Author's note – For those wondering why it took so long… over nine months to be exact, I went back and made some changes to the prequel to make it for an older audience.
Feelings
Chase woke up and was staring at wooden bars above him. He was having problems absorbing what had happened to him. He held the hands in front of his face and turned them, not wanting to believe that the truth was there. His whole body felt weak and shook from that weakness. He also had a slight headache, but at least it wasn't as bad as that day in the concert.
"A Dark Faerie, huh? It is bad enough being something you know nothing about, even worse being one of them that isn't supposed to exist, but to be the one kind that is despised by everyone…" Chase closed his eyes and turned over onto his side. He blinked a couple of times because it finally registered where he was.
A bookshelf was next to the bed and a fireplace was glowing with a nice warm fire. Chase shivered at shut his eyes for a few seconds. It was summer, yet his body was very cold. He hoped that this wasn't a permanent side effect of being what he was. He wrapped a blanket around him and went and sat in front of the fire, fighting of the want to sleep.
Voices drifted up from the room downstairs that served as the living room that was shared with strangers when they came. This place had been his home before he had started on this quest, but he didn't know if it could be anymore. He thought of leaving Nixi and Benny here as they would get better care then what he was.
The voices suddenly broke him from his stupor. It was the Library Faerie who was speaking. "I seriously thought he would be gone longer then this."
"Yes, well… none of us knew how long it would be until he found out." The second voice was of the Battle Faerie. He could hear the clinking of the glasses down stairs. "She told me he was one of the lost ones, but she didn't tell me he was also one of them."
Chase quickly realized that 'them' meant Dark Faeries. He began to creep down stairs. He heard the Library Faerie speak up. "I am glad that the children are asleep! Goodness, if they heard you speaking about him like that."
"How long do you think it is going to be before 'they' remove him from your custody into theirs?" The Battle Faerie snapped in irritation. Chase swallowed hard; there was no way this would be his home any more. Why wouldn't they send him to live with his 'kind'. He reached the door in the hallway and stepped out. Thus he didn't hear the rest of their conversation. He dropped the blanket in the doorway.
M
The Library Faerie stood in front of the fire, glaring into it. "I won't allow them to take him away. I had promise from Fyora herself that he was mine and my custody. He is my child, even without a blood relationship. No one can tell me otherwise."
"You know I meant no harm in what I said." The Battle Faerie spoke up, thumbing her dagger as she did whenever she was nervous and had upset someone.
"No, I also know you said what was the truth. Unlike you, I knew he was a Dark Faerie. Fyora told me, train him to be good, he won't end up, at least in the long run and deep in his heart like those others." The Library Faerie turned to her old friend.
"Well, I must say that the positive side of all this, the child will be able to go to school with the others as he found out before then." The Battle Faerie wasn't looking at her, but the fire.
"School? I had hopped he wouldn't find out until he was an adult! At least he'll have that young girl to be his friend." She sat down and sipped from her coffee.
"Look, Daria… there is a problem with that. That young Faerie that went with them… she was always causing problems for any boy that ventured onto school ground." The Battle Faerie twirled the dagger.
"There is something else though that you aren't wanting to tell me." The Library Faerie set her cup down.
"She is a Light Faerie Daria. The Light Faeries are sworn enemies of the Dark Faeries. If I had known, I wouldn't have chosen for he to go as her punishment for what she did to the child. But it was Fyora's decision in the matter. Not even the headmistress could object to it."
"That she is a Light Faerie truly isn't a good thing… but… if Fyora decided to send her… then I do not think it is a bad thing." The Library Faerie shook her head. She looked up at the sound of rain beating down on the window. She blinked a couple of times in confusion. "I didn't think that it was supposed to rain…"
The Battle Faerie walked into the hall way. "Well, you know old Tanua, her predictions tend to be way off. I tend to expect… the opposite. Plus, she is a Dark Faerie and likes to see her predictions mess people up."
"What ever is the matter?" The Library Faerie came out of the room.
The Battle Faerie scooped up the blanket. "One of the charges have left their room and gone outside. The Gelert is too young to go by himself, the Ixi, she doesn't seem the type."
"She is… but she wouldn't have that blanket. That one came from Chase's room. It is so nice to be able to call him something other then boy." The Faerie shook her head.
"I am surprised that you just didn't give him a human name. Surely that wouldn't have hurt the rules of name giving?" The Battle Faerie said, shaking her head.
"I could not… any name given to another Faerie is a Faerie name and I was under specific orders not too from Fyora, out of fear that he would come to realize what he was sooner. And anyways, she said he already had one… to explain to him that the name I would have given wasn't his first…"
"He would have understood. But you were under orders from Fyora. And… there is also the fact that giving him a name would give conitations… any adoption process would not be able to go through until now without reveiling what needed to be kept secret. Just like the other few that she says are out there."
The Battle Faerie slung over a cloak. "I am going to go and find him. You need not worry Daria."
She then opened the door and headed out into the weather.
M
Ameril arrived home right before the rain had hit. She set her bags on the table, and found her mother in the kitchen with her sister. The Faerie glared at her and continued stiring. "You didn't exactly tell me the whole truth child, about why you were leaving."
Ameril's sister stuck her tounge out at her. Her mother stepped over to her and cupped her face. "Did you think I wouldn't have found out about the trouble you caused at school?"
"You always told me… stay away from human boys," Ameril retorted. She saw her sister sneak in behind her mother.
"Ameril… you know that what I meant wasn't to… never mind." Her mother went back to her cooking. "Anyways, Ameril, what is this noncense about finding a Boy Faerie?"
"It isn't noncense!" Ameril snapped. "We actually found one!"
At this, her mother dropped her spoon into the bowl with a clink. She looked up at her daughter. There was shock, anger and sadness in her eyes and Ameril couldn't figure out why. Her little sister piped up. "I know the boy that she was with…"
Her mother turned to her younger daughter, who was making a horrid face. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"Don't you remember, we were getting school books? The boy is the Librarian Faerie's assistant mother. That pink hornless Nixi knocked him over." The girl again stuck her tounge out at her sister.
"That boy… Ameril, I don't want you having a human for a boyfriend." She looked decisively at her daughter. She had caught a glimpse of anger in Ameril's voice.
"He isn't… he isn't…" Ameril was trying to think of which to say wasn't true first. She could blurt out that he was not human, but the Faerie, but then her mother would ask what kind. If she revealed that he was a Dark Faerie, her mother would throw a major fit and assume that she was dating a Dark Faerie, which meant she would forbid seeing him. However, if she first stated that he wasn't her boyfriend, then perhaps her mother wouldn't forbid.
"Chase isn't my boyfriend," Ameril said calmly. "He is just a friend. As is Nixi and I guess Benny too."
"Who's Benny?" Her sister piped up, wrinkling her face.
"A Baby Gelert that likes to bite…" Ameril shook her head. "Chase adopted him and Nixi."
Her mother looked at her carefully. Ameril was having a problem looking her in the face. "Ameril, you are not telling me the truth about something."
"I told you the truth, he is not my boyfriend. I don't think he would ever consider me to be his girlfriend, what with the way a treated him when we first met." Ameril watched as her mother narrowed her eyes. It was then that the phone rang. Ameril went and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Ameril, this is the Battle Faerie. Did you by chance tell Chase where you live, because he took off on us?"
"In this weather? Is he crazy? No, I didn't tell him where I live. Why would he run off like that?"
"I believe he woke up and heard some things I was saying to the Library and mistook what we were saying."
"What kind of things," Ameril wasn't sure she was happy where this was going.
"We were talking about how the Dark Faerie council might try to take him away from her. I am quite sure that as soon as I mentioned 'them' taking him away, he left, so he didn't hear that she would fight them if they tried."
Ameril turned pale. "But they couldn't… why would they?"
"Because he is a Dark Faerie child. They raise all their kind under strict supervision. If that Dark Faerie was watching, it has probably reached the council by now. But thankfully Fyora gave guardianship of the boy to the Library Faerie. But they may try to take him before she can give him a Faerie name that binds him to her."
"I forgot that he doesn't have a Faerie name… he had no name…"
"No! He does have a Faerie name, else he would have been a Grey Faerie child! He still has the name given to him by his old family, that binds him to them, but Fyora purposely has not given it to any one. One can have more then one Faerie name, for that is what binds one to another as a family. And other things too, that have been long forgotten I might add."
"Can a Faerie regain their old names?"
"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Even Grey Faeries can regain their old names, once they have been given a new name by another… even if it is a Neopet… or they are cleared of criminal charges or forgiven."
"So Chase would be a Faerie name?"
"No, it was given while Nixi thought he was human. Look, I have to find him. His body is already weak enough as it is." The Battle Faerie said her goodbyes. Ameril then grabbed her cloak.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ameril's mother hurried over, but not fast enough.
"I have to go help a friend."
Author's note – The Faerie name thing, admittedly it was influenced by Lord of the Rings and Elven names.
