Hot and Cold

Virgo and Pisces

~*****~

Ballad grimaces as she keeps trying to heal the savage wound on my side that causes me to hack up blood and start wheezing every few minutes. "This is bad," Ballad murmurs. "You shouldn't have taken that hit for us..."

"It was highly irresponsible!" Carla admonishes. "Honestly, you're as bull headed as Natsu."

I grimace as I feel another surge of coughing hit my chest. "There's a small hole in your lung, Aria," Wendy hums. "It'll take some more healing just to get it closed."

"And no doubt the fighting caused more damage to it." Carla commented.

"You gonna keep barkin' at me or are you gonna say somethin' that would make this situation make sense!" I retort irritably. "Why would they suddenly lose their memories and attack Lucy. They loved her dearly."

Carla sighed. "I wish I knew... Will you be all right, child?"

Wendy nods. "I will. Why don't you go out with the others and see if you can help figure things out." Carla nods in response before trotting out of the room.

Ballad yawned. "Ballad can stay and heal me," I mention to Wendy after hearing a small snippet of the conversation going on outside from the brief time it had been open.

"I can't do that, she's such a little thing," Wendy mentioned. "I might not be much bigger, but I have a lot more magic power than her."

Ballad perked up immediately, gazing at me warily. "I know... but they'll need all the help they can get." I retort.

Wendy nods. "Okay. But come get me if you need help." Wendy says to Ballad. She trots out of the room, leaving us in silence.

"Miss, did you think of something?" Ballad asks.

I nod. "Remember that library that Erza, Cana, and Wendy went to during that stupid clock incident?" I ask. "Well, I'm betting there's something there that'll explain what the hell is going on. I have a thought that maybe one of those books will mention the Liberam ritual." I try to get up, only to hack loudly and catch myself on the bedside table.

"Miss, wait!" Ballad chirps. "You're still injured!"

I pat her head and open up the window. "I'll be fine. Take a nap, you can return to the healing once we get to the library."

"But you can't even read..." Ballad murmurs.

I chuckle. "Yeah, but I stole those nifty glasses from Levy a while back cause I wanted to learn. Turns out they're perfect for an illiterate gal like me." Ballad sighs before settling in the hood of my overcoat.

~*****~

I sit in the middle of a bunch of books, tossing books left and right as I use those nifty glasses to read through them quickly. I feel the tingle of Ballad healing the wound on my side, but don't remark on it at all. We both flinch in shock as the doors to the library open up. "THERE YOU ARE!" Lucy shouted angrily. "What is wrong with you?! You can't just run off with a hole in your lung! You idiot!"

I peer over at them and grin. "Sorry, I got restless and wanted to figure out why your spirits went bonkers."

"Hey, those glasses look familiar!" Levy complained.

I grinned wider. "And they work for someone who can't read, that's for sure!" Levy sighs and collapses on her knees once she gets to me and hugs me from behind.

"Don't run off like that, we were all worried sick. If it wasn't for Carla mentioning you jumping the gun on something, we would've wasted time looking for you." Levy states.