Hiya All! Sorry for the long period of inactivity on my part. Work, vacation and tons of food holidays and party has occupied a lot of my time. Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, I'm just a crazy fan girl who enjoys to write. I hope you all enjoy and next chapter shouldn't take too long. Thanks for all the reviews and follows, I appreciate criticism and if everything seems a bit scatterbrained, it's not you, its totally me XD. I don't want to fall into a cookie cutter GaLu and angst is my fave genre...
~Chapter 19~
Tears of agony and despair cascaded down the wrinkled cheeks of Fairy Tail's Master, Makarov Dreyar, his heart was breaking at the sight before him; Lucy tormented beyond belief and the source was the one person he placed his faith on. Broken before him, his adoptive daughter Lucy couldn't even utter her resignation from her home and family. Wrestling with his inner turmoil, the old guild master shook his head in defiance, he would not lose his beloved child over the idiocy of another, so instead of erasing her mark, Makarov ran off, unable to think of a solution.
"Ji Ji, where the hell are you going?" Laxus yelled as he ran after his distraught grandfather.
Silence should have overtaken the area, but Lucy's sudden muteness and bleeding wounds screamed louder than any audible voice could ever muster. Rogue was torn between consoling his mate and tearing the deplorable flesh that coated Gajeel's rusting skeleton. Then there was Sting... he tried to console his property, the person who suffered the most because his inability to take command. 'Some guild master you turned out to be.' Rogue silently thought as the shadows pulled him towards Gajeel's unconscious body. What pleasure he would get from kicking the bastard while he was down, cracking his knuckles a sinister smirk emerged off his stoic face.
"Don't you touch him!" Levy shouted as she ran towards Gajeel.
Brown eyes trembled at Rogue's exposed blood eye, his face was down cast and his shadow claws were unsheathed. This wasn't the quiet outsider that only killed for hire, the blood-lust was overwhelming and her desperation grew exponentially. "Stop it Rogue! Gajeel is like your brother, it's all that whore's fault!" Levy shouted with an accusatory finger at her once friend, who shattered in place as her heart just finished shattering.
Rogue growled at the wench who called his mate a whore, but instead of ridding Earthland of its Fairy scum, he turned around being filled with overwhelming desperation. Lucy's emotions were going on the opposite spectrum of what they usually were. Love, friendship, loyalty, compassion all were erased once Levy insulted her, but Lucy understood that this was all her fault; she dared to think that maybe she had a chance with Gajeel even though she belonged to Rogue.
"Luce! Where are ya?" The familiar voice of a certain Fire Dragon Slayer, echoed to the streets of Magnolia.
Dead brown eyes, filled of brokenhearted tears turned in the direction of her team. Clutching tightly to Rogue's cloak, Lucy picked herself from the floor and with an uncertain heart and quivering legs that resisted motion, she impulsed herself to her flaming torch in the overwhelming abyss her life had become.
"Natsu!" Lucy locked legs became loose and picked up speed to her beloved friend. Stumbling a bit, she met him half way and jumped into his warm arms.
"Hey there Luigi, what's with all the crying?" Natsu asked tenderly, brushing away the unwanted moisture with his warm hands. After his long awaited reunion with Lucy, his expression of joy dissipated and was immediately replaced with anger when he caught the glimpse of all the intimate wounds on her once perfect body.
Golden eyes narrowed as his body caught ablaze, 'How dare he!' Natsu roared internally as he passed his beloved sister to Erza. Many times Natsu warned Lucy to not get close to Gajeel, he knew that the bastard couldn't be trusted, he was cool among his rivals, but he was a womanizer and closet drunk. Now she reeked of his defiling, not only that but all her smells irritated the usually ignorant yet blissful dragon slayer.
"Rogue... Metal mouth, I'm not having either one of you have what is mine!" Natsu said incorrectly to everyone around him. Evergreen smacked her head in annoyance, was everyone in her guild brain dead, or just plain stupid? This was turning into chaos too quickly and she had to get everyone settled or this guild war was truly going to happen.
Slowly Ever tried to use her eyes to turn her guild-mate to stone, but he was blinded by rage and he was going to dye the stones scarlet with blood. Desperately she walked in front of Natsu, only to be pushed aside, not once making eye contact, fully knowing her intentions. Desperately she saw Gray who was trying to analyze exactly what was happening, and that's when a light bulb flickered in her head.
"Gray, freeze the slayers! There's no time to explain!" Ever yelled terrified over the drama she helped caused.
In a matter of seconds, Sting, Gajeel, Rogue and most importantly Natsu were encased in several layers of ice.
"Ever I suggest you explain, cause Wendy only told us to rescue Lucy." Erza commanded as covered Lucy's trembling cold body in one of her many protective armors.
Sighing briefly, she glimpsed at Lucy and realized that this was no longer a little secret that she could keep for a friend.
"We don't have much time, Natsu's flame are slowly melting Gray's ice, but I can at least tell you this: Lucy's in this mess because of me. I started a series of rumors that drove Gajeel to the bottle and sent her directly to Rogue instead of coming home and solving this with her own guild." This time the level-headed Ever balled her fist against her wet cheeks as she confessed Lucy's tragedies and her mistakes for being a loose lip.
Erza Scarlet was not amused at the small summary of occurrences, it was heinous to think that her beloved friend had to endure so much emotional turmoil on her own, while listening to the idiotic ramblings of a woman who still rejected love knocking on her door. Clenching her mouth shut, Erza magically summoned a sword while embracing Lucy protectively.
"Don't you ever come near our Lucy. Especially if it's only going to make her suffer. Get out of my sight Ever, or I promise you that the dragon slayers and a guild war are the last things you should concern yourself with." Erza held Lucy closely as a reminder not to shed guild blood and giving the gossip an escape route.
Stuttering Lucy tried to defend Ever, but Erza would hear none of it. Placing a finger on her quivering lips, Erza placed her head against Lucy, whispering that she was now safe from all of Ever stupid ideas.
"Ever isn't the only one who should be leaving." Levy said maliciously as flicked her blue hair to the air, exiting the premise, passing a completely shocked Lucy and Erza.
Gray started sweating profusely, his mouth gasped for air as he continued to compete against Natsu's flames, Gajeel and Rogue's burning shadows and Sting's light. The ice held long enough, but the dragons were no longer patient or complacent.
"Erza, I can't hold em any longer!" Gray screamed nervously as he felt his magic deplete rapidly.
Understanding his position, Erza readied herself for the idiocy that was going to be unleashed upon Magnolia over something that should have been resolved 3 months ago. With the grace and honor of royalty, Erza Scarlet walked literally into the dragon's den and waited for the last fragment of ice to melt.
Instead of being surrounded in chaos, the dragon slayers just stood there quietly, unable to look at one other or even let there wrath unleash. Gray was successful in delaying them, but also quenching the fire and blood lust in everyone's veins. Exhaling in relief, Erza was elated that bloodshed was avoided momentarily and a verbal discussion seemed feasible.
"Okay you maggots, no one's killing anyone, until we talk this over." Erza like a drill sergeant commanded the hoard of men with the utmost ease.
Rogue spit on Gajeel, who growled back at him menacingly as Natsu glared at them both and Sting just questioned why he was frozen in the first place.
"Look Scarlet, I don't-" Gajeel got up from the floor dusting himself off.
"- I don't give a damn whatever you slayers think, you are all getting along and Lucy stays with me until we get all this crap settled!" Erza yelled.
Sting was about to argue about him being faultless in this manner, but Natsu's terrified hand on his shoulder kept him silent and in place.
Conveniently Gajeel's house was in proximity for gathering place, but Erza was well aware that the transpiring in his home would just ignite the others, Lucy's apartment was too small and the library was closed on Sundays, so the only reasonable thing left to do was to barge into the guild and kick everyone out. This was the only logical option, and the space was large enough that everyone could be placed separately.
"This sucks, I didn't do anything." Sting complained while sitting next to an unusually quiet Natsu, who tried to shush him.
A sword was flung immediately at him, just barely missing the light dragon slayer. "Anyone else? Cause next time I won't miss." Erza crossed her arms, standing upon a table in the middle of the guild hall.
"Wendy has explained the gist of everything that's transpired and besides castrating Gajeel and letting Natsu relieve his frustrations, I believe that Lucy has already made her decision to be with Rogue and as a guild we should respect that." Erza informed.
Everything that Titania had said sounded well with everyone except Gajeel, until Lucy got up from her chair and spoke. "Pl... please reconsider. Levy's gonna marry him soon and I can just join Sabertooth." She begged her overprotective friend as she tugged on the navy skirt, like a loss child.
"No way!" Natsu and Gajeel opposed in unison.
Glaring at Gajeel, Natsu tried not to use his roar attack to melt him out of existence, but he was not going to lose Lucy again because of metal brain's idiocy and inability to hold liquor.
"I'll just cause problems, I didn't even want to come home, Rogue and the others forced me returned." Lucy whispered quietly, being heard by all the dragon slayers, eliciting growling and mumbling from each one.
Erza knelt on the wooden tabled and stared at her adorable friend. Lucy's true weakness is her inability to blame others. Like a loving mother, Titania petted the blonde head and glared at the growling men, silencing them immediately.
"You're not a problem Lucy, I'm sorry we didn't come running to your aid. We thought you wanted to train and needed some alone time, but we were wrong." Erza whispered tenderly apologized to her friend.
Smiling lightly at Erza's tenderness, Lucy sighed at all the drama she started by coming back, and how it was all avoidable if she would have just been stronger.
"Eh he..." Rogued cleared out his throat, but actually requesting permission to speak.
Nodding her scarlet head, Erza allowed him to speak his mind as she summoned swords in the direction of Natsu and Gajeel, threatening to launch them the second they revolt.
"Lucy is MY mate, and as so, I wanted her to come and willingly break her ties to this guild, if she wanted. When she was stronger, and when I was a little less insecure, we were going to approach Gajeel and explain what happen and keep this as our secret alone, but you saw how well that went." Rogue's shadows swirled around him in anger as he glared at the sexual offender that his beloved brother had become.
Quietly everyone stared at Gajeel, waiting for him to shoot from his seat and reject each truth that was flung against him, but he kept quiet in his chair and agreed that he understood.
Relief brushed over her face when Natsu rose his hand enthusiastically, hoping that Erza would permit him to speak his mind. Seeing how well behaved Natsu was being, she didn't see the harm in letting him talk.
"Rogue, I'm not happy that Lucy got hurt by metal mouth , but there is something everyone has been avoiding... Lucy's pregnant with Gajeel's kid." Natsu stated like it was a guild secret.
Rolling their eyes, everyone waited to see where Natsu was headed with this information.
"Igneel taught me that dragon slayer babies need a lot of magical energy and that must come from the parents." Natsu tried his best recalling the parts of the conversations he usually drowned out.
"Well her spirits informed us of the adoption process, the child accepted my magic, we mated and I have become it's foster parent." Rogue informed Natsu, like he was a clueless buffoon.
Pissed of at the third-gen's cockiness, Natsu rose his hand once more, asking for permission to rebuttal.
Nodding her head in approval, she warned him with her eyes to progress cautiously.
"I know that you are a third generation dragon slayer, but there are things taught to us first gens that you will never understand. We live by instinct, we live under the blurred consciousness of human and dragon, but I can tell you with certainty, dragon adoption is impossible if he's still alive!" Natsu pointed to Gajeel, who just hissed at the fact the flame-idiot revealed such a piece of delicate information.
Brown eyes widen in horror. Her spirits always tended to filter information, there was no way she would agree to having Rogue to foster her child if she would cause the life of another. Upset, she brushed her fingers against Loke's key and summoned him to this town-hall-like meeting.
"Princess how can I serve you?" Loke asked somewhat aware of what the discussion was about.
Angry chocolate eyes, bore into her spirit's soul. The mighty lion spirit appeared to have his tail in between his legs as he was domesticated just with Lucy's stern eyes.
"You knew didn't you?" Lucy clutched on to Loke's shoulders as he averted his eyes from his master.
It was no secret to Lucy or the rest of the constellations that he bore a serious hatred for Gajeel. When Lucy heard word of his plans to make her accidentally lose her child, Lucy was furious. Loke red through the ancient text of dragons, realizing that if he couldn't get rid of the rat bastard's brat, then he would allow the illegal adoption process to kill Gajeel.
Casting his head down, Loke apologized for misreading the ancient text. Under normal circumstances, Lucy would have shrugged it and accepted his error authentically, but since it involved the iron dragon slayer, she felt her spirit insulted her intellect.
"Don't give me that stupid look, you withheld the fact that if we continued with this adoption ritual he would have to die!" Lucy's brown eyes burned with anger, as Loke avoided eye contact with his master.
Loke prostrated himself apologetically, as he witnessed his master's frustrated tears as she slapped him across the face.
"Force gate closure." Lucy spat out, falling to the ground and grabbing fistful of her golden strands.
Both Rogue and Gajeel wanted to run towards the tormented blonde, but Erza coughed reminding them, that until the issue was resolved none was allowed near Lucy.
"But we're marked... we're mates... how could that cause death?" Lucy asked at Erza who looked to the first generation dragons to speak up.
"It was a mistake, but the marking is reversible, she can go back to Gajeel." Natsu stood up from his seat and left no longer wanting to be part of this idiocy.
Gajeel smacked his head at the truth on the table, Rogue was not going to allow anyone near Lucy, he couldn't willingly take her, he promised himself to Levy and a dragon slayer can't break promises.
"Isn't it obvious?" A mysterious voice echoed through the darkness of the guild.
"And what's that?" Erza asked demanded of the unknown voice.
Gajeel rolled his eyes at the familiar scent.
"Lets have a double wedding." Levy emerged out of the darkness unwilling to give up Gajeel or hand him over to Lucy regardless of her innocence in the matter.
Snapping his raven head towards the blue haired script-mage, the turbines in the shadow dragon slayer's head started to turn.
"I...concur?" Rogue agreed unaware that was even an option, after the revelation of new information.
Smiling, Levy assured the ultimate separation of her lover and the woman she once called friend.
Erza stared at all the present parties and deemed that this could be a plausible solution. Nodding her head she agreed that this decision was in the best interest of both Fairy Tail and Sabertooth.
"Hell no!" Gajeel roared upset as he flipped his table towards Titania's arsenal of swords and stomped away.