"A Strange Bond"

Note: TF-centric chapter. Tooth Fairy has some thinking to do, and decides to do it on the roof of the Workshop. Not a good place to seek solitude when Santa's nosy Head Elf works there! Bernard doesn't really do the 'kid gloves' thing; he gives him a bit of a boot in the butt and gets him thinking. And a certain river monster makes an appearance! Same theme music as the previous chapter.

"Chapter 8: Soul Searching"

February

After Alpha and the rest of the Council left, Tooth Fairy flew up onto the roof of Santa's Workshop to have a good, long think. He chewed his thumbnail and wondered what they would do when they got there, wondered if they would be okay. He caught himself indulging in one regrettable habit and switched to a stranger one; he began to wind and unwind a length of dental floss around his index finger.

He wasn't ready. He'd thought he was, but he wasn't sure, and now...

Alpha, bless her, had done her best to reassure him that it was okay. She'd even ordered him to stay behind, and he knew she only had his well-being in mind, but now that he was the odd man out and they were in possible danger he wondered if he should have pushed himself.

Several members of E.L.F.S. flew past him with their jetpacks, but none of them acknowledged him, so he just assumed they didn't notice him sitting there. He forgot about them as soon as they passed, and so he didn't notice when one of them landed and jogged into the Workshop.

"Bernard!"

The Head Elf turned from the schematic he and another Elf were poring over. "What is it, Jason? We're running behind today."

The Elf called Jason adjusted his jetpack, panting a little from jogging with the added weight. "I just spotted the Tooth Fairy sitting on the roof."

"So?" Bernard turned aside to answer a question. "What? No, no, no, that goes there. Like this, see? Good." He turned back to Jason and continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "He does that from time to time when he needs a rest."

"I know, but it looks like something's bugging him this time."

Bernard put his hands to his temples. "Jason...you can handle this yourself, can't you? I'm a busy Elf!"

Jason fidgeted. He knew the Tooth Fairy was a nice guy, but he'd never actually spoken with him. As if to give lie to his name, Tooth Fairy looked like he could have played football, and seeing him look so down actually intimidated Jason a little. "Well, sir...I...I don't know what to say to him. You seem to get along with him, and I thought..."

Bernard sighed and relented. "Fine. I think I know what this is about anyway. Caleb, you think you got it from here?"

The Elf Bernard was supervising gave a thumbs-up and a 'yes, sir!', and Bernard disappeared in a cloud of sparkles.

"What are you doing up here?"

Bernard's voice startled the Tooth Fairy so badly that he fluttered three feet into the air. He came back down again, the corners of his mouth quirking down in a frown, and sat cross-legged where he was before. "Thinking."

Clearly. Bernard adjusted his hat and walked over. He sat down a few feet away, hoping his knee would let him get up again when he was ready to leave. "About what?"

"Things." Tooth Fairy's brow beetled. Why couldn't he be left alone today?

Bernard rolled his eyes. "You're thinking about Alpha."

Annoyed, Tooth Fairy left off his floss winding and squinted at Bernard. "So what?"

The Elf shrugged. "You two have been spending a lot of time together, right?"

Why was everybody so nosy? Even Alpha's intervention had annoyed him at first, but that was different in a way. Alpha had sort of had it thrust upon her, and Curtis had pulled a fast one. With many an apology, she had simply made herself available and let him open up in his own time. He didn't share the same kind of history with Bernard. Plus, Bernard was a guy. It wasn't the same. In fact, it felt a little weird. No unburdening would happen today! "What about it?"

"Nothing." Bernard packed some snow in his hands and squeezed it until it became an ice ball, which he threw at a nearby chimney where it burst on impact. "So, what was that about earlier? I thought you were going, too."

"Why all the questions?"

Bernard made another ice ball. "One of the E.L.F.S. members saw you sitting here and came in to get me. I was kind of in the middle of something, too. He said you looked kinda down, and I was wondering why you're moping around on top of the Workshop."

Okay, that one stung his ego! "I don't mope."

"Of course you don't." Bernard hid a smirk and chucked the ice ball. Another bull's eye.

They stayed there in silence for a little while, to the point where Bernard was running out of snow, and finally Tooth Fairy had had enough. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

Bernard raised an eyebrow. "Don't you?"

Tooth Fairy growled under his breath, and folded his arms. "Look, just leave me alone! I just want to sit and think, why can't I just do that?"

Bernard didn't back down from the man's small flare of temper. Even when he was angry, the Tooth Fairy was generally harmless. The one exception, at least that Bernard had seen, was in The Hollow when he realized that his sister was dead and they had to square off with The Founders. Then the Tooth Fairy had been a force to be reckoned with! Right now, he was just an indecisive guy who was going through a few things, and he didn't frighten Bernard at all. "Because you feel guilty for not going, that's why."

Tooth Fairy glared.

Bernard went on, "Look, ears like these don't miss much. I overheard the last of what Alpha told you. She gave you permission to opt out, but now that you have you feel lousy about it. So, now you have to decide which is better; sitting on your tush and feeling guilty, or facing your demons."

Now the Tooth Fairy got up to leave, brushing off the seat of his pants. "I don't have to listen to this."

"No, you don't," Bernard agreed, "But you know it's true. Unh...but before you go, can you do me a favor?"

"What?" he snapped.

"...Help me to my feet? My knee locked up." Bernard admitted, looking the other way as his cheeks turned pink. Tooth Fairy wasn't the only one who disliked asking for help!

Tooth Fairy huffed a sigh and helped the Elf up. Bernard teleported out without a word, and the Tooth Fairy hadn't expected that. So, was that the end of the lecture? He was going to leave, but with the Elf gone he sat down again, surly and glum. Bernard had planted a seed of doubt, though, and he found himself pondering the Elf's words.

Bernard had hit the nail right on the head. Tooth Fairy wished he was with them. Even as he thought about entering The Hollow, his anxiety, while present, wasn't quite as strong as before. Could he handle it now?

Would there be another panic attack? No...no, he didn't think so. Would he be able to focus on what he was doing? He wasn't sure, but opting out and not trying at all felt pretty bad.

He remembered how Alpha had comforted him two nights ago on another roof, remembered her gentleness and her understanding, and his heart swelled with a now-familiar warmth. He remembered how his own heart had twisted in his ribcage when he saw her break down and cry today, and he wondered if she felt the same way when she helped him through his episode. He thought she probably did.

The pain hadn't gone away...but the relief of letting it out and letting himself really cry for the first time in centuries had lasted, and he finally accepted everything that had happened. Alpha had been right there with him, almost seeming to go through it right along with him. And he loved her for it.

Was he in love with her? He hardly knew, because he'd never been in love before. All he knew for sure was that it had been a long time since he'd reached this level of trust with anyone. And it had been a long time since he had truly let himself go and mourned his loss. There was a time, before he knew Brinna was dead, that he mourned because he knew she wasn't coming back, but there was still that little shred of doubt. This time, there was none. He could finally move on.

Now Alpha needed help, and he had provided it, but he still wasn't directly involved. And now he was thinking in circles.

Maybe I can handle it...It's not like I haven't been there before, and I won't be alone. I can still leave if it gets to be too much. I know she'll understand. She always seems to understand. It won't be like it was. The Founders are gone. The mansion is gone. Brinna...she's been laid to rest.

The thought of his sister's name caused his eyes to sting, but they remained dry, and without any effort on his part. The pain was there...but he could bear it.

And Alpha needed him.

Tooth Fairy got to his feet again and heaved a deep sigh as he prepared himself. He asked himself one more time if he could do this. And the answer was, unequivocally, yes. Since he'd been to The Hollow before, he would have been able to locate it if he tried. "Well...here goes."

He closed his eyes and held his hand out, palm-down. His hand glowed faintly purple, and he turned it palm-up and made a lifting motion. A Fairy Ring, which wasn't something he summoned very often, appeared in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, then deliberately stepped into it and shut his eyes.

When he appeared in The Hollow, he was unknowingly standing in the very same Fairy Ring that Bernard had appeared in last November; the one closest to Alpha's home. The first thing he noticed, and it was a big thing, was that being near it didn't make him nauseous. There was no oppressive feeling to the Fairy magic here. The place did feel different. If he didn't know about what was currently going on, he could swear that all was peaceful.

Tooth Fairy took a deep breath through his nose, and the air didn't smell stale like it had before. He breathed out through his mouth, and his heartbeat held steady at the normal rate. He was okay...at least, he thought so. Now for the final test. He turned to the Fairy Ring, and, greatly daring, reached out to touch one of the mushrooms. He winced in anticipation, but this time there was no assault on his senses. He couldn't sense his sister at all. Instead, he sensed Alpha. And, apparently, she sensed him! He heard her voice in his head, calling his name with a note of surprise, and he smiled to himself. He sent back to her, 'I'm sure. I'd like to explore on my own for a bit, then I'll come find you, okay?'.

Alpha's response wasn't so much a word as it was a mixture of feelings; lingering concern, pride on his behalf, and...something else? She stopped sending before he could identify it, and he removed his hand. "The heck was that?" he muttered, then shook his head.

He fluttered up into the air to get a bird's eye view, and looked down at the city below. He saw that the place was much brighter than he remembered. Every other street lamp was white now, giving more light to the place, and several of the buildings now had flood lights on them. He avoided looking at the place where the cemetery was located...he wasn't ready for that yet, and there was no doubt about it...but he felt a wave of calm wash over him as he hovered in place and took in his surroundings

"...I'm okay with this," he murmured, and a slow smile crept over his rough-featured face. "Heh...I'm okay with this."

There was a dark place above the city, and Tooth Fairy knew exactly what was there...or what had been. He could see that some of the mansion's foundation still remained, but for the most part the place had been reduced to rubble and carted away to who-knows-where. Even the nine houses that sat nearby, the homes belonging to The Founders' nine followers, had been razed to the ground. "Alpha was right...I missed quite the party."

In a way, he regretted it. Still, at the time she'd had no way to contact him, and he would have said no.

Tooth Fairy turned in mid-air and faced in the opposite direction. He could see several small houses, a river with a single bridge, and...were those glowing eyes he saw watching him from the river?

Oh, yeah. Alpha had mentioned a river creature called 'Silas'. Apparently, he was something of a mentor to her, or had been at one point, and sometimes made scarily accurate predictions. Tooth Fairy flew a little lower, and the creature extended a webbed hand and beckoned.

Well...if Alpha trusted Silas, the Tooth Fairy saw no reason to be fearful, and he lowered himself down to stand at the river's edge. "Hello?"

The eyes drew nearer with a splash, and an ugly frog-like face appeared in the light of the magical jack-o-lanterns that lined the roads. "Well, now...I haven't seen a Fairy in this place in a long time."

Tooth Fairy fidgeted with his floss; he began to regret this decision, but he didn't leave. "How long?"

"Hmm...well over four hundred years." Silas rested his elbows on the bank. "Alpha's told me a lot about you."

Tooth Fairy fluttered his wings a little, unsure, then settled cross-legged on the ground. "All good, I hope."

"Of course."

"So...you know who I am." It wasn't a question.

Silas blinked his glowing, baseball-sized eyes once. "I do. And I knew your sister."

Tooth Fairy's eyes began to sting, but again he was relieved to find that he was all right. But it was time to set some boundaries. "Sorry, I don't want to talk about my sister right now."

"I understand," was Silas's calm response.

Tooth Fairy desisted with the dental floss and leaned forward. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions, if that's okay."

"Of course." Silas gestured for him to proceed.

"Alpha told me that there's a food shortage here. She said you could...I dunno, predict things. Do you know what's happening, or how things will turn out?"

Silas closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "Sonny, if I knew that, I would have informed Alpha weeks ago."

Disappointment caused Tooth Fairy's posture to sag, and he rested his chin on his fist. "I was afraid of that."

Silas watched him in silence for a moment, then he smiled. His needle-like teeth caused Tooth Fairy to jolt a little from where he sat, but the man stayed put as the river monster spoke. "She cares for you a great deal, you know. Much more than she knows."

"Yeah?" Tooth Fairy fought a smile. Well, he already knew she cared for him; they were friends! So...what exactly did Old Silas mean by that?

"It's good you decided to come today." And with that, Silas pushed off the bank and submerged.

Tooth Fairy shot to his feet. "Hey, wait! I wanted to ask you about something!"

But Silas was gone.

The winged man scowled and folded his arms. "Nuts..."