#stiyu

The Master, in the meantime, sighed and rubbed his temples as soon as the door closed. He was aware that his friends were just trying to help him, but really, the problem was all in his head, and it wasn't something small that a little group therapy would solve. He was having a number of recurring dreams lately - not the same nightmares from a while ago, thank god -, all of them included the same three people, laughing and chatting with... well, a younger version of him. It was such a nice and warm atmosphere that there had been mornings he found it hard to get up and face the reality that those three people didn’t exist anymore.

Sting had no doubts about it...he had been seeing his real family, the one he had lost many centuries ago. A wave of sadness washed over him again at the memory, threatening to drown him...and that’s why he had decided to immerse himself in his Guild Master's duties, work to forget - that and well, the sense of responsibility that had finally kicked in -. If he didn't do anything to keep his mind busy...he felt like he would go crazy.

The blond didn't know how much time had passed while signing off the paperwork, but he suddenly heard chatter out of his office again. 'Sheesh...what does a guy have to do to get some privacy?' he thought to himself, mildly annoyed now.

And suddenly a familiar pink haired man burst into his office so fast that it even made some papers fly around the room - awesome..he had just finished organizing those...self-note to get some paper clips later… Attached to both his arms and practically dragging on the floor  were both Lucy and Yukino, clearly they seemed to have been trying to hold back the Salamander from doing exactly what he had just done.

"Yoooo Sting! It's been a while!"

Sting just blinked a few times to see if he was actually seeing right. "Um... Natsu-san?"

Natsu moved closer to the Light Dragon Slayer, the girls completely forgotten on the floor, and patted him a few times in his head, maybe with a little too much strength as Sting was trying to hold back winces whenever he did that. "Drop the 'san' man, we're brothers aren't we?!"

Well... apparently some things were never going to change. "What brought you two here?" he asked instead of replying to the Fire Dragon Slayer. 

"Eh what, is it too weird to want to see my fellow Dragon Slayer?"

"You still shouldn't have interrupted his work though." Lucy pretty much chastised the pink head.

"I'm sorry, Sting... we tried." Yukino supplied her.

"Yeah, what's up with that, man?" Natsu continued as if he didn't hear the girls. "Your friends keep telling me that you're all work and no play lately. Or well what Rufus actually said was that you've become dull as Orga's songs."

Now his eye had begun twitching. Typical...leave it to Sabertooth to start rumors behind his back...

"There is nothing wrong with me." he said as he stood up from his chair. "And I haven't become dull either...! I am just being the Master I should have been for a long time, I don't have time for plays right now."

"Sting..." Yukino whispered, sweating at how harsh her lover was acting, this definitely wasn't him... she wished he would at least open up to her or Rogue...

"Now, what did you come here for?"

Natsu was just silent for a bit, not seeming bothered by his friend's bad humor, and then grinned. "Weeeell we have come here to invite specifically you - and a few more if they want to - on a job."

Sting raised an eyebrow. "Why would you ask another guild to come on a job requested to Fairy Tail?"

This time it was Lucy who talked, she stepped forward and held out the piece of paper that contained the information about the mentioned job "Actually it's because the client demands this job to be done by both Fairy Tail and Sabertooth mages, but don't ask me why, I have no idea. Plus the client decided to keep his face anonymous until we find what he wants."

"Oh, I think I've seen that job on our board," Yukino walked to another table in the office where there were a few recent job requests and looked through them. "Here it is, this is the copy but it's no doubt the same job." The request actually demanded Sting himself to participate in the job although like Natsu mentioned he was allowed to take more Sabertooth mages with him. 

Yukino couldn’t help but find this strange, last time they had seen a request with specific demands it turned out to be a trap set to capture both Sting and Rogue.

"Well we came to pick Sting up for the job," Natsu crossed his arms behind his head and then grinned with tease. "But since he's so busy being Master I guess he won't have time to do it with us."

There were times the White Dragon Slayer wouldn't stand by and let a teasing pass over, but he didn't feel like it now. The blond didn't say anything for a moment as he took the job form from Yukino and glanced over it. His confusion only increased when he saw the location of the mission. "...Fairy Tail's library? Is Makarov-san okay with it?" After all, a guild's library held many things, including their secret archives most of the time. To allow another guild to walk in freely was something unheard of in the many years past.

"Yeah, uh...there won't be any problem regarding that." the blond celestial mage said while sweat dripped down her chin. To be frank, what led Fairy Tail's Master to accept the job was what the mission promised in the end...or so he said, even the reward was being kept a mystery.

"Find... a treasure hidden in the library?" Now this was becoming even more mysterious. 

"Well? Are you in or not?" Natsu folded his arms, impatient. 

Sting sighed, closing his eyes for a minute. "Fine. I'll come with you." He looked over at his girlfriend. "Are you coming too, Yuki?"

The girl shook her head. "I can't... I'm leaving on another job, but..." a sweat dripped down her cheek. "I... think there are already a flock of our members ready to take it on."

Sting just glanced at the door and he felt sweat drops on the back of his head when he saw nearly all the guild members at it with their hands up and even their eyes shining, he could only guess they wanted the mysterious reward more than just do the job itself.

But no he wasn't going to take the whole guild into Fairy Tail's secret library, Sting just sighed. "Okay... Rogue, Rin, you're coming with me on this job if you are free."

"Oh come on, you always pick them!" complained Orga, who now looked like a child pouting while he crossed his arms.

Sting raised his eyebrow. "Maybe because I know they won't destroy the entire library..."

"Touché," mumbled Rufus.

They set off to the train station... and the two girls of the group had their hands full considering they had to deal with not one but three motion sick Dragon Slayers during the trip back to Fairy Tail, it was so bad that Natsu wanted to jump out of the window and run there instead.

But finally, after what felt like hours... they were in front of the entrance of the library and it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the Sabertooth mages were awe-struck.

"Whoa, this place is huge," Sting said, voicing their thoughts. To be honest...during her recovery time in Fairy Tail, Rin had been allowed to visit the library to keep herself distracted so she was already familiar with the place. Still it was a sight to be amazed.

A normal person would be intimidated by the size of this mission, especially when they didn't know exactly what they were looking for. But Natsu Dragneel was not what you would say a normal person. He cracked his fingers, totally unperturbed. "Okay... let's get this going!"

"Wait, not just like that," Lucy interrupted, then she distributed to all of them what looked like marking devices. "Let's pick a section each. When you are done, you can use this to mark the shelves, so we know not to check there again."

"That's boring." The pink haired mumbled, boredom translating to his eyes and it only made the Celestial Spirit Mage angry.

"You would just destroy the library otherwise!" 

Rin giggled at the two mages arguing, it was funny that theirs was such a fiery relationship whereas Sting-nii’s and Yuki-nee's was so calm and quiet, despite Sting-nii not being the most calm person when he was in his normal days of course. 

"Next time you get your butt stuck in a cactus don't come ask me to take off the thorns!"

Those words for a reason ringed in Sting's mind, he couldn't explain why but he felt he had been in a similar situation before, well not exactly the argument between Natsu and Lucy but... something else...

~.~.~.~

"Ow! Ow!" the voice of a little boy rang through the air. "Can't you do that a little more gently??"

"Taking them off slowly only hurts more, dummy," a soft female voice answered back, amusement was clear in her expression as the little blond boy laying tummy down on her lap was trying to hold back the tears. "And you deserve this you know, how many times did mom tell you to not play near the cactus, Lys?"

"Don't call me that." the little boy said with a big pout curled in his lips while he folded his arms. The older girl laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should be calling you Lysander."

"Stop it."

"Lysandeeeer~"

"I hate you!" The boy said indignantly, and then another "Oww!"

"You know actually, now that I think of it... I think I know what I will call you from now on. I have the perfect idea."

There was a big moment of silence, it was apparent that the boy was trying his best to curb his curiosity. In the end though, he couldn't keep it in. "What...?"

"Since you keep falling on your butt in cactus... I will just call you Sting from now on."

~.~.~.~

"Ugh..." Sting brought his hand to his face as he felt a sudden headache settling in. Where did that come from?!

"Sting-nii, are you okay?" Rin immediately asked, concerned.

Rogue's attention was also on Sting, just what was wrong with him...? The worry for his brother in arms was becoming bigger.

"Nothing," of course he would say that, it had been his answer in the past few days. This time though, the young man rubbed Rin's head softly and gave her a soft smile, not his usual smiles but at least it was one.

'Rin... actually looks a lot like her...'

"Let's just get started, yes? We have a lot of work ahead of us." Sting pretty much dragged Natsu inside the library so that he and Lucy would stop arguing at once. Something that usually wouldn't bother the Light Dragon Slayer, it would actually amuse him, but not this time. Not with the headache he was having.

The group split up and began checking every single shelf in attempts to find... whatever they were looking for.

"It's hard to find something when you don't even know what you are looking for..." mumbled Sting as he took yet another book and blew away the dust on it, the job itself was just too strange. "Who is even the client again?"

Apparently no one knew the answer for that, and as Sting was about to put the book back in its place without much of a glance at it, the title suddenly caught his attention. "Dreyar Family Chronicles". 

Maybe he shouldn't - this was nothing short of invading private space... but the Light Dragon Slayer still found himself opening the book. He would just take a quick peek... this couldn't hurt anyone, right?

For some reason he started from the end, looking at the current members of the Dreyar household, Laxus-san (with whom he was on neutral terms, the two of them really didn't have a lot of contact), his father Ivan (whom he believed was still in custody) and the current leader of the guild, Makarov-san. He flipped the pages forth, looking through various generations of the family, almost as if in a trance.

He was a bit caught off guard when he came across the photo of Makarov-san's father, Yuri, he looked a bit familiar even the way his spiky dark blond hair was done, the smile too.

Sting continued flipping the pages, seeing some family photos and then he just stopped when he saw the picture of a woman, immediately considering her really beautiful the Master took a look at her long and straight blonde hair, a bit darker but not as dark as Yuri Dreyar's and then her sharp shaped but gentle aquamarine eyes and an equally gentle smile.

It was her, the one he saw in his dreams…

His... mother...

~.~.~.~

"Lysander Eucliffe!" The voice of a woman echoed through the walls of the wooden house. "What in the world happened to you?" The woman bent down, holding her long dress as she did so, until she reached her son's height. The child was on the verge of tears and looked all battered, scratches and dark circles here and there.

"Have you been fighting again? God how many times have I told you to not do that?" 

"But..." the child sniffed, trying his best not to cry.

"It's not his fault, mama..." A young girl approached the two, looking down, ashamed and sad. "It's mine... there were some kids messing up with me... Lys just tried to defend me..."

"Don't call me that." the child mumbled, raising a hand to wipe his tears but wincing as he touched one of the cuts.

The look in the woman's eyes softened a little, and she reached out to scoot both of her children to herself. "Lyanna, Lysander... I'm glad you are standing up for one another but-"

"Of course I will stand up for her! She is my sister!" The boy said defiantly, holding his hands in fists. "Those boys had what was coming for them! I will do it again if I have to!" Tears started falling down one by one, but he didn't care now. 

His sister turned to him and flung her arms around his neck, also teary. "You are my hero." she whispered in his ear, and the boy felt a little blush spreading across his cheeks.

Their mother smiled fondly at them, her light colored eyes soft. "Okay... but now let's get this hero cleaned up, shall we?"

~.~.~.~

Sting blinked as he came back to reality, and was surprised that he had teared up too. The memory was still fresh... like it didn't happen centuries ago, but just yesterday... But the question was... why was the picture of... his mother in the Dreyar's family album? Granted he had never known other relatives from both his parents' sides but still... it was all too confusing for him. He flipped to the next page and there was another photo of his mother but this time she was in the company of a man, tall, strong body built, short but slightly spiked light blond hair and a pair of dark blue eyes. The man had an arm wrapped around his wife's shoulders while the other hand rested on her swollen belly, standing in front of them with both her hands also on the belly was a younger girl, Lyanna for sure.

This was becoming more confusing, why was his family depicted in this album? What could even be their connection to the Dreyars when his family had been gone for over 400 years?

Sting suddenly remembered a question he had once made to his father…

~.~.~.~

He had come with his father into the forest so they could cut and gather wood for winter. It was going to be a very harsh season, his father had said.

Lysander would often hear how those harsh and cold temperatures could kill someone and he didn't like the idea or the thought of his family dying, whether it was because of the cold or something else.

The child was now sitting on a trunk of a tree that his father had already taken down, he was waiting for him to finish cutting the wood they would be bringing back some. Wrapped in the warm scarf knitted by his mother, Lysander swung his little legs back and forth, watching with lack of interest how his breathing turned into a cloud right in front of his face and then slowly disappeared.

His attention then turned towards the cutting sounds that came from the impact between the wood and the axe on his father's hands. Suddenly a small pout formed on his lips.

"Daddy?"

The man stopped what he was doing and then turned his dark blue eyes towards his son "Hm? What is it?"

But Lysander then lost his guts to ask what he wanted... it was a silly question anyway "No... it's nothing." 

Instead of hearing his father returning to his job, the boy heard the axe being buried one single time in the trunk and then the steady paces in the snow coming closer to him. Lysander raised his own dark orbs to meet his father's stern but at the same time soft look.

"What have your mother and I said about lying?"

He averted his eyes again "I'm not lying..."

"You wanted to ask me something, didn't you? So why did you suddenly back off?" He was now crouched down in front of him.

There was a time of silence before the blond boy finally spoke up, the pout still there "You will never die right...? We'll always be together... right?" 

His father gave him a confused and surprised look. "What is this about?"

"It's just... I keep hearing about people... dying in our town... and I don't want that to happen to us…" There was a rosy blush on the cheeks of the boy though it was unknown if it was from embarrassment or the cold weather.

“I see, so you’re scared?” His father shifted his position to sit beside him but Lysander didn’t look up to him, the snow was suddenly something very fascinating to look at. “It’s alright to be scared, we are humans and it’s normal to feel that way.”

This got the child to finally look up at the man, a surprised look on his indigo orbs. “Even you are scared? But you never look like it...!”

The man laughed and pulled his son closer to him. “Of course I am scared, I am scared of losing you, your mother and your sister but feeling that way makes us stronger, it gives us strength to protect the ones we love.” He poked one finger on the child’s nose. “So never ever be afraid of showing how you truly feel, there is no embarrassment in showing that you are sad, scared or happy, understand?” Lysander nodded, a big smile finally reaching his lips and the blush on the cheeks spread further.

“Now, as for your other question. Death is something inevitable, it will come for us one day whether we like it or not but we just don’t know when. There is no way that we can be together forever in the physical world but ‘forever’ can be something that only this here…” and he touched the boy’s left side of the chest “...decides what it is and how it is.”

~.~.~.~

Sting couldn’t help the small smile that reached his face, it was an almost melancholic smile but at the same time a happy one. It seemed that even when he didn’t remember him, his father’s words had always accompanied and shaped how he was.

Moving to the next photo, the Master noticed how there was a woman, very similar to his mother but still with some differences, she was dressed in what looked like a beautiful white wedding gown. 

Out of curiosity, Sting's eyes drifted to the description of the photo "Lyanna Dreyar on her wedding day". The Sabertooth Master's eyes widened in surprise, it couldn't be right? 

Lyanna... was a very common name, it couldn't be her, she had died on that day along with their parents, he was sure of it...

Sting didn't even notice that his hands had started shaking, so much that the book dropped from his hands; it was still a sort of a big fall considering as Sting had been sitting on a tall ladder and it grabbed the attention of the remaining members of the group when the impact of the book on the floor echoed through the library.

"Oi, is everything okay Sting?" Natsu asked, approaching the ladder he was on and looking up at him. "Did you find anything?"

"U-umm... yes and no?" He really didn't know how to answer. Well yes the album became something very important for him but... they still had a mission to complete, which none of them knew if they were making progress or not. And yet, for him suddenly that album meant everything... 

He quickly descended the stairs he was perched on, only to find out that the Fire Dragon Slayer had picked up the book and was... trying to open it to no avail - which made absolutely no sense, it was a goddamn book, how hard was it to open it? 

"What is it with this book?" Natsu grumbled, not impressed. "Does Gramps want to keep all his family shenanigans to himself?" Just then a huge, mischievous grin lit up his features and he turned to his friend. "Oi Luce, you think we will find some embarrassing photos of Laxus in here?!"

"It's not like that!" Sting said almost indignantly as he grabbed the book out of the pink head's hands. All of their jaw dropped as the blond had no trouble opening the book at all.

Sting raised an eyebrow. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"You just opened the book when a second ago I couldn't that's why!" Natsu approached the Master and tried to flip a sheet of the book only to have it slam closed right into his hand; the Fire Dragon Slayer yelled both in pain and surprise, startling the others, and immediately removed the hand from the book. "Did you enchant the book or something?!"

"How would I do that, I don't even have Rune Magic."

"Um... well for some reason that book only opens with you," Lucy stated as she attempted to open the book herself. "So maybe we are on the right path to find the treasure..."

Natsu side eyed them. "How does gold fit inside a book?"

Everyone felt right in that moment the need to face wall at the pink haired’s brain work.

"Anyway..." Lucy spoke again. "Does the book say anything important? Maybe there's a clue..."

"Well..." Sting was suddenly very reluctant to share this private information for him. It was weird to explain, but it was almost this... instinct that he should protect this book and its contents to the last of his breath. Not that anyone in this room was an enemy or anything... but it was somehow private, personal. 

It was then that he met Rin's eyes and that odd nostalgic feeling hit him again, that the little girl looked a lot like the sister he remembered... and maybe that was the reason why he started talking. 

"I don't know if it's the special treasure the mission is talking about... it's actually some sort of photo album for your Master, Makarov-san..." he paused for a moment, a lump in his throat. "I know it sounds weird but... I saw the picture of someone... I thought it looked like..." his voice dropped, but he wasn't even aware of it. "...my sister..." It was weird, he didn't even know if his fellow Dragon Slayers remembered anything about their families...

"Sister?!" Everyone's voices echoed in Sting's already enhanced ears but the young man just nodded and re-opened the book right where he remembered the photo was.

"So... you remember your sister from..." Natsu tried to count with his fingers but it was too much. "400 plus years ago?? That's a good memory you have dude!"

Sting felt like rolling his eyes. "It's not like I've always remembered her... or my parents for all that matter, just... recently what I think are memories that started gaining shape in my mind, I can't explain how."

"Skiadrum and Weisslogia... they were the only dragons that choose to wipe the memories of their children before sending them to the future," Rogue began, a hand on his chin. "Could it be that the effects are wearing out? But I haven't had any memories of my original family."

"Wouldn't that mean that Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel would remember their past too?" Lucy pointed out.

"Well... I do remember my time with Igneel but I don't recall anything from my parents," Natsu put his arms behind his head casually. "The only thing I know is from when Zeref showed up in my mind or something."

"I... it doesn't make sense for me either..." The blond dragon slayer brought up a hand to rub his eyes, the headache pounding in his skull again. Still, he forced himself to talk about what to him was probably the most painful memory. "Because... my sister, I thought she didn't... survive the attack that separated us..."

As if on cue, the book in his hands suddenly started to glow faintly with a soft, golden light, once again attracting the gazes of all of them. "Whoa dude, what are you doing to that book?" Natsu asked him, now standing a couple of feet away from the book and his arms raised upon his head. Typical of the Fire Dragon Slayer to be freaked out by something as simple as a book...

"I'm telling you, I didn't do anything!" the Light Dragon Slayer said again. "I-..."

His voice was cut in by a soft, almost soothing sound coming from the book... and hearing it, a hushed silence fell upon the group, especially on Sting, who was looking at the object with an awed expression... he didn't know how... but he knew that voice...

"Year x396. This is the start of Lyanna Eucliffe's diary." There was a small pause before the imaginary woman continued, and they could all hear the smile in her tone now. "Well... I'm a Dreyar now. A little over twenty years have passed since I lost my precious family in the attack from the dragons... and now, as I continue my path with my new family, I would like to record all that made that little girl into the woman she is now."

Sting could feel his heart starting to beat faster, so fast that he was sure not only the other two Dragon Slayers present would be able to hear it but the other two ordinary girls as well.

"I was born on the Year x366 to Juliana and Ewan Eucliffe and six years later I received the best gift I could ever ask for, my little brother Lysander was born, I loved him so much... on the day he was born I promised I would always protect him no matter what... but..." The voice was getting teary. "...in the end I couldn't do anything as he was taken away by that dragon, nothing at all. He was always exploring, always getting his clothes dirty and making mom worry and sometimes angry, he even used to play around cactuses and would always fall on them, then would come crying to me and I would take all the thorns out." There was a soft laugh. "I started calling him Sting because of that, I think he actually preferred that over his real name."

Sting started feeling his eyes hot and a large lump forming in his throat, just... what was all this...? How...?

"Out of our family I was the sole survivor, I was just ten at the time and so I was taken to an orphanage but life was really complicated after the dragon attacks, so I lived there most of my life. When I was of age, I started traveling on my own but no matter where I went I couldn't find a place to call home, not without my family around. Then I met James and for the first time in years I felt truly happy... he helped me in many things, it is thanks to him that I am being able to record this diary now, it turns out I have magic that none of my family members had: Recording Magic." There was a pause. "...I am carrying our first child now, maybe if it's a boy I can name him Lysander."

"B-but... no, that's not possible..." Sting's voice was shaky as he frowned in denial, the book's glow dimming as the voice faded out. He was surprised how he could even still find his voice... it was like he just received a major blow, the pain in his chest was so real... "She... she died on that attack... that was the last thing I remember before that dragon took me...!"

The others were silent, both out of a profound respect for the diary's owner and loss of words in such a situation. "It seems that..." Lucy finally said in a sad tone, wiping a tear from her eyes. "...neither of you were aware that the other survived..." she couldn't even imagine the scope of the tragedy the blond was going through.

"But if Weisslogia rescued you from the attack... why would he leave your sister behind?" Natsu asked doubtfully.

"Natsu..." Lucy began in a warning tone, but Sting cut her in, shaking his head.

"No, it wasn't Weisslogia who took me away from the attack..." he whispered as another piece of memory came back.

~.~.~.~

Lyanna was holding her brother's hand tightly, both running through the ruins of what once was their village, now all there was fire, smoke and... death.

Their parents were both gone... their beloved mother crushed by the ceiling of their house... their brave father killed by the claws of a dragon. All that was left were the two of them and Lyanna was determined to keep her word, she would protect her little brother no matter what.

The two children were trying to stay strong, trying not to shed the tears that threatened to fall, trying not to sob out of fear of being heard by any nearby dragon.

Lyanna suddenly came to a halt and hugged Lysander close to her as they hid behind a broken pillar and wall, they heard footsteps, big footsteps and a roar nearby. There was a dragon closeby...

"Ly..." the girl put her delicate hand over her brother's mouth, signing him to hush. They stayed there for what seemed an eternity... and right when the dragon seemed to have gone away, the pillar behind them crumbled in the direction of the children.

Out of instinct, Lyanna threw her brother as far away as she could as the pieces of marble fell upon her. Lysander rolled a few feet away from the fallen pillar before looking up at where his sister once stood.

The little boy's eyes widened in terror as he tried to reach for his sister. "LYANNAAAA!!" he screamed out, his voice ringing around the area, and finally the tears came flooding down his cheeks... it was too harsh a reality for a four year old to realize that now he was all alone in the whole world... he had no one left from his precious family...this was everything he had always feared...

He didn't have a lot of time to proceed with his grief though. Big, heavy talons grabbed him and the kid screamed in pain as they bit into his shoulders. Despite the pain, he wasn't aware of his surroundings, his eyes were still fixated on the rubble beneath which his sister had disappeared, and he kept staring there even when it became a small speck on the ground, and even when he soared through and above the clouds... it was only the freezing wind that rippled through his thin clothing that finally made him snap out of his shock. That was when he heard a rumbling roar of laughter coming from the monster holding him... chilling him to the bone in a way no wind can.

"Heh... you, kid, ain't enough for my belly... but you'll make a fine meal for my cubs."

The little boy attempted to fight off the claws of that big monster but they were so tight on his tiny shoulder that the more he moved, the more they penetrated his thin skin making the child yelp in pain. It was over, he would be meat for baby dragons and there was nothing he would be able to do about it.

...Although it didn't matter anymore, he was all alone, maybe it was for the best now he would join his family and the pain of living alone in a world full of dragons wouldn't be a problem for him.

Just as the child's eyes started closing, he thought he heard a second roar tearing apart the skies and the dragon carrying him was suddenly covered by a shadow much bigger than itself. Then he felt it, the bigger dragon bumped into the other which caused it to let go the nearly unconscious boy.

The last thing he knew was that he was falling from the high skies, the last thing he felt was something grabbing him. Then it was all darkness.

...

When he opened his eyes again... the boy was a little surprised to find himself standing on a rocky place... surrounded by huge rock bodies everywhere. A mountain? Funny, in all of the stories he heard about heaven he was sure he didn't hear of mountains.

A sudden pain on his shoulder made him wince and put a hand on it. Something wet and sticky came to his hand, and he saw blood covering it. A chilled wind rushing through him also made him aware of the fact that his senses were pretty much intact.

"If this is heaven, I don't like it..." he mumbled under his breath as his lips turned in a pout. Where were mama and papa...? And Lyanna...

"I know no such thing as heaven," a loud, rumbling voice can be heard then, making Lysander jump a foot in the air. He saw a shadow moving behind a cave not too far from him. A big shadow... "But you are not dead, human child."

"A-are you...God?" the kid asked, his voice trembling. There was a low, chuckle-like sound.

"Well no, I don't think you would call me a god either."

Then the shadow moved again. Time came to a stop and the boy gasped in fright as the creature finally revealed itself.

It was a gigantic dragon, but actually very different from the one Lysander remembered that had taken him away from his burning village. This one was light-colored and had a large and long beard that resembled feathers; it also had two small antlers protruding from the top of his head. Compared to its feathery, windswept face the rest of the dragon's body was covered by thick scales and its belly looked really smooth. But what made the child open his mouth into a big 'O' was the wings of the dragon, they looked like those of an angel that his mother would often tell him about in bedtime stories.

Despite being in awe with the majestic and sage looking appearance of the gigantic beast, survival instincts kicked inside the small child and he reached for the first thing that he could find: a tiny and thin stick. Lysander stood up, although his shoulder burned like hell from the wound, and pointed the stick at the dragon as he attempted to keep his tears yet again at bay. "S-Stay back!"

The dragon once again grumbled. "Don't be ridiculous kid. What are you going to do with a stick?"

"I-I will hurt you," the boy was trembling from head to foot, but somehow he still stood his ground. "I will poke out your eye!"

"Uh-huh. And how is it wise to reveal your card to the enemy?"

Instead of answering the dragon, Lysander squared his shoulders and raised the stick again a little higher. "Don't underestimate me!" I had nothing to lose... was what he was about to add... but that thought almost made the tears fall and he didn't need that now. 

"Relax, kid." the dragon's voice was weary now. "I don't eat humans. You folks don't even taste good."

"Eh?! I taste good too, you big-" realizing what he had just said, the little boy's hands flew to his mouth and his eyes widened in impossible size. 

He heard the dragon growl. "Are you trying to tempt me now?"

Lysander trembled even more when the dragon moved forward and its head was now just a few inches away from him, again the child tried not to show his fear and also to not let his tears fall. He gulped when the dragon opened its mouth slightly... and then all he felt was a giant breath hitting his already fragile body.

...And he fell on his butt.

It was all it took for the child to finally give in to his fears and start bawling his eyes out, his cries echoing through the mountain they were standing in. He was scared, he was hurt, he was hungry... and he wanted his mama, his papa, his big sister.

The dragon breathed again in what looked like an exasperated huff... and then reached out with one of its paws, wrapping it carefully around the boy's body and pulling him closer.

"Uh... there there kid." it attempted to comfort the child but it was obviously not good at it. "You're quite brave for a human child."

"I-I'm not," the boy wailed as he brought his hands to rub his eyes, sobs tearing through his chest. "I-I couldn't even protect my family... m-my sister..."

"You couldn't do anything. Those dragons were some of the worst of our kind." Maybe it wasn't making it any better... so the dragon decided to change tactics. "Let's start this over, shall we? I am Weisslogia, the White Dragon. What is your name?"

Lysander hicked, trying to find his voice. "Lys-..." he stopped, and averted his eyes. "Sting. My name is Sting Eucliffe."

The dragon cocked its head to a side. Even among humans, as far as it knew, this was a pretty strange name... It decided not to comment on that though, since it already had a traumatized kid in its hands... "Alright... Sting Eucliffe... as long as you are with me, you are going to be safe."

~.~.~.~

He hadn't been aware of it until now, but Sting felt the tears wetting his cheeks as he came to the end of his story. Someone small came to his side then, and he felt Rin wrapping her arms around his middle, hugging him tightly. Somehow, he couldn't explain how... but her presence was reassuring.

Blinking himself back to reality, he used one hand to clean his face, now all tear stained - not that he cared much about others seeing him cry, it wasn't the first time it happened - while the other reached for Rin and caressed her head softly.

"Sad stories apart..." he finally said regaining his composure, he would ask questions later. "We lost too much time with this book, we still need to find what the client wants."

They suddenly heard a soft laugh coming from the top of the library's stairs, drawn to it the group looked up to see it was none other than the Master of Fairy Tail, Makarov.

"That's where you are wrong young man," he walked downstairs and soon reached the group. "That is exactly what I wanted you brats to find, more specifically you, young Master."

"Master..." Lucy mumbled. "W-Wait! That means you are the client?!"

"I am not understanding anything!!" Natsu cried out while he scratched his head with both hands.

Sting ignored his fellow Dragon Slayer and continued looking at Makarov. "How did you...?"

"Heh, I made my research after I saw the name of your sister in the book. Turns out there hasn't been a single person more bearing your surname since her, all it took was to do some math... and the knowledge that Lyanna-san made it so that only the Eucliffe family descendants could read it. My family is descendant from yours."

There was a silence as Sting looked back at the book, brushing the photo of his sister carefully. The moment though was broken with Natsu approaching them with a mocking face while he sneered.

"Well well well... so that means your real name is Lysander..."

Before the Light Dragon Slayer could reply in the appropriate manner though... Lucy was on her boyfriend, holding him by his ear and yanking him away through the doors of the library. "Are you a moron?! How can you be so inconsiderate, that was a touching moment!" 

"How am I supposed to let him live this down?! Hey, Lysander, let's do this again sometime, this. was. fun! And hey, does it make you Gramps’..."

Makarov sighed in frustration and closed his eyes as their voices faded away. "I should apologize for Natsu... him and manners don't go hand in hand. But you are welcome to keep the book if you so wish, Master Sting. It is your right, after all."

The blond looked at the book longingly, but after a minute of indecision... left it on the top of the railings. "It was enough for me, what it had to offer... thank you very much." he said sincerely. He didn't know what else to say, and it was kind of a lot to take in that he was related to the Dreyars...

"So that was why you had been acting weird all this time..." Rogue remarked, his tone decidedly more understanding.

"Yeah... I'm sorry for making you guys worry."

"If you're apologizing then it is another cause of concern." 

"Give me a break, will you?" Sting sighed... he couldn't be sure if with all these revelations, whether he would have a peace of mind any time soon... "Well in any case, let's get going. I still have a lot of paperwork to do."

"You can't be serious!" The blond raised an eyebrow at his friend's outburst. "That's all you can think about even now? Who are you and what did you do to the real Sting?!"

"C'mon man, you always complain about me leaving the official stuff to you."

Name: Rin Aurora Eucliffe Japanese: りん・オーロラ・ユークリフ Romaji: Rin Ōrora Yūkurifu Alias: Rinny (リニー Rinī) | Rin-Rory (りんロリー Rin-Rorī)

Race: Human Gender: Female Age: 12 Birthday: December 31st, X799 Hair Color: Blonde Eye Color: Blue

Affiliation: Sabertooth Guild Mark Color: Blue Occupation: Mage Team: Triplet Light | Team Sabertooth (Junior Grand Magic Games) Partner(s): Angelica Eucliffe | Haku Eucliffe | Shiroi Base of Operations: Sabertooth Building

Status: Active Relatives: Sting Eucliffe (Father) | Yukino (née Agria) Eucliffe (Mother) | Haku Eucliffe (Older Twin Brother) | Angelica Eucliffe (Adopted Older Sister) | Sorano Straight (Aunt) | Dan Straight (Uncle, by marriage) | Eden Straight (Cousin) | Koen Straight (Cousin) | Natsu Dragneel (Godfather)

"I don't think I'm following Rin..."

"Isn't it obvious? Yuki-nee has been avoiding Sting-nii ever since Sting-nii pretended to be your boyfriend!" Okay, yes it was true that Sting had pretended to be with her but that was all to corner Gash and make him come out of his hiding spot, they knew better than anyone that jealousy fueled the guy but about the part of Yukino avoiding Sting...

"Um... Rin, I saw them talking normally to each other this morning..."

"Look..." Rin's tone was patient and understanding... like she was trying to explain this to a five year old. Eleanor didn't know what she should feel about it. "She talks normally of course and Sting-nii is oblivious by default but... Yuki-nee is shy, and proud, she will never talk to him directly."

"I think you are reading too many novels." the magnet mage said, raising an eyebrow. 

"Come ooon, don't you want to help me El? They would make such a cute couple together!" 

Oh boy, Eleanor thought. Knowing both of the said friends, she knew they wouldn't like any kind of intervention in their personal business... and knowing Rin, she knew she wouldn't give up easily on what she thought was necessary. "Rin they are adults, they should solve this themselves."

"We will all die, they will become old walking around with wood sticks before they confess to each other!" Eleanor honestly felt like facepalming at the exaggeration of the girl but in a way it was suddenly funny to imagine her two friends, all old, white or grey hair, wrinkles all over their faces and backs bent down, supported by sticks... Okay no she needed to get that image out of her head. "Sooo? What do you say??" pressed the kid while showing her big grin.

The magnet mage sighed, exasperated. "Okay okay I will help you." Someone has to make sure you don't go overboard, was what she didn't add.

"Yaaay you are the best!" the girl was practically jumping up and down, and Eleanor couldn't help but roll her eyes although she was smiling - she would probably never understand Rin's enthusiasm in playing the matchmaker - or well, in pranking Rogue for that matter. She had once asked Sting about it... and the blond had just played it off for the kid being... well, a kid. 

"So... what do you have in mind? How are we going to pull this off?"

"I'm open for more ideas but... since Sting-nii loves eating and Yuki-nee is an amazing cook..." she couldn't deny either of her points. "I was thinking maybe persuading Yuki-nee to prepare something just for him. Maybe you can keep Sting-nii away while I help Yuki-nee make him his fav-" she backtracked. "...a memorable dinner."

"Okay, I can manage to keep Sting away..." maybe there was a mission somewhere that would be enthusiastic enough for him to accept to do with her. "But I think we have a bigger problem in hands than keeping a dragon out of the kitchen..."

"Hm? What is it?" Rin tilted her head to the side.

"We... aren't the only ones at the guild remember? We have lots of members that love to go steal food from the kitchen." She was mainly refering to Orga, whose guildmates had caught him assaulting the fridge... even in the middle of the night.

"Oh! Right! Hm..." the blonde girl put a hand under her chin while thinking really hard of a solution for that problem, then she closed her fist and bumped it into her open palm. "I think I know how to kick them out of the guild earlier!"

Kick... them out? Eleanor didn't know if she liked the sound of those words and she had the feeling that either nobody would listen... or knowing Rin she would end up dragging more people into this... Operation Lovebirds and the magnetic mage knew all too well that when the whole guild tried to get involved in something... it didn't end well. But she would wait and see. Maybe, just maybe things would turn out okay...

...

"How about this one?" Eleanor showed to the white dragon slayer what was the sixth job request but the blond continued staring at the options with an unamused expression.

"Boring..." and that was all it took for the girl to hang her head in despair.

 "Oh come ooon Sting! There has to be a job that you like!" she didn't really want to use this card but this was requesting drastic measures. "I thought we got all the coolest jobs now that..." she bit her lip while eyeing the blond that was now arching an eyebrow. "Now that Fairy Tail is gone?"

Those words apparently touched a nerve. "That's part of it!" Sting was pouting now. "It doesn't make it half as fun when I know there isn't the competition with the Fairy Tail!" Well truth to be told, this had been the reason why they weren't participating in this year's games... Their master could be impossible when it came to Fairy Tail.

"Can't you think of it as honoring Natsu and his skills?" This was really dangerous water, but she had to push it and so far (thankfully) Sting wasn't taking it half as bad as he could. "I need your help on this one, y'know." Which was also true, the job was about some gold robbery... the one metal she had no power over (it could be said that she had purposefully taken that one). 

He could have deflected her, he could have told her to pick someone else for the job... but for whatever reason, Sting decided to humor the magnet mage for this once. "Okay, okay... I will come with you."

...

Watching the backs of the master and her new partner in crime fading into the distance, Rin felt proud of herself. Phase one of the operation complete... now it was her turn.

She looked at the small, red bag in her right hand (times spent with Natsu-san in Fairy Tail were never a waste). "Alright... here it goes."

...and that was how, a few seconds later, a blur in the shape of a little girl was running wild in the guild hall, screaming bloody murder as... what looked like blood squirted everywhere from her hand. Needless to say, everyone present was alarmed.

"Rin? What happened?!" Orga asked. 

"A squirrel... this size..." the girl showed with her hands what she thought was the appropriate size of a monster squirrel. "...bit me! It should be veeery dangerous, it nearly bit my hand off!"

"I don't have any memory of squirrels being able to do that..." Rufus said with a slight frown.

"Is this one of your silly pranks?" Rogue demanded, obviously not in the mood for one - well, he was the most frequent victim after all. 

"No, it's not you-" Rin caught herself before she ruined the act. "Oh! Oh, I can see the light... go and catch that little monster before it hurts anyone else..." and with that, she ended her dramatic action crumpling to the ground.

There was an awkward silence throughout the guild as they all  created a circle around the "fainted" child... nobody even dared to go down and pick her up but Metra was the first one to break the silence.

"Rin... what is going on?" 

The girl didn't answer and it was all it took for Rogue to roll his eyes at how melodramatic this kid was. "She isn't dying just so you know, her heartbeat is fine, she is just pretending."

Damn Dragon Slayer senses, damn Rogue... he was going to ruin everything! Seeing that nobody was falling for her trick, Rin finally opened her green eyes and sat up, bearing a big pout on her lips. "You guys suck, can't you just play along for a bit?? I need you to cooperate...!"

"Cooperate on...?"

Rin glared at Rogue but answered anyway. "In getting you all out of the guild before 7pm!"

"Nope. No. Whatever you're trying to pull off, I want no part in it." That being said, Rogue walked over to one of the chairs in the bar and sat down, with apparently no intentions whatsoever of ever leaving there. 

There was a brief flare of light, and everyone present gasped as Rin's attack hit the shadow dragon slayer in the face - obviously not doing much of an effect but enough to piss the black haired man off. In a moment the two tigers were nose to... err, nose, in a manner of speech, glaring each other down.

"You really want to go down this road, nitwit?" There was a vein popping on Rogue's forehead - it was honestly a wonder for all of the Sabertooth members how Rin could be so brave - or foolish - to keep getting on his nerves like that.

"Leave nicely and we won't have to." Rin countered, not backing down at all. For a moment she glanced at the clock hanging over the bar, announcing 5pm already but then went back to exchange glares with the shadow dragon slayer.

"Okay okay why do you want us to leave in the first place?" said Glacé as he put himself between the two tigers, trying to avoid a murder right in the middle of the guild hall.

"It's for Sting-nii's sake!"

Rogue crossed his arms. "He is out on a job with Eleanor dummy."

Another glare. "You think I don't know that? It's part of the plan dumba-" Glacé had put his hands over the kid's mouth before she even dared to finish the word, they really needed to stop saying swear words in front of her. Rin mumbled something not understandable under Glacé's hands before pulling them down so she could speak. "Yuki-nee is going to cook him dinner okay?"

"You lost me now..." Orga was stretching his head. "Yukino always cook something for us..."

"I can't believe you people!" the girl was becoming so impatient that she was actually stomping her feet - they were losing precious time here! "Don't you ever read any romance novels? I'm trying to do something nice for them if you just let me!"

"I think you're reading too many novels..." Metra said, shaking her head. "They are both-"

"...adults who won't confess to each other in a million years. Yeah, I know." and she was pouting even more now. "That's why they need a little push in the right direction. Or well, a big one if it comes to that."

"And I can't believe we're honestly all just standing here listening to you..."

"No, now that I think of it, it's actually a good idea." That was Orga, again. "But instead of getting us out why don't you let us help?"

"Stop encouraging her!" Rogue yelled.

The girl's green eyes immediately shone bright. "Really?? You would do that??" and the huge green haired man showed her a big grin before setting his fist on his chest.

"Yep! I am actually an expert in getting people together!"

"No, you're really not." mumbled Rufus, attempting to not roll his eyes but received a big glare from the lightning god slayer.

"Oh shut up!" he said. "Can we at least do this for our Master?? He has done a lot for us lately, the latest thing we can is help him back!"

"See! He understands me!" 

Rogue was honestly feeling like facepalming at this point, he really didn't have the patience for this. "And have any of you even pondered on, I don't know, ask both the involved if they want anything of the sort...?!"

"Of course they do!" the girl sounded so sure of herself but Rogue could bet on anything that if Sting was here right now... he would regret ever agreeing to accept this little monster into the guild. "There would come a time they will thank me and all those involved in it and I will make sure to mention you weren't of any help at all!"

And that was about it with his patience. "Yeah, right, works for me. I have a job to take care of anyway." He looked around for his exceed. "Frosch?"

"Fro wants to help Rin too..."

"Oh come on!!"

With a final blown raspberry from their youngest mage, Rogue pretty much stomped off to the door - only to see Yukino just entering the guild. "Hi everyone."

"Hi." it was all Rogue mumbled before he walked past her, to Yukino all he knew was that the shadow dragon slayer was in a bad mood... had he and Sting-sama fought again and "ended" their partnership? The girl could only shake her head with a soft smile on her lips as she walked towards the guild hall... and for some reason all the stares were on her... making her sweat.

"U-Um... is everything okay...?" she felt a sweatdrop roll on her cheek. "Did I miss anything?"

Silence for a while... and then suddenly the guild was back to what it was, noisy, loud and busy which only confused the celestial mage. Rin took this chance to approach the person she viewed as her hero.

"Yuki-nee, come with me!" she took her hands and dragged her towards the kitchen. "I have an idea for the dinner of tonight!"

"O-oh... um is that so?"

"Yeeep! See, I want it to be something special for Sting-nii, something I know he would love, because I never got to thank him properly for accepting me..." Yukino chose not to comment on that... for all her good intentions, Rin did try in the past, but she almost always overdid it. The celestial mage was actually kinda scared about what was going to happen now... 

"And... you know what he loves to eat?" For her it was a bit of a stretch that Rin would know about that, but the girl sounded so sure of herself.

"Oh it's nothing too complicated - although you would ace that too if it was." the girl said with a big grin. "It's actually a steak meal - but the trick is all in the dressing." Opening the refrigerator, she took out a plate of strawberries, which made the celestial mage sweat drop again.

"We... are going to make a dressing with strawberries?" That sounded more like Rin than Sting-sama.

"Nope. These are for me." The girl put the plate on the counter and returned to the fridge to take out more ingredients.

Yukino giggled at the amount of ingredients the girl was bringing just to make the dressing, she wondered if Sting-sama would even eat all that but she suddenly remembered the blond could have a ferocious appetite when he wanted to. She hadn't seen him in the guild hall when she arrived so she could only guess that the Master was either locked in his office doing paperwork or had gone on a mission (without Rogue apparently), either way she knew from experience that the light dragon slayer would be famished at the end of the day.

The girls then began preparing all the food for dinner.

About two hours later, just as Rin had planned, Sting and Eleanor returned from their succeeded mission but before they even made it to the guild, Eleanor had excused herself saying she needed an urgent bath which left the guild master to return on his own. Not that he minded though but he had mumbled sarcastically under his breath 'Women', apparently they couldn't have a little bit of sweat in their body.

His steps came to a halt as he entered the guild. Well, that was unheard of... the guild was actually very quiet, devoid of all the hustle and bustle of the various guild members - which was unsettling to say the least. It would almost remind him of the old Sabertooth, if it wasn't for the pool and the soft glow coming from it - wait what?

Intrigued (or rather, worried) the master immediately made it to the pool side... and what he saw made his jaw drop.

The first thing that registered about the scenery - literally the first thing to see - were... hundreds and hundreds of candles... everywhere. Beside the pool, on the eaves, on a holder in the mouth of one of their tiger statues (now that was just plain rude)... and finally on a table for two right beside the pool, which was, aside from the dinnerware and candles... were also decorated with rose petals. Lots of them.

"What the...?" he was speechless - and not of the good kind. "Hey guys - you know just how many fire hazards all these pose just now?"

As if that wasn't enough (because apparently it wasn't) a slow music begin to play... altho it was so that one could almost go to sleep listening to it. 

"Sting-sama?" he then heard a voice, although it sounded a little... unsure too... accompanied with a mouth-watering smell.

Sting turned around, although he knew who the voice belonged to, there really was only one person in the whole guild that treated him with that honorific - he knew it was out of respect but it honestly made him feel... old...

"Hey Yukino." the man looked around while scratching his head. "What is this all about?" 

"Um... I'm actually not sure... I have been in the kitchen preparing dinner since I got here..." Now that she remembered, Rin was also missing, although she had told her she was just going to get something really quick... "Where is everyone?" 

'I hoped you knew that,' he thought as he took one of the seats and Yukino set the food on the table. "I have no idea nor why there are all these candlesticks around the guild."

"Umm... yeah... it seems to be a very... peculiar setting..." trying her best not to blush, hard, Yukino lowered her gaze to the table. The truth was that... no matter how hard she tried, it remains to be the fact that she still had a big crush on the master... she had been somewhat successful to curb it down a notch while she was away from Sabertooth but returning to the guild, and more than that... seeing just how far (for the good) Sting-sama had changed... it would be a lie if she said that didn't rekindle some of that old flare.

"Ugh... those idiots... as if we can't just eat dinner, the two of us, as friends. Right Yukino?" That was when Sting finally truly noticed her face. "Eh , are you okay? You're all red..."

"N-no, I mean yes, I'm fine."

"Must be these candles, seriously, there's overdoing and there's insanity. Lemme just snuff out a-"

"No, please!" the celestial mage said immediately, trying to control her blush. "W-why don't we continue with the dinner?" Suddenly, she was intrigued to hear his opinion on this one, partly because she was curious about how accurate was Rin's predictions on their master's choice of appetite.

The blond thought about it for a minute, then shrugged. "Sure, I'm ravishing anyway." 

And so they started eating, Yukino carefully watching Sting. After the few couple of bites, the master's expression started to soften and turn into one that of amazement... "Yukino... how did you... this is amazing!"

The silver haired girl blushed a bit more and looked down shyly. "R-Really? You think so?" Sting-sama wasn't one to actually lie about anything really but it's just that Yukino never had much faith in her skills, or rather she wasn't used to receive such big compliments; the only one that really used to do it was Sorano... and well after her it had only been Lucy-sama.

"Hell yes!" the blond exclaimed causing the girl to snap out of her thoughts and raise her head to face him again. "This is one of my favorite dishes and you did it amazing!" And he took another bite into the food. "Really, whoever marries you will be very lucky." 

And there she was again blushing hard. "M-Marry...??" she had never thought much... actually she had never thought about it at all! Who would want someone like her, who brings bad luck, as a wife anyway...? But she didn't dare voice that thought out loud. "U-Um... t-thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying the meal."

"So," he changed the topic so casually. "Where were you most of the day? I don't remember you telling me about a job..."

"O-Oh no um... I went to see if I could buy new celestial keys, since I got enough money from the past jobs."

"Oh?" The master seemed genuinely interested (which he somehow managed to accomplish while he continued chumping on the food). It actually kind of flattered the girl. "Did you have any luck then?"

"Yep." She was actually pretty happy with her new accomplishment. She fished out the newest silver key from her key pouch to show it to Sting. "I can definitely call it pure luck. We didn't make a contract yet but... this is Feres, from the constellation of the Pegasi."

"The Pegasi?" Sting repeated. He wasn't familiar with all of the constellations (although he had gotten pretty familiar with the wolf and the dragon, no thanks).

"It is a winged horse from mythology!" The excitement in the girl's voice was palpable. She really loved the celestial spirits, the master realized It was almost... endearing. "I hope it will give me some advantage... with the wind element."

"Hmm... that means you now have three of the four elements in your hands." he sounded amused but actually happy for her, he eyed the design of the new silver key, silver like the others with a pair of angel-like wings surrounding the entire key until they spread on top of it, he had to admit that it was a beautiful key. Sting began wondering if Yukino would ever use the key whenever she wanted a ride to somewhere else, certainly it would be better than riding a train.

Flying... it reminded him of his days with Weisslogia.

"Sting-sama?" her voice woke the master from his deep thoughts and he quickly blinked to focus on her again. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine. Just remembering stuff from the past."

She bit her lip, daring to ask. "About... Weisslogia-sama...?" But she quickly regretted asking the question and looked down, ashamed. "I-I'm sorry...! It's such a personal question, I shouldn't ask something like that... I have no right..."

It took Sting for a moment to reply, his gaze still far away. It was still a touchy subject to talk about, sure... He closed his eyes tight, not sure whether to continue or not. "It's okay... I know you didn't mean any harm by it." He sighed, letting his breath out in a long huff. "It's just... Weisslogia was the only parent I had as far as I know... and then I killed him... or well... I found out that was all fake memories... so all it left me in the end was..." a big loneliness... That was what he couldn't say out loud. Even with Rogue, his twin dragon slayer, the one who could understand him way better than anyone else because of their similar experience... he couldn't explain to anyone just how big of a void his foster father left behind.

He wasn't prepared when Yukino leaned a little forward and placed a hand, albeit hesitantly, on top of his. "You... you must be feeling lonely..." 

And the master was even more perplexed that the celestial mage could almost read his mind... or was it that much readable on his face? But in any case, that made him feel... a little better. It was almost soothing that he didn't need to put his feelings in words for someone to understand. "It's alright, really..." His fingers slightly curled on her hand. "Now I have a whole guild, so I can't really say I'm lonely all the time."

Yukino smiled so softly and kindly that Sting found himself returning the smile, he couldn't explain but it was so easy to talk with her, knowing she wouldn't judge him even if she didn't agree with something that he did or said; sure she would scold him but it was never in a judging way.

That's why that he wasn't uneasy to talk with her about Weisslogia, it would seem that he had already overcome that phase but he really hadn't and probably wouldn't for a while no matter how many years had already gone by... there were still times where Sting would dream of his time with the white dragon, when Weisslogia would tell him to climb on his back and took him on flights so high above the clouds or when he was stern in his training both physically and in dragon slayer magic, although afterwards Sting would fall asleep from exhaustion but the dragon scooted him under his feathery wings so he wouldn't be cold.

"So... I don't think I ever asked you about your family?" it was a casual, simple question but Sting knew that the expression the celestial mage made, albeit just for a split second, was one of pain...

"Um... w-well there isn't much to tell actually... I wasn't raised by a dragon so it can't be as interesting," this last part was clearly an attempt to hide the pain. "I had two parents and an older sister, whom I loved dearly... but then the children hunt came and well, we were separated and our parents killed..."

"...I'm sorry..."

Yukino shook her head. "No, no, it's alright. I've overcome it, it's been a while but..." she looked at her hands, closing them a bit tight. "Sometimes I wonder... if it's bad that... that I don't miss my parents..."

Sting found himself frowning a little, mostly out of confusion. He had known Yukino for a good while, and not once had he heard her talking this way, almost resentful to another person, let alone her parents. Granted, he never had much of a backstory from the girl after all, but still... something in her tone, in the tightening of her muscles intrigued him. Suddenly, he wanted to find out more about her. "Care to tell me why?" Then, realizing that he probably sounded pretty intrusive, he backtracked. "I-I mean... only if you want to of course..."

Yukino gave him a small smile this time, but it was one without humor. "It's okay..." she whispered, again looking down on her hands. "My parents... well, there had been times I wished I was non-existent to them... there were times where I had been just that... but mostly... whenever something bad happened, whenever things didn't go the way they want... I acted like the scapegoat. I don't know how I would've coped with it if it wasn't for... Sorano..." her voice broke at the end of it but thankfully her eyes stayed dry, she didn't think she could handle a breakdown in front of the blond now. She had never talked about her family so much in detail to anyone but Lucy-sama before... and it was almost mind-boggling of how easy it was to speak to Sting-sama right now... out of all the people. "I just wish I could see her once again, just one more time...I don't even know what happened to her..."

For some reason, Sting made it a note in his mind to maybe use the contacts he now had in the Magic Council to find the possible whereabouts of Sorano... of course if he had the same luck that he did when he tried to find out where the bastard that killed Rin's father was then he wouldn't find anything... but he would care about that later.

"She... she was so beautiful and was always there for me..." 

The Master blinked a bit confused as he repeated in his head everything Yukino told him. "Wait... your parents would... blame you for...?"

"...Anything... or everything that happened bad..." she still didn't look at him. "I shouldn't blame them though... they were right to think that way... whenever something bad happened I was around so..."

The celestial mage then jumped when she heard Sting punch the top of the table with a bit more strenght which made her finally lift her brown eyes to look at him... he didn't look happy. "No one..." he started. "No parent should ever make their child feel that way, a good parent would support their child when things go wrong, not put the blame on them!" He closed his eyes for a moment and then leaned back against the chair before re-opening them. "I'm sorry... I know they were still your parents but... quite honestly, no you shouldn't feel bad for not missing them." he didn't remember his birth parents but he knew that if they had been anything like Yukino's parents that he for sure wouldn't miss them.

His words... although they didn't yet erase her opinion completely about her bad luck... enveloped the girl's heart, and made her feel warm, happy... the smile that appeared on the young woman's lips was one of pure sincerity now. "I... thank you Sting-sama..."

...

Somewhere just a story above, two pairs of eyes were staring through the staircase banisters, one blue and one green.

"Really?" the mastermind behind the plan said, with a pout on her lips as she dangled her arms from the banisters and leant forward. "Is that all? Nothing's happening!"

"What did you want to happen? A kiss?" Eleanor asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well duh! That would be so cute of them, just saying."

The tone in his voice, the strange calm... no, serenity... made his fellow guild mates frown slightly at him. “What... are you talking about...?” Rogue asked slowly, although he was somehow afraid of the answer.

"Since it's clear that our combination isn't going to work..." his eyes looked more determined than ever. "I will use my magic on my own."

Rogue's eyes widened in surprise, as well as the eyes of the others present. "What... do you mean on your own...? What are you planning Sting?" The tone in the Shadow Dragon Slayer's voice was urgent, worried and... almost angry, if his twin was implying what he thought he was...

"My magic can purify anything, the demon that possessed Milo is a shadow demon, it's only natural what it's weakness is." his matter-of-fact tone wasn't helping at all, like what he was about to do wasn't something that big and it only made the anger in Rogue starting to boil. Sting suddenly felt the other Sabertooth member grabbing him tightly by the collar of his jacket, his eyes matching his voice as he spoke.

"Are you mad?! You have seen how strong that demon is, if you use your magic on your own you'll...!"

Sting put both his hands on Rogue's, gripping them and forcing them to release his collar but the determination never left his indigo eyes. "I am quite aware of what will happen, Rogue."

"Sting-sama...!" now Yukino joined the conversation but none of the other members of the team dared intervene... it was a personal matter between the members of Sabertooth after all...

"It's alright, Yukino, it's what must be done."

"It's not alright you big dumbass!" The thought of Sting perishing was too much for Rogue to handle, there was a knot starting to form in his throat.

"No." And again Yukino spoke, more serious this time.

“I’m not gonna let this demon run free you two.” The blond said again, still damnably calm but just with the tint of exasperation in his tone. “We can’t wait for backup, we don’t have that much time, and this is a one-time deal, so I’m-“

“No!” Their celestial mage interrupted once again, and the sudden determination in her eyes matched that of Sting’s own as she took a step towards their master, looking him straight in the eyes. “It’s not the only way.”

The twins were both taken aback, both by the fierceness in the girl and her words. “Yukino...”

“Sting-sama, please...” And her pleading tone was genuine too, her voice shaky... what the master had suggested was horrible, too terrifying to even wrap her mind around... Yukino’s brown eyes were brimmed with tears, although she didn’t let them fall. “Please, let’s... do this together.”

Now the blond was truly surprised. “W-What do you mean together?”

“Are you suggesting... a unison raid??” Rogue’s tone was a mix of surprise and... wonder... “But... you should have a spirit who can channel light magic for that...”

The girl smiled, soft... “And so I do.” From her keys she pulled out one... and to his astonishment, Sting immediately recognized that one. The one he bought for her... “Draco, the dragon... he has twilight based powers. I dare say he would be enough to supply you.”

The master frowned slightly, what Yukino was offering could’ve made perfect sense, only... “We never tried unison raid before with you, we don’t know how it will affect you... I don’t want you to take the risk-“

The girl took his hand, almost desperate now. “And we can’t have you risk your life like this, master! You... you are too important for us... for the whole guild...!”

Rogue was silent, pondering on the suddenly proposed solution... it was dangerous... the reason he and Sting were capable of performing Unison Raid without any problems was because of their harsh training and also because both of them were Dragon Slayers, their power was even to put it mildly.

Now it wasn't that Yukino was weak, on the contrary, she was really strong. If anything served as proof, this woman was capable of summoning the thirteenth zodiac gate, a dark key no less, and control Ophiucus at her will despite it being a key that, as the girl had once stated, she did not trust.

But what worried the Dragon Slayer was actually what they were against, an extremely powerful demon that had just used his shadow powers to enhance itself and truth is, Sting was a Dragon Slayer and Yukino a Celestial Spirit Mage... what they really could use was Demon Slayer but...

"Sting... do it." the black haired man finally spoke. "It might be our only chance to put an end on this."

"But-"

"Once your light has done it's damage we can have Nevaeh and Allen take care of the rest." The determination in the red eyes was strong, Sting was worried something bad would happen but... maybe it was their only chance. Sighing, the blond finally squeezed back Yukino's hand, standing straight next to her. "Okay... let's do it."

A big smile made it's way to the girl's lips as she raised her hand in the air. "Open, Gate of the Dragon... Draco!"

Smoke surrounded the area where the mages were, a low but dangerous growl coming from it, bright yellow eyes shining through the dust. Those that had never met the Dragon Spirit felt a chill go down their spines.

The dust cleared up, finally revealing the full form of the beast. A giant, majestic dark red dragon with bright yellow eyes spread its wings in the air, it had no legs but rather a large body connected to the tail that protectively surrounded the two mages in a spiral.

Sting allowed his body to be surrounded by the enhanced strenght of his Dragon Force and channelled it towards the girl next to him, bathing her equally in the same holy white light. The only difference really was that his body was covered in their usual white scales of this form and Yukino wasn't.

They heard the demon in front of them laughing crazily. "You are planning to slay me with Dragon Slayer Magic and a Celestial Spirit? You are stupider than I thought!" It raised the boy's finger. "Vanish you miserable insects!" And it flicked the finger.

As the next attack was readied against them, both Sting and Yukino opened their mouths to recite the spell. "Holy Twilight Ray!"

From that it was all a big blur... Sting watched as the light created from their unison raid, bright and blinding, rushed to meet the attack that was sent by the demon... he saw it overpowering the attack, giving them their beacon of hope, this would work out... But just then, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Draco's huge form shifting... there was a big explosion sound, and the last thing the white dragon slayer felt was the warmth of Yukino's hand, grabbing his tighter, before they were tossed in the air with the force of the explosion and everything went black...

...

For a moment, he could hear nothing but... ringing. Everything felt blurry, like there was a big sponge in his head, blocking everything... But bit by bit, things started coming back to him. "Sting... Sting...!"

He would knew that voice anywhere. But something in it now made the blond smirk slightly before finding his voice to answer him. "Rogue..." he croaked, and had to gulp to sound more understandable. "Are you... crying...?" Not that it was something to be laughed at, he himself had never hid his emotions, but... it was a little uncharacteristic for the black haired man after all.

He could've sworn he heard his twin growl. "No you idiot. You just pulled a dangerous unison raid, you didn't come to for a minute... I guess I should be laughing."

His brother's words only brought more to his attention that... the warmth he felt just before the explosion was no longer claiming his hand... The master felt his hand closing in a fist as he finally opened his eyes, taking in the night's sky for a moment before looking up at Rogue. "Yukino.. where is Yukino...?"

And he saw the sad look that suddenly made its way to his brother's red eyes, Sting didn't like it one bit and promptly tried to move only to feel his body completely sore and burning in pain. "What... happened Rogue...?!"

The Shadow Dragon Slayer looked down for a bit before moving his eyes towards a scenario a bit far from them. "There is... another member of Lion Heart healing her but... she is not waking up..."

Sting's eyes widened and he once again moved to sit up, fighting against the burning feeling all over his body until Rogue extended his arms and helped him sit. The Sabertooth Master stared ahead and saw Nevaeh holding the unconscious Celestial Spirit mage in her arms as a blond haired man, that Sting did not recognize from the earlier group, with his hands open over the girl's chest as a light green glow came from it. This was wrong... this had all gone wrong...!  "Yukino!"

Sting tried to get up only to have his whole strenght taken away as an unbearable pain came from his leg and spread through his body, forcing a yell of pain to come from his mouth. Rogue was immediately by his side, helping him sit up again. "Sting... what's wrong...?!"

"My... leg... ugh!" the blond reached for the right leg. "I can't move it...!"

And the shadow dragon slayer's eyes drifted to his leg, immediately noticing the problem. Sting's leg was standing at an odd angle, and he was so worried about Yukino that he wasn't aware of it, that idiot... "Stand still," he told his twin, his voice soft. "I will have Seth help you after he finished healing Yukino."

"Yukino..." Sting mumbled again, he could bear any pain now if it just meant Yukino would wake up soon... "We should never have done this... never..." He felt Rogue grabbing his shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

The blond man standing over Yukino sighed and the green glow slowly died down. "I did what I could. We should take her to Chana-san immediately." He looked at the brunette holding the celestial mage. "You can handle that, Nevvie?"

"Yes, of course." the girl said promptly, being a demon granted her more strength than what would be expected from a woman of her size. Balancing the white haired mage in her arms, she got up, and was soon gone. It was then that the blond lion turned his attention to them. "Okay, now let's get you settled."

"Where is she taking her?" Sting asked quickly, not that he wouldn't trust Nevaeh of course, he just had to know.

"To Lion Heart, to my master." The other blond replied, than looked at the shadow dragon slayer. "You might wanna hold him. This is not going to be pretty."

Just then Allen appeared next to them, carrying an unconscious Milo, now apparently back to his normal form "I'm going to take Milo back as well, he is back to normal but I don't know the extents of the sealing." Seth looked up at the man and nodded.

"We will reach you once I'm done but it might take a while." Allen gave a short nod and then he too was gone. The long blond haired man turned his attention back to Sting who was clearly now in distress, most likely from the leg he thought.

The green glow returner to his hands and Rogue grasped Sting's shoulders, he himself sweated hard when he started hearing the cracking of his friend's bones moving and even more when a painful scream left the blond's throat. The Shadow Dragon Slayer didn't even want to imagine the pain he was going through.

And then Sting instinctively moved, like trying to escape from the pain, his hands gripping hard whatever he could find. "Sting don't move! I know it hurts but you need to hold on!"

"Holy- SHIT!" The white dragon slayer's body arched upward, despite what Rogue just said he couldn't stop trashing, the pain was nothing he had ever experienced before nor that he would want to ever re-experience! "Stop... make it stop please!" If he was given a choice to endure a full day of ride on a train or this, he would jump on the train right now, and it was no secret how he hated transportations!

"Sting, listen to me." And this was Seth this time, the white dragon slayer kinda wanted to punch him for sounding so damn calm while torturing people. "I know it's bad but if you just let me do my job, it won't take long. Don't damage your leg more than it already is..."

"Easy... for you... to say...! Aaggh!!" His breathing was harsh and he was sweating probably more than he ever had in his entire life. This was fucking unbearable!

He heard Seth sigh, still calm as ever and then his amber eyes switched to Rogue who still had a look that clearly questioned what he should do in this situation. "If he doesn't stop-" he didn't even had the time to finish his sentence as Sting's body arched up again and this time accidentally hit with his forehead against Rogue's, making the black haired boy suddenly let him go to hold his own face and now bleeding nose.

"Holy shit Sting...!" He moaned in pain and Seth just sighed again.

"Knock him down, it's the only way I will be able to heal him properly."

“I can do that...” the shadow dragon slayer mumbled. “I’m sorry Sting... this is for your own good...” And with a well placed punch, the blond was out of it. Rogue was glad he couldn’t hear his screams again, it was never easy to go through listening to someone in immense pain. Although he would rather have that than... the thought of what could’ve happened if Yukino and Draco wasn’t there sent chills down his spine.

He took a look around, at all the damage from the last explosion... to be fair, it was a miracle that they were all still standing. Somehow, it felt like they were shielded... but how, he didn’t know.

All the while, the healing mage had worked his magic, silent and serious. When he finished, Rogue was ready to get up and carry Sting back to Lion Heart for further treatment... but Seth shook his head. “I should treat to your nose first.”

...

He didn't know where he was, he didn't remember clearly what had happened but he did know that currently he was lying against something soft and warm.

Sting's blue eyes fluttered open and he was met with what seemed like the first rays of the day, the light coming from the window forced the Dragon Slayer to re-close the eyes for a moment until he was ready to adjust his vision.

"Ugh..." His body was aching but what was really aching was his leg. "Where... am I...?" he wasn't making the question to anyone in particular, he was still acknowledging his surroundings so he did not expect when suddenly a tiny figure hugged him as tightly as the tiny hands allowed.

"Sting-kun!" He could recognize that voice anywhere. "You're awake!"

"Le... ctor...?" He only moved his head slightly up but he could see the Exceed crying.

"I came as fast as I could! Rogue-kun said you have been sleeping for hours!"

"Rogue...? Ugh... where am I...?"

"In the hospital of Shirotsume Town, yes!"

Sting frowned at the word. Hospital...? But why-

His eyes widened and a gasp escaped his mouth as the dragon slayer suddenly remembered everything. The mission, the demon that possessed the young Lion Heart member, and the unison raid with Yukino... “Where... is Yukino...?”

A shadow passed over the exceed’s face, Rogue-kun had told him this would probably be the first thing Sting would ask... and he didn’t want to send his friend in a panic, but he also couldn’t hide things from him forever. “She is also in the hospital Sting-kun...”

“A-and did she wake up yet?” The blond’s voice was a little higher now, his hands curled up on the bedsheet.

“Well, apparently the doctors say it won’t take long...”

“Lector...” it hadn’t escaped Sting’s attention that his friend was avoiding the question... and he didn’t like this, he didn’t like what he was about to find out.

Lector’s ears fell, and his gaze was sad when he looked at the blond. “No... no, she hasn’t.”

"Oh..." Sting's eyes fell and his hands gripped thesheets. "Tch... damnit... this is all my fault..."

"Sting-kun... you couldn't have known..."

"Yes I could...!" He nearly yelled. "I knew how powerful that demon was and I let her convince me into doing that Unison Raid...!"

Lector watched his friend sadly, just what could he say to make Sting feel better? When... when Sting was already claiming the whole blame...? And what he had to show him wasn't exactly going to help either...

The Exceed spread his wings and flew over the bedside table, apparently grabbing something but Sting didn't even know what it was until he landed again on the bed and took a few steps forward.

"Um... R-Rogue-kun retrieved Yukino-kun's key... but um..." yet again the tone at his voice was what made Sting look up and he didn't need much to have his eyes widened...

Sting felt a knot form in his throat as he carefully took the key into hands, holding it fully in his open palm. "God... what..." The key was cracked and not  just a little...! It was like it would break into tiny pieces at the slightest touch. Suddenly flashes of the Unison Raid came to his mind... that moment he had seen Draco move... that must have been when...! "It protected us..."

“Y-yeah, that was Rogue-kun’s guess too...” Lector felt even more helpless as Sting bowed his head to the bed, a slight shaking to his shoulders.

“Damnit... dammit... how am I gonna explain this to Yukino... or make up for her...” He knew how great a bond the celestial mage had with her spirits, and now he felt especially horrible... this was going to be devastating for Yukino...

He was afraid of voicing it, but he still had to ask. “W-what would happen to him though... I-I mean is he... gone...?” Of course he didn’t expect Lector to have the answer to that, but he couldn’t help it.

Lector answered him anyway. “Apparently Rogue-kun talked to Natsumi-kun about it... who is the celestial mage of Lion Heart.” Well apparently the term for Natsumi’s magic was different, but it wasn’t relevant, the principals were more or less the same. “And she said as long as the key isn’t completely... gone... there is a high chance of Draco to heal in the celestial spirit world and come back... eventually...”

"Even with... the key like this...?" he didn't know much information about Celestial Spirit Magic but when a key is this damaged... wouldn't summoning it again be a risk? Wouldn't it break?

"Rogue-kun thought the same but according to Natsumi-kun, the keys can eventually heal as well, the same way the Spirit heals too... they only cannot heal when it's completely broken, yes." So there was still hope for Draco to come back... that was a relief at least...

Sighing the blond pushed aside the covers of the bed and sat up with the intention of getting off the bed. Immediately Lector went into danger mode and spread his wings to prevent Sting from doing so. "S-Sting-kun you can't get out of bed yet, you're still healing!"

"I need to get to Yukino, Lector... I can't leave her alone." The moment he put his bare feet on the floor and attempted to get up, a striking pain made him flinch and nearly lose his balance. He didn't fell for he reached with his hand for the bedside table and sustained his weight there, along with Lector who was already holding the back of his shirt.

"Get back to bed, Sting-kun!"

But he should know by now how the Dragon Slayer was more stubborn than a mule when he set his mind on something. "I am going to her, even if I have to jump on a foot to get there...!"

And that's exactly what he did, sustaining his balance on the good leg and pushing slightly up the injured one, Sting started jumping towards the door under Lector's panicked look. He successfully reached for the door's knob but right in that moment the very same one opened abruptly, causing the Dragon Slayer to lose his balance and fall flat on his butt.

"Ow ow! Damnit!"

"What is going on here...?" the familiar voice of his "twin brother" reached his ears, making Sting stop moaning in pain and look up at the black haired man.

Lector, the traitor, immediately answered Rogue. “Sting-kun wants to go see Yukino-kun, although I told him to stay in bed, yes.”If anyone could knock sense in his friend, after all, it was the shadow dragon slayer... and indeed Rogue was frowning now.

“I’m gonna help you to bed now, Sting, and this is final.”

“I won’t.” If it wasn’t for the dead serious look on his face, Sting’s tone could be only classified as childish. “I have to see Yukino. Now.”

Rogue’s eyes turned soft, but unrelenting. “She’s gonna be fine. Both Chana-san and the doctors say she will make a full recovery, we will just have to wait a bit and be patient.”

“I can’t be patient!” The blond’s voice was urgent, almost desperate. “How do you even expect that from me when it’s my fault she is in that state to begin with?!”

The look in the red eyes hardened and without answering him, Rogue walked over to his twin and put an arm beneath his, supporting him up despite all of the white dragon’s  protests and carrying him over to the bed.

“Now you’re gonna listen to me.” He said, his tone so serious that it was almost scary. “It’s not your fault what happened, and if it wasn’t for Yukino, who is healing, it would be you we would be waiting for to wake up... or worse. So yes, you’re gonna stop complaining and yes, you will wait patiently.”

It wasn’t always that Sting was intimidated by his brother, but... he certainly was now. “Rogue...”

Sting took the paper and quickly scanned it, his mouth opening like a fish out of water when he suddenly remembered the day the head of the town's orphanage spoke directly to him about this mission. Now that he remembered, it was actually a charity mission for the young orphans who had no family of their own to spend Christmas with, so the caretaker had requested Sabertooth to take care of the entertainment.

Now he was feeling bad for having completely forgotten about it.

"So the cookies Yukino is making are for the kids?" He asked even though the answer seemed very obvious now.

Rufus adjusted his Santa hat in his head before answering, "Of course, and so are these decorations, they are extras that we have in our basement since we already decorated the guild."

"And I was chosen to be Santa!" Orga exclaimed proudly. "I'm gonna sing songs to those cute kids!"

"No!" it was a collective answer making the Lightning God Slayer pout.

"Where is Rogue then?"

"He said he had something to take care of... he's gonna meet us there." Metra said as she and Dobengal carried in a big satchel and left it at Orga's feet. "Here you go Santa. There are other ways to make these kids happy other than singing them songs." One should give the girl credit... she didn't enjoy Orga's "songs" any more than either of them, but she was actually being nice about her critiques.

"You didn't... actually buy any of those did you?" Aside from the costs, the orphanage director specifically asked them not to buy gifts.

"Nope. They are all things we handmade." their youngest mage appeared again, now completely donned in an elf outfit. She glanced up at the Lightning God Slayer, obviously trying not to giggle. "So... Orga-san... will you climb down the chimney?"

"Uuuuhh..." the green haired man scratched his cheek while he tried to picture his body fitting inside a thin chimney. "I can... try?" and it was all it took for Rin to laugh.

"Alright, alright," running a hand through his spiky blond hair, he sighed. "I'm going to get a change of clothes and then we can all start bringing the stuff to the orphanage." Yukino in the meanwhile would be working on the cookies and by the time they had carried all the decorations to the orphanage and set them up, the cookies would be done and packed.

There was already an outfit in his office waiting to be dressed by the White Dragon Slayer and while it wasn't a bad outfit, Sting was never much of a fan of the colors red and green, it didn't really go with his image. Once he was done, they started carrying the things to the orphanage as planned.

Between all of them, and knowing that what they were doing would bring smiles to little kids' faces, the time flew by as they decorated the main hall of the building. The kids were out on some Christmas shopping so the building was completely empty, and the guild members were working hard to create the impact they wanted. The sun was almost setting when the final preparations were done and Yukino entered the orphanage after Metra and Rin, all of them carrying the sweets.

"Orga-san, you better get ready - they will be here in about ten minutes."

"Uuuh... yeah, I guess so..." the huge man eyed the fireplace uncertain, as if he was going to climb up instead of coming down.

"You might wanna go outside for that." Rin added helpfully.

"I know, I know," and with that the "Santa" went through the backdoor of the orphanage with the bag of presents on his back as he tried to figure out how the frick he was going to go down that thin chimney again as he climbed the wooden stairs to reach the roof covered in snow.

In the meantime, the children started arriving with the caretakers and they were told to all sit down on the floor as they had a surprise for them; they nearly went screaming when the Sabertooth members started showing up one by one in the room.

"Look look! It's the Twin Dragons!" yelled one of them, a boy who was actually blushing as his eyes shone with admiration while eyeing the two Dragon Slayers.

"And that's Rufus-kun!"

Even those of the members who didn't think they were very popular at all were surprised to find out the kids were eager to meet them - though it should be expected that Sabertooth was a sort of celebrity in the town. For a moment they were overwhelmed with the admiration and fawning before the adults called for them to keep it down for a bit. It was followed by what the guild could coop up for entertainment - a bit of lights and illusions show - which the kids loved to bits -, some games, and of course, the food.

"Hey, is the Santa coming too?" one of the smallest orphans asked in a hopeful voice.

"Yeah, yeah he'll be coming..." Sting eyed the fireplace,with the kid that made the two of them. "...anytime now."

As if he had heard them, Lector landed on Sting's shoulder not long after he had said that and whispered something in his ear that made the blond's blood freeze and eyes widen while he mumbled a "Crap". He quickly walked towards Rogue, who was currently watching over Frosch and a group of kids that were playing with her.

"Rogue, we got a problem."

The black haired mage raised an eyebrow. "What now?" and all it took was for the blond to point to the fireplace for Rogue to understand what was going on. They quickly grabbed their winter jackets and left the orphanage through the same backdoor Orga had left a while ago, they found the wooden stairs and started climbing only to find... an amusing sight of half of Orga's body stuck inside the chimney... the thing was he was upside down so it was his butt freezing outside while he wiggled his legs trying to get free.

"Seriously Orga?!"

The buff man was trying to say something - only that it was understandably muffled through the stone chimney. The Twin Dragon Slayers could only hope that he was keeping it PG rated considering there were children inside... oh.

"Keep it down you idiot, you're gonna scare the kids!" Sting hissed as he and Rogue rushed forward to try and help the man.

"Honestly who told him it was a good idea to follow that nitwit's plan?" Rogue grumbled, for all they knew that little devil could've played with Orga on purpose. 

And so they started to tug and pull at their friend, trying to get him free. But a moment later, something none of them expected happened. Their "help" somehow managed to free Orga from wherever he was stuck but...

"Uh oh-" was all the Master could say before they started falling, all three of them, down the chimney.

The kids and everyone else in the room could hear the echoing screams and suddenly a cloud of grey ash burst through the opening of the fireplace and the three men fell, first Orga who thankfully fell on the satchel on his back and then Sting, who landed on Orga's stomach and Rogue who fell on the Master's back.

"Ugh... I'm alive..." Sting managed to mumble and when he opened his eyes, he saw many pairs of cute big eyes staring at them. "Um... we went to get the Santa kids!" he said as he and Rogue quickly crawled off the big man.

"Are you alright, Sting-sama?" Yukino asked as she helped the two Dragon Slayers standing up, they brushed the ash and dust past their clothes before nodding to the girl.

"Ho-ho-ho kids!" Orga seemed to have recovered rather quickly from the chimney fall. "Who's ready to receive some gifts?!"

The kids all squealed and rushed forward in joy, in a minute practically all over Orga. The swarm was so powerful that it knocked the Lightning God Slayer back into ash and dust, although he didn't seem to mind it at all. Indeed, he was laughing whole-heartedly, handing out the presents one by one to the expecting hands of the children.

The sight was so heart warming that Sting couldn't help but think that it was worth the fall from the chimney. Wow. He never thought he would catch himself admitting to something like that.

Everyone had pretty much settled back in their seats, the kids tearing through their presents. Smiling, Yukino handed a small gift-wrapped box to Rin too, whose eyes were widened in surprise. "Yuki-nee... what's this...?"

The girl just shrugged, still smiling. "It's the Christmas spirit after all." In truth, she didn't forget that their youngest member had lost her father and was away from her family too.

Shyly, Rin took the gift from the silver haired mage's hands and carefully, as if she didn't want to ruin the package in which the gift was wrapped into, started opening it. It revealed to be a box and on the inside there were two gifts: a snow globe which had the symbol of Sabertooth carved and put in the middle of the globe and a package of cookies.

"The cookies are strawberry flavoured," Yukino made sure to tell the girl, she knew better than anyone how that kid loved to eat strawberries or anything strawberry flavoured. "I made them myself along with the other cookies but I kept it a surprise." Just then the kid's arms wrapped around the young woman's waist tightly.

"Thank you... I love all of it...!" Yukino just smiled and patted the girl's blonde hair softly. 

As the party continued through the following hours, soon it was time for the children to head to bed and to be honest they were all getting tired too; the caretakers guided the mages to outside the orphanage, thanking them multiple times for what they did. Although he didn't say it out loud, to Sting the smiles of the children was better than any kind of payment they would receive from this job.

As the members of the guild made their way back to their respective homes, Sting noticed the smile that Yukino was sporting on her lips. "Is that smile all for the kids?" he dared to ask.

Yukino just turned to face him as she continued smiling. "Not just that but I just made a decision about my future."

"Hm?" Sting put his arms behind his head as he reached the girl's side. "What is that?"

"I would like to adopt a child in the future... I know it's a big decision and a great responsibility but..." the smile became smaller but it was still more genuine than ever. "I know how it is to live most of your life in an orphanage, no matter how good they take care of us, it just doesn't fill the emptiness that the fact we have no family leaves in our hearts... that's why I would like to fill that hole in at least one child's heart."

Sting was silent for a while, the girl wondered if she had scared him with her thoughts, she couldn't blame him, it was a big decision after all. "That's... actually really nice of you, Yukino," he admitted, showing a genuine smile to her. "Any child would love to be your kid, I'm sure of it."

Yukino blushed a little at the compliment and she didn't even speak, knowing she would probably stutter; as they continued walking they soon reached the Celestial Mage's apartment. "Um S-Sting-sama?" 

The man turned around with a curious look as she reached for the inside of her bag and took out a simple rectangular wrapped box and quickly pressed it to his chest. "M-Merry Christmas."

And with that voice, in an instant Sting's eyes shot open too, and he promptly jumped to his feet...or at least tried to, since his leg was still healing. What resulted was that he stumbled, tried to balance himself by grabbing a hold of the wall but that didn't work that well and Lector had to look away as his friend basically plopped down right onto the girl's bed. Thankfully, it was just the edge of it, so Yukino wasn't crushed by the Dragon Slayer's weight. Although...given the girl's sitting position, their faces were now extremely close to each other.

Well... Sting wasn't really known for thinking before acting, but the Exceed would cut him some slack now. 

"I-I'm sorry, I..." Sting's apology came short as the blue and brown eyes met, and slowly, gently as not to hurt her even more he took the girl's hand in his own. "Y-Yukino... you're back..."

"Sting-sama..." Yukino's eyes started to fill with tears and slowly spilled to her cheeks. She blinked a couple of times, and a soft smile came upon her features. "I-I'm so... glad... I didn't... I thought..." she couldn't complete the sentence.

And suddenly the Dragon Slayer was half sitting on the edge of the bed while his arms hugged tightly - not too tight to not hurt her though - the Celestial Mage. Yukino, at first, was surprised by this action of the young man but then wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back as tight as her body allowed her to.

"I'm so glad..." she mumbled. "You are okay Sting-sama..."

"It wasn't me who took most of the damage..." he replied as he released the girl from the hug. "You... you were asleep for three days, they... said you would heal but you just wouldn't wake up."

Lector hated to interrupt the moment between the two mages... but he did anyway. "Sting-kun actually broke his leg." He probably shouldn't have said that out loud and so soon after the girl’s awakening, actually he knew he shouldn't have, but as happy as Lector was with Yukino finally waking up, he hoped that the girl, knowing the truth of Sting's state, would knock some sense in the Guild Master that nobody else had succeeded in doing so.

"Lector...!" he heard Sting hiss.

"Your leg...?!" Yukino's reaction was as expected.

"It's nothing big," Sting said immediately - but almost defiantly -. "Seth Lightstone from Lion Heart helped... quicken the healing progress." He couldn't help the somewhat bitter tone in his voice, which made Yukino giggle slightly. 

"You sound like you would've preferred not to."

"Believe me, if you had experienced it while awake..." the Dragon Slayer shivered just as he remembered it. "...actually I really hope you won't ever get to experience it again..." and as he finished his sentence, his eyes took a serious and sad glint. "I'm sorry... we shouldn't have tried the Unison Raid..."

"Why are you saying sorry? It resulted in this, because... because I'm not strong enough..." Yukino looked down on the mattress, gripping slightly the sheets in disappointment.

Sting shook his head and placed his hand above her clenched fist, which actually made the Celestial Mage surprised and her cheeks heated up slightly, her feelings for the Dragon Slayer after all were still there and kept getting stronger.

"It's not your fault at all Yukino... Unison Raid is a very complicated technique... not even Rogue and I have mastered our own, we take a big risk whenever we do it. We shouldn't have done it, not because you aren't strong but because I put your life at risk, I should've sealed that demon myself."

Yukino's head snapped towards the blond, eyes widened. "No...! Sting-sama, you would've died!" She moved her free hand to cup the Dragon Slayer's cheek in it, taking him slightly back at how her gentle touch contrasted her fierce brown eyes. "Please... don't treat your life so lightly... you are needed, Sabertooth wouldn't be where it is if it wasn't for you."

Sting felt his heart skip a beat under Yukino's touch, something about it so... reassuring and soothing, so warm that he was close to lean into it. He shut his eyes, gulping back the emotions that were threatening to come to the surface. "It wouldn't be half of what it is if we lost you..." he whispered, and squeezed her hand under his a little tighter. "I..." He didn't know if he should be saying it now, or even if he should be the one who relayed the news... but knowing how great of a bond Yukino had with her Spirits, he thought she had a right to know. "I will... forever be grateful to Draco..." 

The Celestial Mage's hand slowly dropped to the side as she processed those words. A moment passed in silence, Yukino apparently gathering all her courage as she prepared to ask what she had to although she couldn't understand why she was suddenly so afraid. "Draco... where is my key... w-what happened?"

"Unison Raid or not..." Sting started but his eyes were no longer staring at the girl in front of him. "None of us would still be here if it wasn't for Draco, he protected us from most of the damage of the explosion... the fact that I escaped with just a broken leg and you... well... with some internal damage is thanks to him, I guess he must have created some sort of barrier to do so."

Yukino felt her throat going dry, he wasn't telling her everything but the young man soon moved slightly to behind him to pick something from the small table beside the bed; she heard something clicking together, creating a soft echo and she recognized the sound immediately. Sting turned around and held out the pack of her keys but was holding especially carefully what looked like Draco's key… except... it looked now very damaged, cracked in many places; the girl felt new tears resurfacing to her eyes.

With extreme care, Yukino took the keys from Sting, and she began sobbing even harder... the key of the Dragon constellation looked so fragile, as if it would completely fall apart with the slightest touch. She remembered it like yesterday, the moment Sting-sama offered her the key, the time she made the contract with Draco… all these hadn't happened too long ago, but somehow...somehow... the Spirit was so attached to her that it almost threw away its existence. As she silently continued crying she wondered what happened to Draco... hoping against hope that he was back in the Spirit World, healing... counting days, as she surely would, until the time they were able to be reunited again. 

Sting remained silent as he watched the girl, not wanting to intervene in this moment. Finally, when the white haired girl looked up at him, her eyes were brimming red. "I'm sorry... this was a gift from you, Sting-sama..." she bit her lower lip "My bad luck just affects anything I care for…"

"Nonsense. This has nothing to do with good or bad luck, Yukino..." If anything, the shop owner had been right to classify it as a guardian key... and Sting wasn't going to complain about that. "That key protected you..us...on its own will. I'm sure Draco knew the risks.."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. A nurse popped her head in, a bright smile on her face. "Glad to see you finally awake, sweetie," she told Yukino, and then looked at Sting. "I need to check up on her, but I urge you to please contact the cafeteria so they can bring something up to you. You aren't doing yourself any good starving yourself all these days."

"Sting-sama did what?!" Yukino's voice rang, and Sting could feel himself sweating... he would have to evade her for a good time when they were finally able to go back to the guild.

...

A couple of days later, as well as many exams to make sure both mages were healing fine and that no more damage had been done during the explosion, both Yukino and Sting were given release from the hospital nearby Lion Heart's guild. Before they had left, the two had decided to stop by that very same guild in order to thank them for everything they had done for them and also to check if Milo was doing good considering the sealing of the demon inside him hadn't been completed.

Sting had also taken this chance to attempt to talk to Seth about Eleanor, he had refused to go into details regarding everything his fellow guildmate had gone through, as it wasn't his place to speak about it without the girl's permission, but did drop the hint that Eleanor could use her brother's support.

Now the Sabertooth Mages were on their way back to their guild - putting of course aside the fact Sting nearly had decided to go by foot instead of going by train, only to have Lector drag him inside the transportation, his leg still wasn't ready for such big lengths of walks -. During the whole trip, Yukino had held and stared longingly at Draco's key in her hand while her free hand patted softly Sting's back as he laid on her lap -like many other times before- to soothe the motion sickness.

"Finally home!" exclaimed Sting as he jumped out of the train, already seeing the guild from afar.

Yukino's eyes shone brightly longingly as she too looked up at the guild. She felt a warmth engulfing her broken heart, and despite everything a small smile lifted the corners of her lips. Home... for her, no other word could describe how her guild seemed to her for the past year and so.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," she mumbled, but didn't see how Sting's face lit up by her words.

"Do any of you need me to carry you?" Lector asked, worried.

"Nope." they both answered. The day itself was beautiful, sunny but not scalding, perfect for a walk.

And so they were in front of the guild’s doors fifteen minutes later. When they got inside though... they froze in place.

"What...?" Sting started to say, but was interrupted with a loud squeal.

"Sting-nii! Yuki-nee!" And then something or rather someone small collided into both, hugging them tight.

"Ow, ow, ow," Sting winced a little as he came to realize who had bumped into them. "Careful Rin, we're not all healed yet..."

The girl didn't move at first and the two mages could feel her light shaking, eventually the shaking came with a soft sob and the youngest mage of Sabertooth finally raised her head to reveal the big tears that filled her green eyes. "I'm... I'm s-sorry but I... I was just so worried about you two...!"

Yukino was the first to snap out of the surprise of seeing the girl like that, a soft smile spread into her features as she bent down enough to reach the girl's height and placed a hand right on her blonde hair, rubbing it softly. "It's okay Rin-chan, we are sorry to have made you worry so much."

"If only you knew what it took to keep her everyday in the guild..." Rogue's voice joined the group. "Good to see you two back though, you know it's not the same without Sting's loud and annoying voice ringing everyday in the guild hall."

A vein immediately popped into the blond's head. "What was that?!" He hadn't been home for more than a minute and his patience was already being tested...seriously?!

"Oh for god's sake, don't start fighting already!" Now it was Orga joining them, followed close by Rufus and Minerva, and before Sting and Yukino could even say anything, the Lightning God Slayer took both mages and Rin in his arms in a bone cracking hug, lifting them all from the ground. "But we're so glad that you are okay!!"

"Orga..." Sting managed to say in a tight whisper and squeezed voice "Can't... breathe...!"

"I hope that will teach you not to scare us like that."

The Master rolled his eyes at Rufus, but it would be a lie to say he wasn't smiling from ear to ear. It was indeed very good to be back to friends who received them with open arms. 

Holding Rin close for a minute more as Orga finally put them down, he frowned in confusion as he once again took in the hall's... appearance.

"What... did you guys do to the guild hall?" There were banners, balloons, any kind of party stuff one could imagine everywhere, complete with a banquet table and - god help him - a big cake. Yukino being the best cook in the guild, he shivered to imagine who got to all the trouble...okay there was also Minerva, who was a very good cook herself so maybe it was safe "I just left the guild to you for a few days..."

Rin took a step back and wiped her eyes, only partly successful to prevent the tears. Then she gave Sting and Yukino a big smile. "This is your welcome party!"

"Well... we needed to get creative to keep her here." Rogue supplied.

Sting didn't really know what to say, on a hand he was happy to see that they had gone through all the trouble of decorating the guild hall and even to just create this party in general, on the other he didn't want to know how much money was spent to do this - not that he could say much considering he spent a fortune to just have that marvelous pool in the backyard of the guild -; so the Light Dragon Slayer just sighed and smiled before ruffling the young girl's head. "Thanks for this guys."

Minerva then showed a cup with sticks inside it. "Also we are going to play this."

"Nope, no," Sting had immediately recognized what that cup was. "That game is banned!"

"We make it friendly this time so that Rin can play too."

All the while they were enjoying the meal - which was surprisingly very good, although none of the members were willing to tell who was the mastermind behind it, but Sting was sure it had been their Milady - Sting tried not to think too much about the game - he had thought that as he was the real master, his orders would be listened to every once in a while. Apparently not, and the whole guild was enjoying it way too much if he had to comment anything about it.

He actually expected the first "Master" to be the Princess or Orga - who were both known to pull off some real nasty tricks - so... it came as a surprise when it was their youngest mage instead. Rin whooped in joy as she drew the stick with the Master's crest.

"Okay..." she thought for a second, tilting her head to one side. "I order number 3 and 7 to kiss each other...on the lips" she added the last part with a devious smile.

The blond Dragon Slayer tried his best not to turn beetle red as he realized he was number seven. He dreaded to look around for whoever was number three... when his eyes fell on an extremely flustered looking Yukino.

'That little devil' Sting thought, of course she would know which number was his, how did she know though he had no idea. 

"Come on you two, if you don't do it we'll have Orga force you to." Rufus teased with a grin and he looked unbothered by the glare Sting shot him.

"No! Nobody is going to force anyone to do anything!" The Master said as he walked to the flustered girl, he sweated a little as a small light pink blush made its way to his cheeks again. "Sorry that you keep getting dragged into this stuff, Yukino."

The girl continued blushing but shook her head. "I-Its alright, S-Sting-sama... b-but I guess we sh-" before she could even finish, Sting's - extremely soft she must add- lips were on hers, it was a delicate and gentle kiss nothing too forceful and as short as it was, Yukino was still able to taste the Light Dragon Slayer's lips... and his breath was a mix of mint and the booze he had been drinking earlier.

It was almost enchanting.

When Sting released the girl's mouth from his own, he opened his blue eyes only to find Yukino completely unresponsive, blushing hard and eyes spinning.

"O-oi Yukino??" He shook gently the girl but only got a not understandable mumble from her.

"Wow are you that much of a bad kisser?" he was so close to kill Rufus for that one.

"No, of course I'm not!" the blond said indignantly, though he obviously couldn't tell. It was the streak in him that wouldn't accept that he was bad in anything. Their friends all burst into laughing.

"Why are you even watching this?" Sting rounded on the culprit behind this little show, who was also giggling. "You're a minor, act like one!"

"Awww, but you were so cute!"  the girl cooed dreamily, clasping her hands in front of her. The blond could swear that the brat was very much enjoying it. Some innocent game this was turning to be...

 "Okay, so who's the next Master?" Minerva said, gathering the sticks from everyone, putting them in the box and giving it a shake.

The - awful, in Sting's opinion - game continued for large hours, with dares, that although weren't that extreme as the last time they had played it, were still a little... weird and awkward sometimes; they even had moved the game to the pool area so that some dares could be done in the water. Minerva swore it was the last round of the game, although she was already a little drunk, much to Sting's relief, as he was getting tired of the game.

They all took their sticks and Eleanor raised her own in victory in the air. "I am the Master!" Then she looked around and before making the dare, she bent down to Rin's height and whispered in her ear - blatantly ignoring Sting's protest on how that was against the game's rules - "Are you number 5?" to which the girl shook her head before whispering in the other girl's ear who it was - somehow she always managed to know and nobody could understand how -. 

"Alright!" The new "Master" had this smirk on her lips that already made Sting sweat, Eleanor and Rin could be terrible when put together... "Number 5... I dare you to drink a whole bottle of booze!"

"M-me?!" The gasp came from none other than their Celestial Mage. "But I don't drink..."

"Oh, you will for this game." Eleanor said serenely, with a smile that no one really trusted. "And it's our last bottle, it would be a shame if we throw all that money to the trash."

"Guys..." Sting was doing his best not to face-wall by this moment. He closed his eyes in a bid of patience before letting his breath out. "We just got out of the hospital, remember? Why don't you cut us some slack?"

"Did your doctors specifically banned alcohol? Because you've been drinking too."

"Well no, but-"

"Alright then." Eleanor shoved the bottle to Yukino. "Master's orders."

...

And that was how Sting found himself accompanying Yukino back to her house half an hour later. Not that he hadn't done it before but...

"That was fun fun fun!" the white haired mage said with a giggle and a big blush spread across her cheeks. "We should play this game more often!"

Hell no if I'm gonna help it, Sting thought grumpily. No, scratch that. He wasn't even sure if he trusted his fellow guild mates in throwing a decent party next time either.

His thoughts were suddenly cut when the girl next to him threw her arms around his neck and pretty much put nearly all of her weight into him, Sting had to sustain himself to a nearby bench with one arm and the other around Yukino so that none of them would fall straight on the floor, his still healing leg made him wince in pain but he tried not to show it in his expression.

"Yukino, what are you doing?"

"Kiiiiss!"

"Eh??" The Master had his eyes widened.

 "Yukino wants to kiss the Master again!" She had such a cute and adorable look on her face accompanied by the blush on her cheeks. "Yukino wants to please the Master!" 

Sting didn't really understand why she was suddenly talking about herself in third person, his only conclusion was that it was the booze's effect. "No, what you need is to rest." He definitely wasn't going to take advantage of her.

Then Yukino pouted and she removed her arms from around the young man. "Yukino's kiss was bad wasn't it?"

The direction this conversation was taking had become all too awkward all of a sudden, more than what Sting would've liked. Damn, the whole guild - Eleanor and Rin especially - owed him big time for putting him through this... "Look, this is not about the... kiss at all..." He couldn't explain why he was suddenly feeling hot in his ears or had trouble putting the words out there. "You're not yourself, I'm not gonna let you do something that you'll regret-"

"Knew it," the girl said in a broken, shaky tone, and tears started filling her eyes. The blond right out panicked when he saw those tears, not knowing what to do. "Yukino can't ever... please the Master, can she...?" Then, without any warning, she started to take off her blouse.

"H-hey Yukino, what-"

"If that's the case, Yukino shall remove her guild mark. Yukino doesn't deserve to be a Sabertooth Mage."

"No!" the answer from the Master was almost immediate as he quickly grabbed the girl's wrists to stop her from continuing to take off the piece of cloth. "You are not going to do such a thing, you are a Sabertooth Mage and more than anyone you deserve it, understand?" Maybe he sounded a little too harsh but he wanted to make his point through Yukino, Sting didn't like this subject and he knew Yukino didn't either, clearly it's one that the girl would only touch when she wasn't in her normal state like now.

"Sting-sama..." the girl murmured still blushing, but now from both the alcoholic drink and the man's words.

"No one is going to take off that mark from you as long as I live." It actually had been Sting himself who had proposed to put the new mark on the girl's skin, as some sort of...repay for what Jiemma had forced Yukino to do upon her banishment, and he had been surprised when Yukino told him that she wanted the insignia on the same place the old one used to be - however this time in white instead of blue - and though he had done it without complaints, he always wondered why she didn't want somewhere else to indicate the new start.

Before things got more awkward, Sting sighed and flipped the girl on his shoulder so that she wouldn't go and run off somewhere else where he would have to chase her, his leg was screaming a little in pain but he choose to ignore it. Getting Yukino home became more important.