The next few days, not much changed with Rogue's attitude. You cooked dinner the first night and he refused to eat it, insisting he didn't need you to take care of him. Frosch told him it was better than his cooking and he got so mad he went to bed. When you and Sting woke him up a little later, he told the both of you to leave and put up a shadow wall so that you couldn't enter the tent. Sting fell asleep against a tree facing the tent, hugging you to keep you warm. Lector was asleep in your laps. Rogue came out in the middle of the night when he noticed it was oddly quiet. He got angry when he saw you huddled up with Sting and proceeded to wake you up by punching Sting with a shadow. When you woke up and realized what happened, you punched Rogue with your raw fist. Rogue threw a fit and called you guys every name you can think of before taking some deep breaths and telling the both of you to get in the tent with him to sleep. He slept in-between both of you, with his arms crossed, making sure to not to cuddle you in the least. That was fine though because Frosch cuddled up to you, and Lector slept against Sting like he usually does. Rogue woke up to you making breakfast, but again refused to eat it. Poor Frosch didn't realize it was a bad idea to try to get Rogue to try some, so when Rogue started yelling at him Frosch ran to you in tears. That also pissed Rogue off. Whenever you went to go inspect the weird eggs with Rogue & Sting, Rogue would put up a shadow wall so that you couldn't. This pissed you off because he would tell Sting it was for your safety, and that idiot would agree it was probably best. Each time he built a shadow wall to keep you away, you would hide right outside it and wait for him to take it down. As he would walk by your hiding spot you would jump onto him, telling him how much you missed him and kissing him obnoxiously. This obviously was pissing him off the most. Rogue was really starting to regret coming on this job and he didn't mind letting either of you know. 

Day four of the mission, Sting went off with Lector to explore. He said he wanted to make sure there weren't more eggs somewhere, even though Rogue said he had already done that. His defense was that we were also going to need more food soon. Really, he probably just wanted to get away from Rogue's crappy attitude for a bit. You decided to use the opportunity to try and get Rogue to open up again, hoping that your plea to stop this will finally sink into that thick skull of his.

"So you think you can keep this up forever?" you ask, taking a seat next to Rogue. He scoots away from you a little. 

"I must and I will." he says dryly, drawing in some of the dirt with a stick. You let out a deep sigh. This was really starting to get to you, even though you knew you had to fight it.

"Rogue.." you're voice is barely over a whisper and you could hear it staring to crack. "Please stop this."

"NO! How many times do I have to tell you that?! If you don't like then GO HOME AND MOVE ON!" he yelled at you, snapping his stick in half. 

"How many times do I have to tell you..? I'M NEVER GOING TO DO THAT!" you yell back in frustration. You try really hard to hold it together, but knowing that it's just you and Rogue right now, you break down. Tears start falling and Rogue tries his hardest not to look at you.

"Stop crying." he says, more calm that he has spoke to you in weeks.

"Stop making me." you mutter back harshly. You can't take it anymore and go to lay down in the tent, just wanting to be alone. 'How long can Rogue really keep this up?' you wonder. 'How long can I?'

"Where's (Y/n)?" Sting ask as he returns in front of his partner. "You didn't kill her did you?" Rogue just stares into the forrest, not answering. "Oh my God Lector, he really did!" he yells turning to his exceed and looking around to make sure he didn't miss you.

"SHUT THE HELL UP MORON." Rogue snaps, standing up to take a walk. Sting runs after him though, realizing he would finally have a moment to speak to Rogue alone. 

"No. What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sting yells, frustration with his friend reaching a peak.

"Go away Sting." Rogue says calmly, walking faster.

"NO! I'm sick of this. I won't watch you do this to yourself. You're punishing yourself over what someone else did. Man up already." he says crossing his arms, annoyance showing all over his face.

"Man up?" he starts, stopping to face his friend. "I ALREADY DID! I owned up to the person that I really am, and i'm correcting it! Stop being a selfish child and let me fix this!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO FIX YET!" Sting yells. "Don't you see, this is only going to turn you into that bitter asshat faster!" 

"Says who?" Rogue ask, not really expecting an answer.

"SAYS COMMON SENSE." Sting mutters. "And I'm selfish? Look in the mirror man. Forget what you tried to do to me.. look at what you've done to (Y/n). She's willing to give up everything  to be with you through darkness or light, give up everything to pave a new path with you, and you only care about what you think is right. She deserves a lot better if you ask me, but what do I know?" 

"And what if I do that?" Rogue grabs his neck in frustration, losing his composure a little. "What if I try that and fail. Fail and hurt her. Hurt everyone. What then Sting?!"

"So you're a coward now?" Sting says, rolling his eyes. "Scared of a what if. Who would've thought, Rogue is actually weak. So scared he'd rather run, than fight it head on."

"I'M NOT FUCKING WEAK STING!" Rogue screams.

"Depends on your view of things I guess." Sting says, inching closer to his friend. 

Before Rogue can react, they both hear a high pitched scream. (Y/n). They look at each other, running as fast as they can back to the camp. When they arrive they see 3 cracked eggs. 

"(Y/N) WHERE ARE YOU?!" Sting yells as he approaches camp. Rogue runs into the tent where you had been resting earlier. There's a massive rip in the back of the tent. Rogue tries to sniff you out with his dragon senses. Sting already doing the same. Just then, two more eggs crack open. One breaks completely and a creature they have never seen before jumps out. A weird black beast they have never seen before pops out. It doesn't seem to have anything other than a mouth on its face. No ears. No nose. No eyes. It let's out a screech and snaps its head over to their direction as if it can see them. It breaks out in a run over towards them.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Sting yells, frozen for a moment. 

"(Y/N)! FROSCH!" Rogue yells, not moving his eyes from the eggs, terrified, and assuming the worst. 

"Light dragon ROARRRR!" Sting blows the creature back to the eggs. It lands in a pile of the eggs, breaking them open too. "DAMNIT!" 

"Shadow Dragon's CRUSHING FANG!" Rogue yells towards the group. While they're stunned for a moment, he takes his katana out. 

"White Dragon's HOLY BREATH!" Sting yells out at the group to keep them down. Rogue jumps up and stabs his katana through each one and they disappear.

"What the hell?!" he yells. "(Y/NNNN)!

"ROGUE!" Lector yells flying towards him. "OVER HERE!"

Sting stays to finish off the cracked eggs, while Rogue runs after Lector. Around the mountainside he spots you, taking a slash from the creature protecting Frosch. "SHADOW DRIVE!" he yells and appears in front of you as you fall back against a tree. "Shadow dragon's WAXWING FLASH!" The creature disappears into Rogue's shadows, and when he reappears he's standing over it with his katana deep in it. The creature disappears and Rogue runs over to you. "Are you ok?!" he yells inspecting the slash across your stomach.

"Rogue." is all you say before you pass out. 

"NO! WAKE UP! WAKE THE HELL UP! WAKE UP!" he yells over and over again holding you.

"ROGUE!" Sting yells looking for his partner. He notices you when he's about 20 feet away. "No. NO!" he yells running over to his now crying friend holding you, putting pressure on your stomach to try to stop the bleeding. 

"GRAB HER! We can make it to town. Come on!" Rogue uses his shadows to lift you up in his arms. The boys run as fast as they can to town, Rogue using his shadows in spurts to get there faster. 

"WE NEED A INFIRMARY, NOW!" Rogue yells to the job requester and they run to their nearby doctor...

You woke up shivering, grabbing at every blanket around you. Then it hit you, how did you end up with blankets?! You open your eyes and jolt up. It's dark in the room and you're terrified, realizing the last place you remember being was on the mountainside with Rogue and Frosch. You try to stand up and realize your stomach stings. "Owwwwwww!" you growl and suck in a breath as you twist too much and a hot pain runs across you. Then two arms wrap around you and pull you down carefully. 

"Stop, rest." you recognize that voice. It's Rogue. He lays you down.

"Rogue. Where are we? What-" he cuts you off as you ask. 

"Resting in an apartment the town let us stay in. Go back to sleep." he says, running a hand through your hair. You're weak and fall asleep within a minute.

When you wake back up it's early. You can see the sun starting to peak into the window, barely. Rogue is cuddled up to you for the first time in who knows how long. You try to scoot away, wanting to get up and inspect your surprise surrounding, but he begins to stir.

"Stay." he whispers, and nuzzles into you.

"Why?" you ask.

"Not now. Just stay and sleep for now." Rogue says, pulling the blankets over you two more.

"You don't have to stay with me Rogue." you say, looking at him.

"Not now." is all he says, and you fall back asleep in his embrace.

You awake when he starts to kiss your face. Peppering little soft pecks all over. "Rogue, stop." you say, rolling over. 

"Thought that would get you up." he says, smugly.

"Don't do this to me." you say, irritated that he would tease you like that, knowing he's so determined to leave you.

"I plan on doing that every day." he says, matter of factly.

"What?" you snap, turning only partially to see him.

"Every. Day." he smiles slightly, pushing some hair behind your ear. 

"Why?" you ask, facing away from him again, not wanting him to see your reactions.

"I'm sorry. I was stupid; I took the cowards way out. The lazy way out. The stupid way out. Everything you can think of except the right way. I wanted to protect you, but clearly I failed at that." he says, now rubbing your side slightly, making sure not to hurt your wound. "You're here because I was stubborn. I'll forever be sorry for that."

"Don't be. I came on the stupid mission, knowing Sting said it wasn't a good match for me." you said, closing your eyes, trying not to cry at Rogue's words.

"Don't do that. You came on the mission because I was a stubborn asshole. I'm really sorry." he says. Just then he leans down and turns your chin towards him. "I want to protect you still. I just think you were right, and Sting was right, and I would do that best, beside you every day, loving you to the fullest."

"Don't do this out of pity. It's just a cut. It'll heal." you say looking at him.

"I'm not doing this out of pity. I'm doing it out of love. I never wanted to leave you. I thought I needed to. Now I see how wrong I was." he says, leaning down slightly. You take a deep breath at your sudden closeness. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Please say I haven't ruined this." he says, as he kisses you softer than ever, as if you're made of glass.

He pulls away slowly, and you look at him for a long moment. Then you grab his head and take him in for a kiss again. "You didn't ruin anything. Never will. I love you."

"I love you too." Rogue says, laying down cuddling you some more, both of you enjoying the comfortable silence between yourselves.

"FINALLY! I LOVE YOU GUYS TOO! WE'R GOING TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER!" Sting yells, opening the door, running over to jump on the bed next to Rogue and hug around you two. You two laugh, but don't even bother to resist, thankful for this idiot and his help keeping you two together.