June 2015
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A little chat with Anti-Wanda and Cosmo. Simple minds, these two. Too cute.
FOP doesn't belong to me.
Cosmo sat cross-legged in front of Anti-Wanda's prison cell. He had followed the soldiers as they dragged her in, unlocking her heavy shackles only once she was inside the cell. Then the soldiers had left, and a heavy glass-like door had clamped shut tightly, the sharp 'CLANG!' of the lock echoing loudly about the prison as it fell into place.
The anti-fairy herself also sat on the floor, in the middle of her dark cell, hugging her legs tightly and resting her forehead on her knees. Every so often she would rock back and forth slightly, as though comforting herself. She wasn't crying—at least not that Cosmo could tell—but she was obviously still quite upset.
"Do you want to talk?" the little green haired fairy called softly, not quite sure why he had spoken at all. Actually, he wasn't really sure why he was there in the first place, but supposed it was better than going home. What exactly was waiting for him except an empty house?
Anti-Wanda made no motion that she had heard. Her shoulders rose and fell slowly, and Cosmo heard her sigh heavily.
"Do you want some water?" Cosmo asked, hoping that the gesture would help her open up as it had in the interrogation room. He wasn't exactly sure how he'd get the water to her even if she did accept, as the solid prison door would have prevented him entrance, but thought the offer might be nice anyway.
"I want my husband," Anti-Wanda said quietly, her head still resting on her knees. The shield around the cell carried her voice perfectly to Cosmo, who grimaced slightly at the sadness held within it.
"I—I can't do that," he said softly, absently rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. "Sorry."
"I want things to be like they were before," she said, and now it sounded as though she were crying. "Before any of this. Before I opened my stupid mouth."
Cosmo sat quietly, watching the anti-fairy version of his wife cry silently in her prison cell. He had no idea why she was so upset, but doubted it actually had anything to do with her present incarcerated state. Her sobs seemed too heavy, too filled with grief to simply be a result of the separation from her husband and current imprisonment. This seemed to be a much deeper sorrow. One she was unfortunately very familiar with.
"Did . . ." Cosmo started hesitantly, wanting to ask but fearful of upsetting her further. "Did AC take Tabby because you wanted a godchild?"
Anti-Wanda raised her head so suddenly that Cosmo jerked back slightly, momentarily startled. Her blue cheeks were wet with tears, and she wiped them away quickly, almost roughly.
"He didn't understand," she said as she resumed hugging her legs. "I tried to explain it, but no matter what I said, he never really understood. He thought he could just fix things, make me feel better by getting us a godchild, but it wasn't right, and I knew it wasn't right, but he was so sure things would turn out okay and I trusted him because he's a genius, but not about this, he just doesn't understand about this, but I don't think it's his fault, I think it's because I'm a woman and he's not, but that doesn't matter now because I'm here and he's not and we're both in so much trouble and it's all because I didn't keep my big stupid mouth shut! I'M SO STUPID!"
With a loud sob, Anti-Wanda plunged her hands into her hair and yanked on her scalp, rocking herself back and forth in an attempt to calm. Tears were streaming down her cheeks in rivers, regardless of how tightly she closed her eyes against them. This whole situation was entirely her fault, and she knew it
Outside her cell, Cosmo had inched himself closer to the see-through door, and now pressed his hands against it, peering inside at the weeping anti-fairy. His sympathetic nature overrode any predisposed prejudices he had against anti-fairies, and now all his body was telling him was to hold her, caress her hair, rock her gently and take some of her sadness away. Love or romantic feelings had nothing to do with it—all he saw was another creature in pain, one that he could very closely identify with, and he wanted to make her feel better. The fact that she looked so much like his wife made these urges to help her that much more persistent. Especially her eyes. The depth of the sadness he had seen in them very nearly made him cry out, just like the last time he had seen it there.
Wait a minute. The last time? This was the first time he had ever truly interacted with Anti-Wanda, so how could he compare the look in her eyes to 'the last time'?
A memory suddenly flashed, one of his wife laying on her bed, her pink cheeks wet with tears and her large pink eyes full of the same pain and sadness that he had just seen in Anti-Wanda's eyes just a moment ago. He remembered that day, all those years ago, when Wanda had come home from the doctor. He remembered what the doctor had told her. And he remembered how upset and shattered she had been. The day she learned she would never have children.
Pieces fell into place with an almost audible 'click' in Cosmo's mind, and now he looked back at the anti-fairy in the cell before him. Anti-Wanda was still rocking back and forth slightly, but she had chosen to hug herself tightly instead of her legs. Her eyes were still tightly clamped shut, but those stubborn tears were still flowing endlessly down her cheeks.
"You," he said quietly, carefully choosing each word so as not to upset her even more. "You can't have children." Anti-Wanda stopped to stare at Cosmo in mid-rock, her eyes wide and full of shock. The green haired fairy swallowed nervously, daring to push on. "You were sad because you couldn't have a baby, so AC took Tabby to help you feel better."
"H—How did you know that?" the anti-fairy whispered harshly, shaking her head slowly back and forth. "You can't know that."
"Your eyes," Cosmo said as Anti-Wanda slowly crawled toward the door. She stopped and sat just like him—resting on her ankles, her legs tucked beneath her, and her hands pressed lightly against the door. "Wanda had the exact same look a long time ago . . . when she found out she couldn't have kids either," he finished quietly.
They sat silently for a few moments, allowing the unintentional confessions to sink in fully. As opposite as they were—male and female, fairy and anti-fairy—some things were just too similar to overlook. Their comparable intelligence, for one. Their relatively simple and open minds, for another. But the biggest and perhaps most important similarity Cosmo and Anti-Wanda shared was the total and unending devotion and adoration they held for the one person they loved more than any other. For Wanda and Anti-Cosmo, respectively.
"Does being a godparent help you and Wanda deal better with . . . it?" Anti-Wanda asked quietly, her head titled slightly, almost shyly. Cosmo cocked his own head to the side as he thought for a moment, before slowly nodding.
"Yeah," he replied softly. "I think it does. I know Wanda loves it—she loves to be with the kids and 'mother' them." Anti-Wanda offered her husband's colorful copy a confused look.
"What about you?"
"Why would she 'mother' me?" Cosmo asked with a slight shrug, looking confused himself. Anti-Wanda shook her head.
"No, I mean does being a godfather help you deal with never having your own?"
"My own godfather?" he asked, the confused look intensifying. Anti-Wanda laughed slightly, making Cosmo smile. At least she wasn't crying anymore.
"No, your own kids," the anti-fairy replied, a small smile still on her lips. "Does having godkids help you deal with not having kids of your own?"
"Oh, I get it," Cosmo said, nodding. "Yeah, I guess so. I never really thought about it before. Playing with the kids can be a lot of fun!"
Cosmo smiled as memories of past godchildren flittered quickly through his mind, reminding him of baseball games and afternoon adventures. In fact, he was so preoccupied in his reminiscing, that he never registered Anti-Wanda's thoughtful gaze upon him. She regarded him with a slightly furrowed brow, as though she were watching a movie that required a slightly higher amount of concentration than she was used to giving.
"You don't care that you can't have kids," she said after a long moment's contemplation, and Cosmo immediately stopped smiling to stare at her in shock.
"WHAT?"
"You don't care that you can't have kids," Anti-Wanda repeated, crossing her arms and looking annoyed. "You're just like Anti-Cosmo. You don't understand anything!"
"Now wait just a darn minute here!" Cosmo cried, jumping to his feet and angrily poking his finger into the glass. "You don't know anything about me! How can you say I don't understand? We can't have kids either!"
"WANDA can't have kids!" Anti-Wanda shouted, getting to her feet and angrily poking a finger back. "You can't possibly understand what she's going through or how she feels about it!"
"I can try!" he shouted back, throwing his hands over his head. "But no, maybe I won't be able to completely understand EVERYTHING about how she's feeling, but I can try and I can do anything and everything I can to help her feel better, because I love her and that's what people in love do for each other! Isn't that pretty much why AC took Tabby in the first place? He saw how upset you were about the whole thing and tried to make you feel better by giving you a kid to mother!"
"I didn't want him to kidnap anybody, I just wanted him to understand!" she cried, pounding her fists on the door hard enough to make it shudder against the frame. A buzzer began to sound after the third strike, and Anti-Wanda suddenly cried out as a strong jolt of electricity flowed through her body where her fists still touched the door. The force of the bolt kicked her away from the door, and she fell heavily to the ground, curling her burned hands into her chest.
"Anti-Wanda!" Cosmo exclaimed, his anger suddenly gone as concern replaced it. "Are you okay?" The anti-fairy whimpered softly, slowly rolling herself into a sitting position.
"Oww," she moaned, raising her hands enough to examine them. "That hurt!"
"It must be how they control the meaner prisoners," Cosmo said quietly as her hands began to slowly heal. "But at least we're fast healers."
The two sat silently for a few minutes, watching as Anti-Wanda's burnt hands slowly healed themselves. Once all the burnt skin had flaked away, she gave her hands an experimental flex, as though to assure herself they still worked. Then she slowly worked her way back towards the door to face Cosmo.
"Don't touch the door," the green haired fairy warned. Anti-Wanda shook her head.
"I won't. I think it only shocks you when you pound on it."
"Don't touch it anyway, okay?"
"Okay."
Silence returned for a full minute before Cosmo spoke next, and when he did, his voice was soft.
"Anti-Cosmo may be a genius, but he's still a guy, and I think guys just think differently. When Wanda found out she couldn't have a baby, she was really, really sad. I was sad too, but I don't think it was for all the same reasons. Yes, I was really sad that I would never be a daddy, but as long as Wanda stays with me, I can deal with that. Wanda is THE most important thing in the entire universe to me. I might not completely understand how she's feeling or why she feels that way, but I try to, and do everything I can to help her feel better. Sometimes, it's all I can do."
Anti-Wanda sat quietly for a moment when Cosmo finished, her head lowered slightly as she thought about all he had said. While it was true that her husband didn't seem to fully comprehend her feelings regarding the matter, he was very attentive to her needs, wants and desires, no matter how small or trivial. He would—and had in the past—risk his own safety and freedom in order to keep her happy, and his latest actions, misguided though they may have been, had been all for the sake of her happiness.
No, he didn't fully understand her feelings regarding this matter, but maybe he didn't really need to. Maybe his love was enough.
"I never wanted him to kidnap your godchild," she said quietly, shaking her head slightly. "I never even asked him to. I just sometimes get to thinking about you guys and wondered who you were godparenting now. I remembered Timmy and how close you were, and that got me thinking about how we'll never have any kids in our lives, and that made me sad. When I talked to Anti-Cosmo about it, I thought he understood. But I guess not."
"I don't think he's ever going to understand the way you want him to," Cosmo said softly. "But I do think he really loves you. He wouldn't have kidnapped Tabby and started all this trouble if he didn't. Just . . . cut him some slack, okay? Just because he doesn't understand doesn't mean he doesn't care."
Before Anti-Wanda had a chance to respond, a loud click sounded and Jorgen's impatient voice boomed from the prison's intercom.
"COSMO!" the voice bellowed, and the little green haired fairy jumped. "Stop fraternizing with the prisoner! We will contact you once we have found your wife and godchild. There is nothing more you can do here. GO HOME!"
"I'd better go," he said, almost apologetically. "I hope this all gets settled soon, before anyone gets hurt."
Cosmo began floating toward the exit when Anti-Wanda called his name. He turned back and found her standing inside her cell, a small smile on her lips.
"I'm sorry all this happened," she said with a slight shake of her head. "But I'm glad you stayed with me. Thanks." He shrugged, a small smile curling his own lips.
"Hey, no problem. Glad I could help."
The smile was still on Cosmo's lips when he walked out of the prison and onto the cloud that supported it. Talking to Anti-Wanda had helped him see anti-fairies in a new light—well, maybe not ALL anti-fairies, but at least his and his wife's. He no longer feared for Wanda's or Tabby's safety, because now he felt he knew more about Anti-Cosmo's motivations. Everything he had done had been for his wife. Anyone who cared that much for someone couldn't be all bad. Right?
The smile faltered slightly as he lifted his wand to return home.
Right?