First thing I wanted to do was heal Anna to get rid of all the clearly painful bruises. I was about to when the officer nearby stopped me. I was about to call him a whole bunch of very not nice names when he pointed out that they first need to get pictures for evidence. A completely valid point, but one I still didn't like. Of course, Anna didn't want to have random dudes taking pictures of her basically naked, which everyone completely understood. That unfortunately meant we had to wait for a female officer to arrive, which took awhile. I took that time to unzip my coat pocket and let the regeneration crystal out to float around and show to Anna. I explained how it worked, increased my mana regen, bumped off things, and that I could assign them to other people. She made a game of poking it every time it came around to make it backtrack. Her mood improved considerably when I promised her that I was going to make the stamina one and give it to her tomorrow. I was keeping the haste crystal in my pocket for last, and was about to pull it out to keep her distracted when the female officer finally arrived.

The cops were clearly a little hesitant to let me stay at first, but decided not to say or do anything. A smart move on their part. Me and the officer took Anna to her room to get the pictures and get her some actual clothes. Well, I princess carried Anna while the officer just followed us. Anna’s room was much cleaner than the rest of the house. The stench wasn’t nearly as bad either, but still there due to the rest of the house. We closed the door and the officer went to work getting photos with her phone camera for evidence while I raided Anna’s wardrobe for something fabulous for her to wear. Unfortunately, I was horrified to discover that Anna didn’t have much in the way at all for clothing. Ten shirts of various types, a few skirts, some pants, a meager amount of underwear, which I didn't mean to peek on, it was just there when I opened a drawer. And oh my god the girl only has five pairs of shoes! Five! Who can live on five pairs of shoes! When I asked Anna why she keeps wearing the same stuff over and over she said it was because she liked it. If only I had paid more attention, maybe I could have noticed something sooner. I put my lamentations about being a bad friend aside, and grab some clothing.

I pick out a cute pink blouse, a pink bra I found, and a nice light blue skirt for her to wear, along with a sock and one of the nicer shoes. Once the pictures were taken I helped Anna get dressed. Well, I just stood around handing her clothes. Anna seems to have gotten changing on her own down pat, even without her crutches to support her.

“Alright, we don't need any more pictures or witnesses or anything like that? I can heal her now, right?” I ask as Anna finishes putting her shoe on.

“Yes, that should be everything evidence wise. You can heal your friend now.”

“Lucy you don't need to…”

“No butts! Your getting healed, and once we are done here I'm taking you out for ice cream if I have enough mana left.”

Anna just meekly nods and partially lifts her shirt, seeming to accept that I'm not taking no for an answer. I gently put my hand on her side and tug on my mana while wanting to cast heal. I feel the magic get drawn off and immediately start to shape itself. Another complex pattern was formed as the mana weaved itself in the span of a mere second, before shooting off through my hand and into Anna. She gasped and clutched at her side as a green light spread across her body. After a moment the light seemed to seep into her body, and the bruises started to visibly fade away. We all watched in awe until the process finished, at which point the officer let out a light whistle.

“Damn, seeing it happen irl is a hell of a lot cooler than the videos.” The officer says.

“Oh my god that felt… weird, but so cool! Thank you Lucy! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Alright, alright, calm down! Good to see you're in a better mood. Let's go get you that ice cream.” I say while moving to pick Anna up.

“Not quite so fast girls, unfortunately you still need to talk to the detective and a social worker.” The officer says with a sorry look on her face.

I want to put this whole thing off for Anna's sake, but getting everything properly documented and handled will be better in the long run. I can feel Anna stiffen up a little as well, clearly not liking the idea either.

“Can we atleast do it down stairs? I think getting out of here would be good for her.” I state.

“Sure, let's head on down.” The officer agrees.

She radios ahead while I argue with Anna on how to proceed. I want to carry her down but she insists I just support her as she tries to walk on her own. Eventually I cave and just support Anna on her bad side. By the time we manage to make the journey down the steps both the detective and social services worker are waiting at the bottom, talking with various officers and viewing photos on their devices. The detective ended up wanting a recap of what happened, and the social worker wanted to know if there were any other issues at home.

Anna started by telling them the story of what happened, starting from the beginning early this morning. Her father burst into her room some time before six in a drunken rage screaming all sorts of crap about her and how she wasted money. That's when he beat her up, indiscriminately punching her everywhere but the face. Her mother had already left for her morning shift, and her two older brothers were already out doing things as well. It was only her and her shitbag little brother who took after his father a little too much. Apparently they’ve been abusive before but only verbally. This is the first time her father has ever hit her, and according to both the detective and social worker, it will be the last.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Apparently he has quite the rap sheet, lots of public intoxication, duis that caused him to lose his license and job, drunken fights. The detective says he probably isn't getting bail again, and the social worker is going to try to get a protective order thrown in to keep him from coming home. So, it's all resolved, for now. Good thing to, if it wasn't I'd probably be drawing blood on some mother fuckers right now.

Anna’s mother actually showed up as we were finishing up and about to leave, so the social worker went to talk to her. Eventually they finished, and it was decided that on account of her father being put away, Anna would remain at home. Anna's mom wanted her to stay home, but Anna didn't seem very interested. So off to the ice cream shop we went.

Mana: 1160/7084

But great but not bad. Though with the regen crystal I can definitely make it to the ice cream shop and back without issues. Anna wanted to walk there, but it's to long a walk for that. I gave her the choice of monkey on back or a princess carry. She chose monkey, so I picked her up and we headed off. I looked up a shop nearby, it's ratings weren't amazing but it should get the job done.

As we got farther along the streets became more crowded. We were drawing more than a few looks, the one legged chick being carried by the other with the floating crystal, as I overheard one dude put it. Finally we got to the ice cream shop, I put Anna down at a table and took her order, then went up to the counter to get the ice cream. All was well and good, we were eating our delicious dairy confections, enjoying the day, talking about what boys at our school were cutest. Until we were rudely interrupted, that is. Because peace and tranquility are apparently overrated.

I noticed him the moment he walked in the door. Slicked back blonde hair, fancy suit, briefcase in one hand, sharp look in his eyes as he scanned the small interior of the shop. Way too overdressed for this part of town, and basically screaming trouble. Of course his eyes lock onto me and Anna sitting in the corner minding our own business. He doesn't waste a moment, confidently striding over while taking up an inviting smile.

“Hello ladies, my name is Mark Hamburt. I'm a recruiter with the guild Healers Incorporated. Would either of you happen to be Lucy Bretmont?” He asks with a sweet tone, but looking straight at me the entire time. Asshole already knows the answer.

“Hmmm, oh y…” Anna starts, only for me to cut her off.

“Whatever you're selling, we’re not interested.” I state with quite a bit of annoyance and finality in my tone. Hopefully making Anna realize that I don't want any kind of conversation with this guy.

“Oh but Ms. Bretmont, I'm not selling anything. But I have come to offer you membership in our guild. We are one of the oldest and most prestigious healer focused guilds in the entire world. We’ve reviewed your history and think….”

“Not interested.” I cut him off. He seems dazed for a moment, as if unable to comprehend what just happened. His smile slips for a slight moment, before coming back as he continues.

“No need to be like that Ms. Bretmont, your future is important. I simply wish to show you the benefits you could…”

“Dude, since you can't get the memo I guess I'll have to say it straight, fuckoff! I am not interested in joining a guild, especially one represented by a dense assclown.” I snap at him. Instantly his demeanor changes, the smile drops and a cold hateful look takes his gaze.

“Such harsh words aren't necessary. One of the things I was going to tell you about was that our guild is on the verge of a major breakthrough in limb regeneration. But the list for the treatment is very restrictive, such that many will be cut before they can even apply for it.” He says while side eyeing Anna.

“Bullshit.” I reply.

“Excuse me?” He asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I said bull, shit. If your guild had something like that they would be screaming to the high heavens about it. Now get lost before I call the cops.” I say, pulling out my cell phone.

He opens his mouth to speak again but is cut off by the employee behind the counter.

“Hey, stop harassing customers and get out!” The old man behind the counter barks at him.

The dude finally turns to leave, but not before muttering. “We'll be speaking again very soon Ms. Bretmont.”

Finally he's gone, and me and Anna can go back to eating our ice cream in peace. Anna's quiet for a few minutes, but I can tell she has something she wants to say. Eventually, she musters up the courage to ask me.

“Lucy, do you really think?....”

“No Anna, they don't have it. Like I told that dickhead, if they have it, or are even close, they would be screaming about it. It would be on the newsstand very hard to miss. I'm sorry, he was just trying to use you to get at me.”

“I thought so.” Anna says with a dejected tone.

Great now she's sad again, so much for a trip to get ice cream cheering her up. Damn dickhead, so Healers Incorporated is definitely on my hard blacklist, pricks. Oh I know! I fish around in my pocket, finding and pulling out the blue gem with a white foot with wings on it.

“Here, I've been meaning to give this to you but keep forgetting.” I say as I offer up the shiny little gem.

Anna, being the magic goblin she is, immediately figures out what it is. She lets go of her spoon, and would have dropped it if it wasn't in her mouth, and snatches the gem out of my hand.

“You actually made one! This is so cool! How does it work?”

“It says that breaking the crystal causes it to cast like whoever is holding the crystal cast it. No idea if it works…..” I didn't get to finish my sentence before Anna crushed the crystal between her fingers. It disintegrated into dust as a light shot out of it and into her hand.

Anna shot straight up and went rigid, clearly caught off guard. Hell, I'm caught off guard. I didn't know it was that easy to break, otherwise I would have warned her.

“Ah shit, I didn't know it was that brittle. Don't worry about it, I'll make you another tomorrow.” I tell her, hoping to calm her nerves.

Instead she just looks at me, then pokes me on the nose.

“Boop”

And that's when I felt the haste spell settle over me. And Anna went from deer in headlights to about to erupt like Yellowstone.