CoLu Week Day 3: Invite

Invite

Synonyms: entice, propose, lead, draw, lure, insist, attract, beg, command, appeal to.

Antonyms: reject, refuse,repel, stop, prevent, oppose, ignore, dissuade, disenchant, dissaprove.

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He had been betrayed. Cast out. Rejected. Abandoned. The people he had accepted and protected as family had all turned on him or dissapeared without a trace. They had all been defeated, one at a time, even Cobra himself, but he had picked himself up again and kept fighting. Until that moment when Brain, the man he had followed with unfailing loyalty, literally shot him in the back. He had called him useless, a weakling, and cast him aside for an idiot who had literally been lying at his feet at deaths door. He would have won that fight in the end if the man who had taken on the roll of father figure for them, all those years ago, hadn't turned on him. Cobra would get him for this, one day. He would find him and the traitor would see his own liver before he died.

Racer had run, that was to be expected, but he hadn't come back. Midnight had vanished. He hadn't heard a sound from him since he lost his fight with the man Brain had claimed was their ally and the apparently unkillable woman Cobra had poisoned during their first encounter with the light guild coalition. Nirvana had gotten to Hoteye, so he couldn't blame him. Especially since he had turned himself over to the rune knights voluntarily and gotten locked up for his effort.

His brothers were alive, he knew, because when the rune knights poured over Nirvana they hadn't found anything. No bodies or captives for them and no news for Cobra other than confirmation of Hoteye's arrest. Angel he still worried about. She had been the first of them to go down. Defeated by her own kind and her keys taken. When he last heard her she was being swept down river. He held onto the hope that she was still alive, but if she was she still hadn't come back looking for him.

Cubelios had dragged him to a dark corner to hide when the rune knights got close to where he had been laying, bleeding, injured, and devestated. She was the only reason he had escaped. At the time he hadn't had the will to run or the ability to do so if he had wanted to. Three days now that's the way it had been. Lurking in the shadows, moving only when they had to and always further from Nirvana, and always searching, looking, listening for any sign of the rest of the Seis.

Now he was utterly alone. Cubelios had finally been forced away to hunt. A snake her size didn't eat often, but she had to eat large meals when she did. Eating made her slow and sleepy. They had put it off almost a week during their final search for Nirvana in anticipation of a fight. He didnt blame her for needing to eat because that would be stupid. He wasn't happy about being alone though. It didn't help that his fight with the fire slayer had fucked his hearing all to shit and he couldn't hear her.

He could still use his magical hearing, but it hurt like a bitch when he did because his ears, both physical and magical, weren't healing. Apparently his body thought the potentially fatal wound Brain had given him took precidence. He was of the opinion that his body was stupid as shit, because he would rather be hovering on the edge of death and be able to fucking hear. He was vulnerable without his hearing and he hated it.

While he would have loved to rant and rave and poison the local flora and fauna untill they never recovered, his body wasn't up to it. Poison would have helped, but after so long not eating, coupled with the fighting, Cubelios just wasn't able to produce any more venom. So instead of throwing the destructive toddler fit he wanted to he was laying in the middle of a clearing soaking up sunshine and meditating when they found him.

"Told ya I could find him, Luce!" Cobra had rolled into a fighting crouch before third word was spoken. He knew that voice. The fire slayer was bad news for him, and he brought company this time. Company who promptly slapped her partner in the back of the head. What the hell? He thought light guilds were all about faking peace and harmony with eachother.

"Magical hearing, Natsu." The blond hissed. He knew this chick. The celestial wizard who beat Angel. "Stop yelling or you will hurt his ears again." The idiot slayer rubbed the back of his head and pouted at her.

"Sorry, Luce." The blond rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Don't apologize to me. I'm not the one with magically enhanced hearing." The pink haired boy turned to him and grinned.

"Sorry man. I forgot." What the hell was going on? Cobra gently pushed magic into his ears, trying not to wince when the pain hit. "Hey where's your snake friend?" The comment broke his concentration causing him to lose the hearing spell. Cobra growled.

"I'm not letting you hurt Cubelios." The blond slapped the fire slayer again. What was wrong with these people? Why were they here?

"Sit down and shut up, Natsu. You are not helping. Remember what Sawyer said?" Sawyer? Racer? They had captured Racer? How did they know his real name? What did they do to him?

"Yeah, yeah." Natsu sat. Right there. He didn't even set his back against a tree. There was no way he could properly defend himself like that. Cobra could easily take out him or the blond, maybe both, before he could stop him. "Something about sneezes and raisens. Why am I even here if I just have to sit here and listen to you talk?" How in the hell had he lost to this guy?

"Sneezes and raisens? Mavis! Can you be any more of an idiot? He didn't say anything about either one of those things!" The blond slapped a hand to her face as if she was in pain. "You are here because slayers have heightened senses and I needed your help to find him, and so he wouldn't just kill me on sight!" Why was this chick looking for him in the first place? He thought the rune knights had given up their search.

"I'm hungry." She gave her companion a dark look that sent a shiver up even Cobra's spine.

"Shut up so I can have this conversation and we can go home then."

"Aye Sir." The pinkette scooted away from the girl. Cobra sank deeper into his crouch. They were far enough away from eachother for him to end this fight in just two strikes, even without his hearing. Then he heard the fire wizard mumble. "Scary Lucy." If this guy was afraid of her was she a bigger threat than they had anticipated? Had she been faking it when she almost lost to Angel?

"Hi, Cobra. I'm Lucy. I guess you already know that though. Maybe I should start by telling you Sawyer and Midnight are both safe." Midnight too? What were they planning? What were they going to do to his friends? "We managed to get to them before Captain Stick-up-his-ass did, though I can't say the same for Richard I'm afraid. You don't know Levy, but she is brilliant and she is working with Lamia Scale to find a way to get him out. Jellal too, but I don't know how well that will work out." They were... helping Hoteye? Why? "Speaking of Richard. We found Wally, his brother, when we destroyed the Tower of Heaven."

"You destroyed it?" How? How did you even go about doing something like that?

"Yep. The magic Council shot it with the Etherion Cannon trying to prevent it from being used. Which was really stupid because it was designed to absorb huge amounts of power and turn into a giant lacrima, but they did it anyway. While Erza and Natsu were inside mind you, and that really ticks me off! Anyway. It blew up."

"I cracked it wide open and destroyed it you mean!"

"Natsu, does it really matter?"

"Yes! I'm awesome."

"Fine, moving on! Where was I?"

"You have Racer and Midnight."

"Right. Sawyer is lucky we got to keep Wendy otherwise we might have lost him. He tried to blow himself up. Please tell me you didn't hear thim make that plan? Because if so then this deal is off." What deal? They still hadn't told him why they were here.

"Why?" He hadn't heard and was going to kick Racer's ass for doing something that stupid, but why did it matter to them?

"Because family doesn't let eachother do that."

"True, but what does it matter to you?"

"As long as you understand the principle we are good. Moving on!" He never really said anything to answer her, but ok. "Sawyer has temporarily joined Team Shadowgear. The Thunder Legion has volunteered to host Midnight for rehabilitation purposes, though Erza is supervising because those three are still kinda in trouble." Rehabila... What!

"Happy thinks Freed and Beth have a thing going."

"Shut up, Natsu! You're the reason the poor guy won't use his real name around us, and it's not ok! You will call him Midnight until he gets over that whole 'Beth' thing, or Erza will let him and the Thunder Legion do whatever they feel like to you while the rest of us sit back and laugh!" What in the world was going on here?

""Midnight is... You are protecting him?" She stared at him blankly.

"Yes?" Was that an answer or another fucking question? He was starting to think the only way he would be getting answers was by dealing with the pain in his ears. "Him and Sawyer both. I..." The blond turned and glared at Smoke for brains. "Natsu!"

"What!"

"You fucking broke him!"

"I didn't touch him!"

"Ugh!" She rolled her eyes. If he wasn't feeling so damn confused he might like this chick. She had attitude. "So I did the assume thing, confused you, made an ass out of me and Natsu." She kicked dirt in her partner's direction, who muttered again about Scary Lucy and scooted even further away. "Let's start over. I'll give you the speech Gramps gave to Midnight and you can ask me any questions that leaves you with."

"Let's start with a question first. Do you know where Angel is?" Everyone else he cared about he knew about now.

"I'm afraid not. Gajeel and Juvia headed downriver to look for her, but we haven't heard from them since we started looking for you. That was two days ago."

"Yeah, man! Every time we got close you up and moved again! Why couldn't you hold still and let us catch up?" The blond gave her partner an 'are you really that stupid' look. Cobra knew that look because Angel made it often and he could normally hear her think those exact words when she made that exact face.

"Natsu." Her voice was soft and sweet and terrifying. "I don't know how you can be such a genius when it comes to important things and such an idiot all the rest of the time, but I'm going to need you to shut up now."

"I agree with the Samodiva. Let the grownups talk."

"Samodiva huh?" The girls eyes sparked with life. "If I sing will you dance with me?" Oh, so she knew that legend.

"Only if I get fully rewarded for it and get to keep some of your hair afterward."

"I don't know if I want to keep you that badly."

"I'm not the type to die pining for a woman anyway."

"You're just a dance till dawn kind of guy?"

"Sounds like a fun way to go at least. I wouldn't stick around unless there was something more in it for me than a good time and a lock of golden hair."

"How about a home?" She seemed to have deviated from the old fairy tale at this point. "You can't fall under my spell if you are fae too, now can you?" His eyes widened as he finally understood what they had been talking about this whole time.

"You're..." He couldn't even finish the thought out loud because it was just that fucking insane.

"Fairy Tail is a guild full of people with tortured pasts who were given a second chance at life. We are offering you and your family that chance. Midnight and Sawyer plan to accept, though they are waiting to hear from you and Angel before they let Gramps put the Fairy Tail guild mark on them. The Strauss siblings have offered Angel a place in their home if Gajeel and Juvia can find her. Natsu and I are here to invite you and Cubelios to join Fairy Tail and be a part of our team. Once you prove to us that you are trustworthy the four of you, and Richard too if we can get him out, are free to form your own team, be solo mages, or even move on to another guild if you wish."

"We tried to kill you." He pointed at the pink haired slayer currently watching their interactions with a clearly confused look on his face. "He's an idiot, but I thought for sure you wouldn't have forgotten, Diva."

"You know I have a name, right?"

"Samodiva." She threw her hands in the air.

"What is with you slayers and refusing to use people's names?"

"Plural?" As in several? Not just him and Natsu?

"Natsu calls me Luce or Luigi, Laxus called me Blondie the few times we interacted before he was sent away, Gajeel calls me Bunny and Levy Shrimp, because he's an asshole. Wendy uses my real name though. Maybe it's just a guy thing..."

"Wait Gajeel?" The name clicked in his head when she said it this time. Phantom had done business with his guild, being practically a dark guild themselves. "As in Black Steel of Phantom Lord, Gajeel? Didn't Phantom go to war with you guys?"

"Black Steel, The Rain Woman, and Phantom Lord kidnaped me, tortured me, blew up our guildhall, almost killed several of my friends, including Gramps. Master Makarov offered them a second chance at life. Now Juvia and Gajeel are trusted friends of mine. They are Fairy Tail wizards. You can be too, if that's what you want."

The shock of what that meant had him sitting on the ground, hard. They were offering them sanctuary, safety, and a home. Fairy Tail was offering them a chance to be free, and all it would take was him accepting her invitation to be one of them. He pushed magic into his ears, ignoring the pain for just a moment, and focused on the blond in front of him.

I really hope he comes with us. It would be nice to have someone on missions who thinks quickly enough for me to banter with. I like him. He's funny and smart. The boys all seem like nice people. It's a shame we lost track of Zero-brains. That asshole needs a serious pounding for treating them like he did. Where does he get off attacking people who trust him? What the fuck?

Cobra isn't looking to good. I mean he looks delicious, but he's in pretty bad shape. We need to get him to the backup squad so Wendy can patch up his back. I'm so glad Happy stayed with Carla and Pantherlily so I didn't have to deal with the little shithead this whole time. I bet Gray and Erza are about bored out of their minds by now. I hope Wendy can get his ears set right again. Natsu must have messed them up pretty bad for them to still be messed up.

"You have yourself a deal, Samodiva." Her smile just about lit up the whole clearing. "As soon as Cubelios comes back. We will go with you." He wasn't sure about the rest of the guild, but he liked Lucy. He'd stick around for a while just to listen to her.

"There's just one problem with that." Natsu piped up. Cobra tensed. There was always a catch. "Luce isn't quite fat enough to be a sumo-wrestler."

"Lucy Kick!" The catch was apparently Scary Lucy. He could live with that.

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(AN: The Samodiva is a fairy type being that gaurds forests and typically has long golden hair. It is know for its literally enslaving song. If a man comes upon a group of them singing and dancing at night he will join them and dance until he dies of exaustion at dawn. A single Samodiva would sometimes take a man as her lover, stealing away his life force and giving him a lock of her golden hair to increase her control over him. The man would then chase after her until she stole the last of his life from him.)

Till Tomorrow