Of Fire and Ice

C.74

After spending a night in a hotel with Jellal (non-sexual), we were back to Magnolia. I could move my right arm without it hurting.

"Freedom! Finally!" I shouted and Jellal laughed at me. "Hey! This feels fucking amazing. I fucking hated that piece of shit sling!" I said and made a figure eight in the air with my arm.

We were walking through this grassland and there was a breeze, so I let my hair down out of its braids and twists and let it fly out behind me. "Man, this feels so fucking great." I sighed, stretching my arms out. "What does?" Jellal asked.

"This. The sun isn't burning me, the air smells so sweet, I don't have a headache, I'm not puking randomly, my arm is fucking free, no part of me in in pain. This is so relaxing and just so calming." I said and dropped my arms. "I think I just might cry." I said, dropping down and sitting and staring out.

"Why would you cry?" Jellal asked, standing beside me. "Because for once in my life, I feel fine. And I'm not lying. Usually when I say I'm fine, I'm lying so others won't worry about me. Or I'm at least trying to convince myself I'm fine. But right now..." I felt tear fill my eyes and I looked up at Jellal. "I can actually feel. And I feel happy." I said and tears dripped down my cheeks.

"This is what happiness feels like, right? I'm not crazy crazy?" I sniffed and he helped me up and wiped some tears away. "You're not crazy crazy. And yes, that's what happiness feels like." He said and I turned to look at the flowers and the grass and wiped my face free of tears.

"Shit. I hope I'm not going through mood swings." I said and composed myself. I sat back down, then lowered myself so I was lying down and closed my eyes.

"We should be getting back to Fairy Tail..." Jellal said and I smiled. "Oh, let's take some time to just enjoy this. It's so peaceful." I sighed, then opened my eyes and looked at him. "Or you can go back. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to be near me and my mood swings." I chuckled.

I heard a flutter and looked back up to see Jellal took off his robe. He now had on his pants and was shirtless, but was in the process of taking of his bandages. I looked the other way to see Ari dozing off in the sun by some flowers.

Jellal lied beside me and I sighed. "You're right. It's very calming, peaceful." He said and I raised one of my hands to the sun and we both stared at it.

"It's weird. The heat you feel now isn't directly from the sun. It's too far away and there are too many layers of the atmosphere that help us from feeling it. It may be the sun's heat, but it's only a little. All the rest of the heat comes from inside the earth or is reflected off other stuff, like clouds." I sighed. "What's weird about that?" He asked. "I've never really felt heat before. I mean, yes, I've burned myself and I'm warm, but I haven't really felt internal heat. Inside, I'm ice cold. My therapist says it's normal. People with depression usually are very cold. That, and I have horrible circulation." I said and we both laughed.

"But for the first time, I don't feel cold." I sighed lowered my hands.

After a while, we really had to get back, so we got back up and walked back, him leaving me just as we got to the city.

But I couldn't help but feel like he was watching as I entered the guild hall and reunited with my team.