An: I have learned that I don't really like writing arguments; I always seem to second guess myself when I have it all typed up, like this chapter.

Hope you enjoy.

Sting POV

The moment we climbed down the cliff it started pouring as if it was a sign that we should be staying with Blondie. It didn't seem to bother Rogue though; he just continued to stomp through the forest, making his way to where we had previously been camped. Frosch and Lector weren't any happier than I was at being stuck in the rain, not when there was a perfectly clean and DRY cave. Why we didn't find a different area of the cave away from Blondie I had no clue, all I knew was that Rogue was determined to put some distance between them, after we had gone through all this trouble to find her as quickly as possible.

Looking down at Lector and Frosch and seeing how badly they were shivering I decided to speak up. Pulling Rogue to a stop and avoiding his fist I slammed him onto his back and held him down with my foot. "We need to go back to the cave. Lector and Frosch are freezing, and if we continue like this we'll get sick. All of the hotels are closed now, and we can't bother the mayor for a place to sleep since Blondie needs to be the one to return to him, especially if we are going to get rid of any doubts about her S-class status." Removing my foot from his soaked chest I offered him a hand up, "come on, we can find an area in the cave away from her and sleep there. But you're going to have to get over your anger, especially if we want to join her on her way back to her guild."

At that Rogue's head snapped up to look at me, "You get it now right? She's not returning to Sabertooth, she took ALL of her stuff, so there is nothing for her to go back for. I may not completely understand what your fascination with her is but I do understand that you want to be around her, and for that to happen you have to man up. I'm not saying you have to forgive her right away, just that you have to talk to her. Listen to what she has to say, and maybe say your piece too." When he still hadn't made a move to get up I tried something else. "If you won't do it for your sake or hers then do it for Frosch." I said pointing to our two friends who were shivering under a particularly large leaf as they watched us. At that moment the leaf collapsed and spilled all of the water it had collected onto their heads, soaking them further and making them cry out and run under another leaf.

Feeling pressure on my hand I pulled him up and patted him on the back before I slipped Lector into the opening of my vest and hunched over to try to keep him warm and dry. Rogue was a second behind me, doing the same for Frosch. Making our way back to the cave was harder than before, instead of solid ground the forest's floor had turned muddy and slippery. With each step we took we would either almost lose our balance or get our foot caught in a mud hole. Once we were at the base of the cliff we looked down at our exceeds and realized that they wouldn't be able to fly us back up there like last time, and that we would have to climb up ourselves.

Dreading the climb ahead of us we both swung our bags off of our backs and gently put Frosch and Lector into them, leaving an opening for them to breathe through. Putting them back on, we began our accent. It was worse than walking through the forest; every rock, branch and niche was wet and didn't allow us to get that good of a grip. Barely five feet up something hit my head, looking up towards the entrance I saw Blondie's head poking out and over the ledge with her whip in her hand. If it weren't for our Dragon Slayer hearing I doubt we would have been able to hear her over the squall.

"Grab on, I'll pull you up!" she shouted down to us.

Looking doubtfully to the whip then to her I grabbed ahold of it with both hands. Feeling myself being pulled up a lot faster than I had expected I looked up and saw that Blondie wasn't doing the pulling and that her whip was doing the work. When we reached the top, the whip slowed down and stopped. Grabbing onto Loke's outstretched hand I pulled myself into the cave with his help.

"Thanks man." I said to Loke as I took in their set up. Lucy had a comfortable looking sleeping pad next to the wall; it was made out of a pink fluffy material that was a few inches thick, whereas the blanket was a thinner version of the bed. Near the bed there was a fire going that lit up the cave and warmed it surprisingly well. Taking off my backpack quickly, I pulled Lector out and brought him closer to the fire.

"Sting, use the blanket from the bed to help warm yourself and Lector up." Lucy said distractedly as she leaned back over the ledge to assist Rogue.

Doing as she suggested I left him by the fire and got the blanket to cover him up.

"Rogue grab on!" I heard Lucy yell. "Rogue!"

Leaving lector to warm up I ran to the ledge and leaned over next to Lucy, to see that Rogue was stubbornly climbing the cliff side, ignoring the whip that was hanging next to him. "Tell him to stop being an idiot and to grab the whip so I can help him up Sting!" Lucy said without turning to me.

Sighing in frustration I wanted to go down there and knock some sense into my partner. It was strange now that our roles were reversed. For once he was letting his emotions rule him, instead of bottling them all in and remaining stoic. Cupping my hands around to make my voice louder, just to annoy him, I shouted. "Rogue, stop being a so damn stubborn! Remember what we talked about before we came back, man up and stop acting like a spoiled child!" I knew he heard my amplified voice by the way he winced and glared in my direction with unseeing eyes, unseeing because of the rain kept pouring into them.

For a second I thought he would ignore me and he would have if it weren't for a small hand that crept out of the bag on his back and touched his shoulder. When he turned his head to look at the hand his expression softened and I could see the moment he gave in. Reluctantly he latched onto the whip and let Lucy tow him up. When he reached the top he grunted his thanks to Lucy and took my offered hand. Like me, the first thing he did was tend to Frosch; he removed her costume and hung it over a rock that was nearby so it would be dry for the coming day, he then tucked her under the blanket with Lector so she could warm up. Once she was all taken care of he sat down next to the two and tended to himself. I turned away when I saw that he was taking off his clothes to wring them out and hang them next to Fro's costume.

Glancing at Blondie I saw that her eyes were glued to where I had just been looking. When she figured out that I had caught her staring her cheeks reddened and she quickly averted her eyes. Watching her now I saw her thank her spirit before she told him he could go. Nodding to Loke myself I watched as he disappeared.

Lucy POV

Crap, how could I let Sting catch me staring at Rogue? But then how could I resist staring at him. The definition of his back muscles was drool worthy; the way they moved as he drew his grey shirt over his head had me mentally fanning myself. No one could have guessed that under all the clothes he wore was a body to envy or lust over. His normally messy hair was slightly tamed and when he pushed it all back away from his face I stepped to the side to get a good look at his whole face for a the first time. With part of his face covered every day I had never seen it all and I loved every second of it. If it weren't for the fact that we are fighting right now I probably would have sat across from him at the fire and just stared at his exposed face. But since we were I was regulated to admiring him from afar.

Releasing a sigh of remorse at having to stop staring at him I walked up to Sting. "I'm assuming you guys are staying here tonight?" I asked quietly, so I wouldn't disturb the sleeping exceeds.

"Yeah we are if that's alright. But we don't have any of our gear since we left it back at the camp when we heard you yelling, by now it's soaked through."

Nodding I looked around the cave and walked over to the opposite side of the fire, far enough away to not worry about it catching on fire, but close enough so they would be warmed by it. Avoiding looking at Rogue, I ran my hand over my keys and summoned Aries.

"Hey Aries can you please make two more beds for Sting and Rogue?" I asked once she appeared.

Acknowledging my request with a nod she did as I asked. "I hope they are to your liking. I'm So-." She abruptly cut off her apology and looked at me. Seeing her look of concern I smiled at her and walked over to give her a hug.

"Thank you Aries they're perfect, and good job on catching that apology." I said as I released her from the hug and kept her at arm's length so I could see her face. "You never have to apologize for anything with me… well unless you become like Aquarius and attack me along with the enemy, then an apology would be nice but never necessary."

At the sound of her soft giggle my smile brightened and I hugged her again. She's so adorable! Backing away from her I waved. "I'll see you later Aries and thank you again."

Turning back to the others I watched as Sting moved towards one of the beds and plopped down on it, sighing at how comfortable it was. I saw Rogue staring at the bed in longing but when he caught me looking at him he snorted and turned back to what he was doing.

"This fight is beyond stupid Rogue! You're mad at me because I was protecting my family and I'm mad at you for being mad at me. Can't you understand why I didn't want to tell you at first what guild I was in? I had no clue if we were allies, or if you were one of the guilds that were tormenting my guild while I was away. The members who weren't frozen in time for seven years have had to put up with so much crap from 'stronger' guilds that I wanted to make sure that you guys wouldn't cause more trouble for them, us. Yes I could have told you earlier, yes I could have not accidentally let it slip without warning you, but it never came up in our conversations after the second week, and after that I didn't think of it again. So that's why I didn't tell you! I won't apologize for doing what's best for my family." He looked at me briefly before he went back to fiddling with something in his bag.

Irritated with his lack of response I picked up the nearest thing, which happened to be one of Sting's shoes, and chucked it at his head. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Surprisingly the shoe hit its intended target. Although I was happy that I was able to get his attention I was worried when I heard his annoyed growl. "You want me to say something? Fine!" He said as he sprung to his feet, throwing his bag on the ground as he faced me. "You have acted irresponsibly with no regard to your safety or anyone else's. This mission was supposed to have two S-class mages complete it, not one mage. By doing this mission you have broken several laws that are punishable by large fines and imprisonment for those involved. If you had been discovered it wouldn't just be you that got into trouble, our guild would have been fined along with you. It would have also damaged our hard won reputation.

"In addition to that you didn't trust me AGAIN. You just up and left without a word. How do you think that made me feel? An entire month you've been with us and you didn't feel it was necessary to at least say goodbye or leave me a note?" He said as he flailed his arms around and glared at me. "God, what does it take to get you to trust someone? Do I have to lose a limb or something dramatic like that? No I got it, how about I kidnap you and beat you until you're black and blue. That's how Gajeel did it, isn't it? I mean you trust him enough to have your back in a fight and be a part of the same guild right?"

"Do I trust Gajeel? Yes I do, but he EARNED that trust by protecting not only my best friend but the whole guild. He knew that everyone was wary of him when he joined and he still made an effort. It's more than I can say for you. We talked; you encouraged me when I was training but you never told me anything about your past or your secrets. How do you know about my past with Gajeel, hmmm?" Shaking my head at him I lowered my voice until it was barely audible, "you're not the guy I thought you were Rogue. I did trust you, but now I wish I had never let you in."

Ignoring Frosch who was walking towards me, I walked deeper into the caves without looking back. If he wanted to act all high and mighty, far be it for me to tell him otherwise. He could stand on his pedestal for as long as he liked but eventually he'll notice that he's just like everyone else; flawed.

Stopping in a random section of the cave I slid down the wall and sat with my knees drawn up to my chest and rested my head on them. How did it get so bad? We were just supposed to yell a little and get over this. I thought with a sigh. Maybe I should go back… I still trust him, I don't know why I said that I wished that I hadn't let him in. Maybe it was to hurt him like his words had hurt me.

Rogue POV

"That was low Rogue, really low." Sting whispered from his bed.

"Whatever Sting." I said, even though I was looking at the path she had just taken, hoping that she'd return.

"I most definitely meant work it out Rogue, not fuck it up, when I told you to man up."

"Shut up."

"I mean seriously, did you really think that was the best way to handle it? You're usually so level headed."

"I said shut up Sting."

"Honestly that-"

Turning to him I growled. "I know, alright! I went overboard, is that what you want to hear? I shouldn't have mentioned Gajeel or what he did to her. It just came out. You heard her; she wishes that she never let me in. I can't fix that." I said in defeat.

"You'll never know unless you try."

"Fro thinks so too."

Looking at Fro's sleepy, smiling face I decided to try. It's not like I can make the situation worse.

Following her scent down many twists and turns through various parts of the cave I thought of what I wanted to say. I had everything down by the time I found her, but the moment I saw her huddled figure sitting on the ground my mind blanked.

"Lucy?" I whispered. Not getting a response from her I sat down next to her and bumped her shoulder with mine. "I'm sorry Lucy. I was just so worried that we wouldn't make it in time and that you would get hurt or worse, that I let my anger get the best of me. To be honest I was hurt that you didn't tell me about Fairy Tail sooner, but if I was in your position I wouldn't have revealed it right off the back either."

The silence between us seemed to last forever, but in reality it was only a couple of minutes. Willing to sit in there in silence I waited. After a couple more minutes of both of us just sitting there I felt her head land on my shoulder. Assuming she had nodded off I looked at her face and was surprised to see her staring back at me.

"I'm sorry too. I didn't know that there was any risk to your guild for borrowing the request. And I'm sorry that I said I didn't trust you, because I do." She said with a tiny smile. "Will you tell me how you know about Phantom Lord?"

"Uh… Yeah, I guess." I said startled by her request. Taking a deep breath I began. "My real name is Ryos, not Rogue. I changed it after Phantom Lord disbanded, because I didn't want any reminders of my fallen role model. Ryos was Gajeel's biggest fan, and brother, and I didn't want to be that anymore.

"I was just a lowly lackey back then, not even a real member of the guild. I ran around doing all kinds of errands for the S-Class Mages and master, in hopes that one day they would let me join. The day you were kidnapped I was sent on an errand two towns over, but when the train was halfway to my destination I overheard that Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord had started a war and I hopped off of the train to run to Magnolia.

"When I got there I was surprised to see the giant robot. But since I had been in and out of the master's office tons of times, I had seen the schematics of the building and knew the way to get in; the air ducts.

"Using my fledgling dragon senses I made my way to the room Gajeel was in. For the first time since I had met him I was afraid of him. He was mercilessly beating you, hitting you harder each time you insulted him or refused to cry out. During your beating is when I vowed I'd become stronger than Gajeel to get revenge for you. I admired you for standing up to him at every turn and not crying out. Ever since that day I've tried to find you, but you disappeared so soon after that, that I gave up looking after a year and decided to focus on training for the day Gajeel returned.

"I wish I had at least tried to stop him that day, maybe you wouldn't have gotten so hurt." I said hanging my head in shame.

Her fingers under my chin dragged by head up so she could look into my eyes. "Although that's a nice thought I wouldn't have wanted you to. You were what, eleven or twelve? You wouldn't have been able to do much back then, no offense, and I would have just stepped in between the two of you if he had tried to hurt you." When I looked at her in confusion, wondering why she would try to protect someone she had never met before she laughed. "You were a child Rogue, children shouldn't be beaten. Even if I didn't know you I would have tried to protect you."

I shook my head at her in disbelief. "You really don't have any self-preservation do you?"

"Hey!" She said playfully smacking my arm. "I do. It's just that some things come before myself. Like friends, children and …family." She said the last with a nudge and a meaningful look.

"Yeah I get it. I'm sorry for overreacting with that too. But really, learning that you are part of the same guild as the man I swore to beat up one day was a shock, along with the chance that you could be my mystery girl from so long ago. It was just too much." I said with a shrug.

"Mystery girl hmm? I like the sound of that." She mumbled as she sank deeper into my side and fell asleep.

At some point during my observation of her sleeping I sensed Sting's presence and starred at him. "What'd I tell you? You two gravitate towards each other." He said with a wink before he turned around to leave.

Before he was out of my sight I whispered to him. "Thank you Sting."

"You owe me." Was his response as I turned back to my not so mysterious girl.

An: Let me know what you think. Please and thank you!

BronzeDove: Yes poor Rogue, but then again he was being a little unfair to Lucy about the whole thing. At least that's what I think. Lol =]

Amy(guest): =]

DeathTheChick3: Haha thanks, life is going better but its still extremely busy.

artisofthemind: Well there it is, I hope it didn't disappoint you too much.