Time Changes Everything

You've Gotta Be Okay

   The entire guild was on edge. Not even a day after Lucy had come back from her mission she was already gone. Mira hadn't signed her out for another one and no one could find her at home. Laxus and his team scoured the city in hopes of finding her, with no luck. Cobra had been on edge since she had gone home alone after she left a few days prior. He had heard what she planned on doing and knew if there was anyone to run into trouble where there shouldn't be any, it would be her. 

   Keeping away from her was growing difficult and Cobra couldn't understand why he was even trying anymore. Maybe it was because he wanted her to break first and seek him out before he had to. Maybe it was because something in him was still scared to be connected to someone on that level. He wasn't entirely sure, all he was sure of was the pain in his chest was steadily growing and he was finding it difficult to go to the guild. That woman wouldn't leave him alone. 

   Her obnoxious voice was grating on his nerves and he didn't know how much longer he could stand putting up with her before he snapped and did something he most likely wouldn't regret. You sleep with someone once and they grow attached like mold on decaying organisms. Maybe that was a bad euphemism, Cobra didn't know anymore. He didn't really know anything anymore, he was just there. It was like his mind was no longer tethered to his body as he went about his daily chores. Heading to the guild only to be swarmed by that harpy. Dealing with her for a few hours before he pulled himself away and left the guild to wander around aimlessly before heading back home and going to bed, if he was lucky. 

   There were times when sleep wouldn't come and he was forced to stay up all night, his thoughts torturing him with all the possibilities of what Lucy could be going through right now. He wondered if she was looking up at the stars as he was right now, thinking about him. Probably not, he had broken her trust completely. Being away from her for so long really left him in a bad place. He couldn't eat, he didn't sleep, he never left his house. It took Laxus and Gajeel to both storm his place and haul him from bed and to the guild before he combusted. They took him out to bars to level him out and get him to relax and that was where he met her. 

   They slept once and he found himself with a groupie. He had told her that if they had sex it was strictly for the sex, Cobra wasn't looking for a relationship and she had agreed with it. He should've known that she wasn't going to abide by the rules and fuck everything over. He had tried to end whatever it was that was between them but she had simply shrugged it off and continued to stick around. Ditching her proved to be impossible as she seemingly knew where he was at all parts of the day. He was just glad that he didn't bring her back to his place when they had sex or else she would know where he lives too. His only safe haven was his house and if she found that too, he would be left with nothing. Maybe he should escape to Caellum. 

   The sound of frantic knocking at his door woke him from his slumber. Grumbling under his breath about how he needs more sleep and those two morons should leave him alone he walked up to his door and flung it open, ready to rip into those two dragon slayers for the millionth time. Instead of seeing two hulking males in front of him, a very badly beaten blonde was leaning heavily against his door frame. Blood was everywhere and her clothes were missing. 

   All he could do was stand in shock when Lucy smiled up at him weakly before her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground. Blinking back his shock, he easily lifted the starved blonde into his arms, ignoring the way her blood instantly soaked into his clothes. The liquid was still warm despite her wounds looking rather old, a day or so at least. There were so many things wrong with what he was seeing that he couldn't make out what was worse, the damage done to her or how labored and slow her breathing was getting. 

   He couldn't make it to the guild fast enough as more blood steadily dripped from every part on her body. She was getting cold quickly and with all the blood on her, slippery too. When the guild doors came into view he sped up, fueled on adrenaline as he slammed into the doors with his side, not stopping as he shouted for Wendy to follow him to the infirmary. The young dragon slayer did as told as soon as she saw just who was in his arms and was followed by Laxus, his team along with Gajeel and Levy. 

   Cobra placed Lucy down on one of the beds, grabbing some towels and dipping them in a bucket of water before he gently cleaned her skin. Starting with her stomach that seemed to be bleeding the worst, his throat dried when he had uncovered scabbed over whip marks that littered her skin. Shaking off the nausea he continued down to her legs, which were lacerated beyond belief. Knife wounds covered each of her legs, some of which dug in deep to her bone. Choking back on bile as the stench of rotting flesh hit his nose his gaze was averted from her legs to her face. 

   The deep gouge in her left eye had his heart stuttering. The skin of her eyelid had turned an alarming shade of purple which reeked of rot. The skin had started to decay, falling away and revealing the empty socket beneath. The large group behind him had stayed mostly silent, save for some cries that slipped past both Evergreen and Levy's mouth. Wendy was already hard at work, her magic flowing from her hands to the whip lashes that were still bleeding profusely. Cobra pulled her hands away from her stomach, motioning for her to take a look at her eye.

   Wendy blanched when she looked at the damage, tears building up at the corner of her eyes as she pulled out some tweezers to clear away the dead skin. Wendy felt sweat pour down her face as she attempted to heal any skin left that would be likely to get infected before she put a patch over her eye and laid a cold press down on it to stop any bleeding. Glancing up to the silent slayer across from her, she flinched when she met with the lifeless gaze. Cobra had taken a hold of one of her hands, cleaning the marks that wound around her wrists and bruised. His single eye wasn't seeing as he gazed down at the blonde that lie on the bed. Wendy shook herself out of her thoughts as she focused back down on the lashes on her stomach before she slid down to her legs.

   Wendy knew that the only major issue she would have to watch for was her eye. The damage that lay underneath the patch was severe and she didn't want it getting any worse than it already was. It was likely to heal but there was no way for her to see out of that eye again, the bluenette had seen her missing eye as she cleared away the flesh. Once she had finished healing everything she could she pulled out a needle and some thread, having to sew shut a few of the deeper marks on her legs and stomach. Focusing her attention back on her eye, she pulled the patch back up, wincing at the dark skin that stared back at her. 

   Picking up a cotton ball and dousing it in peroxide, Wendy dabbed at the decaying flesh, hoping that the antiseptic would help clear away the flesh as well as clean the wound. When the cotton ball reached Lucy's eye, the chemical fizzed and bubbled as it cleaned the dried blood and some of the flesh. The blonde on the table whimpered, shifting slightly away from the ball as Wendy dipped it to her flesh again. 

   Wendy's heart broke when she took notice of the blonde's pathetic state. The poor girl would likely have to go through physical therapy to gain back the strength in her legs and her missing eye would take some getting used to. She picked up on the sound of Laxus heavily questioning the still catatonic Cobra as he stood to the side of the blonde.

   "Where in the world did you find her? Why aren't you answering me Bleach Breath?" Laxus grabbed Cobra by the shoulders something Wendy instantly knew was a poor idea if the sudden clarity that shined in his single purple eye. 

   Cobra growled at the larger slayer, his single eye narrowing in on the suddenly pale blond. He snapped his jaws at the hulking blond, Laxus narrowly missing the sharp teeth that almost bit one of his fingers off. The male quickly dropped Cobra, watching with bated breath as he came to crouch down next to his sister. 

   "Hey Starshine, I'm not sure if you can hear me right now but I want you to know I've missed you. I've missed us and I swear when you pull through and get back up on your feet I'll make it up to you." Cobra took in a deep breath, watching as her single eye fluttered under her eyelid before it stilled again. "Please, you gotta be okay..." 

   Wendy silently finished patching up her eye, satisfied with her work before she pulled Laxus out of the room roughly glaring at the remaining visitors and making them leave too. She gave Cobra a single small smile before she softly shut the door leaving the man to himself in the too quiet room. The air was suffocating, but he wasn't about to leave her side right then, not when she was this worse for wear. He wondered just what happened to her and why her clothes were missing save for her underwear which looked torn up half to Hell. 

   "Please come back to me." Cobra whispered against her lips, placing a soft kiss on her chapped and cracked skin before he collapsed into the bed with her, tears slipping past his eye and onto her face.