A/N: And now we're at the final chapter. I'm so glad you guys have enjoyed what I've done with this continuation. This chapter came out to 14k on its own, which is why I had to break it up into what we now have as chapters 2 and 3; otherwise, it would've been a monster nearing 20k!

I was planning on waiting to post this until tomorrow, but it's finished, and I want you all to be able to enjoy it now before I head off for classes tonight!

Let's hope you like how things go now that Cobra's...

Moving Forward

Four days later, he found her lodged in a mud-pit in the middle of the woods, screaming for someone to find her. The branches from nearby trees hung low, but were still out of her reach. Everything from her breasts down had been sucked into the thick substance. As they locked eyes, and he stood there in stunned silence, she started sinking lower.

"Cobra, come here often?" Lucy asked.

"You look a little… stuck there."

"What, this?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "No way. I'm just chillin'."

He blinked slowly when she struggled to move, then she yelped when one arm touched the mud, only to get stuck as well. "You're ridiculous."

"Nah, I'm just getting a good mud bath."

"Oh," Cobra smirked. "Well, if you don't need any help, then I'll just-"

"Wait!" Lucy screeched as he turned to walk away. Absolutely ridiculous. It was obvious he wasn't going to actually leave her there.

His head turned back toward her, and his smirk widened. "Yes?" he crooned.

"I'm uh…" Lucy sighed and winced. "I'm stuck."

"Clearly."

"Could you-"

"I could." He turned to fully face her and crossed his arms. "But, you see, I'm a stickler for semantics."

She frowned. "Would you-" she tried again.

"Well, I would," he chuckled, "But-"

"Will you," she shouted, "Please help me get out of here?"

"Ah," he said, nodding. "No."

"What?!"

He bit his lips to stifle his laughter, but it was useless. In her agitation, Lucy slammed her left hand down onto the mud, then paled when she realized that she'd gotten even more of her body in the sticky substance.

"Cobra, come on," she whined. "Please?"

"Fine, fine," he laughed. He looked around the area, hoping for a wayward vine or deus ex machina level rope placement here deep in the forest. He had no such luck. Maybe if her teammates were around, they could use their magic to sort this shit out. Erza could just cut through it - or glare at it until the mud grew sentience and ran the fuck away. Natsu could warm it up enough to dry it out, hopefully without also burning Lucy in the process. Gray could turn this shit to muddy ice and then pop her out like a fucking ice cube from a tray.

But Cobra didn't have that luxury. He could poison the mud, but that wouldn't do a whole lot of good; Lucy would just get sick from it. He could try his sound magic, but what would that even do? The best he could manage would be deafening her in the process. He was sure she liked having the ability to hear.

He glanced up at the tree branches. Maybe he could fix some together into a makeshift rope. Or pole, to be more exact.

Lucy began shouting when he turned around and walked off. He didn't need to hear the exact words to know that she was freaking the fuck out over nothing. Instead, he focused his attention on climbing a nearby tree and hoisting himself up onto the lowest branch. These branches wouldn't do shit for creating some sort of pulling mechanism. They were a little too pliable.

He climbed higher, making sure he was on a solid branch before he began shimmying out over the mud-pit. He sat on the branch and removed his jacket, then tied the sleeves together to make a loop in the fabric. It sucked to do this. He loved his jacket. It was the only thing that always kept him warm at night, and at least a little comfortable on mild fall days. It would probably need a good washing soon, but that could wait. Especially if there was a chance that he was going to get fucking mud on it.

"How, exactly, did you manage this?" he asked.

Lucy gasped when Cobra appeared just out of her reach, hanging upside down from a branch. "O-Oh, well, I… uh…"

He heard it. She'd gotten flung through the air - through no fault of her own, surprisingly - by Erza tackling Natsu and Gray on their way back from a mission, to stop the two from fighting. Lucy had been an innocent bystander. The details from her soul weren't all that clear on how she'd gotten sent flying, but the next thing she knew, she was stuck up to her hips in mud. And she couldn't move her legs well enough to gain any traction. "Ridiculous," he muttered.

"You can say that again," she sighed.

"Don't let your other hand touch the mud, or I won't be able to do shit. I'm not getting in there to save your dumbass."

Lucy raised her only unencumbered hand higher. She watched as he reached up to the branch and pulled his pristine white jacket down. The tied sleeves were sent sailing her way.

"Loop that around your head, under that arm," he said. She followed his instructions. "Wrap your arm with one of the sleeves so you don't lose your grip." He waited until she was ready, then gripped the opposite end of his jacket tightly with both hands. There wasn't much leverage that he could use while hanging upside down, but Cobra hoped that it would help to move her a little bit.

He pulled as hard as he could, listening closely as her own muscles tightened while she tried just as hard to get herself out.

He didn't listen closely enough. He was too focused on hearing a seam rip in the sleeve to notice the creaking of the branch he'd been hanging from. He watched her move one inch, then another, so intensely that he didn't realize he was sinking lower.

The branch snapped and he screamed while falling face-first into the mud.

Two weeks later, she sought him out. He knew she was coming, and his guild knew as well. Meredy had been the one to get the call from Lucy herself, asking where they were because she needed to talk to Cobra. There was nothing clandestine or secretive about it, which was… odd. He wasn't used to his guildmates knowing things about him. Like this strange friendship he had with Lucy.

He'd dodged all of their questions, especially Meredy's. Just because she was the first one to know about what really happened between himself and Kinana - and, subsequently, the one to tell everyone else the truth about it - didn't mean he was going to spill every detail of his life.

When she showed up, he was eating a rabbit. It had been skinned and roasted over the fire, and since they didn't really carry plates and utensils around while hopping from one place to the next, Cobra used a leaf to hold the meat and bones. Lucy walked into the camp and paused when she saw the way he'd backed himself up against a tree, curled his legs to his chest, and carefully guarded his food. No one else looked at Cobra where he sat several feet away from the group and campfire. The others from the Tower knew better. He didn't like being watched while he ate. He didn't like people getting too close to his food either.

Angel had mentioned once that he needed to cut it out, because he was still eating like he was a slave begging for scraps.

Cobra just… couldn't get himself to stop doing it unless he was sitting at a table. Then, and only then, was he able to at least force himself not to curl up into a ball when he ate something. Besides, he was really fucking cold now that he didn't have his jacket anymore.

Lucy smiled when their eyes locked. "Hey, Cobra," she said, then looked at the others when he continued to glare at her. "Hey, guys."

"You should probably wait until he's done," Midnight yawned.

"Yeah, he's overprotective of his food," Angel laughed.

"Like a badger," Meredy giggled.

"I'm not like a fucking badger," he snarled, taking a large, aggressive bite of the rabbit's leg and chomping through the bone. Cobra returned his attention to his food before Lucy could look back at him.

"A honey badger, maybe," Midnight said.

Cobra grumbled under his breath and chewed the bone. It didn't matter all that much to him. Extra calcium, if nothing else. Who was he to turn down extra calcium?

It surprised him just a bit when Lucy didn't walk right over to him. Instead, she listened to what his guildmates had said and took a seat by the fire, next to Meredy. He hunkered down a little more against the tree and listened to the way she talked with everyone else. She didn't look at him once. He confirmed it when he glanced her way and saw that she was fully involved in a conversation with Angel about the stitch-pattern on her dress.

Oddly enough, something trembled inside of him when he noticed the direction their conversation had taken. Angel didn't say it out loud - which he was definitely glad for - but he'd been the one to make that dress for her. Learning to stitch up injuries at a young age had eventually turned into learning how to mend the few clothes they had. It wasn't like they could go out and just get new clothes whenever they wanted, so someone had to figure out how to keep their clothing in decent repair.

And when Angel's soul had whined one night about not having newer clothing - how she'd been wearing the same thing for months, and that it was starting to wear a little thin with how often she washed the white fabric to keep it mildly presentable - he'd ordered Midnight to find him some material. Cobra was extremely thankful that she hadn't gotten all teary-eyed over him tossing the new dress her way a few weeks after he'd heard her. She hadn't even said thank you, just smiled and went to change.

"This fabric is gorgeous," Lucy said. She hesitated just before reaching up to touch Angel's shoulder. "Where did you get it?"

"That's a secret," Angel chuckled.

"The stitching is so intricate," Lucy breathed. "And the color for the thread is a really great complement for the-"

"Cobra made it," Midnight yawned. "I picked the fabric, but he - Ack!"

Cobra glared at the remnants of his meal that were now stuck to the side of Midnight's face. "Shut your gabby fucking mouth, Maybelline."

Lucy smiled at Midnight as he peeled the rabbit from his cheek. She reached into a small pouch on her belt and withdrew a handkerchief, passing it to him.

"Why does this smell like cherries?" Midnight asked, nodding to her in thanks.

Lucy laughed and rolled her eyes. "Natsu melted my chapstick, and tried to clean it up with my handkerchief. I've washed it, like, five times already, and the smell still hasn't come out."

Cobra was wholly confused by her not jumping right onto the kernel of knowledge concerning him knowing how to sew clothing. She was definitely interested to learn more about it, but she made a point of not ignoring everyone else to ask him about it. His brows drew together the longer he looked at her, and then his gaze fell lower. To the bright yellow bundle she'd been carrying all day while travelling to their camp that was tucked against her stomach right then.

He uncurled himself from the tree and stood, then made a point of walking behind Lucy to get her attention as he left the camp.

"Oh, sorry, Midnight," she laughed, standing as well. "Cobra, wait!"

He kept walking until they were out of earshot from anyone in the camp, then turned and waited for her to catch up. She stopped in front of him, and Cobra watched the gentle flush of pink spread from her cheeks to her ears.

"If I'd known you could-"

"I would've thrown it out," he said. "Made a new one."

The pink in her cheeks grew brighter and rushed down to her chest where she clutched the bundle a little tighter. "Now I just feel silly," she sighed.

"Well, lemme see," he said. If she'd gone through all the trouble of bringing it to him, then he was - at the very least - going to see what was worth all this hassle on her part.

Lucy bit her lip and slowly handed it over. He didn't snatch it from her, but he was actually pretty damn curious to see how it looked. He untied the simple blue cord and pulled the yellow cloth away, handing both to her as he stared down at his folded jacket. He checked the seam on the shoulder that had ripped two weeks ago when he'd been trying to get Lucy out of that mud pit.

His thumb brushed over the pale silver thread she'd used. It wasn't nearly as tidy as he would have preferred, but he could tell how careful she'd been to make every stitch even. The thick splotches of mud from that day were gone, he noticed while looking at the rest of the jacket. The dried dirt and blood from scrapes over the past few months were also gone.

He hadn't washed his jacket since his last night with Kinana. Before then, really, since he hadn't had a chance to put it in the washing machine while he was visiting. It had definitely been on the ripe side. A little mini-scrub in a lake with no soap didn't do a whole lot to keep his few belongings clean. He'd depended on being able to stop by Kinana's on occasion to wash his clothes while he spent time with her.

"You cleaned it…"

"Yeah," she said. "A-And I tried to patch up some spots I saw that were a little torn."

His small frown grew when he checked the left elbow that had been scraped on a rock two months back, only to find it patched with a small swatch that was identical to the rest of the white material around it; if he really inspected it, he could see the fine seam where the swatch and sleeve met. The red lining had been fraying along the bottom hem, and he could tell that she'd removed the seam through the whole length of the bottom hem, and sewn it together again.

"Virgo told me to use this hot-iron seam strip thing," she said, watching as his thumb brushed over the bottom hem again. "She said it binds to the material and makes it stronger, and then I sewed it all up just to make sure…"

"You didn't have to do this," he said. He blinked in surprise when she snorted, his gaze shooting up to find her staring at her twiddling fingers. A nervous habit, he supposed.

"Yeah, well, I didn't know you could sew, so…"

"No, I mean-"

"It's dumb," she sighed. "I just felt bad, because your jacket ripped when you were trying to help me. And then you left it on the ground when we got out of the mud, and-" She squeaked when his hand covered her mouth.

"I mean, thank you," he said softly. "I've been cold as fuck without it." He chuckled when she instantly wondered why he didn't just make a new jacket for himself. "It's not that easy to get my hands on material for little to no money."

'That makes sense, I guess. But I bet he could've fixed this better than I did. I told Virgo that I wanted to do it myself, and not have her do it for me, but maybe I should've asked for more help from her. It's not like I'm that great of a seamstress. Mama only taught me a bit.'

Cobra shook his head at the sudden turn of her thoughts. "You have no idea how long it takes me to thread a fucking needle."

'Eye for an eye. Ha!... Oh god, he heard that!'

He laughed loudly, and his hand slid down to her chin. "Why have I never thought of that?!"

She smiled then, and laughed right along with him. It was more quiet than his own, but he heard it nonetheless. And as their laughter died down, she reached up to pull his jacket from his hands, then shook it out and held it up for him. Cobra turned and slid his arms into the sleeves. When he turned back to face her, Lucy surprised him by reaching up to smooth down the lapels and adjust the collar.

He froze. How could he not?

That was something Kinana had done so many times when he'd left her home. She always fixed his jacket after he'd put it on, even if it was already perfect. Then her fingers brushed through his hair, spiking it up a little more by his ears, just the way he liked.

Lucy gently patted his chest, giving the fit of his newly fixed jacket her seal of approval. "Give it a test run," she said.

Cobra blinked to clear away those unwanted thoughts of her, and did as Lucy said. He reached above his head; the tension in the material was familiar, just like it had been before. He bent his arms to test the elbows.

Then he smirked and wrapped his arms around Lucy in a crushing hug that had her laughing as he shook her from one side to the other.

"What are you doing?!" she cackled.

"Testing the material," he said. "I move a lot in my sleep."

She drew back to look up at him in confusion, and it dawned on her a moment later. He used his jacket as a blanket at night. With that one realization, tons of pieces clicked into place at once in her soul. He'd been so cold because he didn't have his jacket to keep him warm at night. It had been so dirty when she'd taken it because he had no way of washing it on the road. Dozens of little tidbits of information - even inklings she'd had based on conversations with Kinana when she and Cobra had still been together - linked together to give her a much clearer picture of the man standing before her.

"Cobra, we have to head out. Say your goodbyes, and meet at the camp in two minutes. The fire's been snuffed."

He wanted to punch Angel right in the fucking cunt as her voice drifted through his head. But he listened to everyone's souls, and it was true. They had to move, or risk being caught. The job they were heading toward was important, and they needed to move quickly and quietly to get it done in time.

His arms dropped to his sides, and he stepped back from Lucy.

"Gotta go?" she asked.

He nodded. "Time to finish our job."

She smiled up at him then with that gentle little lift of her lips he was starting to get used to. "I'll catch you on the flip side, home slice."

"Don't ever," he snorted, "Fucking say that again."

"Then, I'll see you later, alligator." The way she waggled her eyebrows at him had Cobra laughing again.

"In a while, crocodile," he muttered back. She patted his shoulder and turned to walk away from him, back toward the west where she'd disembarked from a train to find him in the first place. Cobra stood there, surrounded by lumbering trees and a sudden hush in the forest, until he couldn't hear her footfalls anymore. Then, and only then, he turned back toward the camp that his guildmates were nearly finished breaking down. As he walked, he reached up to his left elbow, and smiled at the feel of newer material.

Three weeks later, Lucy and her team happened to stumble upon Cobra and his guild while they were finishing up their mission. She stood by in the entrance to a large cavern and watched, just a tad bit confused over the sight of Cobra pinning down the overly buff man who'd sent a request to Fairy Tail, and beating the ever-loving shit out of him.

What she didn't know was that this fuckstick had been the ringleader for a whole slew of black market deals - specifically, trading children. Cobra didn't plan on giving her the specifics of any of it, but that was mostly because he couldn't take his eye off the bastard; otherwise, Calchas would use his fucking magic to slip through their fingers for the third fucking time.

He was so focused on making sure to pound his fist right through Calchas' stupid fucking chiseled face that he missed the warning signs. The tightening of muscles, the precipitated thought process... Lucy's curious stare, the quiet conversation between Jellal and Erza over what the fuck was actually going on. It all blurred together until a solid fist, the size of Cobra's head, bashed into the right side of his face and toppled him to the ground.

The world tilted and his head spun. He could still hear, but it was muffled again - like the day of her funeral. Shouts from his guild were muddied with the warbling caterwauling from their souls. They knew to leave him behind if Calchas got away. They knew he'd catch up to them when he could.

"... on ahead!"

Cobra slowly sat up on his elbows and shook his head. Big fucking mistake. That only made the spinning worse. He nearly collapsed on the ground again, but forced himself to sit up fully.

"... -bra?"

He swayed to the left without realizing it, and found himself leaning against a soft, supple wall of warmth that smelled like lilacs and fresh sweat. He hissed when he felt pressure on the right side of his face, sliding up to his hair and through it.

"... okay?"

He groaned softly. This wasn't fucking like him. Why had he gotten so distracted? Was it because of what Calchas had been doing, and how pissed Cobra was over the fact that they'd already lost the bastard twice, and they'd finally caught up to him again? Was it because Lucy had showed up? Was he losing control of his magic now?

He should've heard it coming. He should've been able to stop Calchas from getting away from him with a blindsiding haymaker to end all fucking haymakers.

Icy water splashed down onto his head, and Cobra gasped and opened his eye. He shook his head quickly and drew back from whatever his face had been pressed against, only to groan at the pounding headache moving left him with.

"It's alright," Lucy said gently. "You weren't out for long."

"What?" he mumbled. Cobra pressed the heels of his hands to his eye sockets, pressing tightly against them to dull the pain. It didn't work.

"That guy," she said carefully, "I guess he was trying to get us to hold your guild up from pursuing him?" Cobra nodded. "Well, after he laid you out, he tried to get away. My team joined up with your guild to chase after him."

"And you're here because…?"

"Because someone needed to keep an eye on you," she laughed.

"And you watered me like a fucking petunia, because…?"

"Because you passed out, and I didn't feel like dealing with you having brain damage from a concussion," she said. "He might've cracked your skull open or something."

"Am I bleeding?"

"A bit, yeah," she said. He bit his lips when she touched just above his ear, her fingers carding through his hair as gently as possible. "Right here. It's not a lot, and it's probably just a weird scrape or something, but I wasn't sure."

"Well, we need to catch up to the others." He didn't care about some minor injury. He didn't really care all that much about the throbbing in his head. He had a job to do, and it couldn't wait for him to be at a hundred percent. If Calchas got away again, it'd be harder to catch him than before, especially since he'd fucked up and gotten on Fairy Tail's bad side. The slippery fuck would go into hiding, never to be seen again.

"Cobra, you should-"

He grunted while forcing himself to his feet. The upward momentum was too fast for him right then. His legs wobbled as he took a trembling step forward. Then his knees buckled.

Lucy barely caught him, and he could feel the way she struggled to keep him from falling. "Cobra, don't be stupid."

"I'm not," he mumbled. "We gotta catch him."

"Let the others handle it," she said, adjusting her grip so his arm rested over her shoulders while she held his waist. "You're in no shape to go running after them, let alone into a fight."

"That doesn't fucking matter," he snarled while turning to glare down at her. To his surprise, there was just as bright a fire burning in her narrowed eyes.

"It does matter," she said. "You're no good to anyone if you're dead."

That one word wasn't something that had scared him in a long time. Once upon a time, he'd begged for death, for a release from the torturous existence he was forced to endure. For years, he'd been hoping it would just happen when he least expected it. Except his magic and his natural inclination for rebellion had made him a little too good at avoiding death by a cunt hair.

"Maybe that's what I'm hoping for," he said. Her eyes widened, filled in an instant with fear, and he felt the way she trembled as her hands gripped his waist a little tighter. "If you're not going to help me get where I'm going, then fuck off."

"I won't help you get yourself killed," she said. He took a step, and felt her hands slip away. He nearly collapsed when he realized just how much of his weight she'd been holding. His feet shuffled with small, stuttering steps away from her. He stumbled, and she reached out to steady him.

Cobra smacked her hands away. "I don't need your fucking help." He took another step, then paused. His head swam. He had to suck it up. He had to go find Calchas and be done with this shit.

She appeared in front of him and wrapped her arms around his waist to keep him from moving. He could hear it. She wasn't going to let him leave. Why wouldn't she just let him go do what he needed to do?

"I can't stand here and let you do that," she said, burying her head against his chest. "You're hurt and you need to rest. Just let everyone else handle this one."

"I need to-"

"You need to think about yourself for a change." When her head tilted back to look up into his eye, he wasn't sure what to make of her expression. It laid somewhere between sad and hopeful, between teary-eyed and angry. For once, he couldn't read someone.

"Being selfish is what got me and the others locked in prison."

"Taking care of yourself isn't the same as burning people alive in a church," she said with a smirk. That alone threw him off. Why would she look at him like that while talking about how he'd murdered people? And not just any people, the only other mages in the world who used the same magic as her… "If you manage to catch up to them, in this condition, you'll only slow them down. Think about it. They'll compensate for you being there, expect you in top form. And when you mess up, because you're not in peak condition…"

"He'll get away again," Cobra muttered. Her reasoning was sound. The others would expect him to get results. He'd been the one to catch Calchas the last two times - to actually get his hands on the fucker. But if he could barely walk, and he was having a hard time focusing as it was, then he would be useless.

"Let yourself rest," she said again. "They know I stayed back so you're not alone."

He sighed and closed his eye. That was actually helping a bit. His balance wasn't nearly as shaky if his eye was closed. Slowly, his head tipped forward until his forehead pressed against hers. "Fine," he said. "I won't go after them."

"You'll rest?" she asked.

Cobra smirked. She picked apart his choice of words so quickly, he was a little impressed. "I'll rest," he said.

"And you won't sneak off when I'm not looking, thinking you'll be able to go in and save the day?"

He chuckled, then winced as the pounding in his head increased. "I won't sneak off."

"Good," she giggled. His eye slowly creaked open to look at her again. He couldn't see much of her face, but he could hear her gentle smile in her voice.

'We've really gotta stop meeting like this… The time's never right.'

His gaze softened the longer he looked into her eyes. It wasn't the middle of the night or dawn this time. The sun beat down on the world outside with a nearly stifling heat that only July in the southern part of Fiore could muster. Even this far into the cave systems that Calchas called his base of operations, he could feel sweat trickling down his spine.

She didn't seem to mind it all that much.

"You're right," he whispered. "The timing's fucked. It always is, but-"

Lucy smiled. "Cobra." He went still when her nose brushed against his. "Don't be weird."

"It's my middle name," he chuckled. He felt her shiver as he closed the distance between them. The kiss was chaste, gentle, but he wasn't really sure what he was doing. Not where she was concerned.

All Cobra knew was that he just didn't want to feel so alone anymore. He'd spent the six months following his breakup with Kinana without anyone to hold. Or someone to hold him when he needed it, especially in the time that had passed since he learned that she'd died. And now that he'd held Lucy in his arms, another part of his brain - the stupid, idiotic part - wanted something a little more.

He wanted comfort. He wanted to know that there was someone who cared about him, just a little. Just enough to want him to not be dead. And she'd been that for him in bits and pieces when they happened to meet up. She was kind to him when there was no benefit to her. She overlooked his faults and still called him her friend.

Slowly, he drew back, but his eye stayed closed. He didn't want to look at her and see the rejection in her eyes.

"Definitely bad timing," she whispered. He inhaled sharply when she kissed him again, barely brushing her lips against his. "Your lips are super chapped."

"Dick," Cobra chuckled.

"Oh, it's massive," she giggled. His eye finally opened to find her grinning up at him. He licked his lips again, but it didn't do much to get rid of the little bits of skin peeling at the center of his lower lip. Well, shit. She was right.

"I'll be sure to invest in chapstick, then," he said.

One month later, he kissed her again. It had been a chance meeting, with both of them happening to be in Hargeon at the same time. He'd told Lucy that he needed to talk to her through a silently passed note that no one else noticed. Her soul told him to meet her at a little bistro around the corner from the docks, and she would make sure she was alone.

He met up with her - telling Meredy that he had some business to take care of with Lucy, who'd done him a serious favor by making sure he was alright while the others tracked down Calchas - and they talked. They ate lunch together, and it wasn't until they'd left the restaurant and started walking back toward her hotel that he finally found the words to apologize for how he'd treated her six months prior.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you," he said. "After you helped me that night. That was bullshit, what I did."

Lucy had just smiled and kept walking down the cobblestone road. "I forgave you about ten minutes after you slammed the door," she said. "You were going through a lot, so I didn't hold it against you."

It floored him. He was so utterly surprised by it that he stopped walking. She turned back to face him, curious about his strange behavior. "How do you just forgive people like that?" he asked.

"It's easy," she said, shrugging. "We can't change the past, and the present is only present while we're in it. Why hold onto a grudge that'll give me an ulcer, when I can just as easily forgive someone and move on?"

He frowned down at her. "Why would you forgive someone who treated you like that, though?" he asked. "If you keep them around, then they'll just do it again."

She shrugged again. "It's easier to forgive and give them another chance to get things right, than it is to be angry."

He wanted to tell her that he was glad she gave him another chance, but he couldn't speak. He wanted to say that it was likely he'd snap at her over something again, but his mouth wouldn't move. Cobra wanted so badly to tell Lucy that she should be more careful, because she could get hurt, but his throat tightened enough to keep his voice sealed away.

Instead, he reached for her hand, stepping closer as his fingers brushed across hers. He'd never been great with his words, unless he picked them out of someone else's soul first. Cobra knew he sucked when it came to expressing himself. All he hoped was that Lucy could understand it. That she could understand him, and what he wanted her to know.

Her head tipped back to maintain eye contact, and he closed the distance between them while wrapping his free hand around the back of her head.

He didn't want her to pull away from him as his lips finally met with hers. Cobra knew that the one time they'd kissed was horribly timed. He was loopy as fuck from that knock to the head, his lips had been chapped - as they usually were - and he'd just told her that he'd rather go off to find some jackass and get himself killed than take the time to rest. He just wanted her to understand that he appreciated what she'd done. That she cared enough to stop him from being a fucking moron, even when he was being a stubborn fucking bitch.

His fingers trailed across the nape of her neck, smoothing over the small hairs that had slipped from her ponytail, and she shivered. She stepped closer to him, pressed herself against him so fully that he suddenly couldn't breathe.

Cobra inhaled sharply as their lips separated, smirking when he felt her fingers threading through his on his free hand. He met her half-lidded gaze, saw the smallest little lift to her lips.

"I can taste your chapstick," she whispered. "Cherries, huh?"

Cobra shrugged, then chuckled when her hands lifted to the lapels of his jacket and pulled him back into her web.

Over the next four months, Cobra had seen Lucy five more times. They laughed over sneaking away from their friends just to sit on a random pier and stare at the horizon; one of the two times they'd done that, they had ended up kissing and she'd buried her hands in his hair to keep their lips connected in favor of breathing. His guild and her team would meet on occasion, and he reveled in the times they could sit together at the campfire, surrounded by the people they cared about in some capacity.

One night, he'd listened as Natsu covered Happy's mouth before the Exceed could make a comment over Lucy and Cobra being so friendly when she was supposed to belong to Natsu - something that Cobra definitely appreciated, all things considered. When he listened closer, he realized that Natsu had been the one to tell her to try and contact him before dying. Natsu was also of the firm belief that Lucy was happy with her friendship with Cobra, and that was all that mattered to him as her partner.

The sixth time he saw her, it was the one-year anniversary of the night they'd first talked on her roof. Crime Sorciere came to Magnolia for Jellal and Erza to see each other, and Cobra headed right for Lucy's apartment. Instead of climbing the fire escape, he climbed the stairs and knocked on her door. And when she opened it, wearing her fuzzy pink robe and matching slippers, he was reminded of the poisoned cocoa she'd made for him on a whim.

"Hey, you," she said, smiling in surprise over seeing him on her doorstep. Oh, yeah… he hadn't mentioned that they would be in town. "Come in, come in!"

Cobra winced slightly as he crossed the threshold. This wasn't like the other two times he'd been at her apartment. He'd never come over and knocked on her door like this. He'd always walked into her apartment through the window, after climbing down from the roof. He wasn't sure what the hell he was supposed to do.

"Cocoa?"

"Sure," he said, rubbing the chill out of his hands.

Lucy stopped dead in her tracks, then turned toward him and smiled. She reached up and removed his jacket, then waited while he kicked off his boots. "Why don't you grab a shower, and I'll wash your clothes for you."

He stared at her, unsure of how to respond.

"Erik, get a shower, and I'll wash your clothes," Kinana said as she kissed his cheek.

The memory hit him right in the chest with enough force that he nearly doubled over. One year ago, she had said that to him. One year ago, he'd been standing on her doorstep, and she'd invited him inside and took off his jacket and said the same fucking thing. It was after he'd showered and warmed himself up that he'd learned the truth about her.

Without wanting to, his magic soared out and down into Lucy's soul. She'd never given him any reason not to trust her, but he couldn't help it. He searched for the truth. Was she waiting to tell him something?

'I've missed him.'

Was she hiding something from him?

'I shouldn't have missed him this much, but we have a lot of fun together.'

Was there someone else in her life now, even though the past few months had been a casual thing between them?

'I wonder why he didn't let me know they were coming.'

Was she going to tell him that they couldn't be anything more than normal friends now?

'I would've made a nice hot meal for both of us instead of eating cereal for dinner.'

Lucy's smile faded when he didn't say a word. "Hey, you okay?"

He kept listening. She was worried about him, about his silence and why he'd showed up. Did that mean she had something to hide? He listened harder to her soul, ignoring everything else around him.

Why would she worry?

'Cobra's weird, but he's never this weird.'

Why would she wonder about him showing up?

'Wait, is he like this because I'm in a robe? Oh god, I must look like a mess…'

Was her worrying about him and his presence in her home connected?

Lucy's hand gently touched his cheek, and he jumped while refocusing on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked again. "It looks like something's bothering you."

The longer he looked into her soft honey eyes, the more he felt at ease. It wasn't that bright green of betrayal that he remembered staring back at him. Her eyes weren't framed with soft locks of purple hair; Lucy's hair had been pulled back so high that even her bangs were tied up. And the longer he held her gaze, the more he realized that he wasn't necessarily alright. Something just felt off, but he didn't know what to tell her.

"I dunno," he finally said. "A shower sounds good, though."

She nodded and led him to the bathroom. "We'll get you good and warm," she said, smirking over her shoulder. He chuckled in response. She remembered what he'd told her about nearly always feeling cold, even with his jacket on. It was even worse in the winter.

She left him in the bathroom, and he turned on the shower and stepped in as soon as it was warm enough. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a real shower. It had definitely been way too long. Cobra washed himself thoroughly - not caring that he was using her scented soap - then he stayed there until the water started to cool, even with the knob turned to the hottest setting. Finally, he opened the curtain and peeked out to find a fresh towel on the counter, right beside a pile of folded clothing that he didn't recognize.

He scowled while wrapping the towel around his hips, then picked up the shirt. A black thermal that looked to be his size. His head tilted with curiosity and he switched the shirt out for the pants - a soft, grey flannel with a pair of black socks hidden on the counter beneath them.

Cobra chuckled quietly to himself and put the clothes on. There weren't any boxers, but he'd gone so long without wearing underwear that it didn't really matter. She had been the one who made sure he had underwear every time he left. Since they went their separate ways, he didn't see the point. It was just going to get dirty and reek of his sweaty fucking balls after a single day anyway, and it was just more laundry that he would have to carry around.

Once dressed, he hung up the towel over the shower curtain and made his way out to the living room to find Lucy sitting on the couch with two cups of cocoa on the coffee table.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

He nodded and sat beside her. "Where'd you get the clothes?"

"Virgo," she giggled. "I showed her your clothes and asked if she could bring you some comfy pajamas."

"Interesting," he mumbled. He hadn't known her spirit could do shit like that. Angel's had never brought them clothes and shit. But he dug in her soul for the answer. Virgo was her spirit that acted like a maid, even when Lucy said she didn't have to. Apparently, she didn't like relying on Virgo for everything, but on occasions like this, it came in handy. Lucy also gave his clothes to Virgo to get extra-cleaned.

He took a sip of his cocoa when she did the same. This was too awkward. He was listening to everything her soul said, and she didn't know what to say to him.

"Cocoa's good," he said, taking another sip.

'Oh my god, he wasn't kidding. This awkward Cobra thing is adorable!'

He frowned over at her, only to find Lucy smiling at him like she'd watched him hatch from a fucking egg. Lucy reached over and took his cup from his hand, setting it on the table again, but she didn't back away from his personal bubble. She crept closer until he could smell the chocolate on her breath.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, okay?"

He gulped and nodded, leaning back slightly so he could still see her face.

"I missed you. A lot."

"... Oh."

She let out a breathy laugh. "You don't have to say it back, Cobra. I'm just telling you how I felt."

That was a bit of a relief, to be honest. He wasn't sure if he'd really missed her. Cobra liked spending time with her, and sure, he enjoyed when things got a little more physical. When he could kiss her. Because it was a comfort. Feeling her in his arms and how she'd hold him right back was soothing for him. He'd had a couple days here and there where he'd wanted to share something with her, but he couldn't because he wasn't near her. It sucked, but it wasn't like he couldn't just tell her about it whenever they did see each other again.

"But I was wondering if maybe you'd want to do something," she said. "I've never done it before, so you'd have to teach me, I guess."

He was well and truly breathless when he heard what she was thinking about. "Wait, you-"

She blushed. Fuck him, she suddenly looked so bashful that he wasn't sure what the fuck he was supposed to do about it. "I mean, when I was with Natsu, it just wasn't working," she said. "We never really-"

"But you want to-"

"Yeah," she laughed. "I wanna try it."

"With me?"

"Who else would I try it with?" she laughed, leaning back so she didn't laugh right into his mouth.

He didn't really have an answer for that one. It was just a surprise, an unexpected one. Because this wasn't something he'd ever considered her being interested in. And he'd never thought things would really go past kissing between them.

"We don't have to," she said when he'd been silent for too long. "It was just a thought."

His hand shot out to grab her wrist when she started to pull away. "You surprised me," he breathed.

"Nuh-uh," she laughed. "You're unsurprisable!"

"Apparently, you're an exception," he said with a smirk. "Now, come here." Before she could move, he pulled her roughly across the couch and into his chest. She squealed in surprise as she crashed into him, and a moment later, his lips captured hers in a searing kiss with more intensity than he'd ever used with her before.

Maybe he had missed her. Just a little bit.

He shifted to lean back against the arm of the couch, with her kneeling between his legs. It let her feel the prominent tent that his borrowed pajama pants did nothing to hide, pressing against her hip.

His tongue speared between her lips when he heard her wondering whether she should touch him. He hummed his agreement, guiding her hand down to his arousal. He couldn't help but groan when her shaking fingers touched him through his pants. He let her do as she pleased, touch him however she wanted. He listened to the way she got lost in how he felt in her hand, and how long she'd been wondering what all the fuss was about.

When her hand slid beneath the fabric and she drew back to look at him, Cobra was a fucking goner. The heated look in her eyes had him bending to her every whim. She asked him if he liked it, and he wasn't even ashamed over how his voice cracked when he said yes.

She asked if she was doing it right as her hand slid from the tip down to the base, and he nodded so fucking fast that he was positive his neck was going to snap.

He didn't want to think about how long it had been since he'd been with a woman in any capacity. The ability to think about a whole lot of anything went right out the fucking window when she asked if she could try what she really wanted. He nodded, watched with rapturous anticipation as her head lowered to his lap.

"F-Fuck," he groaned as her tongue flicked the tip of his cock. She carefully pulled back his foreskin and did it again, and his back bowed from the couch with a louder curse spilling from his lips. "Fucking shit-fuck…"

She laughed and lifted her head slightly. "Is that good?"

"So good," he moaned. She'd never done anything remotely close to this, but apparently hearing stories in the guild from other women - and a few of the men when they thought she wasn't listening - was enough for Lucy to know what the fuck she was doing. In theory. In practice, she wasn't all that sure of herself.

What she didn't know, however, was just how lucky she was. Because Cobra was exceptionally vocal when it came to something he liked. And her mouth slowly stretching around his cock, spreading her saliva over his shaft? He loved that shit.

"Just like that," he panted. "Ah, fuck! J-Just use your tongue on the tip - Ahhn!" His head dropped back as her head bobbed faster than before. "N-Nevermind, do your thing… fuck!"

She didn't need pointers. All she needed was for him to shut the fuck up and not try to teach her a goddamn thing, even though she'd wanted him to show her what to do. He was going to do just what she wanted, as long as she didn't fucking stop.

As far as Cobra was concerned, this was a much better way to finish the year than how it had started. And if she would let him, he was definitely repaying the fucking favor just as soon as she was done.

Nine months later, as he laid in bed with her and panted against her sweat-slicked shoulder, Cobra questioned whether he'd been right about her being asexual. It really didn't seem like it, considering how much of a fucking hornball she was when they were alone. Granted, they spent quite a bit of time apart, with him on the road, but that couldn't account for all of how she acted in regards to getting in bed with him.

His dick wasn't that great.

At one point, shortly after she'd had her first orgasm from his face buried between her legs, he'd considered asking her outright about it. Because he'd thought that she wasn't interested in Natsu - and hadn't really been interested in anyone - because she was asexual. It made sense.

Except, there they had been, both naked from the waist down, and she'd been grinding on his face and begging him for more. That was beyond fucking confusing.

He'd thought better of asking her right then. The timing was all kinds of wrong.

And, he realized the next morning when he woke up beside her, it didn't really matter all that much what the fuck Lucy's sexuality was. She was into him in some capacity, and she wanted to suck his dick, and have his mouth all over her snatch on occasion.

The next time he saw her after that night, he'd spent the whole time wondering if anything would happen. Nothing did, and he figured it had to have been a fluke, that she'd tried it and decided it wasn't for her. But then the time after that, when she knew he was coming to her apartment, Cobra showed up and found her looking like a delicious fucking snack with her short shorts and crop top, and him wanting to lick every inch of her sunkissed flesh turned into Lucy's first-ever romp between the sheets.

And now, here he was, slowly withdrawing from her spasming sex, grinning against her flesh as she whimpered at the loss of him inside her.

"Don't go," she hummed. Lucy rolled over to face him as Cobra threw away the used condom in her bedside trash can. She kissed her way up the center of his chest.

"What, you're not satisfied?" he laughed.

"I'm never satisfied," she teased.

Cobra growled and pinned her to the bed, grinning as his fingers speared into her sex and Lucy's head tipped back with an ecstasy-filled moan. "I should remedy that," he rasped.

"Mm, post-haste," she groaned, pulling his head down by his ears and forcing his lips to surround the pebbled peak of her nipple. "You promised me multiple orgasms."

He sucked harder than before and scissored his fingers. That was true. He'd been teasing her by whispering in her ear earlier while they'd been having lunch at her guild hall. He'd said that she wasn't going to leave her bed until he'd milked her dry of every last drop of ecstasy she could muster. He'd said he'd have her cumming for hours.

Cobra was definitely going to live up to those expectations that night. He hadn't seen her in four months. They had a lot of catching up to do. His teeth scraped against her breasts while traversing her chest to latch onto her unattended nipple, and the sudden splash of color in her soul had him groaning against her glistening skin.

Had he never done that with her? Interesting. More interesting was how much she liked the tantalizing feeling of his teeth on her. As the night wore on, he made sure to give her sharp little nips against her flesh that had her flinching in surprise at first, then moaning loudly a moment later, even when his dick finally start cooperating enough to get a condom rolled over it so he could sink into her slick heat once again.

"Shit," he moaned, his voice shaking as he peppered the space between her shoulder blades with gentle kisses. His hips drew back slowly, then slammed forward until he was fully buried in her tightening sex. "Fuck, yes!"

"Fuck me like an animal," she panted. Her back arched and his hands shot to her small waist for more leverage to pull her onto him. God he loved it when she was on her hands and knees like this. How she rocked back into him, even though it nearly threw off his rhythm sometimes. "Fuck me, Cobra… Yes… Y-Yes!"

His arms wrapped under her shoulders to hold her body in place as he pistoned into her, his voice rumbling deep in his throat every time their bodies were fully joined.

It didn't matter what her sexuality was, because he could hear her. He knew what she liked and what she wanted, and the label for whatever the fuck floated Lucy's boat wasn't what was important to him. All he cared about was that he was the one floating her boat in the first place.

Two years later, he found Lucy sitting in the rubble that had once been her apartment building. He'd heard her soul screaming for his help two nights before, and he'd woken up from a dead slumber only to wince at the intensity of it bouncing between his ears. He hadn't wanted to chance anything, and had gone right to Jellal with the information, telling him to call Erza and figure out what the fuck was going on.

Erza didn't answer her lacrima, which could only mean that she wasn't able to answer it right then. It meant that, whatever was happening to Lucy, Erza was also involved. And that was all the motivation Jellal needed - even though he was fully on board with them going to find Lucy as it was, Erza not answering gave him an extra push - to really fucking move his ass.

They were too far away from Magnolia to get there and be of any help, Angel had pointed out several times during the trek. Cobra told her to fuck off and die.

He'd been so focused on listening for Lucy's soul again that he hadn't even minded Meredy's never-ending questions about what was happening with him and the Celestial mage. He told her the truth.

They were friends.

Meredy pushed, and mentioned that she'd noticed a hickey on Lucy's throat one day.

Cobra said he gave it to her. He didn't see how that really fucking mattered.

By the time they were only a few hours from Magnolia, the sun had risen on the second day, and he could see several plumes of smoke rising from the city. Large, ominous, black clouds drifted into the sky. The whole city was on fire. The silhouette was off, but he couldn't put his finger on what was different.

What the actual fuck was happening? Was Lucy okay?

Those were the only two things that mattered to him. And when they finally made it to Magnolia and walked through the decimated gate leading into the city, the utter destruction that had leveled everything in a six-mile radius had the rest of his guild rushing off to try and find members of Fairy Tail so they could help. Either getting rid of the remaining enemies that had attacked, or just help to rebuild, it didn't matter.

Cobra didn't give a shit.

He followed Lucy's soul through the rubble, and he finally found her. She was pale, her eyes haunted as she stared at nothing. As he came closer, he noticed the dirt and grime smudged across her skin, the tatters her clothing had been left in - he wasn't sure how the threadbare material was still holding up. The scent of blood cut through the dust in the air, thick and coppery.

He didn't have to see the cuts on her arms and legs to know she was bleeding.

Cobra climbed over the rubble and knelt beside her, his nose crinkling at the scent of burned flesh that wafted off of her. "Lucy?"

"Huh…" Her voice was so soft, a pathetic rasp that could barely be called a vocalization.

"What happened?"

She didn't turn to face him. She let out a sad, humorless laugh, but her lips didn't even turn up at the corners. He knew this well. She was in shock.

What the fuck had happened to put her in this state?

After everything she'd been through in her life, what was it that finally broke her?

"You came…"

"I did," he said gently. He lifted a hand and brushed his fingers through her hair, turning her to face him. He frowned when he felt something warm and sticky on the other side of her head. Cobra leaned closer, his eye widening in horror when he saw that all the hair on her left side was a dark red.

He parted her hair and his stomach roiled at the sight of a large gash that reached from the top of her head down to her neck. He could see her skull. Nothing was broken, but-

"Cobra, I'm glad you're here," she sighed.

He drew back and took in her appearance more fully. Her left bicep was covered in blackened, burnt flesh. Her hands were caked in blood, and she was missing several nails, almost as though she'd climbed out of a grave. But there was no soil on her. Just dust. Too much dust.

He turned his attention to the rubble around them. There were several pieces with blood smeared on them. He didn't need to lean closer to figure it out.

His hands gently cupped her cheeks, forcing her to look in his general direction. "You got buried?" he asked.

"Yeah…"

"And you dug out?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Lucy, what happened?"

She didn't answer him, but her soul rewound to walk him through it all. He watched it in reverse, the sun disappearing and dust falling upward as her view of the sky was obscured again. Further back, to her screaming in agony at the large shard of glass spearing through her leg and the huge bricks crushing her hand. Further again to her sitting in her apartment and getting ready to make a pot of tea for her team before they left on a mission.

And then time in her soul moved forward.

Lucy set down the teapot on the stove and frowned at the strange ticking sound she heard outside her window. She moved across her apartment and parted the drapes. A large black magic circle spread across the sky and covered all of Magnolia. The ticking sped up, like someone adjusting a watch. She backed away from the window and darted to her coffee table to get her keys. Just as her fingers touched the familiar leather pouch, an explosion rocked the foundation of her apartment building.

She thought it would be over quickly. The shaking never stopped. One explosion after another ricocheted through the air. The floor beneath her cracked under her feet, and Lucy vaulted toward her front door. She wasn't fast enough. Her window exploded inward next, and the sudden searing pain in her leg had her stopping just long enough for the floor to collapse and take her with it.

She hit her head on the way down, and her vision went black.

When her eyes opened again, the world was silent. It was dark all around her. A heavy weight pressed down on her arm. Another on her leg. She had no clue where the attack had come from, or who was behind it. What she did know was that she needed to get to the guild and figure out what the hell had happened.

When she tried to move her pinned arm, Lucy nearly screamed in agony.

She laid there for a time, trying to figure out what to do. It dawned on her, when the darkness above her scraped ominously, that she was buried beneath rubble. And it could fall down into the small pocket of space she occupied at any moment.

She was going to die down here. Alone. If she wasn't crushed, then she'd run out of oxygen.

She was going to die.

It wasn't a conscious thought at first, but her soul shrieked in terror and called for the only person who would be able to find her.

"Cobra! Cobra, help me! Please! Please, help me!"

When he was able to focus on her face again, he found tears freely streaming down her cheeks, even though her face was entirely blank. He didn't want to hurt her, so he moved carefully while wrapping his arms around her. "I was too far to get here sooner," he breathed against her dusty, matted hair. "I came as fast as I could."

"You came…"

Cobra nodded and gently kissed her hair, then her cheek and finally her slack lips. He knew that she needed some serious medical attention, but he had no clue where anyone else was. Or where the nearest hospital was at, outside of the blast zone. He'd never made a habit of going to hospitals.

As he held her, his eye closed and he listened for the souls of her team. Anyone from Fairy Tail. He could hear his own guild moving around the decimated town, looking for survivors. They hadn't found anyone yet. Jellal searched Fairy Hills, Midnight and Racer searched the remnants of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Meredy, Angel, and Richard took the southern, eastern, and western sides, respectively.

It was pointless. This town was dead. Their souls were the only ones he could hear.

"Cobra," Lucy sighed. "You came."

"I did," he said softly. The fact that she kept repeating herself was starting to worry him. He glanced down and found her key pouch clutched in one bloody hand. He knew that her spirits could be helpful, but he didn't know how much it would drain her magic, or if she could even summon one right then.

Maybe if they met up with Angel, she could use Lucy's keys. He didn't want to move her just yet. Not until he'd taken the time to really figure out how bad her injuries were. Instead, Cobra held her and covered her ears, then sent a burst of his sound magic up into the air so the multicolored lights were visible to everyone else.

"Come this way. No souls here. Come this way. No souls here…"

The message was short, and it grew more annoying while he kept sending out the same message and waited for everyone else to show up.

Racer and Midnight were the first to appear, followed by Jellal, then Angel. As soon as he saw her, Cobra pulled Lucy's keys from her hand and tossed them her way.

Angel fumbled with the leather pouch before pulling it to her chest. "Cobra-"

"You can still summon them, right?" he asked. "For an emergency?"

"Maybe?" Angel glanced at Lucy, her eyes widening at the blood dripping down her chest from her head. "What happened?"

"She got buried," he said softly.

'I found my keys near the top, or I would've had Virgo get me out.'

"Which spirit can help treat you?" he asked her. "Lucy?"

'Gemini… turns into Wendy, they can heal me…'

Cobra relayed the information to Angel, listening as she singled out the key and called the incantation. The gate didn't open.

"Ugh," Angel groaned. She shook the key. "I'm only trying to summon you for Lucy, so open your stupid gate!"

He would've chuckled over the doorbell sound that rung through the air, but he was too focused on Lucy and her drooping eyes. Cobra gently tapped her cheek. "Don't fall asleep," he said. "Gemini's here."

The small blue spirits floated over to Lucy, then merged together and turned themselves into Wendy without any prompting. "Lay her down, piri," Gemi-Wendy said. "We'll heal her as much as we can."

"Don't leave," Lucy breathed. She leaned more heavily against Cobra's chest.

"I won't sneak off," he said with a smirk. Meredy and Richard showed up just in time to help everyone clear a space and move Lucy into a position where she could be treated. Cobra took off his jacket and draped it over her, and kept her head resting on his lap.

Gemi-Wendy knelt at Lucy's side and furrowed their brows in concentration as pale green magic wafted from their fingers.

"Just stay awake," Cobra said. "You're gonna be fine."

The smallest smile lifted her lips when she met his worried one-eyed gaze. "Your jacket is so warm."

The rest of Crime Sorciere chuckled quietly when they noticed the gentle flush of pink on the tips of his ears.

It took two years for Fairy Tail to rebuild their guild. Hundreds of citizens of Magnolia had died in the explosion that destroyed the city. Cobra had been more than happy to help Lucy find the rest of her guildmates - which hadn't been all too difficult once he wasn't worried about her health. They'd learned that the surviving members of the guild had been evacuated by Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale (the two closest guilds, geographically), and transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.

No one had been safe from the destruction of Magnolia.

Jellal had been beside himself when he saw Erza lying in a hospital bed with bandages around her limbs and a tube shoved down her throat to help her breathe.

Once they were able to move around, true to their guild's reckless reputation, the hunt began for whoever the sorry son of a bitch was that had thought it a good idea to attack them.

The truth of the matter, however, was that some woman had taken a page from Jellal's book of sins, and pulled a full-on Siegrain. And she'd done it with the full support of the Magic Council that was now in shambles.

During that two year period, the Magic Council was obliterated again, and Queen Hisui decreed a new system of governing mages. With how often the Council became corrupted or got blown up, Cobra didn't blame her. He was sure that no one being willing to come forward for a position on a new Council - what with the high turnover rate for the job - helped to sway her.

It was left to the monarchy to govern mages. There were still a shit ton of bureaucratic steps that had to be taken, but only the ruler of Fiore could decide what should be done with mages in legal cases.

Queen Hisui also offered her sincerest apologies that Fairy Tail had been destroyed. She sanctioned three hundred Rune Knights to help rebuild Magnolia, and paid for the cost of labor from crafters and artisans across the country to have things put back into order.

During those two years, Cobra spent more time with Lucy than ever before. For the first few weeks, it was because he wouldn't leave her side while she was healing. It took months for her cough to disappear from breathing in so much dust while digging herself out of that rubble. Her right hand was broken so severely that the bones had nearly been turned to dust themselves. The doctors had to perform over a dozen surgeries to fasten each of her bones back together to the best of their abilities.

She needed a year to learn how to use her hand again.

The best part of those two years, in his opinion, was when she asked him to lay with her in the hospital. Or the hotel room they were staying in - a halfway house that the Queen had provided for survivors of the attack on Magnolia until their homes were habitable again. It was on those nights - or the middle of the day, sometimes - that her soul would hum the gentlest song once she was in his arms again. In those quiet moments together, she thanked him for hearing her, for finding her when she'd been left behind.

She didn't blame anyone for not knowing she was there. When he left to help clear the town of rubble, he went right to where her apartment building had been. It took three days to get down to where she'd been trapped. He made sure Natsu saw it, so he would know just how hard she'd fought to stay alive.

Sadly, Lucy yelled at him for that little dig at Natsu. Cobra knew it was well-deserved, but fuck… she was loud when she was angry. It was the first time she'd ever gotten mad at him. He spent a whole week trying to make it up to her, much to his guild's amusement. Apparently, they really got a kick out of Lucy grabbing his ears and yanking on them. What they didn't realize was that, when they were alone, she did the same thing in a very different context.

Five years later, he heard something that floored him.

'I wonder if I should tell him that I love him…'

He sat up in her bed and shifted to the left just enough to see her standing in the bathroom, not a stitch of clothing covering her freshly showered body while she brushed her hair.

That wasn't what he wanted to hear. To be completely honest, it scared the shit out of him to hear something like that from her.

The last time he'd heard that, it had been Kinana. It had been a lie. The last time he'd been in love, he'd gotten fucked over so badly that he was just never the fucking same.

But… it had been ten years since he'd first sat on the roof of Lucy's apartment, and she comforted him in the wake of learning that he'd been betrayed by Kinana. Ten whole years had flown by in the blink of an eye when he looked back on it.

He barely remembered the months between leaving Kinana and returning to Old Magnolia for her funeral. He didn't know what he said that day, but he did remember talking with Lucy again after he stormed out. He remembered how seldom they spent time together, and how surprising it was that she was still willing to be friends with him.

Looking back, he couldn't recall the specifics of how they'd started acting more like a couple, and less like the friends they claimed to be.

She turned toward the door, and smiled when she saw him sitting up in bed. "Morning, sunshine," she said. "Are you ready to get out of bed now?"

He blinked, watching how she walked into the room, the gentle sway of her hips as she moved to his side of the bed. She wasn't shy while sitting next to him, uncaring of her nudity.

He loved her. Cobra knew he did. He'd loved her for seven years already, and he hadn't mentioned it to her (or anyone else) once. He just didn't want to let her know that was how he felt, and give her so much power over him. Because when he'd told Kinana that he loved her, he became hers entirely. And if the same thing happened with Lucy, and he was hurt again… he wouldn't be able to take it.

Lucy pressed the back of her right hand to his forehead, frowning at him. "You're still feeling pretty warm," she said. She reached up and lightly grabbed his ears. "And your ears are burning."

"I'm not sick," he said.

"Your fever says differently," she countered. Lucy leaned down and opened the drawer in his nightstand, pulling out a dropper bottle of snake venom. She uncapped it and rationed out five drops into a cup of water he hadn't known was there, then handed him the cup. "Drink up, hon. You need some more poison in you if you're gonna fight off this flu."

"I don't get the flu," he muttered. Still, Cobra drank the entire cup of poisoned water.

She laughed at the way he pouted down at the cup. "You say that, but as the one who's been taking care of you this past week, I beg to differ."

"Bullshit," he said.

"You've been shivering for days," she said. "Even all wrapped up in blankets. Not to mention the coughing. And last night, you were straight-up delirious."

His eye narrowed at her. "What did I do?"

She smirked at him. "You pulled out a ring and asked me to marry you," she said.

Cobra went pale. He didn't. No fucking way had he done that. He'd gotten the ring a couple months after she'd been released from the hospital, when she'd told him that she wasn't going to give up on Fairy Tail just because of the last attack. When he'd seen how loyal she was to her family, felt her conviction rippling through her soul and into his, he'd known right then that he wanted to spend forever with her.

But he hadn't proposed. The timing was never right, and he never knew what to say to her to pop the question. Fuck, he'd never even said that he loved her. And now, when he'd been sick as fuck and off his rocker with a fever, he fucked everything up?

Lucy snorted, then laughed loudly. "I'm fucking with you! Cobra, you look like you've seen a fucking ghost!"

"I-I didn't…?"

She shook her head quickly, laughing louder than before. "No!"

Cobra was sure that he should've breathed a sigh of relief over the news. But it didn't happen. He was still anxious. Still terrified of her finding out the truth.

"You passed out on the couch and drooled all over me," she snickered, unaware of the fact that he'd stopped breathing. "You got so snuggly, I thought I'd die from the cuteness." She frowned a moment later when he didn't instantly snap that he wasn't cute. Lucy found him staring at her, not moving an inch. "Hon?"

"What if I did?" he asked, his voice trembling. "It'd be crazy, right?"

"What if you did, what?" she asked.

When he thought about it, it wasn't too surprising that he'd fallen in love with her. And he knew that he could trust Lucy with anything. She was always the perfect confidant. And she'd become such an integral part of his life without his meaning to let her do it. He already knew that if he walked around the house she lived in now, he would find bits and pieces of him in every room. Lucy had decided to settle down in a small house instead of trying to return to her apartment five years back - especially since her landlady had died in the explosion - and when he'd helped her move in, she'd told him that she wanted the place to feel like a home.

It had been too bare for her liking, even with the furniture she'd picked out and had delivered to her house. There were pictures that had been lost, letters to her parents, and so many other mementos. So Cobra had made a point of helping her fill in the blank spaces. He brought knick-knacks from the different places he travelled to, went with her to the art gallery to buy paintings for her walls. She'd gotten a larger bed than what she'd had before so they could sprawl while sleeping together when he was in town.

"Would it be crazy to say that I love you?" he breathed.

Lucy went still, staring at him with wide eyes. "Only if you don't mean it," she said carefully. Oh, he meant it with every fiber of his being. Her eyes narrowed after a moment. "Were you creepin' on my soul again?"

The knot in the pit of his stomach eased marginally. He chuckled and looked down at the red satin sheet covering his hips. She hadn't had satin bedding since leaving the Konzern, but he'd changed that. Cobra made a point of finding it for her while she'd been healing, and said that it would help her relax more and heal faster if she was laying in a fucking cloud. Now she was hooked on it.

"You heard me," she said, drawing his attention back to her brightly flushed cheeks.

"I always hear you," he said. Cobra nibbled his lip while brushing her hair behind her shoulder. "But I do. I have for a long fucking time."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well…" He didn't have to say it. She knew. Just like she knew him. He didn't need to say that he was scared of repeating the past, or that he knew she wasn't like the woman who'd crushed his heart, but he was still scared anyway. He didn't have to tell her that, to this day, he questioned his ability to hear souls, and that he'd wanted to wait until she loved him and he was sure of it before saying anything to her.

After being together for so long, she knew it all without him having to say a word, which he really fucking appreciated, considering how he still got a little bit tongue-tied with her.

Her hands rested so tenderly on his cheeks, forcing him to look at her again. And then she smiled. "I love you too," she said, brushing her nose against his. "You're a silly bitch, but I still love you."

"Gee, thanks," he chuckled.

He couldn't move fast enough to stop her from awkwardly sucking his chin into her mouth. Fuck, he hated it when she did that. But she always did it to make him laugh, so he couldn't be too mad about it.

Lucy drew back and pretended to spit. "Why would you put your chin pubes in my mouth?!"

Cobra rolled his eye and chuckled. "You're the one who said I couldn't shave for a whole week."

"You weren't even able to stand up two days ago," she shot back. "And you won't let me shave your face."

"I've seen the damage you do while shaving your legs," he said. "You'll slit my fucking carotid."

"Now, I will," she muttered.

Cobra grinned and dragged her more fully onto the bed, laying down beside her. They laid in a comfortable silence for a few moments before he couldn't stop himself. She knew that he loved her, and he'd waited long enough. He enjoyed being friends with her, but they'd basically moved in together. It had been a long time since they were just friends. The last time he'd done this, he'd had his whole world turned upside down, but it had given him the opportunity to get to know the woman in his arms right then.

"What if I did propose?" he asked.

"I'd probably say yes."

"Yeah?"

She smiled that same smile she always gave him. Looking at her right then, he was reminded of the first time she'd smiled after he got her to the hospital. How she'd woken up one morning, weeks after being admitted, and gave him this same bright, caring turn of her lips over seeing him eating from a jello cup in the bed next to her. But looking at her right then, Cobra could feel that this was different. She loved him more than she could put into words, and she was more than happy to spend the rest of her life with him, as more than just his friend.

.The End.