Chapter 4
…
"Now."
As soon as the word left his lips, there was a brief rustling from the forests on either side of the path, as twenty or so bandits leapt out at them. Cobra whirled to face the ones on the left, while Lucy and Scorpio took the right.
Cobra examined his opponents. Even numbers of men and women, all wearing a mixture of leather and plate armour. Some of them had bows slung over their shoulders but all wielded a melee weapon, be it axe, sword or hammer.
They came off as tough and intimidating, but their thoughts betrayed their true feelings.
Mages? Shit, I don't know if we can handle these guys…
…knew we should have hired more guys, it's not as if we lack for cash or anything…
…God, if we mess up, Hikaru is not gonna go easy on us…
…Hikaru the only one who can use magic, why isn't he doing anything? He just gonna stand there 'till we're all beat up?
Cobra's eyes slid over to the dark haired man with the black sword. He hadn't moved.
A mage, huh?
This might be fun after all.
One of the bandits rushed towards Cobra, brandishing a machete. It was sluggish, amateurish attack which Cobra easily dodged around to deliver a painful blow to the back of the man's neck. Yanking him back by his collar as the man tried to retreat he followed it up with a punch to the man's face, before spinning and planting a foot in his stomach sending him sprawling backwards.
This was enough to provoke a reaction from the bandit's friends. Howling, they came at him with no more skill than the first. Cobra easily evaded them all without needing to read their minds; they were laughably clumsy and uncoordinated, often running into each other when he jumped out of their way.
It was all too obvious that they had little fighting experience, apart from terrorising the occasional villager. Cobra glanced back to the one they referred to as 'Hikaru'.
Does this guy really believe that this is enough to kill us?
Getting bored of dodging their attacks, Cobra retreated a few feet away from the cluster of bandits and took a deep breath.
"Roar of the poison dragon!"
Purple smoke billowed out from his mouth, engulfing the crowd. He stood back and watched as they stumbled around, gasping for breath before slowly sinking to the ground. A resilient few managed to stagger a few feet in his direction before falling.
Cobra glanced towards Lucy to see how she was doing. Scorpio was battering a group of them with controlled waves of sand while Lucy herself was holding three of them at bay with her whip, occasionally darting in to deliver a blow with surprising speed and strength that Cobra had not expected of the blonde celestial mage.
Someone's thought suddenly drifted past his ears.
…Hasn't noticed, thank god, I don't stand a chance on my own. Good thing I didn't breathe in that fog. If I just lie here, maybe…
Cobra's gaze snapped back to the pile of bodies in front of him. Walking forwards, he managed to identify the survivor. It was a woman, small but muscular. He stopped next to her.
Wha… he's stopped. What has he stopped? Surely he couldn't have-
A sharp kick to the head was enough to stem the flow of anxious thoughts pouring into his ears.
Cobra glanced up again just in time to see Lucy finishing off the last bandit, her whip tight around his neck as he struggled to breathe. Slowly, he fell to the ground.
Lucy looked up triumphantly, but her expression stiffened again when she caught sight of something. Cobra turned to follow her gaze. The stranger, the one the others had called Hikaru, stood there watching them. He didn't seem to be particularly surprised or distressed at the annihilation of his comrades.
Hikaru stepped back, raising his sword.
"…I see. Thank you."
He brought the sword down in front of him. Black smoke spilled from the hilt and spread out in front of Hikaru, hiding him from Lucy and Cobra. When it cleared, Hikaru was gone.
Lucy wore a puzzled expression
" 'Thank you?' What did he mean by that?"
She wondered aloud, closing Scorpio's gate.
"Dunno. The others referred to him as 'Hikaru'. Apparently he was also a mage."
"Oh.."
Lucy glanced sharply up at Cobra.
"Wait, what do you mean you don't know? Couldn't you hear his thoughts?"
Cobra froze. She was right, he should have been able to hear Hikaru's thoughts clear as day at so short a distance. He had been able to hear the thoughts of his friends however, so it wasn't that there was something wrong with his hearing.
"…No, I couldn't hear him. He must have been blocking it somehow." He said thoughtfully.
Lucy grinned.
"Yeah, sure. Or maybe you're starting to go a bit deaf."
Cobra glared at her.
"Keep dreaming, Heartfilia. I can still hear every one of your thoughts."
In order to drive his point, he paused and listened. Then after a couple of seconds, he smirked.
"Maybe I should go tell Salamander about how you-"
"No! Shut up!" Lucy reddened with embarrassment and anger.
"Alright then, if that's what we're doing…" She pulled a golden key out of her pocked and waved it in the air while Cobra looked on, bemused.
"Open, gate of the twins, Gemini!"
Golden light shone the key that Lucy held, and two small blue figures appeared before her.
Cobra blinked.
"Gemini? Oh yeah, that used to be Angel's key…"
"Then you should remember what it does." Lucy turned to Gemini and pointed at Cobra.
"Gemini, transform into him."
"Piri Piri!" The little blue figures began to morph into a single humanoid shape.
Cobra paled as Lucy's thoughts crept into his head and he realised what she was planning.
"Hey, wait-"
Gemini was now identical to Cobra in every detail: The spiky maroon hair, narrowed purple eyes and dark, tanned skin.
Gemini grinned. "Hi! I'm Cobra! Also known as Erik!" He said cheerfully while Cobra watched in absolute horror.
Lucy smiled mischievously. "Gemini, since you have Cobra's memories, who about you tell us some of his more embarrassing moments?"
"Sure! About a year ago, I-" Cobra charged forwards and knocked Gemini to the ground, desperately holding a hand over the mouth of his clone. Lucy watched the spectacle with glee.
"Okay! Okay, you've made your point, alright?" Cobra yelled, holding down a struggling Gemini.
"Send it back! Send it back! NOW!"
"Gemini." Lucy held out the key and Gemini disappeared in burst of light.
Cobra scowled at her, enraged.
"Watch your back, Heartfilia." He growled.
Lucy smiled triumphantly. "Don't go about thinking that you're the only one can read minds. NEVER underestimate a celestial mage." She said, turning and continuing on down the road.
"Come on, then! We've still got to get to the village and find out what's going on!" She chirped.
Cobra glared at her murderously. "Dammit." He muttered as he reluctantly clambered to his feet and followed her
…
Hello, FanFiction community! I won't be able to update the story over the next week due to my exams, but hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again by next weekend. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please leave a review telling me what you think about it so far, and check back next week for more.
