Chapter 3! Thank you everyone for the reviews, I'm thrilled that you are liking it!

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Chapter 3

Cobra gave a curse just as he heard Midnight release one as well. Jumping forward, both of them latched onto Lucy and jerked her to the ground. Cobra watched as the flame shot over them, out the door, and quickly die out.

"Natsu! You idiot! You could have seriously hurt Lucy!" A shout sounded, causing him to look back at the rest of the guild as he eased off of the blonde. Midnight following his lead, and helping Lucy sit up by easily gripping onto her arm.

"L..Luce. I..I didn't..." Salamander began to mumble, taking a hesitant step forward. Cobra barely held back a growl, and only managed because Lucy gave a sigh and smiled.

"It's fine Natsu. None of us got hurt, just please start being more careful." She stated, getting to her feet and approaching the fire dragon slayer. Who didn't hesitate to pull her into a hug as an apology. Cobra could only watch in a amazement as she readily forgave the man that nearly scorched her alive.

"She can't be serious. He could have killed her with that attack." Midnight muttered at his side, and he could only give a grunt. But he both saw and heard it, she had already forgave Natsu, and was already moving on from the incident. How the hell was that even possible!?

He frowned as he detected something like understanding in Lucy's soul as Natsu tightened his grip for a moment before finally releasing her. Even before his next apology escaped from his mouth, Lucy was already shaking her head with that damn blinding smile on her face, and moving past him. And he seemed to bounce back to his usual, cheerful, and obnoxious self.

"That was a close one. Thanks to you two she didn't get hurt." Natsu stated, beaming at them before following after Lucy only to get intercepted by Gray as the ice mage coaxed him into a fight. Cobra knew that it was to get over the slight fear that the ice mage had felt when he had seen the fire heading for the blonde he considered family. And now he was going to get his own payback at the fire idiot.

Giving a sigh, he stood and glanced around. Raising his eyebrow as he saw that their old group had scattered slightly. Sawyer and Richard were talking with Lyon and Erza, no doubt explaining to the red head that they wanted to join Lamia Scale. Sorano was talking with Makarov, holding tightly to his sister from Sabertooth and he could detect that she was determined to join the same guild. Jellal was sitting at the bar, now talking with Lucy as he sipped from a drink that the barmaid had placed before him. And Meredy was hugging Juvia as the water woman talked about something with her.

"Looks like today will be the end of Crime Sorcerie." Midnight muttered, causing him to give a grunt before looking over at the Reflector Mage.

"You know what you're going to do?" He asked, watching as his gaze automatically went to the blonde.

"I think I will stay with Fairy Tail. Only because she accepted me, and I don't wanna...I don't know..." He muttered, and Cobra gave a huff as Midnight's brows suddenly pulled down in confusion. He already knew what the man had been about to say. He didn't want to lose the blonde after gaining her forgiveness. He didn't blame him one bit, especially since he was already seeing her as a sister, which apparently a lot of people saw her as.

"What about you? You gonna stay, or join one of the other guilds?" Midnight asked, causing Cobra to blink before his eye landed on the blonde again. He could easily go to another guild, especially since the burden of guilt he had been carrying with him had been lifted. Yet, just the thought of leaving behind Bright Eyes was enough to make his skin crawl in unease, and something within him to snarl at the thought.

He frowned at that, wondering why he was having such a strong reaction to the blonde. Hell, he had only had two small talks with her. Neither about something deep, and yet the thought of not being in the same guild as her caused him to feel...Angered and slightly depressed at himself. How the hell was she stirring these feelings of his?!

"I'll stick around. See what this guild will turn out as." He muttered, although he glanced around as he practically felt Midnight's soul laugh at him. It seemed that the man already knew something he didn't, and while he could easily figure it out by dipping into that dark and gloomy soul, he had always tried to make it a habit of giving people their space when it came to that. Especially now that he wanted to change. Guess that meant he would have to work through all of this on his own.

Lucy gave a sigh as the shivers she had been holding in finally subsided. Honestly, seeing that string of fire heading straight for her, had nearly scared her to death. She was just thankful that Cobra and Midnight had been behind her to get her out of danger. Not to mention, Natsu would have been so guilt ridden if he had harmed her. He still had some issues since the Grand Magic Games when it came to her safety, but she couldn't blame him. Seeing future Lucy die like that had messed with a lot of them, but Natsu seemed to take it the hardest, since he had attempted to stop the shadow arrow, only to fail.

"Damn." The whisper from behind her caused her to look over her shoulder, and blinked as she saw Cobra staring at her. Only to realize that he most likely heard everything that she had thought about, even the image of future Lucy dying. Giving a wince, she gave him an apologetic smile, but frowned when he scowled.

"Don't apologize for that. It would mess with anyone." Cobra muttered, plopping down on the stool on her other side, before looking over at Jellal.

"Why the hell didn't you ever tell us what else went down in Crocus that time?" He asked, and she looked over to see Jellal give a blink before sighing.

"Because, not even I know everything that happened within the palace. Only what Erza has told me, and she heard that from Mira and Wendy." He stated, before giving her an apologetic look. Shrugging it off, she took a sip of her smoothie and turned her attention to Gray and Natsu's fight. Rolling her eyes as she saw Natsu bump into Erza, causing her to drop the cake that she had just ordered. A second later, the scarlet haired woman had equiped into her armor and charged at the two mages now hugging onto each other in fear.

"Is that a common occurrence?" Jellal asked, causing her to give a nod as she watched her two teammates get knocked out before Erza, deciding that the revenge for her sweet cake was done, headed back toward the bar.

"Pretty much. The entire guild hall can usually get into one big brawl, but once Erza gets involved it calms down pretty quickly." She stated, looking over at Cobra when he gave a scoff.

"Big shocker there. What with that barbaric red head." He muttered, and Lucy resisted cracking a smile, but quickly tensed as Erza seemed to appear behind Cobra out of no where.

"What was that about me?" Erza sounded, and she watched as Cobra tensed before looking over his shoulder at the red headed woman. Swallowing slightly, before putting a smirk on his face and turning to face her.

"Cobra." She heard Jellal whisper harshly behind her.

"I said, that it wasn't much of a shock that the guild would back down when you got involved. You barbaric red head." He stated, and Lucy felt her eyes widen as the two stared one another down, until Erza cracked a smile and suddenly slapped Cobra on the back. Causing him to tense, and Lucy winced. Knowing that her slaps on the back hurt, but also knew that Cobra really didn't care for people in his personal space. However, she watched as he just growled it off with a smirk before turning back in his stool and leaning against the bar.

"You have some good people under you Jellal." Erza stated, moving over to the blue haired man. Who merely smiled, and glanced over at Cobra before over at the others.

"Yes, I did. However, now that we actually have a future ahead of us, it's time for us all to go our own ways." He stated, and Lucy blinked before looking over at Cobra. Who seemed to have lowered his eye, and then to the others that had been in the little group of misfits. Realizing that a few of them were heading to different guilds, sure, it was guilds that had strong bonds with Fairy Tail, but they would still be separated. They would rarely see one another anymore, and that had to make them feel terrible.

"Calm down there, Bright Eyes. We've already said our byes to one another. We had hoped that it would happen one day, and we're also glad for one another. In our own, weird ways." Cobra muttered, causing her to look over at the second generation dragon slayer.

"How so?" She asked, watching as he blinked before looking away, and then turned to look out at the others.

"Sorano's finally back with her sister. Richard and Sawyer are going into the guild where some members made an impact on their lives. Meredy and Jellal are with people who they always thought were their family in the first place. And Midnight is finally in a place where he can relax and just be himself, where he knows he's accepted." He stated, and she smiled as he stated all of that before finally looking at him.

"And what about you?" She asked, watching as he blinked before looking over at her, only to look away just as quickly.

"I'm still trying to figure that out. I know that I want to stay with Fairy Tail, but I'm not a hundred percent on the reason why." He muttered, finally turning back to the bar and waving Mira down. She tuned him out as he no doubt asked what kind of poison she had, and looked back out at the crowd. Watching as the newest people interacted with everyone, and couldn't help but to smile.

She was glad that they all had a second chance, because she had always figured that there was good in them. They all just started out on the wrong path, but now were fixing their mistakes, and assuring both themselves, and everyone else, that they were never going to make them again.

"I wanna ask you, Bright Eyes. Why did you always believe that we had good in us?" Cobra asked suddenly, causing her to look back over at him and smile.

"All of you were joined because of bad things that happened to you. So, you thought that you had to be bad so it never happened again. However, all of you quickly realized that there was another option, and quickly grabbed onto it. There are many, who see that other option, but choose to ignore it and continue down the path they are on. But, when all of you chose the second path, I knew you weren't truly bad. Maybe a bit deranged, but nothing bad." She muttered, smiling at him when he merely stared at her for a moment before giving a grunt and looking back to his drink,

"You're weird, you know that right." He muttered, and she gave a sigh while slumping her shoulders.

"So I've been told." She replied, her eyes going to her best friend-who pointed out her weirdness on multiple occasions, watching as he sat beside Lisanna and began talking with her. A smile appeared on her features, glad that he had finally got the courage to ask the youngest Strauss sibling out, and that everything was working out. Sharp movement from behind her caused her to look at Cobra, raising an eyebrow as she saw he looked surprised as he stared at Natsu and Lisanna.

"You mean..You're not Salamander's woman?" He asked, causing her to blink before giving a quick laugh before covering her mouth. Clearing her throat, but still smiling she looked at Cobra and shook her head.

"Natsu and I have been nothing more than friends. At most siblings." She stated, watching as he only stared for a moment before looking back to his drink. His brows drawing down slightly as he seemed to slip into his thoughts about something.

"Is.."

"Listen up, Brats!" Makarov cut her question short, and instead she looked up to the second landing, where the guild master was standing on the railing.

"As you know, we'll be having some new family members joining our ranks." He sounded out, his gaze moving to Cobra, Midnight, Jellal, and Meredy.

"Also, some old friends will be joining some our guild friends." He continued, this time his gaze going to the others.

"However, I believe, that we should still congratulate all of them for their success. And make them realize, that regardless of their guilds, they will still be considered family here! Just like anyone else who walks through those doors! Let's celebrate in true Fairy Tail fashion!" He shouted, his hand thrust into the air and index finger pointed into the sky. Lucy gave a cheer with the rest of the guild before a party started to grow. Her question forgotten now, and she was quickly swept into the party by some of the others. Missing how Cobra gave her a long, longing look, and how Midnight had raised an eyebrow as he caught the look from his comfortable position in the corner.

There is chapter 3! Hope you enjoyed!