A/N Wow, been forever! Sorry about the huge pause, got a little bit of writers block, then a little 'I-don't-care' and the a little Christmas rush. However thank you all those of you who have been waiting patiently for me to continue. Sorry for the grammar fall-out and the overall wonkiness; I haven't written anything in over a month and it shows. Okay, now on with the story. OooOOOooooOOOh O.o
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"Why did you do a stupid thing like that, Rorin?!?" The spikey haired brunette behind the counter jumped at the irate screeching coming from the doorway. He looked up and saw the wispy vision of a red haired woman, her angelic white robes swirling about her legs and adding to the inhuman image floating there.
"You would have done it too in reverse situation," Rorin objected, once again relaxed in his seat behind the desk top. The astral figure before him threw a heated look his way and stormed up to the desk, stopping just short of actually going threw it.
"I would have given some warning," it hissed. "Do you know just how conspicuous a seemingly forty year old woman with magenta eyes and hair is in New Mexico?" Rorin kept his calm as he began to clean under his fingernails.
"Completely normal?" he guessed. The figure before him nearly exploded as its hair began to flame. The sight was enough to make grown men soil themselves, but the young man went unfazed.
"COMPLETELY NORMAL!?!" the being bellowed. "Rorin that wasn't the eighties or some psychedelic trip, it's 1999 in a top secret experiment base! Are you mad!?" Finally Rorin had had quite enough. With an exasperated huff he leaned forward and pointedly looked the smoldering apparition straight in the eye.
"Pearl," he said, "drop it. What else was I supposed to do? It's Cos' and Wanda we're talking about here, and if you hadn't noticed another one of our kind is missing. So it hit a little closer to home and I took a few added liberties; Gabriel already came and talked to me about it." Leaning back again he returned to his nails as he continued: "Now stop being such a drama queen and put out your hair."
Pearl looked at him with indignation for a second before smoothing the fire out of her tresses. When she seemed more composed Rorin started again.
"Where are you coming from?" he asked in a much more business like tone.
"1999," she replied smoothly, "I've just now woken them up." Pearl sighed sadly and began to toy with a bit of cloth from her dress, focusing her downcast eyes on it with fierce single mindedness. Rorin began to worry as she continued: "Beth had another episode while I was gone."
Rorin panicked for a second and made to bolt out of his seat when Pearl looked up at him finally and motioned for him to stay.
"I took the brunt of it," she assured. "Guinny is fine, I promise." The look on Rorin's face told multitudes of relief and Pearl was no stranger to the feeling. While most people would never be able to tell, Rorin was very protective of Guinny. She had always been frail and more or less helpless, but she was their sister and the youngest at that. Neither Rorin nor herself would let anything hurt her if they could help it.
Finally she smiled at her brother. Rorin returned his attention to her as she moved to sit on the counter top, floating a few inches above it instead. She leaned forward and cupped her brother's chin in her delicate fingers as she continued: "We'll work something out for Cosmo's charge, alright?" Rorin nodded in defeat. Pearl sat upright again before moving to the door.
"If Cos and Wanwan come calling again just fly them directly to me, alright?" she instructed. Smiling sympathetically she turned and vanished. Rorin sighed in frustration when she was gone. He would help if only he could, but his probation refused him to even leave his "office". He pushed the thought to the back of his mind again as he returned to his job. This was becoming quite a little problem and it had Darkness written all over it.
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Pearl lounged in her Dreamer's mind contemplating the situation. Perhaps it was nothing, a mistake or such, but she highly doubted it. She had touched that place where all Dreams lay and had found nothing but fear and chaos. The emptiness had been frightening and she had only barely bean able to discern who the Dream Sprite was. Pearl shuddered as she thought of it. His name was Skylar. He was a very interactive Sprite, liked to have some physical form in the daytime that was in some way connected to his Dreamer. Usually he would be a neighbor or a classmate by that name of Skylar. Once he had even been his Dreamer's twin. Pearl smiled with tear filled eyes as she remembered. And now he was gone. She shuddered at the thought of what must have happened.
"Poor Sky'," she muttered to herself. "What's happened to you?" Hot tears began to flow down her cheeks as she thought back to a time when she and the missing had spoken often. They had dated for a while before deciding to be no more than friends, but even that didn't last as they were never assigned together. She could remember everything about him. The way his voice would often crack like a pubescent boy, the way his eyes always glistened with the hint of some death defying trick. He was a wild one for sure.
Finally she sighed in defeat. Whatever had happened, she was powerless. She did have three Dreamer's of her own to watch over, after all. She would aid in whatever way possible, but she knew that was a short-handed gesture. Maybe something would come up that would allow her to be more helpful to her friends, but she doubted it.
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Timmy quaked as he looked out his window at the glistening stars. Cosmo and Wanda were nearby; trying to sooth his fears and lay him down.
"Are you sure I won't have any nightmares?" he asked shakily. He could still feel the after effects of the last one and he didn't want to do that again.
"Sweety, Pearl knows what she's doing," Wanda assured.
"Yeah," Cosmo agreed, "if she says this will work then it will work." Timmy stared at Cosmo for a moment, trying to grasp why these two had such faith in that flake. But despite his fears and the voicing of them, his faeries still held complete faith in his visitor of that morning. Wanda laid him down on his bed as his mind was occupied and he gave no resistance. Finally he stirred, whining.
"I don't want to go to bed," he complained. "I'm just gonna have nightmares again." Neither of his faeries listened to him. Instead, Wanda took his hand and began stroking it and Cosmo lay down beside him. He was about to protest again when Wanda began to sing. At first it sounded like her voice, lack of singing abilities included; but as he listened he began to hear a different voice instead. He knew it from somewhere, but as he began to drowse off he couldn't place where. Finally the chords of the song struck him and he was out cold. Wanda continued to sing just for good measure.
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread,
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Cosmo and Wanda watched as their godson's breath slowed to that of a deep sleep. Both of them worried over how well the song would work, but neither would voice it, especially not to Timmy. Sighing, Cosmo turned to his wife and began to sit up.
"Should we stay here or find a safer place?" he asked. Wanda bit her lip as she stared at the sleeping child. She knew they should find a safer place, but she just couldn't leave him. Finally she shook her head, not tearing her eyes from her godson.
"I…don't know," she whispered. Cosmo came up behind her and lovingly nuzzled her cheek.
"Get some rest," he cooed, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'll watch over him tonight."
Wanda turned to look at her husband for a moment. She stared into his eyes and a kind of communication that only exists between close friends took place. Finally she nodded and began to head for the fishbowl only to find she was falling. She felt Cosmo grab her and realized she was a teddy bear. He turned her so she could see him and smiled.
"That's not what I meant," he chided. Gently he put her down beside Timmy, who immediately pulled the toy to him. She smiled a threaded smile and placed her little stuffed arms around him as much as possible before drifting off herself.
Cosmo smiled down at the two before sinking deep into his own brood, one ear open for any disturbance from Timmy. He had seen how disturbed Pearl was when she probed Timmy's mind and figured it was something personal. And if Pearl knew somebody, all of them did. Cosmo raked his brain trying to think of any Dream Sprite they knew who it could possibly be. Pearl and her siblings were off the list for sure as all of them were accounted for. He tried and tried, searching for one name that would have sent Pearl into chills if it wasn't her younger brother or sister. Finally, unable to come up with anything, he materialized a television and remote and began flipping channels. On one channel they were showing Mystery Men, and he stopped to watch for a bit before moving on. Finally he stopped at a talk show who claimed to be hosting Chip Skylark next. Suddenly a panic broke loose on screen. Cosmo tuned in a little bit more, barely even listening for Timmy now. The commentator tried to stay calm as he announced that Chip Skylark was missing and had not been seen for over a week. Cosmo jumped as realization hit him. He turned off the tv and poofed it away as he sat in shock of his new discovery. He turned to Timmy, who was still sleeping quite peacefully, and the equally peaceful Wanda-teddy and debated whether to wake her. Finally he decided against it and created for himself some cheese and crackers to munch on as he waited.
It would be a long night.
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So whadya think? Sorry it took so long, I just ran out of gumption I guess. I just had to put that gooey gooshie sweet part in between Cosmo and Wanda. I did, really! Maybe if people review I'll update faster, eh? Doubt it, but it's worth a try.
