Winter: I finally got Loke to give me his point of view, after much begging on my part.

Loke: Begging? You asked me yesterday, and I agreed.

Winter:..... And I was trying to be dramatic.....

Loke: I'm afraid you don't need my help with that.

Winter: Why are you here again?

Loke: You asked me to be.

Winter:.........

Loke's POV

It was surprising to see how serious Winter could be.

We'd arrived in Akane Beach not too long ago, and had sought out our client. He was an old man whose face was so distorted by wrinkles it was impossible to tell what he must have looked like in his youth. He lived alone in a large house that might've once been beautiful, but was now rundown and creaking with age.

Winter and I sat on opposite sides of a musty couch that sent up clouds of dust whenever either of us shifted, setting off Winter's allergies. The old man, Tao Wording, was in a high-backed wooden chair across from us, hooded eyes impossible to read.

Though I did notice he kept staring at Winter, who was tugging at her suspenders nervously, clearly aware of the man's interest in her. I felt an oddly dark feeling form in my chest watching Tao. He had to be in his eighties at the least; it was incredibly wrong of him to gawk at women as young as Winter.

(Winter: Meaning it was alright for people your age to do it?

Isn't this my point of view? Of course, if you want it back, you need only ask.

Winter: Keep going. I'm still laying low after Aquarius came after me. I say one bad thing about her to Scorpio....)

"So," Winter said, breaking up the silence I'd only just realized was becoming deafening. "You want us to find hidden treasure, right?"

Tao nodded, sliding what looked like a map across the table that separated us. Winter reached for it, squinted at the lettering, then handed it to me. I almost waved my hands in front of me to keep her away, but sucked it up at the last second and took the map.

"That's how to get to the cave where the treasure can be found," Tao croaked, much like the toad he resembled. "Only..."

"I don't like the sound of that," Winter muttered, her hand reaching down to her side, fingers twitching for something that wasn't there. She frowned, then smoothed over the look and pulled her hand back into her lap.

Her Spirit Gate Keys. That's what she was missing. A pang of guilt hit me then. It was my fault she didn't have them with her, because I was a coward. But if I told her my reasons for avoiding Celestial Wizards...

"You have reason to," Tao said, squinting eyes still flicking over her form. She wasn't as "shapely" as her sister, but she had a more athletic build that had to be admired. And the old pervert was definitely enjoying the view.

"What makes this job worth 250,000 jewels?" I asked, unconsciously moving closer to Winter. "If we only have to find treasure in some cave?"

He looked over at me and I almost smirked at how annoyed he seemed to be by my actions.

"There's a demon guarding it, boy," he told us, voice sharpening now that he was no longer speaking to Winter. "That's why I called you Fairy Tail Mages in. I didn't expect they'd send such a lovely young--"

"Alright, we'll be back later," Winter said abruptly, jolting to her feet. "Come on, Loke, we have work to do." She reached for my hand, but pulled back just before she touched me, smiling apologetically. I realized I was sweating again, my nerves fried from being with another Celestial Mage for so long. It had taken almost a day to reach Akane Beach, and I hadn't been within ten feet of Winter in all that time.

I wasn't being fair to her, but I couldn't help it. After what happened with Karen years ago... It was my burden to bear. I'd accepted that after the incident. But what made things infinitely worse was that Winter was making every effort to ease my discomfort. From leaving behind her beloved Keys to consciously avoiding physical contact with me. She didn't know what was wrong, and yet she wanted to help.

I knew then that I could never tell her my secrets. She was just the type of person to do something life threateningly stupid just to help me. I inwardly sighed, upset over my decision. Winter was the first girl I'd met since joining Fairy Tail that I didn't want to use only as a distraction from my problems. I wanted to be open with her, as payment for her kindness I clearly didn't deserve. But I couldn't. It would only make the inevitable harder to bear for both of us.

I followed Winter as she exited the house, shuddering as she shook her head. I heard her grumbling under her breath. "Dirty old man.... Creepy eyes... Damn Gramps for sending me here.... Perverted Master...." I cracked a smile at the last one. She was dead on, whether she knew it or not.

Winter walked out of the resort town that was Akane and headed for the beach. I watched, brow furrowed, as she kicked off her shoes and walked up to the water, pushing forward until she was thigh deep.

"Give me two seconds, Loke!" she called over her shoulder, giving a forced smile.

"Wait, Winter! What are you--"

She dove beneath the waves, and my eyes widened. It was getting dark (why we chose to do the job so late, I didn't know) and the temperature was going to drop quickly. And she decided to go for a swim? She really was insane.

She resurfaced ten seconds later, way after the two seconds she'd promised, and trotted out of the water, shivering only slightly. What surprised me most, was her radiant smile. She'd completely changed.

"Sorry," she said, walking up until she stood ten or so feet away from me. I internally frowned. Had I made it that clear I couldn't be any closer to her than this? "But I was feeling really... excuse my childish language, but I felt really icky after seeing that guy. And since there wasn't a shower nearby, this was the next best thing!"

I blinked, completely baffled at her logic. But she continued to smile at me, despite the fact that she was dripping wet and the wind was picking up. Instinctively, I made to pull off my heavy jacket and give it to her, but she gave me a puzzled look that stopped me cold.

Right. Suddenly being chivalrous after giving her the cold shoulder, didn't really make sense.

In any case, she returned to smiling a moment later. "Don't worry, I'm not going to die of hypothermia or anything. Just watch," she commanded.

Winter raised her arms in front of her, crossed like an X. "Solid Script: Dry!" she said, slashing both arms down as a flash of light pulsated in front of her, forming the word DRY. The letters were a mix of brown and red, and gave off a blistering heat. I couldn't help but gape slightly as she stepped up and passed through the magically created word. When it vanished and she reappeared, there wasn't a drop of water on her anywhere. Even her sopping wet hair had turned fluffy and dry.

She looked down at herself, nodding. Then she frowned. "I think I gave myself an unintentional tan," she said, sighing.

"You can use magic other than Celestial Spirits?" I asked, confused. All the Celestial Wizards I had known could only use their Spirit Gate Keys. If Karen had been able to use other types of magic... I shook off the thought as Winter perked up, smiling at me.

"Yeah, it's cool isn't it?" she asked enthusiastically. "I read about this type of magic when I was little. It... was in one of my mom's books she left to me when she..." She swallowed thickly and shook her head. "Point is, I'm not totally useless without my Keys."

Somewhat sadly, I hadn't even thought about how she would defend herself if we ran into trouble. And as mages of Fairy Tail, that was a very likely outcome. But I was relieved to know she'd be alright if that type of issue came up.

"Ready to go treasure hunting?" I asked, starting to walk along the beach. She scampered after me, still keeping what she deemed sufficient distance between us. I turned away slightly so she wouldn't see my guilty frown.

"I used to dream about doing stuff like this," she admitted as we followed the given map into the forest bordering the beach. "Being an adventurer. I wanted to be like the heroes in books and discover lost cities and crap like that."

"That seems like a fun dream," I commented, vaguely aware that I could speak without freaking out while in her presence. "What happened to it?"

"I heard about wizardry," she said instantly, a reminiscent smile on her beautiful face. Wait. No thinking about her looks. That would only lead to trouble. "After that, there was nothing I wanted to do more than become a mage and join a guild with Lucy." She paused to duck under a branch I should've held back for her. "Thank God she agreed. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Can Lucy use Solid Script?" I asked. Winter sighed, giving me an almost pained look. "Did you see the whip my sister carries? That's her only form of defense without her Keys," she said. "And I've never even seen her use it."

"Oh, I thought that whip was for..."

"Wow, Loke," she said, playfully scowling at me. "You're more perverted than I thought!"

My face flushed a little, hearing that. She thought I was perverted?

We trekked through the forest, Winter pointing out landmarks from the map when we passed them, confirming we were on the right path. It was awkward goings, since she was still walking so far away. I could have walked closer to her, but my past kept creeping up on me every time the thought crossed my mind.

Suddenly Winter edged closer to me, tugged the map from my pocket and retreated a few steps, keeping her eyes off me the entire time. She frowned, looking from the map to the forest around us and back again. "I thought so..." she said quietly.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She didn't look up, only shook her head.

"We missed it," she said, sounding a little baffled.

"Missed it?" I questioned. "There's no way. There wasn't a cave anywhere around here, or we would've seen it for sure."

"Not according to the map," she said, holding it up for me to see. Of course, in the dark and so far away, I failed to see what she was pointing out.

I looked around the darkened forest. The towering trees were twisted in the gloom, almost skeletal. A fact that was not lost on Winter. I caught her glancing around us warily, as though she suspected something had its mind set on jumping us there and then. Well, we were facing a demon, after all. Maybe she wasn't so far off. But whatever the case, it was obvious Winter was scared.

"Maybe we should do this in the morning," I offered, ignoring the finger she was still jabbing at our map. "You could be right that we missed the cave, but we won't know in the dark."

She took a moment to frown, eyes once again on the map held tightly in her hands. Something not too far away growled threateningly, and I saw a shiver pass down Winter's spine, as she was slightly turned away from me now. But before I could say anything else to persuade her, she shook her head defiantly and fixed me with a determined stare.

"Not a chance in hell, Loke," she said. "If we go back now, we'll have to stay with that pervert, and I don't feel like sleeping with one eye open and a knife under my pillow. So we're finding this treasure and killing the demon before we head back. Or so help me God, I'm sleeping with you."

She turned away with a slight huff and began to once again push through the undergrowth, seemingly unhindered by the lack of a decent path.

Despite the guilt and worry gnawing at me constantly, I found myself smiling. She certainly wasn't like any girl if met beforehand. If only things were different...

I followed after Winter, tracking her by sound alone. The moon had vanished moments before, ducking behind thick gray clouds. Without it, the forest was plunged into pitch black darkness, allowing me to see no further than a few inches in front of me.

Which is why I lost track of Winter in less than a few heartbeats.

That is, until a sudden yelp broke the silence of the forest, followed by the sound of something crashing hard into stone.

My heartbeat kicked into high gear, and I stumbled through the bushes and other assorted plant life as fast as I could, calling out (much too frantically for my current image), "Winter!"

There was a groan just as I burst from a row of thorn-ed bushes, and barely stopped myself from sailing head-first into the still-crumbling hole in the earth that appeared in front of me. It was close to five feet across, easily large enough for someone to plummet through without being able to grab hold of the edges if they were too surprised. Loose dirt broke off from the rim, trickling down into wherever this led to.

Forcing myself to be cautious, I inched down to the edge of the cavity and peered down. The clouds had once again moved off the moon, letting a bright light wash over us. It only just reached the bottom of the opening, but it was enough to put the still form of Winter into focus for me.

"Winter!" I called down, fearing the worst. A nervous sweat had broken out on my forehead, and this time, it had nothing to do with her being a Celestial Wizard.

"Don't shout, Loke. My head's killing me."

I started at the sound of her groggy voice and jumped back from the edge, succeeding into sending another round of soil and rocks tumbling down below. I heard her hiss; something must have hit her. Wincing in sympathy, I again leaned forward to get a better look at her.

She was sitting up, but only using her elbows as props. Her face held a look of both annoyance and pain, and I'm sure at least some of that was aimed at me. She shook her head, then abruptly cut the motion short with another hiss of pain. As more clouds broke away and ceased filtering out the moonlight, I could make out something crimson on the ground where Winter's head had been laying.

Blood.

"Shit," I cursed. She looked up at me, one eyebrow raised, as though she was puzzled. I stared back, wondering if she'd hurt herself so badly that she wasn't able to understand the situation. "You ok, Loke?" she asked, and I almost laughed. This was just getting ridiculous.

"I'm the one who should be asking that, Winter," I said wearily.

She smiled. "Right," she said. "Well, don't ask that. You won't like the answer. Anyway, do me a favor, would you?"

I wasn't sure what to say. I was torn between demanding her to tell what was wrong (in greater detail, anyway) and giving into her request. Finally, I sighed. "I'll get you out as fast as I can, Winter, I--"

"Huh? No, that's not what I was going to ask."

That caused me to freeze, caught in the action of turning away in order to find something of use in this situation. "What is it then?" I asked cautiously.

She shifted her weight to one elbow and raised her other arm, pointing at something behind me. "Tell me if there's a stone marker set into that tree behind you," she ordered, her tone harsher than I would have guessed at. But then I realized she was trying to cover up her pain.

I looked over my shoulder and narrowed my eyes, straining to make out the vague image of something dark and square pressed into the rotting bark of the elderly tree. After a moment of squinting (along with a slew of mental curses as I heard Winter whimper from her injuries) I blinked. She was right. Looking as if it had been carved into the tree since the earliest of days, there was a square stone marker, shaped and chiseled into the form of a ghastly beast with indistinct yet gruesome features.

"Yeah, it's there," I said as I turned my head to speak to her. "It's a creepy looking thing. Why do you--"

I was cut off by her laughs, which quickly evolved into feeble moans as her hand clutched at the back of head. Without a second thought, I slid over the edge and jumped down beside her. She flinched at my sudden appearance, but I gave her little time to react before I swept her up into my arms, preparing for a way to get out again.

"Uh, Loke?" she mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. "Isn't this... a little.... I don't know, close?"

There was nothing I could say to that, so I looked away, silent. Obviously, I couldn't have left her there alone and injured, no matter what kind of wizard she was. It wasn't just that we were a team, or even because she was a member of Fairy Tail. I just.... couldn't not help her, even when my actions were irrational and I had no valid reason for overcoming my feelings towards Celestial Wizards.

"Anyway, it's good you're down here." To my surprise, she fought herself free from my hold and dropped back down to the stone floor, wobbly but able to stand upright. She dusted herself off, turned away from me, and I finally caught a glimpse of the wound to the back of her skull.

Blood was matted in her blonde hair, tangling and curling strands, turning them a deep crimson. It looked severe, too severe to allow her to continue on this stupid mission without medical treatment.

"So anyway, according to the map, that stone marker signals the entrance to the cave," she said, her back still to me. "When I found it a minute or so ago, I got kinda excited, and went on without thinking. The ground suddenly caved in, and well, you get the picture. Clocked my head pretty hard on the ground, and since this is an underground cave, it really hurt. But I think it isn't' anything--"

"Winter."

"Hmm?" She looked over her shoulder, giving me a puzzled frown. In all honesty, she seemed slightly delusional by this point. How she could even consider her wound to be anything less than serious was lost to me. Either she was succumbing to the damage from a head wound, or she was an exceptional liar.

"Forget the job for a minute," I said. "You're hurt. We can't go on right now. It'd be best if we got you to a doctor before anything happens."

"Loke," she groaned, spinning around to face me fully. I could tell the motion sent her reeling, but she refused to admit to it. "What did I say before? No matter what, I'm not going back before we end this job."

"Look, I know you're worried about the old guy, but this is more important! You could be seriously hurt, Winter! Don't you care?!"

It was silent for countless moments, and I was getting ready to simply force her to come back with me, when she sighed. "I'm being difficult, and you don't deserve it, because you're only being a good nakama," she said softly. The change in tone caught me off guard. "I'm sorry for that. But if you stick with me, you're going to learn what a stubborn bitch I can be. I make up my mind to do something, I'm going to do it. And I will bind you with magic and leave you here so I can go on alone if you don't agree to help me, because I want to prove to the guild that I can be useful. The guild comes first for me, and I won't tarnish Fairy Tail's reputation by giving up on this job when I know I can finish it."

She looked at me imploringly, silently begging me to give in and agree. I would have turned away, freed myself from her penetrating gaze, but I lost the battle of wills before that even crossed my mind. With a resigned sigh, I motioned with one hand for her to come closer, then to turn around.

She took a step back.

Annoyed with myself, I reached out and grabbed her arm, tugging her closer to me. I slowly turned her around, and took another look at her wound. As gently as I could, I probed it with my fingers, only halting when she stiffened, hiding a flinch. "Winter, I really don't think...." My voice trailed off as I watched her dig around in her bag, the one I'd most likely forgotten about some time ago. She hadn't displayed it, taken time to retrieve anything from it, in all the time I'd been with her. So I was marginally surprised when she produced a roll of bandages and a bottle of disinfectant.

"Hope you know basic first-aid," she said, handing the items off to me with a pleasant smile. "I can't fix it if I can't see it, so I guess it's up to you."

How is she smiling?

I couldn't figure it out. It made absolutely no sense. Even less sense than when she ran into the ocean what felt like millennia ago. Nonetheless, I aided her in cleaning, disinfecting and wrapping up her head, making sure the snow-white bandages were tight. She fingered the wrappings, her eyes unfocused as she tested their placement. Then she gave a slight nod and turned around to smile at me. "Nice work, Loke," she praised, giving me a bright closed eye smile. "Couldn't have done it better myself."

I (uncharacterisitcally) blushed and nodded mutely. She didn't seem to notice my lack of speech, as she was turned away, squinting at something in the shadows. Then she suddenly grinned, snapping her fingers in a "eureka" moment. "Solid Script: Light!" 

I blinked the dark spots from my eyes as the pit was suddenly lit up with what felt like afternoon sunshine, so bright it even penetrated through my tinted glasses. Shading my eyes, I looked up at the incandescent letters, spelling out LIGHT, that hovered a few feet away from Winter. She was grinning proudly at her creation, hands placed firmly on her hips. She threw a look back at me, looking none-the-worse for the blinding light she'd just been staring at.

"I don't like the dark," she said as way of an explanation to my puzzled stare. Then she lifted her hand, pointing at the now illuminated space in front of us. "And I think I found where we're heading next." 

I following her pointing index finger and internally sighed. She was right; hidden in the shifting shadows had been a crack into the pit's wall, large enough for someone of even my height to fit through if they stooped. And now that Winter had found it, there was absolutely no way I could convince her to go back. 

I was positive of this, even when we heard the deafening roar of a waking monster that shook the cavern's walls, sending grit and stones tumbling down on top of us.

Through it all, Winter only grinned.

She was certainly something else. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh, well that wasn't a very long chapter. That's what I get for straying away from the story line. But anyway, I upoloaded! Finally! This isn't the greatest chapter; it certainly isn't that exciting. But I hope you like it anyway.

Hope you decide to stick around for the next upload!