Chapter Twenty-Eight:

When Lucy woke up in the morning to Horologium's greeting, she was surprised to find herself in her bed. The last thing she could remember was watching the movie, with Meredy asleep on her shoulder and then…she must have fallen asleep too. Someone must have carried her back to her room and pulled the blanket up over her. Sitting up, she found her shoes dropped carelessly next to the bed. Shoving them aside, she moved stiffly into the bathroom, hoping a shower would wash away all of the aches and pains that she now associated with trying to do too much.

Showered and dressed in fresh clothes, Lucy made her bed and put her room in order before moving into the kitchen. Virgo was already there, beginning breakfast preparations.

"I've told you that you don't need to do this," Lucy said, grabbing a frying pan and reaching for the carton of eggs her spirit had gotten out. "I'm perfectly capable of making breakfast on my own."

"But Princess, I couldn't help very much yesterday…" the maid spirit began as she continued to cut up fruit. "I wanted to do something to make today easier."

"Still Virgo, I'm back to normal today. And three breakfasts is easy for me. It's your day off though, isn't it? Yesterday was nothing to worry about. If I had needed your help, I would have called. I know you can come through your gate on your own so my own magic wouldn't have been an issue. Thanks for letting me do it on my own though."

"Punishment, Princess?" the spirit inquired, setting her knife down and facing Lucy as the blonde stood over the stove, ready to start cooking.

"Not today Virgo," Lucy said with a grin. "Now, if you insist, you can help me with breakfast today. I'd definitely welcome the company."

"Of course Princess," the spirit said, resuming her previous task with a matching smile. "So Laxus-san is going back to the guild?"

"Freed came yesterday to drag him back, but I made sure to put limits on him. You know how it's been here, the last week. He's where I was…trapped inside himself. I had you guys, but I needed to work through it for myself, and that just takes time."

"Who will stay with you while he's gone? Should I stay, or should I ask brother to come?" Virgo finished with the fruit and rummaged in the fridge for some sausage. Grabbing another pan, she joined Lucy at the stove.

"Cobra's coming over, to help get Laxus to the guild if need be, and to stay with me during the day. I've got a plan though that will make him happy, so hopefully that works."

"Hey blondie, the food better be ready!"

At the call from outside, Lucy sighed. "Maybe it was a good thing you showed up to help today Virgo. He doesn't sound patient this morning." Grabbing a plate, she put the eggs she had been cooking on it and passed it to Virgo. "It's almost done, so keep your shirt on."

Cobra let himself in through the front door and dropped into one of the stools around the island. "So you can cook," he commented idly.

"What did you think yesterday was?" the blonde said as she glared at him. "Virgo, when his is done, go ahead and give it to him. Feel free to spit in it too. He likes poison."

"Speaking of which, where'd the bleach go?" Cobra looked around the kitchen, but Lucy shrugged. "I left it with you two yesterday. Haven't seen it since."

"Does Princess need something cleaned?" Virgo said, placing a plate in front of Cobra. "I can find you some bleach."

"Cobra likes drinking things that the rest of us wouldn't dare," Lucy said, turning back to the stove. "He should try and remember where he saw it last and go find it if he wants it."

"Is that why there was bleach in the fridge Princess?" Virgo piped up. "I was wondering how that got there, but I put it in the laundry room. Should I go get it?"

"No need Virgo, I'll go. If you could keep working on breakfast that would help a lot." Turning over the eggs to the maid spirit, Lucy headed towards the laundry room. Stopping at Laxus's door, she checked the time with Horologium and knocked. "Laxus, hope you're up. Breakfast's almost ready for you in the kitchen. If I hear no noise by the time I come back from the laundry room, I'm coming in."

She took as long as she could getting the bleach from the laundry room, surprised at how cool it still was. Returning to Laxus's bedroom door, she waited for thirty seconds for sounds of him shifting about. When she didn't hear anything, she set the bleach down outside the door and pushed it open.

Laxus was still in bed, curtains shut tightly against the morning sun that peeked through. Deciding that was as good a place to start as any, Lucy drew back the curtains and smiled as the sun hit her face. That was the nice thing about Laxus's house. Whoever had designed it had made use of the natural light in every possible way. Seeing no movement from him, Lucy moved to the edge of his bed and looked down at him, surprised by how young and vulnerable he looked when asleep. She prodded him gently, whispering "It's time to get up now."

He stirred slightly, but remained asleep. Grabbing the corner of his sheet, Lucy ripped it off and chuckled as he jolted awake, scrambling to find the missing fabric. Her chuckles died though as she realized that he was only wearing boxers, and she fled the room, mumbling: "Breakfast in the kitchen."

Out in the hallway, with the door safely shut behind her, Lucy fought to keep her blush from showing on her face. It's not like I'm not used to seeing naked men. Hell, Grey strips down like that all the time. I'm just a bit out of practice with it. She couldn't deny that Laxus wasn't attractive, but he was her guild master and current house mate. Focusing on more mundane things, she picked up the bottle of bleach and returned to the kitchen.

"Princess, I was just about to come see if you needed help," Virgo said, putting a plate next to Cobra. "Is Laxus-san coming?"

Swallowing, Lucy dropped the bleach onto the island next to the poison dragon slayer, who seemed to be in the middle of his second plate. "He's awake. Hopefully he'll be here soon."

"Ah, you had to wake him up?" Virgo placed a third plate on the island and motioned for Lucy to sit down. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, this is great. And yeah…I had to wake him up."

Cobra must have caught her thoughts, because he started laughing so hard he nearly dropped the bottle of bleach. When the laughter didn't stop after a minute, Lucy glared at him.

"Do you mind?" she snapped, spearing a piece of sausage with her fork.

"I don't know," Cobra chuckled, setting the bleach down. "Are you going to stop acting like a twelve year old?"

"I am not acting like a twelve year old," Lucy hissed. "I just was caught by surprise."

He kept laughing quietly and Lucy tried to tune him out as she finished her breakfast. However, when Laxus came into the kitchen Cobra's laughter increased again. Irritated, Lucy exchanged looks with Virgo, who was helping her wash dishes. The maid nodded shortly, and in a flash, Cobra was no longer sitting at the kitchen island.

Looking startled, Laxus asked: "What the hell just happened?"

"He was getting annoying," Lucy shrugged as she reached for a pan and started washing it. "I asked Virgo to take him outside. She's gotten good at repairing floors instantly. I'll have to congratulate her on that."

Laxus's face went from surprise to confusion. "What happened to my floor?"

"It's how Virgo got him out. She tunneled through the earth and left him somewhere outside. To do so means going through your floor, which she replaced so very nicely." Lucy heard shouting outside, and then Virgo appeared next to her.

"I left him up in a tree at the edge of the clearing Princess," the spirit reported, picking up Cobra's half-finished plate. "He should take a while to get down. It was a tall tree."

"He's only been here…how long? And he managed to piss you off already? I thought you've been better about that lately." Laxus said, pushing food around on his plate.

"Stop that," Lucy said, turning to face him. "And it was with good reason that he ended up in a tree. He'll be down by the time we leave. Eat your food."

Sighing, Laxus returned to his plate and Lucy returned to washing dishes with Virgo. When Laxus was done with his plate, Lucy took it and washed it, handing it to Virgo to dry. Checking the clock on the wall, she dried her hands and looked at the maid spirit. "Thanks for the help this morning. You can go back now, and take tomorrow off in place of today. I don't have anything special planned, just a girls' day with Angel and Meredy."

"Of course Princess," Virgo said, bowing. "Punishment?"

"Not today Virgo. You were a big help. Oh, and nice job with the floors."

"Thank you Princess."

As Virgo disappeared, Lucy turned to Laxus. "Ready to go see if Cobra's made it out of his tree yet?"


Cobra meandered along behind the blonde pair in front of him as they approached Magnolia. Lucy seemed to have gotten over being angry with him for teasing her over breakfast, but it was difficult to tell with her. And Laxus's mind was sinking further and further into darkness with each step they took. So he was perfectly content to keep his distance from the two.

When they reached the outskirts of Magnolia though, Lucy's thoughts did a complete 180. The suddenness of it startled Cobra, who had mainly been keeping an eye on Laxus to see if he was going to run, since that was why Lucy had wanted him around. But his eyes snapped to Lucy, who had stopped dead in the middle of the road. It was almost invisible, but small shudders ran through her form. Her mind, normally well organized, was a tangle of thoughts. But the overwhelming emotion was fear.

Laxus had noticed too, and he had paused in front of her, concern on his face. "Lucy, is everything all right?"

She stayed still, the only movements being the tremors, but her mind responded.

Pleasenomoredon'tmakemegoinpainangerblooddoIhaveenoughtimewillImakeitbackthistimepleasemakeitendsomeonehelpdon'tmakemegobackguildhallbloodfearcan'tdothisanymorejustmakeitstoppleasemakeitstopsomeoneLaxuswhyNatsuwhydidyoumakemestaysomeonetakemeawaymakethemstoppleasesomeoneplease…

Covering his ears, as if he could block out the painful barrage of thoughts, Cobra looked at Laxus. "We need to get her out of here," he said, but a golden glow appeared in front of Lucy. A man with orange hair, who he remembered from seeing at the house yesterday appeared, wrapping his arms around Lucy.

"Lucy, I've got you. It's okay. You don't have to go back. Shhh, I've got you, it's okay."

"Loke," Laxus said, and Cobra could hear the relief mixed with worry in his voice. "What's going on?"

"The city has a lot of bad memories for her," Loke said quietly, stroking her hair as she trembled in his arms. "She shouldn't go to the guild hall today."

"She needs to show up," Cobra inserted himself into the conversation. "They said yesterday that they need to see that she has someone staying with her today."

"Got it," he said, tipping Lucy's chin up so she could look into his face. "Lucy? I need you to call out Gemini. Can you hear me? You need to bring out Gemini."

Managing a small nod, Blondie reached for her keys, and two small forms appeared in the road. Grinning a bit, Cobra remembered how Angel used to use them against her enemies, but his attention was recaptured by the man who was holding Lucy.

"Gemi, Mini, I need you to make an identical copy of Lucy as she is right now, but don't let her memories overwhelm you. You need to go to the guild for her and do whatever she needs to do there and then you bring Cobra back here."

The spirits nodded, and then there were two Lucys standing in the middle of the road. Laxus looked torn, but the spirit who was holding Blondie shook his head at him. "There's nothing anyone can do today about this. She needs time and space right now, and if you don't get to the guild, she won't have that. The only thing you can do for her right now is go to the guild, and she'll be there to pick you up. Or at least Gemini will. Go ahead, I'll stay with her until Cobra gets back."

"Okay," Laxus said, and Cobra could hear his thoughts going downhill towards where Lucy's were at the moment. Grabbing him by the arm, Cobra started dragging him away from where Lucy and the spirit stood.

"Come on man, we've got to go. It's the only thing we can do for her right now." Cobra didn't know when he got this involved in their lives but for the moment it seemed as if he was stuck there. Laxus eventually stopped resisting and started walking with him, Gemini Lucy trailing behind.

Stopping outside the guild, Cobra looked at Gemini. "You good to go in there?"

"Yes," Gemini replied, using Lucy's voice. "I know what I need to do."

"Well then, let's get this over with, and then we can get back to Lucy." Cobra said, shoving the doors open. Gemini walked alongside him while Laxus trailed behind them. As Gemini marched up to the bar, Laxus split off and went up to the second floor.

"Where's he going?" Cobra muttered to Gemini.

"Get away from the bar and out of sight." Gemini said quietly. When Cobra retreated, the spirit muttered so that only he or another dragon slayer could hear: "His office. He's probably going to shut himself in there until we come back." Gemini turned back to the bar just in time to smile briefly at the barmaid who appeared from the kitchen, calling out greetings as she did. "Morning Mira. Is Kinana here?"

"She's just finishing something up in the kitchen. Why, do you need her for something?" Cobra watched quietly from a shadowy alcove near the bar, but not near enough that the white-haired woman could see him.

Gemini grimaced. "Freed says that I have to have someone with me when Laxus isn't there, so I was hoping Kinana would come out to the house, if she wants to."

"If I want to what?" Kinana appeared, carrying a tray of plates. "Oh, good morning Lucy." Her eyes flicked cautiously around the room, and he tried to make himself as still as possible. It had been a month since he had first met her in her human form, and he truly wanted to get to know her, which meant not scaring her. He didn't know why Gemini had him stay out of sight, but he was willing to trust the spirit.

"Morning, Kinana. I was wondering if you would come out to the house today with me. Jellal and the others been stuck dealing with me for a few days, and I thought they could use a break. Freed says I can't be alone though, so I thought I'd ask you?"

Kinana studied Gemini for a minute. "Would he be there?"

"Only if you were both okay with it," Gemini said. "I don't know what you two feel about each other, but if you want to spend time together without the matchmaker hovering so you can actually get a feel for what the other person is like, I'm willing to help. But you don't need to come if it isn't something you want. Or if you want to come, but don't want to see him, he'll stay at Jellal's camp. It's up to you."

Cobra was surprised at Gemini's actions. Was this blondie's idea? Or is this Gemini? If it was Lucy, he was surprised that she cared enough to try and do something like this for him. She was right, it was hard to try and get to know Kinana with Mira or the other guild members hovering around, and she usually had to work anyway. He knew the solution to that would be to ask her out, but if he did, would she say yes? Or would the entire guild overhear and decide to chaperone? Lucy's suggestion, if it was hers, was a laid back way for them to get to know each other without any pressure or planning required.

If it was Gemini…he could only wonder what Lucy would think of her spirit's actions. Especially since she had looked so terrified when he last saw her. And why would Gemini do something like this on its own?

"If Mira says it's okay, I wouldn't mind coming. And he can come too. I'd like that." Kinana finally said. Cobra did his best to keep control over his face, trying not to show how happy it made him to hear that she was at least willing to try spending time with him. He was glad that his Soul-Listening magic was unique, and that none of the other members of the guild were able to eavesdrop on his mind at the moment, although he heard Gajeel chuckling and knew that the Iron Dragon slayer had scented him in the guild.

Kinana went and had a word with Mira, and Cobra realized why Gemini had him to stay out of the way. The barmaid would have asked questions if both Kinana and Cobra had disappeared with Lucy, but if it's just Kinana, there would be no need for further questions.

"Cobra, meet us outside," Gemini muttered under her breath, and Cobra slipped out of the shadows and took the long way around to the doors. Outside, he waited for the two women to appear.

What he didn't expect was Gajeel.

"Something's wrong with Bunny," the man said bluntly. "I know you came here with Laxus, but the person in the guild isn't her. It's that spirit of hers."

"How did you tell?" Cobra asked, leaning against the wall of the guild, listening for signs of Gemini and Kinana coming towards them. "Wendy could only tell because it was an old copy without the wrist scars."

"The spirit smells like a weird metal and something more…it's barely there, but enough that I can smell it if I concentrate. And after Shrimp mentioned Bunny was using the spirit yesterday, I wanted to check and make sure that she wasn't pulling that shit. Did you leave her alone?"

"She's with another one of her spirits, at the edge of town." Cobra admitted reluctantly. Since either Lucy or Gemini had just gotten him a day with Kinana, he was more reluctant than usual to spill secrets about them.

"Which one?" Gajeel demanded, eyes taking on a hint of panic. "And it's just the two of them?"

"Dunno which one," Cobra said lazily, hearing Kinana and Gemini moving towards them. "Ginger hair."

"Loke," Gajeel swore quietly under his breath. "You keep Gemini and Kinana here. I need to go check on Bunny, make sure she's okay."

"Chill man, she's safe with him," Cobra said, eyes watching the door. "He wouldn't hurt her."

"Maybe not, but he would let her hurt herself," Gajeel muttered, turning towards the streets. "Stay here."

"Gajeel, what's going on?" Gemini asked, emerging with Kinana behind her. The other woman looked startled to find Cobra there, but watched the interaction between Gajeel and Gemini instead.

"Give up the act," Gajeel growled. "I know you're not Lucy."

Gemini shrugged. "You've got me. She's safe though, don't worry. Leo is with her."

"That's why I'm worrying," Gajeel muttered, turning again towards the road that led to Laxus's cabin.

"I wouldn't go see her," Gemini said quietly. "She was going to come today, but she couldn't make it into town. She's too scared. There's too many bad memories."

"Her head was a mess," Cobra chipped in, running his hand through his hair. "She just stopped dead in the middle of the road. You could smell the fear coming off her."

"Laxus was with us," Gemini reminded Gajeel. "He wouldn't have left her with Leo if he didn't think it was safe."

"Fine," Gajeel growled. "I won't go to her. But you tell her that she better do a better job at hiding. With the ice brain and Erza both back, she's going to have a harder time keeping both of them away. And if the flame idiot shows up, she's not going to be able to keep him away. So tell her that I get it if she needs time, but she's going to have to come up with something better than Gemini. Natsu will figure that one out pretty quickly."

"I'll let her know," Gemini said, and Gajeel returned to the guild hall, leaving the three of them alone. Kinana glanced shyly at Cobra, and then asked Gemini: "You aren't Lucy?"

"No, we're Gemini. Lucy asked us to copy her and come to the guild in her place. She did want you to come over today if you wanted to, and spend time with Cobra, if you wanted to. I just ended up bringing the message."

"If you want to stay here, I don't mind," Cobra said quietly, trying to hide how much he did mind, but above all else, he wanted her to be happy and comfortable.

"No, I said I'd go," Kinana said, raising her chin and meeting his eyes. "And I wouldn't mind talking to you outside the guild today. Lucy might need some help too."

Cobra was amazed at the change in her. He remembered the first time seeing her in Laxus's house, trying to reconcile the familiar scent with the unfamiliar person standing in front of him as she hid behind the barmaid's skirts. But here she was, standing in front of him, saying that she'd like a chance to get to know him, that she wanted to help Lucy, who she had dumped water on the first time he had met her.

They walked as a trio back towards the edge of town, Gemini quiet and still, and Cobra not really talking. Despite having wanted to spend time away from the guild and his team with Kinana, now that he had the opportunity he wasn't sure what to do with it.

When they reached where Lucy had stopped, Cobra checked for scents, looking for the distinctive strawberry scent that he was learning to associate with the blonde. Following the scent trail, mixed with the same odd scent Gemini was giving off, he found the Lucy and her spirit camped out in a small park at the edge of town, Lucy curled in the spirit's arms. Gemini shifted back into its spirit form as they approached, running to Lucy.

"You two had best go back," the orange haired spirit said as they reached the pair. "She's got Plue out right now, and isn't back to full strength yet."

Kinana approached slowly. "Loke-san?" she asked quietly. "Is everything okay with Lucy-san?"

"She's just working through some things Kinana-san," Loke said replied gently. "Coming back to town gave her a lot of bad memories."

"Should we go back to Laxus-sama's house?" Kinana said softly. "She may feel better there."

"I tried suggesting that," Loke murmured, stroking the blonde head buried in her shoulder. "She said she wanted to stay as long as it took for you guys to come back." Carefully, he tapped her shoulder. "Lucy, they're here. It's time to go back."

The blonde stirred, and shifted so that she was sitting in Loke's lap. Cobra could see that she was holding onto a little white…something. It smelled like a spirit, but he couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Kinana knelt next to Lucy. "Hello Plue, it's been a long time since I've seen you. How are you?"

Chirping…or whatever the spirit used to communicate, came from the spirit, and Kinana smiled. "I'm sorry, I don't have a lollipop for you. I didn't know I'd see you. Tell you what. Next time I come to see Lucy, I'll bring you two lollipops. Does that sound good?"

It shook with excitement, and Cobra realized that Lucy's mind was starting to calm down from its previously distraught state. A small smile flickered over her face, and she said hoarsely: "You're going to spoil him Kinana."

Kinana grinned back. "I know…but he's so cute. And he makes you smile, and we miss your smile. The guild's boring now. Grey's stopped stripping now, so Erza can't yell at him about it. Although, it's only been a day, so who knows how long that will last."

"I'm not sure I can go back," Lucy whispered, and Cobra smelled the tell-tale salt tang of tears. "It scares me, being in town, thinking about going back to the guild…a lot of things."

"You know what?" Kinana murmured, with a shy glance at Cobra. "When I met him, I was scared. I didn't know if he would bring my memories back, and I would learn about myself…that's scary. What type of person was I? Am I different now? Would he still like me? Would I be a disappointment? Is he a mean person? I didn't know anything, and that scared me…but I had Mira, and Lisanna, and everyone at the guild, who reassured me that they would still be there for me, no matter what. And he turned out to be kind, and a little shy, I think, coming to the guild every once in a while to say hello. Now I have you, giving us a chance to talk with each other without pressure, without the guild hanging on every word. In the end, I'm still afraid…I don't know if my memories will come back, but I do know that my friends will be there to help. Your friends are here for you too, even if you decide you never want to go to the guild hall again. So you don't have to make that decision right away. We'll do whatever you want, because you're our family and that's what we do."

"I haven't been very nice," Lucy hiccupped. "I don't know why you would be this nice to me after what I said."

Kinana smirked, an unexpected sight for Cobra, who didn't think the shy girl he was getting to know was capable of looking that mischievous. "Didn't you apologize? And didn't I dump water over your head? I think we're on our way to making amends. Sure, you said a lot of mean things to a lot of people at the guild, but you were hurting. Nobody's going to blame you for lashing out, not when they're told what was going on. A lot of them already do understand, and while it hurt that you were pushing us away, they realize that you were just dealing with things the only way you could."

"There were other ways of dealing with it," Lucy sniffed. "I didn't deal with it at all that way."

Kinana reached out and pulled Lucy into a hug. "It's okay Lucy, it's going to be okay. Fairy Tail will always be your family, no matter what. Sure, apologizing is going to be rough, but we're forgiving to a fault. We'll be here, as long as you want us."

Lucy shuddered, and buried her face in Kinana's shoulder. Cobra could hear her sobs, and smell the tears, but Kinana simply hugged the blonde tighter. When the tears stopped, Lucy looked up at Kinana, and Cobra could see that the tears had smudged some makeup on her face, revealing the scars underneath. "Can we go back to Laxus's?" the girl whispered, and Kinana smoothed her hair.

"Of course we can, that was the plan, wasn't it?" Carefully, she helped Lucy stand up, taking care not to hit the little white thing in Lucy's arms. "Let's go back and get you all cleaned up. I don't know if you've showered or not already, but a nice bath probably would help no matter what. After that, we can do a little spa day. I haven't painted my nails in a while, since Mira's been keeping me busy at the bar."

"What about Cobra?" Lucy murmured, cuddling the little white thing in her arms. "You came out here to spend time with him."

"I know," Kinana said, and Cobra saw her glance at him with pleading eyes. "But you need me more. Hopefully he understands that I'm not avoiding him, just postponing…"

Cobra swallowed hard. The emotions contained in the thoughts both women were emitting were already messing with his head, but hearing Kinana's thoughts at that moment…he could feel her desire to be able to spend time with him as it warred with her instinct to mother Lucy in this moment. Simply knowing that she was torn by the decision had been enough to satisfy him, but hearing her plans to make it up to him later without fail…he couldn't help but think that his partner had become an amazing woman. Is this Fairy Tail's influence?

"Come on," Kinana said softly, holding out her hand to Lucy. "Let's go back to the house."

"Loke?" Lucy turned to face the man who was still sitting on the ground, watching her with soft eyes. "Will you come too?"

"With pleasure Lucy," he said, reaching out to pat her gently on the head. "Whatever you want."

"Cobra…" the blonde said, turning to him. Surprised, he could only grunt, but she didn't seem to mind. "I'm sorry about ruining your day."

"Don't worry about it blondie," he said gruffly, turning away so they couldn't see the blush that threatened to creep up on his face. "As long as you don't put me up a tree again…then I'll be angry."

Behind him he could hear Kinana's soft chuckle and a snicker from Lucy's male spirit. Heading towards Laxus's house, he heard them follow him and realized that a lot had changed in a short amount of time. The man he had been as a member of the Oracian Seis wouldn't have acted this way at all…not even for Cubelios. With a shock, he realized that he preferred this kind of life, even if he had to put up with the insanity that was his new guild. It's a shame I had to go to jail to find this life.


Checking the clock, Laxus realized that it was five, and under Lucy's agreement with Freed, he could leave. Even though he hadn't left his office, and had seen only Lisanna when she had brought lunch up to him, it had been exhausting. After a week of having only Lucy around, the guild was painfully loud, especially with his enhanced hearing. Rubbing at the headache that had formed sometime during the afternoon, he finished the form he was working on and put down his pen. Grabbing his coat and his soundpods, he left his office, making his way towards the main floor.

At the bottom of the stairs, he passed Bixlow. "She's by the doors, waiting for you. Cobra's with her again."

"Thanks," Laxus grunted, moving quickly through the guild. All he wanted to do was get home and lock himself in his room and try to forget about the sight of Lucy standing terrified in the middle of the street. Cobra had pulled him away, but he couldn't get the scent of her fear out of his nostrils. It mingled with Gemini's scent in his mind, because he couldn't rid himself of the combination of fear and strawberries. His headache got worse, and he wished Lucy hadn't forbidden him from drinking. All he wanted to do at that moment was shut himself away, trying to numb himself from the ever present guilt that haunted him.

When he saw the blonde hair at the doors, he thought for a moment that the incident that morning had been a dream. She wasn't smiling as she usually did, but she looked composed, if not a bit distant as she gazed off into the distance, Cobra at her side, glaring at anyone who looked as if they were going to approach the blonde. As he got closer though, he caught the familiar scent of Gemini, and his heart sunk. She's too scared to come.

"Let's go," Gemini said, the spirit's voice an eerily exact copy of Lucy's own. "We can talk more outside the guild. Gajeel already knows something's wrong."

With heavy steps, Laxus followed the spirit out of the guild, Cobra trailing at his side. "How bad is it?" he muttered, both wanting to know and wanting to remain ignorant at the same time.

"She was pretty bad this morning," Cobra said quietly. "But Kinana was great with her. She got Lucy calmed down and relaxed again. They went through some of Lucy's exercises and watched a movie. After lunch, Lucy took a short nap, and when she woke up we all took a walk."

"Where is she now?"

"She came about as far as she did this morning. When we left her, she was better than she was this morning, but she was pretty nervous. Loke's been with her all day, as well as this weird little white thing that she swears is a dog." Cobra snorted, and Laxus couldn't help but grin slightly. He still wasn't convinced that Plue had any relation to a dog, despite seeing him on many occasions while Lucy was recovering.

The dragon slayers walked in silence for a while, but as they approached the place where Lucy was waiting, Cobra stopped for a minute.

Unsure of what was going on, Laxus paused as well. Seeing the poison dragon slayer shift from side to side uncomfortably, Laxus prepared for bad news. Does Lucy not want to see me anymore? Has she reverted back to the way she was?

"Look man, I know we're not best buds or anything like that, so this is gonna sound a bit weird. But…I've been in a place like yours before and I get second guessing yourself. So, if you ever want someone to vent to, or even just someone to fight with…I guess I'd be up for it."

Feeling as uncomfortable as the other dragon slayer looked, Laxus muttered: "I'll keep that in mind."

Cobra started moving again, and neither man said anything until they reached where Lucy and Loke were waited, Lucy holding tight to Plue with one arm, as if the spirit was a stuffed animal, and clasping Loke's hand tightly with her free hand. Cobra was right, she looked nervous and uncomfortable, but she was holding herself together. "How did it go?" she whispered.

"Fine," he said, eyes dropping to the ground. "Did a lot of paperwork."

"That's good. Nobody bothered you?"

"Stop it," he snapped, startling all of them, including himself. "Just…stop. Stop caring about how my day went when the last time I saw you, you were falling apart. Worry about yourself, not my sorry ass."

As he looked at her shocked face, he felt the guilt rising up again, this time so high it nearly choked him. Swallowing hard, he felt his magic trickle through his body and let the familiar feel of teleportation pull him away. Landing outside his house out of habit, he fled inside, heading for his room. Once there, with the door closed behind him, he yanked the curtains shut and returned to the door to make sure it was locked. Hands trembling, he slid down the length of the door until he was sitting on the floor, leaning against it. A tear leaked out of his eye, and he wondered how long it had been since he last cried. It's just too much. I've failed too much…

***And the broship between all three of them continues! Plus some Cobra/Kinana! Also, even though I'm the one who wrote Lucy putting Cobra up a tree, it still makes me giggle each and every time...We've started towards a close at this point. Laxus's guilt, and Lucy's fear are pretty much the last issues to resolve. Oh, and Natsu's return, but we've got other things to do before we get there.

Next chapter...hmmm, should be fun. Celestial Spirit-driven intervention!***