Author's Note: Hello and I am back with the next chapter. I am going to try my best to make sure Lucy and Cobra get out of Uruk as fast as possible without rushing the story. I have no idea how I am going to do that, but it is something I am going to have to do because I got big plans for when they arrive in Abydos and Heliopolis.

If I am going to be completely honest, I did not think this story would be as long as it is. I'm usually all for short stories because they get to the point, but this one might be long. I guess the same thing can be said about the other two stories I am working on.

I did not mean to make the update this long between chapters. I halfway wrote this chapter back in either December or January, but had to stop due to life getting in the way. I just finished writing this chapter last week. Again, I apologize about the long wait.

Anyway, let's move on with the story. I'm sure no one wants to hear me blabber on and on.

The amazing story of Fairy Tail is owned by the one and only Hiro Mashima.

Chapter Fourteen:

A Night in Uruk – Part One

"What a coward!" Cobra growled as he and Lucy slowly peeled themselves off the stone wall. "He abandoned us here in this forsaken wasteland. The least he could have done is teleport us with him to Heliopolis."

Lucy rolled her eyes before she took a look around the surrounding area, making sure to look at the dark red ray before turning her attention to Cobra. She could see the anger flashing through his eye as his canines started to show from under his lips, and she sent a silent prayer that the Poison Dragon Slayer does not kill Dan when they finally meet up with him at Heliopolis. Although, she must admit that he did make a good point. Dan could have taken them with him, but he did not. Even Lucy was a little peeved about that.

She sighed as she started to walk away from the mad Dragon Slayer, hearing the sand and rocks crunch under her feet as she explored the desert wasteland. As the air blew, she noticed that it was dry and warm. As she breathed she felt small particles of sand go up her nose, making it scrunch as she covered it with the back of her hand. She then walked towards the platform where they are standing to see just how far from the ground they were, and after she looked down, she almost threw herself back.

They were high up on a mountain cliff and the thought of it freaked her, especially since she could easily plummet to her death if she took a wrong step by the edge of the cliff.

"Hey Cobra, I think we should stay away from the edges… Wait, what are you doing?!" exclaimed Lucy as she looked at her partner with wide eyes and her fight or flight instincts activating.

Cobra was already way ahead of her by the tree the green King Cobra slithered up, looking up at it as he was reading the mind and soul of the creature. Lucy could see it's head poking out from one of the branches, making her start to slowly creep away until she was near the tunnel exit.

"I'm taking care of your little 'snake problem'," Cobra answered her as he turned his head to calmly look at her, not at all bothered by the fact that a venomous snake was inching its way closer to him. "All he wants is a safe place to live. He won't bother us unless he's hungry or if he feels threatened."

Lucy just nodded her head at him. "As long as he doesn't bite me, we're all good."

Cobra snickered and looked at her with a mischievous look in his eye. "Don't worry. I'll just suck the poison out of you with no problem."

Lucy shuddered at the thought and slightly glared at him. "You're a creep."

"And you're an idiot. Case closed."

Lucy grunted as she stomped away from where she was standing, feeling agitated and annoyed at Cobra, yet a small blush crept up onto her cheeks. In the background she could hear him laughing up a storm before turning his attention to his reptilian friend. She shook her head as she tried to calm herself down and listen to the area around her as she approached the river of lava flowing between her and the cave up ahead.

From where she was standing she could feel the intense heat coming from the lava, and could hear bubbles popping as it moved. She took a couple of steps forward to get a closer look, and to her surprise, she saw some rocks slowly floating down the river of lava. She examined them more and more as they slowly approached her and saw just how easy it was to jump onto the rocks and onto the platform on the other side. She knew it was all in the timing; one wrong move and she could lose her life in seconds. It would be a painful few seconds, which is something she'd rather not think about.

She turned her attention away from the floating rocks to the Poison Dragon Slayer still by the tree having a conversation with the King Cobra like it was normal. She felt some sweat drip down her back as she watched the large snake move around the tree, keeping it's eyes closely focused on Cobra. To her it was an interesting interaction between man and beast, yet she wondered how he wasn't dead yet. Her eyes grew wide when she saw him lift up his hand towards the venomous snake with it dipping it's head into his hand, allowing him to run his fingers down it's scales.

She would never admit this out loud, but she is glad that she was able to witness something like this. Cobra was relaxed and enjoying himself with a creature that would normally scare people away, and the creature seemed to fully accept him and know it's safe with him around. It was crazy to think about, but it somehow comforted her that something like a King Cobra would trust the man she is working with. Lucy knows that animals are great judges of people, so maybe she should take this interaction as a sign of comfort.

Lucy then shook her head as she remembered the task she needs to do, and quickly turned her attention back to the rocks floating down the lava stream. They were closer to her than before and she knew time was starting to be cut short. Her head quickly turned to face Cobra, thinking about what she needs to do. She watched the King Cobra quickly turn its attention away from the Poison Dragon Slayer to the tunnel that led the two of them into Uruk, and it started to slither down the tree before moving over to the tunnels. She figured it must have sensed something coming and left.

Lucy noticed that Cobra looked disappointed about his new friend leaving, but he then breathed in before looking around for her. When his attention found her, she waved him over.

"It's urgent, Cobra!" Lucy yelled over to him. "I have an idea."

Cobra just nodded his heads towards her as he jogged over to where she was standing, and she told him through her mind what she was thinking. He nodded his head a couple of times before his face scrunched together, and his one eye turn to look wide into her's.

"You can't be serious about what you want to do. I would expect something like that from that Flame Idiot, not you." Cobra deadpanned, not believing what he is hearing. "You're literally asking to die, Heartfilia. There must be other options – anything would work, but that."

Lucy sighed, expecting that reaction. "I know it's crazy Cobra, but you are going to have to trust me. Jumping from rock to rock and onto the platform is how we are going to get onto the other side."

Cobra shook his head, looking at her as if she grew another head. "No, absolutely not."

"Cobra…" Lucy almost whined as she turned to look at the incoming rocks. "We're running out of time."

"Okay, say your plan does work and we both survive. If that cave led us to a dead end and we had to turn back, how do you expect us to get across?" asked Cobra as he thought about her plan, thinking about how insane it was.

Unconsciously Lucy rubbed her pink Fairy Tail insignia with her thumb, thinking back to how many times she told Natsu Dragneel that something wouldn't work. He always managed to do the unexpected and pull off the impossible, something she always looked up to, and a small smile crossed her features as something told her to go with her gut. She knew Cobra was coming from a good place; if she were in his position she would be saying the same exact thing, but as she rubbed her Fairy Tail insignia, something inside of her told her to trust herself.

She turned to look at Cobra in his eye, her eyes glistening with knowing, ambition, determination, and strength. "You have nothing to worry about, Cobra." She said as she looked between the rocks, the platform, the cave, and then back at her partner. She started to back up as she calculated the exact time she needs to jump across. "Because I know that everything will be okay."

Cobra wanted to shout her name as she stopped backing up right before she started to run towards the river of lava. He wanted to grab her and bring her towards him so he could save her life, but something stopped him. He doesn't know what stopped him, yet he knows it was not his evil past bubbling up. No, it was definitely not that. Traveling with Crime Sorciere has changed him for the better, which he is grateful about. As he looked deeper into moments before her backing up, it suddenly dawned on him why he wasn't stopping her.

Lucy had a look that he has never seen with her before. He has memories of her from seven years ago when they first saw each other on the battlefield… their first meeting. He remembers that she looked at them confused, terrified, and a little confident; he could sense that she wasn't the strongest mage there, but he knew there was a reason why she was chosen to take him, Brain, and his guildmates down. His memory then quickly fast forwarded to their second and third meeting, and how she displayed growth then.

Here is Cobra now with a Lucy who has grown more since they last saw each other, and he knew himself that she wouldn't be doing what she is doing if she didn't think it would work. That strength and confidence in her eyes told him so. He knew he had to trust her since she is putting her faith in him. He then blinked his eye when he saw her blonde hair fly past him and he focused his eye back on her.

Adrenaline flowed through Lucy's veins as she jumped from the ground and quickly landed on one of the rocks. She tried to regain her balance as fast as she could as she felt the floating rock move beneath her. She knew it wouldn't become steady in time, so she quickly gathered her strength and courage, and jumped right onto the next rock before she jumped onto the platform.

The second she felt her feet touch the ground relief flooded through her veins like a waterfall. Despite losing her balance and tumbling on the ground soon after landing, a smile spread across her lips as she stopped tumbling and looked up at the sky as she thanked Mavis her plan worked.

She was alive, breathing, and still in one piece. She quickly leaned forward and searched her body for her keys and whip, and she broke out into a full-blown smile when she felt all of them still secure on her waist. It worked. It actually worked! Lucy thought happily as she started to stand back up again, and looked over at Cobra on the other side of the platform.

His arms were crossed and his stance was relaxed, but there was a smirk on his face as he watched her every move and read her thoughts. She smiled at him and backed away from the edge of the platform and looked right into his eyes.

"Well, aren't you going to join me?" asked Lucy as she watched the Rocks slowly trickle away from where she was standing.

Cobra just chuckled as he, too, started to back up before he started to run in the direction of the rocks. Lucy watched him cross the rocks with ease, and felt her confidence slowly drop as he landed on the platform with no trouble.

"Show off…" she mumbled as she turned around and started to walk towards the area with the small cave, and looked up towards the cave entrance.

The cave was easily a story up from the ground with the side of the mountain smooth; she figured with how smooth the sandstone looked that it would be a challenge to climb. She hummed to herself as she gently laid her hand on the sandstone, and glided her fingers across it. It was just as she thought; the sandstone was smooth. It almost felt like glass to the touch, meaning that someone engineered the stone.

Lucy carefully inspected the sandstone, and everything appeared the same. She sighed as she turned to Cobra to look at him for help, giving him a look with her large brown eyes that he understood right away. He, too, walked up next to her to feel the wall in front of him. As he shook his head before looking at her, she knew that they needed to figure something out quick.

Not only is getting up to the cave important for investigation reasons, but she still heard the faint sound of buzzing coming from the ray behind them. She knew the cave would be their safest course of action. She wants them to complete this mission alive, not dead. Either way, we can't complete the mission dead. She thought to herself as she peaked behind her shoulder to look at the dark red ray.

It was still shooting up into the sky, making everything around it look dark and sickly. It disgusted her that Set was altering everything around him.

"Heartfilia, I have an idea of how we can get up there." Cobra pipped up as he listened to her thoughts and feelings about the whole situation. A part of him wants her to take her mind off everything so she can focus on the mission, but the other part of him understands what she is feeling and why they both decided to go through with the mission in the first place.

Lucy turned to look at him surprised. "How?"

"I can activate my scales to help us climb this thing. Once my scales are activated my claws come out, which will help us get into the cave. We can try this if you want." He suggested to which she smiled up at him.

"Brilliant thinking! Let's try it." Agreed Lucy, who patiently waited for him to activate his dragon scales.

Cobra breathed in and out a couple of times as the Poison Dragon Slayer slid off his jacket to reveal his black tank top underneath, his toned arms being shown off to the world as his maroon scales started to take form. His hands started to look like a dragon's claws; his fingernails turned into sturdy and strong dragon claws that could cut through anything, and poison slowly appeared from his hands. Lucy could see Cobra bring the poison back inside him to keep her safe, and he nodded towards her when he was ready.

Without hesitation Lucy jumped right onto his back after tying his jacket around her waist, and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. When Cobra felt that she was secure he stepped towards the wall and dug his claws into the sandstone, and watched pieces fall into the ground as he secured his hand into place before using his other hand to break through the wall.

Slowly but surely he was able to scale the ten-foot wall as he dug his claws into the sandstone, and lift him and Lucy up. There was some difficulty when trying to regain his balance, carrying practically two people up a wall, and placing his feet in the broken slots in the wall – yet he did it. He did it as the night sky was just beginning to peak through, blending in with the darkened sky around the ray. It was almost fitting for a place like Uruk.

Using a little bit of strength Cobra was able to lift him and Lucy onto the ledge of the cave entrance, and he plopped down onto the ground as he tried to regain his breath. Lucy gracefully lifted herself off of him and stumbled a little into the cave. It was a little dark, which is what she expected, but what surprised her is that the cave was more than a cave – it was a tunnel. It was a single winding tunnel.

"For once a little bit of luck is on our side…" She mumbled as she felt grateful that something turned out okay for once.

She looked forward to see if there was anything or anyone coming their way, but due to the far end of the tunnel being dark she could not see anything. Her gut and survival instincts were telling her that everything seemed to be okay, but that does not mean she can't be alert. This world has proved time and time again to not get comfortable.

Behind her, Cobra laid on his back as his scales started disappearing and his hands started to become normal. He looked up at the sandstone ceiling above him, thankful that he did not fall. He knew that he would be okay if he fell down, but not Lucy since he would more than likely land on top of her. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he is proud of himself for not falling.

He slowly moved his upper body up into a sitting position with his legs still dangling on the side, and scanned the land with his one eye, taking everything in. He could see and understand how this land was once a beautiful place; volcanic activity meant good soil and that meant great farmland. Everything in Uruk is spacious and open, which is perfect for any type of settlement. Yet he could also see how wars have possibly taken place here; in fact, his gut is telling him that the deceased soldiers in the catacombs under Dan's Castle were soldiers that were captured on these very fields. Its too close to Dan's home, and the open fields are perfect for armies to clash.

He shook his head, trying to regain his senses and try not to think about what might have happened in the past. This world is full of surprises and Cobra is sure he will know answers to everything soon.

He finally stood up, quickly looking over his right shoulder towards Lucy to see what she is doing, and once he saw that she was okay he then turned his attention to the land in front of him once more. He then started to inspect more of what the mountain they were on lead to, and his eye caught something moving in the distance.

From where he was, he could see that it was about as tall as Lucy, thin and silver, and constantly moving around. It appeared to be guarding something, yet Cobra could not place what it was guarding. He knew it had to be something important for something to be there. More importantly, whatever that thing is had to be guarding something for Set. At least to Cobra that seemed logical.

He narrowed his eye at it once he saw it move a little more towards where the cave entrance is, and Cobra saw that the thing was actually a giant eye. He moved a little more within the cave so he can get out of sight, since he figured there is a chance it could see him if it looked hard enough, and sighed as he leaned his back against the sandstone wall. Of course… a giant eye. How original. He sarcastically thought, but knew better than the underestimate it. For all he knew, it could alert the people in Set's castle of him and Lucy's whereabouts.

Cobra looked towards Lucy and the cave to see that they ended up in a tunnel. He felt a little more secure knowing that they somehow ended up in a safer place than out in the fields of Uruk.

"Hey Lucy," Cobra whispered over to her and watched her turn around to look at him. "We need to stick to this tunnel, and hope that it leads us to where we need to be. There is a giant eye watching this area."

Lucy stared at him confused. "A giant… eye?"

Cobra nodded his head. "Right on at the other platform you noticed earlier. Its scanning the area constantly."

Lucy did not doubt that Cobra was telling the truth, but she still wanted to see what he is talking about. She stood right in front of him, and peaked around the tunnel entrance to scan the area with the giant eye Cobra saw. She looked up towards the other platform, the same one where she saw movement, and saw exactly what Cobra was talking about. As she watched it she saw it moving now towards the tunnel entrance, and quickly got out of the way of the entrance. Her back collided with the wall right next to Cobra, and looked up at him with her brown eyes.

"That thing must be working for Set. There is no way Dan and his family would use something like that, or we would have seen them around his palace." She concluded.

Instead of saying something sarcastic in response, Cobra just nodded his head. He made sure to roll his eye, though, which made him received a smack to the arm by none other than Fairy Tail's Celestial Spirit Mage. He grabbed his arm and hissed at her, yet she just ignored it and started to walk down the tunnel to where she was before. At least, where she thought she was before.

Lucy accidently walked a little past where she was before, and before her very eyes the tunnel lit up. Torches were set ablaze on one side of the tunnel, going all the way down as far as her eyes could see, and she was greeted with a display of paintings scattered across the right side of the wall. They were in the style of hieroglyphics, yet they were not. Everything appeared to be in sequence, as if it were telling a story. An old story since most of the paintings were worn down, but not fully worn down.

It was Cobra's turn to step away from the wall and walk over to where Lucy was standing. He, too, took everything in. He saw everything from warriors in the midst of battle to Gods and a King standing behind the ranks of the soldiers. What appeared to be the sky was purple with red streaks running through it, and the clouds were a pitch black. The land that appeared to be beautiful fields of green were stained with red from the onslaught of the battle.

The king looked to have dark red hair - hair that reminded both of them of Dan Straight - and he was decked out in armor while wielding a long lance. He was standing on top of a chariot being pulled by a couple of white horses. There was a crown placed on top of his head that gave them the clue he was a king, but what drew their attention were the Gods and Goddesses floating in the air above him. The two mages figured they must have supported the king with the battle he chose to fight at that time.

The two mages then looked to the left side of the painting to see something that looked oddly familiar to them. There was a God standing behind an army of undead soldiers being led by a smaller God, whose eyes were glowing red. They appeared to be skeletons decked out in a black form of metal. The God behind them wore a black and red formfitting suit. The God appeared to have glowing red eyes and fangs sticking right below his lips. The skin of the God was tan, but a darker tan than those of the king on the chariot.

The whole battle scene reminded Lucy and Cobra of what was happening in Dan's world at the present, which only meant one thing to them…

"Dan was wrong. This has happened before." Concluded Lucy.

Okay, this chapter was getting a little too long and I did not want to subtract the importance of this chapter. The last part is especially important and I need it to be noticed, which I'm sure everyone reading this did. If not, please let me know via Private Messaging (PM). This is also why I am splitting it up into two chapters. The next chapter is going to be just as important.

I also want to apologize about the chapter being super late. I'm hoping to get the mystery aura back into this story, as well as the right personality for the Fairy Tail characters.

Have a great day or night wherever you are!

Coming Soon…

Chapter Fifteen: A Night in Uruk – Part Two