Welcome to Day 1 of Mad Guardian here on CoLu Week 2018!

I had this idea before I came across the CoLu Week dates so it may not totally match up with the prompts but I've tried to work them in as much as possible!

I also want to warn everyone...This is rated M for future sexual situations and descriptions of death/torture! It's a Dexter-ish AU. As in the Bay Harbor Butcher as in the serial killer who had his story told for 8 seasons worth of television on Showtime! We'll get plenty of Fairy Tail goodness and CoLu love but there is at least one chapter full of the heavy stuff and discussions of it through some of the rest. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

I don't own Fairy Tail.

That being said...Enjoy!

Magic was considered, by most, a blessing to have. Even those who developed it from traumatic experiences thought so, even if only because that magic helped them out of terrible, terrible situations. Magic was a source of income and a source of protection, what wasn't to like about that?

If one were to ask a certain Poison Dragon Slayer, he'd give you a list.

It wasn't that he didn't like his Dragon Slayer Magic, despite the enhanced senses and strange dietary needs that aspect of his magic wasn't the problem. Or, at least, not by itself. Unfortunately for him, the enhanced senses of a Dragon Slayer paired with his Soul Listening Magic, could be downright debilitating at times.

Case in point…

A party at the Fairy Tail Guild.

The basis for this nightmare was one batshit crazy guild filled with extremely loud mages with equally loud souls. Sprinkle in a few assholes from the forcibly disbanded Sabertooth, members (who found their new homes in this mess) with their own brand of fucking absurdity. Then for a nice sauce over all of this, add in the newly pardoned (criminally insane, in many cases) Crime Sorcière Members. Let that shit stew in what had to be a literal metric ton of alcohol and what you got was a migraine to end all migraines.

Cobra shoved himself back into the darkest corner of the guild and tried to block out the sounds around him but it was impossible at this point. This week, the week that Jellal had brought the group of ex-criminals to join Fairy Tail, had been trying. The addition of the Sabertooth mages two weeks before and them this week had led to days of non-stop partying. Without a place to go for the moment, Cobra and the rest and been stuck camping out at the guild. If you could count endurance drinking and power naps 'camping'.

All of this was certainly trying Cobra's patience and self-control, and the migraine was making it even harder.

Cobra threw his pride to the wind as he sunk down against the wall and buried his face in his knees, closing his eyes and clamping his hands over his ears. The migraine was agony. It felt like someone had taken a pickaxe to his skull. The strobe lights sent another spike of pain through him every time it managed to graze over his eyelid while he kept his position. His skin was painful to be in, his clothes rubbing in all sorts of unpleasant ways on him. His stomach was rebelling and he could taste the metallic tang of blood on his tongue.

"...obra?..."

The voice right next to him sounded like it was coming from underwater with all of the other sounds he was being overwhelmed with. He was sure he had missed bits in there as well.

"…Cobra?..."

A hand landed heavily on his shoulder and he struck out with his claws on instinct.

"…uck!...et Wend…ind Lu…"

The voice sounded sharper now but Cobra didn't care. He was trying not to vomit up the bleach he had drank earlier.

"…wrong?"

Another voice was talking. This one seemed softer, lighter somehow. His inner dragon, suffering from its own migraine, perked up curiously.

"…n't know…eeds to lea…"

The first voice was talking again and Cobra prepared to strike again if he needed to.

"…got him…idnight."

The second voice came again before a hand landed more gently on his shoulder. Cobra lashed out only for the hand to be caught by the wrist and another to hand grip the back of his neck firmly. He whimpered as heavenly fingers began gently messaging his neck, relaxing the littlest bit as they worked their way up the back of his head and continued.

Through his pained haze, he felt someone come closer and whisper directly in his ear, "Easy Cobra." The voice was soft and made his inner dragon relax, "We're going to leave. Can you stand?"

He shot to his feet eagerly but instantly regretted it.

Thin but apparently strong arms caught him as his knees gave out and his head swam.

"That was stupid." The sweet voice commented dryly, "You need to take it nice and slow." A small hand gripped his wrist and drew his arm around a delicate waist, "Hold onto me. I'll get you out of here." At the promise of freedom from the noise and insanity, Cobra tightened his grip around the offered waist to almost bruising. Whoever it was didn't complain, they just moved.

As he was led from his corner, Cobra tried once again to block out his senses to lessen the agony. With his eye still closed he focused on his nose. Through the overwhelming smell of sweat, booze, and humans; he found the sweet scent of strawberries and honey directly in front of him. His savior perhaps? On instinct, Cobra moved closer to the person in his arms and tucked his head down to bury his nose in the scent.

The scent blocked out a majority of the others around him and this close he got a nose full of a strange underlying scent that was making his dragon practically purr. It was a scent he couldn't place, one he was sure he wouldn't be able to even if his brain wasn't currently trying to explode out of his skull. It smelled ancient and powerful, yet young and delicate; it smelled like the night and a burning light. Cobra let out a soft growl.

"Easy." The voice soothed again, "We're almost out of here."

Sure enough, moments later Cobra was hit with cool night air that made him flinch. Goosebumps that were almost more painful than his head broke out across his skin, making him grit his teeth. "Fuck," he hissed, his grip on the waist leading him to safety faltered slightly as the goosebumps passed over his arms. "Fucking defective magic."

The heavenly fingers came back, rubbing at the back of his head, "I know. I'm sorry." The sweet voice whispered, "I'm sorry no one took your magic into consideration. But we'll have to walk, anything quicker would have been worse on your senses though." They started moving again but the fingers didn't leave his neck, "It's not that far Cobra. Just take it easy."

Cobra should have felt embarrassed to be led through Magnolia like this, his arms around his savior and his face buried in their neck, but the migraine was simply too overwhelming to even allow him to begin to feel embarrassment. He was also vaguely aware that his savior was walking backward with him because the massaging as his neck hadn't stopped as they continued on and the soothing reassurances were murmured directly in his ear. Being out of the guild itself had eased the constant noise a little but he could still hear those crazy assholes at this distance and Magnolia's population wasn't particularly small, so he was still picking up souls and the general sounds of life as they walked.

Asking Cobra, he would have told you their journey took hours upon hours of agony, but it was only twenty minutes before they arrived at their destination.

As he was led in out of the cold night, Cobra was surrounded by the unique scent of his savior. His dragon wanted to roll in the scent, it didn't even seem to fully care that the scents of the other slayers were peppered through the place.

"Come on Cobra." The sweet voice coaxed, "Just a little further and I'll make it all go away."

"Just fucking kill me." Cobra rasped, his jaw clenching as another wave of pain went through his head, his temples throbbing. "That'll work."

"You're about a week too late for that." The voice hummed in amusement, "I don't kill guildmates."

"What good are you then?" Cobra bit out, shuddering again as he was led into a cool room that smelled of water and soap. His savior didn't answer but he heard a soft chime sound and then felt something impossibly soft being pressed into his ears.

Cobra dropped to his knees in shock as everything went blessedly silent.

He couldn't hear anything, not souls or activities from the people living nearby, hell he couldn't even hear the breathing of his savior. For once in his life, he was completely alone with his thoughts. Cobra tightened his grip on the waist of his savior and dropped his head forward to bury his face in their stomach, "Fuck." He croaked, he felt the body in his arms shake slightly with what was most likely laughter. The heavenly fingers went back to messaging his head and a purr bubbled up from him without warning, he couldn't hear it either but he could feel the vibration in his throat.

Though Cobra was enjoying complete silence for the first time, his migraine did not magically go away with his hearing.

His savior seemed to know this because after a few moments he was urged to his feet by gentle nudges and he was pushed further into the cool room. The hands that had been so kindly messaging his head tugged at his coat and he instantly tensed, his eye shooting open for the first time in more than two hours.

He was met with a golden blur in dim lighting, "What the fuck do you think you're-" he was cut off as the golden blur reached out and pressed a palm to his chest. His inner dragon whined and dropped to its back like a puppy, urging him to trust and obey. Cobra snarled at his inner dragon, swaying on his feet as he tried to back up, but the damn beast snarled right back with a pointed 'Draco'. Whatever the hell that meant. Cobra had never known his inner dragon to verbally answer him, but that didn't mean he was just going to listen to it this time.

The golden blur reached out with its other hand and gripped gently at the back of his neck, its thumb right under his ear.

'Cobra.' The sweet voice of his savior floated softly through his mind and he flinched involuntarily, 'Easy. I won't hurt you.' The voice soothed, 'All of your senses are over-sensitized, including your sense of touch. I've had a warm bath drawn for you to lay in while the migraine dies down. You don't have to completely strip but if you leave that coat on, it will weigh you down in the water instead of letting you float.'

Cobra gritted his teeth for several moments before giving the tiniest of nods to avoid jostling his head too much and released his savior to remove his jacket. It was taken from him while he went for his shirt, grimacing as he had to stretch his body up to get it off. He went for his pants went next, whimpering slightly when bending over caused his head to throb. When he was down to just his boxers he allowed himself to be guided by the barest whisper of touches at his elbow over to a tub filled halfway with water.

Climbing in, he was deprived of the sound of the water sloshing but he certainly felt as the water caressed his sensitive skin, slightly muting the hyperactive nerve endings that told him he was in pain. He lay down fully in the water and couldn't help the sigh of relief when his whole body submerged. He still couldn't place his savior but they were a goddamn genius.

The golden blur reappeared over the tub and reached down to pull his head up a little, placing something soft beneath his neck to keep his mouth and nose above water. With that done, a hand found its way to the back of his neck again. 'I'm going to add something to the bath to help the pain a bit and then leave you here to rest. You come out when you're ready.' The blur spoke in his mind once more, before withdrawing.

Cobra wanted to tell his savior that pain potions wouldn't work on him, that just the bath and the miracle earplugs were help enough but before he could muster up the will to speak, the blur was back. It raised its hands above the bath and sprinkled two handfuls of some glittery substance into the warm water around him.

The Poison Dragon Slayer was ready to lash out at apparently being glitter bombed in his vulnerable state but then he felt it.

The tension in his muscles released, his skin numbed slightly, and the pain in his head began to ease. Cobra let out another sigh as his eye locked on the golden blur of his savior, "Fuck, that'snic-" he cut off as he slipped into the bliss of unconsciousness.

I've had terrible migraines before like this before (sensitive to sound and light, blurred vision, killer headache, and can't keep food down) and I can only imagine how bad it would be with added enhanced senses and listening to souls. Poor baby. When I have mine real bad I take a bath with the lights out and earplugs in while the painkiller takes effect so...story.

See you tomorrow!