Author's Notes: Hey guys! As promised, here's a bit longer chapter. And a lot more CoLu to boot! Yay! A big thank you to all those who followed and reviewed this story of mine. R and R as always. Kudos!

Chapter 3 – Wroclaw Sewers

"What are you doing here, Cobra?" Lucy glared at the Poison Dragon Slayer; ignoring the few curious looks the other Mages were giving them. Cobra was a member of Oracion Seis – one of the three dark guilds under the now-disbanded Balam Alliance. Cobra, along with his guild mates Angel, Racer, Hoteye, Midnight, and Zero tried to use Nirvana to take over the world. Fairy Tail however, and the rest of the Allied Forces managed to stop them before they succeeded.

"Reminiscing, aren't we?"

Breaking away from her thoughts, Lucy returned her attention to the man standing in front of her. Cobra still looked the same – well, except for the obvious scar on his face. He also grew taller and his shoulders now broader. "He's actually a bit handsome now," Lucy immediately regretted thinking about Cobra like that because afterwards, she saw him grinning at her like an idiot. "You heard that, didn't you?"

"So you think I'm handsome, huh?" Cobra asked her with a grin plastered on his stupid face.

"Sh-shut up, Cobra!" Lucy stammered, her face turning crimson red from embarrassment. But Lucy being … well, Lucy, never backs down from a fight. Taking a deep breath, she put her left hand on her waist while the other was pointing at Cobra. "So what if you're more handsome now? Loke's still more handsome than you! Hell, even Taurus is more handsome than you!"

As if he didn't hear her, Cobra just continued grinning at her. His left eye sparkling with amusement as if he just found a new toy to play with. "Ugh, why does it have to him? Why can't I meet Hibiki instead? I'll even take Ichiya over this freak," Lucy thought with a sigh.

"Stop thinking too much, woman. It's giving me a headache." As if to prove his point, Cobra closed his eyes and started massaging his temples.

"Why do you want to go with me, anyway?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you fucking serious, woman? That's 300,000 instant jewels just for killing some weak monsters down that wretched sewer. Even if we split the reward, we'd still have 150,000 jewels each. I don't know about you but I think it's a great deal."

Lucy pondered about what Cobra just said. True, 150,000 jewels is still a huge amount of money, but even without Cobra, killing a few monsters down the sewer would still be easy for her and her spirits. "Well, except for Loke because he's a bit obsessed about his clothes."

There's also the issue of trusting Cobra. She still wasn't sure how the ex-member of Oracion Seis managed to escape the Magic Council. And why was he in Wroclaw anyway? Could she trust this man to watch her back when the time comes? What if Cobra still holds a grudge against Fairy Tail? Taking one last look at the man in question, Lucy's eyes met Cobra's. "What are you really after, Cobra?"

Knowing full well that Cobra could read her mind, he replied. "A new life."

The entrance to the sewer was located on the suburban area of Wroclaw. The inside was surprisingly big and the paths were illuminated by lacrima. And unlike what Loke believed, it didn't smell bad at all. There were bugs and bats roaming around though, much to Lucy's dismay.

So far, they haven't encountered any monster. Lucy thought the moment they stepped inside the sewer, monsters would be swarming them. Obviously, she was wrong. They've been walking for about an hour now and still no monster was in sight. Lucy was the one with the map so she was walking in front of a bored Cobra. Cobra's been quiet all the time but she could tell that the man was bored to death judging from his constant yawning.

"Ugh, this is boring," Lucy heaved a sigh and glanced at the man walking behind him.

At first, Lucy was hesitant about Cobra coming along with her. After all, the man did try to kill her and her friends once. But somehow, Lucy knew that Cobra wouldn't hurt her this time. Call it a Celestial Spirit Mage's intuition, but Lucy was confident … no, she was certain that Cobra wouldn't betray her. Not this time.

Loke on the other hand, kept telling her that bringing along Cobra wasn't a good plan. She knew that Loke was only looking out for her well-being, but she's the type to listen to her gut. And her gut told her to give Cobra a shot at redemption. So she did.

She was never the type to hold a grudge to begin with. There were Jella, Gajeel, Juvia, Sting, Rogue, and even Flare. All of them used to be Fairy Tail's enemies but now, all of them were friends. Cobra wasn't an exception to that. "If he wants to change, then who am I to stop him?"

"You're thinking too much again, woman."

A smile tugged on Lucy's lips as she was pulled away from her thoughts by Cobra's deep voice. "Sorry, Cobra," she smiled apologetically. "Just thinking about random stuff."

"Random stuff my ass." Cobra crossed his arm in front of his chest and gave Lucy a death glare. "Stop thinking about me. Are you in love with me or something?"

"Wha- a-are you an idiot?! Who would fall in love with you, you jerk!" Lucy stomped her foot and increased her pace, leaving a grinning Cobra behind.

"Tch. Women." Cobra soon followed behind Lucy, his eyes never leaving her.

Three hours. They've been walking around the sewer for three hours now and Cobra's feet were starting to get sore. A Dragon Slayers' stamina was top notch, but it's mostly reserved for fighting, not for walking along a wretched sewer.

"Gah! This is a bogus job! There are no monsters here!" Lucy shouted out of nowhere, hurting Cobra's ears a bit. "That's it. We're going back!"

Before Cobra could even chastise her about shouting near him, he felt something warm on his left hand. When he looked down, he saw Lucy's hand holding his, pulling him along with her as she stomped her way out of the sewer. It was a foreign feeling for Cobra. It was both relaxing and terrifying at the same time. No one has ever dared hold his hand like that. They were just too afraid to get close to him. After all, who would want to get close to a person who could read their thoughts and owns … owned, a giant flying snake?

But somehow, Lucy wasn't afraid of him. She trusted him the moment he told her that he wants to start anew. He wasn't lying when he said that, though. After the dragons' attack during the Eclipse, the Magic Council decided to give Cobra one more shot. They agreed to set him free in exchange for him joining a new guild and doing quests and such. He was still adamant about not joining a new guild, though.

Ever since he saw her, he's been constantly listening to her thoughts. He knew that she left Fairy Tail because of that Fire Dragon Slayer, that she plans to get stronger by training with her spirits, and that just like him, she was having second thoughts about joining a new guild.

"Cobra?" Lucy's voice broke this train of thoughts.

"What?" He replied.

"What the hell is that?" Using his enhanced sense of sight, Cobra looked to what Lucy was pointing at. Along the far edge of the sewer, several purple-colored slimes were approaching them. They didn't have eyes, just a huge gaping mouth. Their bodies were composed of transparent jelly-like stuff and inside, he could clearly see bones floating around.

"This is bad." Without another word, Cobra carried Lucy princess-style and ran away from the mob of slimes.

"What are you doing, Cobra?! Put me down!" Lucy struggled in his arms, trying to hide her embarrassment by assaulting him instead.

"Stop it, woman. Those things over there are called Venom Slimes. Their poisons are so powerful, your skin will melt just by being near them," Cobra explained.

"Oh," finally Lucy stopped struggling. "Th-thank you then. You know … for not leaving me."

"Do not thank me yet, woman. If Venom Slimes are here then that means this sewer's their nest. And if there's a nest, there's a queen. And no queen would left her nest unprotected."

"Then that means …"

"Yeah. We're screwed."

"Cobra! Over there!" Lucy pointed to a group of Venom Slimes approaching them from the rear.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!" Cobra's attack completely destroyed the slimes but a few seconds later, a new batch of Venom Slimes appeared. "Damn it!"

They've been running around the sewer for at least an hour now. Even with a map, they couldn't just march right out the exit because of the Venom Slimes blocking their path. Even the path that they took earlier was now filled with Venom Slimes.

They somehow ended up on the inner part of the sewer where the water's a bit deep. Venom Slimes were showing up everywhere: on the ceilings, on the walls, and out of the water. They managed to kill a few of them but the others, they just avoided completely to save what little magic they had left.

She tried summoning her spirits earlier to help Cobra fend off the purple slimes. Loke and Virgo couldn't even get close to the Venom Slimes without getting poisoned, Sagittarius' arrows would melt even before they reach their targets, Aquarius refused to be summoned in sewer waters, and Scorpio was currently out of commission thanks to Aquarius. She also tried to use her Fleuve d'etoiles to attack but her whip would just bounce off the Venom Slimes.

"Oi, woman! Be careful!" Lucy heard Cobra calling for her and from the corner of her eyes, she saw a Venom Slime jumping towards her. Immediately, she jumped away from the monster and fell on the sewer waters. She heard Cobra shouting her name before the dark waters completely overtook her consciousness.

"Oi woman! Open your eyes!"

Lucy felt strong hands gripping her shoulders and shaking the living daylights out of her.

"Woman! Damn it, stop sleeping on the damn floor!"

Opening her eyes, Lucy saw Cobra's face looking down at her. Images of what happened earlier flooded her mind and her eyes immediately scanned the entire area, looking for Venom Slimes. When she was sure that there were no monsters nearby, she finally let herself relax. "What happened, Cobra?"

"Tch." Cobra moved away from her and sat crossed-leg near the wall. "You fell on the water, I saved you, I killed all the monsters. Is that a good enough explanation, woman?"

Cobra saved her? Lucy looked at him and saw that he's soaking wet. Even his usually spiky hair was damped and covering his face. Then Lucy looked at her own clothes and realized that she wasn't any better. Her own clothes were wet and filled with black gooey stuff. "Now I know why Loke hates sewers," Lucy thought to herself as she started removing the foreign objects from her clothes.

"By the way," Lucy stopped at what she was doing and looked at Cobra. "You were holding that thing the entire time I was saving you." Cobra pointed to a shining object near her feet. "I tried yanking it away from your hand but the damn thing burned my hand."

Looking down, Lucy's eyes widened when she saw what Cobra was pointing at. "A key!"

Lucy immediately picked it up and ignored Cobra's warning about it being 'hot'. Sure, the key felt warm in her hands but it wasn't hot enough to hurt her. Taking a closer look, she noticed that the key was color black. The tip was shaped like a bird's beak while the bow was shaped like two crossed wings. It was the same size as the rest of her keys but somehow, it felt heavier.

"You done ogling that key?"

Lucy nodded at Cobra and put the black key on her belt together with the rest of her keys. She pulled out Sagittarius' key and summoned the archer before the three of them continued their search for a way out of the sewer.

After continuously running for hours, they eventually found a hidden spot where there were no Venom Slimes, so Lucy took the opportunity to unsummon Sagittarius and refresh her magic reserves.

"Shit." Lucy heard Cobra mutter under his breath.

Pulling her legs close to her chest, Lucy looked down on the floor and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"What?" Cobra immediately replied.

"I'm sorry for being a burden. If I'm a lot stronger, we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm – " Lucy finally let the tears fall down from her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Cobra."

"Hey, woman."

Lucy slightly raised her head and looked at Cobra's stoic face.

"Stop apologizing. If you want to make it up to me, then get stronger. You left your guild to get stronger, right? Then shut the fuck up, stop crying, and start using that brain of yours to get us out of here."

Lucy was taken aback. Cobra just gave her an encouragement speech! Not exactly the warm encouragement speech Natsu used to give her, but beggars can't be choosers, right? Besides, Cobra wasn't probably used to encouraging other people. After all, he used to be a member of Oracion Seis. With renewed determination, Lucy wiped her tears using her right hand and looked at Cobra. "Cobra … no. Eric, thank you."

"Tch. Shut up and start thinking, woman." Lucy was pretty sure she saw Eric's face turning a slight bit of red and she couldn't help but chuckle.

Looking at her keys, she remembered about the new key she acquired earlier. "Maybe this one can help us." Pulling out the black key, Lucy stood up and called forth the Spirit residing within the key with a chant.

I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits!

Now! O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the Gate!

When Lucy opened her eyes, a small orb of flame was floating in front of her. She expected something big and a little weird to come out of the key but instead, a small floating ball of hot gas did. Feeling rather disappointed, she heaved a sigh.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Lucy turned around and saw Cobra looking at her and the little fireball with a bored look on his face.

"Don't remind me," Lucy rolled her eyes at him and returned her attention to the small fire spirit. "Um, fireball-san? Do you wanna make a contract with me?"

"Fireball-san?" Lucy heard a deep, baritone voice inside her head. "Did you just call me fireball-san, you wretched girl?!"

The fireball in front of Lucy flickered a couple of times, changing colors from red to orange before finally exploding into a great burst of light. Lucy and Cobra had to cover their eyes or risk being blinded by the sudden flash. After the light shimmered down, Lucy looked back at the fireball but instead, found a red-headed man frowning at her with his arms crossed in front of his bare chest. "F-fireball-san?"

"Call me fireball-san one more time and I swear I'll burn you to a crisp." Lucy was a bit taken aback by the spirit's hostility but still remained composed as to not show any weakness.

"You can try, redhead. But I think we have more important matters to discuss right now. Do you wanna make a contract or not?" Lucy bravely replied.

With a raised eyebrow, the redhead replied. "Icarus."

"What?"

"Call me Icarus. And sure, I would love to make a contract with you." Icarus grinned at her. "But I have some conditions, girly."

Author's Notes: And that's a wrap! I might upload a new chapter today. Depends on my mood. Lol. Thanks for reading!