After a while of Porlyusica nagging me about how I needed food and rest, she cleared me to leave the infirmary on the promise that I would go home and rest. Lucy was nice enough to walk me to her apartment for a much-needed bath and nap.

"I'll get you a towel and some clean clothes," Lucy offered.

"That'd be great," I said, stepping into the bathroom. I turned on the faucet and took off my clothes. Once I was submerged in the hot water, I thought I would just melt with how relaxing it was. I stayed in the tub for about a half hour before climbing out and drying off. Lucy had left a stack of clothes on the sink for me. It was just a pair of pink shorts and a solid grey tank top.

Once I had them on, I stepped into the apartment. Lucy was sitting at the desk writing something. I stepped behind her, peering over her shoulder to get a better look. "What are you writing,"

"A letter,"

"To who?"

"You'll think it's silly, but it's to my mom,"

"Grandma Layla? I thought she died a long time ago,"

"She did. I still like to write letters to her though. In a way, it's like keeping her memory alive through these letters. Anyway," she swiveled around in her chair to face me. "How was your bath?"

"Amaazing!" I sighed dramatically, which made Lucy laugh a little. The two of us talked for a while about some pretty random things. We had a few good laughs and overall just enjoyed our time together. Before I realized it, I was getting pretty tired. Eventually Lucy offered her bed for me to sleep in, I gladly accepted and dozed off within minutes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Crash!

My eyes shot open and I threw the blankets off in a haste. My vision was blurry at first but soon focused on a figure in a black cloak with a blue hood. "You again," I yelled. I lunged at the guy, fists aglow with magic. I swung at him left after right, over and over again but he dodged every single one of them.

He swung a leg at me, nailing me right in the ribs and knocking me into a wall. How much force was behind that kick? It seemed impossible. I groaned and struggled to try to get up, still exhausted from the last fight. I yelped as he grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me up. I wanted to fight back but the exhaustion I was feeling made it hard to move.

"Don't make this difficult and just give up," My attacker said in a gruff voice.

"Lucy Kick!!" Out of nowhere, Lucy managed to land a solid kick to the guy's face. I swear that I saw blood fly out of the guy's mouth. While the attacker was distracted, Lucy grabbed my arm and draped it over her shoulders. She dragged/walked me to the door and just as she opened it, the bad guy got up.

"Tch. Open, gate of the sea goat: Capricorn" there was a bright light and the ring of a bell as the goat spirit appeared. He wore sunglasses and a butler's suit, but he pummeled our attacker with absolute vigor.

Lucy and I managed to make it out of the apartment and onto the streets when the bad guy literally jumped out of the window in pursuit of us. He ran after us as if he hadn't just jumped out of a two-story building. He was almost on top of us when a column of fire went barreling towards him.

"Natsu!" Lucy called out. He and Happy were flying overhead, Happy dropped Natsu on top of the guy chasing us.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist," His fist collided with the assailants head, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

"Are you guys okay?" Happy floated down to us.

"We're okay," Lucy assured. "You two sure do have perfect timing,"

"What happened?" Natsu questioned anxiously. "We were on our way to your place when we saw you running away from this creep," Natsu explained. "Who is this guy anyway?"

"I think it's the guy who attacked me yesterday," I observed. I unhooked my arm off of Lucy's shoulder and walked toward the unconscious man. Natsu and Lucy tensed up, wary of the fact that I was so close to the one who attacked me.

"But who is he?" Happy questioned.

"I don't know,"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next day, the guy was arrested for home invasion and assault. They looked into the guy's identity, but found nothing. Anyway, now that he was behind bars everyone started to relax. Well... Everyone except for Natsu.

He insisted that the two of us girls stay at his place from now on. Strategically it was a smart call. Natsu's house is on the edge of Magnolia and it can be hard to find unless you know where to look. Not to mention the fact that it meant Natsu could keep an eye on all of us. However, Lucy and I were not too fond of it at all. After much debate and complaining though we agreed to stay at Natsu's.

Weeks went by and everything went on as normal. It was annoying when Natsu and Lucy babied me so often though. Since I was still under doctor's orders, Natsu and Lucy made sure that I was always eating enough and getting plenty of rest. It had become very annoying.

On the other hand, I could feel myself getting so much better. I had lots more energy with all the food and rest I had been getting. My magic power was also steadily getting stronger and stronger, which made me really excited.

Right now I was sitting on the couch eating breakfast while Natsu and Lucy were getting ready to leave. 

"Hey Nashi, we're going on a job," Natsu declared.

"Ohrkay, harve furn," I said with a mouthful of cereal.

"You're coming too,"

My eyes lit up like they had stars in them. The spoon in my hand slipped back into the bowl and I practically choked on the cereal in my mouth. "I get to go on a joooobbbb!" I squealed.

"Yeah your mom and I figured it was high time you got outta the house, plus the job sounds easy enough."

"Alright!" I shouted, jumping off the couch and pumping my fist.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"When you said the job would be cool, I DIDN'T THINK YOU MEANT THE FROZEN MOUNTAIN KIND OF COOL!!" I shouted over the roaring winds of Mount Hakobe.

"I'm sorry, but it was the best job offer on the board," Lucy explained. She was wearing a long pink coat and boots which looked a lot warmer than my fur lined black cloak. She had also let me borrow a pair of wool leggings and long sleeves to wear under my shorts and halter top.

"So can we keep moving now?"

"Once those two stop fighting," She sighed. I turned around to see Natsu and Happy in a fight to the death, snowball edition.

"Right," I moaned. Just then two snowballs came hurdling into mine and Lucy's faces. The cold snow was like a slap to the face that made my soul want to leave my body. I shrieked and wiped the snow out of my face.

"Cut it out," Lucy barked making Natsu and Happy pause. "We're on a job ya idiots,"

"What's with you?" Natsu questioned.

"You really shouldn't shout on a snowy mountain Lucy, you might cause an ava-" Happy's words were cut short by the sound of thunder. Only it wasn't thunder. We didn't have much time before a huge wall of snow came barreling in our direction. We all yelled as the snow engulfed us in it's icy grasp. 

"Cold cold cold cold cold cold cold cold cold!!" I shrieked, leaping out of the talons of mountain snow like a rabbit with it's butt on fire. Luckily the avalanche wasn't that bad and we weren't sent cascading all the way down the mountainside.

"Since I have your attention, let's set some things straight." Lucy lectured to Happy and Natsu. They were stuck tight in the snow and practically begging Lucy to help them out. "We're here to work!"

"Keeping this uppity cat in check is work Lucy,"

"She's got us between the snow and a cold place Natsu,"

"You bet your frozen butts I do, now you two make peace so we can get that ice from Mount Hakobe," Lucy demanded.

"Well looks like you bought yourself some more time Happy," Natsu grinned mischievously.

"I'll just have to strip you of your pride later,"

"DO YOU WANT OUT OF THERE OR NOT?" Lucy growled.

"yes ma'am,"