"You really are too kind. Best of luck to you…both of you." With those final words, the figure finally melted out of sight. Cobra could hear the boots thudding out of the room and into the dirt-filled back alley. The tune that was on the man's lips now burst into a full song the moment he left the establishment. His mind once again filled with strange musings.
Cobra turned to walk out. Lucy called out after him, "wait, where are you going?"
"Need a quick break. You should take one too, right? The demon seemed to not want to work you too hard."
"That's right, but I feel fine right now, I can keep going." She looked at him in suspicion. "Are you going after that first guy? I know he's a creep but we probably shouldn't get involved unless he's doing something illegal."
She was still on about the first one? "No, it's not that, I–"
Suddenly a silhouette appeared on the lacrima screen. "Ey, is this really that love doctor everyone's been yapping 'bout?"
"Er, that love doctor place?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah! Everyone's been talking about you's guys. If anyone can make this work it's you's!" The figure began to prattle on without waiting for Lucy to respond. Something about a girl named Dreamy and…he could honestly hardly tell, the unfamiliar accent occasionally jumbling together the words. He didn't even want to think about what was happening on the inside either, but he was barely given time to think about it as to his horror he could suddenly hear more people crowding the tent outside. It seemed that a line would soon begin to form. It was so quick he didn't even have time to react to it. He'd been so focused on the man's soul everything else had slowly faded into the distance. Lucy began talking with the person (another distressed young man) and falling into a rhythm with him. Cobra wasn't technically trapped. He could still leave, Lucy didn't have to be here with him.
Did she?
Twin desires fought out for a solid ten seconds before he slumped in defeat and trudged back over to Lucy. He turned a chair around and sat on it, propping his elbows on the backside. He made sure to move it so that he wouldn't be in obvious view of the lacrima. Lucy noted his return but didn't speak, instead continuing to chat with the new person. He put a hand to his face, sighing.
It was going to be a long couple of hours.
A/N: The gentleman coming in at the end is actually my friend yellowchikadee's OC Piper from her story One Sweet Dream! If you ever felt an urge to read a good OC/canon character romance and didn't know where to turn, then I can't recommend OSD enough! It's one of my absolute favorite OC-centric fics on the site and if you want more Macbeth and Cobra antics they're in that too! Macbeth gets the most screentime as the main lead with an amazing OC partner. I could gush about it all day but instead I'll just urge you again to check it out! And in between check back here to see where Cobra's decisions lead him...