Here's Chapter 2 for Poisoned. Hugs and kisses to everyone who read, reviewed, faved or followed my story! I love love love it when you guys leave a review. Your reviews always leave a smile on my face. So thank you. :)

Small heads up, the pairing is undecided for now. I'm aiming for CoLu (CobraxLucy) but pairings will change later on in the story due to certain reasons.

P.S. : Cobra will not be able to hear souls/read thoughts or whatever for now. There's a reason, though, so don't worry. I didn't leave it out accidentally. ;)

Lucy absolutely adored her guardian. Sure, he was a bitter, little thing, and he liked to bite her whenever she tried to touch him, but he was a snake! Mother shouldn't blame him if he likes to hiss and snap at people. Lupus kept saying that he's dangerous and poisonous, but that was a lie. Cobra wasn't poisonous; he was just…a little…venomous?

Putting all of that aside, Lucy didn't think he was all that bad. He was snarky, rude and brusque most of the time and he acted as though he has a stick up his ass almost every day, but the twelve-year-old mage thought he was downright lovable. I mean, he actually pouted when Mother frowned at Lucy's choice of guardian! (Okay, so maybe snakes don't pout…)

Plus, despite her guardian's mean exterior, he was actually pretty…nice. He treated her like a real human being, and talked to her as though she was an adult. Lucy liked the way he respected her opinions although he often scoffed at her 'humanness'. Cobra was also the only one who understood her. Not her spirits, not her mother...but Cobra. The grumpy, pissed-off, over-observant snake who could care less if Lucy had fallen off a cliff.('You're incorrigibly stupid, but not that stupid to fall of a cliff, Blondie.' 'I can hear you!' 'Duh, why else would I have said that?')

He knew how much she hated feeling like some puppet, tied by invisible strings that controlled her every move. Worst of all, her parents were the puppeteers. Aquarius, Cancer and Capricorn were too loyal to her mother to understand what she felt like and her other spirits chided her to think about her situation more openly.

Cobra was the only one. But she was glad…glad that he was the one who understood; glad that she didn't have to endure it alone; glad that he was there with her…there for her.

The fact that his human form was pretty cute didn't hurt either. When Cobra first morphed into a human the second year after Lucy summoned him as her guardian, he was not what she had expected. Whenever Lupus morphed into a human, she took on the features that were similar to her natural form – her hair and eyes remained the same shade of blue as her fur in her wolf form and her ears were slightly pointed too.

But Cobra…besides his purple eyes and fangs, his human form was nothing alike his natural state. With gravity-defying maroon hair, tan skin and pointed ears, ('Why would a snake have pointed ears? That makes absolutely no sense!' 'Ahhh, shaddup, you little twerp.') Cobra was undeniably handsome.

The only weird thing was that instead of taking on an adult human form, he chose to be of the same age as his master whenever he morphed into a human.

Lucy had bugged him for weeks to know why he did that. Her smug guardian only smirked at her.

(Truth to be told, although Lucy loves her guardian's natural state, she can't deny that she likes Cobra's human form more. She doesn't really know why though.)

(And to be honest, Cobra enjoys the way his master's blush creeps up into her cheeks every time he winks at her a little too much.)

But no matter how endearing and precious the snake guardian was to her, her parents, her spirits, the servants…everyone just wouldn't accept him! And she never knew why. They would look at Lucy and smile when they passed by her in the hallways, but the moment they saw Cobra curled up on her arm or neck, they would scowl and glare at the guardian.

Lucy had gone into a fit of rage when she heard what they said about Cobra behind her back. But her guardian told her that he was used to it. Used to it? How could he possibly tolerate those…those vile words they said?

'They called you a monster, Cobra! A monster that was too filthy for me. How could they say that to you? You're not a monster or a murderer and I don't know why they're even saying tha – '

'Look, Bright Eyes, there's a reason why I'm a snake spirit okay? Stuff like this has been happening since a few decades ago. I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself…Just – Just don't believe what you hear, I'll tell you everything when I'm ready. Promise me, Lucy.'

The moment she saw the way he tried to smirk and brush off what they had said to him as nothing important…she knew they had hurt him. They had hurt him so badly that he was retreating back into that shell she tried so hard to break.

She felt his hurt, his pain, his anger….and she hated that she couldn't do anything to comfort him.

Maybe that was the reason why she'd suddenly exploded when she heard them call Cobra a monster again. She didn't remember what exactly had happened but when Aquarius was summoned by her mother to calm her down, even the usually violent mermaid was shocked – and somewhat afraid – by the overwhelming burst of magical energy coming from the young blonde. Cobra had nearly peed his pants laughing when he saw the servants' terrified faces.

Let's just say there was no more talk of Lucy's favorite reptile behind her back after that incident.

After all, snake charmers are always more possessive of their snakes than their snakes are of them. And young Lucy Heartifilia was dubbed 'Snake Charmer' right after that incident. (Along with some other nicknames like Scary Lucy and She-Demon, but that's normal.)

'You call that a punch? I barely felt that –'a certain maroon haired male taunted, smirking when he heard an annoyed growl from his master…only to be kicked in the gut less than two seconds later by said master. 'Oof!'

'If you were paying as much attention to the fight as to gloating,' Lucy panted, inwardly cheering at her victory, despite being thoroughly exhausted. Capricorn's training was excruciating, but Cobra's was worse. 'Hellish' seems to be the only word capable of describing the snake's torture. 'You would have won.'

Groaning at the pain in his abdomens, the guardian coughed out, 'Guess your training with that old goat really paid off.'

Giggling, the blonde Celestial Mage – now sixteen years old – reached her hand to her guardian to help him up. She squeaked when he suddenly pulled her down onto his chest. Laughing as she moved to straddle his chest, Lucy leaned down to whisper in the snake guardian, eliciting a rarely seen grin on his face.

His elation quickly turned to disbelief.

'Wait, are you sure?' He asked, using his hand to tilt her chin towards him as he searched her brown eyes.

The blonde's gleeful expression was replaced by a serious one.

'He threatened to sever our bond, Cobra.' The said man's breath hitched in his throat. He hissed coldly, 'He wouldn't.'

Lucy's eyes flashed briefly with pain and anger. 'You know he will. He wants to sell' she spat, 'me to the Junelle family the day I turn seventeen.'

Her guardian growled as he wrapped his arms around his master possessively. Burying his face in her neck, he whispered, 'Then why tonight? Your mother – '

'My mother is dead. She has been for two weeks now. There's no changing the past.'

'But this is your home. I won't have you leave it because of me.'

A hollow laugh followed his statement.

'This was my home, it's my prison now. My mother, my father…they are my past. It's time to leave the past behind Cobra.' She smiled softly at him. His heart leapt into his throat and he smiled back at her, surprising himself. Cobra was never one to smile, it made him feel too vulnerable…but with Lucy, he wasn't afraid to show her how vulnerable he was. It's been four years after all, and despite how unwillingly he was to admit it at first, Cobra – no, Erik – was ready to trust again. And maybe even learn to love again. After Cubellious –

No, love definitely wasn't a door Erik was ready to open just yet.

Flick.

'Oi! Why the hell did you do that, ya little brat?!'

'You were ignoring me! And don't call me a brat, old man!'

'Who you callin' old?! You wanna go, brat?!'

'Bring it on, grandpa!'

'THAT'S IT!'

Ah, young love. Perhaps a little one-sided…and rather unrequited and tragic… But their adventure is only beginning.

Heartbreak, jealousy, tragedy…those have yet to come. But for now, let's give these two a break, because sooner or later, they'll be breaking more than just their hearts.

How was it? It's a little fast-paced but I hope you guys liked it! (I won't drag the story about just Cobra and Lucy for too long because there will a major twist in this story very soon. ;) )