Levy, Lector and the two dragon slayers rushed to the bedroom where Emi was. They opened the door to find Emi grabbing her head and shaking. Upon closer inspection, they could see that her ears were bleeding.
"Em, come on," Laxus tried as he sat next to her and shook her.
"That won't help, ya know," Sting spoke up.
Levy looked at the Sabertooth wizard with a confused look before he continued, "She's probably remembering something. You just gotta let it happen."
They all stared at the woman as she continued to shake.
"Emi, stay back!"
"Cain! Get away from there!"
"You gotta run, kid. I'll hold them off as long as I can."
"But you said that they were too strong when they're all together. You said that they were higher than--"
"GO!"
A giant laser was aimed towards Emi, who was a teenager then. The laser was blocked by Cain, who sliced through it with his sword. He was met with a giant snake lunging towards him. He jumped on top of it and decapitated it. Cain protectively stood in front of Emi and looked back at her.
"Go. You have to live. I can't hold them off forever."
"But you'll--"
"Everyone dies at some point, kid. I'll be happy knowing that I did one good thing in life before I went."
Emi started crying hard as she lifted her hood on and hugged Cain one last time.
"I'll be in your heart, kay?"
Emi sniffled before she started running as fast as she could. She looked behind her and saw that the whole group was aiming attacks at the man. He looked back at her and smiled before jumping into the magic. As Emi went further away, she couldn't see what was happening anymore, but she heard a gigantic explosion and then everything went silent. She brushed her tears away and ran to the closest train.
"Lady Emiko! You have to wake up!"
Emi took in a sharp breath before she stopped shaking and looked up at the small group that had gathered around her. She looked at Sting and Lector confused, wondering why they were there, before turning to Levy and Laxus to assure them that she was fine. She stood up thanks to Levy and dusted herself off from the dust that was on the floor. She touched her ears and saw blood on her fingers as she pulled away.
"Well that's new," Emi commented.
"What did you remember?" Levi asked.
"That guy, Cain, I think he died."
"He did."
Everyone looked towards Sting as he spoke, "He did die. You told me. He died protecting you from the Sins."
Emi looked at the man in shock, asking, "How do you know that? How do you know it was the Sins?"
"I said it already. You told me. The Sins, demons from the Book of Zeref, were hunting Cain and targeted you when they found you were traveling with him."
"Why would they be after Cain?"
"You never said. You didn't really like talking about your past."
"My past?"
"Since before you were seventeen."
"What--"
"Sting and I knew you since you were seventeen, Lady Emiko. That's what we've been trying to tell you."
"I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."
Emi made her way back to where Fairy Tail was hanging out and sat down on a chair next to Gray and Natsu.
"What's with that guy anyway, Emi?"
"I...don't know."
"Lady Emiko!"
They all looked to see that the maroon exceed had flown towards the center of the room, followed by Sting.
"I can prove it!" Lector shouted, earning a confused look from everyone in the room, including Sting.
Lector continued, "You love flowers and the gardens, your favorite food is apples, you're always reading a book, you're fascinated with magic of all kinds, and you love frogs."
Sting looked at Lector and blinked a few times before catching on and grinning, joining in.
"You put hot sauce on everything and you don't even realize it. You love the color yellow, but not the pure yellow because it reminds you of bananas and you hate bananas. You hum in your sleep and you sleep with three pillows."
Lector looked at Sting and put a thumbs up before continuing, "You love fairy tales and even carry around a book of them, and you love watching the clouds."
Emi looked between the two of them, taking in all the information.
"Um, I don't really know how you know all that stuff but--"
Sensing that it was beginning to work, Sting pulled out the "big guns." He pointed a finger to her and stated, "You have five scars on your back and you have a small scar on your inner left thigh."
Emi's face turned completely red before looking at him, demanding, "How on earth could you know that? I get the back scars, but nobody knows about the other one."
"I know," Sting grinned as he pointed to himself, "because I put it there."
Everyone except for Laxus looked at him in pure confusion.
"So," Laxus started, "you're the real deal, huh?"
"Of course I am, fairy. That's what I've been trying to tell you!"
"Sting..." Rogue was the next one to speak up.
"Shut it, Rogue."
"Juvia doesn't know what's going on."
"Me neither!" Natsu yelled. "But can we get these guys out of here? I don't want them in Fairy Tail anymore. They're confusing Emi."
"Natsu, are you an idiot or do you actually not know?" Laxus spoke up.
"Now you're starting to confuse me! Everyone stop and let me eat!"
"Natsu," Rogue started calmly, "I think that this is important."
"Salamander, I hate to admit it but I have no idea what's going on either."
Rogue looked at the iron dragon slayer before letting out, "...Gajeel."
"Would you all please elaborate for the rest of us?" Gray asked, slightly annoyed.
Laxus began, "Em is--"
"She's my mate, dumbass. How can you not tell?"
Everyone's eyes grew super wide, causing Rogue, Laxus and Sting to sweatdrop.
Rogue looked at all of them, muttering, "They really..."
"...didn't know?" Sting finished.
"Wait!" Natsu shouted, before getting quiet once again, going to the three informed dragon slayers and whispering, "What's a mate?"
"A mate," Rogue started to explain, "is a term used for the one that a dragon chooses to spend the rest of their life with. They become dedicated to their mate's safety and protect them from any danger. Since us dragon slayers share the same instinct, it is only natural that we would also engage in finding a mate. I am just surprised that I was not made aware of this sooner."
"But if she agreed to do that then why is she dating Laxus?" Evergreen asked.
"WHAT?!" Laxus, Emi and Sting all shouted.
Sting gave Laxus a look that could easily kill him.
"Did you really think that we were dating this whole time?" Emi asked through her embarrassment.
"Well, yeah," Mira answered.
"Why the hell would you ever think that?" Laxus asked while keeping an eye for any malicious movement by the pissed Sabertooth wizard.
Erza defended everyone, "You live together, you hug each other, you tease each other, you sleep in the same bed, and you protect each other. What else could that be but dating?"
"I mean," Emi started, "I don't really know about all that, but don't you all do that with each other? You go on requests together, eat together, spend all your time together, protect each other and fight with each other. Isn't that what friends do? So why would you think that we were more than that?"
Makarov spoke up, "Well it seems that my children might have jumped to conclusions."
"What are you talking about Gramps? You were the one who suggested that they get married! You said that she was the reason Laxus changed!" Natsu shouted.
"Jesus you are all idiots. Gajeel, Natsu, Wendy, do you feel different around Em?" Laxus asked.
They all looked at each other before looking back to Laxus and asking what he meant.
"He means," Rogue elaborated, "do you feel a pull towards her that makes you feel like you need to protect her? Almost like a sibling effect."
"Oh!" They all nodded and asked again what that meant.
"It's an effect of dragon mating," Sting explained after finally recovering. "Once a dragon chooses their mate, the mate gives off a distinct smell to signal to other dragons that they are taken and that others can't mate with them. This smell taps into the dragon's protective instinct and the other dragons help watch over the mate."
Laxus then looked at Natsu, continuing, "That's why you always wanted to visit. You thought it was because of the food, but it was to protect Emi from danger once you heard that that dark guild was after us."
"Then how did you end up becoming so attached to each other?" Levy asked.
"I found her when I saw that a group from a dark guild was targeting her. I stepped in thinking it was just me helping when I caught her scent and realized that she had been mated with someone. When she told me she had no memories past the last year she had been wandering, I told her that I would stay with her until she didn't need me anymore."
Emi was silent the entire time before Lector prompted her, "So Lady Emiko, are you ready to come home with us? We missed you so much!"
"Um, that's great and all, and I'm really happy for you that you found me, but I still don't remember you."
After quietly saying this, she inched closer to Laxus.
"What? You're not going to come back with us?"
"I'm sorry. This is...a lot to take in. I just need to think."
Emi made her way past her guildmates and returned to her room.
"Just give her time. She's been remembering something new everyday now. It won't be long."
Sting looked to Laxus before groaning and mumbling, "I've already been waiting three years."
He grabbed Rogue by his collar and dragged him out of the inn, Frosch and Lector close behind. Everyone stood in silence for a moment before Laxus turned and headed towards the sleeping quarters saying that he was going to check on her. Natsu spoke up, complaining.
"Well I still don't understand! All I know is that we're going to beat Sabertooth and win the Magic Games!"
Everyone rolled their eyes and eventually started to talk to each other again.