Second Person P.O.V

Minerva will be taking Yukino's place on Team Sabertooth while you have been forced to move to the reserve side because of complaints from other guilds that your team has an advantage of having an extra member, and since Master Jiemma has a little grudge against you, he said you had to be booted off.

"Arg! I can't believe this is happening! I didn't even get to fight!" you yell, kicking your foot into the wall and effectively stubbing your toe. You yelp, holding onto your foot as mufffled laughter is heard from behind you.

"Love, I know you're upset, but you don't have to go as far as hurting yourself," Rogue says.

"I didn't do it in purpose," you grumble, setting your foot back onto the pavement.

Rogue smiles and loops an arm around your waist. You shove him away and cross your arms stubbornly. Rogue shakes his head as the two of you continue to walk through the arena.

"You still get to participate and I get squat. I trained my ass off for months for nothing!"

Rogue stops and grabs your arm, halting your steps. "It wasn't for nothing. You got stronger and..." he trails off.

"And what?" you quirk an eyebrow.

"And those three months away really brought us closer together...in a way," he replies sheepishly.

You sigh and bring your arms around his neck. Rogue doesn't hesitate to wrap his own muscular arms around you and bring you closer to him.

"That's true. No matter how much this sucks, I guess I really can't change it."

"That's my girl," he says, leaning down to mash your lips together.

"Rogue, what are we going to do about Fairy Tail? Dragneel looked pretty pissed last night," you ask once you pull away.

Rogue sighs. "I'm not sure. We don't know what kind of tricks they could pull."

"But Fairy Tail doesn't seem like the vindictive type of guild. They seem like the type of guild to settle things on the battle field."

"We still have to prepare for anything," he replies.

"Guilds, please report to your assigned balconies. The third day of the Grand Magic Game starts in two minutes!" the two of you hear over the intercom.

"At least I still get to hangout on the balcony," you sigh.

✴

The games start roughly ten minutes behind schedule. Something about preparing for the event for today. You and Rogue stand side-by-side as the rest of the team lounges around the balcony.

"Hey, (Y/N)," Minerva calls, coming to your vacant side. Rogue protectively keeps his arm around your waist, knowing how evil Minerva can be at any given moment.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say sorry for getting you kicked off the team. I really wanted to do a tag battle with you this year," she apologizes.

All the chatter that was happening with your teammates immediately stops at Minerva's out of character behavior. You just smile and ignore their shocked expressions. What they don't know is that you get along great with Minerva and even trained with her a few times. You know she's usually a complete bitch to everyone, but ever since you arrived at the guild, she always sort of watched over you.

"It's all right. I understand that our team is just too badass with me officially a part of it," you shrug, then the two of you join in a laugh together.

Suddenly, you both become serious and professional as Mato announces the start of the competition.

"The event today is called Pandemonium! Guilds, choose your participant!" he shouts.

"My turn. I got this in the bag," Orga says, already walking down the steps.

Participants

Mermaid Heel: Millianna

Blue Pegasus: Hibiki Lates

Fairy Tail A: Erza Scarlet

Fairy Tail B: Cana Alberona

Lamia Scale: Jura Neekis

Raven Tail: Obra

Sabertooth: Orga Nanagear

Quatro Puppy: Nobarly

You rub your hands together in anticipation, seeing some of the best wizards in Fiore have all entered the same event. Each of them take a stick with a number on it and it seems that first up is the infamous Erza Scarlet. You know she's a legendary sword wielding wizard and you can't wait to see her at work.

The competition starts and the gothic tower drops from the sky. Erza has switched her armor and approaches the entrance.

"I challenge all one-hundred monsters!" she announces confidently and your jaw drops.

The arena is silent as she enters the tower and soon begins slaying and destroying each of the monsters. You watch in awe at the monitors at her level of grace and swiftness.

It all ends quickly with her abolishing the S-Class monster and exiting the tower, looking worn and tired but alive. The crowd roars and cheers at her accomplishment and you hold yourself back from clapping to remain stoic with the rest of your team.

"Well, luckily we prepared for this. The rest of the wizards will use their magic on an MPF (Magic Power Finder) to determine their placings," Mato annnoucnes as they bring out the large device.

The wizards continue in their assigned orders and everyone scores are either average, embarrassing, or mind-blowing. The most stand-out wizard had to be Cana Alberona from Fairy Tail when she nearly destroyed the MPF, you conclude.

Results

1st: Erza Scarlet

2nd: Cana Alberona - 9999+

3rd: Jura Neekis - 8544

4th: Orga Nanagear - 3825

5th: Millianna - 365

6th: Nobarly - 124

7th: Hibiki Lates - 95

8th: Obra - 4

The battles soon start and nothing interesting happens for a while. Millianna goes against Semmes, defeating him pretty easily.

"Go get 'em, Rufus," you say, sending him a wink that he rolls his eyes at.

"(Y/N) (L/N), are you flirting with other men right in front of your boyfriend?" Rogue asks in mock horror.

You slap his chest and chuckle. "I thought he could use a little encouragement."

Rogue smiles and kisses your temple lovingly. He couldn't help but grin whenever you smiled, or did anything for that matter.

Rufus easily defeats the prepubescent Blue Pegasus member, Eve. The next match was something you were incredibly excited for; Laxus versus Alexei. You knew both were powerful and you couldn't wait for them to clash.

The battle starts and Laxus gets thrown around like a rag doll. You hold yourself back from gaping at how easily he's getting his ass beat. You can hear the whole Fairy Tail guild screaming at Laxus and telling him to get his head back in the game.

Your vision flashes for a split second and you catch a glimpse of something odd. It looks like the whole Raven Tail guild on the field with Laxus and Alexei in the middle. You shake your head.

That can't be right.

Soon, the truth is revealed about the Raven Tail guild and how it was all an illusion to get Laxus to join them, but he didn't. You couldn't help but admire him for his loyalty to his brethren.

The last battle is that of a fellow Dragon Slayer, Wendy Marvell, and a God Slayer, Sherria Blendy. They're magics seem to match up in power and you closely observe the young Sky Dragon Slayer.

"She has so much strength for her age," you mumble under your breath.

"She'll be very strong one day," Rogue agrees.

The battle ends in a draw and the third day of the game ends. You learn Raven Tail has been disqualified for the rest of the games and Eve Tearm is injured and unable to participate tomorrow. He'll be replaced by that bimbo, Jenny Realight.

You feel bad for how rough Rufus was with the kid, but you don't dare say anything. As you and Rogue are leaving the arena, Sting rushes up to Rogue.

"You won't believe what I just found out!" he yells excitedly.

"Go on," Rogue replies.

"Me and you are participating in a tag battle tomorrow!" he exclaims, bouncing up and down on his feet.

"Why is that so exciting?" you question.

"Because we're going against Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox! It's the battle of the Dragon Slayers!"

You notice Rogue tense beside you and his mouth is set in a thin line. He doesn't say anything and tugs you along with him back to the hotel without sparing Sting another glance. You look behind you and smile apologetically at Sting.

"Rogue, what's wrong?" you ask softly as he opens the door to your shared room and drags you inside.

He doesn't say anything and slams the door, causing you to jump. You've never seen him like this. So...cold and emotionless. Even before you were together, he wasn't as dead-looking as he is now.

Rogue releases your hand and stomps off to the bathroom, leaving the door ajar. You stand stunned as you hear the shower turn on. You hesitate before walking over to the bathroom door, placing your hand on it, and slowly pushing it open.

Rogue is standing under the shower head in all his naked glory. His muscles are tense and rigid as water droplets drizzle down his smooth, tan skin. You push away any wandering thoughts and focus on the main task.

You quickly strip your clothes and you realize how serious whatever is bothering Rogue is when he doesn't look over at you once. You walk over and slide in behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist and resting your forehead on his back.

Rogue turns around in your arms and rests his own hands on your back. He looks down at you and you can now detect the immense amount of sadness in his eyes.

"Rogue, please tell me what's wrong. You're scarring me," you say gently.

Rogue sighs and pulls you tight against his bare body. "It's nothing serious. It's just..." he trails off.

"You can tell me."

"It's just that, I've wanted to fight Gajeel for so long. I've wanted to destroy him and ruin him. But now..."

Your features soften and you nod. "Now you're not so sure."

"I just don't know if I need to prove to myself that I can defeat him anymore," he confesses.

"Why? I thought you wanted to teach him a lesson. What changed?" you inquire. Not that you wanted Rogue to hate the guy that bascislly raised you, but you were curious as to why he changed his mind.

"You," he says, "Before we got together, I felt like I needed to prove myself to everyone and defeat someone I looked up to. But now that I have a woman as amazing and incredible as you who accepts me for me, I don't feel like I need to prove anything."

Your eyes begin to water and you look up at Rogue in shock as he continues on.

"I love you, (Y/N). I've never cared about anything as much as I care about you. I won't let anyone hurt you and I'll protect you with my life," he whispers.

"I love you, too, Rogue. I promise I'll always be there for you. Always."