Shadows Can Not Exist Without Their Light

Stars among the skies danced, every occasional cloud or two rolling by to obstruct view of them. The moon was the center of attention, it’s beauty outweighing the stars. Not many people would be watching, though, realizing the thing this scenery symbolized. Not many would care to stop and gaze, as they were meaningless in such a situation.
Flames raked the town, the screaming of helpless citizens and tourists would be trapped among the chaos, only to be drowned out eventually as they were burnt alive. Crocus was a city of chaos now, and everything seemed but mere ashes. Some people managed to escape the city, some trapped inside, and some would have already met their fates by the cutting of their twine that connected them to reality. Various mages of the games were dead now, as they were unable to protect themselves from the bedlam caused by the Black Dragon that soared the skies.
Among the little survivors, there would be a Fairy and a Tiger.
Both were alone, having lost everyone they cared for.
The Tiger would come to lose his cat and his brother.
The Fairy would be in the same situation, having lose her sister and brother.
It was like everyone was gone in a flash before they could even do anything about it. Running, trying to find their way out of this town of death to avoid being massacred.
One broke down, finding it useless at this point.
This one was named Lisanna.
There was nothing else to live for, as she had no one to turn to. They were all dead. Flames surrounded her, and she would allow them to engulf her. Her ocean eyes closed, and she accepted death. Tears streamed down her face.
“Get down!”
Her eyes blinked open, and she swung her head to the side to see someone. She barely took a moment to think about it, but swiftly ducked down to the ground, covering her head with hands and an attack swiftly glided straight over her. A break in the flames was created, and the Tiger stood there.
This one was named Rogue.
He ran up to her, grabbing her hand and pulling it somewhat roughly. She didn’t deny it though, or go off on him, as now wasn’t the time. She knew him. During both of their stays at Crocus, they had communicated more than once.
She stood there, frozen as Rogue gave her a hard stare, but sadness and anguish was tucked deep into his eyes.
“I’m not letting anyone else die.”
The words got caught in her throat, and she was unable to get any out. Before Lisanna was aware, she was being tugged down the direction Rogue had come from, and through the flame-ridden path he provided. The heat of the reviving flames came quickly to her skin, and she felt it bearing down, though the actual fire never came to mark her. She slipped through the quickly resurrecting fire, struggling to keep up with Rogue and his running. She was out of breathe, especially from the smoke that had filled her lungs, making it hard to breathe. It was hard to see anything through all the thickness that the smoke had caused, and it just made people run into dead-ends to get turned to crisps. It was a wonder to Lisanna how the Dragon Slayer before her seemed to know exactly what he was doing. However, his somewhat-anguished face betrayed him, and he was just as panicked as her. No matter who you were, in this kind of situation, the end was just about inevitable.
"The Dragon Slayer that couldn't slay a dragon."
That thought hit Rogue hard. He'd realized now just what Gajeel and everyone else had dealt with several years ago. To think about such a situation baffled him, and he hated to accept the thought he wouldn't be able to kill this one. Alas, such a fact was true, and not understanding Natsu's words about how powerful this black dragon was made him.. well, afraid. Natsu beat him down during the Grand Magic Games all on his own without breaking a sweat. And now, the Fire Dragon Slayer wouldn't be able to handle such a thing as this.
He broke from his thoughts, attempting to get away from all the situations. He had to stay level-headed. He just had to. If not, he would get himself and Lisanna killed. The grip he had on her hand tightened as he made a sharp left into an alley just as another blast from Acnologia above was sent down. The walls protected them, but they were unable to actually maintain their sturdiness and collapsed. Rogue slipped him and the girl he was dragging along right out from under falling debris and to the back of the alley. All the years from attending the Grand Magic Games and visits to Crocus paid off, as he knew the town like the back of his own hand.
There was a steel door that obviously wasn't going to budge anytime soon. However, he wasn't going to accept that right now. He slid one foot back into the dirt to stand his ground, and he let out an attack. A large burst of shadows released from his mouth, pounding that door down without breaking a sweat (well, no new sweat that he had not already accumulated from the heat surrounding him). He shoved Lisanna inside first, only to have a close call with another blast. The white-haired mage hurriedly rushed inside, and Rogue quickly followed her. They both ventured down a flight of steps that seemed to go on forever, and when they hit bottom, it was completely dark and silent. The screams and terror on the surface were disconnected from them now. But for how long? That was the only real answer to their problems. When would this thing go away and leave them be?
The darkness and ominous tone somewhat... scared the female mage. She didn't know where she was going, what she was touching, anything. Everything felt so open-ended. But this was Rogue's domain, and he knew how to get through places like these.
"Lisanna."
She swung her head left and right, but to just stop and find it useless to trace the voice.
"Yes?"
His hand grabbed hold of her wrist this time instead of her hand. Grabbing her hand was nothing but a foolish mistake, really, but it felt strange when he did. However, he didn't divulge himself into it. She stayed quiet as he led her across the black area, small outlines of things starting to morph into her vision as he did. He brought her over to a wall, pushing her against it slowly before then letting go of her.
"Sit."
And so she did.
Rogue shuffled down into his own spot a few feet away from her, having his head pounding from a headache of stress, fear, every possible emotion he could at the moment besides any that brought joy. He remembered his brother's final words to him, and he bit his lip. Thank god Lisanna couldn't see him through all this inky darkness.
"Rogue." His friend coughed up blood as he lay in Rogue's arms which suited as the White Dragon Slayer's deathbed. A major indent into his stomach was bleeding heavily, and the bleeding was inevitable. Widened eyes of sadness, and tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn't do anything to save him. His vision was blurred with his tears as they fell onto Stnig. "Rogue... Why are you crying? Just because I'm not their doesn't mean I'm gone. Funny to think I started off with me killing a dragon..." More blood was coughed up as he rasped with his final breathes. "...and now a dragon is killing me." Sting told his friend, as he wasn't much of one for sappy endings. He had a smile on his face despite the blood that streamed down one side of his mouth on his cheek. His eyes went dull, and he had that stupid grin on his face unitl the very.
Then came Frosch. That one hit him just as hard as his brother. She was first to go, and he recalled her dying in his arms just as Sting. Beaten up and bruised, the string of life soon to be cut by the Sisters of Fate. She had been piled under the rubble when the Crocus Garden had fallen, and it had taken Rogue god knows how long just to find her under it all. When he finally did, she was already done for. He was unable to protect her. His entire body was trembling and he couldn't stop the onslaught of tears for being unable to prevent this catastrophe. He attempted to shove words out like 'I'm sorry' or 'I'll miss you', but the tears pushed them back down into his throat. Her last words were just "Frosch loves Rogue, and Frosch will miss Rogue."
He contemplated the emotions that swirled in his head.
With Lisanna, it was nothing better. Her two siblings had died for her. Now she was regretting just allowing herself to waste her life away into the flames and become just ashes in the wind. She remembered the experience that had happened not but twenty minutes before her attempted suicide.
She remembered Elfman and Mirajane hugging her close. The blast had hit so close to them, and would surely kill all three, but Lisanna was the last one standing. Her two siblings used themselves as a shield to protect her so they  may at least not have to see her die a second time. She didn't get to say goodbye, as everything was so uncalled for. They had died from the impact of the explosion, and she watched as all the light disappeared from their eyes and they went limp. "Live on," is the only thing they told her before the blast. How could she make such mockery of those words. She had to live, right? But there was nothing else for her to care for anymore, and the circumstances weren't going to allow such.
That's when her eyes looked up to the figure of the darkened and battered Rogue against the other figures in the room. She could only see the outline of his body, but she could still seem him now that her eyes adjusted. Her blue eyes dimmed, and she felt blue tears rise back into her eyes yet again. Her hands connected to her face as she attempted to hide them, but it was useless as she cried.
"It's hopeless. We're done for. No way we're going to be able to get out."
That's when Rogue quickly snapped his head back with firey red eyes.
"Shut up!" he spat. "We're going to survive together or die together, understood?!"
Silence passed between them before the Fairy lightly nodded her head and pushed out a weak and quiet "Understood," to respond.
They both sat their in silence for what seemed like months. Rogue had shifted over besides Lisanna and she had begun to cry into his chest. He clearly wasn't used to such a situation as this, and it made him feel awkward and out of place. All he did was bring one arm over his shoulders, allowing her to get out all of her anguish.  It was only natural, right? A lot of stuff happened within the mere hour that the dragons had arrived to Crocus and destroyed everything. Rogue had observed the fall of the once mighty castle of the kingdom. He saw dead bodies left and right including familiar dragon slayers.
What he saw.. he would never be able to remove from his memories.
"Rouge.." the girl whimpered out through her tears.
"What?"
"Would... wou-would you rather di-die fi-fighting or.." She looked up at him with glossy blue eyes. It was hard to seem them, but they did somewhat shine. Whether it was from the beauty or tears, it was unknown to Rogue. "..ru-running away..?"
He sat their in silence for a moment, thinking. His red eyes glanced away into the shadows.
"Fighting."
A tremor arose and Lisanna gasped in surprise. She flung her eyes forward to look around in the darkness. The Dragon Slayer mimicked the action more quietly. The ground shook with amazing force, almost as powerful as the strongest earthquake. Out of instinct, he pulled her back in close, clutching onto her tightly. His teeth grit and his eyes squeezed shut. He was practically begging for all of this to go away right here and now. He was completely and sincerely afraid.
The quake stopped, and for all was calm once more. Keeping the white-haired girl close, he glanced up, looking around. Some rocks from the ceiling had fallen. Not to bad.
His thoughts were cut short as the large foot of a dragon crashed through the ceiling, the smoke and light of the fire pouring into the room. Of course he wasn't able to get away from this. That momentarily silence was just a complete trick.
"Come on!" he barked, flying up from his spot and grasping Lisanna's wrist, pulling on her. She had to take in another quick breath of air from shock, but she quickly trailed after him. The dragon was large, and thus not very speedy, which made it easier to maneuver around and get to the stairs. From the earlier quake, they were already destroyed. Out of instinct, Lisanna turned into her half-bird form. Her claws grasped onto Rogue's shoulders, and she flew up to where the door was. She practically through him out. The takeover mage came out after him a bit more wearily.
No place was safe. Every speck of land was demolished and in flames as far as the eye could see. It was practically straight out of one of those cliche horror/end-of-the-world movies. It was all a reality now. No one would be able to escape.
The Dragon Slayer grasped for her hand. He wasn't going to lose her, especially not in a place like this. It seemed as though this girl just didn't have the time to take a breather now as she instantly bolted up, now leading the way instead of him. He stumbled after her at first, but then started to keep pace. However, his eyes widened when a dragon landed on the ground about fifteen meters away from them. The impact on the ground blew up dust, and they covered their eyes with an arm while maintaining their ground. When the wind passed, Lisanna let go, chainging into her half-bird form a second time. She started to fly.
"What the hell are you doing woman?!"
She stopped, turning around and smiling at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks still.
"You said you'd rather die fighting, right?"
His eyes widened as she then faced towards the dragon again, launching a full-on array of attacks. Rogue was frozen in shock. This woman was crazy! What the hell was she thinking?! And that's when Rogue looked up to the sky. He stared up for some seconds at the moon, the stars and the darkness that surrounded them. He realized what no one else would that night, and he used it as motivation.
"Right, Lisanna!"
He couldn't let Lisanna go this alone, right? So he followed after her. They displayed a flurry of attacks, fighting for their lives; they fought with the motivation of their fallen friends and family and refused to let them down. They weren't going to waste their lives away. Placing one's life on the line to try and make a difference sounded better than running away in fear and have a shameless ending.
But, as one would tell, it was useless. A dragon? It was impossible to defeat one, and useless to try. They had put up a good fight, didn't they? It was worth it. Running? No, they were going out fighting until the very end. So, they sit on the ground, Rogue clutching Lisanna closely. The dragon was charging up it's roar, and their ends were drawing near.
"Sorry I couldn't protect you.." Rogue told her weakly.
"Hey, don't say that. Is this going to be one of..." She stopped to grimace from pain. "...those sappy goodbyes..? That isn't.. my thing."
He cracked a smile, tucking his face into her hair and closing his eyes. They braced themselves as the roar came out. Smiles were on their faces as they held each other close. A blast of bright light struck them, killing them on the spot. They died in each other's arms, a way they were both happy with. Their souls exited their bodies, and they saw a bright light calling to them both. So, hand in hand, they walked together towards it.
That night, Rogue had realized what the sky said.
The moon and the stars help people to experience just how great the nighttime is, even if others may feel otherwise about it. The decorations of the night only helped emphasize how wonderful the darkness could be if you looked hard enough. During the day, when the bright sun would shine down on the land below, the shadows would linger, and would provide places of relief.
He'd realized that shadows can not exist without their light.