AN: Hey guys here is the chapter!
Lucy POV
"Lucy slow down!" I head Natsu's voice from some distance away.
Looking behind Draco I saw his familiar pink hair in the distance. Leaning down on Draco's neck so my body was pressed against it I stroked him and whispered "do you mind a few more passengers?" By the way he jerked his head to look at me I knew he hadn't expected me to ask permission for them to join me.
"If that is what you wish, then they may join you." He said as he turned his attention back to the sky ahead of us.
"Thank you" I whispered. Sitting back up I turned around and began crawling across Draco's back. As they got closer I could see that Happy was panting and out of breath, if he had been using Max Speed for the past fifteen miles I knew why; the most I had seen him use it before was for three miles tops. When Happy was able to keep pace above Draco he released Natsu, dropping him next to me. Ignoring Natsu who turned green the moment he landed I caught Happy before he could hit the Draco's scales. Nestling him close I sat down next to my green best friend and petted him, waiting for him to catch his breath. "Are you okay Happy? Do you need anything?"
"Lushii." He said weakly before closing his eyes and passing out in an exhausted huff.
"Why didn't you say something earlier, instead of making Happy follow behind us for so long?" I asked smacking the back of Natsu's head once I had gotten Happy situated in my lap. "Will you stop your moaning and groaning already? Draco isn't transportation, he's our friend." Pausing, I could tell he was mulling over what I had just said. Having realized I was right, Natsu almost instantly reverted back to his normal skin tone and stopped his dry heaving.
Natsu having completely gotten over his bout of motion sickness sat up with his legs crossed and faced me. "We tried, but you didn't hear us. How could you leave without us Luce?" He said furiously. "Don't you think we've been apart enough already? What if you had gotten hurt because we hadn't caught up to you in time?"
Looking down at Happy in my lap I knew I had over reacted when I had flung myself onto Draco and left Fairy Tail without a plan. "I'm sorry Natsu; I was, still am, worried about Rogue. And if what master said is true, Sabertooth was attacked because of me."
"No that's not true Luce, it has nothing -"
"It has everything to do with me." I yelled my tears flying behind us as the wind swept them away. "It's all my fault. The group that attacked them, they're after Celestial Mages. While I was at Sabertooth one of their agents had caught wind of my being there and joined the guild in hopes of getting me alone. Well he succeeded. Julian trapped me using a spell I hadn't known existed and attacked me while I was healing from an earlier fight. Once I had defeated him Rogue and my friends there took him into custody and locked him up. I don't know why he was still there this morning but if it hadn't been for my being there then he never would have joined and Polaris' followers wouldn't have attacked them." I finished with a sob as I broke down in tears, covering my face with my hands. Feeling his arms wrap around me I cried even harder at what I had caused. "Now Fairy Tail will probably be attacked too once they figure out we turned in one of theirs to the council. I should have never returned, because of me you're all in danger now."
"That's bullshit Lucy. Danger or no danger Fairy Tail is your home, it's where you belong. If you hadn't returned on your own I would have carried you back myself.
"Whatever his name is would have joined their guild even if you hadn't been there; they had a Celestial Mage of their own before you came along. None of it is your fault. It's the dark mages. And if they decide to attack our guild they'll learn that we aren't to be messed with." He said squeezing me tighter as his anger rose at the thought of Fairy Tail being attacked. Returning his hug I put my face in the crook of his neck and tried to gain control of my tears. I stayed in his arms for a while longer, my sobs turning to sniffles as my tears slowed then stopped all together.
Gripping my shoulders he pushed me far enough away so he could look into my eyes. "Promise me Luce, no matter what happens you won't leave us again. We're a team and we have to stick together."
Wiping the remnant tears from my eyes I smiled and nodded, hugging him once more with all my might. "I promise Natsu." Looking up from him I looked below us to see if anyone else had followed. "Is everyone else coming later?" I asked, leaning against his side and making myself comfortable for the rest of our flight to Sabertooth.
"They're coming. Wendy and Carla should catch up to us now that you've slowed down some."
"What? They're behind us?" I said looking behind us again.
Laying down with his hands under his head Natsu closed his eyes before answering. "They are too far away for you to see Happy activated his max speed immediately whereas Wendy was waylaid by Master and Erza. The rest of them will make their way there as soon as they can arrange transport. Laxus has probably already beaten us there though."
Relieved that Sabertooth would be getting additional back up so quickly, I placed Happy onto Natsu's stomach and crawled back to Draco's neck to keep him company as he flew over the various cities wishing I could urge Draco to go faster, but restrained myself from doing so, so Wendy would be able to catch up.
Rogue POV
Not even five minutes into our walk beyond the borders of Magnolia Sting's curiosity won, and he broke the silence of the night. "Is there a reason we left Fairy Tail without telling Blondie we were going?" Sting asked walking down the road beside me. "I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you finally come to your senses where she is concerned, but leaving like this seems a little harsh, don't you think? Also you never got to test your strength and fight Gajeel, and I have yet to fight Natsu without being interrupted."
"We aren't leaving permanently, I just want to check in with our Lady and make sure everything is set for the Grand Magic Games next month. We have yet to train for it. "I said, feeling guilty about sneaking out of Magnolia in the dead of night without telling anyone, especially Lucy. "You'll get your chance to fight Natsu again, don't worry 'bout that."
Having been my partner for the past six years, Sting knew when I wasn't telling him everything. Catching him glancing at me I schooled my features and raised my eyebrows at him waiting for him to continue pestering me with unwanted questions. Rolling his eyes at me he muttered 'whatever' and went back to talking to Lector and Frosch. Walking behind them I was left to my own devices and thought over why I had left Fairy Tail in such a rush.
Ever since I was little and my powers had emerged I've always been a loner, never fitting in completely with the people around me, always sticking to the shadows. Much hasn't changed since then. I still preferred the shadows to the light. And that is why I had to leave; I needed to find out whether or not I was I willing to give up my peace and quiet in the shadows in order to follow Lucy into the light. My feelings for her had taken over my life, I mean I followed her here with no reason except to stay by her side in the hopes that she felt the same. But I wasn't sure if I could handle her meddlesome guild. Things had been fine in my guild, because everyone knew to mind their own business there, but with her guild she was constantly being followed, pestered and even had some matchmaking demon planning her future out. Honestly who in their right mind would ever want someone to have 33 babies; it was completely ridiculous!
I knew they all meant well, and it had been nice to witness a guild care for one another, for once. But going from self-imposed isolation to a pre-made, insane family in a blink of an eye was too much for me and I didn't know if I could handle it long term. Because I knew that if Lucy and were to have the kind of relationship I wanted, they all would be a part of my life for the duration of the relationship. It was hard coming up with a reason that I shouldn't pursue Lucy, the only one I had was that I was not used to being surrounded by people. It wasn't like they hadn't welcomed me, in fact everyone there had made it a point of befriending me and getting to know, not only me but my three partners as well.
After several more hours of walking in the dead of the night I could see Sting had lost what energy he had, had left and was ready to join our passed out Exceeds by the way he was swaying when he walked and the way he jerked his head up every so often. Finding a spot that was open enough for us to lay down in but still concealed from the road to our right we tossed our packs on the ground and made camp. It was nowhere near as comfortable as camping with Lucy was but it would do. Once Sting's head hit his pack he was out, with Frosch and Lector atop him.
Staring up into the star filled sky I couldn't help but think about Lucy. During the hours of walking I had made a pro and con list of why I should pursue Lucy, and in the end the pro side greatly out numbered the con. I had run away for nothing, and probably did irreparable damage to our budding relationship, all because I had gotten scared by how accepted I was within her guild. Banging my head a few times on the ground at my stupidity I closed my eyes, and tried to think of something else.
I thought about how quiet our journey had been so far. Oddly enough no monsters had attacked us, and I had heard them off in the distance, so I knew they were there. But none of them ventured out of their holes or nests to investigate the intrusion upon their territory. The lack of movement in the forest, gave me the impression that everything was afraid, and it wasn't us they were afraid of. I tried to listen and see if there was something out of place around us. My worries would have been assuaged if I heard the usual sounds of the night; owls, insects and the occasional bat, but I heard nothing except absolute silence.
Planning on staying awake to watch over my sleeping partners I sat up against a tree and watched the seemingly harmless trees. Feeling the exhaustion hit after a couple of hours of keeping guard I felt my eyes close and fell into a light sleep.
The unexpected chirping of birds woke me up once morning hit. Slowly opening my eyes I saw that everything was as I had left it, and that Sting, Frosch and Lector were still sleeping. Gathering my stuff I threw my pack over my shoulder after I had grabbed some food for everyone. Food in hand I woke them up. Lifting Frosch into my arms and offered her one of the fish that we had 'borrowed' from Gray's apartment. Passing out the rest of the food we continued walking.
We were coming upon the edge of the trees, a half an hour away from Sabertooth when the howling in the distance broke me out of my thoughts as Sting and I both slowed down to listen for the sound again to judge how far away the animals were. When the next set of howls was released into the night sky we realized that they had been flanking us and were closing in fast. Glancing down at our resting exceeds in our arms we quickly found an alcove in a tree that could fit both of them, and was high enough off of the ground that they would be safe if any wolf came sniffing around. Once they were settled in, the both of us retraced our steps and waited a little ways away from their hiding spot for the animals to attack.
Although we hadn't been able to spot them through the foliage, we knew that they were there, watching us. Tense, we waited for them to make their move. Slowly, as if not to spook us into attacking a lone wolf approached us, watching us with unseeing silver eyes.
"Well well well, look what we found." A voice distorted said, as what we had assumed was a wolf morphed into a women with long, shiny jet black hair. As her fur turned to skin and cloth she walked towards us, only stopping when she was a couple feet away.
"Why are you following us?"
"We are here to observe, at least for now." She said, combing her fingers through her thigh long hair. "There is a war coming, as you already know, and our master would like to know what each side has to offer before she makes her decision. Tell me, what is it that you seek to gain? Why fight against the odds?"
"War? What are you talking about?" Sting asked confused.
"You mean Polaris, don't you? But why are you so close to Sabertooth? No one in the guild knows of the conflict besides us."
"Tsk, tsk. You are forgetting someone. A key was taken from his possession recently, and now lies in the hands of that Heartfilia girl. Our master is interested in her the most, a-"
Closing the distance between us I growled. "You stay away from Lucy." Hearing other growls besides my own I looked behind her to see several wolves creeping up on us, ready to attack.
"Haha well that would be hard to do since we have been following her since we intercepted a message from the mage that attacked her. Oh and yeah," she said snapping her fingers and smiling at me "she's looking for our master."
Regretting my decision to leave Lucy, I put some distance between us and sighed. "What is it that you want with us, why present yourself now?"
"My master has tasked me with deciding what side we should join. She, well she is unable to venture too far out from her current location. As for now, well there is a fight we will come upon soon enough and I must decide which side I will help; you and your guild, or those who oppose you."
In the background I heard Sting sniffing loudly. Turning to see what he was doing, I froze when a gust of wind brought what had been bothering Sting. The scent of smoke assaulted my nose, causing my eyes to water. "Rogue… do you smell the smoke?" Nodding my head absently in his direction I looked back at the wolves. "What have you done?"
"We have done nothing. As I said earlier, there is a battle happening. I just didn't tell you it was at your guild."
Taking off at the same time Sting and I ran to get Frosch and Lector before we broke through the trees to see Sabertooth standing in the distance. What had once been a pristine building with nary a speck of dirt on it, now had chunks missing from it, and what appeared to be dirt and blood smeared across the yard and building. We watched in horror as the fire consumed what had been our offices, infirmary and weapon rooms. As soon as the fire enveloped that portion of the building I knew there would be an extraordinary amount of damage, and the resounding explosion from within was proof of that. Watching that half of the building collapse in on its self, with screams of terror and pain cut off as the rubble came crashing down, I let loose the anger I felt. Our guild… it had been destroyed.
Turning towards the wolves I let out a fierce snarl "help us or don't help us. But just know that if you choose to not help us and hurt anymore of our people I will personally see to it that you, your friends behind you and your master die just like my guild mates did."
Without a word to our Exceeds they took off towards the guild, the scent of salt trailing behind us as their tears flew from their eyes.
Hearing and feeling something pass above us, flying extremely fast towards our guild I looked in disbelief when I saw it was Draco's familiar scales. Seeing a mixture of blue, pink and white jump off of his back I almost shouted in joy when I say the two Dragon Slayers join the fight from above. Natsu hurling fire at what I assumed were enemy mages while consuming the fire that was consuming Sabertooth as he passed by. While the little bluenette was sending gusts of wind every which way, trying to extinguish the fires, and aid the guild. As for Draco he disappeared as soon as he dropped Lucy off at the collapsed portion of the guild, seeing a flash of golden light from above I knew she was trying to reach any would be survivors down below.
Reaching the portion of the guild that had collapsed, and where Virgo was currently digging, we landed and instructed Lector and Frosch to stay close. Looking for Lucy, I was disappointed to find that she no longer was here, having left to lend her aid somewhere else. Feeling the spray of water I looked to its source and found Pisces' human form extinguishing most of the flames as the male used his trident to fight off everyone who came towards them with magic and weapons drawn. Nodding my thanks to them I looked around once again for Lucy but still wasn't able to find her. I know she's alright as long as her spirits are out. I thought as I redirected my attention to the sounds within the intact portion of the guild.
Dropping through a hole in the ceiling I landed between a few of my guild mates who were badly beaten up, but still trying to drag an unconscious member with them during their retreat.
"Shadow Dragon's Roar" I shouted sending a spiral of shadows towards the the five of the advancing mages, sending them through the already damaged wall behind them. Dodging a burst of lightning that shot from out of one of the remaining mages' hand I ran up to him. "Shadow Dragon's Slash" covering my arm in shadows before I sent my fist flying into his face, instantly knocking him out, and back.
Behind me I heard shouts of dismay as lighting appeared besides them, surrounding them before most of them disappeared. Momentarily distracted the remaining mages behind me attacked, in rapid succession I was hit with a burst of cold that froze my feet to the ground, as several razor sharp petals, yes flower petals flew towards my face. "Haha is that all you got?" I laughed as my shadows surrounded the petals, and they denigrated before they reached me.
Sending another roar their way I caught rid myself of their presence, just in time to see a blonde fall by the hole in the wall to my right. Lucy?
An: Well there it was, hope you all liked it. =] The fighting will continue in the next chapter, hopefully it won't suck as much as Rogue's first fight did. :D
BronzeDove: I know, I don't know where it came from but I realized that I didn't want Rogue to just suddenly be okay with being surrounded by nosy, crazy mages after making a point of being closed off to his own guild. =] Hope I portrayed that well enough that everyone understood.
Moonlight Starlove: Haha don't die!
xxxMitsuki-Chanxxx: Thanks! =]