Hiya all Eclipse is back and inspired! I hope you all love this next chapter and remember Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and not me.
Back in Fiore, the morning sun was not so lightly greeted. The intrusive rays made its way into the once dark abode of the tormented iron dragon slayer. Growling lowly and batting the sun away from his closed eyes, the medium build man tossed and turned until he declared his utter defeat against the overbearing morning. Opening one scarlet eye, the heavily sleep-deprived man was welcomed into the morning with a horrendous head ache as his sobriety decided to finally rear its ugly face. Gajeel struggled out of bed looking for his exceed who was no where to be found.
"Good morning Gajeel." The man heard the familiar voice of the menacing Juvia. Did she return for more payback against his obvious verbal attacks on Gray? Did he offend her somehow and where the heck was Lilly?
Lowering his head a bit he greeted his once Phantom Lord guild mate.
"So what did I do now?" Gajeel asked cautiously as he witness her anger climb ten-fold as a concentrated arm of water smacked him out of bed.
Lying on the floor, he exchanged a feral glance at his 'so-called' friend.
"What the hell was that for?" Gajeel sneered at the blue-haired woman.
Blue eyes stared down with a mixture of hatred and pity to the bewildered man on the floor.
"If you could stop your damn drinking maybe you wouldn't have hurt her. It's all your fault and instead of facing your troubles like a man, you're drinking your life away." Juvia yelled at him for the first time in years.
'What could she be talking about? I haven't done anything to Levy... unless she means bunny girl, but that's nonsense, it's been months since anyone heard anything from her.' Gajeel thought as he got up the wet floor and made his way to the bathroom.
"Is that it? I talk to you and you just ignore me? Lilly told me what you did last night, he told me how your guilt is taking over and you don't give a damn to fix it. Because of your selfishness-"
"-Shut it Juvia." Gajeel interrupted her as he slammed the door between them.
Lifting up the toilet he relieved his bladder of its fluid contents, the steady stream of liquid echoed throughout the small house, silencing Juvia for at least that awkward moment.
Taking a deep breath, Gajeel opened the door hoping to find his home vacated by the intrusive woman, but he knew all too well that she was still there and ready to tear him apart or at least rust him to oblivion.
"Look Gajeel, after you left yesterday to pay off your fines, I finally got the guts to confront Master of something terrible I witness and was unable to act without causing a scene. The night you spent in Levy's room-"
Scarlet eyes bulged open, the towel he held in his hand to dry himself, found its way onto the wet floor and sweat started to accumulate on his forehead. Worry washed over his face as he clenched onto his loud beating heart, and gasping Gajeel tried to fill his lungs with air, but the trembling of his knowing body made it difficult.
Oh it seems we have witnesses dear Gajeel. Juvia knows what you did, but finding out so soon wouldn't be fun. The shadows whispered in his ear maliciously as they took over his body, deafening his ears. Standing lifeless he witnessed as his long-time friend wailed in distress, spilling her soul onto him. Unable to hear, he tried to read her lips, but the only word he could decipher from her quivering lips was 'Lucy'. Tenderly he wiped away her tears and tried to comfort her in a warm embrace. Feeling miserable, he beat his head multiple times trying to figure out what happened to bunny girl, but he was still unaware what he had done to his bunny-girl, but deep down he knew it was deplorable and unforgivable.
"I'll make it right." Gajeel said tenderly as he petted his friend who sighed and gave him a faint smile. Moments later she left looking for Gray and once again, Gajeel was left alone in the worst company possible.
That was so close. We can't have you find out just yet, you'll ruin all our beloved plans. The shadows swirled in the darker corners of the brightly lit house.
Biting his tongue, the iron-dragon slayer decided that fighting with these malevolent shadows was a waste of his time and maybe he should do good by his word last night and have a little chat with Ryos.
Meanwhile at the Sabertooth guild, Lucy was finally out of bed and re-energized. The skies appeared a spectacular shade of blue she hadn't appreciated in months and her magical weakness was gone. The morning had become a bit awkward with both Ever and Wendy witnessing how she finally accepted Rogue as her destined mate. Wendy stared at Ever for what seemed the longest of times, but they both gave a mutual sigh and smiled at Lucy's newly found happiness.
"So that settles things then. Lucy's mine and you girls can go back to your little land of the fairies." Rogue said as he placed a possessive arm around a very shy and blushing celestial mage.
Wendy puffed her cheeks and was about to scold her raven-haired senior when Rufus stormed in looking for Sting.
"Excuse me Master Sting, but there is something I must discuss with you, but remembering our visitors I must be discreet." The memory make wizard flamboyantly gestured his hands in the air.
Holding back from giggling like mad, the Fairy maidens proceeded to head out, when Rogue held onto Lucy.
"The other two can go, but now Lucy stays, she is my mate and anything I know, she knows." Rogue looked at his trophy with pride as the other two fairies just nodded their head in agreement.
With such a wondrous display of loyalty, Rufus felt even more anxious and jittery about the message he had to convey. Remembering the frequency that only dragon slayers can hear, he whispered that Gajeel was on the communication lacrima, demanding to speak to his former guild mate Ryos, now Rogue.
Frozen in place, he exchanged a concern look with both Sting and Wendy begging to keep everything normal.
"Lucy, it seems I have a private call, I'll be back once I'm done." Rogue quickly left the blonde's side as he stormed out of the infirmary towards Sting's office.
Closing the doors behind him and placing a sound barrier, the raven hair teen looked menacingly at the glowing crystal lacrima. 'There's no way he knows...' Rogue thought nervously as he approached his comrade's large desk and took a seat upon the large chair. Taking a deep breath, he ran a worried hand through his ebony hair and opened the line of communication.
"It's about damn time Ryos! I've been on hold for the last 15 minutes." Gajeel yelled through his lacrima and with a court smile, followed by a nod he apologized to his senior.
"So what's the occasion? You never call?" Rogue tried to sound cool and confident in the eyes of his calculating idol.
Waiting for an answer to his question, Rogue noticed how jittery and nervous the older dragon slayer appeared, there were obvious bags under his eyes.
"Look if this is about the blonde celestial wizard, I'm sorry." Rogue cautiously said, unknowing that Gajeel had no idea what was recently going on with Lucy.
"What do you mean you're sorry? What did you do to bunny girl? Are you the reason she hasn't come back home?" Gajeel roared into the lacrima completely relived that he might not be the reason his friend had disappeared.
At the accusatory question, Rogue was now left speechless. Was it possible that Gajeel was unaware that Lucy was pregnant or that she ran away because she had no other option? Could he not recognize his revolting scent all the woman he defiled? Sighing he now felt foolish for revealing such delicate information so easily, but after quietly thinking about it, this was his opportunity to separate the two forever.
"Well you see... she is with child, and I am the father." Rogue said as truthful as possible, unable to really lie to Gajeel.
The large office became rather quiet for some moments as the answer sunk in, Rogue could swear to hear light swearing and crashing furniture.
"How the hell did you manage that you damn rapist? My bunny wouldn't just get into bed with a little kid like you." Gajeel sneered into his lacrima, wanting so bad to strangle the kid.
While Gajeel was furious at the new reality of his friend, Rogue's blood pressure rose the second the word 'kid' had spewed out of Gajeel's mouth. Gritting his teeth against themselves he tried to keep his composure, no old as stone dragon slayer was going to preach to him about morality.
"Your Bunny? Shouldn't you be worried about your flat chested shrimp of a girl-friend, or excuse me, I mean your fiancee? And be careful who you call a rapist, Mr. Blacksteel." The younger dragon slayer bit the inside of his cheek to control his boiling anger.
While Rogue was trying to refrain himself from yelling and causing a ruckus, Gajeel was silently asking himself why he was so damn angry. Was he angry at the audacious insults about his fiancee or the fact the kid called him a rapist?
"Oi, what exactly do you mean by being careful who I call a rapist, Ryos?" The iron dragon slayer emphasized on the slur that had become Rogue's birth name.
"Don't you ever call me that again, Gajeel! And if you want to see a rapist, why don't you look at a Zeref-damned mirror? You're the whole reason Lucy ran to me. All she wanted was hang out with your flat-chested woman, but she didn't show up and then you force your drunk self into Levy's room. Do you want me to tell you how you pinned Lucy down and ripped her clothes off? Do you want me to tell you how you scratch her up from head to toe as you called her by your lover's name? Or better yet I can tell you how she struggled and struggled against you, while you drank all her fluid and how you almost deflowered her?" Rogue said in anger remember bits and pieces from what Lucy had told him.
Quietly the iron dragon slayer rocked his body back against a wall, as vicious shadows confirmed the validity of Rogues accusations. His body trembled and his once blocked memory recollected that night; the flavor of her desire mingled with sweat, the loud beating of her nervous heart, the scent of salt, strawberries and vanilla mixed with the soothing yet overwhelming aroma of Levy's lavender. Sliding down onto the floor he held the lacrima close to his body, because releasing it would almost ensure that he would shatter.
"Did I...?" A trembling voice asked Rogue.
The pathetic sight of Gajeel breaking down was not what the younger dragon slayer wanted, he just wanted to discourage his former comrade from engaging his mate.
"She managed to leave, I found her walking the streets late at night all torn up and broken. I barely recognized her let alone remember who she was, she called herself shameful and a slut. She cried about being unloved and then threw herself at me and I didn't resist." Rogue summarized more or less the recent events and twisted a few things around but felt like the truth still bleed through the statements.
"Ok... if she's with you, she's in good hands, but I called you to ask how you shut up these damn shadows." Gajeel said as tears ran down his face and guilt started to consume his sober mind.