Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, that right belongs to Hiro Mashima.

It was a word that signified something profound. Something that meant forever. Something that was supposed to be unbroken, or touched. It was a word that scared the ever living piss out of him. And that was saying something as not much scared Dokuryuu no Cobra. But here he was standing before a group of people that had come to call him friend and family through a lot of trials and tribulations, staring down into the face of a woman he had tried to help kill, tortured, but somehow fell in love with him. The smile she was giving him was blinding to his single eye. It told him of her feelings for him.

Sighing as he looked away, feeling heat coloring his cheeks, another thing that he didn't normally do, blush. This whole thing was just so far out there, and he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around it all. After the fall of Tartaros, then the whole thing with Zeref, things had gone sideways for him. Not that he was complaining about it. The results he was experiencing right now didn't match with the whole life he experienced. It was rather disconcerting.

"Cobra?" a wizened male voice broke into his thoughts.

Blinking his eye lazily, he realized he had gotten so wrapped up thinking on it; he had not heard a single thing from anyone's soul. Now it was crashing down on him, making him turn and stare out at the sea of faces, lip curling as he snarled silently at what he was hearing. He was going to do this; he was not trying to back out of it. Nope, he was just stunned. An odd feeling and so out of place for him, but dammit, couldn't he just be a normal man for once.

"I do," he said, just barely loud enough for the stupid asses in the crowd.

Letting his gaze fall back on the blond, he saw her smiling warmly up at him — understanding shining in the depths of her chocolate eyes. Her soul was telling him what she didn't say aloud that it was okay. That she had expected this reaction from him and was patient enough for him to do things at his pace. Helping him calm down, so he didn't ruin the damn ceremony by poisoning every last idiot here.

"And you Lucy Heartfilia, do you take Cobra to be your lawfully wedded husband. For better or worse. In sickness and health, till death do you part?"

He felt like he was falling in love with the woman all over again as she practically glowed as she said, 'I do.' To him, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen before. Her soul only made it that much better. It sounds like an orchestra, playing the finest of symphonies. And he knew that eternity was a long time, but he could spend it listening to her. Loving how chaotic her mind was, the way her soul reflected it in an organized manner. Yeah, he was content as he bent down before getting permission to do so and kissed the love of his life, and now wife. He was earning a loud whoop from the idiots watching.