Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

Sting woke up in a strange room. He'd been placed on a bed, and he immediately scanned the dark room for Rogue, but he was alone. Sitting up almost defeated him as wave after wave of pain crashed into his body, alerting him to the fact that a healer might be needed. Sting remembered the loud crack he'd heard at Jiemma's last blow and worried he might actually have broken something.

How was he going to get out of this, and where was Rogue? Sting worried about his mate, remembering the man's words to the other boy who had helped him take out Rogue. He needed to get out of there and find him, then they could both attempt to escape. Ignoring his pain, Sting managed to get on his feet, holding his side and being careful to keep his breathing shallow. He stumbled towards the only door in the room. He used his senses to try to listen for anyone nearby, and when he was satisfied there was no one, he attempted to turn the knob slowly.

The door was locked from the outside. Sting tried to break it down, but all that managed was to cause him even more pain. He felt himself fading into darkness.

o-o

Rogue woke up in a dark room. His body ached from the initial attack, but he was otherwise unhurt. Getting up from the bed and looking around, Rogue noted that there was nothing else in the room but the bed, which seemed to be bolted to the floor.

As he made his way towards the door, Rogue used his enhanced senses to determine if there were others nearby. Finding no one, he courageously tried the door, turning the knob and walking out into a dimly lit hall. Rogue used it to his advantage and hid in the shadows as he explored, trying to make sense of his new surroundings.

Where was Sting? Rogue sniffed the air around him, trying to catch a whiff of his mate's scent. After a few minutes, he was able to detect it and still hiding in the shadows he moved in that direction slowly, keeping his senses on alert for any others that might be around.

Rogue found another hallway similar to the one he'd just come from and following Sting's scent, he stood in front of the last room. He tried turning the knob to open the door but found it locked.

Rogue used his magic to turn into his shadow form and managed to slip underneath the door and into the room, finding Sting slumped over on the other side. Rogue solidified and panicked when he saw the bruises that covered the majority of Sting's skin.

He picked Sting up as best he could and moved him back to the bed, pulling the covers over him and standing next to him, with no idea as to what to do next. So he stood there and kept watch over him.

Sting began to stir, eyes snapping open as he smelled Rogue in the room.

"Rogue, you're okay!" Sting exclaimed happily and somewhat loudly.

"Quiet!" Rogue hissed.

"But I was so worried," Sting revealed a bit more quietly, "How did you get in here?"

"Shadows."

Sting nodded feeling a bit dumb for asking such an obvious question.

"Where are we?" Rogue asked, "What happened?"

"You were right, that guy you tried to warn me about jumped us," Sting stared at Rogue intently, wanting to make sure he wasn't upset with him. Rogue sat on the bed and patted his shoulder soothingly.

"He had a kid with him, that's who attacked you," Sting explained, "Then he challenged me to a fight, said if I lost we had to join his guild." Sting closed his eyes, still not willing to believe this wasn't some kind of nightmare.

"So we've joined a guild?"

Sting nodded, "Sabertooth."

Rogue sighed, he didn't like this at all but looking at Sting's body he knew that his mate had fought as hard as he could. They'd just have to play along until they could find a way out.

They heard someone coming and glanced at each other nervously. "Maybe we can overpower them and escape..." Sting whispered.

"Even if we did, you're in no shape to run," Rogue pointed out, "I'll hide for now, but if they try to hurt you I'll come at them with everything I've got," Rogue warned before brushing his mate's lips with his as he disappeared into the room's shadows.

Sting watched the door open and immediately recognized the boy who had attacked Rogue. He growled at him.

"Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you. I brought you food," The boy showed him the tray he was holding. Sting glanced at the food, sniffing to ensure it hadn't been tampered with.

"Look, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about your friend, I had to do it, but I took no pleasure in it."

Sting continued to glare at him but relaxed a bit when the boy handed him the tray.

"Where's my friend?" Sting asked, quickly realizing it would be suspicious if he didn't ask about Rogue right away.

"He's fine, he's in another room. He should be waking up soon. I'm Orga," the boy introduced himself.

"Why am I here, what does that man want with us?"

"Master Jiemma is determined to have the strongest guild in Fiore," Orga explained, "He watched you fight for a few weeks, and you impressed him. When he saw you reject all the other guild's offers, he decided to take you by force. He knew no one would look for you."

"So everyone else is here because they want to?" Sting muttered, not really understanding how anyone could be here of their own free will.

Orga turned to leave without answering, placing his hand on the doorknob hesitantly before adding, "Listen, I know it's none of my business, but I saw you and your friend in your hotel room when Master Jiemma sent me to spy on you."

When Orga saw the rage in Sting's eyes, he was quick to add, "I didn't tell him anything! But I wanted to warn you, if Master Jiemma finds out he'll beat both of you for sure, and as you already know, he won't hold back."

"Are you trying to be my friend?"

"There are no friends in Sabertooth," Orga quickly clarified, "I'm only telling you this because I feel bad for what I did to your friend. Now we're even."

Sting could hear Rogue's breathing hitch at Orga's words and winced, what had he gotten them into?

o-o

"Get up!" Master Jiemma snarled at Sting, who lay on the ground bleeding as his sparring partner watched disinterestedly.

When Sting made no move to follow his orders, Jiemma got up from his chair and yelled, "Either get up and continue fighting, or I'll have to take it out on your friend. A Sabertooth wizard shows no weakness."

Sting struggled to get up, getting on his knees and fighting off the wave of pain as best he could. He couldn't bear to watch Rogue get beaten again. Even though Jiemma had determined Rogue strong enough to be a part of his guild he still wasn't above using him to keep Sting under control.

Rogue bore the beatings as well as he could, holding Sting's gaze throughout as they tried to feed each other enough strength to endure the hell they'd been thrust into. As far as they could tell they'd been members of Sabertooth for about three months.

Jiemma pitted all the members against each other, and they'd already seen one death from a spar that had gone too far. Little by little, Sting and Rogue found themselves changing, the severity of their situation demanding they distance themselves from their emotions as much as possible to not go crazy. Even their feelings towards each other had needed an adjustment, the real fear that Jiemma would somehow find out about their relationship and use it against them making it necessary. So although they loved each other no less, they had to pretend to be no more than friends.

This included sparring against each other violently, nothing at all like the fun they used to have when they trained together. Every move was a concerted effort to please the Master enough so that he'd focus on other members for a while.

They were miserable, both longing for the carefree life they'd had before. Even when they hadn't had much, they'd still had each other. At Sabertooth, they had no one, they were back to having only their cats for company, and even that was dangerous. Rogue had to remind them to stay in the shadows at all times, afraid that if Jiemma noticed, he would do something terrible to them.

Everything was controlled for them. Sting and Rogue were told when to sleep, when to rise and when to eat. Even their showers were monitored and were done as quickly as possible to avoid looking at the guild mark that had been placed on their left shoulders. That mark hurt most of all, instead of bearing a symbol they were proud of, it marked them as the property of a man they abhorred.

Most of their days were spent training, doing anything and everything they could to be seen as strong in Jiemma's eyes. The worst part was, to their disgust, they could feel themselves actively trying to curry Jiemma's favor. That was the only time they were ever left to their own devices. Even then they were watched.

At night Sting longed to hold Rogue against him like he was used to, missing his mate's comforting warmth and the way his breath left a pleasant tickle on Sting's chest as he'd drifted off to sleep. When they'd shared a bed, it kept their nightmares mostly at bay, but now they were constant and in many ways hard to distinguish from their reality. Their biggest one was waking up to find the other gone forever, taken by the cruel hands of their Master. It was something they were determined to avoid at all costs.

After a year of this treatment, they were finally deemed trustworthy enough to take jobs representing the guild, but not together. One of them had to always remain under Jiemma's watchful eye.

One day Jiemma sent Rogue, along with his daughter Minerva, on an errand. They were given a satchel full of money and instructions to retrieve a parcel. Under no circumstances were they to open the package and they were threatened with being beaten within an inch of their life if they returned without it.

They'd arrived at the train station, and Rogue sat on a bench, carefully guarding the satchel while staring at the oncoming train with dread.

"What if we just got on a different train?" Minerva who had been sitting quietly next to him proposed suddenly.

"What?" Rogue startled as he stared at her in horror, "Are you serious? He'd kill us."

"Not if he can't find us," Minerva begged, "Just think about it Rogue, we could start a brand new life, leave this hellhole behind."

Rogue knew that even though Minerva was the guild master's daughter she got no preferential treatment. In fact, in some ways, she got it worse, but even so, he couldn't tell if this was some sort of bizarre loyalty test or if she was desperate enough to do what she was saying.

He let the temptation wash over him, there was no way he could leave Sting alone while he ran off with someone else, even if Minerva had been the only person in the guild to be slightly friendly to him.

"I can't," Rogue said honestly, "If I were to leave, he wouldn't think twice about killing Sting."

Minerva bit her lip but had to agree.

They got on the correct train, but even through his horrible motion sickness, he could hear Minerva crying quietly beside him as she tried to keep his hair out of his face in case he had to vomit. She could have run out on him at any time, but she stayed and took care of him while he was weak. The guilt tore at his heart, there was an opportunity for one of them to break free from their chains, and he was selfishly keeping her leashed to protect his mate. He began to try to distract himself by thinking of ways he could help her escape.

They arrived at the station where they would have to change trains for the next leg of their journey. After Rogue had recovered, they went to get some food while they waited. He brought up his scheme then.

"What if we were to just take the parcel?" Rogue suggested carefully, "Help me get it and then I can return to Sabertooth with what he wants, and you can disappear."

"I can't let you do that," Minerva was already shaking her head, "He'd punish you."

Rogue shrugged, "He's punished me before, you might never get this chance again."

Minerva bit her lip, he could tell that she really wanted to do what he was suggesting, but her guilt at what might happen to him was holding her back.

"I'll be okay," Rogue assured her with a nervous smile, "I'm a dragon slayer, remember? Tough as they come."

"I don't know," Minerva hedged, but he could tell she was weakening. The train arrived then, and Minerva once again held his hair away from his face, finally looking through her travel bag and putting his hair up in a ponytail with a smile.

"You should show your face more often," Minerva smiled, "You're very handsome."

Rogue blushed to the roots of his hair, not even Sting had ever called him that.

Minerva laughed good-naturedly. "Sting is very lucky."

Rogue quickly tried to deny it, the blood rushing to his heart as he panicked at their secret being discovered. "We're just friends."

Minerva laughed again, "Yeah, right. I've seen the way you look at each other when you think no one's looking. Don't worry, I've never told anyone. It's none of my business."

Rogue's motion sickness kicked in again, and he remained quiet for the rest of the ride as Minerva talked about her mother and how she'd like to see her again. Once they got off this second train, they found an inn to stay overnight.

As they were getting ready for bed Rogue brought up the topic again. "Have you thought about what I said?"

"Yeah, I'll decide after we get the parcel," Minerva said before turning on her side and going to sleep.

They held on to each other as they slept, seeking the comfort they'd both been denied for so long.

In the morning they checked out of the inn and spoke only of how they were going to get the parcel from the person holding it for Jiemma. They stopped at the train station to buy tickets, trying to ensure a quick getaway. If they hurried they should have just enough time to get on the next train out. They walked to the address her father had given them and examined the building.

It was a store of some kind, the objects it sold not recognizable by either of them, but it had a large display window. They decided Rogue would go inside and ask for the parcel, then when he had it in his hand, he would go into his shadow form and disappear with the object. Minerva would be hiding outside but keeping track of the situation through the window, in case her help was needed. When Rogue came out, she would teleport them both back to the train station. They only hoped the object was not too big.

They ran the plan over in their minds a few times looking for weaknesses and when they were satisfied Rogue walked into the building. He was thankfully given a small box, and he wasted no time putting their plan into action. As soon as Rogue felt the object in his hand, he used his shadows to escape. He'd heard several men running outside of the store, but they hadn't been able to see him. He remained in his shadow until he saw Minerva waiting for him and once he reached her they were immediately teleported behind the building of the station house.

"Did they come after you?" Minerva tried to look calm, but it was obvious she was scared. They were defying her father, and both knew the stakes were high. Rogue shook his head, and she relaxed somewhat.

They could hear their train being announced and Rogue once again went into his shadow form before boarding the train as an extra precaution, since they were pretty sure Minerva hadn't been seen. As far as they could tell no one was looking for Rogue and they weren't sure what that could mean.

He materialized in the seat next to Minerva, and he quickly stowed the box they had stolen safely in his pack. She once again put his hair up, and they sat in tense silence, both realizing there was no turning back at this point. Minerva was deep in thought the whole train ride, not speaking until they had reached the station.

"Have you decided?" Rogue asked once his stomach had settled. They were running ahead of schedule, and there were lots of trains she could take to get away.

"I have to try, I might never get this chance again," Minerva muttered almost as if she were trying to convince herself more than Rogue.

Rogue gulped, the enormity of what they were about to do already overwhelming him. "Don't tell me where you're going, that way I can't tell him anything."

Minerva nodded, her eyes teary as she thought of what would await Rogue when he arrived at the guild. "You should let me attack you. That way you can say I surprised you and got away. and you thought it more important to return with the package than to chase after me."

Rogue thought that sounded like a good idea, he wasn't afraid of pain. He'd been Jiemma's punching bag enough times. He took a shaky breath and nodded to Minerva that he was ready. She got in a few good hits, and he made sure to get some defensive wounds, so it looked more believable. When they were both satisfied they said goodbye.

Minerva touched his face gently before leaving and gave him the first real smile he'd ever seen from the girl, "Thank you, I'll never be able to repay you for this. I hope you and Sting can get away from my father soon." She kissed his cheek and hugged him before teleporting away.

It wasn't until boarding the train back to the guild, he steadfastly refused to call it home, that he realized a few problems with their plan. They'd never considered how Master Jiemma communicated with the man they had stolen from. If they used lacrima, he was screwed. He wasn't looking forward to the beating he would get, but he could take it as long as it wasn't Sting who was beaten in his place. With mounting panic, he realized he hadn't considered that as an actual possibility until now, and he really should have. Rogue began to sweat profusely even before the movement of the train had a chance to make him sick and this time he did vomit.

He could only hope the fact that he had the package would buy him some level of leniency from his insane Master.

o-o

Jiemma got off the lacrima confused about what he'd been told, but no less furious that Minerva and Rogue had tried to make a fool out of him. How dare they steal not only from the dealer that he'd had to work so hard to get in with, but also from him?

Sting had been walking by on his way to eat when Jiemma grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into a wall. He was no stranger to Jiemma's abuse, but there was usually a reason and as far as he knew he hadn't done anything.

"Think they can make a fool out of me do they?" Jiemma roared, confusing Sting even further, but he had no time to think about it as he was once again grabbed, this time by the hair, and thrown even harder against the unyielding wall. He heard a sickening crunch as he hit, and howled in pain as his nose began to bleed.

"ORGA!" Jiemma bellowed, knowing that the large boy would use his magic to get there as quickly as possible. He wasn't disappointed, as moments later Orga was standing in front of him. Pointing at Sting's body, he commanded, "Prepare him," before storming off to the train station to await Minerva and Rogue's arrival.

o-o

Rogue wobbled out of the train slowly, stopping on the platform for a moment as he waited for his motion sickness to fade. He smelled Jiemma before he saw him, looking up quickly, Rogue spotted him and instantly knew he was screwed. There was a visible red aura surrounding the Sabertooth Guild Master, and he looked angrier than Rogue had ever seen him.

He took an unsteady breath and resigned himself to his fate, Rogue knew he'd get hurt, and he'd accepted it to aid in Minerva's escape. He hoped his regeneration had not kicked in too much since the injuries he had were the only evidence that his words might be true. He hurried over to his Master.

Jiemma looked around him and frowned. "Boy, where is Minerva?"

Rogue swallowed thickly, and after bowing his head slightly in a sign of deference, he began to recite what he'd rehearsed in his head. "Master, Sir, I tried to stop her, but she overpowered me." He showed Jiemma his injuries.

"Not here, you're making a scene," Jiemma hissed, before grabbing Rogue by the arm and roughly pulling him toward the guild.

In the time he had before they reached their destination Rogue prayed that Sting would be okay, that Jiemma would be so angry that he would decide to take his anger directly out on him, instead of his mate. He was shoved inside the guild, almost crashing into Orga who moved out of the way and gave him a look he wasn't sure how to interpret. Rogue thought it had almost looked like pity.

Rufus appeared and told the Master they were ready and Rogue was led into a room he'd never been in before. Inside that room, a bloodied Sting was strung up. His arms were splayed out and held to the wall by handcuffs.

Rogue knew better than to show his dismay, Sabertooth wizards showed no weakness after all, but he was confused when Sting sniffed the air and glared at him accusingly. Why was Sting looking at him like that?

"Are you okay? " Rogue whispered low enough that only Sting would hear him, but his mate wouldn't even look at him.

Jiemma wasted no time, battering Sting relentlessly with his blast magic. Sting's body fought against his restraints as he convulsed from the impact, but he remained stubbornly silent.

"I'm only going to ask you this one last time, and you'd be wise to answer honestly," Jiemma cautioned in a voice too calm to be interpreted as anything but dangerous. "Where is my daughter?"

"I don't know, she attacked me and teleported away," Rogue replied evenly, trying to appear braver than he felt.

"Well no matter, she'll be found soon enough, and she'd better not have spent any of my jewels," Although Jiemma still looked angry, he studied Rogue as if seeing him for the first time, "You know, I always thought it would be Sting who would betray me."

Rogue thought he detected a twinge of respect in the Master's voice and was immediately disgusted with himself for feeling pleased at the thought. What had happened to him in these last few months? He'd changed so much he barely recognized himself, and although Rogue knew some of it had been necessary to survive, he didn't like who he was becoming.

"It looks like I underestimated you. A mistake I won't be making again. Where is the parcel?" Jiemma demanded.

Rogue had been staring at Sting worriedly, but he heard his Master and quickly grabbed the box from his bag and handed it over. Jiemma snatched it and opened it carefully, examining its contents.

He rubbed his chin with his fingers and looked over at Sting with a thoughtful expression before smiling in a way that froze all of Rogue's blood. He had a horrible feeling about what was going to happen next.

Jiemma turned the box around and showed the contents to Rogue and Sting. "Do you have any idea what these are?"

There were two crystals in the box, each about the size of the palms of their hands. They shook their heads.

"These are dragon lacrima, very expensive, very hard to get," Jiemma declared as he touched the lacrimas reverently. He gave them a moment to look at them before continuing, "You see boys, I learned something exciting after you joined our little guild. Apparently implanting one of these inside a person can give them the same abilities that you two already possess."

"Now, I'd planned to use them on Orga and Rufus so that we could have four dragon slayers in our ranks, but a thought occurs to me," Jiemma kept talking, and it was eerie, Rogue had never heard him say so many words in one day before.

"What do you think would happen if you implanted a lacrima on someone who already has dragon slaying magic?" He let the question hang in the air and when neither of them said anything he continued.

"My guess is it would make you stronger, but then again it could kill you. What do you say, boys, shall we find out? It's never been done before." Jiemma proposed in an overly jovial tone.

Rufus came into the room and handed Jiemma some handcuffs, "The item you requested." He studied Sting and Rogue dispassionately before looking away.

Jiemma grunted in acknowledgment and handed the box to Rufus to hold as he walked over to Rogue. In a series of quick movements, the Sabertooth Master had grabbed Rogue's arm and clicked the cuffs shut, effectively separating him from his magic before hanging him up on the wall next to Sting. It was an extra measure he liked to take given Rogue's magic.

"I'll be back soon to get started," Jiemma declared as he left the room.

o-o

Sting had no idea what had happened or why he was being punished, but he'd been worried that something had happened to his mate, so when Rogue had walked in safely, Sting had felt nothing but relief. He'd immediately sniffed the air around Rogue trying to derive some comfort no matter how small from his arrival, and that's when he'd smelled it.

The scent he'd been accustomed to since the day they'd found each other had changed. It was now contaminated by the strong smell of Minerva and Sting had never felt more betrayed in his life. He wasn't prepared for the blitz of feelings that assaulted him, much more painful than any beating Jiemma could ever administer. Sting's world suddenly felt smaller than it ever had as he realized that the only reason he was being punished was that his mate had chosen another over him.

From the moment they'd been shanghaied into Sabertooth everything Sting had done had been for the sole purpose of keeping Rogue safe, to try to make up for his horrible mistake and to bide his time until they could escape together. He'd gone past his limits countless times when he'd wanted nothing more than to give up, just to keep Jiemma from devising new ways to torture his love. To keep Rogue safe, he would have gladly fought to his dying breath.

Sting felt his body react to the onslaught of blasts pummeling him, but he felt no pain. He listened to the words Jiemma and Rogue exchanged and watched as Rogue was placed next to him, and still, he could feel nothing but despair.

"Sting, why won't you look at me?" Rogue's voice was quiet enough that it could only be heard by another dragon slayer and though Sting heard the quiver of fear in it, it wasn't enough to douse his doubts.

"You reek of Minerva," Sting growled finally, lifting his head to confront his mate.

"What are you talking about?"

"You let her touch you," Sting's lips curled in disgust, " And you chose her over me."

"I would never do that!" Rogue denied, and Sting could smell the tears the other was trying to keep hidden, and he almost let himself think that maybe he was overreacting, there was no reason for him not to trust in Rogue after everything they had been through together. Almost, but then he got another whiff of Minerva's scent, strong on his mate in a way only his scent should ever be. It wasn't right, not when he hadn't even been able to touch Rogue in any way that wasn't violent for months.

"Sting no, I would never betray you," Rogue swore urgently, "She asked me to go with her and I refused. I knew Jiemma would kill you!"

"Was that the only reason?" Sting challenged, "Nevermind, don't answer that."

"What?! No! Sting, you don't understand," Rogue launched into a desperate explanation of what had happened during his mission but Sting was done listening.

He was furious, and he let that fury take him over, it was better than wallowing in the hurt of Rogue's betrayal. He heard Weisslogia's words in his mind, almost like the dragon was pleading with him to reconsider:

There is someone out there the universe made just for you, a soulmate.

...once you find each other, you will want for nothing

What bullshit! Sting refused to heed words whose only purpose was to give him false comfort. Like a fool, he'd believed everything Weisslogia had told him. But he'd been young then.

Gazing deeply into his mate's eyes, he feigned indifference as he spat the most hurtful thing he'd ever said, "I was wrong before, the only person I can truly depend on is myself."

Sting watched Rogue crumble at his words and although he wanted not to feel anything, he knew he crumbled a bit too.

All he wanted at this point was to take back command of his life. If he were forced to be in this hellhole of a guild, he'd become its star. He would become stronger than Jiemma himself. It was the only way they would ever be able to get out.

The old man might see the implantation of a lacrima as some sort of deranged punishment but if there were any chance it could lead to him achieving his goal Sting would welcome the intrusion to his body. He would cast childish notions of love aside and strive to fulfill his new goal.

As he heard the door of the room opening he welcomed it. Sting was finally ready to become the Master of his own destiny.

A/N: This will continue on Sunday in It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn for the prompt Dusk/Dawn which may or may not be broken up into two parts. Not sure yet, it's a work in progress!