Carolyn's Comments: Here's another retyped chapter. The other two are in the works. When I'm finished retyping the beginning, the fic will continue normally again.
Carolyn spent the extra money from her overtime at the pound to buy a plane ticket to faerieland. She had been planning to use the money to have the house painted, but there was nothing she could do about that. She'd only had enough money for one coach ticket. It meant that she couldn't go home unless she got Fyora's help. And if Carolyn couldn't make contact with the faerie queen, then at least she would be in the same region as the Dark Tower. If her plan involving Fyora failed, she would go to Sloth and agree to his terms.
As Carolyn walked down the beautiful streets of faeriecity, she realized how out of place she must've looked. She was still wearing the same clothes as she was wearing several hours ago, when she had heard Sloth's proposition. They were dirty, torn, worn, and soaked with mud and flecks of blood. The knees of her jeans were torn and her left knee was bleeding. She had scraped it when she had been pulled out of the way of the car. Her face was pale, on account she hadn't gotten any sleep; she had just hurried straight to the airport and charged the pound for her ticket. Her stomach kept rumbling. She had skipped two meals, and if she had any value for her health, she should've been eating lunch at that moment. But she wasn't, she was heading down the street towards the castle.
"Now how will I get to Fyora?" Carolyn thought frowning. She looked down at herself and sighed. "I can't just march in and see the queen. They'll think I'm some bum, looking for a handout."
She could hear people whispering and saw people staring at her and pointing at her. She tried her best to ignore them. Humans on the street in faeriecity wasn't a big deal anymore, it was just that she looked so awful at that moment, she couldn't blame them for staring. But in general, humans were no big deal.
But around 200 years ago, they had been a HUGE deal. Back then, humans were just beginning to find ways into Neopia. Long before the site existed, people managed to find other portals into the magical world. Back then, humans were greatly prejudiced against, especially in faeriecity. They were seen as filthy animals. The monarchy had passed all these harsh laws; humans couldn't marry faeries, humans could only have certain jobs, humans could only have one neopet, humans had to live in the slums. But times had changed; now humans were seen as equals.
While Carolyn was pondering these thoughts, a loud voice boomed; "Make way for her majesty, Queen Fyora!"
Carolyn looked into the street. She could see a procession being leading away from the square of faeriecity. A group of people was carrying a large platform. Upon it, sat queen Fyora.
Fyora had short violet hair and purple eyes. Her skin was fair shade of white. She was extremely slender and was wearing a long purple dress that covered her feet. Two large lavender wings sprouted from her back. She was very tall and beautiful. Unlike most stories in Carolyn's world where faeries were only the size of your hand, Neopian faeries were the same size as most humans. She looked about 24. Upon her head, sat a silver tiara, as a symbol of her royalty.
Then Carolyn remembered why Fyora must've been in the square. It was supposed to have been the 200th anniversary of the 'War of Light and Darkness'. Fyora was probably coming back from the ceremony.
The War of Light and Darkness, was a great war that had broken out in Faerieland, between the royal faeries and the dark faeries. This war was extremely important, because it had ended human prejudice. A half-faerie-half-human, had lead the royal faeries to victory, proving that humans and faeries were equals.
"Who cares about some war that happened years ago?" Carolyn thought, "But it makes it easier, 'cause now I can talk to Fyora!"
Without giving herself a chance to hesitate, Carolyn bolted into the street. Normally, she never would've done something so bold, but right now, she thought only of her pets, and she knew Fyora was her only hope.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Carolyn shouted. The guards seemed to ignore her. Fyora didn't appear to hear her, so she tried again. "YOUR MAJESTY! LISTEN TO ME!" Not even a glance from her. Carolyn bolted in front of the platform, faced Fyora and screamed, "HEY HIGHNESS! YO! I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!"
Fyora glanced down at Carolyn and stared at her with raised eyebrows. It seemed that the sight of a girl with dirty, ripped clothing and a tear-streaked face alarmed her. Glad that she had gotten her attention, Carolyn continued. "SORRY TO BUG YOU! BUT I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP! YOU SEE-"
But before she could explain, two guards grabbed her and shoved her away. But Carolyn ran back to try and address Fyora again.
"Move it brat!" A guard shouted trying to push her aside. Instead she grabbed onto his arm to keep him from forcing her away. He raised his hand and struck her across the face.
Carolyn's right cheek was bleeding, but she didn't budge. He raised his hand to hit her again. Carolyn held up her left hand to block him.
At that moment, a burst of golden energy temporarily appeared in her hand. In an instant the guard was flung backwards into another group of soldiers.
Carolyn stared at her hand in shock. There it was again, The Power. But where did it come from? And why couldn't she control it?
"...Detain the young girl." Fyora ordered her guards. Carolyn felt something strike the back of her head, before everything went dark.
Carolyn's head ached badly. She groggily opened her eyes. Her sight was a little foggy. She sat up and looked around. As her eyesight recovered, she began to see the room in sharper detail. She was sitting in what looked like one of the chambers of the castle. She had been sleeping in a four-post bed with the sheets pulled tightly around her.
"What am I doing here?" She murmured rubbing her head. "I was arrested wasn't I? I should be in the dungeons… But this looks like a guest room or something."
She stood up on the floor shakily. She was bewildered. Why was she getting special treatment? She doubted that the hardened criminals of Faeriecity were treated this nice. She walked over to the door, it was locked.
"I KNEW IT!" She cried, "I'M A PRSIONER! THEY PROBABLY PLAN TO EXECUTE ME AND SHE'S JUST TREATING ME NICE 'CAUSE SHE FEELS BAD FOR ME AND-"
Suddenly she noticed a huge plate with an assortment of food resting on a nearby table. Her stomach danced a rumbling jig.
"Oh yeah," She said as she drooled, "I skipped breakfast, lunch, AND dinner…" She wolfed down the meal until she was so full, she felt that her stomach was about to burst.
"Okay, now that I'm full, what do I do?" She thought miserably.
"Glad to see you enjoyed the meal we laid out for you." A voice commented. Carolyn spun around. Queen Fyora was sitting in a chair smiling. Carolyn was shocked.
"W-When did you..."
"Just now."
Carolyn gulped. "Your Majesty, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but I want to know why you guys gave me food and didn't throw me in the dungeons."
Fyora's smile faded and she became serious. "That was sort of a 'Last Meal' thing. We do that with every prisoner before we hang them."
Carolyn's face turned white. Fyora burst out laughing. "Oh calm down! I was just joking! And don't worry, you're not a prisoner, the only reason I locked the door was so you wouldn't run off before I had a chance to talk to you."
"So..." Carolyn said shakily, "I'm not going to be punished or anything?"
"Of course not. No one has any intention of executing you."
Carolyn breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then she stopped. "How long was I asleep?"
"Almost three hours." Fyora stated.
Three hours. She still had two days left to give Sloth and Jhudora an answer. "Um...Your Majesty?"
"Please call me Fyora." Fyora said nodding. Carolyn smiled. Fyora wasn't a harsh ruler like she'd expected her to be at all. In fact, she seemed really nice.
"Well, the reason I wanted to stop you on the street was because-"
Fyora waved her hand and cut her off. "You can tell me about that later. I laid out a change of clothes for you in that bathroom, you should go change and maybe have a shower." She pointed to a door in the back of the room.
"Why?" Carolyn said frowning.
"Because, to be perfectly honest, you look like shit right now." Fyora said standing up. "I'll be waiting for you in the throne room. Just leave the room and ask someone to take you there." She left the room.
Carolyn looked down at herself and gagged. Fyora was right; she DID look bad. She was covered with dirt and her clothes were worse off than before. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She looked in the mirror and noticed a small bandage where the guard had struck her. She touched it. It stung badly.
After taking a super quick shower, Carolyn noticed the clothes that Fyora had mentioned earlier. There was a pink top with spaghetti straps, baggy blue jeans, and a pair of emerald green boots that just went up to her ankles. She put them on without question. She looked in the mirror. Not bad, normally she wouldn't be caught dead in pink. Black t-shirts with sarcastic slogans appealed to her much more. But she looked pretty good in this outfit. She picked her dirty clothes up off the floor and dropped them down a nearby laundry chute.
She left her room and walked down the hall until she spotted one of Fyora's servants.
"Hey!" She called put running to catch up with her. "I need to find out where-"
"The throne room is right down the hall and through the double doors on the right." The servant said without looking up.
"Uh, thanks..." Carolyn hurried down the hallway. She spotted the doors that the servant had spoken of. She hurried forward and opened them up. She found herself standing in a crystal throne room that was bigger than her whole house. Light streamed in from the long windows on the walls. Fyora sat on a golden throne. Her face was buried in a large, leather-bound book. She glanced upward and spotted Carolyn. She quickly slammed the book shut.
"What's that?" Carolyn asked pointing at the book.
Fyora held it up. "It's a book about the royal family of Faeriecity. It lists all the important events, legends, and battles that took place during my family's dynasty."
"How long has your family been ruling Faerieland?"
"Hmmm…" Fyora said scratching her chin thoughtfully, "Around 300 years I'd say…"
Carolyn's eyes widened. "Whoa! 300 years!"
"Yes, to most people it would seem like a long time," Fyora said smiling, "But compared to the entire history of Neopia, it's nothing." Her face grew serious. "Alright, enough chit-chat. Tell me why you ran into the middle of the street, and what the light coming from your hand was. By the way, you still haven't told me your name."
"Oh! Sorry!" Carolyn said quickly, "It's Carolyn. And as for that light…well…I'm not really sure WHAT that was all about. But I'll tell you why I was in a panic."
So Carolyn explained the whole story to Fyora, from beginning to end. Fyora listened carefully, only interrupting occasionally to ask questions. Most of the time she just let Carolyn talk.
When she was finished Fyora's carefree expression had faded completely. She looked dead serious.
"You did the right thing coming to me." She breathed. She stood up and began to pace. "This explains why the forces of darkness have been so quiet lately…" She breathed, "The Chosen One, out there with no one to give her direction…it was too tempting for Sloth not to notice…" She stopped and clenched her fists.
"Er…" Carolyn said cutting in, "What are you talking about?"
Fyora smiled warmly. "Nothing!" She smiled and clapped a hand on Carolyn's shoulder. "You're safe now, that's what matters. You're out of his reach, and we'll make sure he never gets near you."
"What about my pets?" Carolyn asked. Fyora gulped.
"Here's where we enter a difficult area…" She said nervously, "On one hand, I don't want to sacrifice the lives of four innocent neopets. But on the other hand, I'm afraid that your safety overshadows all other priorities…"
"No." Carolyn said flatly.
"Carolyn, try to understand. This is a difficult situation for me-"
"No."
"Carolyn-"
"I said no!" Carolyn snapped. "I came here for help in getting my pets back. Not to be locked up and treated like a child!"
"It's for your own safety." Fyora began. She took Carolyn's arm and started to pulled her towards the door, "I think you should go back to your room and-"
Carolyn jerked to a stop so abrupt, that Fyora's arm was pulled free. The queen stared at Carolyn in confusion.
"Don't tell me what to do," Carolyn snapped. She said each word slowly and strongly. Her voice brimmed with determination. "Don't hide me away. Don't lock me up and keep all the facts from me. Don't try to protect me from the truth. This is my fucking life, and nobody is going to tell me how to live it. Either you help me get my children back, or I join Sloth and I save them that way. Your choice."
It was the first time Carolyn had referred to her neopets as 'her children', but that wasn't what shocked her. She was stunned that she had spoken to the faerie queen in such a manner; it was as if someone else had been speaking for her. Nevertheless, she continued to glare defiantly at Fyora. The queen looked back her sternly. It seemed like she was trying to scare Carolyn into changing her mind. When Carolyn didn't, she sighed.
"Very well." Fyora sighed. "What do you propose?"
"I go to the tower and pretend to give into Sloth's demands." Carolyn said, "Then, I grab my pets and get the hell out of there." Carolyn frowned. She hadn't thought of that plan. It had just come to her, as if someone else had come up with it and whispered it in her ear.
"That plan is too risky!" Fyora exclaimed, "Do you really think that Sloth is just going to let you walk out of there?! He'll keep you by force once you're in his grasp!"
"It doesn't matter," Carolyn said, "I'm still going."
"Carolyn, I forbid you to-"
Carolyn suddenly laughed. It was a cold and sharp laugh that cut through the air like a knife. "Forbid me? You're going to forbid me? What are you going to do? Keep me from leaving? Like to see you try!"
Carolyn stumbled back in shock. That was definitely someone else speaking for her. Fyora was staring at her in openmouthed shock.
"F-Fyora," Carolyn gasped, "I am SO sorry! It's like someone else took over my body! I didn't mean it! It's happened before…"
"When?" Fyora asked, suddenly interested.
Carolyn gulped. "I…I go see my school's psychiatrist a lot. My teachers think I'm too antisocial. A bunch of other students and me sit in a group and talk. Some of the kids in there are real pricks; I flip out and take on another personality. I get really cold and angry. I even scare the psychiatrist sometimes."
Fyora sighed. "Oh great, the Chosen One's a nutter… Ah well, beggars can't be choosers."
"Look, do you agree with my plan or not?" Carolyn snapped. She was starting to get annoyed.
Fyora frowned. "I don't agree with it at all. But I suppose if you want to go through with it that badly, I can do nothing to stop you."
"Thanks." Carolyn said, not knowing what else to say.
"Do you want me to give you some weapons before you go?"
"No, I think it's best if I appear friendly."
"Very well," Fyora held up her right hand. "Then I wish you the best of luck. Look at my hand, concentrate only on my hand"
Carolyn looked at Fyora's hand. As she did, the rest of the world seemed to dissolve and blur around her until there was only her hand. Then even that faded.
The dizzy feeling made Carolyn squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she was outside the Dark Tower.
