Kinana instantly regretted coming back to check on her friends (okay, fine, she admitted that she really just wanted to see Erik again) as soon as Zirconis gave her and Lucy an evil grin. Cold air suddenly blew around her, making the purple-haired girl shiver.

Wait a minute…cold air?

Kinana looked down, only to let out a yelp of surprise when she saw that her dress had disappeared. She turned to Lucy, whose embarrassed and horrified expression mirrored her own: they were both completely naked.

Kinana wondered what she had done in her past life to deserve something like this. She squeezed her eyes shut as Zirconis grabbed both her and the blond mage in his claws, not even batting an eye as he flew into the air with both girls in tow.

"It's cold!" Lucy whimpered next to her, and Kinana nodded in agreement. But there was nothing she could do except to hope that the two of them wouldn't die (though at that point, dying seemed like a pretty good idea) while Wendy and Mirajane tried to save them. But unfortunately, nothing seemed to work against the perverted old dragon.

The next thing Kinana knew, she was suddenly thrown in one direction while Lucy flew in the other. She screamed in terror as she fell towards the earth, knowing that she would probably die if she hit the ground at such a fast speed.

Whack!

She struck something, or rather, someone who let out an "Omph!" in surprise, sending both her and whoever she had stumbled into toppling towards the ground. She was too scared to open her eyes to see who it was, but something about his scent was familiar. Was she imagining it, or was he hugging her to their chest to protect her?

"…Cubelios? What are you doing here?"

She opened her eyes to see that Erik was on top of her.

"E-Erik!" she squeaked, her cheeks flushing red as she remembered that she wasn't wearing anything. He was still staring at her with wide eyes, clearly wondering how she had gotten there in the middle of his fight. Wanting to break the rather awkward silence, she blurted out the first thing she could think of to say. "We…we always end up like this, don't we?"

Noticing her discomfort, Erik tried to keep his eyes on her face. But he was a perfectly healthy male, and so he couldn't stop himself from lowering his eyes to check out the rest of her body. His face instantly turned bright red as he jumped up to gave her space.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to! Here," he mumbled, tossing his coat at her without looking at her.

Kinana caught the coat and quickly wrapped it around herself, her heart pounding at their proximity. Knowing him, he could definitely hear it, which made her feel more embarrassed than ever.

"I-It's okay," she stammered, smiling as she felt his lingering warmth around her. The coat was filled with his scent, and she could tell from the sweat and earth that he must have been fighting hard. "I…I'm just glad that I got to see you again, Erik."

Erik nodded, awkwardly rubbing his neck. He was a second generation dragon slayer who could defeat any enemy, yet he couldn't even talk to a girl without making a fool of himself. He snorted, thinking that Elfman would probably say that he was a disgrace to the male population. "I…I'm glad, too. At least now I know what I'm fighting for," he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Now that the awkwardness was gone, they fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed each other's company. A few moments later, Erik looked up at the sky. "I should get back. I was in the middle of a fight, you know," he joked. "Besides, I shouldn't leave Blue Pegasus alone. We wouldn't want the dragon eating them, do we?"

Kinana nodded reluctantly, pulling his coat closer to her. It wasn't fair that he always had to leave her behind when they could finally talk to each other again. It wasn't fair for him to be locked up when all he wanted was to be with his friend.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but deep down, she knew that he was right. She stood up too, and tugged on his hand. "Be careful, Erik."

"Who do you think I am, Cubelios?" he smirked at her, making her heart skip a beat.

"Actually, my real name is Kinana," she blurted out. Before she could change her mind, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, right over his scar.

This time, Erik gave her a real smile, a smile reserved just for her. "I'll fight the world for you, Kinana," he promised, affectionately placing a hand on the top of her head. They stood like that, grinning stupidly at each other, before Erik finally pulled away and let her go.

It was funny how even her lightest touch could make him feel as though he had just consumed the best poisons in the world.

A/n: I was inspired to write my own version of Zirconis' Magic after reading a fanfiction by Himiko1224 (also because I recently started shipping Kinabra hard, and there aren't enough fics for them! ;w; ) . I know it's been a long time since episode 194 aired, but it's better late than never right? ;)

Sorry for all the cheesiness and OOC, but I'm feeling really sappy so it accidentally turned out like this /shot /throws fluff everywhere/

Hope you like! :3