Three Words Chapter 18

I flutter my eyes open, but shut them quickly once the light hits. Where am I? The warmth around me indicates that i'm in a blanket. Gentle footsteps are echoing rather loudly, so that means this room has to be practically empty. Another empty place.

I force my eyes to open and gaze towards the figure approaching the bed. A mop of blond hair greets me.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" I croak hoarsely, while eying the messy golden locks.

"I come to see if you're okay and the first thing you do is insult me? I'm hurt blondie." Sting Eucliffe smirks at me, while flipping his new bangs. His hand reaches to grab something from beside me. He hands me a cup of water, which I greedily down quickly.

"Still didn't answer the question." I comment dryly. I set the cup down lightly.

"You know being a Guild Master and all gives me authority over you right?" He challenges.

"You know I really don't care right?" I reciprocate, "Where's Rogue?"

"I had him go cool off." He states. I arch an eyebrow at him. "He was mad when he found out Kai knew where you were and he was pissed when he saw what state you were in. He wants to go off and kill Kai-"

"He's already dead." I interrupt bitterly. Memories flash rapidly on how I selfishly saved myself at the cost of him. His harsh words play in my mind.

"I'll get you home, I promise. At Least i'll actually fulfill mine unlike you eh?"

"Did you…?" Sting pauses uncomfortably.

"He did it himself." I finish the conversation hastily. A silence fills the air. My eyes wander around. The walls in the room are all blank and only a couple of beds reside in it. My heart beat increases gradually. I need to get out of here. I don't want to go back.

"Can-can I leave?" I question in a soft spoken tone.

"You hungry? We can grab some food then I'll take to see Rogue." The blonde suggest. I smile genuinely in response as I nod. He helps me get up and guides me to see if I'm capable of walking. Once I get the hang of it he lets go.

As we walk down a shadowy hallway I attempt to start conversation again, "So are you going to explain your hair or do I need to start some kind of rumor?"

"Why are you so damn needy?" He huffs in frustration and I can't help but to giggle in response, "I got out the shower and came straight here. I didn't have time to spike it."

"You actually spend your mornings spiking your hair." I snicker non discretely.

"Shut up!" He snaps defensively, "It takes work to look this awesome." His chest puffs out.

"You might want to try a little harder then." I wink while quickening my pace to be ahead.

The rest of the way was spent with me goading Sting and him insulting me in response. We arrived to a little burger stand just a little ways from the Sabertooth guild. My eyes wander towards the menu greedily before sudden realization hits me.

"You're paying right?" I continue to roam through the menu.

"Yeah yeah," He dismisses with a wave of his hand. I give him a slight glare for his care free response.

"All right then," I force myself to perk up, "So do you know if this place has good fries?"

"Probably," He answers lazily in which I shoot him another glare in response.

"What's with the attitude all of a sudden?" I demand while probing my pointer finger into his chest.

"Lucy," He begins before taking a deep breathe. Him using my actual name is already raising red flags in my mind. "What happened to you? Where were you?" He blurts out with slight aggression.

My eyes widen a bit from being startled. Before I could utter a response the waiter comes and takes our order. Once the lady leaves there's a silence that fills the area. I gaze around uncomfortably from the lack of noise. I spent who knows how long in isolation, with only one person I could rarely talk too. Silence is definitely not doing it for me.

"So how's guilding?" I question lamely. The waitress comes back with our drinks, mine being peach tea.

"How's guilding?" Sting arches an eyebrow in amusement.

"Mhm." I nod then take a sip of my tea (more like devoured).

"Since you suck at conversations," I pout at the statement, "How about we go back to my original question?" He suggest in a tone that indicates that there's no getting out of it.

"Fine." I mutter darkly. At that moment our food arrives and my mood immediately increases.

I grab a fry, inspect it, and then plop it into my mouth.

Amazing.

"How long was I gone?" Handfuls of fries are stuffed in my mouth. Sting looks slightly disturbed.

"Five weeks." He answers simply, ignoring the food around him. His attention is completely on me, which is slightly unsettling.

"That's a long time." I comment dryly.

"It made a lot of people worried." He adds.

"It sucked in there," I admit then take a sloppy bite of my burger. "Nothing but a white space…" I drift off into my own thoughts. I thought I was going to die in there. That place was literally making me go insane. The only real comfort I had was the fact that the thoughts barely appeared, but even that made me feel lonely. Hate suddenly bubbles inside of me, but then almost as quickly as it appeared, it disappears. How could I hate someone who felt the need to take their own life? How could I not hate someone who nearly took mine?

My fist clench non too gentle. What's wrong with me? Why can't I hate him? I can feel as the tears threaten to leave my eyes. Not here. I can't let people see me weak again. All they do is take advantage of it. They expect me to do whatever they want all because I show a speck of kindness. The tears decide to break my barricades and slither down my face no matter how much I mentally protest. My body is attacked with sudden shivers that seem to be uncontrollable.

Warmth suddenly covers my figure, blocking the view of my crying figure from onlookers. I feel Sting's hand caress my hair soothingly. Confusion resides in my consciousness. People a very selfish creatures, but if that's the case why is Sting doing this?

"It's okay Lucy you don't have to talk about it." He murmurs. I nod simply at this.

We wait a few minutes for me to calm down before he paid and we depart. Occasional sniffles fill the silent walk back.

"Can I go see Rogue?" I question. I longed for his presence since I've been taken and everyday that longing increased. I wonder if he feels the same?

"Yeah whatever you need princess." And there goes that annoying cocky smirk.

"Princess?" I quirk an eyebrow upward.

"Suits you." He shrugs, "Princess Lucy Heartfillia, whose heart was captured by the mysterious shadow dragon."

"That was rather poetic." I applaud slightly.

"I try." He leads me towards a room below the Sabertooth guild hall. The door creaks open to reveal an unkempt looking Rogue Cheney.

Without my instruction, my feet move towards the man. His eyes roam my figure almost disbelievingly.

"Rogue." I whisper to myself as my hand reaches out towards his face. His palm wraps around my wrist upon contact. I use my free arm to capture him in a hug. I faintly hear the door close behind me and I take it as my signal to cry freely. Rogue's arms wrap around me in a desperate embrace.

"I missed you." I find myself saying. The statement was true in entirety. I often found myself thinking about our first date as comfort. I tried to remember how he listened to me and then my thoughts would tend to drift to our last day together.

His head lies on top of mine in silent comfort, "I missed you too." He tightens his arms around me. "Don't leave me again." He urges quietly.

"Never again." This is a promise that I will keep.

A/N: Please critique/ Review :)