Slain Among Ice And Fire {Fairy Tail}

Chapter 26- Brutal Honesty

"Let me go!" Rogue snapped quickly, already pulling away from the blonde- who's fingers dug into Rogue's arms even more tightly.

"Not before you tell me what the hell is wrong!" Sting snapped back hotly, though the question could be answered several ways- with what all just happened.

Jiemma defeated by Sting's hand and left to bleed on the floor until Minerva waved a hand and sent her father to who the hell knows where. Jiemma attacking Lector and the Exceed thought dead for a few, horrible minutes- only to find out he was alive, but now hostage at Minerva's hand. Hostage and to stay that way in the cruel woman's clutches until SaberTooth won the Grand Magic Games.

Everything had spiraled out of control in the course of half and hour and it went further when Rogue suddenly reacted like that- terrified and frantic and on the verge of tears now as Sting struggled to hold him still. More when he yelled Hora's name and they couldn't find her in the Inn, at all- and had been missing since before anything had happened with Jiemma, as Orga and Rufus explained. And now the Guild was panicking too, and desperately trying to hold it together- because Minerva was standing in her spot at the head of the hall and watching the sudden commotion with narrowed eyes and rigid, icy neutrality.

Sting pulled Rogue closer roughly, halting the man and earning his glittering red eyes, his face pale and shaking- sick almost as Sting swallowed. "Rogue! What is going on?!" He demanded again, and this time there was a lull- a small, fleeting instant where Rogue stopped struggling so much and his knees seemed to almost give out on him. And the tears spilled passed his red eyes and down his cheeks, and the sight of it was enough to make Sting forget how to breathe.

"We have to find Hora, she's in trouble...!" Rogue hissed, his voice breaking on her name and Sting felt a stab through his heart.

What trouble?

He was going to ask, but he didn't- because that was all he needed. Seeing how scared Rogue was and how much he needed to go- there was no time to ask and he wouldn't waste anymore.

He's in tears

He's petrified

It didn't matter why, finding her was the only thing that mattered in that instant.

Sting nodded a bit, his hold on Rogue lessening as he swallowed back the lump in his throat- switching gears in an instant and pushing away everything else, latching on to action in lieu of question. "Y-yeah... Yeah, we'll find her." He replied quickly, Rogue was already turning to the door again and Sting heard him gulp a bit, causing a break in the frantic rhythm of his breathing.

She has to be-

.:+:.

Her lungs were on fire, her body in agony and every step down in her running was jolting and sent a wave of pain rushing up through her. Her center was in pain and she felt like pieces of shrapnel were trudging through her bloodstream and tearing as they went- the breaths she sucked in were jarring and harsh and tasted like blood.

She wanted nothing more than to stop- her body needed her to stop, but she couldn't. The hill up up the Inn was torture. She was heaving and gasping as she refused to slow her sprinting even with the incline.

She'd managed to still her tears before leaving the confines of Crocus behind. In her whirling mind Gray was still on the front-lines, but she had to stop thinking about him- she had to focus on her Guild and her friends and-

Why in the hell did Jiemma try and kill us now, after a decade?!

She was sputtering in her running, halfway coughing but never fully there. She was sure if she stopped the coughing would manage a way to fruition and it would probably end up with blood. Which, had been smeared over her lips and on her chin, and she'd done her best to do away with and only leave faint, almost imperceptible stains... But that was only her face, she couldn't do away with the stain of red on her hands or her arms.