Control

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They went at it. The opposite males' paths crossed completely untimely and set off their own personal war. Ice and fire clashed out of pure fury that burned in both of their hearts. However, their beloved redheaded sister awoke them from their tragic nightmares. Exhausted by their futile argument, their bodies dropped to the cold, hard ground and let sleep consume them. They were family.

It didn't matter what Gray's goal was or what Natsu's true purpose was. They would always be brothers. Their bond was more important than any fated battle between them. They needed each other. Meanwhile, Lucy and Brandish, along with a captured Di Maria, Porlyusica, Evergreen, and Happy cared for the exhausted warriors.

The truth about the pinkette was ready to come out.

Erza's past had come to haunt her in a new battle; one she would never be prepared for. The Scarlet Despair had her own plans in her bicker with the mage and her Dragon Slayer companion.

Natsu began his lifelong fight with his older brother, Zeref, putting his life on the line. Meanwhile, Lucy and Gray held his book for dear life, attempting to rewrite the script on the pages so that maybe—just maybe—Natsu wouldn't disappear like the Black Wizard said he would.

The disappearance of the Empire's forces due to the Fairy Tail Master's sacrifice created time for the other guilds. They recuperated and rested with the thought at the back of their heads that maybe they'd have to fight yet another day.

But no fight on the battlefield was as tough as the one between Sting's heart and head. He was absolutely torn in two. His beating heart begged him to join his lover in the afterlife by any means necessary because he absolutely could not fathom life without her. However, his brain remembered what Rin had told him during the fight against Tartaros.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Sting. Were you that willing to give up if I was dead? You don't think I'd want you to live on?" He remembered how focused she was at that time. While she had an enemy baring their teeth right in front of her, she put her focus on him. "And you didn't think I'd survive something as pitiful as that?"

I thought you would... I really thought you had a secret that would heal you from the damage...

"Knowing Rin, that brat has a couple tricks up her sleeve." Makarov had consoled him that day when she was stolen right out of Sabertooth's infirmary. He was right; Rin had a plan for herself at that time. But this was different. The deed was already done and there was nothing they could do to go back.

Sting prayed for a magical reverse in time like the one they had been granted in their fight with the dragons. Maybe time would go back and the memory would simply end up as a vision for future avoidance. But that just wasn't the case.

A rough hand clasped onto the blonde's shoulder. He glanced to the side and found his partner of many years, Rogue, with a small smile on his face. As if reading his friend's dark thoughts, the male nudged the boy.

"She sacrificed herself for you," Rogue reminded. "Cherish the life that she gave you and don't let it go to waste." Sting's body trembled, ready to give out again in a mass of sobs.

"What do I do without her," he asked in a whimper.

"We continue what we've been doing our whole lives; like before we met her and the time she was gone." The look Sting gave the emo boy could only be described as a refusal. "There's nothing else we can do. But I'm not telling you to forget her," he reassured. "She lives on within you now," he said while poking at the black scale on the other boy's shoulder. Rogue turned away and continued walking. Sting lifted his bare hand and traced the scale that acted as proof of his mating.

He could picture her in his mind. Her long brunette hair before she cut it; the way the waves flowed out of her ponytail and her bangs swept lightly across her forehead. The way her eyes glowed with passion. The scrunch of her eyebrows and the bite of her lip. The grin she wore and the way her laugh sounded in the guildhall. The way her (or his) clothes fit on her figure. The curve between her hips, waist, and chest.

She was the epitome of grace and beauty; at least to Sting she was.

He stood there, not quite knowing where to go next. The others seemed to have some plan in mind, but he was simply lost. Sting couldn't figure out what he would do right now or later in his life. His only purpose was stripped from him. His love, his chance of marriage, kids—a family. He knew he could never move on to another woman. Rin was his everything.

Rogue suddenly dropped to his knees not too far in front of the blonde. Everyone was caught off guard as he began to glow and his figure stretched up toward the sky. Before he had noticed, Sting's body did the same.

"Rogue! Sting!" Yukino ran to the blonde while Minerva attempted to aid the boy of shadows. "What's happening?!" The blunette reached out to him, his face of discomfort alarming her greatly. However, no matter how far she stretched her fingers out to him, she would never reach.

The two vanished from the Earth, nothing but the memories they made being left behind. Yukino's body hit the floor, convulsing in terrorized sobs at her failure to save him from whatever the next fight was. But, maybe it wasn't anything new to her.

For the past few years, Yukino had done nothing but reach for Sting Eucliffe, but he was always so out of reach. She had looked up to his strength in their old days but hated the way he could so easily turn his back on her per their master's command. After Jiemma's disappearance and Sabertooth's savior, Fairy Tail, Sting had become truly the best of the best in her eyes. He was lighthearted and strode to make other people happy. He was awakened when he became Master.

But, she couldn't thank just Fairy Tail. It was Rin who saved him. She was that one that made Sting the way he was. She had pulled him up out of the darkness and showed him how to love.

While Yukino had never shown her gratitude to the girl, she knew that Rin was their true savior. Having put them in their place by knocking down their strongest mage and simply staring Sting down into submission during the final battle of the Grand Magic Games, it was her who had come to their rescue from the darkness.

The Agria girl had hated her for snatching away the blonde. She hadn't cared a smidge about "mates" or "fated love". She hated the idea of someone being saved for another by the stupid laws of the Earth and she hated Rin even more for being the lucky soul that owned Sting's heart. She wanted to be that lucky girl.

But, her actions eventually caught up to her. The last things she had said to the brunette were awful. She had never once acted as her friend and now it was too late to even make things right with her. And with Rin's disappearance also came the disappearance of Sting's happiness. He was now an empty shell, and Yukino—everyone could see it. He'd never reach that happiness again.

Perhaps it was her fault, but it really wasn't. However, she knew she'd always blame herself.

Sabertooth suffered an absolute loss. They had to watch a friend die right before their eyes. They never even had a chance at saving her. Then they had to watch their master and his best friend disappear into the unknown. The war as they knew it had brought them nothing but heartbreak and loss.

It was the end of Sabertooth as they knew it.

竜

I've returned and we are ready to continue. ;)