A/N; Okay, so the concept behind this story is kind of complicated and I would like for you guys to give it a shot! I've had this idea bugging me for a week now and I've got about 4 {very long} chapters complete. I say long only because these chapters are ending up nearly twice as long as I usually write, aside from this first chapter.
A few things...
First, I know that Cobra is EXTREMELY OOC. This is done on purpose as I am doing a new take on mates {for me}, giving them more of a tender edge when they interact with their mates and Cobra, being a slayer, will not be exempt from this. I'm setting them up as something of a treasure and to be worshiped by their slayer. I PROMISE WE WILL SEE DARK COBRA LATER.
Second, I'm making this more of a slow-burn after the initial meeting and whatnot, {slow-burn, again, being a relative term as, if you've read anything I've written, my characters usually end up in the sack pretty much right off the bat}. I wanted to, again, try something different for me as a writer and am very much enjoying how this is turning out.
And finally, I would very much appreciate it if you all gave me feedback on this story, even if you want to PM me about it instead of leaving a review. I don't usually ask because I mostly just post stories I write for friends and I on my Archive Discord. { discord . gg / QTvtmY8 } I'm asking this time because I would very much like to know what you guys think about this and whether you would like me to post more here as I'm going to start being more picky on what gets posted to my as opposed to posting incomplete works.
I think that's everything, so, enjoy!
"Hellia."
The girl with long, black hair looked up curiously at the sound of her name and she grinned broadly, hoping that she was going to be told what she imagined she was about to hear. "Yeah?" She asked, mismatched eyes wide as she looked to her guildmaster.
"Unfortunately, Cameron has been injured, so, I've decided that you'll be replacing him in the Grand Magic Games," The woman with sandy blonde hair announced to the loud groans coming from those gathered in the dirty hall.
Hellia leapt from her chair and pumped her fist into the space above her head, an air of excitement surrounding her small body as she did so. "I'm so ready for this!" She yelled loudly, completely disregarding the continued sounds of dismay from those around her.
"Hellia."
The young woman froze, blue and gold eyes locking back onto the stern guildmaster with curiosity brimming. She'd never been allowed to do anything like this and- even as the adopted daughter of the Master herself- Hellia had never even been allowed to go on a mission that would require her to use magic due to it being pretty… unpredictable?
"Let's make a bet," Her adoptive mother said with a raised brow.
The woman's mega-watt smile made another appearance as she skirted the table, trying to make her way to the chair the Master sat in as quickly as she could. Her feet caught the laces of her boots and she flopped forward, scraping her already raw knees once more and thumping her head on the ground.
Hellia leapt to her feet, rubbing her forehead before she continued on her way. "I'm okay!" She reassured, though most of the guild were still questioning why this clumsy fool would be chosen to try and lead their guild to winning the Grand Magic Games. "What are we betting?" The woman asked curiously, producing a golden thread from thin air and wrapping it around both of their hands as they clasped forearms.
"If you lose even one event," The guildmaster stated, her voice firm as her adopted daughter's eyes clouded with dread and morphed into complete and total heartbreak. "You are no longer welcome in our guild."
A small gasp exited the raven haired woman's lips as the rope clenched around her hand to prevent her from pulling away, there was no backing out now. "And… if I don't?" She asked, her voice tinny and wavering with sadness at such an idea as her being removed from the guild she loved.
"You may have all of my luck," The hard woman replied evenly.
The rope squeezed slightly as Hellia nodded, her eyes going hard and fierce, "It's a bet."
"What the hell am I supposed to do with a wagon?!" Hellia shouted crossly as she kicked the stupid wooden device with a bootless foot- the other boot having been lost at some point in the day, much to her chagrin. She frowned, knowing her magic was far too low for her to win this battle if she didn't figure this out soon.
The man across the field smirked at her, arms crossed over his well-muscled chest. "Just give it up," The blond suggested. "You can't beat me." Behind the man, many of his guild cheered and held up their hands in the shape of an 'L'.
Hellia's mismatched eyes filled with tears when she turned to see that none of her guild were even watching the battle, all looking away from the field and none attempting to cheer her on. It was in that moment that she realized that even if she did win, she would never be accepted within the guild, would never gain the family she truly wished she'd had. Her whole life had been spent in service to those mages who were now simply disregarding her existence.
She looked up at the counter above her head, the solid number eight blaring in the sunlight and seeming to show her exactly what she should do. She steeled her nerve, summoning her coin once more and held it out between her fingers to show to her opponent. Hellia flipped it around, showing the other side and being sure that the man saw the two sides clearly.
"It appears that Griffin's Claws', Hellia, is going for her signature coin flip one last time!" The announcer said loudly to the cheers of the crowd.
"Heads," Her opponent, Laxus, called out across the field and made Hellia frown slightly when she looked down at her hand that held the coin.
She threw it high into the air, the gold glinting in the sunlight as it turned quickly. Catching the coin expertly, the crowd went deathly silent in those seconds as the tension in the arena grew. Hellia placed the gold disk on the back of her hand, covered with the opposite palm as she took a deep breath.
Her hand raised, mismatched eyes tilting down for a brief moment. "Heads." A dark mist surrounded her body and obscured the woman from view, her blood-curdling screams echoing through the silenced crowd for several long minutes. On the eighth minute, the mist cleared and she lay on the ground, wheezing for breath as blood seeped from her wounds.
The crowd roared as Laxus was declared the winner, none paying much mind to the woman as she struggled to her feet to walk off of the field, dragging the wagon with her. The guildmark on the top of her thigh faded as she hobbled into the hall, tears streaming down her face when she saw the blank skin that showed there.
Hellia wandered aimlessly as she heard cheers that accompanied the other guild being declared the winners, letting her emotions flow as she limped through the streets of Crocus. At some point, she'd retrieved her belongings from Griffin's Claws' hotel, tossing the two bags into the red wagon that she drug behind her.
She ended up in a park as clouds formed overhead, slumping painfully onto a bench and looking up at the sky to allow the first drops of rain to land on her face. To Hellia, this was the summary of her day, she'd lost her battle, her guild, and everything she'd ever cherished. She deserved it, deserved every amount of misfortune that befell her that the Three Fates had deemed fit, deserved this horrible magic that she loved so much though it caused her so much trouble.
"I know what you did, Little Leprechaun."
Hellia opened the eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed and focused on the man standing near her, his hand clasping an object she'd thought was long lost. "That's my boot," She announced, mismatched eyes locked onto the hunk of leather- and she wasn't talking about the man, either.
"Is it?" He asked, tilting his head as a smirk graced his features. "Answer a couple of questions and I might return it."
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the man, having nowhere near enough energy to stand and she knew her glare was not effective in any way. Sighing heavily at the realization, Hellia nodded her head slightly, tucking the bootless foot beneath herself to hopefully warm it up a bit as the rain was seeping through her sock and freezing her toes.
"Why did you throw the match?"
Hellia's jaw clenched and she sucked in a breath as her head tilted back again, picturing what had happened at the end of the match. She'd looked at her guild and noticed that they hadn't cared for her, the realization of that being the end of her desire to even stay there. At the last moment, she had used her magic to change the coin out for one with two heads, guaranteeing her loss as it had been called by her opponent. At the time, it had seemed the right choice as she hadn't wanted to face the people who had clearly not cared about her as she'd lain battered and abused on the field and none had attempted to come to her aid.
"I didn't," She lied blatantly to the mysterious male, her eyes closing as a tear was disguised by the rain.
"You're lying," The man urged, surprising Hellia when he sat next to her on the bench and she looked over to get a better look at him.
He had maroon hair that looked thick and full as it spiked up wildly, though the rain was beginning to make it flatten to his head. One eye was missing, a scar stretching from near his hairline and ending just under the apple of his cheek, the other eye being dark- possibly a dark blue or black, if she'd been in the kind of lighting for her to see it clearly. He was inherently handsome and seemed highly interested in what she had to say, the idea making Hellia snort at herself and turn away from the unnamed man.
"What does it matter?" She asked with a humorless laugh. "I would have lost anyways." She knew that the blond she'd been facing was strong, had seen it herself two years before when he'd fought one of the men he now considered a guildmate, and Hellia had stood absolutely no chance against him to begin with. When her magic had failed her in the worst possible way, her fate had been sealed. Irritably, Hellia kicked the wagon that held everything she owned and she whimpered when she forgot that her boot was missing off of the foot she'd slammed into the wood.
"Most people I know would fight to the very end," The maroon haired man said casually, setting her boot on the bench between them.
Hellia was struck with the urge to snag the footwear and run, but she simply didn't have the energy, and she really was just tired of all the bullshit. Ever since she'd- Nope, don't think about that right now, she told herself angrily. Thinking about it will draw up the nightmares again and you really don't need that right now. The man seemed to frown and regard her curiously but turned back away slowly and Hellia noted that his ears were pointed like an elves and he had at least the side facing her pierced with a simple gold hoop through it.
"Why did you throw the match?" The man repeated, pulling the raven haired beauty from her thoughts.
"I had nothing left to fight for," She replied finally, looking out at a couple who walked through the park hand-in-hand with an umbrella shared between them. She shivered softly in the rain and sighed when she remembered that her cloak had been bet away to some chick in the bar the night before. Lovely, now she would be homeless and sick.
Mismatched eyes looked up in shock when a coat was put over her shoulders and Hellia's breath caught in her throat when she saw the man had given her his jacket. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes as she simply looked away, feeling nothing but grateful when she really hadn't felt any kindness in her life as she remembered all the times she'd gone to bed cold and hungry, been laughed at when she'd tripped in the guild, openly shoved off of a ladder when she had been retrieving a book from a high shelf in the library. All her life, Hellia had known nothing but malicious intent, and here this stranger was, giving her a jacket without her even having asked and unlikely to know if she had a coat in her wagon.
"You don't," The man said, snapping Hellia out of her thoughts as she blinked owlishly at him.
"What?" She asked lamely.
"You don't have a jacket, you lost it in a bet last night," He clarified, his response throwing the young woman through a loop. He chuckled at her expression and shook his head, scattering rain off of his maroon spikes. "I can hear your soul, almost like mind-reading, but not," He explained.
Hellia's plump lips formed a small 'o' at the explanation and she blushed when she realized he'd heard her appraisal of him, immediately turning away when he openly laughed at her. She bit her lip as the blush felt like it would permanently stain her whole upper body, casting her skin into a strange pink glow. She'd be known as the Flamingo Lady and be expected to peck shrimp from the bottom of shallow tubs of water for tips at the fair.
This brought another bark of laughter from the man and Hellia smiled slightly, her lashes lowering when she looked back to see him watching her with a smirk on his face. "Can I have my boot back?" She questioned softly, looking up at the still unnamed man before her.
"I'll make you a bet," The man said as his lips stretched into a wide grin.
"What kind of bet?" Hellia asked suspiciously, remembering that her last bet had gone severely wrong for herself and not really wanting to make it official, especially as her magic was really low due to her exhaustion.
"You don't have to set it with your magic," He informed her with a shake of his head. "All I want you to do is come with me back to my guild's hotel for the evening."
A fresh blush stained Hellia's cheeks and she began babbling in shock, unable to form words as her mind ran wild with the implications behind this man's words. He'd quite bluntly asked her back to his hotel for the night, after only knowing each other for a few minutes! And he was holding her boot hostage unless she did so!
"To be fair, I found the boot, so finder's keeper's," He remarked with a grin. "And, there isn't some nefarious plot behind this," He continued. "You don't have to warm my bed tonight unless you really want to." He sent a devilish smirk her way that had Hellia blushing harder than before, if that was even possible.
"That didn't sound like a bet," Hellia muttered, crossing her arms over her chest as she pouted.
"Fair," The man nodded seriously. "You can have the boot back if you can spend even an hour with my guild. Ask me if you can leave, you lose. Think about leaving, you lose."
"What if I do?" She asked, eying him with suspicion.
"If you lose, you owe me one favor, no questions asked," His grin spread once more and Hellia found herself frowning. "Able to be called in at any time."
She chewed her lip, trying to debate the ramifications of not going through with this bet. She'd have to buy new boots, but, without that one, she wouldn't be able to walk into a shop to buy a new pair. His guild couldn't be that bad, though, could it? They couldn't be worse than Griffin's Claws and treat her poorly. But, what if he was a dark mage? He didn't look like a dark mage, but how would she know? She'd never gotten to go on a job before to meet a dark mage so she didn't even know what one looked like. Her face drained as she thought about him possibly luring her away to kill her and feed her to his pet wyvern that only ate pretty virgin girls.
"Virgin?" He questioned, raising a brow. "Good to know, but I'm not a dark mage, nor do I have a pet wyvern, though, that would be fucking awesome. Just take a chance, what do you have to lose?"
Hellia looked down at herself and then over to her wagon, the clothing there that she didn't even particularly care for as it was all mostly old hand-me-downs from other members of the guild. She'd never had anything that was just hers and held literally nothing of importance, hell, even her magic was useless.
Heaving a sigh, Hellia struggled to her feet and gestured with her hand. "Lead the way, Mysterious Stranger," She said in a grandiose voice.
"Cobra," The man said with a grin and easily swept her into his arms with a shocked squeal. "Remember it, 'cause, I promise, you'll be screaming it eventually."