It was the end of February and the winter was being severe. The mountains in the background were covered with snow and rumbles of avalanches could be heard in the background, the trees suffered from the weight of the snow on their branches and there was almost no sound of animals. Ryker was sitting on the porch thinking about life and admiring the landscape in front of him covered in white by the winter snow.

"You'd better go inside, it's freezing out here", Alice said as she opened the door to her house.

"I'm fine, you don't have to worry so much. The cold doesn't affect me that much," Ryker replied.

"It could be when you were 100%. In its present condition it is dangerous," replied Alice. "Come on, I lit the fireplace."

Ryker frowned at her and was annoyed by her insistence. "You do not give up".

"I have to take care of you, since you don't take care of yourself", she crossed her arms and looked at him seriously.

Ryker looked away and sighed, brooding for a few seconds. Alice watched him grow impatient.

"Mira always said the same thing," he commented wistfully.

"I liked her," Alice smiled.

"You guys would get along great," Ryker commented with a slight smile. "It's a very nice place where you live," he said and got up with a little difficulty, leaning on his cane. He looked at Alice and walked into her living room, warmed by the blazing fireplace and the smell of burning wood. Ryker felt nostalgic for the feeling. "I love that smell of burnt wood. Reminds me of my parents' house.

"You haven't said anything about that or your past yet," Alice said curiously.

"It took Mira months to get anything out of me. You don't think I'm going to tell you so soon, do you?", he smiled slightly.

Alice gave him a disapproving look and told him to sit down while she went into the kitchen to make them both a hot drink. Minutes later she returned to the living room with two cups of hot chocolate. She kept one and gave the other to Ryker who accepted it kindly.

"With all this snow, it's going to be hard for me to exercise out there," Ryker commented looking out the window at the snow.

"It will still take another two or three months for there to be no snow. I believe that by then you won't even need crutches", Alice replied taking a sip of her drink.

"I can only wait. This is my first winter in Fiore, but it doesn't feel any different from where I came from, it's just prettier."

Alice squinted at him and took another elegant sip of her chocolate. "Whether it's the same as your home or not, I don't know, but as for Fiore, we're not there."

Ryker turned his face in amazement in Alice's direction. "What do you mean we are not in Fiore!?".

"We're in Seven.", Alice replied calmly.

"The neighboring kingdom. Why didn't you tell me before?", he questioned her.

"Sorry, I didn't think it was a relevant topic at the time. Does it make a difference?" she replied apologetically.

Ryker looked at her for a moment and shrugged. "In truth no. How is it here?".

"Same as anywhere, I guess. Beautiful place, with good people, amazing food and full of problems that nobody wants to solve", Alice replied with a shrug, taking another sip of hot chocolate. "And Fiore? Or your homeland?

"About Fiore, the same answer you gave me", he said wryly, Alice smiled at the answer. "About my birthplace…it's complicated", he didn't know if she would believe him about him going through a portal from another planet, so he decided to give vague answers for now.

"All places look the same," Alice commented.

"In a way, yes. But life in Fiore is good, most of the time. You should go visit one day," he said.

"Maybe one day," she said thoughtfully, Ryker nodded.

Two weeks later, Alice was in the kitchen preparing dinner when a tremor hit her house, startling her. She ran desperately through the house and realized that Ryker wasn't in the living room or any other room.

"Ryker!", she screamed desperately as another tremor shook the entire house.

Not knowing what to do, she ran outside being hit by a strong wind and a swirling cloud of snow. Alice could barely see what was in front of her. A flash and seconds later the sound of an explosion coming from the mountains. As it began, it all ended suddenly. The wind and churning snow stopped to reveal Ryker in the center of the lot. A glowing aura around him was gradually fading. He was panting.

Alice glared at him and lumbered towards him, furious. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you idiot!?", she yelled at him as soon as she reached him.

"What!?" Ryker looked at her confused.

"Shut up and tell me what the fuck were you doing that almost knocked my house down and killed me from the heart!?", she shouted, intimidating him, which was not common to happen. Only Mira had that effect on him sometimes.

"I noticed that my magic started to come back. I was just testing…", he explained cautiously.

Alice looked at him deeply irritated and seriously. "Couldn't you have warned me before you scared me!? And you're not even healed enough to test magic around! Do you want to kill yourself!?", she looked at him angrily.

"OK! I'm sorry. I got carried away, that's all. It will not happen again".

She took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. "Just because you stopped walking around on crutches doesn't mean you're fully recovered. We still do healing sessions and you still have a limp. You can't push your body to its limits like that. But of course, you don't listen to me!", she fumed and turned her back on him, going back inside her house leaving Ryker alone.

"What's wrong with her?", he thought and limped back into the house. "Is everything okay?", he asked calmly as he entered the residence and went to the kitchen, where Alice was.

"I'm tired of taking care of you and you not caring about yourself," she snapped back.

Ryker sighed and sat down in a chair at the kitchen table. "I know my body, I know how far I can go. It's not a matter of belittling what you've done for me. I am very grateful for what you are doing."

Alice turned and looked Ryker in the eyes. "Then why don't you ever sit still to recover properly?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't like to do nothing and depend on others. That's not how I was trained, and besides… I'd like to go home soon."

Alice looked at him sadly and turned away, an attitude that made Ryker uncomfortable. "And leave me," she said in a depressed tone.

Ryker found it all very strange, he knew she was hiding something and the way she treated him was weird. He thought that now would be a good time to get everything out in the open before things got worse.

"Alice?" he called to her. "You know I'm very grateful for everything, but there's something about this story that just doesn't make sense," he said and she turned her face towards him.

"How so?", she asked him.

"It's not normal for someone to be so helpful and so concerned about a stranger," commented Ryker.

"I'm not everybody," Alice replied.

"Could be, but I feel like you're hiding something. You know, I was trained for this kind of thing. So, if you want me to trust you, you better tell me", Ryker spoke seriously and looked at her deeply.

Alice was not intimidated by him and looked at him in the same way. "You're not one to say much either. You ask me to tell you, but you don't say anything. Trust is a two-way street, Ryker."

He stared at her for a while, reading her facial expressions, trying to find any gaps, but Alice was insurmountable. Ryker had to admit that she was amazing and admirable.

"Okay," he gave up, "you're right. I don't talk much about myself because I don't like to talk about what I've been through in the past. I had to tell Fairy Tail and it was really hard, and honestly, it still is", he sighed.

Alice saw the pain and anxiety he was suffering and sympathized. She pulled up a chair and sat beside him and held his hands in hers, looking at him fondly. "You can count on me for anything," she said sweetly. Ryker knew it was true, for some reason he trusted her.

"I… I suffer from PTSD and War Stress. It's very complicated to talk about my past because I lost a lot with it. Friends and myself". Ryker continued telling Alice everything, who listened in amazement as he told his story. From the draft when he was just 9 years old, through the training, the rite of passage that left him forever scarred, the fighting and the horrible things he went through and saw.

Alice couldn't believe her ears; it was too cruel to do to a child. Ryker was shaking and restless, those memories still terrified him, it was too much and he started to go into shock and have an anxiety attack.

"Those…if I…" Alice started to say, but stopped when she noticed Ryker's state next to her. Immediately she got up and made herself a glass of sugar water to calm Ryker's nerves. "Here, Ryker, have one", he took the glass of water and drank it, while Alice hugged him and stroked his back gently. "Is it better?" she asked when he was finished. He nodded in confirmation.

"I didn't imagine you went through all this. It's terrible. Those bastards couldn't have done it!", she said with anger and hatred.

"It's okay, you're not the first to want to kill them. Mira is at the front," he chuckled lightly.

"But look at your condition. Just by telling me you were..."

"I am better than before. You wouldn't like to see me back then."

"I don't like what I see today," she commented.

"I will never heal, Alice. I can only manage as best I can," he said and Alice sighed in resignation. "And what is your history?".

Alice pulled away from Ryker and sighed sadly. "I was a mage in a guild. In Mins," she began.

"Mins? The country south of Fiore, on the sea side? It's kind of far from here," Ryker commented.

"That's right, but I'll get there," Alice continued. "Like I said, I was part of a guild. It was great, good friends, interesting quests, adventure", she smiled at the memories. "I met my husband there. He was a great wizard, handsome, strong, loyal... He was everything I ever wanted", she said with nostalgia and love. "We got married and had a child, but nothing lasts forever," she lamented.

"What happened?" Ryker asked anxiously.

"As guild mages, we always fought with guilds and black mages. One day we pissed off one of these black guilds and started getting threatened. We thought it best, for our safety and that of our children, to leave the guild and go somewhere else. Have a new and simpler life".

"Didn't work, did it?" Ryker interjected knowingly.

"No. They found us and we were attacked. Pedri my husband and son, I'm only alive because they thought I was dead too", Alice said with some tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, if I find this guild, I swear to you that I..."

"No!" Alice said firmly. "I heard that a guild from Fiore defeated them and they were arrested a few years ago."

"Right… I'm sorry about your family. I know what it's like to lose people close to you," Ryker said. "It's just…leaving things to the law isn't quite what we do in my world."

"That's why your world was destroyed," Alice smiled slightly.

"True," Ryker shrugged.

"Ryker..." Alice called after him. "I'm sorry, my son would be your age today. I think when I saw you, I thought I could replace the loss of a child with you. Trying to be a mother again. I know my son won't come back, but…" Alice was startled by Ryker's touch on her shoulder.

"I cannot replace your son, Alice. But I don't mind being spoiled a bit," he chuckled lightly. "I haven't known what it's like to have a mother since I was 10", Alice looked at him with teary eyes and smiled after a while. "I'm sorry I was a jerk to you, but I wasn't trained to be nice."

This time it was Ryker who was surprised. Alice hugged him tight, it was a warm and warm hug, comfortable and kind, he had no reaction, he just wanted to stay in her arms, even without knowing why. Maybe a mother's hug was like that, he didn't remember anymore.

"Everything is fine. From now on, the page is turned. We have our pains that we need to carry and together we can help each other. Moreover, I have a lot of things to teach you," Alice chuckled and Ryker smiled with the corner of his mouth.

"I'll pay attention," Ryker said.