A/N: Lol, I strayed so far from what Blue had envisioned. Oh well. At any rate, I was inspired today. I wrote about 4k, which is much more than I wrote yesterday. Oh, and I'd like to thank the anonymous person who keeps reviewing. XD You're inspiring me.
Vicky remembered having a fish head. She remembered all the strange things that happened to her when Timmy Turner was around. However, most of them had the feeling of a fever dream, so she'd been able to ignore them. Now, as she stood in front of that strange mansion on the outskirts of town, she wondered. It was decorated in pink and green and try as she might, she couldn't get any further than across the street from it.
The house was just wrong in a way impossible to define. Plus, there was dust near it, glittering in the grass in front of the house. It reminded her of the glitter she sometimes saw near Tootie. The two couldn't be connected-the twerp didn't spend enough time around her sister for the glitter to spread.
Vicky's lips twisted into a cruel smile. A boy wearing all pink with glitter around him. He ought to be thanking her for what she'd done. She could've scared him straight. Mentally patting herself on the back, she tried again to cross the street, but it felt like she was pushing against a brick wall. The harder she shoved against it, the more resistance she encountered.
A sign popped up on the lawn and Vicky scowled. It said, "You are not welcome here." The sign, like about half of the wooden siding, was in bright pink. Something about that color was likewise familiar, but Vicky couldn't place it.
When she'd spoken to Timmy's parents about his whereabouts, they'd been confused. At first, they'd begged her to find him, since "she and Timmy were close". Then an odd change had swept them and they denied having a son. This alternated, as if whatever had prompted them to deny his existence didn't have a strong hold on them. Unable to bear their waffling back and forth, Vicky had left them.
Now she was positive that, if Timmy wasn't in this strange house, something odd was definitely going on here. Maybe she could pay a kid to investigate further, since she wasn't getting anywhere. It irritated her that she'd have to spend some of her hard earned babysitting money to solve this mystery. Her lips curled into another cruel smile. His parents had paid her to rape their son. How would they have reacted if they knew the truth?
If Timmy had told his parents, they wouldn't have believed him. Vicky had ingratiated herself with them so well that it was inconceivable they might have sided with him.
Damn, she'd need to return here when she had a lackey to do her bidding. If Timmy was in here, which seemed like a big leap, she needed to have a battle plan anyway. She wasn't done with him, not by a long shot.
Oh, no, this was only the beginning. He couldn't hide from her forever. Once winter break was over, it'd be back to school and if she couldn't find him by then, she'd just lurk outside of his school and make her move. It wouldn't be creepy. Crocker and Tootie had ensured that stalking Timmy Turner was no longer considered creepy. No one would intervene if it looked like she was threatening the twerp. Vicky smirked. No one truly cared for him, after all. Oh, sure, his parents acted like they did, but she knew they didn't. They were too self-absorbed.
He might've evaded her for now, but it wouldn't last. She pushed back against the barrier and disappeared from the street and back at her house. What the hell. Vicky balled her fists. If that house wasn't suspicious, then she wasn't a psychopath. She would get to the bottom of this.
Timmy Turner was hers and no one was going to stand in her way. She'd already marked him once. She snorted. Tootie had pined after Timmy for years. The chances of her catching his attention now were exactly nil.
Once Vicky had sunk her claws into something, she wouldn't let go.
Wanda was glad Timmy hadn't seen Vicky standing outside and across the street. He was volatile enough without adding that to the equation. Currently, he was eating his favorite dinner and Cosmo was trying to draw him into a conversation. Wanda was staying out of this; she ate her dinner in the living room. If Timmy wanted to snap at her, she wasn't about to present herself as a target for his temper.
She understood why he was lashing out at her, but she didn't appreciate it. She was here because she cared about him-yes, they'd been assigned to him years ago, but they'd been through so much together. It was no longer a matter of an assignment. Timmy meant more to her than that.
That didn't give him carte blanche to treat her like crap, although she'd grown accustomed to both Cosmo and Timmy mistreating her. For a while, she'd even debated whether she'd deserved it. That'd been the depression talking, not logic. Counseling had helped with that, although sometimes, she thought she could sense the depression lurking, just waiting for a chance to strike.
Wanda whisked Vicky back to her house and her shoulders sank. Da Rules prevented either faerie from striking out at Vicky, but Wanda was sorely tempted. Da Rules only applied to godparents; it was why Big Daddy could get away with what he did. Big Daddy would never have stood for the way Timmy was treating her.
She told herself that he hadn't really wanted to hurt her. She was just a "safe target" to lash out at. Somehow, that didn't help.
"Wanda?" Timmy said and Wanda jerked away from her contemplation of the window. The curtains closed and she felt guilty, as if he'd caught her doing something forbidden. In her hands, her rice bowl was cooling.
"Yes, sport?" Wanda said warily, expecting another attack.
"I'm sorry," he said and Wanda's shoulders dropped from their tense, defensive stance.
"I shouldn't have snapped at you," he said. "I'm not angry at you."
"I know you're not," she said, sighing. "You're frustrated and I just made a very convenient target."
"No!" he protested and bit the inside of his cheek. She thought absently that he needed to be careful or he'd chew a hole in his cheek with that bucktooth.
"I mean…" he shook his head. "I didn't mean to hurt you. You and Cosmo care more about me than my real parents do. You always have. I shouldn't have lashed out."
"I accept your apology, hon," Wanda said with a weak smile. "Try not to do it again."
Timmy sat on the couch Wanda was floating over.
"Vicky can't come here, right?" he said, anxious.
"No," Wanda promised. "You're safe."
She had the feeling he'd need a lot of reassurance in the coming days. Timmy was poking at his rice bowl, which had chicken chunks in it, along with spices, sauces, and avocado. Timmy had wanted a Mexican night.
"And you're not going to go anywhere?" he asked pointedly.
"Of course not," she said. She drifted down to the couch and he put the bowl down on the coffee table in front of him. He hugged her tightly and she realized he was shaking.
"You're okay, hon," Wanda said and stroked his hair after putting her bowl down too. "We won't let anything happen to you."
Cosmo drifted in with his bowl.
"Hey, what did I miss?" he asked and Wanda held out her arms to him too. He put his bowl down and floated into a hug between her and Timmy. Timmy hugged them extra tightly and she knew, despite his seeming to be mollified by her answer, he remained worried.
"We're okay," Wanda said and hoped, if she repeated it enough, she might believe it.
"Are we?" Cosmo said and blinked. "Who said we weren't?"
"We're fine just as long as nothing happens to you guys," Timmy said and there was pleading in his tone now. Wanda stroked his hair, which was a little greasy. He still didn't bathe as often as he should, but she wasn't about to bring that up now.
"We-" Wanda started and then stopped as Jorgen appeared out of nowhere. She frowned at Fairy World's enforcer. "Oh, what's wrong now?"
"You two, Fairy World, now," Jorgen growled and Timmy lunged at his faeries. Jorgen waved his wand, pushing Timmy back, and Cosmo and Wanda vanished from Earth and into Fairy World.
They found themselves in a jammed amphitheater with what looked like every other faerie in the universe. Indignant that they'd been swept away from Timmy, especially when he shouldn't have been left alone, Wanda whirled on Jorgen. The problem was, he was no longer near them. Irritated they had been whisked away from Timmy and worried about him, Wanda scanned their surroundings to confront Jorgen. He wasn't standing on the stage, however. Instead, Fairy World's cloaked council was.
A sudden hush fell over the chattering faeries. Even Cosmo, moron that he was, knew enough to lapse into silence. He clutched Wanda's hand tightly and she squeezed back. Fairy World's council usually used Jorgen as a mouthpiece. If they needed to speak with Fairy World's population directly, the situation had to be dire.
Her stomach twisted into knots. The barrier would repulse Vicky, Timmy's parents, and Tootie for the time being. It didn't require magic to continually fuel it, but she still disliked the idea of Timmy on his own. She'd read too many horror stories of what happened to godchildren to their own devices after trauma like that.
"We would not have summoned you if the situation was not dire," one of the Fairy Council said as if reading Wanda's prior thoughts. It made her skin crawl. Heck, the Fairy Council in general made her skin crawl. There was something so creepy about them.
"We don't want you to panic," another member said. "But the half-faeries have escaped."
Perhaps the Council had expected a riot. At the very least, they had expected chaos. However, Wanda knew that most faeries had no idea Fairy World kept the half-faeries locked up in a prison similar to Abracatraz. Their magic was suppressed and, since half-faeries normally went insane, Fairy World was thus protected from rogue magic. Tootie was the exception-Tootie was an experiment to see whether other half-faeries might be able to live on Earth without difficulty. Wanda had been rooting for Tootie and, by extension, the other half-faeries. This was grievous news and she felt ill.
The other faeries exchanged baffled looks and Wanda rolled her eyes. Jorgen had let her in on the secret because Tootie's birth was indirectly related to Wanda's placement within Dimmsdale. Otherwise, she would have been as ignorant as the others.
Sighing, the same Council member who had brought up half-faeries proceeded to explain what was going on in more detail.
"As you are all no doubt aware, half-faeries have been forbidden since the Middle Ages due to the Magdalene/Nathaniel affair. It has been frowned upon for centuries before that due to the age discrepancy and doubtful ability to give consent, even with adult humans. We faeries are thousands of years older than humans and therefore, must consider all humans as children.
"Unfortunately, not all faeries see humans that way," the Council member said, disapproval writ large in his tone. Since Wanda couldn't see underneath his cloak, she assumed his face matched his tone.
"Fairy World has cracked down on half-faeries and captured and/or arrested every single one, placing them within a safehold for their protection. As you may also know, half-faeries, who are half human, usually cannot tolerate magic within their partly human bodies for long periods of time. It drives them insane."
Whispers broke out and Jorgen slammed his wand down on the stage to quiet them. Sufficiently cowed, the crowd silenced again.
"Unfortunately, the most powerful of the half-faeries, Nathaniel's anti-faerie, has broken free and threatens to wreak havoc on Fairy World. As of now, we only know that he's on Earth, possibly recruiting others for his army."
"How could he be recruiting others if they're all locked up?" a lone voice asked and then ducked down when everyone's attention flew to them.
The Council member paused before replying. "We may have been…remiss in collecting all of them."
Wanda swallowed bile. Tootie wasn't the only one on Earth, then. She was just the only one Wanda knew personally. Nathaniel's anti-faerie, Levi, had a grudge to bear against Fairy World on behalf of his sire. Fairy World had torn Magdalene, Nathaniel's godmother, and Nathaniel apart. Then they had imprisoned Levi. Wanda remembered Timmy's nega-self and imagined him with centuries to brood and plot. It wasn't a pretty picture.
"We ask all of you to be vigilant," the Council member warned. "As of now, we do not know what Levi's demands are, but we will get him and his accomplices back under control."
Jorgen raised his wand to slam it down but stopped midway. Another Fairy Council member stepped forward.
"In the meanwhile, we would strongly suggest you avoid any former godchildren, if at all possible. Levi's shown a propensity for breaking Fairy World's mindwipes."
Wanda's mind immediately went to Chloe and Crocker. Chloe wouldn't pose a threat, but Crocker, on the other hand, would be even more dangerous if he remembered how he'd lost his faeries. She and Cosmo exchanged horrified gazes.
"Dismissed," Jorgen announced and slammed his wand down. Cosmo and Wanda reappeared in the living room, where Timmy was going through his texts. He looked up at his faeries when they materialized.
"Where the heck did you two go?" he demanded. "You were gone for at least a half hour!"
Had it been that long? Wanda wasn't sure if Timmy was exaggerating. She wasn't sure whether they ought to tell Timmy or keep it to themselves. Heaven knew he didn't need more on his plate.
"What was that about, anyway?" he demanded, eyeing Cosmo, who was the weaker of the two. Wanda silently prayed Cosmo would keep his mouth shut for once in his life.
"Oh, you know, the usual," Cosmo said and shrugged. "The world's in danger, Fairy World's in trouble, and we're all doomed."
"Oh," Timmy scoffed and rolled his eyes. "No big deal, then."
"Right," Wanda said faintly. "No big deal."
Whatever had prompted his suspicions earlier didn't surface now. She was profoundly grateful for that. Waving her wand, she heated their meals again, although Timmy had already finished his. Cosmo was able to lose himself in a two player battle with Timmy in a gory looking game, but Wanda wasn't so easily distracted.
Crocker's and Chloe's mind-wipes had been incomplete to begin with. She doubted it would take much to undo them. Fairy World had gotten sloppy lately. It was almost as if they had stopped caring whether faeries were exposed. They'd been bad years ago when Timmy had shared them with Chloe. Things had only gotten worse since then.
If Chloe remembered them, she wouldn't be bitter about losing them. It wasn't in her nature. Crocker, on the other hand, would absolutely go on a rampage if he found out the whole truth. Levi could use that. Maybe she'd be lucky and Levi wasn't in Dimmsdale.
Wanda scoffed at herself. Luck clearly wasn't with them. Besides, Fairy World had relied on Crocker's crazy a few times to power it. Levi couldn't be ignorant of Crocker's existence. And since when did major things happen in places on Earth that weren't Dimmsdale, California?
Never.
She didn't want to risk popping in on Tootie twice in one day, but she checked her wand for a quick look. Gritting her teeth, she fought a groan. Thankfully, Timmy and Cosmo didn't hear it over their video game.
Vicky and Tootie were having an argument. She didn't want to put the volume on, in case it caught Timmy's attention, so she didn't know what they were saying. Still, she doubted it boded well for Timmy.
Nothing with Vicky ever boded well for Timmy.
Vicky's lower lip curled in disdain. "I won."
Tootie's chest burned with resentment, but behind it was worry. Whatever Vicky thought she'd won, it had to be horrible. And it was more than likely linked to what Wanda had warned Tootie about before. Tootie had to be on guard.
(At least she might finally figure out what Wanda had meant. She hated that she'd have to get the information from Vicky instead of the pink faerie, but she couldn't really fault Wanda for protecting Timmy.)
"Won what?" Tootie said, hating herself for taking the bait.
"The twerp, of course," Vicky sneered. "He finally realized his true place was beneath me."
Tootie's skin crawled. "What the hell are you talking about?"
They were standing in the living room. As usual, their parents were nowhere to be seen. Tootie wasn't sure if they were still at work or just elsewhere in Dimmsdale, avoiding their children. Their cowardice was sickening. To think, their father had once been a terror too until Vicky beat him into submission. Unfortunately, Tootie couldn't remember a time when Vicky didn't run their lives.
"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Vicky said, but it was clear from her triumphant expression that she not only wanted to, but she intended to gloat about it too. Tootie bristled.
"You fight Timmy all the time," Tootie said. "What's the difference?"
"The difference, little Tootie," Vicky said and paused to let the insult flex its barbs, "is that I needed to take Plan B when I got home."
Tootie staggered backwards. Wanda's warnings and comments made a lot more sense now. Horrified didn't begin to explain Tootie's reaction. Part of her wanted to bolt to Timmy's side and comfort him. He needed her.
No, a cold voice in her head refuted it. He needs Cosmo and Wanda.
"You're disgusting," Tootie spat. "He never would've done anything like that with you."
Vicky shrugged, unperturbed. "Not of his own free will, sure, but under the right circumstances, I'm sure he'll realize that it was for the best."
Tootie's heart was breaking for Timmy. Tears pricked her eyes. This was how she knew it was true love-she ached for her beloved. Vicky would never understand, because as a psychopath narcissist, everything revolved around her. Timmy's lack of consent meant nothing to Vicky because Vicky took what she wanted and damned the consequences.
Tootie's mouth went dry. Where had Cosmo and Wanda been last night? Wanda might have been so determined to find out her and Chloe's whereabouts last night because she felt guilty for not having stopped Vicky. That didn't explain why they'd been absent, though. They should've been there, protecting Timmy. Tootie could forgive Cosmo, because it was Cosmo and she doubted he took much of anything seriously. But still, Wanda? How could Wanda have forsaken her beloved?
"I've claimed him," Vicky said with a sadistic grin. "He'll never want another girl after me."
Vicky's grin flickered. "Or boy. No one wearing all pink can be completely straight."
She shrugged again. "Oh, well. It doesn't matter. He'll never want anyone but me now. I've sated him once; I'll do it again."
Tootie had never been both so disgusted and outraged in her entire life. This was, by far, the worst thing Vicky had ever done. She'd stolen Timmy's innocence. Before she knew what she was doing, Tootie slapped Vicky across the face.
Her heart pounded and she panted. Tootie had always wanted to do that, but she'd never had the courage. Vicky, caught off guard, stared at her. Tootie's hand still tingled from the blow.
Vicky grabbed her wrist and twisted it just short of breaking it. Tootie whimpered, but she was still too outraged to be frightened for her own sake. Sparks flicked from her fingertips, which was enough to chase most of her anger away.
Oh, no, no, no. Not now. My magic can't come out now.
"What the fuck?" Vicky said, releasing her and rubbing her hand, where the sparks had landed. "Electric shock."
Tootie's head spun and she was grateful electric shock was all Vicky thought that was.
"I'll let you off easy this time," Vicky said, recovering quicker than Tootie had. "Because I'm so charitable. But next time, you won't be so lucky."
Vicky headed up the stairs and whistled as she went. It was a song Tootie recognized, one of many about sex, and Tootie collapsed at the base of the stairs. Her wrist no longer hurt, but she didn't notice. She'd come close to using magic on her sister without her wand. All faeries had innate magic, but they needed their wands to harness it. Wanda had warned her that being a half-faerie could make Tootie's magic unpredictable.
She could have exposed the existence of faeries and therefore doomed herself and Timmy. Oh God, Timmy. She needed to talk to him.
But Wanda had said to stay away. The next best thing to talking to him would've been to talk to Wanda, but Wanda hadn't responded the last time Tootie had called her. Still, it was worth a shot. Tootie knew that with faeries, their true names acted as a summoning spell. As far as Tootie knew, it only worked for their godkid, but Wanda had been known to bend Da Rules every once in a while.
Tootie rushed upstairs, stumbling and falling over herself in her haste to reach her bedroom. Vicky was still whistling "Side to Side" and Tootie wanted to strike her again. Instead, she lurched into her bedroom, shut the door, and leaned against it for strength.
"Wanda?" Tootie called. "Wanda, I understand now. Wanda, I'm sorry!"
She didn't know what she was sorry for, only that she sympathized with Wanda. She always had. While she was convinced her true love would always be Timmy Turner…Tootie might've had a slight crush on the pink haired faerie. It was only natural, after all, because Wanda (and Cosmo, but he didn't count) was the closest Tootie could get to Timmy on a regular basis.
"Do you?" Wanda said, appearing and showering the air with faerie dust. Tootie was lucky enough not to produce as much as a full-grown faerie, otherwise she'd have had a hard time explaining it to her mother, who did the laundry. Or to Vicky, who went through her stuff on a regular basis just to screw with her head.
"Yes," Tootie said, half-pleading now. "Vicky told me everything."
Wanda's face tightened. "I can't stay for long, hon, and I still want you away from Timmy."
"But I can help!" Tootie said.
"Timmy doesn't want your help right now," Wanda said, still pale.
"When does Timmy ever want my help?" Tootie pointed out and Wanda's lips twitched toward a weak smile.
"Good point," Wanda said. "He doesn't usually want my help either, not unless it's magical."
"How do you stand it?" Tootie asked. Yes, she loved Timmy, but she knew he could be a bit much.
"I'm used to it," Wanda said. "I'd better go. Keep an eye on Vicky for me. Oh, and Tootie?"
"Hmm?" Tootie said. She wasn't surprised Wanda had shot down her offer of help or that she'd given an evasive answer to her question. From everything Tootie had read about faeries, they weren't always direct.
"Be careful," Wanda said. "Not just with Vicky. There's someone out there looking to settle old scores with half-faeries and he might come looking for you and others like you."
"Wait, there are others like me?" Tootie said. "I thought you said they were all in Fairy World?"
Wanda shook her head and then disappeared, leaving Tootie once again in the lurch.
"Man, that's annoying," Tootie muttered. She had more questions than answers now. If there were other half-faeries on Earth, why hadn't Tootie met them yet? Who was this person looking for her and people like her? Was he friend or foe? Wanda had been warning her, but Tootie didn't know what the specific threat was.
Timmy must've noticed her absence. That was the only explanation. Two trips in one day was risky, especially when Timmy was probably hyper-aware of his godparents.
Tootie balled her fists. Never mind that. She'd find some way to help Timmy. If she couldn't do it directly, she'd do it through Chloe. Timmy couldn't say no to her, try as he might. And, from experience, she knew he'd tried.
Chloe rubbed her temples. Recently, she'd been getting headaches and flashes of memory she couldn't fathom. They felt disconnected from reality. Faeries weren't real, yet she saw them in her mind. Whenever she tried thinking further about them, her headache ramped up and the only thing to cure it was to think of something else quickly.
So, when a man arrived and offered to help her with her headaches, she didn't immediately think he might've had an ulterior motive. Chloe liked to believe the best in people, after all.
When he left, Chloe fell backward onto her lawn. Memories rushed through her mind and she thought she might be sick. Prominent among them were Timmy and two faeries.
"Cosmo? Wanda?" she called.
