Natsu sat there taking everything in. He had found the small clearing where he and Lucy fought that creature. There was still dried blood. He could smell Lucy's sweet scent still there on the ground.

He didn't realize Gray was there till he sat down beside him and sighed. "This is where it happened, huh?"

"What are you doing here, Stripper?" Natsu spoke lowly and deep.

"Why are you calling me a stripper at a time like this?"

Natsu gave a small laugh. "You shirt and pants are gone again."

Gray looked down and realized Natsu was right. "Well, crap. *sigh* Are you okay?"

"Humph," Natsu grumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"Patrolling the area. Juvia went with Levy to Laxus' house so Levy could assist Freed in putting up some protection runes. Juvia will come back to patrol with me after she drops Levy off. Erza's got the patrols set up like clockwork. And she wants us to go on a quest."

Natsu stood up, Gray following. "You can go on the quest. I'm going to stay and make sure Lucy is okay."

"Erza doesn't think that's a great idea."

"I don't give two craps what Erza thinks! I'm staying!"

"What if I told you that the quest involved a town that is being terrorized by draconians?"

Natsu stopped. He starred Gray down, debating this. Finally, he came to a conclusion. "I won't rest till I know that that villain is never able to come near Fairy Tail again."

"That's the spirit. I'm gonna head back to patrolling and see how Juvia is doing. I'll see you tomorrow."

Gray walked past Natsu and out of sight. Natsu now looked determined and ran to the guild for some of Mira's cooking. He was going to need all his strength replenished before tomorrow.

There was a knock at Laxus' door. Lucy perked up, startling Laxus at her sudden movement. Lucy flailed her legs trying to get up and managed to stand…. for only about 2 seconds, before her legs gave way again and she toppled into Laxus' arms. Laxus sat her on the couch and headed to his door, hearing a loud thump behind him. He sighed but didn't turn around. He opened the door and looked down on a nervous book worm and an agitated water mage.

"Tch. What are you two doing here?" Laxus asked

"Well, I'm here to, uh, um, work with Freed on the runes." Levy backed up a bit, nervous about the height difference and simple because it was Laxus.

Juvia looked around. "I'm just making sure she got here safe. And making sure Lucy is alright. But then I must get back to my Gray-sama!"

Laxus rolled his eyes. "Freed isn't here yet. But you can come inside and see Lucy though."

He stepped out of the door frame and walked to where Lucy was laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, seeming most content. The two blue-haired mages followed in after. Laxus bent down to pick up Lucy.

And she slapped him.

"Don't touch." She said, looking like she hadn't done anything.

Laxus kind of leaned there in shock that she had slapped him. The two other mages stood there in shock too, till Levy giggled. Laxus sent a death glare to the short bookworm, who immediately hid behind Juvia. Laxus then starred down at Lucy.

He went to pick her up again, and was slapped again, but this time he picked her up anyways. And she flailed her arms and punched and scratched and kicked (weakly but still enough to make it hard to hold her). And she screamed at the top of her lungs, hurting the poor dragon slayers ears.

"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!"

Laxus did just that, dropping her like a sack of potatoes on the couch. She gave a small "hmph" at the impact, but silenced her screaming and flailing. Levy quickly ran to her friend and Juvia backed Laxus away from the girl.

He gave another "tch" and shook his head. "I'll give y'all some time with her." And he walked outside.

This was going to take some getting used to. What was he going to do with this girl? He sat down on his front steps and brought a hand to where she had slapped him. That brat. They were going to have big problems real quickly if she was going to be bipolar all the time.

"I'm not even sure where to start to help her get better," Laxus said to himself, scratching the back of his head.

Suddenly with his enhanced dragon slaying hearing, he could hear crying coming from inside. He stood up and went to the window. Lucy sat between the two blue-haired mages, tears in her eyes.

"I'm not stupid. I'm not a child. My getting hurt didn't cause me to revert to a child-like state. I'm just broken slightly. But my broken piece makes everything else seem broken. And I have moments where I can't even process anything till half an hour later. And there are moments when I have so much to say, but my brain can only work a few words out of my mouth. But like now, I just seem perfectly fit back together and working. It's a fleeting moment that will pass in a few moments. But I need to get this out before it's gone. Don't let them treat me like I'm broken. It breaks me even more." Lucy burst into more tears. Her friends went to comfort her and hug her but she flinched so they settled for putting a hand on either shoulder.

Laxus stood stock still watching from the window.

"How's Ms. Lucy?"

Laxus jumped and almost punched his team who were standing behind him. He gave a slight cough to recover. "She's about the same from whatever you've heard about the situation." He turned to the door and went in, his team following. "Levy! Freed is here. Get a start on those runes, why don't ya."

Levy squeeked and jumped in response and raced out the door, Freed following after giving a curt bow to the others. Juvia gave Lucy a quaint pat and insisted that she must go find Gray, and left.

Evergreen looked about the room. "Laxus, when was the last time you cleaned the place?"

Laxus rolled his eyes and plopped down next to Lucy. Dust rose and sent Lucy into a sneezing fit again.

Evergreen scoffed. "This place is no place for a lady to live in. Till Freed is done with the runes, I'll work on tidying up this place. Bix, you and your babies are helping." Bixlow's shoulders slumped but his babies yelled out "Clean! Clean!"

"I'll help out some!" Lucy blurted out. She went to stand again and Laxus quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her back down beside him.

"Sorry, blondie, but I don't need you falling or getting hurt. I don't want to have to deal with your team or my grandpa."

Lucy pouted but didn't make another attempt at getting up, at which Laxus sighed in content.

Evergreen and Bixlow set to work at a fast pace as Lucy and Laxus watched from the couch. The fast paced working had Lucy tired just from watching and she drifted off, leaning on Laxus who put his arm around her.

Evergreen saw the two on the couch, and gave a small smile, before going back to work.

In almost no time at all, the place was neat and clean. It wasn't sparkling clean because that would require vigorous scrubbing, which Evergreen was not about to do. She did, however, volunteer to cook for everyone (which Laxus found extremely out of character and he watched her closely to make sure she wasn't up to any tricks).

Levy and Freed came in looking exhausted a few minutes before dinner was ready. They informed Laxus they put up every protection spell they could think of and that only Fairy Tail mages would be able to find the clearing. Laxus thanked them the only way he knew how, with a grunt. Levy went into the kitchen to help finish up dinner.

Freed and Bixlow pulled up chairs across from Laxus. "Anything else we can do for you?"

Laxus frowned and said nothing.

The two continued, "Is there anything that we can do for her?"

Laxus thought for a moment. "Possibly. Freed do you know of any spell that can temporarily fix the speech part of her brain? Or even movement?"

Freed almost looked taken aback. "Well, uh, I'm not sure. I would have to do some research. There are spells similar to what you want, but they are extremely difficult and have the possibility of causing more harm. We shouldn't put her at risk of that happening."

Laxus nodded and looked off. Freed and Bixlow gave each other a sad knowing look.

"Dinner is ready, boys! Get your butts in here!" Evergreen screamed from the kitchen. Freed and Bixlow (slightly scarred of Evergreen) jumped up and ran in.

Laxus shook Lucy slightly. "Hey weirdo, dinner is ready. You want some food?" Lucy sat up slowly and had a sad look upon her face. "Come on. It's Ever's cooking so I'm sorry if it tastes awful."

"I'll mess up again." Lucy said quietly. "I don't want to mess up again."

"You will not mess up. I'll help you. We'll work on this together. Ok, Blondie?"

"You're blonde too."

"Yep. Now come on before Evergreen yells at us." Laxus scooped her up and quickly went to the kitchen. The Thunder tribe and Levy were already sitting around the table eating. Two seats were left for them. Laxus sat Lucy down next to Levy and he plopped down beside her. Food was already on the plates in front of them. Laxus dug in to the food before him. It was a few seconds before he realized Lucy was just staring at her plate.

He grabbed her fork, and as she was opening her mouth to yell at him, he grabbed her right hand and put the fork in her fist. He then guide her hand to get food onto the fork and then bring it to her mouth. He did this a few more times before letting her do it herself. Although her movements could be jerky or sometimes limp, she was able to eat without help for the most part.

Laxus went back to eating his own food and just happened to look up. The other four at the table were staring at him. "What? She was missing out on Ever's cooking. Misery loves company. And I wasn't about to be the only blonde to have to suffer through this catastrophe called dinner."

Evergreen realizing he was criticizing her cooking, threw her fork at him. He dodged it and everyone laughed heartily going back to eating and talking about other current events. In the corner of his eye, Laxus saw Lucy had a soft smile on her face. It warmed his heart.

When everyone was done, the boys set to cleaning the mess Evergreen made from cooking. While they were doing that, Levy and Ever agreed to help Lucy get washed off and put more medicine on her wounds. After unwinding the bandages, they saw that the scare on her stomach and chest were almost completely healed, though they would be leaving a permanent scar. The one across her face still had some healing to do and was nasty looking.

They washed her hair and set it in a mess bun when they were done to keep it from getting in the way of putting the medicine on her face. Lucy winced and teared up whenever Levy went to put medicine on any of her wounds. Evergreen then wrapped her up in bandages. The one across her face was very difficult and required delicate precision. Neither Levy nor Ever could do it without hurting the blonde girl, and would immediately feel bad and back away. After much consideration, the two decided Laxus would need to learn to do it anyway. They quickly helped Lucy get dressed and called up Laxus.

After explaining what needed to be done, Laxus cringed. This was not something he wanted to do. But he was led upstairs to the bathroom where Lucy was sitting on the sink counter space. Laxus picked up the bandage and sighed. He said a quick apology to Lucy and started to wrap the bandage around her face tight enough to hold but not tight enough to do more damage. Lucy was crying but he didn't stop till the bandage was secure.

Lucy cried and held her face and leaned into Laxus' chest. Levy and Evergreen backed down them steps to leave them alone. After much consideration, they all decided it would be best to leave and come back tomorrow. Laxus heard them go and relaxed a bit, putting an arm around Lucy. Though she had had a nap not more than two hours ago, Laxus could feel her calming down and her heartbeat slowing. He lifted her up. And brought her to her temporary room across from his. Her bed he had made before Salamander left. Just a few blankets and pillow was all it was and the bed was smaller than her one in her apartment but he had to make do with what he had. He laid her down and as he did she grabbed his hand.

"I want to be normal again. Will you help me get back to me? Will you fix me?"

Laxus nodded. "That was the plan, blondie."

"Tomorrow?"

"Hmm?"

"Tomorrow. Can we start tomorrow?"

Laxus grinned at her determination. "If you are up to it. We will start with getting you walking. No offense but you aren't the lightest thing to carry around all day."

Lucy playfully smacked his arm. "You are starting to sound like Natsu."

"I think you are going delusional. I'm nothing like that flame head. Get some real rest before you start seeing things."

"Goodnight Laxus." Lucy said as she snuggled into her pillow.

"Goodnight Blondie." Laxus turned and left the door open a crack before turning to go to his own room.