I'm not sure if I want to continue this or not, but it's an old gift fic for Dragon'sHost.

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

As the mage finally fell, unconscious, to the ground, Lucy turned to look at the man she had saved. He was scowling, pride obviously injured but otherwise unharmed. "Why did you interfer?" he hissed angrily. "I could have handled him on my own."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she replied coolly. "Because from where I was standing, it looked like he was about to kill you."

The frown on his face deepened and he turned his head away from her. "So why didn't you let me die? It's not like we're friends, or even strangers. We were enemies at some point."

"You can't read my thoughts and figure it out for yourself, Cobra?" From what she knew, he did not seem the sort to ask for answers, but to find them on his own.

"You're not thinking about it," he said, almost petulantly. "I can't just sift through your mind and find the answer, you have to be thinking about it so I can hear it."

A small smile appeared on her lips. 'Adorable,' she thought, examining his childish pout, before realizing just what she had thought and about whom. Scrambling to cover it up, she quickly answered, "Even if we have a bad history, I can't just leave you to die. And anyways, I've forgiven you for everything."

His eye widened in shock before his face shut down, hiding all emotion. He could hear in her soul that every word she spoke was the truth, but he could not understand how she was so merciful. "Tch," was his only response. It had no effect on the blonde, however. She seemed immune to the armor he had built around himself.

"You're welcome," she said, laughing. "I'll be on my way, then."

The maroon-haired man whipped his head around to stare at her. With a slight shake, he smirked. "You're not escaping so easily. You saved my life, and that's a debt I don't want hanging over my head forever. So I'm coming with you. If I'm nearby, I'm more likely to repay it faster."

"What?!" Lucy screeched. She started shaking her head faster and faster. "No. Not happening. I may forgive you, but you're still a fugitive and I'm a guild mage! It won't work!"

"Well, it'll just have to." He wrapped an arm around the furious Celestial mage. "So. Which way to Fairy Tail?"