June 2015

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FOP doesn't belong to me.

The magical beings of the house talked long into the night, concocting, considering and canning plan after plan to free Anti-Wanda. Cosmo had taken surprisingly little convincing to help, mostly due to how much time he had actually spent with his wife's double. He wasn't sure if he specifically LIKED Anti-Wanda, but was sure he didn't DISLIKE her, so saw no harm in helping to free her.

His own counterpart he was more neutral towards, mostly because he was still sore at being tricked yesterday.

Finally, at approximately 4 am, after hours of careful plotting, a plan was agreed upon. Admittedly, it wasn't a very good one, but considering they only had two fairies, an anti-fairy and a human child to work with, it was the best that had been considered all night.

"If this fails, Jorgen will be rather cross with you," Anti-Cosmo had said in the midst of the brain-storming. "Are you sure you want to risk your current positions as godparents? It's possible he'd toss you right into the prison right along with me."

"That prison is for the evil anti-fairies who would delight in nothing more than causing havoc on earth," Wanda answered quietly after a long moment's thought. "You've been free for a long time, and I haven't really noticed a dramatic increase in suspicious, anti-fairy type chaos. As difficult as it is for me to admit, I do believe you've changed. And I don't believe your wife could be classified as 'dangerous', so it's only fair that she's free too."

"Besides," Cosmo added with a slight smile. "If we get caught we can always say Tabby wished for the whole thing."

Anti-Cosmo jerked slightly, startled at such a remark. He cast a sideways glance at Wanda, and was surprised to find her nodding.

"He'd believe a story like that?" he asked.

Wanda shrugged. "We've had somewhat troublesome godchildren in the past," she said with a wave of her hand. "And Tabby's only six. She seems to like you so it would really make sense that she would wish for us to free Anti-Wanda." A troubled look clouded the anti-fairy's face just then, and Wanda furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?"

Anti-Cosmo blinked, forcing a smile. "N-nothing," he said quietly. "I'm simply . . . w-worried about my darling wife."

Wanda offered him an understanding nod, her eyes gentle. "I'm sure she's all right," she said softly, a kind smile on her lips. "We'll do our best to get her out before anything happens. Don't worry."

Anti-Cosmo offered her a weak smile before she turned back to Cosmo to re-affirm the layout of the prison.

'Worry' wasn't the little nagging creature poking the back of Anti-Cosmo's mind. It was a fairly newly acquired emotion, and he supposed it was actually better described as 'guilt'.

-X-X-X-

Cosmo yawned widely, rubbing his tired eyes. He had gotten precious little sleep this morning, and it made his thinking foggier than usual. The intense emotions of yesterday's events, combined with the hours of careful plotting and planning last night/this morning had worn him out, and he was functioning on only about four hours of sleep. Another yawn escaped him, and he decided he would probably lay down with Tabby later today when she took her nap. If they were going to try a prison break later tonight, he would need to be more awake than this.

Although Wanda had only gotten the same amount of sleep as her husband, she seemed none the worse for wear. She was currently across the room from Cosmo—who was sitting on the floor against wall, too tired to even hover—trying to explain to the little girl her part in the plan. Wanda had never even hesitated including Tabby, something that actually took Cosmo by surprise. She must trust Anti-Cosmo more than she let on.

A soft 'poof' drew Cosmo from his slow thinking, and he turned slightly to see his dark duplicate floating slowly toward him. The anti-fairy was looking toward the girls, wearing an expression Cosmo couldn't quite decipher.

"Your wife," Anti-Cosmo said quietly, "seems determined to go through with this."

Cosmo offered him a puzzled look. "Do you have some other plan in mind?" the little green haired fairy asked, and his dark twin gave a startled jerk as he looked over at him.

"N-No, of course not!" he stammered, slightly shaken by the question. Could it be that Cosmo remembered about the missing file and suspected something?

"Don't you want to get your wife back?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then I guess this is the only plan we've got," the fairy said with a slight shrug. He yawned again, giving his back a good stretch. "Man, I've gotta get some sleep before tonight."

Anti-Cosmo floated where he was for a moment, slightly above his colorful counterpart. He watched Cosmo run a hand through his hair, before leaning heavily against the wall. The little green haired fairy was obviously exhausted, but still willing to go through with a prison break attempt later that evening. This idea left the anti-fairy slightly confused, and he couldn't help lowering himself to the floor to sit next to Cosmo.

"Do you trust me?" Anti-Cosmo asked quietly, honestly curious.

Cosmo turned to him, his brow furrowed. "What?"

"Do you trust me?" the dark fairy asked again, looking back towards the girls. "Is that why you're helping? Because you trust me?"

Cosmo stared at his double for a few seconds more before following Anti-Cosmo's gaze. Wanda was still sitting with Tabby, carefully explaining the details of her job as diversion, and she covered her mouth delicately with a hand to hide a small yawn. Her husband smiled.

"I trust HER," he replied with a small nod in his wife's direction. "She said you were different. She believes you've changed. I don't know if that's true—heck I'm still a little annoyed that you tricked me and took Tabby to begin with. But SHE believes it, and SHE trusts you. And I trust HER. So, I guess I do kinda trust you, in a roundabout way. And that's why I'm helping."

The two sat quietly for a few minutes, both still watching Wanda and Tabby. The little girl had grown bored with going over the details of the plan—yet again—so she pulled her godmother to the little craft table and began to color. Cosmo smiled, and wished he had more energy to go and join them. As it was he was worried about falling asleep right here and now.

Anti-Cosmo also watched the little girl and fairy at the table, and that little creature in the back of his head started poking again. Guilt. It was an annoying emotion, and the dark fairy could understand how its presence could push people to do strange things—like confess secrets best left hidden. But he was an evil anti-fairy genius. He was strong enough to withstand such weaknesses.

Tabby laughed as she held up the drawing she had been coloring. It was a rough, but recognizable, crayon drawing of Anti-Cosmo.

Wasn't he?

"Cosmo," the anti-fairy sighed, not quite sure what he was going to say, but saying it anyway. "About tonight . . ."

"Your wife misses you," Cosmo said quietly, as he rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. "She told me." His dark doppelganger gawked at him.

"You've spoken with her?"

Cosmo nodded—or at least offered the best nod he could with his head resting against the wall.

"Is she all right?"

Another stunted nod from the tired green haired fairy. His brow furrowed slightly, as if just remembering something.

"She got shocked," he said quietly, pulling his head away from the wall and offering Anti-Cosmo an apologetic look. "She's okay now, because of how fast we heal, but the door of her cell shocked her when she pounded on it too hard. Don't try to force your way through it or else you'll get shocked too." He paused, then added, "Make sure Wanda doesn't touch it, either."

'Shocked' was actually a pretty accurate description for how Anti-Cosmo felt at that particular moment. Cosmo, while not intentionally deceptive, would not have offered this little tidbit of information if not specifically asked about it—mostly because he probably hadn't remembered it until now. But he made sure to caution his dark counterpart about it, and seemed as though he sincerely cared about Anti-Cosmo's safety. He had added Wanda as an afterthought, only because the plan never placed her near Anti-Wanda's cell in the first place.

"All right you," Wanda called lovingly, startling Anti-Cosmo from his thoughts. "I see you nodding off over here. Why don't you head back into the dollhouse and get some sleep, okay sweetie?" She helped a groggy Cosmo—who actually had been dozing off—to his feet, before glancing over her shoulder at Anti-Cosmo. "Tabby will probably keep coloring for a while, so she should be fine for a few minutes while I put this guy to bed. I'll be back soon."

Anti-Cosmo nodded as Wanda poofed herself and her husband into their secret home, leaving only a pale pink puff of smoke behind. As it cleared, the anti-fairy glanced back at the little girl at the table, who was indeed still coloring. After a moment's hesitation, Anti-Cosmo slowly floated to the table and sat down across from Tabby.

"Hi Uncle Acie," she said softly, her crayon never pausing on its journey across the page. Anti-Cosmo smiled despite himself—being called 'Uncle' still sounded so strange to him, but—much to his surprise—not in an unpleasant way.

"Hello Tabitha," he replied just as softly, and watched as she applied the finishing touches to a crayon likeness of his wife. "What are you drawing?"

"Auntie," the little girl said as she reached for the pink crayon again to darken her drawing's eyes. She paused, her head cocked to the side as she studied her artwork.

"Something wrong?" 'Uncle Acie' asked, and she shrugged.

"Your ears are different," she stated matter-of-factly as she hunched back over the paper. "Auntie's got round ears, and yours are pointed."

"Oh?" He had never thought about it before, but she was right.

Tabby nodded. "It's kinda weird," she said with a slight shrug. "But kinda neat, too."

They sat quietly for a minute, Tabby coloring and Anti-Cosmo watching thoughtfully. The girl wasn't afraid of him, even after he had kidnapped her and taken her away from everything that was familiar. She didn't seem to dislike him—on the contrary, she still called him 'Uncle'. Did she actually like and/or trust him? Or was it simply because he looked so much like her beloved godfather?

"Tabitha," he started slowly, choosing his words carefully. "You know the difference between good guys and bad guys, right?"

Tabby nodded. "Uh huh."

"And what are policemen? Good guys or bad guys? Ideally speaking."

"Good guys," she replied instantly. "Cause they catch bad guys."

"Okay," Anti-Cosmo said with a slow nod. "And bad guys would be burglars and bank robbers, right? Because they do bad things."

Another nod from the little girl. "Yep."

"So, good guys and bad guys are kind of . . . opposite, right?" he asked hesitantly, studying her reaction. "The opposite of good is bad."

Tabby shrugged, head still lowered. "I guess so."

Anti-Cosmo took a deep breath and plunged ahead.

"So . . . what am I?" he asked, straining to keep his voice steady. "A good guy or a bad guy?"

"Good guy," came the instant reply, and the anti-fairy frowned.

"But how can that be?" he asked, finally pulling her attention from the paper before her. "Your godparents are good guys, right?" She nodded instantly. "Well, I'm the opposite of your godfather. If I'm opposite, that means I'm a bad guy, right?"

Tabby lowered her head slightly, her brow furrowed in thought. Anti-Cosmo sat quietly, letting the little girl work through the question as slowly as she needed to. He wasn't trying to trick her, or confuse her, but he wanted to be sure she understood what he was asking. He was honestly curious what her response would be.

Anti-Cosmo was so focused on Tabby, that he hadn't noticed when Wanda poofed back into the room a minute before. She floated silently near the dollhouse, listening intently to the conversation between anti-fairy and child.

"Maybe opposite doesn't always have to mean something bad," Tabby said slowly, working through her line of thought. "Or maybe you're not really 'opposite', just 'different'."

Anti-Cosmo cocked his head slightly, and offered her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Well . . . look." Tabby pulled a fresh piece of paper from her stack and drew two shapes, a triangle and a circle. "These aren't the same. I don't think they're opposite, but they're different. A circle's not good, so a triangle isn't bad. See? They're just different."

Anti-Cosmo shook his head. "But Tabby, we're not talking about shapes, we're talking about . . . here," he said, and shuffled through the many drawings on the table. He found what he was looking for and pulled two papers to the top. "This is your Cosmo," he said, placing a crayon drawing of a little green haired fairy in front of her. "He's a fairy, and you said he's good, right?" She nodded. "So that means that fairies are good. Right?"

"Right," she responded slowly, giving him a slight nod. He returned her nod and placed a crayon drawing of himself next to the first paper.

"Okay, and here's me. I'm an ANTI-fairy. And 'anti' means opposite, right?" She nodded again, very slowly. "Okay, so let's put it in order, shall we? My name is ANTI-COSMO, and since COSMO is good, and ANTI means opposite, that means that I'm the opposite of Cosmo, which means I'm BAD. Right?"

Tabby furrowed her brow as her eyes flicked back and forth between the crayon drawings. What he had said made sense, but it just didn't feel right to her. Sure he looked different, and talked different, but he didn't act different. No, he wasn't as jolly and cheerful as her godfather, but then again, he wasn't exactly mean to her either. Curious, she looked up at him.

"Are you going to hurt me?" she asked, and he gave a startled jerk, his eyes wide.

"Wh—what are you talking about?"

"Cosmo would never hurt me," she explained, shaking her head slightly. "Will you?"

"Certainly not!"

"Will you hurt Mama-Wanda?"

"No, but I fail to see . . ."

"Are you going to be mean to me and steal my dolls or rip up my drawings?" she asked, her head cocked slightly.

"Of course not! But that doesn't . . ."

"Then you're not bad," the little girl finished with a shrug. "Only bad people do that stuff. Cosmo wouldn't and he's good, so if you wouldn't either, that must mean you're good too."

"But," Anti-Cosmo said softly after a moment of stunned shock. "I'm the opposite of him."

Tabby shook her head, looking almost annoyed. "No, you're DIFFERENT," she said, enunciating the word clearly. "'Different' doesn't have to mean bad or good. It's just . . . well, DIFFERENT. You're different because you have blue skin and bat wings and pointed ears and a little hat instead of a crown and that little glass thingy on your eye and Cosmo doesn't. But you're the same too, because you're both nice to me and won't let me get hurt—like you did in that dirty place. You saved me from falling and getting hurt. A bad guy would have let me fall. Or pushed me. That's what makes them BAD. Duh!"

Anti-Cosmo was speechless. His mind was a spinning blur, and it made him almost dizzy to try and pin down one complete thought. Good, bad, fairy, anti-fairy, opposite, different, nothing made sense anymore. He worried if he thought about it too much, he'd go insane.

"I'm hungry," Tabby said suddenly, as if the anti-fairy across from her weren't currently suffering a complete and total identity crisis. "Can I go downstairs and get a cookie, Mama?"

Anti-Cosmo jumped slightly and turned in time to see Wanda floating towards the little table.

"Okay, sweetie," she said, and Tabby was off like a shot. "JUST ONE!"

Wanda pulled out the chair next to Anti-Cosmo and silently sat down. Her eyes floated across the various crayon drawings on the table, returning time and time again to the ones of her husband and the anti-fairy next to her.

"Interesting conversation," she commented as she pulled the drawings of both anti-fairies closer. Anti-Cosmo sat quietly for a moment, running his fingers down the page with the circle and triangle.

"I don't think she understood properly," he said quietly.

Wanda gave a slight shrug. "On the contrary, I think she understands better than you do."

He turned, giving her a sharp look. "She's just a child!"

Another shrug from the pink haired fairy. "Children tend to see things in much simpler ways," she said, gently pushing his crayon likeness toward him. "They're usually not bound by prejudices or preconceived notions."

"But I'm an anti-fairy . . ." he replied weakly, and Wanda shook her head.

"But she doesn't know what an anti-fairy IS," she said softly. "All that little girl knows about anti-fairies is what she's seen of you and your wife. She likes you. She sees you for who you are NOW. Not who you were years ago."

Anti-Cosmo sighed heavily, placing his elbows on the table and resting his head in his hands. Wanda had to admit, she felt sorry for him. Cosmo's transplanted gland had changed him, and he was having a hard time accepting that. He was an anti-fairy, expected to behave in a certain accepted manner, and unfortunately, that accepted manner no longer came naturally to him.

Or no longer interested him. She wasn't sure which was more accurate.

"'Anti-fairy' is WHAT you are, not WHO you are," Wanda said softly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Don't confuse the two. You're different now, and you need to face that fact. Whether that change is good or bad is irrelevant, and quite frankly simply personal opinion. Fighting it or ignoring it is only going to make things harder on yourself. You need to accept these changes as part of who you are now. Otherwise, you're just going to hide behind a cheap façade and make yourself miserable."

"But these changes have made the rest of my kind hate me!" he hissed harshly, and Wanda fought the sudden—and very strong—urge to pull him into her arms in order to comfort him.

"What about your wife?" she asked gently. "Isn't she the most important thing in the universe to you? Isn't she more important than your role in anti-fairy society? Does she hate you because of these changes?"

He was silent for a moment before slumping back in his chair, breathing a heavy sigh. It was a good thirty seconds before he could look at her, and when he did, his eyes were shiny.

"No," he whispered, a small smile on his lips. "She doesn't hate me. She . . . I think she likes the changes."

"Isn't that all that matters?"

"But the others . . ." he began, trouble clouding his features.

Wanda waved a dismissive hand at him. "Oh, forget about the others! AC, you can't let what others think rule your life! If I did that, I wouldn't be married to Cosmo right now, and—heaven help me—probably be stuck with Juandissimo. There comes a time when you have to start living your life the way YOU want to live it, and to the dung-heap with what others think! Besides, we're not trying to free ALL the anti-fairies, we're only going after your wife. Let 'em all sit and stew in their little prison cells. Meanwhile, you'll be free, your wife will be free, and I'm quite sure you'll have no trouble evading capture once again."

She paused, a slight smile on her lips. "IF you can resist the urge to kidnap any more godchildren, that is."

"I'll try to restrain myself," he replied, returning her smile with one of his own.

"You do that," she said before getting up. "Well, I'd better go check on that goddaughter of mine. She's probably perched herself on the counter, gobbling her way down to the bottom of the cookie jar. I'd better save her before a bellyache puts her down for the night."

Wanda began floating toward the door when a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. As she turned, two hands cupped her face, and Anti-Cosmo pulled her close, brushing his lips gently against hers. The kiss was over before she barely had time to register it, and suddenly she was in a tight embrace, the hair on her neck prickling slightly as he whispered into her ear.

"You're an incredible woman, Wanda. Thank you!"

He was gone before Wanda could even think of reacting, leaving behind nothing but a dark puff of smoke and a slightly acrid smell. She stood where she was for a few seconds, hoping her head would stop spinning long enough for her to figure out what had just happened. His actions went so against what she was used to, her brain almost refused to register it.

He had seemed . . . happy. Genuinely happy. Just-had-a-tremendous-weight-lifted-from-his-shoulders happy. It was as if he had been warring with himself—the old Anti-Cosmo versus the new—and simply needed permission to accept who he had become. Wanda had given him that permission, and he had been so happy and grateful, that he had kissed her. She had sensed no love or romance in that kiss or embrace—in fact, she doubted he even realized he was going to do it until it happened. It was pure gut reaction. And that thought made Wanda smile.

It was then she became aware of something in her hand. Glancing down, she found an old piece of parchment, and surmised that it must have come from Anti-Cosmo. She unfolded it carefully, and her eyes grew wide at the faded words.

Dread dropped into her belly like a cold stone. Helping a reformed anti-fairy break his wife out of prison was one thing. But what if this same so-called 'reformed' anti-fairy was actually setting the table for a spectacular double cross?

And what if there was nothing she could do to stop it?