Of Fire and Ice

C.44

I was scantily dressed while Lucy dressed as she normally did and we went out and walked around a bit, Grey and Natsu always a little bit aways. Good thing that the streets were crowded, or it would have been obvious.

I noticed another man start to follow us, so I pulled Lucy into a less populated part of town, and soon we were on an empty road.

The man came up and started to gag Lucy with a knife at her throat, but I turned to stop him, only I was too slow.

I felt a piercing pain in my head, directly behind my eye. I screamed and held my hands to my face as I dropped to my knees. I closed my eyes and the pain wouldn't stop. I cried and screamed and heard Grey and Natsu fighting the guy.

"Henley, look at me." I heard Lucy say, kneeling in front of me, and I lifted my head and heard her scream.

"Guys! We need to get her help!" I heard Lucy say before I blacked out.

When I woke up, I couldn't open one of my eyes. "Where am I?" I asked, my voice hoarse, and I coughed. "You're at Porlyusica's. She's a healer." I heard Grey say and I looked over at him and smied. "Hey." I whispered. "Hey. How do you feel?" He asked. "Slight headache, but I'm alright. Uh, what happpened?" I asked.

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?" He asked. "Uh, that guy was trying to gag Lucy. And then I hurt so much." I said.

"Well, he kinda stabbed you in the eye." He said and my eyes... well, eye widened. "Yeah. You were screaming and crying nonsense, and Natsu and I were fighting him, and Lucy was trying to make sure you were alright. Then once we disposed of him at the guy's door, Ari flew you straight here and Porlyusica has been working on healing your eye. Only thing is..." He said and went quiet.

"Just tell me." I sighed. "When the knife came out, so did your eye. It was completely ruined, so she replaced it with another. No one's actually seen it yet." He said and at that moment, the whole team along with Master and a pink haired lady I'm guessing was Porlyusica stepped in.

Harley went straight to my side. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I feel absolutely horrible about this. And you've suffered so badly..." She said, holding my hands. "Harley, you couldn't have done anything. No one could have." I said and she just kissed my forehead.

The pink haired lady came up and handed me a mirror and I held it in front of me as she undid my wrappings.

As soon as they fell off, I kept my eyes closed. "Henley, why won't you look?" Grey asked. "I'm scared to." "Scared of what?" Harley asked. "That I won't like what I see." I said softly.

"Hen, you shouldn't think that. You'll still be one of the prettiest girls on the planet even if you've got two completely different coloured eyes. I bet it would only add to your beauty." Harley said.

"No, I'm not scared that I'll look bad or weird. I'm scared that when I look in the mirror, I won't recognise myself anymore. That I won't see me in the reflection. And I won't like that if I don't see me." I said and it was quiet again.

I felt an arm go around my shoulder, and I almost jumped until I realised it was Grey. "Just be confident that you are still you, inside and out." He said and I slowly opened my right eye, which was still purple, then my left eye, which was bright red.

I stared at my reflection, studying the new eye.

And I slowly smiled.