Hello everyone! This chapter was originally a little shorter than what I have been posting but then I went to edit it and started adding things it :P I hope you like it!
As always, I do not own Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for it's use in my own creative expressions *bows*
Lucy sighed as she propped her elbow up on the arm rest of the couch and laid her head on her hand. Levy was curled up beside her in a ball using one of the throw cushions from the couch as a pillow. Natsu was also asleep in his chair, head back and snoring like a rusty chainsaw. Plue was sprawled on the floor like a small white furry rug, growling occasionally from his little doggy dreams. Lucy envied all of them, she had tried to sleep but her mind just would not shut off enough to relax.
Nothing seemed real to her yet; Levy witnessing a murder, having to leave the salon on the run or agreeing to stay in this place for the next two days. She didn't know why crazy things always had to happen. Sometimes she wished that all she had to think about were normal young adult problems like what color she should dye her hair or if the cute boy who worked at the coffee shop across the street was flirting with her or just being nice.
She reached over and pushed the power button on the TV remote, shutting it off with a click. It was eerie as the silence spread across the room; the only sounds now were from the clock in the kitchen and Natsu's snores. Plue sneezed in his sleep and Lucy watched as he opened one squinty eye and then the other. The little dog sneezed again and rolled onto his back with a grunt. It had been awhile since he had done his business on all over Natsu's shirt; Lucy thought that he probably had to pee again.
"Come on boy," she called, standing up and stretching with a yawn. "Let's go see what the backyard looks like."
She walked to the patio door in the kitchen and quietly slid it open. The backyard was not overly large but very cosy, short green grass, a few well-tended flowerbeds and tree in the far left corner with a tire swing. Lucy could easily picture a dozen children playing out here in the summer, taking turns on the swing or throwing a ball around while running in the lush grass. She pulled her socks off and tossed them on the deck, the grass was as soft as it looked and cool on her feet. Plue was running around sniffing at the flowers and lawn ornaments before lifting his leg to pee on an unsuspecting garden gnome.
"Plue, no!" Lucy tried to stop him but it was too late, he was spraying the poor plastic gnome in the face.
"Ugh." Lucy looked around to see if there was a garden hose somewhere so she could rinse the little statue off. Plue continued to sniff around; he let out a sharp bark and went running for the tree. Lucy didn't know what caught his attention until she saw that beside the tree on the other side of the tire swing was a children's sandbox.
"No!" She cried, figuring out his intentions a little too late. Once again the little dog ignored her order and pooped in the fine white sand.
"Dammit," Lucy muttered as she reached the scene of the crime, Plue was now trying to kick sand over it like a cat to hide the evidence. Her normal doggie bags were upstairs in her purse but she was sure that there were plastic bags or paper towels she could use back in the kitchen. She shooed the dog away from the sandbox and sprinted back up the deck into the house. She found a box of sandwich bags in the walk in pantry and took a couple, hoping that it was still just the one mess she needed to clean up.
She turned to go back outside heard Plue start barking frantically. "What's the matter boy? Did you see a squirrel or something?" She called out as she bounded down the deck steps back towards the tree. But when she looked up she saw that it wasn't a squirrel or another animal that caught the little dog's attention, but a man. Lucy froze in surprise, he was standing by the tree and Plue was growling and yipping at his ankles furiously.
"Hi," the man lifted one hand up in greeting as if he knew her. It was then that Lucy noticed he had only one eye and very sharp canine teeth that were visible when he spoke, not someone you would want in your backyard. Panicking, she did the only thing that she could think to do and screamed.
Levy was having a nice dream. She was sitting in front of a beach, which was strange because she had never been to a real beach before, just the small patch of sand down by the harbor which was always overcrowded and full of perverts and creepers. But not in her dream, in the dream she was all alone and lying in the sand so soft and white it was like sleeping on a sun was shining high in the sky, not too hot and not too cold but just right.
So Levy laid there in the sand for what felt like hours, her dream eyes closed, just listening to the steady sound of the imaginary waves. All of a sudden she felt a chill, like something had blocked out the heat of the sun. She opened one dream eye but all she could see was a large black shadow standing in front of her. She opened the other eye and he shadow turned into a large man, he was holding out one of his arms to her. It took Levy another second to realize that the man looked like a shadow because he was wearing a dark sweater with the hood up around his face and in the hand of the arm he had extended towards her was a gun. It was pointed right at her heart.
"NO!" Levy tried to scream out in fear but no words would come. She tried to scream again but there was only the sound of the gun going off, she felt the bullet bite into her chest and go through her racing heart…
Levy woke up gasping for air on a strange couch, in a strange place and she could still feel the phantom pain from the bullet in her dream. When she got her breathing back under control she looked around the room. T
he TV was dark and fading sunlight was coming though the closed blinds, Natsu was snoring away in his chair. Lucy wasn't anywhere to be seen and Levy's first thought was that she had changed her mind and made a run for it after all. Then Levy felt terrible for thinking the worst of her friend, Lucy would never go back on her word like that and abandon someone she cared about. This situation had her thinking the worst about everyone, including her best friend, which was unfair since they hadn't done anything wrong. Especially for people who had no obligation to help her, like Gajeel and the rest of the Dragons going out of their way to protect her, so she should be feeling grateful.
Lucy was probably just taking Plue for a walk, which reminded her that she had her own toilet need to take care of. She stood up and stretched her arms over her head, the nap had been amazing up until the nightmare but now she was stiff all over. She was about to go find a bathroom when a chilling scream came from somewhere and made her jump.
"Lucy!" She recognized the pitch immediately, it sounded like it came from outside.
Natsu shot out of the chair like he was on springs. "Where was that?" He was trying to look everywhere at once to find the source of the scream.
"Outside." Levy ran towards the kitchen but Natsu caught up easily and grabbed her by the arm to pull her back.
"No, stay here," he started but was cut off by another scream; this one was louder and more urgent. Levy would not let herself be held back but Natsu's attention was no longer focused on her anyway. He had pulled a very small silver gun out of who knew where and was holding it up like she'd seen cops do on TV. "Stay behind me."
The patio door in the kitchen was open, probably why the screams had sounded so clear in the house. Levy was right on Natsu like a shadow as he crept outside onto the deck, looking over the short railing. Lucy was standing on the lawn with her back to them in her bare feet; Plue was running around a bemused looking Cobra and barking at him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Natsu growled at Cobra as he lowered his gun. Lucy let out another started yelp and whirled to face them, but before she could say anything a crash came from the side of house, the unmistakable sound of the wooden backyard fence getting busted open. Gajeel appeared, also with his gun drawn much the same way as Natsu had his.
When he saw the scene he lowered it with a curse. "Who was screaming?"
"It was my fault," Cobra answered coolly. "I started this one while she was walking her dog."
"Who the hell are you?" Lucy yelled at him. "And where did all the guns come from?!"
"Quiet," Gajeel barked. "Go back inside before the neighbours start to get suspicious."
Lucy scooped up her dog and ran past Natsu and Levy into the house, the poop in the sandbox forgotten. Levy hurried after her but Natsu stayed out on the deck and faced the other two men.
"What happened?" He repeated.
"Laxus told me to come and relieve you. I'm a little early but I didn't expect anyone to be out here so I snuck in the back. That girl was with her dog, I tried to tell her I didn't mean any harm but she screamed anyway." Cobra crossed his arms irritated.
"I heard the screams so I came running from the truck, I thought maybe somebody had tried to break in the back way," Gajeel added with a scowl.
Natsu opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted. "Natsu?" Called an elderly woman from one of the neighbouring yards. "Is that you?"
"Yes Mrs. Mackleby." He jumped off the deck and walked over to the mid-length fence that lined the right side of the yard. It came up his shoulders but just the top of a gray head was visible on the other side.
"I thought I heard somebody screaming, is everyone alright dear?" Mrs. Mackleby was about 100 years old and had lived next door to old man Makarov long before Natsu had moved there as a kid. She was almost completely deaf and blind but seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to sniffing out 'catastrophes' or other sources of excitement that happened in the neighbourhood. Being a snoopy old lady didn't stop the boys from keeping her yard nice in the summer and clear the snow from her driveway and sidewalk in the winter as per Makarov's orders.
"Don't worry about it Mrs. Mackleby, one of the girls umm… saw a mouse in the backyard…" he came up with the lamest lie imaginable but she didn't seem to find it strange.
"Ohhhh I see. I will have to get Humphrey off the couch and tell him to get to work. Say hi to your Grandfather for me." Natsu watched as she ambled away from the fence back to her house. Humphrey was her large gray tomcat who was so fat that Natsu didn't think he could even make it from the couch to the door without having a heart attack so he wouldn't be going after an imaginary mouse anytime soon.
When Natsu turned back into the yard Gajeel and Cobra were gone. He checked the side of the house where Gajeel had come crashing through the fence and saw that the door had been ripped right off its hinges and was lying in the grass. He picked it up and attempted to fit it back into place but without the metal hinges in place it kept falling over. After a few tries he gave up and leaned it against the house, they would have to let Laxus know about the damage so that it could get fixed before the old man came back.
Back in the house, Levy was sitting on one of the living room couches again while Lucy paced the room irritably still holding Plue in a death grip.
"How was I supposed to know who he was?" She told her friend sourly. "Do they have flashcards or a group picture or something so that I can at least know who I'm not supposed to be screaming at?"
Levy winced but she understood Lucy's anger, she remembered the fear and apprehension she had felt this morning after meeting Gajeel and then again at the agency.
"That guy is Cobra," Levy explained. "He works with the other guys."
"Cobra?" Lucy repeated like she wasn't sure if Levy was telling her the truth or not. "Are you sure we should be trusting these people, he looks really shady."
"I know he looks rough but-"
"He has one eye, like a pirate!"
"I met his girlfriend thought, and she seems very nice," Levy added like it would make all the difference.
"He has a girlfriend?!"
They heard the sliding door in the kitchen close and Natsu walked into the room.
"Where did Gajeel and Cobra go?"
"We don't know, they should have been still outside with you," Lucy answered.
Natsu looked deep in thought for a second and then literally shook it off like a dog would. "Well, now that everyone is wide awake do you guys want to play Monopoly?"
Lucy traded a look with Levy like she would rather walk over hot coals than play a board game right now but she answered anyway. "Sure, what the hell." Levy smiled as Natsu gleefully went to get the game and she and Lucy went back into the kitchen. This could be a long night, she thought to herself.
After the girls had gone back inside and Natsu went to talk with the neighbour Gajeel stalked across the yard in a huff to get back to his truck, to his annoyance he found that Cobra was following him instead of going into the house.
"What are you doing?" He growled, not really in the mood to deal with the other man's teasing bullshit. He had been daydreaming lazily when he heard the first scream though the slightly open window. He was embarrassed about the fact that it had taken til the second scream for him to get all the way out of his truck and then sprint across the street while pulling his gun out of the ankle holster he was wearing. It was more discreet than the traditional belt that he usually wore and was better for working in daylight and public spaces but trying to draw in a hurry made him look ridiculous, like he was doing the funky chicken on one leg.
Then instead of opening the gate like a civilized person he had one shot booted it open, ripping it right off with a crack that would have altered everyone on the entire block. Gajeel usually prided himself on his ability to stay calm and cool in high stress situations, getting emotional and wrecking shit was Natsu's job, not his. This time though he had lost his head, and that angered him even more.
Cobra hadn't answered his question and followed him across the street. Gajeel's truck was open but at least he had slammed the door shut so that passing cars hadn't wrenched it off like he did to the backyard fence. Cobra climbed in the passenger's side and watched as Gajeel stuck his gun back in the holster before pulling himself into the driver's seat. He waited for the sarcastic jibe that he knew would be coming eventually but there was only silence. Gajeel finally snuck a look over at the other man and found that his attention wasn't even focused on him but on on his cell phone, Cobra was frowning at it like he didn't like what he was reading.
"Bad news?" He asked, not especially interested but wanting to break the creepy silence between them.
Cobra looked up with a furrowed eyebrow, like he had forgotten were he was for a minute. "No," he answered in his normal gravelly tone, but Gajeel could tell that he was not in a good mood. "Nothing that you should concern yourself with, Black Steel."
"Alright then, jeeze." Gajeel threw his hand up in a sweeping gesture. "Just trying to make conversation." He stared out the side window and tapped the other hand on the steering wheel awkwardly.
Cobra frowned again before relenting. "Someone called in sick at the bar and Kinana took her shift since I have to work tonight anyway. I thought that we could spend the weekend together and it didn't work out the way I wanted but it doesn't seem like she is very disappointed about it, that's all."
Ugh, Gajeel thought, when it came to women problems he was next to useless, it was more a question for Laxus or Sting. But since he had asked now he felt obligated to answer. "Maybe she's just really good at hiding it," he countered. "Kinana is one of those happy, look-on-the-bright-side kind of people."
Instead of reassuring Cobra like he had hoped it would it made him narrow his eye even more. "Are you saying that my girlfriend is happy not to spend time with me?" He growled in a low voice.
Ah damn, Gajeel knew he was one bad sentence away from getting death punched in the throat. "No, that's not what I meant at all." He scrambled to think of something better to say. "I was just saying that she didn't want you to know that she was upset about it so she put on a happy face, so you wouldn't feel guilty about working." That sounded more like something Wendy might say but Gajeel thought it was on the right track at least.
Cobra just grunted and slipped his phone back into his pocket. "I don't know why it has to be so damn hard to tell what a woman is thinking."
It was Gajeel's turn to just keep silent, he didn't want to make the situation worse again by saying what was on his mind. The fact that Cobra found women so baffling was as amusing as it was disconcerting, the man was always so mysterious and anally controlling that it was almost surreal for him to admit to having real person problems. They continued to sit in silence, each distracted with their own private thoughts.
Some Gajeel and Cobra bro-bonding time :)
Edit: I just noticed, 50 followers, AHHHH! So excited!