The Fire In Her Eyes

by OurLadyGrem

Forced to meet for the first time under disastrous circumstances, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda agree to a risky deal and inadvertently make their time at Anti-Fairy Academy an interesting one. However, they gradually come to realize that love in a society of anti-fairies is a dangerous thing...

1. Tool

Title: The Fire In Her Eyes

Disclaimer: I don't own the show.

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Forced to meet for the first time under disastrous circumstances, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda agree to a risky deal and inadvertently make their time at Anti-Fairy Academy an interesting one. However, they gradually come to realise that love in a society of anti-fairies is a dangerous thing...

Rated T for slightly mature language and themes.

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Chapter One :: Tool

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While the Fairy Academy in Fairy World stands, there exists an Anti-Fairy Academy. As every fairy had their beginnings, so did the anti-fairies. And they all began here...

Anti-Fairy Academy. It was a building in complete opposition to it's counterpart in almost every way. It was as if fairy-tales of villainous castles and eerie scenic atmospheres had been solely inspired by it, and had practically invented the immaculate architecture of the Gothic period. The main entrance was almost an exact replica of the Notre Dame in Paris, with beautifully framed stained glass windows embellishing each pointed tower and with intricately decorated stone walls and pillars. Inside each separated building, the arched ceilings were incredibly high and spacious, the hallways were long and narrow, and the stained glass windows illuminated each room with speckles of dark, harsh colours. It was an intimidating set-up to be in. However, for the anti-fairies, this is where they considered home.

While the Fairy Academy was surrounded by beautifully coloured rainbows and sparkling clouds, the Anti-Fairy Academy was like stepping into a war zone. It's walls were heavily guarded with barbed wire as red and black storm clouds circled above it in the sky, and crumbling ruins were scattered around the campus grounds. Despite the pride the anti-fairies took in their flawless architectural designs, they had little to no respect in preserving it. As spotless as everything appeared to be, it wouldn't last long. The destructive nature of anti-fairies would find a way to tear up their own home, create havoc within their own people, and spoil an otherwise flawlessly sinister looking location. Those were simply the kind of students and teachers that attended Anti-Fairy Academy.

So, while the Fairy Academy taught fairies in training on how to become professional godparents, the anti-fairies at Anti-Fairy Academy were taught how to sharpen their skills in causing misfortune to the world. They were soldiers of war that brought forth bad luck whenever it was summoned on Earth. It was a breeding ground for chaos and destruction, nonconformity and rebellion, and the one domineering above it all was none other than Anti-Cosmo.

Since Anti-Cosmo was the polar opposite of his dim-witted counterpart, he predictably excelled with ease in every subject. He was the finest student at the Anti-Fairy Academy, the best of the best. He'd successfully overcome every other anti-fairy in the academy by barely lifting a finger. He was simply the most malicious and destructive student the academy ever had, and he took advantage of this due to his overwhelming knowledge and tenacity to become the highest ranking anti-fairy in the universe. He was determined to take full advantage of his education, as he longed to be first and foremost at the very top of the rest, even amongst the student body. Anti-Cosmo didn't care if he'd have to start from humble beginnings, as long as he started somewhere and conquered whatever he could.

And he knew he could, slowly but surely, take control of that student body. He was already considered to be the most elite out of all the anti-fairies at the academy. Anti-Cosmo was allowed his own stationary studio for private studies, as he had already met his mandatory subjects for the semester. The rest of the time was spent developing on his personal projects. And he took pride in knowing that he had his own room for work, he was proud that his projects were inspiring and influencing the professors and the rest of the faculty, and he wore his nickname as the kingpin as a medal of honour.

Anti-Cosmo was the best, and he knew it.

He had his entire future planned out, with dreams and aspirations of becoming the dictator of his people and ultimately reaping the benefits of total supremacy to himself.

Yet he had no idea that life in the Anti-Fairy Academy would turn this all around, once one particular soul had entered into his world...

…

During the final few weeks of the semester, Anti-Cosmo had confidence in his latest project on the verge of completion. He'd worked hard on a machine that would create disastrous tremors and universal earthquakes on the planet, forcing mirrors to break, pictures to fall from walls and salt to spill to create a mass influx of bad luck upon everyone in one fell swoop. He was pleased with how well it was working, as he had almost caused the entirety of the Anti-Fairy Academy to crumble merely from his tests. He was sure that he'd pass the semester with no problems once it was submitted.

On a late afternoon, Anti-Cosmo was just returning to his post at his own personal studio, situated at the highest point in the highest tower of Anti-Fairy Academy. He had personally picked out this location as it was also the farthest away from the rest of the population, and he could peacefully indulge in his work without any interruptions.

Unluckily for him, he was met with one unexpected interruption that was sure to change his world.

So, as Anti-Cosmo climbed the winding steps up to his studio, he noticed a curious ray of light peeking over the highest steps of the tower and, to his dismay, the door to his studio that he specifically remembered to lock had been pried open. Then, he recognised the smell of burning metal coming through the crack of the door.

"What th-!" Anti-Cosmo whispered under his breath before he bounded up the steps and flung the door wide open.

He took a sharp intake of breath as he looked over the room in complete shock.

"What the hell happened here?!" He shouted in unrelenting fury as he looked upon the fallen ruins of the project he had been meticulously working on throughout the entire semester.

Anti-Cosmo approached it cautiously as he surveyed the area, careful to step over parts of machinery that had been blasted around the room at a distance, and looked on in horror as he saw his project had fallen into itself with faint tinges of smoke floating up to the pointed ceiling. He crouched to the ground and picked up a discarded monkey wrench that had idly been left there. He gripped it tightly as his anger began to rise.

"This has to be sabotage..." He concluded to himself as he inspected the wrench that had been covered in scratches on the end, suspiciously matching the indents on the side of the remaining parts of the machine. "Jealous rivalry, maybe? Or mindless acts of vandalism..."

Anti-Cosmo placed his hand over the cold metal and mourned all of his hard efforts that'd gone to waste, but only for a few moments. He knew he had to fix this mess, he knew that there wasn't any time to get angry about this. He just had to keep a level head and continue his work as normal, as if nothing happened... as if no one had broken into his sanctuary and broken apart his precious workings... as if months and months of work had been undone before his very eyes...

"God dammit!" He shouted in fury as he threw the wrench in a rage against the wall. For a few moments, he was breathing heavily with anger, clenching his hands into infuriated fists and gritting his teeth as he watched the wrench create a powerful echo around the room. And after a few more deep breaths and a frustrated hand running over his hair, he finally sighed and mentally scolded himself to calm down. He was better than this, he told himself, and he needed to get a grip and work through this.

His anger was still there, he could feel it creating a cesspool at the bottom of his stomach, and he was more than ready to unleash it upon the world. But he knew he had to cool it, he was determined to keep up the reputation that nothing could ever bother him to this extent. However, being the counterpart of a happy-go-lucky personality that Cosmo withheld made this reputation a lot more difficult than he needed it to be. Anti-Cosmo held his head in irritation for a moment, and let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"I need tea..."

Anti-Cosmo walked over to the other side of the room where he kept his tea bags and his kettle, and nonchalantly filled the kettle in his studio sink. He could do this, Anti-Cosmo thought, once he had his cup of tea then he'd be able to tackle anything that dared to come his way. And as soon as he was about to grab the handle of his mug, he heard a peculiar noise from within the room. He stopped immediately, freezing his motion as his whole body was on high alert, as he heard the sound of rustling echoing off of the walls.

He knew it for certain then. He wasn't alone.

Slowly and cautiously, he broke away from his stiff demeanor and looked over his shoulder to scan the entire room. He observed that there wasn't much in there other than the broken remains of his machine scattered across the room, tools and machinery that had fallen off of the walls and a few broken stained glass windows that emitted natural light into the room. The tower was tall and had expanded above the storm clouds spiraling over the academy, so the Earth's sun had created a soft glow through the coloured windows and speckled the room with pleasant bright rays of light.

Other than that, Anti-Cosmo found that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary...

"Hello?" A timid sounding voice called from the other side of the room.

Anti-Cosmo flinched. He didn't recognise this voice at all. It was high-pitched, obviously a woman, and her voice cracked halfway through. She sounded terrified.

"Is somebody there? If there is, could you help me out?" She called again as she gained more confidence, and her southern American accent became more prominent the more she spoke, "I, um, I locked myself out on the balcony."

Quickly, Anti-Cosmo turned his head over to the dull coloured metal exit door on the far side of the room leading out to the balcony, and it was then that he recognised a small shadow emitting underneath the crack of the door.

He shuffled against the stone walls of the room as he moved himself closer to the door. As he carefully approached it to inspect the area to see if this voice definitely came from the balcony, Anti-Cosmo pressed his ear against the wall beside the door. He held his breath and listened closely, until he finally heard a small amount of movement on the other side. Whoever was out there was moving around uncomfortably on the spot, despite the balcony being quite spacious, and from the little amount of movement there was, he figured that this woman was about as small as he was.

Maybe she's an anti-fairy, or a pixie spy...

"Oh man, I'm so hungry. If there's someone in there, could you get me a sandwich or something? With cheese and ham... and tomato and lettuce..." Her voice trailed off as if she had to pause to visualise it in her mind, and Anti-Cosmo could recognise the gentle sound of smacking lips together.

Anti-Cosmo was stunned. Here was a woman who, presumably, broke into his private studio, destroyed all of his work, then locked herself outside to drool about food. He couldn't quite comprehend what was happening at that moment, as this all seemed too bizarre to even process.

Who was this woman?

Then, her voice became more sombre and defeated, and a gentle thud sounded from her head resting up against the door. Her fingers glided down the door, and created a soft metallic squeak as she slid her fingertips over it. When she spoke, her voice was barely recognisable, as she sounded as if she was losing all hope, "Can anyone hear me?"

"I can hear you!" Anti-Cosmo finally replied sternly. He faced the door full on as he crossed his arms, and furrowed his eyebrows at it as if he was ready to scold the door itself.

And as soon as he spoke up, the voice on the balcony let out a gasp of happy surprise.

"Oh... good." She breathed heavily as she sounded relieved to hear him reply, "For a second, I thought I was hearing voices. I've been trapped out here for so long, I thought I was gonna go crazy!"

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo's pit of rage had began to rise from his stomach as he noticed how nonchalant this woman sounded.

"What are you doing out there in the first place?" He yelled all of a sudden, and he heard her gasp in surprise once again. She sounded as if she didn't expect this kind of reaction. Then, Anti-Cosmo took a step forward as if he was ready to break the door down, whether or not she was standing directly behind it, "Was it you that destroyed my studio and everything in it?!"

The woman stammered nervously, obviously caught off guard by Anti-Cosmo's sudden burst of fury, "I... I don't really know... what to tell you..."

"Tell me the truth!" He yelled as loud as he could through his gritted teeth, "Why the hell are you in my studio?!"

"Uh, um... I'm sorry... um, I c-can't really say..." She stammered all the more as her voice began to break, as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Did someone send you?" Anti-Cosmo pressured her further, as he figured that her vague answers must have meant she had to be doing someone else's dirty work, "Who are you working for? Who asked you to sabotage my work?"

"No one did! I came here by myself..."

"Why?" Anti-Cosmo shouted to her impatiently.

"I-I don't know..." She took a moment to sniff and swallow a gulp, as well as to shake away how frightened she was beginning to sound, "I was just looking at your work... a-and then I wanted to know what it did, so I... um..."

"So you completely destroyed it?!" He yelled in disbelief, and scowled as he figured that she must've been lying.

"No! No, it was an accident, I swear it!" She shouted back to him desperately, "I tried to turn it on... but I didn't know how, so I pushed all these buttons! Then... then..."

"Oh, you bloody idiot!" Anti-Cosmo yelled, holding up his trembling hands in fury and absolute disbelief that this was really happening, and took another angry step towards the door as if his was spitting right against the metal, "What on earth compelled you to touch someone else's unfinished work?!"

"I honestly just wanted to see what it did!" She cried in pure desperation. A soft thud echoed through the room as she pressed her hands against the door, "But then all these parts started falling off, and I tried to fix it..."

A sudden wash of dread overtook Anti-Cosmo as he incredulously stared at the door. He was eerily quiet for a moment, and the voice on the balcony made deep breaths that filled the air and became the only sound they could both hear. Anti-Cosmo, however, felt as if he was too stunned to breathe, and could only stare wide eyed at the door.

"What do you mean you tried to fix it?" He finally asked, and his voice was suspiciously quiet and low-key.

"Uh... um..."

"Tell me!" Anti-Cosmo suddenly slammed his fist down against the metal in a burst of anger.

She shrieked in surprise as she fell backwards off of the door, as she was thrown off by the thunderous tremors that Anti-Cosmo had created. Her voice was a little quieter as she had moved farther away on the balcony, but the tonal fear was still very apparent.

"I-I found this wrench, so I tried to fix everything I broke, but it just got worse and worse!" The woman agonizingly cried as she recalled the event, "Nothing I did helped! I tried everything I knew, wh-which isn't a lot I admit, but... I had to do something! Then it started to smell of smoke, and it caught on fire, and... and th-then it exploded!"

Anti-Cosmo was shocked into silence. His fist remained rigidly stiff against the door as his eyes stared vacantly at the metal. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I freaked out. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to fix it, so I ran out to the balcony." Her voice sounded as if it was completely wrapped up in depleted misery, and it became so quiet that Anti-Cosmo could barely make her out, "Then the door slammed behind me, and I couldn't open it. Now I'm stuck out here, and you're in there... s-so, will you let me back in?"

Anti-Cosmo stepped back away from the door and let his hand swing back to his side. His bewilderment hadn't wavered as he he raised an eyebrow, and in his denial, he was compelled to ask,

"Are you stupid?"

"Yeah, I am." She replied with no hesitation, before asking him again, "Now will you let me in?"

"Unbelievable." Anti-Cosmo said with wide eyes in a state of shock, as he found himself caught off guard with an answer he didn't expect, "So, after you completely trashed my project that I spent months working on that is due in exactly two weeks, you still expect me to let you back in here and let you off the hook?"

She had fallen silent for a moment, and in this time Anti-Cosmo assumed that she had realised how ridiculous that all sounded. Then she unpredictably replied a little cheerfully than expected,

"Does that mean you will?"

Anti-Cosmo sighed, and he felt as if he actually was conversing with the door itself. He covered his face with his hand and shook his head in complete disbelief.

"You really are stupid." He commented truthfully, and he found himself without any energy to shout at her any further. He concluded that it would simply be a waste of breath.

"I already told you that I am." She stated naturally, then her voice became a little childlike and innocent, "My mama used to say stupid is as stupid does."

"Apparently." He replied sarcastically.

Anti-Cosmo glanced back over his shoulder towards his studio. He realised that he had too much work to do to spend his precious time arguing with a mysterious woman locked on his balcony. And after giving himself a moment to restart his train of thought, he finally concluded that he knew what to do at that point. He stretched outwards to crack his knuckles, and loosened his muscles by rolling his shoulders before casually telling her,

"You may as well get comfortable, because you're going to stay there for a while."

"Are... are you gonna send for help?" She asked with hope apparent in her voice.

Anti-Cosmo waved his hand dismissively as he returned to the side of his machine to closely inspect the damage.

"No, nothing like that." He simply told her, and placed his hand over the ruins of his machine, "I'll just leave you there until you starve."

"What?!" She cried. Suddenly, the door loudly thudded as she pressed herself desperately against the metal, "You're going to let me die... just because I wrecked your machine by accident?"

"It doesn't matter to me if it was an accident or not," Anti-Cosmo told her plainly without having to look up from his work, "You destroyed my work. You've put a hindrance in my progress for world domination. To put it simply, you've made the unfortunate mistake of messing with the wrong person."

The woman made a shuffling noise, as if she was uncomfortably moving on the spot as she sounded to be uneasy by his words. Then, Anti-Cosmo turned back to face the door again as his voice became very cold and unfeeling, and his eyes grew dark and vacant,

"And don't think for a second that I'm joking. I hold a very powerful position in this academy, and I can very easily make someone disappear without a trace."

She swallowed a hard gulp as he said that. Anti-Cosmo almost grinned by her reaction. These were the up sides of being a criminal, he found, when he asserted his dominance over those who feared him. And he loved the overwhelming power that it brought. It made all the meticulous planning from the shadows much more worthwhile.

"You're evil..." She said quietly, and Anti-Cosmo could have sworn that she sounded almost as if she was amused by all this. He shrugged this off as he turned back to his work.

"Believe me, this is me being merciful." Anti-Cosmo told her honestly.

While Anti-Cosmo intensely worked around his project, mapping out his plans on new sheets of blueprints and picking up the pieces scattered around it, the woman remained silent. Anti-Cosmo figured she must have started to realise the gravity of the situation and must've given up trying to fight him. But Anti-Cosmo found that he was surprised by how quickly she had given into him, as he was expecting at least a little bit of struggle on her end, and was almost disappointed with how short their banter had lasted. He didn't dwell on it for too long, though, and he dived into the complexity of his work. He had a busy few weeks ahead of him, and he was determined not to let anyone interrupt him.

However, his attention was diverted back over to her as he heard the sound of the woman sliding down against the door. She fell silent again for a moment, and Anti-Cosmo figured that was it, but was distracted by her once again when he heard a small whisper come from behind the door.

"I'm really sorry." She began, and her voice was cracked as if she choked on the words, "I didn't mean for this to happen, and I honestly tried to fix it. I'm just... too stupid to know how."

Anti-Cosmo didn't expect this at all. He'd expected her to protest and struggle against him, he believed that anyone in her position would be begging him to let them go at this point, but he certainly hadn't expected for her to still be hung up on what she had done to him. In fact, he hadn't expected her to be so apologetic at all, considering that he had just told her that he intended to end her life. He figured that would rile a person up a bit. Yet the more he thought about it, the more he surprisingly found that he was actually quite curious about her.

Once he realised this, he paused from his work. He looked up from his blueprints, held on to his pencil tightly and let his eyes wander over to the door. He looked at the shadow streaming into the room through the crack of the door. She wasn't moving around as much anymore, he observed.

She caught his attention all the more as she continued with her painfully melancholic voice,

"I don't want you to be mad at me. If you still are... I want you to know I tried my best to undo everything I did. I never wanted to break anything, I don't really know what I was thinking... and I especially didn't want to mess anything up. What a surprise though, I ended up doing that anyway." Her voice was barely a whisper as she finally choked out in silent sobs, "I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... I'm... so, so sorry..."

Anti-Cosmo winced.

Suddenly, he gritted his teeth as he bit back any sympathetic feelings he may or may not have for her. He wondered why he was feeling uneasy about this whole thing, and how he could let his dominance waver for even a moment. It was perplexing, but it was also worrying. He shook his head as if to shake away the feeling of unsteadiness. He had to hold on to his anger, he mentally scolded himself, he had to go through with this.

Think about what she did to your project, to your studio...

He pressed his lips together as a troubled expression took over his face, and clenched his fists with internal struggle. He was determined to concentrate on his work and his work alone... but the fact that he could still hear her sniffing and apologising under her breath wasn't helping matters at all. And he refused to acknowledge how unstable he felt about this all of a sudden.

"Please be quiet while I'm working. Can't you slowly die of starvation in silence?" He persisted as he masked his desperation to keep her at arm's length.

"I can't. I get really chatty when I'm hungry. It's the only way to keep my mind off of food." Then, her voice became louder as she leant against the door, and she softly pleaded, "If I'm gonna die, will you at least talk to me?"

Anti-Cosmo felt as if he was going to snap the pencil in half in his fist.

There was no avoiding it. He knew that if he was really going to go through with this, then he had to keep her busy. He had no choice, he finally realised, he had to indulge her.

However, it wasn't as if he was entirely against the idea of talking to her either. In fact, his curiosity about her heightened all the more when she asked to talk to him. She was a mystery, Anti-Cosmo knew that, and it almost confounded him by how she seemed so nonchalant and apologetic about this whole situation. He was interested in the kind of person he had accidentally captured on his balcony, and he felt it wouldn't be too much of a bother for him to learn a little more about what kind of person she is.

Although he refused to acknowledge how he shivered at the sound of her voice elongating each word she said as she pleaded to him.

"Alright," Anti-Cosmo finally agreed and wiped away the perspiration from his forehead with his arm, "I'll talk to you... as long as you stop complaining."

"Sure." She replied softly, and for now she sounded happy.

Anti-Cosmo returned to his work and quickly dived back into his sketches and blueprints. He noticed how erratic his drawings had suddenly become, and he nervously stopped to restart his train of thought. There was no way this woman would have him so unsettled, it was completely out of character for him. Yet the evidence was down on paper in the form of sporadic scribblings and rushed pencil lines. He grabbed his head as he calmed himself down and breathed deeply, determined to get back to his peace of mind.

Then his ears picked up once he heard a soft sound of humming coming from the door.

Unbelievable, he thought, that she was actually starting to enjoy herself out there. Anti-Cosmo squinted his eyes to stare harder at his work, and tried his best to ignore the musical sounds that echoed through the room.

"It's pretty up here." She commented finally, and her voice quickly rose more cheerfully, "You like working so high above the rest of the academy?"

"Of course I do." He told her with a snarl, "It keeps me away from idiots like you."

Anti-Cosmo had hoped that this would have put her off of him, and she'd feel more compelled to keep quiet and keep herself at a distance. However, he flinched when he heard her laugh instead. How peculiar, he found, that what he said had been perceived as hilarious. Then he noted how her laughter was as loud as her voice, as if this woman had a naturally hearty personality that told him that she's the kind of person who laughs quite a lot.

There were times when Anti-Cosmo prided himself on how sharp he was when reading someone for the first time, where he could learn about a person's strengths and weaknesses in one conversation, but this was not one of those times when he was comfortable with this ability.

"What's so funny?" He asked her impatiently, and she giggled in reply to his irritation,

"It's not doing a great job of keeping you away if an idiot like me managed to break in here anyway."

Anti-Cosmo almost spluttered out a snarl as he realised that she was technically right. He bent over his work in annoyance and grumbled with irritation as he didn't feel compelled to reply to her. Yet she was still laughing. She had a loud laugh, Anti-Cosmo thought, but it was so soft too. He could still hear her. And he wanted to hear her...

"It really is beautiful."

"What?" Anti-Cosmo yelled and suddenly shot up.

"The sun. It's pretty from up here." She said with a contented sigh.

Anti-Cosmo scoffed at his lack of self-control and leaned on his elbow, staring at his pencil for a moment as he realised how careless he was getting. His thoughts had wavered again, and that was beginning to bother him a lot.

"I don't think I've ever seen the Earth's sun before. It's real pretty to look at..." Her voice trailed off again and, for a moment, she was silent. Anti-Cosmo wondered why she had suddenly stopped mid-way through her sentence, and figured it was perhaps because she was finally starting to realise her situation at last. Perhaps she knew then that she was going to die, he thought. But he almost jumped out of his skin when she suddenly shouted in surprise, "Ahh, man, it hurts to stare at it though! Jeez!"

"Moron..." Anti-Cosmo mumbled as he shook his head. He was beginning to think that he was giving this woman too much credit. He found that she was clearly much too stupid to realise the true nature of the danger she was in.

"You should totally build a huge laser gun or something and blow up that nasty sun! That'd be pretty evil... um..." Again, she trailed off mid-way through her sentence, and that had started to annoy Anti-Cosmo.

"What?" He asked her impatiently.

"Y'know I never caught your name."

Anti-Cosmo sat back for a moment. His anger had simmered down when he contemplated this. He teetered on the idea of giving her his identity, and wondered if it would really amount to anything. But when he couldn't think of anything, he shook his head and he leaned over his work to immerse himself in it once again.

"It doesn't matter," he told her indifferently.

"Oh, sure it does! If you wanna be really evil, and I mean really really evil, you should let your victims know the name of their oppressor... so that the sound of your name strikes fear into the hearts of their afterlives!"

Anti-Cosmo's eyes widened as he glanced over to the door, and he felt a little speechless.

"That... actually sounds pretty evil." Anti-Cosmo said truthfully. He wondered one final time if this would be a good idea, but once he figured that he was fairly impartial about the matter, he finally shrugged with somewhat of a smirk, "Alright, then the name of your oppressor is Anti-Cosmo."

Suddenly, the voice gasped.

"Anti-Cosmo? You're the Anti-Cosmo?" She sounded surprisingly ecstatic all of a sudden, "You're a legend around here! Everyone is afraid of you, even the teachers don't want to get on the wrong side of you! That's crazy! I mean, no one's really seen much of you, since you're always cooped up here, but the rumours about you are downright terrifying!" Then her voice became dreamy as if she was in a state of awe, "Wow, I'm being murdered by Anti-Cosmo..."

Anti-Cosmo felt himself beaming with pride. He was intensely proud of his status, and he was more than happy to find that his reputation had preceded even his own expectations. He grinned as he glowered in egotistical self-respect.

"Well, at least you're not dumb enough to recognise greatness when you see it."

The sound of her laughter echoed through the room again, and Anti-Cosmo's smile immediately faded. He dove straight back into his work, and was determined to shut out that noise as quickly as possible.

"Hey, you wanna know my name?" She asked excitedly.

"No, I don't." He snapped at her sharply without looking away from his work, "I don't want to get to know anyone I've murdered. You're just another face in a long line of nameless victims."

"You've killed a lot of people then, huh?"

Anti-Cosmo blinked. For a moment, he didn't know how to answer that truthfully and still make it sound how he wanted it to sound. Yet when he thought of a way, he still found himself to be a little flustered.

"Well... yeah, I've killed, but... only inadvertently..."

"What'd you mean?" She asked innocently.

"To put it bluntly, I may or may not have killed people." Anti-Cosmo placed his pencil behind his ear as he leaned on his hand, peering up towards to a broken stained glass window in thought, "What I mean is, I cause a lot of bad luck on the planet, but who knows if it really had any unfortunate long term effects." He explained to her carefully, and realised he had to really simplify this in order for this woman to understand, "For example, if I break a mother's back but she doesn't have enough money to cover the medical bills, I'd have financially ruined her. She could starve from not having enough money to feed herself or her family. She could end her life in a number of ways, but everything stemmed from that one instance that I caused."

"I never thought of that before." She sounded as if she was in complete awe, and Anti-Cosmo almost smirked at this. Again, his inflated ego made him bask in his own pride. He continued to explain nonchalantly,

"I wrote a paper once on the theory that any interference we make on Earth is the start of an important event that sets off a series of chain reactions. Anything we do, no matter how small, will create a sequence of even bigger events that will either lead to something good or bad in the future. Every interference we make, every encounter with any living person could trigger something significant in time." Anti-Cosmo shrugged as if this was all no big deal, "It's called the domino theory. And it applies to us anti-fairies as much as it does to the human race..."

And then, Anti-Cosmo contemplated for a moment on the significance on his encounter with this mysterious woman...

"Oh, I see." She sounded impressed before continuing the interrogation, "But you've never straight up killed someone before?"

Anti-Cosmo scowled. He didn't feel compelled to give her a straight answer, or feel compelled to give her a definite answer to that question at all, and finally snapped back at her,

"I'm killing you right now, aren't I?"

"So am I your first?" She asked him in shock.

Anti-Cosmo's face suddenly burnt up. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as his thoughts wandered to the dark corners of his mind, and his face became completely flushed over into a deep shade of red. Suddenly, giving a straight answer was the least of his worries.

"Please don't put it like that..." He lightly scolded her as he resisted his own bashful nature.

"This is so cool. I'm Anti-Cosmo's first definite victim! Wait until I tell everyone..." She quickly stopped in her tracks as if she had to think over what she had just said, "Actually no, that'd be pretty difficult to do... since I'll be dead."

Despite himself, Anti-Cosmo let out a small laugh with an eyebrow raised. His mood had begun to lighten up finally, even after all that's happened, and his curiosity about her heightened once again. He paused for a moment as he let his mind soundlessly wander, until finally felt the need to comment on something that had plagued him about her all this time.

"You're pretty optimistic for someone about to face their own death."

He was graced with another burst of laughter that bounced off the walls. Anti-Cosmo wasn't even sure if that was meant to be funny at all, though the way he commented was pretty snarky, he felt that with someone this simple-minded, he had to be more direct and clear about what he wanted to know. So, he turned towards the door, and asked her directly,

"How are you able to do that?"

"Hm?" She asked once her laughter finally died down.

"How can you smile in the face of death like this?" Anti-Cosmo suddenly furrowed his eyebrows as he became incredibly suspicious of her, "Do you know something I don't?"

"Um, no. I'm pretty certain in a few days I'll be dead as dust." She said cheerfully. Then, even more unpredictably, her voice suddenly became very low-key and even a little sorrowful, "You know, um, if you let me live, I promise I'll make it up to you."

Anti-Cosmo was silent for a moment. He had certainly noticed how quickly she changed her tune, and was actually thrown off for a moment after becoming used to how cheerful she was. Perhaps, he wondered, she wasn't as easygoing as she appeared to be.

Then he grimaced as he also wondered if she really wasn't too stupid to recognise the situation she was in. He stood firm, placing a hand on his hip and told her sharply,

"I wouldn't try bargaining with me, you know. I really don't think you'll be able to give me anything of use to me."

She paused, and Anti-Cosmo didn't know how to interpret this. Was she really going to bargain with him, he wondered, or was she going to beg for her life? Then his suspicions came to a crashing halt as her voice sounded suddenly hoarse and incredibly pained, as if she was fighting back the tears,

"I'm really sorry for what I did. If killing me will condone for what I've done to you, then you should get it over and done with already."

Anti-Cosmo was stunned into silence. His eyes grew wide, realising the true nature of this woman's intentions, and felt as if he could barely speak. When he could finally manage to find his voice in his throat, he sounded almost breathless.

"You'd rather have my forgiveness than your own life?" He asked incredulously, and his voice became almost as uneasy as hers, "I'm letting you die, how can you still want my forgiveness?"

The woman took a moment to herself to sniff, and to even laugh bitterly at what he said, before finally replying morosely, and incredibly sincerely,

"I guess that's just how it is..."

"It doesn't have to be!" Anti-Cosmo squared himself towards the door, and anxiously ran his hand through his messy hair in total disbelief, "How can you be so careless with your life?!"

She paused again, and Anti-Cosmo felt too agitated to be patient with her, yet he couldn't find the right words to say. He didn't know what the proper reaction to this was. He only stood there, staring wide eyed at the door as if he hoped some kind of answer to spring forth from it.

"I've made my peace with death." She said as her voice sounded sombre, but still genuine, and finally she failed to stifle a sob as she choked out the truth, "I just... I don't want to die feeling like a failure."

For a while, Anti-Cosmo was left staring at the door in complete stillness. The woman's soft sobbing filled the room, and he found that it was much less pleasant than when it was filled with her laughter. In fact, he realised that he couldn't stand this at all.

But, he couldn't find the right words to say at all. He couldn't quite believe what this woman was telling him, but it also seemed to make perfect sense to him. He had hoped this wouldn't happen, as he knew nothing good would come out of getting to know even a little bit about this woman, but she was so peculiar, so infectiously charming, and such a sympathetic character that Anti-Cosmo had almost forgotten that he was the most feared student at this academy. He forgot that he was fearful for a reason, he forgotten that he thrived on the sadness and misfortune of others...

But this girl was completely different.

He tried to figure out just why someone would value someone's forgiveness over their own life. It absolutely boggled his mind that this woman would willingly throw away her existence to appease someone she had wronged in her life.

I'm a stranger to her... so why is she so hung up on a stranger's anger? It's too pitiful... too heartbreaking...

Anti-Cosmo's eyes softened for a moment. His cold heart had wavered, but he didn't care. Because he finally realised why this has managed to touch him so deeply.

He related to her. Anti-Cosmo didn't want to admit it, but one of his biggest fears in this life was the fear of failure. Everyone had weaknesses, he knew that, and he couldn't escape his own. He dreamed of power, he dreamed of success, so it was only natural that his biggest downfall would be the complete opposite. And this made him wonder, if he was in the exact same position as this woman, would he trade his own life to ensure that he didn't feel like a complete failure?

And as he heard the quiet desperate cries of a woman who felt exactly that, he felt as if he was standing beside himself. The woman out there on the balcony was him, his own fear of incompetence and disappointment that had been locked away. And how ironic, he found, that he refused to let her out...

Anti-Cosmo picked up his wand and soundlessly made it glow. As he did this, he found it strange that he met someone he could relate to without knowing their name, or much else outside of that. He knew she was an idiot, he knew she was generally a carefree person, which was the exact opposite of him in every way, and yet he shared her insecurity. Granted that he was a lot better at hiding it than her, but he wondered, would he really hide it so well if he was on the brink of death?

Anti-Cosmo's eyes became vacant, and for a moment, he wondered what the true nature of this woman really was... and wondered if there was a whole lot more to her than she lets on...

Maybe... we're alike in more ways than I originally thought.

The voice suddenly gasped on the other side of the door. Anti-Cosmo figured that she finally noticed the sandwich that he made magically appear for her. And she sniffed before nervously speaking up again.

"Wh-what is this?"

"It's a sandwich." Anti-Cosmo told her bluntly, "With ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato, if I remember correctly."

She was silent for a moment, and Anti-Cosmo presumed that she was busy eating it by now. However when he heard no sound at all, he began to wonder what she was up to. What was she doing, he generally wondered, what was she thinking?

"...is there poison on here too?" She asked him hesitantly.

"No, there isn't." He smirked as a fairly unpleasant thought came to him, "But if you'd prefer it, I can add some on for you."

"I'm good, thanks." She said anxiously, "I'm sure poison tastes terrible."

At that point, Anti-Cosmo could hear her suddenly attacking the sandwich, and sounds of enjoyment finally filled the air. The atmosphere eased up, and Anti-Cosmo was surprisingly grateful for this. Though he didn't expect her to be such a glutton with food by the sound of how ungraceful she was, but Anti-Cosmo was always indifferent about the grace of others. He was far too concerned with his own to care.

When she finally finished the sandwich, everything grew silent once more. As the seconds went on and the more the silence lasted, the more Anti-Cosmo figured that she knew why he gave her the sandwich.

Anti-Cosmo knew now that she wasn't as stupid as she seemed to be. She knew she was going to die, she just didn't object to it. So she must've known that in that giving her that sandwich, that was his single significant decision; he had decided to save her life. She must've known that one event had prevented, or at least prolonged, a more significant event of the future. The domino effect had occurred.

He decided that he wasn't going to let her die. In that instance, Anti-Cosmo realised the value of her life, even when she didn't value it at all, by relating to that life. So he chose to preserve it. All because he gave her a sandwich. And from her silence, he knew that she must've known this too.

A small thud sounded as she rested her shoulder against the door, and although her voice was low and sombre, it was still clear enough to let Anti-Cosmo know that she lay her head against the metal,

"I will make it up to you, y'know."

Anti-Cosmo finally gave in to her, and listened.

"How are you going to do that?" He asked, his voice was also low and solemn.

"Well, um, if movies have taught me anything, it's that most bad guys want money."

Anti-Cosmo almost snorted with dark laughter.

"Not this bad guy," he told her with an unpredictable grin, "I've absolutely no interest in material wealth, that's not what I want out of world domination. You've simply been watching too many movies."

She moved around against the door as she seemed to perk up a little more,

"So what do you want out of it?"

"Power." He stated without an ounce of hesitation, and the more he spoke about it, the more energetic and passionate he became, "I want the ability to render the entire world to their knees and call me their ruler. I want people to fear me, to be too afraid to rebel against me, I want absolute supremacy over a society that strives on destruction and anarchy!" After this, he grinned and told her nonchalantly, "If you give me that right now, I'll finally forgive you and let you in."

"I'll... have to work on that." She hesitated as she almost sounded a little in awe about what he was talking about, but a little overwhelmed by this as well. Then she sounded incredibly perked up as she proposed an idea to him, "But if you want complete control of people, I'll agree to be your underling. I'll do all your work, make you lunch, run your errands..."

"I don't think so." Anti-Cosmo told her sternly with a roll of his eyes, "You don't seem like the kind of person that would do a good job of any of that."

"Sure I will! I'll do anything you ask of me." She sounded determined to assure him of that fact, "All you gotta do is snap your fingers and I'll come running. I'll do anything and I'll do it well, you'll see!"

"You'll do anything I say?" Anti-Cosmo asked her with an eyebrow raised, and almost scoffed at the whole concept, "You really do have no regard for your own life. Then again, that might be a useful trait in a subordinate."

Anti-Cosmo began to contemplate the potential beginning of his personal army. He knew he'd been meaning to start one for a while and start his eventual climb up into power. First, he needed a group of subordinates that would do his evil bidding, and naturally he had to hook on to anyone willing to do what he told them to do. Usually, anyone who isn't smart enough to realise they'd be manipulated by him would be the first candidates, and this girl seemed to fit the bill pretty well.

So, he finally came to his conclusion.

"Tell you what, if you agree to do everything I tell you to do from now on, I'll forget everything you've done and open the door." Anti-Cosmo told her firmly, "And I don't want to hear any complaints when I do. Remember that you're the one that suggested it."

She made a lot of uncomfortable movement behind the door as she suddenly hesitated and sounded unsure of herself,

"I know, but, um, this is starting to sound like one of those really dangerous deals, like selling your soul to the devil..."

Anti-Cosmo couldn't help but laugh out loud at how ridiculously childish that sounded, and smirked as he beamed with egotistical self-respect once again,

"That's funny, though I'm sure the devil is a lovely bloke compared to me."

"That wasn't meant to be funny." She said in confusion. Then she sounded all the more nervous about this as she stammered with anxiety, "I... don't know if I want to give you my soul, anyway. I... I have a boyfriend."

"Relax, I'm not interested in anything like that," Anti-Cosmo assured her and remained firm about the matter at hand, although his face did fill up with light tinges of colour, "I'm not going to try anything funny. I only intend to order you around while you do all of the dirty work. I'll deal with the technicalities and master planning."

She still sounded uneasy as she moved around a little more, and her voice even sounded a little flustered.

"I still don't like how you worded that..."

"Oh for Christ's sake, I'm not trying to hit on you!" Anti-Cosmo snapped at her impatiently despite his ears burning up in a bright shade of red, "I assure you that this master and servant arrangement is going to be strictly professional."

"You promise?" She asked him anxiously.

Anti-Cosmo rolled his eyes in exasperation and placed an exhausted hand over his face.

"I do." He finally told her.

"You do what?"

Anti-Cosmo groaned irritably, finding himself having no patience for this kind of childishness, and suddenly yelled sharply at her with a slightly red face,

"I promise I won't bloody try it on with you! Alright?!"

"Good." She sounded happy with that. And soon she moved herself back away from the door as she cheerfully called over to him. "Then you can have my soul, Anti-Devil."

"Charming." He said sarcastically as he couldn't quite decide whether or not he should be amused or irritated, "I can already tell this relationship is going to be an exhausting one."

Then, Anti-Cosmo took hold on the handle of the metal door, and slowly pushed it forward, and opened up the door to step into a sudden burst of natural light. For a moment, the sun had blinded his sight until he could place his hand over his eyes. And as soon as he could see through the shade, and as his vision finally returned...

Everything stopped.

Anti-Cosmo took a very sharp intake of breath.

The sun was just setting behind the sea of red and black storm clouds circling the tower beneath them, and the orange tinged universe above them was speckled with sparkling lights that the milky way produced. Everything was soft, everything was silent, everything was just insignificant surrounding the figure of this woman standing before him.

How... have I never seen her before in my life?

He couldn't move, he couldn't feel a thing. He became immersed in her figure that had been glowing from the soft rays of light gently touching over her blue skin. She bashfully looked to the side for a moment to tuck a few strands of her blue curly hair behind her ear, and her smile widened into a toothy grin over her misshapen teeth. Her smile had that childish innocence that seemed to compliment her personality perfectly.

And as she bravely met up with his gaze, it was as if a dagger shot through his chest.

He had never seen an anti-fairy without red eyes before this moment. And when he saw hers, he couldn't begin to describe how beautifully unique they were. They were a piercing shade of pink, reflecting all the warm colours that the sunset created. And that's simply what her eyes were. They were warm. As she smiled, her eyes lit up in a blaze of warmth.

The fire...

It burnt his heart, and he grabbed for his chest. He had to check if he was still breathing. His heartbeat was completely erratic. He couldn't tell if it had stopped dead or if it was beating so hard that it would break out of his chest at any minute. He couldn't tell. Anti-Cosmo pressed his lips together, and desperately suppressed his heartbeat as he gripped at his chest in a tighter hold.

Meanwhile, she brought her hand over her chest as she breathed out a sigh of relief, and smiled sweetly as she told him very softly,

"Thanks for rescuing me..."

"I, uh..." Anti-Cosmo could barely manage words.

Everything about this woman had changed for him. He never suspected this woman to be, well, a woman. Throughout this whole ordeal, she was simply another victim of his. She was another faceless anomaly in the crowd, until she had managed to build up an identity that he could recognise. And once he could put a face to this identity... he had no idea...

She cautiously stepped towards him, retaining that innocent toothy smile as she approached him, and he stiffened on the spot.

"And I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you." She said to him gently until she was standing right in front of him, "I'll make it up to you right now."

Anti-Cosmo couldn't even register her intentions, as he was so focused on her closeness to him. Then, it was as if a shock of lightning ran through him as he felt her fingers brush over his. Anti-Cosmo flinched, and watched as she curled her fingers over his hand, and brought it up towards her.

Anti-Cosmo felt as if his mouth had run dry, and all his blood ran to his head as his face lit up into a very bright blush.

"What... are you doing?" He asked her anxiously.

"According to Plato, the soul is in the form of three parts."

Suddenly, she guided his hand to the top of her hair, and gently placed his fingers across of her forehead, "First, the head, for reason," and as quickly as she had taken his hand, she guided his hand from the top of her head towards her chest, and pressed his hand against the base of her collarbone, "then, the heart, for emotion," then finally, she took his hand and traced it down her torso until she gently laid his hand against her stomach, "and, lastly, to the stomach... for desire."

Anti-Cosmo face burnt into an incredibly deep shade of red.

"There." She concluded cheerfully as she let go of his hand. He pulled it back quickly to inspect it, but nothing out of the ordinary had changed, "My soul is in your hands now."

Anti-Cosmo didn't know what to make of this. He knew that he should have found this very childish, he knew that he wouldn't have usually let this sort of thing go on for as long as it did, but he couldn't bring himself to stop her at any point. He'd gone beyond curiosity, and instead he'd found himself captivated by her. She had such a unique way of thinking, an incredibly bizarre array of perspectives... and he could only find it fascinating. She was an amazingly interesting person.

And, just as he thought he couldn't be in awe of her more than he already was, he asked her in surprise,

"Wait a second." He stopped her, "You've studied Plato?"

"Well, I haven't studied him as much as I have visited him in Greece." She told him simply and seemed to shrug it off as if meeting one of the world's most famous philosophers wasn't at all a big deal, "He was a nicer guy than his friend Aristotle, I don't think he cared much for me and my gender though..."

Anti-Cosmo was stunned. He never thought she would be the type of person to personally meet with ancient Greece's most well known philosophers, but at the same time, he wouldn't at all put it past her at this point. He struggled to find the strength to speak as he queried about her all the more,

"You're... serious?"

"Of course!" She laughed nonchalantly, "I may be stupid, but at least I'm well travelled."

Despite himself, Anti-Cosmo grinned at this. Then he shook his head in somewhat of a state of disbelief, and smirked as he replied,

"It seems that way." Then he looked over her shoulder and pointed over to the ledge of the balcony, "You do know you could have just flown off of there, right?"

She stared at it for a moment, widening her eyes as she realised this very... very major mistake.

"Oh, yeah... I could've..." She said quietly as she scratched the back of her head, then she looked up at him with the most dumb-founded expression that Anti-Cosmo had ever seen, "Huh, guess I am pretty stupid..."

For a moment, Anti-Cosmo tried desperately to stifle his laughter, but he couldn't withhold it for much longer. She was almost taken aback when Anti-Cosmo burst into a loud and hearty laughter, and yet she didn't find it hard to stay straight faced alongside him. Soon, they were both a mess of mad laughter, simultaneously thinking about how ridiculous it was that this entire situation could have been avoided if she had noticed the ledge a lot sooner. Anti-Cosmo seemed to have doubled over, grabbing at his sides as his rib cage genuinely started to become painful, while she leant desperately on to the open door for support as she tried to catch her breath back.

Once Anti-Cosmo's laughter started to die down, he wiped away a few escaped tears and looked over to this mysterious woman. She leant back against the door and took a few deep breaths, then smiled to him as she crossed her arms over her stomach to withhold anymore laughter bubbling within her. Anti-Cosmo shook his head at her with a grin, noticing how guilty she looked despite her bright smile, and said with a sigh,

"You're a curious one... um..."

Her smile widened into a very large toothy grin.

"Now do you wanna know my name?"

Anti-Cosmo laughed under his breath at the irony of it all, and finally gave into her.

"I guess it would make things easier if I knew what to call you," Anti-Cosmo said simply before his grin turned very mischievous, "Although I reserve the right to lock you back out here whenever you disobey me. Just because I know your name, doesn't mean I'll ever be easy on you. There's still a possibility of becoming one of my victims."

Despite how threatening he attempted to be, the woman's smile still remained as if she didn't find it at all convincing. And then, she shrugged and caught on to his playful mood,

"Whatever." She dismissed him innocently before sticking her tongue out at him, "At least I'll still be your first."

Anti-Cosmo surprisingly found that he much more amused by this than angry, which was a massive change from the atmosphere they shared earlier. Though, he still raised an eyebrow at her and flashed his sharp fangs at her into an intimidating grin,

"Hurry up and tell me your name before I call you something unflattering instead."

Again, she was completely unfazed by his empty threats and found herself only to smile in return. Anti-Cosmo wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to that, but for now he solely wondered why her toothy smile was so fascinating to him. Then, he flinched once again as she rose from against the door and stepped closer towards him, placing her hands over her arms as she gazed gently towards him,

"I'm Anti-Wanda." She told him softly with a slight tilt of her head, "Your personal servant from here on in."

Anti-Cosmo swallowed a hard gulp. Her smile was warm, he found. And so were her eyes. They were so interesting, as if she'd captured the sun in her eyes and it blazed in a fiery pink inferno...

Anti-Wanda...

Quickly, Anti-Cosmo turned away from her as his face filled up with colour once again, and he refused to acknowledge how much he perspired under her gaze.

"Well, Anti-Wanda," Anti-Cosmo coughed into his hand to clear his dry throat, "first order of business is..."

She suddenly winced and ducked for cover under her arms at all the sadistic ideas that she could ever think to do for him, and held her breath as she anticipated the worst one of them all to be her very first task...

"Put the kettle on. I still need that cup of tea from earlier. If I'm going to get any work done today, I'll need my daily intake."

Anti-Wanda hesitantly looked back over to him as she let her guard down, and was incredibly surprised by how merciful he was being with her. However, she didn't dwell on how she got so lucky this time, and regained her balance on both feet,

"Oh, right." She breathed as she still felt a little flustered, then as quickly as it went, her bright smile returned once again, "Alright, no problem!"

Anti-Wanda turned on her heels and finally ran past Anti-Cosmo and into the safety of the building. He watched her run inside and noticed how energetic of a person she was. However, once she was inside, she stopped all of a sudden and froze in place as if her entire figure stiffened on the spot.

"What is it?" Anti-Cosmo asked curiously with a skeptical eyebrow raised. She quickly turned over her shoulder to him and squeezed her legs together, and bounced uncomfortably on the spot.

"Um, permission to take a quick bathroom break?" She cried. Anti-Cosmo looked at her in complete surprise. She must have interpreted his surprise with total disgust as her entire face filled up with colour and turned completely red with embarrassment, "What? I was locked out there for a long time!"

"Just... do what you need to do." He told her passively. Anti-Wanda quickly shot him a grateful smile as she shot out the room.

"Thanks!" She called back to him as she disappeared from his sight.

As Anti-Wanda ran out the room, Anti-Cosmo was left thinking about how utterly eccentric she was. He hesitated in the doorway of the balcony, leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms, letting his gaze turn over to the setting sun in the distance. He'd never really looked at the Earth's sun at this angle, shining brightly over the bleakly coloured storm clouds, and Anti-Wanda was right.

It really is beautiful.

How strange, he felt, that after meeting her his entire perspective from his studio seemed to be completely changed. At the time, he had no idea why...

Then he began wondering if this arrangement would truly be a beneficial in the end. He was desperate for time now that his project had been torn apart, and he admitted that the added help would be a huge advantage in it's completion, though he wondered if she could provide the help that he really needed. She was dumb, she was cheerful, she was the opposite of all of his traits, so what could she possibly do to help him in the long run?

Then he wondered if she would become too much of a distraction. If he didn't keep her at arm's length, she would become a problem at some point. Then again, he thought, would he let her become a distraction so easily? She was an interesting character, and he was guilty in wanting to know more about her, so he would inevitably end up paying more attention to her. In this short time that he's known her, he found her to have so many fascinating features.

He thought back to how he found her on the balcony. She was leaning against the ledge with the sun lighting up the whole of her blue figure, she was holding on to her curly blue hair as she nervously laced her fingers through it... she was smiling so largely as her full lips curled over her misshapen teeth... and her eyes were ablaze as if there were pink flames in her scorching gaze...

The fire in her eyes...

Anti-Cosmo ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he sighed. This was definitely not a good idea.

…

The next morning, Anti-Cosmo arrived on time to his morning meeting with his personal tutor, Anti-Guy Moon, and didn't hesitate to enter his office without knocking first. He had a policy that anyone had to be prepared for his arrival, regardless of how busy they were, and he was especially strict with this policy if it was someone else arranging the meeting with him.

Anti-Cosmo walked through the door and found his tutor idly clicking through his emails on his computer, and he glanced over to his side once he saw Anti-Cosmo in the corner of his eyes. Anti-Cosmo knew that he was a peculiar teacher, who had a very intense perspective on the success of the academy he worked at. Ironically, Anti-Cosmo wasn't sure if Anti-Guy's overwhelming pride for his job was healthy for him.

Regardless, Anti-Cosmo aimed to do his best to meet up with his expectations and deadlines, and usually he would do a good job of it. However, they had clashed once or twice over who had the bigger ego.

"You wanted to see me, Anti-Guy?" Anti-Cosmo asked him as he hovered on the other side of his desk.

"Oh, right, I did!" He suddenly shot up from his computer and faced all of his attention on Anti-Cosmo, with intensely wide eyes, "First of all, I wanted to congratulate you on your continuing success at the academy. We're keen to see more of your intriguing artistry brought to the table, Anti-Cosmo. We have high hopes for your next submission this coming Friday the 13th. I'm sure it'll be something absolutely spectacular, as we normally expect from you."

"I'll do my best, sir." Anti-Cosmo plainly said. He recognised that while he was attending the academy, he had to be as level-headed as possible regarding the people who handled his chances of graduating.

"Now to get to the matter at hand." Anti-Guy pressed his hands together as his tone of voice became more serious, "As you know, the faculty continuously tries to promote brilliance and strive for perfection from this academy's student body, and I expect our students to look to you for direction and guidance. I would hope that some of our more, uh, difficult students look upon you as their role model, as a symbol of what our academy can achieve if they actually choose to take our education seriously!"

Anti-Guy sat back as his sudden burst of irritation simmered down, as he was the kind of person who would sound humble one minute, then angrily passionate the next. He didn't have the time for anyone who didn't see what he saw in the educational system, and so he would often come across as intensely condescending towards anyone who couldn't see it his way, "Anti-Cosmo, what I'm trying to say is, you're the ideal candidate for a new program I've proposed to help lesser fortunate students realise the privilege they've been given here at this academy."

"You can't be serious..." Anti-Cosmo was becoming more than agitated by what he was implying.

"I acknowledge that you do value your solitude, and I'm happy that it aids you and your practises in that studio we've so generously lent to you." His lips curled up into a sly smile, "However, we also promote a student's maturity during this intense training facility. And, let's face it, you're going to need social skills to be able to function in this world. So, we've set you up with a struggling student who will accompany you in your private studio."

"But, sir... if I may-"

"Anti-Cosmo, please understand that this will be an enlightening experience for you and this student." He interrupted before Anti-Cosmo could get a defensive word in edgewise, "You'll have the chance to grow as a person, as well as pass on some of your knowledge to a poor soul who so desperately needs it." He then squared his gaze directly at Anti-Cosmo, "After all, we're all well aware of your fine leadership skills. You've been given the role as an educator, the highest ranking position that this academy as to offer. Think of this as a positive career move. It's another step closer to reaching your goal, is it not?"

Anti-Cosmo knew he was generally being manipulated into this, and he knew that he was intending to butter him up to the idea, however he knew he also had a point. Anti-Cosmo was hoping to create that personal army he'd always dreamed of, and with more idiots on his side, he'll only be that much closer to his goal. However, he wasn't all that keen on sharing his private space with someone else. He was right, he valued his time alone to work in solitude, but he wasn't entirely in a position where he could balance his projects due in a few weeks time as well as teach another student on the side. He knew he was a genius, but he wasn't immune to stress.

"I still don't know about this..."

"Okay then. Let me be blunt, Anti-Cosmo." He suddenly said as he rose from his desk, gazing directly at Anti-Cosmo as his voice grew extremely dark, "If you fail to cooperate in this program, we're simply going to have to give that private studio to someone who will cooperate." He lifted his head as if he were looking down his nose at him, "Do you see what I'm saying?"

"...I do, sir." Anti-Cosmo replied with equal amount of intimidation in his voice as he clenched his fists by his sides to restrain his anger, "Though I didn't think blackmail was your style."

"You're a smart kid, Anti-Cosmo. I wish you'd wise up and realise who ultimately has the authority around here." He told him harshly before he sat back down with a less than innocent smile on his face, "Besides, you still get to keep your benefits. So, what's the harm in a little company?"

Anti-Cosmo bit his tongue to prevent himself from giving into his rising anger. He always figured that Anti-Guy was threatened by his knowledge and power, and he'd no doubt take advantage of every opportunity to bring Anti-Cosmo down to size.

However, just before the tension between them could become any more thick, the door behind Anti-Cosmo clicked open.

"Ah, you've finally arrived." Anti-Guy suddenly called as his voice was loud and welcoming, and he quickly changed his tune from aggressive to incredibly friendly. However, his underlining patronising manner was still apparent, at least to Anti-Cosmo, "Fashionably late, as per usual, but no matter! We're all friends here, right?"

Anti-Cosmo turned over his shoulder to see who it was, and his eyes widened as he couldn't quite believe who he saw standing there with messy curled blue hair and wide sparkling pink eyes.

"Sorry I'm late," Anti-Wanda said quickly as if she were out of breath, and shut the door behind her as she approached Anti-Guy's desk with a bright and cheerful smile, "The cafeteria had a breakfast special on pizza!"

Anti-Cosmo couldn't withhold his utter surprise of seeing her there so suddenly,

"Anti-Wanda?!"

"Anti-Cosmo!" Suddenly she turned on her heel and met up with Anti-Cosmo's equally surprised gaze.

"Well this certainly makes introductions and first impressions less awkward." Anti-Guy chimed in with a sly smile, "So you know each other?"

"Yeah, we do!" Anti-Wanda turned back to him with an easygoing demeanor while Anti-Cosmo sighed with exhaustion,

"Not for very long, mind you..."

"That doesn't matter," Anti-Guy continued to smile just as innocently as Anti-Wanda had, "since you'll be spending a lot more time closely getting to know each other from this point on."

Anti-Cosmo had to bite his tongue once again to prevent a sharp gasp. He felt as if his eyes couldn't grow any wider than they already were, but as he stared longer at Anti-Guy's deviously cheerful smile, he was almost too afraid to even ask,

"Sir... what are you telling me?"

"Isn't it obvious, Anti-Cosmo?" Anti-Guy called to him and swung his arms out as if he was personally enjoying torturing him, "Anti-Wanda will be your new student!"

Anti-Cosmo breathed unenthusiastically, and his shoulders fell in defeat as he mumbled under his breath,

"I was afraid of that..."

"What? Are you serious?" Anti-Wanda, however, was more than surprised about this as she hadn't expected this to be what Anti-Guy had meant at all, "Anti-Cosmo is going to be my new teacher?"

"Yes, Anti-Wanda!" He nodded to her as if she were a small child, then as he continued to smile towards her, but the tone of his voice made it sound as if he was directly referring to Anti-Cosmo instead, "And I should emphasise that although he'll be your teacher throughout this experience, I want you to understand that ultimately you'll be in charge of this arrangement. We want you to get the full experience of the education we provide here at the academy! And if you're unsatisfied with the quality of Anti-Cosmo's practises or methods, then do not hesitate to inform us about them. We'll be happy to put an end to this program and an end to Anti-Cosmo's diploma." He sat back in his chair and his insidious grin widened, "After all, we care about your education."

Anti-Wanda turned over her shoulder to Anti-Cosmo, and her eyes were wide with limitless surprise.

"Oh! I guess this makes our arrangement a whole lot more awkward."

"Fate must be having a laugh..." Anti-Cosmo said quietly as he rubbed his hand over his face with total fatigue.

"Come on, Anti-Cosmo, think positively! You're Anti-Fairy Academy's best and brightest student!" Anti-Guy brought his hands together on his lap and crossed his leg over the other as his eyebrows raised. Then his crooked grin only became more deceitful as he told him firmly, "After all this is over, I'm sure you'll have a better understanding of your position in this academy and in this society. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I'm starting to realise that, sir." Anti-Cosmo told him truthfully, desperately fighting the urge to reciprocate rather violently.

"Good." Anti-Guy bared his teeth as he pointed to the door, "Now get out of my office and seize the day. It's a beautiful day for learning!"

"I'll seize it so fervently, sir." Anti-Cosmo told him sarcastically as he feigned a smile. Then as he walked out the room with Anti-Wanda right beside him, and as he closed the door behind them both, his intimidating scowl took over his entire expression. "I'll seize my hands around your god damn throat, sir..."

Anti-Cosmo immediately walked down the hallway, and Anti-Wanda had to quickly step up to him to meet up with his fast steps. The corridor was long and empty, the arched ceilings made their steps echo almost louder than their voices and Anti-Wanda tried her best to keep up with his fast pace. He was faster than usual, mainly because of his infuriated state, but Anti-Wanda was completely oblivious to this despite how he gritted his teeth in anger.

"Isn't that funny, Anti-Cosmo?" Anti-Wanda said with an innocent smile, "You're going to be my teacher!"

"It's bloody hysterical." He said with total disdain.

"Hey, don't look so gloomy. It's not all bad, this means I'll be around all the time to wait on you hand and foot." She brought her hands together behind her back as she gazed along the intricately decorated stone walls, and finally dared to tease Anti-Cosmo with a mischievous grin, "Although the way Anti-Guy put it made it sound like you have to be doing everything I say from now on. That's quite a turn around, wouldn't you say Anti-Cosmo?"

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo couldn't take much more of this.

He quickly moved around on his feet as he reached out and grabbed for Anti-Wanda's arm. She shouted out in utter surprise as he fiercely pinned her arm against the stone wall and swiftly pushed her back against it. She was forced to look up at him and found he was glaring down at her with fiery anger in his eyes. He'd trapped her against the wall by his arms that had created a cage around her. She couldn't run, she couldn't move. Her eyes were locked on to his. So Anti-Wanda breathed sharply, completely shocked by how aggressive he'd become, and finally realised that she had pushed his buttons at the wrong time.

Anti-Cosmo stared at her as if flames were erupting from his eyes, and he almost let out a growl past his sharp fangs,

"Look, I want you to forget everything that asshole said about how you're in charge of me!" He seethed as if he were shooting daggers directly from his eyes, and he was determined to prioritize where she stood with him, "You're not in charge. I certainly don't work that way. And need I remind you whose idea it was to make this arrangement in the first place? You owe me!"

"Alright, alright!" Anti-Wanda persisted as she turned her head away from him, and pouted by how unfair she felt he was being, "Man, I was just playing! I said I was gonna wait on you! There's no need to get so close and personal."

Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo realised what he was doing.

He had his hand firmly gripped around Anti-Wanda's wrist, pinning her down against her will. He had pushed her back up against the stone wall with her face only inches away from his. Anti-Wanda had turned her piercing pink eyes away from him, and he'd noticed the faint tinge of a blush washing over her face. The blue strands of his hair had tangled against her curls. And he could feel her sharp breath on his forearms that caged her on either side of her head. Their figures were very dangerously close to one another.

Anti-Cosmo loosened his grip and his hands fell back down to his sides. Then he awkwardly stepped back with his lips tightly pressed together. He turned away from her, as she had still turned away from him, and they stood in silence for a moment. Anti-Wanda grabbed at her arm that he'd pinned against the wall as she gazed vacantly away from him, and he clenched his fists by his sides as he perspired in a flustered state. The air was insanely hot between them.

However, Anti-Cosmo sighed when he finally crossed his arms as his short temper reminded him of the matter at hand.

"I'm only reiterating what we agreed on yesterday." He told her impatiently, still without making eye contact with her, "I don't intend to go back on my word, so I hope you'll show me the same courtesy."

"Of course I will. I still feel terrible about what happened." She said quietly as she recalled the mess she'd inadvertently made. Finally, she captured his gaze again and looked to him with apologetic sorrow in her burning eyes. Once she caught his gaze, he was locked on her, and hadn't felt compelled at all to look away. Then she rubbed her arm nervously as she sounded genuinely upset, "Look, Anti-Cosmo, I really do want to make it up to you, and I'm going to show you that it's what I intend to do. Let me prove to you that I will go through with my promise. Please," she looked away from him for a moment and told him dejectedly, "I want to redeem myself to you... and to me."

Anti-Cosmo felt it again.

He felt himself slipping and giving into his sympathy the more he looked at her disheartened expression. He winced as her eyes became watery, as if she were on the verge of tears, and Anti-Cosmo sighed deeply. He knew that he couldn't let this go on any longer, as it was strangely agony for him as well to look at her the way she was.

"I'm still a little skeptical... but, I'm still willing to give you a chance." He told her truthfully as he rubbed the back of his head in thought. Then, as his wandering mind focused once more on her, he then he gave her a hard and intensely severe stare as he desperately attempted to attain his domineering persona, "I'm willing to look past all of this, so you better take advantage of it."

"Sure, no problem." She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled sweetly in reply.

Anti-Cosmo felt as if his face was heating up once again the more he looked at her smile. He quickly turned his head and covered his mouth with his hand as he cleared his throat,

"I... don't want your position over me to get to your head. I hope you realise where you really stand between us. You're my inferior and you'll do what I say." He firmly ordered her without meeting her gaze before his voice grew a little softer, "Nothing more."

"Alright, I get it. I'll make you tea, pick up the groceries, whatever you want." Anti-Wanda couldn't help but giggle over how much he was beginning to repeat himself over the matter.

As he finally returned his gaze back to her, he raised an eyebrow at how she was so easygoing despite everything he'd told her. He was sure that he was being as intimidating as he normally was, as he usually could have the most fearsome professors at this academy running for cover, but Anti-Wanda was so laid-back and cheerful. He admitted to himself once more, she was a mystery.

"I'm not sure I approve of you taking this whole situation so lightly." Anti-Cosmo smirked as he stepped closer to her and leaned over her in a domineering stance, "I should remind you again of who I am and what I'm capable of."

"Oh right, right. You did say you'd like people to fear you." Anti-Wanda remembered as she placed a contemplative finger to her lips, then her shoulders rose as she shot him a guilty smile and decided to be bluntly truthful to him, "Well, to be honest, the idea of being constantly terrified of you sounds a little exhausting. Can't I just cower in fear every once in a while and get it out of the way?"

Anti-Cosmo didn't respond. He simply looked at her with confounded awe, and wondered if he was simply off his game today. It seemed no matter what he did, he just couldn't seem to shake her up like he could with anyone else. She was an idiot, but she was immune to him. She was different.

"Besides, you don't look scary. Your face looks too normal, even with the monocle." Anti-Wanda observed with a tilt of her head and lightly brushed her fingers over the string leading up to his monocle. Anti-Cosmo flinched by her sudden action for a moment and was caught off guard by how she widely grinned over her crooked teeth. Then, she told him gently, "You're not going to scare anyone looking like that. You actually have a good-looking face."

Anti-Cosmo blinked at her. And for a moment, he didn't at all register what she had just told him. He knew he wasn't exactly a particularly vain person in looks, though he did try his best to look smart and professional, but he'd never considered the possibility of anyone commenting so lightly on his appearance. And when Anti-Wanda did it so gently, his entire head filled up into a deep shade of red as if smoke had erupted from his ears.

He quickly turned around as he attempted to calm his fast beating heart. He gripped his chest once again as he avoided her gaze, and coughed awkwardly as he tried to find his voice again.

"...let's just get back to the studio." He finally managed, though his voice was low and very clearly caused by his embarrassment.

As he continued to walk down the empty hallways, Anti-Wanda gladly joined his side and was grateful that his steps weren't as fast as they were before. She smiled as she could finally keep up with his pace, and turned over to him with an upbeat grin,

"You want me to make you some morning tea?"

"Sure," Anti-Cosmo peered over to her and looked at her suspiciously, "if you can promise not to ruin the studio this time."

"I won't, I won't, I promise!" She laughed out loud and Anti-Cosmo found himself grinning along with her, then she held up her fists in an enthusiastic bout of determination, "I'll make a cup of tea so good that the whole of England will be proud of me!"

Anti-Cosmo couldn't help it. He was finding himself completely immersed by her and her strange habits. Her sunny disposition was having a completely unexpected affect on him, and he found that he didn't seem to mind all that much. And as he smirked over to her mischievously, he felt compelled to scold her just as cheerfully,

"You bloody well better."

…

Chapter One End

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