Chapter two is finally done!

I hope you enjoy it!

The next morning, Rogue was dragged out of his dream less sleep by the commotion of the city outside his window. With a sigh, Rogue opened his eyes and gazed up at the plain white ceiling. From beside him, Frosch was starting to stir, sitting up and looking up at Rogue sleepily.

"Good morning, Rogue." Frosch said.

"Oh, good morning, Frosch." Rogue said, looking at Frosch with a gentle smile. Rogue had almost forgot that Frosch had fallen asleep with him last night. Slowly the events from last night ran through his mind and, in startling vibrant detail, he remember his dream. He could not stop the feeling of dread that welled up inside him at the memory of that dream. It had seemed so real to him, almost like he was actually there in the dream, talking with his future self. No, that version of himself no longer existed. He was no more than a phantom that still intruded into his memories, and his dreams. Rogue tried to put the memory out of his mind for the moment and focus and what he was supposed to do today.

Glancing at the window, Rogue saw that the sun was high in the sky, showing that it was around late noon. He was supposed to have waked up hours ago to go to the guild with Sting, who he was surprised had not woken him up when he saw that he was sleeping in. Maybe Sting had decided to go to the guild without him; it would not be the first time he has done so. It was, however, the first time that Rogue had ever slept in. Usually he was an early riser so he could get everything done that day, but the nightmare last night must have tired him out more than he thought it did.

Rogue sighed a bit and pulled himself out of bed. "Come on, Frosch. We've better head over to the guild. We've overslept."

"Ok. Rogue, can we do this again?" Frosch asked, still unaware of the events that had happened last night.

"Of course we can, Frosch." Rogue said. Frosch was the only one who Rogue did not mind sleeping with at night. Even though Sting and him were together, Rogue, who had never been in a long term relationship before, had certain boundaries in order to feel comfortable in a relationship. One of those boundaries was that they could not share a bed just yet and he was sure that Sting understood this, mainly since he has not bothered him about it as much as he did at the beginning of their relationship. One day they could sleep in the same bed, but that day was not today, or any time soon.

Rogue walked out of his room, his exceed following close behind. As he walked down the hall his room was in, he could someone talking in the living room. He blinked a bit, surprised that Sting was still home. Or maybe it was Lector, but it was odd for the two to be separated. Curiosity getting the best of him, Rogue walked towards the living room to see who was here. As Rogue walked into the living room, he saw Sting laying casually on the couch with his exceed, Lector. Rogue looked at the two, trying not to show the surprise he felt about seeing the two home.

"So you two are home...I thought you would have been at the guild by now," Rogue said, taking a seat in a nearby arm chair. Sting sat up and looked at him, an amused smirk on his face.

"Well good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty. Nice bedhead, by the way." Sting remarked, which earned him an glare. Sting, who was probably used to Rogue's glares, shrugged and handed a poster to him. "What? You looked like you needed the sleep. You were out like a light. So I let you sleep, and I took the liberty of finding a job for us."

Rogue could only sigh a silent sigh in response as he looked that poster over. It seemed like it would be an easy job to do. All they had to do was take out a group of bandits that were hiding out in a forest on the outskirts of a small town a few miles south of here. It was a job that did not have a lot of travelling involved, and the person in charge of the town was offering a decent reward. The reward could give them the money needed to pay for the rent of their apartment and it almost seemed a lot to pay for such a simple job like this. That meant the bandits were probably mages, but him and Sting should be able to take them out with no problems.

"So when do you want to travel there?" Rogue asked, turning his gaze on his boyfriend, who he saw had been staring at him as he read.

"Why not right now?" Sting asked, clearly very eager to get the job over with. Sting stood up and stretched before looking at him. "I bet you're rested enough by now. So let's go." Rogue nodded a bit and stood up, deciding it was not a good idea to argue with Sting. Especially since he was still a little shaken by the nightmare from last night. As he walked towards the door, he heard Sting say, "You might want to do something about the bedhead though." Annoyed, Rogue glanced at his reflection in a nearby mirror. His hair was perfectly fine, so he knew Sting was just trying to annoy him, which he occasionally tried to do on purpose.

"You know, I could always wake you up at 6 a.m. for the next week." Rogue said, feeling satisfied when Sting was silent. That was one of the threats Rogue found that worked to get Sting to stop bothering him. Sting, unlike Rogue, was not a morning person.

Sting grinned and held his hands up, palms out, in defense. "Alright, you have me."

"Good. Now let's go." Rogue said. He knew he was a little colder to Sting than usual, and he was not sure if Sting noticed, but he was not in the mood to deal with any of this today. Without another word, Rogue turned and walked out the door, Sting and their exceeds following behind.

As they arrived at the town, it was clear to see why they had made the job offer. The town was small and relatively in the middle of nowhere; it was surrounded by dense forests on its western and southern sides, and a large body of water bordered its eastern side. The only way into the town was a road heading into the northern part of the many people came through this route because the only destination it led to was this town, and those that did were easily robbed by the bandits. On top of that, it appeared that barely anyone in the town used magic, so the only thing they could do was ask for the help of the mage guilds.

When they reached the town, the first thing they did was talk to the person who had asked for their help. Their client was an older man who seemed to be in charge of the town. He had told them the location of the bandits, saying that they had a hide out deep in the forests south of them. After getting this information, they headed to the southern forests.

"So, how strong do you think these guys are?" Sting asked casually as they walked down a forest path they had discovered hidden in the underbrush.

"Not sure, but they must be pretty strong to have given the town this much trouble." Rogue said, focusing his gaze more on the surrounding area than on Sting. He was never one to take chances with any opponents, unlike Sting who would challenge anyone he thought would help him get stronger to surpass Natsu. Out here, they could not be sure of where their targets could attack them from so they needed to be alert.

"No matter how strong they are, Sting-kun could take them on." Lector said. Lector always seemed to be cheering on Sting, saying that he was stronger than everyone and that no one could defeat him no matter how much they tried. Sometimes it could be a bit much, but he had gotten used to Lector's personality a long time ago.

"Fro thinks so too." Frosch said. Frosch usually agreed with Lector on everything. It was very rare for the two to disagree on something.

"That's right." Sting said, smiling. Rogue sighed silently and continued surveying their surroundings. Behind him, Sting and Lector were exchanging high fives, not really paying attention to anything around them. A blur of movement caught Rogue's eye and he tensed, watching the trees carefully for any more signs of movement. Sting, who must know him enough to know when he sensed something was wrong, was now by his side, trying to follow his gaze. "What's wrong? Did you see someone?"

"I'm….not sure," Rogue said. He knew he had seen movement, but it had been too quick for him to get a good look at what it was. It could have possibly been an animal, but for some reason he did not think that was the case. He just had this strange feeling; whatever caused the movement was human. Sting looked around, then looked back at him.

"I don't smell anyone nearby. You were probably just imagining it." Sting said. Sting was acting like it was no big deal, but Rogue knew that he was probably concerned about him. Rogue was sure it had been a human though. He sniffed the air, trying to pick up any scents of another person nearby, but he could not find anything. Maybe he was just imagining it. He was still jumpy from the nightmare and even his senses as a dragon slayer were telling him that it must have been an animal. Maybe he should have waited a bit before taking on a mission. He would have a hard time focussing on the job at this rate. Though he could not let the others know that there was anything wrong with him, so he quickly pushed the thoughts about the animal out of his mind and decided to focus on the job.

"Y-yeah...It was probably just an animal." Rogue said, hating himself for letting himself stutter. Sting was going to suspect something sooner or later if he was not careful.

"Are you sure you're alright, Rogue? If you're not feeling well, you can head back. I can handle the rest of the job on my own." Sting said. Looking at him, Rogue could see how concerned he was about him. It was getting harder for him to lie to Sting and hide this from him, but he had to. Seeing the other's concern only strengthened his demeanor to make him see that he was okay, even if it was truly a lie.

"I'm fine. I don't need to go back. I'm still just a bit tired, that's all." Rogue lied, his voice calm this time. He was hoping that Sting would just drop it and they could get on with the job. He just wanted to finish this so he could go home and try to figure all of this out.

"Alright," Sting said, but he sounded only half convinced. "But if I see there's anything wrong, we're going back. I love you Rogue, and you mean more to me than this job." Rogue looked at him, surprised, but he did not to show it. Instead, he gently kissed Sting's cheek and faked a small smile.

"I promise. I'm fine." Rogue assured, hoping that this would finally quench any lingering doubt that Sting could have about his well being.

"If you say so…" Sting said, giving in. Rogue felt relieved that Sting was not going to question him any more about this. He was afraid that if he did he would do something that would show that he had been lying when he told him that he was okay.

Rogue started walking down the path again, seeing that Sting wanted him to take the lead, which was surprising since Sting was usually the one that led. He knew that Sting was probably still worried about him and wanted to keep close to him in case something happened. This did not bother Rogue though, he actually liked that Sting wanted to keep close to him. The only thing that bothered him, was how protective Sting was. There were times when Rogue did not want to show when something was wrong and it was because he knew Sting would be worried about him. He did not want to cause trouble for Sting.

Soon they arrived in a small clearing, but they paused on the edge of the exposed space. Rogue looked around closely, knowing that there were others nearby; and they were watching them. Rogue and Sting stayed in the protection of the trees. If they stepped out into the clearing, they would be in an open area and exposed to the enemy. Rogue sighed silently, knowing they were going to have to be smart about this.

"Well this is a nice welcoming party," Sting said quietly. "Maybe we should make our appearance."

"Just be careful," Rogue said, knowing that Sting was just going to walk into the clearing and let the bandits try to attack him. It was a stupid plan, but they had to do something. At least he would be able to jump in to help at any time.

Sting chuckled slightly and looked away from him. "That's what I should be telling you." Rogue looked at him and was about to respond, but Sting was already walking into the clearing. Rogue watched silently from the shadows, his eyes scanning the trees carefully for any signs of the bandits. As soon as Sting was in the middle of the clearing, several people started emerging from the forest.

"Well now, look what we have here." A male, who seemed like he was the leader of the group of bandits, said. The male was muscularly built and was the largest male of the group. He had short red hair and on his belt he carried a large double bladed sword. The male was one of the few of the bandits that had an aura of power around him; he was definitely a mage and a powerful one. Rogue looked the male over, his gaze soon falling on Sting. He was wondering if Sting would be able to handle this many on his own. Whenever they did a job like this, one of them was supposed to linger back and only come in when the other needed help, but the large male seemed like a strong opponent. There was a chance that the male and the other bandits would be able to overwhelm Sting.

Rogue looked around the clearing, observing the other people. In total, there were about twenty people. Him and Sting were out numbered, but if he could somehow manage to take out a few of the people, then there could be a larger chance of them getting out of this place without incident.

"I hope you don't think you're going to get out of this place alive. No one who strays this far in the jungle ever returns to the town." The male said. As he spoke, he withdrew his sword from his belt. Sting only grinned, not intimidated at all by the blade.

"Well if you think you can kill me, go ahead and try." Sting said, opening his arms out wide as if in order to challenge the male. Rogue hoped Sting was not going to do anything stupid, but if he was, hopefully it would be after Rogue leveled the playing field. Silently, Rogue made his way through the trees, circling around to the back of the bandits. As he arrived behind the enemy, he caught Sting's gaze.

"You're very confident for a dead man." The male growled. Sting had obviously annoyed him for the male stomped towards him, sword raised. Sting smirked and when the male was about to strike him, he attacked; striking the male with a direct hit from his holy light attack. The male, taken by surprise, was sent back by the force of the attack. The other bandits moved to attack Sting. Rogue saw this as the moment to reveal himself. As he stepped out of the trees and into the clearing, he quickly knocked several of the bandits out with an attack of his own.

"It's about time you decided to show yourself," Sting said as he sent a couple bandits flying to join their leader.

"Well you seemed like you could handle it." Rogue commented as he avoided an attack from one of the bandits.

"Fair enough." Sting said with a shrug. Sting sent a powerful attack at the other bandits, successfully knocking them all out. Sting grinned. "Well that seemed easy enough. Next time I'll pick a more difficult job. This one was just too easy."

"I'm not through with you yet." A voice said. Rogue whirled around in time to see the male from before, still standing and was glaring at them with intense fury. In his hand, he held the large sword. Rogue tensed slightly and watched the male closely, waiting for whatever the male tried to do.

Something in the background caught his eye, causing him to avert his gaze from the male. What he saw made his blood turn cold. Standing there past the edge of the clearing was future Rogue. His future self stood there, watching them with an amused smirk. This was not a dream, and his other self was not just an illusion; he was real, and he was right in front of him. Rogue was frozen, his gaze glued to his future self. The feeling of dread welled up inside him as future Rogue's gaze met his. How could this be possible? Future Rogue could not be back. He was defeated and Rogue had already decided he would never change into him. Yet here he was, so close yet so far to him.

From someplace distant, he was sure that Sting was calling out to him, but he could not hear what he was saying. Everything around him was distant now and it felt like his whole world was crashing down; leaving him alone to suffer this cruel insight of reality. His future self was still here and he was still destined to turn into him. Everything he has done up to this point failed to change anything. Rogue was close to falling to his knees now, but something, or someone, pushed him to the ground. He felt the weight of something on top of him and felt something warm and wet fall onto his cheek.

Slowly, as if coming out of a daze, Rogue's senses started to return to him. He looked up and his eyes widened as he saw Sting huddled over him, protecting him from the strike of the male's sword, which was now embedded deep in Sting's back. One of Rogue's hands went up to his cheek, feeling the warm wet liquid from before. Pulling his hand back, he saw a red liquid. Blood. Sting's blood.

"Rogue…you have...to be careful…this guy…uses illusion…magic…" Sting said, his breathing labored. The blade had penetrated deep into him. Rogue doubted Sting would be able to handle being in this fight any longer.

"Sting…but…." Rogue started, but the words were stuck in his throat.

"Well, seems you were eager to die then." The male said with a cruel laugh. "Well that's fine. It just means less effort to kill you both." The male pulled the sword out of Sting's back and kicked him hard in the side; knocking him off of him. Sting winced and gripped his side. Rogue watched as Sting struggled to his feet. The male laughed coldly. "Guess I'll kill you first since you're so eager to die." Before the male had the chance to attack Sting, he was sent backwards by an attack from Rogue. Rogue slowly got to his feet and glared dangerously at the male.

"Sting...please, stay back. I don't want you to get hurt any more than you already are. I'll handle this." Rogue said, not taking his eyes off the male. The male had hurt Sting, but only because Sting had been trying to protect him. He was not going to let the male get away with this. Rogue felt a deep hatred for the male. He was going to make him pay. Suddenly Rogue felt a surge of power inside him; dark power. He had only felt this once before, and that was during his fight with Gajeel, right before he blacked out. "W-wha-" That was all he had time to say before his world turned black.

Finally finished the next chapter!

I'm not sure how well I played Sting or wrote the fight scene, but I tried

and I hope you enjoyed it.