CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED

FLASHBACK

Winston was home from boarding school. He was glad to be home; at the very least to see his sisters. He had gotten off at the Dimmsdale train station. As he walked on the station platform, he looked for family, hoping to see his mom and dad. The only one there, though, was Vicky. He was disappointed, but not surprised. They saw each other and Vicky came over and hugged her brother.

"Hey, little bro," said Vicky, "welcome home."

"Thanks, Vicky," said Winston, "Where's Tootie?"

Vicky looked disgusted and said,

"The same place where our parents are at; they decided to take her to the carnival."

"Well," said Winston, "she loves things like that, so she deserves to have a good time."

"No," said Vicky, "you deserve to have Mom and Dad pay attention to you. This is NOT the first time this has happened. Whenever you come home, they ALWAYS find an excuse to avoid you."

"Not always," said Winston.

"Too many times then," said Vicky, "Oh by the way Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, sis," said Winston.

"Since I know that Mom and Dad aren't going to do anything for you, let me. I'll take you to Mike E. Mozzarelli's; I know how much you love that place."

"Thanks, again," said Winston.

"No problem," said Vicky, "you're my BROTHER. Mom and Dad should be looking out for you and me not just our bratty little sister, Tootie."

"Come on, Vick," said Winston, "It's not Tootie's fault that Mom and Dad play favorites."

"Maybe not," said Vicky, "but it still makes me angry." Vicky then shook her head and then added, "but enough of this. I want you to have a HAPPY birthday, and listening to me rant about Mom and Dad won't make you happy. Just remember though, Winston, I'll always be here for you."

Tears filled Tootie's eyes as she hugged her brother. She hadn't seen him in so long...well, she had feared the worst. Both brother and sister finally released each other. Winston, himself, had tears in his eyes.

"Toot, it's so good to see you," said Winston, "how's Mom and Dad, how's Vicky."

"Mom and Dad are great. They'll be so happy to see you."

"Speaking of which," said Winston, turning to Jorgen, "You said I should be able to return home in about a couple days."

"Yes," said Jorgen, "we just need to arrange a plausible explanation yours and Remy's return."

"Remy," said Tootie, "wasn't Remy working with Anti-Cosmo...Binky told me that Anti-Cosmo might have been behind your disappearance and considering what he did..."

However, before Tootie could finish the sentence, Remy Buxaplenty entered the room.

"YOU," said Tootie, "did you and Anti-Cosmo kidnap Winston, the way you kidnapped Timmy."

However, before Remy could answer, Tootie went into her judo stance. She leaped up and knocked Remy to the floor.

"I just got off the phone with the police, honey," said Mr. Buxaplenty, "they say they're closer to finding Remy. They found a piece of Remy's jacket, and it looks like it was there within the last twenty four hours."

Mrs. Buxaplenty nodded. Both parents had been through an emotional roller coaster. They also felt an incredible sense of guilt. The worst part of this, though, was they knew they deserved the guilt.

"When Remy comes back," said Mrs. Buxaplenty, "all three of us need to have a good long talk."

Mr. Turner was still on the floor. He had stopped crying, but he still had some tears in his eyes. He looked down, but then he got the feeling someone else was in the room. The man looked up and saw his wife looking at him. She had clearly been crying too.

"I'm not crying, Theresa," said Mr. Turner, choking a bit, "it's just allergies."

"Me too," said Theresa, "it's this time of year...oh, who are we kidding...we miss our son and his being taken from us is what it took to make us realize how much he means to us."

Mr. Turner got up and hugged his wife and while in each others' arms, they resumed their sobbing.

Timmy turned to A.J. and said,

"You know buddy, I've been thinking about that alternate timeline, NOT Jorgen's but that other one where I never grow up, and there's one part of it that kind of frightens me."

"What?," said A.J.

"Well, " said Timmy, "the scary thing is I could see me doing that. I AM a little scared to grow up, and it HAS crossed my mind to act childlike for the rest of my life just to keep Cosmo and Wanda. Plus...,I ..."

Timmy looked down

"What is buddy?," asked A.J.

"This is so hard for me to admit," said Timmy, "but I'm scared that I...might...turn out like my parents. I want to have a family one day, but what if I'm just as neglectful as my own father."

A.J. took this in and then said,

"Well, that's not going to happen now, since you're going to remember your godfamily for the rest of your life and not only that, because you're the Chosen One.."

"Correction," said Timmy, "WE'RE the Chosen Ones."
"Okay," said A.J., "since you, Chester and I are the Chosen Ones, Cosmo, Wanda and Poof are going to be in your life for a long time."

"And that's terrific," said Timmy, "I wonder what else awaits us as The Chosen Ones."

The Shadow awoke, very weak. The attack from Jorgen and Turbo Thunder had nearly drained his dark magic. He looked around and saw Marianne in her shadow form. He, then, looked around the Vortex. It seemed smaller; more prison like. That's when he sensed something that he did NOT like.

"Genie magic," said The Shadow, "it's got to be Norm. That genie is going to pay a very heavy price."

The Shadow then turned to Marianne and decided to wake her, so he kicked her.

"Ow," said Marianne, "what did you do that for?"

"Because I need all of the dark magic I can gather to escape," said the evil being, "and you need to be conscious, and in your human form."

"My human form?," said Marianne.

"Just CHANGE to it," snarled the Shadow.

Marianne nodded and did as bidden.

"Now," said the Shadow, "this Vortex has been strengthened by genie magic, so I need your Dark Energy, plus your fear to give me power."

Marianne did not like where this was going and said,

"My fear?"

"Yes," said The Shadow, "fear has always given me strength as well as anger. The most ample supply I ever ran into, was in Victorian London as Jack the Ripper. The screams of those women filled me with such darkness that I was invicible. Why do you think I had you go to your human form."

Suddenly the Shadows claws seemed to become sharper. Marianne screamed.

"I wish I could tell you this won't hurt, but I'd be lying," said the Shadow.

"Tootie," said Winston, "what are you doing?"

"Doing what all of us feel like doing to Remy," said Chester.

Winston whirled toward Chester and said,

"Who are you?"

"My name is Chester McBadbat. I'm friends, well, more than friends actually with your sister."

Winston looked stunned and said,

"But what about Timmy Turner? I thought Tootie wanted to be with Timmy. In fact, she swore that her and Timmy are soulmates."

"Winston," said Tootie, "a lot has changed since you've been gone."

"Well," said the red haired boy, "first things first, why did you knock Remy down and what's this about him kidnapping Timmy."

Remy got up a little shaken. Tootie resumed her judo stance and Remy stiffened. Tootie didn't do anything.

"Watch it, looney tune," said the dark haired girl, "one false move at Winston or my boyfriend, and you'll be sorry."

"Tootie," said Winston, "I don't know what the issue is about Remy, but we were BOTH trapped in that vortex together and Remy treated me just find, so what's going on?"

"Actually, Winston," said Remy, swallowing a bit, "you don't know everything about me. You know I was working with Anti-Cosmo, but you didn't know how far I'd gone even before I'd met Anti-Cosmo."

"What do you mean?," said Winston obviously confused.

"It's time for the whole truth to come out," said Remy, "remember when I said I wanted to take revenge against someone I felt hurt me. Well, that someone was Timmy Turner. And when I said revenge I mean I wanted him GONE, PERMANENTLY."

Winston took this in. His eyes widened and he said,

"You mean...you.."

"Yes," said Remy, "I attempted to murder Timmy Turner."

A.J. looked at his watch. It was fast approaching 2:00 P.M.

"Aren't Tootie and Chester supposed to come over," asked Timmy.

"Yeah," said A.J., "they were supposed to be here at 1:00 P.M."

"You don't think something has happened to them?," asked Timmy concerned.

"I don't think so," said A.J., "maybe they're just running a little late."

"Maybe," said Timmy, "but..."

"But what?," said A.J.

"Well," said Timmy, "you know that all three of us are, often, in danger because we're the Chosen Ones. What if Chester needs us?"

"What do you want to do?," asked A.J.

"Cosmo, Wanda," said Timmy.

Timmy's fairy godfamily appeared.

"What is it sport?"

"Chester and Tootie aren't here yet," said Timmy, "and I'm a little concerned about them, so if you don't mind I need to make a wish."

"Okay, kiddo," said Cosmo, "what is it?"

"I wish we were where Chester and Tootie were at right now," said the buck toothed boy.

Please review. Sorry it took so long for me to update this; I've been kind of busy!