Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

The Two Return

{AVERY'S POV}
Nova and Sora sit at the bar, drinking milk from age-appropriate bottles provided by Aunt Mira. All we've managed to glean from them is that the girls somehow got separated from their parents, who fight monsters for a living, and these same parents told them to go to Fairy Tail if they ever got lost.

At first we thought the girls might be more illegitimate children of Gildarts, but one furious lacrima call from Aunt Cana clears that up. It wasn't Gildarts. I study the toddlers intently. They do look familiar, but I can't place my finger on who exactly.

"More milk, pease!" Nova holds up her sippy cup to Aunt Mira.

"Well, since you asked so politely." Aunt Mira smiles from behind the bar, filling up the sippy cup and passing it back.

"Tank you," Nova beams, "Gwandma!"

Aunt Mira tilts her head, smile intensifying. "I'm Aunt Mira. Can you say that with me? Aunt. Mira."

"Gwandma!" Nova insists.

Sora tries to slide out of her booster chair, so Aunt Erza unclips and picks her up.

"Pwetty." Sora grabs a strand of Aunt Erza's long scarlet and pulls, yanking her head to the side. "Gamma pwetty!"

Aunt Erza turns to Uncle Jellal, her expression hopeful. "She thinks my grammar is pretty?"

Sora's finger pointed at Aunt Erza's face is the final nail in her coffin. "Gamma!"

Aunt Erza hangs her head, utterly defeated. "I'm still in my forties. I'm not that old yet?"

Nova pats her arm comfortingly. "S'okay. You no old. Gwandma is jus Papa's mama."

"Huh?" Aunt Erza's eyebrows slam together.

Nova points at Uncle Jellal, Master, and Aunt Mira, respectively calling them, "Papa's papa. Mama's papa. Mama's mama."

My eyes widen as it finally dawns on me who Nova and Sora look like. I grab Yuuki's hand, desperate for something stable to hold.

The guild doors are suddenly blown open by a gust of cold wind, making me jump. The air smells like a thunderstorm and the lights flutter.

We're blinded by a blue flash. My hair stands on end right before the lightning strikes. One second later, thunder booms; the figure inside the energy storm is moving faster than sound.

I blink the spots out of my eyes.

Lexi crouches on the bar with her right arm and leg extended. Pale blue electricity flickers in the air around her body as her hair drifts into place.

She hops off the bar counter and flips her blonde hair over her shoulder. It's longer and straighter, but the last inch is still electric blue to match her eyes.

Dark grey smoke pours in through the open doors. It swirls in eddies, filling the guild hall up to my knees. Next to Lexi, a dark grey-cloaked figure rises out of the smog. I couldn't sense him moving at all.

Reiki pulls back his hood, revealing his maroon hair has grown shaggier. His swirling blue birthmark and eyes glow a darker, royal blue.

Lexi and Reiki pin us with cold blue stares. I can't stop my instinctive shudder.

Then Lexi's cheeks puff out and flush as she fails to hold back a laugh; the tense atmosphere is destroyed. "Pffft! By Mavis, you all look struck dumb! Was our grand entrance sufficiently dramatic?"

"Yo! We're back." Reiki laughs too.

"Mama!" Nova lifts her arms happily so Lexi can free her from her booster seat.

"Pa!" At Sora's insistence, Reiki retrieves his younger daughter from her grandmother's arms.

"You did so good, Nova!" Lexi presses her forehead against her older daughter's. "You found Fairy Tail just like we taught you!"

Nova puffs out her chest proudly. "I did!"

I'm hallucinating. There's no way Lexi and Reiki would just appear in Fairy Tail after all this time. Let alone sporting two toddlers who settle comfortably in their arms and call them Mama and Papa.

Reiki focuses on Yuuki and me, the last ones to talk to them before they went off the grid. "Hey guys, it's been a while. You two look well. Thanks for taking care of Nova and Sora for a bit."

"Our pleasure." Yuuki steps forward and raises a hand. Reiki shifts Sora to his hip so they can shake.

It's not a hallucination. They're really here. Reiki greets me with a smile, like it's been five days not five whole frickin' years with no contact.

"WHERE IN THE HELL HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?!" I roar. "And more pressing, how soon did you knock up Lexi to have kids this old, you bastard?!"

"Well, Nova is four—"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE?!"

"You just asked."

"AAAAAAAAAGH!" I tackle Reiki in frustrated hug, sandwiching Sora between us, before giving Lexi and Nova the same treatment. They're warm and real.

I pound on Lexi's chest, which only succeeds in hurting my fists. Geez, what is she made of? Her skin has no give, like sprinting head-first into a brick wall. No matter. I grab a fistful of Reiki's dark grey cloak tightly while I faux-assault Lexi. Last time I let go, they left no hair nor scent behind.

Anger flares through me again. Summoning all the venom I can muster, I hiss, "You two are forbidden from making me worry like that ever again."

They surrender easily.

The next week is full of celebration as Fairy Tail rejoices. Lexi, Reiki, Yuuki, and even Nova and Sora participate in the festivities.

The party is only revved up by Nashi's special announcement. Storm screams and picks her up by the waist, spinning her around joyously.

Lexi and Reiki tell us a wild story about a snake that was bigger than a mountain and their battle with him, external and internal.

They open up about their fears and how they faced them during the Storybook Games. Then how they found the snake trapped in an endless lifecycle and freed him, catalyzing changes in their magic that forced them to leave. It was to protect us.

The whole thing sounds like a storybook to read to Nova and Sora so they fall asleep. But we believe every word, especially when Lexi tells us...

"We're back for good now."

THE END