"Sting!" A voice faded in and out of earshot.

"Sting!" He opened his eyes groggily. A black figure reached towards Sting, earning a frightened jolt from the white dragon slayer. Previous events played through Sting's mind; his guildmates being attacked and killed by the reaper and his followers, having to watch as they were bound to wooden crosses, paraded around like circus animals, and being forced to watch his best friend and lover beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Pull yourself together, man!" Sting laid on the blood stained, snow covered ground while trying to focus on the voice around him.

"Gajeel?" Sting croaked. "How are..." He paused, unsure if he was ready to hear the news on the others' conditions. "How is everyone else?" He managed to ask.

"We're rescuing them all now! They'll make it!" He heard Levy yell out from a few feet away. Tears brimmed his eyes seeing what, or rather who, she tried so desperately to carry.

"Rogue," Sting choked back tears. Rogue was caked in blood and barely breathing.

Finally letting the tears fall, Sting sobbed, "I'm pathetic. I'm so goddamn pathetic!" He looked around to find his guildmates in similar situations. "Some guild master I turned out to be... I can't even protect my own family."

"Sting." A small, almost inaudible voice called out. Sting crawled over to Rogue knowing that it was him that spoke.

"Sting." Rogue's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Rogue," Sting held Rogue's hand in his own. "Please don't talk," his voice brittle, "save your energy. You're going to need it."

Tears mixed with blood as Sting placed his head on Rogue's. Smothering his face in the other's hair he muttered, "You're going to be okay, Rogue. You have to be."

"Sting," Rogue mumbled, "Please wake up."

Sting opened his eyes to a dimly lit room, the moon illuminating enough to see that it was his own.

"Sting." He turned his head to see the outline of Rogue's face inches from his own.

'He's okay!' He thought to himself, letting a smile creep onto his tear stained cheeks.

"It was a nightmare, Sting." Rogue wrapped his arms around Sting as he continued to cry. "Do you want to talk about it?" Concern filled his voice.

"It was about you," Sting sobbed.

"Me?" Rogue asked.

Sting nodded into Rogue's chest. "And the others," he croaked, "the whole guild was almost killed by the enemy. We all almost died because I wasn't a good leader. I couldn't protect the people I care most about. I'm the worst guild master, I couldn't do a damn thing."

"You're not a terrible master, Sting." Rogue stroked Sting's hair, "there are plenty of masters far worse than you."

"What the hell?!" Sting scoffed.

"My point being," Rogue continued as though the other hadn't interrupted, "you're an excellent guild master. If they were strong enough to take down the entire Sabertooth guild, then there was nothing you could have done."

"I could have tried." Sting whispered.

"If you did, then you would have gotten yourself killed," Rogue stated. "We've dealt with powerful enemies before, remember? No matter how injured we became we still came out victorious. I imagine that would still be the case."

"But it's a war, Rogue. What if we don't this time?" Sting met Rogue's eyes. "What if this really is the end?"

"Then we fight even harder for what we care about." Rogue declared. "Fairy Tail has said it plenty of times, haven't they? We fight for our friends and family."

"That's what I tried to do," Sting complained. "But we still failed."

"Because you tried to do it on your own," Rogue said. "You tend to do that quite often. No matter what happens, we're a team. All of us. We're not going to go down easily. "

"You're right," Sting grinned. "We're Sabertooth! There's no way we're going to go down without a fight!" He exclaimed. "Now let's go to sleep, I'm exhausted."

"Whatever you say, Master Crybaby." Rogue chuckled.

"Hey!"