Chapter Five: School Daze

"Good morning, Dimmsdale! It is Monday, September 9th; the temperature is seventy degrees; the sky is a beautiful, cloudless blue; and the motherfuckers are just waking up. In other news, we bring you to the blood riddled corpses of fairy godparents Cosmo and Wanda!" The Other grinned maliciously, using a rolled up black ledger as a mock mike.

He smirked at the magical replications shimmering beside his bed and tossed the ledger through their hearts. "Ooh! Three points!"

Seven a.m. and Tootie had only an hour of actual sleep. She stretched, winced at the crick in her neck, and yawned, covering her mouth. Visions of her nightmares danced before her eyes and she longed to speak to Timmy, except she refused. Timmy had been such a rank jerk lately she didn't think he deserved the privilege. Nonetheless, the dreams had seemed ominous and she felt vulnerable, longing for a familiar face.

Palms sweaty, she slid back the sheets and pulled on the outfit Cal laid out for the night before. He wasn't there, presumably, he was sleeping. She didn't need to disturb him if it were avoidable. That didn't prevent her from wanting to call him and receive comfort. She didn't begrudge Cosmo and Wanda not working, but she wished she had a godparent who wasn't taking the night shift just to pay the bills The Other had left.

Damn it, she felt so alone.

Grasping her purple backpack, Tootie slid out of her room and crept past Timmy's door, careful not to wake him. She blinked back tears and, biting her lip, pressed her fingers to his doorknob. What was he doing now? Were his parents there, cementing the divide between himself and everyone else who loved him? Had Cosmo and Wanda tried to contact him again and he'd refused them?

"Timmy..."

Timmy was wide awake. He couldn't have slept, even if he tried. All night, his parents regaled him with tales of their youth and their first days at middle school, including dropping a cup of chocolate pudding down an eight grader's blouse to jump rope in the middle of class. Thanks to them, he eagerly anticipated school. What could be better?

Unfortunately, this meant he had zero energy and was about to tackle two of greatest foes, fairy obsessed Crocker and the far more threatening Lorenzo. The enthusiasm dimmed in light of lethargy. Still, this didn't bother him in the slightest- he was too tired to think straight. Instead, he excused himself and abdicated to the bathroom.

He opened the door, removed his trousers, and was just about to begin when...

"Guys!" Timmy screamed. Cosmo and Wanda had appeared, in their normal forms, floating before him. Blood rushed to Timmy's cheeks, as well as Wanda's.

"This wasn't my idea, was it, Cosmo?" Out of respect, she kept her eyes on Timmy's face. Timmy fidgeted, uncomfortable. Wanda was a girl. Girls shouldn't be, well, looking at boys like that.

"Hey, Timmy!" Cosmo said with a grin. Timmy suppressed a groan. Cosmo had a knack for totally disregarding the seriousness of the moment and it was ill appreciated.

Face scarlet, Timmy scooped up his pants and put the seat down so he could perch atop it. "What are you doing here?"

Giving Cosmo a dirty look, Wanda swooped down to be eye-level with her godchild. "I think you know."

Timmy sighed. "Not again."

"Yes, again. Again and again until it sinks in. Timmy, there's a reason your parents came back and it wasn't for you to fraternize with them. Think, for once. Why are they here? What could The Other be planning?" Wanda said. Her eyes shimmered and faerie dust settled on the bathroom floor. Concern and sympathy radiated from him, but Timmy would have no part of it. She was trying to keep him from his parents.

"It has nothing to do with my parents," Timmy said flatly.

"I doubt that," Wanda said. She ran her fingers through his hair and he jerked away. She looked away, pained he'd rejected him. Cosmo floated closer and glared at Timmy.

"I know. Just because you're my faerie godparents doesn't mean you know anything," he snapped.

Sighing, Wanda said, "We're trying to watch out for you. Please listen to us. We know what we're talking about. We've dealt with anti faeries a lot longer than you have."

"I don't need your help," he said coldly. "Stop checking up on me."

"Timmy, look, I know how happy you are with your parents, but they're dead. They're ghosts, and eventually, ghosts pass on. You need to let go."

"And you need to get your nose out of my business," he said. "Do I need to put it in wish form?"

Wanda glared. "Message received, sport."

Through his weak link to her, he received such contempt that it almost gave him pause. Wanda really didn't think he was doing the right thing, but so what. He knew what was best for him. They were just his godparents. They weren't even his real parents.

"Welcome to your first day of middle school, students. In an effort to expand our diverse body, we've included sixth grade as the lowest for the first time in years. We hope you find your education to be satisfactory and we enjoy having you. Yay!

"In other news, there are loads of new faculty and help this year. For a change, one such person would like to speak. Lorenzo DeMidici, would you please come forward?" Miss Waxelplax stepped aside on the stage and he emerged from the shadows.

Timmy, who had been slumping in his chair in the far back, started. A.J., Chester, Sanjay, and Elmer were a couple rows ahead. He'd deliberately cut them off so he didn't have to sit with them.

His breath caught in his throat and for one split second, time had stopped. All there was and all there ever would be were Timmy and The Other locked in an eternal face-off. Nothing else mattered nor ever would. In that instant, he wished he hadn't spurned his godparents.

Wearing a hair net, a light blue coverall and thoroughly disgusted with his appearance, Lorenzo stepped up to the microphone. His eyes rooted to Timmy and his presence was all Timmy could focus on.

"Hello, students. I thought it would nice if you knew the man behind the counter, so to speak. Don't start looking at your watches, this short little discourse is getting you out of class, is it not? I promise not to be as boring as some of you surmise your teachers to be.

"What would school be without lunch? What would the students be without a hearty, good for the stomach and soul meal? Where would you turn to for hot, steamy soup? Who would satisfy your cravings?

"I submit to you, my esteemed colleagues, a preposition. If you promise to educate our pride and joy, I promise to feed them until they burst."

((Hopefully, quite literally.))

"Oh and I'd like to say hats aren't permitted in school, Timmy Turner. New school, new rules. Get cracking!"

The bell rang and the students shuffled off. Timmy lingered, staring at The Other, who hadn't vacated the stage yet. Cosmo and Wanda's admonishments rang in his ears and he wanted to question The Other. Cocking his eyebrows, The Other inclined his head, smirked, and walked off the stage. The moment had passed and he had no answers.

Grabbing his bag, he left the now empty row and started toward the exit. Tootie caught him, snagging his wrist, and he glared at her.

"He's here," she hissed at him. "I told you."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see The Other, lingering on the stairs, watching them. Timmy noticed a long, protruding object in his pocket, and, upon Timmy's gaze, The Other smirked and offered him a mock salute. Tootie jerked him back to her, taking his eyes off his anti faerie.

"So?" Timmy hissed back, oblivious. "It doesn't prove anything."

"You know it does," she snapped.

Both turned when they spotted Chester, A.J., Sanjay, Elmer, Miss Waxelplax, and Lorenzo walking towards them. Timmy tensed, allowing her to hold his wrist, and unconsciously drew closer to Tootie. This was the first time in months they were in the same room, let alone a few feet away. To compound this, he also hadn't spoken to his friends since before The Other's awakening. (On an unrelated note, why was he thinking of The Other as "Lorenzo"? He wasn't a person.)

Tootie released his wrist and stepped back. A brown scrunchie had appeared in her hair and trembled at The Other's proximity. Timmy snorted. Cal.

"Timmy, don't you think you ought to be getting to class?" Miss Waxelplax inquired dreamily.

"We've come to walk you to class," Chester said. "That way, you can't get away from us."

((How are your parents? Still dead? There's a way to remedy that,)) Lorenzo smirked.

Cosmo and Wanda...He refused to call them aloud, but he began to wish they were here too. A.J., Chester, Sanjay, and Elmer seemed oblivious to The Other's impact on Timmy, or how Tootie and Timmy had both tensed.

((What do you know?))

((A little of this, a little of that,)) he sneered at him. ((Come see me during lunch and we'll discuss the whole matter. Cosmo and Wanda are excluded, of course.))

((How do I know I can trust you?)) Timmy said and narrowed his eyes. His friends were trying to catch his attention, but their voices were a din in his ears. The principal ushered them aside and opened her mouth to tell The Other to let Timmy go, except her eyes glassed over. Tootie grabbed Timmy's sleeve and Miss Waxelplax yanked her away. Tootie's fingers clenched on thin air as she tried, without success, to fight her back. The warning bell rang. Five minutes until class and Tootie was a slave to school.

((Timmy, come on.)) Tootie pleaded. Timmy ignored her.

((You don't,)) The Other said. ((But this isn't about me. Or you, for that matter. It's about your parents. Will you be there?))

((Why don't you want Cosmo and Wanda there?)) Timmy said, narrowing his eyes. He didn't care about class.

((Timmy!)) Tootie sent from the auditorium exit. Miss Waxelplax pushed her through and she cast one last desperate look at him.

((They'll only get in the way. Isn't that how it is, Timmy? They've interceded far too often. They're trying to keep you from your parents. They don't want what's best for you. They want what's best for themselves.))

Timmy's stomach churned. His thoughts were repeated back at him, and from the wrong source. The Other smiled at him.

((I don't know...)) he said.

((You don't have to know. Take a chance. I'll see you at lunch.))

Lunch couldn't come fast enough. Chester, A.J., Sanjay, and Elmer kept trying to corner him. They encircled him like vultures and he kept lying, trying to do anything to get them off his back. To compound matters, Tootie was reduced to stalking him in between classes. With his friends on one side and Tootie on the other, he felt like a dying animal with the carrion eaters waiting for him to give up.

Cosmo and Wanda appeared on the walls on his way to the cafeteria. Infuriated, he punched the space in between them and they vanished, exchanging disturbed looks.

Fetching a tray, he was pleasantly surprised to discover the food was actually edible this term. Amazing. Of course, he wound up being one of the last few people served, but this made it better for Lorenzo, who motioned him towards a back hallway after Timmy paid. Tootie arrived at that instant, his friends standing behind her. Fury soared. All she needed was Cosmo and Wanda to form the angry mob.

((Where are you going? Don't you dare leave with him! I'll get Cosmo and Wanda!))

((Of course you will,)) he snarled. ((You're ganging up on me. What's a faerie or two more?))

((Damn it, Timmy, we're doing this for your own good!)) Tootie shrieked in his mind. Tears slid down her cheeks and he wanted to punch her, hit her, anything to shut her up. The Other nudged him mentally and he looked over to him. He inclined his head and he blocked Tootie out.

((Come,)) Lorenzo said and vacated the lunch room. Timmy followed, leaving the cafeteria too. They walked a short way down the hallway.

"A janitor's closet?"

"What the hell were you expecting, the Ritz? Get in!" Lorenzo shoved Timmy inside the cramped space amidst the mops and buckets. A mop fell on his head and, annoyed, Timmy slammed it into the wall. It refused to budge and draped over his face.

"What do you want?" The mop's threads kept covering his mouth and he saw The Other with lines through his vision.

"You'd do anything to get your parents back, wouldn't you?" he smiled and ignored the shelves behind him, which were right up against his back. A can of paint was precariously balanced a couple feet above his head.

"Duh," Timmy said. "Of course I would."

"Why wouldn't you- you love your parents. They are the single most important thing in your life, aren't they?" The Other caressed Timmy's cheek and Timmy recoiled, jumping into the wall.

"Dude, what the hell?" he said, easing over to the door. Lorenzo flung out his arms and blocked his exit. Timmy glared at him.

The Other kissed Timmy's temples, little blue mists arising and slipping inside his body. His hand slid down from Timmy's shoulder to his chest and perched on his left breast. Timmy's irritation dissipated and panic replaced it. He struggled and the more he did, the more blue mists lifted off his body. He felt weaker, reminded again how little he'd slept in the last few days. He was too tired to fight him.

"Stop it!" Timmy whimpered and grabbed a mop to hit The Other. It slipped from his fingers and The Other captured his lips in a kiss. He heard waves crashing in his ears and he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand. His knees buckled and The Other compensated, wrapping an arm around his waist to steady him.

Both The Other and Timmy breathed in short gasps, The Other growing excited by Timmy's fight, and Timmy having problems breathing properly. Distantly, he could feel The Other's excitement and it penetrated the dullness pervaded by The Other's actions. He opened his eyes and moaned, trying to run but there was nowhere to go.

The Other's hand slipped down his pants and squeezed his butt. It slid around the front and descended down the waistband of his underwear. Timmy jerked.

"Cosmo! Wanda!" Timmy screamed. They didn't arrive instantly and he trembled, petrified. "Cosmo! Wanda!"

They weren't coming. They were too upset with him for how he'd treated them. His godparents had forsaken him and it was his fault. Anxious and terrified, he watched The Other lower his pants outside of himself. Then he perceived them, silent green and pink flashes.

"Get your hands off my godson!" Wanda screamed, shoving a huge glowing wand in The Other's face. Cosmo appeared at her side and flew to Timmy. The Other shut his eyes, concentrated, and Wanda raised her wand to blast him through the wall. Poisonous vines appeared, choking the life out of Timmy. Wanda hesitated; the vines glowed black and purple, and Cosmo, who had been right beside Timmy, jerked back as if stung. The color drained from his face.

"Like them?" The Other said. "I didn't know I could conjure them, but you learn something new every day."

"Release him. Now," she growled.

"What's the matter? Can't your magic counter mine?" he grinned. Wanda glared at him and brought herself right up against Timmy. She jerked back, paling too, and both faeries trembled. Timmy could distantly feel alarm rising off them.

"Release him," she repeated.

"I could kill you, but you're too useful," he said. His eyes sparkled with malice. "Though right now, you're being a pain in the ass."

Wanda braved whatever afflicted her and blasted a hole in the vines. They grew back and she repeated the experiment, only wrapping the vines tighter around Timmy. The Other raised his hand and wrapped it around her throat. Wanda struggled, slashing his face with her wand. Cosmo snarled, transforming into a cat (there wasn't enough room to change into anything large) and bit The Other's leg.

The Other growled, slamming Cosmo into the wall, and released his grip on Wanda. Wanda panted, regaining the ability to breathe, and her gaze was unfocused. It focused again and she concentrated, finger on her chin. Darkness emanated from her and she willed the vines to release him. Timmy gawked. She wasn't using her wand. Instead, it seemed to be purely through an elemental force. The vines relaxed enough for him to breathe and then collapsed on the floor.

Cosmo, meanwhile, clawed his way up The Other's body and The Other grabbed a mop. Wanda jerked her head to her husband's trouble and headbutted The Other before he could slam a mop down on Cosmo's head.

"Guys?" Timmy called.

"Be with you in a moment," Wanda said. The Other's hands glowed, dragon claws overlaying his human ones, and he slashed at Cosmo and Wanda. They dodged and Wanda raised her wand again to wield magic. Cosmo produced strings to tie the anti faerie up, and The Other retaliated by jumping up and grabbing the paint can. Wanda ducked and it crashed into Cosmo's head. Wanda fell out of mid air in shock. Cosmo collapsed, unconscious, next to Timmy on the floor. Blood oozed from his forehead.

"You..." Words failed Wanda and her hair changed into pure fire. She lunged at The Other and he punched her in the face. She hissed and brought her wand to his chest.

"You can't kill me, you know," he said. "Only Timmy can."

Wanda seemed beyond understanding this. He'd hurt Cosmo. Timmy could see it in her eyes. Cosmo's pain meant more to her than logic at the moment.

"Stupid frach," he spat. Wanda snarled and launched herself as a fire ball. The Other didn't catch fire; he brought down a cardboard box full of supplies down on her head. Wanda groaned and collapsed atop Cosmo. She had a large bump on her forehead and grabbed Cosmo. She was dazed, but not unconscious. She whimpered, staring at Timmy.

"I told you they were useless," The Other said. "Now do you believe me?"

Stunned, Timmy gaped at him. Wanda's fingers twitched and he brushed them. She appeared to be asking him if he understood now the danger they were all in.

"How is this going to help me get my parents back?" he asked.

"Look at it this way," The Other said. "They can't protect you. They can't help you. When they're gone, you're free to have your own choices, your own rules. I'll tell you more, if you agree to meet me again later."

"Why should I..." Timmy said, staring at his godparents. He was too tired and shocked to be upset. "Look at what you did to Cosmo and Wanda."

"They aren't strong enough. They aren't worthy of you," The Other answered. "Tootie's approaching. She's not worthy of you either. The only people worthy of you are those who have fought and succeeded for you. Your parents came back from the grave for you. These two...they wouldn't even last that long." He sneered.

((Do you believe me now?))

"I don't know..." Timmy said. His stomach flip flopped. Wanda looked so defeated and Cosmo's forehead continued to ooze shining, sparkling blood.

"Think on it," he said and kissed him on the forehead. He walked out and then vanished in the hallway, in time for Tootie to walk in. Timmy brushed his fingers against Wanda's again and she pleaded with him silently. He shut his eyes and waited for Tootie.