Chapter 4: A reminder of the past Part 1

Flashback:

"Lucy!" Rogue cried out as he tried to reach out for Lucy's hand.

"Hmph. What a piece of crap. I can't believe that you two are the so-called dragon slayer bodyguards of the Heartfilia's and are the ones who defeated my best men" said the guy kicking the wounded Rogue through the side while in his hands was the unconscious Lucy, bleeding.

Rogue still stood up even though he was badly injured, determine to defeat the guy no matter what happens. Rogue turned around looking at the injured Sting as he too tried to stand up after being beaten up so badly. The two boys were determine to get Lucy even if it means risking their lives.

"We won't let you hurt Lucy-chan." Sting said as he started to charge towards the guy. But to his dismay, the man quickly dodged him and kicked Sting in his stomach which made the boy to cough up blood.

"Is that the best thing you can do?" said the guy glaring daggers at both boys. Then the man mercilessly threw Lucy in the side making her to bleed even more. Rogue couldn't stand the fact that his friends were being beaten up mercilessly and that they were already coughing up blood from the severe beating. Suddenly, the man started to kick Lucy heartlessly while cursing the Heartfilia name in front of her saying that the Heartfilias are weak and disgraceful scum in this world. After watching him beating up his beloved friends, Rogue finally snapped.

"Who are you calling weak and disgraceful?" Rogue said standing behind the man as his eyes were covered by his bangs. The man was too arrogant that he thought he could hit him again but to his surprise Rogue wasn't at his back anymore.

"Looking for me?" Rogue said facing at the man as his face was now covered by dragon scales. The man got a bit scared but still remained arrogant as he thought that the boy was just scaring him. When the man was about to attack again, he saw that Rogue and Lucy wasn't at his back again. He turned around again and saw Rogue carrying the unconscious Lucy in his arms. Before attacking the man, he carefully placed Lucy next to Sting brushing her hair whispering "It'll be all over soon" before he went off. Rogue was just standing at his position while looking at the man with hatred written in his eyes. The man just snickered thinking it was a great opportunity to hit him but…

"This if for hurting Lucy-chan!" Rogue said clashing his bare hands at the man's stomach.

"This is for hurting me and Sting!" Rogue shouted clashing another attack at the man's body.

"And most of all, this is for saying mean things about the Heartfilia's!" Rogue said giving out his last attack. Seeing that he successfully defeated the man with just three hits, Rogue turned around and walked towards his injured friends. While they were fighting, Sting regained consciousness and was amazed at Rogue's victory.

"Let's go home now, shall we?" Rogue said smiling at Sting. After helping Sting up, both boys carried Lucy's injured body towards home.

After a lot of explaining and medical attention, the two were finally okay expect for Lucy who was still in a comma after beaten up so badly. It has been 5 days since that day yet Rogue was still feeling guilty just by looking at Lucy's bruises and bandages.

"This is all my fault. I should better leave the mansion before anything else happens to her." Rogue said still feeling guilty at Lucy's condition. When Rogue was about to leave the room, he felt a strong grip on his hand. He turned around and saw Lucy holding onto his hands tightly.

"You know she can still hear you?" Sting said leaning on the wall acting all cool and stuff. Sting walked towards Rogue putting his good arm on Rogue's shoulder since his other arm was in a cast. Sting gave a reassuring look at Rogue that made Rogue feel at ease.

"You shouldn't feel guilty at all since it was both our faults that we were unable to save her. Don't keep the burden all to yourself that what makes Lucy-chan to worry about you more." Sting said trying to comfort his friend. Rogue couldn't help but cry after Sting comforted him. Rogue doesn't want this to happen again so he promised to himself that he'll always protect Lucy.

* Present time*

"I won't let that happen again." Rogue said still carrying the unconscious Frosch in his arms.

"So that's what Rogue meant when he said "again"." Lector said after listening to Sting's explanation. Sting nodded as he kept running after his partner.

It was already sunset when the four finally reached to a harbor that was near Star Island. Because of the dragon slayer's motion sickness, Sting thought that they could just swim for Star Island since it was so just 9 meters away from where they're standing.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Sting." Rogue said stopping the white dragon slayer from his attempt.

"That island has another name other than Star Island." Rogue said calmly.

"It's also known as Dream Island, the water that surrounds it makes you dream pleasant dreams or illusions that your heart desires for 3 days straight while the clouds above it could make you dream nightmares while you sleep for 3 days. That's the reason why everybody takes a boat since that's the only way they can travel to it." Rogue explained making the other dragon slayer looked at him.

"So I guess we're taking a boat." Sting said as his face twitched, not wanting to take any transportation. Rogue just nodded nonchalantly as usual.

Both dragon slayers and their exceed, (A/N: since Frosch was still unconscious, I didn't include her) took a long time to search for a boat but there were no fishermen who wanted to assist them. As they were about to give up, a masked man walked towards them offering a free boat ride. The man looked really suspicious; he didn't really look like a kind of guy who would just offer free boat rides without anything in return but since Lucy's in trouble, they didn't have a choice but to accept the man's offer.

It only had only been five minutes since they got in the boat and Sting was already feeling queasy making him puke a bit in his mouth even though Rogue also has motion sickness, the boat ride didn't made him that queasy like Sting. The two dragon slayers were put in a small bedroom inside the boat. They were forced to stay in the room until they finally reached Star Island. It's already been hours since Frosch was asleep so Rogue gently put her on the bed so that she can sleep better. An hour has passed and yet the two dragon slayers were still on the boat, Rogue felt like that the man might have forgotten about them so Rogue tried to look for him. As he twist the doorknob, Frosch suddenly regained conscious, Rogue quickly release his grip from the knob and went towards his exceed.

"Are you okay, Frosch?" Rogue said, gently smiling at his partner. Frosch nodded looking up to her partner's face.

"Fro, wants to know what happened to miss Lucy?" Frosch said, looking at the room curious to know where they were.

"Don't worry, Fro. Lucy will be alright." Rogue said reassuring that Frosch won't get too worried about Lucy. A sudden knock was heard at their door, the masked man gently opened the door telling them that they'll be arriving at Star Island any minute then he left the room immediately. Frosch looked a little bit shocked at the man's face since it was the same guy who took Lucy.

"Fro thinks that man was involved in kidnapping miss Lucy."

Frosch got the attention of the three after saying that the man was involved in capturing Lucy. Sting and Rogue were about to open the door when the boat suddenly moved faster, making the two dragon slayers to feel queasy again.

"We're here. You can…" The masked man stopped talking when he saw that the two dragon slayers were lying on the floor, feeling too sick to move. Since their partners were still knocked down, the two exceeds had no choice but to carry them out of the boat. When Lector and Frosch finally put their partners on the sandy beach, the boat behind them suddenly disappeared into thin air. After feeling better, the two dragon slayers started to look around if there was anyone on the island.

"Seems like no one really lives here, huh?" Sting said looking at Rogue who still hasn't given up on searching.

When Sting had gotten tired, he mindlessly leaned on a tree which triggered an opening through the jungle. As it was triggered, torches were lit up magically, showing a pathway to who knows where. Each torch was lit up as the dragon slayers and their exceeds continued to walk through the pathway until they finally reached a building.

"Etoile? Doesn't that word sound familiar to you?" Sting said reading the sign on the building.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit familiar." Rogue said rubbing his chin, thinking where and when they have heard the word before.

"Welcome Sting… Rogue… it's been a long time isn't it?" a blonde man said appearing on top of the building.

"Who the hell are you?" Sting shouted.

"Tsk… tsk… tsk… how could you forget about me?" the man said.

"I bet you even forgot about my dear father and how you brutally killed him."

"It can't be… it's that you… Blake?" Rogue said trembling at how shock he was seeing an old friend, an old ex-friend. Sting's eye widened hearing an old friend's name.

"No way! It's Blake… Blake Etoile."

To be continued…

I'm super sorry if it took me a bit longer than before...
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I hope I didn't made you guys wait for so long...

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Hope you enjoy this chapter and also hope you can review it X3