It was raining.
He found it funny, despite the recent turn of events that had befallen him, he found it funny, it seemed that whenever someone in his family died, it would rain the day of the funeral, without fail. It rained especially hard today, likely because it was his parents funeral he was attending. It seemed weird that the heavens themselves weeped for his parents, yet he didn't, not a single tear, though the rain covered up his lack of tears.
He stood now, at the fresh grave, where six feet below his parents rested.
He was surprised at the turnout, his parents knew many people that he didn't, most of them telling him everything would be all right, that he was in shock and the emotions would hit him like a freight train, and a few spoke in hushed voices that his parents deserved what happened to them for drinking and driving. It didn't matter, it felt like nothing mattered, he felt empty, but why? His parents never cared for him, always leaving him with her.
His friends showed up too, with their families of course, to give their condolences, but he didn't care, didn't even acknowledge them. They were dumbstruck, but reassured by their parents that he was just 'in shock'. So after the procession, they said their goodbyes and left, leaving him alone with his thoughts, well not completely alone, Cosmo and Wanda were there, flies on his shoulder in the pouring rain, and she was there as well, waiting for him near her car. He wondered why she even showed up when she did, she was the last to arrive, dressed in a black dress fitting for a funeral, and sunglasses to hide her eyes. He briefly wondered if she wore them to hide her tears, then thought better of it, she couldn't cry, she was a devil, and devils never cry. He was surprised to see her show up, but chalked it up to her being sad that her main source of income was gone, at first anyway, he never could have imagined her real reason.
"Timmy, we're here for you, you know that, right?" the pinkish colored fly on his shoulder spoke in a comforting tone.
"Hm." he couldn't bring himself to speak more than that, afraid that he might break down into a sobbing wreck if he did.
Not because of the death of his parents, he still couldn't find any emotion for them, they were gone and that was that. No, he was emotionally unstable because of the news that came after their deaths, they had left everything, the house, the car, all their belongings to him... when he was old enough to responsibly own them. For now, and the foreseeable future, they left their things, and him, in the care of her, of all people, her.
Not to any blood relatives, nor to any of his friends and their families, no, they left it all to her, claiming she was like the daughter they never had. He didn't get a say, his protests fell on deaf ears, everyone believed she was the best thing to ever happen to the Turners, nevermind that he told them of everything she had done to him, they chalked it up to the wild imaginings of a child in grief.
Her family had showed up before her, saying how sorry they were, that his parents were taken too soon. Tootie ran at him and nearly tackled him to the ground, bawling her eyes out and sniffling all the while, wrapping her arms around him and saying how sorry she was. He put a single arm around her, all he could muster, and murmured "Thanks." to her. She sat next to him the whole time, despite her family sitting well away, she sat next to him, looking more like a small teenage wife than his slightly obsessive friend.
Even Tootie left eventually, leaving him alone with his godparents and her.
The death of his parents brought a new fear to him, one he had never worried about until now, since he was so young. He feared death, for the first time in his life, he feared dying. He never feared it before because it seemed like such a far off concept that children didn't worry about, children lived forever, or their parents would protect them from death. Now however, he was alone, no parents, just his godparents and her.
She owned the house now, and everything in it, and him. She would likely have no trouble paying the bills, her babysitting ensured an endless supply of money, that, and her investments in the stock exchange. She likely jumped at the prospect, a free house? And free stuff? And a slave to top it all off? Who in their right mind, with a personality like hers, would turn down such a lucrative proposal?
He was thankful that she seemed to care enough to let him grieve though. Surprised? Definitely, but thankful. Eventually he felt he stayed there feeling sorry for himself long enough. He stood up and walked over to her car, looking at her in the pouring rain. Her makeup was beginning to smear from the rain and she frowned at him, though her eyes didn't show pity, or anger, or even sympathy, just indifference.
"You should take a picture Twerp, it'll last longer."
"Hm." again, all he could muster.
He got in the passenger seat and she in the driver's, then started the car back toward his house.
She left him for a few hours to get her things from her house, his house was effectively her house now. She seemed awfully thrilled to be leaving her own family behind, but it didn't matter, nothing did now, nothing ever would again. He wondered if maybe that's how he was grieving, not by crying or being sad, but feeling nothing, like a part of his soul was ripped out and could never be restored. Maybe this would be how it felt when he eventually lost Cosmo and Wanda, he was fifteen now, the day they got assigned to a new child was likely fast approaching. He felt fear then, fear that he would be alone in the world, no one to care about him, no one to comfort him, just a slow spiral into the dark, and then he too would be gone. Just a memory to fade away into darkness and be forgotten. He wondered offhandedly if he should speed up the process, end his life so he could be with his parents again, maybe the afterlife would change them and they would love him like they should have in life. He angrily cast the thought out, nothing to gain by dying, might as well live, he'd rather not put the people he still cared about through what he just went through, it was too much, what if they followed suit? Just an endless cycle of suicide until no one was left, no one to remember anyone...
She returned a few hours later, carrying multiple suitcases and furniture inside, he wasn't sure why, but he decided to help her, this girl who made his life miserable. She had a look of surprise on her face for just an instant, then it disappeared, likely never to be seen again. She muttered "Thanks" to him, he nearly dropped her things when he heard it.
He tried wishing them back, but apparently the rules of magic didn't allow it.
"Sport, I wish we could, I really do, but there are no loopholes for this. Once people are gone, they can't be wished back, not now, not ever."
"What's left then?! When you guys are gone, what do I have left?!"
"There's always... her..."
"Right, the evil babysitter, bane of my existence! I'm so lucky!"
He didn't talk to them for the rest of the night, or the following day. Happy as he was to have godparents and magic at his disposal, they didn't matter if he couldn't bring back what was lost... but he could do something to save himself, he didn't want to die, didn't want to put others through his pain and he knew how to do it, so long as the rules didn't interfere...
It was a selfish thought, incredibly selfish, but he didn't care, not about the selfishness of it, and not about the consequences he could not even begin to foresee.
He thought for several hours about how to properly word it, surprised that she never called him down to do things like chores or laundry or dig a hole for a pool in the front yard. Eventually he thought he had the idea ready and spoke:
"I wish I was immortal. Not that kind in movies where people live forever and still get killed by a knife or disease, I mean full immortality, live forever, invulnerability, the whole nine yards."
"Timmy that's-"
"Done!" Timmy was, for once, grateful for his Godfather's lack of foresight. The wand sparked for a few moments that seemed more like an eternity before the characteristic poofing sound was heard.
Timmy looked himself over, he didn't appear to be a statue, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him physically.
"So... it worked?"
"Yep!" said Cosmo triumphantly.
"Great!" Timmy smirked as he continued to look himself over, hoping he wouldn't find anything on his person to suggest a downside to the wish.
Wanda was happy that a spark of her original godchild from before the tragedy was able to shine through, but still felt he needed to hear what she needed to say. "Timmy, the rulebook doesn't have any loopholes for that kind of wish because people always end up regretting it, so much so that it can never, ever be undone. The tragedies that an immortal must go through are innumerable, each one a heavy weight on the immortal's soul. Everyone they love, they must watch them die, all their family members, friends, acquaintances, everyone."
"Then that is my burden to bear, at least I know I can handle it after losing both my parents and being put in this situation..."
"I'm not finished, the person who makes the wish is also doomed to be alone at the end of everything, except of course, the other immortals will be there too, but most have gone crazy by then and are little more than unthinking beasts, attacking anything, and anyone, they feel like."
"I'm not afraid, Wanda."
"And the person who makes the wish also curses their greatest nemesis, they too are blessed, or cursed, depending on how you look at it I suppose, with immortality. A cruel joke by the Council of Fairies, I'm guessing. The only person left alive in your life is the one you hate the most."
"I don't have any nemeses left, they're all gone..."
"And the person who makes the wish is destined to fall in love with that nemesis when the sexual tension between them becomes too great, and they are cursed to spend eternity together, forevermore."
"That's... quite a clause... Kinda sounds like a joke if you ask me."
"Which is why I tried to warn you..."
"Pfft, whatevs, I have no nemeses, like I said."
"So you're okay with being fifteen forever?"
"Yep."
"And watching everyone around you die. While you stay the same?"
"Better they die and I live with the sadness of losing them then the other way around, I can handle guilt Wanda, trust me."
"You only think you can! You've lost people sure, but you'll lose everyone! The depression will crush you! It will destroy you! You think you can handle that?!" Wanda had never yelled at him, not really, and he was taken aback by her sudden outburst, though he wasn't about to show it.
"Yeah, I can." his face betrayed no emotion.
"...Fine."
The two fairies poofed back into their fishbowl, Wanda not wanting to argue anymore, Cosmo being preoccupied with a shiny buffalo nickel.
Timmy went downstairs to find Vicky in the kitchen, cutting vegetables for stew.
"You can cook?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to cook, Twerp?"
"I just figured you were too lazy to cook, everytime you were over here you either microwaved something or ordered out..."
"Well I can cook just fine." the normal edge in Vicky's voice was strangely absent, perhaps the deaths of his parents affected her more than she let on?
"You'll have to teach me sometime, I can't cook much of anything..."
"Pfft, we'll see." Vicky turned to throw the chopped vegetables into the pot and didn't notice the floor was wet from when she washed them.
Timmy watched in what felt like slow motion as Vicky slipped and threw the cutting board away from her self, but hung on to the sharp butcher knife for some reason, and fell forward, directly on to it. He heard the sickening sound of it enter her chest and scrape past her ribs. He was frozen in place, unable to move or help her. He watched as she lay there for a few minutes, the blood pooling around her body. His mind suddenly returned and commanded his body to move, to help this person who had(though very, very rarely) helped him.
He ran over to her and flipped her over, the knife was buried nearly to the handle in her chest, and with all the blood pouring out, had likely pierced her heart, her eyes were closed and her face was pale.
"Vicky! Vicky! Damnit! You can't do this to me! I can't go to a foster home! Wake up! Don't be dead! C'mon, say something!"