Crocus was nothing like you had imagined, even before your seven-year slumber you hadn't ever visited the capital. The city was bustling with excitement as wizard guilds and spectators from all over Fiore came for the games. The city was covered with flowers, festive markets and stalls lining the cobbled streets. It felt like a dream. You'd done some reflecting since that night, about how you ended up in that bed in the first place. Even though your memory had yet to avail itself, the hole you were trying to fill was clear. To be finally given the chance to prove what Fairy Tail could do was all you could ask for, and you intended to give it your absolute all. You were filled with a determination you hadn't felt since coming back for Tenrojima and you loved having something to fight for again. Everything was brighter.
Crowds weren't exactly your thing, so your first instinct was to find a quieter area and kill some time. You were a reserve member for Fairy Tail's team B, so you had to be back at the Honeybone inn by midnight like everyone else, even though you were unlikely to compete. You spied a nearby market that was selling books by your favourite author, so you immediately took off in that direction, pushing your way through the large masses of tourists, locals and wizards. When you finally reached the store, you began leafing through the books on display, loving the smell that the pages gave out. You could smell the history of each and every book, you could pick up the scents of every person who had touched it in the past day or so, like a sensory rewind button.
The wafting scent of spiced rum swirled on the wind, and you let yourself sink deeper into the books in front of you, lulled by the familiar smell. You found yourself in such a trance that the carrier of said scent was able to sneak right up to you and snake his arms around your waist. Before you knew it you were enveloped in warmth. Your brain took a second to realise that this was not, in fact, a good thing, and once it did you let out a small squeak of surprise.
"Well well well, I never expected to see you here, who would think we would meet again so soon." The voice smugly remarked, obviously enjoying seeing you startled. In any other circumstance you would have acted on instinct and sent a blast of magic his way. However, Fairy Tail already had a bad enough name, and you didn't need to make it worse by destroying part of the capital, only Natsu would be that stupid. So instead, you quelled the surprised fury that was welling in the pit of your stomach, and calmly turned around to come face to face with a vision of arrogance. The unkempt blonde hair, chiselled jaw, scarred eyebrow, and piercing blue eyes identified this arrogant person as the guy you woke up with a month or so earlier. Without removing his arms from your waist he continued,
"So, did you come to watch my guild win the games for the eighth year in a row?" You rolled your eyes, putting the pieces together in your head. At least now the thinly veiled arrogance made sense.
"You're a member of Sabertooth then." You asked, surprised that you hadn't noticed the distinct guild mark on his bicep earlier, though you may have been understandably distracted in your previous encounter. He chuckled and looked you up and down quickly, you could tell he was looking for a guild mark of some description, leading you to attempt to struggle out of his grasp. He only tightened his grip and you were a little relived that your guild mark was in a place not so easily discovered. Seeing his search avail noting he returned his gaze to meet your own.
"Where do you think you're going? I never did catch your name you know." He seemingly breathed the words, completely unfazed by the proximity of his face to yours.
"Now why would I tell you that, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers you know." You answered with a playful tone being thinly veiled by your cool words. This only amused him. He smiled and stepped back from you, you stopped yourself from unconsciously following his warmth. He made an exaggerated gesture with his hand and took a deep bow. He was obviously teasing you but you couldn't help but giggle.
"My deepest apologies, how about we trade then? My name is Sting, I'm one of Sabertooth's twin dragons. Now we aren't strangers." Your eyes widened, you had heard of the famed twin dragon slayers in passing before, they were supposed to be powerful dragon slayers. It was rare that you came in contact with your own kind, considering that dragon slaying magic was considered "lost" since long ago. Solely because of this fact, you decided to give him your name.
"(Y/N), that's all you get" You replied calmly, again trying to think of a way to end this fast.
"Awe, c'mon, don't be shy." He taunted. You were wary of giving away too much information, and ignored the part of you that wanted to move closer to him. You shook your head in refusal and he chuckled.
"Well then (Y/N), you can pay me back by spending the day with me, considering that you onlygave up your name." He said, smirking. He was obviously pleased with himself. Before you could protest he grabbed your hand and pulled you into the sea of people, they seemed to part ways for him, and now that you knew who he was, you could understand why. Sabertooth's dragons had a reputation that was nothing to scoff at, and you had found yourself enthralled with what you had read on the two of them. They were incredibly skilled mages, and they had helped so many people. In that regard you respected them immensely. Which is why you were surprised by the interest Sting had seemingly taken with you.
You spent the next hour being dragged from stall to stall, while Sting asked you many questions that you begrudgingly answered. He didn't however, ask about your guild, he probably just assumed you were here to watch the games. After a while he began to pull you faster in the direction of a black haired man and two exceeds.
"Rogue!" He shouted, causing the black haired person to turn towards you, presumably this was the Rogue, the other half of the twin dragons of Sabertooth. However, you were unfamiliar with the two exceeds.
"Hello, Sting. And who is this?" He asked, nonchalantly nodding to where you were hesitantly peeking out from behind Sting. His sharp red gaze held no explicit hostility, but it left you feeling uneasy under his scrutiny.
"Yeah, who's the girl?" Asked the small voice from your feet, when you moved your gaze down you noticed the maroon exceed with the denim jacket eyeing you with suspicion.
"Fro thinks she's pretty!" Added the green exceed in the frog costume, jumping from Rogue's arms to stand in front of you. You giggled and crouched down to face the small cat... or maybe it was a frog.
"Oh, I like you." You said with a grin, reaching to ruffle the fur behind its ears, earning an adorable smile in return.
"This is (Y/n)," said Sting from behind you, squeezing your hand. You had completely forgotten that he was still holding it and you realised that for some reason it didn't particularly bother you.
"Why are you holding hands?" Asked the maroon exceed. You gave a small tug at his hand as if to say 'let go please,' but only received a scoff and the tightening of his grip in return. You sighed and turned back to face the exceed in front of you.
"We're holding hands, because Blondie here refuses to let go," you tugged on his hand to illustrate your point, Rogue stifled a chuckle. "He also kind of kidnapped me, which is why I'm here." You answered. The exceed regarded Sting's relentless grip before, apparently unfazed.
"Oh... and the name's Lector, and that's Frosch." He said, gesturing to the smaller cat.
"Kidnapped you?" Rogue interjected, thinly veiling his amusement with a superficial lack of interest.
"I did not kidnap you!" Sting retorted loudly, apparently having been content to watch you interact with the exceeds up until that point. You stood back up, raising yourself to as close to eye level as you could and gave a pointed tug on his hand which still coiled firmly around your own.
"I'm sorry, but did I get a choice about being here right now?" He opened his mouth to reply, but quickly closed it in defeat. You turned to introduce yourselves to the exceeds properly but were thwarted by his arms snaking around your waist once more. You sighed, not bothering to turn back and face him.
"I may have kidnapped you, but you could at least do me the curtesy of joining us for the rest of the day. I'm having fun." He said, smirking and resting his head on top of yours. You were acutely aware of how close he had pulled you back into him.
"Fine, it's not like I really have a choiceor anything." You groaned playfully.
"Exactly, now lets-" Sting began, but was interrupted by a gruff yell from a group across the plaza.
"Oi, aren't you two those dragon slayers from Sabertooth!" A large man called out, attracting Sting and Rogue's attention. The men surrounding him sounded interested as well, piping up with a chorus of agreements.
"We are, but if your lookin' for autographs the answers no." Sting called back. He gave of an air of arrogant bravado but you heard the wary calculation underneath. The men began making their way over in a group, and you could tell they weren't after autographs.
"Nah I don't think so Blondie, you tigers are always piping up about how strong your guild is, but I think you're just a bunch of pansies in costumes." The large man in the front received a grumble of encouragements from his group, goading him on.
"How about you take us on and we'll find out how strong you tigers really are!" He shouted. The men around him starting an uproar of taunting. You felt Sting begin to move away from you, getting ready for a fight. Rogue took a step forward before Sting could do anything in an attempt to diffuse the situation.
"We aren't interested in useless fighting, if you want to witness our power you can watch us win the games like everyone else." He spoke calmly, but with there was a sharp tone underneath his words.
"What, is the strongest guild in Fiore afraid of a little fight, huh?" he goaded. "How about we take that pretty thing there of your hands then," he sneered, gesturing haphazardly to you, "Since obviously neither of you are man enough to use properly." You felt sick, it took everything you had not to kill him then and there.
Fortunately, Sting had beat you to it, launching through the air to attack the man spouting insults. Rogue groaned but soon followed his partner into battle, knocking down members of the group left and right. You felt a small tug at your side and followed the exceeds out of the way of the fight. A crowd had started forming as the dragon slayers decimated the group of men, and you were glad the attention had been shifted off you.
"Don't worry (Y/N), nobody's more powerful than Sting!" Lector told you very matter-of-factly. You found it adorable how much faith he had in Sting, although you supposed it was no different to how Happy say Natsu.
"Fro thinks so too!"
The fight continued and it was obvious the group didn't stand a chance against Sting and Rogue, the two were barely even using their magic. They were flying left and right, finally being heaped into one big pile of failure, which Sting had decided to step on. You had to stifle a chuckle.Veryclassy Sting.
"Who's next!?" The blonde idiot bellowed. Through the commotion you spotted a mop of spiky pink hair poking through the crowd, followed by a blue exceed and a blonde celestial spirit wizard. You made eye contact with Natsu from the other side of the crowd and sheepishly bowed your head.
"Hey Natsu, Lucy, funny seeing you here."