"N-natsu, is he back? I need him." Running through the guild hall, Levy McGarden scanned the room for the pink haired dragon slayer and pretty much screamed when she spotted his head of hair rolling about on the floor with Gray. It was good that he had such a bright hair color because otherwise he'd be impossible to find.
Rushing over to the squabbling pair, Levy grabbed Natsu by his scarf, successfully pulling him off the ice mage, dragged him along the floor and out into the fresh night air outside the guild.
"Hey, what the hell Levy? I was going to win that, Gray didn't stand a chance. He's clearly been slacking." Attempting to pull away from the petite girl's grasp was proving impossible so he jumped to his feet and hunched his back, allowing her to pull him along behind her.
"You've gotten a lot stronger since I last saw you huh. What's going on? I've only just got back, can't this wait? I've been away for a year and I'm dying for some of Mira's home made grub."
His stomach growled loudly at the thought of her mouth watering food, he grasped his middle and moaned dramatically "Oh the pain, I'm going to die Levy, just go on without me."
"Idiot, you really haven't changed at all. I thought this extended training mission would maybe help you grow up but guess I was wrong." She turned around and pulled his head down, directly in front of hers.
"Listen to me and not your stomach, Lucy's been fine the whole time you've been gone but-" His ears clocked onto the mention of his blonde haired best friend and his face visibly brightened, food soon forgotten as he glanced around the opening of the street they were entering, clocking onto the fact that it was where Lucy's house was.
"Lucy, are we going to see her? She'll have food. I knew she'd be fine anyway, she's my partner after all." He sniffed loudly and frowned "Why are Gajeel and Laxus here?"
"I think the question is why are you here pinky?" Gajeel appeared in the doorway of Lucy's house and scowled.
"Levy I said we could handle it, why have you brought the fire headed idiot? Three of us is fine. I told you to go home and stay there until we get back with Lucy. I don't want you near these psychos, it's not safe."
Natsu stepped forward and sniffed again "There's someone else here too, I recognize-"
"It's me shit head. "Cobra slipped past Gajeel, not even sparing a glance at Natsu and walked down the cobbled street leading out of Magnolia.
"Look, we need to go now otherwise I'll lose any scent of her that's left. It's faint enough as it is. Let him come if you want, the more the fucking merrier" Natsu had a puzzled look on his face as he looked at all the faces around him.
"What's going on guys? Why is Cobra from the Oracion Seis here and where the hell is Luce?"
"That's the thing Natsu." Levy said softly as she placed her hand on his tense shoulder "We don't know."
'Ah, another locked door, what a refreshing change of pace to all the locked windows.'
After being forcibly removed from her house by the Oracion Seis, Lucy had found woken up on the floor, trapped in a dingy looking house that smelt of mold and death. While she was free to walk around the property but each new room she entered was as empty and plain as the last and some of the doors were locked, keeping her on the right hand side of the property.
'This place hasn't had any occupants for a long time' She thought as she ran her finger along the dust covered door handle, cringing at the filth that covered everything. She wouldn't say that she was a clean freak but she liked things to be in order, this place was making her twitch.
"Why the hell would they kidnap me and then leave me here on my own?"
"You're not alone." A raspy voice sounded from the darkness. Suppressing a shudder that was creeping up her spine she peeked over her shoulder and let out a small laugh of relief. Turning around, she smiled brightly and took a step forward "Erik you found me."
Stretching her hand out to take his, she was taken aback when the maroon haired man barked out a laugh and took a step backwards "I'm not here to save you Lucy, I'm here to make sure you don't escape. Can't have our little celestial key running away now can we?"
Feeling the blood drain out of her face, she felt at a loss for words. 'Was he working with the Oracion Seis this whole time? No I don't believe it, I can't.'
Clawed fingers grasped her chin tightly, forcing her to look at the face of the man who she had fallen for, he had a cruel smile on his face. She couldn't stop the way her body reacted to his, she tried to root herself in place and twisted her face away from his.
"You fell for me like a stupid little girl, just like I knew you would. It really wasn't that hard." Trailing kisses down her neck his hand caressed her cheek, she subconsciously pressed her face against his palm, being completely hypnotized by the feel of his lips on her skin. "You need to do what Midnight asks, once it's done we can go back to Fairy Tail and be together."
Slowly opening her eyes, she looked at Cobra's maroon hair, the longer she stared at it, the more he looked, wrong. His hair color wasn't quite right, his voice didn't sound like the scratchy tone she had grown to love. His touch felt cold and empty.
Rolling her eyes, she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed hard. "Cut the crap." She spat out as the impostor smirked at her as he regained his footing. "Erik would never say something like that, this is your doing Midnight so just stop it. He would tell me to fight to the death."
"You're no fun princess." The Cobra impersonator disappeared and she frowned deeply at how stupid she had been. Cobra didn't know where she was, no matter how good his sense of smell was, he wasn't going to find her. Even she didn't know where she was.
"It was visually pleasing seeing you get yourself all hot and bothered. What am I to do now?" Midnight emerged from the corner of the room, he'd clearly been using his magic to cloak himself in darkness so he was hidden from Lucy's sight. She scowled at the man before her and lifted her chin in a defiant motion.
"How about letting me go for a start and then how about dying? That sounds wonderful to me."
"Maybe I'll let you go once you start responding to me, or maybe I might just keep you as my own personal toy. I haven't quite decided yet but I do know that you are far too precious to be left to the hands of someone like Cobra and I don't think I'm ready for death yet, so sorry."
Rubbing her hands over her face, she groaned loudly at the amount of bullshit that was continuously coming out of this idiot's mouth, she debated on whether to bite his nose off and risk making a run for it or playing it safe and just spitting in his face.
Her decision soon became clear when she felt a cold hand cup her ass. Somehow, spitting on him and biting his nose off didn't seem severe enough.
"Get your hand off me or I will personally rip your balls off and shove them down your throat." Her voice was deathly quiet and she was pleased at how rapidly he removed his hand off her and took a step back. Midnight knew that her bite was definitely worse than her bark and he should be careful around this blonde spitfire.
"I can see you're not quite ready yet, how about I come back in a couple of days and see how you're feeling then?" Turning to leave, Lucy grabbed his arm and pouted "Hey now, no need to run off like that, I just don't like being touched like that when I'm already taken for."
"Oh you're taken for alright, by me. You're going to help the Oracion Seis become glorious again and maybe if you're lucky, you can join in on the fame."
His breath was hot on her cheek as he pressed a kiss on her cheek. Fighting the urge to strike him for touching her, again, was difficult but it was important that if she was to escape that she had to play his sick little game. If she wanted to see Cobra again, she had to keep him happy. That was the plan.
"We'll see Midnight." She muttered as she forced a smile at the man before her. Holding out his hand she placed her hand in it and let him lead her out of the room to a part of the house she couldn't reach before. It smelt a lot more pleasant.