My first story for the first ever CoLu week! I'm so excited that it's finally here!

That being said, this isn't a one-shot, but a multi-chaptered fic. I will post the second chapter next week at the same time. In fact, most of my contributions will have multiple chapters. I'm turning this into a CoLu month instead!

Prompt Day 1: Language

"Communication of meaning in any way; medium that is expressive, significant, etc."

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


Chapter 1
Everyone Has Secrets To Keep


Secrets fester in people's hearts. Lucy Heartfilia knew this only too well. Her father had kept many of his own from her, and the Celestial mage had done much the same when she'd joined Fairy Tail. They ate souls from the inside, gnawing just a little further every day until all that remained were tatters and cobwebs of the person. To relieve the burden would be to spill the secret, and allow healing to begin.

When these secrets are torn from their possessors, though…

The day that Lucy realized that something was off about Cobra, was a day pretty much like the rest. Crime Sorciere had dropped by the guild to visit. Or, rather, they had at the insistence of the pink haired sensory mage so that she could visit with Juvia and plot Gray's wedding – without his input… or consent.

Midnight had gone off somewhere to sleep in peace, as he usually did. The Rajinshuu had taken immediately to the narcoleptic Reflector mage when the group had first shown up at Fairy Tail's doors two years earlier. Therefore he had free reign over Laxus's office and the upstairs area they'd claimed for themselves.

Sorano was in the process of becoming completely wasted, as she'd foolishly accepting a drinking challenge from Cana.

Jellal and Erza had disappeared to who-knew-where. No one was going to question them about it when they eventually returned, however. Though Natsu might in the hopes of getting a fun fight.

Richard and Mirajane had become fast friends the first day Crime Sorciere had shown up, and the strength of that bond had only grown over the past two years.

Racer was chatting peaceably with Jet over the differences between speed mage and slow magic. Both mages believed that their own specialty was the superior technique, of course. Though it did spark an interesting debate over whether or not the two could be combined for maximum area damage.

That was the conversation Lucy had been eavesdropping upon, sitting at her usual place at the bar. Not too far away, Cobra also sat, speaking quietly to his old friend, Kinana.

It was a simple, innocuous comment of Kinana's that caught Lucy's attention. Or rather, Cobra's reaction to it. A statement that would not have garnered a second thought from the blonde Celestial Mage under normal circumstances, if not for the sheer oddness Cobra was displaying towards his friend's simple words.

Lucy had only glanced over for a second before the utterance had left Kinana's mouth, but Cobra's body posture already had her on high alert. Many years of practice reading even the tiniest of cues for use at her father's societal functions made her more perceptive than others when it came to the language bodies spoke.

Minute though it was, the man had stiffened briefly in his seat in what Lucy could only name as quiet, acute alarm.

It set off warning bells inside her head.

"I heard that people's voices sound different in their heads compared to how they speak!" Kinana informed her old friend while she polished a glass. "Because the vibrations from our bones get picked up by our inner ears which changes the way we hear our own voices. I never knew that before." Then she giggled brightly. "But I guess you already did!"

"...Yeah," Cobra agreed. "I don't notice it much though – I pay more attention to what their souls tell me first. Besides, it just sort of... all blends together after a while. I've learned to more or less ignore the dissonance."

His reply hadn't been as swift as she would have expected from him. And despite his words, he'd sounded… uncertain to Lucy. As if he hadn't actually realized that. Cobra had also leaned back in his seat, pulling his arms – resting on the bar's counter top – a little closer to his body. That was a subtle retreat if ever Lucy had seen one.

When Kinana turned away to return the glass in its spot, Cobra shot Lucy a brief glare that spoke volumes to her.

She did not need spoken words, or Cobra's Soul Listening magic to fully understand what that single, intense, indigo orb was communicating to her.

Drop it. Now.

Then he abruptly returned his focus to the barmaid, who continued to chatter at him happily.

But Lucy wasn't sure she'd be able to follow the unspoken command. If Cobra had pretended that he hadn't heard her, or ignored the observation, Lucy would have forgotten the incident entirely to be honest. That look however... to her, it meant that she was touching upon something real. Something that Cobra didn't want other people to know – something to be hidden even from his closest friend.

Her curiosity piqued, there was no way Lucy was going to be able to let the matter slide.


One day, about two weeks or so after Lucy first noticed that something was off with Cobra, one of the large ceiling fans in the main guild area fell down. The anchoring had come loose due to the guild's many raucous parties and the fan had finally succumbed to its wounds, losing its battle with gravity.

Thankfully, most of the mages had been outside of the guild at the pool, so no one was injured.

It made the most horrendous breaking noise when it hit the ground, one that even Lucy could hear – let alone what it must have sounded like to the Dragon Slayers. Though if the jarred looks on their faces were any indication, it really wasn't a pleasant tone.

But Cobra, Lucy noticed, hadn't reacted at all to the noise. Well… not quite. He did, but it was a moment after the rest, just out of sync with the group.

When he passed her by to investigate the source along with the others, he leaned down and hissed a warning to her, "I'm only going to tell you once – leave well enough alone." Then he was gone, into the guild with the rest. His threat, though, lingered in the Celestial Mage's ear, the whisper of his breath across her skin and those sharpened canines close enough to puncture setting every survival instinct she possessed into hyper-drive.

Lucy's curiosity only grew, however. There was no possible way she could stop now. She would uncover what Cobra was hiding – no matter what.


Lucy swallowed thickly, keeping her gaze firmly on the beading moisture coating the glass of her strawberry milkshake. She could feel eyes boring into the back of her head. Or rather, an eye.

Ever observant when it involved interpersonal relationships and her favorite Celestial mage, Mirajane sidled over to her perspiring blonde friend. "What's going on, Lucy?" Her blue eyes flickered over to where Lucy could sense Cobra brooding in his commandeered corner. "Oh, what is this?" A smile crept over the Take Over mage's face, one that screamed, 'I am up to something!'

"Just drinking my milkshake, Mira," Lucy replied, hoping that the demon barmaid would take the hint and just walk away.

No such luck.

"I think he's looking over here at you, again!" Mirajane tittered.

"I hadn't noticed." Except she had, of course.

Cobra, ever since she had witnessed that one conversation between him and Kinana, seemed to be paying the Celestial Mage an unhealthy amount of attention whenever he visited the guild. As if he were waiting for her to overtly disobey his order to leave it alone.

He wasn't being particularly subtle about it either.

"Maybe… he likes you?" purred the barmaid. Propping her elbows on the countertop and resting her head in her hands, Mirajane leaned forward. "And don't think I haven't caught you looking at him, too! Does our precious Lucy Heartfilia finally have a crush on someone? Is Cobra the one to make your pulse race and turn your insides to goo?"

Oh her insides were goo, alright. And her pulse was racing. But that was because of the open hostility he was displaying towards her.

Whatever he was hiding must be big, Lucy concluded. That was the only explanation.

Though she still needed to answer Mirajane's questions before they became even more awkward lest her silence be taken for confirmation of the older woman's suspicions.

"No, Mira," Lucy replied. "It's not like that. Maybe he's staring at something else? I think it's all in your head."

Mirajane tutted at her blonde friend. "Now don't give me any of that, Lucy! I've caught you staring more than once at him! Tell me what your involvement is with our favorite Poison Dragon Slayer!"

"He's the only Poison Dragon Slayer, Mirajane."

"So it's his magic that captivates you so!"

Lucy, in the middle of taking a sip from her milkshake, choked and sputtered. Small globules of the pink substance flew onto the bar, and onto Mirajane's perfect porcelain face.

Less than amused by this, Mirajane wiped herself off with a damp towel.

Off in his corner, Cobra howled with laughter.

"No, Mira," Lucy told her, wiping her own face when Mirajane offered her the towel. "We just… we're working through a misunderstanding. That's all."

Accusations answered for the moment, and not interested in being coated with Lucy's drink again, Mirajane wandered off to take stock in the back room.

Relishing the momentary reprieve, Lucy sighed and buried her head in her arms on the bar's countertop.

To be fair, Mirajane wasn't entirely incorrect in her assumptions of something going on between the Slayer and the Celestial Mage. It just wasn't romantic in nature.


Another incident occurred when Laxus came storming down the stairs from his office, furiously stomping up to the bar where Cobra sat. The Lightening Dragon Slayer picked up the startled man and shook him. "I was calling you on the damn lacrima for ten minutes! Did you not hear me?!"

For a brief moment, Cobra seemed genuinely confused. He glanced down the bar, spotting the lacrima not two seats away from where he sat. Gaze returning to Laxus, Cobra gave the other Second Generation Slayer a smirk. "No, are you sure you said anything at all?" he challenged. "Could just be in your head. Maybe you should get that checked out."

Screaming in frustration, Laxus dropped the former criminal. "I don't have time to deal with this!" Then he stalked off to the storeroom, muttering about having to take inventory himself and where the hell had Mirajane and Kinana wandered off to.

Cobra glanced at the lacrima again, a peculiar expression upon his face. Then he whipped his head around, indigo eye narrowed at Lucy.

Observing him from a nearby table, Lucy flushed at being caught again and busied herself with her milkshake and team's idle chatter.


The day Lucy discovered what it was Cobra was keeping secret, was the day her relationship with the Slayer changed completely.

Everything was fairly normal at the guild – that is, a large brawl was underway, complete with broken bottles, flying tables, and magic running rampant all over the place.

Cobra had, shockingly, managed to avoid being caught up in this one. At his usual place at the bar, he chatted with Kinana over the sounds of destruction going on behind him. That is, until someone managed to knock over the mic stand, the thing letting out an ear-splitting screech of feedback. Lucy promptly covered her ears and winced, as did Cobra.

Once the noise had ceased, Cobra removed his hands from his ears. He shook his head to clear it a bit of the same ringing Lucy was trying to be rid of at the moment. As the guild members started screeching themselves in an attempt to locate the culprit, Lucy heard Laxus, at the far end of the bar, ask Cobra, "How do you stand it? Along with a Dragon Slayer's hearing, you've got that mind reading thing going on. How are you not deaf yet?"

The tone was joking, but Cobra flinched minutely. "Not a clue, Ground Wire," he called out, with a short laugh.

Lucy froze as she listened to the sound of his laughter. It was just a little too harsh, and a little too loud to be anything other than forced. With that, it all clicked into place in her mind.

Suddenly, there was no more air for her to breathe. It was as if it had been sucked from the building.

Standing up, Lucy wobbled her way to the guild doors. The world rushed around her, like it was filled with the dull roar of water all around.

"Where are you going, Luce?" Natsu called out, curious.

"I just… need some air," Lucy replied. "And some quiet." That much was the truth. "I'll be back in a second." She wasn't as certain about that part, to be honest.

Assuaged for now, Natsu returned to accusing Gray of knocking the mic stand over.

Once she was outside the guild, Lucy made her way over to the back. Slumping against the wall once she was sure she was alone, she took in great gulps of oxygen. Trying to process what she had just figured out, she didn't notice the approaching, infuriated Dragon Slayer.

A shadow loomed over Lucy, and she looked up into the livid, vibrant purple eye of Cobra.

"You couldn't listen to me could you?" he growled, light flashing in his indigo orb. "You just had to keep… keep…" The man was so enraged that he couldn't even form a complete, coherent sentence.

Lucy knew she'd screwed up. Big time. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't realize… I thought… I…" She gulped, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. "I won't…"

'I won't tell them that you're deaf.'