Timmy sat motionlessly as an anti-fairy doctor examined him in the corner of that grimy jail cell. Anti-Cosmo stood patiently at the door in guard, watching with intent as the doctor would examine a part of Timmy or his body's behavior and note it to the leader floating in the doorway. Timmy's eyes were cast to his left as he laid his head discouragingly against the corner of the stone wall. He let the doctor do as he may, knowing that moving would not make a difference.
After detaching the velcro cuff of the blood pressure monitor from Timmy's upper arm and lowering his t-shirt sleeve, the doctor pulled out a thermometer. "Open, please."
Still looking away, Timmy parted his lips so that the doctor could stick the tool into his mouth. The boy closed his lips around it in holding and they waited. Timmy still refusing to look up and wondered about all the possible plans of action and outcomes he could think of. What if he were to take the thermometer and poke the doctor in the eye? Better yet, use it to pick the locks of these god-awful magic proof cuffs and make way for the outside. Just enough so he could turn back and give both the doctor and Anti-Cosmo a little taste of half-breed magic.
Still, he didn't move.
The thermometer beeped, and the doctor took it out to examine.
"Well?" Anti-Cosmo requested impatiently.
"His fever hasn't regulated yet." The doctor explained. "His body hasn't adjusted to his magic."
"And how long will this be carried on for?"
"The fever should die down, with proper necessities." The doctor explained, putting his tools back into his bag. "The regulating of magic, in general, will only take a few years to better adjust."
"Years?" Anti-Cosmo bickered. "How so? Does this take away from his use of magic?"
"No sir," the doctor assured. "The magic is still very much there."
"Will it interfere?" Anti-Cosmo asked. "I don't care if the fever will submerge with our use of his magic, but will it get in the way of my operation?"
"No, but his health-"
"Is what?" Anti-Cosmo asked in warning.
The doctor paused, giving a look to Timmy who still looked away, and then to his leader. "Nothing, sir."
"Pish posh," Anti-Cosmo waved off. "As long as the magic is running freely, the extraction will be simple."
"Extraction?" The doctor questioned. "Anti-Cosmo, sir, I don't think you understand. You cannot extract the magic from him, it functions within him. Whether it drives him to death or not, the magic cannot exist outside of him. He doesn't carry it, he is made up of it."
Anti-Cosmo leaned against the doorframe with a crossing of his arms. "Oh phooey, I was excited about that part." He said. "Ah, no matter. We'll simply have to reroute it somehow."
"Would it not be easier to just derive him into dark nature?" The doctor proposed. "indoctrinate him so that he may be a victor for darkness on our side?"
"Nonsense," Anti-Cosmo said. "While it's something I've considered, I've come in contact with this little runt to know that his mind is not so easily tricked. Even under extreme circumstances, he'll find a way out of brainwashing. We're better off keeping him as a living vessel in this cell while rerouting his magic into our usage. He's simply a houseplant that we'll have to water on occasion."
"Sounds fine." The doctor nodded.
Anti-Cosmo observed Timmy once more, whose eyes didn't leave his side in the whole session. They'd been that way since returning to his cell.
The anti-fairy smiled. Oh, how glorious it felt to knock the loudmouth boy to his worst.
"Doctor, get this boy a hearty meal. If we need his body in health, we'd better do it right."
"Yes, sir." The doctor obeyed, making way to the door and past Anti-Cosmo. The counterpart's green eyes didn't leave Timmy as he laid moping in the corner. It wasn't even that he was trying to avoid Anti-Cosmo's glare. Rather, he just didn't care to look to him.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Anti-Cosmo taunted.
Timmy sat still.
"Oh, what's the matter, Turner? Cat got your tongue?"
The boy said nothing.
"You're smart enough to know, Timothy." Anti-Cosmo said. "Fairy World is only an image of heaven, the real thing hardly exists. And you were born on earth, you should know that the wretched planet is only pure chaos. You're not only a mix, but you're also a mix of two pitiful species."
Anti-Cosmo made way into the cell, nearing Timmy. "But, as I said. Neither would want to claim a wretched half-breed as their own."
Timmy's gaze, though cast down, remained emotionless.
"Oh come now, Turner. You're taking away the fun. Where's that irrational anger of yours?"
Timmy shifted in his seat, bringing his knees up to his chest and resting his arms upon them as he continued to peer to his side.
"That thing spoke to me.." He muttered, referring to the shadow that had lured him to his prison. "I heard it before I was taken..."
"Did you, now?" Anti-Cosmo asked.
"How did it do that..?" Timmy ventured, though he still averted his gaze.
"You share something with it that most counterparts don't, Timothy." Anti-Cosmo explained. "A sixth sense. Since you were made in counterpart to this darkness, rather than the usual way around, it's a different nature for you. You heard it because it is made up of godchildren who have lost their godparents. Those godchildren who are long gone by now. Their souls are speaking to you, begging you to do better for other godchildren who are much alive and suffering a similar faith."
"..what, speaking to the dead?"
"If you want to put it that way," Anti-Cosmo said. "Merely what is left of their miserable lives. Haven to grow up without their godparents' aid and dooming them forevermore until they eventually become old and pass."
"As if I wasn't depressing enough..." The boy mumbled.
His thought current suddenly changed lanes, and he once again thought of his godparents in the midst of this mess. How they must've been taking everything on their end right now. Moreso, how he left things off before ripped away unfairly.
"I told them I hated them..." Timmy whispered into the empty air. "Cosmo and Wanda..."
Anti-Cosmo paused in consideration, floating about the cell with his hands clasped behind his back as he shook his head in disapproval. "Well, that's certainly not gonna stop them from coming for you." He looked at the boy bitterly. "Not to say I'm looking forward to their arrival, but I certainly know your godparents."
The boy still wouldn't give him anything, and the anti-fairy was becoming less enthused with the situation. Not that it would help in any kind of way with his plan, but mocking Turner, it was sweet revenge for all those times he had made a complete fool out Anti-Cosmo.
"I mean," the anti-fairy teased. "If they did show up, it certainly wouldn't be good for either of you."
There was a moment's hesitation before Timmy turned his head.
"What d'you mean?" He asked dully.
Anti-Cosmo pulled his hands in front of him, holding his wand as he twirled the stem in his fingers while the black star point twisted against his other hand's palm delicately.
"Tut, tut, Turner." He spoke rather bitterly, the previous playfulness vanishing in almost an instant. Timmy, though he still moved very little, tensed in sensing the anti-fairy's sudden motive of aggression. "We can make jokes all we want, but you know that it's different this time around."
Timmy continued to hold his knees to his chest, his eyes flicking to the floor and back.
"Well, do you?" Anti-Cosmo demanded.
Timmy again said nothing.
"The Anti-Fairy Council are the patient type," he said. "But after a few thousand years, you start to grow impatient when you haven't yet claimed what is rightfully yours."
Anti-Cosmo neared forward to the child in the corner. "I've been the nice guy too many times now, Timothy. I am certainly not going to let you and your foolish pair of godparents foil my brilliance any longer. One more strike and my treatment by my council is swiped. Everything, I've built for my family, gone because a stupid, insignificant, human-fairy CHILD FOILS IT!"
His voice rashed out, nearly rattling the stone cell as Timmy's eyes grew wider in his abandoned corner. Looking at the anti-fairy in quiet fear as he neared closer, gripping his wand to his side as it beamed a threatening dark blue.
"You've had your fair share of wins." He growled. "It's my turn. And if that means causing a little damage to your godparents, so be it."
Timmy carefully lowered his knees, sobering an amount of courage. "You wouldn't hurt them.."
"Would I?" Anti-Cosmo challenged. "There's little to nothing you know about me, Turner."
"No, you're a tacky freak. Even you're not that low." Timmy muttered. "Besides, hurting them would hurt you."
"Oh, you want a lecture about the counterpart nature of fairies and anti-fairies?" The anti-fair sneered.
Timmy scowled as Anti-Cosmo again neared closer to him. He floated to his front, but not so much near the boy that Timmy could reach for him from his chains holding him down. The anti-fairy lowered his feet to the ground, again resting his wand's end to his palm that glowed threateningly. His eyes masked with pure hostility, that the child could not say was a look common with even Anti-Cosmo.
"I can take them to the greatest measure of pain.." Anti-Cosmo hissed in a low voice, capturing the child's eyes in his as he turned a sickly white. "I can, and if I have to, I shall. I have the capability to make them suffer at the worst possible extent, and not a drop of their pain could harm me nor my wife. The only extremity, the only thing that our counterparts share with us, is death itself."
Anti-Cosmo leaned closer to stare into the boy's petrified eyes, the older creature's sickenly breath lingering against him. "I may not be able to kill them, but I can bring them to the closest thing..."
As Timmy's face solidified with only terror, he slowly shook his head. "You're lying..."
Anti-Cosmo reeled back slowly, his black wings lifting him into the air. "I'll say it again Timothy, I don't lie..."
With a sheer rush of adrenaline and panic, Timmy lunged forward at his feet, reaching two clawing hands though the chains held him back. "NO! Don't touch them!"
Anti-Cosmo let a cruel smile loose at the child's state of panic.
"Don't!" Timmy continued to lash out in the heavy chains. "You stay away from them!"
Watching the child with evil satisfaction, Anti-Cosmo hardly paid attention to the doctor who had returned with the tray of food. The fellow anti-fairy's eyes growing wide at the child's state of anger as he carefully set the tray down at a short distance from him, before quickly leaving the room.
"Just remember Timothy," Anti-Cosmo said. "As long as they're your godparents, they'll know where to find you."
Anti-Cosmo merely laughed as he made way for the door, before turning back.
"Oh," he said. "But, you know who can be treated with the death penalty?"
Timmy halted in the midst of his thrashing. Anti-Cosmo feigned a hostile smile.
"Your mother."
He slammed the door shut.
"NO!"
The boy jolted forward in a sickenly thrash of pure rage, as his shackled foot came swinging out of bounds and against the metal food tray. The food and drink flying across the cell, and the water glass coming in impact with the stone wall and shattering to bits, but barely drowning out Timmy's continuous screaming and howls of protest.
"YOU HEARTLESS MONSTER!" Timmy yelled in hostility. "STAY AWAY FROM HER! FROM THEM!"
He continued to scream, his barely audible youthful cries only a blur of sadistic yells as he tugged at the chains, nearing to twist or roll a joint at the risk of it. Though, he didn't stop in what was a behavioral pawn for only fear. Pure fear for those he loved the most in the entire universe.
With another yell, Timmy fell to the floor, unable to resist the chains any longer as they wouldn't budge. He landed on his hands in knees and breathed big raspy breaths before those breaths elevated into audible cries echoing amongst his cell, and he rolled onto his bottom in misery. Crying into his arms against his knees though it did a poor job of muffling them. Even aside all that had happened to him, he felt more ruined and more fearful than anything amongst that prison of his own torture.
He couldn't break out on his own. And knowing his godparents, knowing them and their stupid adamancy to keep him safe, he knew they were coming for him. They were coming for him and he wouldn't be able to stop it as long as he was imprisoned in this cell. As long as he couldn't use his magic. As Anti-Cosmo said, as long as they were his godparents, they'll know where to find him.
Timmy's head snapped up.
As long as they were his godparents.
Timmy couldn't believe what he was suddenly thinking. The audacity of it, even. Never had it been something he would ever, ever consider. Not on his life. Why would he? The result would only be the worst outcome for everyone. But in this case, possibly, the best. The sad truth was that Timmy would not escape on his own. All he could depend on was the hope that his godparents would locate him in Anti-Fairy World and come storming in to save him at any cost. His fairies had never let him down, and they were not about to.
Then again, he remembered why he pushed them back in the first place.
Anti-Cosmo wasn't a threat to him before, but after that confrontation, he knew the evil creature was not kidding him or anyone this time. Anti-Cosmo's patience was fed up, and he wouldn't let anything keep him from universal domination this time around. Even at the extent of pain and death. It was a new low. Even if Cosmo and Wanda could put up a fight, they wouldn't see it coming. And Timmy's mother, how would she defend herself?
Timmy stifled a small cry, looking up to the ceiling and closing his eyes to compose himself. Thinking it through before he made any rash decision. It was a price he'd be paying for the rest of his life, he knew what the loss would mean. But if he was to be stuck in this cell for all of eternity, what would it matter? It was the equivalent to a loss anyway. And if he weren't to go through with it, he might pay a more terrible price that would later cause him regret for not doing this.
"Cosmo, Wanda.." Timmy said. "I'm sorry..."
Looking to the empty air of the cell once more, Timmy sighed and wiped his tears. The pain would subdue soon, he knew it would. Even if it were to be replaced by confusion and fear, it would hurt much less. It was the only thing he could do to save his godparents and his mother. Taking another breath of composure, he whispered into the cold air.
"I'm happy, and I don't need my fairy godparents anymore..."
Seconds after the words left his lips, Timmy blacked out.
. . .
. .
.
"..Cosmo, Wanda, what is it?"
Mrs. Turner had asked it willingly, for the fairies' faces turned to terror within seconds without any explanation as to what crossed their minds within that moment. They stared forward and the others looked around to see what could have possibly stolen their breath. Although, it was apparent that they weren't terrified of anything they had seen.
Rather, what they felt pummeling in their guts.
It was like a switch had been turned off. A magical link that ran through them constantly that just suddenly evaporated into nothing as though it never existed. A connected feeling that kept them close to their godchild even if light miles away. One to know that he was out there and had that belief that they would be there for him at any cost or situation.
Had they been on earth, it would have been a broader sign. An undecided trip back to Fairy World that told them they were done with their duty. But being in their homeland already, the sign wasn't so visible to the eye of what had been torn away from them.
And then it hit them.
"NO!" Wanda croaked, jolting forward and raising her wand high. Cosmo latched over to her, both of them watching with large eyes and burning intent as Wanda desperately tried to pull up and image of Timmy's location like she always could. Her wand only envisioned static, showing no link left. She shook it again with a grunt, but nothing. No privilege to see what was no longer theirs.
"No, no, no, no!" Wanda threw her arm down and attempted to fly forward in desperation. Cosmo had grabbed her around her middle, and she scrambled in his arms and took in an unruly breath as she refused to believe it. "NO!"
Cosmo as well shuttered in unbearable suffering, and after a moment of Wanda's wild frail, they both sank to the floor in quiet tears. Both their heads dropped as their spirits shattered to pieces from what they had feared for far too long, that had come too soon.
"What's going on?" Mr. Turner demanded.
Jorgen looked from the godparents to the humans that stood in worry before them. "It's done."
Tracy, fearing the absolute worst possibility for her son, held a hand to her chest. "What-What is?"
"Turner gave them up."
Mrs. Turner's gaze fell upon the faires that gripped one another.
"But that means he-"
"Won't remember any magic or sign of fairy life that has ever crossed him."
"Why-Why-Why would he do that?" Cosmo hiccuped, unable to contain himself as his and Wanda's silence broke into uneven cries. His arms constricted around Wanda even tighter as they kneeled a crying mess amongst the others.
Mrs. Turner looked to Jorgen for affirmation.
"My only guess," the larger fairy spoke. "He doesn't want us to find him. Although, it's too late for that now."
"Oh, Timmy.." Wanda moaned as she buried her tear-stained face into Cosmo's shoulder.
"Why wouldn't he?" Timmy's mother asked.
Jorgen looked beyond the lights of their world. Though Anti-Fairy World was far across the earth and near impossible to see from where they stood, he knew what direction it was in. He knew what laid teasingly across the galaxy from them.
"Because the anti-fairies are willing to do anything to keep us out of the way. They're not fooling around this time, and Turner knows it."
Wanda choked a large sob, causing Mrs. Turner to look back at the two fairies. The small creatures stood helplessly on their knees as they held each other, their eyes constricted shut as they quivered uncontrollably in a commotion of suffering. Their crying didn't subdue and no one said much else in allowing the godparents to grieve over Timmy's forgotten memory of them. Everything, they've ever treasured with him, gone in the blink of an eye.
Another godchild, over and done with too soon.
For once, Tracy momentarily forgot about her son's safety, as she frowned in sympathy for the two weeping fairies
No recollection as to what had happened in the first place to suddenly feel so empty of emotion. That's all Timmy remembered.
He hadn't the faintest clue what he had felt prior to regaining consciousness. It was big enough to know that something had been wiped out of him completely, that was for sure. Timmy laid flat as his eyes opened in a blink. They narrowed in confusion towards the high ceiling, as it brought no familiarity whatsoever. Not like the empty ceiling of his lifeless bedroom. Exactly where he last remembered being.
Sitting up, nothing certainly rang a bell when he took in his surroundings. At least not at first. Looking every which way at the dark stone cell and then at the shackles and chains that kept his wrists and ankles weighed down. That was enough to shake him to his very core, especially when he hadn't remembered how he could have possibly woken up to be in this kind of situation. The last he remembered, he'd been home. Crying about something or another. After all, his father had up and left without any reason nor explanation as to why. Even if his mother had been assuring Timmy that it wasn't his fault. Although, Timmy could see right through her. And besides, the sadness he felt over his father felt long ago. The sadness he felt before falling unconscious, which he couldn't put his finger on, must have had some reason as to why he was in what was basically a prison.
Then, one of the more common issues in his life rang a warning in his head. In realization, Timmy scowled.
"Vicky!" Timmy snarled, shakily getting to his feet in resistance of the chains. "Vicky, if this is some sick joke-!"
The boy nearly stumbled forward from the chains sturdiness against the corner wall, momentarily shooting a look back at where they remained attached. Sighing loudly in frustration, Timmy looked towards the cell door across the way.
"I don't know how you managed to do all this!" He yelled in calling. "But, you're sick! And just wait 'till mom sees it!"
Timmy again pitifully tried to tug at the chains. He should've known. His last memory was a haze, but he knew for sure, Vicky was a part of his life that wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Frankly, any other kids would be scared out of their skin to wake up in this kind of situation. But, not Timmy. Chains weren't occasional with Vicky, but they weren't any stranger either. He'd only end up in them in situations when Timmy had more of a mouth than usual. But really, with everything Timmy had been dealing with, school getting harder and a recent beating from Francis, he couldn't possibly have had the energy lately to give Vicky a piece of his mind.
"Vicky!" Timmy called in anger. "Vicky!"
A shadow passed the door, and a second later there was rusty clicking of the lock.
When Anti-Cosmo reentered, he looked on displeasingly.
"Are you finished with your antics?"
Timmy froze as he merely looked back with big eyes.
"I'll take that as yes." Anti-Cosmo said. "Well, while I have you calm. We might as well get this show on the road. I think we've been holding off long enough, don't you?"
The anti-fairy turned towards the outer hallway and gave a snap of his fingers, then motioning with his hand hurriedly as two other anti-fairies, including Anti-Wanda, came in lifting a heavy trunk with their wands as they carefully made way to the other end of the cell, Anti-Cosmo watching their work.
"What are you?"
Anti-Cosmo paused, flicking a row upwards as he turned at the question.
"Excuse me?"
Timmy's eyes looked him up and down. "What are you..like some devil bird?"
Anti-Cosmo lidded his eyes. "Screamed yourself a peg more stupid there, Turner? You know perfectly well what I am."
The boy lifted his chains in reference. "Whatever. Vicky did this, didn't she? Are you one of her varsity friends? You can tell her that I'm not even gonna wait until mom gets home to let her know that she's been locking me up like an animal!"
Anti-Cosmo crossed his arms. "I'm not sure who you take me as Timothy, but this little act is not succeeding. You're not going to escape these chains by force, and certainly not by persuasion."
"Persuasion? You're keeping me hostage in my own house!"
"Confines child, do you seriously think you're on earth?"
"Where else would I be? Mars?" Timmy ridiculed. He then succumbed to literal fear. "Oh god, did Vicky figure out how to send me to Mars?"
Anti-Cosmo shook his head in bafflement, and then his brows suddenly flew up in realization.
"Timothy," he asked genuinely. "Did you give up your godparents?"
Timmy blinked. "My what?"
Anti-Cosmo looked to be more surprised than he had in a long time, quickly looking towards Anti-Wanda and the other anti-fairy who as well seemed to be equally shocked. Not that they cared in the slightest as to what it meant, but the relationship between Timmy and his godparents was apparent, and not something that even Turner's mortal enemies would see him so easily give up.
"Well," Anti-Cosmo spoke in uncertainty. "It won't help your cause. They've certainly figured out where you are by now, so it would be too late. Although, perhaps not knowing them would ease your pain if they foolishly deiced to get in my way."
"Hun," Anti-Wanda spoke up nervously, looking between her husband and the trunk. "Maybe this time ain't the dealbreaker.."
"What now?"
"Let's bail.."
Anti-Cosmo was appalled. "Dear! Do you hear yourself? Do not let this child's will-power deceive you! If he wants to foolishly give up his ticket to happiness, that is on him and no one else!"
Anti-Cosmo avoided his wife and Timmy's stares, as he crossed his arms and narrowed his gaze towards the door. "Now open the dratted thing."
Anti-Wanda shared a look with the other anti-fairy, before beginning to unlock the trunk. Anti-Cosmo hesitated, and in a crave to regain his powerful mark, sobered before floating over to Timothy.
"I'd stop tugging at those chains before you sprain an ankle." He said, his gaze drawing up before pointing to a high point in the cell. "The only way to unlock them is to reach that lever which you have to fly to. And in the unfortunate case of being a half-fairy, you certainly haven't gained flight."
Timmy couldn't keep up with what the creature was saying and just shook his head. "You're not working with Vicky, are you?"
Anti-Cosmo pulled out his wand. In a puff of black smoke, the object in his hand was replaced by a syringe that alone sent chills down Timmy's back at the mere sight of it. Without any chance to even yelp or cry out, Timmy's arm as grabbed by Anti-Cosmo's as the creature brought the needle thrusting down and into the child's opposing shoulder, as Timmy cried out in second of pain, before going stiff.
"It'll make this process easier if you're not fidgeting around." Anti-Cosmo spoke, still gripping onto the boy's free arm. The child's posture shrank, as he heavily began to close his eyes and sink against Anti-Cosmo's chest.
The anti-fairy brought a hand to the back of the child's head. "Much easier."
To be continued...