Akane brushed off the 'encounter' and continued looking for her dad with her sister. They found him stretching near the entrance of the arena.

"Dad!" Sting looked up surprised to see his daughters running up to him (he really shouldn't have been, he swears these kids are going to give him a heart attack one of these days)

"Girls! What are you doing all the way over here? Does your mother know you're here?" He narrows his eyes a bit and the girls at least look down to the ground shamefully. Sting sighs, well that answers that question.

"You girls need to stop sneaking off like this. You could get in serious trouble if you continue doing this" Sting reprimands them. His biggest fear is something happening to his family and his daughters running everywhere without anyone's knowledge doesn't help. Yep, he only sees headaches and heart attacks in his future.

"We're sorry dad, we just wanted to wish you luck before your big fight" Sting smiles at that, he could never stay mad at them for long. Sting gives them a big hug and sees Natsu out of the corner of his eye.

"I should have known you two would be here. This is the last time, you hear? If this happens one more time, I'll have no choice but to ground you guys which means I'll have to stop bringing you guys here" Natsu told them seriously and the girls shook in fear.

"Anything but that mama! We'll be good, promise!" Natsu nodded approvingly and looked over at Sting.

"Good luck on the fight" Natsu says, hugs him close and whispers in his ear

"Please don't do anything stupid and reckless, promise me"  Natsu knows he doesn't have a right to talk about stupid and reckless when he knows that's all he ever did in his younger days and he also knows how Sting feels about his past with Gray, he just hopes he doesn't lose his husband to it.

Sting steels himself against the flash of memories of the first few months when Natsu had first come to live with him and he knows that he can't "You know I can't promise that, Natsu" Natsu gives him a chaste kiss "At least try not to get yourself arrested for murder please" he says jokingly but deep down inside he means it, life without Sting... he can't imagine it.

"No promises, love" Sting winks and turns to face the entrance to the arena

Natsu sighs and leaves with the girls. Once they're at the stairs that lead to the stands, Natsu leans down to his daughters eye level "Listen how about you girls go outside to meet up with Auntie Yukino and explore the festival with her, sounds like fun right?" As expected the girls immediately start complaining "But we wanna see daddy fight!" Unfortunately for them, Natsu knows his girls all too well "I made Auntie Yukino promise to buy you as much food as you'd like" That got them. With a quick goodbye, they ran off to meet with Yukino. Natsu sighs once their out of sight, one way or another this fight wasn't gonna be pretty and he didn't want his girls seeing the aftermath or the inbetween honestly. Natsu doesn't even think he himself should see this fight to be honest but he will, for Sting. Natsu sighs once more and steels himself, time to be a good husband and support his own.

**

Sting ignored the cheers he hears once he fully enters the arena. He doesn't know what he should do. Although he definitely knows what he WANTS to do, punch Gray Fullbuster till he stops fucking breathing comes to mind. It took a long time for Sting to accept the pure raging anger that overtakes him when he thinks of Gray Fullbuster. He thinks back to the months after finding Natsu at his doorstep and learning of what he had done, how he couldn't even think of the name because it was too much. Sting tries not to think of what he would have done had Natsu not needed him the way that he did. Had Natsu not been in such a fragile condition...

Yet here he is. The opportunity right in front of him. A chance to do what he couldn't have before.

He snaps out of his train of thought at the sight before him. A lone figure walks out of the shadows to reveal himself, Gray Fullbuster in the flesh. All of a sudden, words managed to escape his mouth.

"Ah so the coward finally comes out to play!" Sting grins menacingly , at long last...

"Can we just get this over with, man? Rivalries aren't really my thing these days" Gray said nonchalantly

Rivalries? RIVALRIES!?

"Are you fucking serious!? A rivalry!? Don't pretend you don't know what this is about, Fullbuster! You know what you did to Natsu!" Sting clenched his fists tighter. Furious doesn't even begin to describe what Sting is feeling. How dare he pretend like nothing happened!?

Gray raises an eyebrow confused "Natsu? What does he have to do with anything?" He suddenly froze almost as if he remembered a forgotten memory.

The stadium waited frozen in suspense as to what would happen next, even Sting stayed frozen in his anger. Same as Natsu who couldn't comprehend what was happening in front of him.

"I...I surrender the fight" While no one suspected the words that tumbled out of Gray Fullbuster's voice, they less suspected the punch that hit his face right after.

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Wow twice in one year, a new record. I'M BACK YALL

So I hope you guys enjoyed the long awaited conflict which will continue next episode😈 I'm excited for the next one and I think you guys will too. I been sort of planning out the episode instead of winging it so I can know where I'm taking this story and I'm still working on it but yeah. I'll try to get the next one out before the year but we'll see no promises.

I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED LOVE YOU ALL💓💓

STAY SAFE, AYUMI-CHAN