DISCLAIMER: OWN SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALADOCIOUS. NOTHIN' ELSE.
Overrated
By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
"How did you GET that?" screeched several fairies and sparrow-men, their shock having worn away into a deeper form mixed with horror. If Captain Hook found out it was a sparrow-man that had taken his hook… Many chose not to think about it and those that did, ignored the thoughts as best they could.
"I already told you; I flew past a pirate ship, saw this old guy waving it about, decided I liked it, and took it back here. I don't think he's aware that he's missing it yet. He seemed pretty freaked by some clock noises I heard from the water." Cali shrugged before looking at Queen Clarion. "So, can I have this for my house, Ree-sama?"
Queen Clarion quirked an eyebrow at both the name and the question. "House? There's plenty of room here at the Home Tree, Fragi."
"Aw, I know that!" Cali waved an arm at the crowd surrounding him. "But I'm going to be doing some… how do we say it…? Ah! Some hocus-pocus that may go totally out-of-focus on me, and I don't want to get anyone involved in the results unless they're good ones."
"Fragi," Queen Clarion spoke slowly and carefully. She did not want to phrase this the wrong way and offend the sparrow-man. "Do you mean to tell us that you're talent is in magic?"
"Nope." The fairies sighed, some in disappointment and some in relief. "It's a part of me but not my main talent. I may not turn out that good in it. In fact, I can honestly narrow it down to three really…" Cali tapped his chin thoughtfully before shrugging. "Ah well, I'm sure I'll find a few more as time goes on I guess." Cali flew down and grabbed the hook by the middle and flew off towards the Home Tree's large roots with it resting atop his right shoulder, the weight of it not affecting his flying in the least.
By the time the fairies had regained their wits once more, Cali had long since placed the hook a way's off from the Home Tree's roots as well as Havendash Stream. The hook was buried slightly in the ground so that it could stand upright long enough for Cali to gather the right materials. With a flash of light, Cali had changed from a sparrow-man to a large black mole. Squeaking to himself, Cali began to gather large clumps of dirt around the hook until the thing was nigh buried. With a satisfied snort, Cali moved in a large circle around the dirt pile, occasionally drawing a strange symbol on the ground with his large claws before moving on. Once he had gone around three times over, Cali changed back into a sparrow-man and pressed his hands against the first symbol he had drawn.
"Makalza!" A crackle of energy shot out from the symbol and embraced the pile of dirt, morphing it into hard stone while also molding it to be shaped rather like a star in terms of shape. When the magic was done, Cali was now the proud owner of a house that was roughly big enough to support half-a-dozen fairies. Captain Hook's hook rested at the roof's center and had suddenly gained a fairy-sized version of a human lantern.
"There! That oughta do it some good for now!" Cali took off into the open sky, a mischevious grin playing across his lips. "I'm going to fly a few rounds around the island; I'll be back before the nighttime feast and celebration begin. I'll even demonstrate some of my talents!" Cali's wings began to vibrate at an incredible speed before he disappeared once more, leaving another sonic boom in his wake.
Finding themselves utterly speechless, many of the fairies and sparrow men left and headed back to the Home Tree to prepare for the Arrival Day feast. A few were quite interested in exactly what Cali could do while many of the others were worried. Normally, a fairy could sense if another was incomplete in some way be it something as small as having rounded ears to acting a bit more humanlike. They sensed no such difference in Cali and that was what worried them the most. If Cali wasn't a incomplete fairy, how could he have more than one talent?
There was one fairy, however, that felt neither interest or worry but rather a cold sunken feeling that had settled in the pit of her stomach. For many years, Vidia had been the fastest fairy in all of Neverland, even faster thanks to the 'fresh' fairy dust she had hidden in her home. She was also renowned for her indifference to feelings be it another's or her own. Now however, she had been utterly humiliated by her show of fear in the talons of the hawk and her sudden shove to second fastest of all fairies in less than a half-hour's time!
Feeling somewhat subdued, Vidia slowly flew back to her home, the sour plum tree that rested just on the outskirts of the Home Tree. As she flew she realized that everything had been for naught in the end. She had forcibly taken feathers from Mother Dove for nothing, she had made the fresh feathers into stronger dust for nothing, she had been banished from Mother Dove's presence for nothing, and she had distanced herself from everything fairy-ish for nothing.
Nothing!
The sunken feeling increased and Vidia flew at an even slower pace, her lithe form not more than a foot off the ground. She would return home and she would do the one thing she had not done since the day she fully realized what being banished from Mother Dove's presence meant.
She would weep.
Mother Dove watched the celebrations take place below her hawthorn tree with a motherly eye. Though she had yet to meet this mysteriously strange Cali, she could already tell you as much about him as I could. She was deeply connected to Neverland, much more than Peter Pan, and knew everything there was to know about the denizens of its magic. Suddenly, Mother Dove quirked her head slightly and smiled to herself. The guest of honor would be arriving shortly. Glancing over her shoulder, Mother Dove smiled at the small hummingbird that flew up to her and landed beside her on her large nest. The hummingbird twittered nervously before changing into the sparrow man known as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, or Cali for short.
"Hello there, Cali. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Cali gulped nervously and rubbed the back of his neck as he stared up at Mother Dove. "A-A pleasure to meet you too, Ma'am… Er, Lady Dove."
"Come now, Cali." Mother Dove chastised gently, patting Cali's head with a wing. "No need to be so formal with me."
"Er, alright…" Cali nervously sat down beside the large dove and glanced down at the group of fairies below. None of them were aware of his presence, not even the animal-talent fairies that were hovering about Mother Dove. He had cast an invisibility spell about himself the moment he had changed back into a sparrow man and still Mother Dove had seen him. He did not know whether or not to feel relieved about it.
"Are you nervous, Cali?" asked Mother Dove, her voice soft and gentle.
"A little… it's strange… being a sparrow man I mean… I feel like there's something more about me that I've yet to find and yet I feel like I'm what I'm supposed to be… It's all very confusing…"
"Life is often confusing when you first set yourself upon its winding roads." Mother Dove agreed.
"Yes I suppose it is… … Mother Dove, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Cali."
"I was wondering… why did you let Vidia pluck your feathers?" Mother Dove remained silent for a moment before she glanced down upon Cali.
"Before I answer your question, Cali, you must answer two of mine."
"Okay."
"How did you find out about that?" asked Mother Dove, her voice containing a slight note of sadness and disappointment.
"I… saw it… in Vidia's memories. When I was the cobra, I was trying to ease her fear of me and instead of empathy I used telepathy and found out about the plucking… I didn't mean to pry, it just… happened."
"It is alright, Cali," assured Mother Dove, "I was merely curious. Now then, this question does not need a full answer Cali but I would like you to answer it as best as you can."
"I will do so," promised Cali.
"Do you care about Vidia?"
"… In what way, Mother Dove?"
"In any way that you are comfortable with."
"… I do care for her, Mother Dove. I just want to… understand her before I can decide how much caring I can give her."
Mother Dove smiled and placed a wing atop Cali's shoulder. "That's all anyone can ever ask for her, Cali. I think you're just what she needs most. As for your question, I let her pluck my feathers simply because she asked me and because, like all the fairies in Pixie Hollow, I love her."
"… Including me?"
Mother Dove cooed and rubbed her head against Cali's forehead. "Of course."
Cali grinned and wrapped his arms around Mother Dove's neck. "Thank you, Mother Dove."
"Love has no need for thanks, Cali." Mother Dove cooed. "Now, I think you'd best hurry on down to the celebration. They're going to start the storytelling once the sun sets."
"Storytelling?" asked Cali, his wings fluttering and lifting him off the nest as a grin spread out across his lips. "Really?"
"Really, really."
"… May I…?"
"Go right ahead."
"Thank you, Mother Dove." With a joyous crow, Cali flew downwards to the festivities, his spell vanishing in an instant as he landed amongst the story-talent fairies. Mother Dove smiled to herself; yes, Cali would be exactly what Vidia would need.
A friend.
Cali could not stay still as he eagerly awaited for the time of storytelling. He had already begged the Keeper of Tales near endlessly to participate and she had willingly given him the night to tell whatever story he had that was so desperate to be told. Once the sun had set and the light-talent fairies had done their show; Cali eagerly leapt onto the large mushroom that served as the stage for his tale.
"Hello, Neverland!" crowed Cali. "Before I can tell you my tale, I must ask that we all dim the lights around here; trust me, the story will be much better without them." The fairies and sparrow men whose talent was not light exchanged confused looks even as the light-talents dimmed their glows as well as the glows of the firebugs. What kind of story would involve near darkness?
Cali smiled and sat down upon the toadstool with a flourish before making strange motions with his arms. "Like any good story," he spoke, "mine begins at an age long ago. So long, in fact, that even magic could still be called young, before even the elder races were born." A small orb of light appeared in Cali's hands before floating upwards where it hovered high over his head. The orb grew in size until it matched a basketball in size even as an array of images began to appear inside its curved surface. The earth could be seen in all of its ancient glory, at a time where only its own natural forces shaped it uneventful lands and seas.
"The earth was a peaceful and nonchanging place for many thousands of years. So unchanging was it, that the earth had grown bored with itself and, with the attentions of the stars upon it, the Earth created the Triumvirate. The Triumvirate were a trio of beasts, each representing the three key portions that made up the earth. Land, Sea, and Sky. Though there names were known only to themselves and their mother, the Triumvirate were given names by the other races that came after them. The names in themselves were often unique to each beast and fit them perfectly. The Primordial Beast of the Land was called Groudon."
The view of the planet zoomed closer until a vast range of volcanoes could be seen. As pillars of lava rose up into the sky, one could see the immense shape stepping through the clouds of black sulphur even before the roar echoed out from within the sphere. The roar itself was so real, so lifelike, that many fairies and sparrow men dove for cover upon hearing it. Many of them stayed where they were when the shape with the darkness stepped forward to reveal a towering beast of hardened redrock. The beast, Groudon, was shaped like a bipedal lizard with claws large enough to create massive chasms in the ground with but a single swipe while the spikes adorning his large tail could easily raise mountains. Faint lines of blue glowed across Groudon's armored body, creating a strange pattern in his scales. The volcanoes surrounding Groudon echoed his earlier roar with their own before dying away, the molten rock hardening even as the large beast tilted back his head and roared once again, releasing a pillar of fire that broke free from the orb to brighten the dark sky with orange light.
"The Ancient Whale of the Sea was named Kyogre."
The image in the globe wavered for but a moment before the depths of the sea was shown in its full glory. Vast amounts of underwater life both large and small could be seen going about their ways as though they had not a care in the world when an unearthly bellow caused the water to tremble. Those that were aware of just what could cause the sound swam away in fear as a large shape appeared from the deeper depths of the ocean. A whale-like creature could be seen but it was fare different than any whale. For one thing, it was easily three times the size of a regular whale, making it double the size of a Blue Whale, and its fins and tail were more reminiscent to feathers than to actual fins. The whale, Kyogre, swam upwards towards the surface, the power of her tail taking up thousands of fathoms in mere seconds and breaking the surface with a deafening boom. Dark storm clouds simmered above her as torrential rain pelted the ocean around Kyogre, slowly increasing its already great girth. The deep red lines etched onto her body shimmered from the light of the thunderstorm even as a great gout of water shot upwards from her blowhole.
The water burst forth from the bubble and soaked many fairies to the bone and many were quite angry at this. Water and fairy wings don't tend to mix well and it would take several hours for the wings to dry on their own. However, their ire was immediately pushed aside as Cali continued on as though his illusion didn't spout out a small geyser of water.
"The Antediluvian Dragon of the Sky was named Rayquaza."
The picture on the globe soared upwards past the storming clouds and pass the blue skys into the darkness of space with glimmering stars twinkling from their places in the galaxy. The moon hung in the silent as tough it were connected to the earth by invisible strings, half of its surface dark from the earth's shadow. A sudden shape slivered past the scream before a great roaring screech was heard and the dragon appeared from behind the moon. The dragon was huge, easily twice the size of Groudon and Kyogre and was shaped far more like a snake than an actual dragon though it did possess two arms and great curved horns atop its birdlike head. Screeching once more, the dragon, Rayquaza, shot forward like an arrow, piercing through the night and into the earthen sky. A blast of lightning shot out from his mouth, breaking through the globe and upwards into the sky of Neverland, the heat from it drying every wet fairy near instantly while also startling them out of their minds.
"The Triumvirate served the Earth as they knew how; Groudon created the land and allowed the sun to shine with greater strength, inevitably creating plants and trees from the once molten rock. Kyogre spread the oceans and allowed the rains to fall, creating rivers and lakes so that the thirst of the living could be quenched. Rayquaza breathed out the air that we breathe and moved through the space between the earth and moon, protecting them both from dangers from the outer-space. However, this peace was not to last for in their entire lifetime, which had since spanned eons, the Triumvirate were intently aware of everything on earth save for each other. Thus it was of little surprise that the event to occur on the First of Seven Days was something so simple.
"The Triumvirate became aware of each other.
"The battle fought between the three lasted for several days, Seven to be specific, and spanned across the entire planet. Entire landmasses were upturned as the seas boiled and the sky bled in torrents. The battle destroyed many lifeforms and gave birth to several others but the one good thing that came from this terrible fight was the beginning. Of what you ask?
"Magic, says I.
"Indeed it was the beginning of magic when the stories of the Triumvirate came to their final close. For you see, their Mother, who is, technically our own Mother for she is the Earth in its entirety, was furious with the level of destruction and chaos the Triumvirate caused in their jealousy-spawned battle with one another. She was angry but She was sad as well for the Triumvirate were Her children, siblings with one another and still they could not look upon the other two without feeling same sense of jealousy… of anger…
"Of hatred…
"So Mother Earth did the only thing She could do. She banished the Triumvirate far from that which spawned their jealousies in the first place. Groudon, she buried deep into the undergrounds of Her flesh, where Her anger-filled veins still flow with liquid rock, out of the sight of the skies, the scents of the seas. Kyogre, She sank to the depths of Her tears, where the bitter salts are nearly biting in their intensity. Away from the warmth of the sun, away from the aridness of land. Rayquaza, the eldest of the three, She banished from Her entirety, to the skies above the skies where the only solace are the stars while the lands and seas below him forever mock him.
"However, in the millennia that have passed since The Battle of Seven Days, Mother has slowly begun to forgive Her firstborn though not fully. For even now, the Triumvirate futilely try to break through their banishments. The earth shakes and trembles whenever Groudon moves upwards as the seas create massive waves and terrible storms when his sister, Kyogre, does the same. The streaks in the skies that we often see in the darkest and clearest of nights is not Rayquaza trying to break his own banishment but the tears he weeps for himself and his siblings and the feeling of loneliness that permeates them. Can you imagine, my fellows, what life would be like without Mother Dove? With a way to have fairy dust but at the cost of not having Mother Dove? Could any of us really live with that? Without her warm presence, her expressions of kindness, her love for us?
"Could we?
"No. We cannot." Cali sighed and the globe of light faded from view. "No one deserves the absence of a mother's love. None deserve a punishment as terrible as that." Cali floated upwards and started towards his house but stopped. "You know, if you listen carefully enough, you can hear them, their tears and their cries. Rayquaza most of all; he cries even now." Cali floated away, leaving the rest of the fairies and sparrow men in stunned silence. Mother Dove smiled sadly and gazed up into the stars as a tear coursed down her beak.
"Bravo, Cali. Bravo."
And the lights of a dragon's tears continued to fall.