Control

Ⅻ

Rin woke up earlier than she would've liked from the pawing of her Exceed. She, sadly, had to remove herself from Sting's hold and didn't even bother putting her shoes on before Leese lifted them off and toward their inn. The brunette felt bad about disappearing without at least leaving a note, but she didn't want a single trace of her left behind in that room. The only thing she couldn't avoid was her scent being picked up by Rogue, but she trusted that he'd keep it to himself.

    Rin ran a shower and scrubbed herself down in hopes that Sting's scent wouldn't be picked up by her fellow Dragon's Slayers in Fairy Tail. She then changed into a black tank top tucked into denim shorts. She wore black, over-the-knee socks with brown boots and her brown gloves. She threw her hair up into her classic ponytail and summoned Leese so they could head out to Domus Flau. There was a bad taste in the girl's mouth and she had an uneasy feeling that today wouldn't go as smoothly as the previous one.

    Rin was one of the first people in the stadium and she stood there with an unsettling feeling resting in the pit of her stomach. Leese seemed bothered but wouldn't spit out what she wanted. The girl nudged her and the Exceed immediately blew up.

    "What are you and Sting?!" Rin's purple eyes widened and she clasped a hand over her partner's mouth.

    "Be quiet, will you?" Leese quit struggling and stared at the girl. "We're nothing. Last night was nothing. You know that, right?" Leese sighed.

    "People with nothing between them don't sleep in the same bed." The Dragon Slayer went to protest, but the cat cut her off. "Not all snuggled up like you two. You looked like more than friends or acquaintances to me."

    "Look, Leese... I don't know, okay? We're mates and we both know that. But, the things I've known him for doing and his attitude... I don't like that. I hate that about him. But then, like yesterday, he turns around and acts completely different. I'll be honest, I don't know how I feel, but only time will tell, okay?" The Exceed gave an unsatisfactory nod which made Rin sigh. "I promise, if anything happens, you'll be the first to know."

    Leese nodded again and dropped the topic. Rin sighed and watched as the other teams began appearing and the stands for the crowd began to fill up. She watched the setup for today's challenge and was confused. There was a huge sphere of water floating in the middle of the arena and suddenly, Juvia popped into her head.

    "Juvia is definitely participating today."

    "You think?" Rin spun around at the new voice and found her team staring at the water. "It ain't gonna be me," Gajeel said in his gruff voice.

    "Juvia will do it. No one beats Juvia in the water." Rin nodded at the bluenette and looked across the field where Sabertooth stood proudly. Minerva had a wicked grin on her face as she stared at Fairy Tail A's balcony. The female Dragon Slayer glared at her and promised she would do all in her power to stop her from whatever she was planning.

    "Day four of the Grand Magic Games!" Chapati was excited about today's match, in fact, he asked all of today's participants to go down before he began. "In just a moment, today's competition will begin! The name of the competition is 'Naval Battle'! In other words, a sea battle! Any player who leaves the sphere of water is out!" Rin watched as Minerva licked her lips, glancing back and forth between the water and Lucy, who was participating for Fairy Tail A. "The last person to remain in the sphere is the winner!

    "However, when it gets down to two people left, a special rule will come into effect. That's the five-minute rule! When there are two players left, they've got five minutes! The person who leaves the sphere during that time will be in last place!" Rin began to wish she had gone down instead of Juvia so she could battle it out with Minerva, but she knew Juvia would be stubborn about it.

    Quatro Puppy was the first to fall out, having been kicked by Blue Pegasus's Jenny Rearlight. Risley from Mermaid Heel, Jenny from Blue Pegasus, and Cheria from Lamia Scale were the next to go. The only ones that remained were Minerva, Juvia, and Lucy.

    Suddenly, Juvia glanced over at Gray with hope in her eyes and fell out whilst distracted. Rin slapped her hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming at the girl who didn't pay attention to the game because of Gray, again. All that remained were Minerva and Lucy which meant that the five-minute rule was in play.

    "Hold on, Lucy..." Minerva attacked the blonde without remorse, but her aim wasn't to knock her out of the water. Lucy went to grab a key, but Minerva had previously taken advantage of her and stolen them. After another hit of Minerva's magic, Lucy was on her way out of the sphere when her opponent brought her back.

    The five minutes quickly ended with neither of the women in the water attacking or receiving. They simply floated and waited for the timer to stop. As soon as the ring went off, Minerva ruthlessly began to hurt Lucy. The blonde had a straight path outside the sphere and everyone thought for sure that it would end. However, Minerva brought Lucy back to her for a physical attack.

    Rin's eyes were wide with terror as she watched her comrade get beaten mercilessly. She shot her eyes over to Sabertooth and found them all, including Sting, grinning satisfactorily. The only one Rin didn't want to crush in her palm was Rogue, who kept his head and eyes away from the match.

The referee finally ended the competition, but Minerva didn't let up. She held Lucy's limp body by her throat outside of the water. Fairy Tail A all jumped into the arena and Rin couldn't help but follow. As Minerva dropped her body to the ground, Gray and Natsu dove to catch her beaten body. Rin caught the tiger woman in her magic and threw her to the ground where she landed skillfully.

    "I didn't think I'd have to beat you again, but here we are," she growled as she stomped toward her. Minerva stood smugly with her hand on her hip. Erza joined Rin, and for a moment, the latter thought she would actually permit the fight. Gray and Natsu joined the two women but stood in front to block them off. Orga, Rufus, and Sting all jumped down to guard their lady which greatly angered a certain fairy. "Are you fucking kidding me?" A low growl from the female Dragon Slayer put everyone on edge, including her comrades.

    Everyone turned around to face Rin who was now seething with anger. Her Magic was beginning to appear around her form which worried her comrades. "After everything that's happened, you're gonna stand there and protect that witch?!" It was apparent to everyone that she was solely focused on Sting who didn't seem fazed by her anger. "I'm gonna fucking destroy you!" With a quick jump, Rin threw herself at the blonde and tackled him to the ground, all while holding everyone else from Sabertooth back.

    Rin growled and reared her fist back as rings appeared behind her elbow, much like the other night during her fight against Minerva. Sting's eyes widened in horror as he watched angry tears drip from her eyes. He had realized that he made a bad mistake. Rin wasn't even this angry during her fight- no, the beating of Minerva.

    As the plates moved down, her fist began to move with incredible pace aimed directly at his nose. However, it stopped just millimeters of hitting him when Gray encased her arm in ice. She struggled and cried as Natsu and Gray pulled her back. Her body writhed in their hold until she was finally passed off to Laxus who had gone down to stop her from making a mistake.

    He held her against him and her body just collapsed in his hold. Sting seemed petrified at how broken down Rin looked, especially since he knew it was his fault. Leese flew down from the guild's balcony and hugged Rin tightly. "I-I told you... You'd be the first to know," she said through choked sobs. Leese looked up at Rin who could now only look at Sting in disgust. "We aren't a thing and we never will be.

"I hate him."