Gajeel was walking back home into the woods. Before he left the village, he made sure to clean himself up.
In order to get closer to Rogue, he had to impersonate one of the huntsmen. It wasn't easy since he was in town, and he didn't want to attract any attention while everybody was in their houses fast asleep.
The huntsmen he attacked made noises, but no one came outside or even looked through their windows to see what was going on. In Gajeel's opinion, he felt that the village hit a new level of disappointment.
He would go into town and eat the animals they offered to him so he could leave them alone but even then, the people would never come out to check and see what happened. It always happened in the mornings when everybody would wake from their slumbers and come outside to see proof that he was there that night.
Gajeel wasn't worried about being caught this time because no one assumed that he was the wolf. No one knew anything about the wolf at this point.
According to Levy, no one knew anything about the wolf or was under the influence of Rogue being the wolf. It's as if all of this was for nothing!
They're not going to kill Rogue unless there is visual proof of him being the wolf. At this point, this whole scheme was pulling Gajeel's balls. It probably would have been more peace of mind if he had left Rogue to rot in prison.
But then again, Rogue is a smart huntsman, and he could find a way to get out if he really wanted to. That's why Gajeel wants him dead.
He's about to welcome his second child and he doesn't need Rogue mysteriously swooping back into Lucy's life and ruining everything for them.
He's going to do it either way but this time he's going to be hunted by the huntsmen.
Gajeel knows the first thing Rogue is going to do is try to find Lucy. In order to prevent that he has to keep Lucy far from their meet-up spot. He knows she still walks in the area Rogue meets her in when he's gone but he can't have that happen.
It has to be avoided at all costs!
Gajeel made it back home to still see a tint of light which hinted that Lucy was still awake. He took a deep breath before twisting the knob and he walked in to see Lucy sitting up in bed. She had on her nightgown and she was reading a book.
Beside her was Metalicana who holding her while laying down asleep. Metalicana started to grow faster than he thought and he was able to walk a little. Not as much, but he'll take a few steps and then sit down, and then take another couple of steps.
He closed the door and started to remove his shoes. He was expecting to hear something from Lucy but she was surprisingly quiet.
"You're late!" she sternly spoke as he sighed.
"I had a late shift," Gajeel lied.
"I bet you did," Lucy spoke with sarcasm. Gajeel could sense that Lucy was upset and he wasn't going to get out of this without an argument.
Lately, Lucy has been very moody due to her pregnancy hormones, and at this point, they're becoming unpredictable to him. One minute she's happy, the next is sad, then she's angry, and she starts having anxiety.
Sometimes Gajeel regretted getting Lucy pregnant because he didn't like having to deal with her pregnancy hormones. The only good side of her pregnancies was when she was happy, nesting, and had a high sex drive.
When she was having their first child her sex drive was very low. He thinks part of that reason was that they were off to a rocky start at the beginning of their alliance.
But now that they made it this far in their relationship she now enjoys and wants more sex.
When she's sad and mad at him it's hard to calm her down. Lucy yells at Gajeel on these types of occasions which really doesn't sit right with Gajeel. Lucy use to be afraid to step to Gajeel but since she's more comfortable she does it without thinking about it.
If he knew he was in for this many emotions for 9 months then he would have used a condom. He rather has dealt with a period that only happened once a week through the months than deal with a train wreck pregnancy. But then again he didn't have to hear an excuse for not wanting to have sex due to having a period.
"Why are you having an attitude?" Gajeel rhetorically asked.
"I'm not having an attitude," Lucy lied.
"Yes, you are, I can literally hear it in your tone," Gajeel denied. As soon as those words slipped out of his mouth Lucy closed her book and sat it down on the nightstand.
"You know what since you keep bugging me about it," she removed a sleep Metalicana grasp from her before getting up, "I do have a problem we need to discuss."
"What's the problem?" Gajeel exhaustingly asked.
"The problem is the father of my child coming in at almost midnight and lying to me about his late-night shift," Lucy emphasized.
"It was late," Gajeel lied once again.
"Stop lying to me, I've been around that village almost my whole life, no one has ever worked this late. People are too afraid that you'll come out and kill them at night, so they close down early," Lucy said snapping at Gajeel.
"Okay, what do you want me to say, Bunny?" Gajeel exclaimed.
"I want you to tell the truth about where you have been," Lucy exclaimed.
"I've been in the village all day. After I got off I decided to go get me a drink and that is the result of me being late," Gajeel partially lied.
"So you weren't out hunting people?" Lucy asked crossing her arms. Whenever Gajeel came in late she assumed three things: he was hunting animals and killing people, having sex with Levy, or carrying something back home from the village.
Lucy definitely knew it wasn't the third because he didn't come in the house with anything. Hunting and having sex with Levy had to be one of those two options.
Lucy looked him up and down and tried to spot any fresh hickeys on Gajeel. She saw some but knew those came from her since she put them in specific areas to keep track.
Lucy also sniffed Gajeel's scent to see if it had any of Levy's perfume. She surprisingly didn't smell anything.
Then she gently grabbed his chin which was a little turn-on for Gajeel and squished his mouth open. She takes one sniff and then she backs away disgusted.
"I knew it," Lucy said disappointed.
"Oh my God, I didn't even eat a human, it was a pig," Gajeel lied.
"Right, we're just going to assume it's a pig you ate," Lucy sarcastically spoke.
"It was," Gajeel argued.
"Gajeel your breath smells worse than usual and you're usually not ashamed to admit you ate an animal, but it looks like you killed a human," Lucy explained.
"So what if I did?" Gajeel rhetorically asked walking away from Lucy and going to the kitchen area.
"So, what if you did, Gajeel it's bad either way especially when you don't have to. You know I'll cook for you, or you can just go find an animal in the woods, you don't have to resort to eating people," Lucy argued.
"What if I prefer human flesh over animals," Gajeel shrugged.
"Then I say you have no self-control," Lucy said agitatedly.
"No self-control...Bunny, I'm a fucking animal, what type of control do I need?" Gajeel sternly spoke.
"I have animal urges- humans and animals are the same to me, they're beings I prey on. Last I checked, you both bleed the same color and you're descendants from other living beings, you're just about the same in my eyes. I hunt down both!" Gajeel exclaimed causing Lucy to take a step back.
"Gajeel, I don't want you to bring that around Metalicana nor our newborn who is going to be here in no time soon," Lucy sternly spoke.
"Why shouldn't I? They're both part wolf, they're going to be having the same exact urges as I did," Gajeel argued.
"Then you can try to change it. They don't have to feed on humans as you do. They can just hunt down animals and call it a day," Lucy argued.
"Bunny, humans are also animals! If they're lurking in the woods at night time trying to kill me and our kids, why should I treat them any different?" Gajeel asked.
Lucy's blood started to boil and she wanted to walk over to Gajeel to hit him but she knew that would be a bad idea. She didn't want him to see her as a threat and start treating her differently.
"Because you're just going to make this worse if you continue to kill the people in the village. They're in the woods at night because you come into their territory and kill them willingly. The huntsmen wouldn't be doing any of this if you just preyed on the animals instead of the people," Lucy truthfully spoke.
"Bunny the people are the ones who started it all," Gajeel angrily spoke.
"And you're the one who's continuing it! At some point, you need to draw a line to this and stop disturbing everybody and their peace," Lucy said giving Gajeel the same energy.
"You're not even hunting to eat, you're hunting because it's a game to you!" Lucy shouted causing Metalicana to wake up from his sleep. Metalicana started to move around to sit up to see Lucy and Gajeel who were too tongue-tied to speak.
One thing they never did was argue in front of Metalicana. At least not to his awareness. Since Gajeel's parents argued a lot he grew not to be fond of arguing in front of his cup. It stressed him out and he didn't want Metalicana to feel the same as he did.
"Excuse me!" Lucy sternly spoke before purposefully bumping into Gajeel to get to Metalicana.
Lucy started to tear up as she went to check on Metalicana. She feared for the future Gajeel had planned for Metalicana. She didn't want her baby to become a man-eating wolf. What sense would it make if Metalicana continues an unnecessary war between humans and wolves?
Gajeel hated the humans that were in the village because of what they did to his species. Lucy felt as if that didn't need to be rubbed off on Metalicana. He was an innocent child that deserve to have a childhood, not a life where he spends hating humans.
Lucy looked at Gajeel who decided to leave the house and go off wandering in the woods once again. She sighed and shook her head because she felt as if she was in hell once again. She wished Rogue would come back and save her.
Lucy questioned where he was every day and would hope that she could meet up with him. She feared that he might have been killed by Gajeel, but she didn't want to think that way.
Everyone in the village awoke the following morning from their sleep. They made preparations for yet another day of labor while attempting to maintain the status quo. When they left their homes, they discovered that there was blood all over the place. The pig the people thought might have been the culprit was actually still alive in the village's center, contrary to what they had first thought. Instead of it being pig's blood it was a human's.
The villagers were scared of who the next victim might be. Was it one of their loved ones who were out at the wrong time or was it the huntsmen? They soon found out when they saw a head ripped off of the huntsmen none other than Orga.
His entire body was torn up and all over the place, even his shocked-in face. The wolf typically bites and scratches sections of his victims, but this time he was more brutal and tore off nearly all of his body parts.
When the other hunters arrived on the scene, they discovered that the Big Bad Wolf had claimed the life of another hunter. They found damage to their jailhouse as well. The basement where they kept Rogue was also damaged, along with the door being torn off, the cells being messed up, Gildart's office being wrecked, along with the weaponry and changing area.
Gildarts immediately felt his heart sink as he learned what had transpired. It was entirely his fault Rogue Cheney had escaped, killed another huntsman, and destroyed the jailhouse. Ogra's death didn't appear to be the result of a man killing him. This much harm couldn't have been caused by a man. This had to have been caused by something big, bad, and catastrophic. The wolf usually either consumes the animal the villagers leave behind or devours one of them, but this time the attack on the town was unusual. However, these killings would be quick with the body just laying there damaged but this time the wolf was more devious with his attack.
Levy McGarden appeared at the scene to see what everybody in the village was looking at. She was in shock to see that her theories were right about Rogue. This attack was more brutal than the others. Levy looked around to see there was blood all over the place along with Orga's body parts.
She caught Gildarts walking into the jailhouse in which she followed him. Everything was destroyed!
You could tell that Rogue was not happy with them. He even went into the weaponry room which was destroyed. All the weapons were broken into pieces along with their armor. It left everybody in fear since that's what the huntsmen used to attack the wolf.
You would have thought that everybody would be relieved since the Belserion Family made the huntsmen's armory, but even their station was surprisingly destroyed. They had no material that could possibly come close to killing the wolf.
The only thing they could resort to was resources from the woods. But the woods wasn't a safe place to go since the Rogue was lurking in them. Rogue always stayed in the woods and he would rarely come to the village unless it was to check in with Gildarts.
Gildarts went down to the basement to go look at the damage that Rogue had done. Levy followed him to the basement to see that even that was torn up. The chains that the capital had sent were destroyed along with other security that was stored around the basement.
Levy started to get anxious as she took in the scene. Her heart was rapidly beating and she didn't know if she could bite her tongue any longer.
"You should have killed him when you had the chance," Levy said tearing up.
Gildarts held his head down in guilt due to Levy being right. He should have killed Rogue when he had the chance. Instead of going with his instinct, he wanted to follow the guidelines.
If he had seen Rogue transform into the wolf he would have killed him without t a second thought. The capital and the villagers wouldn't have a problem if they executed him, but since he only killed some of his fellow huntsmen and hid them in his house it didn't make any sense to execute him unless the people agreed with it.
The problem was everybody wouldn't have been on board with killing Rogue since he was one of the huntsmen that went above and beyond to make sure everybody was safe. The people wouldn't feel right about having him killed.
Gildarts wanted everybody to take notice of how nothing was happening when Rogue was locked up. The huntsmen didn't have to go out as much to patrol since the wolf wasn't killing anyone. On top of that, he didn't come for the animals that the villagers would leave out at night. Meaning since Rogue was locked up there was peace within the village.
That all changed today with the damage he had caused.
"You had him right here and you didn't do anything about it," Levy scold.
"What are you going to tell the people when they find this is your fault this happened?" Levy scolds once again angering Gildarts.
"ENOUGH!" Gildarts yelled, catching Levy off guard.
"I know what I have done," Gildarts said while pointing to himself.
"And I know what I have to do now!" Gildarts said on the verge of tears as he was upset.
He decided to walk past Levy while slightly hitting her. Gildarts held his head up high as he went to go confront the villagers. He had to tell them the truth about Rogue. He didn't want to believe it but since this was a threat to everybody, something had to be done.
The villagers were all still stunned at the scene. Gildarts decided to grab a cart and stand on top of it so the people could get a good view of him.
"THE PEOPLE OF MAGNOLIA!" he projected. Almost all of the villagers looked at Gildarts as he caught their attention.
"OUR VILLAGE HAS BEEN THREATENED ONCE AGAIN BY THE WOLF WHO IS NONE OTHER THAN ROGUE CHENEY. HE HAS KILLED ONCE AGAIN ANOTHER ONE OF HIS FELLOW HUNTSMEN AS HE DID THE LAST TIME. HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE DEATHS THAT HAVE BEEN HAPPENING. HE HAS KILLED MOST OF OUR FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS AND THIS NEEDS TO COME TO AN END!" Gildarts revealed as the villagers were shocked by this message.
Whoever could have assumed Rogue Cheney was guilty of all the murders?
"WE HAVE WITNESSES THAT HAD SEEN ROGUE CHENEY KILL OUR PEOPLE AND ALSO TRANSFORMED INTO A WOLF. THOSE WITNESSES ARE NONE OTHER THAN THE HUNTSMEN THEMSELVES AND LEVY MCGARDEN, THE ONE AND ONLY SURVIVOR FROM THE WOLF'S ATTACK!" Gildarts proofed as Levy McGarden had come out of the jailhouse in shock at what Gildarts had revealed. She felt nauseous with everybody looking at her and she almost wanted to puke.
She was surprised because he had revealed the wolf was Rogue. He finally said something and it took him months to do so after he found out about the missing bodies. Levy wanted to smile in the moment but she could not due to it being a sad day for the villagers.
The villagers had looked at Levy in guilt because she had warned them all but they did not want to listen because they thought she was crazy. They all come to find out they were wrong while she was right.
"WE HAVE BEEN LIVING IN FEAR LONG ENOUGH! AS GOD IS OUR WITNESS, WE SEND ROGUE CHENEY BACK TO HELL WHERE HE CAME FROM! THE BIG BAD WOLF SHOULD BE NO MORE. THIS ENDS, TONIGHT DURING THE FULL MOON. WE MUST LIGHT OUR TORCHES ON FIRE AND WALK THROUGH THE WOODS TO SET ROGUE ON FIRE AND DESTROY HIS HEART AND BRAIN!" Gildarts yelled as everybody started to get riled up.
"NOW GO AND PREPARE YOUR WEAPONS AS WE MUST KILL THE WOLF AND SEND HIM BACK TO HELL!" Gildarts lastly yelled as everybody screamed with him. They all were tired too, they were tired of living in fear and wondering if they could live the next day.
Gildarts was right, this needed to end!
The villagers grabbed whatever type of wood they could find and started sharpening them to make weapons. Everybody was going to fight back tonight!
It was still early in the morning and Lucy was walking her usual route to the meadows. When Gajeel came home from hunting he was tired especially with him being out all night. Lucy didn't want to be anywhere near him, so she decided to leave the house by herself to have some alone time.
Gajeel had really made her upset last night. It was to the point she almost wanted to risk killing him. Whenever it came to her kids, she was very testy. Gajeel wanting them to be like him did not sit right with her.
Lucy didn't want to raise man-eating wolves. What if they decided they wanted to kill her one day? She feared for her future and theirs. This had to end, but how, how is this going to stop? Lucy wasn't strong like Gajeel or the huntsmen. When she tried to kill Gajeel she was unsuccessful. The best she could do was swing at him and try to light him on fire, but that didn't do any damage to Gajeel. He was able to heal himself and not show any type of pain from her attacks. The only person she knew who could possibly kill Gajeel was nowhere to be found.
Rogue was nowhere to be found for them to go through with the plan to kill Gajeel. She was almost starting to believe that Rogue had abandoned them in the woods to die. But Rogue wouldn't do that, would he?
Lucy thought about other things to kill him aside from her and Rogue's plan. One of these was to give him poisonous berries, but Gajeel might catch on to that. If he was able to never get sick by easily healing himself and also being self-aware of what the woods hold then she was definitely not going to succeed. It just felt as if all hope was lost and there was no escaping!
Lucy had finally made it to the meadow and then all of a sudden she was pulled back by a figure. She felt her heart drop because she thought it would have been Gajeel or some other creature. But when she was pulled in for a hug and she noticed the touch and smell, she knew who it was.
"Rogue!" she softly spoke as tears started to drop.
"Lucy!" he said in relief.
Thank you for reading!
Sorry Readers that it took me so long to update Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but I intend on finishing it. Stay tuned!