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Chapter Ten: A New Hope

:Flashback:

When he finally came to, his eyes slowly fluttered open from feeling of something wet press against the skin around his eye where he should have just taken a blow. He recalled hearing a voice call out just before it could connect and something hit against his back instead, darkness taking over as he fell forward into unfamiliar hands.

He let out a sharpened breath, quickly looking around. The uncomfortable sensation of a draft crept along his now exposed legs, realizing that while he was unconscious, this person – the one he was forced to call master – had taken the liberty of having most, if not all his clothes remove, leaving him in only his boxers, much to his dismay.

He sat up, subconsciously covering himself with the nearest thing - the blanket on the bed – when, light amused laughter reached his well endowed ears making him snap his head towards it's source, glaring fiercely.

There she was, flanked by two guards sitting leaned back in a chair, a bottle of whiskey beside her and a carefree smile set into place. She made him sick, in more ways than one; the way she sat, as though expecting everything to simply come crawling towards her, begging for something. Probably mercy, given her reputation, Cobra thought bitterly as he tightened his grip on the blanket, the only thing keeping his mostly exposed flesh from her prying eyes.

He had taken notice of her wayward glance at him through the bars of his prison, the way her tongue flicked along her lips in a show of delight when he all but spat back at her. Then there was her status. No one on the magic council had been able to stop her in the end from getting what she wanted, even now with her labeled as a high class criminal, they were all but powerless and knew it too.

So they gave her the one thing she had wanted, the one thing she supposedly lusted for... Him.

"You gave me quite the little chase, didn't you? Even succeeded in bringing down a few of my men..." she said sounding impressed, but he saw through it, he always did, even now as she slowly stood up from her chair, taking a leisurely step forward and then another, slowly making her way towards him.

He flinched when her hand brushed along his exposed arm. He gasped at the icy sensation that seemed to go along with her touch. This woman... it was as though she were death itself, the former Oracion Seis member thought, wanting to put distance between them again. Wanting to be free from her.

"Where am I?" he breathed as she turned his head back forcefully, trailing her lips along his jawline. Feeling him shiver, his own arms shot up to push her away when instead she caught them in her own still free hand, easily overpowering him and forcing him further down. He couldn't stop the small cry of pain that escaped his lips.

The blanket fell as she maneuvered on top of him.

"You're where you belong Erik-kun." she whispered, smirking.

"D-don't... call me... that." he mumbled weakly, feeling her hands paw at naked flesh and her mouth move to the base of his ear hungrily. The sudden sound of a choked sob filling the air was enough of a sign for her to stop and look down on him, snickering lightly when she saw the look of anguish that was slowly breaking through the mask of indifference he wore.

:Flashback ended:

Cobra felt a shiver run through him, placing the hand holding the wet cloth against his still bleeding neck while drawing his knees closer to his chest. He still hadn't stopped shaking, whether it was from the fear of what she had already done to him, or the promise of what was to come, he could no longer tell. The only real plus side was that he had managed to separate himself from Natsu and the others before the little run-in with Liliah. Had the pinkette been present...

...no, he wouldn't think about it.

He sighed, removing the washcloth and barely sparing a glance at it's now reddened state, he realized that he would have to wash it if he didn't want Natsu finding out about what happened. His eyes wandered to the window where he saw that nighttime was approaching already. Rubbing a hand against his face, he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation at what a crappy day he's had so far.

Natsu sat frowning on one of the beds inside the guild infirmary. She knew Cobra was probably still angry with her, but it's not like it was her fault she had been hungry! Besides, she didn't like it when Cobra was mad at her...

It made her feel funny.

"Well, guess I should go look for him then..." she began hoisting herself off the bed and looking towards the door just as it flew open, startling the pinkette as she jumped back, just barely dodging a potential blow to the head and looking to see a rather furious looking Erza – wait Erza!?

"Onna baka!" the armor clad wizard yelled, charging forward and hammering a piece of paper onto poor Natsu's head with an armored fist of fury. Natsu let out a squeak of fear, recoiling from her longtime friend and fellow guild member whom, on a good day, she considered like a sister, but on a bad day... well she was pretty much just thought of as a monster right now.

"E-erza, c-calm down!" Gray stammered, only succeeding in turning the great Titania and her fury towards him, eliciting a nervous apology from the ice maker before she whirled back around to face Natsu.

"W-what did I do!?" the pinkette demanded.

"No! Now you've done it, you've ruined the plan I had worked so hard on for the last three days!" Erza hollered as comical tears of frustration ran down her face, the rest of Team Natsu staring in a mix of what some may call shock or disbelief. All of them shared the same thought.

'THAT'S what you're mad about?'

Cobra was tired. Or maybe it was more of an empty feeling he was experiencing. His neck had stopped bleeding and was freshly bandaged while being hidden by the collar of his shirt along with the upper area of his arm. That's when he noticed the mark on it was still clearly visible.

His fingers dug into the sleeve covering the brand, wanting to tear off the area of skin it was on, so long as it guaranteed he would be free from seeing it ever again. He knew though if it had been that easy, then he would have done so a long time ago. He let his eyes sweep over the layout of the living room when he caught sight of a few more things scattered about in a corner. He had gotten bored pretty quickly, being the only one home, so he was nice enough to clean up a bit. After all, he was living here too, if only for a little bit.

He walked over, picking up the item to see it was... a photo album? Wait no, he thought reading the cover aloud. "Natsu's Journal". He paused, wasn't journal like... diary? His eyes widened a bit in disbelief. "She has a diary!?... Whoa, never pegged her for that kind of thing I guess..." he mumbled, giving a shrug before debating whether or not to open it.

He knew he shouldn't, but... part of him was curious. After all, during the last few days together, she had learned stuff about him and while she and the old man promised not to tell anyone, that didn't make things all that much easier for him. The decision was made for him however, when the lock to the small book fell with a soft clink onto the ground and the front cover fell open, showing the surprisingly nice looking text inside.

His eyes widened in a small show of panic, looking to the broken lock and the pages with writing on them, then to the front door as if expecting her to come barging through, leading to a very uncomfortable and awkward moment if nothing else. She didn't, much to his relief.

Reluctantly, his violet eyes fell on the writing, slowly beginning to read it over...

"Today I fought against one of the Oracion Seis! I think he said his name was Cobra or something... anyway he had this really huge snake with him! He also had this really cool ability to read minds or something, though it kinda made him a pain to fight."

Cobra paused. She was writing... about him? Why?

"Now that I think about it though, he wasn't all that bad I guess. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I like him or anything! I just... well! He said he was a dragon slayer, so I don't know, that's gotta count for something right?"

Cobra thought for a moment, recalling his harsh words to Natsu during their fight and how he had so openly declared there were no such things as dragons roaming about in this day and age. Naturally she had responded by saying he was wrong, and maybe it was because part of him felt that way too. After all he was...

SLAM! Cobra just barely managed to hold in the yelp of surprise as the front door slammed open and the sound of bickering voices flooded the household, belonging to none other than Natsu and her team.

"For the last time-" Natsu argued, looking at Erza with annoyance in her burning almond colored eyes stepping inside. "How was I supposed to know you had some special mission lined up for us!? Besides, don't we get a say in whether or not we-"

She was cut off as Erza slammed an armor-clad fist into her face, cutting off any arguments the pinkette had prepared as the other two backed away, Happy flying forward into what the blue feline assumed to be the nearest form of protection, Cobra, landing safely in the confused poison dragon slayer's arms.

"Um..." he piped up, arching a brow, drawing Titania's attention as she straightened herself and walked over, promptly stomping on poor Natsu's face in the process and not seeming to notice. Cobra sweatdropped at the display. "Cobra! I have a proposition I'd like to discuss!" Erza declared.

"It doesn't involve you hitting me, does it?"

"A...mission?" Cobra repeated with uncertainty carefully reaching over the table and taking the flyer from Erza, looking it over. "It would pay 100,000 jewel to each person." he mumbled, doing the math in his head then continuing to read. "Warning: the culprits are highly dangerous and skilled dark mages who specialize in the abduction and torture of innocent young mages." he trailed off, falling silent as a shadow fell over his eyes.

"So then, you mean to take whoever is responsible for this on?" he asked in a low voice.

Erza nodded, missing the worried glance Natsu snuck towards Cobra.

"Yes, and it would be a great help if you would assist us." Erza explained "Your hearing, from what I have been told, allows you to hear both the enemies thoughts and movements from afar, which would give us the element of surprise. And the poison you control is capable of rendering someone immobile for long periods of time, which we witnessed when you used it on Natsu."

Cobra gave a small, slightly annoyed glare towards said pinkette, recalling the earlier incident that led to the little demonstration. "Right... of course." he bit out as Natsu sweatdropped silently, cursing her own stupidity.

"We have been told that this particular guild may hold information regarding another, far more powerful dark guild which the magic council themselves have been struggling with for a long time now. If we could somehow secure this information, I am certain it will prove most beneficial in bringing the other one down." Erza added, slamming a metallic fist onto the table for emphasis.

"Will you help us?" Lucy asked with hopeful eyes.

Cobra gave a small nod handing the flyer back to Erza, "When do we leave?" he asked curiously.

"First thing in the morning, the sooner we do this, the better."

With that, the other three members of Team Natsu exited the house, leaving Cobra and Natsu alone, Happy already fast asleep while still in Cobra's arms. Once alone, Natsu turned to Cobra, speaking in a low voice so as not to wake Happy.

"Cobra, are you sure? You don't have to-"

"It's fine." He cut her off, looking down at Happy as he rose from his seat, calmly walking towards the bedroom avoiding eye contact. "I... I want to do it, so it's fine really."

A hand shot out, grabbing onto his shoulder close to his neck where Liliah had injured him, causing him to briefly wince in pain, quickly hiding it before Natsu could see.

"It might be too dangerous though, the four of us can-"

"I said I'm fine Salamander." He cut her off again, this time speaking in a more firm and slightly angrier tone. "I am not some helpless child that needs your protection, nor am I ill-experienced when it comes to how dark guilds work!" his voice rose, feeling Happy stir a bit in his arms.

Natsu held his glare with her own determined eyes, not backing down.

"I'm not saying that, but what if... what if something happens like, you know... I just don't want you to have go through anymore of what you already have..." Her voice gradually got lower with each word that left her mouth, a light blush adorning her face as she lowered her eyes to the floor guiltily.

Cobra said nothing, a small pang of remorse entering his stomach realizing she was only trying to look out for her nakama, nothing more.

"I'll be fine." he whispered again. "And... if something does happen, you'll be there... won't you?"

Natsu looked up, meeting his jewel-like eyes as they stared back at her, a small trace of the newfound trust shining within them. A result of their last few days together that for some reason made Natsu smile a bit, puffing her chest out proudly with a fierce nod.

"Right, just leave it to me!" she cheered. "I got your back."

Unbeknownst to the two mages as they each turned to head into bed, the small little feline curled up in Cobra's arms smiled a little, using every fiber of his being not to ruin the moment by yelling out "you liiiike him~", simply being content in the snake charmer's surprisingly warm embrace for the night.