Ever After

Grand Magic Games: Day 5 (Part 7)

*YOUR POV*

I ran, faster than I ever have before, heading towards my wife. I jumped over rubble and ran through clouds of dust, my feet pounding the ground. I reached the building where Erza and Minerva were fighting, but the dust was so thick that I couldn't see either one. "Erza?!" I called out, panicked. "Erza!" No response. I felt my heart sink as the dust cleared. There, on the ground, was Minerva. And a redheaded warrior standing over her. Erza turned, flashing a warm smile at me.

"Y/N." We ran to each other, our hands meeting before our eyes. I caressed her face and slid my hands down her arms, making sure she was ok.

"Erza, you're ok! You have no idea how worried I was." She grabbed my face in her hands and pressed her forehead to mine.

"I do. It's exactly how worried I was when I glanced up and saw you fighting Lyon. But I knew you'd make it. I always know you will." I smiled.

"Erza, I was so scared. I love you so much."

"I love you too." I kissed her, my hand moving from her face to her hair as my other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. As we kissed, the announcer spoke.

"It's Erza! She beat Sabertooth's leader and earned five points! That puts Fairy Tail in the lead with 63 points!" I smiled and pulled away, holding my wife's hand.

"Sting is the only one left now. And it's all five of us against one of him." She leaned into me.

"We've got this." I nodded, glancing at the scoreboard. I felt confident in our eight point lead. Except...

"Erza?"

"Hmm?"

"We have an eight point lead and there's five of us left, right?" She nodded.

"Yeah. Why? What's up?"

"Well, if we're all one point each, and you're five points, that's nine points. Which is-" Erza inhaled sharply.

"Exactly the number of points Sabertooth needs to win." I sighed.

"Yes. If he takes down all of us, then Sabertooth wins." Erza clenched her fist, a determined look on her face.

"Then we won't lose. We can't lose." I took a deep breath.

"That's right. All of us are injured though..." I trained off, realizing how much damage we'd all taken. I hadn't fully recovered from my fight with Rufus before I jumped into another one with Lyon and Cheria, Juvia was severely injured during that fight, Erza had just beaten two incredibly strong wizards back to back, Lax us had done the same, taking down one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and Gajeel had fought Rogue, a Sabertooth mage. I began to grow nervous for our team, but Erza held my hand tightly in an attempt to comfort me.

"Hey." I looked into my wife's bright, chocolate eyes. "Yes, we are all injured, but it's still five against one, remember? And individually, we've all taken on stronger mages and won. Together, we're guaranteed to beat Sting and win the Games." I nodded as a massive firework shot into the sky and exploded. The Lacrima-Vision showed Sting, shouting.

"I'm right here! Come and get me, Fairy Tail!" Erza and I glanced at each other before she took a step forward, nearly collapsing. I lunged in front of her, catching her in my arms. She smiled softly.

"My hero." I chuckled lightly and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck, snuggling into me, as I walked to where I'd seen the firework. The first master had remained strangely silent, so I assumed that she'd only been there to give us instructions on where to go. I slowly made my way to Sting, carrying my wife, until I saw him standing in a clearing, waiting. To my left, Juvia was limping towards him. To my right, Laxus and Gajeel, bloody and scarred, were also making there way towards an unscathed Sting. Erza tapped my arm and I set her down, though she remained leaning heavily on me. Sting grinned.

"What a spectacular sight. All of you are wizards I looked up to seven years ago." Gajeel spoke in a gruff voice.

"Can the chatter. This is the final battle." I wrapped my arm around my wife's waist to support her further, my eyes on Sting.

"We'll beat you one on one," I said. "Who do you want?" Sting opened his arms.

"All at once is fine. With your injuries, one on one would be boring." Juvia stepped forward.

"You better not underestimate Fairy Tail."

"I wouldn't dream of it. I'm treating you guys with respect," Sting replied, brushing off Juvia's warning. "That's why I'm going to crush you all together! I've been waiting for this. I'm going to show Lector how strong I am!" I furrowed my brow, wondering if he meant the red cat that was no longer in Sabertooth's cheering section.

"Lector?" I asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Laxus chimed in, "but are you serious?" Sting clenched his fists.

"I'm serious! I got stronger. Losing Lector has awakened new strength! For Lector's sake... For my best friend's sake... I'm going to beat all of you!" Erza picked up a nearby beam and leaned on it, using it to step forward.

"Fine. If you're that prepared, then we'll fight you, Sting!" He grinned widely.

"That's what I want to hear." Light began to swirl in a circle around him. "I'll show you my newly awakened power!" But as we steeled ourselves to fight, Sting's light vanished and he stared at us, seeming shocked. He took a shaky step towards us, and then fell to his knees. He remained there as three words came from him. "I give up." I glanced up at the scoreboard and saw our score increase by one point, bringing us to 64 points, and securing our win in the Games. Fireworks exploded above us as Erza walked up to Sting.

"Sting... Why didn't you come after us?" I walked up next to her, kneeling to be at eye level with the Sabertooth wizard. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with pain.

"I had a feeling I couldn't meet him. Before, I thought I'd be able to meet him if I won, but for some reason, I felt like I couldn't meet him. I don't understand it myself. You people are so radiant that I didn't think I could meet him the way I am now." Erza simply smiled.

"Sure you can." She stepped to the side and pulled me up next to her, revealing a now awake Millianna, holding Lector in her arms. Sting's eyes widened in disbelief as Lector's opened, landing on Sting. Sting bolted towards the cat, who launched himself out of Millianna's arms, meeting Sting in a hug, tears streaming down both of their cheeks. As they embraced, I kissed my wife on her temple, happy that everything had worked out up to this point. We'd defeated all the odds and won yet again.