Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Final Farewell

{LEXI'S POV}
I'm standing in the dark again. My body aches, though not nearly as bad. Reiki is with me. His eyes are a deeper blue than mine, vibrant and royal, matching his swirling eye birthmark. It dawns on me happily that his blue is back to stay.

There's no need for Reiki to have the Seven Sins Seal anymore. Apophis is dead. We're dead.

I've long since accepted this as the only outcome. If Apophis was telling Reiki the truth, we're both magic power sources now. Our magic will never plateau, never stop growing. Eventually it'll break us. Although we beat Apophis, our human shells aren't suited to hold such magic power.

I wish Reiki could've lived at least, but I'm fine if we're together forever. We hold hands. I sigh. Reiki sighs. Something behind us sighs.

I yelp and spin around. Reiki takes a combat stance. Apophis watches us boredly, his body tightly coiled. His pretty blue-tinged black scales are the only light source in the dark expanse.

"Why are you in our afterlife?" Reiki demands.

"Your afterlife? This is my afterlife you living souls are intruding upon." Apophis snaps haughtily.

I laugh incredulously. "We're alive? Not possible. No one knew where we were, and the damage you inflicted was so severe."

"Your guildmate has a good nose. The bloodhound."

Reiki and I share a odd glance. Lots of cats in our guild, but no dogs. Apophis laughs at his own joke.

"What do you want with us?" I ask angrily.

"You two seem resigned to your deaths." The snake notes, a hint of amusement in his hiss.

"Because we're together." We answer immediately. I grab Reiki's hand again. He squeezes back.

Apophis's eyes look wistful. I'm reminded of the white-blonde in his past. When he descended to Earthland, a small village sacrificed her to him to appease his wrath. She treated him kindly, without fear, so he decided to spare her. Then he watched as the villagers brutally murdered her, after she returned to them and explained that he wasn't evil.

Like in the storybook of a beauty and a prince cursed to look beastly, sans the happily ever after. The same villagers that killed her then sealed him.

"Besides, our magic power is too great for human bodies to bear. You probably know that better than we do." Reiki reasons.

"You two aren't quite human anymore." Apophis tells us. "You killed me, remember? Such is a feat similar to killing a high level dragon or devil. Those beings are called dragon slayers or devil slayers. You two are now this world's only ophidian slayers."

Slayer of snakes doesn't quite have the same ring to it as slayer of dragons. But maybe this means Reiki can live, so I'm glad.

"Besides," Apophis continues, "you have spared me from my wretched existence. For that, I shall give you an equal reward as my thanks."

He reminds me a lot of someone else right now. The snake and the dryad queen would get along famously. I have a bad feeling about this.

"Lexi." His attention is fully on me. "Your lightning affinity is especially suited to mine. You've already gained a chaotic lightning attribute while within me. I shall make this power up permanent. Your lightning will now be blue. You're welcome."

He touches his nose to my core and I feel something flow into me. It's warm but not unpleasant.

"Reiki." Apophis turns to Reiki. "My chaos affinity is very well-suited to you, especially since our magic resonated for all nine years I was sealed. So I'll evolve your heavenly body magic into—hmm. I think I'll call it... chaotic body magic. Your star astronomy power now spans dimensions. You're welcome."

He touches his nose to Reiki's solar plexus, causing his royal blue eyes to glow as new power surges into him. Reiki's hair flutters despite the lack of wind.

This is weird. "Thank you?"

"Furthermore," Apophis continues, "I've given each of you a portion of my physical strength. You may think of it as an enhancement similar to the water woman's body or iron man's scales."

Does he mean Aunt Juvia's water body or Uncle Gajeel's iron dragon scales? So basically, our bodies have become very sturdy via magic?

"Now your magically-enhanced human shells can withstand your ever-growing magic power. You should both be able to live long, fruitful lives."

The tears I shed for Apophis now are not of fear. They're tears of gratitude. Reiki can live. I can live. We can stay together.

I say it genuinely now: "Thank you."

Apophis's body flickers. Alarmed, we run forward to stroke his fading form.

"What's happening?" Reiki asks.

"I gifted you two all of the physical and magical energy that was trapping my conscious here. It was that or stay in a boring place like this. No, I'm off to far greater endeavors. Perhaps I'll be reincarnated as a mortal and live an entertaining second life."

"Farewell." I whisper. The snake who was my enemy for nine years nods.

"Your bodies are different than you're used to. Every action will carry more force. If you're not careful, you may end up causing a lot of damage."

After this final cryptic warning, Apophis fades, leaving us in complete blackness.

I open my eyes and blink up at the ceiling.

Mom's face appears above me, fuzzy then slowly in focus; a gentle hand cups my cheek. Her eyes are wide and watery. "Lexi? Sweetheart? Are you awake? Do you know who I am?"

"Mom." I croak. "I'm thirsty?"

She breathes a sigh of pure relief. All her features relax. "Of course, you must be. I'll be right back."

She kisses my forehead lightly then pulls away. Dad takes her place in my field of vision. I try to sit up but he lays me back down. "Rest."

"How long was I out?"

"Two days." Dad looks tired.

"And Reiki?"

"Still asleep. He's in the next room over. His internal bleeding was worse than yours, but he's stable."

The next most pressing question: "Did we win?"

Dad cracks a smile for the first time. "Yes. All the participants are at an afterparty hosted by the palace in honor of the first ever Storybook Games."

Mom brings me a cup of water. As I sip, she says, "Reiki just woke up as well. Wendy wants to assess you two first, but she says you still may be able to go to the celebration party."

Aunt Wendy takes a look at me and deems me fine to get up. My body healed remarkably well, which only I know is because of Apophis's physical strength.

I dress up in a form-fitting yellow dress with spaghetti straps and cute sandals.

I wobble out of Yuuna's room at the same time that Reiki hobbles out of Yuuki's. He's wearing a pale blue dress shirt, black pants, black shoes, and a big white bandage over half his face. He's quite dashing.

We look like a pair of mummies, wrapped up to go to the ball, but I don't care. We're together.