Chapter Six

February X794

Rogue,

(I decided to write this since I've lost all hope that you'll
ever actually come see me)
You know I never liked him, but I'm sorry about your friend.
Remember that it wasn't your fault, whatever happened.
Now, for the practical matters. DO NOT fall into despair.
Eat. Sleep. Take care of yourself! If I find out you're working
yourself to death, I will take you out myself. It's a promise!

If you need anything at all, you know where to find me.

-K

P.S. Tell Frosch that I miss her and that you can't stop
her from visiting me.
P.P.S. Also, Yukino's life still belongs to me.

Rogue was sure he read her letter a hundred times times since he'd gotten it. He took it with him when he went out on dragon slaying campaigns. He slept with it at his bedside table. But he would not, for the life of him, write her back.

It was because he knew that he could love her. He'd known it since their nights together in Crocus—even before she claimed his innocence.

It would be easy. They would be happy. But he knew better than anyone how dangerous happiness could be in these times.

Sting and Yukino had been the happiest people in their little corner of the world, and it had been their undoing.

In another time and another place they would be in bed together, right then, eating takeout and listening to indie music without a care in the world.

However, in reality, it would be safer for them both if he just stayed away.

It was better that way.

So he would pretend.

And read the words on the page again.

And again.

March X794

"I can hear it, the world screaming," Cobra said as he returned to the ruins of the independent guild Crime Sorciere. "Another dragon slayer dead. It's about time for me to get into the mix." He had intended to sit back and let the official guilds handle this one, but that plan clearly backfired.

"I know! It's so sad," Meredy lamented. Death and devastation had eclipsed the entire land. People losing people, people losing their minds. Even without her sensory magic, she'd be able to taste the sorrow in the air. "I heard he had a girlfriend, and a baby on the way. The poor girl must be devastated, whoever she is."

Angel snorted at this, and continued to file her nails apathetically. "It's her own fault. What kind of idiot would try and start a family in times like these—and with a dragon slayer, no less? Everyone knows they've become an endangered species. No offense, Cobra," she tacked on at the end, not really meaning it.

"None taken."

"It's just stupidity," the silver haired mage continued. "Maybe if the good guys would stop trying to play house in the apocalypse the world wouldn't be going to hell so fast." Just kidding, it was already there. It had been for years.

"It's not stupid," Meredy replied, almost imperceptibly.

"What was that, pinky?"

She looked the older woman in the eyes, holding her ground. "I said, it isn't stupid. Living for the person you love is never wrong, no matter how bad things may be. If there's love in your life then you have to keep on living!" Someone saved her once with those very words. "You can't look down on a person for that!"

Angel gave a sardonic slow clap. "Thank you, guest lecturer from Fairy Tail. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say the person who told you that is already dead along with whoever they were supposedly living for."

Meredy clammed up at this, blinking back tears. It was true. Juvia and Gray were both long gone. Them, Jellal and Erza, the two pairs of pure-hearted lovers had perished as their souls always were—together. "E-even so," she cried, "What's the point of being alive if you can't feel? The disaster's already won if we lose the ability to cherish another person!"

Angel sighed. It was beyond her how such a sentimental fuck had made it in a guild like Grimoire Heart. "Disaster?" No, of course not. "That's just the nature of the impure world we live in. Goodness? Love? Things like that can't survive here. People who live by such naive ideologies are always the first to go. That's why when you look around, we're the ones that are left." Criminals. Murderers. Sinners.

The wickedness of this world grounds the rest into dust, leaving their unstained souls free to ascend to the skies like angels. The real ones, anyway.

She wondered offhandedly if her sweet sister was among them now, running barefoot through the golden plains of the highest heaven with the likes of Salamander Natsu and Titania Erza. Or did she still struggle in this corrupt universe, with or without her original sweetness?

As an older sister, she honestly couldn't decide which option would be more terrible. That was part of the reason she stopped looking.

December, X794

Tears rolled lethargically down the planes of Yukino's cheeks as she found herself once again caught beneath the tarp of her memories. The dream house she could never bring herself to move into, and the engagement ring still adorning her third finger. Sexy smirks. Pool parties. Electric blue eyes. From their first meeting in the ruins of Grimoire Heart, to his broken promise that he would return soon—it all played through her mind on a repeated loop.

Sting was the love of her life. He had given her happiness, and fun, and family, and was only branded by her curse in return. All she ever brought him was misfortune.

A poke on her wet cheek from a very tiny index finger dragged her back to the land of the living. "Mama!"

She blinked, amber eyes focusing on an identical pair. Her little princess, all dressed up in her light blue baby dress, was tired of waiting for her cake. "I'm sorry, you know," Yukino pressed a kiss on top of Emilie's blonde head. "You have such a lousy mother who can't even stop crying on your birthday. Come on."

Yukino tried to shake the haze from her mind as she walked into her apartment's kitchen. How long had she been lying there? She only wanted to wait a few minutes for the cake to cool before she frosted it.

Emilie, dragging her stuffed white tiger behind her, stopped wreaking havoc around the house to watch her mother top the cake with chocolate leaves and frosting flowers. A wide grin came over her face. It smelled so good. She tottered over to Yukino and hugged the bottom of her legs from behind.

"You're such a sweet child." She told Em over her shoulder. "Sweeter than the cake."

"Fro will be the judge of that," the jumpsuit clad exceed declared as she and Lector flew in through the kitchen window. "It smells yummy!"

"Wah! Kitty!" Em immediately latched onto Lector's tail.

"Emilie-kun, I'm a full grown cat." He said, knowing how pointless it would be. "I'm older than you, you know?"

"Kitty!" she repeated, yanking on his tail once more for good measure before moving on to his ears.

The maroon exceed could only sigh. "Alright, have it your way." For Sting-kun's daughter he supposed he could be a kitty cat. "Nyaaa! Meow!"

"Ribbit!" Frosch joined in, hopping across the room.

"You're just as bad as the kid," Lector deadpanned.

Chuckling lightly, Yukino brought a few slices of cake into the living room. "It's been awhile since things were so lively."

"Rogue sent a present for Emilie!" Frosch remembered. The exceed placed a small magic music box on the coffee table.

The the spinning figurine and soothing melody distracted the one year old enough to free Lector for the moment. "He would have come himself," the maroon exceed explained, "But, you know..." People tried their best not to mention the dragons around her now.

Yukino sighed. How fragile did she have to look if even the exceeds thought they had to tiptoe around her feelings? "Of course, Rouge-sama is a very busy person."

Frosch's eyes turned sullen at this comment. "Rogue is too busy. We never have fun anymore."

Yukino patted the exceed's head comfortingly. "It's been a difficult year for everyone. People cope with things in different ways. Just give him time." The celestial mage didn't know where she would be now, if not for her little girl.

"That's fine for Fro," the cat cried, "but if Rogue keeps ignoring Kagura Fro thinks she will get really mad."

"That...that's um…" True. Incredibly true, but she couldn't tell Frosch that. "Kagura-sama is a mature adult. I'm sure she'll understand. But if you're still worried, you can write something to her or draw a picture and I'll mail it for you."

"Really?"

"Of course." She smiled. "I actually think it would make her day." And partially save the shadow dragon slayer's ass the next time he and Kagura met.

March, X795

"Look. Look!" Mirajane called as she gazed lovingly at the images floating around in the lacrima crystal ball. "Yukino m-mailed us some pictures of Emilie!"

"She's really walking now. Yukino must have it rough." The blonde smiled proudly, noting that the child was wearing her charm bracelet. "What a cutie," Lucy gushed.

"She sort of looks like you, Lu-chan," Levy noted, as she made her way into the reconstructed guild hall. It was much smaller now, to accommodate the guild's lower population.

Lucy shook her head dismissively. "She has her father's hair and she looks just like Yukino in the face."

"That's true." Mirajane turned her head sideways, studying the images. "But if someone didn't know that, they could easily mistake her for a relative of yours."

"Maybe," she relented. "We should call Yukino on the lacrima and see if she and Emilie can visit for a few weeks." They hadn't seen their friend since the impromptu baby shower.

"Maybe longer," Levy suggested. The solid script mage's voice sounded more somber. "Things are getting pretty dangerous on that side of the country." It was true, but they all knew there was another reason she suggested it.

"I think she might like a change in scenery right about now," the barmaid added on what everyone was thinking. "Let's call."

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading everyone! Reviews are greatly appreciated. In the coming weeks, I will try to create a more organized schedule for updating.