Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

A Mage Who Fears Magic

*nine years later—present day*
{LEXI'S POV}
"What'd you say, Bookworm? You wanna go?" Nashi jeers angrily.

"You heard me, Pyro! It's on!" Avery matches her. The two daughters of dragon slayers glare at one another, getting up in each other's faces.

"We're such good friends." Aunt Levy sighs, looking up from her book to watch her daughter wrap her legs around the Dragneel daughter's neck. "What went wrong with our daughters?"

"They just express their friendship differently." Aunt Lucy replies, sipping her milkshake as Nashi clocks Avery in the face. "Kinda reminds me of Edo-Lucy and Edo-Levy. Good times."

Nashi's fists light on fire. Avery's hands twitch and spires of metal, perhaps copper this time, rise from the earth. Their mothers watch on with exasperation as the two girls attack each other with magic.

I suppress my shudder. You're a Fairy Tail wizard, Lexi. You can't be afraid of magic.

"Bring it, Fire Freak!"

"I'm gonna kick your metal-manipulating ass!"

They continue to brawl, bringing more people into it until most of the guild is fighting. Tables and chairs fly through the air, and magic is fired off at random. I try to make myself as small as possible, forcing down my oncoming panic attack.

You will not break, Lexi Dreyar. You won't make your family worry about you anymore.

Nashi flies across the room and rams into me. I'm an inadvertent cushion between her and the wall. She steps forward and her whole body is lit aflame.

My heart races as flames lick close to my face. I begin to hyperventilate.

Avery aims a spear made of nickel at Nashi and throws. Nashi jumps out of the way, but now it's aimed straight at me.

I hear Avery's gasp of horror. "Lexi!"

"Duck!" Nashi shouts.

I freeze. Too close. It's moving too fast for me to dodge in time. My stomach clenches and my throat closes up, so I can't even scream.

A palm strikes the metal spear at the last second. I perk up. His attack knocks the spear off course so it pierces the wall an inch from my head. My ear throbs a little; she cut the pinna, drawing blood.

Reiki turns to Nashi and Avery, seething. "You two."

"Aye sir!" They both stand at attention, backs ramrod straight. Reiki scolds them both for a few minutes about needing to be aware of their surroundings and how they destroy buildings far too frequently.

When he finally releases them from his lecture, Avery's nose twitches. She gasps, grabbing my forearms. "You're hurt!"

"It's just my ear. I don't even feel it anymore." I explain honestly. I tuck my hair behind my ear to show her, but Avery bites her lip and looks away.

"Let's get you to Aunt Wendy." She mutters, eyes focused firmly on the door.

Reiki fingers my ear lightly, making it tingle and my cheeks flush. "Nah, there's no need. This'll heal up in a week. Won't even leave a scar."

"Geez Avery, you know how Lexi is with magic." Nashi sighs, slapping the other girl upside the head—albeit lightly. Even Nashi can see how contrite Avery feels as she accepts the gentle blow without retaliation, even though it's from Nashi.

"I'm fine, seriously." I try to appease her, though Avery still looks nauseous with guilt.

A drop of blood from my ear hits the floor. Her nose twitches again and she covers it, quickly turning towards the bathroom. I frown.