In All Our Yesterdays ▪ A Sting Eucliffe x Rogue Cheney Fanfiction

Chapter 16 ▪️ For Love...

There was nothing to speak of. We all knew what was to happen. No use going into detail. It was clear just how alone I was now. With Raios' question, I was left alone in thought while the citizens and Gajeel saw me as tinier than an enemy.

I was a pest.

Did I want to run? Of course I did.

From this post, from the Lightning Kingdom, from my father, from the world, from everything.

In a strange way, I favored tension with Raios. Being with him, angry or sad, reminded me that I was allowed to feel these emotions.

I've grown soft because of him. And I knew that was going to kill me.

I was the heir to my throne, the only heir, and the one true prince. I never asked for my life, yet it's my responsibility to marry young, take a throne, have children, raise those children into future rulers, and somehow still have a level head at the end of the day. I never wanted any of this.

As a ruler I can try to end this war, the right way, but who would listen? The kingdoms are blood-thirsty. I'd be singing my song of peace to a land full of dead people.

What's the use?

I stare at my food. This gross breakfast that I've found more appetizing than the regular meals at the castle. Perhaps it becomes delicious on the verge of death?

I stand. "I'll be in my room," I tell them, and leave to take another bath I know Porlyusica will have ready for me.

Raios follows me.

I know he does. I don't have to turn back to know — he makes enough noise with our plates and heavy footsteps.

What would Gajeel make of all this, I wonder?

"Sting," Raios speaks when he closes the door behind him.

There was the bath, still steaming, and no Porlyusica to nag.

"I don't want to talk," I say and begin undressing. The nervousness I felt around Raios was still present, it just wasn't as strong as it was before. I felt numb in this moment. I felt frozen.

"Sting..." he watches me get into the water and sink all the way down.

I come up to find him walking over sitting on the edge of the tub. I slick my hair back and he leans over to kiss me.

"I know you can't leave," he says and my eyes widen. He'd give up so easily? After such news? "I won't make you leave your life behind."

My life?

"I can't stay though."

What?

"I'm leaving tonight."

Without me? You'd leave me so easily?

"With who?" I ask, feeling poison in my teeth. "Gajeel? Are you in love with him now? Just because I won't leave?"

"Sting—"

"Am I nothing to you now?" I stand in the tub, feeling the medicine burning in my wounds.

The water falls fast — the drops don't drip, they smack into the water. "How could you?"

He doesn't stand, he doesn't fight, and he doesn't speak. He circles his arms around my hips and pulls me close. He's hugging me.

"You're the only one," he whispers on my abdomen. "That is why I'll leave by myself."

I squeeze his shoulders and pull him closer. I'm on the brink of tears when I know they won't do me any good. "Where will you go?"

He kisses my side. "Anywhere. Everywhere but here. I can't do it anymore, my sweet. I can't steal you, so I'll remember you forever..."

Don't die.

Don't leave me.

"Don't leave me alone in this war," I cry. When he gazes up at me, my tears fall onto his cheeks. "Stay... Raios please stay."

He kisses my wrist. "I can't. I will never draw my sword against you. Not you, nor Wendy, nor Erza, and surprisingly not that flammable idiot either. They all saved you and for that, I will not face them in war. I will not kill for my kingdom and in that respect I'm already dead."

"Stay and we'll fight with peace. Let us convince the others not to fight."

"They won't be convinced."

"Perhaps they will! We need to try."

"Sting, listen to me, my father will slaughter the Lux Alliance if given the chance. So will Gajeel and his father, Laxus, Cobra, all of them. Even I... before I met you."

"And you changed your mind!"

"With lust."

"Lust? Are you telling me you don't love me?" I whimper and he shakes his head. "Then what?"

"I've never held such strong emotions for another soul on this earth... what if it's all an illusion? What if you return home and make me your enemy? I can't fight you Sting. I won't."

I raise his chin with my finger and have him crawl up to a stance. "I will never hurt you, my Raios. And I know full well that you'll never do the same. You're too good. For me and this world. Instead of killing me on my birthday, you kissed me and introduced me to Raios, not Rogue, the shadow ruler."

"My father will destroy me and slaughter you if I don't do it."

"I know." I do. I know that man would have thrown a celebration if I had died in that carriage. So many want me dead and still I have yet to meet a real battle.

"Raios..." I speak soft. "Stay with me."

He kisses me, holding me in place while his hands scour my body. "Leave with me," he replies.

Perhaps it was the odds stacked against us — the truth weighing me down. I was weak. I couldn't protect my father, my own body, and for sure not my reputation. If I were to return home, and if Raios was gone for good, I wouldn't be able to sleepwalk through my days as I had before.

I had a life waiting for me back at the castle — a life I don't want anymore. Living elsewhere, where people know not of my name or who I am, maybe there's a home in that?

"For you, Raios, I'd go through the gates of hell and up the steps of heaven. For you alone."