Savoir

He saved her…. But why? Sting x Lucy. Takes place during the Grand Magic Games.

Part 1

The whole labyrinth was moving.

Gray's hand shot out, closing tightly around Lucy's wrist. A startled yelp blew past her lips, her surprised brown eyes locking onto his steely black ones. She was starting to slide, moving closer to just one of the thousands of precarious edges and ledges of the labyrinth that constituted as the preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games. Gray's grip steadied her, and she sent a grateful smile in his direction.

Confusion and panicked shouts filled the air, rising above the gyrating noise of mechanisms and gears churning as the labyrinth turned.

"I don't like this…"

"What the heck is going on?"

"The ground's moving… well not technically…"

"The labyrinth itself is rotating!"

Already, Lucy could see other less-aware and slower-to-react opposing teams and their members begin to fall, plummeting to the ground, and to their elimination from the round.

She felt Gray's iron grip on her arm loosen. She whipped around, her fear-filled wild eyes catching sight of his turned back, his attention elsewhere. Dimly, she heard his voice shouting at Erza, trying to be heard over the racket.

Horror expanded through her chest as she realized she was starting to slide again. Due to the labyrinth's rotation, the ledge was at a steeper incline than before. Combined with Gray's weakened grip, she didn't stand a chance. The arm that Gray was still semi-gripping was held at an awkward angle, enough so that she couldn't twist her wrist to grip his.

"Gray!" She choked out.

His gaze returned to meet hers, the sudden realization that she was slipping – actually both of them were slipping - flashed like lightning in his eyes. His grip on Lucy tightened exponentially, nearly cutting off her circulation, and she gave a small yelp of pain. He lunged backward towards the opposite side of ledge, yanking Lucy with him, his free hand catching the side. The ledge was now situated at a 45 degree angle and was steepening with every passing second.

"Hold on to me Luce!" He shouted.

His lunging motion had nearly ripped her arm from its socket, and a dull burning pain was flaring brightly in her shoulder.

The ledge was now nearly at a vertical position, and the only thing keeping her from free falling was Gray's one-handed grip. Erza was shouting something, but her words were lost over the commotion.

Lucy risked a look down below her. The bottom of the circular globe of the labyrinth had to be miles away. She felt sick with nausea and dizziness; the idea of falling that length was much to horrifying. She lifted her head, her gaze returning to Gray. His face had turned white with his effort at supporting both himself and Lucy with a single hand. Sweat was starting to trickle down his face, and Lucy could feel his grip begin to slacken again, whether from the effort or the hand sweat she wasn't sure.

It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, or afraid of free-falling. She had purposely thrown herself off a building dozens of stories high in the fight against Phantom Lord, knowing, trusting, that Natsu had been there to catch her. But this was different. A fall now, although technically pretty safe with the magical barrier (though Lucy wondered briefly what would happen if one fell and cracked their head on a passing ledge) would mean the end of Fairy Tail's comeback. It wasn't a fear of falling; it was a fear of failing. Failing her friends, yet again.

Not an option. It wasn't going to happen. Not this time.

She cast a desperate look around. The was a nearby ledge that was nearing an almost perfect horizontal position. If Gray could maybe swing or throw her in that direction…

"Gray! That ledge!"

He followed her gaze, and sensing her idea, nodded mutely in agreement, his facial features tight with strain. He inhaled sharply, tensing his muscles, preparing to basically throw Lucy towards the nearby ledge.

It happened so fast, neither Gray nor Lucy were completely sure what had transpired. Maybe he had tried readjusting his grip on her and failed, or maybe his arm muscles had just given out. Whatever it was, she was in his grip one minute, and she was slipping past his fingers the next.

"NO! LUCY!"

She was free-falling. A terrified scream clawed its way out of her throat as she plummeted.

This was it.

She could almost taste the disappointment of the guild.

It was all her fault.

She should have been more self-sufficient, more of a powerful wizard…

Should have been more aware and found a safer ledge and-

WHAM

Something hard collided with her, knocking the air out of her lungs and left her ribs screaming in protest. Another collision followed shortly afterwards, her whole body landing on a rough surface – somewhere in the back of her mind she recognized this as the ground – this time sending a jarring impact through her back, her head smacking painfully against something hard and blurring her vision for several moments.

Dazed, Lucy tried to get her bearings. Her stomach was churning so furiously she thought she might vomit. Faintly, she took into account a large presence and heavy weight bearing down on her, while the cold gravelly ground supported her back. Her eyesight slowly began to clear up, and a blurry figure swarm into view.

She could make out brilliant blue eyes peering down at her. Everything else appeared shadowed, whether a trick of the light or her muddied brain and vision, Lucy couldn't tell.

She opened her mouth, sucked in a great lungful of air, and let a low moan of pain escape past her lips. Everything hurt. Her shoulder was still burning from Gray's yanking, and now it was coupled by protesting ribs, numerous scrapes on her skin, and a throbbing head.

As something moved against her skull, she realized that her head was being cradled by warm hands. They delicately wormed out from behind her, slowly and gently letting her head come to rest against the ground.

Blinking furiously in an attempt to clear up her vision, she focused in on her rescuer. Slowly but surely, his facial features swam into view.

Clarity brought a vision of familiar wispy blonde hair.

No. way.

She sucked in a surprised, almost horrified, gasp.

Sting Eucliffe, one of the twin-dragon slayers of the rival Sabertooth guild, was staring down at her.

"Let go of me Lucy." He murmured softly, his hot breath fanning over her face. His face was maybe, at most, a foot away from her. His voice, previously always chalk full of arrogance and cockiness, was now soothing and gentle.

At his words, she noticed her hands were fisted in the fur vest he always wore.

"So-sorry!" She squeaked, immediately releasing her grip.

He immediately pushed himself up, and Lucy, reddening, realized his body had been covering hers.

"STING." A voice called out. It sounded suspiciously like Rogue, the other half of the Twin Dragon team.

She sat up quickly – much too quickly – and the world unfocused once again. Her head spun and the urge to upchuck the contents of her stomach returned.

Thankfully, her eyes returned to her much faster than before; quick enough to catch the almost imperceptible moment Sting made towards her – was he moving to help her? – but he seemed to catch himself, and he merely eyed her with an undecipherable look.

Her gaze slid past him then, noticing the four figures standing a ways away on a different ledge. They were the remaining members of the Sabertooth team. It was obvious they all had witnessed the events that has just transpired.

"Come on Sting." Rogue called again. His face was stoic, and his eyes narrowed in accusation, flickering between Sting and her.

Sting was turned away from her, so his voice carried the wrong direction, and Lucy almost missed his next words.

"It's not personal, just business."

Her brow wrinkled in confusion. What was he…? Her gaze followed him as he rejoined his teammates. His back turned to her, she missed the motion of him slipping something over to Rufus. Only when Rufus sent her a smirk, paired with a tip of his ridiculous hat, did she notice the slip of paper he was clutching.

Her hands flew to her pockets, and abject horror flooded her when she realized that they were empty.

"just business."

Sting had stolen Fairy Tail's map of the labyrinth.

Erza was going to kill her.