Days five and six passed just as every day before them did. Lucy felt like the days dragged on for hours longer than they should, stretching the expense of her pain longer through more grueling hours than she could handle. By the seventh day, one week following her rescue from that hellhole, she was certain she'd never recover.
She still had nightmares at night, screams that rocked her body to the core and usually sent Freed running in. She'd only been able to get through one night without screaming, and since then every night brought the same ritual. Sometimes she found comfort when Freed sat beside her to calm her down, and sometimes she panicked and crawled off the bed, just as afraid of him as everyone else who beat her bloody.
Despite her awful reactions, she never saw regret or hurt in his eyes. If anything, Freed was too understanding. He sympathized with her in ways she couldn't comprehend. Nothing in his life should've prepared him to handle a situation like this, yet Lucy constantly found herself surprised with the finesse he used whenever he handled one of her breakdowns.
Really, he was almost too good to be true.
A week after her rescue, Lucy found herself unable to hold a glass of water. She'd woken so shaken from a nightmare Freed had gone to get her a drink, and even now she couldn't hold the damned thing well enough to have a sip. She kept gripping the glass tighter, tighter, desperately looking for something to hold onto –
Lucy gasped when the glass shattered in her grip, little pieces digging into the tender skin of her hand. Freed jumped away from the window where he'd been leaning, immediately on the edge as he spun around and looked at her and the broken glass.
She shook out her hand out, the little slices of pain barely registering in her mind. Really she didn't feel the pain so much as surprise, watching the little lines of blood appear on her skin.
Huh. She hadn't seen herself bleed in a week now. The little red lines seemed oddly familiar, if not welcoming. At least this was something she was accustomed to.
"Lucy?"
She blinked, turning her hand to stare at the blood. The lines were familiar enough to hold her attention, bring back a sense of normalcy that she'd grown used to during her captivity with the Seis. She'd hated every moment there, but her blood staining her skin and the ground was commonplace. Since being rescued, Freed tried to keep her from hurting herself.
"It's amazing how much you can bleed, blondie. I thought you were dead for sure earlier. Rusty had too much fun. I told him he has to be careful to not kill you."
A hand came down on her shoulder, throwing her out of the daydream with a start. "Lucy?"
Blinking, she realized Freed was studying her curiously, his hand gentle but firm on her shoulder. Usually she flinched when anyone touched her, but she'd gotten comfortable enough with Freed's presence to not be afraid when he touched her skin anymore. Focusing on her hand once more, she followed the thin, already drying lines of blood. Yeah, she really could bleed a lot.
"Lucy," he said more firmly, finally drawing her attention from her bleeding hand. "Come back to me."
She dropped her hand, studying him curiously. He looked the same as he always did at night, tired and distressed when he woke to her cries. He'd been comforting her and she completely zoned out, far enough to break the glass in her hand and get lost in the beauty of the blood.
Beauty.
Lucy jerked back, her eyes widening at the memory. No, she shouldn't find the blood beautiful, in any way, shape or form. She must be delirious if that thought could ever cross her mind.
Freed remained quiet, watching the conflict in her eyes. She cleared her throat when she noticed the intensity of his gaze, realizing she was probably leaving him hanging as her mind slowly became unhinged with her ever-growing memories of the experience.
She'd have to work on that. He'd probably start thinking she'd gone mental if she kept zoning out and panicking all the time. It was a week passed for crying out loud. Shouldn't she be better, or at least adjusting?
"Is it early?" she asked instead, breaking the awkward silence setting in. Freed was beginning to give her a weird look, and she figured he'd start assuming the worst if she kept staring at him with a blank expression. The least she could do was talk to him. After all, he talked to her all the time when she was crying.
"Early enough," Freed agreed, getting up off the bed. He collected the broken glass before extending a hand, gently pulling her bleeding fingers from the covers. "Come on, we'll make some coffee and we'll get you cleaned up."
She blushed, turning her head away. How could she let herself stain the damn covers? "Freed-"
"Uh-uh," he said, grasping her arm gently to pull her out of bed, "Don't give me any excuses. Yesterday we could've been downstairs an hour earlier if you didn't argue. The cuts are superficial, they just need to be cleaned up. You don't look like you'll sleep anymore anyway."
She smiled gently, constantly surprised by the thoughtfulness of the rune wizard. "I guess not."
"I guess correct," he agreed, leading her from the room. "Now come on, it's time you finally brewed coffee for me."
Lucy found comfort in Freed's home, from his ability to screen when she had to see people to his kind regards to her feelings. He went out of his way more than he needed to in order to make her comfortable.
He even agreed to let Cobra come to his home on the eighth day instead of going to the guild hall, something that floored pretty much everyone… everywhere. Lucy could barely believe it herself.
It wasn't like he had much of an impression of the poison dragon slayer, but he knew enough to know that he was connected to the people that tortured her. That probably should've sent up some red flags, but he didn't seem fazed.
Then again, until this experience she hadn't seen much that fazed Freed. It usually took a lot to set him off (unless someone was insulting Laxus) and even more to get under his skin. Most of the time he was so composed it was unbelievable.
Rocking uncertainly on her feet, Lucy counted the seconds as she watched the clock, wondering when Cobra would show. She hadn't heard much about him since the Neo-Oracion Seis disbanded, and she hadn't realized he'd hovered on the side of good for the longest time now.
He wasn't one of her attackers, so there was no reason to be scared. Lucy knew better than anyone that time changed people.
Cobra wasn't the monster his friends had become, at least she hoped. She seriously couldn't handle something else tragic happening right now.
"Do you always fidget around like that?" Evergreen asked, sending Lucy's train of thought crashing down. "I've never seen someone twitch so much."
"Leave her alone Ever," Laxus replied, eyes still closed on the sofa. Lucy almost forgot Freed's team was even there, lingering in the living room while she stared out the kitchen window. They weren't exactly supposed to be there for the confrontation, but these things happen.
At least, that's what she ended up telling Freed.
"I'm going to configure the wards to start forcing people back when they knock on the door," Freed grumbled, staring at his friends through the front window. They were eating breakfast, or what could almost be considered breakfast. So far Lucy picked at something resembling an old muffin, and the pair drank black coffee when he ran out of creamer. "Why does everyone want to come over?"
"They don't have to go," she said quietly, staring at the loud team outside. "I doubt they know. Erza sent out the message this morning that Cobra's coming over; it's not like they would interrupt something like this on purpose."
Freed looked unconvinced, staring at the blonde girl sitting at his table. She thought he might actually start arguing with her. "You're sure? I have no problem turning them away, Lucy. I know you don't always want visitors."
She gulped, meeting his gaze briefly before looking away. "Well, maybe the extra friendly faces will help when we meet Cobra. He wasn't always the nicest guy."
"Gray seemed to think he wasn't so bad," Freed remarked, reminding her of Gray's offhand comment that Cobra wasn't "such an ass" anymore when her team stopped by yesterday to discuss Cobra. She still wouldn't call that a compliment.
"You're sure you're okay with it?" he asked again when the silence lingered. Lucy nodded, smiling slightly.
"It's not like they could make it any worse."
She wanted to eat those words now. The Thunder Legion wasn't as awful as she'd always believed, but they were quite a colorful group. In the last week she'd gotten familiar with their presence in Freed's home, though they'd only come by three times. At least they weren't pushy.
"So Natsu said Cobra can read thoughts?" Bickslow asked, tilting the mask up on his face. He fixed Lucy with a look, begging for an answer.
"Uh… sort of. Maybe you should ask him."
He gave her a half smile, "So if I can read souls and he reads minds-"
"Bicks," Laxus interrupted, "don't even."
"You don't even know what I was going to say!"
"We can guess," Evergreen agreed, jumping into some sort of rant about what happened the last time. Lucy zoned them out, staring out the window again.
She wanted to see when Cobra arrived. Maybe if she saw him coming she wouldn't feel frightened when he got there. Talking to him was a milestone, and maybe he could shed some light on his friend's bizarre ideas.
Or maybe he didn't know anything about them anymore, and this was all a huge waste of time.
"Staring out the window won't make him show up any faster," Freed said, severing her train of thought. She glanced over at the kitchen table, noting that he was still in the middle of reading as they spoke. "You're just making yourself nervous."
"I am nervous," she countered, glaring at him. They'd already debated this earlier in the morning before his friends barged in. "I'm nervous about what he's going to say."
"And I told you that's natural."
"But I'm not going to relax until this is over," she continued, turning back to the window again. "Kinana is bringing Cobra here, and she was very specific that he hates crowds. I… I don't remember him being very easy to work with."
"In my experience dragon slayers usually aren't."
Lucy huffed. "You know what I mean."
Before Freed had a chance to respond her eyes perked up, catching sight of two figures wandering down the road towards the house. There was definitely no mistaking them.
Cobra had a distinct look. Lucy would recognize him anywhere. Picking up on her sudden change in mood Freed stood as well, peering over her shoulder at the pair.
"What's with his eye?" Freed asked, and if things weren't so serious Lucy might've laughed at how absurd the question sounded right now.
"I don't remember, but I think it's a touchy subject. We probably shouldn't ask."
Freed muttered something about dragon slayer feelings as he turned away, shooing his friends into another room. They might be okay staying here while Cobra talked to them, but having such a crowded room was awkward.
Lucy knew he'd be able to sense the other's, but it didn't matter. He was here to talk to the two of them only; they wouldn't force him to talk to an audience.
She just hoped he reasonably agreed with that.
"Lucy, quit being so tense!"
She scowled as the pair approached the door, glancing towards the backroom. Laxus picked up on her nerves just like Natsu could, and she really didn't need his input while trying to calm her nerves. Freed shot her a look as he wandered to the door, and she gave him a smile in return.
Screw Laxus, she was nervous, not tense. Something about Cobra made her anxious but not fearful. Maybe because he hadn't tried to kill her.
Well, not recently anyway. And besides, she'd heard he was a changed man now. She just wasn't sure if he was changed enough to sell out old friends.
"Freed!" Kinana called, knocking on the door. He was a half step behind her, reaching the door a moment later to throw it open. Even in Cobra decided to turn on them, there were more than enough people in the house to kick his ass for even trying.
Lucy couldn't help herself, she let out the teaniest smile. Maybe that's why she wasn't so tense. Right now even if Cobra suddenly went off the handle there was no way things could repeat themselves with so many capable wizards in the house.
Glancing down, she noted she wasn't even clenching her hands. She hadn't felt this relaxed in over a week. Her shoulders still held tension, and she'd already looked over the best routes to escape from her designated seat if she needed too, but she didn't feel like she'd actually need to run.
From what she'd heard, Cobra hated everyone, friend and foe alike.
"Lucy?" Kinana said, surprising the blonde. Turning her head, she realized the duo had walked inside at some point, and all three individuals in the room were looking at her curiously.
She must've zoned out again. She had a nasty habit of doing that these days.
"She's just daydreaming," Cobra grumbled, rolling his one good eye. "She's just thinking through everything she can possibly do right now."
Beside him Freed's eyebrows shot up, and even Lucy was surprised by the accuracy. She hadn't fought Cobra firsthand before, and hadn't had to deal with his dead on predictive nature. The ability to read her mind was a little helpful, especially if she was unable to voice a question aloud, but she wasn't so sure she wanted him to be able to read her thoughts.
She didn't even like to read them, and the reality that the man before her could easily pick apart the secrets she'd worked so hard to hide had her panicking. Some things she wasn't ready to share with anyone, and the idea that he could just listen in –
"Hell, you've got to stop thinking to damn loud," he grumbled, reaching up to rub his head. "And fast. How do you even process what you're thinking about? Look, if you give me a headache how the hell am I supposed to tell you what I know about the Seis?"
Lucy paused, watching the same intense look reflect in Freed's eyes. He might be able to read her body language, but Cobra could literally read her, and it was a little too much to handle.
"I'm pretty sure you're ignoring what I just said," Cobra continued, inviting himself into the living room. He sat down, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Stop panicking, nothing's even happening."
She watched Kinana give her a sad smile before moving to sit beside Cobra, patting his hand before she made herself comfortable. Freed remained by the door, arching an eyebrow as he watched her inner conflict.
Lucy realized he was going to let her lead this one at her own pace, especially when Cobra could pick up on everything in the room. Suddenly she didn't feel quite as comfortable around the slayer, glancing at Freed momentarily before stiffly walking to the couch opposite of Cobra and taking a seat. His one eye watched her, remaining quiet as Freed sat on her other side.
He held up a hand before she could speak, taking a breath, "I can hear your thoughts Heartfilia, but could you try to calm down? I don't intend to pry where I'm not welcome – trust me, Titania made it quite clear that I shouldn't."
She half-heartedly smiled, imaging Erza's intimidating presence yelling at the slayer. "Okay."
"I also don't want a recap," he continued, shooting Freed a look. "I've already heard it in everybody's head like a dozen times. You want to know what I know about my former team. Sorry to disappoint, but we don't really keep in contact anymore. They didn't give a damn about me when I didn't want to try and fail to find my happy ending again."
Lucy flinched at his wording, and the moment he smirked and looked her direction she realized he'd done it on purpose. "That is why they took your keys, right? For some happy ending bullshit."
She nodded, surprised how easy this was. She hadn't said a word yet about what happened, and already he knew the story.
Cobra scoffed, sitting forward on the seat. Even if Lucy was apprehensive about what he was going to say, she could tell he had Freed's full attention. Usually the rune mage was focused on her wellbeing, but right now he seemed pretty damn interested in what Cobra had to say.
She couldn't even fault him. He wanted answers after all, some she wouldn't give.
"Before you keep considering how to kill them," he snapped, pointing a finger at Freed, "and your friends in there make one more stupid remark about my mind reading skills, let me set the record straight. I haven't spoken to any of my former teammates in months. The only things I can tell you are whatever Midnight told me before I told them to fuck off."
Lucy almost smiled. Well, at least he was painfully honest.
Cobra shot her a look, and she wondered what he thought of her thoughts. "All I know is Midnight had some sort've half-crazed plan going on to save his soul. Jellal found all of us after we were released from prison, and he wanted us to join Crime Sorciere. Midnight – Macbeth, if you want to be technical – thought it was a joke. After all, he was half of our hell in the Tower of Heaven. So, like anyone with a decent grudge, we turned the offer down."
Rolling his eyes, Cobra sat back again. "Midnight wanted us to go on some sort of quest to find a spiritual embodiment that could sever the darkness in our souls. He believes the only way to move on from our pasts is to remove what ties us to our sins. I don't know where that idea came from, he went a little wild after Jellal sought us out."
He turned his attention back to Lucy, glaring at her with his one eye. "Think about what happened during your time being held prisoner by Midnight and the others. If you show me, it might help me figure out why they wanted your keys. Your friends can only fill in so many holes. If you let me see, I can try to tell you why it ever happened."
She tensed, eyes widening at the idea. She got enough unwelcome flashbacks all on her own without trying to force the memories. She didn't know what kind of horrors her mind would surrender if she let Cobra in, or what would happen when he did.
He was just an outsider looking in. Whatever he was would only give him an idea of what she went through, but she'd have to bare herself to let him into the memories. Usually reliving it caused her to scream and cry.
There were too many people in the house to let go like that, and she wasn't mentally prepared to let someone in to see her demons.
Freed, apparently, also thought the idea was pretty bold. He leaned forward, and Lucy could feel the magical energy beginning to radiate off of him. "You can't make her relive something like that! You have a lot of nerve assuming she'd willingly let you see what happened!"
Cobra shrugged, and even as the panic began setting in she could see Kinana tensing beside him, looking just as surprised by the request. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You've always said memories are powerful."
"Memories give insight," Cobra said with a shrug. "It's not like I can see what's happening, but memories provide a lot of thoughts and feelings. You don't even have to talk to me if you don't feel like it. Just think about it, whatever damn part of the memory you think has the most information, and it should be enough. I just need to know what they were talking about. Midnight had lots of plans as soon as we got out of prison. I didn't listen to half of them, but there are too many to list."
"He took her keys-" Freed began.
"I know he took her keys," Cobra snapped, glaring. "It's a given. But what they want to do with the keys is the confusing part. You can tell me whatever you want Heartfilia, verbal or otherwise, but I can't tell you what I think they're doing without knowing what you know."
Lucy inhaled sharply, glancing at Freed. She'd known from the start contacting Cobra was a gamble, one that could possibly blow up in their faces. He knew more about his prior teammates than anyone else, but he was also terribly blunt.
Freed had kept her safe so far, not pushing her before she was ready. But an opportunity sat before her, and if she refused to let Cobra know what she did he might leave, and there was no telling if he'd agree to come back and talk again when she was ready.
He couldn't protect her from her memories, the one place she had no power over what happened. Until she learned to overcome the nightmares she couldn't control her racing thoughts, and she feared Cobra might pick up on more than she wanted him to.
Folding her arms around herself, she clamped her eyes shut. Freed was saying something beside her, but she couldn't even focus on his soothing voice this time. She knew without a doubt Freed would stand up for her if she couldn't do this, and he and the rest of his team would make Cobra leave if he put up a fight.
But the rational side of her mind told her to let Cobra know. This might be her only chance to talk to the difficult man, and if she passed up the chance to know what those monsters wanted with her spirits she'd kick herself later.
She desperately wanted to let Freed go ahead and kick him out, curl into a ball and pretend her panic wasn't happening. But she knew Cobra could already sense her fear, and he'd know exactly why she refused to share.
Besides… he said she didn't have to talk out loud. She could just think about it, which was frighteningly easy to do. Nobody else would have to hear it, and no one she talked to would look at her any different.
She didn't care about Cobra. His opinion of her meant nothing. Maybe if he saw the severity of the situation he'd stop being so damn annoying and try being helpful.
Opening her eyes, she noted Freed was just as close as before. His hand was still on her arm, and she could feel the power radiating off him in waves. Across the way Cobra seemed much more relaxed, waiting to see her thoughts.
Lucy realized the jerk already knew what she was going to do, waiting quietly to see how she'd give the information. Turning to Freed she forced a smile, even when her nerves felt close to breaking. Reaching up she squeezed the hand gripping her arm until he let go, grasping his fingers with both of her hands instead.
Without a word, she turned her head and glared at Cobra, meeting his gaze. It was kind of empowering to do so while her mind jerked back, thinking about one of the worst memories she had when their eyes met.
He wanted to so badly push to know what she did. Fine, she'd let him read her mind, and all the uncensored shit too.
"Wake up blondie!" Midnight screamed, jerking her awake. Lucy's eyes flew open, disorientation flicking through her mind momentarily before she took in her surroundings, panic jumping to life.
Midnight. She hadn't seen him in months. He looked worse for wear, hair stringy and greasy, hanging limp around his head. One eye was swollen shut, and he looked like he recently almost got devoured by something.
Lucy didn't understand what that was about.
His eyes turned away from hers, staring at someone on the other side of her body. Blinking, she tried to reach up and touch her pounding head, finding that she couldn't move her arms.
Her eyes widened, attempting to flail her arms. They were tied down, her keys quite obviously gone from her hip. She kicked her legs, which were still free, but noted the frigid metal touching her bare skin. Where the hell was she?
"You promised this would work," Midnight hissed, speaking to someone she couldn't see. "You said get the fucking keys and we could take her spirits!"
"Well I've never had an opportunity like this before," someone else replied, the voice eerily familiar. "I've never met another celestial wizard with so many spirits at her disposal! We can pick the strongest ones!"
"Wha-what about my spirits?" she asked, eyes widening further. Why was she slurring? Her whole body felt sluggish, and she couldn't quite remember where she was going before finding herself on this table.
Midnight glanced back at her, glaring. "Shh."
"We can't do anything right now anyway," the voice continued, and Lucy wished she could turn her head. "The spirits are still contracted to her. We can't do anything until the agreements are broken, and it has to be done willingly. Once the agreements are severed, we have our pick amongst some of the strongest celestial spirits in existence! The magic can't fail with such a bountiful pick as that!"
Midnight scowled, magic dancing to life in his hand. "Fine, then let me kill her. Problem solved."
"I said that she has to sever the contracts willingly! If she relinquishes her spirits, they will return to the next wizard who has access to their key and want answers! If she dies the spirits will know, and we will never trick them. That's why we have to have Angel. She knows how to summon spirits."
"That sounds like a big waste of time," Midnight snapped, turning his attention back to Lucy. Her eyes widened as his hand snapped out, slamming into her head. She screamed, feeling the sudden onslaught of magic sinking into her head. Immediately her vision darkened, nightmarish images taking over.
"Stop! I said she has to agree you idiot!" The hand was removed from her head as Lucy continued to scream, the images fading slowly. When her vision finally cleared enough to see between the dots, she realized the other person was in her line of vision.
Rustyrose.
"She seized!" Rusty screamed, smacking Midnight. "If she dies this is all a huge waste of time!"
"What are we supposed to do?" he argued, smacking her in the head again. Her vision blurred for a moment, but at least this time she didn't feel the invading magic taking over her mind. "She's stubborn! She'll never give those fucking spirits up without some sort of persuasion."
Rusty smirked, turning to look at her. She tensed a moment later when she felt a hand on her leg, sliding up the naked skin towards the hem of her skirt.
She panicked, kicking one of her unbound legs up until it struck him in the back of the head, finding some sort of satisfaction when he grunted in pain.
Midnight pushed him away, that terrifying magic in his hands again. "Not that kind of persuasion you dumbass! We can get the exact same results beating her. She'll give the contracts up." He turned, meeting her gaze. "She has to."
"Enough."
"It'd be a lot faster than your ideas!" Rusty argued, his hands lighting as well. "She's been beaten before! We can expedite it-"
"Lucy."
"Even I wouldn't do that," Midnight seethed, eyes darkening. "Breaking the contracts is my job! You have no part until we have the spirits! Keep up your end of the bargain or I'll snap all but three keys so you never have a chance!"
"I'll leave you all to suffer alone if you do! I won't kill the celestials if you dare to stab me in the back!"
"Lucy!" Freed snapped, drawing her out of the memory. She blinked, realizing her body was shaking hard enough she was almost jerking in his grip. Her cheeks felt wet, and it took a moment to realize the hysterical sound she was hearing was her as she panicked.
"Breathe," he continued, relaxing a hair when her eyes focused on him. Over his shoulder she could see Kinana holding tight to Cobra's arm, who'd gone as white as a sheet.
She tried to be smart and say he asked for it, but her mind wouldn't work. Her body was almost hyperventilating, the hysteria taking over the rational side of her mind.
And she thought this might be a good fucking idea.
"Breathe" Freed said again, resting his forehead against hers. She took a shuddering breath, finding comfort with his close proximity. She should've heeded him when he was worried about her doing this. Look where being brave got her.
She hiccupped, realizing she was crying. His fingers ran through her tangled hair, quietly asking her to calm down. It took many minutes, the seconds ticking by in her head as she forced herself to calm down, finally relaxing into Freed when her body gave up, exhausted. Her head fell against his shoulder, the shuddering beginning to decrease.
Her fingers dug into his shirt, terrified.
When Lucy finally felt like she could take a breath and note choke from the action she raised her head, meeting Freed's eyes before looking anywhere else.
She gasped quietly, staring at his right eyes. The Dark Ecriture magic bubbled there, the strength of his magic nearly reaching out to touch her.
Lucy blinked. She hadn't seen him so angry, even when he found her in the basement.
He pulled her hands away from him, kissing the knuckles of her right hand without breaking their gaze. "Sit with Evergreen," he said, standing to turn away.
She didn't say anything when he grabbed a still sheet-white Cobra, dragging him out of the house. She watched silently, her hands digging into each other. Evergreen came and sat beside her, looking just as worried, but she hardly registered that the girl was there.
Her eyes followed Freed until he disappeared out the front door, throwing Cobra in front of him, slamming the door behind. She'd felt his magical power, and hoped he didn't kill that poor slayer.
He was just doing what they asked. Cobra couldn't help what he unearthed.
The moment the front door clanged shut, Freed grabbed the front of Cobra's shirt, the suppressed magical energy bursting to life inside of him as he literally threw the dragon slayer through one of the posts on his front porch, splintering the wood as Cobra flew nearly fifteen feet from the house, scrambling to regain his balance.
Freed stalked after him, debating if killing the slayer was worth not learning what he'd seen. He'd told the dumbass to stop listening twice when Lucy started crying, and he'd been too involved with whatever he was seeing to even listen.
"You fucks wanted me to know!" Cobra seethed, jumping out of the way when Freed drew his sword. "I have to know what she does to tell you what I think! You guys wanted me to fucking come!"
He stopped a couple feet away, swinging his sword. It ripped a huge wave of magic, flattening the trees to his left. When he spoke his tone came out deadly serious, the venom in his voice leaking into the air. "I didn't tell you to read her mind and make her cry. You decided to do that."
"I have to know what she knows to figure it out," he snapped back, his hands igniting with his poison magic. "Now are you going to listen to what I think, or do you want to fight me about it?"
Freed forced himself to look away, gripping his sword tighter. He refused to return it to its sheath. "Tell me what you saw."
Cobra scoffed, relaying what he'd seen. He had to jump out of the way twice at the end of the story, dodging Freed's wide attacks.
"Fuck man! I'm just telling you what I heard in her mind. There's a reason I tried telling her to stop."
Freed nodded curtly, pursing his lips. It didn't matter what Cobra tried to do, he was the damn reason this happened. "You got what you wanted. Now you better tell me something fucking amazing about what you heard, or I will tear you to pieces for making her relive it."
Cobra arched an eyebrow, sizing up Freed a moment before letting the magic in his hand die out. "Sorano – Angel, whatever you want to call her – told us about this crazy rumor she heard once about celestial spirits. She used to give us some bullshit story about learning how to summon spirits so she could fly with them, but I don't think that's why she chose to learn summoning magic. She used to say that if you could force a spirit through their gate and break the key while they are in our world, they become part of this world."
"So?"
Rolling his eyes, he continued on, "So if you can do it while the gate is still open, it remains that way. The gates to the celestial world close when the spirit fully reaches this world. If the gate key is broken and the connection severed, the gate and all the magic included cannot tell if the spirit arrived or not. It only lasts for a few moments, but the rumor is you can give up part of your soul to the celestial spirit world during those moments, and that part disappears forever since there's no key to get it back."
Freed's eyes widened, the pieces beginning to fall in place. "You think they want to break Lucy's contracts so that they can summon the spirits again and try this ritual?"
Cobra nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Sounds like it. I think Sorano stopped believing in that idea a long time ago, especially when she stopped practicing celestial magic, but Midnight never did. Sometimes he used to quiz her on it. I don't know why they would need Rustyrose though."
Narrowing his eyes, Freed inclined his head. "How exactly are you supposed to sever your soul?"
"I have no god damn idea. I didn't take this shit seriously, but Midnight did. I never understood how it would work, but he must've found a way since they caught Heartfilia. Maybe Rusty's that way."
Freed tensed, tightening his grip on the blade. He badly wanted to strike Cobra down for pushing Lucy to revisit something so awful, but he couldn't quite make himself do it. Jackass or not, Cobra seemed to provide an answer none of them had. Hell, he even figured things out Freed himself didn't know.
But at the cost? He'd seen the way Lucy's sanity unraveled, stuck in a memory she couldn't escape. He'd have to talk to her about it at some point, but how would he ever know when the right point was?
Glaring off the other direction, he reminded himself to not fight Cobra. Even Laxus did that when he tried to get up and blast him out of the living room when he pushed too far. If he looked upon him again, he was certain he couldn't control his temper.
He was determined now. He'd find Midnight and Rustyrose, and make them pay for ever laying a finger on her. He'd bring them to their knees.
With the Dark Ecriture magic still burning in his right eye, Freed wasn't certain he could face Cobra without striking him down. Instead he spoke just one word, daring the dragon slayer to fight him. "Leave."
A/n: I do love a dark story. Let me know your thoughts.