𝙏𝙃𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍 // 𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙨𝙨

[Y/N] narrowed her eyes at the scent that currently flooded her nostrils.

"What is it?" Kuschel asked from where she clung to her partner's shoulder.
"Sting and Yukino, I believe..." Rogue hummed, "with Lector, of course."

"Ohh! Kuschel's so glad Lector's okay!" the calico-printed Exceed chirped. [Y/N] let out a despairing noise through gritted teeth.
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch smiled helpfully.

"I knew I could smell herbs!" Sting's voice came, echoing around the cavern, "and... wet dog?"

The blond came around a large ice spike, Yukino and Lector shortly following behind him. The woman was still adorning her Star Dress attire, trident in hand. Jackson gave an excited bark.

"Oh!" Yukino gasped at the sight of [Y/N] and Rogue beside the oversized dog.
"Yukino!" [Y/N] exclaimed, "what's with the outfit?"

"It's a Star Dress," Lector butted in, "y'know, like Lucy? Only way cooler!"
"Now, Lector. is a lot stronger than I could ever hope to be," Yukino's cheeks flushed a healthy glow, "I do appreciate the compliments, I really do. But there's no way I'm as strong as her, not in my current state."

"You totally are!" Sting gaped, "don't even doubt yourself for a second! You're in Sabertooth, for god's sake, you're not weak."
"It's true," Rogue agreed, "you're a very formidable opponent in battle, Yukino. Not only with magic, your martial skills have improved greatly too."

"Oh, you guys..." she clasped her cheeks, which burned a brighter red than before. [Y/N] slung an arm around her guild mate's shoulder.

"They're right, Yukino! You're incredible!" the Sound Dragon Slayer grinned widely.
"Thank you... this really means a lot. I appreciate it," Yukino answered bashfully.

Before anyone could get another word in, Aleksander sprouted from the ground in a whirl of blackness. He was panting and rasping, hands on knees.

"I lost the kids," he gasped.
"What?!" Yukino exclaimed.
"Hey, he doesn't look too good," Lector fretted.
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch nodded.
"I agree," Kuschel added.

"Don't worry about me, worry about those little rascals. They slipped away whun I wasn't lewk'n," Aleksander shook his head, "we 'uv ter find them now."

[Y/N], Sting, Yukino and Rogue all exchanged glances with one another before they nodded in unison.
"That's a good idea, Shura," Sting spoke up, as the master of the guild, "any idea where they'd be?"

"Nah clue. Me bewdle isn't as sound as it once was," the older man tapped the side of his nose at the mention of said appendage.
"Going to the entrance would make the most sense, wouldn't it?" Yukino suggested.
"Huh?" Sting tilted his head.
"She has a point. When I was young, Erza always told me that if I got lost on a job I should wait at the entrance to the city or building or whatever that we were in, so they'd know if I'd been kidnapped," [Y/N] nodded, "pretty sound idea."

Rogue put his face in his hand.
"Never speak again," he groaned whilst his girlfriend cackled.
"There's no time for flirting!" Sting shouted, "we have to find our past selves!"

Jackson barked in agreement, making the Sound Dragon Slayer raise her hands to her ears.
"We aren't flirting," Rogue said.
"We're not?" [Y/N] questioned.

"Oh my," Yukin went red again.
"Let's jus' get mov'n," Aleksander crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, what he said..." Lector nodded.

With that, the group traversed forwards through the caverns. It didn't take much time for [Y/N]'s sensitive hearing to pick up on what was soon found to be the whistling and howling of a blizzard.

The side of the mountain gave birth to simply open air, everything painted dappled white from the snow. The only contrast was the gaping hole below them.

"Ah..." Sting wobbled slightly, despite being nowhere near the edge.
"Do we jump down?" [Y/N] asked.
"No! Are you crazy?" Rogue exclaimed, grabbing her arm for good measure.

As if in an act of defiance to his words, it wasn't a heartbeat before the blond hair of Past Sting rushed past and leapt straight over the edge, into the abyss below. He was followed shortly by a flurry of white and brown, her dress fluttering magnificently as she fell.

"Was that your past self, Sting?!" Yukino choked out, but spluttered again as he was shortly followed by Past Rogue.

"Sting!" he shouted, trying to catch up to his partner, though changing his mind when he realised the sizeable drop ahead of him, "oh- shit, look out!"

Everyone simply watched with bated breaths, as if by some miracle he would stop.

He made an attempt to skid to a halt, which was futile, and slid over the edge. Yukino opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by her own shriek when Past [Y/N] threw her to the floor.

"Move outta my way!" the teenage girl yelled, throwing herself onto her front and lunging for Past Rogue. She used her free hand to grab the ledge to stop herself from sliding off too, holding the young Shadow Dragon Slayer by the scruff of his cloak.

"Holy crap," he commented.
"Help!" Past [Y/N] yelped.

Everyone snapped out of their surprised states and Sting busied forwards, grabbing her and effortlessly pulling the two up.

"Are you two oka— oh," Sting shut himself down when the two teens started to argue.

"What the hell was that?!" Past [Y/N] exclaimed, "are you an idiot?!"
"What do you mean, I was following Sting!" Past Rogue answered.
"You don't know what's down there! You could've gotten hurt!" the girl retorted.

"I was just following my partner, something you wouldn't understand!" he crossed his arms.
"I don't care what you were doing, what if you'd died or something?!" she hissed.
"Why would you care? You hate me!" he accused.

At that, the younger [Y/N] gave a hiss of indignation and then slammed her forehead into Past Rogue's face. He choked a yell and fell over, rolling onto his haunches.

"What the hell was that for?!" he shouted.
"Stop saying stuff like that when you know it's not true!" Past [Y/N] yelled back, "you're not dumb enough to go risking your life by throwing yourself off of random edges, are you? No! So stop acting like it!"

He hesitated before scoffing.
"Yeah, right," he rolled his crimson eyes, "whatever."

Past [Y/N] also scoffed, turning from him. The remainder of the group watched in total astonishment.

However, as soon as the young Dragon Slayer girl turned her back, Past Rogue took the opportunity to jump right off. She heard the scuffle and whipped back around.

"For crap's sake!" she hissed, "you asshole!"

And with that, she took a flying leap.

There was a beat of silence.

"I think we should follow 'em," Aleksander grunted finally.
"I don't think we have much of a choice," Yukino agreed.

"Woo!" [Y/N] cheered. She began to ready herself to jump, but was stopped midway through by Kuschel in her Exceed form lifting her off the ground.

"Kuschel's got the right idea!" Lector chirped. The calico-printed Exceed giggled and [Y/N] irked.

"Going about it this way is much safer," Rogue agreed, "come on, Frosch."

Yukino, in the meantime, summoned Pisces for her and Aleksander. [Y/N] bade a sad goodbye to Jackson, who was now laid down with a large pink tongue lolling from between massive canines.

One by one, the three Exceeds carried down their respective partners, descending into the bottomless abyss.