-Sting-

Running faster and faster and faster, like always, I didn't look back.

'What was he thinking, right now? How did he feel? Was he hurting? Why am I not there for him, when he needs me to be?'

Rushing out of the apartment, I ran. My feet dragging behind, my heart wanted to burst from my body and be right there; right there next him, right there next to Rogue. He didn't deserve to cry tears of sadness nor grief. He didn't deserve to hurt. Rogue needed to smile, someone who lived such a pathetically sad life- that it was nearly funny- deserved at least a bit of happiness.

It started to rain.

Some heard thunder and saw lightening. I heard a quiet piano and I could see it playing a quiet sonata. Nothing could be heard but you could see the beauty... I could see it crying to be heard. Yet people only looked at its beauty and stillness and assumed it was happy...

It reminded me of Rogue...

****

"I... I simply came because I was curious," Cobra muttered as I cautiously stepped through the door. He's sniffing echoed the room and his tears soaked the floor. Nothing different could be seen from Rogues place- which filled me with some sick sense of relief. His books piled on the table and the living room as speckless as usual.

"Curious? Curious of what, and why're you here? I thought you hated me?" I asked through gritted teeth. Cobra may of been my brother and I loved him to hell and back, however that didn't mean the feeling was mutual. He could hurt me over and over again and it wouldn't effect him in the slightest. Always using the same excuse to break my heart. How many times must he hurt me till he's satisfied?

"I..." He cleared his throat, never holding eye contact, "I was curious about your friend, Rogue, so I looked him up... Basically researched his life." He began to shuffle on the stop and his hands couldn't stop moving- whether it be scratching his head or simply tapping his fingers on his leg.

"Is that even legal?"

"Most likely it is legal... Anyways, I found out his mother died along time ago, so I felt bad for the him and came here to give him my sincere condolences... But apparently he had no memory of his mother- or shadow as he called it- dying..."

"What?"

"He then left as soon as grandpa came in. Grandpa Natsu tried to stop him but... He ran off somewhere. I'm sorry, I shouldn't of come here or said anything... I'm sorry, sorry for everything."

"It's okay, it doesn't matter anymore, I have to go and find Rogue!"

****

There was a scarred sky. The raging wind howling and whipping through the air, tearing at my skin as I fought back. The clouds were the gun barrels, and the rain were the bullets being fired endlessly at the earth. Storming down at such speed I felt at though I was bleeding. Was the sky so sad, it's tears actually hurt. I wondered if Rogue tears would hurt me more.

The rain wouldn't stop...

A cemetery, is where I ended up.

I didn't fully understood, why Rogue was so quiet, why Rogue never spoke. He could read my soul and heart as easily as he could read a book. (He's not that good of reader, but he's good at reading me!) It hurt that he never told me why, why he was hurting. But did I ever tell him anything? Always running, that was me. Always finding a way out. Never honest with anyone, never honest with my self.

Me, the liar

I knew from that second, I'd give Rogue my everything.... I'd never lie to him. I'd tell him everything. I didn't want to lie anymore, especially to him. Someone like him... I couldn't lie to. Even if I did, he'd know.

In this sinless day of mourning...

Rogue sat slumped in front of a grave, sitting on his shins, he sat there lifeless and motionless. His hands hung by his sides, his fingers dug deep into the ground. His head was lifted up, he stared at the sky as the rain cried along side him. I saw both his eyes were closed as he let the rain drown him in sorrow and regret.

"Sting, help me..."

My arms wrapped around his neck, I felt his soaked back against my chest. His heart beating so fast, I could hear it resonating against my own. His hair clung to his face and he was shivering from the cold. His skin pale and colourless, he looked as though he was from a monochrome photograph. His tears were masked by the rain, but that didn't mean I didn't notice them.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I whispered into his ear. I looked up and read the gravestone across us. 'His mother', just as Cobra said, she had died... And it was a pretty long time ago. He once mentioned his 'shadow'. Was he talking about his mother? I simply waited for his response and didn't press the matter till he wanted to finally speak. He rarely spoke... So this was going to take a while. I simply clung to his neck, my head buried itself in his shoulder and we warmed each other up, in a weird way.

I don't know how long we sat there, an hour... Or three. The rain charging down but he finally said something, "my shadow is my mother.." My eyes snapped open. The rain soaked through to my skin but I still found some way to doze off. He was warm and comforting, and he smelled nice. I hummed, edging him on to continue, "she's dead..."

He swallowed and I wrapped my arms around him tighter, pulling him closer into my chest. My face dug deep into his neck, underneath the salted tears and acidic rain, I could faintly smell him. His scent was quite indescribable. Aromatic and pleasant, to the nose, but additive to my mind. He really did smell nice.

"I didn' say anythin'... To lady..." I tried to make sense of what he was saying. I assumed he was speaking about his mother but he wouldn't refer to her as 'lady'. But he continued,"Lady.. On the other end of the..." I questioned again what he was speaking about, 'lady on the other end of the' ... "Phone," we said in unison. I didn't realise I said the whole sentence out loud.

"Who was she?" I asked, as I his wet hair fell into my lip. I moved so his my lips were by his ear and I repeated the question. My words vibrating in his ear drum.

I really don't recall how long it took for him to reply however it was shorter than the previous gap, "Ambulance Lady. I call her... Mama was on the floor, she fell." His breathing became unsteady and uneven. I could see his lips tremble as another wave tears flooded down, but they were heavier than the rain, I could see them clearly." Blood..." He continued. I guess at the time, I vaguely understood what he meant, why he stopped speaking, why he was the real liar... And not I.

"Blood?"

His porcelain skin was like silk, soft and delicate to touch. Each tear ruined it. Each tear that ran down his skin was the same as running a knife down his face and letting the wound bleed out and finally decay.

"Shadow was ill, coughed up blood... Lots of blood," he muttered. I didn't know how we heard one another since the rain deafened any on goer. But we did hear. I could hear the slight shake in his voice as the finally let the word 'shadow' tumble from his lips. He never pronounced the 't's at the end of contractions, which was amusing in some sense. Rogue had a croaky voice that sounded quite displeasing to anyone. What could you expect from someone who hadn't spoken in years. I still enjoyed listening to his voice, I kinda liked it.

"I couldn' even speak-" his voice cracked and his hands lifted up to cover his face. His shoulders shook and I held him tighter, snuggled into him a bit more and I could once again hear his heavy breathing veiled behind heavy sobs and heavy rainfall.

I started to hum a song, a song that grandpa used to sing to me before I went to sleep. He told me he heard his soul mate sing it a few times. A few times but it was etched into his mind right after the first note. I continued humming it till I actually started singing the songs. I don't know why I could remember all the words... But I did. After every word, he calmed down just a little. Till finally he spoke once more.

"Grandpa Grays song." Rogue muttered. He finally turned his head and I did too. He looked me right in the eyes and finally the tears stopped. "Because I didn' speak, my shadow, my mother died... Because of me, only me, she ain' here. I lie to myself about her because I didn' accept her death. My fault. All my fault."

"It's not your fault." His eyes were sad and solemn but his lips twitched into a sad smile. He didn't believe me. "My whole life, I blamed myself for everything 'wrong' in my family. My family hates me because of it. It's not 'my' fault. It's 'our' fault. There's a difference."

"Share the blame? You wan' me to blame my mother for dying?" He cracked a smile, I didn't really know if it was genuine or if it was laced with pain.

"No! Since you're thinking of what I said in negative manner... " I thought about it for a while, "Share the blame... Or don't blame at all."

"Seems like a better solution... But still... Why're Ya even here?" He asked as he moved his shoulders so my grip would loosen. He titled his head down and stared at the dejected flowers that were probably laid down by a random stranger.

The rain was lighter now; lighter than before but still heavy.

"Because you're you. I care about you. You're always here for me, right? Shouldn't I be there for-"

"No." His voice was stern and cold as he interrupted me. "Go away. You 'ave a life, a place to call home, a family, friends, even have people who work for ya! You, Sting Eucliffe, 'ave everythin' You don' need me, leave. I just wanna-"

"You're my home and I love you,"

He looked at me once again and I swear to god his startling, ruby red eyes forced my heart to stop beating then and there and all I could simply do as stare in awe. I loved the colour red; his eyes were red. I loved his eyes.

"What would you wan' with a homeless druggie like me? Me, who lived in the streets? Me, who stolen to not starve? Me, who's hurt others just so I can survive? Me, who you can' trust? Me, who actually thought that my FairyTail dream with you can las'? Me, fake pauper of this sorry-of-a-story called life?"

The rain stopped.

"Hmm, what would I want with someone as amazing as you? Hmmm, that's a hard question to answer. You, who's so spectacular, sometimes I wonder how can something be so dazzling? You, who's sinned but could pass of as an angel. You, my saviour, without you, I'd have given up a long time ago. I fell in love with Ryos... With Rogue, a long time ago. You were my first and only love. What would I want with you? Without you- you who I love- without you, I can't live."

He smiled. I smiled.

I think it was those rare times in both of our lives were our smiles were true and real. No lies were clouded behind our eyes. No sadness tug at our lips. Our usual fake fabricated facade, disintegrated by mere smiles.

"I love you." He said. We continued sitting there, soaked to the skin, simply enjoying one another's presence- as cliche as that sounds. Sighing in competent as we watched the sky, my fingers interlacing his.

The shimmering sun, that once lay stamped into the sky like a golden coin, dipped into the horizon. The multiple colours oozing silently together for one final parade, till finally...

"We're like some kind of 'prince and the pauper', don't you think?" I whispered. He grinned.

...It was night in Magnolia...

****

A/N: this started of as a 700 word chapter. I got a bit carried away and added to it till it reached 2100...

Hope you enjoyed Pierce The Veil- I'm Low on Gas and You Need a Jacket. That's been my jam lately

Anyways. Like the chapter says. "Sinless Days" the counterpart to the first chapter "Sinful Nights" I hope you realise this is the last chapter...

Don't worry there's a epilogue. But then that's it.

I apologise for not updating but then I didn't wanna end this story 😭😭

The way Rogue speaks is kinda cute. But it's his first time. It's not his fault. It's gonna sound weird

Originally in this story...

I was gonna kill off Rogue. Like this last chapter was supposed to be Sting at Rogues grave.

Like I think at some point Sting runs off cuz he can't handle his family (cuz they're at some family ball thing) and rogue follows him and rogues first words were supposed to be him confessing to sting. Romantic scene. Blah blah blah. But then...

But then he gets hit by a train or car. I dunno.

Then he was supposed to die.

Y'all should be happy I didn't use that! =_=

Anyways ta ta for now. Till the epilogue. Then we can cry.