"A Strange Bond"

Note: TF visits Alpha as she recovers, and they notice something odd about the tiny pumpkin she received from Mother Nature when she joined the Council. TF is pretty sure he knows what's up. Conversation eventually turns to Halloween, and it turns out that two heads are better than one. TF is a good boyfriend, and even a leader sometimes needs advice.

"Chapter 23: Info Dump and Halloween Plans"

March 26th

Alpha rolled over and reached out, but her hand encountered nothing but the mattress.

Oh.

Of course. Her injuries weren't quite as severe as he had feared, so there was really no reason for him to sleep over again. She hadn't offered, and he hadn't asked. Still, waking up alone left her feeling somewhat empty, and she sighed. This is ridiculous. He's slept over a grand total of two times, and I didn't even sleep the first time. How can I miss it when it isn't really a habit?

And yet, she did miss it. At least there had been no nightmare this time.

"Ah, well...Might as well get up." Alpha got out of bed and padded over to her wardrobe to pick out her clothes for the day, and as soon as she opened it an orange glow near the back caught her attention. "What the..."

There, tucked in the back left corner of her wardrobe, was the tiny orange pumpkin Mother Nature had given her. And it was glowing. Alpha cocked her head like a curious puppy as she reached for it, not exactly afraid, but unsure about what this could mean. Her hand began to glow as well; that same muddy mix of purple and orange, and as soon as she touched the pumpkin the purple was immediately gone. "How..."

Alpha hastily dressed, took the pumpkin, and sat down on her bed to look at it. Then she realized something. "It feels different...The magic feels different. It doesn't feel like hers."

But she still knew how to create and use the Fairy Rings. She even conjured one up right then and there, just to be sure, before dismissing it again. The mushrooms were different, too. Instead of being bright red, they were orange. Hmm...I'll have to ask Roy about this the next time I see him...

Tooth Fairy rolled over and reached out, but instead of finding Alpha he found his other pillow. He exhaled softly through his nose, and hugged the pillow to his chest anyway. He wondered if she was up yet. He knew her sleep schedule wasn't set in stone, but she currently seemed to be paralleling his.

He did have plans to drop by and see how she was doing, but he supposed he should double check. Just as he reached for his phone, he got a text from her, and he smiled. "Can this woman read my mind, or something?"

'Hey, Roy. You up?'

Tooth Fairy put his thumbs to work. 'Yeah, I just woke up a few minutes ago. Hang on, I'll call you.'

He wasn't at all surprised when she picked up on the first ring.

"Mornin', luv."

Tooth Fairy chuckled. "Afternoon, now. How's your back?"

She echoed his chuckle with one of her own. "A little better. I finally took that stuff Pearl gave me. Feels like me head's stuffed with cotton, but otherwise the 'hangover' isn't so bad this time around. How'd ye sleep?"

"Like a log." He grinned, sitting up and stretching a little to get the stiffness out of his shoulders. It would be another 'long hot shower' morning.

"That's good. Um..." She hesitated, then asked, "I'm sorry to kind of dump this on ye first thing, but I had a couple magic-related questions."

He shrugged. "Fire away."

"Actually, I was hopin' ye could come over today. Nothing's wrong, but I want to show you something." She replied.

Tooth Fairy pursed his lips. Something was up, but at least it didn't sound like it was something bad. Not if her tone of voice was anything to go by. "Okay. How about I come by in an hour, that sound good?"

"Grand. I'll see ye then. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Upon arriving at Alpha's home and exchanging their usual greeting, Tooth Fairy's eyes were immediately drawn to the glowing pumpkin that sat on her table. "Is that what you wanted me to see?"

"Aye," She picked it up and held it out for him to take. Her hands glowed bright orange when she handled it, but while he definitely noticed, neither of them commented on that.

He took the pumpkin and raised an eyebrow. His hands didn't glow like hers did, probably because the pumpkin was attuned to her and not him. Although what he sensed was very similar to Fairy magic, it wasn't quite the same. Nor did it resemble any other kind of magic he had encountered before, but there was a very distinct 'Alpha' feel to it. Snippets of her personality touched his mind; stubbornness, humor, and kindness. A mischievous streak that was a mile long. The tendency to hold the occasional grudge. A deep, abiding sadness that never really left her. And her strong love for him. It rivaled his own. He gave back the pumpkin. "Well, after sensing that, I can guess one of your questions already. Your magic is an extension of you."

Alpha shook her head and contradicted him. "But it's not 'my' magic, Roy...It's hers."

Tooth Fairy gave his head a gentle shake. "No...it isn't."

Alpha shook her head as well, frowning. "I don't quite understand..."

"Well, let's sit down," Tooth Fairy began to pull out her chair for her, then apologized. "Oh, sorry...I forgot you don't like that."

"Actually, I didn't mind it before," She smiled as they sat down. "It just caught me by surprise, is all. You were sayin'?"

He smiled back, reassured, and then he cleared his throat. "Okay...Parts of what I'm about to tell you won't be easy for me to say, so just bear with me here."

"You don't have to..." Alpha took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "If it's too painful-"

"No..." Tooth Fairy squeezed back and shook his head. "No, this is important. You should know."

Alpha nodded, already regretting this. The last thing she wanted to do was cause him more pain after everything that had happened. Still, he didn't really seem upset; he merely looked serious.

"Well...even though I was pretty sure about this before, now I can safely say that I chose the right person to trust with my sister's wings." He licked his lips, then looked down. "You see...at the time, you had no magic of your own. I mean, magic that could affect the things and people around you. You could change form, but you didn't have full control over it, and you still don't. The moon has a say. You with me so far?"

"Aye."

"So...any magic you used after...after you did what you did..." He looked up again. "That was her magic."

Alpha mulled this over. "Then...was she with me this whole time? Or..."

He shook his head. "No...just her magic. She's crossed over. But we're getting off track a bit. When Mother Nature gave you that pumpkin, it wasn't just a symbol of Halloween. It carried with it a share of raw magic, specifically for you. I know you felt something as soon as you held it. I saw your reaction."

"I did...but with what came after, I soon forgot about it."

Tooth Fairy could certainly understand that. "Me too. I didn't think to mention any of this at the time, either. But now I gotta backtrack a bit and explain something. Because you haven't abused her magic, and because she lent it to you willingly...you got to keep it for a while, even when you got magic of your own. The more comfortable you got with having magic, the less you needed to rely on Brinna's, and the more you were able to rely on yours. Kinda like training wheels, y'know?"

"Oh..." Alpha nodded thoughtfully, unsure how to feel about all this.

He looked down again. "I really should've told you about all this sooner, but...at the time, I could hardly think at all. And then I went through all that stuff, and we got together, so I just didn't think about it. Still, better late than never, I suppose. Brinna's magic left you because you didn't need it anymore...and because you didn't force it to stay, which is what they were doing. And that's how I know I made the right choice..."

He looked up when Alpha gave her head a sympathetic tilt and gently rubbed his shoulder, and he favored her with a soft smile. "I'm okay. Really. Now...do ya have any questions?"

"Well..." Alpha hesitated. She could see that, yes, he was telling the truth about being okay. But she could also tell that the subject still brought him some measure of sadness, and she didn't want to add to it.

Tooth Fairy easily picked up on this, and nodded; he knew her very well by now. "It's okay, you can ask. In fact, I'd like you to. You don't need to protect me now. I'm fine."

"All right," Alpha turned more fully towards him, and rested her arm on the back of her chair. "I'm not clear on how I can still make a Fairy Ring. And they're orange now, which I thought was rather odd. Plus, transforming doesn't hurt anymore, and hasn't hurt since...well, since just before I joined the Council."

"Mm," He nodded again. He knew this was coming, and he was relieved to find that he was up to this. "You wouldn't have been able to sense it back then, but Brinna's soul was trapped in this place. For over four hundred years, she was trapped. Forced to watch as her powers were being used to control and hurt the people those two brought down here. And there wouldn't have been anything she could've done to stop it."

Alpha remembered how the Fairy Rings used to be so unpleasant to step into, and how she and the others had gotten used to it after a while, but would occasionally be caught by surprise every now and then. Since the burial, there was only a mild sense of disorientation; no nausea, no dizziness. She nodded slowly, and gave Tooth Fairy's hand a squeeze when he took hers.

Tooth Fairy drew a deep breath, preparing himself. "I think she tried to reach me after I first got here. When I went back to get Santa, I made the mistake of touching one of those mushrooms, and...I think...she showed me what happened to her."

"Oh God..." She whispered.

He nodded, and went on, "I'm just speculating at this point, but I know...knew...my sister. She would've been grateful to be freed from that, and I really think she would've liked you. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that she would have had her magic block the pain you had from transforming, as a gift. And, maybe, the influence of her magic helped to shape yours. That could explain why it almost feels like Fairy magic, but...kinda not, at the same time."

Alpha nodded, and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Roy. I know this wasn't easy for you."

"No, thank you...You did what I couldn't bring myself to do. I couldn't go near that fireplace. And I couldn't just leave you guys trapped down here. Compared to that decision, this was easy." He hugged back, then quickly let go when she tensed. "I'm sorry, did I hurt ya?"

"No, I just moved wrong. That reminds me. There's something else, too. I noticed that the bruises are fading a little more quickly than normal." Alpha pointed at the pumpkin. "And that wee thing wasn't glowing before I went out to hunt that night. I only just noticed it today."

Tooth Fairy sighed and shook his head, glad that he hadn't caused her pain, but sorry for it just the same. This new bit of information piqued his interest, though. "Hm...You remember how my wings glowed when I was sick, right?"

Alpha nodded. She did remember that, and she also remembered that they had glowed much more brightly when The Founders had tried to twist them off his back like he was a fly. His wings had healed much more quickly than his illness had passed, but now it occurred to her that there might be a connection.

"Fairies can't live without magic. And most of our magic is in our wings," Tooth Fairy explained, "which is why we can't live if they're taken. So...when our bodies are injured, magic is borrowed from the source to heal us up. If our magic goes into flux, we get sick. And if the wings themselves are damaged but not taken, they heal up in a matter of minutes because they are the source. Maybe instead of wings, ya got that pumpkin. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Aye..." Alpha took a moment to absorb this, then something occurred to her. "If it's similar to Fairy magic, would it go into flux like yours did, and get me sick?"

Tooth Fairy began to say that, no, it wouldn't, but he closed his mouth again. Alpha's case was a unique one, and even though he was able to answer her other questions, this one was beyond him. He shook his head. "I don't know. I hope not. It's usually easy to predict how bad it'll be with us, but..."

"But with me, there's just no way," Alpha nodded, then shrugged. "Not goin' tae worry about it now."

"Good plan," Tooth Fairy grinned. "You've done enough worryin'."

"So have you," Alpha smiled back.

"So..." Tooth Fairy picked up the pumpkin to look at it again. "Speaking of your magic, do you know what you wanna do when Halloween comes? I don't wanna push ya, but it is almost April."

"I'm kickin' a few ideas around," Alpha rested her chin on her fist. "Robert had this idea that we could have a huge Halloween bash right here, but I don't know what that would have to do with magic."

"Well, now, I dunno," Tooth Fairy tossed her the pumpkin, and she caught it easily. "Your magic is new, so it can still be shaped. If you wanted to, you can use it for mundane, everyday things...but that doesn't sound too legendary, does it?"

He winked, and she laughed. "Don't flirt now, luv, I'm tryin' tae think."

"Thought I smelled smoke." He winked his other eye.

"Ha-ha." Alpha smirked and lightly grabbed his chin as she got nose-to-nose with him. "I'm serious, now."

He laughed, holding up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. What were your other ideas?"

"Well, I'd want whatever we did to benefit us," Alpha made a vague gesture to include The Hollow as a whole. "No more showing ourselves, and so on. But I think the humans would still have to be part of the equation. I'm just not sure how to balance all of that. It's a pity, because I did like the party idea. We could all do with a bit of fun."

Tooth Fairy was hit by a sudden flash of inspiration. "Does it have to be your idea? I mean, is that important to you?"

"What's important to me is that I don't screw this up," Alpha replied. "I'm open to suggestions, and ye look like you have one."

He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Boy, do I ever! Okay, so, let's say you wanna go with having a Halloween party down here. Great. Fantastic. You guys go nuts, have the time of your lives. You don't even need magic to do that. But here's where you can use it, if you want to. The party down here can influence the fun they're having up there."

Alpha's eyes lit up, and she grinned back. "What a good idea!"

"Wait, there's more," Tooth Fairy grew more animated as he went on. "If you wanna take it a step further, you can create a sort of feedback loop. You could draw on the fun the humans are having, and use it to help keep this place going. Like...oh, say, enhancing the gardens, or restoring some of the buildings here. I noticed a couple of 'em really kinda need it. Or you could even conjure random necessities, sort of a supply and demand kinda thing. Whaddaya think?"

"I think I'll have to run it by everyone else to see what they'd like to have done, but I think they'll go for it!"

"Hahaha!" Tooth Fairy kissed her, feeling quite accomplished, and glad to see her happy. "Y'know, we make a pretty good team!"

"Aye, so we do." She kissed him again and shook her head. "Do ye know how wonderful you are?"

"No," He shrugged, but never lost his smile. "but I'm glad you think so."

"I know so."