Chapter Eight: As Their Worlds Crumble
This was one of Tecna's most horrifying memories. It was nearing the end of her first year of middle school. She was balancing her studies and a part-time job working as a programmer for the man who had murdered her parents. His name was Mr. Err, and after a long week of creating sets of code for him, it was time for her to hand them in. However, she wanted to ask him a question, but was apprehensive of what the answer would be. As she handed her palmtop over to Mr. Err, and he skimmed through her work, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Sir…, what is a dance?" Tecna asked. She had heard about it all over her middle school that they were holding an end of the year dance, but she had no idea what it was. What is dancing, what does this event entail? She was equally curious and excited to find out for herself. Her inquiry was ignored entirely until five minutes of silence passed before Mr. Err looked up at her with a sharp gaze of disapproval.
"You honestly think you deserve to attend a school function? You can't even get one thing done correctly that I expect you to do, and now you think you can go out and celebrate!" He snapped harshly, looking her straight in the eyes and causing her to tremble slightly.
"I'm sorry, I've just been working so hard to study for finals as well!" Tecna pleaded, "I'm failing my classes, and if I don't pass my exams, I'll have to repeat the year. I won't go to the dance, just please let me use the last of the school year to pass my finals and then I'll do better. Please." All Mr. Err did in response to her pleas was shake his head with disgust.
"Zenithians don't fail." He mumbled under his breath before making his voice crystal clear in her ears. "You are an absolute disgrace; you can't even get a passing grade in a public school! I knew putting you in public school was a mistake. If you can't manage school and a part-time job and end up failing at both, you're completely worthless! I should've abandoned you when I killed your parents if I knew you'd be this incompetent! And whatever excuses you have for me are unacceptable!" Tecna froze, unable to say a word. Only rarely had she allowed herself any emotion, in constant fear of the consequences. But now, this was the final straw. She could not hold back the tears that threatened to fall.
"Are you crying?" Mr. Err continued to snap at her, "You truly are pathetic." Then, without warning, he grabbed her by the wrist, pinning her to the nearest wall so she could not move a muscle. By now, she couldn't control her trembling and the tears that streamed from her eyes.
"No," She begged in a small, helpless voice, "not the collar."
"You know what the punishment is for crying." He hissed, shoving the collar around her neck, almost choking her in the process. There was nothing she could do now but face the abuse that was to come. Paralyzed in fear, Tecna watched as Mr. Err took out the remote that operated the collar. As he pressed the button on the top of it, strong electric pulses coursed through the young technology fairy's body before she fell painfully to the floor. However, it did not stop the tears from falling, but only gave her more of a reason to cry.
"I will be withdrawing you from public school and you'll continue your schooling with me." Mr. Err told her coldly as she lay on the floor, "And I thought you had any sort of potential, you proved me wrong." And then, he continued sending electric pulses to her body as she screamed in pain. It didn't take long for Tecna to drift into unconsciousness. Ever since, she had pushed herself beyond her limits, depriving herself of most of her basic needs. She worked tirelessly without rest, and never disobeyed Mr. Err's orders. That is until the day she discovered the Omega portal's disruption and decided that would claim her life.
Tecna snapped out of her horrifying flashback after she told Timmy every agonizing detail. Now, she was crying and shaking like a leaf in his strong arms. Timmy tightened the embrace as he heard every word she said, and at the end, Tecna was not alone in crying. The room became deathly silent between the two, and Timmy had no words to say that would make any of this go away. After about five minutes, he found what little strength he had in him to speak. Tears still streamed from his own eyes; their emotions intertwined from the horrid memories.
"Tecna, I'm… I'm so sorry." He choked the words out, "I never wanted your trauma to resurface like this." Tecna managed to look up at him while her own tears were not even close to subsiding. She noticed that Timmy had been crying the entire time that she had and realized that his words from before were genuine. She could even hear it in his voice, he could barely get the words he wanted to say to her out. It was then that she knew he had shared in her agony.
"You didn't know…" That was all she was able to say, the words barely coherent. By now, Timmy had parted the tightness of the embrace, but didn't let go of her. His hands were placed gently on her shoulders as they stared deeply into each other's tear-filled eyes. More seconds of silence passed between them, and then Timmy gathered enough composure to speak again.
"I know it's hard right now, but please… please try and eat for me." His pleas got caught in his throat. It was no wonder Tecna didn't want to eat when she first got rescued, it was no wonder she was so malnourished. At the very second that it hit him, putting all the pieces together had shattered his heart, "I'll stay here with you, I'm not going to leave you now." The concerned look in his eyes begged her to take care of herself, and she nodded weakly.
From all the times that Tecna had left meals untouched, they had to put a microwave in her suite. Just as Timmy had expected, Tecna's dinner had gotten cold, and he regretted getting her to reveal her secrets at such a critical time. Tecna sat on the couch silently as Timmy heated up the meal. He knew it wouldn't be as fresh as it could've been. Then, Timmy sat the plate down next to her.
"Would you… like to watch a movie?" He asked her softly. Tecna had never been invited to watch a movie before, she had no friends, she had absolutely no one until Timmy came along. She let out a sniffle and smiled slightly in response. So, Timmy set up a movie of her choosing and dimmed the lights as Tecna began slowly pecking away at her food. As he sat down beside her, he happened to observe this and looked at her worriedly. At least she was eating, but now it was slow and reluctant, the way she had been before. As the DVD menu flashed to life on the screen in front of them, Timmy couldn't break his attention away from Tecna.
"I'm going to set you free; I swear I will." The words came out on impulse, and Timmy had no idea what he was saying. But he did know one thing with unwavering certainty, he meant every word of his vows.
"How do you expect to do that?" Tecna asked in a soft, strained voice, "Mr. Err is manipulative, he knows how to mess with people's minds." Then, Timmy took her hands in his and looked in her eyes with burning determination.
"He may be manipulative, but he is not above the law." Timmy insisted, "Tecna, what he has done to you is illegal, even by Zenithian law. He has deprived you of your basic needs and the experiences everyone should have. Most importantly, he has dwindled any speck of self-worth you ever had."
"What self-worth?" Tecna asked quietly.
"Exactly." Timmy was trying so hard not to grit his teeth in anger. He was not angry at Tecna, never at Tecna, but he was angry at the person who had destroyed who she could have become. "Tecna, I will fight so that you can feel like you're worth something. I have said this before and I will say it again, you are worth something to me. I hate to hear you think so little of yourself." His words became choked up again at Tecna's response, it killed him to know that she believed she didn't even have any self-worth to begin with. Tecna was so amazing to him that it was a crime of injustice that she had been treated so badly.
"That's very noble of you to want to do that for me Timmy, but… I don't think there is anything you can do." Tecna told him, still in a strained voice. She was full of raw emotions that drained whatever energy she would've had. She didn't even want her dinner anymore.
"Please Tecna, just try to eat. I care about you and I want to help you so badly." The look in Timmy's eyes and the deep concern in his voice was enough for her to give in. She continued eating her dinner slowly, and Timmy knew she didn't want to. But she would become malnourished again if she stopped eating as well as she had. She had made great strides with her eating, and Timmy was not about to let her throw all of that progress away. Once her plate was empty, he set it on the coffee table, and they continued to watch the movie. It wasn't long before Tecna had fallen asleep beside Timmy on the couch. She must've been so exhausted from finally revealing her secrets and the trauma that resurfaced.
When Timmy noticed, he sighed deeply. Damn it, Brandon was right, again. Timmy did have feelings for Tecna, strong ones. Ones of great passion and longing, longing to free her from her torture and prove that she was the amazing person that he saw her as. If only she was given a chance. Timmy had saw her asleep before, but never had he truly realized just how breathtaking she was. So beautiful, so peaceful, and yet so broken.
Timmy stiffened up, almost about to shed tears at recalling what Tecna had told him. Then, he gathered her in his arms and relocated her to her bedroom. He rested her on the bed, wrapping the blanket around her. As he continued to gaze down at her, he knew he had to do it again, he had to sing the song.
Even though he had confessed that he had magical assistance from Musa, he felt that Tecna's comfort was more important. It occurred to him that she had completely dismissed his confession earlier in favour of the admission that he cared enough about her to go to that level of dedication. So, Timmy didn't care if Tecna remembered whether or not his singing voice was a lie, the important thing was that she knew how valued she was to him, it could save her life.
He walked into the bathroom that was connected to Tecna's bedroom and looked himself in the mirror. Dear Great Dragon he looked like a mess. His hair was roughly frazzled due to the times he had Tecna so close to him, his eyes were bloodshot from the earlier tears, and his cheeks were red. It didn't matter to him at that moment, nothing mattered but Tecna. In the corner of his eye. He could see paper cups beside the sink where Tecna kept her toothbrush and mouthwash. So, Timmy filled a cup with tap water, sprinkled an approximate tablespoon of Musa's magic powder and used the end of a toothpick to stir it. Inhaling deeply, he gulped the entire thing at once. Seconds later, he could feel the warm sensation in his vocals.
As Timmy returned to Tecna's bedroom, he kneeled by her side next to the bed. When he began to stare at her again, he longed to kiss her so badly. But he couldn't, not while she was asleep, not when she wasn't able to give consent. However, he still could sing to her, and even though his singing voice was a lie, she still loved it. So, he began to sing again, closing his eyes and leaning his head towards her. He grasped her hand tightly, as if her subconscious would take her to dangerous places and only the awareness of his presence would keep Tecna safe. Once he finished singing, his tears had returned at full force. Brandon had been right about everything; he had become madly in love with her.
"Now that you've told me everything, I'm never going to leave you." He said through tears, "I don't care if I'm the only one in this whole damn universe who cares about you this much, but I won't stand by and let you get hurt. I… I love you."
I added a little more history from the time of Tecna's flashback up until her sacrifice and why she was in the condition she was when she was found. Again, deeply inspired by ilovewarriorcats' fanfiction An Unlikely Pair. It's a very good read and I hope ILWC doesn't kill me for taking so much from the story. LOL