Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

First Responders

{YUUKI'S POV}
Avery is frozen, her expression distraught. She might've just discovered her guildmates dead. I have to help them, for her sake.

I kneel in a pool of blood, checking the wrist pulses of Lexi and Reiki. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. I look up, not hiding my relief. "They're alive."

Avery collapses where she stands. Now I grimace. They're alive... for how much longer?

Sometimes the best help is being able to admit when you're thoroughly outclassed. My knowledge of first aid is decent since I go on a lot of solo jobs, but I don't even know where to start with this. My heart aches, but I know the best thing I can do for Lexi and Reiki right now is not touch them willy-nilly.

It's time to call in the experts. Luckily, I have my comm lacrima on me. I don't have Wendy's number saved, but I do have Emilia's (not from a confession either—we just clicked immediately as friends).

To my right, Avery lets out a gut-wrenching cry. A choked sound straight from her soul, like prey caught by a predator and wailing in it's final death throes. I drop my comm lacrima and spin, suddenly certain that Avery is dying too.

Avery's safe, thank goodness, but launches herself at Lexi and Reiki. She probably wants to shake them, to try to wake them up. I chase Avery down, snake my arms around her waist, and lift her into the air so she can't. She kicks and thrashes but I hold firm.

"What're you doing?! Lemme go!" Avery shouts, straining towards her friends. She's in crisis.

"What're you planning on doing?" I ask her, being the voice of reason.

"I gotta save them!"

"How?"

"What do you mean how?! By doing something!" Avery cries, her hands finding my face. She claws at my eyes and pulls my hair.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Stop the bleeding! Keep them breathing!"

"Okay. How will you execute that plan? Because if you don't know then you could make their injuries worse. What if one of them has a broken neck and you paralyze them permanently? Healing magic can only do so much. What if you kill them?"

"I can't just stand here!" Avery protests, although she's stopped struggling as much.

"We aren't going to." I agree. "But you don't have your wits about you. I'm going to call Emilia Blendy, but I have to set you down first. I'll only do that if you swear not to jump on Lexi or Reiki."

"I swear." Avery says softly. She goes limp.

"Good." I set her down and pick up my comm lacrima. The screen is cracked but it still works. "Emilia'll help. She's a good person."

"Okay." Avery says softly.

I scroll through my contacts until I find her name. Emilia picks up on the third ring. "Heya Yuuki, how goes the fear-facing?"

"This isn't a friendly chat, Emi. I'm with Avery Redfox. We've got two critical patients. Help."

"What happened?" Emilia's all business now.

"I don't know. I don't know! We just found them here, bleeding out. I shared my location with you."

"Why are you flatheads way out in the middle of—I'll be there soon." She hangs up.

Avery kept her word; she hasn't touched Lexi or Reiki. She's sitting next to them, curled in a ball and rocking forward and back. Her nose twitches, her complexion is ashen, she pulls at her hair.

I gently stand Avery up and steer her away, murmuring stuff like "Help is on the way." and other random comforting nothings.

Avery doesn't hear me. She stumbles, unseeing, nose twitching violently. Her nose... if she smells blood, this must be overwhelming.

I cup Avery's face and spinning it until she faces me directly. Then I blow into her face.

A spark replaces the dull look in her eyes. "Ugh, what did you eat—"

"Garlic." I plug her nose before she can breathe in again. Avery tries to bat my hand away. She's back.

Avery struggles for a second before she realizes what I've done. She covers my hand with her own so she can plug her nose too, breathing heavily through her mouth. She already looks less nauseous.

"Thangs." Avery's voice is nasally now, but her smile is so wide and genuine that I forgot my place and my heart somersaults. I quickly retract my hand so it's no longer touching hers.

"No problem." I mutter, turning away.

Emilia hops down from the trees, giving me something else to focus on. She wasn't kidding about the soon part. Sky magic and Vernier is really handy.

I raise a hand in greeting, but Emilia ignores me and Avery. She beelines to her patients and promptly assesses them. Then she hovers both of her hands over their necks, one at a time. Emilia starts with Reiki, the more critically injured of the two.

Her hands glow green for about twenty seconds each, then she nods to herself.

"What's going on?" Avery demands.

Emilia looks up at the concerned metal mage. "Neither has damage to their brain or spinal cord, which is great news. If I had to pick one body system that's hardest to recover, it'd be the nervous system. I'll stitch together their internal organs enough so we can move them. Then I'll leave the rest to Wendy-sensei. Mama was running to your guild's hotel to fetch her when I left."

"Sabertooth's hotel is closest." I tell her.

Emilia nods and types into her comm lacrima. "Got it. They'll meet us there."

Emilia's hands hover over Reiki and she begins to heal him. After a minute, nothing has changed externally except that his bleeding has slowed, but Emilia is satisfied. Then she turns to Lexi, who gets the same treatment. They're breathing easier now.

"You can pick them up. I'll walk a few feet behind you two and continue to assess and heal them." Emilia orders. Avery looks relieved.

I smile gratefully at Emilia. "Thanks, Emi."

She returns my grin with one of her own. Avery looks back and forth between us then frowns. She turns away, focusing on Lexi. Emilia notices this plus my confusion, and her eyebrow creeps up.

Avery's odd behavior around me isn't important right now. I lift Reiki onto my back. I know I'm a little older, but this guy is way too light.

Avery and I trot side by side, giving a piggyback ride to the unconscious Lexi and Reiki respectively. Emilia keeps a glowing hand on both of her patients at all times. I try to be gentle with Avery's guildmate.

After a nerve-wracking, slow-moving hour, the lights of the hotel are finally in view. Wendy and Sherria pace around outside.

Wendy lets out a cry as soon as she sees us. She runs forward then halts, horrified, hands rising to cover her mouth. "Lexi! Reiki!"

"Why didn't you tell us who it was?!" Sherria admonishes. The adult women relieve us of our charges and rush them inside. Tables and chairs have been pushed aside to leave space for the sky dragon slayer to work her healing magic.

Emilia falls into step behind Wendy, giving her updates on their conditions and what she did. Wendy lays Lexi and Reiki side by side with one hand on each. She heals them simultaneously.

Wendy occasionally instructs Emilia to heal this or hold that in a certain position so it'll set correctly.

Avery sits on the floor by Lexi's head, shivering. I run up to my room real quick and grab the thickest duvet. Avery is my highest priority right now.

I drape the blanket around Avery's shoulders, making her jump. She wraps it around herself and leans her head against my legs wearily, making my traitorous heart skip a beat. I don't want to ruin... whatever this budding thing I have with Avery is, but my heart doesn't care what my brain thinks.

I kneel down so I'm whispering in her ear. "Stay with them. I'll go tell your guild."

"Thank you, Yuuki. Really. For everything." Avery murmurs back softly.

I back out of the circle of my worried guildmates, then turn to the door and aim for Fairy Tail's hotel.