Phoenix

Black Dragon

"Where are we going?"

Emi just smiled at Sting and continued to tug him along. She weaved through the usual crowds of Crocus and arrived at the park. Sting laughed as he realized what they were doing. He teased her, but she just giggled and continued to pull him until they were standing under a big tree. They sat down under the tree, Emi pointing at the sky.

"Watching the clouds is always calming. I'm gonna miss it."

"I promise we'll have a whole day of cloud watching once we take care of the Sins," Sting soothed.

"But this might be the last time we can both watch. I mean, do you really wanna go through with this? It's dangerous, and we could both end up dying."

"You'll die if you kill all the Sins. I'll die protecting you to my last breath, so that's not gonna happen."

"That's the problem," Emi muttered.

Sting looked at her with a lopsided grin and jumped up, holding out his hand and pulling her up.

"Well we better get practicing if we're gonna use it, yeah?"

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"Fight me!"

Natsu ran right up to Emi as soon as she returned to the inn. Emi smiled, amused.

"Sure."

"Oh hell yes!"

"No more fighting you two!" Makarov shouted. "You've fought enough."

"Yeah I guess you're right," Emi admitted before turning back to Natsu and smirking. "I guess this means we can't fight Natsu, but I'm sure the master would be fine with training."

Makarov's mouth hung open as Natsu cheered and dragged her out to the park.

"She used to be so obedient," Makarov muttered. "What the hell happened?"

Laxus laughed loudly from the back of the room.

"She's never been the obedient type, Gramps. She was just mellowed out because she didn't have magic."

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"Fire dragon iron fist!"

Emi grabbed his fist in her hand and canceled the spell. Natsu groaned and went to use his Talon, but he was swept off his feet by her Shadow Form.

"Natsu," Emi laughed as she looked down to see that he was groaning from the harsh impact on the ground, "what do you think about learning a new spell?"

Natsu's eyes lit up and he was immediately back on his feet with his fist in the air.

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"Come on come on come on co--"

"Easy Em," Sting laughed. "Where are we going?"

Emi led them to the bookshop near the center of the city and pressed her face against the window. They saw the shopkeeper start stocking the books and Emi excitedly tapped on the glass. As soon as the owner unlocked the door, Emi rushed inside and went straight for the books that were just put away.

"I got it!"

She ran over to the counter and purchased the book before skipping back over to Sting and pushing the book up to his face.

"Look at it!"

Sting backed up a bit so he could actually read the cover and laughed when he saw the title, Ishgar's Threats: A Brief History on Demonic Manipulation and Other Incidents.