%
Unwanted Shadow: Cobra and Kinana
by Down Iris
%
I do not have any rights to nor make any money from the characters in this story.
%
After evading arrest, Cobra, still a bad guy, wants Kinana to join him.
%
Please read my other Cobra and Kinana story, Into the Night. I also have three Jellal and Erza stories, Continued Freedom, If Only They Had Kissed, and Still There.
%
Kinana ran. She heard the voice calling her. "It's calling…It's calling me…It's getting closer and closer. I can hear it. That voice!" She felt he was just ahead. She had been hearing him for years, and she knew he was near.
"I heard it. I just heard his voice!" A shooting star crossed the sky. "A shooting star! That's it! That is him! He's come for me!" She changed her course towards where it looked like the star had landed.
She soon came to the lip of a crater. Lying in the center was a man. It was him!
She scrambled down into the crater as he seemed to regain consciousness. She sank down and cradled his head. "You're badly hurt. If there's anything I can do…"
"Keep your dirty hands off me…" he replied, startling her, but she had to know.
"Tell me…were you the one calling me?"
The man gasped. "I can hear it…You…!" He pushed her onto her back and held himself above her, studying her.
She studied him as well. His right eye was damaged. She touched his cheek. "You…Your eye."
He looked away. "I lost it to gain power. Don't worry about it. Hearing is all I need, anyway." He sat back.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Erik," he replied, a little surprised.
"Erik…" she repeated. What a beautiful name.
Suddenly Erik looked up, and a moment later two men appeared.
"Cobra of the Neo-Oracion Seis, yes?" one of them asked. Her Erik was actually one of the Neo-Oracion Seis? It couldn't be. But she'd heard Natsu's stories about him defeating Cobra.
"Most of the others are in custody. We ask that you come along quietly," the other man said.
"The Council, huh…" Cobra said, smiling. He raised his hand and sent some kind of sonic pulse at the two men. They went down hard, and she could tell they were dead.
"You just…did you just kill them?" she barely got out, staring at the bodies in horror.
"They worked for the Council and were about to arrest me. They got what they deserved." He turned to her with a satisfied smile. "Come on," he said, pulling her to her feet. He looked her over. "You were beautiful as a snake, but as a human you're a whole different type of beautiful."
She could not believe this was the man who had been calling for her. He was a member of the Neo-Oracion Seis, for goodness' sake.
Shocked, all she could do was stand there staring at the bodies. "Come on," Cobra said again, grabbing her hand and pulling her a few feet before she came to her senses and dug her heels in.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" she cried. This man had just killed two people, and if he really was Cobra, he'd killed many others as well.
"You've seen me kill countless times before. You helped me kill. This shouldn't be any different."
"What?" She didn't know what he was talking about.
He frowned. "You don't remember?" he asked, disappointed.
"Remember what?" She didn't remember anything from before she had been turned back into a human after she had been cursed to be a snake. Could she have known this man?
His eyes widened. "You used to be a snake?" he asked, hopeful.
"Yes…" she replied tentatively. How did he know that?
"You have to be her! I can hear you!" He looked victorious.
"Who?"
"Cubelios."
"My name is Kinana," she tentatively corrected.
Cobra shook his head. "That may be your human name, but your true name is Cubelios. I named you myself." He looked relieved. "These last seven years have been torture, not knowing if you were safe, or if I would ever see you again."
"I don't remember, you, though…" And she wasn't sure she wanted to remember being with a member of the Neo-Oracion Seis.
"We'll make new memories together. Come on," he repeated, tugging on her hand again, which he still held. She pulled it away.
"You still haven't convinced me that I should go with you."
He sighed, exasperated. "You're my snake. You belong with me."
"I'm not a snake anymore!"
"That doesn't matter. You're still mine. Now come on!"
She turned and ran away, crying as she stumbled over the rocks in the crater. This was the man she'd been looking for? She wished she had never found him.
%
The next day at Fairy Tail, Kinana didn't say anything about meeting Cobra the night before. She just wanted the whole night to disappear. Plus, she heard Erza's story about defeating Cobra. She didn't want to be the one to tell everybody that he had gotten away.
She was devastated that the man she had heard in her dreams for seven years, the man she had been looking for, turned out to be a bad guy. Over the years she had come up with multiple scenarios of what might happen when she finally found him, but she knew there would be no happily ever after now.
%
A couple of days passed without incident, and Kinana started to hope that Cobra had left town and wouldn't bother her.
She should have known she would have no such luck. One night on the way home from the guildhall, she happened to look around and spotted Cobra down the street, watching her. When she caught his eye, he smirked and turned down a side street. She hurried home, her heart pounding.
%
Kinana saw Cobra every night on the way home the next few days, though she always took a different route. He never approached her, and always disappeared before she could reach him. Not that she wanted to reach him.
Then one night, someone grabbed her and pulled her into an alleyway, one hand over her mouth. He pressed her back into him, and wrapped his other arm around her, trapping her arms. She started panicking, knowing it was Cobra.
"I'm glad you recognize me, Cubelios," he whispered in her ear, satisfied. A shiver ran down her spine. He pulled her further into the alleyway.
She wanted to ask him what he wanted, but he kept his hand over her mouth.
"I've been following you around for a few days so that I could get to know you as a human."
She wondered how he could get to know her when he was just watching her.
"I can hear your thoughts and those of others about you."
She started. He can hear my thoughts? she thought, worried.
He chuckled. "Every one, including your last. You're very different than when you were a snake, but deep down you're still the same Cubelios I knew. I've listened to every thought you've had over the last few days."
He still had his hand over her mouth, so she assumed he wanted her to answer with thought. You were following me around? I only saw you at night.
"You only saw me when I wished you to see me because I wanted to hear what you thought about me. And it was very interesting. I think I'll like you just as much in human form, maybe better, although you'd be no use in a fight. But as I've increased my power by giving up my eye, that shouldn't hamper us."
Us? she thought. There will be no us! she cried, indignant.
He flipped her around so she was now facing him, still with his hand over her mouth "You belong with me, Cubelios."
She tried to wrench out of his grasp, but couldn't. My name is Kinana. And I don't belong to anyone!
"You're wrong. You're mine. You've always been mine. Ever since we were little. And you always will be mine. Now, you're coming with me."
I'm not going anywhere with you! she cried, then feared that he might hurt her for refusing him.
"I'd never hurt you," he said gently, and she believed him, but then he turned fierce. "But I'll kill anyone who tries to take you away from me!"
That scared her far more than the threat of harm to herself. She knew her friends from Fairy Tail would fight Cobra for her, and she couldn't stand to see them come to harm because of her.
"I'm glad you didn't tell anyone at Fairy Tail about me," Cobra said. He smirked. "That was a very smart decision. I'll kill anyone who tries to help you. I'll kill anyone you even think about asking for help. You're mine, Cubelios. And I'm not letting you go. I'm never letting you go."
Cobra abruptly removed his hand from her mouth, but before she could think to yell, he covered her mouth with his own. Shocked, she couldn't move for a moment, and then when she realized what was happening she tried to squirm away, but his hand was now on the back of her head, holding her to him.
He kissed her for a moment more, then released her completely. "Heh. Much better than a snake," he declared, smirking.
It took her a moment to realize that she was free. She immediately turned and ran away as fast as she could. If only she could run away from the memory of Cobra. And she doubted she had seen the last of him.
As she ran, she wondered why he had let her go when he had declared just before that he would never let her go. Not that she was complaining.
%
Natsu and his crew returned from a job the next day. When he passed Kinana, he stopped to sniff her. "Why do you smell like Cobra from the Oracion Seis?" he asked accusingly.
She burst out crying. "He's been stalking me," she admitted, not knowing what else to say.
"What?! How long has this been going on?" Erza asked.
"Since the Infinity Clock was destroyed."
"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Wendy asked, devastated.
Kinana looked down. "I was afraid that he'd kill you if I told anyone."
"That bastard. Why is he after you?" Gray asked.
"He thinks I'm his pet snake." She didn't think they'd believe her.
"You were a snake, until Master Makarov broke your curse. It's possible you were his snake," Lucy said, surprising her.
Natsu's eyes widened. He leaned in to sniff her again. "Now that you mention it, you do smell somewhat like Cubelios. I never would have thought to compare the scents before, and you definitely smell like a human now, whereas Cubelios definitely smelled like a snake. The smell of poison was the most powerful scent, though, so now that you're not poisonous, I must have missed the resemblance."
"So I might really be his snake?" she asked, dejected.
"Even if you were, it doesn't give him the right to bother you now that you're a human," Erza stated firmly.
Kinana was grateful to have her friends behind her, but she knew Cobra was listening to the whole conversation. She needed to bring that up.
"Um, part of how Cobra is stalking me is by listening to my thoughts and surroundings all the time, even when I can't see him. I'm sure he's listening to this conversation."
Everyone frowned, even Happy.
"Natsu, can you smell where Cobra is now?" Erza asked.
"Not from here, but if he's close enough to listen, I should be able to find him."
Natsu and everyone turned and walked out of the guildhall.
"Where are you going?" she cried, racing after them, although she already knew.
"We're going to find Cobra and end this," Erza said.
"If he can hear everything you say, he must know that you're coming after him."
"Even if he knows we're coming, that doesn't mean he can defeat all of us working together," Gray said.
Kinana was afraid, less sure of their success than they were.
Natsu led them around a few corners to where they found Cobra, standing in the middle of the street waiting for them with a smirk on his face. Her friends began to attack him.
Kinana watched in horror as one by one her friends were knocked unconscious by Cobra's sonic pulses. Not one of their attacks managed to hit him.
He sent out one last pulse, knocking out Natsu. Laughing, he stepped forward with his claws out.
Kinana knew she had to do something. She rushed forward and put herself between Natsu and Cobra. "Please. Don't kill him," she pleaded.
Cobra smirked. "Only if you agree to come with me."
She looked down at Natsu and the others lying on the ground. "Fine," she said quietly, giving up. "As long as you don't hurt any of them."
"Come along, then," he said, smiling. He held out his hand, which no longer had claws, and she reluctantly took it. She didn't want to see any of her friends die because of her. If going with him was the only way to save them, then she would. She hung her head, defeated.
Cobra pulled her to Magnolia's train station, to her dismay. She had given up trying to fight him, but she was still worried about being with him. He didn't say a thing. She didn't know what he had planned now that she was with him, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
He bought tickets, then led her to a train and into an empty compartment.
"I'll let you in on a secret, Cubelios," he said once they were seated. She had stopped trying to correct him on her name. "I wanted your friends to fight me, so that you could see how ineffective they were. I knew that was the best way to convince you to join me." He smirked. "And it worked. Here we are."
Yes, here they were indeed. Trapped.
"If you were wondering, which I can tell you are, I left your friends alive on purpose. I figured you'd be more agreeable if I did."
She wondered if that meant he wouldn't have killed them even if she hadn't gone with him.
"Don't mistake me. If you hadn't agreed to come with me, I would have killed them one by one until you did." He smirked. "In the order that you liked them best."
She was horrified. She had a feeling she would continue being horrified as long as Cobra dragged her along with him.
%
I know that Natsu and everyone would really have been able to beat Cobra, but that would have made for a boring ending, and it would preclude the possibility of further chapters.
%