A clap of thunder and crash of lightning help illuminate the room. Within is a mostly tidy room. The bed is untouched, and a laptop hums quietly on the table besides the door.
"Ok," a voice says as the person cracks her fingers. She opens her bag and dumps some dirt that has growing mushrooms, clovers, and flowers inside. She spreads an even layer of dirt on the floor, followed by the vegetation over the top, and finally throws some dust that she acquired from her time in Oz above that. A sudden light engulfs it, and roots can be seen growing out of the dirt, and down into the floor.
She runs to the kitchen section of her room and pours the milk she left to warm up on top of the mini fridge into a bowl, and grabs a fresh red apple to put in the growth as a gift.
She then grabs a piece of paper and a black pen. She does her best to draw a beautiful fairy with long, curly locks, sad eyes, and a luscious lips that are just perfect for kissing. It pains her to not draw that lovely gown of hers just as she remembered it: fluffy, see through sleeves, low neckline, and all. But time was not a delicacy she could afford to waste at the moment. She draws her barefoot as that was how she last remembered her.
'I was planning to tickle her toes once I had her naked...' she remembers fondly. After all, that was the most she managed to get off of her, and oh how she had come to love that smile. Then at the bottom of the page she writes in large elegant letters, "Gilda, the woman fairy who will always have my love."
She adds a quick note of "magic," "can become invisible and apport wherever she chooses," and "can kill people using a magical family crest." After a moment, she also adds "has Tardis-like magic" once she remembers the inside of the tent.
Then for 10 seconds, she keeps her eyes tight shut and imagines as clearly as she can the look of her warm brown eyes. She imagines the way her silk dress creased with her movement, the feel of her soft tan skin, and the warmth of her hands on her face.
Finally, she opens her eyes and begins the chant. "Sweets, sweets, that's what you are."
She grabs two Hershey's Kisses from her bag and, after unwrapping them, adds them besides the milk.
Then she grabs two sugar cubes from the bag and chants, "Sugar, sugar, that's what you are," as she gently drops them into the milk and watches them dissolve.
She hears her phone vibrate besides the laptop, but ignores it.
'They know I'm gone...'
She hurries to finish the spell, looking down at the paper to make sure she doesn't butcher it.
She wouldn't want the wrong fae to come to her after all...
"With the moon light above, I call upon the fairy, Gilda."
She grabs some more of the dust from her bag and throws a generous amount over her offering as she finishes the final line of the spell.
"Bring forth your tides. I am here to harm none, only to greet and love!"
This is all true, but in part a lie since she would like more than to just greet.
She waits for three minutes, but nothing happens. She hears nothing, sees nothing, feels nothing.
With despair in her heart, she goes back to the codex and begins trying to finish deciphering once more.
'I really need to finish this before they find me,' she thinks to herself. She didn't cast a spell to hide herself since she really hoped Gilda would come to her. She mumbles "Ezekiel" to herself as she types in a flurry, trying every possible meaning to it that can come to mind. Suddenly she hears a crunching behind her.
Her blood runs cold at the thought that the crazy family had found her, but as she tries to find a reflection in the window, a familiar voice makes a quick comment.
"You've cut your hair. It rather suits you, I'd say."
It's rich and silky and so full of love, Charlie Bradbury practically falls out of her chair as she turns to greet her beloved fairy.
" Gilda!" She exclaims.
A gentle smile comes over her features as she fluidly gets up from the floor.
"Yes, my love. I'll always come when you call." They quickly come to each and embrace, warm tears coming out of Charlie's eyes as she looks her over and happily states, "It's you, thank god! It's really you."
With mock exasperation, Gilda replies, "By Orion, I never thought I'd see you again!"
They laugh in a relieved manner, and immediately kiss passionately. It had been far too long, even by Gilda's fairy standards. Charlie's phone goes off again at that point, and then she remembers exactly why she called her almost girlfriend at this moment.
"Ok, so it's not that I didn't miss you. I really did. But, I kinda need your help to… vamos."
She faces down nervously, too scared to look Gilda in the eye. She worries Gilda will think she's only using her; that she'll leave and that it'll be all for naught, but Gilda pulls her chin up and gives her an adoring look.
"Worry not my fair maiden. I'll return the rescue favor shortly. But first, tell me what you need."
Charlie explains about the how Dean, "the hunter that helped us release you from Boltar's imprisonment" has been cursed with a mark that makes him want to kill, and that even angels say it cannot be removed. She then tells her about how they found a book that can undo any curse, and how she's been trying to decipher the code, but that a strange family has been after her and trying to kill her ever since she acquired the book.
A fiery glow overcomes Gilda, and for a second her features begin to change into a dark, sinister form. But with a blink of an eye, those features disappear.
"Someone has tried to hurt you?" she seethes out. She does her best to control her emotions, but she can't help the strong grip that threatens to leave marks on Charlie's lovely long fingers.
"Y-yes," she stammers, surprised by the sudden anger, but Gilda sees the surprised distress in Charlie's eyes and takes a deep breath.
With a quick turn, she kneels and scoops up as much dirt and vegetation as she can from the fresh earth. She then begins to chant in a different language as she lets the dirt fall through her fingers.
When the dirt hits the floor, it starts to glow slowly, and grow slowly. By the time Gilda finishes her spell, a figure stands before Charlie, but it is both colorless and faceless. Gilda steps around this figure and goes to Charlie.
"My love, I hate to ask this of you, but I must make you endure some pain... May I take some of your blood?"
Her eyes are pained, and her lip quivers ever so slightly as she waits for a response. It greatly warms Charlie's heart to see how much Gilda cares, but she quickly helps her see it's ok by taking her knife out of her backpack and cutting a line across her palm. Then, Charlie places a chaste kiss on her fairy's lips and says, "You don't ever have to worry about hurting me."
Gilda smiles warmly at her, then leads her to the figure standing motionless in the middle of the room. Gilda begins to chant some more, then places Charlie's hand over the figure's torso, forehead, thighs, and then asks her to hold the figure's hand.
Gilda flicks some white dust out of nowhere onto the figure, all while Charlie keeps her hold on the figure's hand. Slowly, the light from before startes fading down, but shaping the figure as it goes.
The legs grow darker, then turn to jeans. Light brown boots began to appear on the feet, and the torso turns into a dark gray shirt, followed by a secondary layer of purple and blue plaid. As the nails grow on the figure's hand, the face starts to develop, and red hair begins to sprout and curl in a look just like Charlie's.
Charlie glanced down and gasped when she realized what was happening.
'Not another personality split!' she thinks to herself in terror. She didn't want another dark!Charlie roaming around like last time...
"She'll act just as you would, and bleed just as you would," Gilda begins as she gently strokes the new Charlie's cheek. Then she turns to Charlie and says, "But only be here as an alternate. We must be quick though. I will alter her memory so she will not remember coming up with the plan to call me, or anything having to do with this moment. She will do as you would, and live, but she will only be but akin to an echo. Similar to you, brilliant as you, but only for so long until the echo dies away." Charlie nods in understanding, then suddenly realizes something.
"Ezekiel, seven!" she exclaims, then she starts mumbling as she rushes over to the laptop and begins typing rapidly. Gilda continues her spell to alter the fake Charlie's memory, then pauses and tells Charlie, "If you want her to catch your understanding if this seven you speak of, you must come back and hold her hand. The echo won't be able to think as quickly as you..."
They pull the other Charlie towards the chair, and then Charlie holds her hand, thinking of the connections she made and hoping it was enough.
Her eyes suddenly snap open when Gilda finishes speaking, and the other Charlie says, "Saints represent groups of letters that represent numbers..."
Her eyes are unfocused, but she types just like Charlie did, and makes the final connection just as the real Charlie and Gilda quietly step away. With a flick of her wrist, the room is cleaned of everything that is not pertinent to the new Charlie. Then, a glowing edge appears around the window besides the bed and slowly bleeds down towards the floor. Charlie picks up the few things she can take with her. Her copy of the Hobbit that she always took everywhere with her, her bag of the magical powder, and some things that fake Charlie shouldn't need before the boys manage to find her location.
She didn't cloak herself after all...
"Oh, wow. I might be a genius," fake Charlie says as Charlie finishes. She smiles happily, glad that the echo was still quick enough to figure it out. But before she can let the moment sink in, pounding starts up on the door.
"I know you're in here, Miss Asimov."
Charlie recognized that voice, and her heart aches painfully as she lookes between the door and the Charlie who was clearly panicking, realizing how stupid it was of her to not place some sort of magical ward around herself.
"Why didn't I use the magic Dorothy showed me," she hears the painfully real other Charlie say, her hands shaking as she quickly began to save what she had and open up her email shortcut.
"You have it. I want it," the voice continues. It takes all Charlie has to not scream out for the fake Charlie to come with them, but she knows she can't do that. Not now. Not when there's so much on the line. But what would she do? She never imagined they'd find her like this. She thought Cas would find her soon enough. Or Rowena...
'Rowena kept trying to get me to join her coven after all...'
The pounding continues as the other Charlie quickly gathers her notes and laptop.
The pounding continues as Gilda pulls Charlie towards the wall and says, "Let us, as you say, 'vamos' now."
Before Charlie can say anything else, they begin to fly forward, the scene slowly disappearing in a sea of white. Tears begin to leak out of Charlie's eyes as she hears a quiet whimper escape the other Charlie's mouth and the door to the bathroom slam shut.
"She's not going to make it," she says as she tightly grips Gilda's arm. "I'm going to die..."
Gilda looks deeply into Charlie's eyes with her own melancholic ones. Trees begin to appear around them as the flying feeling slows down, and Gilda places one hand over Charlie's cheek, cupping it. "No my love, you'll survive. I have made sure of that."
The sea of trees zooming past them start to slow down. A sudden bright yellow catches Charlie's eye, but not her attention. She can't help but feel hesitant, and mournful over the pain the others were going to endure. But she had to remember what she had been telling herself all her life, what Gilda was telling her now.
Charlie Bradbury was going to, and will survive.
End Note: Charlie Bradbury was a freaking BAMF! She shouldn't have gone down so easily or just... The way she did you know. She would've fought. She would've taken names, noses, fingers... You name it! She looked like she didn't even put up a struggle in the episode, and that's not my Charlie. So here's my attempt at an explanation as to why that happened, and a door to possible fluff (plus possibly another plot bunny I've had since S7)
I hope you guys enjoyed this fic, and would love to hear any comments, critiques, or suggestions you guys have.