Roxy Dreyar

CHAPTER FOUR

My ears are ringing. I'm on my back, my head is elevated. My arms are burning. I open my eyes. The daylight causes me to squint. I look up. I see a green smudge.
"How do you feel?" He asks, and his voice echoes in my head. I lift up a shaking hand, trying to touch my face to confirm that I'm here.

"Freed?" I ask. The smudge moves. Everything is blurry. My vision. My hearing. My feeling. I lift my head up.
And then I remember.
I spring up. My head nearly makes me fall over at that point. I stumble over and frustratedly grab my journal and headphones. I look back and clench my teeth as I look at that smug little green smudge. I gnaw on my lip and turn around.
I stomp and stumble in the direction of Laxus' home. 'Work, feet. Work!'
"Roxy, please wait!" Freed shouts. I don't look back. He runs after me and grabs my arm. "Roxy, let me walk you home."
"Don't touch me, Freed." I tell him, my eyes tearing up in pain and frustration. He lets go of me.
"Please Roxy, I don't want you to go home by yourself like this."
"Whose fault is it that I'm like this?" I snap at him, glaring up at him. I fling myself around as he backs off.

I walk off to my home. A few minutes pass, and my head spins too quickly for me to keep my balance. I lean over on a tree trunk to regain stability. My temples are throbbing, my ears ringing. I crumble down onto my knees beside the tree, holding onto it for life. I'm about to pass out from exhaustion.
"Roxy!" I hear faintly.
I glance over to see Freed. I get so overwhelmed and frustrated after seeing him and begin to cry. "Roxy," he says again when he gets to me, touching my back, "Roxy please let me take you home."
"I'm fine." I try to tell him.
"What in the world gave you that idea?" He asks me in an are-you-kidding me manner, looking at me with protective eyes.
I want to glare at him, but the only facial expression I'm able to produce is a pathetically helpless look.
"Roxy, you're not fine. Let me take you home." With too much pride to verbally admit it, I submit, and he helps me to stand up. He walks beside me, holding my waist with one arm, letting me lean on him. I can't stay up. I'm falling asleep.
He nearly carries me the rest of the way to Laxus', putting me on the couch.
He looks at me apologetically. I look at my wrists.

"Roxy." I look up. He looks at my wrists. I hide them against my chest. He gives me a confused and concerned look. "Roxy, what happened with your arms?"
Hesitantly, I put my right arm down into his hands. He notices a white burn on my skin. He slowly pushes my sleeve up, uncovering the burn, sprawling across my skin like lightening.

"It...usually isn't this noticeable."
He looks back up at my face. He looks so guilty. "Freed don't look at me like that."

"Sorry" he looks back down. He's looking at my arm like it's the broken foot of a kitten. He traces his fingers over the raised marks, making me wince a little, and clench my muscles. He notices. "Did that hurt-I'm so sorry"
"No, no, it just... stings a little."

"Roxy, does this always happen?" He asks me.
"Um, it depends on how much force I have to use. I try to avoid using it. But I will if...if I need to." I really don't want to talk about it. But I don't want to be rude. And he deserves to know I guess? I don't know, I'm really anxious, and this is really making my heart race.
"How does it happen?" He asks again, exchanging looks between me and my arm.
"The electricity runs thorough my veins kind of at an exponential rate, and I'm not strong enough to use it all, so it kind of just burns me from the inside out."

"You mean, because I made you fight me back, I made you hurt yourself." He asks me, becoming more upset at himself by the second.
"No don't make it sound like that. I'm sorry Freed I'm not a proper holder."
"That's not why it happened, it's because I made you use your magic-"
"Freed but it's not your fault! It's my own problem and I need to deal with it myself or I don't belong in Fairy Tail!"
"Roxy" he grabs me and pulls my face into his chest. "Don't ever say that." He holds me tight. He holds my head against him. "Roxy, you stay here. If you can change, do. I'm going to get herbs, and soup, and-anything I can find for you. But I won't tell anyone. If you don't want me to. But, just wait here. You'll be okay."
I look up at him as he says this, nodding. He gets really flustered, which is odd, I never had thought of him as the flustered type. He lists off a bunch of things and...I begin to doze off as he paces around the room.