A/N: Welcome to the end of CoLu Week 2016, everyone. It's been quite the ride, hasn't it? Not a whole lot to say right now, so let's just get to the bonus day!

So, without further ado, I give you…

Day 8: Aurora

We All Have a Story to Tell

Cobra grinned as he gazed down at the beautiful woman in his arms, gently pushing her back onto the bed they shared whenever he was able to return to Magnolia for a visit. He hated more and more that Crime Sorciere kept him away from her, and tonight would be the night where he asked her to make a choice. It was simple, really, and he didn't mind either way what her answer was.

Well, he definitely minded if she accepted his marriage proposal, but after that… It was easy.

Should he stay with Crime Sorciere, and have her join him? Or did she want to stay with Fairy Tail, and have him finally settle down in a more stable life? He didn't care if the latter was what she wanted. He knew they were her family, and if she wasn't ready to leave them to be with just him and Crime Sorciere, then he understood. Just we long as they were together.

"Mmm, Erik…"

He loved the sight of her chest heaving as his fingers dipped beneath her panties, how her eyes darkened while he slid them down her legs. The love he had for her was something he'd never thought he would experience. The fact that she loved him so fiercely in return made him ache for her more and more every time they were separated.

"I love you," he whispered against her kiss-swollen lips. She didn't say it back, and instead just smiled at him while her fingers sifted through his hair. He knew she loved him, though. Every time they were reunited after being separated for months, she would come rushing into his arms with the brightest smile he'd ever been gifted with.

This time was no different, but she'd been unusually quiet. More like her behavior when they had first decided to become a couple.

His clothes were already long gone, having been discarded in favor of pulling his radiant girlfriend - and hopefully, fiancée - to the bed and treating every inch of her pale flesh to the most lavish worship he could manage. And now that he'd kissed her from head to toe and back again, Cobra wanted nothing more than to sink into her heat and let himself get lost for hours. Days, even.

It was as his fingers traced their way up her slender thighs, his lips seeking hers out once again as her body writhed wantingly beneath him, that something crashed into his head. A memory that he knew wasn't his own, that burned through his gut and had him drawing back with a frown.

"N-Natsu… Harder!" Her head tipped back and she threw out an arm to knock down the frame on her nightstand, holding an image of herself and Cobra while they sat in the forest. She couldn't look at his tender smile right then. He was gone, and she didn't know when he would be back for her. "Oh god, Natsu!"

"K-Kina?" Cobra whimpered, his eye widened at the flush on her cheeks and the suddenly spooked look she was giving him. "What…"

'No… He wasn't supposed to find out! Oh god… Lock it up, Kinana! Don't let him hear…'

He could hear her soul sectioning itself, just the way he'd taught her before when she needed to keep a secret from him - because she'd wanted to give him a surprise for once in his life that he enjoyed. This, though… He couldn't have heard it right. For the first time in his miserable life, Cobra found himself questioning his magic.

Still, as he hovered over the woman he loved, his natural need for knowledge forced his magic out. To delve further into her soul. It was a promise he'd made to himself, and to her, when they were finally reunited after seven years of separation, that he would never dig around in Kinana's soul like this. But he couldn't stop himself, and he found, as more memories surfaced, he didn't want to.

*.*

Fiery lips nearly burned her as they set on a searing path down the column of her throat. "N-Natsu… You're so warm…" Erik never kissed her like this, making her toes curl and her head fall into a haze.

*.*

She let out a slow, lonely breath while watching his maroon hair disappear down the worn trail leading away from her little cabin. He would be gone for three months. He left her so often, only stealing short moments when he had the time. Turning back to the door, Kinana found herself smiling when she saw a head of salmon hair bobbing in the tree line, coming from the opposite direction. Natsu was on his way to the lake to catch some fish for their dinner. He would wait to come over until Erik was miles away, unable to hear them.

*.*

"Kinana, you should just tell him that you're not happy," Natsu frowned as they laid panting in his hammock.

"It would kill him, Natsu," she sighed. "Erik… He needs me."

"Are you sure about that? All you ever say about him is how he keeps trying to relive the past, and how he's probably just using you while he's in town."

"He says he loves me."

"But you don't love him."

Slowly, she shook her head, resting it on his overly warm chest. "No… I just… I don't want to hurt him."

"Well, he'll hear it eventually. Cobra's always digging in people's souls."

A sad smile touched her lips. "He swore he wouldn't do that to me," she whispered. "Erik trusts me."

"And you're here with me instead…"

"You're one to talk. Isn't Lucy waiting for you to show up at her apartment?"

He chuckled and wrapped his arm more tightly around her. "Luce knows I just come and go whenever. Things are... different... with us."

She sighed then, rolling so she was straddling the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Enough about him," she rasped. "We still need to eat lunch." She only had a few hours before he would be in Magnolia again, and she didn't want to waste it with guilt.

*.*

"Cu, I'm home!"

She smiled while scrubbing Natsu's scent from her skin, the steaming water not even bothering her since she'd just been with her fiery lover. "In the shower! You're early!"

Cobra chuckled as he made his way into the bathroom. The soft shuffle of clothing could barely be heard over the streaming water, then he was stepping in behind her. His arms wound around her waist, pressing his naked chest to her back. "I missed you so much, Cu."

She giggled and turned in his arms. "I missed you too, Erik. I always do."

His nose wrinkled as she leaned up for a kiss. "You reek of Salamander." She frowned, fear trickling down her spine, but after only a moment, he rolled his eye and pulled the loofah from her hand to help clean her. "Did his dumbass trample you in the guild again?"

Kinana bit her lip, burying her nose against his neck. "You could say that," she whispered. Cobra didn't need to know that Natsu had dragged her to the women's locker room and fucked her in a shower stall.

"I should beat his ass," Cobra growled. "Touching my woman…"

"I hate it when you talk like that," she frowned.

Instantly, Cobra paused, his eye widened only slightly while looking down at her. "You know I don't mean it that way…"

"Don't call me 'your woman'," Kinana sighed.

"Hey," he whispered. "I'm sorry, alright? You're my girlfriend. Beautiful and perfect and so fucking sweet. I… I love you, Kina. I just… I miss you so much when I'm gone. I feel like you hate me for it, and… I just want you to know, I hate leaving as much as you do… I'm sorry…"

She sighed and pulled his head to her shoulder while his arms wrapped around her more tightly. "It's okay, Erik. You're home now." She would just have to find some way to let him down easily. Hopefully, without him finding out about Natsu.

*.*

Cobra scrambled off of the purple-haired woman faster than he'd ever moved in his life. His heart pounded painfully in his chest and acid burned at the back of his throat. "Y-You… No."

"Erik," she whispered, sitting up and pulling the blanket to her chest. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" he asked softly. "You're fucking sorry?! You… Kina… What the hell did you do?!"

She leaned forward, trying to reach out to him, then drew back when he snarled and smacked her hand away. "Erik, I can explain!"

"I don't need your shitty explanation!" he roared, moving to his clothes and pulling everything on with trembling hands. "I fucking trusted you! You… Y-You can't fucking lie to me!"

"Erik-"

"No! Not to you!" His single eye glinted dangerously as he turned to face her again. "I was a fucking idiot for trusting you," he spat. "You want him, then… Fine. Fucking have him! I never did it for you anyway, right?"

"Please," she said desperately, her voice catching on a sob at the sight of tears welling in his eye. "It just happened, okay? And then, you were gone for so long all the time, and… I never felt like you cared about me!"

"Bullshit!" he bellowed. "I did everything for you! I would have given you the fucking world on a goddamn platter! And if all you'd fucking wanted was to live in this cabin and have a fucking f-family… Live like we didn't have magic… I-I would have!"

"But, I don't have magic!"

"I know that! I would have given up using my magic in a fucking heartbeat if you wanted!"

"And… do you know that I'm not a snake anymore? We can't go back to that, Erik. You always call me... that... And you know I hate it."

He growled and clenched his fists, fury lurking just beneath his skin. He wasn't sure which was making him shake more, the anger that she would accuse him of wanting her to be cursed as a fucking snake, or the pain from what he'd learned. "I loved you, no matter what you looked like," he hissed. "But that's not what this is about…"

She shied away from the Poison Slayer when he stalked over to her, clenching her eyes shut as he reached into his pocket. A terrified whimper crept up her throat when she felt his strong hand wrapping around her chin, how much he was shaking, as he turned her to face him again.

"Take a look," he sneered, his hand tightening around the ring box when her jade eyes snapped open. "You tamed me, Kinana. Had me so over the fucking moon that I didn't suspect a f-fucking thing."

"E-Erik, you weren't…" Her head swam at the sight of the simple silver band with a small diamond nestled in the black velvet box. "No…"

"Oh, I fucking was," he hissed, snapping the box closed and shoving it back into his pocket. "I've spent my whole goddamn life just w-waiting to hear your voice, and now… Two fucking years… A-And…"

She sucked in a sharp breath as the tears in his eye finally spilled over. The fire was still burning brilliantly in his gaze, but the way he was shaking, how his full lips trembled... 'I never wanted to hurt him like this.'

"T-Too fucking late for that!"

"Erik, don't go!" she called out as he turned and stormed over to her bedroom door. "Let's just talk-"

"Fuck you, you goddamn slut!" he shouted back. "You're dead to m-me!"

He ran out of the cabin, barely remembering to grab his jacket, boots and lacrima. He knew that Jellal would call when it was time for everyone to meet up and head out again, but this time… Cobra hadn't planned on answering the call. He'd been ready to give everything up to be with Kinana.

The only time in his life that Cobra had placed unconditional trust in someone, had been when he was still in the Tower. He'd never questioned the trust he had for Cubellios, and in turn, Kinana. They had always been one and the same to him.

But as he ran through the woods, unsure of where to go, Cobra found himself looking back on the time he'd spent with Kinana. He questioned whether or not she was really the woman that was once his only friend.

'Did I just try to force us to work… because she was Cubellios?'

She didn't even remember him. Kinana didn't recall a single thing about their history together, and every time he tried to jog her memory a little bit, she would get upset. At first, he thought it was giving her headaches, and he'd tried to be understanding, but then she would just get angry over it.

Kinana would tell him to stop living in the past, that she just wanted to move forward from where they were. And he'd been stupid enough to think she was talking about his own sins. Every mistake he'd made up until that point.

This was what he got for letting himself fall for someone, though. He wasn't meant to be accepted. Never meant to be loved.

'She was only ever with me out of convenience. Even as a snake… I protected her, so she…'

Cobra snarled as he found himself standing on the roof of a building. He clutched tightly at his hair, sinking to his knees and ignoring the late December chill in the air.

He was just a tool for her. For everyone.

And the worst part of it all was that the joke was on him. He should have heard something, anything, from her. From Natsu. His magic had failed him when he'd needed it the most, to keep his heart protected the one time he decided to try giving it to another.

"Wh-Why am I n-not good enough…"

He wanted to be angry at Natsu, but hearing her memories, seeing the way the Fire Slayer looked at her when they were together, and hearing the bastard telling her to just come clean about it all… For some reason he couldn't be angry. Not at Natsu.

For once, the bastard was in the clear. Because, when he'd gotten to the root of what she had done, Cobra had heard the truth of it all.

She had pursued Natsu, not the other way around. She had told him that she was lonely, and lied while saying she and Cobra had an open relationship. Kinana wasn't the woman he'd thought she was, and the Poison Slayer was left clueless about what to do next.

Normally, it would have been simple. He could just kill her. But his fucking heart, the crusty little bastard, had gotten involved well before he even knew what love was, when he was just a child.

And maybe it was some weird Oedipus shit, but Cubellios had been just as much a parent as she'd been his friend. But now he knew the truth. Cubellios was dead. There was no bringing back the friend he'd once had. No way to reconnect on that deeper level they'd shared for most of his life.

His head lifted and he turned sharply as a thick blanket was laid over his shoulders. "What…" His words died in his throat at the sight of Fairy Tail's blonde Celestial mage, wearing a thick, fuzzy pink bathrobe with matching slippers.

With a tender smile, Lucy knelt down next to him and held out one of the mugs of hot cocoa she'd brought up to the roof with her. "Here," she whispered. "You look like you could use this."

Quaking, deeply tanned hands curved around the mug, making Cobra realize just how fucking cold it actually was outside. "H-How did you…"

"Well," she sighed, taking a small sip of her own cocoa and closing her eyes as a mostly melted marshmallow floated between her lips. "I've got this horrible habit of keeping my window open, even when it's this cold out… So… I might have heard… a familiar voice."

He sniffled and roughly swiped the tears from his cheek. The fact that she didn't say she heard him bawling like a fucking baby was both a relief and just embarrassing. Painfully so. "Well, I-I'm good, so…"

Lucy shook her head when he tried to hand the mug back to her. "Nah, you'll have to drink that. I put a little rat poison in it."

He blinked and frowned down at the mug, then looked at hers. They were completely identical, even down to the marshmallows. "Why?"

"Because marshmallows in cocoa is a requirement," Lucy giggled.

"The poison…"

"Because you're a Poison Slayer," she smiled. They sat in silence for several minutes, with Lucy adjusting to get a little more comfortable and reaching up to wrap the blanket a little more securely around Cobra's still shaking shoulders. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently. "I'm a good listener."

Cobra hadn't interacted with the blonde all that much when he and the others visited Magnolia. Usually, he spent time at the bar, watching Kinana work, then made his way to her house so he could get as much quality time with her as possible.

He didn't know Lucy all that well, but he could hear that she was sincere in wanting to know what had happened and that she was worried about him.

Why, he wasn't sure, but Cobra also didn't know if he wanted to tell her.

'But, she's with Natsu… She deserves to know what he's doing behind her fucking back…'

"Kinana and Natsu are fucking," he finally replied, ignoring the tremor in his pained voice. "They've been doing that shit for months…"

Lucy nodded and let out a heavy sigh. "You… just found out then."

He turned to glare at her, his lip curling in anger and his tongue poised to rip into her. But then he heard her soul, just the smallest whisper of a thought that had him pausing with a frown.

'I figured Natsu was seeing someone else. We just never clicked… I should be upset with him for cheating on me, but… Why would she do that to Cobra? I thought she loved him…'

When he dug a little deeper, he came to realize that Lucy was only with Natsu because of Mira. The little demon matchmaker had hounded the two until they finally decided to just date one another so that she would leave them the hell alone about becoming an item.

Lucy and Natsu didn't kiss. They'd tried it a handful of times, but it was just weird. She wasn't attracted to the Fire Slayer in the slightest. Oddly enough, Lucy had never been attracted to anyone, and her first and only relationship was a complete sham. She didn't even seem to care one bit about Natsu being with Kinana, aside from the fact that Cobra was hurting over it. What upset her was that Natsu and Kinana had lied instead of just coming clean and having the barmaid break it off with the Poison Slayer.

Finally, Cobra nodded. "Yeah. I heard her thinking about him… And…" He sighed and took a sip of the cocoa, his eye sliding closed as it tried in vain to warm his frozen innards. He was too far gone though. There was just nothing left for him anymore. "You said you put rat poison in this?" It was the perfect amount, too. Just enough that he could taste it, but not so much that it overpowered the cocoa and marshmallows.

Lucy smiled when he glanced at her, taking another sip from his mug. "Yeah. I couldn't bring myself to put bleach in it. And Natsu put the rat poison next to my hot cocoa mix anyway, so…"

"He's a fucking moron," he growled. "How have you not fucking died yet?"

A sly grin pulled at her lips. "I'm the luckiest son of a bitch ever, apparently. Or unluckiest… depending on the day… and your definition of lucky."

Conversation dwindled into utter silence as they sipped at their drinks and looked out across Magnolia, the starlit sky blanketing the city in a gentle darkness.

Lucy didn't mind that he wasn't talking to her. Cobra never really seemed like one for opening up, but she just wanted him to know that there was someone he could talk to about whatever was on his mind. Even if they were completely silent, she would sit by him and give him a little extra support.

It was nearly sunrise by the time either mage spoke again. Lucy had left the comfort of her warm apartment at nearly midnight, having been more than ready to go to sleep, but when she'd heard Cobra sobbing on the roof, there hadn't been anything she could do to stop herself from going to him.

But he was silent the whole while, simply staring out across the darkened city and up at the stars. And really, Lucy didn't mind it all that much. It was the first time in a long while that she'd been up to look at the stars, mainly because she did rather like having someone with her while she was doing it. The last person that had sat with her like this was her mother, and that… Well, it was bittersweet, to say the least.

Just as the sky began to lighten, announcing the rising of the sun, she smiled. "Do you know about mythology, Cobra?" she whispered.

He shook his head just enough for her to catch it. "Never cared."

Her eyes caught on the first rays of light that streaked over the distant horizon. "There are legends," she whispered, "Of gods and goddesses that control the earth with live on. The air we breathe. They bring wars and peace, turn the tides of battle. Exact vengeance and breathe new life into our world, and everything in between."

He slowly turned his head to look at the blonde. He thought that he'd made it clear he didn't give a shit. Why the hell would she start talking about mythology all of a sudden? She hadn't needed to stay up there with him. Hell, he could hear how tired she was. He could see it in the bags under her eyes and the way her eyelids closed ever-so-slowly on each blink.

And there, on her lips, was the most serene smile he'd ever witnessed. Her soul was letting out only the simplest, most soothing waves of comfort, that he couldn't bring himself to say anything as she spoke again.

"One legend," she continued, not realizing that he was watching her, "Is of a beautiful goddess, named Aurora. Her brother, Sol, and sister, Luna, command the skies during the day and at night, but for a short while, Aurora flies across the sky and brings the dawn with her."

"Uh-huh." His eye cut down to the faint touch of her fingertips over the back of his hand, watching as her guildmark-covered hand slid slowly over his. How her pale skin starkly contrasted his own tan. She was refusing to look at him right then, but the fact that Lucy was still trying to comfort him - and that he knew that the blonde was seriously showing some restraint, since she was a hugger like no other - made Cobra oddly alright with the contact.

"Aurora is a symbol of renewal," she whispered with a soft sigh. "She signifies change, and gives all of us a reminder that… No matter how dark the night may be, there will always be someone there to return the light to our lives. The sun will always shine down on us again."

He frowned as he looked at the rising sun. He sure as hell didn't feel like the sun would ever shine down in his life again. Sure, the thing would rise and fall every damn day - apocalypse, notwithstanding - but Kinana was that single bright part of his life, and now she was gone.

Lucy let out a quiet laugh while shaking her head helplessly. "It's probably silly to you, though," she mused. "Stupid stories from some long lost world."

Really, she wasn't sure what she was expecting when deciding to come up and try to comfort him. She didn't know if Cobra even really wanted her there, and he was more than likely just hoping she would go home already. She wasn't sure what kind of person Cobra really was, since she'd hardly spoken two words to him after Crime Sorciere started coming to Magnolia to visit.

He'd always been so wrapped up in Kinana, and she didn't fault him for it after it came out that the purple-haired barmaid had once been his snake, Cubellios. He was looking for the connection he'd once had with her, and Lucy had been more than happy for the two when she'd heard they were an item.

But, he was hurting now and the blonde just wished she knew what to do to help him.

Cobra felt her fingers sliding away, and his hand instinctively flipped to press their palms together. For a breathless moment, they sat in silence, neither daring to move a muscle.

'What's he doing?'

Slowly, his fingers threaded between hers, curling around the thin digits that were more calloused than he would have imagined. He didn't look away from the horizon, even as Lucy mimicked his actions and gently held his hand.

Something as simple as this, he'd never done with Kinana. For hours, he'd been running through every aspect of their relationship, any and every mistake he'd made during the two years that his heart had truly belonged to her.

He came to the startling realization at some point that, while he'd showed her that he was physically attracted to her, and he told her how much he cared about her… While he'd done everything he could think of to show her that he loved her… It hadn't been enough.

He was too detached more often than not. No matter how much he would hold and kiss the green-eyed beauty while they were alone, he rarely let her touch him in public.

He was too guilty. Not just from the crimes he'd committed, but from the knowledge that he'd left her behind to fend for herself and she spent years not knowing who she was or where she'd been.

While Cobra hadn't really been able to help the whole getting arrested thing, he'd still left her behind. And when they finally reunited, they were both different.

It was obvious by that point that she wasn't his dearest friend any longer, but he had changed too. The time that he'd been without Cubellios, where he and the other member of the Neo-Oracion Seis had decided to throw the world into chaos… That had been the darkest time in his life. It had ruined him, that much he was sure of.

And even if she had remembered him, Cobra wasn't the same man that Cubellios had once known. Too much had gone wrong in his life, and he knew it was selfish to hope that she would have been willing to fix him. He wasn't heartless, but he didn't know how to love someone properly, it seemed. He had wanted to give her the world, anything she would have asked him for, but somehow, he'd still failed her.

'I've always been a failure,' he thought hopelessly.

Lucy frowned when she heard a quiet sniffle from the Poison Slayer at her side, then bit her lip while turning to look at him. Her gaze instantly honed in on the velvet box she hadn't noticed him holding before. The little bit of light that glinted off a simple, but no less beautiful, engagement ring. "Cobra…"

"Give it to me straight, alright?" he whispered.

"Sure."

"I deserved it… D-Didn't I…"

"What?"

His hand shook slightly, but he wasn't sure if it was from the cold or from the dull throbs of pain in his soul, as he pulled the ring from the box. "I-I was never good enough for her… I-"

She turned to face him, placing her free hand over his where he held the ring while she crossed her legs to get more comfortable. His tear-filled indigo eye shot up to meet with hers. "Cobra, that's just not true," she whispered in earnest.

"It is though," he whimpered. Did he care right then that he was on the verge of bawling like a fucking baby all over again? A little bit, but not enough to try and stop. Or to put some distance between himself and Lucy. "I-I failed her… It's all I ever do…"

She brushed a thumb over his cheek to rid his slightly flushed skin of tears, a gentle smile on her lips when his eye widened. "I can't say I know why she did what she did, but… You're a good person. I know you are."

"What makes you say that?" he sniffled.

Her grip on his hand tightened only marginally. "Because no man that wanders around and collapses on a rooftop in tears, holding onto an engagement ring could be a bad guy," she whispered back.

"Then sh-she just didn't want a fucking monster like me…"

Lucy rolled her eyes and let out a quiet laugh, shaking her head. "If you were the monster people think you are, you wouldn't be here."

'He would be out slaughtering whole nations just because he could. Natsu would have been found dead. Or maybe just dismembered. Poisoned. Who knows… There are just so many options…'

The fact that he chuckled quietly brought a wider smile to her lips.

Biting his lip, Cobra carefully turned to face the blonde, crossing his legs and resting his knees against hers. Lucy pulled the blanket a little more tightly around him before it could slip, and he looked down to watch as she pulled the ring from between his fingers and placed it back in the box. "What should I do with it?"

"I would say set it on fire, but…" She shrugged then. "Sell it to Gajeel? He'll take the diamond out then eat the ring, but still."

"I guess I'll just give it to Jellal," he whispered. "He'll know what to do with it…"

"Does he even know you were planning on proposing?"

Cobra shook his head. "No one did…"

"Why didn't you tell someone?" she asked curiously.

He shrugged then. "No one cared to know, I guess." They were silent for several moments, the sun climbing just a little higher in the sky and failing to warm the two mages all that much. Cobra was pulled from his roiling thoughts when he felt Lucy's fingers brushing over his hand again where they were clasped. "I…"

She returned her eyes to his face instead of studying his strong, calloused hands.

"I really like it when you tell stories," Cobra whispered.

Lucy laughed quietly as she squeezed his hands. "I've got tons of them."

"Maybe you'll tell me more sometime?" he smirked.

Her eyes widened slightly, her cheeks flushing. Without thinking, she nodded. "Only if you'll tell me a story or two in return," she shot back.

Cobra blinked in surprise. "You'd… want me to…"

Kinana always told him that, even though they had history, she only wanted to move forward and build their relationship from scratch. She didn't want to hear about the past, even though it was such a big part of why he was the way he was. Why he struggled with pushing out the souls around him from time to time. Why he clung to her at night when they were together. Why he still called her Cubellios sometimes.

Their past was important, to him. But Kinana hadn't wanted to know about it. She told Cobra to stop living in the past, to leave it where it belonged.

And, even though he'd tried telling her one night that he just wanted someone to listen to what he had to say… She'd rolled over and gone to sleep. He had chalked it up to her having quite literally started her period as soon as they had gotten out of the shower.

"Tell me all the stories you know," Lucy laughed. "Anything. Everything."

"What about?"

"Well…" Her blush deepened slightly as she continued looking into his curiously gleaming eye. "Your story is a start. You probably already know mine, hearing my soul and all that…"

"Pretty much," he nodded. All he got in return was a tender smile, full of hope. He looked down and finally dropped the ring box to take hold of her other hand. When he heard the silence that took over her soul, and the way her heart stuttered for a moment, he couldn't help but shake his head. "You're a weird one, y'know that?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "I've heard that quite a bit since joining Fairy Tail."

Their heads turned as one to watch the sun fully cresting the horizon. The last thing Cobra had expected was to have spent an entire night sitting on a roof with Fairy Tail's Celestial mage.

"I'd say this tops my list of weirdness, though," Lucy whispered, turning to look at him again.

The way the golden rays of the sun made Cobra glow nearly knocked the wind out of her. She had never really taken the time to look at him before, but right then, with the bright blue sky above them, the soft golden glow hovering just above the horizon, and the clouds in the sky that were a tender shade of pink, highlighting the softer tones of his hair, she was coming to realize that he was, in fact, quite dashing.

And really, she had never thought that she would describe anyone as dashing. But the sun was making his darker skin look as though it was illuminated from within. She could see the small flecks of crimson in his only eye, dotting his iris and adding to what she suddenly realized was an exotic allure.

"I never thought I'd start the new year like this," Lucy finally whispered.

"Watching a sunrise with an ex-criminal?" he smirked. His head turned back toward the flushed blonde slowly as he listened to her silent appraisal of him.

She lifted their joined hands with a smirk of her own. "Watching the sunrise with a new friend," she corrected.

'He's in no place for me to even think about hitting on him. I never thought I'd want to hit on him to begin with.'

Cobra nearly let out a sigh of relief at the sudden thought from the blonde. He knew that just as well as she seemed to. He was in no way, shape, or form ready to think about anyone aside from Kinana. That woman had been his whole world. His reason for waking up every morning, for falling asleep at night with hopes for the next day.

'Besides, I want to know who Cobra really is. I know the things he's done, but I don't care about that. He's different now than before. And… He seems like he just really needs a friend right now…'

He blinked away the sudden burning tears in his eye, lowering his head only slightly and breaking away from her penetrating gaze. It was almost as though she was the one with the ability to hear souls. And fuck, did that freak him out a little.

When he thought about it, Lucy was someone that he never would have considered spending any time with anyway. But here she was, wanting to get to know him. She had been the target of a few attacks at his former guild's hands, and she wasn't focusing on that, but instead on all the things that she wanted to know.

And then there was the fact that he could easily see why anyone would want to be with her, whether it was platonic or romantic. He would have had to be a complete idiot not to notice how fucking nice she was. Or the fact that she was actually really fucking pretty with the sun shining down on her. It made him realize that Natsu was obviously a fucking idiot, to some extent. Then again, Cobra had only had eyes for Kinana - much like the Fire Slayer, apparently - so he was only just realizing what sort of treasure the blonde Fairy before him was.

He could see someone like Lucy being there for him, if he ever really allowed himself to open up again. 'But, she's right. It's too soon to think about that…' His heart had been shattered only hours before. He couldn't even think about trying to move on from the pain that Kinana had put him through.

"Hey, Mister Grumpy Gills," Lucy teased gently, her lips pursing into an exaggerated pout.

Cobra chuckled and lightly shoved her hands, keeping a hold of them as the blonde started to lose her balance. Luckily, she didn't fall backward, and he didn't topple over. Her hands gripped his and a bright peal of laughter split the sleepy dawn air while she struggled to stay sitting.

Once Lucy was in the proper position once again, she gave him a devious grin and tightened her grip on his hands.

"What the hell are you thinking?" he asked, cautiously eyeing the blonde.

With her head tilting from one side to the other, Lucy moved their hands in slow, alternating circles, almost as though they were dancing. "Just being a weirdo," she shrugged. "And dancing with you."

"I don't dance," he frowned. Cobra did nothing to stop her from continuing whatever the hell she was doing to the beat of some fucked up little tinkering music box song in her head.

"You do now," Lucy smirked. "See? Easy dancing. Pretty soon, I'll have you shaking your ass up on a stage."

"Only if I'm getting some bills in my fucking g-string," he chuckled.

"Well, of course," she scoffed. "One does not simply dance on a stage for free."

'How the hell was she single before fucking Natsu came along?' He knew the answer to that one though. The blonde before him had never been attracted to anyone. It really did help to explain why she was a good friend for pretty much everyone she met though, since she wasn't concerned with anything but their friendship.

Lucy's smile softened when the smells coming from the bakery down the street wafted up through the air. "I love sunrises…"

Cobra chuckled at that. "Macbeth hates this time of day. It sucks all of his energy out."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "There was this one time…"

Lucy couldn't help but lean forward just a little bit as Cobra started really getting into the story of the time he and Sorano had superglued Macbeth's lips shut while he slept, because he'd passed out right at sunrise when they had woken up and wouldn't stop snoring.

And when one story led into another, Lucy found herself smiling as much as Cobra was. She knew from experience that all someone really needed was a shoulder to lean on, or someone to just listen to them when life decided to kick them in the teeth. And that, well that was something she would gladly do for the Poison Dragon Slayer. The way she saw it, he hadn't just lost his girlfriend, or the woman that he'd wanted to marry. He had lost his best friend.

She had no illusions of instantly becoming anything remotely close to that for Cobra, but she could still contentedly sit there on the roof of her apartment building with him. Holding his hands and making them dance, just because she could. She could laugh while he began guiding her hands and taking the lead, and give him a reason to smile at least for a little bit.

And even though she was sure that he didn't consider them friends as of yet, Lucy had a strong feeling they would be with time. Maybe there would be something more between them, but that wasn't her concern.

All she cared about was listening to Cobra's story.

What she didn't realize was just how much it meant to the Poison Dragon Slayer to finally have a person that cared about that in the first place.

.The End.

Thank you all so much for reading Day 8, and the other seven days for this week! It really was a great CoLu Week this year, and I can't tell you how much I've appreciated the reviews from you guys, and reading the entries you've written for these prompts!

I can tell you that it was surprisingly difficult to make Cobra and Lucy not kiss in this one, because I just wanted them to be all super fluffy and cuddly. But, I like how it turned out. Especially since this is the first time that I've written an asexual character. Yes, I made Lucy asexual. Lots of thanks to Dragonshost for supporting the idea (I love you, dude). I think I'll have to write something more with asexuality, because seriously... It's something I don't entirely understand, and I'd love to learn more. And the only way for me to really learn more about it is to force myself into that mindset while writing.

Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this week. I know that I sure did!

CoLu Week 2016 is officially complete!

So, Review, Follow, Favorite! I love you, guys!

~~GemNika