"Laxus, you're the slowest person on earth, hurry up already! I want to get this training weekend started as soon as possible but we can't do that until we've made camp but you're walking so slowly!" Impatiently puffing out my cheeks with my hands on my waist, I watched as Laxus casually sauntered after me where I had run all the way up a big hill. He sure was taking his sweet time about it. If he didn't want to be here then he shouldn't have made that promise, because of course I would take it seriously.

"You're annoying."

"And you're still slow!" Shooting me a look Laxus suddenly disappeared with a crackle of electricity, suddenly appearing behind me with a longwinded sigh.

"Better?"

"Yup!" Now appeased, I skipped through the forest as we went deeper into the trees until we found a place to set up camp. Of course Erza had insisted on helping me pack my bags, fussing until the very last moment about ensuring that I would have everything I could possibly need. She was reluctant to let me go to such a dangerous part of the forest without her, but I assured my big sister that I'd be okay because I was with Laxus and he wouldn't let anything happen to me. Although it was just the one night and two days, I think my sister went a little overboard.

I had enough snacks to feed an entire army as well as numerous cooking utensils such as pans, pots, bowls, even a baking tray. There were more than ten blankets, full medical kits, emergency supplies, ropes, weapons, maps, water canisters and pretty much everything else you could think of. Everything except…a tent. "Are you kidding me? She unpacked my tent just to put all this stuff in and forgot to put it back! Wagh! Big sis!" Clutching my head in exasperation, I looked around desperately, trying to think what to do.

"Well, that sucks. Guess we got no choice but to go back."

"No way! By the time we got back, we'd have lost an entire days and I know you too well, so the minute we return you'll just say that there's no point coming back here since it'll only be for a day, so it would be a wasted trip. I'm staying right here." Stubbornly dropping onto the ground, I began to think. This wasn't the end of the world, I'll just have to build my own shelter by hand. How hard can it be? I've read plenty of survival manuals and books, which means I know lots of ways to build an outdoors shelter with the materials around me and a bit of string. Since Erza had supplied me with rope, I was more than set.

Dashing around the place, Laxus stared in bewilderment as I gathered sticks, leaves, mud and all kinds of things to build my own tent, securing everything with rope and slapping mud on the outside for a layer of insulation, then hung the tarp from the branches so that I had an effective little den large enough for both me, my kit and plenty more room to boot. "Ta dah!"

"Well pest, got to say. Not bad." Laxus smiled a little, amused at my quick wit before exhaling. "Well since we're here, we better get started. Let's get to it."

"Alright! So where are we going first?"

"Since you have very little magic energy, we're going to work on increasing your reserves. Just follow me and don't talk too much. If you annoy me then I might just leave you here." Though I knew that he'd never do such a thing, I kept quiet for a while just to be safe. Laxus's moods tended to change at the push of a button, so I didn't want to press his when I was going to be relying on him for survival in this kind of place. He took me to a waterfall, the crashing water rushing downwards whereby he then instructed me to sit underneath it and meditate.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding, pest?" And so, that was how I ended up sitting on a rock underneath a waterfall, trying to meditate and work on expanding my magical capability, but to be honest, all that happened was I got soaked and shivered the entire time.

"Ugh, you big dummy Laxus! This isn't working!" I yelled over the sound of the waterfall, barely able to keep my back straight. "And I'm hungry!"

"You've only been there for two minutes!" Really? It felt like much longer. Oh well, guess this wasn't for me so I better have something to eat then think of something else. Laxus rolled his eyes when I gave up so easily, but I didn't mind him for the moment. I dried myself off, got changed then ate a hearty meal.

"Ah! It's always better to work on a full stomach. That was some good food." Patting my belly happily, I got up with a spring then turned to Laxus, asking him what else we could try. Of course, he looked as if he wanted nothing more than to simply go home, but he complied with me. We went running, battled against a few wild beasts and things like that, though it was mostly me screaming in fear running away and Laxus taking them out with a single punch, but at least I am now an expert at dodging random appendages or falling rocks. That's something at least.

"You suck at this. If you want to get stronger you're going to have to fight back at some point. I can't keep on rescuing you all the time." Laxus berated me as I huffed for air, my bow clutched in one hand where I'd failed to take down another monster.

"But you're so good at saving me Laxus, you're like a real hero." I managed a grin before straightening up, fixing my hair and clothes. They were a bit tattered and mucky from where I had kept on falling over, but they were only clothes. I'll just get changed later. All laughter aside, Laxus was right. I can't keep on depending on others like this, so I better step up my game. "It's getting dark now, so we should head back to the camp and turn in for the night." Agreeing, Laxus led the way since he had been the only one paying attention to how far we'd gone.

It took him no time at all to locate our camp, and immediately I got myself ready for bed by taking a quick wash in the stream, dried, changed into pyjamas, ate more food then crawled into bed, utterly exhausted. I had hoped that I'd fall asleep quickly, but no matter how I twisted and turned, the nest I had made simply was not comfortable at all, and no matter how many blankets I piled on top of me, I was still freezing cold. This sucked. To make things worse, the wind started to pick up and it was howling into my little handmade hut, gaining in fervour until finally, I gave up.

Pulling the thickest blanket around me, I abandoned my own tent and went over to Laxus's, shivering against the cold. "Laxus? Are you awake? Hey Laxus. Laxus."

"What do you want?" Sounding disgruntled and irritated, I bit down on my lip, wondering if I had perhaps made a bad decision disturbing him.

"Um…it's really cold and windy out here, and it's really dark too. Can I sleep with you tonight?" Silence followed, a rather long pause of no response until eventually, I heard him shifting inside before the zip opened the front of the tent as a signal that I could come inside. Relieved I hurriedly went into his tent and secured the flap behind me, the noise instantly quietening a little as Laxus turned on a camping light which hung above his head.

"You're a real pain, you know that right?"

"Sure do. Move over a little, there's no room for me otherwise."

"Hey! What are you-?!" Giving him no other option except to accept the fact that I was staying here tonight, I crawled over him in order to reach the other side where there was more room then pointedly dropped down with a yawn, stretching then wriggling to get comfortable.

"Hm. Goodnight Laxus, see you in the morning." Clicking his tongue against his teeth, Laxus merely rolled over and pointedly turned his back to me. Honestly, he could be so tetchy sometimes. Exhaling a deep breath I did my best to stop shivering, not wanting to irritate him any further so that he kicked me out again, but with the close confines of the tent it was almost impossible for us not to feel one another close by. Still wrapped up only in the one blanket I'd brought, I buried my nose into it and curled my toes, thinking that perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea.

"Here, sit up for a moment." Laxus turned himself back around, catching me by surprise as I followed his instruction and watched as he pulled his own blankets out from underneath me then proceeded to tuck me up in more layers, pulling me closer to him so that I could share his body heat. "Now go to sleep, little pest." Speaking softly, I blinked when I felt his hand come to my face and brush aside some of my hair, his caring and attentive gentleness making me blush a little as he then immediately fell asleep.

What?! Just like that?! No way! Who acts all sweet and sensitive like that then just falls asleep in the next second? Laxus, you dummy. Wriggling a little, I tried to put a little space between us so that I wouldn't pester him, however Laxus seemed not to care for having a gap between us. Still mostly asleep, he pulled me back and tucked me into his arms, holding me lightly against his chest with one arm under my head to serve as a pillow. This was uncharacteristically nice of him, but I bet he won't remember he instigated this in the morning and will no doubt blame me. Oh well, it's really warm like this, so there's no way I'm going to relinquish this at all. I'll deal with him in the morning, but for now, I'm so…sleepy…zzz…