Your name: (y/n) Hair colour: (h/c) eye colour: (e/c) hair length: (h/l) Magic power : (m/p)

You played with your (m/p) magic bored at one of the tables of your guild hall. You played your magic energy through your fingers. Why you were still there? You really did not know. But you did not feel like staying at all, even with your friend continuously trying to comfort you.

"You still haven't told me what's wrong, miss (y/n)."

"How many times have I told you to drop the miss, Yukino?" You snapped.

"I'm sorry," she replied, rather sadly.

You shook your head, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that at you."

She looked up at you, but instead of sadness, there was concern in her eyes, "Please tell me what's the matter?"

You shook your head again, "I don't wanna talk about it."

Although she was concerned, she didn't say anything more. You let her. Actually, you took the opportunity to continue twiddling your magic. No one could actually comfort you, only one person. But he wasn't here right now. Even just seeing him would make you feel better, but noo~ the one time you're not on a mission, he's not here. Which was also the cause of your frustration and boredom.

And here I thought the master of the guild was supposed to stay to watch over the guild unless there was a meeting, you thought. Sure, it was understandable that the Twin Dragon Slayers would want to keep up their reputation by going on missions together, but did they have to go the moment before you returned?

"Hey." Startled, you jumped out of your seat, and your chest heaved when breathing. "I said it quietly every time," Every? "I was getting worried, you were looking mad."

"You make it sound like I'm some crazy person," she tried to suppress a giggle, but she couldn't.

"That's not what I meant. You looked... Annoyed. It's a different meaning, but I don't want you to think that I think you're crazy." Always speaks so properly.

"I guess I should just go home," you sighed, getting up, "I just wanna be alone for a bit." Not true, but wrong person.

"(Y/n)! Wait!" You didn't listen, as sad as that made you feel. You wanted to leave so she wouldn't worry anymore, or, at least, you wouldn't have to see her worried.

Nonetheless, you just stormed down the path home. You still thought of Sting as he walked out of the guild when you got in. He just stepped right by, which made your grin quickly fade, and uncomfortable when he waved goodbye with Rogue, Lector and Frosch surrounding him. This happened yesterday. You were still trying to figure out why you stayed at the Sabertooth guild since then, maybe a part of you was hoping he'd rush home for you. Ha! So much for that-

"Kah!" You bumped into something firm suddenly, and was grabbed by the arm and steadied. You looked up at the mystery man. "Rogue!"

"I'm so sorry, you're not hurt, are you?"

"I-"

"Rogue! The hell do you think you're doing?" You were suddenly pulled back and left staring at someone else's back. He was blonde. "Don't you know how to be a little more careful!"

"Oi, I didn't mean anything, it was an accident."

"And you seem to be getting into a lot of those, haven't you?"

"Um, Sti-Master?"

Their arguing stopped, and they both turned to look at you. Sting smiled at you, that sweet smile you really liked. The one he didn't used to wear before he became the master of Sabertooth.

"There's no need to call me Master, Sting is fine, I told you that," he said. Don't blush. Don't blush.

"Um, Sting, I'm fine, honestly," you said, "I was just caught off guard, I should have been more careful."

Rogue sighed in relief, but Sting still managed to send in a quick glare back. When his gaze was returned to you, he grinned, and then patted your (h/c) hair. "Well, that's good! Good to know you're okay. And that you haven't changed much," he laughed, Sure, friend zone me even more, why don't you, You thought.

"I'm heading back to the guild," said Rogue.

Sting waved him off without leaving his gaze on you, "I'll be there in a sec," he called, "I just wanna take a little walk with (y/n)."

This time you couldn't help blush. You jerked your head toward the ground, Shit. You felt a little ashamed blushing over such a trivial matter, it was even hard suppressing a small growl of annoyance. But he grabbed you by the shoulder and turned you around, away from the guild, and started walking with his arm wrapped behind your back. That was NOT helping your facial situation.

Eventually, his arm did fall from his hold, but was instead replaced by a finger to your cheek. You recoiled, cupping it in your hand. "Hey, I was just checking," he said playfully, hands in the air in surrender, "Looking away like that, I wasn't sure whether you were upset or what." He tried and failed to suppress a giggle.

You sighed. "You've changed," You stated suddenly. His smile dropped instantly and he looked perplexed. You looked up at him, not exactly wearing an expression in particular, "When Master Jienma was in control, everyone was so serious, no one treated anyone like they were friends, or smiled at all. No one. Not even me. Which is why I go on so many missions," you started picking at your fingers nervously, "I was always afraid of the Master. Everyone was. But I told myself to get stronger so I wouldn't be kicked out. After all, being in Sabertooth was an honour, the top guild in Fiore... I guess I haven't gotten out of that habit." You stopped walking there. Your legs felt almost wobbly, and you were worried that if you moved, you would fall. You didn't want to fall in front of the guild's master. "Sometimes, I worry. I feel like one day, that may happen again. Our guild has made so many friends now, but... Even if just one person tries to start something to become stronger, it may all fall apart..." You could feel your throat suddenly dry up. You couldn't talk anymore. Suppressing tears was just too hard when talking at the same time.

"What makes you so afraid now?" Sting asked.

You shook your head, but forced yourself to speak, "I heard something once," your voice was barely audible, but he was standing close enough to hear, "Seven years ago, the grandson of Fairy Tail's master, Laxus, tried to destroy the guild so he could rebuild a new one of his own. He wanted to do the same thing to Fairy Tail that Master Jienma did to Sabertooth!" You looked up at him desperately, "What if that happens here! We'd already gone through it once! I can't take it again! And when I heard that Yukino had been kicked out, I almost left just so she wouldn't be alone!" You could feel yourself shaking, you felt so weak. No! Not in front of him! Not now! But it was too late, the cold salty tears came streaming down your flushed cheeks, "But I just couldn't do it. I was too scared to confront him, even to leave the guild was too much for me to ask for. I was just glad he hadn't chosen me to be a part of the Grand Magic Games. He almost did. But then Yukino stood up for me, she took my place. I was supposed to be Minerva's stand-in, not her!"

Standing had never been so hard in your life. Your knees were so frail that you could almost fall to the floor right then and there. You coughed a bit through the tears that fell. You felt so ashamed, you felt like a child. You wanted to run away, far away, from the guild that forced you to stay strong. You could not be weak. Not in front of Sabertooth. Not in front of the master.

You felt relieved when you were pressed against something warm. You forgot the world around you, allowing the warmth to engulf your very being. With your fingers, you grabbed onto the material, pulling yourself closer. You nuzzled your face into the gentle crook of the neck, which you noted was also quite warm. You felt strong arms wrap themselves behind your back, bringing you even closer. You closed your eyes and let your breathing calm on its own. You almost felt drowsy in his hold. If he didn't know better, Sting would have probably thought you had fallen asleep. But you weren't leaning enough for you to be sleeping. But that's how calm your breathing had gotten in his hold.

You hadn't felt this safe in a long time. Not since before joining the guild. You were always afraid ever since becoming a member. You'd forgotten what it felt like to be warm. To be held in someone else's arms.

"You don't have to be scared of that," he murmured, "I won't let anything like that happen again. Not as the guild's master. This is a new guild. A guild that cares about its friends and cherishes them like they're family. That's what Sabertooth is now. There's no reason to be scared anymore."

His words comforted you. They made you happy, relieved, as if there wasn't anything to be afraid of anymore. You looked up at him. He was handsome, despite the scar that adorned the right side of his face, above his eye. His blue eyes were soft, not like you remembered them. He was always hard and shallow toward you. Not anymore. Now that he was the master, everything changed. And it made you really happy.

But you always giggled at how much gel he put in his hair to make it spiked. You'd never met the famous Salamander yourself, but you had seen pictures of him in Sorcerer Weekly it was obvious that he still admired the pink-haired dragon-slayer. You always found that cute.

Against your liking, you broke yourself from the hug. You smiled up at him, which you actually hadn't done sincerely in a long time. You remembered joining 2 years ago. When you first entered the guild hall, you were so excited. So excited that you didn't notice the frowns that everyone wore. It was just so overwhelming that you almost couldn't see how unhappy they looked. But you looked around excitedly. There was one person in particular you wanted to meet and sure you new guild insignia to. One person you admired from Weekly Sorcerer. You saw the blonde at the end of a hall with two cats and a man with black hair. You knew that was him, Sting Eucliff, the White Dragon Slayer. You ran up to him and grabbed his hand. You smiled up at him, but that didn't last long. When he turned around, he was already glaring down at you. A look that terrified you to no end.

"What do you want?" He had asked hoarsely.

You were left speechless. And then ran off.

That was the first and last (you thought at the time) time you smiled at him. Never in a million years would you have imagined this guild would change so much. No, it wasn't the same guild. It was a new guild, with the best guild master its ever had. You took his hand in your and tugged at it gently.

"C'mon, we gotta get you back to the guild, Master," you winked at him.

"I told you not to call me-"

Before he could finish, you'd already run off, dragging him behind. You laughed all the way there, his warm hand in yours.