WARNING: Rated M for Explicit Graphic Depictions of Violence, Graphic Depiction of Rape/Non-Consensual Sex, Graphic Sex, Graphic Physical and Mental Abuse, and Mental Instability. Please read at your own discretion.

I do not own Fairy Tail; All major characters depicted in this fan-created fiction story belong to Hiro Mashima.

This chapter is Beta-read by the awesome YungVodkaDikost, if you haven't read any of her stories, you should go check them out!

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CHAPTER 4

"I cannot recall a time in the past where Rogue was this interested in another person outside of our guild, let alone a woman. I will remember this." Rufus exchanged an amused glance with Sting while making his way around the infirmary to get a few bandages and salves before he settled himself in a chair by the sleeping celestial mage.

Sting observed as Rufus lifted the pale pink T-shirt that Yukino had managed to somehow put on the woman the night before. The memory make mage was careful as he pushed the clothing up to where it was sitting just below her well-endowed chest, enough to reveal her burnt and bruised flesh. Both pairs of eyes roamed over the exposed skin, taking in every scrape, cut, burn, and bruise and then moved to where Rufus had covered her stitched wound with a huge amount of gauze and tape.

With gentle ease, Rufus peeled the used bandage back to reveal Lucy's burnt and stitched flesh. The edges of the stitch job puckered a bright angry red while the outer part bubbled and blistered. Sting's eyes widened marginally while he took in the massive amount of damage. He knew it was bad from what Rufus had told them last night after evaluating her, but with the masked male and Yukino working over Lucy's body, the blonde slayer wasn't able to get a good look for himself when she was first brought in last night.

The sight of the blonde female's porcelain skin tainted with the evidence of her torture made the Sabertooth master clinch his fist together in anger. Though she was not a part of his own guild, Sting still felt camaraderie of sorts with the celestial mage.

If it wasn't for Fairy Tail, Sabertooth would probably still be stuck in the dark depressing pit it was in before the GMG. He owed Fairy Tail a lot, so Sting figured that taking care of this fairy the same way he would a guild member was the least he could do to show his gratitude and respect to both Natsu and Fairy Tail.

The white dragon slayer watched Rufus as he finished his task of putting the antiseptic salve on the fairy's stitching. Rufus fumbled to put the rest of the salve on then moved to grab the bandages. He lightly pressed the gauze to her side and taped it as gently as he could while trying to avoid any burnt skin.

The blonde male was brought out of his thoughts when he heard one of the room's occupants heart beat start to pound at an irregular and fast rhythm. A whimper barely loud enough for Sting to hear tumbled from the blonde celestial mage's open mouth causing Rufus to freeze as he stopped checking over her body.

The female started tossing her head from side to side as the hand on her good arm balled into a fist to grip the sheets of the bedding. Tears had begun to leak from her eyes while her body started to struggle desperately on the infirmary's small mattress. Rufus looked toward Sting who stood shocked and wide eyed.

"Sting, you have to get Yukino now! Lucy might wake up in a daze thinking that she is still in danger, and her waking up in a room with only men is not going to go over well if what we think happened to her is true!" The memory make mage tried his best to hold the woman down gently so she didn't bust her stitches open or injure herself more.

Sting barely had enough time to swing the infirmary door wide open to yell out for Yukino before the blonde's back arched off the bed while a piercing scream ripped passed her pale lips.

The high-pitched sound bounced off the infirmary walls and then made its way throughout the startled guild.

Everything was dark. So very, very dark. Lucy felt like she had been stumbling in the abyss for an eternity. No matter which way she went, or how much she cried or screamed, she was stuck in the never-ending sea of darkness.

This was not the type of darkness that the night sky created the blonde had grown to love, it was not the night that felt calming and soothing to her as she would look up and see her beloved stars shining down on her.

This was the type darkness that could drive someone to the brink of insanity. No matter how much she strained her eyes, there was nothing but ink black. It didn't matter if she closed her eyes or kept them open, it all looked the same.

Anxiety was forever present as the frightened celestial mage drifted through the never-ending abyss. Dread had washed over her and filled her heart to the brim, making it a permanent home.

But she wasn't alone in the darkness; she had realized that early on with every brush of a small tendril against her skin as the tangible darkness made her jump in panic from unseen fright.

He had created this hell for the very purpose of torturing her already abused mind. This was his element, and this was where he thrived. He had made a home in the small darkness that resides in her subconscious, and had used that tiniest fraction as a window of opportunity to plunge into her deepest fears, and recreated them in a reality all their own.

His inconsistent timing made it impossible for her to know when he would make his presence known. The feeling of being prey sent wave upon wave of uneasiness through her shaken body. Lucy collapsed to the pitch ground and curled into a ball; she felt weak and tired and she couldn't walk around aimlessly forever. She pushed her hands to her ears when she heard his crazed psychotic laughter echo through the never-ending darkness, the sound was deafening as if it honed in on her balled-up form.

"You're so weak. Just look at you. Absolutely pathetic. Are you just going to lie on the ground like a wounded animal? No wonder you were raped by such a lousy excuse for a bandit." Lucy pulled at her hair and tucked her chin into her knees tighter while the voice gravitated closer to her until she could practically feel his hot breath on the shell of her ear.

The blonde jolted up and scurried forward to try and escape his looming presence, but when she tried to crawl just an inch further, her body was forced to the ground. A sob escaped the blonde's pink lips when she felt the invisible weight of a foot pressing down on her back.

Lucy looked up and over her shoulder to see a terrifying scarlet iris staring down at her through the pink darkness that surrounded her. Her breathing hitched as her heart raced against the inside of her ribcage. The hatred and loathing she saw in his one eye was enough to make her turn away from the only thing she was able to see in the blackness.

"Why do you insist on torturing me!?" Her question was met with what felt like a heel digging into her shoulder blade, causing the blonde to scream as the pain ripped through her body. After a few seconds, she felt the weight slowly lessen then be removed completely from her back.

Lucy allowed a sigh of relief to pass her lips as the pain faded. However, the relief she had craved was short lived as it was replaced with another surge of agony when she heard a sickening pop ring through the darkness. The blonde felt her ankle snapped from an unknown force causing Lucy to thrash back and forth as the pain shot from her ankle and up her leg, her shriek echoing just like the pop before it.

"I don't have to answer questions from a weakling like you. But, I guess I can indulge you just this once. After all, what kind of host would I be if I didn't let my only company know the reason for their exquisite torture?" Lucy felt the tears sting her eyes while she tried to make sense of the monster's words.

"It's your fault I didn't succeed in my plan, so I forced some of my shadows to cling to you, as a means of torture for the rest of your pathetic life! Isn't it lovely!?" Lucy curled in on herself as his cruel laughter invaded her ears. The blonde pulled at her hair as she silently begged for any deity that was listening or watching over her to help because at this rate she really was going to go insane.

The silver haired celestial mage scrubbed herself while the hot water cascaded down her body helped to relax her aching muscles. Steam rose to the ceiling as the scalding water rushed from the shower head, creating a humid atmosphere while she washed herself clean from the night before.

As much as she wanted to stay with her fellow celestial key holder during the night time, Yukino really didn't want to sleep on those horrible infirmary mattresses ever again. She dipped her head back let the water wash away the lingering suds of shampoo down her body along with the fragrant body wash before it twirled around her feet before inevitably swirling down the drain.

The stellar mage reached down and twisted the knobs on the shower until the water ceased to flow before pulling back the curtain while she braced herself for the gust of cool air that would inevitable fill the surrounding air. She stepped out from the shower, quickly fumbling to grab her favorite fluffy blue towel from its home on the small hook beside the curtain. Yukino felt her skin rise from the chill while she quickly flipped her short silver hair back and forth before using the towel to dry it the rest of the way. Once she was certain her hair was just mildly damp instead of sopping wet, she secured the towel around her petite curvy body and emerged from out of the bathroom.

She didn't want to take too much time to get ready so she settled for a light blue V-neck tank top and paired it with a simple white high-waist pencil skirt then slipped on some white flats. She made sure to grab her keys from the nightstand then slip them into one of the skirt's hidden pockets before making her way back into her bathroom.

The silverette hurriedly ran a brush through her knotted locks before she stopped to eye her cosmetics sitting on the counter. Deciding she didn't want to look completely as bad as she felt, she put on a small amount of eyeliner and lip-gloss before deeming herself ready to start the day.

The walk to the guild hall from her room in the girls housing area was relatively short and uneventful, however, she just couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to the blonde laid up in one of the infirmary's uncomfortable beds.

She let her mind whirl around while she walked into the bustling guild hall. People were scattered through the large area; some sitting at tables, others standing, but all looked to be completely normal. It's was so amazing to see how far Sabertooth had come in just a month's time. The celestial maiden couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face as she watched her guild mates interact with one another.

Yukino decided she would just get a small breakfast in before going back up the infirmary to check up on Lucy.

Ever since the GMG and Eclipse Gate disaster, Yukino had come to respect and adore the blonde celestial mage, even more so then when she was younger. She had read articles from Sorcery Weekly about the 'Lucy from Fairy Tail' before she disappeared with a lot of the other members on Tenrou Island seven long years ago.

The silverette always hoped that they would return to Fairy Tail again. In fact, the silver haired woman held so much respect for Lucy that she even came to believe that the blonde was destined to be the greatest celestial mage of their time. After all, she did have ten of the twelve Zodiacs at her side. So, seeing the blonde in such a horrible state made the silverette want to be there with her to soothe her when she wakes up, just like Lucy did when Yukino felt she didn't deserve her celestial keys after being stripped and humiliated then kicked out of Sabertooth by Jiemma.

Yukino walked over to the bar and put in an order for herself before turning to scan the occupants of the guild. Once she found who she was looking for she wasted no time in walking over and pulling up a chair to sit.

"Good morning Orga, Frosch, Lector!" Yukino greeted while sending a playful glare over at the last remaining unnamed person at the table. Both Frosch and Lector jumped from the table into the silver haired woman's lap in happy welcome.

"Yuki, Rogue here won't tell us anything about the fairy. How is she doin'? She can't be doing all that bad if the all-mighty Sting Eucliffe is helping watch over her!" Lector put his paws up in the air with confidence as he said the last part. Leave it to the red exceed to cheer on the blonde slayer no matter what he is doing.

"Yuki, is Miss Fairy going to be okay?" Yukino hugged Frosch to her developed chest as tears matted the green exceeds fur. Yukino sent another glare- this time not so playful- over to the shadow slayer as he just stared blankly at the plate of untouched food that sat on the table in front of him.

Yukino felt a tick form on her forehead as she balled her fist; she was seriously considering knocking some sense back into the dazed shadow dragon slayer. However, the celestial maiden tossed that thought away when Rogue abruptly stood, causing the table to rock back and forth from his rapid movements.

Orga's fast reflexes were the only thing that kept table from toppling over completely, but that didn't stop the array of food and drink from falling to the pristine tile causing dishes shattered to the floor. The guilty slayer spun around and trained his predatory eyes on the staircase.

Just as Yukino and Orga were about to ask what was wrong, a horrifying scream echoed throughout the guildhall, causing people all over to either jump out of their seats or freeze in fear while everyone trained their attention in the same direction Rogue was facing.

"Frosch and Lector, stay here. Yukino, Sting is calling for you." The shadow dragon slayer managed to call out while he pushed himself toward the staircase with both Yukino and Orga following suit. The chilling cries started to get louder with every step they took while they made their way up the staircase.

The ebony haired man used the shadows of the hallway to gravitate himself faster to the infirmary room, but the small advantage only put him about five seconds earlier than the other two that rammed into his back when he came to a halt in the infirmary doorway.

"What the hell, Rogue!? MOVE!" Both Yukino and Orga tried to push past their stunned guild mate to see into the small infirmary.

"Sting, help me hold her down, she's going to bust open her stitches!" They heard Rufus yell when the group finally barreled through the opened infirmary door, pushing the statue of the ebony haired slayer out of the way. The three new occupants watched in horror as the white dragon slayer clung to the blonde female's kicking legs while the memory make mage tried to pin both Lucy arms to the bed while still trying to be as gentle as he could with her broken arm. Rufus took notice of the new additions in the room and thanked the heavens.

"Yukino, she's having a nightmare, you need to wake her up, please! Before she hurts herself even more!" The memory make mage practically begged when he noticed the oozing of a dark crimson spot forming underneath the pale pink shirt where the bandage on her abdomen covered the stitches. If they couldn't calm her down soon, she was going to rip her stitches out completely.

The silverette in question rushed to Rufus's side, taking Lucy's tossing head into her hands. The silver haired woman cupped the sides of Lucy's face and bent down to whisper in her ear, telling her everything was going to be okay and that she needed to wake up. The Sabertooth celestial mage couldn't help the tears as they slipped past her own eyes while she whispered soothing words to the blonde, none of which seemed to work.

Rogue couldn't push himself further into the room, no matter how many times he commanded his body to move, his muscles seemed to be locked into place. He was forced to watch his guild mates struggle to keep the celestial fairy down on the bed as she lashed out and cried in agony. His eyes were wide, and mouth slack jawed and at that particular moment, he didn't even care that his usual stoic expression had been replaced with one of shock and surprise.

The shadow mage had felt the strong presence of a familiar dark shadow magic before he even heard the horrific screams while he was down in the guild hall. He had nearly knocked the damn table over when his hair stood on end as the presence made its self known, which at that time he didn't have any idea the dark shadows were coming from the fairy in the infirmary. He honestly was just following the trail of darkness, and ended up right back in the infirmary, just like earlier this morning.

Rogue could sense the familiar shadows surrounding the terrified fairy's body as she violently tossed her head away from Yukino's grasp. Her puffy eyes clinched together as the tears still somehow managed to flow freely; she arched her back off the bed once more causing her broken arm to twist with a sickening pop. She let out another blood-curdling wail as she screamed and begged to be saved.

The ebony haired slayer knew those types of cries all too well. Her frantic shrieks and screams were the sounds of someone teetering on the brink of insanity, when they have completely lost all hope and succumb to the darkness. He had watched many of his enemies suffer the same exact fate as the broken fairy in front of him, it was one of the darker traits that his shadow magic could do to people if they couldn't control the darkness. The shadows would swallow them whole and leave nothing but an empty broken shell. But why were HIS shadows attacking this woman without his command, and why was he not able to call them back?

Rogue broke from his shock and stalked over to the bed and pushed Yukino's startled hands away to grab the fairy's face for himself. He focused as he tried to will the shadows from within the blonde, but even though they were obviously his shadow magic, he was not the one in control. Rogue moved one hand to her forehead and concentrated as he tried to force the defiant magic from the crying celestial mage's body.

"What are you doing!?" The Sabertooth celestial mage tried to reclaim her spot by Lucy's head but was stopped by her god slaying guild mate. Yukino tried to shove his large hand away from her but froze when the blonde's cries started to die down to only a whimper.

Everyone stood still as they watched Rogue withdrawal a minuscule tendril of a pitch-black shadow from the celestial mage's forehead. He willed it into a tiny ball in his hand then promptly shut his fist over the black sphere causing the shadow to dissipate into the air.

The blonde fairy proceeded to calm and remained in her unconscious state while the other occupants of the room stared at their resident shadow mage, who was still too focused on the hand that had dispersed the shadow magic to notice his guild mates looking at him.

"What the hell was that?" The guild master finally asked after a moment of silence had passed throughout the room. The blonde had no idea what he had just witnessed, but if he had to guess, his partner had just pulled a damn shadow from the blondie's head.

But that couldn't be right, Rogue had never once attacked the fairy, not that anyone could recall, anyway. So, how did Rogue's magic get there in the first place?

The ebony haired male looked just as shocked as everyone else when he removed his eyes from his hands to look up at Sting. The shock and disgust were evident in his eyes as he looked the white dragon slayer in the eye, it was apparent that he was just as clueless about what had happened as they were.

"I honestly don't know." Rogue said while he backed away from the unconscious fairy. The smell of blood reached both Sting and Rogue's nose when the memory make mage ran to the woman's side and lifted her shirt. The pale pink was now stained a dark crimson as he revealed the bloodied bandage.

Ruby eyes observed as Rufus removed the soaked gauze, causing the smell to increase tenfold and assault his senses. The flesh that was once sewed shut was now gaping open and mangled as if the stitch didn't pop at all, but her flesh had ripped itself, Rufus sighed as he got up to gather more supplies to once again clean and stitch the new wound.

The ebony haired male backed up even further away from the unconscious blonde until his back met the infirmary wall. He brought his hand back up to stare at it, as if it held all the answers he and everyone else wanted to know.

Why was he able to pull his own magic from the blonde? Was that why he was being pulled to her? And why was it he couldn't control it completely?

Somehow, and some way his shadows clung to the blonde celestial fairy without his command to do so, and that worried Rogue deeply.

I'll start replying to reviews here at the bottom to answer any questions you may have for me, so please feel free to leave a review! I love knowing that people are reading this! :)

The Devil's Riddle- Hi there! Thank you so much! I am so glad you are enjoying the story! This story is technically completed, so you don't need to worry about it being abandoned again. I have two other Rolu stories that I plan on working on here very soon! I'm so excited to let you all know when those are ready to publish as well. I feel like I shouldn't need to go into too much on past events since I am sure most people have watch/read what happened in the actual series. :D Well, life happens and sometimes we lose the spark that originally kept us going when writing some stories, it can't be helped. But thank you so much for your understanding. :)

RomiLuLu- You are an angel! I'm so sorry I kept you waiting for so long. I'm so glad you are still interested in this story! I do hope you enjoy the new revised chapters! :)

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