A/N: And we're back! My hiatus is done, so it's time to get everything updated again! Next up on the list is this one! I hope you guys enjoy it!


Cobra sat alone in the middle of the clearing, taking a deep breath as he wrote the final words on the piece of paper in his hand.

It was one year ago to the day that Lucy died, sacrificing herself to finally end Rogue's pathetic existence. A whole year without her being in his life after learning that she should have been a long time ago. He frowned when he realized the entire page was filled front and back with what had been running through his head, and that he didn't have anything else to write on to just keep going. It was the first time he had tried to write everything out, and just like the day he'd lost her, he had more to say than time - or in this case, paper - allowed.

With a shake of his head and a heavy sigh, he tossed the pen to the lush green grass and folded the paper over on itself twice, then withdrew the key pouch Lucy had dropped to the ground that day.

There were times he would look at those keys, and wonder if maybe she had somehow ended up with her spirits. Maybe she was up there in the stars, looking down at him, watching over him while he tried to keep on living without her. He knew it was ridiculous, but that was what wishful thinking was for. He placed the folded paper in the pouch, running his thumb along the key ring as he'd done so many times before, then closed it and returned it to its home in his pocket.

A gentle breeze wafted by, sending the sounds of the forest brushing past him in a soft, lilting melody that only reminded him of the lullaby Lucy's soul had whispered in the end. When four other sounds filtered in, he couldn't stop the quirk of his lips. He'd known they would be coming. It was only a matter of time.

'This is it. He'll pay for what he's done.'

'He killed them all. So many lives… wasted… I knew the bastard hadn't changed.'

'That son of a bitch knows we're coming. He can probably already hear us…'

'Why would he do that to Lushy?'

Cobra chuckled and slowly stood to his feet. The pain and suffering in their souls was a melody he'd reacquainted himself with in the past year. He loved hearing it, being the cause of it, and had reveled in just how many people he'd torn to pieces after she was gone. Those negative emotions drove the four that were pursuing him onward, pushing them to search every corner of Earthland for him to get retribution for the lives he had taken. And the one life they mistakenly believed he had snuffed out.

Erza's thoughts revolved around Jellal, and how she would never get to see his smiling face again.

Gray's heart ached with the knowledge that Sorano had finally become an angel, just like her nickname had always implied.

Natsu's soul flared with anger over the memory of finding Meredy's body that day, her battered and dismembered limbs lying in several large pools of blood.

Happy's thoughts though… Those were focused solely on Lucy. The Exceed didn't have anyone else that he cared as deeply about, not even the white Exceed he still fawned over. Only his relationship with Natsu trumped his love for the deceased blonde. Happy was sad and confused. The little blue flying cat wasn't even angry that she was gone by that point. All he wanted was to understand why she was taken away.

Each of the four of them believed that Cobra had been the one to kill her as well, and he hadn't been available to dissuade those thoughts. He knew exactly what it had looked like when he left the building that day. When he'd left his guild mates' lifeless bodies strewn about the ground along with Lucy's and Rogue's. She had been the only one he'd taken care of, however.

Cobra had grabbed several pillows from that throne Rogue had used, and carefully laid her down on them once everyone else was dead. He'd brushed her hair from her eyes one last time and tenderly kissed her forehead, then adjusted his jacket around her frail body to make sure she was covered. She'd looked so peaceful when he'd finally taken a step back - with the exception of the dried blood that had leaked from her ears, nose, and mouth - so comfortable as though she was merely having a little catnap before they left. He'd only been able to spare her one final glance before turning around and walking out of that room; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to leave at all.

A part of him sometimes wished he had stayed with her, but Cobra had already decided that Lucy would want her friends to know where she was once he'd laid her down. It was why he'd sent a message to Erza with instructions on gathering the remaining members of Team Natsu, and taking them to Lucy's location. Signed by himself.

Now, exactly one year later, the three mages and one Exceed who'd cared so much for her were on their way to make Cobra pay for taking the lives of those they loved.

He stood with his arms crossed in the middle of the clearing, looking at the building that had been the end of everything good in his life. It had been short-lived, only a small handful of moments in comparison to the years of torment he'd experienced before it and the one year of mind-numbing rage afterwards. But those moments that he'd held her in his arms were all he cared about. He'd gotten a taste of what true happiness was like, and that was enough for him.

Their steps drew closer, and he heard Natsu mention that he could smell Cobra just ahead. It was in those few moments that the weariness he'd tried so hard to combat in the last year, finally overtook him.

What was the point in living without her? What kind of life was he really living, anyway? Day in and day out, he killed people. Sometimes they were innocent, and other times they weren't, but he didn't really care one way or the other. Cobra had viewed everyone as his enemy for the past year, because none of them had experienced the pain he had. And it just wasn't fucking fair. So he'd tried - so damn hard - to even the playing field for a change. He wanted everyone to feel the same pain he felt every time he opened his eyes, and all it did was add more pain to the world. More hatred. More bloodshed. Lucy never would have wanted this. She never would have wanted him to do the things he'd done. God, she would have been so fucking ashamed of him, so disappointed. His bright spark of beauty and goodness would have hated the monster he was. And still, he'd gone through with it, because he'd just hurt. Everywhere. All the time. If he hadn't been such a fucking coward, Cobra would have just killed himself. The world would have been a better off place if he'd done that. How many lives would have been spared if he'd just committed suicide?

The group broke through the tree-line, not even trying to hide their approach, and he heard the rage swelling inside of them at just the sight of his back.

As soon as he heard them, Cobra knew what he had to do. The fight in him was gone. He wasn't really sure how he'd kept himself going at all in the last year. He didn't want this anymore. He didn't want to be here, alive, without her. The fight he'd been anticipating started with no preamble, just an enraged and unified roar coming from the three mages while Happy floated high above them.

What threw each of the Fairy Tail mages off was that Cobra didn't move a muscle. He didn't block a single attack that was sent his way. He didn't dodge or try to stop them from hitting him again and again. A whole year of murders, countless gallons of blood shed at this monster's hands, and now he didn't even try to fight back? They couldn't stop themselves though, even if they wanted to. He had to pay for what he'd done, for all the innocent lives that had been ended prematurely because of his depravity.

Natsu's flames scorched Cobra from one side, sending out the searing heat of his rage that those two beautiful women he'd loved more than anything were slaughtered by the maroon-haired bastard.

Gray's ice froze and pierced Cobra's other side, shooting the cold fury he felt at losing a dear friend and the girl he thought of as a baby sister because of this son of a bitch.

Erza's swords danced and whirled about until she sent them in an anguish-fueled volley at the Poison Slayer who'd ripped the two most important people in her life away.

Happy's eyes welled with tears as he watched everything unfold. Why would Cobra do all of those horrible things, and not even say a word to try and stop it? He had wanted to ask why Cobra had killed Lucy, but Happy had a sinking feeling that he would never get the chance. Not with the way Erza, Gray, and Natsu were attacking him.

Cobra took every hit they sent, laughing when each one pierced or sliced into him, drawing more and more of his blood out. Every time he fell, he forced himself to stand again. He'd been waiting for this fight. He'd assumed that he would've been excited over the prospect of getting a chance to fight against Erza and Natsu again. He just didn't have it in him anymore. He didn't want to kill more people, or keep on living in a world without her. If by some miracle there really was an afterlife, Cobra wanted to be there with Lucy. It was all he'd ever wanted.

Hopefully it wasn't something like heaven; otherwise, he'd never get to see her again. His ass would be burning in hell for all of the sins he'd committed in the past year alone.

One final combined hit from the three mages did the trick. Fire, ice, and scores of weapons flew through the air and pierced several large holes in his abdomen. He was surprised that his heart hadn't taken a hit while he fell that final time, but he could feel his lungs struggling to bring in more oxygen. His breath left in a rattling wheeze once he connected with the ground, and Cobra's mouth spread into a wide grin when Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Happy all towered over him.

'This is it,' he thought. He lifted one quivering, bloody hand from the ground and slowly reached into his pocket to pull out Lucy's keys. 'Just one last time. Maybe it'll help me find her on the other side…'

Their eyes went wide when they recognized the little brown pouch adorned with the Fairy Tail emblem in Cobra's hand, and confusion hit them a moment later when his eye closed as he brought the bit of leather to his nose. Natsu growled low in his throat, and took a step forward. "Why do you have-"

Cobra coughed and tasted more blood in his mouth, but he kept her keys against his nose while he took another breath. "Cobra… and Erik," he rasped, opening his eye and looking directly into Natsu's onyx eyes that had a raging inferno burning in their depths, "Always… wanted the same thing… after all…"

Erza frowned and narrowed her eyes, remembering the day Jellal had explained to her that Cobra was one of the only ones that never allowed others to say his birth name, because he believed that the bearer of that name had died in the Tower of Heaven. In Cobra's mind, they were two completely separate entities. She'd never been told what his real name actually was, but hearing it nagged at the back of her mind. She just couldn't figure out just why it sounded so familiar.

"I'll… sh-show you… what happened…" Cobra coughed. "H-How she died to... save all of us…" When their eyes went wide in shock at his statement, Cobra focused on his dwindling soul and created four copies of his memories from that day, then used his magic to carefully push those little bundles out to the ones who'd finally taken him down.

Hearing Rogue through the doors. Seeing Lucy in the cage, pinned by the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Breaking her out of those shackles. How frail she was, and the damage her body had sustained while in captivity.

Tears streamed down Erza's face when she saw and heard what had transpired that day. None of them had been able to place the one corpse that didn't belong to Lucy or a Crime Sorciere member; not even Natsu's heightened sense of smell was able to discern who it was by the time they'd gotten there. Erza heard everything that Cobra had that day - everything in Lucy's soul, and what she had been silently telling him - and dropped to her knees when she found out just what Lucy had been forced to endure while she was in captivity.

"That's… That's not the worst he's done, Cobra. I'll be fine…"

"It's okay, Cobra. I trust you."

"You're with Jellal and Meredy, which means you're okay in Erza's book. If she trusts you, then so do I."

Cobra's breathing became more ragged as time crawled forward. After sending out his memories, he simply turned his head to look up at the beautiful blue sky. It had been so long since he'd taken the time to look at the sky, to try and find little images in the clouds that slowly floated past. In fact, he hadn't done it since he was locked in the Tower.

He couldn't feel the pain of his injuries any longer, so he knew that he didn't have much time left.

'Please… If there's someone that can hear me… Please let me be with her. Let me see her one more time… Just once…' He didn't have the best history where things like prayers were concerned, but that wasn't what this was. He wasn't praying to some higher power to grant his wish like a genie in a bottle. He just wanted a miracle. Cobra wanted to see Lucy's smiling face as more than just a memory from someone else who had known her. He wanted her to smile just for him, like the depths of her soul had done when she died and confessed her love with a memory. 'Lucy… Please help me… I'm so lost without you.'

"It's not just the fact that they're here with you, Cobra… You wouldn't have tried to help me if you didn't want to."

"Just let it out, Lucy… I'll keep you safe, alright?"

"Please… Don't let him hurt me anymore, Cobra…"

"I promise, Lucy. He won't hurt you ever again. I'll protect you."

"I'll get you out of here when it's safe, okay?"

Blood was filling his lungs, making it harder to breathe. He was starting to get cold, even though it was the middle of the summer. The sun shined down so brightly in the clearing, just like it had been in Lucy's soul - when he'd gotten to see her as she should be. Cobra closed his eye and wished with everything he had that just once… something would go right for him. He didn't deserve it, he knew that. At least two decades of his life had been spent making sure he would never be worthy of happiness - even though he hadn't thought of it that way at the time. So, who was he to start asking for favors now?

"Please… I-I'm… sorry…" he rasped before coughing up more blood, his body struggling to keep going even though he didn't want to live. He didn't want to be there anymore. He wanted to be with her again. So why? Why did his body have to keep fighting like this? 'Please save me, Lucy… Set me free… Please…'

'I can't go back in that cage… I can't… I'd rather be dead than—'

"Shh, I won't let that happen. We'll get you to a hospital once he's dead. They'll take care of you there."

'Don't leave me alone… Please, don't leave me alone… I trust you… Not them… Please… Please Cobra… Please! They'll cut me open and hurt me. All those knives and masks. Don't leave me, Cobra…'

"I won't leave you… I'll protect you."

Cobra felt tears trickling down the side of his face and he pulled in another shallow breath that was filled with the scent of Lucy's key pouch. He wasn't going to see her again, he just knew it. He would die alone. Unloved. What Lucy had been afraid of happening to her, and what he'd kept from happening… The universe decided to put things the way they should be, and make him suffer the fate that could have easily befallen the once radiant blonde.

'If none of that works, there's always Plan N…'

"I might not be able to move, but I don't need to for this to work."

"Wait until he's close enough…"

'I'm sorry this is hurting you…'

"Burn in hell, you son of a bitch."

"Jellal, help! PLEASE HURRY!"

"I-I never got to tell you… Please, Lucy… Don't g-go…"

Cobra's mouth thinned into a grimace, the corners pulling down only marginally while he wallowed in his own misery. He knew it wasn't meant to be. He loved her, and he'd lost her. There was no afterlife where they could be together. He'd been a fucking idiot all this time.


"What's happening?" Jude asked as Layla dragged him through the woods.

"Lucy's crying," Layla said quickly. "It's Cobra…"

"No…"

"Cobra!" Lucy shouted, kneeling on the ledge over the seeing pool she never left. "This isn't the way… Please!"

His breath left in a rattling wheeze once he connected with the ground, and Cobra's mouth spread into a wide grin when Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Happy all towered over him. He lifted one quivering, bloody hand from the ground and slowly reached into his pocket to pull out Lucy's keys.

"Lucy!" Jude shouted, rounding the corner and running to kneel next to her by the pool. He gasped when he saw three mages hovering over Cobra, rage filling their ragged breaths as the Poison Slayer bled out on the ground. "What have they done?"

The wind sighed, sending her golden hair fluttering around her shoulders and carrying a tormented voice's silent plea. 'Please… If there's someone that can hear me…'

Lucy sniffled, her eyes never leaving Cobra's blood-filled smile. So many times, she'd seen him covered in the blood of others, washing it off, but this was his own. It wasn't right.

"Is that… his voice?" Layla whispered, looking at the air around them with a frown.

'Please let me be with her,' the voice on the wind begged. 'Let me see her one more time… Just once…'

Lucy swiped her tears away before they could touch the pool and shatter the image she was seeing. If the water rippled, she had no idea how much time would pass in Earthland before she was able to see him again. It could be too late.

'Lucy… Please help me…'

She brought a hand to her lips as a sob wracked her slender shoulders. "C-Cobra?" she whimpered. "I-Is it…"

"It must be him," Jude sighed, standing on her other side. "Lucy…"

Lucy stood from the edge of the pool, determination filling her eyes. "I'm going to save him."

Jude and Layla turned sharply to gape at her. "Lucy, you can't!" Jude shouted. "After everything he's done since you died…"

"He's sorry for it, Papa," she insisted. "He never wanted to do any of it."

"But he still did it," Jude shot back. "Your friends want him here just as much as you do, but this…"

Lucy smiled down at the image of the man she loved. "Cobra, I'm coming for you. I swear it."

"Lucy," Layla sighed, "We all know you've gone to him in his dreams, and you've followed the rules about him not really seeing you and everything else, but-"

"He sacrificed himself!" Lucy shouted, rounding on her parents with a vicious scowl. "He doesn't want to do this anymore! He's tired of everything that's happened, of living life this way!"

"So, you're saying it's an assisted suicide?" Jude breathed. "He just let them kill him?"

'I'm so lost without you.'

Lucy smiled down at Cobra, watching him struggling to breathe while tears welled in his eye. "He's apologizing for what he's done. Cobra knew he deserved to die, but… He doesn't think I'll be waiting for him. Or that he'll ever see me again."

"How do you know that?" Layla asked gently.

"Because I love him," Lucy laughed, wiping away her tears. "I've gotten to know a lot about him since I died, watching him this way. If you and Papa can be here together after the things he did, then Cobra deserves the same thing. He deserves to have the chance for someone to love him, to feel what that's even like. I promised I'd set him free one day, and now's the only chance I've got… And I won't let anyone stop me from helping him now."

Feminine laughter drew Lucy's attention, and she looked up to see her parents smiling down at her, with Jellal and the others running into the clearing and staring at them with wide eyes.

"Please… I-I'm… sorry…" Cobra rasped before coughing up more blood.

In the air around them, everyone could hear the dying Slayer's thoughts while they stared into his teary eye. 'Please save me, Lucy…'

"You're just like your mother," Jude chuckled.

Layla took a step forward, looking down at the tan skin and maroon hair of the man Lucy had fallen in love with. "This is him, then. Who he truly is."

"Y-Yes," Lucy said. "I have to help him, Mama. I can do that, right? I can help him move on, and bring him here?"

'Set me free… Please…'

Layla watched as the mages surrounding Cobra stared sightlessly ahead of them, each of their faces horror-stricken. "What did he do to them?"

"He showed them the truth about the day I died," Lucy sniffled. "Everyone thought he killed me, too. Cobra never tried to make them understand it wasn't him, and… M-Mama, please… Let me bring him home."

"Cobra's never had a home before," Macbeth said softly while walking over to the group. "None of us really did until we came here."

"And he's the only one that always kept himself away from others," Jellal added.

"The first time we saw him cry was when he saved Lucy," Sorano said while coming into view.

"He's done all of this because he doesn't have her," Meredy sniffled.

"You've gotta let her go," Racer insisted.

Lucy's smile trembled while she looked around at her friends. "You guys…"

"He's our family," Sorano said with a tender smile. "He deserves to be happy for once. After what happened to him in the Tower, and then what Brain did to all of us… Cobra deserves this."

Layla gave Lucy a long, contemplative look, then sighed and smiled at her daughter. "You really are just like me, aren't you?"

"A Celestial mage never breaks a promise, Mama," Lucy said as the older blonde came forward and wiped her tears away. "You taught me that. And I promised myself I'd help him."

"Then don't let us stop you, love," Layla replied. She reached down and touched the pool, sending a powerful ripple through the water that clouded the image of Cobra lying on the ground. A swell of power rose from the bubbling surface, and the water shot into the air in a violently spiralling column. After only a moment, it broke apart to reveal a golden door that slowly opened.

Lucy gasped as she saw the field Cobra was lying in through the doorway. "I'll be back soon," she said to her friends. "I'm bringing him home."

With that, she stepped onto the little stone ledge, hesitating at the edge of the water. Her first step showed that it held her weight, and she quickly made her way over to the door and walked through.