Chapter 84

"Who the hell are these guys. These Six Demons?" Gajeel growled, grabbing Jude Heartfilia by the collar of his shirt through the cell bars. "And why the hell ain't ya said anything about them before?!"

"You didn't ask." Jude shrugged. "You asked me about what information Cobra gave me, and where he's going. Nothing more."

"Don't get cheeky, old man. You'd better start talking now." Gajeel glared. Jude just raised his hands in surrender.

"I'll talk. No need to threaten." Jude agreed surprisingly easily. Then again, he'd already experienced Gajeel's 'interrogation' before, and he certainly did not want a repeat. "Oracion Seis is a group of six people who grew up in the slums of Crocus. They started as a group to help the little man. But they became like me. Greedy. Power-hungry. They wanted more members, more territory, and they tried to get it too quickly. Ended up being forced out of Crocus." he explained to the group. "From what I've gathered, they went from place to place, trying to find a place good enough to make their own. I suppose Magnolia is a great place for a crime syndicate to thrive. Obviously." he gestured to Gajeel in reference to Fairy Tail as a whole.

"So they want Magnolia? That's what this is about?" Gajeel scoffed.

"In summary, yes." Jude nodded. "They want you gone, and Magnolia to themselves. But there's only six of them, so it seems they've been taking unique approaches. Such as this serial killer you have now. Trying to undermine your power and make your members doubt your ability to protect them. I'm willing to guess there's quite a bit of unease in the family now, yes?" He grinned knowingly. Gajeel just growled and dropped him. It was true. The family was uneasy right now. People were starting to doubt Fairy Tail... doubt Gajeel.

"How the hell do you know so much about them? About what they want?" Gajeel demanded, not showing that Jude's words actually affected him. He was, after all, still new to leading the family, and trying his damn hardest to do just as good, if not better than, his old man. That... brought some confidence issues, not that Gajeel ever told anyone that. The only one that probably even suspected it would be his wife.

"I made it a point to dig up as much information as I can about anyone I met, before our war." Heartfilia admitted easily. "I'm ashamed to admit that, despite my research, I didn't see that Cobra was using me to get to Fairy Tail. To try and weaken you. Quite embarrassing, that failure was." Jude sighed. "Ah, but I did learn something I'm sure you'll be interested in hearing. Cobra has recently taken over as their leader."

"Who the hell was their leader before?" Gajeel frowned, but he felt like he knew the answer.

"Some guy named Brain." Jude confirmed his suspicions. "He wormed his way into Phantom Lord, advanced up the ranks quickly, and took over once Jose was dead and buried. From what I gathered, looking into that little war of yours, he very much wanted your wife. He wanted numbers on his side before the main showdown, and he was going to present your wife to the McGarden family in an attempt to get them on his side for the war. You sure mustered up quite a bit of strength very quickly and caught him off guard. If it weren't for that, I daresay Fairy Tail would have been severely weakened or even destroyed when Brain made his move."

"So that's what his plan was." Gajeel growled, glancing back at his wife, who had taken to hiding behind Lily at the mere mention of Brain. She still had nightmares to this day about Brain, about killing him. Even now, his name still had an affect on her. Gajeel sighed and looked back at Jude suspiciously. "Why are you telling us this so... easily?"

"Because," Jude said firmly, gripping at the bars of his cell and locking eyes with Gajeel, "like it or not, my daughter is part of your family. I want my daughter, my granddaughter, and my unborn grandson to be safe at all costs. I'm sure you relate, Gajeel Redfox, given your wife's condition." The older man gave Gajeel a knowing grin that made Gajeel bristle and glare furiously at him. How the hell did he know?

"What's he mean by that? Levy's condition?" Droy's voice came as he wondered aloud. Gajeel scowled once more at the grinning Jude before returning to the cells that held Jet and Droy. He looked to Levy and gestured for her to come stand beside him. She did so hesitantly and, when Gajeel nodded at her, she took off her cardigan. Jet and Droy stared at her in complete shock as she revealed her pregnancy to them. It was obvious she was very far along, and would be giving birth relatively soon.

"You two need to understand one thing." Gajeel got their attention with his firm voice. When they were looking at him, he continued. "Betraying the family is betraying Levy, and endangering her and our unborn child. So if you got anything else ta say, now's the fucking time to do it."

"Boss, I... I told you everything I know." Jet assured Gajeel with a desperate look. "I would never betray Levy or the family. I swear it. But I saw a chance to get information and I took it. I swear that's all I did."

"We would never ever do anything to put Levy in danger." Droy added desperately. "We're not traitors. Honest, we're not."

"We'll see about that." Gajeel huffed, crossing his arms at them. "Yer both gonna stay down here for the time being. I'll make my decision once we take care of this killer." He said with finality. Jet and Droy deflated a bit that this but nodded solemnly. Gajeel turned and led Levy out of the basement, everyone else filing out after him. At the top of the stairs, Gajeel motioned for Lily to come over.

"I have to send out orders and do some paperwork. Take her back to the apartment, and keep her company." Gajeel sighed at Lily, gently urging his wife towards her guard. She hesitated in going with Lily, turning back to look at her husband with pleading eyes. "We'll talk about it in the morning, Levy. Please, just try and get some sleep." Gajeel asked her gently. She gave a small nod and accepted a quick kiss from her husband before following Lily down the hall. Gajeel sighed again and looked at his father, who was still looking over the thumb drive they'd recovered from Jet. "I got a plan ta catch this guy." He told the former Don. Metalicana looked up at this and grinned widely at his son.

"Say no more. Whatever it is, I'm in."

OMG guys I'm so sorry this is taking so long. I did NOT expect my life to get this busy, and I sincerely apologize. Unfortunately, I don't see things getting less hectic for a while, so I've decided to take a small break and update when I can, until I work far enough ahead to resume regular updates. Again, I'm so sorry. Please keep an eye out for me, because I really do care about you guys and this story and I have ZERO intention to abandon this story.

Thank you so much for understanding and sticking with me. I promise I will update whenever I can.

And please tell me what you think of this chapter. I don't lie when I say your comments motivate me to find time to sit down and write. They really do. This semester is just... omg it's so crazy, I can't even.

Thanks for Reading! I'll be back as soon as I can!

-Nerdy12