This just popped into my head and wouldn't leave.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Lucy balked at the ominous obstacle that lay before her. "No. Nuh-uh. I refuse. You can't make me."

Cobra rolled his eye at the stubborn blonde woman refusing to follow him. "Okay, enlighten me as to what your problem is this time."

Glancing down, Lucy gulped as the world spun. With a bone-deep shudder, she looked back up at her odd traveling companion. "Because gravity is a thing that exists."

The Poison Dragon Slayer groaned. They were getting nowhere fast. The others were probably almost at the mountain summit by this point.

While Crime Sorciere had been investigating a dark guild's presence on Mount Hakobe's neighbor, they'd accidentally run into Fairy Tail's strongest team. Also checking out the area for bandits, Erza and Jellal had come to the decision that it would be more convenient and expedient to both groups if they teamed up. Whereupon, they had immediately been split into pairings by Meredy in order to thoroughly examine each known path to the summit.

Erza had ordered that each pairing contain at least one member of Fairy Tail, and another from Crime Sorciere. This stipulation only fueled Meredy's shipper dreams. So the Maguilty mage wasted little time in forcing people to group up according to her whims.

Erza and Jellal had one such, of course. Though they had not protested this overmuch. Claiming that they worked well together, they were oblivious to the incredulous stares of the rest. Seriously, who were they trying to fool?

Natsu and Midnight were to partner up for this. Neither were particularly against this, much to everyone else's surprise. Cobra didn't understand why this shocked them, though. Natsu Dragneel was very good at forgiveness and at moving past old enmity. Ironic, given the Fire Dragon Slayer's origins, but Cobra would keep that information to himself.

Meredy had insisted that Wendy accompany her. To which Wendy did not protest, rather liking the older, vibrant, and confident pinkette.

Not needing any direction whatsoever, Sorano had immediately grabbed Gray's arm. With a malicious smirk, she dragged the Ice Make mage off down their path before Meredy could protest.

From there, Carla designated Richard as the least uncouth of the remaining options. Happy decided that Sawyer was a safer bet than Cobra, trailing after the speed mage.

Which left Lucy Heartfilia paired up with Cobra.

Although the Celestial mage had not been especially thrilled, she'd still smiled and greeted the Dragon Slayer like she would a member of her own guild.

Which was the only reason that Cobra was able to keep his patience with her right now. Though it was beginning to fray somewhat.

"Heartfilia," he growled, "you will be fine. I crossed with no issues, and I weigh far more than you do."

Lucy gripped the ropes of the rickety, swaying bridge from her position on the opposite side of the chasm. "It's... I'm sorry. I can't. It's... It's just too high." Panic coloured her voice, and her obvious trembling was only partially induced by the chilly wind sweeping through the open space.

Cobra sighed. To be perfectly honest, he couldn't blame her for terror. Crossing the old, unstable thing had given his nerves a proper workout. But so long as Lucy remained on the opposite side, there was really nothing he could do for her. Because there was no way he was stepping foot on that thing again, no matter what he told Lucy. "You've been higher up before," the Dragon Slayer reminded her. "With the blue cat. Who has dropped you, on numerous occasions. All of which you survived."

"That's different!" she squeaked. "I trust Happy!"

She really shouldn't. Half of those drops had been on purpose.

Switching tactics, Cobra added, "During the dragon invasion, you were thrown across the sky, and bounced around the city inside of a metal bell - coming out completely unscathed. This is nothing in comparison."

A shaky, nauseous smile crossed Lucy's face. "Yeah, that was pretty bad. But how did you know about it?"

Cobra tapped his head with a single dark-skinned finger. "I heard it at the time. It was pretty fucking hilarious."

Weakly, Lucy laughed. She stood up a little bit straighter. "I guess I can try."

'Finally,' Cobra thought, though he didn't say it out loud.

Illness washed over Lucy the second one foot touched a weathered plank.

"Heartfilia," Cobra implored. "Don't look at your feet, or at the bridge, or at anything else. Look at me. Right now."

Lucy's chocolate gaze rose to meet Cobra's indigo one.

"Good. Now just keep your eyes on me, and keep moving forward. Don't pay attention to anything else, and you'll be fine."

Gulping, the Fairy Tail mage asked, "How do you know that?"

After a moment's pause, he inquired, "Do you trust me? Can you trust me? Just for a few minutes?"

"I... Yes. I do."

Cobra nodded at her. "Good. Now trust that I won't let you fall."

Squeezing her eyes shut, Lucy took a deep breath to steady herself. "What could you even do to prevent it? You don't have wings; you can't fly."

A smile tugged at Cobra's mouth. "No - but I did survive being knocked off the Infinity Castle and crashing into a mountain when your crazy teammate hit me with that hammer. I have a few tricks up my sleeves."

Lucy opened her eyes again. "Okay. Just keep my eyes on you. I can do this. I've faced down dragons, demons, dark mages, and my landlady. This had nothing on any of them."

"That's the spirit."

Holding onto the ropes with all the strength she had, the blonde woman raised one foot and placed it before her. Then she repeated the action with her other foot. And then the first foot again. Her gaze never left Cobra.

She made good progress, until about the halfway point when a sudden gust of wind shook the bridge. Swaying madly in the wind, Lucy screeched and clung onto it for dear life. Her eyes tightly squeezed shut, she waited out the breeze while the bridge creaked and groaned with pain. Once the world had still once more, she tentatively looked back up at her companion.

Cobra gestured for her to continue on. "You're almost to the end, and I'm right here. You'll be fine."

Those last few feet were the hardest steps Lucy had ever taken in her life. But she soldiered on until she reached solid ground once more. With one last, shaky step, she found herself safely on the other side of the yawning chasm.

Hearing a faint snapping sound, Cobra lurched forward. Grasping Lucy's hands, he pulled her into him and away from the edge of the cliff.

Startled, Lucy clung to the man as the bridge gave a final scream, and plunged into the abyss.

All the strength and will left her body in a rush. She collapsed against the Poison Dragon Slayer.

Gently, Cobra lowered her to the ground, where she sat in a boneless heap.

"Can... can I just sit here for a minute?" she asked, head spinning. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Sure thing, Heartfilia," Cobra agreed. That had been... much too close for his own liking as well. "Take as long as you need."

Nodding, Lucy concentrated on getting her wind back. After a moment, she said, "You can call me Lucy, you know."

Cobra shrugged at her request. "Whatever. Lucy, it is, then."

"And..." She hesitated, feeling like she was entering forbidden territory. "Is it alright if I call you...? I mean, the others do and..."

"Erik is fine," Cobra surprised himself by saying.

A grin split Lucy's face. "Erik. Okay." Struggling to her feet, the Celestial mage dusted herself off. "I think I'm ready to get going again."

Returning to their trek up the mountain's face, Cobra couldn't help but feel like they'd crossed not one, but two bridges just now.