The Bitter Sound of Silence

MidLu Week, Day Five: Silence

Summary: Lucy really hates his silence.

Warning: Death, Suicide.

All was quiet, it was eerie. She was so used to his voice that not hearing it was driving her crazy. Since they started dating, there had only been only two occasions previously that he'd been silent. Every other time, he seized the moment and spent all his time conversing with her, even if it meant forgoing sleep.

The first time Midnight was silent was before he'd gotten the courage to ask her out. She remembered it so clearly. Fairy Tail decided to have a game of sorts while Crime Sorcière was visiting.

The other guild went along with their crazy friends surprisingly.

The game was "midnight hide and seek", but with a twist, magic can be used to help aid in hiding and seeking. Only, Mira played matchmaker and paired everyone up with who she deemed perfect for the other. She had to be inclusive with the other guild and ended up pairing Lucy and Cobra together.

Lucy was nervous, but not because she was afraid of the man. She just didn't want to disappoint her partner and get found, she is pretty bad at this game.

Cobra, feeling her nervousness from her soul, immediately soothed her. "We're going to do great."

Surprisingly, it worked. She calmed down.

Midnight ended up being "it" with Mira since she forgot to pair herself up with someone and there were no groups of three. "An extra person would be an unfair advantage!"

They began counting and all the pairs took off. Cobra grabbed Lucy's hand, shockingly excited for this game, and started running. Lucy was trying to keep up, but he was too fast and the dark night was making it hard to see, she was slowing their group down.

Cobra stopped, picked Lucy up bridal style, and picked up his sprint again.

"Cobra, what the hell? Put me down!"

"No way, we're going to win," he said with child-like enthusiasm and actually grinned down at her, flashing his pointed canines. Lucy smiled in return and just threw out suggestions on places to hide.

One of the large trees had a hole at its base, Lucy pointed it out. It would fit them both, but they would have to angle the bush next to the tree to cover the hole more or they would easily be found.

Cobra entered the decent-sized hole first then reached a hand out to help Lucy crawl in. She squeezed in next to him and grabbed the leaves from the bush. She carefully tugged them over their hiding spot. They had a little wiggle room, but not much. Besides their light breathing, all was silent.

"Ready or not, here we come!" shouted Mira's voice off in the distance, Lucy jumped at the sudden noise. She didn't hear Midnight though.

Cobra gently placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down so she wasn't so jumpy.

After about thirty minutes of hiding in the cramped space, they heard rustling not too far from them. Lucy held her breath, while Cobra sniffed the air, to poor Lucy's confusion, and discovered it was Mira. She was by herself, they must have split up.

After ten minutes of searching near their hiding spot, passing them several times, she continued on in search of more victims. They were safe for now.

Another 45 minutes had passed. Cobra's legs were asleep. Both of them wished they had chosen a hiding spot with more leg room. Cobra kept trying to stretch out in the tiny space. It looked like it was enough room at first, but being in the same position for more than an hour was not going well for them.

Cobra was so distracted by trying to get comfy that he didn't notice the scent approaching, not a sound could be heard from the man either. He was silent.

Midnight was passing by the tree when he heard the slightest of shifting sounds from behind a bush, under the massive tree's roots he was guessing. He walked over to the area without making a noise.

He peered through the leaves and discovered a dark hole. However something was squirming inside of it, too large to be a common animal. On closer inspection, he realized it was Cobra and Lucy.

He felt his blood boil; Cobra knew his best friend was infatuated with the girl. Out of all the hiding spots, why did he choose the one to be all up close and personal with Midnight's crush?

It looked like luck was on his side though, Cobra was distracted. Neither of the two hiding were looking his way nor noticed his presence. He smiled sadistically and crawled towards the bush. He didn't announce himself though; he just carefully placed himself in front of the hole without moving the leaves from the bush and sat there, watching them. He was waiting for one of them to look up and notice him.

"Cobra, stop moving, you're going to get us caught," Lucy whispered almost inaudibly, afraid to be too loud.

"I'm just trying to get comfortable, there's not enough room in here," he muttered back, still struggling.

"What if Mira comes back, she's going to hear you," Lucy said, turning to the mouth of the hole to gesture outside. Instead of the bush leaves, she saw a face.

Lucy screamed and jumped back into Cobra, elbowing him in the face.

Cobra shouted in pain before quickly maneuvering himself over Lucy to protect her from whatever just terrified her enough to make her flip.

What he saw though made him stop. It was Midnight with an evil grin on his face. Found you both, you're the last to be found, Cobra heard from Midnight's soul. He could also feel the betrayal that Midnight felt at finding them in such a position.

Cobra felt guilty and quickly crawled out of their hiding spot. He reached his hand down to help Lucy out. They were both covered in dirt and quickly padded themselves off.

"Well, we won. We were the last to be found," Cobra informed Lucy. He high-fived her before running off to meet up with the rest of the guild members.

Lucy and Midnight stood there, facing each other. Neither of them said a word. Midnight was trying to muster up the courage to apologize for scaring her, but couldn't.

He swiftly turned on his heel before marching back the way Cobra went. Lucy noticed the slight blush that even his makeup couldn't hide. She was confused, but followed him back to the others anyway. He was silent.

The second time he was silent was at the end of their two year-long relationship. They had been fighting for weeks. Midnight was jealous of any man that was even near Lucy, including Natsu.

He just loved her so much, but he was suffocating her. He didn't understand how to control his temper. He kept lashing out at all of their friends; even Cobra was on the receiving end of Midnight's jealousy.

She would try to explain to him that her friends were only friends, nothing more. He never listened. He would only yell and accuse her of being unfaithful.

Lucy couldn't take it anymore. She decided to leave him. When he caught her packing her bags, he didn't yell like she expected him too. He silently watched with tears in his eyes. She tried talking him, yearning for him to say something to make her want to stay. She silently begged for him to give her any reason at all, but he stayed quiet.

He watched her pack her things and even helped take them downstairs and set them by the door. For hours, they did this, her trying to prompt him to speak, him silently helping the love of his life leave him. He didn't utter a single word throughout the night.

Team Natsu, Cobra, Gajeel, and Laxus came by to pick up her stuff and take them over to Natsu's place since Lucy gave up her home to share one with Midnight. Midnight was furious, but still he held his tongue.

All the men were waiting for him to blow up, but he kept a mostly neutral face. The only thing revealing his anguish was his tear-filled eyes.

Everyone was moving Lucy's stuff all through the night into early morning. By the time they were done, the sky was starting to light up as the sun began rising.

Lucy looked at Midnight one last time. "I love you, so much. Please, Midnight. I don't want to leave you, tell me you'll stop being so angry," she begged. Their friends watched the two with sympathy. Both of them loved each other so much, but Lucy just couldn't stand Midnight's possessiveness.

She had missed hanging out with her friends. Since they moved in together, she had to choose between her friends and the person she fell hard for. Needless to say, it was tearing her apart. It had to stop, even if it meant leaving him, though that was the last thing she wanted.

Cobra understood why his friend acted the way he did, he could see how lonely he was and the fear of losing the person who ended his loneliness. He hated the whole situation; he wanted his best friend and "sister" to be happy.

Lucy thanked her "brothers" and "sister" for their help before she miserably turned away from the pace she called home and followed Natsu and Happy home. The others went home for the night to get in some sleep before the day officially starts.

Cobra stayed behind to try to get Midnight to open up to him like he used to, but the man wouldn't budge. He finally gave up after several hours and went home after his failed attempts.

Meanwhile, on their way to Natsu's house, Lucy trudged along sadly. Happy and Natsu exchanged looks; they hated seeing their best friend like this.

"Lucy," Happy muttered. She made a pathetic noise of acknowledgement. "It's going to be okay, please don't cry," he said before tears began flowing down his own furry face. He launched himself into her arms and she clutched him to her chest.

She stopped walking and Natsu turned to his two best friends and wrapped his arms around them, enveloping them in his warmth. They stood there for a long while, losing track of time, holding onto each other. None of them wanted to let go.

"He was so silent," she whispered brokenly into Natsu's chest. She broke down crying.

This time, this is the final time of his silence. It will never end, Lucy realized. Never again will he speak.

She had come to him after five months. She couldn't stand being without him anymore. She needed him and she came to beg him to take her back.

When she got to their old home though, she found him bleeding out on the floor. A knife still clutched in his hand, it looked like he repeatedly plunged it into himself.

"Midnight! Please don't leave me, I'm sorry. I love you!" She was desperate for him to speak to her. She continued to speak, trying to get him to stay with her. All she received was a silent smile. His eyes faded.

She wailed in agony. He was gone and it was her fault. She brought on his silence. If only she had stayed with him. She sobbed into his chest and she could already feel him losing his warmth.

She wanted him back; she could hardly pull in air to her lungs. She cradled his dead body for minutes, hours, centuries, she didn't know. It felt like an eternity.

For months, he hadn't spoken a single word to her. The last time she heard his voice was the last fight they had. She'd give anything to hear his voice one more time.

Cobra had found her when he went to go check up on his friend, worried about his waning sanity. He hadn't expected to find what he did.

He broke down beside Lucy, both refused to leave him. However, when Crime Sorcière couldn't find Cobra for a mission, they figured he'd be at Midnight's place again. So they went there to retrieve the Dragon Slayer.

They found the two mages huddled together clutching the corpse of their friend. They tried to pull the two distraught people away kicking and screaming. It didn't work. They had to get Gajeel and Laxus to pull Cobra away, while Natsu retrieved his best friend.

The silence was contagious it seemed. After the whole ordeal was over, Lucy and Cobra remained silent, refusing to speak to anyone but each other. They confided in each other, knowing the pain they shared.

The both hated the silence.

Author's Note: Sorry I missed Day Three and Four, I made this one longer to make up for it. I had to finish writing something for my English class as well as make an alter for Multicultural Club in celebration of Day of the Dead. If I have time, I'll do the two I missed at a later time.

Review Response:

Amethyst The Purple Dragon: I'm sorry. If you're still reading, I may have just twisted the knife. My bad.

LittlePrincessNana: Sweet, thank you. I'm glad you liked it, that must mean I'm doing something right. :)