Remembrance of Days Past

Part 1 of 3: Forgotten Memories

Tinker Bell, Vidia and the Disney Fairies are the property of The Walt Disney Company. Tinker Bell originated by J. M. Barrie.

This fan fiction is not for monetary or financial gain. It is intended solely for the entertainment of its audience.

It was a warm and sunny afternoon at the Griffiths' summer home. Tinker Bell and her friends helped Lizzy and her father make some American style biscuits, which Dr. Griffiths declared to be "delightful." Although he did say they could never replace English biscuits. A colleague of his, who was touring universities throughout the United States, sent him the recipe.

"These come from the state of Georgia," the man wrote in his letter. "They are simply delicious. The American biscuits are light, fluffy and so buttery; I could not stop eating them. You must try this recipe, Martin. But remember, eat the biscuits, don't put them under a microscope."

Scientist humor.

After their little indulgence, the Griffiths and their fairy friends retired to the study where he pulled out a book on ancient mythologies. Lizzy had been studying them in school and her father decided to read to her some stories about the Greek and Roman heroes and gods. Tinker Bell, Iridessa, Rosetta and the others listened with rapt attention while he spoke of this wonderful page from human history. Tinker Bell in particular found it most interesting. Tink had a special curiosity about humans that made her different from any other fairy in Pixie Hollow. She was the one who made first contact, albeit by accident, and befriended the Griffiths. Fortunately, it turned into a mutually beneficial association. Dr. Martin Griffiths learned to spend more time with his daughter Lizzy and the fairies of Pixie Hollow found new friends and discovered more about humans than they ever had before.

Of all the fairies in the group, Vidia paid the least attention. She liked the Griffiths and considered them friends as much as Tinker Bell, but she wasn't as curious about the human world. Her mind would wander while Martin was speaking. Occasionally, she would hear something that would bring her back, but it wasn't long before her mind was somewhere else again.

While she was daydreaming of racing dragonflies Dr. Griffiths read something that sounded vaguely familiar. She couldn't understand why, or even remember exactly what it was he said. Only that it seemed like she may have heard it before. Of course, this was nonsense since Vidia always stayed away from the humans until Tinker Bell opened the floodgates a few seasons ago. Still, the flyer had a nagging sensation that it was something very important. It was a feeling she couldn't shake and it was too strong to be her mind playing tricks on her.

On the flight home Tinker Bell noticed Vidia was very distracted. "Vidia, are you okay?" she queried.

"Of course, why do you ask?" Vidia replied rather defensively.

"Because the rest of us are all over there," Tink said pointing to the loose formation almost one hundred meters away. Vidia was heading out towards open water and not the second star to the right, which was the navigation point the fairies used to get back to Never Land and Pixie Hollow.

"Oh, right. I'm just, uh…, just," Vidia couldn't come up with a good excuse for her odd behavior.

"It's okay," Tink said with a laugh. "Let's rejoin the others." The two fairies turned back towards the group and made their way home with the rest of the nature talents. When Vidia and Tinker Bell landed on the shores of Never Land and Pixie Hollow, Tink asked her friend once again if she was well.

"I'm fine," Vidia assured her. "I guess I was thinking about all that mythology stuff Dr. Griffiths told us about. Gods, heroes, monsters, it was all very interesting."

Tinker Bell didn't question her any further, but she did recognize that it was a lie. Vidia obviously was completely uninterested in any of what Dr. Griffiths was reading. Tink could see it in the flyers' body language when the fairies had gathered in the study yesterday afternoon.

~O~

After every successful campaign bringing in a season, the girls always gathered and had a big dinner together. They talked about their unique experiences, remembered the best moments and laughed all night long. Vidia appeared no worse for wear and enjoyed herself the whole evening through. She laughed, made a few snippy remarks (as usual) and even did a splendid impression of Rosetta's reaction when she learned that a flower she was trying to make grow was artificial.

"What?!" Vidia shrieked in an affected southern accent. "What do you mean it ain't real? Look at these petals; they are as real as I am."

Everyone in the room was cracking up at her spot on impression. "Then," Vidia continued through laughter and tears, "then she noticed that the petals were actually made of colored linen. Oh my gosh, the look on her face was priceless."

Vidia twisted up her face as if she were going to cry; she then slipped back into her southern accent and started to wail. "WAAAH! I've been replaced by phony flowers. What's a garden fairy to do? WAAAHH!"

The entire room exploded with peals of screams and laughter. Only Rosetta wasn't as amused. "Oh, please, I never cried. I was just a little distraught, that's all," she said. "Okay, maybe I shed a tear or two, nothin' more."

"Ro, you sounded like a human baby crying for her mommy," Vidia said with a smirk.

"Hmmph, shows what you know," Rosetta said. "I don't have a mommy."

"Aww," Fawn said to the garden fairy, "Does wittle Wosetta want her Mommy to wock her to sleep tonight?"

"Oh knock it off, Fawn," Ro said with a glare.

"I'm just teasing you," Fawn said, putting a reassuring hand on the redhead's shoulder.

When the evening ended each fairy went their separate way, but Vidia found herself being followed.

"Okay, Tinker Bell, I know you're out there."

"How did you guess?" the tinker fairy asked.

"It was pretty obvious," Vidia said. "You kept your eye on me throughout the night. Then you ignored Terence, not that I care, he is very easy to ignore."

"Hey!"

"Oh yeah, you're fairy light gave you way. I could see it following me," Vidia added.

"Oh, right."

"So, why are you following me?" the flyer asked.

Tinker Bell fumbled over her words a little as she spoke. "Just m-making sure that…, that you were alright."

"I'm fine," Vidia answered. "I don't need a babysitter. No go play with little boy blonde and leave me alone."

"Terence is not a boy," Tinker Bell asserted.

"He's younger than me and that makes him a boy," Vidia shot back. Vidia could never understand what Tinker Bell saw in Terence. He was a pretty boy with an "aw shucks" look plastered to his face at all times. Terence was faithful, dedicated, loyal and always put Tink's needs above his own, often to his own detriment. She also didn't trust him. No one that puppy dog loyal was being honest, in Vidia's opinion. Tinker Bell was just setting herself up for a huge disappointment.

~O~

The next morning, Vidia woke after a very strange dream. "I'm not the motherly type," she mumbled. Vidia put it out of her mind and went on with her daily business of meeting quotas and making snide remarks to everyone, including her friends.

When flying towards her favorite spot to practice making gusts of wind for autumn she came across Tinker Bell, Bobble and Terence. The cart they were using to make deliveries had broken down and Tink was trying to make repairs with Bobble's help. Terence was there to lend his support in any way he could. Cheese, the mouse who had been pulling he cart was off to the side resting. He was unhitched so that the three fairies could better work on the repairs. Vidia decided to sit on a mushroom and watch for a while, maybe something interesting would happen. She didn't have long to wait.

"Bobble, can you hand me that hammer?" Tinker Bell asked. The little tinker sparrow man handed her the tool. She started pounding on something underneath. Suddenly the support structure broke and the entire cart and the weight of its contents fell on Tinker Bell.

"HELP!" she cried out. "GET THIS OFF OF ME!"

Even before Tinker Bell could finish her screams for assistance, Terence had already grabbed hold of the axle and was pulling up to lift the heavy cart off her. He grunted and strained, using his knees to get the most lift, but the cart hardly budged. Bobble had to step in and give Terence a hand. He squatted down and pushed up against the cart with his shoulder. Finally, it lifted from Tinker Bell and she was able to scramble out from underneath.

Terence helped Tink up to her feet. "Thanks, Terence, you're my hero," she told him, giving the blonde dust keeper a big hug and a kiss.

"Ahem," said Bobble, clearing his throat.

"You, too, Bobble," Tink said, giving him a thankful embrace, too.

"I don't know," Vidia said from her perch. "Terence looked more a like a zero than a hero."

Tinker Bell fumed at the fast flyer. This was the last straw, friend or no friend she was going to have it out with the annoying purple clad fairy. Terence took her by the arm and didn't let her do it.

"It's okay, Tink," he said. "I needed help. Let her say what she wants."

That was Terence when it came to his Tinker Bell. He would allow himself to be insulted and belittled as long as it kept Tink from losing her considerable temper. He knew Vidia was Tink's friend and he knew what kind of personality Vidia possessed, so he took her barbs with a smile. However, he probably would have been less tolerant if he weren't romantically involved with Tinker Bell.

"Hmph, whatever," Vidia said before flying off to practice.

~O~

In the evening hours, Tinker Bell made an unscheduled visit to Vidia's home at the sour plumb tree. She banged on the door constantly until the flyer answered.

"What is wrong with you, Vidia?" Tinker Bell asked angrily. "Why do you hate Terence so much? You have been relentlessly insulting him ever since he and I started dating. Don't tell me you are interested in him?"

"Not one bit," Vidia said. "He's not my type."

"Well then why do you hate him so much?"

"Because he is a guy, Tinker Bell, and he is going to do what all guys do best: hurt you," Vidia answered.

"Terence is not like that," Tinker Bell replied. "He is sweet, attentive, kind and he loves me more than anything."

"Yeah, right. Keep living your little fantasy, tinker fairy," Vidia said. "He is going to hurt you and badly. When he does you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

"How would you know?"

"Because in my experience that is what all men do!"

"Oh really, name one example?"

Vidia opened her mouth to speak, but not one name came to mind. Instead, all she had was a strong impression. An unshakeable gut feeling.

"Hah, you can't name one person," Tinker Bell said. "Now leave us alone, Vidia, or I'll-."

Vidia didn't say a word; she just shut the door on Tink and walked to her bed.

"Fine, be that way," was what Vidia heard through her door, but it did not register. She was perplexed by what had just transpired. Vidia was certain that Tinker Bell was setting herself up for a fall, but there wasn't a shred of evidence she could present. Nothing that could implicate Terence or any other sparrow man in Pixie Hollow. So why was she so all fired up certain about it?

"Ugh," she groaned while shaking her head in frustration. "I must be cracking up," she mumbled to herself. When the last of the sunlight disappeared behind the distant horizon, Vidia went to bed and fell into a deep sleep.

She had another of her strange dreams again.

~O~

"What does it mean, Dewey?" Vidia asked the Keeper.

"I don't know, Vidia," the older sparrow man replied. "I've never heard of such unusual dreams."

"Why am I dreaming of myself as a human, married and with eight children? It makes no sense," she said. "This is the third time in three nights."

"Third time?" he asked. "You told me this was different. Are you having the same dream every night?"

"No, they are different, but it's like they are all part of something bigger. They don't feel like dreams, more like… memories. Fragments of memories," she said.

"What was the first dream about?" he asked curiously.

Vidia told him how a powerful man saved her home city from attack. In gratitude, her father gave her to this man to be his wife as a reward. She obeyed and took him as her husband and went with him to his home. There they started a family.

"Do you know what he did for our first child? He gave the boy two dead snakes as playthings."

"Snakes?"

"Yeah, I asked him the same thing. Do you know what he told me? He had dead snakes to play with himself as a baby."

Dewey looked very disturbed. "Okay, what next?"

In the second dream, she was at the dinner table with her eight boys. She had to stop the youngest, a baby, from sticking his feet in his mouth instead of the baby mush she had made for him.

"I kept telling him, we don't eat our feet at the table. We eat food, not feet. Oh, but it gets better."

The third youngest brought in one of the trays of food to the table, but he couldn't hold it very well. She went to him and took tray from him.

"Are you helping Momma?" she said. "Are you helping Momma? Yes you are. Yes you are!" Then she picked up the little one and started making farting noises on his belly with her mouth. He squealed and laughed with utter delight while she put the plate on the table. Another disaster averted.

"Wow!"

"Exactly. It's cute. I HATE CUTE! Oh, and by the way, the two oldest boys were outside play fighting with wooden swords. They were having so much fun that they didn't want to come to dinner. I had to call their father to make them sit at the table and eat."

"Okay, this is gettin' pretty weird," Dewey said. "What happened next?"

The third dream she and her children were at an open-air market. Her husband had accompanied them, but she could not find him anywhere. "I asked my oldest where their father had gone. They told me a merchant had a problem with his animal pulling up lame so he went to help."

"Anything else?" he asked her.

"When he came back, my hus, er…, he was carrying the fully loaded cart over one shoulder and the lame donkey under his other arm. He didn't even lumber. It was as if he were carrying nothing at all."

"Whoa! Does this super human have a name?"

"I haven't heard his name yet in the dreams, although I do call him 'Wonder Boy' sometimes," she said. "But I can tell you he was a big man, who wore a lion skin and used a club as a weapon. He was also very good with the bow and arrow."

"Hmmm…, very odd."

"Yes, I know, that's why I came here to talk to you," Vidia said snidely. "Now can you help me or not?"

"Any other details you might be a forgetting?"

Vidia had to stop and think for a moment. She closed her eyes and pulled the images forward in her mind to examine them.

"It's a lush and green landscape in some places," she said. "I can see vast cities, large walls protecting them. Tall structures held with columns. Everyone…, everyone is wearing strange clothing."

"Go on," Dewey coaxed.

"They're…, they're wearing large squares of linen clipped together," she said. "I think. They look sort of like togas, but different. The clothes are in bright colors. I'm wearing one, as well, in a light purple. I'm speaking another language, but I understand it. I couldn't tell you what it is, but I understand it."

"Any other details?"

"No, that is all I can remember," she said.

"These children, how do you know they are yours?" he quizzed her.

"Because I gave birth to them. They call me 'Momma'," she answered. "And I like it when they do."

"Okay, now I know you must be pullin' my wing because I know what kind of person you are, Vidia," Dewey said with a smile. "Liking little children is not part of who you are."

"I don't like kids, but in the dreams I'm happy as a mother," she said. "Every time I go to sleep it feels like I'm living another life. What does it mean and how do I make it stop?"

"Wait here," he said. Dewey went into his vast library and began to scour through his books. He looked through the different sections trying to find anything on dreams or texts about the mind or psychology of the fairy brain. Since all the keepers throughout time had kept written texts, the library was enormous, but fortunately, very well organized. It only took a few minutes for Dewey to find a few of the tomes and brought them to the front where he had left Vidia flitting. Now she looked angry, too.

"Ah…, okay. Did you do or see anything that corresponds to what you saw in your dreams?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Was there something you did or saw that was in your dreams?"

"A cart," she remembered. "The other day Tinker Bell and Terence were trying to fix a broken cart."

"There was a cart in one of your dreams," he said with emphasis. "Anything else?"

"Yes, when I was on the mainland Rosetta encountered a fake flower made of linen," she said.

"You were wearing linen clothes in the-."

"Yes, yes, yes, but why was I a human with children?" she asked. "That makes absolutely no sense."

"You were just with the human people that Tinker Bell made friends with weren't you?" Dewey asked.

"Of course! Dr. Griffiths and his daughter Lizzy. It is all beginning to make sense now." Vidia's demeanor changed from anxious to relief. "I can't believe how stupid I was acting."

"Now, now, you mustn't blame yourself," he said to her while petting her hand comfortingly. "It takes a lot to understand our dreams. Now you a go home and get some sound sleep tonight. Okay?"

Vidia smiled. "It will be a pleasure."

~O~

"STOP!" Vidia screamed as she bolted upright in her bed. "DON'T HURT THEM!"

Vidia was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Her body shook with panic and she looked frightened for her life, or for someone else's life. She jumped out of bed and quickly changed into her clothes. Then she headed out to the Pixie Dust Depot. It was still night and hardly anyone was awake, except for a few scouts who kept watch for a baby's first laugh arriving in Pixie Hollow.

She snuck into the depot and grabbed all the smidges of pixie dust she could carry. About twenty bags in total, then she slipped quietly to where Tinker Bell kept her balloon carrier. She loaded all the stolen pixie dust along with some food and water and headed out of Pixie Hollow and Never Land.

The flyer didn't have another dream she had a nightmare. Her husband and father of their eight boys had gone mad. He came home and started killing his own children. He took his bow and one by one, his arrows impaled them. The oldest ones accepted their deaths with honor and dignity as they had been taught, but the young ones couldn't understand why daddy was killing everyone. They screamed for their mommy and ran away, but it did little good. She tried to stop him. She pleaded with him, but how do you stop such a powerful man?

"I'm coming, my darlings," she said breathlessly. "Momma is coming! Momma will save you!"

She turned the balloon carrier south and prepared for a long trip. Now if only she could get to them in time.

Whoa, so what has gotten into Vidia? She stole Pixie Dust and Tink's balloon carrier? Where is she going?

I've left plenty of hints as to what is happening to her.

It will all be explained in the Parts 2 and 3, which will be posted soon.

Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed Part 1.