(Y/N) POV

Porlyusica was a fairy tail wizard who was an excellent nurse. She knew many conditions, and how to treat them with herbs.

Of course, it's quite a walk to meet with her since she lives outside of town.

"Reckless," Erza mutters as my leg gives out once more.

"Apologies," I say as I heavily lean against her for support.

"You should have asked for help," she says with a scowl.

"Once again, I apologize...Miss Titania," I say with a grim smirk. Her brown eyes snap to me in disbelief.

"How do you know that nickname?" She asks me

"You're pretty popular back over in Seven," I reply.

"Headlines read, "Erza Scarlett! The stunning Queen of fairies! Titania!"" I recall the headline of an article.

"I didn't know we were popular over there," Erza inquires.

"We weren't, until I started kicking ass," I say with a hint of a chuckle.

"After the first year, people started getting interested in Fairy Tail. Newspapers noticed and rushed to start pushing out fairy tail content. More often than not, after a battle, it wasn't me on the front page. It was you," I tell her as a blush rolls across her face.

"I'm deeply sorry for taking away your spotlight," she replies as I laugh, a deep and raspy laugh.

"No, it was nice to see familiar faces," I say as a wave of dread falls over me. Pain tugged at my heart as I recalled those memories.

"Were you hurt anywhere else?" Erza asks while looking at my blackened leg.

"Yes," I mutter. There are too many to count. After my leg was infected, my magic power became much weaker. I did my best to hide it. I took more risks and took more injuries. And more lives.

"Where?" Erza asks as we stop in our tracks.

"It's all healed now," I lie with a smile. They say the mind and heart never heal after a conflict. I believe that statement is true.

I must never show any weakness. It would only serve to weaken our guild.

"Oh, I see," Erza responded a little unsure.

We entered the forest outside of Mongolia, the home city of Fairy Tail.

My eyes darted between the trees. The wind moved trees and bushes alike, however knowingnthat didn't soothe my wondering eyes. My eyes were looking for a threat.

"Your magic is growing. What's wrong?" Erza asks as I snap out of my wartime mindset

"I'm sorry. Just old habits," I mutter as my eyes still wonder between different trees

"How was it?" Erza asked me

"I've always wanted to visit Seven. I hear it's a wonderful country," she tells me

"Yes, it is," I respond.

"A lot of open space. Perfect for farming. The land is very fertile too. They have prairies that seem to glow green," I tell her

"Sounds lovely," Erza smiles noticing that I had calmed down.

Unfortunately, very little of my time was spent in the heartland of Seven. Most of my time was spent on the border, or within Iceberg itself.

Iceberg was not a lovely place, the war had made any solid ground into mushy mud. The trees were all burnt down. Craters from magic were littered everywhere. And the smell of death...the smell of rotting flesh. The sight of flying birds waiting for armies to leave so they can eat the decaying corpses.

"(Y/N)!" Erza called my name.

"Huh?" I hum snapping to attention

"Your heart rate is through the roof!" She says concerned.

"Oh?" I mutter as my vision begins to fade.

Erza POV

"Will he be alright?" I ask Porlyusica, a pink-haired elderly woman.

"I'm afraid not," she says looking at (Y/N)

"The infection has eaten away at his magical power. The fact that he still has so much left is a testament to how much he had to begin with," she tells me.

"But he barely had any!" I tell her as she looks at me with wary eyes

"Erza. This infection would suck a normal wizard dry of their magic power in a matter of days. The fact that he went 2 years like this is a miracle. That's the only word for it, a miracle. However, I do not believe in miracles. He survived this long because he is strong... extremely strong. And he will pay for it," Porlyusica explains

"Will he recover?" I ask her

"No, he will have a fraction of his magical power when he recovers. He will hard pressed to recover any potential," she answers.

"Does that mean that he is powerless to beat the disease?" I ask with dread

"He will beat the disease, and he will live. But his magic power is permanently reduced by a great margin. He will likely never recover to the point where he was when he left for that damn job," she finishes.

My eyes hover on the man lying in bed. 4 years ago he was a boy, just like Natsu and Gray. But now, his body was covered in scars. His lean muscles looked strange to me as I didn't recognize them being there when he left. He had become taller too, I was taller than he was when he had left. At full height, I'm sure he would be a head taller than I am.

"This there nothing we can do to help him?" I ask her.

"I don't think so, at least not physically. Perhaps Tenrou Island. The S class promotion trails are approaching. But, it's not his body or magic power I am worried about," Porlyusica mentions.

"What do you mean?" I ask her

"His mind is scrambled. His thoughts are dark. I can sense it. He is troubled more than he will show," she says

"Why? Is it the darkness?" I ask her worried, but she shakes her head

"No, my dear. Do you know much about the conflict between Seven and Iceberg?" She asks me

"I'm afraid not. We don't get much news from that direction," I answer.

"The death toll was 10 million between both sides," she says as my heart stops

"10 million soldiers, wizards, men, woman, children all dead," she says," and he was in the heart of it, not only will he have witnessed the slaughter, he would have brought mass destruction down himself,"

"Unless the boy is evil-minded. That will scar anyone's mind. They say that one's body heals faster than one's brain,"

"I see...I didn't know it would be like that," I respond as she nods.

"Yes. The boy will need his friends to recover. But he will need to expose himself to get any real help,"

"How long until he wakes up?" I ask

"Not long. However, I would suggest that you keep what I said a secret from him and the others. He will not like someone who knows what he will be going through. This is doubly true for someone who has as much pride as he does," Porlyusica smiles

"So please, take your time with him. He may push you away, but he needs his friends more than he lets on,"

A groan shifts our attention to (Y/N).

He finally wakes up