Chapter Seven: Conflicts of the Heart

That evening while Timmy sat at the cafeteria, he couldn't eat for the life of him. He sat silently as visions of what could've happened flooded through his mind. Just then, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Brandon and Helia.

"You look rough, buddy. Did you… did you find out more about Tecna?" He asked, being extremely careful how to approach the topic to his friend.

"It's horrible Brandon, I… I can't tell you exactly what's happened, Tecna trusts me too much and I can't betray her like that… Especially right now." Timmy choked, looking up at the two other men, "All I can tell you is that you were right Brandon, Tecna has made me a broken man. But that doesn't matter, whatever torture she has been put through, I'm going to find out what it is and free her damn it!"

"Timmy, maybe you need to take a few days off, clear your head." Helia suggested, "This has obviously disturbed you more than you can handle."

"No!" Timmy shouted instantly, "I can't abandon Tecna right now. She… she's started to speak to me." And at that admission, Brandon and Helia's mouths dropped open in astonishment.

"No one has ever been able to get Tecna to talk to them, she trusts you that much now man." Brandon said.

"So, our song worked." Helia added.

"Yes, now who else is going to take care of her the way I can? She'll revert back to refusing to eat and hiding when people come to help her. I'm so close to figuring out why she does this. I… I can't leave her now." Timmy protested, voice cracking at the possibility of abandoning Tecna.

"Dude…, I think you have feelings for her." Brandon said with a slight chuckle, "I knew it from the first time I saw that look on your face when you stared at her picture."

"I…" Timmy couldn't say a word, how could anyone not feel for someone who has been left abandoned, possibly abused and neglected. But he knew full well that wasn't what Brandon meant. However, he changed the subject. "Helia, I'm going to need Musa to restore my singing voice, I'm going to need it again tonight."

"Come by Musa's room after dinner on your way to Tecna. She has many tricks up her sleeve." Helia told him. The three friends ate together, all the while Brandon knew that Timmy was falling hard for Tecna. But Timmy wouldn't believe how hard he'd fall once he uncovered the technology fairy's most horrifying secrets.

After dinner, Timmy went down to Musa's suite. As he knocked on the door, Helia was the one who let him in.

"Hi, Timmy." Musa greeted him from the couch, "Helia told me that the song made Tecna trust you enough to speak to you. That's so beautiful!"

"I know," Timmy said, still unable to believe it himself, "I'm going to need that talent again tonight. I…I'm going to get Tecna to tell me more about what has happened to her. I already have a new piece of information that could change things entirely. But if Tecna gets too traumatized by the memories of her past…, I need to sing to her. It's stopped the nightmares from coming last night and I hope it will help her again."

"No need to say more." Musa stopped him, and then she took a container from a far cabinet. In it, there was a white powder. She clasped the container in her hands, sending the same red and purple music notes within it. Her magic absorbed into the powder, and she turned to give the container to Timmy.

"Put about a tablespoon in a glass of water. Every tablespoon of the powder lasts a night." Musa instructed, "But sooner or later, Tecna is going to fall for more than just your voice. And from what Helia has told me, she might already have."

"What do you mean?" Timmy asked as he began to get flustered and nervous at the possibility.

"Think about it Timmy," Helia interjected, "You are in her room at night, helping her fall asleep. You spend hours talking about the things she's most captivated by. You taught her about a technology she has never had the luxury to learn about herself, video gaming. Those are the things that are much more important to Tecna than whether or not you can sing." Timmy stood there, stunned. If Tecna had indeed fallen for him in spite of the song, then she had even more trust in him than he first thought. Timmy thanked Musa and Helia again for their contributions as he went to give Tecna her own dinner.

As Timmy approached Tecna's suite, he knew he had to remain strong. Remembering what had happened that morning, he wouldn't be able to resist telling her what he knew and asking her questions. He feared that now was not the time and she would not want to eat her dinner if he dared bring it up. But he had to tell Tecna that he went to Mrs. Faragonda with questions and got some answers. She trusted him, probably more than anybody else at this moment, so it would be a crime for him to lie to her. Timmy slowly opened the sliding doors to Tecna's suite, and surprisingly, she was sitting there surrounded by her holographic projections.

"Hey Tecna, you're coding again." He said joyfully as he walked in with her dinner tray, "That's wonderful!"

"Yes, I wanted to try and create my own video game. And I… I want to thank you." She suddenly said, "I have never had this much fun in my life. I… I didn't know such a feeling existed."

"What do you mean?" Timmy asked in surprise, placing her dinner on the coffee table before taking a seat on the couch. The holographic screens around Tecna disappeared as she converted to her casual attire. Timmy always thought she looked like a goddess in her fairy form, and now that little bits of her past had been revealed, it felt so cruel that it stabbed him through the heart. Tecna walked over and sat down beside him, opening the tray to see what she had to eat that night.

"I was never allowed to have fun. When I didn't go to school or study, I worked." Tecna confessed. As Tecna said this, Timmy continued to look at her. Something was not right with this picture. A young fairy whose life was filled with hard work and academics was deprived of any joy or fun. Not to mention the collar, oh the collar. Who was the cause of all of Tecna's restrictions and rules? Who was threatening to control her like this? Timmy believed that she would never be free to live in Zenith if this threat was still out there, lurking in the shadows and waiting to regain control. And perhaps, he feared it would be even worse than ever before. At that moment, Timmy grasped her hand in his and tightened it in assurance before she could take her food.

"Tecna…, I know about the shock collar." He blurted out in a pained and choked voice, closing his eyes to keep himself together as he remembered what Mrs. Faragonda had said.

"What, how?" She asked, a paralyzing fear coursed through her body at the memories that surfaced.

"Mrs. Faragonda told me that they found you with it around your neck. They found out what it was. Tecna…, whatever happened to you is wrong and I said I would not let anything hurt you. Please tell me what's been done to you. You've gotten enough courage to speak to me, but you've got to trust me…, trust that I will help you." As Timmy pleaded, he placed his hands gently on Tecna's shoulders. His hazel eyes told her that he was absolutely shattered. Even with the completely disturbed look on his face, she still had that little bit of doubt. Even if he had sung to her to try to stop her from crying, taught her how to play video games and talked to her about all of Zenith's technology, she wasn't sure if she could trust him with anything else. It was true that she had built up the courage to speak to him, it seemed completely illogical how easy it was. Every time she had opened up and expressed her true emotions, she was punished with pain. She was too afraid to let that happen, not again. Her thoughts were conflicting, one part of her was begging her to tell him everything. Another part was paralyzed with the memories of the last times she confessed her feelings. So, she did what she knew. She gave him the exact sour look from all those times before, but now it was matched with words.

"Why do you care so much?" She asked him, voice suddenly soft, drained of enthusiasm, "It's not like I matter to anyone. Just a… disgrace of a fairy who can't do anything right. I should've been left to die with my parents' bodies…" She closed her eyes at this, not wanting to look in Timmy's direction. It all slipped out at once. All Tecna wanted to ask was why Timmy was even bothering to go the extra mile just for her. But it was so easy to confess her feelings to him, her heart had won, and she knew she had said too much.

Hearing this, Timmy needed to remain calm. He could not break when she too was broken, he could not shed a tear right now. He heaved a breath, forcing the words out.

"Who… who ever convinced you to believe those things?" He was able to ask her, just barely. If he found out who it was that had put Tecna in such a horrible state of mind…, he owned a laser gun, and by the Great Dragon he had no qualms about using it.

"It doesn't matter, Timmy." Tecna said quietly. It was at that very moment that it hit him, Timmy did admit to Brandon that she had made him a broken man, but he would had no idea how right Brandon was.

"It does matter Tecna, you matter… to me." The words were an impulse he couldn't hold back as he gently took her shoulder while she faced away from him. She turned around suddenly, wide eyed and stunned speechless, "I showed you my video games and I had help to give you a song that promised you that you would never be alone again. I'll be honest, I can't even sing. Musa used her magic to give me a decent singing voice." Then, he smiled slightly, but it faded just as fast while Tecna stared at him. After a minute, she was able to respond.

"So…, you did all of that… because you care about me?" She could barely believe it. Then, she knew that she could trust him completely. He had asked another one of the fairies to help him do something for her that he couldn't even dream of doing on his own. His complete honesty in this was the key to giving him her full trust, and she knew he would never let her down.

"Yes Tecna, I want to do whatever it takes so that you can be free. But you have to tell me what's been done to you, and I promise no one will hurt you again." And so, Tecna closed her eyes, and dived into a flood of haunting memories.

Just a few minor consistency revisions. Before, at one point Timmy had cupped Tecna's chin in his hand to get her to look at him, but then I thought it would be too soon for that much public displays of affection. So Timmy just gives her reassuring hand squeezing and shoulder touches which I consider more platonic at this point, besides the hugs which are the special case for this particular situation. Also, I realized that Timmy starts to compare Tecna to a butterfly at this point, which might be too soon because they haven't really accepted their feelings for one another. So I think it would be more in Timmy's character to be hesitant to express it out loud.