Cobra spoke softly, so softly he worried Mirajane wouldn't hear. "I haven't thought about what Lucy needs all week, but I'm changing that now."
Mirajane's cool blue eyes watched intently as if testing him. "You think talking to her–by yourself I assume–is what she needs right now?"
The dragonslayer bit his lip. Because a part of him wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps it was his ego talking when he said all that. "If…she really doesn't want me to say anything, I'll leave. I promise."
"Forgive me if I don't take you at your word," Mirajane replied. "I understand needing to talk, but there's a time and place for these things. After yesterday, she may need more time."
Something about Mirajane's phrasing sounded odd to Cobra. Why was she being so vague? Then it hit him. She said she hadn't seen Lucy since yesterday, but not when yesterday. Could it be that she hadn't seen Lucy since before they argued? That she had no idea what actually happened between them? Mirajane knew enough that something happened, but she had no idea of the specifics.
He looked at her, at once amazed at the depths of her emotions over a situation she didn't even fully understand for the safety of her friend. He remembered a time when that had been true of him, of Macbeth, of the other Oracion Seis. The fervor of that powerful feeling…whereas they would have called it mania, in her it was probably more akin to love.
Love…and a few other things.