Alex collides painfully with the ground. She wheezes, laying on her back for a moment, trying to catch her breath.
She breathes in and out deeply when, suddenly, a scream pieces the air. Her eyes snap open as something lands in front of her with a loud thud.
"Oh, what the fuck."
Alex sits up, slowly, wincing. She'll definitely feel that later.
Looking up, the first thing she notices is her brother laying face down on the ground. The second is the weird man standing a few feet away from them, giving them a strange look.
He has blond hair that's undercut. His eyes are a bright, ruby red, contrasting greatly from his pale skin. He wears a brown tunic that is half covered by a black cloak, hood back. A small sword hangs from his belt.
"I feel like I'm going to regret asking this, but, are you guys okay?" the man asks.
Conner mumbles something into the ground.
"I'll take that as a no, then," the man decides.
Alex hesitates, before leaning forward, and shaking Conner's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
He rolls over onto his back after a moment, his face tinted red, and smeared with dirt. His eyes look watery. "I hate you so much right now."
"Why?" Alex asks. As soon as the question leaves her mouth she feels rather stupid. In her defense she didn't ask him to follow her.
"You don't just. . . fall. . . into a book! Especially when it glows, and hums!"
"I wasn't going to go in! I was just going to put my hand inside, to see what would happen!"
Conner glares at her.
"I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear any of that," the man says. "Anyways, where are you two from? Your clothes are rather strange, so I take it you're not from around here?"
"Where is 'here', anyways?" Conner asks, glancing at the man.
"You don't—" The man stops himself before he can finish whatever he'd been saying. "Of course you don't know where 'here' is. You wouldn't be here if you did."
Conner and Alex exchanged nervous glances. The way the man's voice grows darker puts them on edge.
"Where's your home?" the man asks, changing topics. "Is it nearby here?"
"No?" Alex answers. "It—I don't think it's anywhere near here."
The man sighs. "Of course it's not." He pinches the bridge of his nose. He appears to think for a moment, before saying, "I know a place. Come on." He begins to walk back in the direction opposite to them, then turns to face them.
"Oh—" Alex scrambles to her feet— "Coming!"
Conner grabs her wrist as she begins to walk past him. "What are you doing?" he hisses to her. "We don't even know him."
"What else are we supposed to do?" she whispers back. "If he wanted to hurt us he probably would have by now."
Conner grunts. "Okay, fine. Let's follow him. But next time we're not gonna follow the weird person in the woods to who knows where."
"Deal," Alex says. She wriggles her arm out from Conner's grip and continues on. She hears Conner get to his feet and hurry after her.
0-0-0-0-0-0
The man stops in front of a hole in the ground. There's a wooden door wedged into it, half covered by vines and moss.
The man knocks on the door.
It is a moment before the door creaks open, and something green pops out of it.
Alex stares at it for a moment, before registering it as a giant frog head. She sucks in a breath.
"Ryuku," the frog-man greets.
"Froggy," the man, or, rather, Ryuku, says. "How's life?"
"It's been alright," Froggy answers. He glances at the twins. "I see you've brought. . . Company with you."
"They were alone in the Dwarf Forests," Ryuku says. "I couldn't leave them there."
"No, I suppose not." And to the twins, "Come on in." He disappears back into his hole.
"It's okay," Ryuku tells the twins. "He doesn't bite."
I hope not, Alex thinks.
"Well, I better be on my way now. Take care, you two." And with that, he pivots on his heel and walks down the path, and, soon, he disappears from their sight.
"You remember how I said that we wouldn't follow a random stranger in the woods the next time they offered to lead us anywhere," Conner says, staring after Ryuku long after he's gone. "Yeah, let's just ignore that."
Alex snorts. "C'mon." She climbs through the hole in the ground and lands in a very neat living room.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Who was that guy?"
"Hmm?" Froggy tilts his head. "Oh, you mean Ryuku?"
Conner nods. "Yeah. Him. What's his deal?"
Alex elbows his side, giving him a warning glare.
"You know, I'm not too sure myself," Froggy says. He has a thinking expression on his face. "We sort of ran into each other some years ago. He hasn't told me anything about his past in those years."
"Then why trust him?"
"If he wanted to hurt me, he would have already done so."
0-0-0-0-0-0
Where the Dwarf Forests are dark and spooky, the forests of the Fairy Kingdom are cheerful and bright and filled with all sorts of passive creatures.
If anything, it kind of puts Conner on edge more. It's just—It's too nice. There has to be some sort of catch.
Anyways, the Fairy Palace is nice. It has tall glass walls that are lined with gold glimmer in the sunlight.
They stand in front of a kind of stand, with six tall, imposing podiums, all different colors of the rainbow.
(There's a smaller podium, wedged between the orange and green one. It shimmers yellow. Conner could probably stand behind it comfortably.)
(He wonders why it's there. But he's not too worried about it.)
("Look." Alex pointed to a statue of a young boy. He appeared to be not too much older than they were.
Conner gazed into his youthful face, and he couldn't help but think how familiar he was.
"Hey Trixx?" Conner doesn't look at their small friend. "Who's he?"
"Hmm?" She glanced at the statue. If it were even possible she looked even more worried. "Well, erm, we're not really supposed to talk about it." She quickly glanced around their surroundings. "Rumor has it he used to be friends with the Fairy Council. He might've even been part of it. I sometimes see members of the Fairy Council sit and talk to the statue."
"What's his name?" Alex asked politely. Conner continued to stare at the statue.
Trixx shrugged. "No one knows. The Fairy Council probably knows though."
"Speaking of the Fairy Council," Conner said, finally [finally!] tearing his gaze away from the statue, "we should probably go before you're late for your trial."
Trixx let out an 'eep!' before zooming away, leaving Conner and Alex to scramble after her.)
"You're late," says the green one, Emerelda, in a cold tone that leaves no room for debate.
Trixx floats forward, avoiding eye contact with her.
"You have been called here today," Emerelda continues, "for the use of magic on a fellow being."
Trixx nods.
"This, as you know, is against the rules. With this in mind, we have ultimately decided to banish you from the Fairy Kingdom."
"Hey, woah!"
"Conner!" Alex hisses, attempting to grab his arm. He evades her grasp and muscles his way to the front of the crowd. He glares up at them, his hands on his hips.
He must've startled them, because something causes them to ripple, and they stare at him in disbelief and shock and other emotions he can't quite place.
("Oh my stars," Skylene breathes in a wavering voice.
"I thought—I thought it was him," Emerelda says softly, fighting back tears. Coral gives them a strange look. Rosette pretends as though she's not hearing the conversation, no matter how confused she is.)
"Who do you think you are, young man?" says Tangerina angrily.
"Someone who thinks your ruling is real stupid."
The crows around him gasp at his bold statement.
"How dare you!" Skylene slams her hands on the podium and glowers harshly at him.
Violetta says nothing, though the look of disappointment on her face says everything.
(Conner isn't sure if she's disappointed in him or. . . No. She can't be disappointed in the other members. She's one of them after all.)
"Listen, I don't even live here and I can tell that your ruling is terrible."
"Please don't try to help me," Trixx whispers to him, shaking her head urgently. He ignores her.
"From what I'm hearing, the guy had it coming! He was a total jerk! Where's his trial, huh? And besides, all she did was change his wings to prune leaves! Me and my sister were chased by wolves, captured by trolls and goblins, and were almost murdered this past week! It seems to me that you guys are too busy slapping fairies on their wrists for harmless pranks that you don't care what's actually going on in the world!"
Conner breathes heavily into the thick silence. The council members stare at him blankly.
"You were captured?" Coral says gently. "The Troll and Goblin Territory is still taking human slaves?"
"Why are you surprised? If you really gave a crap about the world you would have done something about this a long time ago!"
Emerelda stares at her podium for a moment, before looking up again and saying, "On behalf of the Fairy Council, I hereby clear Trixx of her crimes. Tangerina, Skylene, Violetta and I will head to the Troll and Goblin Territory to resolve things."
The three she'd listed nod, and, one by one, disappear into thin air, each one leaving behind a cloud of sparkles their respective color.
Emerelda turns to Conner, tilting her head. "Thank you, Mr. . . ?"
"Conner," he says, nodding. "Conner Wishington."
She smiles. "Thank you, Mr. Wishington." And with that, she vanishes, leaving behind a cloud of green sparkles. Eventually those disappear too.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Conner, if he were allowed to swear, would have said the f word right about now. But he doesn't. Because when they do manage to get back home Alex will no doubt tell on him and he'll be in more trouble than he already is.
Conner shifts restlessly, in an attempt to loosen the knots. It doesn't work. All he manages to do is rub his skin raw.
The only condolence he has is that he vial holding the fairy tear had shattered, and now the Evil Queen doesn't have it.
(The last thing he remembers is some guard bellowing outside the castle's walls and something loud and ear shattering and the walls crumbling and the wolves swarm them—)
Conner screams as Froggy grabs him, his fingers clenching the frog-man's suit tightly, and, this time, he can not stop the stream of curses that spew out of his mouth.
0-0-0-0-0-0
On their second night of staying at the Northern Palace, Alex and Conner tell the guards that they're going to the Ugly Duckling pond.
They sit on the banks of it, and Alex has taken off her shoes and stepped into the chilly water, hoisting her skirt up so as not to get it wet. Conner watches her from his perch on a boulder.
They sit in silence until the sound of hooves fills the air. Conner glances up, and is surprised to see a familiar man riding atop a slender steed.
Ryuku slips off the horse's back, and Conner wonders how he found them.
(His horse has fire for a mane. Why does it have fire for a mane?)
"Hello again," Ryuku says to them, smiling softly.
"Hi," Alex responds. She steps into a shallower area and waves at him.
"How did you find us?" Conner blurts out before he can stop himself. He immediately wants to bite his fist as soon as the words leave his mouth, and Alex is giving him a bit of a horrified expression.
"I asked my handy dandy demon assistant for your location," Ryuku says without missing a beat. He keeps such a straight face and a deadpanned tone that Conner doesn't know if he's joking or not.
"Okay," Alex says, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well, it's nice to see you again."
Ryuku hums in agreement. "Did you two manage to find your way back home?"
"No," Conner says after a moment's hesitation. "Um—" he shoots a brief glance at Alex, who merely shrugs in response, "it's kinda a long story."
"Go on, then," Ryuku says as he perches on a rock. He nods for Conner to begin. "I have all the time in the world."
0-0-0-0-0-0
"You hardly seem surprised by all of this," Alex notes when they've finished telling their adventure.
Ryuku shrugs. "Weirder things have happened to me."
"Like what?" Conner asks him, curious. He wants to know about their new acquaintance (or, dare he say it, friend).
"One time my friend's ex wanted to execute me for something I didn't do because it would help him take over the world."
Conner blinks. He's a little sorry that he'd asked about it.
"You're—You're joking, right?" Alex strains for a smile. "That was a joke?"
Ryuku appears to not hear her. Or, if he did, he chooses not to answer.
"Alex? Conner?" a guard's voice calls from the palace. Footsteps begin to head towards them.
Ryuku swears and climbs back onto his horse. "Well, it was nice talking to you two. Perhaps we'll meet again." And with that he vanishes into the forest, the sound of horse hooves gradually disappearing into the distance.
The guard appears a few moments later. "I believe we should head in now? You two have been out here for an awfully long time."
And it's true. The sun is practically invisible, it's sunk so low beneath the horizon, and the sky has darkened a considerable amount.
Alex nods and begins to head back. Conner hesitates, casting one last glance at the Dwarf Forests, before following after his sister.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Heya fellas it's me your favorite fanfic writer /j
Things will escalate after this chapter bc we'll be moving in to rewriting book two so yeah