Here's Rogue and Sting's side of the events in Chapter 3.
Special thanks goes out to ChaoticDucky, for being an awesome friend and letting me bounce ideas off of you. Seriously, this story would not be as good without you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or the characters. Just the awkwardness. Possibly the giant spider.
Every day, just a little bit more than the last, Rogue comes to a greater understanding as to just why Future Rogue murders Sting.
On this particular day, it isn't so much what Sting has done that has Rogue balancing on the rim of his chair, ready to bolt or defend as the situation dictates. Sting is always up to something and occasionally his surprises are beneficial for Sabertooth – the pool, namely (that the exuberant blonde had managed to slip its construction past the rest of the guild would always perplex Rogue).
No; what has Rogue worried is the fact that he doesn't yet know just what it is that Sting has done. Because he's clearly done something. The bovaristic Guild Master was being uncharacteristically… quiet today. This unconscious behavior pattern of Sting's is usually an indicator that he's waiting to see if Rogue has uncovered his latest act of chicanery. Rogue is loathe to inform the blonde of his tell – because then Rogue would have no forewarning whatsoever that something was about to go horribly, horribly wrong in his life. He needs that minor alert.
The Shadow Dragon Slayer would never forget the day he returned from a solo mission only to find the Guild Hall in flames because apparently Sting had thought it was a fantastic idea to unleash a Holy Nova attack – indoors. To eliminate a spider. Granted, the arachnid had been of equine proportions but there are other methods better suited to dealing with the problem. Also, Rogue remains fairly certain Sting had been the culprit behind the beast's infiltration of the Guild Hall in the first place – although the exact logistics behind how the blonde managed the feat still elude him.
The suspense is killing him; whatever it is Sting has done hadn't manifested itself yet which could only mean that it was either harmless or catastrophic. Experience left Rogue inclined to think it was the latter.
However, Sting's desire for his latest endeavor to remain a mystery did not preclude his imperative to be as obnoxious as possible. The only noticeable difference from his normal behavior was the relative silence in which he attempts to goad Rogue into feats of shocking violence against his person.
Rogue winces as a paper airplane – crafted from only the finest reports yet to be delivered to the Magic Council – crashes into the side of his head with greater force than such a flimsy object should be capable of. This is not Sting's first feat of aerial vehicle engineering that morning, the failed designs littering the floor between Rogue's desk and his.
As he bends to pick up the fallen construct, another sails over the place where his head was a moment ago. Although Rogue on some level appreciates the quiet time Sting's sneakiness affords, he could only remain patient for so long with the blonde. The stoic Dragon Slayer is coming to the end of his rope at breakneck speed and if something isn't done to curb the homicidal feelings inside of him Sting is the one who will end up at the end of a rope.
It chafes that Rogue can't even lob a proper death threat at his partner these days thanks to Future Rogue's antics. In fact, much to Rogue's consternation, Sting often refers to the whole incident as "Rogue's Great Shit Fit."
Unfurling the paper construction and smoothening out the creases reveals the original document to be a report Rogue had written himself the night prior.
The Magic Council is already eying the Sabertooth Guild with wariness – fearing it to be the second coming of Fairy Tail. They were already rather suspicious of Sting's sudden ascent to becoming the Master of the Guild. With Jiemma and Minerva's disappearance combined with Sting's pre-GMG reputation Rogue knows the Council, on some level, suspects foul play. They aren't exactly… wrong, either.
Although the joke is still on the Council. If outright murder were to occur within Sabertooth, it's going to originate from Rogue, with Sting as the intended victim. And there is no need to worry about Sabertooth being a second Fairy Tail – after all, the spider incident had occurred almost two full years prior to Fairy Tail's return. Whereas Fairy Tail's Master Makarov at least attempts to restrain his brats, Sabertooth's Master Sting is the problem and the guild is full of enablers.
It's been a very… stressful month for the Shadow Dragon Slayer and unofficial second-in-command of Sabertooth.
And now he will have to conjure reasons that the Magic Council will accept as to why the documents being turned in have so many crinkles, folds, creases, and mysterious food stains.
He isn't looking forward to that.
It is still more preferable than confronting his other blonde problem.
Lucy Heartfilia.
Rogue has no idea how to proceed in his interactions with the Fairy Tail Mage. She confounds him even more than Sting does. Their last encounter left him feeling… well, he still isn't entirely sure what or how he feels about it. His lack of experience in interacting with people who aren't Sting or Frosch prevents him from drawing any solid conclusions.
He is fairly certain that 'maelstrom' is not, in fact, an actual emotion – though it seems to fit quite well with what he's feeling.
He really ought to pull himself together and dredge up the courage to make the short journey to Fairy Tail to visit. She probably requires a replacement cloak, if her problem with the nightmares persists.
However, he is reluctant to make a colossal embarrassment of himself. And there is little doubt in his mind that he will.
If only the woman hadn't insisted on complimenting him throughout their last exchange.
Rogue understands the mistakenly given flattery in regards to the scent on his cloaks. It is a difficult concept to convey to those who aren't Dragon Slayers so he isn't going to interpret the statement as he would like to.
It was the other, definitely intentional compliments that she'd bestowed upon him that leave him in emotional turmoil.
That he wasn't a bother. That she enjoyed talking to him. The comment about his smile had nearly broken his composure entirely leaving him to… stutter in front her.
Even her simple, "It's nice to see you two again," he deeply appreciates. For goodness' sake, if he's misconstruing simple pleasantries there really is no hope for him.
Her remark about the cloak scent was bad enough but her sniffing it was just the final nail in his coffin.
That was without taking into consideration the lengths she went to for Frosch's sake. In both reassuring the Exceed about having gotten lost and for assisting Frosch when Rogue could not intervene in his friend's defense.
Rogue also knew an uncomfortable amount about Lucy's life now, thanks to Yukino's long-winded ovations about the other Celestial Mage's good points. Speeches he found himself listening to more often than he cared to tune them out. The man doubts the Fairy Tail Mage is quite aware of just how deep Yukino's case of hero-worship runs.
And Sting is intently watching him from his side of the office, as Rogue has been staring at the single report in front of him for over ten minutes already.
Yukino thankfully interrupts before Sting can begin interrogating his partner. She strides into the room, Frosch perched upon her shoulder. "Sting-sama, Rogue-sama, I brought the post."
"Rogue!" Frosch cries, launching itself into the air and hurtling towards Rogue's desk. It lands amongst the stacks of paperwork, sending them skittering every which way. "Rogue got a package!" it announces, oblivious to the devastation it's wreaked.
The content of the Exceed's pronouncement is unusual enough for Rogue to put his thoughts of woeful, tedious reorganizing aside. "A package?" he questions, glancing at Yukino. "From whom?" He never receives mail of any note – just complaint letters and job requests.
The silver-haired mage is restraining a devious smile, he can tell. "From Lucy-sama!"
Sting, who up until this point was keenly interested in the proceedings, suddenly looks like he would rather be going a second round with Scissor Runner than remain in the room for another moment. "Hey, um, Yukino!" he nervously addresses his guild mate. "I just remembered some… uh… errands I need to run in town! Care to join me?" Sweat is pouring down his face.
She smiles indulgently at him. "Sure," she agrees. "But first, I want to see what Lucy-sama sent Rogue-sama." And then she turns back to Rogue with an expectant look, handing over the parcel to the dumbstruck Shadow Dragon Slayer.
He stares back at the bright, happy expression Yukino has directed at him. She clearly isn't going to go anywhere until he opens the thing. There is no way Rogue is getting out of this.
With a small sigh of defeat, Rogue opens the parcel.
It's his cloak, freshly laundered. Two small notes rest upon the dark fabric; one of which smells like Lucy, and the other, Natsu.
Rogue unfolds Lucy's note and reads it silently.
Rogue,
Thank you for sending me the replacement cloak. Your timing is wonderful; the last just lost its scent. I cleaned the other one for you. However, I would like to know what else I can do to show my gratitude. You're an awesome friend.
Sincerely,
Lucy
P.S.: Whatever Natsu has written, don't take too much to heart. He's just a bit overprotective, sometimes. Or maybe all the time.
P.P.S: By the way, how did you get my home address?
Rogue glances up from the note, spying Sting as the Dragon Slayer sneaks towards the door and freedom. "Sting," he calmly asks, "Where are you going?"
Sting freezes in his tracks, feeling more like prey than the apex predator he normally is. "Um… I have errands, remember?"
His partner grinds his teeth together. "Lucy wrote me a thank you note for sending her a cloak."
"Oh? That's nice of you, and her."
"Yes, except," Rogue fixes his crimson eyes on Sting's cerulean ones, "I did no such thing."
Sting fidgets in place, something Rogue has never seen him do before. "Are you sure? Maybe you just forgot?"
Rogue blinks, unhurried in his pursuit of Sting's confession. "Not a chance."
Calling it quits on the charade, Sting throws his hands up. "Alright! Fine! I admit it; I snuck into your room last night and stole one of your cloaks. Then I mailed it to Blondie." He crosses his arms in a defensive posture, and then continues, "Because you clearly weren't going to do anything about getting her another one, yourself. I heard you guys talking last week – she said it helps with the nightmares. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what those are about. What were you planning on doing, besides? Just ignoring the problem until it goes away?"
That had kind of had been the plan, yes.
The admonishment in Sting's voice, though light, cuts Rogue deep. "Why do you care?" he growls.
"You're my friend," Sting explains with a roll of his eyes. "And Blondie's pretty cool; anyone who can keep up with Natsu-san for a partner is alright in my book. Plus, I kind of owe her for laughing during the Naval Battle so I thought I'd help her out this time." The Dragon Slayer then has the temerity to glare at Rogue. "You should have done this yourself. Grow some balls and talk to the girl. Every Dragon Slayer in the room heard you two, anyway. There's nothing to be embarrassed about."
Rogue is extremely irritated with his friend but the logic behind Sting's actions isn't something he can willfully ignore. And though his friend had been crude about it, he was right. Rogue should have done something before now.
"Fro thinks so, too!" the little Exceed interjects helpfully.
Sensing Rogue's acquiescence, Sting suggests, "Why don't you write her a reply, and set up a time and place to meet? I'll take it to the post office for you." He glances at Yukino, the Celestial Mage wearing a befuddled expression. "I'll explain what's going on along the way, Yukino. I promise."
She nods at him, and hands a pen and stationary over to Rogue. "Here, Rogue-sama."
"Thank you, Yukino." Rogue eyes the stationary like it might attack him. A quick glance at the note from Lucy does not reveal a plan of action to him. "How do I…?"
Sting throws his arms up into the air again. "Un-fucking-believable," he groans, striding back to his desk and plunking himself down in his chair. "This is gonna take all friggin' afternoon."
"Fro thinks so, too!"
Rogue lets out an almost inaudible growl of frustration – directed solely towards the other Dragon Slayer.
Giggling, Yukino pulls up a chair. "Why don't I help you, Rogue-sama? Lucy-sama is a good friend of mine, as well."
"All. Friggin'. Afternoon," Sting repeats, leaning his chair back dangerously.
The blonde mage doesn't notice the small shadow that knocks the chair legs completely over, as he's too busy squawking while he collapses to the floor, limbs flailing.
Contrary to Sting's assertion, they finish one very frustrating hour later with over ten discarded drafts and rather bruised egos.
All that was left to tackle was the post scripts.
Opening up Natsu's note, Rogue read it quietly before snorting in amusement.
Rogue,
I hope you realize that Luce is special. Hurt her, and you will never get the opportunity to become Future Rogue.
Otherwise, good luck.
Natsu
Rogue was rather impressed by the fact Natsu even knew the word ' opportunity', let alone that he'd managed to spell it correctly.
So that was the first post script taken care of.
As for the second…
It begs the question as to how exactly Sting knew Lucy's home address.
Because he hadn't asked Yukino.
"Sting-sama?" the silver-haired mage ventures. "How did you come by Lucy-sama's home address?"
"Hah?" Sting responds intelligently, looking up from his latest project. While they had been busy with the letter, he'd been bedecking himself in an impressively long paper-clip chain.
How… productive.
He blinks at them for a moment, thinking. "Oh! Blondie's address! That's right…" he trails off, before continuing, "Yeah… funny story about that actually…"
"On second thought," Rogue quickly interrupts, "I don't want to know."
"Are you sure?" Sting asks, peering at his friend quizzically. "It's a pretty good story. Jason –"
"No, thank you," Rogue repeats, firm. He doesn't want to be implicated in whatever skullduggery Sting has perpetrated in order to acquire the information.
"Suit yourself," Sting shrugs. After they scrawl the post scripts, Sting demands, "Give me!" holding out his hand to proofread the letter.
He sighs heavily at it. "You two are real sticks in the mud, aren't you?" Whipping out a pen of his own, he swiftly scribbles something at the bottom. Folding and tucking the note into an envelope, it's out of sight before Rogue can even see what his partner had tacked on. "You coming, Yukino?"
Yukino nods at him. "Sure, Sting-sama." She glances at Rogue and Frosch. "Are the two of you coming as well?"
"Yeah, that's a great idea." Sting grins at the pair. "Let's get Lector too, and then we'll all go out for ice cream."
Rogue exchanges a glance with the Exceed. "Go ahead," he urges his friend. "Have fun; I have some things I need to do here."
Frosch nods. "Okay, Rogue." It flies over to Yukino and settles on her head this time.
Waiting until they leave, Rogue tucks away the two notes into his cloak for safekeeping. Grabbing the returned one, he holds it up to his nose. Wondering if the still lingering scent of the girl on the cloth would banish his own looming specters.
"Sting-sama?" Yukino inquires after they've walked some distance from the Guild Hall. "You were going to tell me what's going on between Rogue-sama and Lucy-sama?"
Deep in contemplation, tapping the letter against his cheek, Sting responds with, "Hmm? Oh, right. Well, it seems Blondie has been having nightmares, and Rogue's been lending her his cloaks to help get rid of them. That's pretty much it, really."
She puffs out her cheeks. "Thanks, but I've already gathered that much." Sighing at his noncommittal shrug, she then smiles to herself. "I think Rogue-sama might have a little crush on Lucy-sama."
Sting laughs. "Yeah, well, good for him. He deserves to be happy. Although," he suddenly frowns, "I'm not sure how I feel about it being Blondie."
"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with Lucy-sama!"
"Whoa, calm down, there." He attempts to placate Yukino, the Celestial Mage's hackles rising. "There's nothing wrong with Blondie herself. That's not what has me worried. Makarov told me…" He pauses, eyeing the trio staring at him with eager gazes. "What I'm about to say doesn't get repeated to Rogue, got it? Bad enough that I'm talking to you about it."
Only after he receives their assent does he continue. "Apparently, Future Rogue hurt Blondie pretty badly. Not directly, but mentally."
Yukino understood the damage mental warfare could do, from her own humiliation after her loss at the Grand Magic Games.
Sting rubs the back of his neck. "You were aware that another version of Blondie came back through time, right? Well, apparently Future Rogue murdered her. In front of Blondie. She died in Blondie's arms."
The Celestial Mage stops walking at the revelation, her eyes going wide in horror. She raises a hand to her mouth, afraid she's going to be sick.
After a couple of moments, Sting notices that Yukino's not following him anymore. "Yukino?" He strides up to where she's standing in the middle of the street.
"I thought," she begins, still not really seeing what lies before her. "I thought that Future Lucy just went back to her own time, like the dragons and Future Rogue. I didn't realize…" She chokes, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I didn't realize that she was dead." A deep inhale later, and she's composes herself. Wiping the tears away, she looks up at Sting's concerned face. "I'm fine. Let's keep going."
Frosch pats Yukino's head, and she smiles. "Thanks, Frosch-sama. So, Rogue-sama doesn't know, then?" She starts to walk alongside her companion again. "That doesn't seem fair. He has a right to know."
Sting sighs. "Blondie and Natsu-san begged me not to tell him, because he could be hurt by it. They didn't like Makarov telling me but I'm Rogue's Guild Master so they couldn't do a thing about it. I promised them I wouldn't. I just don't want Rogue to, you know, fall for the girl if she won't be able to see past Future Rogue."
Yukino's giggles startle the White Dragon Slayer. "So in the end, you're just a guy worried that the girl his best friend likes won't like him back."
"I guess so."
They walk in silence for a few minutes. "Sting-sama, I don't think you need to worry. Lucy-sama is a Celestial Mage like me. She doesn't break promises, for her word is her magic. If she says that she forgives him, then she truly does."
Sting snorts at that. "If you say so, Yukino."
"I do. So what did you write on Rogue-sama's reply letter?"
Sting grins at her. "Just giving them a little push in the right direction."
When the answering letter appears on her apartment doorstep, Lucy is entertaining Natsu again. She still hasn't visited the guild since the debacle from yesterday. Happy is nowhere in evidence yet, which means Mirajane is probably prying him for further details.
She opens up the letter while Natsu raids her fridge.
Lucy,
You are welcome, and I am glad that the replacement cloak reached you with such good timing. However, it was not I who sent it – Sting overheard our conversation last week at Fairy Tail and took it upon himself to remove it from my care and send it to you. Your thanks should be directed towards him for his forethought. I would like to meet up with you next week to perform the next exchange in person. I am unable to leave the guild for extended periods, so perhaps you could come to Sabertooth?
Your friend,
Rogue
P.S.: Please inform Natsu-san that I shall comply with his request.
P.P.S: Sting acquired your address from Yukino.
Somehow, Lucy thinks that last line is a blatant lie but she's not going to pursue it.
At the bottom of the note, something else is scrawled in a very different handwriting.
Rogue likes chocolate.
-Sting
She smiles at it. It's given her an idea. "Hey, Natsu. Rogue says he'll do what you asked him."
"Good!" he calls from the depths of her refrigerator.
"We're going grocery shopping!"
"Okay!"
She's going to need supplies, after all.
Don't worry, there is more to this. It's going to take a couple more chapters yet to reach the Date prompt, as I need it to occur at a specific time. Drop a review and let me know your favorite parts. Who knows, maybe some things will show up again. (Like that statue.)