Outsiders (Fairy Tail - Gruvia, Gale)

8. Past

"Oh! What a terrible blow! Blue Pegasus's Hibiki is down!" the commentator called. "The winner is Yukino of Sabertooth!"

Yukino grinned and waved at her guild mates, then the two left the stadium, ready for the next event.

Gajeel smirked at the blond dragon slayer from the Sabertooth guild who hugged the girl who had just won, (he had already forgotten her name), tightly she appeared back on the balcony and the couple embraced. 

"Oh look," Aria said, nodding to the two people entering a few minutes later. Juvia was sat talking to Lily on the chairs and hadn't been paying attention to what was happening.

"What is it?" she said. 

"Erza Scarlet is up next."

Juvia and Lily walked over to have a look. Everyone was stood at the front of their balconies to watch. She reverted her eyes from the two girls who were walking towards eachother and noticed people were still staring at her guild. She frowned and took a step back. Totomaru and Aria were happy enough to stand in the front for everyone to see but she didn't like the unnecessary attention, because she knew not only that they were unwanted there, but also that everyone was probably talking about them, and that put her on edge.

The bell sounded to start the match. "Hi Erzie!" Miliana grinned.

"Hey, Millie. I hope you won't be too offended if I don't hold back."

"I'd be offended if you did!" Miliana laughed.

Their fight didn't last long. Although Miliana put up a good fight, she didn't stand a chance against Erza.

She ended up on the floor, but not injured.

"And the winner is Erza!"

Erza walked over and stretched out her hand. Miliana took it and the two friends hugged, before leaving the arena with an applause from the audience.

"You've improved," Erza started.

"Thanks," she laughed quietly, then added, looking up: "I've wanted to talk to you for ages!"

The two left the stadium with linked arms. Juvia flinched watching the two friends leave so happily.

"How do you feel about Phantom Lord being here?" Miliana asked Erza.

Erza smirked, looking up at the guild who were no longer paying attention to the match and were out of sight. "I don't get why they're here."

"No-one does. Me and Kagura were trying to figure it out but we just couldn't think of any reason why they'd do it. You guys didn't pro something to piss them off did you?"

"No. To be honest I hadn't even thought about them for years. What were they like during the seven years we were away?"

"They became really powerful out of nowhere, about a year after you left we started hearing rumours about the power they had. Obviously we knew they existed and their master was part of the Ten Wizard Saints but just like that people started being warned to stay away from them. When I joined Mermaid Heel the first thing they said to me was to avoid them if I saw them. I never did see them though, but Kagura saw the dragon slayer and the girl on a job once. They weren't very friendly, apparently. They stuck to themselves a lot."

"It's like they're a dark guild."

"True, it's just strange that they want to be seen like this, you know, as part of the rest of the guilds. They've never shown any interest in wanting to be sociable before."

"Whats more is we've only seen three of them compete. We've yet to see the Wizard Saint or the girl in blue perform yet."

As they walked towards the hallway that lead to the balcony entrances, they stopped and hugged.