𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 𝙎𝙃𝙄𝙁𝙏 // 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙭 𝙤𝙘

ＴＥＮ．

"Yuyu, Yuyu! Fuyumi!" Rue burst through the doors of the cabin where Fuyumi was laid out on the couch, "we're participating in the Games again!"

"I know, Rue," she sighed. Now nineteen, she had grown into a beautiful young woman, "it's going to be a long Games this year..."
"You weren't chosen this time, though!" Rue exclaimed, perching beside her, "the master just announced it! He wants in for the money!"

"He always wants in for the money... who's chosen this year, then? Surely... I am the strongest this guild has got," Fuyumi said.
"It's—" Rue was cut off by the door slamming off of its hinges and a loud cackle.

"Get up, ya slob! I've got three months to prepare for the Games, and you're gonna help me!"

Fuyumi's neck snapped up at the shout. It had been years since she'd been to the guildhall, she barely even considered herself a true member of Fairy Tail anymore.

"Natsu?..." she whispered, eyes widening.
"Hey sis, it's been a second," he still had the same grin he always did.
"Natsu!" she cried, sprinting over and hugging him tightly, "oh, Natsu! I-I'm so sorry— about all of those things I said to you before you left, I-I feel awful, I'm sorry!"
"Heyyy, Fuyumi, it's fine," he said, "gosh... you've grown. How old're you now?"
"I'm nineteen," she smiled tearily. Natsu gasped.

"We're the same age?!" he yelled.
"Oh, Natsu... I-I've missed you so much," Fuyumi snivelled, burying her face into his chest, "the guild, we..."

"I know about everything, Fuyumi," he said, unusually gentle, "I know about Twilight Ogre, and Sabertooth... and your old friend Stella."
Fuyumi pulled back, eyes wide.
"Or should I say, Sting," he growled out the name, "he'll pay for what he said to you, y'hear?"

"How do you..." she started.
"Rue and Laki, they filled us in," Natsu said.
"Aye!" Happy chirped, "they told us all about what he said, and then how he came looking for you!"

"He came looking for me?" she questioned.
"Yeah. Marched his scummy bag o' bones right into our guildhall, practically beggin' on his knees for them to tell him where you are! Ha!" Natsu grinned evilly, "and now, we're taking part in those Games, and we're gonna wipe the floor with those Sabertooth bastards!"

.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.

Fuyumi had ended up waiting impatiently, after three months, in the capital city Crocus for their team for the Grand Magic Games to arrive.

Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy and Wendy were chosen to compete. The Ice Dragon Slayer had been so relieved to hear she wasn't chosen again... for what would have been the seventh year running.

She did think the guild would have had a better chance of winning if she was chosen instead of Lucy or Wendy, however. As Dragon Slayer who had only been increasing in power for seven years, it was really only natural she was stronger than the two.

Everybody had explained to the newly-returned guildmates that there were no set for rules for the Games, and ironically, they always seemed to go against Fairy Tail's favour.

A year that Bisca hadn't taken part, there was a gunslinging competition, and a year Jet hadn't participated, there was a footrace.

Fuyumi ended up running off with Natsu and Lucy, Happy and Rue in tow. All of the participating teams had to be in their reserved inns by midnight, but as she wasn't participating, she had all of the time in the world.

"There are flowers everywhere you look here, huh?" Lucy said to her, "I hear people all the time calling it the Flower Capital."
"It's beautiful," Fuyumi agreed as Rue stopped to sniff the plants.

There were sudden shouts of a fight and then Natsu was gone. Typical.
"Fighting during a festival? Where?!" he'd grinned as he ran away.
"Wait, Natsu!" Lucy sped off after him, leaving Fuyumi and Rue to admire the flowers.

"Aren't they pretty, Yuyu?" Rue smiled, "oh, I-I meant Fuyumi."
"It's alright," she nodded, crouching down to smell the flowers as well.
"I know it's what... he used to call you," Rue added apologetically.

"It's really okay, Rue," she sighed, although it really wasn't. After four years, this would be her first time coming across Sting Eucliffe. She wouldn't have to even talk to him, but she feared seeing him would evoke some forgotten emotions.

She plucked a white rose and held it to Rue with a gentle smile, "here you go."
Rue tucked it behind her ear and giggled, "thank you, Fuyumi!"

"Now, let's go and see what fight Natsu was talking about... I hope he's not causing trouble," Fuyumi sighed, strolling off in the direction Natsu and Lucy had gone, Rue plodding behind her.

"So your Dragons vanished in x777 as well?" you heard Natsu's voice ask.

"In a manner of speaking... we took the Dragons who taught us Dragon Slayer Magic, and we finished them off with our bare hands. We did it to become true Dragon Slayers."

Fuyumi stopped short of Lucy and her eyes widened at the words.

And in the centre of the crowd, the speakers.

Sting and Rogue.

"Killed... their Dragons..." she said to herself, eyes wide. A hand clamped over her stomach, thinking back to how she'd opened up to Sting about her mother disappearing back then, and how he'd sympathised with her and how she'd allowed to him to cry in her arms about missing his own Dragon father. How many more lies.

"This cat looks pretty dumb too," she turned her head to see, in hindsight, who she should have expected: Lector and Frosch, picking on poor Happy.

"Fuyumi, I don't like this," Rue whispered, "I want to leave."