紫水晶氷

Amethyst Ice

Ch.20-Watch Him Sin

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"Oh my gods...y...you're alive." Wanda's voice quivered as she watched HP walk towards them.

"Yes, I am. ...I'm guessing you're all miserable prisoners of Sanderson?" HP asked.

"Apparently your fucking nephew is destroying our lives one at a time." Anti-Cosmo said coldly as he kept Wanda from collasping because her knees were shaking.

"W...WHY? Why did you have to leave us at the hands of that evil bastard!" She angrily sobbed.

"I'm sorry...but I had to go into hiding..." HP tried to explain.

"That's no excuse for not being there to stop Sanderson! Your apologies won't bring back the innocent victims he killed, it won't fix the lives that he screwed up of millions of others, nor will it help bring back Timmy's SANITY!" Wanda screamed. She wanted to go on and on, but it was to painful to think about it, let alone rant.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Her hands shook as she glared at him before she fell back into Anti-Cosmo's arms tiredly.

"Wanda..." He said worriedly. She tiredly looked up at him and grinned a little.

"Heh...I haven't eaten in a while..." Anti-Cosmo poofed up a warm meal for her before turning to HP.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" He snarled. The old man looked at the anti-fairy with sad eyes.

"I regret everything that's happened...but I can't undo it. What's done has been done..." Anti-Cosmo growled and said nothing as he paced back and forth. Wanda finished her meal quickly and stood up.

"Then can you at least tell us what caused Sanderson to turn out like he is?" HP sighed.

"It's a long story...but it's worth listening to. ...Sanderson...had always been a loner when he was a child. I suppose that due to having the burdens of being royalty, and being the only child after his twin disappeared, he learned to push everyone away, but in doing so, he picked up a few bullies who tortured him. At first he would complain about them, so I gave him advice on how to deal with them. He must have learned how to defend himself, because he came home from school happy one day. I asked him why he was so happy, and he said, 'I played a game with them.' I thought that he made friends with them or something, but I was proven wrong when I saw a malicious glint in his eye."

"Wh...What happened?" Wanda asked, afraid to hear it.

"He burned them alive."

"B...Burned!" Wanda quivered. HP slowly nodded. He then pinged up an old clipped newspaper article and handed it to her.

"There was an old abandoned factory miles from here, and kids used to dare each other to walk across the top of a old smokestack, where an incinerator was waiting at the bottom. Of course, it hadn't been in use for a long time, but on that day, it was lit up. Nobody knew who had done it...but I had a feeling he was behind it all." It took Wanda all her might not to puke at the pictures of three terribly burned bodies, while a 10 year old Sanderson was standing next to them, afraid and scared.

"If you take a closer look, you'll see that he's just pretending." HP said quietly. Wanda slowly put down the article.

"...H...He pushed them, didn't he?"

"...Yes. The police never figured out who did it...and he was under their nose the whole time."

"...But you knew the whole time! Why didn't you say anything!" Wanda demanded.

"I wasn't much of a parental figure back then...in fact, I hated having a kid tag along everywhere...and what did I do about it? I ignored him...refused to show anything other than being his boss. If only I had paid more attention to him..." HP trailed off.

"Is that why you fear him now? You created the monster you were trying to avoid?" Wanda laughed bitterly at the thought of defending the young pixie.

"I fear Sanderson for different reasons. His unpredictability. His unstable detachment from all things. His sadistic behavior that even surprised me at times. His sexual attraction to his victims..."

"What!" She said, getting up out of her chair in shock.

"Calm down Wanda. You're not making the situation any better." Wanda sat back down, unable to believe a word that was coming out the head pixie's mouth.

"We can't see it the way he does Wanda." H.P. began.

"How can you judge what you couldn't possibly comprehend? As much as emotions confuse him so does any law or unwritten rule. He can't abide by something when he feels no commitment to its reasons. What I'm trying to say is, if morally it doesn't bother him (and I quite imagine nothing could bother him at this point) than he could care less for petty human opinions regarding it. He sees something he wants, he goes for it regardless."

"Then why does he do...why does he...?" Wanda struggled to say what was on her mind, but was too embarrassed. HP knew what she was trying to ask him, and sighed.

"I don't know..."

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"...What's the status on our project?" Sanderson asked coldly as he walked into the meeting room of Wishfixers, ignoring the fact that he was still in leather pants and had no shirt on.

"Sir...the missiles are ready to be launched, and our troops are prepared to deploy." A young pixie responded as he flew to him.

"...Good. They won't know what hit them if we attack while their defense is still down." Sanderson smirked.

"Sir, is it war you're planning?" He asked, trying not to look at his unbuttoned pants.

"...I happen to be full of surprises, Thompson." Sanderson said as he teasingly wiggled his tongue at him. Thompson blushed hard and scurried away before the prince would do something that involved him bound and naked on the floor. Watching the young pixie, Sanderson sat at the table and propped his feet on it.

"...Such a naughty little boy." He whispered as he leaned his head back against the plush chair and closed his eyes.

"Reminds me of...me."

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"Cosmo...Cosmo...wake up..." Timmy said weakly as he shook the green-haired fairy by his arm.

"..." Cosmo stirred a bit, but that was all. He hadn't moved since Sanderson left them.

"Cosmo..." Timmy tried again, shaking him harder. He slightly winced at the pain in his abdomen as he did so.

"What did he...do...to...to you?" He could only hear the green-haired fairy's breath. The boy let out a cry and hit him repeatedly, trying to get some kind of reaction from him. There was none...

"WAKE UP!" Timmy wailed. Cosmo lay still, his skin feeling cold and pale to him.

"P...please...I'm sorry...I'm so...sorry.." He sobbed as he collasped on his chest.