Hey guys here is the long awaited Rogue's POV. Hope you all like it, sorry for any mistakes I may have missed I did try to catch them all.
Rogue's POV
A month and a week, five weeks, that's how long it's been since I left Lucy at Fairy Tail and began our search for what would hopefully save her life. A day didn't pass by without me wondering how she was doing or if she missed me a fraction of how much I missed her. Sure we had a lacrima to report back to the guild, but that was all it was for apparently, and for a good reason I guess. The deeper we got into enemy territory the less reception we got and the shorter out transmissions became until we got nothing but static.
In the beginning Lucy had been the one I reported to but after a week that had stopped; Mira's excuse being that Lucy was too tired, and was usually asleep when I called. From the way Mira refused to meet my eyes when I called I knew something wasn't right, but every attempt I made to question her resulted in her rushing me off the line. Knowing I couldn't very well leave my team- no matter how much I wanted to - I reigned in my urge to leave and pressed on. My being with Lucy would do no good, not if we couldn't find a cure.
The first compound... If you could even call it that, was a hovel filled with mages that barely deserved the title. By the looks of them they were just common thieves and not very good ones. Not wanting those scant moments it took us to knock out the ten them and search their 'base' to be a complete waste we called in the nearest rune knights to take them away. Honestly it took longer for them to show up than it did for us to knock them all out. Apparently they had been semi decent thieves and were wanted in the neighboring towns, so we received a small reward that I let my two teammates split amongst themselves. My reward would be returning back to Lucy's side...for as long as she would have me.
Hearing Bickslow and Rufus snickering I looked behind me to stare at them. What's gotten into them? I thought quickly dismissing them and resuming my perusal of the map. When they resumed their laughter I turned fully towards them and heard a crinkle of paper as I did so. Great this again. I grimaced bending my arm backwards to tear off the note they had stuck to me. The note read 'stick in the mud', well that's better than the last one that said 'Lucy's Bitch'. Shaking my head at them I crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it at their heads.
"Can we just focus on where we're going? We've been gone long enough."
"Rogue we've done nothing but search for this place with no luck, lets just take a brief break in the nearest town to blow off some steam and relax. Maybe some of the towns people have noticed strange activity in the area." Bickslow said.
"You guys go ahead and do that I'll continue searching the area for the Abastors. Rea said that one of their bases were on that island we are going to tomorrow, so there should be some sign of them around here." I was all too eager to be rid of them because then I could travel faster by myself and wouldn't have to put up with any more of their shenanigans.
They eyed each other and then myself before full blown grins appeared. "Well if you're sure, we wouldn't want to -" Rufus reluctantly offered. In the time that we had been gone the two of them had become fast friends, which was strange considering they were so different, but they soon found out that Rufus' ability to create illusions went well with several of Bickslow's pranks. If the woman I lo-liked wasn't in life threatening danger I would be happier for their friendship, and glad that Rufus finally opened up towards someone else but their lack of focus was pissing me off.
"Just go." I said looking at the map trying to decide what path I should take. When I heard no more made up sentiments of worry I glances up to see them leaving a cloud of dust in their wake. Glad to finally be alone I chose the path to the right that appeared to not have been in use in awhile. For an area that was well traveled by many merchants, it was unheard of for a path to be left to ruin and it piqued my interest.
The moment I stepped underneath the hanging branches of the darkened trees I felt a chill run down my spine. Ignoring the sudden feeling that someone was watching me I trudged on, hacking at the overgrown plants that blocked my way. In the distance I heard an animal growling in pain, fear and anger, as another animal roared in triumph as the painful growling ceased. Keeping in mind to keep an eye on that side of the road I continued on.
After one last roar the forest went eerily quiet, too quiet. About thirty feet down the road the birds ceased their chirping, there were no small animals scurrying away as I approached and no longer could I hear the faint sounds of the travelers that were down the other road.
Maybe I should have let them know the general direction of where I was going. The thought belatedly came to mind.
Overly focused on my strange surroundings I nearly jumped out of my skin when the lacrima in my bag went off, breaking the silence. Yanking my pack off of my back I let it hang in front of me as I dug into it. The bag was so poorly packed that I had to pull stuff out of it as I searched for the ringing. That's the last time I let Bickslow pack my bag. I thought as my hand finally encircled the lacrima. Pressing the button to accept the call I dropped to the ground and began repacking my bag as it should have been.
"Hey Mira, what's up?" I asked the smiling mage.
"Just checking in, no one answered earlier this morning so I just wanted to make sure you were all alright."
"Everything's fine, Bickslow and Rufus went to a nearby town to blow off some steam and I'm exploring one of the roads near the port. We are going to charter a boat tomorrow to drop us off and a row boat as close to the island as they are willing. Apparently the locals believed the island is responsible for the disappearances of both the town's people and some of the merchants, so they all refuse to go more than halfway there and not even all of them will do that.
"Have you heard anything from the other teams, anything that could help Lucy?" I inquired, rolling up my blankets into a neat cylinder and setting it aside to do the same with my clothes.
"No, nothing yet since Levy, Gajeel and Elfman came back with those bracelets. Evergreen came back with Orga though while Laxus went off to help Natsu's team to follow a lead, but they did find one of the spirits, so we only have two more left. We haven't heard from Juvia's team in a week though, we are getting worried that something has happened to them." Mira said distractedly as someone came to the bar with an order. "Wendy come talk to Rogue while I whip up this order real quick."
"Okay Mira." The youngest Dragon Slayer said tiredly, looking just as tired as she sounded.
"Are you alright Wendy?" I asked, concerned for her.
"Yeah I've just been staying up trying to come up with a cure."
"Is she alright? Have you seen her today, do you think you could take the lacrima to her just so I can see her?" I begged. At my request she grew visibly uncomfortable and sad, her shoulders sagged as if a giant weight had been placed there and she looked towards the kitchen as if willing Mira to return.
"Umm... she's sleeping right now, I don't want to disturb her." She mumbled, no longer meeting my gaze.
"Wendy is ther-"
"Wendy I need you!" I heard an unfamiliar voice yell in the background.
"So soon?" Wendy muttered, dropping the lacrima against something. It was a bit crooked but I could still see Wendy as she leapt off of the bar stool and practically flew up the stairs and into what I assumed was Lucy's room. Feeling my heart race in concern I took one look at Mira, who had picked up the lacrima as quickly as she could, and knew that she was going to end the call with another one of her half-assed excuses.
"Mira don't you dare turn off the lacrima." I snarled, reaching my limit of excuses as to why Lucy hasn't called once in the past month, or why I couldn't see her for just a second. "What the hell is happening over there?" When she remained silent and kept glancing in the direction of the stairs I growled. "I have been patient, but my patience will only go so far. Now tell me why Wendy practically flew up those stairs to Lucy's room. Now!"
A moment later Mira's face crumpled and disappeared. "You will not speak to my sister that way ever again Rogue, that's not how a man speaks to a lady." Elfman said as his face appeared. "But since you're worried about Lucy I'll let it slide this once." Seeing a delicate hand appear on his shoulder the lacrima once again switched hands.
"There's no easy way to say this but Lu-chan... Well she...-"
"She's in a fucking coma." Gajeel thankfully blurted out when Levy seemed incapable of doing so. When Levy glared at him over her shoulder he shrugged. "Stop pussyfooting around the fact, we can't hide it from him forever and he deserves to know in case something happens."
"A coma? For how long?!" I asked suddenly feeling sick afraid to hear the answer.
"A month. There was a training accident and it did most of the poison's work. Right now all that is keeping Lucy alive is Wendy and Chealia's constant care...her organs keep failing, if anymore of them start to fail we don't know how long they can keep healing her; they're exhausted, as you saw." Levy said wiping the tears from her eyes. "We're hoping your team, or Juvia's or Natsu's find something soon because the longer she's like this the less likely she is to wake up, even if the poison is out of her system."
Damn it! How could they not have told me earlier? I would have gone faster or split the team up to check everything out sooner... I could have done something to speed the search up... I thought helplessly, even though I knew I was working my team as fast as they could handle.
"Rogue have you found something...anything?" Levy's eyes were filled with hope only to dull when I answered.
"No, but tell Mira we will charter the boat tonight instead of tomorrow. From now on I want to be updated on any new changes with Lucy, no more hiding the truth." I said shutting off the lacrima and stuffing my supplies into the bag, all attempts at organizing it forsaken.
Yelling in anger I chucked my bag to the ground and dropped my head in despair. How could things get this shitty? One moment Lucy and I are finally on the same page, happy to be together and the next we are torn apart.
"Awe is the Dragon Slayer sad?" A sickly sweet voice cooed farther up the path. Glancing in the direction of the voice I saw a red headed woman with sunken eyes to match walking unsteadily forward, leaning heavily on the bear that was walking beside her. Following the chain that was wrapped around her hand and arm, I saw a spiked collar encircling the bear's neck that gave off waves of dark magic. "I'm surprised that the blonde has lasted this long to be honest, I was told she was dead quite some time ago... I'll have to reteach my men what dead is." She said, tilting her head to rest it on the bear with an excited gleam in her eye.
"What do you know about Lucy's poison?!" I demanded, taking a threatening step forward only to stop when the bear reared up on its hind legs and released a fierce roar, the same one I had heard earlier. Eyeing the bear cautiously as it fell back onto all fours I stood my ground.
"Why I'm the one who ordered it silly. Ever since Julien was demoted I've had the pleasure of running things in Fiore, at least until our master has been released from her prison. But I must say you and your friends have been most annoying. First it's those brats in the factory who stole our bracelets, then those three that flooded our training facility, and now you three. It's because of you that I might be shamed like my predecessor, but luckily I was able to deal with the water bitch and her partners, just as I'm about to do with your little team." The red headed bitch cackled. Snapping her fingers several figures stepped out of trees, literally, to surrounded me. Getting a good look at them I saw that they were made up of the bark of the trees that they had emerged from and were all wielding thick, deadly sharp branches that were coated in the same dark magic I sensed from the bear's collar.
"Wait... water bitch? What did you do to Juvia, Sting and Minerva?" I growled.
"That blue haired bitch drowned everyone at the training facility, then she preceded to tell me that no one would take her Gray-sama away from her, and worst of all she kept referring to herself in the third person. It was annoying as hell. I had every intention of questioning them and offering them up to my master but I couldn't stand her so I sent the three of them into our torture pit. That was around a week ago, so they should be dead by now." She shrugged as if it was no big deal that she had sent my best friend somewhere to die. Standing to her full height she loosened her grip on the chain controlling the bear and took a step back. "Well lover boy, it's been nice chatting with you but we must be on our way, will you come with us without a fig- I guess not." She sighed, dodging my shadows. With another snap of her fingers, her minions burst forth and began attacking me.
Sinking into the ground I moved from shadow to shadow until I was directly behind the woman and shot up "Shadow Dragon's Slash." I yelled aiming for her back only to have the bear suddenly rush in between us to take the blow for her. Feeling somewhat sorry for hitting what I assumed was one of the spirits we were looking for I leaped over it's downed body to send another punch her way. The hit would have landed if it weren't for the damn bear. Not as injured as I thought, the bear caught my foot in its mouth and bite down, breaking the skin. Cringing at the pain, I fell to the ground and was dragged backwards all the while waiting for the crunch of bone to sound. Kicking at its face I growled in frustration when it didn't let go and slammed me into the ground repeatedly.
"Ayame enough, how dare you ruin my fun." The crazy bitch whined, stomping up to the bear and tugging at it's collar to activate the magic around it. Wearily watching I saw the collar release a black goo that began covering the bear's neck. Not entirely sure what was happening I watched as the bear writhed in pain with its mouth still around my foot.
"Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash" I muttered, taking advantage of the distraction the bear provided I turned myself to shadow and wrapped around the bear and woman, lashing out at them with my shadows. Even in an unimaginable amount of pain the bear protected the woman by shoving her out of my shadows after only a few hits.
"Human stop attacking her. She will consume you, and your powers." I pain filled voice whispered along with the whimpers of pain. "
"Why are you helping me?"
"I grow weary of this existence, I long to be free as I once was before Polaris corrupting my mind and life. I want to return to the stars, and maybe find a master worthy of holding my key instead of Angelica." Ayame said before biting down on my ankle again eliciting a moan of pain from me. "Pretend that I am fighting back, but in a minute I need you to cease your attacks and let my magic send you into unconsciousness. Before you protest, this is the only way for you to survive, if you aren't awake for her to inflict sounds of pain from she will grow tired of you and just send you to the torture pit where your friends are...alive. I will help you as much as I can, I promise."
Looking at the bear incredulously I tried to determine if she was telling the truth or not. At my current beat up state I knew I couldn't handle Angelica and her goonies, so that left me with only once option, and I prayed that it was the right one. Halting my attack I let my shadows drift away, the moment Ayame was clear of my magic I felt my exhaustion tug at my senses and knew it was the bears doing. Glancing into the bear's honey eyes, I saw nothing but sincerity and let my eyes droop closed and let sweet sleep take me.
Ayame POV
"What were you thinking? You knew I wanted to steal his shadow ability." Angelica stomped over to me and gave me a sharp kick to the head before nudging the Dragon Slayer with her foot to turn him over. "Now I'll have to take him back to the island and deal with him there. You're always stealing my fun away from me Ayame, and I hate you for that."
"You hate me anyways." I grumbled getting slowly to my feet.
Sharply turning towards me she yanked the leash and brought my face closer to hers. "What did you say?" She gritted through her teeth, loosing all semblance of the woman I had grown to care for when she was a child.
"Nothing." Giving an extra tug on the leash she ordered her minions back into the trees and started walking away.
"Don't just stand there Ayame, pick of the dumb mage and lets go. We'll dump him into the pit on our way to dinner, maybe his friends will have survived long enough to say goodbye to him." With a laugh she set off towards the shore where our ship was waiting.
Being careful as I picked up the Dragon Slayer in my mouth I followed after her, all the while imagining all of the different ways I could kill her in my head once I was free. Being what a 'pet' to Angelica did have it's perks, one of them being that no one cared if they talked around me so I knew that this mage that I had in my mouth was important to the person who would set me free from this life of chains and abuse. If I could show him that I was trust worthy and willing to help, then maybe he would help me when the time came.
AN: Let me know what you thought! Please and thank you!
jasper is hot1: Yay, thanks!
CharmSpeaker: Hopefully you like this one too!
Lynansidhe: :)