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useless-slytherclaw · 4 years

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I Take Pride In What I Am 2020 Prompt: Tease (But not the way you think) AO3 Link

Minerva Orland, unfortunately for Sorano, is just as devastating in person as she was on lacrima vision.

“You didn't have to follow me, you know,” Sorano says with a scowl at her soon-to-be-ex guildmates. The sun overhead is swelteringly hot and, even in her minimal clothing, the heat is making her cranky. Her mood has nothing to do with the fact that she’s finally going to talk to her little sister. Not at all.

“Please,” Macbeth says with a smirk, “you can’t get rid of us that easily.”

Sorano glares at him, but he’s entirely unaffected.

“Are you all going to try and join Sabertooth then,” she demands and gets laughter in response. The laughter echoes down the city street, and a few people turn to look at them. Sawyer and Erik’s laughter only causes Sorano to glare at them over her shoulder, but they meet her glare with smiles. They've known her too long to be easily intimidated.

“You just want to see if the guild master is as pretty as they say he is,” she accuses Macbeth.

Sorano knows, from experience, that no matter how prickly she is, her boys- er, the boys in her guild- won’t leave her alone; it doesn’t stop her from trying. If Sabertooth throws her out on her ass and Yukino wants nothing to do with her, she really doesn’t want Sawyer and Erik to be there to laugh at her. To be fair, they would probably kick the collective ass of the entire Sabertooth guild, and then laugh at her, but she doesn’t want that either.

“The twin dragons are supposed to be very attractive,” Macbeth says with a wink.

Behind them, she hears Erik mutter something that sounds like “they’re too young for you.” And it’s her turn to laugh. She exchanges a mirthful glance with Sawyer. Just because they have no solid proof that Macbeth and Erik are together, doesn’t mean that they haven’t figured it out.

Despite herself, Sorano feels better. She shouldn’t be surprised; Erik, Macbeth, Sawyer, and Richard have been her friends since the Tower of Heaven and they’ve been making her life better just as long. Richard may be off finding his brother, but the other three are here to bother her.

“Guild Hall’s there,” Erik says suddenly. His voice is sullen, more sullen than usual that is.

Sorano immediately looks up, and there it is. A massive set of doors under a waving banner emblazoned with the Sabertooth Guild mark stand at the end of the road they’ve just turned on to. They’ve been walking through the city towards the giant building topped by the sabertooth cat statue, so it really shouldn’t take her by surprise that they are nearly there. But, Sorano freezes in her tracks.

Behind those doors is her little sister. Yukino. Sorano’s hands clench into fists by her side so that they won’t tremble. She hasn’t had a chance to really be with her sister since the day they dragged her off to the Tower of Heaven, but not a single day has gone by that she hasn’t thought about her. When she’d come across Yukino in the fight against Alvarez, she hadn’t been able to face her. Yukino is so good. She is sweet and generous and kind and Sorano? Well, Sorano is Sorano, and she is none of those things.

When the Kingdom of Fiore had pardoned her, she’d thought that, at last, she’d be free of the guilt that had been haunting her and be able to run to her sister with a smile. She was pardoned, and she wasn’t a criminal anymore. But she still felt like one.

“Come on,” Sawyer throws an arm around her shoulders and tugs her forward, “it’s too hot to stand around in the sun.”

Even though he’d be less hot if he wasn’t wearing a black body suit in the middle of summer, she doesn’t bother to point it out. She won't be able to change his mind.

“I heard that Sabertooth has a pool in their Guild Hall,” Erik tells them. He’s also stupidly wearing a long coat in summer, but she doesn’t point that out either.

“Must be true then,” Macbeth says.

“Good thing Sorano is already in her swimsuit,” Sawyer says and ducks away from Sorano in anticipation of the swat she sends his way. Unfortunately, he is several feet away from her by the time her hand hits the spot where he had been. Even though she knows it's useless, she lunges after him.

It’s a good thing that this particular street is fairly empty, because the two of them cat and mouse down the street. Sawyer races ahead in a blur only to stop and make a face at Sorano before dashing away before she gets close enough to actually hit him. Their game comes to an abrupt end several steps away from the main door when Erik reaches out and snags Sawyer by the arm mid-sprint, allowing Sorano to whack him over the head.

After Sawyer gives Erik a rather betrayed glance, they all turn to face the oversized doors that mark the entrance to the Sabertooth guildhall. The boys all wait in silence behind Sorano as she stares at the door. They’ve helped her this far, but she has to take the next step herself. With a hand that is definitely not shaking, she knocks on the door.

The doors are almost instantly pulled open by a young-looking, blue-haired mage that Sorano doesn’t recognize. She’s either new enough or weak enough that Sorcerer Weekly and the other magazines haven’t featured her yet.

There’s a soft gasp as the girl stares up at the four of them. Obviously, whoever she is, she recognizes them. She steps aside and pulls the door open revealing a massive stone room.

“Master!” She yells as the four of them walk into the Guildhall, “you should get down here!”

The room their standing is entirely constructed out of a strange purple stone and crowned by a dias. Sorano raises an eyebrow at the gold and purple throne-like chair that stands the head of the room.

“Bit over the top isn’t it,” Erik says under his breath with his gaze on the two massive sabertooth statues flanking the throne. Sorano can’t help but agree on that front.

“Why are you yelling for,” a stern-looking black haired woman walks into the room from behind a purple curtain. This woman Sorano instantly recognizes. Minerva Orland, unfortunately for Sorano, is just as devastating in person as she was on lacrima vision.

“They, um,” the girl speaking stumbles over her words as Minerva looks down at her clearly intimidated.

“The master is behind on paperwork again. I told everyone not to disturb him.”

Minerva’s scowl is perfect. Sorano should know, she’s practically an expert.

“The Oracion Seis,” the girl finally squeaks. None of them bother to correct her.

“Oh?” Minerva’s dangerous gaze instantly moves from the girl to the four of them. With a wave of her hand, Minerva dismisses the girl, who runs for it. Angel’s impressed. She can respect a woman with that sort of power. Minerva glances over all of them but stops when her gaze reaches Sorano.

“You’re Yukino’s sister,” Minerva says and her gaze is intense.

Sorano lifts her chin and meets her gaze. No one will intimidate her that easily.

“So what if I am?”

This is already not going how she wanted it to, but Sorano can’t help but be defiant; it's practically in her DNA.

“If you hurt her,” Minerva narrows her eyes at Sorano.

“She’s my sister.” Sorano glares right back. “I would never hurt her.”

For a long moment, there’s silence as the two women stare at each other. The tension in the room crackles like electricity. Then, suddenly, Minerva relaxes and smiles.

“If that’s settled then, welcome to Sabertooth.”

Sorano blinks in surprise, and her heart does something funny at the sight of that smile. Minerva offers her hand to shake, and Sorano takes it.

“I’m Minerva.”

“Sorano,” she says and her voice sounds a bit breathy. What the hell, Sorano? She thinks. At the edge of her vision, she can see Erik’s smirk. Crossing her arms, she decidedly ignores him.

“Why don’t all of you come in and take a seat. Lisbeth can bring us some drinks. She’s learning how to run the bar.”

“Where is everyone?” Sorano asks looking around. Sabertooth is a big guild, and as huge as their guildhall is, she still expected someone to be in the main room.

“Most people are out by the pool,” Minerva says as she takes a seat at the bar. “Sting and Rogue are upstairs doing paperwork though.”

From behind them, Sorano hears a snicker and turns to glare at Erik, who is valiantly trying for a straight face. Her glare only seems to cause him more amusement. Sorano is going to kill him later.

“I’m afraid that Yukino is out on a job right now,” Minerva says and motions for Sorano to sit next to her. There’s a fluttery feeling in Sorano’s stomach. As she takes the seat by Minerva’s side she desperately wishes the feeling away.

“Oh,” Sorano says and then mentally kicks herself for the stupid reply.

It could be worse though. Last time she’d felt this way, the only other time really, she’d stuttered so hard when introducing herself that she’d never been able to look Ultear in the face ever again.

“That’s alright,” she manages to add.

“She should be back tomorrow,” Minerva tells her. Then she glances over Sorano’s shoulder at her companions who are leaning against the counter several feet away. She raises an eyebrow at them. The expression is designed to be intimidating, but the boys have years of experience dealing with both Sorano and Macbeth, who make an artform out of such expressions.

“Don’t mind us,” Sawyer says with a grin. Sorano turns around and narrows her eyes at him; she’ll kill him and Erik later.

“We’ll go find a hotel. You can find us later,” Macbeth says with a smirk on his painted lips. His eyes flicker from Sorano to Minerva. “Or not.”

Correction, Sorano will kill all of them later.

“I don’t know Macbeth,” Sawyer says in a falsely casual tone. “I thought you wanted to meet the Twin Dragons. Maybe we should wait around.”

The look that is on Sorano’s face right now has terrified entire dark guilds into obedience. On at least one occasion, it was the last thing that a man ever saw. But her companions are not the least bit cowed.

“They’re busy doing paperwork,” Macbeth says easily. Normally, such an implication would offend him, but he’s focused on harassing Sorano.

“Paperwork,” Erik says very sarcastically. His purple eyes are trained on the back of Macbeth’s head, but he doesn’t turn around. Maybe, it's not just Sorano that he’s teasing.

“Out!” Sorano yells. “Get out of here! All three of you!”

There’s a squeak from behind the counter as the small blue-haired hostess almost drops her tray.

“Alright, alright,” Sawyer says, holding up his hands in fake submission and starts to back away, “We’re going. We’re going”

Sorano glares at them until they are all the way out the door. The fact that Erik and Sawyer dissolve into a fit of laughter before they are completely out of her view does not escape her attention.

“I can’t take them anywhere!” She fumes, momentarily forgetting her nerves.

Beside her, Minerva laughs. Mortified, Sorano blushes scarlet as she turns back to her companion. But as soon as she looks at the other woman’s face, she knows that Minerva isn’t laughing at her, and she relaxes a bit

“Those are some spirited guildmates you have,” she says. “I’m glad you don’t let them walk all over you.”

“Walk all over me?” Sorano says, “They know better than to try. I’d break their legs.”

Minerva laughs again. It's such a free and happy sound that Sorano finds herself laughing too.

“It’ll be good having you around,” Minerva says when they stop laughing. Sorano blushes brilliantly at the compliment and thinks that might just have found another reason to stay with Sabertooth.

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