"Look, I get you're trying to be all chummy with me and stuff but I think I'll stick to calling you asshole." Lucy winked at Midnight and collapsed onto the bed she had been told would be hers for the duration of her stay. "Only if that's okay with you of course."

"You know, you're the first person that's ever had the audacity to call me something like that." The murderous look in his eyes turned into one of admiration. "It's most refreshing. If you wait here for me, I'll go get us some food and then brief you on what your role in this plan of ours is." His hand ran along the back of her neck as he walked past. "Don't move princess, or I'll have to punish you."

'Yeah, in your dreams creep. Acting even remotely nice to him is killing my soul. I thought I could do it but nope. I'll just have to just not hit him. He seems to like me insulting him.' Once he had closed the door, she ran her hands erratically over her body as if trying to rub away his touch. His fingers were too cold, his stare too empty. Everything about him was just wrong. He made her skin crawl.

'I just want to go home.' She thought as she ran her fingers through her tangled hair. Having her hair played with always made her feel better but doing it to herself sadly didn't have the same effect. 'I wish Erik was here, his fingers feel the best in my hair and he can actually braid it too, I mean what guy can braid hair better than a girl can?'

"You actually brought her here? I thought I told you I could do it." Voices sounded outside the door Midnight had just left through. It sounded like a woman so it was almost definitely Angel. 'I could go for a fight right now, haven't worked out today yet.' Lucy got to her feet, moved her neck from side to side and prepared herself for the crazy bitch to come barreling through the door.

"You're too weak Angel, go be a good girl and get back in bed." If anybody else was listening, they would think she was his kid. She grimaced at the thought. 'As I said, creepy.'

"I'm just as strong as that blonde bimbo."

A loud crash made the wall shake and Lucy ran to the door, unsure as to why she was going to someone who tried to kill hers rescue. She cracked open the door slightly and peeked through. Midnight was grasping Angel by her neck, her body had collided with a bookcase. 'That must've been the noise.'

His face was directly in front of hers, so close that their noses were almost touching. Instead of the fearless look that was always on the girl's face, Angel's expression was of someone who was absolutely petrified. Midnight wasn't that scary, right?

"I can make your worst nightmares come to life, don't forget that Angel. Do you want to watch your sister die a thousand times in a thousand different ways?" The white haired girl's lower lip quivered as she shook her head from side to side. Words were actually failing her. Lucy wanted to scream at her for being so weak but she didn't know how long Midnight had been mentally torturing her for. They had been members of the same guild for years, Lucy knew what it was like to be dragged through the mud. She felt bad for her.

But she wasn't the type of person who could just walk away from someone who needed help. It didn't matter what they had done to her, if they needed help, they got help. It was the right thing to do.

Stepping from the ajar door, Lucy put her hands on her hips and frowned, deciding to take the 'I don't care about you Angel.' approach. "Midnight where is my food? And the clothes you promised I'd get?" His eyes flashed as he heard Lucy's voice behind him and his hand relaxed, releasing Angel from his suffocating grasp. She slumped onto the floor, gasping for breath. The skin around her neck had already begun to swell and turn into a rainbow of different colors.

"Ah Princess, I thought I told you not to move or I'd punish you?" He knelt down next to Angel and whispered something in her ear that caused her eyes to widen in disbelief. She clutched her garments and shook her head. "No." She whispered. Midnight's hand clenched into a tight fist as he punched the wall next to her head.

"Take off your clothes! Our guest needs something to wear." He shouted at her. She flinched at his loud tone and started to shoulder off her white dress that she always wore. Lucy stuck her hands out and grasped Angel's shoulder to keep the material attached to her and laughed awkwardly. "Hey now, even a pillowcase would be better than the ugly top I'm wearing." After being taken from her apartment, she only had a long t-shirt that someone had shoved over her naked body. Her legs were bare and she was freezing. This house clearly didn't have heating. A pillow case wouldn't be better but she didn't want this to happen.

"There's no need to go around stealing clothes Macbeth." She thought using his real name might get his attention and luckily, it did. Angel looked at Midnight, her mouth hanging open and her eyes showing clear signs of hurt. "You told her your name?" She whispered.

He scoffed and grabbed Lucy by her arm, pushing her back into the room she had previously left. "Yeah I told her my name, I'm sick of being Midnight. I'm strong now, that name reminds me of being weak. It reminds me of Brain. It's time for a new beginning for the Oracion Seis."

Slamming the door in Lucy's face, his laugh echoed in her ears as his feet retreated away from her room. "See you in a couple of days Lucy."

"Stop waving at them you idiot." Laxus growled at Natsu as he waved his hand at a couple of girls sitting opposite them at a cafe. The pink haired male looked at his friend, confusion evident on his face. "Why? I'm just being friendly." He waved again and made a 'see' motion with his hand. "Look, I made them laugh. Why is that a bad thing?"

"They're not laughing, they're giggling. Don't lead them on, they'll come over here and-" 'Too late' Cobra thought as he heard their erratic thoughts as they got up from their table to approach theirs. He didn't have time for this bullshit, there was no telling what Midnight could be doing to Lucy while they were playing around in some shitty cafe.

'I like the one eyed one, he's hot.'

'He's mysterious and looks like bad news, I love that in a guy.'

When they approached the table, Cobra bared his teeth at them, a growl escaping his lips which soon resulted in their thoughts to go to what he was used to. He smirked at how easy it was to scare people.

'That wouldn't of scared Lucy away though.'

"Let's go already, we're no closer to finding Lucy than Laxus is to finding a girlfriend." Gajeel chucked some jewel onto their messy table and turned to leave, ignoring the bright blush that covered the blonde male's cheeks. Despite being very popular with the ladies, Laxus was as awkward as a 13 year old prepubescent boy. Plus he only had eyes for one person and she didn't have a clue. Mira would always be someone that was unattainable for him and he seemed to be okay with that.

'If only he could hear her dirty thoughts. If he did get with the she devil, I would have to watch his back and make sure she didn't lock him in her sex dungeon that she thought about. She always had a creepy look on her face when her mind thought of it, scary.'

"Look this isn't a social call, Gajeel's right. Get up assholes." Cobra yanked Natsu up by his scarf, Gajeel grabbed Laxus by his headphones and once again they were off. Sometimes, Cobra would think that he caught Lucy's scent but it would turn out to be a bakery cooking something with vanilla or someone that had used the same body wash as her. 'It was never her.'

"No more snack stops." Natsu groaned and clutched his stomach as Gajeel smacked him around his head. "You eat too much. When you get fat, I'll laugh."

It had been less than a day since Lucy had been kidnapped but the first 24 hours were crucial, if they didn't find her soon, they might lose her forever and that just wasn't an option for him. His ears picked up something familiar. A soul he recognized from the darker times in his life. He sped off down an alley way, jumped over a couple of obstacles and landed on someone with white hair.

"Angel, you son of a bitch, where's Lucy?" The girl stared up at him and then she screamed at the top of her lungs. Cobra blanched slightly and had to let go of her to cover his sensitive ears. 'What the fuck, Angel wasn't a screamer. She was more of a biter.'

"Hey freak what are you doing? Get off her." A heavy boot kicked him off the girl. Someone with black hair and red eyes pinned him to the floor, they had a dagger made out of shadow pressing against his jugular, ready to kill him without a second thought and he would have if Gajeel hadn't gotten his attention first.

"Hey hey Rogue calm down, Cobra here just got confused. You don't see many gals with white hair." The man's crimson eyes flicked up to look at Gajeel, then the dagger melted away in his hands. "He should have more respect for women. You don't just jump on people and expect not to get hurt."

"Oh no I'm alright, sorry for the misunderstanding." Yukino's timid voice entered Cobra's ears and instantly he knew why he thought he recognized her. 'So Angel has a sister, their souls are almost identical. I don't think she knows where her sister is though or even if she's still alive. Useless.'

"Seen any of the Oracion Seis around here?" Natsu said bluntly. Everyone stared at Cobra silently. Natsu burst out laughing and held his stomach. "Oh not that member, any of the others. Black haired guy wearing lots of makeup carrying our guild mate, Lucy Heartfilia? Blonde girl, long legs, brown eyes. Big bre-"

Yukino's interest peaked at the mention of her fellow celestial mage. "Lucy? She's been kidnapped? Oh no." She grasped Rogue's arm as they told her all of the details about what had happened.

"Keep her safe kid, it seems they're kidnapping celestial mages. If you see them anywhere or get any information, give me a call. You've got my lacrima number right?"

Rogue nodded, promising to get in contact if they found anything out about Lucy's whereabouts. Yukino promised she'd try her hardest to track down her friend.

"Look we've been searching all night and all day. Let's go find an inn and continue in the morning?" Cobra knew that they'd almost run out of time. He collapsed onto a nearby bench, letting his head fall into his hands. 'Why am I so useless? I can't even save the woman I love. I can't do anything.'

Beep Beep Beep

"Is that your lacrima?" Natsu patted his pocket but shook his head. Gajeel and Laxus also shook their head. "Cobra." Natsu said hesitantly, placing his hand on the mans shoulder. "I think your lacrima is ringing."

"I know you idiot." He snapped, yanking the damn thing out of his pocket and sending a pulse of magic into it. Kinana's face appeared in it, he couldn't see her very clearly as she was in a darkened place. She let out a sound of relief. "Thank goodness, you finally answered. I know where Lucy is. Where are you? I need to meet you face to face for this."

Gajeel scoffed loudly and grabbed the lacrima out of Cobra's hand. "How do we know you're the real Kinana and not just another fake Midnight made? It could be a trap. Tell us something only you would know about Cobra."

She sighed in frustration. "He wears cartoon snake boxers." Everyone went silent, Natsu stepped forward and pulled away the waistband of Cobra's trousers to peek at his underwear. He leapt away in shock, letting out a jet of poison at the fire dragon slayer.

Natsu wiped away the poison and a toothy smile stretched his face. "She's right, Midnight wouldn't know that. See you in the morning banana."

Laxus rolled his eyes. "Her name's Kinana, not banana you idiot."