I don't own fairy tail.

The sound of door opening was a faint whisper but to Sting it was like a gunshot, jerking him out of his half-asleep state. He adjusted his stance on the top shelf so that he was ready to pounce and watched, eyes narrowed in the darkness to pick up the slightest movement. A slice of pale moonlight cut into the pitch black of the store room illuminating racks of canned goods and bins of root vegetables. When a dark shadow disrupted the light's path and Sting became giddy, legs bouncing slightly with the itch to jump. Tonight would be the night, tonight he would take this intruder out.

Now that the cold air was settling in, supplies were beginning to disappear just as they had the winter before. It was never very much, a potato here, a can of beans there. If it weren't for Rufus' careful record keeping they would have never noticed the difference, hell last year they were convinced the man was crazy. Now that it was happening again, they were sure, someone was stealing from them, and no matter how small the amount, nobody stole from Sabertooth.

Unfortunately catching the thief had proved impossible. Whoever it was watched them closely and only slipped through when they fell asleep. Or rather when Sting fell asleep. Unluckily for him it had only been on his watch that the person had made it through. Jiemma was pissed and now Sting's punishment was guarding the stores every night. For the last two weeks Sting had kept his lonely vigil.

Sting was determined not to let the thief pass again. He already had decreased rations for himself and Lector. There was no telling what the next punishment would be, some kind of hard labor, or worse expulsion from their little community. Sting couldn't bear the thought. So he perched up on a top shelf, where he both couldn't be seen and wouldn't fall asleep, and night after night he waited. It had been three days now on that shelf; he was sore, he was tired, he was not letting this asshole go.

Finally the shadow at the door moved, one hesitant step into the dark room. Sting smiled, they were smaller than he had expected. He could easily overpower someone so small. It might actually be some kid like Rogue had predicted. Sting's knife remained in its sheath at his belt, Rogue wouldn't like it if Sting stabbed a kid. Didn't matter much to him anyway. Sting could easily break a finger or two with his bare hands, and after two weeks of no sleep he couldn't wait.

The intruder's steps were practically soundless as they crept into the room. With each step Sting's smile grew. Finally after weeks of waiting, weeks of sleepless, frustrating nights, finally, he was going to get him. The muscles in his thighs jerked, ready to make a move. But just as the thief was about to be in perfect position, there was a low growl at the doorway and the thief froze.

Sting followed the sound and found a large dog. Sting looked back to the intruder, was the dog friend or foe? A rag wrapped arm fell back to signal the dog to stay, definitely friend. Sting cursed internally, the dog was giving him away. He was going to lose his chance!

The intruder began to retreat and Sting realized it was now or never. He lunged from the shelf and caught them by the shoulders, using their small body to break his fall. Then he whipped them around and straddled them, holding them down roughly with an arm jammed in their throat. "Caught ya asshole!"

Most of the face was hidden by a tattered scarf but beautiful brown eyes went wide when they took in his face. Then the eyes narrowed and the thief began to struggle. "Let go of me!" came a muffled shout in a woman's voice and Sting nearly released her in surprise. A woman alone in these woods was like a mermaid in the sea. They only existed in stories the guys made up about first times and lost loves. The terrain was rough and if you could survive it, Titan Nose was wandering the hills. They collected any women they could find like cattle and sold them off to the highest bidder.

While Sting stared at his unexpected visitor, the dog came barreling in but stopped just short of taking Sting's arm when the girl cried, "Polaris stay!" This made the dog frantic, desperately torn between obedience and saving its master. It bounded back and forth, barking as if its life depended on it.

Snapped from his musings and desperate to get away from the dog's jaws, Sting struggled to pull himself and the girl to their feet as she wiggled and kicked. Sting should have remained on the ground, the others would be there soon drawn by the loud barking, but he was cocky. He was bigger than her, he was stronger than her, he was a man; he felt it was obvious that he had the upper hand. He spun her and with one arm around her throat and the other across her middle holding her arms to her sides, Sting began pushing the girl forward, using her body to protect himself from any unexpected attacks from the dog.

"The others will be surprised to find out it was just a little thing like you breaking into our stores, making me look like an idiot," he hissed in her ear. He lifted a hand, "You know what we do with people who steal? Take a finger. Which one do you think you could live without? The pinky? The ring finger?" The girl trembled with fear and he was suddenly disgusted with himself. After a month of being made to look like a fool he was angry, but he had taken it too far and now he worried Jiemma might demand just that.

Sting should have been paying attention instead of standing there holding her hand. His threat only made the girl fight smarter. Her free hand yanked something off her belt and in one swift motion she brought it up and back down to jam it deep into Sting's thigh.

Sharp pain overwhelmed all his senses, causing him to loosen his grip. She used it to her advantage, with a fast elbow to the gut and then a fist to his jaw, she freed herself and sprinted for the door with the dog following quickly after. Sting attempted to follow but his leg was screaming and refused to properly hold his weight. He reached down to pull out what appeared to be bone but to his revulsion it pulled at the skin. There was no way it was going to come out cleanly.

Sting cursed and hopped towards the door but by the time he got outside, the girl was long gone. He slammed a fist on the side of the shed and cursed at the sky. Jiemma was going to eat him for breakfast.

Rogue came from the direction of the house, half dressed and hair messily swept away from his face. His mouth twisted up in a sympathetic grimace when he said, "I'm guessing it didn't go well then?"

Sting pointed to his leg and scowled "What the hell do you think?"

Even after the house was long behind her, Yukino ran and ran until her legs couldn't carry her any farther. When her lungs felt like they might burst, she collapsed beneath a tree, knees and palms painfully hitting the frozen dirt. Polaris whimpered and licked her face. Yukino began petting the dog frantically. What if she had lost him? He was all she had left now.

She fell onto Polaris, her arms wrapped around his neck in an awkward hug, and cried. She cried for the sister that was so long gone, she cried for his littermates, all lost in their struggle to protect her, she cried for this lonely last year of the two of them, and she cried for the cold months ahead. Yukino had convinced herself that the old house was a safe place, that those people knew she was taking and didn't care. She had convinced herself that they would be warm and welcoming, that if she would just work up the courage to speak to them they would bring her into their fold. This one night had brought her dream crashing down to stark cold reality.

It was almost worse that it was him, the light one, the smiling one. He had always seemed like he would be the most kind, the most fun. She held out the hand he had threatened to mutilate and flexed the cotton wrapped fingers. How could he have been so awful? Would he have seriously cut off her finger?

She pulled away from Polaris and wiped her eyes. The dog nosed her cheek and Yukino grinned through her tears and scratched his chin. "Sorry boy, looks like what we've taken so far is all we're going to have this winter."

She sat back on her heels and looked at the sky through the bare branches of the trees. For once the clouds were gone and the stars shined brightly. Sorano always said that if Yukino looked hard enough she could see their mom and dad smiling down at them. Yukino worried that after this winter she might be joining them.

Sting swallowed deeply but otherwise hid all signs of discomfort as he sat at the table waiting for Jiemma to decide his fate. It was important to keep a brave face on for Rogue, and especially for Lector and Frosh. If they worried too much or tried to act on his behalf, they could get pulled into Sting's punishment as well. Jiemma was cruel but consistent; this wasn't Sting's first infraction, he knew better than to make a big show. Today would be his third strike on dealing with the intruder, whatever Jiemma had in store for him would not be pleasant.

The old man stared Sting down as he finished the last of his coffee, then he motioned with one finger for Sting to come closer. Sting reluctantly pulled himself from his seat and trudged over to stand next to the old man, struggling to fight against his body's instinct to lean away. Jiemma looked Sting in the eye then sucker punched him in the gut. Sting collapsed to his knees, grunting from the pain that shot through his recent injury when his leg roughly hit the floor. He took deep labored breaths, knowing that one cry or complaint would lead to more. You could never show weakness in front of Jiemma or he would attack it like a wolf selecting its prey.

Jiemma shook his head slowly and sighed. "You just keep disappointing me Sting. You think I like this? You think I want to reprimand you first thing in the morning?"

"No sir," Sting gasped as he struggled back to his feet.

"I didn't think so, yet here we are." Jiemma stood and scowled down at Sting. "Tell me son, what are we going to do about this little problem that we have? How are we going to fix this?"

"I could trade off with Sting sir, I don't mind giving up sleep," Rogue offered.

"Absolutely not. We're not sitting and waiting for this to happen again." He crossed his arms. "Sting, go pack your things and take one of the rifles from the upstairs closet. You're going to find that pest and you're going to exterminate it."

Sting paled. Exterminate? For a few lousy potatoes and couple cans of beans? The man was off his rocker.

"Father, you can't be serious! That would be a waste of ammo!" Minerva exclaimed.

"Don't make him go out sir! It's too late in the winter, the snow will be here soon. He'll freeze to death out there!" Lector cried before Rogue managed to pull him back and cover his mouth.

Jiemma snapped his head towards Lector, "I don't remember asking your opinion boy."

"Sir?" Sting said hurriedly, trying to direct Jiemma's attention back at himself. He could take a beating, he could take whatever punishment Jiemma gave out. Lector was only nine, Lector would break. "Do you think that's absolutely necessary? She's just a girl."

Jiemma raised a brow and Sting fought the urge to cower. It was clear now that in his haste he had chosen poorly. Jiemma jammed a finger into Sting's solar plexus. "Just a girl huh? Well too bad just a girl snuck past you twice. Too bad just a girl tore up your leg. Too bad just a girl slipped through your clutches and made you look like some kind of incompetent little bitch. How dare you try tell me she's just a girl! This girl could be a spy, she could be anything! She's survived this long on her own which means she must be dangerous. This is not a land for pussies. Is Minerva just a girl too?"

Sting glared at where Minerva stood, looking mighty proud of herself. Comparing other women to Minerva was ridiculous, the girl wasn't human. He looked back to Jiemma, "No sir."

"That's right,"Jiemma snapped.

"But sir, I really scared her. There's no way she would take a risk and come back here," Sting insisted.

"Scared her? You really think that's going to be enough? Clearly I haven't taught you all enough about the world yet. Do you know the desperation of being starving? Do you know what it is to have to survive a snowstorm on just a handful of berries and a half-frozen squirrel? No, you don't and yet for some reason you think you can tell me what we need to do?" He took a step closer and grabbed the front of Sting's shirt. "You know what your problem is boy? You never know when to keep your damn mouth shut! For that you get only two days rations to take with you."

Sting bit back a protest, saying something else might mean no rations. Still, that girl could be miles away by now. Two days of food would hardly be enough. Maybe he could just walk out shoot into the night sky and return in the morning.

"You better bring me back some kind of proof," Jiemma said as he dropped Sting's collar and stalked away.

"Excuse me sir?" Sting choked out.

Jiemma turned back to Sting from his spot in the doorway. "Proof of her death Sting. Or if you like you can bring her back and I'll deal with her, but I promise I won't be kind. Do it boy, or you," he paused and pointed to where Lector stood hiding slightly behind Rogue, "and that little shit are on your own."

Sting frowned. Lector was so young; he needed this place, he needed steady nutrition while he grew, he needed shelter, he needed family. Sting would be fine, he was on the cusp of adulthood, he was strong. Even with the worst of winter around the corner Sting knew he could survive, but Lector would struggle. Sting looked back at Jiemma, he wished he could knock the smug smile off the old man's face, but instead he said, "Yes sir."

"Good, now you get the hell out of here," Jiemma said. "I'm going to go take down some more trees with Orga. You had better be gone by the time I return." Then he disappeared into the rest of the house.

Orga followed reluctantly, mouthing 'good luck' as he followed Jiemma out the door.

Rogue patted Sting on the back and whispered, "You want me to come with you? It would probably take Jiemma a day or two to notice. We might even be able to grab the girl and get back before he even realized I'm gone."

"Nah," he turned to Rogue with a cocky grin, "you know I got this. I'll be back before you know it."