Author's Note: The longest and last chapter! Thank you everyone who read this, and reviewed or favorited it. I greatly appreciate your feedback and your enthusiasm. You guys are the ones that keep me going, always. :)

8. Wish Come True

The timid roommate fidgeted nervously while Cobra surveyed the scene of the abduction. Between annoying shuffles, the girl explained that there wasn't much amiss aside from the open window, which let in a breeze to cut through the thick sweet fog of Kinana's scent. It was overwhelming and intoxicating, despite the barrenness of the room, and did little to help Cobra's concentration. He did notice a fine white powder on her pillowcase, stirred by the restless afternoon heat. Cobra's tongue flicked across the pad of his finger, which he pressed into the fabric to extract the powder. He rubbed it away with his thumb and caught an herbal undertone that nearly knocked him to the ground.

"Sleeping sand," he murmured.

"What?" Laki squeaked.

"Kinana was drugged," Cobra told her, wiping the rest of the sinister powder on his cloak. "Someone sprinkled a sleeping sand on her pillowcase. I'm guessing they snuck in, waited until she was unconscious, and carried her out the window."

"But what sort of deviant would go through such lengths to burgle Kinana?"

Cobra wrinkled his brow at the girl's complicated speech. "I don't know. Someone with an agenda, I guess. Someone who's skilled enough with herbs to make a powerful sleeping sand. Maybe someone from Kinana's past?"

"Surely she's informed you of her severe amnesia," Laki huffed. "A person from Kinana's life before Fairy Tail could be anyone from the city—anyone in Fiore!"

"It was a clean job. There's not much here to go on. My best bet is to follow her scent and see how far it will take me," Cobra said. He knew that was almost hopeless—if the kidnapper stole her in the night, the trail was probably gone. "You should stay here, maybe ask around and see if the neighbors noticed something suspicious last night."

Laki looked reluctant to stay, but Cobra had disappeared down the stairs and out the door before she could argue. She would only slow him down. He wished Cubelios was with him, so that he could fly over the city and listen for Kinana's voice. The other sounds of humanity were blotting her out, drowning her in the indistinct babble.

Then, he heard it.

As clear as a bell, like she was standing right beside him, resting her stubby chin on his shoulder, pressing her lips to the shell of his ear. He could feel her hot breath. Please, help me, she whispered in that voice he knew so well. Erik, please help me.

Cobra wheeled around, but she wasn't there.

"Kinana?"

Please help me.

"Where are you? Kinana!"

Please.

She was fading. Cobra scowled and ran in the direction he thought she was coming from. This was not going to happen again. He was not going to lose her again. "Move out of my way!" he snarled as he barreled down the street, heedless of the outraged and startled cries from the passing pedestrians.

Erik.

"I'm coming!"

Help me.

The voice stopped. But he smelled her. He could smell her. She was near, growing closer, close enough for the wind to bring him the rose-and-olive bouquet of her scent. The trail was clear, coming from a ramshackle house in the middle of nowhere. Cobra hadn't even paid attention to where he was going. He was just following Kinana's pleas for help.

He rushed to the house and burst inside. It was tiny but well-kept, made of wood and stone. It smelled heavily of herbs and musk, almost overpowering the faint aroma of Kinana's terrified sweat. Cobra could hear her clearly now, her real voice, screaming from the floorboards underneath his feet. There was a door to his left; he kicked it down, and it fell into splinters down the stairs.

"Kinana!" he called.

"Erik!"

He took the steps in two giant leaps, and crashed into a dingy cellar cluttered with buzzing herbs. There was an old wiry woman gripping Kinana by her shoulders, trying to force some sort of concoction into her mouth—Kinana was tied to a chair, struggling with all her might, her mouth firmly shut. Her body seemed milky-white and blurred around the edges, her limbs elongated and formless, her delicate face losing its round stubby features. She tossed her head and made eye contact with him, and her emeralds were reduced to inky slits in a field of topaz.

Cobra would know those eyes anywhere.

"Erik!" she cried, revealing pointed teeth. The witch grabbed her face and roughly pulled her lips to the cup, but Cobra was there before Kinana swallowed. The witch howled when the potion spilled across the floor, spreading across the hearth in a thick, blue-black puddle.

"You fool!" the witch hissed. "I was trying to keep her from transforming!"

Cobra heard the chair explode, and turned to see a purple serpent uncoiling from the ropes, tripling in size as her tail whipped the restraints away. Her magnificent wings spread from her back, tips brushing the ceiling and sending a rain of dried leaves down on her shining scales.

"Cubelios," Cobra rasped.

It was only because he knew the rhythms of her motion that Cobra was able to leap out of her way when she struck. Her long body shuddered and lurched, attacking with incredible speed and precision. The witch had no hope for escape. Her scream was cut short by the ferocity of Cubelios's strike, the severe snap and slurp of her powerful jaws closing on crunchy bone and soft flesh. Her blood hit the wall at a violent trajectory, stinging the side of Cobra's face. He was bewildered. Cubelios had never attacked anyone like that, not even on his command.

Her massive tail swung around, and their eyes met again. They were filled with fire and bloodlust, lost in the carnality of the transformation. He saw the bunching of her muscles, a preparation to strike. At him. To kill him.

"Cubelios, no!" he shouted, suddenly terrified. He couldn't hear anything coming from her skull, could sense no thoughts or feelings. This creature in front of him was entirely alien.

He was abruptly crushed by the idea that the snake had devoured Kinana, that her unwavering, warm humanity was consumed by cold and feral transformation. It was clear by this beast's glaring stare that in spite of all his searching, he would never get Cubelios back. But Cobra was going to fight for Kinana.

He rolled away from her second strike, nearly losing an arm to her lethal fangs. Her eyes flickered to him in an enraged frenzy, her strong body pausing to pull her teeth from the hearth. Cobra shot poison at her before he remembered that she was immune, and leapt away from her next attack. But this wild Cubelios was smarter than that—her tail whipped around in conjunction with her body, and slapped him up against the wall. Cobra fell to the floor, winded and limp, the perfect prey. He braced himself for her next strike, and it was only luck and familiarity that allowed him to catch her jaws in his hands before she could bite.

The impact was like a freight train. Cobra groaned when his broken ribs hit the wall, and his arms trembled with the effort of keeping her jaws separated and held at bay. Her long fangs dripped with beads of ruby blood, and her forked tongue lashed against his face in a vitriolic hiss. Cobra could see down the dark red passage of her throat. The blood made her sandpaper scales slick to the touch as she pressed forward. Cobra was going to lose this battle of wits.

"Kinana, listen to me! It's Erik!" he cried out in desperation. "I know you're in there, I know you can hear me! I didn't leave, just like I said I wouldn't, so you're not allowed to go either, you got me?! I did not come looking all this way just to find nothing! I didn't know it at the time, but I was looking for you! And now that I've found you, there's no way in hell I'm going to let you go. So stop trying to bite my fucking head off, will you?!"

The snake stopped pushing. She breathed deeply, once, twice, spraying a thin mist of pink blood and harmless spit in Cobra's eyes. He heard her body rearrange itself in the cramped space, and her jaws slipped from his unstable grip. He blinked in amazement as he watched Cubelios shrink, her wings folding into latissimus dorsi, her scales melting together into skin, her flesh folding itself into arms and legs and hips and breasts. When the transformation was over, a shivering, unconscious, naked Kinana laid across his lap. Cobra let himself fall prone in relief.

He covered her up with his Crime Sorcière cloak. Her green eyes flickered open when he lifted her into his arms—trying to ignore the screaming pain in his ribs—and carried her up the stairs.

"Erik," she croaked. Her chin was dripping with the witch's blood. "What happened?"

"Later," Cobra promised, emerging from the cellar and closing the door behind him. He would certainly tell Kinana what she'd done, but there was no reason for her to see the gore.

She seemed to accept this, or was too tired to argue. Instead she laid her head on his shoulder with a sigh of relief. "You found me," she whispered.

"I've been looking for a long time," Cobra replied.

Laki was hysterical when Cobra carried Kinana's bloody, unconscious body into their peaceful little townhouse. Erza and Jellal were there with her, and the former had a sword at his throat before he could even begin to explain. She eventually allowed him to place Kinana in the bathtub for Laki to wash.

"Alright," she said when he came back into the den, her sword poised at chest-level. "Start talking."

Cobra was infuriated. "I was about to tell you the same thing."

Jellal was the only one who could have prevented the screaming match that ensued from escalating into a nuclear war. Erza accused Cobra of trifling with an innocent human girl, for taking advantage of her vulnerable state, for getting her involved with some sort of dangerous entity seeking vengeance. Cobra was convinced Erza knew of Kinana's true identity the whole time, and was keeping the only person he loved away from him out of hatred and spite. "And worst of all," he snarled at her brilliant red scowl, "you kept her past a secret from her, and let her go on believing that she was just some amnesiac with a family who didn't care enough to come looking for her!"

"She is an amnesiac with a family who didn't care enough to come looking for her!" Erza shrieked. "Fairy Tail has been her family from the day she woke up!"

"I came looking for her, and you kept her hidden from me!" Cobra roared.

Jellal stepped between them, raising both of his hands so they acknowledged him as no-man's land. "I don't think either of you are even listening to each other." He turned to Cobra, raising an eyebrow. It stretched his tattoo across his cheek. "What you're saying is that Kinana is Cubelios?"

"I'm what?"

They all turned to see her standing there in a white nightgown, Laki fluttering nervously behind her. Her skin was scrubbed clean and glowing, her hair still damp from the bath. "Your elevated voices roused her from her day-rest," the wood-mage chirped.

It took a long time, and a lot of confusion, but between the five of them they put together Kinana's story.

Erza sincerely didn't know anything about Kinana's identity as Cubelios. All she knew is that Master Makarov found her the day of the battle between Fairy Tail and Oracion Seis, and that she had amnesia. That was also the extent of Laki's knowledge.

The information Kinana got from the witch who'd kidnapped her filled in most of the missing pieces. She told them all about her mother, about the witch's betrayal, and about the transformation spell that ruled her blank white childhood.

When it came time for Cobra to confess, he was nervous. He'd lied to Kinana about his own identity. When all their eyes came to rest on him, he realized that she might not like Cobra the unofficially pardoned fugitive, that her heart had only belonged to Erik the mysterious vagrant zookeeper.

He told her anyway. She deserved the truth.

When he was finished, everyone was stunned speechless. Erza knew his twisted childhood; Jellal knew his imprisonment and subsequent rehabilitated civil servitude; Laki knew his reputation as a dark mage. No one expected the devotion he'd shown to his friend, to his Cubelios. The only person who could hope to understand that was the girl sitting across from him, looking down at her pale hands folded in her lap.

Kinana looked up at him and her eyes were brimming with tears. "You lied to me."

"I did," Cobra gulped.

"You're a dark mage."

"Not anymore."

"But you were."

"Yes."

"And you hurt my friends."

Painful pause. "Yes."

"I hurt them."

"Yes. But you—"

"I killed the witch."

"Not really, that wasn't—"

"You've been looking for me all this time."

"Yes, I followed your voice here. You still have the same voice."

"Were you—" Kinana stopped and bit her lip. "I think I heard you, too. I heard you looking for me, asking to hear my voice. You were in here." She tapped the side of her head.

"You heard voices?" Laki murmured, concerned.

"Just one," Kinana assured her. "The Master knew about it, and he watched me for a while, but I started lying and told him it'd gone away. I don't think he ever believed me, but I never showed any signs. Honestly I didn't want the voice to go. He was friendly. It only stopped when you came into the restaurant."

Cobra was surprised. "I never projected anything, as far as I know. But yes, I think it was me. When I was defeated in battle that was my last wish. To hear your voice."

"I can't believe this," Kinana said, rubbing her temples. "I can't believe any of this."

"It's all true," Cobra responded.

She looked up at him sharply, her eyes full of tears again. "Tell me something, Erik—Cobra—whoever you are," she said harshly. "If I wasn't Cubelios, if I was just plain Kinana, would you even care about me at all? Would you have left me in the dust to go looking for her?"

Cobra took a long time to answer, but he answered honestly. "It would have been hard," he said. "I haven't really cared for anyone other than Cubelios the way I care for you. I didn't want to leave you, I really didn't. But Cubelios was my lifelong friend, Kinana. She was my family. I wouldn't have stopped looking for her for anything. Not for anything."

At that, Kinana's eyes overflowed and she jumped from her perch on the couch and right into Cobra's arms. Her whole body shook with sobs and her hands clutched at his back. Cobra was astounded, certain that his earnest confession would have insulted her and driven her away, but his relief overpowered everything when she let him put his arms around her trembling frame and bury his nose into her sleek floral hair.

Later, when Kinana was asleep, Cobra found Jellal in the kitchen. It was a peculiar sight, the blue-haired mystical leader sitting on the counter sipping tea from a chipped wooden mug. Erza had left earlier that afternoon, exchanging terse and ashamed words with Cobra before moving on to Jellal's elongated goodbye. Laki agreed to host the two outlaws for one night, upon Erza's assurance that neither would try to seduce or ravish her. Yet she spent most of her time with Kinana or locked up in her own candlelit room, filling out paperwork for the new job she'd proudly bragged to the worried Titania about.

Jellal nodded in Cobra's direction and offered him tea as if it were his own kitchen. Cobra flatly declined and without ceremony held out the soiled Crime Sorcière cloak.

"I'm not cleaning that," Jellal said after a minute.

"No, that's not—look, I'm quitting," Cobra snapped, shoving the cloak into the leader's arms. "I don't care if it means I have to avoid the Titania and her knights from now on. I can't be in your little club anymore. I'm sick and tired of it."

"But I was just going to assign you a new task," Jellal complained.

Cobra gawked. "Are you kidding me?! After everything that's happened, you honestly expect me to go traipsing around the country again? Surely even you can't be that dense. I was just using it as an excuse to look for Cubelios and get out of prison. Well, I've found her. I don't need you anymore."

"What about prison?"

"Like I said, I'll avoid the authorities. I did it well before I ever worked for you."

"And how will Kinana feel about that? Living as a criminal, having to steal and lie and cheat in order to survive?"

Cobra scowled at the linoleum. "I'm not leaving her again. What else am I supposed to do?"

"Hear me out," Jellal recommended. He placed the cloak back into Cobra's reluctant hands.

Kinana was only pretending to be asleep when the door to her bedroom opened. She loved Laki dearly, but her constant pestering concern was becoming a nuisance. It was hard enough trying to sleep the day away when she could still taste the witch's blood in her mouth no matter how much she brushed her teeth.

She didn't feel bad about killing the witch. That woman had caused her too much pain to mourn her death. But the fierceness of the attack that Cobra described, and the fact that she couldn't remember any of it, terrified her.

Kinana's eyes opened when someone lifted the blanket and slid into bed with her. Laki had switched her pillow for another, and washed the pillowcase, so it smelled as sleepless as the dark eyes that scanned her burning face.

"You know," she whispered as Erik lined his body up with hers, "I think this is what Erza meant when she said you weren't allowed to ravish us."

"I'm not ravishing," he replied. His hands slid up her thigh, pushing the nightgown out of the way. "I'm seducing."

"Also forbidden."

"I like forbidden." He leaned across the pillow and kissed her, letting his hands skim up and down her human body, as though determined to memorize it as well as he had her serpentine form. "I would have been here last night," he whispered, "but Erza was stalking me."

"I guess it's a good thing you weren't," Kinana whispered back. "Otherwise who knows what would've happened."

"Titania would've beat the shit out of me, and then the witch."

Kinana laughed, but Erik muffled it with his hand so Laki wouldn't hear and investigate. This only made Kinana laugh harder, which he silenced with more kisses. Kinana broke away breathless and exhilarated, but apprehensive. "What are we going to do, Erik?"

He seemed surprised by the question. "Well, I mean, nothing you're uncomfortable with—"

"That's not what I meant," Kinana snorted, poking his shoulder with her finger.

Erik sighed and brought her head to his chest, stroking her hair with his long-fingered hand. Kinana closed her eyes and took in the dark earthy smell of him, his warmth and his heartbeat. "I talked to Jellal," he said, his voice a rumble in her ear. "He gave me a new mission."

"So you're not staying." Kinana tried not to be hurt, but didn't entirely succeed. She knew his dedication to Cubelios was sincere, and that his attraction to her was powerful—but maybe self-preservation trumped that. She knew logically he couldn't live here in Magnolia, not as a criminal with fragile impunity. But she was still betrayed that he hadn't fought for it.

"No, I'm not staying." His fingers tightened in her hair, and tugged at it until she tilted her head up. "But you don't have to, either."

"What are you saying?" Kinana hissed. "What about Laki? What about Fairy Tail?"

"Laki will be fine. She's not going anywhere, and that job she got set up seems like a pretty sweet deal. You told me that you wanted to see Fiore, and she doesn't really have an interest in that, does she? As for Fairy Tail, all you can do for now is get stronger so you can come back bigger and better. You can't honestly tell me you think everyone else is sitting around busing tables."

That stung. Kinana scowled. "I'm not a mage, Erik. How am I supposed to get stronger like everyone else when I don't have magic?"

"You do have magic," Erik chuckled, pressing his lips to her forehead. "You've had magic ingrained in you since your mother cast that spell. It's lain dormant, but it's there. Jellal can sense it, and I'm sure Makarov could, too. Probably just figured it was the spell. I can teach you how to use it. I can teach you how to control it, harness it. I can teach you how to be a mage."

Kinana could hardly believe what she was hearing. Become a mage? It's all she'd wanted since Fairy Tail had taken her in. Be with Erik? That was even better. It was too good to be true. "So, what?" she deliberated, looking for the catch. "I become a member of Crime Sorcière and run around doing missions with you?"

"Not right away," Erik assured her. "The first mission's going to take a while, anyway."

"What's that?"

"I'm supposed to teach you magic. We can go anywhere to do it—in fact, we'll have to move around in order to keep incognito. Then, when you're ready, we'll start doing jobs if you want. We'll get you all caught up. By the time you see your old pals, they won't even recognize you. You'll be running with the big dogs." He grinned at her, rubbed a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

Kinana sniffed. "But what if that happens? What if Fairy Tail becomes a guild again? You know I'd have to leave Crime Sorcière. I couldn't stay away, not from them, not after everything they've done for me."

"Jellal visits Erza all the time. Has to, in order to keep up with what's going on. I don't see why it would be any different with us. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." His grin got wider. "Besides, you never know. You might change your mind. So, what d'you say?"

"You want me to leave Magnolia, the only place I've ever known, and run around with you, someone I just met, and let you teach me magic," Kinana recapped.

"Yeah, I do. I want that more than anything."

A smile broke across her face. "Yes. Yes, I say yes."

Erik kissed her so fiercely their teeth rattled together. He rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed and pressing his entire body to hers. His hands took each side of her face, his fingers tangled in her hair, like all he wanted was to be a part of her. Kinana was floating with happiness and roaring with the bliss that was to come. Erik leaned down and inhaled her again, spreading fire in her veins.

"A wish come true," he said.

Kinana didn't have the time to answer, but she didn't need to. She'd never wished for anything, not particularly, but somehow all her wishes had, indeed, come true.