

"I would say we could take the train, but I don't think either of you would be able to handle it," she teased.

They both looked at her and scoffed. She revealed that she would teleport them to the same rubble that Laxus and Emi had trained in last time. Once they were there, Emi stood in the center of the destroyed city and waved them over.

"It's a holy spell that I read about. As I said before, it's a close range spell. In fact, you would need to be touching them while you cast the spell for it to work."

Sting and Laxus made eye contact before sweatdropping.

"Isn't the whole point of fighting the Sins to stay away?"

"Hey, you two were the ones that said you wanted to learn it."

"Fine, fine. Teach us."

"Laxus, I think you should be able to paralyze the target using your lightning long enough for Sting to cast the spell. That's the way it would work."

"And how would he do that?"

"I can just electrocute them," Laxus said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"The spell is called Smite, and it has the potential to kill them. Either that or knock them unconscious."

"How do we decide?"

"It's based on their power, which means that if you use it against the Sins and it works, it would most likely kill them because of their strength."

Sting and Laxus looked at each other and smirked.

"Let's do this."