"Is there anything you would like to eat or drink m'am?"
Lucy kindly smiled at the train attendant. "I'll have a glass of water."
"And your companions m'am?"
Lucy offered the obviously intimidated girl a knowing look after sending her away. Truthfully she was still intimidated by Cobra and Midnight considering the former almost bested Natsu and the latter almost defeated Erza.
The two sitting across from her were way out of her league, and if she had to fight them then she knew she would be crushed.
"Good thing we're on you side then, eh?" Cobra teased.
Lucy tensely nodded. It was a good thing indeed. Although she would feel more secure if Cobra stopped reading her thoughts.
"You're asking for the impossible. Besides, it's not my fault you're so damned loud."
Lucy glared at Cobra. 'AHHHHH!' She screamed in her head. She noted in satisfaction that Cobra winced at the volume. 'Did it hurt?'
"You're being annoying." Cobra grumbled.
'So are you. Ever heard of something called privacy?'
"Ever thought that maybe I don't want to read everyone's thoughts?" He snapped back with a scowl of contempt.
Lucy's eyes widened realizing that Cobra couldn't control his magic.
She felt ashamed at herself at the moment. Sure, they were the ones who asked her to go, but she was the one who accepted despite everything.
She shouldn't be acting so childish towards them.
Not to mention how hard it must be for Cobra. Hearing the thoughts of everyone without being able to stop? It must be hard.
'Don't sympthasize.' She scolded herself and reminded herself of everything they've done.
Cobra snorted at her thought.
"Cobra." Midnight warningly said.
The Dragon Slayer sighed muttering something under his breath before looking out the window.
"I'm sorry." Lucy muttered knowing he could hear her.
She really was sorry despite how much she tried to convince herself not to be.
Placing her hands on her lap she looked down in order to avoid looking at Cobra and Midnight.
Maybe she could imagine that she was still part of Fairy Tail. That she hadn't just abandon her nakama because of her selfish whims.
'Get a grip of yourself Lucy. Fairy Tail was over from the moment you walked out.' She clenched her firsts in frustration, because this was what she wanted.
She was finally getting every thing she wanted even if she had to work with criminals to get it.
Briefly she wondered if the ends justified the means.
.o0o.o0o.
Cobra was annoyed.
Why did the Celestial Mage had to keep doubting her choice every five minutes after convincing herself not to?
At first it was amusing, but now it was just plain annoying.
He envied Midnight for being able to sleep through everything.
'What was I thinking? These two are criminals wanted by the council for crying out loud!'
Cobra sighed.
Lucy met all the requirements for being their new leader, but she was sorely lacking in the empathy he thought she possessed.
Was this really the girl who Angel described as being so foolish as to try to sacrifice herself for her spirits?
It didn't seem like it.
'But...he was kidnapped just like Erza...wasn't he?'
Cobra tensed, his mind wandering back to his childhood.
Lonely. Starved. Slaved. Branded. Four words a kid shouldn't have been so intimate with. He was just a kid back then. Just a kid. Yet no one cared, because they didn't even know he existed.
"Um,"
He snapped out of his thoughts to look at the girl who was peeking up shyly at him, her eyelashes fluttering. If he had been any other man, he would have been a little aroused, as it stood he really was too annoyed at her to deem her attractive.
"What..." She trailed off probably deciding against asking him.
He heard what she was going to ask anyways.
What was it like?
He wasn't going to answer. She didn't deserve to know anything.
'Maybe I'm in the wrong...maybe they're not the bad guys. Maybe..just maybe they're the victims.'
Cobra's eyes widened slightly.
'Who am I kidding? They are the victims.'
He's never heard anyone think anything along those lines before. Everyone thought they were bad guys, they never questioned it. But here, this girl was actually seeing the truth.
'It isn't fair. Kids aren't supposed to go through slaverly. So why did Erza, Cobra, Midnight, and even Angel had to go through it? Just for a selfish whim of resurecting Zeref? Their lives were ruined for something selfish like that?!'
Cobra would never admit it, but oddly enough Lucy's thoughts were actually making him happy, after all no one's ever been mad for him instead of at him. Not to mention how sincere the girl was being.
For the first time Cobra was glad that they chose Lucy to replace Brain. She had something Brain, and hell even the most self righteous pricks he's seen, doesn't have. She had empathy and was able to look at things through their perspective.
.o0o.o0o.
Midnight's eyes opened, his daydream ending as he took in his surroundings.
He was still in a train.
Cobra was sleeping besides him.
The girl, Lucy, was also sleeping.
Inwardly he was mildly surprised at that considering the girl wasn't exactly warming up to them easily. He would be insulted if she did considering her cautious nature was one of the reasons she was chosen.
Yet he wasn't very surprised to see a blanket covering the girl. Angel did make it a point to keep pointing out how annoyingly empathatic and caring the girl was.
Of course Cobra would easily warm up to the girl, the dragon slayer did value honestly and loyalty highly. Two qualities that Lucy had in spades.
Not to mention how both Lucy and Cobra had odd choices in companions that they were fiercly protective of, spirits and snakes respectively.
Midnight was pleased. They needed Lucy to be what they saw when they were observing her. They needed her to be their Lucky Lucy, not her father's, and certainly not Fairy Tail's.
The future they were aiming for needed a lot of luck to be achieved after all.
.o0o.o0o.
Lucy's eyes fluttered open.
She was immediately surprised to realize that she had fallen asleep in the presence of Cobra and Midnight, but quickly shook the thought away.
They weren't bad guys. At least not completely.
Anti-villains, her mind supplied. Meaning they were on the side of the bad guys, but their personalities and actions weren't evil.
Besides, they were now her nakama and responsibility.
Lucy smiled slightly as Cobra snored, his snores were quiet compared to Natsu's. Midnight on the other hand didn't snore at all.
Shaking her head she went into her traveling bag to grab a book to pass time.
She blinked when she pulled out a pile of papers.
'This is my story..' She realized.
The stories she wrote about her adventures at Fairy Tail.
Feeling melancholy she filtered through the pages, only stopping once she realized one important thing.
The pages she held in her hands were not her story. Despite it being told from mostly her perspective, it was obvious that she wasn't the main character.
'I forgot to let Levy read it before I left...'
She barely noticed her lack of suffix regarding Levy's name. She didn't deserve to call the blue haired girl Levy-chan.
"Read what?"
Lucy startled slightly at Cobra's voice.
"N-nothing!" She squeaked stuffing the pages in her bag.
He looked amused. "Time to get off this train and get a room to stay at before catching another train."
Lucy nodded, not trusting herself to say anything important.
.o0o.o0o.
"We're sharing the same room?" Lucy asked the two in surprise.
"We're not exactly rich enough to afford seperate rooms." Cobra lightly said.
"And you used to share yours." Midnight stated.
"T-t-that's different!" Lucy stammered remembering how Natsu would sleep with her.
Cobra rolled his eyes at her thoughts, trust the girl to not go a day without thinking about lover boy. "Sorry that we don't have pink hair, fire magic, and a massive appetite."
"Don't forget about the cat." Midnight added.
Instead of being annoyed, Lucy looked surprised.
'Did...did Midnight actually just crack a joke?'
Cobra snickered before he said, "If it makes you feel better I can sleep on the floor."
Lucy blinked at him.
He heard her thoughts and knew she was slightly touched at his gesture.
"Shouldn't you be off to publish that book of yours?" He asked before she could thank him.
He didn't enjoy hearing her thank him, because really? It should be the other way around. She was helping them out after all. She left her guild for them, albeit her own motives were part of the reason, but still.
Lucy blushed. "You knew?"
"I can hear your thoughts, remember?"
He smirked in amusement as Lucy stomped out of the door muttering about stupid dragon slayers. He should be offended at how she's lumping him with Dragneel, but he was more amused than annoyed.
His smirk dropped as he realized how foreign the scene that just played out was.
If he had been teasing towards Brain, Brain would have killed him. Heck, Brain almost killed him a few months ago.
Lucy on the other hand hadn't even thought of hurting him or punishing him despite how obvious he and Midnight made it that she was now their leader, and could even take them to jail if she wanted to.
Or maybe they weren't obvious enough?
Just saying she was the new Brain wasn't really a way of telling her she could to whatever she wanted to them, he sheepishly realized.
He doubted she would do anything bad to them either way. She was just too kind for her own good.
And maybe...just maybe choosing Lucy was really the best choice they could have made.
'And maybe I'm already warming up to her.'
Well, he knew she would have a much harder time to get the others to warm up to her. After all, they couldn't read her thoughts like he could.
"Her book?" Midnight asked.
Cobra shrugged. "It's pretty good actually." He actually enjoyed it after all.
The humor, plot, and twists were interesting enough to make him keep reading despite how Lucy glorified Fairy Tail to an annoying level.
.o0o.o0o.
Midnight's lip curled up slightly in an amused smirk.
"W-what?" Lucy asked.
"I said, we're heading to Era tomorrow, where the Magic Council is located." Cobra repeated.
Lucy looked like she was going to faint.
"You two are insane."
Midnight didn't blame her, it did seem like they were mentally unstable.
What sort of criminals would go to the Magic Council anyways?