Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Palace Afterparty

{LEXI'S POV}
When Reiki and I walk into the afterparty, in the grand ballroom of the palace, the music pauses and everybody claps for us. How utterly mortifying.

I'm usually the wallflower, pigging out eating all the food with Reiki in the shadows. Now we're the center of attention. Everyone asks us what happened and what our fear is, since we're the only two that got over 200 points on the fearometers.

No one believes us when we say we fought a really mean snake. Especially when we tell them it wasn't venomous, because non-venomous snakes typically pose little danger to humans.

I dance with Reiki through a couple of songs. With us on the dance floor are Nashi and Storm, Opal and Lynn, Nero and Rose, as well as couple of people who switch partners every song.

Reiki and I tire out quickly due to our injuries, so we sit down next to Avery and people-watch.

Tear boldly asks Lionel to dance, one of the only girls to do such a thing. She looks like she's about to cry. Lionel blushes and a five foot radius freezes instantly. He accepts Tear's outstretched hand.

Lionel feels Tear's emotions. A broad grin stretches across both their faces.

Axis laughs and spins Edel in the center of the dance floor. Their guildmates goof around with their friends, but those two act different together.

Yuuki sees this while dancing the previous two songs with Yuuna and Diana respectively. While the band sets up for the next song, he sneaks up behind Axis and slaps him on the back. Edel thanks him, while Diana gets asked to dance by Tank.

"Why?" Diana asks, confused.

Tank reddens. "It's a challenge! I-I just want to beat you! Don't misunderstand!"

"He llllllllikes you." Nero teases his cute little sister, rolling his tongue like a certain blue cat.

"Ro thinks so too." Rose joins in with a little snicker, shortening her name to imitate a certain cat wearing a pink frog costume.

"Onii-sama." Diana's hands find her hips. "Your eyes are more beautiful than a billion Jewel, but when it comes to this—you're not seeing clearly!"

Yuuki approaches our trio now. I hope he's not going to ask me for a dance. I'll have to refuse him, and not just because Reiki is the only partner I want to dance with. I'm genuinely weary right now.

He ignores me entirely, extending a hand to Avery. "Shall we dance?"

She arches an eyebrow. Meanwhile, I'm confused. Why Avery? She's definitely going to refuse. Avery doesn't like playboys like Yuuki.

"What's in it for me?" Avery asks, standing up as if she intends to accept either way.

"I'm good company?" Yuuki offers. "And I followed your advice, so you totally owe me a dance. I need something nice to think about when I'm starving on the streets and can't find work."

Avery's face lights up. "You did? Congrats!"

She looks like she's about to hug him, then hesitates and blushes. She quickly leans to me so he can't see it. "Should I dance with him, Lexi?"

My mouth has been catching flies for this entire encounter. I look from Avery's shining eyes which beg me to say yes, to Yuuki's pleading form behind her with his hands clapped together.

I sneeze.

And I learn what Apophis meant by every action will carry more force.

"AH-CHOO!" My voice ricochets through the ballroom like a gunshot. My mouth produces a gale force snot-rocket that is fortunately aimed at my lap, because I turned my head down in time.

Unfortunately, the accompanying blast of wind lifts Avery's short skirt enough for Yuuki (the only one who's looking at her) to very clearly see beneath it. Avery's thrown back into Yuuki, who has just enough time to brace himself.

Yuuki catches Avery when she stumbles backwards from the force of my sneeze. He steadies her on her own feet. Now everyone is staring at us. I cover my mouth in horror and chagrin.

"Yes, you should." I answer quietly.

Avery fans herself madly. She buries her face in her hands and runs off, feeling humiliated. I don't know what happened between them, but she definitely likes Yuuki now. Yuuki immediately chases after Avery, calling her name. I feel so bad.

Reiki runs over to the food and grabs some napkins to dab at my dress, since my lap is a snotty mess.

Reiki's all tense now. When he sits back down in his chair, it's with a little too much force. The chair legs snap. Where Reiki's butt contacts the marble floor, he leaves a Reiki-sized crater in his wake.

"I think this is our cue to leave." I whisper, trying to hide my face although there's no point. My face burns as if Nashi set it aflame.

"I agree." Reiki hastily stands and straightens out his debris-covered dress shirt.

We say our goodbyes, give extremely cautious hugs, and exit stage left. Our feet are stronger than the flooring, so we leave footprints while we flee. On the steps of the palace, I put my foot down too hard and the step crumbles, pitching me forward.

Reiki catches me by the strap of my dress, but it snaps from the force. Thankfully, he earns me enough time to regain my balance. This doesn't change the fact that we're now walking, talking, not-quite-human wrecking balls.

"What do we do?" I ask Reiki, holding up my dress in case one spaghetti strap isn't enough.

"We learn to control our new bodies." Reiki replies.

He makes it sound so simple. "Great Grandpa will cry if the guild hall gets destroyed a twentieth time."

Reiki frowns, seeing my point. He looks at my expression and his eyes widen. "You want to leave."

"Not forever. We'll come back once we've mastered our new magic and won't be a danger just by sneezing. Think of it as an impromptu training journey." I gesture around. "Fairy Tail would never let us go if we told them, but no one's here to stop us now. I doubt they'll be able to catch up to us once they figure it out, if we use our ophidian abilities."

"Um, have you forgotten that your dad is a dragon slayer and will hunt you to the ends of Earthland? Plus he'll have the noses of Uncle Natsu and Uncle Gajeel and Aunt Wendy. Not to mention Aunt Bisca and Uncle Alzack and Asuka and all the other trackers. And those are just the people in our guild."

"But what if we weren't in Earthland anymore?" I grin at Reiki suggestively.

He snorts. "You want my first use of chaotic body magic, which Apophis literally made up on the spot two days ago, to be hopping dimensions. That sounds like a fantastic way to get us killed."

"Come on. We'll never know unless you try."

Reiki is crumbling and I can tell. He doesn't want to accidentally hurt our guildmates any more than I do.

"Pleeeease?" I pull out my most convincing puppy-dog eyes, pouting my lips too.

Reiki sighs harshly. "Fine. But I'm blaming you if I transport us somewhere wacky."

"Deal." I giggle. He grabs me and pulls me close. I loop my arms around his neck. "I trust you."

Reiki's body glows like it does with meteor, except instead of white he glows dark grey. His birth mark glows blue, shining through the bandage on his face.

"Hold on tight. Next stop, I don't even know. Oh Mavis, why am I doing this again?!"

I laugh in delight.

Reiki and I disappear in a flash of chaos, leaving nothing but a mystery behind.