*Sweats* *Apologises profusely* *Gives lame excuses*
Ahem. Uh, yeah. Oops?
Well, anyway, I might as well warn you that this one is about as fluffy as a cactus, which is to say not at all. Three cheers for pain!
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing these guys. I promise I'll put them back in the toybox when I'm done, but for now I don't own anything recognisable.
20. Revenge (Prompt 016)
The world burns around him, flames dancing mid-air as they fall from the sky. Anti-Cosmo pays them no mind, instead focusing the anger coursing through him on the destruction of one thing:
His counterpart.
His bat wings beat furiously as he zooms through Fairy World, dodging falling debris and panicked fairies. A few of them try to engage him in battle, however he turns them to dust without batting an eyelash. They are unimportant and he does not care what fate befalls them.
After a while, he's confronted by the fairies' leader, Jorgen Von Strangle. They exchange banter, but it's meaningless and none of it actually sticks in Anti-Cosmo's mind. What does stay, though, is the knowledge that this fairy is in his way and preventing him from arriving at his destination.
What does he do with things in his way? He exterminates them.
They launch into a battle, but this time Anti-Cosmo doesn't hold back like he does during their usual scraps. As evil as he is, he's never really one to get the literal blood on his hands. The stains are difficult to get out and he doesn't have the time for them.
Right now, however, he couldn't care less about that.
They assume fighting positions almost simultaneously, green eyes staring coldly back at blue ones, serious expressions mirrored on each other's faces. Anti-Cosmo's mind races, but not with his usual diverse plethora of thoughts. Multiple words flood his mind, but they are all synonyms of one thing: destroy.
Suddenly, Jorgen breaks his fighting stance and raises his wand to send a blast towards his adversary. Quickly, Anti-Cosmo maneuvers out of the way and charges, dropping to the ground and sliding underneath the wingless fairy at the last moment. Before Jorgen can even think about turning, he's hit in the back with a beam of dark magic that leaves him gasping.
Angered, he grabs for his extraordinarily large wand and swings it around, hitting Anti-Cosmo and knocking him against a wall. Narrowing his eyes, Jorgen stalks over to where the anti-fairy lays crumpled on the ground. Stepping cautiously closer, the well-muscled fairy nudges Anti-Cosmo with his boot.
There's no response, so Jorgen readies his wand to finish the job. Power builds, a large ball of light gathering around the tip of the wand. A moment before the power is released, however, Anti-Cosmo's eyes flick open, a devilish grin revealing white canines. He pushes off the wall, leaving a mirror in his place.
Jorgen realises too late that the genius has slipped away, and the power surge ends up reflecting off the mirror and hitting Jorgen, destroying him instantly in addition to shattering the mirror into millions of tiny shards.
As he takes to the air again, Anti-Cosmo allows himself a small, self-satisfied smirk.
Cosmo doesn't know what he's doing, as usual. All he really knows is that Fairy World's on fire and he should really get away from it, but he's not quite sure how to do that without Wanda. Should he turn left, or right? Take Fifth Street or Fourth? Try to take cover in a building or fly away but risk getting hit by the falling-apart buildings?
He can feel the familiar panic rise up in his chest; that feeling he gets when he's trying to make a decision and Wanda isn't there to help him.
Suddenly he gets an idea. Crossing his fingers, he raises his wand to poof away, but it makes that funny sound and the tip wilts, falling to the side.
"Having trouble?" A familiar voice asks mockingly. Cosmo turns around and finds himself staring into the green orbs of his genius counterpart. His own eyes widen by a fraction, and he unconsciously takes a step backward. After a moment, he opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out except for a squeak. Anti-Cosmo floats closer, looking every bit the criminal mastermind he is.
Tilting his head to the side slightly, Anti-Cosmo continues to invade Cosmo's personal space. "Cat got your tongue?" His voice is soft, though still holding the mocking undertone he often uses when dealing with his counterpart.
Cosmo swallows heavily. "No . . ." he trails off uncertainly, trying to wish his dark double away inside his head.
The two lapse into silence, Anti-Cosmo simply staring at Cosmo with his eyebrows slightly raised, eyes betraying no emotion while Cosmo shifts uncomfortably under his gaze. "What?" The fairy finally asks after a while.
"Pardon?"
"I—I mean, what are you doing here?" Cosmo clarifies.
A snicker. "What am I doing here? Oh, my naïve, ignoramus of a counterpart, you should know exactly why I'm here." His eyes flash dangerously for a moment, their abnormal light green flickering dark for a second. Cosmo moves back again, flinching slightly as his doppelgänger whips around, tone turning more business-like as he speaks. "Exactly one week, five hours and twenty some-odd minutes ago, you caused the death of a fairy and her anti-fairy counterpart."
Out of Cosmo's sight, the anti-fairy's expression twists into a scowl. "Of course, the Fairy Court deemed you not responsible, and let you free."
"Because it wasn't my fault!"
"Silence!" Anti-Cosmo whirls around again, and Cosmo can nearly see the smoke coming out of his ears. "It was your fault, and we both know it. You could have saved her had you ceased being your usual idiotic self for a moment!" He screeches, his businesslike façade dropping instantly.
Cosmo bites his lip, blinking back tears. "You don't even know what happened! You weren't there!"
"I know more than you think I do." Anti-Cosmo snarls, lip curling in disgust. Both are silent for a moment after that, until Anti-Cosmo relaxes slightly, the dark fire in his eyes quenching. Nonchalantly, he gives his wand a flick. "Let us settle this. I shall extract the memory, we will watch it, and let the events decide themselves. Does that sound fair to you?"
A sudden jolt of fear at re-watching his wife's death makes Cosmo jump, but he nods uncertainly. With a grim look, Anti-Cosmo gives his wand a sharp wave, pulling a memory from his counterpart's head. Cosmo shudders slightly, the extraction feeling invasive, and swallows heavily as the memory swirls around Anti-Cosmo's wand like a mist, wrapping the dark black in a web of creamy white. Carefully, almost gently, Anti-Cosmo twirls his wand once more, allowing the memory to swirl into a screen-like portal.
Anti-Cosmo smiles coldly at Cosmo, gesturing towards the memory. "Age before beauty," he says, eyes glinting. Cosmo gulps, but steps forward anyway. The memory flows over him, flashing white but looking dark at the same time, a sudden coolness washing over him. After a moment his vision clears, and the gloomy toy factory appears, the sharp smell of smoke invading Cosmo's nostrils.
Cosmo glances around, seeing nothing but machines and the toys they're creating.
"They're over here, my moronic counterpart." Anti-Cosmo's voice makes Cosmo flinch. Wordlessly, the fairy flies over to Anti-Cosmo, who is looking around a corner with a grim stare. Peeking his own head around the corner, Cosmo sees himself, Wanda, and Timmy as they journey around the factory, looking for Timmy's magical hover board. His godchild had lost it in an unfortunate accident involving no more than twenty cats and a sorry-looking clown, and the three of them had found out it had been sent to this particular toy factory. Needless to say, Timmy had insisted they go after it. Well, he had insisted after Wanda had told him they weren't poofing up another one for him.
The three of them are currently making their way towards the reject room, where all the defective toys are sent to be destroyed. Cosmo watches stiffly as the events play out, keeping his focus mainly on Wanda.
His wife is herself, gently scolding Timmy for being careless and losing his board; reminding memory-Cosmo that even though the stuffing in the stuffed animals looks like cotton candy, it certainly doesn't taste the same. Watching her makes Cosmo's eyes sting, so he looks away. Since he knows how this ends, he decides to watch his dark doppelgänger's reaction instead.
Anti-Cosmo's face does not display a smug smirk, nor a cold glare. Instead, his expression looks almost melancholy, his eyes unfocused as they stare aimlessly into the dark factory.
Suddenly, Anti-Cosmo's eyes blink sharply and he gives his head a decisive shake, turning to look at Cosmo. "Come on," he says, floating after memory-Cosmo, Wanda, and Timmy, who are making their way to the incinerator. Cosmo flies after him, trailing a few feet behind.
After travelling down tortuous hallways and weaving between multiple machines, Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo come to a wall with a tiny hole just big enough for the two to fit through. They squeeze through the hole, and find themselves on a small ledge overlooking the incineration room.
For a moment, everything is silent except for the crackling and whooshing of the flames.
Then Timmy appears, followed closely by Wanda and Memory-Cosmo. The preteen chases after his hover board, running onto the conveyor belt to grab it. After jumping over multiple broken toys, Timmy is able to grab his magical hover board, hoisting it over his head with a triumphant grin. Unfortunately for him, he forgets that the conveyer belt is still moving, propelling him closer and closer to a fiery death. Timmy doesn't notice until it's too late, stumbling over the edge and into the fire.
Or, he would've fallen into the fire had it not been for Wanda, who comes out of nowhere to shove the boy away. A stray flame flickers up just as she flies over the pit and she screams as it burns her wings to a crisp, leaving them useless. She seems to hover in mid-air for a moment, and that moment is just enough for her to reach out and grab the edge of the platform holding the conveyer belt, rendering her alive but left swinging precariously over the edge of the incinerator. Cosmo winces as her left hand slips from the hot metal, and he desperately hopes that his memory-self will be able to save her, despite already knowing he won't.
Memory-Cosmo's eyes widen and he flies toward his wife as quickly as he can, but she's gone by the time he reaches the end of the belt. Her screech of terror is cut off quite quickly, and Cosmo can only stare at his memory-self's horrified face before the factory swirls away in a mist of white and a burning Fairy World swims back into view and with it, an angry Anti-Cosmo.
His dark doppelgänger narrows his mint-coloured eyes, arms folded neatly over his chest.
Cosmo, feeling defensive, shifts slightly. "There was no way I could've saved her! You saw!"
Anti-Cosmo's face takes on an especially nasty look, features twisting into a dark scowl. "Oh, of course," he snarls, tone deeply sarcastic. "It isn't like you had a wand in your hand or anything; you couldn't have just waved it and created a trampoline, or some sort of flat platform for her to land on. My most sincere apologies for doubting you at all, you bloody moron of a counterpart!" Without pause, Anti-Cosmo flicks his wrist, giving his wand a sharp wave, and suddenly Cosmo has shrunken to the size of a mouse.
Picking the tiny fairy up by his wings, Anti-Cosmo lifts him so that Cosmo is looking into his eyes. "Do you know what it's like to watch your wife die before your eyes, powerless to help?" He asks in a soft, almost gentle voice. Cosmo opens his mouth to reply that yes, yes he does because he just did it again for the second time—wasn't his counterpart watching?—when Anti-Cosmo cuts him off. "I hadn't the foggiest what was happening. One moment she was fine, the next, taking her final breaths." His eyes cloud over, his mind lost to reminiscing.
"It was only about a minute before she died that I figured it out."
"C-Cozzie? What's happenin'?"
He didn't reply; not because he didn't have an answer, but because he couldn't bear to say the words and finalise her fate. Instead he gathered her into his arms, holding her close and trying to savour what little he had left of her.
"I d-don't feel good," she whispered, and for the first time he didn't even notice the grammatical error.
Instead he folded their fingers together, murmuring hollow-feeling words of comfort. "I know, I know,"—he swallowed heavily—"but don't worry, my dear. It will all be over soon enough."
He snaps out of it, shaking his head once, sharply. "Do you know what's it's like to watch the one thing you hold most dear slip away like sand through your fingers and realise that someone caused it? That there is someone at fault? And then to know that the person responsible is easily reachable, and, with that, destroyable?" Anti-Cosmo's voice, which at first was soft, darkens with each word until he is almost spitting with rage. "Do you know what that's like?" He shouts, and even Cosmo, who normally can't tell the difference between happiness and jealousy, hears the broken edge to his counterpart's voice. That shattered, ice-cold edge that only an unlucky few ever have to their voices.
Cosmo whimpers, and immediately hates himself for it when a look of pleasure spreads across Anti-Cosmo's face.
"B-but," Cosmo protests weakly, his miniaturised body doing nothing to assist in raising his confidence. "If you k-kill me, you die t-too!"
Anti-Cosmo chuckles, a hollow sound that makes Cosmo shudder. "Do you think I care about that?" He asks rhetorically. "As long as I extract my revenge from you, I couldn't care less about anything else, much less my own life."
Cosmo whimpers again, a girlish, feeble sound that makes Anti-Cosmo flinch. Not because of how pitiful it is, but because it is nearly identical to that of Anti-Wanda's.
"Ouch," she whispered weakly, shifting in an attempt to ease her discomfort. "Cozzie, what's goin' on?"
He frowned, biting his bottom lip forcefully to keep the infernal tears back. "I-I don't know." He responded carefully.
"Anti-Cosmo." She said sharply, or as sharply as she could. Said anti-fairy flinched, unused to hearing his normally amiable wife use such a cool tone of voice.
Anti-Cosmo inhaled deeply, trying to forcibly relax his shaking body. He'd read all the books on fairy and anti-fairy counterparts he could find, as well as plenty of the medicinal textbooks. He knew exactly what was happening and that there was nothing he could do to stop it. "I . . . I believe that something has happened to Wanda. Something fatal. Which means that if I'm right, you're going to—"
"To die." Anti-Wanda interrupted with a shocked voice, which resulted in a storm of coughing. For a few moments both were quiet as she tried to regain her breath. "I'm gonna die," she said again after she had recovered. It was no longer just a vague possibility that perhaps one day her life would run out, it was now a definite.
Clenching his jaw, Anti-Cosmo begins. Waving his wand once, he both sends Cosmo flying into a wall and changes him back to regular size. Cosmo groans, dazed, and can only watch as his counterpart stalks up to him with a look of pure hatred.
"You had one job," his dark counterpart spits. "One job! All you had to do was keep her safe, and you couldn't even do that!" Anti-Cosmo's eyes shimmer with half-formed tears and stark disapproval. "You fairies have everything: happiness, godchildren,free will . . . but what do anti-fairies have? All we've gotten from you is hatred and oppression. Our entire lives are dictated by our counterparts!" He snarls, voice going dangerously low. "And if something in our worthless lives dares to go right, there's always some moron ready to mess it all up!"
"I'm scared, Cozzie."
He wanted to hold her closer, but he was afraid that if he squeezed her any tighter she'd pop. He held her, gripped her as if the length of her life depended on how strong his grasp was. He swallowed heavily again, each time more forceful than the last, trying to shove the rising lump in his throat down.
"You'll be okay." He insisted, trying to make his voice soft instead of broken. "You'll hurt for a little while longer, but when it's all over, you'll be fine." Silence lapsed over them, and he cradled her gently, doing his best to ignore her hitched breathing.
After a while, he could no longer hear her unsteady breathing, and at first he thought he had been successful in blocking it out. Then he noticed that she wasn't moving, that her chest had stopped its rhythmic rising and falling, and that he could no longer feel her heartbeat.
He flicks his wand again, carelessly, and flings Cosmo around like a puppet with an evil puppeteer, slamming him through windows and into walls. "It's all your fault!" He screeches, whipping the battered fairy around. "Your fault! It's your fault she's dead!" He's panting now, not from strain, but from the pure anger coursing through his veins. "I can't have anything good in my life, can I? You can't allow one thing to go right?" With one last wave of his wand, he tosses Cosmo as far as he can, enjoying the way he sails through the air and out of sight.
Suddenly the anger vanishes and Anti-Cosmo grins, throwing his head back and barking out a sharp laugh. Revenge . . . it feels good. Gazing out at the rest Fairy World, which is now at least seventy percent ash thanks to magical fire, he continues to laugh hysterically. Even when he falls to his knees, his counterpart's death enacting his own, he can't help but feel the electric sensation of power that runs through him and grin.
Goddamn American-English spellchecker. If I had a loonie for every time I had to ignore one of those little red lines just because I spelt something the Canadian/British way, I'd be rich enough to buy FOP and create a spin-off about everyone's favourite (notice the "u") anti-fairies!
3161 words, according to the ol' word counter. Yeah, I like that one. I've got a bit of a thing for Anti-Cosmo going all "ragh ragh murderous rage" over someone hurting (or, in this case, killing) Anti-Wanda, in case you couldn't tell. :P
Anyway, I'm sorry about all the time these last few updates have taken. I've been on a block for ages. I can't really write more than a few sentences at a time. *Sigh* Just so you know, though, if I disappear for another couple months, don't worry. I'll still be writing, just maybe not as quickly as I'd like. :)
So . . . how 'bout them reviews, huh? Those are pretty awesome. Just sayin'.