Lucy stared at her burger not even knowing where to begin. Her mind was so clouded over with confusion she wasn't sure what she should even ask first. She decided to take a bite of her burger, hoping that she would find clarity in the greasy deliciousness of cheese, meat, and bacon.
Cobra watched and listened, and just decided to start talking, "You've been gone for about a year now." Cobra stated grimly as he watched her face frown.
"A year?" she shook her head, "It doesn't feel like that long. When did you join Fairy Tail?"
Cobra sighed as he thought back, "About the same amount of time that you've been gone. Midnight and I came in a few weeks after you left with Team Fire Fuck for that stupid mission."
"I am glad you joined Fairy Tail, although I figured we were the last place you would go." Lucy chewed thoughtfully, she found it odd since she never got a chance to ever connect with him about what happened years ago. Yet here he was with her and a part of Fairy Tail.
Cobra shifted uncomfortably, "Kinana was there and Midnight wanted to settle down a little so he came with me. The rest are still with Jellal and his crime-fighting crew."
Lucy nodded her understanding as she took another sloppy bite of burger. Cobra handed her a napkin so she could wipe away the dollop of mayo and barbeque that clung to the corner of her mouth. He couldn't help but smirk at the blonde.
"Thank you for saving my sorry ass from Black Sun." Lucy's tone was grateful but forlorn.
Cobra shook his head, "No need to thank me, Goldie, considering the history we have it's the least I could do."
"You never let me talk to you about that, I am not interested in digging up that whole mess now, but I forgave the lot of you a long time ago, including you." She said as she pointed a fry in his direction.
They continued dancing around the heavy questions that needed answering. Again, Lucy was trying to postpone the inevitable that needed to happen. Cobra knew he couldn't skirt the truth any longer and Lucy needed to know. He finished his last bite and grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth and toss it on the take out container. He sighed and looked at her as she watched him nervously.
Lucy knew something was eating at the man in front of her. She suspected it had to do with her and why her team was not here. She didn't want to know, she began to panic that maybe they were dead.
"Those fools aren't dead Bright Eyes," he saw the look of relief on her face. He paused a moment before continuing. "Look, I'll be blunt since that's the only way I know how to be. Fairy Tail thinks your dead. Loke had managed to appear at the guild just before you had your little flirt with death. Then when Jellal and his band of merry reformed criminals showed up with your keys that they found; that was it, the nail in your coffin."
He watched her a moment to gauge her reaction. She was shocked that they gave up on her so easily. They just accepted that she was dead and that was that. She looked up at Cobra and looked at him closely for a moment to see if it was the truth. She knew it was but she was hoping he was just lying to her.
"Then why did you come for me?" she asked feeling dejected. She glanced back down and fidgeted with her nails.
"I knew you were alive, I told them and they refused to accept it. I told them the leads that I had about Black Sun. They thought I was just fuckin' with them. No one believed me so I told them to go fuck themselves and I went out looking for you. They just figured I was heading toward my impending death going against Black Sun on my own."
Tears streamed down Lucy's face as she tried to sort the information he unloaded on her. She was happy they were alive but it was mixed with fear, resentment, and disbelief; "You're a member of Fairy Tail now and they ignored you? They chose to believe I was dead instead of hanging on to that hope that I could be alive. Even Natsu?"
"A few believed me but let's just say that my information was not well received. Even if some wanted or did believe it, they wouldn't go against their 'Nakama'." Cobra finished air quotes and a whiny voice when it came to the use of the word Nakama.
He couldn't hide his contempt for those who spouted so freely about Nakama but didn't even fully accept him and easily accepted the idea of Lucy's demise. It must have shown on his face since Lucy interrupted his internal fuming against the guild.
"Why does it make you so angry?" her question was innocent enough but she felt there was a deeper reason why he whipped himself up into such a frenzy.
"Why the fuck shouldn't it?" he all but yelled and curtailed his volume at the sight of her flinching. "I can hear what their souls think and they honest to god believed there was no saving you. They mourned and I had to watch them all while they wouldn't believe the truth." He stood up abruptly grabbing his trash along with hers as he went to throw it away.
"Those fuckers just tossed your stuff away like it was nothing, dismantled your apartment so fast it made my head spin. All the while no one listened to me. Even if I am a member of Fairy Tail, clearly they don't want me there." He all but growled out.
Lucy sniffled and looked at the aggravation held squarely in the shoulders of the slayer, "I want you there," she meant that through and through. She continued, "They had already lost a member of Fairy Tail and mourned her death and she returned. I don't know why they didn't keep that in mind. There was no way Natsu or Erza gave up on me."
Cobra chuckled humorlessly, "They were the ones that hoped deep down that the suicide part of my so-called suicide mission is successful. Believe all you want sweetheart, your team would rather see me dead than you come home." He bit the words out bitterly, immediately regretting them as he watched Lucy's gaze shift downward, tears streaming down her face at a faster rate than before.
He could practically hear her heartbreaking at the idea. The sound of her soul was haunting. He did not want for this conversation to happen this way but he was a grade-A asshole with no communication skills or bedside manners. He carded his hands through his maroon locks, "Look, they have every right and reason to not believe a word I said. I don't even blame those who believed me and didn't say a shittin' thing. I am just angry and being a dick about it. I shouldn't have said any of that to you, that is not how I wanted any of this to go." He leaned against the counter his arms folded across his chest.
Lucy looked past the anger and into the hurt that was evident to her, "You're a member of Fairy Tail, your Nakama now. Being angry about it doesn't make you a dick." she looked away and out the window. If it wasn't for his persistence she wouldn't be where she was at that moment. She smiled at the thought that he didn't lose hope.
"If it weren't for you Cobra, I would not be here right now. Thank you for not giving up on me." she smiled as her head turned back toward the man. She could see right through him at that moment, she saw the man he would have been and still could be.
Cobra shook his head unable to meet her eyes, "Don't thank me, I should have found you sooner." Cobra's words were laced with frustration. He pushed off the counter and made for the phone, "Look, we should probably contact the guild and let them know you're alive."
He didn't get to finish the thought before she interrupted, "No, not yet. Can we just have Wendy come and" she trailed off, she normally would have asked for her friends but she couldn't see past the pain they had inflicted on her or the fact that they didn't want Cobra to come back.
"I'll make sure someone I can trust escorts pipsqueak," Cobra assured Lucy and he went into the bedroom area to place the covert phone call back to the guild.
Lucy stared at the table in front of her trying to sort out her thoughts and reason with the irrational ones. Her mind working double time, she closed her eyes and felt every out of place joint and bone in her body and felt the heaviness of her limbs as her mind began to wander to how she obtained her injuries.
She hadn't been awake for more than 24 hours and she was already sick of reliving it. She began locking it all down in little boxes and containers and jars in her mind as her eyes slid shut.
As Cobra spoke on the phone to Midnight in the other room, he grew more and more worried about how she was coping or wasn't for that matter. He could hear her locking her shit up and that wasn't going to work out well in the end.
Cobra was in luck, Wendy, Midnight, and Bickslow were on a mission together and it would be easy to take a detour home to where they were. They could be there by nightfall and Midnight made his promise to Cobra that he would not tell them anything so they couldn't possibly alert any of the other guild members.
Hanging up the phone, Cobra thanked whatever higher power was listening and helping their situation along. He walked back into the kitchenette to pick up the now dozing blonde and put her back in the bed. He gently covered her and walked back into the kitchenette. He sat down and stared at the spot she had just occupied. He had no idea how to proceed because shit-heads like him aren't supposed to care. Yet here he was in new territory and unsure of how to be and what to do.