A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've had a good portion of the chapter written for about a month, but then school got in the way. And then I needed to add a scene to tie it all together, and the outline that I'd made just took the wind out of my sails. Sometimes outlining shit is the devil.

I'm posting this with minimal proofing. It's almost 3 in the morning here and I'm exhausted. But it's also been a few months since this was updated, so I think you guys deserve it!

I can promise you at least one more chapter after this one. I already have plans for that, but I don't know where it'll take me.

Out of Sight

Soft strands of ember drifted in waves through the black air, lighting his world anew. He could smell her, taste her laugh on the wind, but he couldn't see her. Not her pale face or vacant eyes. He could hear her soul as it called to him, soft whimpers that clawed for his attention. All he could see was her hair. The gentle light seeping from within it. He tried to find the source, but there was no telling where one section started and another ended as they knotted in the air around him. Slowly surrounded him. Cradled him.

But Cobra wanted this. He ached to feel her warmth again. To taste her cinnamon lips and wrap his arms around her. Just like he'd done the last time they'd been together. The hair tightened until there was no darkness in the sphere. Only the soft glow of her magic that warmed him from within.

"Cobra…"

Her voice was hardly a whisper, but he wanted to hear it again. Louder. Crying out his name. Her laughter. The venom in her words when she was pissed. He wanted it all.

"Cobra… come back…"

He reached forward, scowling at the heavy, rusted chains around his wrists that held him back from touching her hair. He pushed again and again, refusing to acknowledge the bite of metal into his wrists, or how his flesh split from the friction.

"Cobra…"

"Damnit," he growled. "Let me go."

The Poison Slayer glared down at the shackles, whimpering at the sight that laid before him. Once he saw it, there was no way to ignore how his suddenly young, bony wrists and dirt-smeared fingers looked covered in blood. His blood. He felt the chains weighing his frail body down, pulling him further from the light of her hair. Further from her.

"Cobra… come back… Don't leave me…"

"I-I don't want to," he whimpered. "Please! Let me go!"

He wanted her. He needed her to take away the darkness and the familiar feminine voice that joined with Flare's in the air around him, screeching and full of fear. Just like he remembered.

"Please! I need to help my son!"

"M-Mama?" Fire burned in his wrists and the sudden lash of a whip across his bare back had Cobra crying out in fear. He couldn't go back here. Not back to this place. Not again. "Flare," he cried, roaring as the whip came down on him again. Her hair dimmed and loosened its protective hold around him. "F-Flare, help! Help me!"

"... Cobra…"

Cobra woke with a snarl, sitting up from his bedroll and sending his fist sailing toward the pale mage hovering over him. Midnight dodged it easily, showing just how spooked the Poison Slayer was that he couldn't even land the hit.

"You're having nightmares," Midnight said. It wasn't a question, just an observation, and an easy one to make. Cobra never made noise in his sleep, unless he was having a nightmare. He never laid down, instead choosing to sleep sitting with his back against something, unless he was caught in thoughts of the past.

"Fuck off." Cobra couldn't handle the questions. Not right then. Not when all he could see when he closed his eye and brought trembling hands to his head was that vibrant burnished hair. And just behind it, he could still picture his mother being beaten to death by a guard for trying to help clean him up.

"Cobra, what's happening?" Midnight whispered, staring at the sweat pouring down his friend's throat, how much had soaked into his shirt. When Cobra removed the sopping fabric without a thought, Midnight nearly retched. Why was he so thin? All skin and bones beneath his clothes. And no one had known because Cobra was adamant about remaining clothed at all times since they'd found him in Sun Village.

"Nothing." He could still hear her screaming at the guards in the Tower, begging them to let her help her child.

"Don't lie to me." Midnight's eyes narrowed when he watched the Poison Slayer rub at his scarred wrists. "Were you dreaming about the Tower?"

"I said to fuck off," Cobra growled. He could practically feel Flare's hair teasing his senses as her soul whispered to him again. "I'm not warning you again, Midnight."

"Cobra, when was the last time you ate?" Midnight asked carefully.

"Erik, stay back! I'll be alright, dear…" He blinked and saw her lifeless indigo eyes staring at him, her split lip and bruised face. Long brown tresses matted with her blood from the baton that had just cracked her skull open.

"M-Midnight, get the hell away from me," Cobra whimpered. "Please, man… N-Not right now, okay?"

'... miss him… crying so much… hate this… Cobra…'

He could hear her again. They were so far from Sun Village, but he could still hear Flare's soul. Calling for him, begging him to return. Every day and night, he fought to ignore her song. And with each step he took from her, it only hurt all the more.

'... Co… Cobra… bra…'

"Erik, sta-"

'Cobra, Co-'

"-y back!"

'-bra, Cobra… Co-'

"It'll be alright, dear…"

'-bra!'

"Please, don't hurt him!"

'Cobra!'

"I love you, Erik… My sweet little boy…"

'COBRA!'

Midnight's crimson eyes widened as Cobra covered his pointed ears and curled in on himself. He instantly recognized the quick cadence of barely-breathing, knew all too well the sight of bony shoulders hunched and quivering. "Angel!" he shouted while shuffling across the short distance and wrapping his arms around Cobra. "Angel, code black!"

The sound of a spoon clacking against a metal bowl as it crashed to the forest floor preceded the once-Celestial mage scrambling through the flap of Cobra's tent. "What happened?" she hissed. "Midnight, what did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything!" he spat. His grip tightened around the Poison Slayer once Cobra started trying to wriggle away. "Angel-"

"M-Make it stop," Cobra sniffled. "Stop hearing it… S-Stop hearing it…"

Meredy's head poked into the tent as Angel moved closer, her eyes widening at the sight of the tanned mage in such a state. "Is he…"

"My precious little boy," she sighed as they curled together for warmth.

She pushed against the guards keeping them apart, tears streaming down her ruddy cheeks. "Erik, stay back! It'll be alright…"

"M-Mama, no," Cobra cried. "D-Don't hurt her. Don't… S-Stop… Leave her…"

'... miss you, Cobra,' Flare's soul sighed in the distance.

He shook his head, gripping his hair tighter than before. "Stop hearing it… stop… stop…"

'Oh my god, what's happening to Cobra?!'

Meredy was pulled away from the tent and instantly replaced with Jellal's calculating eyes and concerned frown. "What's code black?"

"Shh," Angel whispered as her fingers carded through the Poison Slayer's hair. She pulled him into her arms while Midnight grabbed a section of his own black hair and pressed it into Cobra's palm. "There you go. Just the hair, right?"

"Meredy, it's best if you stay out here with us," Richard said outside the tent, his low voice ricocheting between Cobra's ears.

"I'm worried about him, Richard," she said. The way her soul warbled with fear made Cobra's head pound. "You didn't see him in there. And… I-I care about him."

"Like a brother," Sawyer said softly. The distant growls that still echoed in his soul made Cobra feel like someone had taken a pickaxe to his brain. "We know, but it's best for Angel and Midnight to help him like this. It's okay…"

"B-But…"

Cobra continued mumbling to himself as hot tears lashed down his cheek. Jellal's frown deepened when he noticed Cobra's fingers quickly twisting Midnight's hair one way and another between them, coiling them around one digit, starting all over again. How his knees drew up into his chest as though he was a scared child stuck in a nightmare.

"Mama, I love your hair…"

"You can play with it whenever you want, Erik," she whispered. "But we have to stay quiet now." She smiled down at him, her face barely visible in the thin shaft of moonlight drifting in from the high window of their cell. 'My precious boy,' she thought, 'He's always so gentle.'

"It's alright," Angel whispered as she held the sobbing Slayer in her arms. Slowly, her gaze shifted toward Jellal while Midnight grabbed a blanket and carefully wrapped it around Cobra.

"You can play with my hair whenever you want, Erik," Midnight said, his voice soft and tender. This was the only time anyone was allowed to call him by his birth name. The reason he hated when anyone said it otherwise - especially Jellal. Midnight knew only Cobra's mother had called him by name, the name she'd given him when she managed to survive birthing him in her cell. He gently grabbed Cobra's free hand, lacing their fingers together. "Whenever you need to."

"What's going on here?" Jellal asked, though he kept his voice quiet. They'd all heard Cobra whimpering through the night and a good portion of the morning. No one had told him why only Midnight was allowed to go into the Poison Slayer's tent to wake him, though. And he'd thought better than to bring it up, just in case it was a taboo subject.

This had never happened though. He'd never known any of the former Oracion Seis members to act like this.

'Erik doesn't look too good… has he been eating at all? He's so skinny… I should have noticed something was off sooner… I need to be more aware of what they're going through, so I can actually help…'

"Cobra's…" Angel paused, unsure of how to put it. How was she supposed to explain just what was wrong with him? Everyone but Jellal and Meredy knew. Racer and Richard always kept their distance when he was like this, because they were too domineering. They reminded Cobra too much of the guards who'd killed his mother, because they were men. And she was sure, had it not been Cobra going through this, he would have made some snide remark about Midnight being feminine enough to pass for a woman. "He…"

"Please," his mother cried to the other prisoners holding her back, "They took my little boy! I-I'll take his punishment! H-He's just so hungry! Please, don't whip my son!"

"Shit!" Midnight grabbed Cobra's discarded shirt and pressed the damp, sweaty fabric to the Poison Slayer's bleeding nose. "Cobra, you have to focus, okay? Focus on…" Whose soul could he use to anchor the Slayer? Not Jellal. He was too guilt-ridden. The Seis each had their own demons that Cobra constantly tried to avoid.

He hadn't had a nosebleed like this in so long, though. Not since they'd broken out of prison the first time. Having the magic-cancelling cuffs removed and hearing so many souls at once had overwhelmed Cobra to the point that they'd had to drag him away from the prison, barely conscious with the blood from his nose covered by his ratty shirt, then Racer's as more continued to pour.

"Jellal, grab that lacrima and call Fairy Tail!" Angel shouted.

"Fairy Tail?"

"Just do it!" she snapped. She watched him fumble with the little orb, sending his magic into it, the gentle pulse of light as it tried to connect.

"Ah, Jellal," Makarov said, smiling. "How can I help you today?"

"S-Stop," Cobra whimpered, not seeing anyone around him, trying to only feel the hair between his fingers, the warmth around his shoulders that he knew was a blanket. Thin, tender arms he recognized as Angel's. He didn't want to hear anything. Not anymore.

"Focus, Cobra," Midnight whispered. "It's okay. We're right here."

"Uh," Jellal muttered. "I'm not sure…" Makarov frowned, and he looked toward Angel once again while kneeling and moving to her side so the older guild master could see her face.

"Please tell me Cubellios is around," she said quickly.

"Who?"

"Hang up and call Mira," Angel hissed to Jellal. "I need to talk to Kinana. Now!" She waited as Jellal apologized to Makarov and disconnected, then made the call to Mira's lacrima down at the bar.

"Jellal-"

"Mira, I need to speak with Kinana," he said quickly. "I don't know why, but it's an emergency."

Angel looked at Midnight as Kinana's face filled the screen. "Forty miles from them," she said, quickly calculating their distance from the light guild. "Can he do that like this?"

Cobra couldn't breathe. Every short huff he pulled in reeked of sweat and blood. In his mind, it was the Tower all over again. The pain, the wailing souls. His mother crying out to him, and the nightmares he still had about being so close to saving her - how he finally had the magic to do something about her being killed, only to fail miserably and watch her die all over again.

Midnight never took his eyes from Cobra, especially not when the Poison Slayer started panicking further and began gasping for air. "I hope so. Angel, do it."

She nodded, turning her attention to the lacrima. "Cubellios, I need you to call Cobra."

"What's going on? Is he alright?"

Angel nodded to Jellal, watching worriedly as he turned the lacrima so Kinana could see her old friend. How he trembled, curled up in her arms, how small and frail he looked right then. At the barmaid's sharp gasp, she said, "He needs something calm now. Familiar. You're the closest he's got to her, Cubellios."

"Cobra, you have to breathe," Midnight whispered. "Find Cubellios, okay? She'll help you. Just find Cubellios."

"C-Cu," he gasped. His eye stayed tightly clenched, but he'd caught what Midnight had told him. Find Cubellios. Find her soul, instead of focusing on the memories crashing through him. She'd been just like his mother, after he'd lost the woman. His mother, sister, best friend, and daughter all wrapped in one.

"I'm here, Erik… I'm here. Listen to my voice… Listen… Touch Macbeth's hair, Erik. Hear me… You're safe now."

"Touch my hair," Midnight whispered. He reached down and fisted Cobra's quaking hand around the lock he held. "Soft, clean. It's alright now."

Angel smiled when Cobra let out a great huff of air after several breathless moments for everyone in the tent, collapsing in her arms and leaning heavily against her. He was still panting, his nose still bleeding, still trembling, but he was starting to calm down. "There we go," she sighed. "We just needed Cubellios, isn't that right?"

Cobra shivered, unaware of the eyes watching him as he starting tumbling into unconsciousness. "F-Flare…"

The tent was silent and still for several moments, with everyone watching Cobra and unable to utter a word.

"Did he…" Angel whispered.

"This is strange," Midnight nodded.

"Kinana," Jellal sighed. "Thank you for… whatever it was you did. I hope Cobra will be alright now, but we'll let you know if we need your help again."

"Y-Yeah," she whispered. As the line cut off, Kinana kept her gaze on the darkened orb. Worry curled in her gut, but she kept it separate from the gentle lullaby thrumming in her soul and calling out to Cobra through the bond they shared from childhood. She leaned back against a nearby crate in the store room beneath the guild, her head shooting up when quick footsteps came rushing toward her.

"Kinana, is everything alright? Mira said…" Lucy paused as she rounded the corner and found the purple-haired barmaid kneeling on the floor with tears on her lashes. "Kinana?"

She smiled as soon as her gaze locked onto the familiar, gentle honey eyes of the guild's Celestial mage. She couldn't find her voice for several moments, but it was all there for her to hear through the connection she had to Cobra's soul. He'd always called out to her, a gentle ping to make sure she was still there, where she would call back unconsciously.

But she'd heard something new when he lost his will to stay awake. More than just a name from his lips. It was the call of his soul to another, in a way that she'd always hoped he would find.

"L-Lucy, could you help me with something?" Kinana sniffled. "I need to talk to someone."

"Sure," the blonde answered in an instant, sitting next to her on the floor. "How can I help?"

"I need to get in touch with Flare," Kinana whispered. "It's important."

"... Who are you?"

Kinana smiled at the suspicious frown greeting her from the woman on the lacrima. She remembered all too well just what Flare had been like during the Games, and had encountered the Hair mage only a small handful of times in passing since then. She looked exactly as Kinana remembered, only much more subdued. And maybe just a little sad.

"My name is Kinana," she said. "I'm a friend of Lucy's."

"Oh!" Flare brightened up at that. "How's Blondie doing?"

"Good," Kinana laughed, then her smile faded a little bit. "But I'm actually calling you about Cobra." Flare went oddly still, to the point that Kinana wondered if the connection was poor and the image had frozen in place. She nearly jumped when the redhead spoke again.

"You tell that asshole I hope he dies in a fire."

Well, that had definitely been unexpected. When Lucy had wanted to know why Kinana needed help getting in contact with Flare, she'd been as vague as possible with the blonde. Luckily, saying it was personal was enough for Lucy to let the matter drop.

But the sudden fire raging in Flare's eyes had Kinana rethinking how she needed to approach this with the redhead. Clearly Cobra had left on some not-so-great terms.

"And while you're at it, you can go fuck yourself," Flare spat. "I don't want anything to do with that piece of shit and-"

Kinana blinked, wide-eyed as she sat in the storeroom and thankful that Lucy had volunteered to cover her shift at the bar while she made the call. Mira had already been back to check on her, and she'd told the woman that she needed some time to herself. So, Kinana simply let Flare rant and fume as much as she wanted, ignoring every vile, hate-filled word that left her.

"- just drops into my life and poof! I hate him! He's an egotistical fucknugget with a spiked dildo up his ass all the time, and-"

Finally, Kinana couldn't stop herself from giggling. That cut Flare off in an instant and had the Hair mage glaring at her through the orb. "I'm sorry," she laughed, "You just remind me of him like this."

"What?" Flare hissed.

"He does that when he's hurting," she sighed, lowering her gaze. "He's mean and hateful and lashes out at everyone so they'll just leave him alone."

Flare's eyes were wide, confused. After a moment, she pursed her lips in agitation. "Why are you calling me?"

Kinana sighed softly, her gaze darting across the storeroom to make sure she was alone. "I got a call from Crime Sorciere," she finally said. "Cobra's… He's not doing too well. He looked really sick and…" She paused to take a steadying breath. "He was having a panic attack. They needed me to help calm him down again."

Suddenly, Flare's eyes were vacant, unreadable. "I should have known he wasn't single," she said flatly. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on trying to take him from you."

"Wh-What?" Kinana gasped. "Oh god, no! That's not it!" When Flare stared at her, her let out another heavy breath. This would be so much easier if Cobra had told her about Flare to begin with, more than the fact that she'd saved his life when Jellal chucked him (accidentally) across the country. Like what was really going on between them, or why he'd decided to leave Sun Village in the first place if he cared about the woman.

"When I was little," Kinana said softly, "I was cursed and turned into a snake. And Erik saved me-"

"Erik?" Flare frowned.

"Cobra."

"Oh… I didn't know that was his name."

"Not many people do," Kinana said with what she hoped was an encouraging smile. One that fell when she returned to her story. "But, I think he found me a day or two before the guards killed his mother. Right in front of him."

"Wh-What?"

She nodded slowly. "He was in a place called the Tower of Heaven. People were kept there as slaves. His mother was a slave and she got pregnant from one of the guards… then had Erik there. And for a long time before we met, he was there with her, forced to work for them." Thinking about that dark time in her life, and trying to clear the foggy edges of the few memories she'd regained over the years, always made her heart sink.

"But eventually he and a few other kids were taken away from the Tower, and they joined a dark guild under a man named Brain. The Oracion Seis." As Kinana continued telling Flare about how she'd stayed with Erik as he gained his new name, Cobra, and things here and there over the years, she saw the woman's face become so expressive, so utterly enraptured in the tale she told.

"He's the only family I had before I became human again," she said. "And when I first changed back, I couldn't remember anything about him, but Erik's always been like a brother to me. Sometimes like a father, like when I was a snake and he took care of me; other times he was like a son, when I'd curl around him and let him cry on my scales after we were out of the Tower. But he'll only ever be the best friend I've ever had, Flare."

"That's… why he has those scars?" Flare whispered after letting everything sink in. "He used to be a slave?"

Kinana nodded. "It takes a lot for him to trust people, and I want you to know that when I was helping him a little while ago… Well, sometimes I can hear parts of his soul when I do that - call out to his magic with my soul. And you're there."

"... Huh?"

"You're in his soul, Flare." Kinana smiled at the redhead's confusion. "He hasn't forgotten you or anything like that. In fact, I think Erik's a bit of a martyr, even though no one ever sees it. Because he… well, I think he wants to be with you, but…"

"So, what's stopping him?" Flare asked, her gaze lowered.

"Cobra," she sighed. "Sometimes, it's like he has two people warring in his head. Who he really is, and who he thinks he needs to be. Sometimes they're the same, but Erik and Cobra have a whole lot of differences."

"I know what you mean," Flare whispered after a long pause. "I know how that feels."

"Do you?"

"There are times when he can't hear my soul," she said, slowly looking back to the lacrima. "He told me that. I don't know when he can or can't, but sometimes… It's like… There's the Flare from Raven Tail still in me, what Ivan made me into. But then there's just me, Flare from Sun Village. And I… I don't want to be from Raven Tail anymore, but it comes out and it's like… it's not me talking anymore, but it still is. Because that me wasn't afraid to say what was on her mind, or what people thought about her. That me was strong and brave and could take anyone down."

"What about this you?"

"The world's a scary place," she said with a shy smile. "This me is just…" She gave Kinana a helpless shrug. "I don't know. Not enough, I guess."

An understanding smile curled Kinana's lips at that. That was more familiar an expression to her than anyone knew. It reminded her of what Erik had confided in her when they'd finally reconnected after he joined Crime Sorciere.

#

"Cu," he whispered, his head lying on her lap as they rested in the clearing behind Fairy Tail and gazed up at the stars, "I'm scared of the world."

"What do you mean?"

"There's so much pain. I've caused so much pain, and I've enjoyed it. But hearing it now makes me sick sometimes. Sometimes I wish I was back in the Tower where I knew the rules and it was easy…"

"Erik, they killed people in that place. You were a slave there."

"But at least I knew my damn place there," he sighed, curling into her stomach and sighing as her fingers brushed through his hair. "It was secluded and there weren't so many souls trying wriggle into my head. Sometimes I wonder… if that's why I'm batshit fucking crazy now… All these voices in my head."

She smiled and twirled a lock of his soft, crimson hair around her fingers, watching his eye close and a slow smirk twitch at the corners of his lips. "Erik and Cobra, right?" she whispered.

"Yeah, Cu," he sighed.

#

"Then I think you and Erik have a whole lot more in common than you'd thought before. This you and Erik… And that you and Cobra."

"... You really think that?"

"I do," Kinana giggled. "So… Would it be alright if he called you?"

"Did he… Did he ask to call me?"

"Not yet. I know he'll call me when he's feeling a little better. He knows I worry about him. But, if you say it's okay for him to call you, then I'll let him know that he should."

"... Oh."

"Flare, you have to understand. He's proud and very stubborn. If he's trying to keep his distance for some reason, it's not because of you. It's because he thinks he has to."

"I… I don't want him to, though," Flare whispered. "I just… I miss him."

"Then maybe I can work a little magic."

"You have that kind of magic?" Flare stared, wide-eyed as Kinana laughed and shook her head.

"I don't have any real magic. I just meant, as someone he trusts, he'll listen to me if I tell him to call you."

"Just like that?"

"It might take a little convincing," Kinana winced while thinking about what it might take to get her friend to call Flare. "I can put the bug in his ear, and then we just have to wait for him to do it."

"Do you really think he will?"

She nodded in an instant, thinking back to what she'd heard in his soul. How he'd called out to Flare and the way his soul fluttered at just the thought of her. "I do, Flare," she whispered, smiling softly. "I think he really wants to be with you. And all I want is for him to be happy."

Soft whimpers drifted through the air. Stifled sobs ricocheted across his synapses, causing Cobra to wince and shift restlessly. He knew it wasn't happening right then, that it was only a memory, but it was her voice that he remembered.

Flare had cried that morning. Her soul had sounded as though it was being ripped in half, and somehow he'd forced himself to keep walking away from the village of giants. Her soul had begged him to return when he'd woken up with his arms around her, just before dawn, and silently crept from her bed. It had been hard enough to pull away from her without her soul whispering to him.

And he hadn't realized until he was lying in his tent right then that she'd wanted him - no, needed him - to stay with her. He was the reason she'd cried so hard, the reason he'd heard in Lucy's soul just two days prior, when they'd run into Team Natsu on the road, that Flare had sobbed for hours on the blonde.

But Cobra knew what he could do to remedy all of this. It was just a matter of getting his own head out of his ass and calling her. He could do it. But for some reason, every single time he grabbed the lacrima over the past few weeks since talking to Kinana, doubt snaked its way down his spine.

It was pathetic.

He was pathetic.

Finally, Cobra just forced himself to grab the stupid little orb that laid next to his bedroll. His eye opened and he cringed at the reflection staring back at him. He just couldn't explain it. No matter what he tried, Cobra couldn't find the will to eat all that much. And now, when he was going to try and talk to her, just to apologize - seven though it was a step far out of his comfort zone - Cobra looked like he'd been used as a Vulcan enema. Haunted, exhausted, and far too thin.

His hair was flat, still drying from the bath he'd taken in the nearby stream. His nose was red from the tissues he'd been rubbing across it. As if he didn't feel horrible enough, Cobra just had to get a case of the fucking sniffles.

But this wasn't going to stop him. It wouldn't be long before Midnight came in to check on him, and he wanted to have something to do until then. Something he should have done weeks before.

He sent a small pulse of magic into the orb, rubbing his nose with a tissue once again. It pulsed again and again, and just when he was ready to give up, he saw her eyes. And all at once, the ache that had taken root deep in his chest, eased. His soul sighed, filled anew with life.

"... Cobra?"

"Damn, you're gorgeous," he whispered. The vacancy in her eyes was gone in a flash. Her lips parted as tears welled on her lashes, fire burning in her eyes once again. Just like he remembered.

"Go fuck yourself, Co-"

"I'm sorry, Gingerbread," he sniffled. Phlegm tickled the back of his throat and he tried several times to clear it. "Ugh, I feel horrible…"

"Are you dying or something?"

"No," he laughed. "I'm just sick. But that's not important. I'm sorry."

Flare's lips pursed while she looked away from the lacrima. His gaze was instantly drawn to how her hair brushed along her shoulder. It was down, he realized, flowing freely in the soft light of what he knew was her bedroom. "Yeah, whatever."

"I shouldn't have left."

"You had to," she shrugged, still not looking at him. "I understand. You've got a guild, things to do."

"Flare," he whispered, wincing when he heard her soul echoing with pain in the distance. Cobra really wasn't sure what he was even trying to say. It wasn't like he spent all that much time on a lacrima with someone in the first place. He hated it, actually, since he couldn't hear the person's soul as easily as when he was right in front them. "I didn't want to go."

"You had to," she repeated.

'I wish you hadn't… My heart hurts… What did you to do me?'

There was no accusation in the gentle echo he heard from the auburn beauty. Just loneliness. Longing. And it was then, as he looked at her profile, that Cobra remembered what her soul had always whispered. Something he hadn't realized he'd heard, but somehow knew was there.

'Don't leave me alone again. I want to find someone like me. Do you understand me?'

Just like him.

Cobra sniffled again, clearing his throat as he watched her. He knew he needed to say something, but what could he say? He'd apologized to her. She knew he didn't want to leave, but she just brushed it off. What else was there, really?

"Maybe try saying you miss her, Cobra," came the silent, calm voice of Midnight. "I can only assume you're trying to make things right, and if you want to ever see her again, she needs to know you care."

Cobra sighed. "Flare… will you look at me?" She slowly turned, just enough for her gaze to fall on him again. Vacant once more. Damnit, how was he supposed to say something like this without sounding like a total fucking toolbag?

"... Are you just going to stare at me?"

"I like it," he said without another thought. "Staring at you." Fuck, that sounded stupid. Midnight's palm slapping into his forehead outside of the tent was enough proof of that.

Flare blinked, her head tilting just a little closer to the lacrima. "Why?"

"Because you're beautiful and looking at you makes my soul sigh like a swooning little teeny-bopper." Cobra's lips clamped shut in an instant. God-fucking-damnit, that was not what he meant to say! Not at all. Clearly being sick had also made him fucking delusional. But the curious look in Flare's eyes made him pause just before he could shut off the lacrima and go throw himself off of a fucking cliff.

"Are you blushing right now?"

"I'm sick," he huffed. Now it was his turn to look away from the orb. The gentle laugh from her drew him right back, though. He'd heard that sound only a handful of times when he'd been in Sun Village, but it had never sounded so innocent, so pure. So fucking right.

"You're kind of cute when you blush," Flare whispered. "Your ears are red."

"Fuck you, Gingerbread," he muttered. But she still smiled. And it took him several seconds to realize that he was doing it right along with her. She brushed her hair back and tucked it behind her ear, and he was instantly reminded of what he'd told her to do when they'd slept together.

"Touch me with this," he whispered, his fingers brushing through the fiery strands again. "Everywhere. If you want me to play nice, you'll have to make me."

Slowly, her hair lifted from the floor and started wrapping itself around his body. Calves, thighs, arms, throat, chest. More sections brushed lightly over his back, slithered between his shoulder blades.

"Sh-Shit," Cobra hissed. He didn't mind it one bit that he was being tied up like this. He wanted Flare's hair surrounding him. Touching him. Everywhere, all at once. "F-Fuck… Rub it harder, Gingerbread."

And with the memory of how she'd tied him up during sex, came another.

"Mm, don't braid your hair again."

Flare frowned and lifted her head from his chest. "What?"

"I like your hair," he smirked. "So let it free tonight."

"Your hair is so beautiful," he whispered.

"... What?"

Cobra shook his head, his smile widening slightly when he saw the confusion sitting so plainly on her face. "Your hair," he said a little more clearly. "It's beautiful. I… I miss how it felt."

"You mean…"

He felt his cheeks and ears burning, but it didn't stop him from saying what was on his mind. "Touching it, how you touched me with it. I've, um… I've got this thing about hair."

"I figured as much," she giggled, though he could see the light dusting of pink on her cheeks. "It's down right now. Wanna see?"

Oh, did he want to see her hair. Cobra nodded quickly, rolling onto his side and getting more comfortable. He was so focused on the screen that he didn't hear Midnight and the rest of his guild turning in for the night, or their quiet, smiling comments about how they were glad he was talking to Flare. "Stretch it out," he whispered. "I wanna see how long it is."

Flare smiled, just a quick flash before the lacrima turned from her face, and Cobra found himself mesmerized by the sight he beheld. Long ruby tresses cascaded down her back, over her shoulders, and onto the floor. He remembered, roughly, the size of her room, and when he realized that her hair was spread across the floor and nearly touching the corners, Cobra took a shuddering breath filled with desire.

God, he missed her hair. The warmth. How soft it was. Seeing the light bouncing off of it, the gentle glow from within that he'd barely seen only one time.

"I can make it shorter or longer," she said, and he watched the fiery strands slide closer to her. "It's why I keep it braided."

"Don't," he rasped. Damn, he sounded desperate right then. Even he could hear it. "I like it long." Her hair stopped moving, but the lacrima shifted again until it simply floated in the air in her bedroom. "What are you doing?"

The lacrima turned until he could see Flare smiling back at him, with one hand holding her hair and the other lifting a brush into the air. "Cobra, I was about to brush my hair when you called," she said. He could swear he saw a sudden flicker of mischief in her eyes. "I don't want to hang up, but…"

"Y-You can do that now," he said, sniffling and wiping his nose again. "I don't mind." He nearly doubled over when a bright splash of crimson desire rippled through his senses from her soul. Even from so far away, he could hear it. He could nearly smell her arousal hanging thick in the air.

A lock of her hair took the place of her hand on the brush, then brought it to her scalp. Each stroke was slow, careful, meticulous in a way that Cobra had never seen before. But every time she reached the end of one section, he nearly whimpered as the tips of her hair flicked up into the air.

What he wouldn't give to feel that on his skin. To bury his nose in her hair again, like he'd done while they slept, and soak in her cinnamon-ember scent. His breath stuttered when a section of her hair brushed gently across the face of the lacrima, almost as though she was doing to it to him.

"Everything okay?" Flare asked.

"Y-Yeah… Just… Keep brushing, okay?"

"Sure," she smiled. The brush continued running through her hair. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Um…"

"Cobra?"

He fought to keep his free hand from slipping beneath the blanket so he could palm his straining arousal. It wasn't as though he could just rub one out right then. Not with Flare watching him. It wasn't even a matter of whether the others in the camp would hear. He didn't care about that. It was more that he hadn't called Flare just so he could jerk it to her hair.

Fuck, that sounded like a wonderful idea, though.

The lacrima moved closer to her face, close enough for him to see the few strands that had fallen across her cheek. He could still see her hair moving one way and another in the background.

"Tell me something," Flare whispered.

Cobra nodded slowly.

"Would it be weird if I… did something?"

"I don't know. What do you have in mind?"

She nibbled her lip and lowered her eyes as her cheeks flushed once again. "To be honest, I… I miss you."

Shit, he'd forgotten to tell her that! He'd meant to say he missed her. Cobra really couldn't remember what they'd talked about though. He'd apologized, but what else was there? And for the first time in his life, Cobra realized that even though their conversation had been so ridiculously unimportant, he didn't care. He was talking to her again. Seeing her. Hell, they could sit on the line and just watch each other, and he knew he would have been more than happy to do it.

"I miss you, too," he finally whispered back. "Every day."

Her smile stayed in place when he started sneezing, and the Hair mage simply watched Cobra as tears sprung to his eye when one sneeze turned into two, then three.

"Fuck, kill me now," he groaned.

"You don't get sick often, do you?"

"No."

"Maybe I should let you sleep then. You'll feel better-"

"You make me feel better," he said, roughly swiping his palm over his eye to get rid of the moisture welling on his lashes. When he looked at her again, her mouth hung open and she blinked in surprise. "What did you want to do?"

"Oh! Um…" And once again, she was back to the timid little mouse. He just couldn't get enough of seeing her switch like this, so quickly, so extremely. "Well, you can say no, but… Maybe, we could do something. Like this. Since I don't know if I'll see you again…"

"I'll call you every single day if you want." Shit, where the hell had that come from? It wasn't like Cobra wanted take it back, but he hadn't a clue why it had slipped out in the first place.

"You don't have to do that…"

"What did you have in mind, Gingerbread?" he asked with a small smirk.

"Well, you'd have to be… wearing less," she whispered. "I would too, though."

"Are you telling me you wanna play on a lacrima?" Cobra grinned when she blushed again. Oh, what a wonderful turn of events. And here he'd been worried that she wouldn't want anything to do with him. That she wouldn't even want to talk to him. That she would take one look at his face and decide it had all been a huge mistake.

And she might still do that. There was no telling what would happen, but Cobra - for once in his life - just wanted to live in the moment with her. He wanted to take what he could get, and to see how long he could have what the Hair mage was willing to offer.

"But," Flare whispered, "I want to see your face."

"Not my dick?" he chuckled. "That's in my top three best features."

"All of you, but especially your face." She smiled again, moving the lacrima a little closer. "You make the cutest faces when you're about to cum." He let out a quiet groan, biting his lip nearly hard enough to draw blood. "Did you know that I've dreamt about just that? Just the face you make when my hair's wrapped around you and you're breathless and fighting to hold back. I wake up soaked, Cobra."

"Damnit…" He hadn't realized she would start with dirty talk so soon. Or how much it would affect him.

He set the lacrima down and reached for the hem of his shirt. He'd never done anything like this before. It was new, strange, and there was a small part of him that wondered whether he'd actually be able to go through with it. Because while it was arousing as hell being able to see her like this, to listen to her voice, Cobra just didn't know how well he'd handle talking back. "I'll give you a sexy show some other time."

"I expect dancing and slutty thrusting," Flare laughed.

"Oh, you'll get the sluttiest thrusts ever," he grinned, tossing his thermal shirt toward his feet. He reached down and hooked his thumb into his pants and boxers, then waited. "I might even do a lovely dick windmill."

"That's my favorite move," she giggled. "Let me see you, Cobra."

He picked up the lacrima once again, focusing the orb on his face while using just his fingertips to stroke himself. Just a little teasing for now. "Here I am," he smirked.

"All of you. Your throat and chest…"

He moved his hand down, stretching his neck and turning his head to one side. "Would you be licking me right now, if you could?" he whispered.

"And biting you. I'd wrap my hair around your arms to keep you still when I lick your ears, though." His cock bounced with need in his grasp and he moved the lacrima lower so she could see his chest. "You look skinnier," she frowned.

"Haven't been able to eat all that much. I'll be fine." He knew it wasn't entirely true. Just as Cobra knew that he looked like death warmed over. Probably the least sexy thing in the universe right then.

"Flames, I love how dark your nipples are," she whispered. "Touch them for me. But lick your fingers first."

Cobra groaned softly while releasing his hold on himself, then licked his fingers and started gently teasing one nipple.

"Blow on it." Flare's breath hitched while watching his long fingers pluck and pull at his nipple, how it hardened with the sudden chilly air rushing past. How she heard his breath hitch and the lacrima shifted just enough so she could see his single eye burning into her as his lower lip was pulled between sharp teeth. "Move lower now. But touch your stomach. Nice and slow."

His fingers danced down the center of his chest toward the band of his pants, trailing through the thin path of hair leading from his navel down to what he knew Flare really wanted to see. Her soul was quiet again. "I wish I could hear you."

"Is the connection bad?" she asked.

"No, I mean your soul," he smirked, turning the orb so she could see his face again. "It goes in and out, and with how far away I am it's harder to hear."

"Oh…" She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Cobra said. "But I think it's my turn to see you, now." He remembered how delicious her body looked, but he wanted to see her again. All of her. Her perfect breasts, the scars on her arms and stomach that he'd barely taken notice of before. Her hips and ass and the hairless eden that rested between her pale thighs. "But you can't use your hands."

"What should I do with them then?" Flare laughed, sending two locks of hair up to the tie on her dress while moving the lacrima slowly toward her breasts.

"Touch yourself," Cobra rasped. "Tell me how wet you are. Don't let me see yet, just tell me."

Flare whimpered and let her dress fall away from her breasts while reaching between her legs, beneath the fabric.

"Not too fast," Cobra whispered. His hand pushed beneath his pants as the crimson dress slithered down to pool at her waist, baring those pale pink buds he'd so thoroughly teased the last time they were together. God, he wanted her hands on him instead of his own. "Just a finger. Touch your pussy, Gingerbread."

"Mmph… Cobra…" Her breasts quivered when she took a shuddering breath. Her free hand lifted and drew slow circles around her nipple, then trailed up to her throat. Back down to her other breast. "I'm wet."

"How wet?" He watched her back arch only slightly, then her fingers came into view on the screen, glistening down to the second knuckle and probably as sweet as he remembered. "Taste them for me," he rasped.

"What?" she giggled, blushing again while raising the lacrima back to her face. "Taste them?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "Lick it all off the way I would if I was there right now. Tell me what your sweet little cunt tastes like."

His hand slid up the length of his shaft while her fingers drifted toward her deviously grinning lips. Her tongue slipped out to flick across the moistened tips. "Do you remember," Flare whispered, "What it tasted like when I kissed you? After I cleaned you up?"

"God, yes… Like cinnamon."

Flare's tongue curled around her fingers moments before her lips surrounded them. He watched as her eyes slid closed, listened to the soft moan drifting through the air. "Cinnamon," she nodded. "It's just like you remember."

"Fuck…" He rubbed himself with more purpose, twisting his hand only slightly to work himself up a little more. He may have been a little impatient with her when they were together - when he wasn't teasing her and making her bend to his whims - but Cobra preferred denying himself until he just couldn't take it any longer.

"Cobra, should I rub myself with my hair for you?" She smiled when he gulped and nodded. The lacrima pulled back so he could see her spread out on the futon in her room, completely naked with her hair writhing like a den of serpents. Some strands reached toward the lacrima, beckoning him closer, while others slithered across her pale thighs, her stomach, coiled around her breasts and teased her pert nipples.

"God, just like that," he hissed. "Touch everywhere… Fuck, lemme see what your sexy hair can do."

Flare whimpered while she gazed at the orb, bringing it closer to her core as her hair pulled her thighs apart. "Like this, Cobra?"

His eye widened at the sight of those ruby locks lowering to tease her glistening sex, spreading her open for him to see the most intimate part of her with startling clarity. Pale pink lips misted with arousal, the small bundle of nerves just above, hidden from view for the time being.

"Perfect," he breathed. His hand left his pants with a droplet of moisture clinging to the tip of his thumb. "Taste me, Flare."

He heard her quiet whimper as his thumb brushed across his lower lip then slid into his mouth.

"Just like I remember?" she rasped.

"Sweeter than you remember. Without you all over it, my shit's like fucking candy." He grinned when she let out a quiet moan, licking his lips as her fingers returned to her sex.

"Show me, Cobra… Show me what I'm missing."

He lowered the lacrima so she could see where his bare flesh met with his pants, then hooked his thumb beneath the hem. The hair covering Flare's stomach shifted, and he frowned in confusion at the sight of crimson scales blossoming across her lower belly, just beneath her navel. "What's-"

A large explosion rocked the earth, and Cobra sat up quickly, his eye wide as he honed in on the hundreds of souls closing in on their camp. "Fuck! Two hundred! Two-fifty!" he bellowed to his guildmates through the thin walls of his tent.

"Cobra?" Flare whispered. "Cobra, what's going on?"

"Shit," he dropped the lacrima and pulled his shirt back on, then his boots and coat. "Gingerbread, I gotta go."

"What's happening?" Only her face filled the screen now, the fire in her eyes missing and filled with concern.

"Finish up for me, okay?" he smirked. "I'll call you when we're done. I promise."

"Cobra-"

"I've gotta go… Damnit. Two-seventy-five! Half mages! One klick north-northeast!"

"Cobra, wait!"

He paused, just about to toss the lacrima into his pack, then looked at the screen. "What?!" he snarled.

Still, she smiled at him and brought the orb closer to her lips. "Be safe and make them sorry for interrupting us," she whispered just before kissing the lacrima.

He chuckled and ignored the fire raging through the trees outside for just a moment. Just long enough to reciprocate with a gentle kiss to the glass orb. "Rain check," he said. "I'm serious though. You'd better finish up. I will call you later, and I wanna know how badly you need to see me cum."

"As soon as you're done?"

"Bloody and dirty," he nodded with a dark grin. "You've got my word."

She giggled quietly as her hair trailed across the orb where he could see it. "And you're a man of your word," she nodded back. "Have fun."

The lacrima darkened, and suddenly the Poison Slayer was filled with rage. Not just for the cocksuckers who were stupid enough to try and get a sneak attack on their guild, but because he'd been interrupted while finally spending time with Flare. Even worse was that it was just getting to the best part.

Blue balls, be damned. These bastards were going to feel a whole world of pain from him alone. And as soon as he was finished, he was calling her back.

All thoughts of the scales he'd seen on her pale flesh disappeared as soon as he left the confines of his tent. Racer was throwing bucket after bucket of water from the nearby stream onto the surrounding trees to put out the fires. Angel was clutching at her coins with a deep scowl, the eye mask she wore to sleep still perched on her forehead.

Midnight was nowhere to be seen, most likely scouting with Cobra's shouted intel as a rough guide.

"Why didn't you hear them?" Jellal scowled as he came to stand beside Cobra just before they took off in the direction Midnight had flown on his carpet.

"I was busy."

"Doing what?"

"Lacrima sex," Angel smirked. "Dirty Cobra."

"Fuck you, asshole," he growled. "These motherfuckers are dead fucking meat."

"Cobra-" Jellal began, ready to start his speech about how they didn't kill people if it could be avoided.

"I will shove my blue balls in your sassy fucking mouth, Jellal," he snarled. "Don't tempt me!"

Jellal paused and shuddered in disgust, then understanding dawned in his widened, brown eyes. "Oh god… You were really…"

"These guys are so dead," Angel smirked. "We're not even gonna be needed for this."

Jellal shook his head, cringing when he thought of what Cobra might do. "Just… don't kill them too much," he sighed. Being interrupted like that… Oh, he understood the mounting frustration all too well. And there was no way someone like Cobra, a man who was just a little detached from reality on a good day, was going to let this slight go unpunished. And Jellal just had to accept that.

"Now you're getting it," Cobra chuckled as a dark grin spread over his face. He couldn't wait for this shit to be over so he could curl back up in his tent and get back to what he was doing with Flare.