The Stars Over Neptune
A/N: In between classes.
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She had stayed late, opting to practice her field goal kicks alone long after the rest of her teammates had gone home. While Veronica usually showed more dedication to the sport than her teammates, she was even more determined to get in as much practice as possible today because of the upcoming match against Pan Middle School next week.
She would kick herself if they lost to Pan again.
Unfortunately, Lilly was in one of her demanding moods again and demanded Veronica spend any of her spare time with her instead of practicing.
Of course, Veronica didn't need much prompting to spend time with Lilly anyway. She would do whatever she could to help Lilly get over her latest relationship blunder. She had warned Lilly that a relationship with someone four years older than her was doomed to failure, but the heiress didn't listen. So, when Lilly had called her with the fateful news, Veronica was already prepared with Lilly's favorite ice cream and movies with the cheesiest love stories she could find.
Though the way was unfamiliar, the air was getting chillier, and she was too tired to not take the shortcut her father had warned her against taking when he first gave her permission to walk home alone.
Noticing the time, Veronica went further down the path and quickened her steps.
She had no idea why her father wouldn't want her walking this way; it seemed perfectly safe and mostly well lit.
A nasty tumble later and Veronica figured out exactly why her father cautioned against the shortcut.
Sighing, she brushed off her soccer shorts and inspected her knees and elbows, locating the stinging cuts. There would be no way to hide this from him or her mother now. She was definitely in for a lecture tonight.
Sighing again, she almost missed the faint glow amongst the thorny bush. Curiously, Veronica brushed aside twigs and thistles, hoping to find a hidden patch of fireflies.
However, instead of fireflies, Veronica found something a tad more interesting. Hidden inside the innocuous plants was a tiny person struggling to escape.
"What…" she said softly to herself.
Hearing Veronica's surprise, the little person looked up at her with round eyes, panic apparent, and struggled more intensely against the sticky bristles.
Upon closer inspection, Veronica realized that the tiny person was more of a tiny girl than anything. With her widened eyes, Veronica could clearly see that they were of a golden color. Her hair was a shocking platinum, or perhaps just white. She wore a deep purple dress that matched the light she emitted. Veronica had thought that her dress was rather intricate before she realized that the flowing fabric trailing behind the girl was not fabric but rather gossamer wings that looked delicate to touch.
Veronica had to force her hand down to keep herself from seeing just how delicate they were.
The little fairy was incredibly beautiful to Veronica. She wanted to take her home and keep her but felt a sense of cruelty in her desires.
Veronica snapped herself out of her wonder and finally thought to help the fairy out of her predicament. Gently, she picked apart and cleared the various branches that had formed a cage around her.
Once free, the two girls stared at one another.
Breaking the silence, Veronica innocently asked, "Are you really a fairy?"
The girl inelegantly snorted, creating a slight crack in Veronica's fairytale delusions. "No," she said slowly. "I'm a pixie. See? I've got six wings. Way better than just four," the pixie spat. Apparently, this pixie had an attitude.
Veronica thought for a moment that she was hallucinating. Or, maybe she had fallen and died. It was always a possibility. How else could she explain this?
Bringing her out of her thoughts, the pixie said with an annoyed huff of her breath, "What's your name, little girl?"
Little girl? thought Veronica. Wisely, she didn't voice her thoughts. "Veronica Mars."
"Okay then, Veronica Mars. What is your wish?"
"My what?"
"Your wish," the pixie enunciated, sounding out each syllable more than necessary and rolling her eyes impatiently. "I want to repay you for helping me out of there."
"It's okay. It wasn't much," Veronica said, unsure.
"Come on, don't you want anything?"
Veronica thought to herself. There was that match against Pan high. And, there was the imminent scolding from her father. Shaking her head free, Veronica still refused.
"I see right through you, you know. I see everything about you. You can't lie to supernatural beings."
Veronica arched her eyebrow skeptically.
"Okay, maybe you can lie to us, but why wouldn't you want a wish? Everyone wants to have their dreams come true."
"I don't have anything I really want. And, I want to earn the things I do want."
The pixie tapped her foot against the dirt. Her wings fluttered from side to side in unison. As if appraising her, the pixie looked straight into her eyes and insisted, "You must have something. What is it? Money? Power? Love?"
"I'm twelve," argued Veronica. She hardly thought of those things.
Except perhaps, love. She had seen how Lilly's 'loves' had gone and shuddered to think about what the future had in store for her.
The pixie had noticed Veronica's change in expression and prodded her. "Tell me, and it'll be yours."
"I'm afraid," Veronica confessed. "I don't want to go through what my friend goes through."
"Which is?"
"Love. She… it just… it's sad. I don't know. I told you, I'm twelve. I—I want love, true love." Veronica told the pixie. The last part came out more as a question than anything though. "Can you do that?"
The pixie tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at her like she knew something Veronica didn't. "You're a weird one."
"You're a pixie, and I'm the weird one?"
At that, the pixie crossed her arms. "Oh, here it comes. Humans are so self-centered. Just because most humans can't see us, they think we don't exist. And when they do see us, they think they're crazy. Yeah, you guys are the weird ones. Whatever. You'll have your wish, Veronica Mars. I always pay my debts."
Veronica wanted to talk more to the pixie, like to ask for her name, but her wings fluttered quickly soon after and she was instantly out of her sight, leaving a tail of light and confusion as she went.
The sound of a car rushing by caused Veronica to slowly come out of her haze, and she realized she was going to be late for dinner if she didn't get home soon.
Like she predicted, she was scolded by her father that night, but it wasn't as bad as she expected. The rest of the day proceeded as normal.
However, when she went to bed that night, she was almost certain she had thought the whole thing up. It had to have been a byproduct of her long days playing soccer and fatigue catching up to her. Pixies didn't exist. They just couldn't.
That line of thinking had lasted all the way up to her first kiss with Logan.
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A/N: This definitely could have been developed more, but I have no interest in that when there are other things to do… Also, there may be a lot of holes and such too, but it was written fairly quickly by my standards. So, just enjoy. Try out King of Mars if you're interested in my other LoVe stories. Yes, that was a shameless plug.