"Yeah, totally ready...!" I announce (sarcastically), matching his enthusiasm with a fierce smile.

*Boy, is this going to be interesting...*

~•-----------------------------•~

Despite the heaving of my lungs, I resist the urge to stop. You'd think that, after years of training, I'd be in excellent shape, but running for prolonged periods of time has always made me reconsider my definition of "in shape".

After hearing me pant like an ancient dog with asthma, Rufus sneers over his shoulder: "You okay back there, Fairy? You seem...eh, winded, to say the least. Is this the effect of being too reliant on your Support Magic, I wonder?"

   "Is your rudeness the effect of you being too reliant on other people to raise your self esteem, I wonder?" I mutter under my breath. What should Rufus care about my capabilities? We're on the same team - right?

I just knew that letting stupid, sophisticated, stuck-up Rufus lead the five of us would be a terrible idea. For starters, Rufus is swifter than he looks, meaning that I actually have to make an effort to catch up. Of course, that sucks, but what's far worse is the fact that Rufus has the habit of looking over his shoulder to monitor my activity. The taunting words that accompany this action just irritate me further. Even this simple gesture holds the upmost disrespect and air of superiority that I find it difficult to not run up to him and squeeze his smug head off. (Although, even if he was decapitated, I'd suspect he'd find a way to get under my skin - probably with some distasteful last words, like, "This will be the first and last time a Fairy has made an impression on me. Congrats.")

  Fortunately, I think that Rogue equally dislikes Rufus, which is something. His glaring scarlet eyes bore into the back of Rufus's humongous head every time he makes a snarky comment. However, I doubt that Rogue actually disagrees with Rufus, considering that he seems to hate me for some reason - ever since he betrayed my trust in the library some months ago, anyway. But at least I can take comfort in the fact that someone other than myself despises Rufus.

   Apparently, Rufus heard my bitter whispers. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that - maybe you should enunciate like a proper lady? Minerva is quite good at being clear, so perhaps you should ask for some tips. You see, we Sabers don't whimper like those weaklings with tails. We are loud and proud, as evidenced by Orga here, this-"

   Suddenly, Rogue is a blur of midnight as he flies in front of Rufus. He holds an arm in front Rufus, barring the path. "You better watch where you're going. Hanging around that 'Fairy' hasn't dulled your eyesight as it has your manners, I hope?"

His blazing eyes land on mine when he references me, and I blink, confused. I can't tell if he insulted me or defended me.

Rufus, on the other hand, shoves Rogue off him and turns up his nose haughtily (no surprise there). Rufus now looks ahead to see why Rogue halted him: there is an glittering, golden arrow sticking out of the ground, emitting red pulses of light and humming lightly. As Rufus instinctively backs away from it; the humming increases in volume until it has reached the noise of a bustling wasp nest.

"That can't be good," Orga says gruffly.

I turn on my heels. "This is the part where we run, if you can't take a hint!"

  Sting is right beside me as we rush away, and he flashes me a fierce grin when I attempt to overtake him. (So maybe I'm a bit competitive). The expected BOOM! echoes behind us as we streak past the same floating platform we had passed not a minute ago. A flurry of curses sounds from Orga, and I cannot suppress the hope that Rufus has perhaps been blown to smithereens.

  I glance behind my back for a second, taking in the damage the arrow caused. I find myself raising an eyebrow when I notice that a gaping hole has emerged in the path, with smoke billowing into the air at an alarming rate. I also spot a certain figure clutching onto his hat adorned with a single feather, and I barely hold back a groan of disappointment.

Realizing that they could jump us at any second, and that the element of surprise is on their side, I slow my pace and motion for Sting to do the same.

   "Stop," I command, taking hold of the situation. "They can't be far behind us. It's useless to run further."

    Surprisingly, all of them comply wordlessly, and automatically adopt defensive stances. Five pairs of eyes scan the glittering sky, neighboring platforms, and the sizzling hole that can't be more than fifty feet away.

"There," Rufus hisses from under his hat.

My eyes follow his pointed finger to a figure shrouded in mist. The figure, to our right, is taking cover behind a vertical section of a platform and thus has their back to us. My eyes dart to the left, detecting movement, and I nudge Sting to get his attention.

We both watch as another golden arrow is cocked against an equally brilliant bow, and the craftsmanship of the articles is so breathtakingly beautiful that I gasp aloud.

Too loudly.

Instantly, I realize my mistake as my teammates heads swivel to face me, each of their faces contorted in expressions that tell me I'm dead meat when this is all over (except Sting - he seems to be holding back a laugh). But it's too late to do anything about it now, so instead of complaining, we let our chakra flow through our bodies, resulting in some sparking from Orga and the emittance of light and shadow from the Twin Dragon Slayers' fingertips.

Three magic users materialize in front of us - a stocky woman with pasty skin and scarlet curls, a burly man with a head full of dreadlocks and beady black eyes, and a waifish boy with elf-esque ears and a rather long nose. The boy looks rather ordinary and not at all intimidating - he appears to be slightly frazzled, as noted by an incessant foot-tapping. His clothes are covered in what I assume to be soot, and he's even got dirt on the end of his nose. (You've got dirt on your nose, did you know?)

   "...that's an interesting bunch." I can't help but whisper aloud.

   "As if we aren't," replies Sting.

"Good point," I whisper back.

    Rufus - with an eye twitching, I might add - turns with a murderous look on his face that's obviously meant to shut me up. Naturally, I stick my tongue out at him. The damage has already been done, so what does it matter?

    Orga, however, has already started to engage with the enemy. "I was wondering when we'd cross paths with some fellow mages. Care to play?"

    "These aren't called the Grand Magic Games for nothing, fella," the woman says, sporting a thick accent. "But we only play with the big boys, know what I mean? We're Dragontongue, who are y'all?"

   "Sabertooth, and don't you forget it," I snarl, while a smirk appears on Sting's face.

   Maniacal laughter breaks out on our team when the woman blanches. Obviously, she has heard of this hell-hole of a guild - she probably knows all about Jiemma and his disgusting practices, and about our merciless mages. Oh, yes, she does; why else would she look like she is going to faint like a maiden in distress? Honestly, I think we laugh because we understand all too well how terrifying our guild is.

   I feel a twinge of guilt for intimidating them, but that's quickly forgotten when Orga makes his next move.

Without warning, a bolt of Orga's inky lightning streaks across the platform and strikes all three of them. The unpleasant scent of singed flesh enters the air, leading me to wrinkle my nose in disgust. But, I realize, Orga did not utter a single word. He did not even move. He's just so charged with energy that he probably accidentally released some. That doesn't "just happen" - that's the mark of a remarkable amount of magic power.

   "Now, now, Orga," Rufus tuts while walking forward a few steps to survey his collapsed enemies. "No need to get so excited, yet. The real fighting hasn't even begun!"

He chuckles throughout his last words, and raises his hands in the air in his laughter; then, his persona dramatically changes as he shouts: "Memory Make: A Night of Falling Stars!"

Two streams of canary yellow light burst from his hands, one heading towards the archer and the other towards the figure shrouded in mist. I watch as the opponents leap into the air in an effort to evade the attack, but the light seems to be a homing mechanism as it merely trails them. Then, just like their fallen teammates, they too collapse.

I am in complete shock. Sure, I knew these two were powerful - which is obviously why Jiemma selected them - but I suspect their powers grew exponentially throughout the months they trained. And, despite being on many missions with Rufus the doofus, I have never seen him use that specific ability, so he must have encountered a strong mage he found worth copying during his training.

Rogue says nothing, does nothing. Sting follows suit. I can't help but wonder if they're as surprised as I am, and I find myself studying Sting's countenance. His gaze is steely, but other than that, he looks generally the same as always.

"Nice," I hear Orga say. "No more problems. Let's go."

I glance over at Orga, who is still crackling with electricity (is that healthy?). He shoots me a somewhat evil look when he catches me staring, so I modify my expression to a thin-lipped smile to avoid also being shocked out of my wits.

"Whatcha looking at?" He growls. "Got something to say?"

I open my mouth to say - I don't know what, honestly, but probably something about where he can shove his attitude - but Rogue stops me before I even have the chance to get a word out.

"Behind you, (L/N)," Rogue says, eyes narrowed.

*I've been demoted to "(L/N)", have I? Ouch.* Nevertheless, I quickly turn around. My eyes land on the familiar figure, and I find myself swimming in confusion, as he is supposed to be unconscious next to his two other teammates.

"It's that boy, again," Sting notices. "The lanky one."

"I'm so glad you recognize me," the boy says, in a surprisingly deep voice. "It's unfortunate that you did not acknowledge my power, however. Should I teach you a lesson? I already taught your snowy-haired friend somethin'. She didn't respond well to my teachings, though. Better luck next time, right?"

"Y-Yukino?" The name tumbles out of my mouth before I stop myself.

"So that's the weakling's name?" He chuckles darkly. "She's a beauty, that one. Would make a better model than a mage - doesn't have the ruthlessness. 'No, it's illegal to fight here...No, I don't want to hurt an innocent boy like you...No, I can't, my friend would get mad.' It was extremely pathetic."

I hear my blood pounding through the veins in my ears, and I suddenly feel smothered and hot. Tunnel vision plagues me, and all I can see is that rotten boy's expression of genuine cruelty and hear his unrelenting laughter.

Before I can comprehend my own actions, I find myself behind the disgusting human, my hand raising a glittering blade to his pitiful throat. I don't know how I got here, I don't know where I got the crystal dagger, I don't know why my teammates have done or said nothing.

"Listen, dipshit," I hiss into his ear. "You take those things back about Yukino, and I'll let you live."

I am shaking with rage. I despise this being for what he did to Yukino, for what he said about her. Yukino, as I learned over the past three months, is a kind soul, a person with a genuinely good heart and morals. But, Rogue, Orga, and Rufus definitely should not be trusted with this information. They could feed this information to, worst of all, to Master Jiemma, who would no doubt severely punish Yukino for her lack of brutality.

But I'm not quaking with anger just because of that. I am being driven out of my mind by the fact that, as "team leader", I am forced to uphold Sabertooth's reputation. Thus, I cannot let rumors like this circulate - I must squash them, even if they are true, and even if they go against my morals.

And, of course, there's the fact that I can't let Jiemma have any doubts about me. I have to act like a fierce, savage tiger, even if all I want to do is sprout fairy wings and flit away back to my real family.

"I don't believe that a mage from Sabertooth, of all guilds, would do anything that you claimed she did. We aren't weaklings. We aren't like you. We conquer. We kill. There are at least three murderers in our small group of five, and I bet you haven't even killed a man before. Don't you dare underestimate the extent of Sabertooth's power again."

I find myself pressing the blade into the first few layers of his skin, and he trembles underneath me. He's frozen in place; I let my powerful magical aura wash over him, hinting at my true capabilities."Take it back. Last chance."

"Y-you win. I take it back. Sabertooth is as you say."

   As soon as the words leave his mouth, I bash his head with the hilt of my dagger. He crumples to the floor, still twitching from anxiety. I just try not to think about it.

I feel four pairs of eyes land on me, since the boy is no longer shielding me from being scrutinized by my teammates. Now I'm completely exposed - they can stare at me all they want. I can't decipher their collective emotion, or individual ones either, and decide again to just try to shove these thoughts out of my head. I have other things to focus on; I can think about this later.

I take one last look at the boy, about to turn away, when I see a slip of paper peeking out from his coat pocket. Interest taking over, I reach down and retrieve the parchment, unfolding it as I straighten. Actually, there are many, many pages here - and they're all maps. Realizing that this team must have already fought other teams and stolen these gives me hope - that means many others have most likely been disqualified, or at least halted in their progress. A smile tugs at my lips - less work for me!

      "Well, what are you waiting for?" I ask my team of statues with a daring smile. I stride forward, my head held high, my hips swaying slightly from side to side, until I reach them. I shove the pile of maps towards Rogue, who receives them wordlessly (although he doesn't seem too happy about it).

"You, milady," Rufus declares with a gentlemanly dip of his hat. He accompanies this gesture with an approving smile, but it lacks warmth. It's more of a "we're more similar than I thought" type of smile, which would be charming coming from a friend, but since Rufus is the one flashing it, I don't find it reassuring. But it at least means I've managed to convince one more person that I'm loyal to Jiemma (even if I'm not).

"We've wasted too much time already. If we're going to qualify at all, we need to pick up the pace. Here's the plan: I'll use my magic to increase our speed. I need you guys to keep your eyes peeled, though, because it's much harder to spot things like that arrow- " I gesture towards the blackened portion of the platform. " -at higher speeds. I'd also put a force field around us, but I don't have the reserves for that."

I pretend to grimace at the thought of not having sufficient magic power, but it doesn't seem to fool someone.

"You seemed pretty full of chakra when you did that," Sting gestures towards the boy, raising an eyebrow. "The amount of energy pouring off-"

"Wasting time." I shake my head at him, but my palms are becoming moist with anxiety. "Don't waste your breath. Just follow me."

Sting gives me a look that tells me he's not convinced, but I ignore him.

              "Enhance Speed: 50 percent!"

         -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - -  -

     Surprisingly, after a solid hour of rushing around this massive spherical maze, we haven't run into anybody else. Sure, every now and then, Rogue slips into the shadows and returns to give me advice on if I should go North, or West, or whatever, but that hardly occupies my attention. I just numbly nod along. The lack of stimulation fails to keep my mind distracted, and I find my thoughts straying from the situation at hand back to my encounter with Natsu and Lucy.

    *Did they mention me to everyone else? Do they know I'm participating?*

   As I bite my bottom lip. I can't help but wonder what I would do if I was forced to face them in the arena. Hopefully, Yukino will come back to take her place, regardless of what damage has been done to her name. I pray my demonstration was enough to clear her name, along with the guild's reputation.

    I let my gaze drop for a second, wallowing in self-pity, and see curls of flames in my peripheral vision. Flames. Fire. Now who could that be?

   It pains me to do so, but I release my magic and motion for my teammates to halt. If someone noticed I intentionally avoided them, suspicions would be confirmed. I peer over to my left, which is where I saw the hungry blaze being launched into the air. My heart is hammering in my chest as I remember how murderous Natsu looked when I told him I was the one who killed Hisashi.

    "What is it?" Sting asks. "Who do you see?"

    "I spy, with my little eye, something red and fierce," I say. "Fire."

       "Natsu?" Sting immediately hisses. I shrug, unsure.

"Perhaps. Should we investigate?"

An icy smirk from Rufus tells me 'yes', and Orga is already crackling excitedly. Rogue, annoyingly enough, seems indifferent as always. And Sting - bless that boy - has a certain fire in his eyes, one fueled by passion and dedication.

The decision rests in my hands, now. *If I can knock Fairy Tail out of the competition right now, then Jiemma's attention will surely be diverted, right? This would protect them. I need to protect them.*

The flame user is on a platform adjacent to ours, but it's several feet higher. It's surprising I was able to catch the flash of brilliant light from where I'm standing - it's quite distant, now that I stop to stare.
We creep forward, with myself in the lead, and as we approach the edge of the platform they're on, our eyebrows are practically singed off by a rogue flame.

A familiar feminine voice rings through the air. "What the hell are you doing??" Lucy.

"Hey, Natsu, stop being an idiot! There's no need to get upset now!" Gray.

"Shut up, Gray! You don't understand - you weren't there!!" *And there's the boy himself.*

Now's a good time as any, I reason with myself, and spontaneously jump up to the platform that holds the trio of Fairies.

"Well, well, well," I chortle. "I was wondering when I'd run into you guys! I suppose it's not too difficult to track down prey, for predators like us. Care to play?"

_____________

A/N: Hey, what's up? I hope you guys aren't too mad at me for abandoning this story for upwards of 2 years. Ha. Ha...

Well, I'm definitely updating next week, since I already have most of that chapter typed out, so fear not! I will return this time :) I hope my writing hasn't worsened in the time I paused this story...

Also, I was rereading it earlier (bc honestly I forgot what I wrote), and omg some of it is super cringey 😷😷. So, some advice: if you think you're bad at something, keep practicing, and some day you'll be able to see how far you've come.

Thanks for tirelessly loving this story 💕💕