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Act Ten: The Things We Forget
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Anti-Cosmo tumbled on the floor of his cell as the guard of the high-security prison threw him inside and slammed the barred door behind him. The crashing sound of the cell door echoed through the building, and Anti-Cosmo welcomed the sound as he lay in a heap on the ground. Despite how grim everything looked, it felt as if he was returning home. And as he tried to pick himself back up on his feet, he heard Anti-Wanda shout loudly in surprise nearby, as she was thrown into the cell right beside his.
"Anti-Wanda," he called to her worriedly, springing on his toes as he ran to the cell door, "Are you alright? Say something!"
Suddenly, he interrupted himself when he noticed his fingers curl tightly around the bars of his cell, and he noticed the pinkish hue of his skin had remained. At first it surprised him as he had forgotten that Cosmo had switched around their appearances, until he caught sight of the strands of green hair messily falling over the one side of his face. He took hold of the longest strand of hair and inspected it, and to his disgust, he noticed that he was still disguised as his counterpart. He snarled in annoyance as he changed himself back to his original form, and shook himself as if he had to literally snake himself out of the disguise.
As his vision cleared up, he grinned as his monocle returned to it's rightful place, and his blue skin and bowler hat returned to normal. Although he was disappointed when his orange prison jumpsuit remained the same.
He sighed when the reality of the situation had finally hit him. Anti-Cosmo finally realised that he and his wife had been captured and imprisoned into the highest security prison in Fairy World. Anti-Cosmo recognised his cell as he had become familiar with it over the years. The barren space, the dampened brick walls and the small barred window as his lone source of light, nothing seemed to have changed. Although his cell was a lot less secure than some of the other cells he'd been in before, he noted how this cell was completely impervious to all kinds of magic in existence. He recognised how suffocating it felt to him, and how helpless he felt without having his magic to his disposal. A fairy would go mad if they were locked in there for too long.
Anti-Cosmo gripped tight on to the bars of the cell door and grimaced. He almost let out a growl when he concluded that this was all because he had put his faith in Cosmo. He felt his anger rise higher and higher as he recalled how he had no choice in the matter. He was basically threatened into the situation as he could only succumb to Cosmo's plan, and was ultimately duped into becoming a prisoner. Anti-Cosmo remembered it clearly in his mind; as soon as their appearances had been switched around, Cosmo hissed in his ear to keep quiet and let Jorgen take him and Anti-Wanda away.
Anti-Cosmo shook his head in despair when he recalled how easily won over he was by Cosmo's proposal. He remembered the faint glimmer of hope he felt, as if Cosmo dangled the idea of salvation in front his eyes before harshly ripping it away again, and Anti-Cosmo punched the bars in frustration by how dependant he'd become. To him, it was sickening.
"Damn him!" Anti-Cosmo seethed as he leant against the barred door, and his knuckles turned white by how hard he gripped on to the bars, "Why did I let myself be so easily fooled by him? Dammit, I shouldn't have trusted that bastard. I should've fought back while I had the chance! What was I thinking?!" He dropped his hands to his sides, and rested his forehead against the door in defeat, "Now look where we are... look where my carelessness brought us. I'm better than this! How can I have fallen from grace so easily..."
Anti-Cosmo wandered over to the corner of his cell with his head hung low, and pressed his shoulder against the wall that separated him from his wife. He sunk down the brick wall as if his legs had collapsed beneath him, and leant back so that his head rested against the wall. His hand wandered to rest against the bars of his cell door.
For a moment, he lamented to himself over everything that had happened up until that point, and wondered if there was ever going to be a way to return things to normal. Everything seemed to be so shattered - between Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, Anti-Cosmo's confidence without his pride and intelligence, and Anti-Wanda's faith in herself or her husband – it was like a broken mess of affairs that had changed their perspectives on life, marriage and identity, and there was no clear solution for any of them.
Anti-Cosmo remained in a solemn silence.
So... where to go from here?
He hesitated for a moment, wondering to himself whether or not Anti-Wanda could hear him from where he was, or if she was even willing to listen to him. He traced the prison wall with the back of his hand, wishing that it wasn't there separating them from each other. Anti-Cosmo found himself antagonising over the situation, and how he couldn't find the right words to comfort her and set things right. She couldn't see him, he couldn't rely on the actions he'd make like before, and without his intelligence, he felt that he had no courage to rely on the words he'd say to her...
But there wasn't anything else he could do at that point. He had to say something to her. He simply had to make things right between them. He refused to sit back and let things take it's course, since that hadn't seemed to work so far.
The rising sun peaked through the tiny barred window of Anti-Cosmo's cell, and created a soft glowing ray of sunlight into the cell he was so familiar with. He stared at it for a while, watching the tiny dust mites dance within the sunbeam, and felt an overwhelming loneliness take hold of him.
He had to say something. Now.
"Anti-Wanda..." he spoke up once again and disturbed the silence, and he still couldn't hear any kind of response from her cell. However, this didn't stop his determination to keep going, "I hope you can hear me. I have something... quite important to say."
The entire prison seemed to have fallen silent. The patrolling guards took quiet steps outside of their cells, the prisoners had nothing of importance to say, and all that enveloped Anti-Cosmo at that moment was how beautiful the shining sun was... and how it had painfully reminded him of Anti-Wanda.
"Anti-Wanda... I apologise for getting you involved in all of this," he began to fidget with his fingers as he tried to desperately make his brain work the way he wanted it to, and create all the right things that he wanted to say. Then, he continued, "I know this is a little late, and we haven't had a whole lot of time together since this whole fiasco started, but still... I want you to know that I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this. I've put you through some dangerous situations, I've done terrible things and destroyed your trust in me... it seems I have a habit of doing that with women... but that's a totally unacceptable thing to do. Especially to you, of all people."
There wasn't a sound at all from Anti-Wanda's cell. Anti-Cosmo paused for a moment as he reluctantly welcomed the silence that it brought, and slightly sighed before he bravely moved forward,
"You're no subordinate of mine, you're not a slave or some lackey, and you're certainly no ordinary person to me. You're my wife." Anti-Cosmo stated simply, and yet he spoke with all of his emotions readily on the tip of his tongue, "You're my world. I want to give you the whole world. Because that's what you deserve. And when I conquer it, I swear I'm going to personally gift wrap it to you!"
He swore he could've heard some kind of noise from her cell. It was possibly laughter, but he wasn't sure.
"You stand beside me during all of my conquests, throughout all of my failures and misfortunes, and never once have I heard a complaint from you. It's honestly quite mind-boggling how you've put up with all of this for so long. It's amazing... that you've put up with me for so long."
Anti-Cosmo brought his hands together on his lap, clenching them tightly together as he peered down at them as he solemnly continued,
"I know you must be having your doubts now, Anti-Wanda, and I don't blame you. I've changed. I've become dumb and useless. I've kissed another woman. How could you possibly stand beside me any further?"
For a moment, he closed his eyes. Even he didn't feel as if he would take him back after all the things he's said and done. After a few quiet seconds of morose contemplation, his eyes gradually opened as he vacantly gazed at the open air,
"Well, before you make up your mind, there's something you should know." Anti-Cosmo spoke incredibly seriously as his eyes hardened into an intense stare, and his clenched fists strained against each other. His voice was low, and clearly passionate, "I will wait for you. No matter how long it takes, I will never forget how I feel about you. You can take months, years, decades... hell, you can take up as many millennia as you need if it makes even a fraction of a difference! I'll wait. And when you've made up your mind, I'll be there for your answer. And no matter what you decide... my feelings will still remain the same."
He turned his head towards the barred door, and wondered if she thought that may have sounded too selfish. After he took a moment to think about this, his eyebrows furrowed, and as his hands had unbound themselves into red hot balls of intensive fists, he dismissed his negativity and frowned when he decided to be completely honest about this,
"Sorry, dear, but that's the honest truth. I'm too damn in love with you to let you go so easily! I'll wait until the ends of the universe until you'll take me back! That's just how it is. It's how it's going to be."
Despite how incredibly passionate and determined he was feeling, he brought his hand over to rest against his forehead as he reeled himself back to try to control himself, but his words came out his mouth too easily as he spoke honestly to her,
"I've made some mistakes that can't be taken lightly, I realise that, which is why I'll accept the consequences. But if one of them is losing you, then I refuse to take that responsibility! I'll fight life and limb for you, if that's what it takes. And I don't care if my IQ is lowered a thousand times over and I'm reduced to a dribbling fool who can't even tie his own shoe laces... I love you, Anti-Wanda, and I'll do anything it takes for you to forgive me..."
The idea of Anti-Wanda rejecting him and leaving him had honestly scared him, and as the fear began to creep up on him, as that idea was dangerously on the edge of becoming a reality, Anti-Cosmo felt the hot wash of dread draw the blood out of his face into a ghostly paleness. The fear was breaking him down, and destroyed his resolve until he could only feel the cold void that Anti-Wanda had left behind for him.
He brought his leg up as he leant his arm over it, and gripped on to his hair as the continuing silence between them had started to become painful. He genuinely tried to keep his collected composure, but it was torturous. He was completely broken and lost. Anti-Cosmo shamefully hid his face behind his hand, and he let his words tumble out almost unintelligibly as his voice croaked out of his throat,
"I love you... I'm sorry... I love you..."
For a little while, Anti-Cosmo couldn't find his voice within himself anymore, and he hung his head in complete defeat, leaning his arm over his leg as the other hung hopelessly beside him. His hair covered his face, and he became a morosely shadowy figure as the sun light gradually moved across the cell along with the time that passed them both.
After a while, the tension in the empty air seemed to have eased up. Anti-Cosmo surprised himself as he felt that his own hands had stopped shivering, and found that his whole being felt as if it was coming down from a quivering episode, despite having sat as still as an unmoving stone all this time. He shook his head as he sighed to realise that Anti-Wanda, and only Anti-Wanda, could have affected him so much in this way.
The sun gradually spilt it's light over to where Anti-Cosmo sat, and he blinked to life as he felt disturbed by it's sudden interruption. And eventually, he had broken his own prolonged silence by lamenting once again,
"So this is what it's like to speak without thinking. It's a little annoying, but I could get used to it. It's actually not so bad to talk without having to think it through first. It's as if saying 'I love you' is coming directly from the centre of me." Anti-Cosmo smirked as he realised he had repeated the words of one particular person, "Strange, so this is what Wanda meant. It's actually refreshing, even a little liberating, to speak your feelings so freely... it just feels so genuine."
As he spoke, he quickly glanced to the side to avoid the sun's glaring light shining over the side of him, and his mind wandered back to Anti-Wanda once again. He traced his knuckles over the cold brick wall beside him, wishing once more that there were no more obstacles to separate them both.
"I wonder if you even heard me at all." Despite how solemn he sounded about this, Anti-Cosmo smirked and laughed quietly to himself, "No matter. I know what I'm going to do. I know I'll do whatever it takes to make things right. If it means waiting an eternity for you, then so be it." His tone of voice lowered, and as his sincerity prompted him to smile in the face of his own personal oblivion, he told her, "You're worth every second."
And as soon as Anti-Cosmo felt a faint, hopeful fanged smile tug at his lips, he was suddenly interrupted by a large belch heard from Anti-Wanda's cell. It seemed to echo throughout the entire prison and rattle the barred doors of each cell. Even the prisoners inside them groaned.
"Ugh!"
"Gross, dude!"
"I'm a convicted felon and even I think that's nasty!"
Then the sound of laughter erupted from her cell.
Anti-Cosmo stared out of his cell in wide-eyed shock. He found it to be completely unexpected, especially after he bared his soul so freely only moments ago, but it was also an incredibly comforting sound to hear. Anti-Wanda's laughter seemed to be so distant, but to Anti-Cosmo it sounded as if church bells had rang in the distance. His heart hitched in his throat. And as he shook himself out of his frozen state, almost instantly Anti-Cosmo launched himself on to his feet and gripped tightly on to the bars of his cell door, and pressed his forehead against the iron bars as he attempted to look down the corridor towards her cell.
"Anti-Wanda!" He desperately called out for her as he surprised himself by catching up with her humour and found himself laughing alongside her, "You wicked thing, what are you up to in there?"
Suddenly, he felt as if his previous disheartened state had been completely obsolete, as he made out a familiar looking blue hand stretch outwards and peek out of her cell. Although he could barely see through their barred doors, Anti-Cosmo could make out her slender arm bend towards him as far as she could make it. And in her hand, Anti-Wanda gripped on to the cloaking device that Cosmo had created, which had for some strange reason looked as if it had been covered in a sticky substance that dripped over her fingers.
"Cosmo's cloaking device!" He shouted in complete and utter shock as he finally made it out.
"Shh, keep it down!" Anti-Wanda finally spoke up to quieten him and shook the device threateningly towards Anti-Cosmo's direction, and told him under a quietened tone of voice, "I've turned it on, so we should be completely hidden from the guards by now."
"Are you serious?" He asked her with bated breath before jumping backwards at the sight of himself. When he brought his hands away from around the bars of his cell, he noticed how his skin seemed to be more translucent than before, which was an indication that although he could see Anti-Wanda and himself, he was completely invisible to everyone else.
"Cosmo told me how to use the device and asked me to smuggle it in here in order to escape. I ate it before we got caught by Jorgen." Anti-Wanda told him as she brought out her other hand between the bars of her cell to wipe off the remaining droplets of saliva covering the surface of the device, "I smuggled it in my stomach, that's why I had to... um, burp it back up. But all we gotta do now is wait for the guards to come inspect our cells, then we can make a run for it! Pretty smart, huh?"
Anti-Cosmo blinked for a moment as he let the cogs slowly turn in his mind until the concept finally dawned upon him, and his face burst out into an incredibly wide fanged grin,
"Brilliant, that's absolutely brilliant, my dear!" Anti-Cosmo called to her breathlessly as he gripped back on to the bars of his cell, "Well done, my love, I'm so proud of you!"
"I'm proud of my stomach!" She agreed just as happily as she patted the empty remnants of her stomach.
The guards were making their rounds nearby, and Anti-Cosmo had to clamp his hands over his mouth to withhold himself. In times like these, the thrill of escape was much too overwhelming, as he would usually make a clean getaway with a string of maniacal laughter left behind to haunt the guards. Anti-Cosmo's mode of escape was rarely stealthy, so in this case, he had to physically restrain himself from giving in to his maddening villainous urge to laugh.
"Hey! I've got two empty cells over here!" One guard called loudly as he looked over Anti-Wanda and Anti-Cosmo's rooms.
Anti-Cosmo found that restraining himself was getting torturous, especially as the guard seemed to slowly fumble with the cell door keys, and the perspiration crawling down Anti-Cosmo's forehead was going at a much faster pace than this guard.
The cell door squeaked open as the guard stepped inside, erratically looking from left to right in search of Anti-Cosmo, all whilst Anti-Cosmo had slipped under his nose and soundlessly stepped past him. The moment Anti-Cosmo found himself on the outside of his cell door, he looked aside him to find Anti-Wanda was waiting patiently beside him.
Anti-Cosmo had to take a moment to find his balance, as the sight of Anti-Wanda seemed to knock him off his feet. She was a vision to behold. As Anti-Cosmo looked over her figure in orange leaning on one foot, her hand resting on her curved hip as the other gripped proudly on to the device that shielded them both from plain sight, she grinned triumphantly, and her lips framed a wide victorious smirk over her misshapen teeth.
And in her eyes, Anti-Cosmo could see the identical excitement he felt for escape. Their breaths quickened as the guards frantically looked through every inch of their cell, and they knew they had to leave quickly. The looming possibility of being caught once again was electrifying, and in the midst of the energy, Anti-Cosmo launched himself towards Anti-Wanda to take a firm hold of her wrist. Before she even saw it coming, Anti-Wanda suddenly felt herself being pulled forward at an amazing speed as Anti-Cosmo lead her down the dank hallways of the prison. He threaded himself through crowds of guards who looked right through them, marching directly towards their empty cells.
Anti-Cosmo couldn't be silent. He breathed heavily as insane laughter clumsily slipped out. It was an amazing feeling that even Anti-Wanda couldn't help herself being swept along by. They felt the immense power that came from easily shifting by their enemies. It was simply insurmountable. As their laughter sounded and echoed through the entire prison, the guards and the prisoners seemed to be shaking at their knees as the phantom laughter rung through their ears. Anti-Cosmo took pride in knowing that he was surely a man to be feared.
Anti-Wanda tripped and lurched forward as Anti-Cosmo carried her along, and she could only fall victim to the pure ecstasy that they both felt as they burst through the front gates of the prison. They halted at the entrance as the bright gleaming sunlight blinded them for a moment. As their vision blurred, the familiar feeling of liberation after crawling out of the dank pits of prison had overcome them both, as if their fresh freedom had flashed into their eyes.
And as their sight returned, Anti-Cosmo looked beside him, and his breathing was heavy as the perspiration had stuck messy stray strands of blue hair around his face. Then, he felt himself coming down from the natural high as he looked into the desperate eyes of his wife. It was a cruel reality to return to as he realised that Anti-Wanda looked disturbed. Despite how short of breath he was, Anti-Cosmo could clearly see through his exhausted eyes as he figured out why she looked as agitated as she did.
Slowly, and painfully, Anti-Cosmo uncurled his vice-like grip around her wrist and gave her back her freedom. Now, he knew, that Anti-Wanda was truly liberated from the confines of her cell.
"I don't want you to get the wrong idea," she started as she averted her eyes away from him, and wiped away the sweat from her forehead with her forearm, "but you need to stay close to me if you don't want to get caught again. As long as we're nearby this cloaking device, we'll be fine."
"That sounds fair." Anti-Cosmo blurted out truthfully as he couldn't find it within himself to withhold his happiness.
Anti-Cosmo had even found himself to be smiling like the dumb fool that he was reduced to. He had Anti-Wanda back beside him, that was all that mattered to him at that point. Although he couldn't take hold of her like before, as she made it painfully clear that she didn't even want him holding her hand, he was satisfied simply with the distance that she gave him. He wanted her to know that he would give her exactly what she wanted, as he didn't want Anti-Wanda to feel that he owned her. It was more than he could've hoped for.
As they took to the sky and flew side by side in search of the rainbow bridge, Anti-Cosmo gave Anti-Wanda quick side glances as he still couldn't quite get over the overwhelming relief of being by her side again.
"There it is!" Anti-Wanda called to him as she pointed out the rainbow bridge in the distance. They hovered over the elongated slide, looking over the distance it took from there to the surface of the Earth. And as they landed at the very top of the bridge, Anti-Cosmo bravely stepped forward first,
"Good. Now we can continue our search for Timmy so he can wish us out of this mess!" Anti-Cosmo told her as he took a step on to the beautifully multicoloured rays of the bridge.
"Wait!" Anti-Wanda halted him, and Anti-Cosmo froze on command.
As he looked over to his wife, he saw the hesitation in her expression again. She brought her hands together as she fidgeted with her fingers, averting her eyes away from him as her watery gaze squinted with frustration. Anti-Cosmo stepped back off of the bridge and patiently waited for her. He didn't want to rush her, but he had to let her know that he had his ears open for her, at any time.
And she knew. Painfully, Anti-Wanda finally found the courage to speak up, and her voice strained in her throat,
"I heard what you said... in the cell..."
Anti-Cosmo's spine instantly straightened as his eyes flew wide open. He was completely stuck in motion, as he suddenly realised that everything he told her was beginning to sink in. At first, he didn't know what to think as his eyes didn't dare to dart away from her. He saw how she'd deliberately keep her eyes as far away as possible from him, he noticed how she'd chew on her bottom lip with her overbite. Then, he knew. Anti-Wanda seemed to be internally struggling.
Anti-Cosmo was determined to set the record straight.
"I'm glad you heard me." He told her truthfully as he dared to take a step forward towards her, and his eyes softened as his desperation was barely masked in his voice, "Because I meant every word."
Anti-Wanda took a deep breath and closed her eyes. There was a long minute of uncomfortable tension between them, until he watched her shoulders fall with ease. He figured that she'd finally broken down her walls, and perhaps she'd finally seen some kind of positive light out of all of this, until he was stricken from any kind of hope he had for them by what she did next.
Anti-Wanda's hands returned to her sides as she stopped fidgeting. Almost instantly, she stopped all signs of her nervousness and she looked anything but timid. Instead, she straightened herself as she stood firm, and she gradually opened her eyes to gaze towards him.
Anti-Cosmo felt shot in the chest. Her eyes were emotionless. They were hardened, and devoid of any life... or love.
"What if I tell you to leave?" Anti-Wanda asked him with a face of stone, "What if I decide that I don't want you?"
For a moment, Anti-Cosmo felt that he couldn't breathe.
His face went pale for a second before he remembered the ghost of his words returning to him. The fear came back, the hot wash of dread wavered his thoughts as the reality of Anti-Wanda leaving him crept upon him once again. But, he knew that he couldn't be swayed. His resolve had to remain solid, and he looked squarely to her with genuine unshaken sincerity,
"If that's what you decide... then I guess I can't do anything about that." Anti-Cosmo said with a tinge of sadness in his voice, "But you should know... that it won't change how I feel about you. You can tell me to go, you can go on and continue with your immortal existence without me. You can cut me out of your life entirely... but you can't get out of mine. I'll never stop loving you, Anti-Wanda. You are my life. Even if your feelings for me change, and if I go over a thousand more changes... nothing will ever stop how I feel about you."
Anti-Wanda was eerily silent.
It was an agonising few seconds as she looked to the side to gaze longingly at the Earth sitting below their feet. Anti-Cosmo could only interpret this as a sign that she wanted to escape, but he was afraid of exactly what she wanted to escape from. And his fears were heightened when Anti-Wanda turned herself towards the rainbow bridge, as if she was willing to let herself fall off the edge without any indication to him. Anti-Cosmo flinched as he held his hands up, as if to catch her, but he was hesitant whether or not he should.
Then suddenly, his entire being stopped as Anti-Wanda's lips hung open, and she dared to whisper a final reply,
"Okay."
Anti-Cosmo didn't dare to speak up. He was afraid that if he did, he would've ruined everything once again. But his hope returned as Anti-Wanda held on to her arms and looked below him, as if she was forcing herself to gaze directly at his feet. She couldn't quite bring her gaze up to his eyes just yet, but the fact that she faced him at all had to mean something. It was as if her body language was refusing her to leave him at all.
Then, she squeezed her forearms as her shoulders lifted timidly, before she told Anti-Cosmo honestly,
"You know me... I've never been someone to live with anger." Anti-Wanda said with a slightly bashful shrug, "I think that holding on to anger is like... holding on to a hot piece of coal, with the full intention of throwing that piece of coal straight at you."
Anti-Cosmo flinched as Anti-Wanda finally brought her head up to square her eyes at him. He felt as if daggers were being shot out of her gaze. However, the way she had slightly puckered her lips had tempted Anti-Cosmo to laugh. She resembled a sulking child.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't. That would've hurt." Anti-Cosmo told her with a half-hearted smile.
Anti-Wanda, despite herself, gave a half-smile in return as she reluctantly gave into him. As she softly gazed at him, Anti-Cosmo felt his heart lift within his chest as the false prospect of hope for them lit a raging fire in his heart.
Then, as she grasped her fist into a tight ball, as if she was literally holding on to a piece of hot coal, Anti-Wanda gently spoke up once again.
"Then, I realised something. I realised... in the end, I'd be the one to get burned." She opened her fist and longingly stared at her flat empty palm, as if she was setting all of her bitterness free, and whispered, "I know now... it's just not worth all the aches and pains that come with it."
Anti-Cosmo breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had held his breath within him all of this time. Finally, he could relax. He began to realise the true extent of Anti-Wanda's words; she simply wasn't the kind of person who would hold a grudge. She was willing to forgive him. Although he felt that he didn't deserve this kind of justice, he couldn't help feeling... incredibly relieved, to say the least.
As a sarcastic smile brightened his expression, Anti-Cosmo told her with absolute admiration,
"Not that it's any less surprising to me now... but that's pretty wise of you."
Anti-Wanda pouted with mock irritation as he said this.
"You're not going to call me a 'wise old crone' again, are you?" She sulked as she crossed her arms.
"Well, the truth is not always beautiful." Anti-Cosmo teased her while bearing his teeth into a wide smile.
Anti-Wanda peered at him through quizzical eyes before giving into her simple-minded thoughts for a moment. The more she thought to herself, the more she shrank into herself and once again took hold of her arms, and gazed vacantly at the ground as she quietly replied,
"I suppose beautiful words aren't always the truth, either."
Anti-Cosmo's voice hitched in his throat, and his breathing was once again uneven as he realised that Anti-Wanda still had clear doubts about him in her mind.
And yet, he knew that it had always been this way. Even whilst he still had his intelligence, he had relied so much on the words he gave her. He knew now that his appealing words wouldn't save his situation. Anti-Cosmo fixed his eyes on her as his gaze hardened, and Anti-Wanda stiffened. Despite how determined he looked, Anti-Cosmo still couldn't help furrow his eyebrows like a lost child, as he told her sincerely,
"Anti-Wanda, I've never once been dishonest with you. I wish you could believe me." Anti-Cosmo told her truthfully as Anti-Wanda found herself locked in his gaze, "But I've said all I can say to you. There's no certainty that being with me won't be painful... but, y'know, what kind of love doesn't involve the risk of being hurt? I hope you'll take the risk, and have faith that this will work out. Although, it's ultimately your choice, and yours alone to make."
Anti-Wanda took a moment to herself as she held desperately on to her own arms, and fiercely caught her bottom lip with her misshapen teeth to anxiously bite down on it. Then, as if she shook herself away from her hardened shell, she caught Anti-Cosmo completely off guard as she turned to him with a beautiful, grateful smile,
"Thank you for giving me this choice. It means a lot to me that you're willing to put my happiness before yours. It really shows... that you love me..." Anti-Wanda pushed back a few stray strands of curls as she tried to distract herself from the hot red flush speckled over her blue skinned face. She told him gently with a sigh, "This really puts a lot of worries to rest. And it shows that love... truly seems to shine in the most darkest hours. Oh man, how cruel it is."
Anti-Cosmo laughed as he couldn't agree more.
As Anti-Wanda covered her smile with her hand so she could forcefully resist herself from laughing alongside him, Anti-Cosmo crossed his arms as he watched his wife with a half-hearted grin. She caught his gaze as she removed her palm from her lips, and stroked the blue strands of curly hair over her shoulder as she deeply sighed. Although they were physically and emotionally exhausted, they found themselves to be grateful for being by each other's side. Despite the worst moments of this journey, it was still incredible that they could manage to crack a smile together.
Anti-Wanda smiled softly as she realised that despite all the trivial times, after all of the grueling heartache and nagging doubts, she still found herself to have skipped several heartbeats in Anti-Cosmo's presence. That tiny candle she held for him had dimmed, but it hadn't blown out.
And as she bravely stepped towards him, she murmured as if all of her love for him had surfaced to form the words,
"My Anti-Cosmo."
He couldn't have felt any happier at that moment.
As Anti-Wanda took out her hand for him to hold, he didn't hesitate to gently take a hold of it. He laced his fingers around hers and handled his grasp on her as if it were the most precious thing in the world. The warmth of her palms against his was the most comforting feeling to him then, and he didn't feel compelled to unfasten himself from her any time soon. As he smiled to her, his happiness visibly beamed out of his fanged grin, and Anti-Wanda couldn't help it either. She smiled back, squeezing his hand in response, before rolling her eyes for a moment and stepping up to him.
Anti-Cosmo shrunk below her as Anti-Wanda grinned mischievously with one eyebrow raised, and prodded her pointed finger at his chest as she told him authoritatively,
"Don't think you're completely out of the woods yet." Anti-Wanda accused him and stepped backwards to straighten her back and show off her confidence, "I'm not nearly as merciful as I appear to be, you know."
Anti-Cosmo pressed his lips together for a moment to prevent himself from laughing out loud, and suddenly pulled her gently towards him again by the hand. Anti-Wanda regained her balance as her face brightened up in a light glowing red as she almost bumped right into him, and met up with his sarcastic smile.
"Of course you're not merciful," Anti-Cosmo grinned widely, "you wouldn't be with me otherwise."
Anti-Wanda pursed her lips together as she raised an eyebrow at him in an annoyed manner.
"Wouldn't I?"
"Let me rephrase that," Anti-Cosmo said somewhat nervously, before bringing her closer to him again until she was practically restraining herself from inching towards him. Anti-Cosmo told her sincerely, and softly, "It's one of the things I love about you."
Anti-Wanda swallowed a hard gulp.
All of a sudden, she felt incredibly flustered as she steadied herself on her two feet, and desperately averted her eyes to avoid looking back at him to see how genuine he really was. Anti-Wanda was determined to regain her dominance in this situation, but she found that her husband was making it increasingly difficult for her.
As she cleared her throat and as she stepped back to keep a clear distance between them, she kept her hand gripped firmly on his and feigned disgust with a bright red blush washed over her face,
"Alright, Cassanova, let's get out of here before Jorgen can smell the cheese emanating from you."
Anti-Cosmo laughed again as he followed her forward. Anti-Wanda took the lead as she stepped on to the rainbow bridge. She hesitated for a moment to look back at her husband, who was waiting patiently with a calm smile that almost caught Anti-Wanda off guard by how thrown she was by it. She'd seen just how tolerant her husband can be so many times before, and his silent encouragement had never gone unnoticed by her, but this was one of those times where she had truly needed it the most. Anti-Wanda found she needed as much encouragement from him as possible if she were to go through with this.
She quickly turned her head forward to gaze down at the lengthy journey below them, and reflected on the short distance it would take for her to completely forgive Anti-Cosmo. At this rate, she concluded, it was becoming far too easy for Anti-Cosmo to win her over. And the more she realised this, the more she seemed to think... that ultimately, it really didn't matter.
Anti-Wanda pulled him down with her as she jumped off the edge, and took the plunge with him... in every sense of the word.
...
The sun began to rise over the Earth's horizon, painting the surface with it's softened orange glow and stretching over towards the town where Timmy was still missing.
Cosmo and Wanda were still tirelessly searching for Timmy at the skate park, and the time was steadily turning 6am. They felt more than fatigued, but they refused to show it. For them, Timmy was their main concern and they refused to let a little exhaustion get the better of them.
As Cosmo perched on top of a half-pipe to rest for a moment, he was tempted to watch Wanda from afar. She calmly crossed over the yard, and he noticed how she would occasionally rub her weary eyes as if to wipe away the dark circles that gradually appeared underneath them. Cosmo also noticed how her skin was paler than usual, almost completely drained from her usual healthy pink glow that radiated her presence. Cosmo sighed for a moment, and wished he could do more for her.
Yet he was still so torn about himself. He was uncomfortable as a smart man, and felt completely useless as a fool. He was stuck on where his happiness truly was, and whether it was with his wife. At that point, all he knew was that happiness was simple... in concept. It was everything he did to find it that made it much more complicated.
Meanwhile, Wanda sat at the bottom of the half-pipe that Cosmo had perched on, and yawned loudly.
"Are you tired?" Cosmo asked her with genuine concern.
"Yeah, I am." She replied as she smiled weakly over her shoulder at him, and rolled her head to the side to stretch her neck muscles, "I haven't been up this late in a very long time."
"It has been a long time," Cosmo commented with slight surprise as his mind dived into his memories to reminisce, "It's a little strange, considering we used to do this all the time before we became godparents."
"But, you forget, that was when we were practically teenagers," Wanda told him with an eyebrow raised, and before long, she calmly felt caught up in her own memories alongside him, "Do you remember when we were back at the fairy academy? We'd go to those... insane overnight house parties at Cupid's. He practically threw one every night. It's a miracle we got through the academy with passing grades."
"Those parties were pretty wild." Cosmo said quietly with a dreamy smile, before it stretched into a mischievous smirk and caught Wanda off guard for a moment, "But it's not like we were very involved in them... considering the things we'd get up to."
Cosmo's comment flew right over Wanda's head as she slightly squinted her eyes at him in curiosity, and turned herself completely towards him as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah? And what would they be?"
"You remember," Cosmo widely grinned at her as he slightly teased her with an eyebrow raised, "We'd sneak out back to my car, turn on the radio and make out to hard rock songs."
"Oh!" Wanda's eyes flew open as she finally caught on, and the pink colour of her cheeks hurriedly flushed over her pale face. For a moment, she shyly bit down on her bottom lip before the corner of her mouth turned up into a half-smile as she felt her heart beat in her throat. Then, as she peered to the side under her heavy lids, she admitted to him with a low voice, "I've been wondering why I blush every time I listen to Whitesnake..."
"That's your subconscious reminding you that you've kissed me." Cosmo smiled sarcastically and played her on, "More than once, might I add!"
"Ew, gross!" Wanda feigned disgust and completely failed to keep up with this game as she erupted into laughter. Suddenly, her eyes sparkled with nothing but nostalgia as she energetically turned back to Cosmo, "Oh, remember that time when Binky scared the living hell out of me one night? We were out in your car in Cupid's parking lot, and suddenly Binky appeared out of nowhere and slammed right into the side of the car door!"
"I remember that," Cosmo laughed alongside her, and his spirits heightened as he leaned down towards her to share her excitement for nostalgia, "Yeah, he stumbled right against the door that you were leaning on. You screamed right in my ear, you banshee!"
Wanda rolled her eyes with a light-hearted smirk.
"You screamed just as loud as I did when Binky vomited down the side of your car."
"Oh man, ugh." Cosmo rubbed his temple and cringed as he recalled that particular moment in his memory. Then, he sighed as he vacantly gazed out towards the rising sun, and vocally continued his thoughts, "Making out in a secluded area, listening to rock ballads from the 1980's and getting terrorised by a drunkard.. sounds like something straight out of a cheesy teen horror film."
Wanda suddenly laughed out loud at the thought, as she knew it was somewhat true.
Then, as she began to calm down, and as she looked over towards the beautiful sunrise behind her, Wanda's expression softened as a gentle smile lit up her face. For a moment, she didn't dare to speak as she simply embraced the comfortable silence she shared with her husband. It was relieving to acknowledge how the tension was temporarily left behind them, and they could share that simplistic peaceful silence that told them there were no words that needed to be said to validate their feelings to one another.
But as the silence stretched on, as Wanda deeply thought back at her happy memories that she shared with Cosmo, one particular instance compelled her to speak her mind.
"I remember something else as well." Wanda began gently, and instantly caught Cosmo's attention, "You were so calm... so completely nonchalant over the fact that Binky had wrecked your car. We hadn't been dating very long at that point so I was sure that you'd have freaked out over the entire thing, but... you surprised me, Cosmo."
"I did?" He asked her with genuine surprise.
"Yes." Wanda confirmed without turning her head away from the rising sun, "You took Binky home in your vomit covered car, you cleaned him up, and you even made sure that he got to his bed alright. You truly showed me how kind you are that night. I was so proud to have called you my boyfriend."
"I don't even remember that part of the night," Cosmo told her truthfully as he rested a thoughtful finger to his chin, "I remember Binky throwing up all over my car, but after that I was sure that I had ruined my entire evening with you."
"Well, I remember that night very fondly." Wanda told him as she turned over her shoulder to smile softly to him, "Cosmo, as long as I've known you, you have often looked back at certain events in your life in a negative light. I don't believe that's a healthy mindset to have. So, I like to remind you that you do have a big heart... under that clumsy exterior of yours."
As Wanda gently laughed to herself, Cosmo felt a little stunned by this. It was beyond him, even in his current state, how he didn't realise that this had become a pattern for him. He knew he didn't think very highly of himself, that much was obvious, but he didn't realise that he had such a negative perspective on life that Wanda had stepped in to help him through it.
Cosmo stared at her a little sadly, and pressed his lips together hesitantly before speaking up to ask her,
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"I'm sure you can figure it out at this point." Wanda sarcastically replied with a small smile.
"I guess... if you had told me this before, I'd have brushed you off. Like I've always done." Cosmo admittedly told her, and his head hung low as he felt a little disappointed with himself by this, "I didn't really think much of what you used to say to me... because I always assumed you were nagging about something stupid I'd done."
Wanda paused for a moment to reflect on this, before looking to the side of her and lowering her voice.
"Perhaps... I do tend to nag more often than I should." Wanda said downheartedly, and hesitated for a moment to awkwardly lace her fingers through her pink curls over her shoulders, before turning back to Cosmo with a complacent smile, and softly spoke up again, "But, I also tell you about all the wonderful things you've done in your life... because, believe it or not, there is a lot of those times."
"I can't believe I never realised this. To be honest, I'm a little shocked." Cosmo told her as if he barely had any breath in his lungs. He anxiously threaded his fingers through his hair and held on to his head as he blankly gazed at the distance, and continued his vocalise his thoughts with a breathless voice, "I've put myself down so many times, I've harshly criticised my own actions because I never believed that I could push past my own capabilities, and I've buried all the accomplishments I've made in my life. If it wasn't for you, Wanda... I don't know where I'd be."
"You'd be fine, honey." Wanda told him tenderly with a gentle hand hovered over her heart, "You've proven so many times before that you can do so much more than you give yourself credit for."
"But how do you think I've been able to do that, Wanda?" Cosmo said quietly, but his voice strained with desperation as the truth began to gradually dawn on him just as the sun rose in the distance. He looked intensely at her, and he watched as the orange glow of the sun caked over her figure as if she was the obvious answer all this time, and she began to shine just as he began to realise this. Cosmo almost hovered off his seat as he stared wide eyed at her in shock, and spoke as if he had been holding his breath all this time, "It's because of you. It's always been you. Wanda, my secret success, my secret to success... you've helped me out in more ways than you can even imagine."
"Cosmo, come on, you know that isn't true." Wanda said gently as her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"But it is true, don't you get that?" Cosmo interrupted her with pure determination, "I'm so dependant on you... and you want to know why?"
"Okay. Why?" Wanda sighed in defeat as she could see that he was too determined to make his point to her. And as she crossed her arms to listen, Cosmo gazed at her with complete admiration for her, and told with with sincere devotion,
"I rely on your word because I know that I can trust you. You're an honest, compassionate... stubborn woman who isn't afraid to criticise me... but you're also a woman who doesn't hesitate to give me the encouragement and support that I've needed to go on for as long as I have. It's only when I stopped noticing your appreciation that I started to doubt myself so harshly." Cosmo took a moment to himself to breathe. Wanda stared at him as her shoulders fell, as she felt completely moved by his words. And when Cosmo gazed over to her with furrowed eyebrows, he smiled as if he looked totally hopeless, and quietly said with a slight shrug, "So... here I am."
Wanda smiled wider in return. As her eyes grew softer, as the laugh lines around her gentle smile began to deepen, Cosmo knew then that Wanda truly did love him. All those previous doubts and confusing faithless suspicions were completely wiped clean.
"Here you are." Wanda sighed as she couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows to look as hopeless as him, before speaking up just as quietly, and just as sincerely, "I love you, sweetie. I want to let you know that I am proud of you. And I'll tell you this as often as I can, since all the mistakes from your past don't matter nearly as much as all the wonderful things that you've done. So you can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right... because all I see is a beautiful, kind-hearted man with a lifetime to show for it."
That was it.
Cosmo completely forgot everything he was ever mad at her for. He was completely hers, in every way possible, and he couldn't find a reason within him at that point to do anything that would warrant being apart from her. At that moment, the sky could have fallen and that wouldn't have mattered, because he was with Wanda. The reason he lived, the reason for being, was simply her.
"...I love you." Cosmo subconsciously slipped up before he even realised what he said.
Wanda gave him a small, sad smile.
"Do you?" She asked him softly.
Cosmo's brief lapse of pure devotion to her passed in an instant.
As Wanda leapt up from the half-pipe, Cosmo watched her as she walked over the grounds to continue her search for Timmy. Cosmo shook his head for a moment to mentally remind himself what had got him to that point. He knew that he couldn't blind his reason by his love, to which he realised pretty quickly that it had a powerful hold on him. He knew then that Wanda was a permanent part of him that couldn't simply be cut out of his life. Cosmo needed her. She was ultimately his pillar of support when he truly needed it the most.
Cosmo wondered if she knew that. He wasn't stupid anymore. Those last cryptic words that she left behind wasn't a challenge lost on him. Cosmo knew that Wanda had doubts. Even before all of this, it was possible that Wanda had doubts about his feelings for her. And as Cosmo realised the absolute truth of it all, that he did love Wanda with all of his being, he knew that this entire situation had only made things worse. At one point, he had even alluded to the possibility of ending their relationship...
Cosmo knew just what to do then. His gaze hardened with determination as it had finally dawned on him.
He had to prove to her just how much of an impact she made on him. He had to change into the man he thinks is best for himself... and for Wanda. All this time, he knew that he had been making all the decisions by himself without even considering how Wanda might feel. If he wanted to stay by her side, if he wanted to let her know that he loved her, just as she let him know how proud she was of him, he had to decide if intelligence was best for them... or if it wasn't.
Cosmo peered over to the sunrise once more. The warmth was a little comforting, and a little unwanted. He sighed deeply, pulled his leg up and leant his arm over his knee. As he looked vacantly at the distance, as he watched the town brighten underneath the early morning light, Cosmo dared to flicker his gaze over to Wanda in the distance. She had paused for a moment. Her pink curls had hidden her face, her expression was unknown, but Cosmo could guess that she was sadly staring at the same sun, wondering if Timmy was looking at it too.
Cosmo knew this, not because he was smart, but because he knew his wife. And as he watched his wife with longing, he wondered to himself...
So... where to go from here?
…