Hiya all! Sorry for not updating in forever I had a lot of things going on, but I have not forgotten about this story. I don't own Fairy Tail, that's Hiro Mashima's baby.
While the darkness tried to consume the light of a celestial maiden, a former enemy tossed and turned in his sleep. Gajeel was starting to sober up in his sleep as the alcohol he had consumed earlier faded. No longer numb and completely lucid of his thoughts and emotions, caused the Iron Dragon Slayer to become restless. Blurry images haunted him in his sleep, which seemed to be fabricated by his constant worry and guilt over a silly little rumor.
If only it was a fact-less rumor, but when he was sober, he could feel his hands itch for the caress of an unknown entity. The damnable shadows that he had consumed at the Grand Magic Games, persisted that he had done something unforgivable, but his memory could not comply. Ever since Lucy's abruptly left, she dragged his sanity and sleep with her.
Sneaking out of his full-sized bed, he left his snoring exceed sleep. Using his night vision and spatial awareness, Gajeel made his way to the dark kitchen. Quietly he searched for his favorite bottle of whiskey and a small shot glass. Not wanting to emit a strong light, he place his bottle and the glass on the nearby dinning table. Using his iron dragon slayer powers, he turned his right index and thumb into metal and sparked enough of a flame to light his favorite strawberry-vanilla candle. Siting with his chest placed against the back rest of the chair, Gajeel sighed as he stared at the bottle in darkly lit dinning room.
"Bunny-girl, I did something to you and you won't tell me." The iron dragon slayer whispered to rowdy shadows dancing amongst the candle light, which only snickered at his intense guilt. Smelling the candle, he remembered how wrong his friend smelt; her virginal aroma seemed tainted with the smell of blood and metal, but could Evergreen's words be true? "Did I rape... you, Bunny-girl? Did you lie to me?" Gajeel closed his eyes as tried to remember that full moon night, but like every time he tried to remember, his head would start pounding and his heart started racing. Running his hand through his thick mane, Gajeel tried to calm his anxiety, but no matter what method he used, his body refused to calm down. Whatever he did to her, it was awful and he didn't know how to approach her.
When he ran to her and she said everything was okay, he shouldn't have believed her; it was the last time he saw her and the fake replacement was too obvious. He knew better than anyone that Gemini had taken her place at the guild, but he thought that after she cooled off, she would return and then he could confront her; but that never happened and like a scared little bunny she ran away. Pouring himself a drink, he chug the shot of whiskey and let the numbing sensation ease into his body. Surely after a couple of drinks, the guilt and worry would subside, but instead, this gave Rogue's shadows a medium to be a nuisance.
You know what you did, but you just can't accept it. We know what you did, but we'll never tell. The voices whispered in the dark.
"Shut the hell up!" Gajeel quickly rose from his chair and slammed his glass against a shadowy corner.
As the loud crash of glass echoed throughout the small house, the lights suddenly turned on and a battle-mode Panther Lily, with sword in hand flocked to Gajeel's side. Scanning the room, the enlarged exceed found no threat or catalyst for his friend's sudden outburst. Seeing the half empty bottle of liquor on the table, everything started to make sense to the recently awaken exceed. Once again his friend had fled to the bottle to masks all his recent problems. Sighing at the realization of Gajeel's brokenness, Panther Lily placed his sword back in its sheath. Slowly and cautiously he approached his friend as he gently placed a comforting hand on Gajeel's shoulder. "You should go back to bed. Stop all this drinking, Levy might start to worry." His concerned voice woke the iron dragon slayer from the delusions and nightmares of his inner worries. Nodding slightly with dead red eyes, he let his friend drag him back to bed without exchanging any further dialogue.
'Tomorrow I'll contact Ryos and hopefully he could subdue these demons.' Gajeel thought quietly as his body hit the bed. Moments later his red eyes finally closed as the numbing effect of the alcohol finally took over.
Watching over his friend for a bit, Panther Lily's heart broke as he noticed how Gajeel violently tossed and turned, unable to find rest. Gasping for air, the raven-haired man clutched the sheets with tight fists as sweat trickled down his forehead. Worried that Gajeel might be having an adverse reaction to so much alcohol, his mind started to wander into dark conclusions, so he decided to get Levy, but as he neared the door, his friend screamed another woman's name and all his efforts were ceased right then and there. With the taste of defeat in his mouth, the large exceed turned off the lights, blew out the familiar scented candle, which caused Gajeel to finally stop stirring and fall into a dreamless sleep. This should have been the end of any worries, but now the one who couldn't sleep was Panther Lily.
"Stupid human." The now miniature exceed whispered in the night as he pulled the sheets to cover his tormented friend. 'Lucy, eh?' The small cat thought as he sat on a nearby chair and thought about his friend's engagement to the woman he thought Gajeel loved. How foolish he felt, Levy was an exit from an unattainable trophy and he should have realized that earlier. Lucy and not Levy was the woman that had gotten under his skin, and that he had always love. Countless times he witnessed as his friend's red eyes scanned the guildhall for the blonde-haired vixen, many times had they stopped in front of her apartment, he constantly mentioned his dear 'bunny-girl' and every where Lucy went, Gajeel was always relatively nearby.
The hours passed and Panther Lily tormented his poor head with all the facts that he had dismissed for the blind loyalty he has toward Levy. "You two were never even that close." The small exceed whispered into the night as he realized that Lucy's disappearance was somehow linked to Gajeel, but how? Any traces of evidence were disposed off with the utmost caution. Rubbing his tired eyes, the small exceed saw that his constant worrying and contemplation of Gajeel's situation wasn't solving itself, so he decided to finally go back to sleep.
While many slept and rest, Rogue just petted the hair of his prize and smiled contently. Bored and awaiting for the woman to wake, he idly conversed with his shadows.
This woman is strong and defiant. Bending her to our will might prove difficult...
'That's why I decided to show her love instead.' Rogue answered his dancing shadows as he embraced the trophy he had stolen from his beloved 'big brother' Gajeel.
Watching time pass him, Rogue noticed that morning had finally arrived and his beloved toy, still slept soundly. Looking at the window, he notice how the sun brilliantly shone through the window covering. The golden beams of light finally made their way to her closed eyes and she began to stir in her sleep. After a few moments the nuisance of the sun, caused her to subconsciously raise her pale hands, that tried so desperately to bat the sun away. Her failed attempts were comical and the raven-haired man could no longer stifle his laughs, causing her to awaken.
Warm arms held her close, his face hovered above her, laugh lines were still apparent on his face and the was left a bit confused. Only yesterday was she crying because of his brutality. Her chocolate eyes stared up at him in silence as his hand left her arm, and pursued to brush the hair covering her face. 'Had he stayed with me all night? What's going on here?' Lucy thought to herself as this new Rogue affectionately held her. Feeling her heart skip a beat as his ruby red eye glistened in sunlight, he then sported an apologetic smile, while he continue to gently pet her golden hair.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered cautiously, not to irritate the once threatening man. Instead of any vocal answers he bent down and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. She was left a bit surprised, but she welcomed this more tender Rogue, over the man who tried to take her by force yesterday.
Her heart swelled, but then her stomach growled violently, and her dragon child kicked her so hard she shot up from the bed.
"I guess the little one is hungry, or is that you Ms. Heartfilia?" Rogue laughed softly as he place his hand on her abdomen.
Nodding her head, she conveyed that both her and the child were famished. Grasping onto the headboard from his self designated spot on the bed, he rose gently and left through the doors promising to be back briskly with a mountain-worth of food.
As the dark-haired man left, Lucy took in a large breath and exhaled. Finally she was alone, she was hungry but she did not feel weak, 'was it because of you?' Lucy thought as she placed her trembling hand where he had bitten her the previous day. She felt two small indentations at the side of her neck, where he had claim her and she felt uncertain. He had cured her of her weakness and wanted to father her child. She had asked so much of the dragon twins and Rogue was the one who wholeheartedly accepted this overwhelming ordeal.
Caressing her mark with the back of her right hand, she thought back to Gajeel and how much it had meant to her to feel loved. Everyone in Fairy Tail was pairing up and she was left out of the loop, Natsu left her for Lisanna, Gray was born to serve Juvia, even Laxus and Cana were an item; Gajeel was the last man she truly wanted, and she couldn't blame him for that night. If she would have called for Virgo or Loke, they would have come running regardless of her keys being only a couple of blocks away. She wanted Gajeel and to be his. With lots of love intertwined with guilt she held onto her abdomen, as she acknowledged that this child was the proof and punishment for wanting her best friend's future husband. Tears wanted to fall, but she already shed enough tears over a man who obviously didn't love her. 'Rogue is young, a bit wild, but he will take care of us. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I was foolish for loving your papa.' She thought staring at her growing bump.
The creaking hinges of the door brought her chocolate eyes to lock with Rogue's red eye. The man had defied the laws of physics and brought her a hill-high platter of food. Laughing at her state of awe, he showed her how his shadows kept him balanced and placed a portion of food on the table and gave her a plate-full of pancakes covered in raspberries and whip cream, with a side of bacon, sausage and fruit.
"Isn't this a bit much?" Lucy asked as she saw her plate and wondered if she could even manage half.
"Maybe, but whatever you can't eat, we do have guests, Sting, Frosch and Lector." Rogue told the blonde as he reclaimed his earlier spot on her bed.
With a bright smile, she thanked Rogue for the delicious selection of food and started devouring the pancakes. After the food occupied space in her stomach and Lucy didn't feel like she was starving, she noticed Rogue had not taken a single bite of anything. Placing her fork down, she got nervous at their proximity and before she could muster a word, he closed in the distanced and whispered gently into her ear. 'What's wrong?' His voice caused her to shiver slightly as she slowly turned around.
"Aa..aren't you going to eat?" The blonde's voice stuttered as she stared at his handsome face. With a light smile, he hugged her gently and explained that since he didn't properly court her, that he would do his best to court her now.
"When I feed you, I feel like you'll accept me and when I'm hungry I can just taste your lips." He said casually causing her pale skin to grow bright red; nervously she tried to turn away from him, but he caught her chin and closed the gap between their lips.
"Morning Lucy, we brought you some..." plates of food crashed onto the dark floors as Evergreen covered Wendy's young eyes.