"Thi-Thi-Thi-Thi-This is…Fairy Tail! They beat two dragons!" The announcer shouted in shock, causing the entire crowd to erupt in an uproar. Natsu had just single handedly defeated both Sting and Rogue in a 2 against 1 fight. No one was more shocked than Sting and Rogue. All this time, they'd thought that they had this superior power over first generation dragon slayers like Natsu and Gajeel, two people both of them looked up to while they were growing up. With what little energy he had left, Sting looked up to see Natsu basking in his glory. How Sting loathed him right now, and wished he could actually get up to wipe that smirk off his face. But, that wasn't going to cloud his judgment right now. He looked over to Rogue now, and saw that he was in worse shape than him. The fight really did take a toll on them.
Beaten and broken, Sting and Rogue were forced to pick themselves up in the arena. No one in their guild came to help them, and they weren't surprised at all to see none of the people from any other guild or anyone who was helping run the tournament come over either. Sting somehow managed to get over to Rogue, who seemed to be having trouble keeping is footing, and gave him some support. Almost all of his weight was now being pressed onto Sting's shoulders, as he limped alongside him to exit the arena. "We…lost…" Was all Rogue could manage to say as they made it to the exit. He was feeling pretty weak and pathetic right now. If he couldn't beat Nastu with Sting on his side, what hope was there that he could defeat, or even put up a decent fight against Gajeel.
"I know, Rogue. We'll get them next time." Sting tried to reassure his partner. Rogue wasn't really one to seem so defeated, but then again, he couldn't really blame him. Sting didn't even know how to feel about this whole mess. He was supposed to be a part of the strongest guild in all of Fiore, and now he's in a state like this? Pathetic, truly pathetic. He knew that things were not going to be well for him or Rogue when they meet up with their guild master. He had a feeling that Rogue knew that too, and even if he didn't, Sting wasn't going to talk about it. He just needed to get him and Rogue back and patched up, that was his only priority right now.
When they made it all the way out of the arena, they made it to the medical room. The nurses were surprisingly kind, even though it didn't really matter this Sting or Rogue right now. There was already so much on their mind, that they didn't realize that they were already done. They were all bandaged, and most of their wounds were treated, and the nurses left to go see if there was anyone else that need help recovering. Rogue and Sting just sat in their beds thinking to themselves. A good 10 minutes passed by before one of them said something. Rogue looked up and over towards Sting, saying his name to get his attention, and soon enough returned his gaze. Rogue quickly broke that eye contact and looked away, but continued to talk. "We really screwed up didn't we…?"
Sting could hear the concern in his voice. He knew that neither one of them wanted to deal with anyone from their guild. After what happened with their former member, Yukino, they could only imagine what their punishment could be. He wasn't one to comfort anyone, but Sting could see that Rogue really needed it. He got up from his bed, and made his way over to Rogue's bed, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it. If master is pissed, just remember that you're not going through this alone." Sting didn't really know what he was saying, but he thought saying anything would make Rogue feel even a little bit better. Since his head was down, and his signature hairstyle was covering most of his face, Sting couldn't tell if what he said made him feel better or worse. But, before he could find out, they got an…unexpected guest.
"Well isn't that sweet." Sting and Rogue looked up to the entrance to see Minerva standing in the doorway. She was giving them her same old look, and smug smirk with judging eyes starting right into their eyes.
"Miss!" Sting said is surprise, stepping away from Rogue purely on instinct. Rogue was kind of at a loss at the sudden lack of contact from Sting, but he had to let it go for now. Minerva isn't one to just come for a visit. She just loved seeing people suffer, whether they were in their guild or not. They both could tell that she was there to gloat, and actually, neither would be surprised if that was the case.
"That was an…interesting little match you two had there, now wasn't it? Can't believe that just one dragon slayer was able to beat the two of you. Truly impressive." She smirked. There was no sense of sympathy in her voice at all. She really wanted to make them feel worse than they already were. It was a good thing that Sting just said one thing to try and cheer Rogue up. If he said more, it would have been all for not the second Minerva showed up. "You know you two can't stay in here forever, and Father is just dying to talk to you two. So, let's go." Minerva said pointing to the door. She wasn't going to wait for them, and it would most likely end worse for them if they didn't arrive back with Minerva. So Rogue got up from out of his bed, and walked with Sting back to their guild.
Rogue was still looking pretty down about what was most likely going to happen. Sting tried his best to cheer him up a little, but was limited because he knew anything he said was going to be heard and mocked by Minerva. Luckily though, her back was to them, so he had some room to do something. Rogue was a fellow third generation dragon slayer, one of the only ones that existed anymore, so that alone gave Sting a sort of unspoken bond with him. Over time they grew closer, as their goals and dreams were more similar than either of them could imagine. So seeing Rogue like this, more depressed looking than usual, was unsettling. He knew that whatever the master was going to do wasn't going to be good. The only thing he could think to do was to get his mind off of whatever it is that was going to happen. And he had a good idea on what to do. When he knew for sure that Minerva wasn't paying attention to them at all anymore, Sting moved closer to Rogue.
Rogue didn't know what Sting was up to, and looked around to see Sting wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Sting always seemed to do strange and weird stuff, but this was definitely a new one. What is he thinking? Rogue thought to himself, giving Sting a questioning look. He saw that Sting gave him a smirk, and started to move his head closer to Rogue's. He could start to feel Sting's breath against his skin, as he was less than an inch away from his face, their lips almost touching. "Sting what're you-?" Rogue got cut off as Sting captured his lips in a kiss. Rogue's eyes widened in shock, and he would have stopped dead in his tracks, but Sting pulled him to continue walking with him. They held their kiss for a good 10 seconds before Sting broke away, his smirk still on his face. Rogue just looked up at him in disbelief, giving Sting a "what was that just for?" look.
Sting leaned in again, but this time towards his ear, and whispered, ""IF anything gets too bad, just think about that," and patted Rogue's back as they made their way in, to see their fellow guild members. Not one of them could really look them in the eye, they all know that they were in for something big. And then they saw their guild master, looking down at them with a hateful scorn.