"Not especially," Lucy grunted, her eyes on the ground as she maneuvered around an especially muddy patch. Cobra swung the other way, causing them to separate. Fortunately, he could still hear her next reply. "Though these kinds of strange events happen so often, maybe I should start thinking of them not happening as more strange."
He chuckled, mostly to himself. But the look in her eyes made him stop. He knew she'd only been at the guild, what, less than two years? Yet even in that short amount of time, she'd gone through so much. He wasn't sure if it was a testament to her general luck or just the Fairy Tail guild in general that drew such insanity.
Still…even considering all that, she sounded muted. Her quip edgier in tone than previous ones. He thought about pulling back, letting them focus on the climb…then remembered what exactly had led to some of this in the first place. He took a deep breath. "How…how are you feeling about that?"
Lucy finally looked up, though not at him. Instead, her eyes stared straight ahead, gazing at an unknown thing as she took deep breaths. "I don't know. There are so many other things that have happened this week that I still feel a little behind…emotionally. Which, is a little funny, considering what we're dealing with here." She shot him a wry grin, but he didn't quite have it in him to return it. She quickly dropped the expression. "Actually…I know we said we would talk later but…can I be honest for a second?"
Cobra's heartbeat quickened. He resisted the urge to listen inwardly, once again focusing on the outer world and its sounds as they made their way forward. "Sure, go right ahead."
She closed her eyes as if gathering up courage inside them. "I was a lot more upset than I thought I'd be when you mentioned your run-in with that woman. It felt like…you didn't trust me to make a decision about it. Or like, you knew I had a secret, so you wanted one as well. " She sighed. "In the end, it's just one more thing for me to process after all of the other things I need to process about this week and about…you."
He tried not to wince. She was right though. His blunder with the beast woman may have seemed small, but stacked on top of everything else that week, it only served to add more weight to it all. The little flame didn't threaten to go out at her words, but it felt a little colder all the same.