The Hidden One (Sting x Reader)

C h a p t e r T h i r t y T h r e e

Sting's POV

"Like I said, easy to defeat," I shrugged as the last of the dark guild fell to the ground. If only beating Dhutia was this easy.

"Do you think Dhutia sent that dark guild?" Rogue asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did. It's not the first time he's done that," I scoffed, remembering his persistence back at the Sabertooth building.

"Yeah," Rogue nodded in agreement.

"Well it seems that the dark guild we just defeated were the gatekeepers of the portal. Look," Laxus pointed in the distance.

It was still quite far away, but you could just about see a portal up ahead. It had a circular stone frame and red magic swirling inside of it, immediately giving you sense of danger.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Natsu smirked at us, "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

"When you get to the portal, don't go in yet. We need to discuss things before we enter," Erza spoke sternly but Natsu was already running towards it.

All of us ran after him. He got there first, waiting outside the portal.

"You guys are rotten eggs!" Natsu pulled his tongue out at us.

"Stop being so immature Natsu. Now I think we should-" Erza began.

"Jump right in and beat Dhutia to a pulp!" Natsu cut her off and dived into the portal. We all froze in silence as Erza's face became red with anger.

"When I find him, I'm going to-" Erza began grumbling.

"So, our plan?" Laxus cut in.

"Go in. Stay together. Save your power for the boss, Dhutia. All clear?" Erza spoke, her voice still filled with anger. We all nodded.

We stepped in one by one. When it was my turn to step through, I realised that the portal was actually painful to enter. It was hot, but I braved it and ran through.

On the other side, it was a colourless forest. The air was thick and difficult to breathe in. It was silent, but it felt like something was blocking the sound. Maybe it was the thick smog that had captured the forest.

I waited, and waited, but no one else came out the portal. Surely Natsu should've gotten here already? And Erza and Laxus came before me so they should be here too.

I panicked a little when the portal disappeared. Did it separate us? If so, what now?

I waited a few more minutes, but nothing changed and the portal didn't reappear. I decided to take a walk around in hopes of finding the others.

"ROGUE!!!" I shouted, cutting through the unsettling silence. My loud shout got lost in the haze. I got no response back.

I noticed that there was something weird about the trees. I used my dragon slayer nose and found that they didn't smell like trees. They smelt like nothing. Maybe Dhutia created them to be that way. I could pick up Rogue's scent. It was so close, but I couldn't see him or hear him.

I put my hand on the tree. Some branches grew out, encasing my hand in the trunk. I quickly used my magic to cut the tree down. When it dropped, it freed my hand.

As I jumped over the fallen tree, Rogue's scent intensified. That's when I realised it.

I quickly chopped down all the trees and sure enough, Rogue was there.

Y/n's POV

I screamed as Dhutia's creature lunged at me. I was put back on anti-magic rope. I felt really sick. Well, of course I would. I literally just almost died...twice. I got pushed underwater by Dhutia multiple times too.

I was sneezing because of how cold it was, especially since I was still drenched in water. He had the ceiling fans on too. I think he's doing it on purpose.

His creature kept taunting me. Launching itself at me and then stepping back. It scared me so much. His teeth were so sharp that they could easily tear me apart, and I don't have the strength to even fight him or push him away.

How long have I even been here? How long will I be staying here? Will I even come out of here alive?

"Y/n," Dhutia cut through my thoughts. I tiredly lifted my head to meet his eyes, leaning on the wall behind me. It was cold and bit at my skin since it was metal, but I didn't fight it or move away.

"What?" I responded, my voice coming out as a hoarse whisper. That's probably from my coughing after he had pushed me underwater previously.

"It looks like we have some visitors in the forest," Dhutia smirked.

"What do you mean?" I croaked out, "Who?"

He showed me a screen. It was split up into eight. Natsu. Erza. Mirajane. Laxus. Mavis. Zeref. Rogue. Sting. My Sting. I haven't seen his face in so long that I felt tears form in my eyes. They came for me.

"I have to say, I'm very surprised that Mavis and Zeref are here for you too," Dhutia continued, "I never knew you had such powerful friends. Of course, they are nothing compared to me though."

"Shut up!" I tried to shout but ended up in a coughing fit. My throat was so dry and sore. It burned to even talk, but that wouldn't stop me.

"I'll have to go mess with them," Dhutia snarled.

"No, please!" I begged, tears now streaming down my face, "Leave them alone."

"Oh, I won't go out to bother them. I'll just send someone else," Dhutia laughed, "Meanwhile, I've figured out just what to do with you and your power."

They'll be okay. They managed to find me. They haven't given up. They've got this.

I just hope I've got this too.

Sting's POV

"ROGUE!" I shouted, running up to him. He looked at me in shock.

"STING!" He ran over and we awkwardly fist bumped each other, "I could smell you were so close! I just didn't know where you were!"

"ROGUE!" A second person called his name. We both spun around to see who it was. It was Minerva. She was battered and bruised, slightly limping as well. She made her way over and I saw Rogue's eyes light up.

"MINERVA!" He cried, hugging her immediately.

"STING!" Now it was my turn. Y/n came running up to me. Her scent wasn't right. It was similar, but not exact. Same with Minerva's. The clones were almost perfect. If we weren't dragon slayers, we'd probably have no doubt that it was them.

"Rogue, snap out of it. It's not them," I quickly shoved the fake Minerva off of Rogue. I could see the two fakes smirk before turning into something terrifying.

Their figures changed into two monsters with sunken eyes, bloodied teeth and a stench that puts rotten fish to shame.

Before we could even react, they released some sort of gas through their hands. We felt the air thicken as we gasped and coughed, unable to breathe, falling to the ground.