A little early, yay. I'm really not happy with this chapter, but I suddenly had a lot of time to write because I've been in the hospital a lot. I'm fine, It's my grandmother, she's really old and they found lung cancer so she's going through chemo, she should be fine, she is healthy for her age and they found it early. I've been staying a few nights while she goes through it and there isn't much to do. I've rewritten it a few times in the past couple nights and this is really the best I could get it. It's short and nothing entirely important happens but it is essential for the future.

Thank you for reading!


He wasn't a torturer, he wasn't evil. He hated that damned word, for years he had been called that. He punched. He was so sick of being called that. He punched again. He wasn't evil. He wasn't a murderer. He kicked. He wasn't evil. He wasn't evil. He wasn't. Cobra jumped back as a gigantic ice dragon erupted from thin air. "You're just a monster!" Lyon yelled out as he attacked. Cobra growled in his throat. He wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't. He didn't like this, he wasn't enjoying himself. It was a job, a way to get money, and power. Isn't that what light guilds do too? They all thought they were so much fucking better than everybody else, but in reality, they're all just too fucking scared of actually hurting someone. They were never willing to do what needed to be done.

Even now, Cobra's opponent was pulling his punches, using half-assed attacks that would only knock him out if they actually connected. He wasn't going for the kill, and that's what would be his downfall. "I need to finish this and get to Gray and the others, they were hurt badly. We still need to rescue the Cait Shelter girl and defeat these fuckers."

Cobra would have rolled his eyes if he cared enough. He dodged another attack and whipped behind the ice mage, he kicked the man in the side of the head and he went flying. "Well, then again, I guess I didn't go for the kill either," he muttered to himself as he watched the other mage try to get up again. "Yo, hey, stay down. I'm having a bad day and I really don't want to have to take it out on you."

Lyon scoffed and rose to his feet again, but his movements stopped when a flash of gold and purple locked her arms around his neck. "One move and you're dead," she whispered in Lyon's ear.

"Ah, see~ I tried to get you to stay down. Now you answer to her," Cobra laughed, but it was forced as ever. It had been a little over a few hours since Lucy had woken up. The results, were as expected…. She had already taken out a few of the Blue Pegasus men and she seemed to feel no remorse.

She felt nothing now. She just walked beside him, fought and then returned to him, like a dog. It unsettled him to no end, he hated it. He watched how her arm shifted slightly and the man's neck made a grotesque snapping noise and he fell to his knees before falling to the ground. Cobra knew the man was alive, and he was about to question the reason when she spoke up, "He's a major player in a major light guild. It'd cause more trouble than it'd be worth to kill him," her voice was completely monotone. She stood there for a second, her eyes searching Lyon. But then she looked up and stepped over his body and returned to Cobra's side. Cobra looked down at Lucy and she met his eyes. And even though her eyes were so brilliantly bright, they were still so dull. They showed her lack of emotion and Cobra's stomach twisted painfully at that realization. And so he tried something, he reached up to her neck and watching her reaction, he pulled the necklace off of her. She just continued watching his eyes. No change in her expression.

-nothing-

Cobra sneered. He hated that. He hated that so much. It became so disgusting to hear the emptiness in her mind, knowing that he wouldn't be striking a rise out of her for stealing the necklace or getting any hidden bashful thoughts. He would only get an eerie echo. It wasn't anything like her and that bothered him it, bothered him no end. He hated it. He hated so much. He hated all of it. He hated Nirvana. This forest. The people around him. The stupid flowers. The trees. He hated the air. He didn't want to be here. Lucy stood there, still watching him.

-don't let her get to you-

He looked away.

-but never look away-

His eyes found her's again.

-don't forget her face when she's gone-

He turned away, it didn't mean anything. He didn't care, he couldn't care. He took a deep breath and stepped into the forest.

~JM~

So four hours later and Cobra still hated everything. Only one thing had changed. He hated it more now.

He groaned as he heard his bones creak as he sat up in the pile of rubble. He glanced up at the Cobra shaped hole etched in the side of the cliff. He ran his hand through his hair, ridding it of the dust and rocks. He watched Lucy jump on Hibiki's shoulders'. Her thighs wrapped around his head and she leaned back, using her small size to bring him down to the ground. Her hands were there to break her fall as she slammed Hibiki into the ground. She jumped up and magic danced across her skin, she seemed to sense it before even he could because she leaned back as a cloud of mist violently shot past her. She held her nose as she disappeared. Her necklace back on her neck, she reappeared several meters away. She coughed and sniffed, her eyes glowed in fury and they whipped to Ichiya who was standing near the edge if the clearing.

"Parfume!" He shouted as he grabbed another bottle of pink mist. Lucy disappeared again and after a few well-placed kicks there and a single roar here the S-Class mage was lying, smoking, on the ground. Lucy looked down at him and her eyes shone a brilliant gold like they always did now. Purple magic poured out of Lucy and it all concentrated on the small body of the man on the floor. She was going to kill him. Cobra was sure of it, she was actually going to kill him. But her magic was suddenly cut off when a flash of silver was plunged deep into her forearm.

All she did was step back and pull the long knife out of her arm, she threw it up and purple and gold devoured it as it vanished, Lucy, putting it into the spirit world so the requip mage could no longer use it. Well, not like she didn't have more. Another sword came towards Cobra, he knew to move and he was going too when Lucy appeared in front of him, she caught the blade with her bare hand. She winced slightly as the sharp metal sliced into her clenched palm but she flipped the blade and threw it back at the Fairy Tail mage. Erza came out of the tree line and the sword disappeared right in front of her. Lucy's golden eyes honed in on Erza and pure hate showed within them. Lucy disappeared and suddenly the same sword that was before embedded in Lucy's wrist was pressing against Erza's throat.

"You really do like attacking from behind don't you?" Erza asked with a small smirk. She pulled her head forward and brought it back, and with more force than was necessary, her head collided with Lucy's nose and the blonde staggered back while Erza stepped away. Lucy just wiped the blood away from her nose before taking a deep breath, then she disappeared again. Erza almost rolled her eyes. But she stopped when Lucy reappeared in the same spot. The air changed suddenly as it went completely still, Erza's muscles tensed and she didn't have time to move when a giant roar of purple and gold hit her dead on. She felt her skin burn and peel as the magic ate away at her skin. She tried not to scream but she did as the skin melted away. It felt like years before the roar finally melted away. She felt her knees try to give out but she stood strong, she was so afraid to look at her arms, knowing that looking would make them hurt more. She watched as Lucy wiped her mouth, and stood still. Her gold eyes seemingly dull as the moon would be shrouded in clouds.

Erza growled and light filled her form before she reappeared wielding dual swords. Her hair was high in a ponytail and red pants covered her legs. A deep breath came from her lungs and she closed her eyes. Lucy moved slightly, and with that tiny step, Erza was there. Cold steel pressed against Lucy's neck and blood appeared in a sharp line. "Lucy, this isn't you!"

-but it really was-

Lucy's face held nothing, and Erza's eyes saw nothing as Lucy filled her palm with a thick orb of magic. "That's where you're wrong," she seemed to smile. "But I won't hold that against you, you barely know me."

All Lucy saw was Erza's look of pure despair and guilt before Lucy slammed her palm on the older mage's shoulder. "Goodbye, Erza."

Lucy let the orb explode and she didn't even try to control whether it would harm Erza or not because once she got there she would be dead anyway.

-and she didn't care-

~JM~

Cobra laid his head back and sighed, "Stay down," he mumbled when he heard her getting up.

"I'm not tired," her voice was flat.

"I don't care."

Lucy laid back down and her eyes found the night sky. Her hands felt the grass under her, her skin felt the cold chill of the late air. Her golden eyes searched the constellations before her. Her fingers twiddled with the smooth bead of her necklace, it was several minutes before she looked away from the night sky she almost once ruled.

Her eyes went to the man lying beside her, his hands were behind his head and his eyes were closed. She turned on her side and fully faced him. She became trained on the eight little beads of his necklace, and without her really realizing it her hand moved to trace them. Cobra's eyes fluttered open and he watched her intently. She moved closer so her front was pressing against his side as she continued to fiddle with the matte beads. Cobra tried to stop himself but words fell from his mouth, "What are you doing?"

"These are pretty."

"I know," Cobra whispered. Then they sat there in the still air that came with the silence. They didn't know if it was seconds or minutes or hours, they just laid there, drifting in and out of sleep. His eyes slid down to look at her, and he found her eyes looking up at him. He ignored the small smiled that cracked into his mask when her breath puffed out onto his neck. Her eyes closed and her head moved down to his shoulder. Then his entire heart constricted as a feeling snaked its way into him.

-why do i miss her-

He tightened his grip on her side.

-she's right here-

"But you really aren't," he whispered aloud.

Lucy didn't ask about his words as if she didn't care. It took him a second to realize she didn't. "Do you know what it feels like to miss someone who isn't gone?"

Lucy shrugged, "Once, possibly. But I wouldn't remember the feeling know," she said with little interest.

"It was stupid of me to ask you," he mumbled.

"Yes, indeed," she said back. Cobra almost got excited, but he realized that this wasn't their playful banter. It was pure, brutal, emotionless truth.

Then an idea hit him, Lucy wasn't afraid of hurting his feelings. She would tell the truth no matter who it hurt. So he let the question roll off his tongue. "Am I a monster?" It felt like an entire lifetime before she answered, and even when she said it he barely heard her over the pounding in his ears.

"No."

~JM~

Erza screamed as she felt the fiery orb of magic collided with her skin. She felt as though her entire spine was going to rip out of her skin, and the latter already felt like it was being burned with metal rods. She hit the rough cobblestone hard and she screamed as it collided with her burnt skin. She tried to inhale the air she had banished with her scream but the air just burned her lungs. She sputtered and coughed, blood spilled onto the ground as her throat was scared. "Erza!?" A male voice yelled in surprise, he slid up next to her and pulled a small watch off of his wrist and quickly put in on Erza's. Air filled her lungs again but she continued to gag and cough. "Calm down. Just breath. In and out," he rubbed her back.

After several minutes she rolled over and her watery eyes met her savior's. "Loke."

He sat next to her, his face was one of surprise. "Why are you here? How'd you get here?" He questioned.

Erza sat up and looked around, it was a few seconds before she dropped her head in her hands. "She tried to kill me?" Erza whispered.

"Lucy?" Loke sat back on his heels. "No, no she's out of her mind now but she would never hurt you."

Erza snapped her head, "Well she did!" She turned away, "She didn't even care. She just stared at me with a blank expression. I have never seen her like that, it's like that wasn't really her. It was kind of like what happened to you."

Loke thought for a moment, "I don't know what to do anymore. With me, it was just like you guys looked really different, and my memories were really hazy, but it was really easy to break out of it."

"We were there when Brain did something, he fought with Cobra about it. I have no idea what happened, though. I hit my head and I couldn't hear anything because of the blast." Erza stood up. "It has to have something to do with Brain, he put a spell or an illusion on her."

Loke stood as well, "It obviously reaches the spirits under her command as well, but it's not as strong. I was talking to some of the other spirits and they had trouble remembering Fairy Tail as well. But it seems to affect everyone differently."

"She almost killed me, I'm her best friend. If killing your own best friend doesn't shock someone out of that then what will?"

Loke looked down. He didn't want to say it, he knew it would hurt Lucy. He knew if he did he would put an even larger target on the light guilds, especially Fairy Tail.

"Okay, so a spell this strong has to have a binding point. It's most likely her lacrima, a person, or both. Brain isn't stupid enough to make it someone from Fairy Tail because that would mean if that person was harmed the spell would break. So it is probably a person that Brain knows will live. Someone that is strong and Lucy would never have to fight. Someone she would protect without worrying about herself?"

Realization dawned on Erza's face. "No..."

"Who does she seemed attached to now? Who's side is she sticking too? Who will she always run too?"

"Cobra."


Oh and thank you all for giving me your opinions for the sequel's title. It was really helpful, so please, as the story continues tell me which ones you like. Maybe as it continues certain titles will make more sense :D