Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Wolf Chase

{LEXI'S POV}
She must have made some mistake. These ripe Notch fruit are worth far more than a couple chores.

But no matter how long or how loud I knock on her door, the old dryad doesn't answer a second time. I finally decide to accept her goodwill.

I don't know how much the others have either. For all I know, Mirror could have seven fully ripe Notch fruit. Lily did eat one like it was nothing.

I'm probably making too big a deal about this. For all I know, super ripe Notch fruit is commonplace.

I've visited every house in this town. It seems the towns aren't connected to each other up in the canopy. Which means, the only way to get to a new town is by climbing back down. That's a problem.

The stickiness didn't last and I didn't think to grab extra rotten Notch. They reeked too bad.

I walk down a back alley. I'm dangerously close to the edge, but this is better than having a bunch of dryads stare at me like I'm a museum exhibit.

"Aloe, you imbecile!" Shouting and the distinct sound of a slap draws my attention.

"I'm sorry, Sorrel-san!"

"I've told you a million times, rot spreads! Now we have to throw the whole lot down!"

"Wait please!" I shout, scrambling towards the two male voices.

I round a bend and find them. One is an older dryad wearing red flowers for clothes, the other a cowering dryad around my age wearing thick green leaves.

"Whadd'ya want?" The older dryad growls. Then he starts. "White skin?"

"This may sound a bit crazy, but can I take your rotten Notch fruit?" I ask politely.

The older dryad looks taken aback. "Why? Aren't you humans on some silly treasure hunt? Lily-sama won't give you brownie points for a few rotten Notch."

"I have a different use in mind for them." I really don't want to tell Sorrel and Aloe that I'm going to smear the nasty yellow sap on my hands to make myself sticky so I don't fall to my death.

"Fine. Take 'em. I don't care. They're worthless to me." Sorrel stalks off.

The younger dryad bows and emphatically mouths a bunch of thank you's. He runs off after Sorrel, leaving a crate of rotten Notch fruit behind.

I take a deep breath and mentally prepare for the nasal assault. The smell is just as bad as the first time, but sliding down a vine like a fireman's pole is far easier when I'm not about to loose my grip.

I really don't want to climb another tree, but I'm determined not to lose this event.

I walk through the forest, scouting the canopies. It all seems a lot bigger down here. And darker.

Finally, I spot new dryads. Only two: a woman and a toddler maybe a year and a half old. They're over 70 feet up a platformless tree, scaling the bark much better than I ever could. Admittedly, it's kinda embarrassing to be outshone by a baby.

Said baby lets go of the trunk and starts to fall. At first I think it's okay, a game of some sort, and that the woman will catch her child.

But the female dryad shrieks in alarm. She grabs for the child and misses. He plummets faster. The adult dryad releases the mega tree's trunk too, sailing down after her child. She grabs him midair and hugs him close, using her own body as a shield.

I run forward, but I'll never make it in time.

They hit the ground with a sickening thunk. The woman's arms go slack. The baby dryad sits up and sucks his thumb, remarkably uninjured.