~Jessie's P.O.V~
I walked in silence towards Saber Academy, pondering my own wandering thoughts as the cool evening breeze whipped pieces of my raven-black hair across my face. After a couple minutes, though, I was pulled back into reality when a soft glow of light reached my vision. I looked up from the paved sidewalk I had been walking on to see Saber Academy radiating a warm and welcoming golden glow.
I could see clumps of people near the front of the huge building, probably here to either participate or watch the event that I'm about to perform in. "Am I..really doing this?" I nervously asked myself out loud as I continued to tread towards the building. A moment of Sting with his head down flashed in my head, reminding me of the reason I came here in his stead in the first place. I paused for a second, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. "You don't back down from your decisions, remember?" I told myself, trying to build up motivation. "Already here anyways, so..."
'I wouldn't be here still pathetically trying to not disappoint my parents.'
"...better give it my all!" I opened my eyes, newfound determination flowing through my veins as I marched towards Saber Academy.
~♪~
"Oh Mavis what the hell am I doing?" Well, the boost of confidence only lasted so long. I was now around the campus of the school, and there were people just everywhere. I kept bumping into couples, adults, parents, children, and even elders left and right. The whole situation was like my literal nightmare, as knowing that almost all these people would be watching the GMG made my heart beat so fast I swore it could just burst out of my chest.
'You're doing this for Sting, you're doing this for Sting,' I repeated in my head over and over as a fruitless attempt to calm me down. I was going to say it out loud, but with this much people and me not knowing who's contributing to the Stessie blog, it just spelled disaster to do so.
"How can anyone expect to even see where they're going??" I muttered to myself as I lifted my head to at least see which way I was going. I'm not short (in fact I'm actually right around average, leaning towards taller), but the sheer density of people around me made it hard for me to see where I was going.
"JESSIE!" But then, out of nowhere, I heard a familiar feminine voice call my name. I snap my head to the right, my eyes scanning the crowd for the source of the voice. Almost immediately, my eyes land on a mixture of yellow, blue, red, and brown hair color. Lucy and Levy had their hands high above their heads and were waving while Juvia and Erza just smiled and gave a short wave.
"Minna!" A broad smile curled onto my lips and I ran (well, as much as I could anyways) towards my friends.
All of my Fairy Tail gals tackled me into a tight hug, which knocked the wind out of me, but I laughed nonetheless. "What are you doing here??" Levy asked once everyone slowly pulled away from the embrace.
"You here to see your boyfriend~?" Lucy teased with a smirk on her lips. A light shade of pink dusted my cheeks as another flash of Sting, this time him sleeping adorably and peacefully, went through my head.
"N-no!" I responded, mentally cursing at myself for stammering.
"Where is Sting-san anyways?" Juvia inquired, looking around the auditorium. It had already been crowded, but looking at it now, the entire room was super packed now. I looked around, and could identify some of the school by the uniforms they were wearing; Lamia Scale students were wearing green coats with their mermaid-like symbol on their right shoulders, while Blue Pegasus students wore those snobby high-end suits or dresses they always boast about with their symbol on their breast pockets.
I opened my mouth to answer my fellow Water Mage, but a familiar voice shouted my name out of nowhere.
"Looky who's here!" My eyes growing wide, I pivoted around on my heels to see Orga smiling, Rogue and Rufus beside him. "Oh, Jessie! You're here too!" Orga mused with surprise.
"Didn't you say 'looky who's here' just now.." I sweatdropped as the corner of my mouth twitched with annoyance.
"Oh, I was talking to the fairies over there." He smirked as his eyes shifted to Lucy. She blushed when she realized where he was looking.
"My eyes are over here perv," she scowled, using her arms to cover her chest.
"Whaat? Didn't do nothing," Orga shrugged innocently.
"I take it these are the one of the five people?" Levy said flatly.
"Three, actually," I corrected her, glancing over to Rufus and Rogue, who gave me mystified looks in return. I smirked as I added, "Though, one's an emo and the other one's just a flirt."
"..." Rogue's eyebrows twitched with annoyance as he had no words to say to me.
"I honestly cannot correct you," Rufus chuckled. He glanced over to Lucy. "Though, I can say that I am not as perverted as he is." He tipped his hat and bowed in front of the blonde girl. He dipped his other hand into his hat and pulled out a rose. "Not to someone with beauty I haven't seen in quite a while, if memory serves me right." Lucy blushed at his compliment, making both me, Orga, Rogue, and basically everyone else roll their eyes.
"Oi oi OI!!" Yet again, another voice came out of nowhere. The nine of us all turned to see a certain Fire Dragon Slayer glaring at Rufus.
"Natsu!" Lucy called out his name.
"Don't flirt with someone who just met!" Natsu growled, ready to fight the masked blond.
"If my memory is correct, Lucy Heartfilia does not have anyone to call her boyfriend, or girlfriend if that is how she is, so you do not have any authority to say that now do you?" Rufus smiled, a hint of arrogance in his grin.
"Why you..." Natsu snarled.
"Oi Flamehead, don't go picking fights in such a *oof* crowded place." Gray sighed as he too came after the pinkhead.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia squealed, tackling the Ice-Make Mage as soon as she was able to.
"Jeez, what's up with all these slow-moving people?" Gajeel tsked, flipping pieces of his long black hair out of his face.
"P-please don't shove people too hard Gajeel.." Jellal sweatdropped.
"Gajeel!" Levy smiled, making him look away with a small blush on his face.
"Jellal," Erza grinned, the blue-haired boy returning it.
"Gajeel?" I turned around to face Rogue, whose ruby eyes grew wide at the sight of the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Eh? Whadoya wan--" Gajeel stopped when his eyes locked with Rogue's. "..Ryos?" The ravenhead's cheeks started to turn pink when Gajeel said a foreign name.
"It's Rogue now!" he retorted while both Rufus and Orga were using their hands to suppress their laughter.
"Gajeel-san, you know them?" Juvia asked.
"Only Ryos; he used to be in Phantom Academy with us, remember?" Gajeel answered.
"Juvia does not.." the bluenette replied, stroking her chin as she tried to remember.
"I-it doesn't matter anymore, anyways," Rogue coughed, making me unable to resist a little laughter as well.
"Ehh? Looks like everyone's here!" Luckily for Rogue, it was then that the matchmaker and her boyfriend made their entrance.
"Mira, Laxus!" I grinned and called their names. Laxus gave me a small smile and a wave while Mira just smirked at me.
"Oh ho ho, I didn't expect you to be here," the whitette mused, a sly grin painted on her lips. "Where's the other part of my precious OTP?"
"Yeah, have you seen Sting?" Rogue spoke up, frowning.
"I haven't seen him at all, if my memory is right," Rufus nodded.
"Ah, he's sick," I nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. "So I..I'm covering for him."
"EHHHHHH?!?!?!?" Everyone screeched in disbelief.
"Itai..." I murmured, rubbing my ears.
"Sting's sick on audition day?!" Orga said in disbelief.
My memory reminds me that Sting did not look so well earlier today," Rufus nodded.
"That idiot.." Rogue facepalmed.
"How could you do this?!?" Lucy suddenly grabbed ahold of my dark purple leather jacket and shook me back and forth.
"Lucy, chill," I sweatdropped, making her let go of me. "It's just a favor."
"Still..!" Lucy whined and puffed her cheeks. "I can't believe you'd help them and not us!"
"I did help you, last year," I deadpanned flatly, making my bandmates behind me do a spit-take.
"Hang on here just a minute!" Orga butted into the conversation. "You're in cahoots with these fairy nerds?!"
"Nerds?!" Me, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Erza, and Laxus all turned to face him, a tick mark forming on the sides of our head. Almost immediately, he brought his hands up in surrender.
"H-heheh, did I say nerds? I-I meant fairy scum--NO NO WAIT I-I-I mean fairy brats--damn it w-wait-" Orga stumbled over his words, stammering insult after insult. Rogue, fortunately, put him out of his misery by holding his arm out in front of him, signalling him to stop his blubbering.
"Please ignore this bumbling idiot," Rogue sighed, his eyebrow twitching with annoyance once again. "He's just sore." Sweat rolled down my forehead as I nervously waited for my friends' reaction. To my relief, though, everyone just laughed.
"It's to be expected," Lucy giggled. "Don't worry about it."
"Yeah," Erza gave a smile and walked beside Orga. "Don't worry," she gave a really harsh pat on his back, which made him double over in pain, "about it."
"You know, did Sabertooth even compete last year?" Levy inquired.
"Saber tried," Rogue sighed. "Orga tried to do it solo once, but he didn't even make it past auditions."
"Hey those judges last year don't know talent even if it hits them like a lightning bolt!" Orga retorted.
"If memory serves me right, you did try to do just that, didn't you?" Rufus asked.
"Well yeah, if the principal didn't stop me! He would've gotten what he deserved," Orga smirked at the thought. "Though, I admit I almost got suspended for it."
"Yeah.." I sweatdropped, remembering how Father had described the three of them as troublemakers. "Aaanyways, why didn't you guys join him last year then?" Rogue shrugged and Rufus chuckled.
"I had no interest in it," Rogue responded calmly.
"I have to say I have the same response as Rogue," Rufus nodded.
"Then, why are you doing it this time around?" Gajeel cocked his eyebrows.
"Sting," the three of them answered flatly in unison.
"For Sting..?" Lucy questioned.
"Did he tell you yet?" Rogue nodded towards me, his calm expression turning serious. All attention then turned towards me, making me start to nervously sweat.
"Well..." I started to say, another recent memory flashing in my head.
"Once, just once, I want to feel like I accomplished something."
"...Yes," I admitted, a bit guilty that he told me this when he was sick.
"Ha, knew he'd tell you," Orga smirked.
"He was sick, though, so I don't know how much he'd have said if he wasn't," I muttered as my Fairy Tail friends just looked confused. I shook my head and asked, "Is that why you guys..?" The three of them nodded.
"Sting can be persuasive when he wants to; certainly surprised me when he had somehow persuaded the principal to let me attend," Orga crossed his arms, but there was a smiling twitching on his lips.
"He has a way with words that I haven't heard from anyone else in my memories," Rufus smiled, tipping his hat down.
"..What can I say, he's very influential," Rogue shook his head, a smile painted on his lips, "and our parents forced us to learn instruments anyways, so why waste the effort."
"Ehhh?? So you guys are that tight huh?" Lucy beamed.
"So you guys aren't delinquents?" Natsu asked bluntly.
"Who do you take us for?!" the trio snapped. We all laughed at their reaction, and eventually the three of them joined us.
"So," I decided to shift the conversation. "You guys here to audition for the GMG too?"
"Of course!" Natsu smirked.
"We have to protect our title after all!" Lucy smiled, putting her hands onto her hips.
"Well well, good luck to you then," I smirked and folded my arms. "Same groups as last year?"
"Well, not exactly," Levy giggled.
"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows in curiosity, but then realized that one person who was in the band last year was not with us at the moment. "I assume someone's replacing Elfman then?"
"Ah, yeah, that would be me," Jellal spoke up, a small, shy smile on his lips. "Elfman's the substitute this year."
"Ehh?? Nice Jellal!" I beamed, knowing that he didn't really like attention. He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, Erza told me I should, so.." he explained.
"That's right," Erza said proudly, putting a firm hand on the tattooed boy's shoulders (which made him blush). "
"What about you, Lucy? You guys are entering two teams again right?" I shifted my attention to my blonde friend.
"Yup! Me, Levy, Mira, Erza, and Juvia! It'll be sad not to have you with us this year, though," she pouted.
"Ah, don't worry, I'll be there; to kick your musical asses," I simpered.
"Whose side are you even on??" Natsu asked.
"That's what I'd like to know too," Orga narrowed his eyes towards me, crossing his arms.
"Well.."I sweatdropped and glanced to all my friends in Fairy Tail, "you guys have done so much for me, but, even though they may be troublesome and perverted," I turned my head to face the three Sabertooth students, who were twitching with annoyance at my insults, "these perverts have at least accepted me when I was just a newbie, and I should be grateful towards them for it." Their eyes widened with surprise as I grinned towards the three of them. Both Orga and Rogue coughed and looked way while Rufus tilted his hat down to cover his face in embarrassment.
"Y-you make it sound like you're the lucky one.." Orga mumbled under his breath, but through my keen sense of hearing, I heard it and grinned.
"Hehh, you've gone and made more friends then? So unfair making us do it the hard way," Lucy teased, making me blush.
"T-that was your fault you know!" I stammered, a bit embarrassed. I was going to say something else, but an announcement started and cut me off.
"Bands auditioning for the Grand Music Games, please head backstage. Again, bands auditioning for the Grand Music Games, please head backstage."
"Ah, guess that's our cue," Mira sighed. "Well, we'll go on ahead, alright Jessie?" I smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, we'll see you later!" They all nodded and started their way towards the auditorium.
"Shouldn't we be going too?" Rogue raised one of his eyebrows over the other.
"Yeah, but they went the wrong way," I deviously grinned. Orga, Rufus, and Rogue all stared at me with wide eyes.
"Damn girl," Orga whistled. "Such a savage."
"We have to win right?" I smirked. "It's not like I told them to that way or anything."
"Right right, let's just get going," Rogue smiled and rolled his eyes.
"..Hold on a minute," Rufus stopped us, his feathery hat tilted down.
"Something wrong Rufus?" Orga frowned.
"If memory serves me right, we did not plan Sting being ill," Rufus muttered. "So then..?" Our eyes grew wide as realization slapped us right in the face.
"I knew I forgot something," I hissed, angry at myself for missing such an obvious fault.
"Ohhhh shit," Rogue sighed, writhing with his hands over his eyes.
'Think think think,' I thought to myself, placing one of my hands on my head.
"What do we do?!?" Orga started to panic.
'You gotta think of something!'
"My memory serves no help with a problem like this.." Rufus murmured softly.
'You can't just--'
My train of thought comes to a complete stop as a lightbulb flickered brightly in my head. "Say that again," I whirl around to face Rufus.
"E-..excuse me?" he blinked.
"Repeat what you said," I commanded.
"My memory serves no help with a problem like this..?" he repeated in a questioning tone. A wide smile slowly grew into my features as I began to grow more and more confident in my idea.
"Au contraire," I grinned.
"E-eh..?"
"I don't like that grin," Rogue sweatdropped. "That looks exactly like Sting's grin when he has an idea."
"Oh hush, it's a good one," I huffed before returning my attention to the masked blond in front of me. "You know how to play the guitar right?"
"Y-yes, I do," Rufus nodded.
"What about the keytar?" I asked.
"What??" Rufus, Orga, and Rogue all said at the same time.
"Okay, hang on a minute, why do we need a keytar?" Rogue asked skeptically.
"What other instruments sound like a piano?" I cocked my eyebrows.
"A piano?!"
"Shhh, it's just for, like, the intro and..I believe like this one little part," I hushed the aggravated ravenhead.
"...." He stood there completely speechless.
"Anyways, can you Rufus?" I asked, locking eyes with him. He was a bit shocked at first, but he managed to nod.
"I must ask, what song do you plan for us to do?" Rufus inquired.
"Yeah, you don't even know if we know the song or not," Orga agreed. "I for one don't know many songs with the need for a piano."
"Oh please," I scoffed. I took out my phone from my pocket. I tapped the glass screen a couple times before showing the trio of boys. Their eyes widened yet again.
"Okay, well, I know this song," Orga admitted. "It's pretty badass and wrong not to know how to play on drums."
"Indeed, I can work with this," Rufus smiled.
"....." We all then turned our attention to Rogue, who was still staring at my glowing phone screen.
"..Do you know it or not?" I sweatdropped, not liking his suspense. The electric guitar was a key part in this song, after all.
"..Yes," he said finally. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Okay then! Let's hurry to the auditorium and settle the little details there," I said, pointing in the direction of said place. The three of them nodded and we started heading towards it.
"Hey Jessie," Rogue called my name, walking beside me.
"Yeah?" I glanced him.
"Thanks for doing this. Sting'll appreciate it," the red-eyed boy smiled warmly.
"Don't thank me yet," I replied. "We still haveta pass the auditions, and..." I trailed off and rubbed my arm with my hand.
"And..?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.
"And, well..." I shake my head. Thoughts like these weren't needed now. "We've gotta do our best or Sting will never let us hear the end of it, right?"
"You're certainly right about that," Rogue chuckled.
"Oi slowpokes!" Orga called after us. "Hurry up or we'll lose sight of 'ya in this crowd!"
"Yeah yeah!" Rogue called back, quickening his pace.
"Coming!" I replied, following after him.
'That's right, don't worry about it now,' I thought to myself. I could feel a certain white clip resting snugly in my back pocket as I hurry to catch up. 'You can't let Sting, no,' I glance at Orga's smirking face, Rufus' warm grin, and Rogue's calm smile. 'For them too. You can't let your friends down..' In my mind, two images briefly flash. One was a picture of a girl with black hair and a small smile. Another was a boy with chocolate-brown hair. In this image, the boy's aqua-blue eyes were glaring at me as his body was turned away from me, ready to walk away.
'..Not again, anyways.'