I just realized that this would be called Ling. That or Stucy. Omg hahah... By the way, this oneshot has nothing to do with Fool's Gold. Just saying… ENJOY~

EDIT 3.20.12 : Apparently this pairing is called Sticy. WHAT HAVE I BEEN MISSING OUT ON OMG hahah

"... I can't accept it"

Her sobs, silenced inside Horologium, are loud and breathless as she covers herself with hands that barely shield her from the haunting sound of laughter. The Celestial Clock hadn't said a word since she summoned him, just allowed her to creep inside his glass case and hide her from the rest of the world.

She only looked up once to see Natsu run past them, frantically searching for his blond teammate.

She didn't want to face him.

Not after her crushing defeat.

Why hadn't it worked?

She bit her lip angrily and placed a hand over her mouth as if the whole world couldn't hear her already. She had to calm down, she thought to herself, calm yourself Lucy.

But thoughts brought on the memory of crowds and crowds of people laughing.

Laughing at her.

Laughing at Fairy Tail.

Lucy let out a throaty gasp as the memory surged back to her; in the midst of chuckles and insults, Natsu had come up to her and tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah, I'm all fired up!" she had said in shaky breaths, and when they announced that there would be a short break before the next match, she ran.

Why did he come so quickly, I let them all down when I said I would win...

She was a coward and a liar, she might as well been branded with the Raven Tail insignia if she knew this was going to happen. Now, she just couldn't face any one of her friends, scared of what they'll think of her.

The tears had stopped flowing now as she drowned herself in self pity; why did she even bother? She was the weakest mage in the bunch, they could've easily found a replacement if she disappeared.

knock, knock, knock

Lucy looked up curiously, her heart jumping at the thought of it being her pink haired teammate who finally found her. It wasn't and her gaze found her bare toes again.

"Are you going to laugh at me too, she says." Horologium's voice is like an empty echo in a dark cave, resounding all around her with a dull lull. The way he repeats her reminds her of the old librarian who always read her bedtime stories in her father's mansion.

She places her head on her knees, hugging them closely as she raises her gaze again and watches as he waves someone off and beckons her out, shaking his head reassuringly with a smirk that reminds her of Natsu's.

"Leave me alone, she says" She croaks, but Horologium's baritone voice could only repeat so much and so he still stands there, with a snide confidence and a hand that's beckoning her out the celestial clock.

"I won't, I promise," he says this while crouching down to her level and knocking on the glass panel again, with eyes that betray the thought of forcing it open if she still didn't come out.

The blond celestial mage doesn't know why she did it but with a poof and a forced gate closure, she finds herself face to face with the White Dragon Slayer of Sabertooth- Sting Eucliffe.

"Woah, look at you." he whistles as he pulls her onto her feet and gently wipes a gloved thumb over her eyes, brushing away the runaway tears, "you look like crap."

"What do you want?"

"Breaks not over in another half hour, you know Salamander's tearing up the place trying to find you."

"You don't like Natsu though," it's barely a whisper as she tries to pull her eyes away from him. He's terrifying and she could only imagine that the reason he got her out was to insult her even further like everyone else.

"I don't," he admits nonchalantly before grabbing her hand, she lets out a loud gasp and before she could scream, he cuts in "that why I'm taking this little princess out for a walk."

Somehow in the short three minutes that it takes for Sting to sneak Lucy out of the arena and into the Crocas marketplace, Lucy finds herself showered with flowers of different colors. She's still battered and bruised and her eyes are probably all puffy but that doesn't stop the shop owners from complimenting her as they pass by different stalls to collect bracelets and crowns. By the time Sting finally finds what he wanted- a small clothing shop, Lucy is decorated with an array of colorful blossoms decorating her wrists and head.

Before she could a have a chance to pity her poor appearance, she feels a large hand grab her shoulder and the flowers are all taken off before a small lady comes and ushers her into a curtained changing room.

She turns around just in time to see Sting waving snidly at her, his free hand wrapped around a small wicker basket that was overflowing with Crocasian leis and bracelets.

Sting almost looks like a flower girl, Lucy thinks despite herself before the shop owner pulls the velvet curtain and obscures her vision.

"So... you've gone out of your way for a random girl you hardly even met and took the trouble to sneak her out and change her wardrobe, what's the catch?"

Lucy was glancing at him curiously as he sighed and took a seat on the edge of the marble fountain. She was dressed in a new dress and boots that would've taken hours to make had he not taken her to what she now knew as the five second seamstress. The awkward air between them was gone now but she couldn't help but wonder why hehad bother trying to cheer her up. She sniffed just to emphasize her point.

After all, the two didn't get off on a good start, did they?

If you even called their first encounter 'meeting'.

"You know the same thing happened to me the first time I joined the magic games..." he said loosely, Lucy stared at him curiously as he continued, "it was when Sabertooth was still a small guild."

"C-can you...?" she feels like she's five years old again asking the old librarian to tell her another bedtime story. The words hang loosely in the air as she watches the white dragon slayer carefully- he looked a bit like a matured version of Natsu, she noticed. Only Sting's scar ran across his brow while Natsu's was hidden beneath his muffler.

She almost missed his invitation to sit beside him as he began his tale, "The only other person I knew in the guild was Rogue and even then our 'team spirit' was horrible. He would be doing one thing while I the other, so..."

To say that Lucy wasn't captivated by his storytelling would be a lie; as Sting recounted the events of his earlier life as a Sabertooth mage, the girl couldn't help but feel like she as experiencing it with him. When he talked about the first guild brawl he took part in, she felt like she was participating in it as well. When he talked about his first quest, she could literally smell the wet dog smell of the ape the Dragon Slayer Duo had killed. The words enticed her, and when he started telling her about the time he joined the games, she couldn't help but relate to his pain.

Apparently, the first time Sabertooth had joined the games, they had screwed up so badly that even the master gave up on them. They were dead last with an unbelievable amount of negative points. He said he forgot how they did it but when the fourth day rolled by, he rallied his teammates, told them to get their shit together and to just win. And that's what they did.

Lucy didn't know how long she's been staring with stars in her eyes until Sting started to laugh with embarrassment, "...when they announced that we won that year, the first thing I did was cry. Ahh, never lived thatone down, did I?"

In that one moment, Sting Eucliffe reminded Lucy of one of the princes in one of the stories the old Librarian had told her when she was little.

The one who won the hearts of his whole country after betraying their trust.

She blushed at the irony; seven year old Lucy Heartfilia used to have a crush on that very same fairy tale prince.

"So princess..." She snapped out of her thoughts to stare at Sting, who was slowly inching towards her, "get what I'm trying to tell you?"

"To get my shit together?"

"To get allof Fairy Tail's shit together," His nose brush past hers as she watched a mischievous grin stretch on his lips.

"Ok..." she whispered in a breath so high that could've been mistaken as a squeal. The grin only grew wider.

The two were inching slowly now; Lucy was beginning to shut her eyes. This was it, her fairy talekiss! It was just like her novels, she thought to herself and just when she felt a pair of cold lips brushes away from hers; she found herself being thrown over his shoulder.

"Well, it seems like it's time to get you back, Princess Heartfilia!" he laughed and she could already see the smirk in his voice.

"T-that isn't fair! You just teased me-" she protested, her face hot with embarrassment as she covered her face with her hands but she never finished because he broke into a mad sprint. The only thing that would come out then were screams.

He was laughing like mad when they finally arrived at the arena, almost threatening to drop her as his shoulders went up and down with each shaky breath.

"You're so mean," she pouted when he finally put her down. Sting only chuckled at that as he placed a hand on her head.

"Sorry princess but it seems like your dragon's coming to get you," true to his word, she could hear Natsu running down the corridor crying out her name, Happy hot on his heels.

She was about to go to him when she felt Sting grab her arm again, "Now I hope that date was just as good for you as it was for me, princess."

Lucy could only stare in shock when he smirked and leaned down.

He kissed her, and she didn't know how to react before he pulled away and smirked once again, "ciao."

She stood there, alone and dumbfounded when Natsu and Happy finally caught up to her.

"Lucy!"

"Where were you?"

"We've been trying to find you this whole time!"

"Lucy, why do you smell funny?"

"I... I'm going to take a shower."