STA: I would like to state once more that I'm only including pairings that have gotten some credible hinting in canon. Not that shipper goggle "Zomg! They stood next to each other! It's PROOF!1" stuff. Anything that's not Gruvia, Jerza, that sort of stuff is usually just a joke, like Sting convincing Gajeel that Rogue likes him while Rogue is like "ugh, now I have to straighten that out." So that being said, I don't know who all has seen this, but there is a bonus short for FT where Freed admires nude male photos with a altar for Laxus in the background. I have interpreted this.
The guild would have taken more damage had it not been for Juvia thinking to make it rain. Grisia left not too long after the others got away, having grown bored of arguing with nobody. The Genesis group had remained and done their best to destroy the guild hall that we'd finally restored to it's old glory. Juvia thwarted the half demon who attempted to burn it down, and Laki had found the time to restore the damaged wall after the ensuing battle.
Glass hadn't been as easy to repair, and after paying back all the debts accumulated over the past seven years and repurchasing the guild hall, Fairy Tail's budget was in the red even with the prize money. The master had bought replacement windows, but had skimped on a contractor, saying we could handle the job just fine, and making it clear that any windows broken while we handled them would be paid for by whoever broke them. That would be unacceptable.
Cana was not allowed to help.
"I can't believe he wants a lady like me doing grunt work," Evergreen complained, "and in this heat… Elfman, you're nothing but dumb muscle. Why don't you handle it?"
"A man can handle anything, but he isn't a man if he falls for such tricks."
"A real man wouldn't have been knocked out cold in the fight," Ever shot back.
I tuned out Elfman's indignant response and focused on getting the glass carefully set into place. Laxus was indoors, on the other side of the window helping me get it just right, and if I slipped and dropped the glass there was a chance that people would think he was the one who had been clumsy.
"Is the master in?"
I jumped at the unexpected voice and fumbled with the glass, catching it just before it hit the ground. I focused my accusatory gaze on Rogue and tried not to think of Laxus' own judgmental gaze on my back. "He is. Are you done with your job?"
Rogue nodded.
"Is Sting with you?" I asked. I couldn't see him behind Rogue, and it was rare to see them standing more than ten feet apart. "The Rune Knights think there are still some Genesis members hiding around town. As their main target, it might not be safe for him to be back here yet."
"But they tracked us to the beach," Rogue said, face innocent like a child who didn't get why he was being scolded for throwing a ball through his neighbor's window. Now where had that analogy come from? And what was Rogue doing looking innocent? He hadn't hung around the guild for long but the only expressions I'd seen him make were for annoyance and disinterest, and maybe once he showed concern.
"Are you drunk?" Laxus asked. "You don't look like yourself."
"I'm fine," Rogue insisted, rolling his eyes with such an over-exaggerated motion that he actually leaned back as he did so. "People keep asking me that."
"Maybe because you're not fine," I suggested.
"Maybe I don't need to be interrogated by a queer," Rogue replied.
I…
What?
"Care to run that by me again?" Laxus growled, lighting crackling across his skin. I held the glass to my chest and backed away from the blast line between him and Rogue.
"Oh, not you. I meant your fanboy." With a suicidally casual air, Rogue brushed Laxus' anger aside and smiled as he gestured to me. "You're in love with blondie here, aren't you?"
"I-I… that's… you…" Had I made it obvious? No one else had ever said anything about it. Panic set in as I imagined them all talking behind my back about how they needed to pretend I was doing a good job of keeping my feelings secret.
"Rogue!" Elfman snapped, so loud the whole guild was soon either watching from the glassless window or coming out the door to see what was going on, "A man wouldn't speak like that to a guild mate. Such disgusting disrespect for privacy is unmanly."
Rogue eyes flicked over to Elfman, then to Evergreen behind him. "Oh get a room, already," he told them.
Ever squeaked and hurled a flurry of needles at him, but Rogue had already jumped out of their path while half the projectiles were still in her hand.
"Knock it off," Cana, who had set down her keg to come out and see what the fuss was about, told Rogue. "You don't want us to start calling Sting the nice one, do you?"
Rogue smiled at her and shook his head, then added, "But I don't really care that much about the opinion of a scantily clad girl who-"
I… don't know if I can bring myself to repeat what Rogue had accused her of, but I will have trouble looking the same at Cana again, and can't fault Gildartz for the leash he now keeps her on.
And the worst of it was that what he said about Cana wasn't the worst. He cheerfully overturned dirt on Mira and Laki as well before things got ugly. When Gajeel grabbed him and told him to knock it off he started ratting off Gajeel's secrets. People in the guild the iron dragon slayer didn't like, how he'd wanted to see Lucy in a bunny suit again, smiling pleasantly as he did his best to dismantle his idol's reputation.
Was this really the guy who'd tried to defend Gajeel's Best Friends song? Rogue was smirking as he started reminding Gajeel of all the trouble he caused in Phantom Lord.
Gajeel punched him.
"Freed, you… uh…" Laxus mumbled the rest of his sentence before a blast of darkness shot between us.
Rogue had struck back. No one said anything while Gajeel stumbled back and tried to rub the inky blackness off of his face.
"Grab him!" a voice called, breaking the eerie quiet that had settled over the guild. "Get Rogue! Hold him down! He's been possessed!"
Laki stuttered out something about Rogue having fabricated her S and M torture chamber because he was under the enemy's control, but no one was listening, and no one who'd known about Mira's many 'first times' would believe her. Everyone focused on Lucy, waving like a maniac and continuing to scream for us to hold Rogue down.
With shadows still clinging to his face, Gajeel reached for Rogue again, but his vision was blurry and the younger slayer had no trouble stepping out of the way. When Elfman leapt for him as well Rogue had to put some effort into dodging, and by the time Macao, Bickslow, Jet, Evergreen, and Juvia were all chasing him as well he was clearly struggling to keep out of the way of their attacks.
Rogue was fast, but dodging Jet was just ridiculous. It was almost as if he could sense how they intended to attack him.
He shrieked suddenly as a scorch mark streaked up his arm, stumbling and grabbing the injury. Laxus seized the opportunity and shot a bolt of lightning at Rogue from the window, and even from the awkward angle his aim was spot on. The attack struck Rogue square in the chest and launched him backwards into Elfman.
Too spot on. He fell forward, twitching slightly from the shock, but not moving beyond that.
Lucy had caught up, and stood over Rogue's body, looking between it and a space just to her right in horror.
Wendy, who had been watching from behind the door, ran out and dropped to her knee's at Rogue's side, grabbing his wrist.
"His heart stopped!" She cried. "Laxus!"
Taken aback, Laxus stuttered, "I-I-I didn't mean to-"
"Laxus, come here!" Wendy all but shrieked. Were it any other situation I'd have been mad at her for ordering Laxus around, but Rogue didn't have a heartbeat, so whatever the healer said now was to be obeyed.
"Try to restart it," Wendy ordered. "Here. Shock him here."
She rolled Rogue over and tore off his shirt, revealing a figure that distracted her for an instant before she placed Laxus' hands on his body. The brief sensation of a powerful wizard using magic was followed by a convulsion from Rogue's corpse. Everyone waited, holding their breath and hoping for the best. Nothing. Another try. Another.
Then Lucy stepped back, nodding and whispering something to the air.
On the sixth attempt Wendy pulled Laxus back and checked, saying she felt something. Rogue's heart was going again. Rogue wasn't dead. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and waited for some further response.
He didn't wake up.
"Take him to the infirmary," Makarov said, wearily. "Freed?"
"Y-yes sir?"
"Please set runes around Rogue's bed to prevent him from escaping if he's still not in his right mind when he wakes up."
"Yes sir."
As I walked past him, Makarov grabbed my coat and added, "And Freed?"
"Yes?"
"If you want my grandson's hand in marriage, I'll gladly give him away at the wedding." A wink thrown in at the end made it obvious that he was joking, but Mira's squeal made it equally obvious that she hadn't caught that.
Laxus sputtered in indignation. I blushed and mumbled something before hurrying to set the runes around Rogue.
Possessed or not, if Laxus avoided me for this, I was killing Rogue when he woke up.
-o-
Rogue looked content in bed, not at all like someone who'd gotten a bad enough shock to have their heart stop. As he rolled over while I set the runes a smile bloomed on his face that would have been much more handsome if he hadn't then murmured something about me being anxious. I tried a few times to wake him, but he slept right through my shaking.
The rest of the group that had slipped away during the attack caught up to Lucy not to long after the protection around Rogue was set. Their story didn't quite match Lucy's. They could only say that Rogue had suddenly been acting strange. That he'd run off and they only tracked him back to the guild because somehow Lucy was certain that's where he'd gone.
"She seemed to think Genesis was responsible for it," Erza had told us after Lucy had gone home to handle some sort of issue with Natsu. "Why Genesis would want to control Rogue when Sting is the one Grisia is after I don't know, since they didn't try to make Rogue grab Sting, or even to lead him into a trap. The whole thing was strange."
Including Lucy, who had gone home to handle some sort of issue with Natsu. I glanced over to Natsu, still unconscious in the bed closer to the door. Gray was finally returning to normal after Natsu fell into a coma. Lucy seemed to finally be losing it.
-x-
STA: Rogue, why do you always have to make it so hard for me to write decent sized chapters?
Despite him giving me trouble when I'm writing, I think I'd like to cosplay as Rogue. I like Sting more, but I'd honestly rather have people see my bare chest than my bare stomach, so I'd never dress as him. I have a Zeref costume, which is fun, but I don't want to just go to conventions as the same thing every time…
By the way, be sure to keep note of pay attention to which chapters occur on what day. Chapters that don't include a day occur on the same day as whatever the most recent chapter to list a day occurred on. Day 1 is some time in the middle of July. The 14th to the 20th maybe. I didn't ever come up with a set date. It doesn't always have a huge impact. It's mostly just for tracking purposes, but it is there.
Next chapter: The Spell was lied to