Lucy started to cry as she finally got to see her long-lost lover. Rogue had been missing for months and she thought that he would have left her and Metalicana with Gajeel. But of course, Rogue Cheney wouldn't do that to his lover.
He hated Gajeel Redfox with a passion and he was determined to kill the Big Bad Wolf. After so many months of being locked in the basement of the jailhouse, he kept thinking of many ways to kill Gajeel. While locked up he was mad and he wanted revenge!
Rogue knew Gajeel was the reason for the deaths that were placed under his name. It wasn't his intention to damage his fellow huntsmen with his own axe. He was set up by Gajeel!
Gajeel is the one who killed them all and placed them inside his house. No one had been suspecting it was him until Gildarts and the rest of the huntsmen tried to put two and two together. All of a sudden that night he decided to stick with the group.
Which didn't make anything better since his fellow huntsmen didn't trust him anymore. Especially his best friend, Sting, who definitely thought there was something fishy about him. Sting was usually on Rogue's side, but all of a sudden he switched up on him like it was nothing. He started to blame him for most of the deaths that were happening in the woods.
Sting's words had sunk into him when he told him that he was one of the main huntsmen who was never at the crime scene. Gajeel was never at the crime scene but no one suspects him but Rogue.
Levy was no help since she was too much in love with Gajeel. She wouldn't pin it on him even if it was right in front of her. Which it was! Gajeel had the same features as the description of the wolf but everybody in the village never paid attention to Gajeel to see it. It's as if he blended in and you would never suspect it was him.
Rogue was glad that Orga had let him go last night. The first thing he wanted to do was find Lucy so he could plan his attack on Gajeel with her. This was getting too far and it had to come to an end. He needed to save Lucy and Metalicana from Gajeel. He knew he wouldn't hurt his own child but he feared what he could teach Metalicana to be as he grew up.
Gajeel's dad had done the same to him, and it would be worse if he did it to Metalicana. At some point, the cycle had to break and there needed to be a new beginning to this horror story.
Lucy turned around to look at Rogue to see that he had changed. His bear grew in, his hair was longer and there were white highlights that started to show, a tattoo marking on his eye, and he had become skinner from the last time she had seen him.
All of a sudden, Lucy felt this rage take over her body. She slapped Rogue across the face and started to get teary. Rogue held his red cheek and looked at Lucy in shock.
"Lucy, what the hell was that for?" he asked surprised.
"This was for leaving for almost three months," she exclaimed.
"I was scared to death because I had feared what could have happened to you. I didn't know if you had abandoned us or if you were dead!" Lucy fussed as she started to wipe away the tears.
"Lucy...I'm sorry...it was never my intention to leave you and Metalicana. Something had happened and I got framed for it," Rogue apologized.
Lucy looked at Rogue, taken aback by what he said. Rogue Cheney, framed?
"For what?" Lucy sternly asked. She crossed her arms awaiting Rogue's story.
Rogue could never do no wrong in the public's eyes, could he? Would he ever kill another one of his huntsmen?
"For killing and hiding huntsmen in my house," Rogue said. Lucy's eyes widened and she took a step back from Rogue.
"Don't worry I didn't actually do it. I was curious about it myself until I realized it was set up by Gajeel. He's the one who killed them all and placed them in my house," Rogue exclaimed.
"Rogue...how can Gajeel know where you live? He doesn't even know we meet up," Lucy said in denial.
"Lucy, that's what he wants you to think. Gajeel is always watching us! Why do you think I've been missing for three months?" Rogue exclaimed. He wanted Lucy to understand and believe him. He knew it was off but everything that has happened so far is starting to make sense.
The quick exchanges as if they were both lusting for blood from one another, him feeling watched at times, especially on patrol, and the setup. No one knew where he lived except his best friend, Sting who is now dead, Gildarts, and Lucy. Rogue knew none of them could be the wolf. There had to be another suspect, someone who was out for him. The only person he knew at the time who hated his guts was Levy McGarden, but even she wasn't capable of drawing out a plan to frame him.
Her small petite figure could speak for itself. For Godsake the woman could barely pick up a weapon the huntsmen used. How would she be able to carry out the plan to not only kill the soldiers silently but drag all their bodies to his house and implant them there?
It wasn't possible, not with her size!
Most of these women nearly weighed over 200 pounds, she was barely over 100 pounds, so that crossed her off the list. The only other suspect had to be Gajeel who gave him blood lusted looks. At times when he met up with Lucy in the woods he felt he was being watched in a way. Piercing eyes through the soul of his body at his most vulnerable moments. He was easily caught off guard and could be attacked at any given time when he didn't have on his armor.
But why at his most vulnerable wasn't attacked?
What were Gajeel's intentions?
To have him dead...
The times he felt he was paranoid of Gajeel's presence were getting under his skin, but now that he has a feeling that it was all true it left him feeling unpleasant.
"I don't know, Rogue," Lucy said as she started to cry once again.
"There has been so much happening lately that I don't know how much I can take of it," Lucy said, frustrated at the recent events.
Rogue gently grabbed Lucy's face and observed it and then he looked down at her huge belly bump.
"He didn't hurt you did he?" Rogue sternly asked as his tone changed. The thought of Gajeel hurting Lucy while she was pregnant didn't sit right with him. He knew he didn't do it as much when she was pregnant with Metalicana, but the fact that she could be possibly pregnant with his or Gajeel's baby threw him on edge.
Even if the child is not his he still didn't like the idea of Gajeel harming Lucy.
"No, he didn't lay a finger on me," Lucy assured as Rogue sighed in relief.
"That's good," he mumbled.
"But what has been happening?" Rogue asked.
Lucy took a deep breath and removed Rogue's hands from her face. This was hard for her to say because the thought of it made her blood boil. She shouldn't be stressed or have a range of emotions that could possibly hurt the baby. But she had to let it out and warn Rogue about it.
"It's been Gajeel..." she started as she started to tear up at the thought of the altercation that happened between the two. "He's been tormenting the village again and he's trying to have Metalicana follow in his footsteps," Lucy said as Rogue looked taken aback.
Rogue sighed and said, "This is exactly what I expected."
Rogue wasn't surprised by Lucy's confession. He would have expected Gajeel to try to repopulate with Lucy to not only keep their species alive but to also continue to torment the villagers for the next hundred years.
"Huh," Lucy said as she started to wipe the tears away.
"Gajeel, he's not going to stop this, and it's going to get worse for the next generation. Magnolia has lost even more huntsmen than before and they're going to start having young children be on patrol which could prevent us from having a generation to look forward to," Rogue predicted.
"Why can't Gildarts just contact the capital?" Lucy asked.
"He has and the capital has done nothing but send them chains for when they catch the wolf. When they took me in as a prisoner they locked me in the basement with all those chains attached to my body and if I tried to escape it would shock me, and if the chains felt a source of magic which is transformation it would shock you," Rogue exclaimed.
"Well, if that's the case, how did you escape?" Lucy asked, suspicious of Rogue. If the chain was to prevent the prisoner from escaping how would the person escape?
"Orga was guarding that night and he let me out, surprisingly," Rogue said a little shocked himself.
"Just like that?" Lucy asked a little unsure.
"Yeah, just like that! I thought he was joking with me for a second but he let me go and I had to immediately come find you," Rogue explained.
Lucy thought back to last night when Gajeel came home smelling weird and she had to put two and two together. Her face glowed up in realization and she exclaimed, "It was Gajeel, not Orga!"
"No, it couldn't be, Gajeel would have just killed me last night if I was vulnerably exposed to him," Rogue denied.
"Rogue..." Lucy snapped. "Gajeel is playing mind games with us...all that has been happening lately is finally starting to tie in...you getting framed, people suspecting you're the wolf, you being absent for months, and there most likely wasn't that many killings going on, am I correct?" Lucy asked as Rogue started to realize what she was getting at: "Yes!"
"Ever since they locked me up, the village has been in peace," Rogue said.
"Exactly, so what if Gajeel knows about us, and he's just trying to get rid of you?" Lucy suspected.
Rogue thought aloud, "I wouldn't put it past him to come up with something like that."
"Look, Gajeel came home smelling as if he just got done hunting, and he admitted it was a human," Lucy exclaimed. "What if he possibly killed Orga and impersonated him? I remember when I encountered him in my home he was trying to impersonate my grandmother. He looked almost exactly like her and sounded just the same as her," Lucy questioned herself.
"So it was him that let me go last night," Rogue said shocked, "He's trying to turn the people against me."
"No," Lucy softly spoke.
Rogue looked as if he wanted to break down because he was scared for his life. Judging at what has been happening lately Gajeel has made his life a living hell. He's been locked up for months, been yelled at by Gildarts who brings him down along with the other huntsmen, and Levy tried to shame him for Gajeel's crimes.
He felt betrayed by the people in his village. Especially his fellow huntsmen who accused him of such a crime that he couldn't see himself doing. Why was he in a situation where he was obviously going to be killed?
Maybe Rogue could do something he never thought he would have to do before, "I think it's best if I leave!"
"What do you mean, leave?" Lucy exclaimed.
"Leave the village, get as far away from here as possible," Rogue restated.
Lucy was on the verge of crying as she felt as if Rogue was leaving her again.
"What about me," Lucy said. "You can't just leave me with Gajeel," she emphasized.
"I don't intend to, I don't want him hurting you or the others. At least if we do decide to leave we should leave in peace, no strings attached to us," Rogue said referring to Gajeel.
"How will we do that?" Lucy asked. Gajeel could not be killed and the villagers were blood hungry for Rogue who they thought was the wolf.
"Simple...Gajeel Redfox must die tonight!" Rogue sternly spoke. Lucy's face had fallen as she did not expect those words to leave Rogue's mouth. They had been talking about it, but she never thought the day would come.
He sounded serious about ending Gajeel's life, but Lucy knew it had to be done. When she looked up at the sky to see the sun was preparing to go down she felt her heart was rapidly beating out of nervousness. She was on the verge of vomiting but she held it in.
"What do you suggest we do?" Lucy asked.
...
As the sun was preparing to go down, the people in Magnolia were all preparing their sticks, pitchforks, axes, and other choice of weapons. They were all blood lusted for Rogue Cheney for they intended on killing him tonight.
They planned to walk in the woods burn down his house and track him down. This nightmare that had been going on for years was about to come to an end.
Everybody had the same objective tonight and that was to kill the Big Bad Wolf!
Thank you for reading!