Hai!

Next day update again, whoop whoop! I had a maths exam this morning, I'm not to fond of maths, yet I chose it as an A Level... I know, doesn't make sense to me either... But yes, that happened, and I actually revised for it with the help of my friends, so lets hope that went well :)

This chapter is all Rogue, made up lyric and an all new side to our favourite Shadow Dragon Slayer!

I am nearing the climax now, and soon you'll see it all fall into place! Yay! Also, thank you for all the reviews, follows and favourites, I really appreciate them all! It's nice to know you like my story :3

Enough of me now, anyway!

Enjoy :)

Chapter Fifteen-

Using the shadows as your mask

"Can we choose our mates?"

I find myself asking Sting, watching as he sits upon a counter in his kitchen.

The first rays of light had come and gone before I found my way to Stings. I had left Lucy's late, when her clock informed me it was almost midnight. I'd been there hours with her as she cried over, I assume, Natsu-san. Her mumbling on about him not caring about her and, although she seemed broken up about it, with every word about his not caring raised my confidence. Secured her heart as mine.

After I had left, I'd wandered the streets as nothing more than a shadow, before around twenty minutes ago appearing at Stings home and now sitting in his kitchen.

Frosch is at home, probably still dozing. I'd return to her before she awoke. As for Lector, I assume he is also still sleeping.

It had dawned on me as I sat with a fragile Lucy in my arms, rocking her until I heard soft snores indicating she was asleep, that I remembered hearing about a condition very similar to mine when I was younger. When I was still with Skiadrum. He had described it as an imbalance. An event which occurred every year in a dragons life after he or she surpassed a certain age. Being children of dragons, this basic primal instinct to find a mate had been passed down to the Dragon Slayers, consuming our thoughts and magical stability for a month every year until we had found our mates for life. After that, the event lasted anywhere from a day too a week once a year, being less destructive and overwhelming since we had a mate.

I was also told that you could only have a single mate for life.

My being unable to control my magic, the hot flushes, primal instincts. It all seems to add up.

Laughing slightly, Sting shakes his blond head, looking down at the floor.

"No. They could be your lover or your mortal enemy, but we don't choose. Our instincts do, it's not an optional choice, but a natural one. Of course, a friend or lover is more likely to be a mate than an acquaintance, but that can still happen." Taking a bite of the apple he has in his hand with a crunch, he looks up at me. Pointing at me with his right index finger, apple clutched in the other three and his thumb, he speaks again. "Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to know."

"Why?" He smirks, much like an older brother would to a younger sibling after mentioning the name of the person they fancy. "Do you think you have found yours?"

Looking away, I nod slightly.

"Rogue, the Shadow Dragon, thinks his found his mate!" He exclaims wildly. "Is she worthy of a dragon? Is she a mage? Her looks?"

The questions are thrown at me suddenly, and for a moment, I am stunned into silence as to where to start. How to describe the woman my instincts have drawn me too. The dilemma of her being in, of all guilds, Fairy Tail. The woman who has caused me to want to posses her and make her mine. I had only asked a simple question, yet now am bombarded with questions. Finally deciding where to start, I inhale deeply and continue to look into thin air.

"She is a mage, yes. A celestial mage, and she is extremely beautiful. Blond hair, her eyes, they shine and skin... Smell." I briefly close my eyes, remembering the intoxicating aroma that is Lucy. The slight vanilla scent paired with the smell of her skin and hair. I briefly imagine burying my nose into the crook of my neck once more much like I did last night and inhaling her scent. The thought of doing so again arousing, and, for a moment, I commend the heightened scenes I have acquired due to this 'dragon mating season'. Opening my eyes again, forcing myself from my thoughts, I continue. "And I saw her last night."

The room is silent for a moment as Sting shifts, his face in thought, as if trying to recall something. For a moment, he frowns before an odd expression of realization enlightens his face.

"Who is she?" I hesitate for a moment. "Rogue?"

"Why?"

"Because the only blond haired celestial mage we have ever encounter was..."

"A Fairy."

I finish before he can. Turning too me, I can see a sneer growing across his face. A look of disgust almost at what I have just said. For a moment, I regret even starting this conversation in the first place, or at least finally revealing the identity of the guild Lucy is part of. On the other hand, it is a weight off of my chest. I also can finally explain these emotions.

"Heartfilia?... I thought she was always Natsu-san's mate."

"No. She isn't."

"Have you ever spoken too her, Rogue, do you even know her?"

"I spent the night with her."

For a moment, there is silence, before Sting's blue eyes narrow.

"I can smell her all over you! Rogue don't tell me... Don't you dare..."

"She is my mate."

"How could you?!"

Sting spits at me, throwing his remains of apple to the side. It explodes, almost, as it hits the floor and breaks apart. His eyes still narrowed, and fists now clenched in fury.

"You said we couldn't choose who our mates were. They could be close or enemies but when the dragon instinct came upon us we couldn't decide. That it's not optional!"

"But that Fairy whore-"

"She is not a whore!"

I can see him clam slightly, but his tone is still deadly. I stiffen at the name he uses against her, feeling my anger rise in a hitch quickly.

"But she is a Fairy!" He retorts, his deep blue eyes narrow and he grimaces, turning away from me. After a few minutes of silence, he more calmly asks, "Did you fuck her?"

"What?"

I splutter, rather embarrassed at the question and it's nature. The words he used making me sick to the stomach, said so unloving and in a vile tone.

"Did you sleep with her?" He rephrases, staring at me as he does.

"No."

"Good." He almost sighs, looking up at the ceiling before back down to me. "She isn't your mate yet."

"What?"

"She is not your mate until you have slept with her. So we will just have to keep you-"

"Stin-"

"Away from her."

He raises and emphasizes his voice, cutting off my complaints and my attempt to silence him. I can feel myself becoming more frustrated by the minute, as if something which belongs to me is being coerced away from me, and no matter how much I protest, no one is listening to me.

"And what if I want her to be my mate?"

I challenged, standing a little straighter as I speak.

"Dragon slayers only get a single mate for life, Rogue."

"I know."

"So why are you going to allow it to be her?"

"Because I love her."

"Please." Sting scoffs, stepping towards me, his height being his advantage as he stands taller than me. His body almost shimmering compared to mine. Light and shadow, clashing. "It's your hormones, your dragon instinct to fuck someone. Anyone! Even her. Keep it together, this will pass. I don't want you too make a mistake."

"No!" I shout back, despising my old friend more than anything in this moment. "No, no you don't understand, Sting! You don't know everything, you don't know how I feel for her!"

"Really, Rogue? I am also a Dragon Slayer, I also have a time when I feel an urge to mate, but Weisslogia taught me to wait and take the right woman, not necessarily the first. I know what it means to be a dragon."

"And you think I don't?!"

I shout at him, my anger quickly raising. I have clenched my fists and can feel a vein throbbing in my forehead. I am vaguely aware of the fact I have never felt this infuriated before, that I have defiantly never been this aggressive towards Sting before.

"No, Rogue. I am not saying that." His voice is firm, yet somehow understanding, he takes a step back from me, no longer surrounded by an air of feeling superior. His eyes are level and I can feel myself calming down slightly. "I am saying that this is your first mating season, and that you don't know what you are thinking because you aren't thinking. Trust me, Rogue. We are both dragons, but right now, I am the rational one. You have to stop seeing her and it'll work itself out."

For a moment, I take in everything Sting has said. His words slowly sinking in and beginning to make some degree of sense. But then a raw instinct as old as the dragons of the past flares up in the back of my mind. Any rational thought I had that maybe Sting knows best is quickly washed away. Once again I feel the anger I had felt a moment ago and begin to shake my head vigorously.

I am usually the quieter of the two of us, and I often refrain from showing my emotions, only really smiling around Frosch and recently Lucy. Often, the only face I wear is a calm one, but right now, I am not able to control my emotions.

"Sting."

I hiss. I feel my dragon force activate and I am engulfed in black, flame like shadows. I can feel my hair stand and my aura darken, fists clenched and eyes narrowed at my friend.

"Rogue, just stop and think. You know I am right."

"You wont keep me from my mate. You can't keep me from her. I will make her mine, so no one else can have her." My tone is dark, and for a moment, I almost see myself as if I am not me. I look deranged, eyes crimson and darker than usual. My hair is messier, dark tattoos almost streaking across my face. Then I am back to myself, raising my hand to attack my old friend. "Not even you."

"Ro-"

Sting started, readying his stance to also activate his Dragon Force, however, before he can I slam my fist squarely into his stomach. I feel him crumple over, a pained gasp escaping his lips before I swing my fist and punch him in the face. I watch as my old friend flies backwards into the cabinet he had been sitting on when our conversation first began, his body going limp on contact.

He falls forward and hits the floor stomach first with a thud, his messy blond hair falling across his eyes. For a moment, I stare at his unmoving body, before allowing my Dragon Force to die down when I am satisfied he isn;t going to stand up. Returning to my normal, untattooed and not surrounded in a dark aurora, self.

Sting is only unconscious, I can see him rise and fall wise each breath he takes, but he'll be out cold for a while.

Good. I hear the voice in my head utter almost disgustedly. With him out cold, no one can stop me. I have enough time to find my beautiful Lucy and make her my mate for life once and for all. Whether she wants it now or not, I will make her mine by the time the sun sets tonight.