"Are you ready to move locations?" Sting asked as he stood up from his previous position.
Emi wiped her eyes one last time before nodding and standing up. Sting stretched his arms and looked back at Emi.
"How do you wanna do this?"
"Huh?"
"My choice it is!"
Sting picked her up and jumped down into the streets, narrowly missing a group of people. Everyone was staring at the couple who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Emi squirmed in his grasp as she looked at the people. Sting eventually set her down.
"Stop doing that! I swear, I've never met anyone who goes on roofs as much as you. The only other person I can think of is Natsu."
"I don't know what you're getting at, but being compared to Natsu is insulting."
"Oh? How so?"
"I'm way stronger than that first generation. He doesn't know what being a real dragon slayer is about."
"He seemed to have just as severe motion sickness as you," Emi defended.
Sting blushed and mumbled, "Well third generations are the strongest."
"Third generation? There's more than two?"
"Yeah Em. You already knew--"
Emi looked at the dragon slayer with a raised eyebrow, challenging him to finish his sentence.
"...Right. Sorry."
"Tell me about it! What's a third generation dragon slayer? What makes them different from first or second generation dragon slayers? Do you get special extra abilities? Is your sense of smell bet--"
"Jeez, Em. And to think you were about to cry a few minutes ago."
"Now that is not an answer."
Sting took Emi by the hand and started to pull her through the crowds. Once they got to a cluster of buildings, Sting brought both of them into an alleyway. Emi had her back against the wall of the surrounding building, and Sting stood closely in front of her so that her head was almost touching his chest. Emi could hear Sting's heartbeat. Even though it was fast, it calmed Emi. She had to fight the urge to bring her ear to his heart.
"Uh, Sting? Would you like to explain to me why you're pinning me against a wall in an alley?"
"Someone is following us."
"Who?"
"Well, on one hand I can clearly smell Rogue. On the other, I can smell a group of your friends from Fairy Tail. They've probably been following us for a while, but the crowds drowned their scent," Sting explained before groaning. "Great, Rogue is so gonna kill me for the flower garden incident."
"Well I won't blame him if he did."
"You're supposed to be on my side."
--------------------------------
"Where did they go? I completely lost sight of them," Lucy groaned.
"I think I saw them go this way."
"Absolutely not," Erza countered Mira, "they went that way."
------------------------------
"Dammit."
"Where did Sting go?"
"He probably smelt us. I knew we shouldn't have followed him."
"I still want to follow and see Lady Emiko!"
"Fro thinks so, too!"
"Guys, we can't do anything else. He's already caught on. He'll just keep hiding from us."
--------------------------------
"Can we at least sit down. I don't feel like being in this alleyway plastered up against you."
Sting huffed before moving away from Emi and putting a hand on his hip.
"Better?"
Emi decided to ignore his sass and asked Sting to continue to explain the different generations.
"First generation dragon slayers were raised by actual dragons who taught them magic. That's Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel. Second generation dragon slayers had a magic lacrima implanted in them. That's Laxus and that guy, Cobra or whatever. Third generation dragon slayers are a mixture. We were raised by dragons and have a lacrima implanted. That's me and Rogue. Third generation is the strongest."
"So you're telling me that you could beat Laxus, Gajeel, Wendy and Natsu? Generation doesn't matter. What matters is the heart that's behind it."
"Come on. You have to take a break. You've been out here for hours."
The teenager was leaning on his knees and looked completely out of energy. He looked up at Emi with tired eyes.
"I can't. I have to get stronger."
Emi made her way over to the dragon slayer before wrapping her arms around his back.
"Why are you pushing yourself so hard?"
"I need to get stronger than him. I need to beat him."
"Who?"
Sting looked at Emi before sighing. He walked back over to her and put both of them in their original position with Emi between the wall and Sting.
"Uh, Sting?"
Sting silently leaned down and placed his forehead on hers. He stayed like that without saying anything. Emi looked shocked. She felt this same aura from when Laxus needed a comforting hug. She wanted to help him, but she couldn't tell what was bothering him so much. His usual grin was replaced by a soft frown.
"Sting are you oka--"
Sting removed his forehead and took a step back before looking off to the side.
"Sorry. Just realized how weird that must've been for you. Let's get going before it gets dark out."
He started to walk out of the alleyway and into the crowds. Emi ran to catch up to him after looking at him in confusion. She looked up at him to see that he seemed to be back to normal which made Emi feel relieved.
"So where are we going anyway?"
Sting turned around and gave her a big smile.
"You'll see!"
Emi laughed at his childish enthusiasm as she quickly followed the dragon slayer to a clearing by a park. There stood a large group of Eastern redbuds, their pink flowers swaying with the breeze. The woman looked at the sight in awe.
"You used to come here a lot. Said the trees calmed you."
"This is so cool! Look at all of them!"
Sting looked on as Emi started to run towards the trees.
"You really think it'll be alright?"
"It's just a broken arm, Emi. He'll be fine."
"Besides," the young man said, "I have a great doctor to help me."
"Hey asshole, did you forget that I'm the doctor?"
The man groaned, leaning back into Emi's embrace.
"Don't let her get to me, whatever you do."
"Em?"
"Sorry. I got a little flashback."
"Anything interesting?"
"Not really. Someone was hurt, but it wasn't serious."
Sting then pointed upwards to draw attention to a flock of birds that were flying overhead. Emi smiled as she watched the birds swoop down onto a building before flying high above Crocus.
--------------------------------------
"Ew ew ew ew ew!" Lucy shrieked.
"Relax, Lucy," Erza calmed, "It's good luck when a bird poops on you."
"You know I really don't think you're helping the situation, Erza."
"I have bird shit on me!" Lucy continued to yell.
----------------------------------
Emi and Sting sat under the trees. Emi played with the grass and Sting laid down with his hands interlocked behind his head.
"I'm really glad I got to spend the day with you, ya know."
"Me too! This was fun."
Sting closed his eyes and took in the slight breeze around him.
"It's been so long since I've seen you, but it feels like today wiped that all away. I know you can't really remember anything but I hope I was at least able to help a little bit."
Emi leaned over so that her head was above his.
"Are you kidding me? I remembered so much today! I don't think I've had this many memories come back at once ever before."
"Really?"
Without opening his eyes, Sting lifted his head as he started to sit up. The couple smacked their heads together, causing Emi to whimper and Sting to hiss. They both rubbed their heads before looking at each other. Emi gave Sting a small smile, and they quickly started laughing at each other's bumps that formed. They both looked up to the sky and saw that it was getting dark out. Sting sighed before standing up and pulling Emi up.
"I guess the time's up," Sting said with a defeated look on his face. "I better get you back to the inn before they start to worry."
Emi giggled at how the dragon slayer was pouting before leading him to the Fairy Tail inn. They both stood outside the inn's doors as they said their goodbyes. They stood in front of each other for a minute in silence and looked at each other, both wearing a small blush.
-----------------------------------------
"Come on, Sting!" Lector yelled from behind a building. "Kiss her! Then she'll remember!"
"Lector, please be quieter."
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"Oh my god are they actually going to kiss?" Lucy asked in excitement.
"YES. I've been waiting for this!" Mira squealed.
"I find this very interesting. I want to see how this plays out."
-------------------------------------
Emi and Sting continued to look at each other before Emi went closer to the dragon slayer and gave him a small hug. Sting stood there in shock before slowly returning the hug.
"Thank you for everything today. I think I'm really starting to remember. I don't really remember a lot about us though."
Sting smiled, saying, "That's fine. I got time to spare."
They looked at each other again and slowly started to move closer to each other. Emi's eyes were clouded over, almost as if she was moving on instinct.
"Well it's about time you came back!" Natsu yelled as he burst through the doors. "You missed the party! I was hungry without the spicy cookies."
Sting looked at Natsu, completely annoyed with the fire dragon slayer. Natsu looked at him before making "shoo" noises once again. Sting turned away and began to walk to his inn.
----------------------------------
"NATSU YOU IDIOT!" Lucy screamed from behind the building.
"They were so close!" Mira yelled through tears.
---------------------------------
"NO!"
"Lector, you need to--"
"He almost had it!"
"Fro thinks so, too!"