Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Five Years Later

*five years later—but you could guess that*
{AVERY'S POV}
Yuuki and I just finished a job for the little town of Chrysanthemum. It's way up in the mountains where the air is thin, so not many people accept rush jobs here. The post office employees treated us like heroes, even though it was just seven Vulcans.

We're now on our way back down the mountains. Yuuki has little glowing white wings on his feet, created by magic, whereas I have a magic-run motorcycle. We use these to get around quickly, since trains or carriages just don't cut it for rush jobs.

In half a day, we make it from the border to central Fiore, where our next rush job is. We accepted this one from the Chrysanthemum post office, since we still had plenty of energy. Vulcans are easy to beat.

This one is a emergency: a kidnapping in Primrose, which is fortunately uncommon due to high public safety measures in Fiore. When it does happen though, Yuuki and I are on the case.

Using the comm lacrima built into my motorcycle, we're filled in on the details along the way, so no time is wasted when we get there.

"Valencia Thomas, age seven, disappeared from an open market while her mother was haggling with a shop owner and let go of her hand. Was wearing a white sundress and red shoes. Search party organized by bystanders and the town guard was notified when a red shoe was discovered alongside signs of a scuffle. Red shoe has been identified as Valencia's by the mother. The mother reports that she and her ex-husband had a nasty split one year ago and he was furious when she received full custody of Valencia."

A painfully common story. It's almost always someone close to the child who does it.

"Copy that." I reply and thank the dispatcher.

"Check the ex's house first?" Yuuki asks.

I nod. "He's a guildless wizard, which is why the town's knights are hesitant to make a move. Valencia could be hurt in the crossfire."

"Rat bastard." Yuuki flies faster, so I rev my engine and speed to catch up.

Once we're close to Primrose, Yuuki lands behind me, resting to conserve magic power in case this comes down to a fight.

I park my motorcycle a block from the address of the ex-husband. We sneak to the location on foot.

The lights are on in the back. Yuuki and I peak cautiously through the window. Tied to a chair is a little girl who matches the description of Valencia Thomas. She wears a white dress and only one red shoe. From our vantage point, I can see her working furiously at her bonds. Brave girl.

The adult man in the room paces into a hallway and I risk a knock on the window. Valencia turns and sees us. Her teary eyes light up. Then her dad re-enters the room, so she quickly turns back and cleverly pretends like nothing's happened.

Yuuki uses a tiny white laser to slice through the window's lock. We creep into the room when the dad paces out a second time.

Ten seconds is all we need to have Valencia out of the house and we run for it. She clings to me and whimpers the whole way. Now that Valencia is safe, the town guard can arrest the kidnapper. Fighting him was never our job.

We deliver Valencia straight to the arms of her mother. They cry and hug.

"I'm sorry I wandered away, Mama!" Valencia sobs.

"My baby girl, I'm so glad you're okay!" Her mother clings to her tightly. I have a feeling she won't ever let go of her daughter's hand like that again.

We check in at the post office to claim our reward. 500 Jewel—maybe enough for one night at an inn, if we take the smallest dingiest room.

But Yuuki and I prefer it this way.

Tomorrow is our mandatory one day off per week. We're about to head out to find a inn to crash at for the next two nights when a postman arrives, huffing and puffing. He wears the Crocus uniform.

"Yuuki-sama! Avery-sama! Thank goodness I finally caught up to you!" He waves a stack of letters in the air. "You've got mail!"

We gratefully accept the delivery and apologize to the postman for his wild goose chase. Yuuki and I have a tendency to be in the far north of the kingdom one day and the far south two days after that.

"Godspeed!" We call after the postman as he makes his exit, to wish him safety on his journey.

There are only three letters this time; two for Yuuki and one for me. I pout, because this means I have to be the one sandwiched between Yuuki and the wall on the tiny single bed we can afford at the inn.

We sit side by side in the closet-sized room, not bothering with the lamps because Yuuki glows bright enough when he's touching me.

He reads his first letter and gives me the rundown. "It's from Yuuna. They all miss me, per usual. Mirror's really taken a shine to her training to be the next guild master. She's ready to fix the dark mark her granddad left and correct her family's legacy."

"That's awesome." I say earnestly. I'm so happy that Mirror's found her calling, especially because it frees Yuuki up to be with me.

"You next." He nudges my letter.

I can already tell from the awful chicken-scratch that it's a letter from Nashi.