Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Magic Power Finder

{LEXI'S POV}
Reiki is unequivocally first place in the fourth day special event, having defeated all 100 monsters plus one extra. There's a teensy problem now. Reiki's magic power outburst, which he's fully recovered from thanks to a lot of healing on Emilia's part, has left Pandemonium completely wrecked.

Reiki stares at the ruins, scratching his head sheepishly. He stands on his now-healed left leg.

"How are the others going to decide rankings?" I ask Aunt Wendy, who's standing next to me. She's already healed my badly burned arm, after the glowing yellow cracks knitted themselves together.

"Hmm..." She tilts her head. "Well, when Erza-san did the same thing, they used a Magic Power Finder to test the others. I remember because Cana-san placed second using Fairy Glitter."

"When Aunt Erza did what?!" We all shout, jaws hitting the floor. I mean, it's Aunt Erza so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

Aunt Erza puts her hands on her hips and sticks her chest out proudly. "I beat 100 monsters by myself in Pandemonium too. It should be a family tradition!"

"Your grandkids may hate that idea." Nashi looks at me and snickers. Avery slaps her upside the head and the two start bickering.

Sure enough, the staff bring out a large pedestal with a clear crystal ball resting on top. I know what Magic Power Finders are without Chapati's explanation. Hit the crystal ball, a number between 1 to 9999 appears. A rough estimate of the spell's raw power.

The rules are simple: higher number means higher rank. I wonder how everyone will do. They'll attack in the order that they drew sticks to enter Pandemonium. That means Gianna's first.

The only thing she has to make a doll out of is the dirt on the arena floor. So she creates the same dirt doll that she did all the way back during Tower Escape. Was that really only three days ago?

The dirt doll's fist crumbles when it comes in contact with the crystal ball. It gives her a score of 256. For a ten year old, that's pretty dang impressive.

Rum is up. He hits the crystal ball with a magic-imbued palm and earns Quatro Cerberus a solid 425.

Diana goes next. She actually unsheathes her sword and shadows elongate, swirling around the blade. She's building up to something.

"You can do it, Di!" Nero shouts encouragingly.

Unfortunately, this has the total opposite effect Nero was hoping for. Diana looks at him in delight, consequently losing all focus on the spell. Shadows slingshot in all directions. One pings off the crystal ball and Diana earns a score of 78.

"Nii-sama!" She cries, throwing herself at Nero. "You cheered for me yet I failed! Waaaaah!"

He pats her head. "You did your best."

Now it's Emilia's turn. She lets loose with a Sky God's Boreas and earns the first triple digit score, 3965.

And Nero finishes the special event. He earns back his sister's dignity by using the same technique of gathering shadows around his blade. You can tell that his is a much higher level than Diana's, and he chips the crystal with his blade, producing a score of 6099.

And now for the much anticipated two-on-two tag battles of the fourth day.

Fairy Tail will go second and we're up against Sabertooth again. Figures. The crowd always wants Fairy Tail to face Sabertooth in the doubles.

Before our turn, Mermaid Heel and Quatro Cerberus are also having a rematch. Not only that, Diana is competing along with Ima Reater and Tank is competing with his teammate Banez. It's a rematch of offense against defense.

Banez will skate out, do some damage, and retreat behind Tank. He's even able to counter Diana's attacks with some his own, making sure Tank doesn't take too much damage and have his shield break again. The boys work as a team, making full use of the hit-and-run strategy. It works well for them.

On the other side, Ima and her solid script magic is a strong backup for Diana. She creates walls to break Banez's momentum and casts shadows for Diana to hop around the battlefield. She also creates shields to block Banez when he almost gets a good hit in.

The teams are locked in a stalemate and it seems like they're going to tie. Then, in a shocking development, Banez lands a hard kick on Diana. She winces, stumbling backwards and falling on her butt.

Seeing the shadow mage undefended, Banez gets excited and skates in for the finishing blow. He's punched from the side by a giant boxing glove, shaped from the words BOXING GLOVE. Solid script magic. Ima grins and gives Diana a thumbs up.

With Banez now out cold, Tank is outnumbered and outmatched. Diana rises to her feet while Ima smartly moves to Tank's opposite side. Ima attacks again. Knowing better than to take it head on like Banez, he turns his shield to block, but his back is undefended. Diana pulls his shadow taut, then lets go and slingshots it back. Tank falls, earning Mermaid Heel another 10 points on the board.

Tank points at Diana, red with embarrassment, and shouts, "I'll beat you one day! Wait for me!"

Diana sticks out her tongue. "Who would?"

The second match is me and Reiki versus the royal twins. The Ice Cold Queen and the Confession King.

"Will you be okay?" Avery asks anxiously, staring at Reiki as if he'll rip like tissue paper. She doesn't want him get hurt for many reasons.

"Emilia did a great job." Reiki eases her fears by showing off his blemishless skin. "I've had a chance to rest and recover magic power. I'm good to go."

I tug on Reiki's arm. It's time.

We walk down together to the Fairy Tail tunnel. The twins are already waiting for us in the arena. Yuuki grins and stretches. Yuuna stands still as a statue, her expression calm and impassive.

"Can you do this?" Reiki asks me softly.

I shake my head after a moment. My battle with Opal Moody is still fresh in my head. I don't think I can go through that again. My magic rehabilitation program with Reiki is going so well. I don't want to loose all of my progress by forcing myself to fight again.

He shoulder bumps me lightly. "I figured as much. You can sit this one out."

"But—" I protest.

"Hey, I faced 101 monsters by myself. I should be able to take on two, right?" Reiki interrupts jokingly. "Stay by the wall for as long as you need."

I take a deep breath. Don't focus on magic. Focus on Reiki. As much as I fear magic, I fear Reiki getting hurt worse because of my ineptitude even more. I'll overcome my mental limiters if it means I can protect Reiki this time. I swear it.

Must overcome. Reiki and I trained for this. I've fought a lot of bandits using magic recently. But never in front of so many people.

We walk out of the Fairy Tail tunnel. Above us in the guild box, our family cheers. The audience screams, waving guild flags and posters with my face on them.

All my bravado disappears.

Hanging my head, I scurry along the edge of the arena while Reiki confidently walks to the center to face off against Yuuki and Yuuna. I sit down and press my back against the wall. I bring my knees to my chest and try to make myself as tiny as possible.

Chapati makes note of my actions in his commentary, riles up the crowd, and begins the match.