The early bird catches the eternal optimism and happy endings…and ends up falling asleep on the Big Comfy Couch of Denial before 8:30. ;p
(…) means twin's telepathy and ((…)) means Cosmo and Wanda telepathy.
No, I don't own FOP or any reference to its varied characters mentioned herein, and unless the new episodes that follow 'School's Out' begin showing the love again, I wouldn't want to. So, for now, Butch Hartman can keep his name tacked on…even if it is for nothing more than the royalties at this point.
Oh…and I don't own The Big Comfy Couch either. That belongs to some broadcasting company in Tennessee I think. : )
Fairly OddParents : The Next Generation
Chapter 11. Does Anyone Have A Clue?
When Wanda heard the elevator music, she'd nearly fainted. It figured that it would just have happened to be playing the same little tune that could most times be found playing in Cosmo's head. Talk about cruel.
"Wanda are you okay?" asked Tammy nervously as she took in the fairy's white face.
Wanda shook her head slowly, trying, so desperately trying, to clear it, to make logic out of it all, to order it… She had to order it…so she could make sense of what was happening… She needed order… She needed logic… But there was none.
There was nothing.
No nonsensical ramblings to give hers clarity… No carelessly thrown ideas of excitement to counter her often times over ordinary suggestions. No wild freedom compared to her composed restraint… No basis for comparison or offset… No Cosmo…
Tommy looked at his sister worriedly.
"Tammy," he said softly. "She's starting to scare me."
Wanda's head snapped up suddenly as her stark pink eyes looked at the boy in disbelief.
"What did you say," she asked of Tommy quickly.
"I…I said…you're starting to worry me."
The fairy shook her head emphatically.
"No. You said scare. You said I was scaring you. Oh, goodness! What have I been doing? I'm so sorry sport…both of you. I…I didn't mean to do that. Its just…I've never…never been without... I'm just so worried…"
Tommy looked at Wanda gently.
"You don't like being alone either," he said kindly.
Wanda shook her head. Had she been in a slightly more lucid state of mind, she might have marveled at the boy's almost eerie ability to see such a normally deeply hidden fear.
"Not like this."
Tammy put her hand on Wanda's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Wanda. We'll find him. And I'm sure that when we do, he'll be okay. I mean, we still have to have our switch, right?"
Wanda gave a small smile.
"Right."
Hearing Tommy say that she was frightening him had been like a slap in the face to Wanda. How stupidly selfish she'd been! She had actually allowed herself to put her own feelings before her godchildren. Yes, she had been married to Cosmo for almost 10,000 years. Yes, she had a special connection with him that seemed to be, at least she hoped it was, on the fritz at the moment and yes, she loved him more than anything else. But it still did not entitle her to cause the children it was her duty to look after to be scared of her. This had to stop now. She had to take care of them. It was her job and even Cosmo would have understood that they would have to come first.
'Control,' she thought to herself as she silently intoned a lesson she had picked up from her childhood watching her father run most of Fairy World from behind the scenes.
If you can't have it in the big picture right from the start, then just take it one step at a time until you have it in the end.'
Wanda took a shaky deep breath before she began to float-pace back and forth before the kids.
'Now make sense of it all…'
"Okay," she began. "So far we know that Cosmo is…missing. For some reason, no fairy I've called on earth has answered. Now, Fairy World's phone system seems to be out."
"Is that why you dropped your cell phone?" asked Tommy.
Wanda gave a baleful smile. He didn't need to know the entire truth of that one, though she suspected he'd probably be able to guess if given enough time, so she just nodded.
"So that's three way out of the ordinary things that have happened so far. What exactly does this tell us?" she pondered aloud.
"You think its all connected?" asked Tammy.
"I don't know. But something big must be going on if Fairy World is having trouble too."
"What do we do, then?"
Wanda gave a grimace.
"I think we're taking a trip to Fairy World," she said after a moment.
Tommy's eyes went super sized.
"Whoa! Fairy World? We get to see Fairy World?"
The godmother nodded.
"I'll have to bring you two with me since technically, I'm not so supposed to leave you by yourself unless its part of a wish or you request it. And of course, since Fairy World phone lines are out, I can't call for a temporary replacement godparent."
"Even if you could just leave us here we wouldn't let you go alone. We're helping too," stated Tammy.
Wanda nodded with an almost grateful look.
"Just stick close and don't wander off. Jorgen doesn't tolerate humans snooping about Fairy World too well."
Tommy made a face.
"Jorgen?"
"Jorgen Von Strangle. My boss. He's a bit over zealous about his job."
"Why does that not give me a good feeling about how this trip could turn out?" asked Tammy cynically.
Wanda smirked.
"It shouldn't, and you really are smart if you can see that even though you haven't even met him yet."
She held up her wand.
"Okay you two, here we go."
With that, they were gone in a poof of pale pink smoke.
When the three appeared in Fairy World, there was a very un-fairy like quiet settled over the whole place and the streets were completely empty of anyone.
"Well, this isn't a very hopeful sign," remarked Tammy.
Wanda nodded at her goddaughter as she looked about with a calculating glance while at the same time trying not to think about how incredibly tiring it was transporting three people without the aid of Cosmo's magic.
"Definitely not. Well, if things are this empty here, then there can be only one possibility outside the realm of complete Fairy World subjugation."
"Subju-what?" asked Tommy blankly.
Tammy smirked.
"Subjugation. It means defeat, to be overthrown, suppression and or conquest."
Tommy smiled.
"Wow! What a cool word! I'm going to have to remember that one!"
"Uh, yeah, but not cool if its happened here. Remember?" said Tammy briskly.
"Oh, right."
Wanda's heart seemed to do another of its little unhappy squeezes at the rather all too familiar exchange. It was like standing outside and looking in at what she and Cosmo might have said.
Standing outside herself…
Wanda shivered at the emptiness that filled her. That's exactly how she felt at that very moment. As if she wasn't who she was supposed to be and was looking through the eyes of some horribly fake imposter.
She tried to shake it off, but it was a far from relenting idea.
"Come on kids," she managed to say. "I think if we're going to find anyone, it will be at the Fairy World Council Hall."
That said, she poofed the three of them, though not without a great deal of strained effort, to a side walkway within the massive meeting assembly room of the council hall. From all around them, the discordant voices pressed in on their ears with anger, fear, terror, worry and trepidation.
Wanda looked around at the fairies gathered and noticed with grim detachment that there was not a single active godparent she knew present. In fact, the only fairies there, seemed to be those that were either retired godparents or those that kept the mundanities, such as the newspaper, food services and other needed businesses, of Fairy World running. If she were one to think such on herself, she would have almost thought that it seemed that she was only active godparent left.
At that moment, a great pounding was heard from the forward podium, and looking in that direction she saw Jorgen Von Strangle slamming a massive gavel on his stand with undue gusto. The voices that buzzed about died almost instantly.
'Oh what luck,' Wanda thought to herself drolly. 'We got here just in time to see him rant.'
"As you all are aware, we have had no contact from any fairy on earth in the last hour and every godparent we have actively tried to contact has not responded. Since we have virtually no information on what is happening down there, I have decided to call a state of emergency to decide how best to handle this situation."
"Maybe there's just a problem in communication," suggested one fairy.
"No. As far as we are aware, all lines of communication are operating normally."
Wanda floated forward as the kids followed her closely.
"If all lines of communication are working properly, then why couldn't I call into Fairy World five minutes ago?" she asked loudly enough to be heard by all those present.
There was a general murmur from all around her as the several hundred fairies present either considered the question with their neighbors or looked in surprise at what seemed to be the last Fairy Godparent left.
"Its part of the new alert system. All fairies are called to alert them to an emergency meeting. Given the nature of the high emergency, the lines coming in are then disconnected to ensure that no unauthorized being from earth would be able to make a connection with Fairy World and we, uh… wait! What are you doing here?"
As if suddenly realizing he was talking to a godparent, Jorgen quickly turned to his subordinate and glared.
"I thought you said that there were no fairies available on earth!"
The little bald fairy cringed.
"Uh, I only said that there were no more wish reports from earth, sir."
"Then how do you explain that!" the giant thundered as he pointed at Wanda.
The little fairy shrunk back even further as Jorgen lorded over him.
"If I could just interrupt for a second…" began Wanda. "He might not have been aware that I was still around since my god children haven't wished for any successful wishes from me for most of the day, hence no wish report from me."
Jorgen eyed the kids.
"Then how come you are here if they didn't wish it?"
"I came here on my own decision to get answers to find out what was going on and hopefully find out where my husband is. I brought the kids with me because I couldn't very well leave them alone when there was no phone service to call for a temp."
"So that bumbling idiot is missing too? You didn't see how he disappeared?"
"No. I was elsewhere with my goddaughter at the time. Cosmo was with our godson."
Suddenly out of nowhere, an angry Mama Cosma zipped over to float before Wanda unnervingly close.
"You left my poor little Cosmo alone? Why in heavens name would you do such a thing? You're supposed to be looking after him! You should know better than anyone else how terrible he is!"
Wanda glared back at Mama Cosma with distaste. Her constant coddling of Cosmo was absolutely the worst and more than a little nauseating. She'd always thought it more than explained much of why Cosmo was the way he was.
"Cosmo is a big boy who can handle a few hours in the house playing with a godchild just fine by himself," she argued in return.
Mama Cosma, already only inches from Wanda's face, leaned closer yet.
"Well its obvious he can't since he's now missing!"
Wanda very much wanted to make her case back to the annoying fairy, but a little part of her found itself agreeing with her mother-in-law. What kind of wife was she to let something happen to Cosmo?
Not wanting to let Mama Cosma have anymore satisfaction then she already got from her silence, Wanda continued to glare as she snapped back, "Well, maybe he'd be able to do his job better and make more appropriate decisions if his mother had raised him to be more independent and self reliant instead of babying him all the time!"
"ENOUGH!" cried Jorgen. "Cosmo's questionable abilities at god parenting is not the issue at hand. We need to make a decision now on where to go from here! In case you to have forgotten, there are over a thousand fairies who are currently missing."
A fairy several rows up called out worriedly, "The kind of magic generated from that many fairies could destroy half the known universe!"
"Yeah," agreed another from two sections over. "And if Cosmo's magic is involved, its almost a guarantee!"
Suddenly fairies everywhere were flying in panic as many shrieked and several swooned at the thought of the destruction of the universe by Cosmo's magic
"We have to do something!" a terrified fairy screamed.
"What about the children? Won't someone please think of the children!" shrieked an older female.
Another fairy pushed the older one away as he hollered back, "Forget the children! What about me?"
Wanda gave a sigh as she glanced back at Tammy and Tommy with a grimace. The two seemed be taking in the scene, such as it was, Tammy with some amount of amusement and Tommy with a mild disbelief.
"QUIET!" thundered Jorgen so loudly that even the ceiling of the Council Hall jumped by twenty feet.
"Since I seem to be the only one here capable of making a rational decision…"
Wanda raised her hand and opened her mouth to say something, but Jorgen quickly went on.
"…I have decided that the risk is far too great to chance. I will call out the troops to patrol Fairy World until the situation is under my control. All citizens are ordered to go home and stay there until further notice and no fairy will be permitted to enter or leave Fairy World."
Jorgen then turned to Wanda.
"Except for you. You will return to earth to ascertain the whereabouts of these missing fairies and free them if possible."
Wanda blinked.
"By myself?"
"Yes. We cannot risk any more fairies being lost. It is already beyond all acceptability."
"Oh! So our god mother is the expendable one?" asked Tammy with more than a little heat as she stared Jorgen down.
Wanda almost smiled. She was liking that girl more and more.
"Someone has to do it, and since she's already positioned down there with you two puny humans, it might as well be her."
Tommy stepped up next to his sister.
"That's so not fair! How can she god parent us and find all the other fairies at the same time?" he asked.
"That is for her to figure out," answered Jorgen as he towered over Tommy and Tammy. Tommy quickly ducked in behind his sister.
Tammy gave a very unladylike snort as she folded her arms in contempt, refusing to back down from Jorgen.
"Bunch a' cowards. Sending one fairy by herself to do something all of you should be helping with. And you guys actually think you're good enough to help kids. Ha!"
"Shhhh. Tammy!" pleaded Tommy nervously.
Wanda shook her head at Tammy.
"He's right. I'm already supposed to be down there so it only makes sense. And with no clue where all the other god parents have gone off to, it would be risky sending a whole bunch more down when we don't know anything. What if they were all to go missing too? That would just be more power unaccounted for down there."
"And it is for that very reason I have also decided to cut all magic power to all fairies except those in the troops."
"WHAT?"
Wide eyed, what little was left of Wanda's thinly held composure evaporated in a second.
"You're cutting our magic? That means I won't have any either! How am I supposed to find everyone when I can't use any magic? Do you realize what kind of risk I'll be in?"
Jorgen gave her a short glance.
"I know perfectly well, puny fairy. You will just have to think of something."
"But I can't…"
"Enough! You have your orders. Now go."
With that Jorgen pointed his huge wand at Wanda and the kids, and in an instant they were once again in Tammy's room.
Tammy looked at a worried Wanda.
"Is it me, or are you the only fairy that seemed to have any common sense out of that bunch?"
Wanda sighed.
Well, you can't blame them too much," she started. "Fairies are supposed to be pretty happy go lucky creatures. The average fairy doesn't deal well with crisis unless they're trained for it."
"Like Jorgen Von-I'd-like-to-Strangle-Him?" was Tammy's dry response.
"But you're not military," added Tommy. "So how come you're still more in control than anyone else?"
Wanda grimaced. Who ever said she was in control?
"I'm a bit of an extreme really. I can be very serious when I need to be."
"Not what most fairies would be known for I'm guessing," said Tommy.
"Not really, no."
Tammy looked at Wanda in sudden understanding.
"That's what you meant when you said Cosmo saved you. He didn't just make your life more fun, he changed your entire point of view about it."
Wanda nodded.
"I was never as true a fairy as the day I met Cosmo."
"But Cosmo is an extreme too, isn't he?" asked Tommy. "I mean, he's too happy all the time. Too carefree. You give him a reason to try as hard as he can to be as good a fairy and godfather as he can be."
The god mother gave a sigh and a sad smile.
"Yes. Oddly enough, in a strange way, we sort of balance each other out."
"Like two halves of a whole."
Wanda fell silent as she could practically hear Cosmo in her head finishing that one out.
'Two halves of a whole idiot.'
She could even imagine him floating right there in front of her with his brilliant green eyes sparkling and his mile wide grin.
"We'll find him, Wanda. I know we will," said Tammy after a moment of silence.
Suddenly, Wanda's bright color dulled as she felt the magic drain out of her followed by the sensation of falling. She hit the floor in a sitting position and blinked in slight disorientation before looking up at the kids sadly.
"With or without magic," added Tammy grimly.
Uh! I totally hated this chapter. I hated writing it, I hated reading it. But darn I needed it! Ahhhh! What's a writer to do when you get a piece that just doesn't want to write itself? It took forever!
Yes, that's normally how my stuff gets done. I have the idea and I just follow it as my fingers do the tapping, but this was a stubborn bit.
The only part I really liked was the bit with Wanda mentioning how she and Cosmo balance each other out. I've always thought they do exactly that. But that's my opinion. Hmmm, ya' know, I've been meaning to write a little something to detail that from their POVs. Just haven't gotten to it yet. Ah well. Eventually.
"What about the children? Won't someone please think of the children!"…I've always loved that line from the Simpsons (which I do not own either). I'm sure everyone can tell me who says that line more than often enough.
Mucho thankies this week go to…
Faye Lunacorn - Don't worry. Your review was a perfect gift! And your e-mail only made it better. Yes, Cosmo is an adorable little escape artist wanna-be and I just love fics where Cosmo actually shows some semblance of serious dedication to his wife. And you know me. I just had to go there! Lol. 'Cosmo's logic?' That's like saying jumbo shrimp. A total oxymoron. Buts that's part of what makes him so darn fun (and occasionally difficult) to write.
Band Geek 727 - Hellooooooo Band Geek 727! Welcome to my other FOP offering! I'm glad you're liking it so far. And wow! I never really thought about it having a dark side, but I guess when you get right down to it, it does have a bit of one. I must have been too busy coming up with the fluff to see the other side! Lol. Long live C&W fluff!
Commander - Discovering yourself…I hope what ever you find, you like, lol. I'm sure you'll do fine. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders. Any who… I went back and re-evaluated chapter 10 and ya' know what? Bite size was pretty good. I think if I had tried to push it for anything longer, Cosmo wouldn't have come off the way I was intending. He would have been too fake. He may not always be on the mark, but when he is, he shines and he just did that for me in 10. Some people might think he goes just a scootch into OC…but I say to them to consider he is in this number 1, based on the old school Cosmo and number 2, he is finding himself in a position he has never been before. For the first time in his life truly not knowing whether his wife is even alive. How can we predict how he would be? Besides, he's not selfish all the time. And just to wet your appetite, I actually have two chapters I've been slowly working on for that other fic. 2 is almost done, 3 though still has quite a bit to go. And thanks ever so much the happy birthday. I appreciate it (and your reviews) very much.
Kraven the Hunter - I want to welcome you to FOP:TNG and I hope to see you around here regularly. And remember to feel free and question anything else in my story that gets you wondering. My brain just loves the workout! Lol.
Zimmie - Darn it! Just like Wanda, I'm a sucker for big puppy dog eyes! Lol. Anyway, glad you're liking this! And yes, I will be continuing for many chapters yet. The whole thing will probably round out at a total of about 30 chappies I think. 'Course that's just a guess. Yah! Another Doctor Who fan! Awesome!
Wow! Three brand new reviewers. Maybe I should put these up on Mondays all the time!
You guys are awesome!
Trixie21
9/2/2005