ON THE WINGS OF AN ANGEL

Welcome back, readers! Here is the next chapter; it's shorter than I wanted it to be, but it's very sweet. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't watch "Pinocchio" anymore, not without these stories coming to mind.

Characters (with exceptions) © Disney

Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

Chapter 13: Healing Hearts

Terence and Rhiella talked well into the night, staying as close to each other as possible the whole time. They shed so many tears it soon seemed their eyes would never be dry again. When at last their tears did run dry, when they'd run out of things to talk about, Terence just held Rhiella quietly in his arms until she drifted off to sleep. Still keeping a firm yet gentle hold on her, he arose to his feet. He carried her to his room and tenderly laid her down on his own bed, covering her with an extra blanket, just to be sure she would be good and warm. He gently brushed away a stray tendril of hair from her face before he left her in peace.

When he passed by Pinocchio's room, he paused briefly to check on the boy. Outside, the storm still raged; the water poured down Pinocchio's windowpane in steady sheets, while lightning continued to flicker and thunder continued to grumble. Pinocchio was snuggled deeply under his quilts, and as his eyes were closed, it was impossible to tell if he was truly asleep, or what he was dreaming. Terence prayed he wasn't having that awful dream again.

It seemed to the youth that Pinocchio had dreamt a lot about Fabrizio lately—more so than he had before. Had Fabrizio's spirit truly returned to haunt him, or could this all be of the boy's own making? Terence knew Pinocchio was still quite shaken from what transpired at the circus, as he well had a right to be; he himself had yet to fully recover from that experience. Sometimes he could hardly believe Pinocchio was even alive.

Yet a part of Terence wondered if there was more to the dreams than just the reliving of a horrific memory. Could it be…was it possible Pinocchio blamed himself for Fabrizio's death, just as he once blamed himself for Geppetto's death?

Surely the boy knew as well as anyone else that it was an accident. Perhaps he knew it in his head, but in his heart—that may be a wholly different matter.

Terence sighed and shook his head. If only there were some way he could shield Pinocchio from all of this; he'd already been through far too much for a child of his age. All in the space of a few months, he lost his father along with the only home he had ever known, undergone kidnapping and abuse, and experienced death itself. Terence had had his share of troubles, but he felt Pinocchio had gone through enough trouble to last a lifetime.

Edging in a little closer to the bed, the white-haired youth knelt and took one of Pinocchio's tiny hands in both of his. As he'd said to Rhiella, he didn't know what it was about Pinocchio that made him so special, didn't know how they managed to get along so well. Maybe part of the reason was that they were both young. At this thought, Terence couldn't repress a slight smile. Well, "young" isn't exactly the best word to describe me.

It was true. Although Terence maintained the semblance of a youthful man, he was far much older than Pinocchio, Jiminy, Rhiella, and everyone else realized. In fact, he was practically old enough to be Geppetto's grandfather, maybe even his great-grandfather. Terence wondered how the others would react if they'd found out his true age, or better yet, if they knew what he truly was. The idea made him ill at ease.

Well, it made no difference.

He and Pinocchio were family now; maybe not in the conventional sense, but a family nonetheless. Pinocchio was his as much as he was Geppetto's.

Now Rhiella had come into the picture. At that moment, Terence didn't know where she fit, but surely there had to be some place. They could certainly use a woman around here, for a change. Terence hoped Rhiella would have no objections; if she came all this way just to seek him out, that must be a sign that she wanted him back. But how would she feel about having Pinocchio as part of the parcel?

Better yet, how would Pinocchio feel about it?