His head feels like it is bursting any moment. His entire body shivers and currently wrapped in a shroud of shadows he tries to cover himself. Both hands rest on his ears so he can blend out any kind of sound. His eyes are widened in fear and he stares at the cracked floor right infront of him. „Go away, just go away" is he whispering over and over again as if this is some enchantment to help him to get rid of the invisible enemy surrounding him.
It's now over half a year ago since this episodes occur quite often. Besides, the nightmares that haunt him are now a tad cruel than before.
„Where to, my dear Rogue? You know quite well what to do. Just accept me"
„NO, go away and never come back at all"
is he right now yelling as he slowly gets up and stumbles backwards. There is still a promise, he has to keep. So therefore he will do everything possible to fight of this evil shadow. But his willpower is slowly but surely decreasing. His self-esteem as well as his self-confidence are almost down to zero. So it is only a matter of time, the shadow is finally able to take over both his body and mind.
„My dear Rogue, why so distant? Have you forgotten, who's responsible for all this suffering you are going through right now?" is this cunning voice just asking him with a sweet ring to it so that it really sounds tempting enough to accept. „No, how could I?" is a mere whisper now leaving his lips as he closes his eyes and for a while he imagines two arms wrap around his waist in order to keep him save. „Then you know exactly what to do, my dear Rogue" is this voice again saying to him in this innocent and tempting sound and he only nods as a deep sigh leaves his lips.
************
It was never hard for him to trace down the White Dragon Slayer. Because over the years they trained and lived together, he got in a way inprinted on his scent. Near some ruins he rests in the shadows and waits for him to show up. He had been at the guild a couple of days ago, wiping off his insignia right infront of everyone and leaving a message for Sting since the older one was at this time off to a gathering in Clover. Deep inside he knows his decision is infuriating the White Dragon Slayer for sure but if this assures him to have an undisturbed conversation with him, so be it.
Slowly he rises as he picks up the trusted scent of the White Dragon Slayer in the breeze. Just as he thougth. Sting came and a wide variety of emotions are resting right now in the sapphire orbs now fixed at him.
„What the hell is wrong with you, Rogue?"
„See? He's accusing you right in the first moment he sees you to have done something wrong"
is the shadow right now whispering into his ear and he grits his teeth. Why in the world did he ever put all of his trust into someone who's more interested into his own ego than the well-being of his closest friends? „I'm quite fine" is he right now responding in a cold and short manor as his eyes flicker for a short moment.
Yes, once he thought it would be Sting to guide him, to save him, to protect him. But he was terribly wrong with this belief. The so called holy light to purify him from the evil shadow never reached him at all. Instead it took away right infront of his eyes his most precious comrade. Even through they are both Dragon Slayers, Sting should have at least checked the wind before firing his Holy Ray. Clenching both hands to fists he's now quickly wrapped by a shroud of shadows as he stares at Sting, who comes now closer to him.
„Rogue, what...?" is the blond young man right now trying to ask him as he wants to grab him at the arm and he pushes him away with Eiryū no Renjakusen. Once he was clad in light, now he walks in the dark. Right now talking makes so more sense to him. Because it doesn't matter at all what he tries to say. Sting will still brush it off as some little accident. But this is more. In his eyes this is murder and therefore he can't let the White Dragon Slayer slide off with something this trivious. All his reason and logic are right now clouded by revenge, malice and the urge to kill the one who killed what was dear to him.
He needs to kill him right now or otherwise the knowledge would torment him like hell that the White Dragon Slayer escapes unharmed. Driven by all the negative feelings right now surfacing inside of him the border line is reached, where the evil shadow has finally the full control over both his body and his mind. The look in his eyes harden. He glares in a cold and vicious way at the White Dragon Slayer just as the other one realizes fighting is the only language he might understand at all.
A fierce battle wages right now between Sting and him. It been years since they had fought in such intensity against each other. Besides, there had never been a reason at all to wage a war against the White Dragon Slayer before. „I truly despise you, Sting Eucliffe" is he right now saying as he hold him at the throat, the shadows swirling rapidly along his entire body and his ruby-red eyes flicker in a quite cruel way.
That's not true at all. I... you idiot, I loved you. I truly loved you from the bottom of my heart, so why... why had you to kill Frosch in the first place? Just why...
„Rogue, snap out of it. I know, that is not the true side of you"
„The Rogue you once knew is long gone. Now face it to be crushed by the one you spent so much time with"
is he right now saying as he activates Shadow Drive and by casting Eiryū no Uroko he watches with a stoic impression how the blond young man is right now thrown through the remaining concrete wall of the building they are right now. Slowly but surely he walks over. It seems to be like he's floating over the floor by using the shadows around him and he can pick up the scent of Stings blood by now.
You promised me to always be at my side. You even said you would do everything in your might to keep Frosch and me safe. But you broke your promise. You killed what is dear to me. You left me in the dark. You even brushed it off as if nothing seriously happened at all. So why... why can't I stop loving you, even if I know what you've done to me? Just why... you promised me to protect me... so why... why did you decide to turn your back on me? Why? Tell me... just tell me, WHY?
Rogues voices sounds like an echo in his head. So he still tries to reason with the White Dragon Slayer even if the fact is inevitable what the other one has done to the always happy and outgoing green Exceed in the pink frog-costume. There is no way at all he's going to forget something obvious like this. Frosch had been the essence of his life. Since the loss of Skiadrum the Exceed had always been at his side. Frosch gave him a reason to smile and even the inner strength to go through the harsh times within Sabertooth.
I really wanted to tell you the way I feel, but I never had the courage to do so. Because even through we were this close, I was still unsure what I mean to you. I was unsure, how you react if I tell you what kind of emotions I carry for you? Even through we where this close, you were always out of reach to me. So slowly but surely I started to give up every single spark of hope. Because someone so radiating like you will never reach out at all to someone like me
In a way he's impressed how stubborn the White Dragon Slayer can be. What reason does he have at all to continue this fight in the first place? It will end with the death of one dragon for sure. A vicious smile just appears on his lips and he can read determination resting in these sapphire-blue eyes fixed at him. Sting is for sure in a bad shape but he shows no sign of resignation at all.
„Just tell me one thing. What's in it for you, if you win?"
„I'm going to force you out of Rogues body by the power Weisslogia has given me. Because there are still things I need to say to Rogue. But in order to do so, I need to assure to get rid of you in the first place"
is he right now saying and amused as he is, he shakes his head. The power of Weisslogia? Now he's more interested into Sting. His mind is made up right now. He will absorb this power for his own benefit and use it for his own agenda. That will surely help him to achieve the goal he wants to reach so badly. Thanks to the vortex of shadows opening right infront of him, he can escape Holy Ray unharmed and out of the blindspot he attacks with Eiryū no Renjakusen the worn out White Dragon Slayer.
Victory is this close. He hold him at the throat and watches how Sting struggles to escape his grasp. „Any last words, Sting Eucliffe?" is he asking him now with a vicious smile resting on his lips and he pins him against the remnants of a wall. „Frosch... Frosch is..." tries he now to say right now but with Eiryū no Zangeki he buries his hand right into the chest of the blond young man. „This means good bye, my friend" is he only saying coldly as he rips out the entire heart of the White Dragon Slayer and watches without an emotion how the lifeless body slumps onto the floor. He then devours the heart with the Lacrima embedded so that he can absorb Stings White Dragon Slayer Magic. After doing so he turns into a shadow and leaves the battle scene.
************
Days pass into weeks, weeks turn into months. Even through he keeps his distance, he can still notice the presence of Acnologia. But there is another presence constantly haunting him at night, when he tries to get some sleep. He has absorbed unknowingly all the emotions and memories of Sting next to the White Dragon Slayer Magic. So right now he's facing an inner delerium. Driven close to madness he has turned down every trace of being emphatic. He has to or otherwise he looses the last bit of reason at all.
„Frosch is still alive, Rogue. I just got a message from Fairy Tail, that their healer managed to patch him up. So how we go and pick Frosch up to return home?"
„Wait... Frosch is still alive? But I saw how your attack decinigrated the rock Frosch was hiding behind..."
"You never gave me at all the chance to explain everything..."
„No, that's a lie" is he right now saying to himself to convince himself he had done the right thing. „A lie, nothing more"
„You were always bad in excusing and in telling lies"
But what if Stings words are true and his beloved Exceed is really still alive? Then he would have no right at all to see Frosch again. Not after what crime he commited. Not the way he is right now. So whereever his friend is by now, it is better for him to find a way to kill Acnologia. Once he achieved this goal, he can recreate this world and find a way to redeem the sins he commited. But right now, he's nothing more then a shadow. Once clad in light, now a vicious and cold-blooded killer