Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Arachnophobia

This chapter is brought to you by:

A childhood nightmare I didn't realize could actually happen.

The next five-ish chapters are all happening chronologically alongside the previous two, spanning the fifth day.
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{NASHI'S POV}
Yeah yeah, laugh it out. I'm the daughter of a demon (who chooses to live as a human) and granddaughter of a fire dragon, a king of his species. One of the strongest mages of my age.

And I'm afraid of teensy little spiders.

I can't help it, okay? I used to be a friend to spiders. Whenever someone would find one in the guild hall and try to kill it, I was always the one who trapped them and brought them outside.

One day, Aunt Erza found an unusually big spider near her strawberry cake. She was ready to defend her food with lethal violence. So, naturally, I intervened. I grabbed the spider by it's overly swollen abdomen without even thinking about it.

I didn't know the spider was pregnant! And I wasn't really paying attention, but I certainly didn't know that I was squeezing it too hard!

Long story short, the spider popped open. That alone would be traumatizing enough for an impressionable seven year old girl. But instantaneously, thousands of babies scattered from her abdomen onto me. They crawled down my arm, into my clothes and mouth. I ran out of the guild hall screaming and swatting, but those little buggers are hella fast!

Now anytime I see a spider, I imagine it exploding and a bazillion itty bitty creepy crawlies swarming me. The thought of it makes me itch and squirm. All those little legs scurrying across my skin. Ugh.

I shudder; Storm notices. He elbows me lightly to draw my attention away from my thoughts. He grabs my hand and I link my fingers through his gratefully.

I wouldn't be able to do this without Storm. Honestly, I wouldn't even know this place existed if not for him. We're currently at the Crocus post office, looking at the rush job request board.

I didn't even know there was a request board in the post office. But not every town or city has a guild hall, and sometimes there are jobs where it might be too late by the time an official request can posted on guild boards, like hostage situations or a missing child. Post offices get this information and post it on all of their boards, which are connected through a lacrima network. These are known as rush jobs.

Wizards without guilds can work rush jobs, although the reward is worse because rush jobs are funded by the kingdom. The person making the request doesn't have to pay nearly as much as they would for a private request to the guilds.

Jobs on guild request boards usually cost around 1,000 Jewel to post, plus the person making the request has to provide a reward. Meanwhile rush jobs cost a total of 200 Jewel or less to post and the reward is provided by the post office. It's a lot cheaper and pays less, but the work is still stressful.

Most mages get employment through guilds, so a lot of people who take rush jobs aren't full-time wizards; instead they dabble in magic but don't make it their career. Thus, rush jobs are failed more frequently. This is why they aren't popular, even if they're faster.