F.Y.I. Cobra is the same age as Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, Rogue, etc. Ultear is at the age she was after tenrou, so is Meredy.
Ok, who's ready for some Rogue Sofie friendship/more than friendship fluffiness? I'm sure you all are, so without further ado...
Sofie sprinted down the empty forest path, searching for something, anything that could give her a sign of with way Rogue had gone.
Thank God it's a full moon tonight, otherwise I'll have never been able to see the ground I'm running on.
She thought as she made her way down the path.
She then spotted incinerated bush and several fallen branches that had been hefted out of the trail by human hands.
Sofie bent and put a hand on the severed part of the branch.
She gasped and pulled her hand away.
His magic... Sofie thought worriedly.
It's, if its even possible for shadow magic, darkening!
Sofie closed her eyes hard to stop the panic from setting in.
I always knew Rogue had been struggling with some sort of dark presence inside of him. But...I never dreamed I could feel Rogue, and yet at the same time feel so much, evil.
She ran faster down towards a larger hill.
She spotted a piece of gray fabric that had ripped off on the vine of a thorny bramble.
This is a piece of his waist cloth! Sofie exclaimed, she was getting closer.
She carefully began to pick her way down the hill, wincing as her exposed legs were caught by thorns. She saw a more crazed path down the hill and realized.
"He must have fallen down the hill." Sofie whispered to herself as she knelt to pick free another piece of gray cloth.
She took a deep breath.
"ROGUE! ARE YOU HERE? WHERE ARE YOU?" She howled into the air, counting on Rogue's increased Dragon hearing to be able to pick her up.
What worried Sofie the most, was whether or not Rogue would choose to answer.
Next to the moonlit pond
Rogue stared up at the stars, begging for guidance, finding none in the distant lights.
Then.
"...are you? ...Rogue!?"
Rogue stiffened, someone was here looking for him.
He held his breath as he heard the snapping of pine needles on the ground.
No, no one can be near me, I'm not safe, I'm a monster.
Rogue's panicked mind exclaimed.
Still he felt as though he were rooted to the spot, sitting on the boulder overhanging the pond, shivering, yet not moving a muscle.
He stared with wide terrified eyes as Sofie stepped from the forest, hopping up and down on one foot as she struggled to free her shoe lace from a vine, careful not to drop the black cloth she held.
Well? Will you keep waiting for the unavoidable deaths to bloody your hands? Rufus's death? Sting's? What about Sofie's?
Rogue felt his stomach turn over as Sofie freed her shoe lace with a mighty yank, only to fall flat on her back.
She quickly stood and turned.
"Rogue!" She exclaimed, laying eyes on the exhausted and freezing dragonslayer.
She ran over to him, and, in pure joy that he hadn't done anything horribly drastic, threw her arms around him.
Rogue nervously returned the hug with one arm.
"I-I...I didn't know you'd come after me." Rogue murmured.
"Well, duh, you looked halfway out of your mind with fear. I wasn't about the let the last sane guy in my guild go crazy without a fight!"
She exclaimed with a smile on her face.
"Oh..." He was about to say something else, when he broke into a coughing fit.
"Rogue, your gonna catch your death out here." Sofie sighed, then she noticed his damp shirt.
"Your, wet? Why are you wet?" She asked, frowning.
Rogue scratched the back of his head as Sofie settled down to sit besides him.
"I, sorta rolled down the hill and fell into the pond." He said, embarrassed at his own stupidity.
Sofie let out a dry laugh, unfolded the cloth she carried, and tossed it around Rogue shoulders, it was one of Rogue's own cloaks.
"You, you got me another cloak?" He asked, confused yet grateful as he fastened the clasps around his neck, quickly pulling his goose bump covered arms under the thick fabric.
"Yeah, temperatures are dropping and your clothes were all torn up from the fight." Sofie replied.
"Wait..." Rogue frowned.
"You didn't get this out of my bag, did you?"
He asked, suddenly aware that Sofie may have dug through his other clothes to get the shawl.
She rolled her eyes.
"Even if I did, what difference would it make?" She smirked.
"No, it was folded on top of your bed, I just snatched it up as I left the inn." Sofie assured.
Rogue let out a sigh of relief, then, as he watched Sofie's beautiful brown orbs study his own face with concern, he heard it again.
You can't be near her, Rogue. If you care for this girl so, then leave her. You can't hold me back forever, Rogue. In Sabertooth it was simple.
Rogue's face contorted in fury and he began to pant with deep primal breaths, Sofie leaned forward slightly, eyeing him with worry.
Saber tooth was emotionless.
The dark side continued. Rogue didn't need to look to know that the shadow cast by the full moon behind him had already taken form, the shadow dragonslayer could feel the hideous things eyes boring into him, looking in the dark corners of his soul.
You did care for your nakama, that much was more than true. You cared for Sting, Rufus, Orga, Lector, Dobengali, even Minerva, I suppose. But your guild was forbidden from showing emotion, so you had no worry of the time when your nakama was threatened, you had no need to be troubled with their well being.
"S-Shut up..." Rogue hissed, his hands moving to cover his eyes as he leaned on his elbows.
"Rogue?" Sofie put a hand on his back, trying to reassure him, the son of Skiadrum barely felt it.
Draconem Heart.
The dark side persisted despite Rogue's muttering orders to be silent.
You live with them, you train with them, you eat with them, you laugh with them and you cry with them. You would do anything and everything to protect them, would you not?
The monster heard Rogue's silent reply echoing in his confused mind.
Yes, I would, anything.
Rogue had thought against better judgement
Then leave them. If your gone they won't be threatened by you. They'll be safe. You'll never have to worry about hurting them anymore.
Rogue realized this was the only answer his befuddled brain could process.
"Leave..." He murmured.
The dark side knew it had done it's job, and it shrunk back into the shadows. Sofie looked at him, concern creasing her features. She'd not been able to hear this entire exchange, all she could see was someone she loved in clear conflict.
"Rogue, what do you mean, leave? Leave where? Do you want to go back to the castle?" Sofie asked.
"Leave, and they'll be safe." Rogue muttered.
"Who?" Sofie demanded.
"Leave, and I'll never worry anymore." Rogue sighed, still with his head in his hands, his mind churning like a raging river.
"Rogue! Stop muttering incoherent nonsense, look at me, and tell me what the heck your talk'n about!" Sofie ordered.
Rogue didn't look up, merely said,
"If I'm gone, you'll be safe from me. I'll leave the guild, then I don't have to be afraid."
Sofie's eyes went wide. Rogue, the strongest, calmest, most, quite frankly, sane person in this whole messed up lost guild she was in.
He'd just said he was afraid.
"Rogue!" She seized him by the shoulders and shoved him up, forcing him to look at her.
He was shocked to see tears.
"You? Leave? How do you think that'll solve anything? Well!?"
She demanded, her voice shrill.
She didn't release Rogue's shoulders as he stared at her with strange unfocused eyes.
"I leave. I'll take my darkness with me. I'll never hurt anyone again."
Sofie's eyes were hollowed out with rage.
"IDIOT! You leaving won't do you any good! You'll just run into other people! The world, last time I checked, is FULL of people!" Sofie cried at him.
"But when I leave. I'll know your not in danger anymore." He said, his eyes still bleary and appearing to be in a trance.
Sofie slapped him across the face.
Rogue let out a choked shout as his head was snapped to the right by the impact. The sound echoed through the chill air and the still forest.
He stared at her, his eyes focused now, totally confused.
"You..."
Sofie had her head down, the brim of her hat casting a shadow over her face.
Rogue was horrified to see tears rolling down her tanned cheeks, her shoulders were heaving.
"How can you say that leaving will put me out of danger? How could you do that to me? You leaving would do nothing but break my heart."
Rogue hear this, and the world suddenly wasn't so dark and angry anymore, he would hear the bullfrogs of the pond croaking, the stars seemed to shine brighter and the full moon glimmered, now not with cold light, but with warmth and forgiveness in it's glow. In that moment, Rogue felt something in him somehow slid back into place.
Whatever it was that had snapped was whole again.
"Stop crying. Please." Rogue asked awkwardly.
Sofie furiously wiped the tears from her eyes.
"You won't leave." She stated firmly.
Rogue blinked, "I-I..."
"You try to leave I'll beat you up and drag you back!" She sobbed, her voice cracking as she threw herself into Rogue's chest.
Rogue pulled her arms out of her cloak and wrapped them around her.
"I certainly don't doubt that." He replied.
Looking up at the sky, Rogue wondered, had they, maybe, answered her pleas by sending her? Had the stars answered him by giving him this feeling, one that he had never felt in such a powerful way?
Had the stars reply been giving him love?
Wow...*sniff sniff* I need to go get some tissues, that was so amazing. Rogue feels love. Does Sofie feel it to? Though not next chapter, we will find out! Please favorite, please follow, please review, please go vote on my poll for the Draconem Heart final team, please read next time, thanks!
p.s (LOVE ROPHIE PEOPLE!)
;)