NOTICE: I made a few grammatical / spelling errors in chapter 1 (and maybe this one too), so when I get around to it, I'll fix those up and all that stuff… My Beta Reader is out of town for the next 'few' weeks… I have no idea how long 'few' really is. Also, my line breaks don't seem to work anymore… so, Im sorry if scenes jump places!
NOTICE 2: I'll be dammed… People already asked me to update… and i'm not even confident in this story… My next update won't be as soon as this one came. Work and overseas travels will keep from the internet. Sorry. I'm always traveling and stuff (which is where I got the idea of having Lucy, Cobra and Midnight travel around Earthland).
Chapter 2
After a few moments of awkward silence, Cobra spoke up. "Why now of all times to travel around Earthland?" Lucy stared at Cobra a few moments before nodding and sighing.
"If I went with Team Natsu, since they would want to come along with me, then I'd have to keep everyone on a super tight leash, which is impossible with the group, so that we don't tick of any foreign rulers by destroying places in an accidental fight between Gray and Natsu. Besides, I'm fairly sure that Magic is forbidden in a few places." Lucy shrugged, "I feel that you and Midnight can be responsible young men and not destroy everything."
"Or what?" Cobra raised a brow, knowing that there was always a 'so help me if you do' at the end of a confession when it involves violence.
"Or I can send you back to the Magic Counsel." Lucy huffed and walked into her room to avoid having to deal with anything more of Cobra and his questions. Cobra, not minding the want to avoid him, grinned and walked to the guest room that Midnight had claimed by passing out onto the bed.
"… You're lucky, Macbeth…" Cobra frowned as he sat down on the edge of the bed and idly ran his hand through Midnight's black hair, which was softer then most would suspect with only a once-a-week bath from the prison guards. "You almost didn't get to come along…"
"hmm… I know, that was a bold lie you made up. Now, shut up. And if you're going to sleep; do so." Midnight grumbled, upset that he had to wake up. Instead of doing anything about the hand that woke him woke, Midnight turned over to face Cobra's back and closed his eyes again.
"…Maybe…" Cobra sighed and thought back to when he had gotten the counsel to let both him and Midnight walk around in the sun with only a single guardian. "But it wasn't a full lie…" Cobra then whispered just soft enough that he, himself, almost didn't hear himself say anything.
"come along Erik." Lahar had opened the cell that Cobra was sitting in and grabbed the man by the magic-sealing cuffs that had been placed on the poison-dragon slayer and dragged him out of the cell. "The counsel has decided that since you've been behaving while here in the prison, you'll be granted a chance to redeem yourself."
"Pardon?" Cobra raised a brow as he watched Lahar's face twist slightly as they began to pass the cell that Midnight was in. Glancing at Midnight, it was clear to see that the man was both jealous and bored. Cobra only winked in response to this sight, which made Midnight raise a brow.
"What is means, is you're time in a cell is over. You're going to behave for whoever the counsel decides will take care of you, or you're join back a cell and won't leave until you're dead." Lahar grumbled and stumbled a bit the moment Cobra stopped moving and pulled back slightly.
"I'm staying here unless you allow Midnight to leave with me. It's either both of us or not." Cobra mentally gulped and silently prayed, as if praying would make his past sins go away, that this plan of his would work.
"I don't think that is an option for Macbeth at the moment." Lahar frowned, "but I will ask. He also has been behaving while here." Lahar shook his head, "Why do care?"
" Is there something wrong with stick with my mate?" Cobra tiled his head, "We dragon slayers get very protective of our mates and we tend to go insane if they aren't with us or are in danger."
"I didn't see any mate mark on Macbeth when he had him change into the prison garb." Lahar laughed, "so don't lie."
"That's because I haven't claimed him. But my mark IS there." Cobra glanced over at Midnight and saw the confusion and slight blush on the mans face. "I'm sure we can keep each other in check. Staying here in a cold and foul-smelling cell isn't exactly what i'd call sane."
"And the two you are sane?" Lahar asked rhetorically with a sigh, "as said; i'll ask. Now, just come along with me."
Cobra sighed again and glanced back at Midnight, who had buried his nose into Cobra's thigh, and let a small smile grace his lips. The counsel had, indeed, granted Midnight to leave alongside Cobra, but gave them harsher restrictions. They were to not use their magic without good reason and that reason is self-defense. They were to listen to anything their 'caretaker' said and follow any orders given to them. They were to not leave their caretakers side… Cobra could go indefinitely about all the limits given to him and Midnight before the letter the counsel sent came back- which was a positive thing for both men.
Grinning, Cobra leaned over and moved cloth that covered Midnight right shoulder blade and watched as the faint purple dragon mark became exposed and lightly kissed it. His mark. Cobra's mating mark.
Sure, Cobra was a bit hesitant and reluctant to have his love-er, mate be another male, but that didn't mean much if Midnight was so open to acting like his mate back in the prison… but Cobra felt that it was only so Midnight could get out a cell and Midnight's words confirmed his fear. Midnight felt that it nothing but a lie. A rouse to help an old friend.
Sighing again, Cobra moved midnight over a bit and laid down next to the man and embraced him, an instinct that was ingrained in him after the Dragon Lacrima was implanted into him. Dragon instinct maybe? Having the urge to protect one's mate? Yep, most definitely an instinct from the implanted Lacrima.
Forcing himself to stop thinking, Cobra closed his eyes and drifted off to a light sleep while listening to the steady and calming beating of Midnight's heart.
When Lucy managed to place her book down, she grumbled to herself. Sure, Levy had said that the magic could be used by anymore, and the book did in fact say that just about could use the magic if they focused, but Lucy couldn't even figure out how to call her pen, which she enchanted and made sure to the right spell.
"Easy my ass…" Lucy huffed and she struggled with the most basic of item-calling spells that were in the book Levy had given her a few months back as a gift for long trips when little storage space was available. Huffing, Lucy went back to trying to practice the spell, and tried again when she left the room, thinking that maybe the spell wouldn't work if the item was in sight.
Item which I seek, Lucy closed her eyes and focused on the metal picture of the pen in the other room, I call thee forth, now come! Lucy opened her eyes as a small golden magic circle floated in the air and a few moments later the pen which Lucy wanted fell to ground from the fading circle.
Blinking, Lucy grinned and nodded her head. Summoning a pen didn't drain her magic much, and she would know as she was well in tune to her own magic, but what about a bigger object? Nodding her head, Lucy decided to get her curiosity sedated and walked back to her room and grabbed a soccer ball from her room and enchanted it using the spell she found in her book. Then, she left the room and repeated the process and got the same result, with a slight dizzying feeling.
Happy with the result, Lucy undid the enchantment on the soccer ball and went back to the book to figure out if the dizzying feeling she just had and found a page that made her glad she decided to look up the dizzying feeling instead of ignoring the small feeling.
If used to much in succession with too little practice, the caster may come to a state of magical-fatigue known as mock-drain. Mock-drain is not fatal if taken care of, but any use of magic while in the state of Mock-drain is dangerous as magical balance is thrown out of whack. Best solution to cure the mock state is by resting and not using magic.
Nodding at the simplicity of the 'cure', Lucy grabbed a medical book that was given to her by Wendy and looked up to see if Mock-Drain was a subject in the encyclopedia-sized book.
Mock-Magic Drain: A state of magical fatigue in which the mage has to be careful of. Not as deadly as Magical-Drain, the illness in which a mages magic begins to just leave them and leave them to die, but still just as worrisome. Any magic used while in this state will be done so with difficulty and trouble.
Common symptoms of Self-diagnosis include bad headaches, inability to stand up right, blurriness of vision, trouble speaking, severe dizziness
Best cure of Mock-Magic Drain is food, drink and rest. Mock-Magic Drain can very quickly become something to worry about if not left cared for.
Blinking at the small entry, Lucy re-read the entry and sighed. She was fine as long as she didn't push anything to far. Wanting to make sure she was indeed fine, Lucy summoned the pen she had left in the other room and hummed in content as she didn't fell the earlier dizziness. "Okay, trying to summon the ball was a bit of stretch for this." Lucy sighed in happiness as she finished reading the item-summoning book and placed an enchantment on said book so she could summon it again if she ever forgot an enchantment for a specific item shape.
Leaning back, Lucy frowned and wondered if she had made the right decision in accepting the offer that given to her. The letter said 'a few years' but what would happen after that? Would Cobra and Midnight go back to the counsel and remain there? Would they be free to go on where they want?
Shaking her head, Lucy tried to force the negative thoughts of worry from her head and grabbed a map of Earthland and opened it, already planning a course to travel.
First, the group would travel into Seven and then into Bosco by using the cave pass that was open to travelers who didn't want to cross into the winter mountains, which were much safer than the caves, but with a much grater risk of getting lost. Then. after the trip in Bosco was done, they'd travel the plains into the river lands of Stella where Lucy would have to lay down the law of no using magic, and then across the mountains into Joya where she would reunite with an old friend for a while. Then, depending on Midnight and Cobra, the two could either travel into Minstrel and see what Midi looked like, or they could bypass that and visit the hot, sandy country of Desierto and the Bellum. Then, depending on how Midnight and Cobra were, maybe they could try to visit the laid-back country of Sin where they could use magic again, but that meant going into the Pergrande Kingdom from the country of Icebreg and that was where Lucy was pushing her high limits on temperature and good relations with Fiore.
Sighing, Lucy thought about the plan. Very basic. Have a main course to go and enjoy the side things that happen along the path. Seemed like a grand plan to her, but she'd still have to run everything through with her two 'charges'. It was at that moment Lucy's eyes widened.
With Team Natsu, Lucy never got the chance to think things through because Natsu would always rush into things with Gray charging after him. Erza then would change in after the two to make sure they didn't fight amounts each other, and Lucy would end up either having to run her hardest to keep up with the three or she'd get dragged by Erza. Out of everything however, she track record did improve. She could keep up with almost everyone else in the 24-hour endurance race because of Team Natsu's barging into everything and Natsu's extreme like to rushing into everything. Well, mostly everyone. She could never keep up with Jet. Then again, no one could keep up with Jet and his extreme speed magic. Maybe that type of magic should be against rules like Aera in the race… At least she never had to face the punishment at the end of the race.
Smiling, Lucy figured that she'd miss the guild- she already did miss the normal antics of the pea fully chaotic guild- but she'd learn to cope… hopefully.
Nodding to herself, Lucy began to hum a tune she recalled form her childhood and cleaned up bits and pieces of her apartment and told the landlady that she'd be gone for quite sometime, and that she wasn't sure she'd be able to pay off the rent durning that time, to which the landlady just resounded with a warm smile, 'It's only rent if your here. I'll make sure no one takes the house while you're gone.'
Lucy could have cried that moment due to the warm thought and care the landlady gave her. Thanking the woman, Lucy left a note on the living room table saying that she was out to clear her mind and that the kitchen was more than welcomed to be raided by the two and the Bathrooms towels were in closet in- no duh, the bathroom- and left to find something to do to fill in the time.
When Cobra woke up, it wasn't to sight he was expecting. He figured, Midnight being Midnight, would be asleep and he'd be able to cuddle with the man before getting up to talk to Lucy, but was greeted with the sight of Midnight's red eyes staring into Cobra's black eyes.
"…You stayed…" Midnight stated as he continued to stare at Cobra, "And you talk in your sleep…"
"I do… do I?" Cobra raised a brow, "What did I say?"
"… Nothing much…" Midnight turned around, "Why'd you stay?"
"What, can I not sleep with you if you offered?" Cobra sighed, knowing that Midnight was confused and... what was that second smell?
"I guess I did…" Midnight sighed as he thought about the previous conversation the two had. "… Did you mean it, or was it a lie? I'm assuming it's a lie, but… I'd the truth…" Midnight face dropped as he mumbled softly into the pillow and then shook his head, "Forget it, I want a shower." Midnight yawned as he sat up and left the room; opening all sorts of rooms to find the bathroom.
When Midnight opened the door to Lucy's room, Midnight blinked. Her room wasn't big per say, but it was much more different than what Midnight would have expected. She even had her own table with three chairs surrounding it, and then yet another table across from that with a very small couch-like chair next to it. Lucy bed was right next to the wind and a vanity area at he head of the bed, and a bookshelf across from the bed.
Yep, much different from that Midnight was expecting. Shaking his head, Midnight figured that it'd be highly rude to stay in Lucy's room without permission and left, shutting the door behind him and began his small quest again to the bathroom.
Cobra, on the other hand, just sighed as he left the guest room and watched Midnight try to figure out the house layout. "Other end of the house" Cobra called out when Cobra somehow ended up in the cleaning closet and then in the basement, which Cobra didn't even know existed.
Grumbling, Cobra just knew this day, and the rest of the time, was going to be slow if the three couldn't get along. Thankfully, Lucy hadn't honestly threatened them yet or stuck an angry Natsu or someone on them… Speaking of which, if Fairy Tail knew that Lucy was taking care of Cobra and Midnight, why hasn't anyone crashed into Lucy house like Lucy kept thinking back to?
Just as Cobra had that thought, a loud crash came from the front door, and then voices.
"You sure Luce's going to be alright with this?" a timid female-ish voice spoke up, "she's always getting into us for not using the front door and all, but this is STILL breaking in!"
Another voice responded, this time it sounded more like a man's, "Yeah, Lucy will be fine… we're just going to get her to tell us why she wanted to leave the guild so quickly!"
Cobra growled as he smelt scents he remembered. Lucy's old Team Natsu. He jinxed himself; and in a very bad manner. Still he could try to hide, but if the dragon slayer was with them Cobra had no hopes with Midnight who was in the bathroom on the other side of the house.
Deciding to just get this over with, Cobra walked out and into the entry hallway and cut of Natsu who was saying something about how Lucy's house smelled a bit different than normal, and instantly had one ice-make lance, and one shiny steel sword pointed at him along with two dragon-slayers growling at him
"Hello, Team Natsu." Cobra's eye twitched, "Does Lu know you've decided to visit her?"