A/N: So I've kind of been bitten by the writing bug for now, and I have no idea how long I'm actually going to make this, but I have plenty ideas to put into it to make it pretty long. I also want to apologize that theres not much dialogue. I'm hoping to fix it in future chapters.
Also, I had someone comment on this not long after I posted the last two chapters, which was very nice to get the email for this morning. I want to say thank you to the guest that commented. Your short comment made me feel not as nervous about the story line, my writing style, and picking it back up after this time. Thank you!
Please enjoy~~
Rogue once again felt as if his conciousness was surrounded by an eternal darkness in the center of his mind, patiently waiting for his physical form to awaken; his mental figure sitting with his arms on his knees, staring into the absolute nothingness head of him lazily. This was his normality for what others would consider dreams and it had been for the longest time. He would sit there, staring into the blackness around him, waiting for the time he would blink and feel his real conciousness coming to. He expected this night to be no different.
It wasn't until he heard a sudden and appalling, thunderous roar from the distance behind him, Rogue slightly jumped from the sound. A few years ago, he learned not too long ago not to go to the the dragon's roar he heard, it usually led him down a dark road to night terrors of his and Sting's past from before the guild. Usually if he didn't go on that first call, the roar didn't continue, so he didn't move from his spot and waited for the silence to surround again until morning.
The dragon slayer sighed before a second, slightly louder, but more sullen roar rumbled in the distance before, causing Rogue to turn to the sound this time. He still didn't move from his spot on the black gound he sat upon as he tried to some how peer past the darkness.
When the third roar sounded, it was like a light was lit in the far off in the same distance and the shadow mage couldn't stop his body from sprinting into a run towards both new senses.
The closer he ran, the more the darkness turned to gray cavern walls and the illuminated entrance came closer to him. He didn't understand why he was running, or what he may be running to, but his urge to get there was strong. He couldn't see past the bright light illuminating through the opening. There was another bellowing roar in the distance right before Rogue ran into the light leading out.
The shadow mage's body twitched as he suddenly woke up, lying on his back in his bed, the dorm still dark as the storm rain pounded against the window in the night. His breathing and his heartbeat was slightly elavated, he blinked a couple times as his heightened senses allowed his eyes to fully adjust as he woke, turning his head to the other weight in the bed.
Levy's face was merely inches away from his, her cheeks slightly tinted against her creamy complexture as she slept. Her medium blue locks, usually contained by a headband but had been left free this week, framed her face until hitting the pillow and sprawling out towards his own abyss colored hair.
One of the script mage's legs was pressed against the outer side of Rogue's own as she slept on her side and her hand not tucked under her pillow, he now felt, had rested itself gently on the man's arm. Rogue stared at the small, pale hand against his equally pale muscles and felt his body temperature rise, and, against his will, a twitch in his groin.
Scolding himself mentally, he tried to slide over a few inches to give her more space, but recieved a sound of disapproval from the still sleeping Levy, not wanting the source of heat to leave her side just yet. Rogue considered getting up anyway, but, instead, stayed and pulled the blankets back up to cover her better.
After a moment, he felt Levy, still in her deep slumber shift even closer to him, letting out a comfortable sounding sigh as she dozed on. Resting his free hand behind his head, the shadow mage starred at the ceiling above them and tried to distract his thoughts. As the bookworm used him as a heat source, Rogue slowly started to remember parts of his so called "dream" and tried to access them in his head. He let his thoughts wonder there until he noticed the sun beginning to rise through his window; removing himself from the bed, Rogue went for his shower before he would wake Levy and start their morning routine.
Another couple days had passed and Levy was doing very well regaining herself. She was able to stand in place with decent balance and take slow steps around the table while supporting herself against it already. Rogue had also convinced her into going to the excercise rooms after the guild had closed to build her strength with special weights he made her out of one of the bungee weight machine and several books from the library.
Levy had first laughed at the sight of the originally broken bungee machine before complimenting his creative enginuity. The loaded weights didn't have to be books, but was a perfect way for her to build her strength in small incriments, and the stacks he had were all books she had already completed in just a little over a week of her stay.
Today after their first round of recovery training in the office room, the bluenette decided to sit near the pool while waiting on her dark haired friend to return, still not having the confidence to remove the bandages that covered her, change into a swimsuit, and get in. Sat back in one of the beach style chairs, wearing a comfortable black and white checkered tanktop, black jean skirt with a pair of fishnets, and black boots, the sun from the skylight warmed her skin that wasn't bandaged naturally as she flipped the page of the thicker book in her hands.
Her attention was broken from the novel as she heard Frosh and Lector laughing as they flew through the guild, currently filled with many of the Sabertooth's guildmates going about their usual day. Sting had been spending a lot of time with Yukino, meaning that Frosh was usually in Lector's company, but the two didn't seem bothered by being away from their dragon slayers - as long as the exceeds were inside the guild, that is.
Not that Rogue was really far way anyway, Frosh usually knew what areas to look for the dragon slayer when he needed him, and that man was currently sitting at the bar, barely talking with Fawna who was at the grill behind the bar. Levy watched as he mostly nodded and exchanged minimum words with her as she worked. When she was finished, she handed him two plates with a smile as he gave her a final, but thankful nod and turned his way back to Levy, taking the beach style chair next to her as they enjoyed their lunch.
It wasn't long after they had finished their meal, being in mid-conversation with Orga, before the two heard a disturbance outside the guild. They both turned their head at the sound just on the other side of the large doors before they burst open, a dust cloud blowing around and an object was sent flying through Sabertooth's guild hall, just so happening to land in the pool and making the members leap to fighting stances. Rogue quickly moved to shield Levy from the water splashed, soaking his cloak and back instead as he leaned over her, not moving in case anything else she would need protection from came through.
"I told ya to quit talkin' shit, or I'd send ya flyin." A rough voice the script and shadow mages immediately recognized said gruffly, making both visibly relax. The cloud cleared to reveal Gajeel in the doorway.
"YOU GUYS ITS NOT OUR GUILD. YOU CANT JUST MAKE A BATTLE ROYAL ENTRANCE ANYWHERE YOU GO!" Lucy's voice yelled as she ran up behind, Pantherlily and Happy flying beside her as they caught up to Gajeel. Lucy was also carrying a backpack on her back that Levy would recognize as one of hers soon.
The object in the pool was Natsu, now more furious with his fellow dragon slayer guildmate from making him wet, but knowing his blonde guildmate was right. He carefully hoisted himself out of the pool in front of Rogue and Levy, seeing their position before they had time to pull away and sit next to each other.
"Hey guys! Hope we're not interrupting anything." The soaking fire mage said with a joking smile to the people they came to see.
Both Rogue and Levy felt their faces turn red as the rest of the Sabertooth members started to calm and sit back down, realizing it was only more Fairy Tail friends coming to greet them with their antics, while Gajeel, Lucy, and the two exceeds made their way over to the.
"Of course not!" Levy said quickly, but not being able to stop the giggle. "We just finished lunch. Its nice to see yall, what are you doing here?" She asked as she smiled at her friends.
Rogue couldn't help but a slight feeling of dread made his heart clench in his chest as he assumed Makarov had changed his mind and wanted Levy to heal back at Fairy Tail.
"We hadn't heard from ya' in a while, Shrimp. We wanted to come see ya since its gonna be a few more weeks before you're home." Gajeel put his hand on her head, like it was so obvious she should've already known, in his own teasing way.
"And I figured you'd want a few things from home." Lucy said, setting the backpack next to Levy's feet in a dry area before leaning down and giving her best friend a careful hug.
"I appreciate it!" Levy beamed.
"Well, I'm sure you're tired. Our guilds may be in the same town, but they have a good distance between their locations." Rogue said to the group as he stood, slinging the backpack over his shoulder before moving to pick up Levy in his arm as had become habit. He motioned for them to follow him to a large booth so that they could sit and rest. He gave a wave to Fawna as they settled into their seats and Sabertooth's exceeds joined to conversate with the others for a bit.
As Levy chatted with her friends, Rogue ordered lunch for them since they had walked over an hour and a half just to see her. He sat, mostly in silence while they caught her up on what had been happening at home. He couldn't help but notice Gajeel and Natsu exchanging glaces between each other every once in a while as noon soon became three-thirty and the Fairy Tail mages decided to head back.
Levy was hugging her friends goodbye, one by one they also bid farewell to Rogue. Gajeel was the last, clapping his hand on the shadow mage's shoulder, he gave Rogue a nod that Rogue knew was of gratitude. Rogue had been able to see why Levy was so special to her guild. She was so caring with an open heart she could accept people who have hurt others, hurt her, and still show them that deep down they are a good person if they want to be. Rogue returned the nod to Gajeel and, without another word, the group started back to their home.
Levy looked up at Rogue with a beaming smile, making her seem to give off a slight glow in his eyes. He couldn't help the small return smile that tugged the edges of his lips immediately before he scooped her up and took her up to the dorm.
"Your friends visit, while it is welcomed, did interfer with today's recovery training." Rogue said to her as they entered the room.
"I'm okay with that." Levy giggled before admitting, "I'm pretty sore from what we have done the last few days, so maybe taking a half day to rest was good." Rogue only nodded, setting Levy down on the bed and handing her the backpack so she could look over what Lucy brought her.
It was mostly underwear, two of her orange dresses, a pair of leggings, and a book that had a bookmark almost halfway through. Pulling it out, there was a sticky note with Lucy's handwriting saying, 'You'll probably want to finish this. ~LH'. Levy was glad that her friend had brought her the book she started the night before their mission, leaving it at home since it was not a needed tomb. She quickly shoved it back into her bag before Rogue could see it, trying to contain her blush before the dragon slayer's voice broke her thoughts.
"Didn't the doctor say this was to help the scars and healing?" He questioned, holding the small, round, brown glass bottle with liquid that had been left on the nightstand since Rogue moved it there.
"Yeah. I believe it just rubs into the skin like a lotion." She said.
"Then it would probably help with the soreness you'll have too." He said, holding it out to her. Levy looked at the bottle in his hand and thought about the pain tingling through her being. Her cheeks tinted pink before she asked the question.
"W-Will you help?" As soon as the words left her mouth, her cheeks darkened even more. She knew what she was asking him was a bit far for just friends, as it could be taken as a pretty intimate thing, but she also knew there were many scars and wounds on her back she would never be able to reach.
Rogue was caught off gaurd by Levy's question, blushing himself as he looked down at the brown bottle and back at the embarassed script mage. After another second, but not much thought, Rogue replied.
"I did say I would do everything you needed me to.." He motioned for Levy to remove her bandages and hold out her arms as he moved to sit on the bed and opened the bottle, adding a small dab to his palm. She did and stared at the covers, as his hands gently slid against her arms, rubbing the oil on her skin, and moving to her shoulder. Cautiously gracing her collarbone and the front of her neck before he moved to her other arm. Rogue treated her body like a piece of glass, using the lightest touch needed to rub in the medicine.
The two of them were silent, one occasionally glancing at the other, but Rogue tried to keep his mind on his task. After a couple minutes Rogue stood and went to the bathroom, giving her some privacy. Levy reached under her skirt to pull her fishnets off and remove the bandages on her legs. Then she carefully slid off her shirt before she moved to lay on her stomach, calling Rogue back into the room.
While he was waiting, Rogue stood at the vanity in the bathroom, turning on the cold water to the sink and grabbing a wash cloth to wet before placing it on his face, hoping it would help cool his body temperature down. It was temporary help until he heard Levy's voice. Walking back into the room, he felt that temperature through his body return and increase as he saw Levy laying in his bed, her face kind of buried half way in the pillow as she hid her face, her arms under the pillow, and the sheets askewed in a way that just carely covered the sides of her bare breast that were pressed to his mattress. The dragon slayer couldn't breathe for a minute as his lungs quit funtioning from his heart pumping blood to his groin and not to his head to allow him to think about oxygen.
Rogue bit his tongue so hard he could taste the blood as he reeled his mind back to the task asked of him. Carefully sitting beside her legs, he added more oil to his hands before bringing them to her shoulder. The shadow mage watched his hands, both with his eyes and physically to make sure he didn't make her uncomfortable, feeling how soft the curves that made her were. It astounded him that she was so soft, and that she was allowing his rough hands to touch her. Just as Rogue moved from her shoulder blades and ran his hands down her spine for the first time, his ears heard a quiet relaxed sigh from Levy.
As Rogue continued his slow and careful process of massaging the medicine into her back, every now and then he would hear another relaxed sigh from the bluenette, making him feel less anxiety about hurting her and felt the awkwardness that had been between them earlier lifting. He was finishing with her back, starting at her shoulder blades, he gently placed his thumbs on the respecting sides of her spine, letting the rest of his hand practically wrap around her body's sides, before adding the slightest amount of pressure and running his hands down her full back in one slow, smooth motion.
"Oh."
It was light and airy, barely being whispered and hardly even being picked up by Rogue's sensitive hearing, and it was a sound from Levy as his hands traveled down, relaxing the skin in its path, until his thumb met the top of her skirt and he moved his hands in a parting motion, rubbing against the muscles in her lower back there. It was a sound Rogue definitely wasn't expecting, but he couldn't stop himself has his hands repeated the motion, trying to hear it again.
He did once again when his hands parted in direction and rubbed against the muscles above her skirt. It was then that he realized that that was probably where most of Levy's tension was stored from always reading, and then having to sit and lay around this week wasn't helping.
Levy felt her face redden as her almost moan escaped her lips for the second time. She had gotten so use to ignoring that pain; she couldn't help that the relaxation brought as Rogue continued to run his calloused hands over her back gave her a slight amount of pleasure. Burying her face in the pillow to try to silent any other sounds that may have slipped out of her while he helped her. The bluenette felt him focus on her tense lower back for a few minutes and she couldn't stop the way she melted further into the bed. When Rogue pulled his hands away from her back, she was nearly dead weight against the matress in her relaxed form, still face down.
Levy thought he was done, she technically could do the rest on her own once she put on her shirt, which is why when she felt his hand touch the bandage wrapped around her left thigh, she physically jumped, which caused a slight pain to jolt through her. The bluenette felt his other hand gently rub her spine to get her to relax again, his other hand still in the bandage, barely two inches below the edge of her skirt, but she complied and tried to hide her blush in the pillow.
Rogue's inner self had been slightly disappointed when she hid her face and her sounds from him. The shadow mage knew he shouldn't think of her that way, she had complained about how the members of her Team ShadowGear fawned over her too much to him before, and he didn't want to ruin anything with the person his was growing more and more fond of. Through their many talks the past almost two weeks, they had realized they could have intellectual conversations about many topics, were always interested in learning what the other knew that they didn't, or could have very fun debates that would either be settled mutually or sincere understandings, but agree to disagreements. They also had more in common other than enjoying books, he had been learning over this short time with her. He couldn't help the hardening in his pants or the dragon that growled in the back of his mind, it acting more on instinct.
The dragon slayer, still controling himself and his hands, removed her bandages on her legs and placed them with the others on the floor. Adding more medicine to his hands, he started to rub it into her legs. His slow and gentle hands were soft as he caressed, unknowingly sending warm and exciting sensations through Levy every time his hands rubbed up her legs.
The script mage could hide her blush, but she couldn't stop the heat slowly pooling at the center of her body. Biting her lip, she felt Rogue swap to her right leg and continue his help, that was now making Levy questioned if she had maybe secretly wanted more than help. She tried to push the inappropriate thoughts from her mind away and told herself he would be done soon.
Rogue took a little longer with this leg, having started to pick up another scent just barely in the room, one of arousal. It was definitely similar to the many he had smelt before, several times from horny couples on dates on the street as he passed through towns, or sometimes from certain people in the guild when they've had one too many. Sometimes, it was not great to have heightened senses. Although, this scent attracted him. It seemed sweeter than others, and it seemed to awaken the dragon senses in him more.
With the back of that leg being finished too soon for the secret liking of both of the mages, the dragon slayer removed his hands and moved to gather the soiled bandages. He kept his gaze away from the script mage as she sat up, pulling a sheet with her to keep herself covered.
"I'll discard these and then I'm gonna get cleaned up. I'll help you redress your bandages when I'm out and if you want we can just hang out in the guild hall this evening." He said, doing his best to keep his voice not as husky as it was attempting to.
He barely recieved a nod from Levy before he disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him quickly.
