Title: I'm Ready, Break Down The Barriers
Disclaimer: I don't own this show.
AN: Another result of high dreams. This is my first attempt at writing a story more than ten thousand words, and updates will be irregular due to university demands.
let's ride
Timmy wishes for Cosmo to become a genius, but this means Anti-Cosmo - the opposite of Cosmo in every way - will have to live with being dumb for the rest of his life. Faced with trials in love and self-discovery, they come to learn that intelligence, or lack thereof, doesn't account for everything.
Act One: Carpe Diem
...
"Why does so much bad luck happen to good people?"
Timmy sighed, and let his head lean into his hands as he sat on the edge of an abandoned train stop.
Timmy and his fairies would often visit there if they didn't want to be seen by anyone. It was far out of the way of civilization as this part of the train tracks had long since been forgotten. The tracks were old and rusted, and the train stop was covered with overgrown plants. Despite the place being neglected, the nature that had grown on top of it made it look a lot more beautiful. It was a place Timmy could call his own, completely discarded by the rest of the world, and he would often go there to escape from his everyday life.
This time, Timmy just had to get away from his babysitter Vicky for a while. She was in the mood that day to be a little more experimental with her torture devices. And as soon as she broke out the flamethrower, which she had personally modified to also work as a chainsaw, Timmy knew that was his cue to poof away from her alongside his fairy godparents.
Cosmo and Wanda were floating nearby him as they watched him dangle his legs over the platform and sigh once more into his hands. Cosmo tilted his head in a deep contemplative thought.
Bad luck... why does bad luck happen...
Cosmo thought as he tapped his chin. He was sure that knew the answer to that. After a few silent moments, Wanda replied for him with a laid-back wave of her hand,
"Bad luck is caused by anti-fairies, sweetie."
Cosmo was instantly snapped out of thought.
"Oh yeah, that's right! Wanda, have we met some anti-fairies before?" He squinted his eyes as he thought once again, harder this time, "There were two anti-fairies in particular that are very familiar to me..."
"You're thinking of our counterparts, Cosmo." Wanda said half-heartedly, far too used to her husband's shortcomings at this point.
Timmy asked curiously, "What're anti-fairies?"
"They're the evil counterparts of fairies with the sole purpose of causing bad luck to humans on earth. Whenever a superstition like breaking a mirror or spilling salt occurs, an anti-fairy appears and causes misfortune!"
Cosmo was still racking his brains beside her,
"I remember the names of the two most evil anti-fairies that were also very familiar to me... wait a second... it'll come to me..."
Wanda rolled her eyes this time as she answered for him once again,
"We're trying our best to contain as many as we can, but sometimes the odd few slip by us and cause mischief." She said, and finally turned to Cosmo to end his personal torture, "At the very top of the evil anti-fairy pyramid are Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo. They're the evil versions of us."
Cosmo's face brightened up as he finally realised who they were, but his smile soon faded after he remembered exactly who they were to him.
"Oh, I remember them now... man, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda are horrible!" He told Timmy bitterly, "They're always trying to take over the universe and take away our godkids. And whenever we run into them, Anti-Cosmo always makes me feel like an idiot!"
Timmy opened his mouth to comment about that, but chose not to as Wanda's gaze back to Cosmo said all there needed to be. Wanda's exasperated expression spoke louder than she ever could simply by raising an eyebrow. And after a few short silent moments passed between them, Cosmo choked up when he finally caught on to them.
"Hey! C'mon guys, I'm not that dumb!" Cosmo snapped in defense, clearly hurt by their accusing looks, "And, y'know, Anti-Cosmo isn't as smart as he makes himself out to be!"
Timmy and Wanda only glanced at each other with doubt.
"Does it really matter?" Timmy asked him as he suddenly noticed that Cosmo's lower lip was trembling with emotion. Timmy wondered sincerely,
Was he really that hurt?
Wanda slowly and carefully inched closer to him,
"Cosmo, honey, I don't care if you're not very smart." She said softly as she attempted to console him with a comforting hand placed over his shoulder, "That's not the reason I married you."
But as she came closer to him, Cosmo backed away from her in defense,
"Well it matters to me!" Cosmo pouted as he crossed his arms in a huff.
Wanda didn't respond. In fact, she almost found it amusing the way he was acting about the whole thing. Cosmo always acted like a little kid when it came right down to it. He was always wearing his heart readily on his sleeve and acting on the first thing that came to his mind. And though sometimes this would be annoying or even a little hurtful at times, Wanda found it to be sweet trait of his. It was even a little adorable in some instances. So when Cosmo crossed his arms and pouted his lower lip like a sulking child, Wanda couldn't help but stifle a laugh.
Suddenly, Cosmo turned back to Timmy with determination and floated down to him to look him square in the face,
"Timmy please, wish that I was smarter!"
Timmy flicked his eyes to Wanda for a moment before hesitantly returning back to Cosmo. And with one eyebrow raised, Timmy was tempted to believe that Cosmo was serious about this.
"You really want me to do this?"
"Yeah!" Cosmo shouted with a hard nod of his head, "Then I'll rub it in that anti-fairies' face! I'll show him who is the dumberer one!" Cosmo said as he puffed out his chest and attempted to act tough. Wanda failed to conceal a small giggle.
"Well, if this is really what you want, Cosmo." Timmy said hesitantly as he stood up from the edge of the platform.
He cleared his throat, and thought a moment about the phrasing of his wish. It was rare for his fairies to prompt him to make any of their wishes come true. Usually they'd just do it themselves. However, once a child made a wish for them to grant, it would become almost irreversible for them unless the child would take the wish back. It was risky, and potentially dangerous, but Timmy didn't think too long on it.
I mean, how dangerous could a little personality change be?
Finally, Timmy said aloud, "I wish Cosmo was a genius."
Cosmo grinned as he and Wanda waved their wands into the air, though he waved his wand a little more enthusiastically. Suddenly, Cosmo's head started to glow bright. He was pulled forward by the increasing mass of his head until he stumbled to the ground. He was absorbing so much information into his mind all at one time, it was almost too much for him to bear. There was just so many facts, so many statistics quickly flourishing inside his small mind, so much knowledge, so many different thoughts...
Wanda and Timmy ran to him and held on to his shoulders for support. It was worrying to see Cosmo doubling over on the ground and hearing him quietly groan, all while he held on to his head as if he were in pain.
And after a very long minute or two of waiting for the glow around his head to fade, Cosmo staggered away from his wife and godchild and wavered into the air. He slowly blinked his eyes open and squinted as he adjusted himself to the bright light.
Was it always this bright outside? He wondered.
Cosmo felt dizzy and disorientated for a while as he was barely able to make out Wanda or Timmy calling to him from a distance. It took him another few moments to finally recognise and understand Wanda's voice beside him.
"How do you feel?" She asked him gently, and placed a comforting hand on his arm.
"I feel a little... dizzy." Cosmo said shakily, then took a deep breath.
It was all so strange and dizzying. The entire world was suddenly so clear to him. He knew the answers to so many things, he had learnt so much about the world in a matter of seconds, and his mind was alive with activity. He had so many facts crammed into his mind, so many things looked at in different perspectives and finally so many opinions spurring within him that made him almost stumble backwards from the backlash of it all. Nevertheless, he kept his balance well and breathed deeply. It was funny, he felt, how clear as day everything was now. He felt calm, at peace with himself, and yet so keen to learn more and experience everything.
He smiled towards Wanda in excitement, feeling incredulous about this newfound knowledge of his,
"I feel... exuberant!"
"Hey, he used a big word." Timmy laughed, "And your voice sounds a little... posh?"
"I guess it comes with the territory of being a genius." Cosmo said smugly as his voice grew more audibly rich and experienced.
Wanda removed her hand from his arm and looked over to him in constant state of unsteady awe. Then Cosmo looked more determined, before he clenched his fists as he proclaimed, "Now I can show that indigenous anti-fairy who is the most intelligent, and I'll finally secure myself as the rightful superior fairy!"
"Sounds like you two have had quite a lot history." Timmy laughed as he was completely amused by this new advanced vocabulary that Cosmo has suddenly adopted. And in the corner of his eye, Timmy noticed with surprise that Wanda was becoming more reserved, and she was suddenly smiling a lot less. Meanwhile, Cosmo's grin widened as he continued testing out his intelligence,
"Oh yes, Anti-Cosmo was always the first one to trick me into the most strenuous situations. Once he lured me into a vat of acid after telling me that it was a huge bowl of chocolate pudding." Cosmo shook his head as he reluctantly remembered the incident, and finally shot his head up with excitement, "Well the tables have turned! Now that I'm a genius, I'll be able to see through his trickery and avoid any further humiliation!"
Cosmo laughed triumphantly and held his head up high with pride. Timmy grinned as he was happy now that Cosmo was enjoying the outcome of this wish. He watched Cosmo announce to the skies that the world had better be prepared for him, especially the anti-fairies, now that Cosmo's mind was armed with an intelligence that challenged the likes of Newton and Einstein.
However, Timmy couldn't help looking beside him at Wanda who only looked towards Cosmo with worry in her eyes.
Once Cosmo's gloating had finished, he turned over towards Wanda to take her hand. She let her hand fall loose in his grip as she reluctantly looked over to Cosmo with a cocky grin and a smug eyebrow raised. With a mischievous smile, he moved closer to her to ask,
"Well Wanda, my dear, how do you like your new husband? Truly remarkable, isn't it?"
Wanda hesitated for a moment, and almost winced at the way he spoke to her. She glanced quickly to the ground in hesitation. Then she looked back at him with a weak smile to reassure him,
"Sure, honey. If it works for you, it works for me." She said as she shrugged her shoulders a little.
Her supportive words were enough to satisfy Cosmo as he spiraled into the air to exclaim his superior intellect to the world. Timmy, however, was still suspicious of Wanda's retreating behaviour. He was about to ask her what the problem was, but Cosmo quickly interrupted him as he grabbed hold of them both by linking his arms through theirs and suddenly lifted them into the sky.
"C'mon family, let's go rub our noses in that anti-fairies faces!" Cosmo laughed with excitement, and Timmy shut his mouth.
Maybe this can wait until later. Timmy thought as he watched how happy Cosmo was, but in the back of his mind he was worried for Cosmo's wife who had grown far too quiet for his liking.
...
Meanwhile, in the anti-fairies castle, Anti-Wanda was busy in the study with her husband. They were working to create the next diabolical plan for world domination, as usual.
Anti-Cosmo was working on some kind of transportation device that would allow them to move about without being detected by other magical beings. The fairies of Fairy World, especially Jorgen Von Strangle, were keeping a very close eye on the couple since they had been working harder than usual to come up with foolproof plans that would lead them to successful world conquest. Anti-Cosmo felt he was on to something big this time as he decided that if he were to take over the world by force, he would have to do it in the shadows. It was of utmost importance that they keep themselves hidden and evade any enemy. Since Jorgen had thrown them into their castle under house arrest, it came increasingly difficult to carry on their plans without being caught.
So, Anti-Cosmo was busying himself with a piece of crucial machinery for the part as his transportation device, while he was surrounded by maps and blueprints he had concocted himself.
Anti-Wanda, however, hadn't contributed at all at this point. This was the part of the scheming where she would wait until Cosmo was done with the technical junk, since she couldn't quite understand how all of this advanced technology worked, but she was always willing to help with the menial tasks while her husband worked on the more intricate and dangerous parts.
She was fine with that, as long as she felt that she was pulling her weight on her end. For now, though, she was occupying herself with a sandwich he had made her from earlier... holding it with her feet, of course.
"Dear, can you pass me the monkey wrench?" Anti-Cosmo called over to her, and she was immediately snapped out of enjoying the food he made for her.
Anti-Wanda took a moment to envision what she was about to poof up for him, and finally waved her wand. She giggled as she poofed up a live monkey just inches above of Anti-Cosmo's head. He cautiously looked up after he wondered what she was finding so funny, and his eyes widened in shock just before he felt the impact of being impaled by a life-sized, energetic primate.
"Anti-Wanda!" He shouted in anger as he struggled to break free from the monkey's iron grip, "Get this thing off me immediately!"
"Sure." She said with an uncontrollable smile and poofed the poor thing back to Earth.
Anti-Cosmo stood up with his hair messily ruffled out of place and patted himself down from the filth and pieces of machinery fallen upon him, and found it extremely difficult to find his balance once he finally got to his feet. His wife fell into a fit of laughter as she watched him, and dropped her sandwich to the floor as she collapsed on the sofa nearby. She could feel her sides splitting from laughing so hard.
"You think this is amusing, do you?" Anti-Cosmo accused her with a judgmental arched eyebrow, and leered over at her as he approached her.
Anti-Wanda's giggles died down as she felt the shadow of Anti-Cosmo overcome her, and she looked over at his furious face. She gulped as she knew she really was in for it now.
Then, Anti-Cosmo said with a sigh, "I just made you that sandwich and you go ahead and drop it on the floor like some barbarian. You can't very well eat that filthy thing now."
Anti-Wanda tilted her head to the side, a little surprised that this was what he was annoyed at her for. Then, with a big goofy grin, she leaned forward on the sofa towards him with enthusiasm.
"Does this mean you'll make me another one?"
Anti-Cosmo looked at her with exasperation. "You can't be serious."
The longer Anti-Cosmo looked into his wife's glassy eyes, he knew that she was completely serious about this.
Anti-Cosmo sighed in defeat as he placed a hand to his forehead with exhaustion.
"Anti-Wanda, my dear, I'm in the middle of something of great importance here, and I'm finally getting close to a revolutionary breakthrough. Can't you keep out of trouble for, I don't know, ten minutes? Not even five?"
She could only grin at him, innocently using this silence to tell him that he was really out of his depth. And when he sighed one final time, knowing that this was clearly a losing battle on his end, he gave into himself and smiled to her.
"I suppose I have been working too hard lately. It won't hurt to take one quick break." He said as he brushed a few loose strands of messy hair out of his face, then flicked his hand half-heartedly at his wife, "Scoot over, love."
Anti-Wanda shuffled up the sofa until her back was leaning against the arm of the chair, and held her legs up to her chest until Anti-Cosmo collapsed in a heap across from her. He threw his head back on the pillows and rested his arms wide across the back of the chair, and finally gave in to the sweet sensation of comfort taking over him.
Anti-Wanda moved slowly towards him and rested her head on his shoulder before closing her eyes. As she rested a hand on his chest, she took comfort in the sound of Anti-Cosmo's breathing, as it soothed her when she felt her head lift slowly up and down from his deep breathing. It was moments like this that she felt truly at peace. Lazy days when she would spend her time resting up against her spouse who she loved dearly. It was times like these that she wished more of.
But she didn't plan on slowing down Anti-Cosmo one bit. He had dreams, very large dreams, that he planned on seeing through to the very end. She didn't want anything to interfere him, not even herself. He dreamt of world conquest, becoming ruler of all life in existence, with her always and faithfully by his side. Anti-Wanda didn't have any personal ambitions, nothing beyond a ten-foot BMT sandwich, so she was determined to try her best to help make her husband's dreams come true.
It was times when she spent peaceful moments with Anti-Cosmo like this, times when she felt happy and completely whole, that she realised that, really, her dreams have already come true. She was in paradise.
"I swear, it's like I'm married to a cat rather than an anti-fairy," Anti-Cosmo said softly to her as he placed his arm around her, "All you do is eat and sleep. Don't you ever get bored? Don't you ever want to do anything other than wait around for me?"
"No." She said simply. Her voice was barely a whisper as she was drifting off to sleep.
However Anti-Cosmo was serious about this. All she did was sit around and wait for her cue to become part of his evil plans. If she wasn't waiting, she was eating or napping, either one. He didn't want her to feel like he ruled her life, he wanted her to feel like she's more than just a faithful subordinate. She was his wife, and although that meant they're tied down to each other, it doesn't also mean that she's tied her entire life to him.
"Why?" Anti-Cosmo said aloud as he moved strands of blue curly hair out of her face. "You're not just some subordinate that I order around, are you? No, you're my wife, Anti-Wanda. You're an anti-fairy with your own mind... no matter how small. You must have some thoughts, aspirations, something. Why do you devote all of your time here, with me? Don't you feel trapped at all?"
"Happy." She said with a shrug, and finally moved up from him to look at him gently, "I'm happy here."
He paused for a moment as he gave himself a few moments to calm his racing heartbeat.
"If... that's how you really feel."
"It is. But right now..." Anti-Wanda said as she moved her head closer to his, until they were only inches apart. The gap between their lips was gradually getting smaller and smaller, and her eyelids were becoming more heavy as she hovered closer and closer. She could feel the heat radiating from Anti-Cosmo face as he burnt up the closer she got, and she finally parted her lips as she sweetly whispered, "...will you make me that sandwich?"
Anti-Cosmo almost surprised her with his sudden burst of laughter. She was unsure whether or not she was meant to be joking.
Anti-Wanda really was simple, but truly a sweet woman. Anti-Cosmo didn't feel the need to press her anymore, as he felt relieved after having her clear this up with him. Although it would still be an issue nagging him at the back of his mind, he didn't feel too worried by what she said. He felt more reassured by how she said it, as if she breathed the word 'happy' straight from her heart.
He looked down to her simply to look at her. She was smiling. Anti-Wanda truly was happy, and she looked so peaceful sitting there beside him. The way she clung to his side as she lay her head back down on to him, and the way she tucked her legs over his lap like a bride told him everything he needed to know. She was so good at expressing her feelings and letting him know he was loved.
He often wondered if he did a good job of doing the same. Anti-Cosmo would hope that she didn't get the idea that he was just using her. He'd hate to make her feel lower than she really was.
So Anti-Cosmo was careful to talk to her as often as possible. He might not be that good at expressing it himself, but he was a genius. He could always tell her how he felt, no problem. He had a very good way of stringing words together to sound so sweet and sincere, and she would feel weak in the knees as a result.
As long as he had the intelligent capacity to tell her how he felt about her, he felt their relationship was completely safe and secure, for the rest of their days.
Unlucky for Anti-Cosmo, Timmy had made a wish to make Cosmo smarter, and Anti-Cosmo was the polar opposite of him. Thus bringing an end to Anti-Cosmo's paradise...
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