It took us most of the day to reach the next town at the base of the far mountain. We were lucky enough to get on the last train that would carry us on the next leg of our journey.

"I'll take the top bunk," Wendy claimed as we got into our compartment.

Thankfully we had made enough money from the mission we just finished to be able to afford a bunk car.

"Sure thing, we won't arrive until tomorrow evening. I'm wiped after all our trekking today," I said, getting ready to lie down.

It didn't take long after we extinguished the lights that I heard Wendy's patterned breathing. I instantly felt jealous before I turned to look out at the stars. It was my decision for not taking Wendy up on her offer for the sleeping spell. I didn't really know why I was being so stubborn, plus I could use the sleep. I wanted to be ready for anything once we got to our mission.

Eventually I must have fallen into a fitful sleep. I was in a dream, standing in the guild where I could see all my friends. It brought a pang of emotion to my chest which reminded me just how much I missed everyone. I chuckled to see Gray was stripped down to just his pants and Juvia was staring at him with heart-shaped eyes. Thankfully Gray was still wearing his pants, even in my dreams I knew Juvia would yell at me for thinking about a stripped-down Gray. I shuddered at the thought of both. Next, I saw Levy huddled over a book. Jet and Droy were crowded around her like always, bringing back my smile. Gajeel was off to the side with Pantherlily, but only one table over from her. Did he always sit that close to Levy and look at her from a distance? It's weird to think I picked that up in my subconscious. I kept gazing around the guild and noticed most of everyone else. Erza was sitting at the counter with Cana and Lisanna, being tended to by Mira and Kinana. But where was… I heard an agonizing scream that made my body turn cold.

"NATSU?!" I shrieked, startling myself awake.

I sat up quickly, taking in my bearings. The scream I had heard seemed so real, but it's not like Natsu was actually here. Then I thought of Wendy.

I stood up and peered over the top of my bed to see that Wendy must have actually been the one to wake me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," she said timidly, but with a frightened look on her face.

"Don't mention it, did you have a nightmare?" I asked, now remembering that Wendy might have had another nightmare like the previous night.

"Well…" Wendy started, obviously embarrassed by something. "I've actually been having similar dreams every night for the past several nights now."

I gave her a sympathetic look. It's weird, that seems to be when my restlessness started too.

"Ever since the season changed," Wendy explained further.

"What do you mean?" I asked, having not really been paying attention to the days passing by in a sort of mission-based blur.

"Well, two weeks ago was the start of winter," she continued.

"Hmm, is that normal?" I asked, feeling at a complete loss.

"I don't really know, but I just continue to dream about the same thing," she went on as I noticed a light blush form across her cheeks despite the nighttime darkness.

"What have you been dreaming about?" I asked curiously.

"Erm—Romeo," she replied, tilting her head down so she was no longer meeting my eyes.

"You miss him right, that makes sense," I said, wanting to put Wendy at ease.

She looked up and gave me a sheepish grin.

"Yea, I do really miss him. Do you miss Natsu?" she asked delicately.

I sighed. Wendy had brought up her suspicions about me liking Natsu before, but it wasn't something I willfully contemplated. I was still too angry at always being the one in danger while he was always the one to swoop in and save me. I didn't want to be saved anymore, so I couldn't bother thinking about what Wendy told me seemed pretty obvious.

"I miss everyone," I said, shrugging off Wendy's insinuation.

"So, what made you scream?" I asked, remembering why I was awake.

It hadn't been Natsu's scream that I heard but Wendy's.

"Well, I dreamt that Romeo was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't hear him. So, I ran after him, trying to catch up to him but he always seemed out of reach. Then I got this horrible pain in my stomach that felt like someone had stabbed me. When I looked up Romeo was gone, but maybe I was already awake by that point," she explained.

I frowned at my friend.

"Does your stomach still hurt?" I asked, looking down to make sure she wasn't in fact injured.

"No, it went away once I woke up. It was just so strange though, it felt so real," she said with a glimmer of fear in her expression.

I couldn't blame her, that sounded horrible. Plus, I couldn't help but remember thinking Natsu's scream had seemed so real and had sent chills down into my core. But that had just been Wendy…

"Why don't we try and go back to sleep," I suggested, seeing that Wendy's eyes were already getting droopy.

"Yea, I'll see you in the morning," Wendy said before turning over onto her other side and easily falling back into slumber.

I crawled back into my own bed and pulled up the covers.

It felt like Natsu's cries of pain were still ringing through my ears as I grabbed my pillow and brought it to the side of my head. Of course, this wasn't going to block out the imaginary cries, but I didn't know how else to stop them. I thought more about what Wendy had said about the seasons changing, but that really shouldn't have any effect on me since I wasn't a dragon slayer. And that was assuming Wendy was correct in her assumption since she didn't seem so confident about it herself. All she wanted as she started to fall into a listless sleep was the comforts of her abandoned apartment. A nice hot back to sooth her tense muscles from all the nights they had slept outside and something to keep her warm when falling asleep…