Matt was on patrol but distracted from his duties. Patrol was never really very interesting. There wasn't much going on in the realm at most times. The most exciting thing he ever did was find a fairy having difficulty with some trees and go to assist. It had been generations since there was ever any real threat to the realm, as far as he knew. Sir Terry and Queen Bernice were a bit paranoid, he thought.
But Matt wasn't the sort to go against his duties. He cared about doing a good job and fulfilling his purpose of protecting the realm and those he loved in it. At the moment, he was concerned about protecting his children. Joey was having some troubles in school, and Kayla's magic was starting to mature and get a little erratic. He missed their mother, Emma, every day. But it was especially difficult when their children were going through milestones like this and needed their mother's gentle guidance. Emma had been much better with all this than Matt was. For a while, he'd hoped that maybe Jennifer would be able to step in and help him with the children, but she was so distracted lately. He didn't want to bother her. She'd helped him enough over the years, and it wasn't fair to expect her to put her own life aside to be a part of his, as much as he might have wished otherwise.
Thoughts without focused intentions did not usually cause magical consequences, but Matt imagined that perhaps it had, for as he rounded a tree near the portal, Matt saw Jennifer appear. She was struggling with something, and Matt didn't understand what was happening until he got a little closer and saw that she was crying and groaning in pain of some kind.
"Jennifer!" he exclaimed, flying quickly to help her.
As soon as he landed, he saw what was going on. She was dragging that human, Nick, through the portal. She saw Matt approach and cried, "Get Bernice and Terry! Now, Matt, please!" Her face was full of more anguish than he had ever seen before as she begged for his help.
Matt turned and flew toward the palace as quick as he could, leaving Jen alone with Nick. He was barely alive. Breathing still but faintly. Taking him into the realm was all she could think to do. But she couldn't really think at all.
When Dane had pointed that gun at Nick, Jen's magic has broken loose. She'd never seen anything like it before, not from herself or from any other fairy. Glittering golden lightning exploded from her whole body and straight at Dane. He was thrown off his feet and against the tree. The same tree where he'd murdered Josh all those years before. And when his body crumpled, he did not get up. He did not move.
Jen hadn't checked if he was dead. She only rushed to Nick, begging for him to be alright. His face was battered and bruised and bleeding, and he didn't seem to be conscious. One eye was swollen shut and the other fluttered slightly without opening.
Her tears fell from her eyes onto his cheek. She turned to seek help, to call for Jerry, and when she turned to where the bird had fallen, all she found was fading gold shimmers. The magic had taken him back. Jen was left alone. Taking Nick into the realm was all she could do. She didn't know what to do. She needed help. She needed Terry and Bernice. Someone to tell her what to do, to guide her the way they'd done nearly all her life.
"Nick, please, please stay with me," Jen begged, willing him to hold on until help arrived. "Please, Nick, please." Her voice was ragged and cracking as she tried to resist the sobs threatening to wrack through her body.
A small bird flew down and landed on Nick's chest. Its feathers were jet black with the most striking iridescent blue wings and a bright gold breast. Smaller than Jerry, but that was because this new death watcher was just born. When one death watcher dies, another hatches from the nest in the palace. The new death watcher had arrived.
"The light of love," it trilled. The voice was softer and higher pitched than Jerry's had been.
"I had a feeling Adaliah was leading us here."
Jen looked up to see the queen approaching. It was said that the first word from a new death watcher was its name. Jermuth was gone. Adaliah had arrived.
Bernice came beside Jen, kneeling down with Terry following right beside her. "Matt met us halfway here. What's happened?" she asked in concern.
"Dane Majors. He…he tried to get Nick to take him through the portal. Nick wouldn't do it. He…" Jen's breath hitched. "He was going to die to protect us," she said.
"Where's Dane now?" Terry asked sharply.
"I think he's dead. My magic, I…" Jen tried to explain. All of this talking was distracting from the fact that Nick lay dying and no one was doing anything about it. The anxiety was tumbling through her in the worst possible manner, threatening to overtake her completely.
"With me," Terry barked to Matt. The two of them went through the portal, leaving Bernice and Jen with Nick and the new death watcher.
"The light of love," the bird repeated.
"I don't know what she means," Jen said. Tears were still pouring down her face and her whole body was shaking. "What…what do I do?"
"Do you love him, Jennifer?" the queen asked.
Jen nodded, crying even harder.
"Then I think you've got to find a way to save him."
Frowning, Jen looked down at Nick's face. Adaliah cooed somewhat impatiently. Jen took a deep breath, shaky as it was. She placed her hands on Nick's cheeks, gently to not hurt him further. He stirred slightly, reacting to her touch. "Please, Nick," she whispered. And then, not really knowing what she was doing, but wishing and pushing with all her magic, Jen begged for him to heal, to live, to come back to her.
The whole fairy realm seemed to still, every plant and creature holding its breath in anticipation. Jennifer lost all sense of everything. The world fell away. All that existed was Nick and Jen's own magic as she poured every ounce of intention into bringing him back to her.
And then Nick gasped a breath and sat up. His eyes flew open, his face having healed along with the rest of him. The death watcher spread her wings and hovered above the scene, letting out a triumphant cry.
"Nick!" Jen exclaimed, shocked and amazed at what had happened. She knew fairies could heal themselves with magic, she wasn't aware it could work this way. But she'd done a lot with her magic today she'd not known possible.
He looked at her with wild eyes. He was awake, he was alive, the pain was gone. It was all overwhelming, and he didn't know what was going on. All he saw was her. She was all that mattered. "Jen," he croaked, his voice exhausted. He searched her face and blurted, "I love you." He swallowed the lump in his throat as he reached up to cup her cheek. "I didn't think I'd get to say," he told her reverently.
More tears fell from her eyes, happy and relieved ones this time. She threw her arms around him and kissed him soundly.
And then something else happened. Nick watched in startled awe as Jen was propelled backwards, looking shocked. "Jen?"
Queen Bernice kneeled beside them and smiled. Something had happened that Nick did not understand. But Jen started laughing and hugged her queen, the both of them obviously very pleased about something. And Jen turned back to Nick.
"You. It was…it was you. I knew it was something, but I didn't…" she said, laughing and hugging him again.
Once again, another thing she hadn't known was possible had happened. Jen had never heard of any fairy ever before having their purpose change. Jen's purpose had been, as long as she could remember, to help. And now, upon kissing Nick just now, her purpose changed. It was imbued in her magic, in her soul. It had changed.
Jennifer would be the next queen. Jen felt the change, and the current queen felt it, too. They both knew in their magic what had happened, this marvelous revelation of the realm.
"What's going on?" Nick asked, confused at what was happening. The three of them were all sprawled on the ground by the entrance to the portal as their universe shifted around them, all due to what had happened between Jen and Nick.
Jen turned back to him and said, "I love you, and everything's going to be alright. That's all that matters now."
Nick held her, feeling shaky and confused but somehow at peace. Light and alive and full of hope. Just as Jen said, everything would be alright.
