Warnings: I have not read the books, but I have access to Wikipedia – so I have names such as Ginger but only a quick explanation of her character and talent. I saw the first movie – that's what has happened and it's AU after that. Adventure-talent is an actually an established talent-kin and will be used as such. I take liberties with the fairies pasts and incorporate my own version of Pixie Hollow within the rules of Never Land. A little bit of violence. Made-up fairy swears. Reused plot devices that work their way in there before I realized I had done it. Questionable morals. An abundance of Vidia, and me writing the wrong story. Expansions on talents that don't exist. Vidia has actually been a hero in the past. My ever present and 'famous' use of my own original characters.
Summary: Vidia uses the shadow in the library to her advantage, but once Tinkerbell finds it she lets it believe that it has hopes, and starts the cogs going for an ending that might mean the end of everything she has known.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Belongs to Disney and – well, I'm actually not entirely sure who wrote the actual series it's based off.
Chapter Seven
A Place of Discovery
"She's probably gone and run off," said a haughty voice, there were people in her library.
"Don't jump to conclusions without checking," said another louder voice, people were shouting in her library. There was definitely a rule against that. Now all she needed to do was stand. Wow, she felt like she weighed a ton.
"Listen to me she's probably in a season causing trouble, everyone knows she does that from time to time," said the first loud voice. She was a redhead it seemed, ah, she had seen her and she looked scared, good.
"Rosetta, what's wrong?" asked the darker one in the yellow dress.
"Tear- Tear…" the fairy was pretty good at stuttering, and now looked beyond terrified of her.
"Teardrop," said Tinkerbell excitedly. "What happened to your hair? Here let me take some of those. Are you alright? You look a bit dead."
"You're too hyper so early," whined Teardrop sloppily as she followed the tinker who had stolen half of her archives.
"Um, it's the afternoon," said the yellow dressed fairy. "M-my names Iridessa by the way."
"Teardrop," said nodding her head in acknowledgement. She looked at the red head and waited her to say something. The fairy glared back at her, well, Teardrop hadn't seen that reactions in a while.
"This is Rosetta," said Iridessa with a quick smile. The red head glared at her friend.
"And your talents?" asked Teardrop with a yawn.
"You want to know our talents?" asked Iridessa looking at Rosetta as if for reassurance. "Why?"
"Because a fairies talent is what defines them," said Teardrop finding her usual calm.
"That's hardly true," said Tinkerbell coming from leafing through the old folders. "
"Garden," said Rosetta firmly.
"Um, light," said Iridessa, and Teardrop nodded.
"So, you came back, and brought friends," said Teardrop to Tinkerbell. "I didn't manage to scare you away then?"
"No, and neither did Rosetta, though you both tried hard enough," said Tinkerbell.
"You tried to discourage them? It shouldn't have been that hard," said Teardrop.
"Rosetta was here when the attack took place," practically squeaked Iridessa. Teardrop blinked and seemed to finally awake.
"And between you and Bobble you weren't able to convince them to stay away?" she said with a slightly condescending smile while she crossed her arms. She looked over at Tinkerbell. "When you grab onto an idea you really stick to it. Explains why you had such trouble with understanding there was a reason you had a talent, I suppose."
Teardrop's eyes lingered on Rosetta as the other fairy paled. The dark fairy could see the fear in the garden fairies eyes and let a smirk in the disguise of a smile cross her lips.
"She's quite something isn't she Rosetta?" asked Teardrop, having a little fun at the garden fairy's expense. "She started out doing everything wrong and in the end that led her be one of the greatest talents of all time."
"Yeah," said Rosetta letting out a swift breath of relief. Teardrop smirked; pleased that even a fairy she hadn't met at least knew of her goals and beliefs.
"What had you so tired and thinking it was morning?" asked Tinkerbell changing the subject. Teardrop lazily looked over to the girl.
"I was up late last night in the archives trying to find those folders. I've been reviewing some of the books in the animal talent section and I stumbled upon a few books that I think are inaccurate to a fault and need to be moved downstairs so as to not confuse people," said Teardrop deadly. "Now, what are you three looking for? Tinkerbell you know the…"
"Did you get any sleep last night?" asked Tinkerbell cutting the dark fairy off. Teardrop frowned slightly but turned to answer. It wouldn't do any good to be rude.
"I'm afraid I fell asleep on the stairs yesterday," said Teardrop with a tap of her toes.
"On the stairs, how'd you manage that?" this time it was the light fairy.
"I find the darkness soothing and had just planned on resting my legs and eyes, I'm afraid I must have fallen asleep somewhere between that thought and the ridiculous notion that I'd actually get to officially catch up on my work today," said Teardrop, a bit of annoyance touching her tone.
"You skipped breakfast," said Rosetta suddenly and all eyes turned toward her in shock. "So I'll just be going and… um where is your pantry?"
"My loft is up there," said Teardrop pointing closer to the front of the library and up.
"Right, I'll just nip up there and get you some breakfast, brunch, lunch," Rosetta sent them a forced smiled and flew up to the loft and started opening her pantry doors. Wasn't much more than dust if Teardrop's memory served her right, which it usually did.
"She seems very jumpy to be here," observed Teardrop with a small snort.
"It was her idea to come here," said Iridessa sitting at the large table and moving Teardrop's folders out of the way. Teardrop frowned and quickly walked over to do it correctly.
"She probably came to make sure you didn't get yourselves killed by the evil librarian," said Teardrop and surmised by the blushes on their cheeks that she wasn't far off the mark on that statement. Teardrop shook her head and started preparing her notes as she liked them and uncapping her ink and putting a feather next to a blank paper between the book and notes by a reliable animal talent study.
"What happened to your –"
"What the hell is this?" shouted Rosetta from the loft. Teardrop glanced in the direction before returning her attention to her books. She was pretty sure that whatever Rosetta had found was completely innocent and she was making a big deal out of nothing.
"Teardrop," the librarian looked up at the whiny tinker and sent her a disapproving frown. "I asked what happened to your hair."
"What's this?" Teardrop had to cross her eyes to see the thing that Rosetta had shoved in her face. Finally she tried to snatch it away only to have Rosetta pull it far enough away that Teardrop could actually tell what it was.
"A muffin," said Iridessa trying to see if Rosetta had finally given into her fears and had cracked.
"A know that," said Rosetta with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head. "I meant… this is the only thing in your cupboards, well, that and an empty raspberry wine jug."
"That was good, I never really had a chance to try wine before, and I must say that it exceeded my expectation, had to be careful though," said Teardrop with a soft smile she shook her head. "I'm sorry, you three can split the muffin, I had forgotten it was Thursday, I had planned on eating that last night, but with the whole archive thing completely forgotten."
"What about you?" asked Iridessa looking at the sad excuse for a muffin that Rosetta was holding like she suddenly thought it would explode and cover them in tar.
"I usually fast on Thursdays," said Teardrop and dropped into her seat. She had done this so many times before that she could probably do it with only half her attention.
"What, but you're already too skinny," said Tinkerbell angrily. What was it with fairies and worrying about her weight?
"How can you tell?" asked Rosetta looking down at Teardrop's leaf. Teardrop sent her a bland glare.
"Her arms and legs," said Iridessa rather logically. "Are we going to read now? I want to read about Ulra."
"No," said Tinkerbell cutting off Teardrops instructions and making the library fairy pout and cross her hands. "Why are you fasting?"
"Because I don't have any food – usually. I'm given a certain amount of food that's supposed to carry me through the week. It's usually either enough for me to eat just enough food to keep me on the edge of hunger or eat pretty well fed for six days and actually be able to concentrate on my work," said Teardrop hoping this would stop the question. Of course as she looked at them she realized none of them had the calm rationality that Vidia had where the fast flying fairy only muttered that they better not skip weeks but would agree with how Teardrop was dealing with her food supply. No, instead she looked down on a furious Tinkerbell, the light fairy looked like she'd found a lightning bug that hadn't gotten any light, and Rosetta looked like someone had told her that her hero had been found snorting thistle. "It's not that big of a deal."
"So you mean they give you only a little food… who cooks for you?" asked Rosetta, as if the thought of anyone forced to cook for the traitor was appalling. Teardrop wondered a minute that before the way Rosetta was acting could have been misjudged as concern for the librarian.
"No one, they usually just leave me a basket of fruits and seeds, but since it's so close to the seasons changing the fairies in charge of leaving me food sometimes become overwhelmed and forget to leave me food," said Teardrop and shrugged. "There's a teaching fairy that anytime she came to drop off or get a book would stick around long enough to catch a glimpse of me. Wouldn't leave until she did. I guess that she noticed that I started losing weight around the changing of seasons and now leaves me a basket for about three weeks. This is probably the last of it."
Teardrop was rather happy with her lie. It even sounded halfway believable. Even if the garden fairy was looking at her with a suspicious glare.
"Do you two know how to read?" asked Teardrop with a slight frown glancing between Rosetta and Iridessa. The two exchanged shocked glances and Teardrop sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. They probably had completely forgotten that to read something they'd actually need to understand squiggles on a page and not just some silly pictures that were easily misgiving.
Teardrop clapped and a few books from the shelf nearest the door flew into her hands.
"Here, these are beginner books; I keep them near the front for teaching fairies. You Tinkerbell are going to teach them," she glared at the tinker when she looked ready to protest. "It shouldn't take too long, at worse it'll take you to the end of the day and you'll have to return tomorrow. You will," she threw the books and they flapped rapidly away. "Be teaching them three tables away from mine and you will be talking in whispers so I can get my work done."
The light and the gardener fairies had the self preservation skills to know to start backing up slowly. Tinkerbell did not.
"But I want to know what happened to your hair!" she said in earnest. Teardrop blinked in surprise, but the tinker looked completely serious.
"I tried to comb it," said Teardrop with a small shrug. "I couldn't get it through the knots, so I cut it to a length where I could get the tangles out."
There was odd sort of silence.
"I think it looks good," said Iridessa in a slightly squeaky voice. Rosetta's head fell into her palms.
"Don't you three have a lesson to start?" asked Teardrop dryly.
"Shouldn't we be closer in case we have-" started Tinkerbell, but Teardrop had her lost her patience with this game.
"No, go to your books and learn to read so that your time here is not wasted," snapped Teardrop and watched the garden fairy pulled her friends away. She continued to glare until they were seated and then sighed and turned down to her work.
It was mid-afternoon when she finally stretched out. Two of the books she had found were indeed written by fairies who had no idea what they were writing about and it seemed they wrote without really investigating in hopes of being remembered in some way after their deaths. Teardrop shook her head. They would be taken to the archives and probably forgotten with the rest of these types of books. It was actually amazing. Since the fairies didn't have a formal check system there were books that could come in without anyone credible review for accuracy by peers. Teardrop had taken it upon herself to check. New stuff was difficult, but information that held a little of the past in it was easy to trace. It she found that it was inaccurate she'd put it in the darkest corner of the archives, promising to come get it if she learned the world had gone topsy-turvy and what they wrote was actually reality.
Her feet lapped quietly as she returned the one book that had been accurate, it just didn't take the other factor into consent. A good in-depth books, but not good for general information as it made it sound like the only way there was.
"Um," Teardrop stiffened a little under the fairies voice. She lowered her arm and looked over to see Rosetta in front of her, eyes cast to the side and down. "I'm…" the garden fairy suddenly glared and looked hard into Teardrop's eyes. "I'm looking for a book on how fairies die."
Teardrop tried to keep the shock from her face. They stared at each other before Teardrop turned and started to walk toward the right section. She didn't hear the garden fairy following but that wasn't surprising. Still, if Rosetta actually wanted the answer she would follow the dark fairy. Teardrop let an ironic smile slip on her face when she heard the fairy fly up behind her. She was surprised Rosetta didn't know at her age. By one hundred, if they lived that long, a fairy knew how they died. It was almost like a rite of passage.
It was also ritual for the fairies who knew to keep their mouths shut. This was interesting extra piece of tidbit that very few fairies found that answer through books. When a fairy finally needed to know they usually sought out the old friend or someone they knew had the answer and demand it of them. Most who were confronted with the question tried to turn the fairy away but at some point they would realize it was time for the fairy to learn the truth. Some fairies would claim they told because the fairy was annoying them, or some other weak excuse, but any old fairy knew that there was a point, a look in the eye, that forced them to pass the message on.
So a fairy knowing the forbidden wasn't that surprising. What was, was a fairy that was older than the dark fairy herself, older than a century who hadn't sought the answer out yet. It was almost unheard of. Teardrop was almost tempted to ask what had changed her mind. What had made that fairy finally seek out the answer when she must feel that her time was creeping up on her and since she lasted this amount of time without knowing, it would be easy to die without knowing.
Teardrop climbed up the ladder to the fourth shelf and then moved herself until she found the book she was looking for. She slid down the steps and landed in front of Rosetta still looking at the cover. She finally looked up to see the garden tensed in front of her – scared not only of the fairy in front of her, but the knowledge that fairy was suddenly holding in her hand.
Teardrop flipped the book around and offered it toward the garden fairy. Rosetta started forward, but her hand shook, and she pulled back. Her look almost one of fear. Teardrop turned to put the book back, Rosetta would probably be better off without knowing. There was something very morose about fairies after they had found the answer, a sad knowledge that always just lingered in their eyes after watching all their friends died and seemed to solidify after.
"No, don't put it away," said Rosetta grabbing Teardrop's arm. The other fairy looked at her in confusion, silently asking what was going on. "I want – I should have done this a long time ago, I need to know."
Teardrop turned on her ladder and folded away the hand with the book to give her full attention back to the garden fairy.
"But you don't want to read the book and find out through something completely factual?" asked Teardrop, she was pretty sure she knew what the problem was, but didn't really want to become more at fault for this revelation then she already was. "I have a few fictional books that explore the idea, if you would prefer a more sentimental way of learning it."
"No," said Rosetta softly and then gave her a dry glare that told Teardrop to stop being a jerk on purpose. "I need – I need you to tell – I can't just read it."
"Very well," said Teardrop with a soft sigh that had Rosetta looking at her in shock.
"You'll really tell me?" asked Rosetta, and Teardrop nodded.
"Better for you to hear it from me than someone you respect," said Teardrop with a shake of her head. If the autobiographies and stories were to believed someone telling the other how fairies died tended to destroy whatever sort of friendship or correspondence they had… it usually would strengthen their respect later for the elder, but their relationship would be strained or nonexistence from that day on.
"Why?" asked Rosetta who had probably always heard otherwise.
"Would you rather spend the rest of your life avoiding them?" asked Teardrop, Rosetta paled and shook her head. "Do you still want to know?"
She had to give the fairy away out, it was a rule, and this one in particular, more than even the fairies rejected because they were still young or who just shouldn't know yet.
"Yes, I – I want… I need to know," said Rosetta and Teardrop nodded and stood to full height and uncrossed her arms, the book in her left hand off to her side.
"You must have heard what it feels like," said Teardrop and Rosetta nodded.
"Fawn told us after she almost died… how'd she come back?" asked Rosetta, as if hoping that would negate the deaths she had seen, as if seeing one life come back meant they all would.
"You can read about it, it's basically the opposite cause as the one for dying is," said Teardrop with a shrug.
"So – what…" she couldn't seem to ask the question anymore.
"The idea behind it is a little complex, a mix of rejection and simply being a belief that is destroyed," said the dark fairy reflectively. "But what kills us is rather simple. No fairy can do it, because they don't possess the importance a human does in our existence. What it takes for a fairy to disappear into the darkness is a single phrase, all a human need to say is 'I do not believe in fairies,' and one of us drops dead."
The silence between them stretched and then Rosetta forced a grimaced of a smile and a small chuckle.
"Well, that's not that bad," said Rosetta and then the smile fell and she tried to force it back. Then there was just an odd confusion. "Right?"
Teardrop shook her head in what could have been taken as agreement but obviously wasn't.
"Well, I should go back to my friends, I'm still a bit caught up in the grammar part," said Rosetta and started to back up. She froze with wide eyes when Teardrop held out the book toward her and then hurried forward to snatch it out of Teardrop's hand. "Thank you."
Teardrop watched passively as the fairy stumbled away from her, book in hand, back to her friends to learn to read so she could confirm what the traitor had told her.
It really wasn't that bad. No. They lived full lives full of beauty. They didn't grow old or suffer childhood; they were always beautiful and young as long as they didn't get into any accidents and took care of themselves. Often they would out live humans and they lived in a world where they never had to really question their place in the world. Fairies were gardeners, tinkers, light, miners, cooks, they all had their talent and had their place, which was much more than any human could complain. Most were ready when they died, though there were a few deaths that were cruel and would drive their friends into depression. But their world was beautiful their work had meaning. So, they died suddenly. So they died because of the very thing that gave them life and believed there was some beauty and joy in the world was rejected part of its mystery. That was just poetry, a kind way to keep sickness or old age from eating away at them. No, they were given a kind death -- if the books were to be believed even.
Teardrop looked out the window and realized that it was hardly even dinner time. Why did this day have to drag on? Actually, the morning had been fine; she'd slept through the morning. Then she woke up to the annoying three fairies who had somehow, in one of her brief absences, added two more fairies to their group and now had her glaring at her what felt like every five minutes.
That's about when the door opened and another fairy decided to grace the library with their presence. Sometimes there was such a thing as too much company.
Of course Teardrop almost cursed when she did see who it was. What did that stupid feather think she was doing coming in the middle of the afternoon? Just because Teardrop said that Tinkerbell had stopped coming for a while didn't mean she'd never come again. Teardrop glared at the girl and tried to motion behind her and hope that Tinkerbell and her friends hadn't seen her. Vidia continued to walk toward her.
"Are you the book fairy?" asked Vidia crisply. Teardrop stopped what would have been a completely mortifying lecture that gave everything away and blinked up at the fast flying fairy for a few precious seconds.
"I am the librarian here, yes," agreed Teardrop, automatically correcting the fairy. Vidia looked lost for a second, as if she had agreed, but said the wrong thing to be agreeing, and then remembered why she was there.
"Whatever, look, do you know what books might tell me where this stuff comes from?" asked Vidia shoving leaves at her. Teardrop glared at the green things.
"I don't like having leaves in my library," said Teardrop frowning at the leaves and looked back at Vidia who was glaring in a way that accused her of being difficult on purpose.
"It's what I had to write it down. Now why don't you do your job and go fetch the books that have these items in them," said Vidia with a dangerous and imperious smile.
"You don't have to do anything Teardrop," the dark fairy turned to find that it was indeed the garden fairy who was sticking up for her. "Not if Vidia is showing you the list I think she's showing you."
"What do you know dear?" hissed Vidia and turned back to Teardrop. "Now why don't you do your job and go find those books, hm?"
Teardrop raised an eyebrow and tried not to just laugh at the other girl's attitude.
"Teardrop you don't—Teardrop?" trailed off Tinkerbell watching as the librarian stood and gathered the leaves in her arms.
"I do have a job here, and this covers part of it," said Teardrop, her voice soft with the tinker fairy and then turned her attention on Vidia with a strong frown. "And you, most sane fairies leave things like that on the top shelf and come back the next day to retrieve the books I select for them. They aren't actually stupid enough to come into the library."
Vidia looked around the dark fairy to the annoying bunch of twits who had insisted on depraving Teardrop of her usual silence and getting her behind on work so she actually started flying from place to place and just clapping to straighten everything out.
"What about them, they're here," said Vidia and then crossed her arms. Teardrop gave her a dry look.
"None of them are sane," the librarian deadpanned and ignored said fairies reactions. "Except for the garden fairy who came to protect her friends, but I'm starting to worry about her seeing as she's still here. Now, why don't I go get you those books?"
"Teardrop, she's just trying to get her good name back, this isn't anything but a vanity project for her," insisted Rosetta, Teardrop let a smirk cross her lips since none of them could see her. The dark fairy would be very lost if she hadn't been friends with the fast flying fairy.
"Vanity project or not it's still part of my job," said Teardrop. Vidia made a superior noise at Rosetta and Teardrop rolled her eyes, "Though if she continues to be rude in my library I will give her some books on manners instead."
There was a hoot of laughter and a screech of indignation behind Teardrop that had the fairy walking a step faster toward the mainland section and opening one of the leaves and sticking her head in it. She knew that if she turned around and saw Vidia's look she would break out into hysterical laughter. She could hardly believe this, she never remembered being able to relax and feel so comfortable around a person in a friendly way to laugh. Not even her sister could do that.
After glancing through Vidia's notes she quickly went about getting the correct books on ships that would best go with them. After a few minutes of flying around she landed back on her feet and made her way quickly back toward the front of the library where voices were slowly rising.
Her irritation getting the better of her Teardrop walked with a deep frown to the front and glared at the sight in front of her. All the fairies were ganged against Vidia with Tinkerbell moved to be the first line of attack. It looked to ready to become very catty within the next few seconds.
"What do you think you are doing!" demanded Teardrop, dropping the books hard against the table, her voice cracking under the strain at reaching a level that it hadn't even attempted for nearly a century. "This is a library; you will not raise your voices above a whisper!"
Silence descended, a very loud silence that just irked the dark fairy more. She angrily walked up to Vidia and shoved the books in her friend's arms. The fast flying fairy looked ready to point out she was making the most noise, but Teardrop glared that idea right out of the fairies head.
"So, I can take these out of the library?" asked Vidia not even trying to whisper. Teardrop smiled dangerously.
"It's technically not allowed, but the rules set up by Queen Clarion make it hard for me to keep books in here when they are requested," said Teardrop bitterly.
"But, we can – I can now," said Tinkerbell, and Teardrop turned around to see the inventor holding up her library card.
"Yes," said Teardrop with a suddenly bright smile. "Give me a moment."
She flew up and found the squares she'd made just in case and flew them down to her ink. The others followed her to the table.
"Well let's see, one for Rosetta and Iridessa," she wrote their names in a tall flourish and then pushed them toward the two. Both fairies looked at the cards with reserve. Teardrop guessed Tinkerbell had told them what ink was and that they weren't going to touch their cards until they knew the ink had dried. "Phineas T. Kettletree, Esquire; and I'm afraid the rest of you will have to tell me your names. Including the sour puss who's trying to sneak away."
She happily scribbled their names on each sheet. This way she might get those days of silences with days of not feeling alone. Knowing Tinkerbell, the other fairy would find away to royally ruin her plan, but at the moment she couldn't be bothered.
"This means you can all go now," she said much too cheerfully. It was getting dark outside, and Teardrop would rather not ruin her sleeping pattern.
"Nope, we still have a few lessons to go through until we can read with gusto," said Bobble happily, Teardrop frowned (she didn't pout) at the tinker fairy. "It's just until all of us can read on our own so we won't bother you tomorrow."
"Ugh," said Teardrop letting her head fall into her arms. Why was this sparrow man talking so easily to her? He was one of the ones that should feel most betrayed by her actions, he couldn't just turn around and be comfortable with her after being in her presence for a day and learning that she really had no reason to try and dispose of him.
"I'm telling you it's impossible," and that loud voice of the gardener fairy. "It's not ships."
"Well, it looks like even the librarian disagrees with you on that point," hissed Vidia, Teardrop rolled her eyes. It was becoming painfully obvious why Vidia said that a crusty old dark bitter librarian of a fairy was her best friends, at this point in time it wouldn't shock her if Vidia said she was her only friend.
"What is going on here?" asked Teardrop menacingly as she walked up to the two fairies; they both took a step away from her.
"It – it was the books that you gave Vidia," said Rosetta and then glared at the fast flying fairy. Teardrop sighed and rubbed between her eyes, tuning the two out as they began to fight again. The books… yeah, perhaps shock was the best way to get it through their heads. She looked quickly at Vidia and gave her a small nod that told the other that Teardrop finally got what the fast flying fairy was trying to do, why Vidia had come at a time when Tinkerbell and her friends were most likely to have already shown up.
She quickly found a book best suited for what they needed and slipped it off the shelf.
"Here, this best explains everything you found," said Teardrop shoving into Vidia. The fast flying fairy 'oomphed' and glared at Teardrop while, from the look on Rosetta's face, she had just been deemed alright and no longer queen murdering scum.
"Pirates," said Vidia softly but triumphantly when she got a good look at the cover.
"I doubt that whatever she gave you immediately led to that conclusion," snapped Rosetta. These two had it in for each other. Even Tinkerbell had given up prodding and poking the annoying fast flying fairy.
In answer Vidia sneered and turned the cover to face the other fairies, there was a minute of stunned silence and then all pandemonium broke out.
--
In the end they decided to wait another week and see if the collection of pirate things kept coming. Teardrop wasn't especially happy with this decision since it had already been so long that the stuff had been coming, and had to be delicate in actually getting that time down to a week. She now understood why Vidia was so flustered about the entire ordeal.
At least it was quiet now that the crowd had left after, deciding to finish the lesson later. Teardrop even had time to tell them the new rule about not being able to take out books longer than a week and taking the few books and marking their front covers with the date it was to be given back. Teardrop liked that rule; it would let her know earlier when people started losing interest in coming to see her.
So, now she was left to her books. She walked restlessly around her shelves of fluttering pages and chided herself for not yet dispelling the light. It was stupid, as was this pacing. She hadn't slept well for the last week, and now she couldn't fall asleep. With one more exaggerated sigh she lifted her hands and clapped.
The answer to why she was so antsy squeaked. So one of the fairies had stashed herself behind and was a little afraid of the dark. Whoever could it be?
"Tinkerbell, what are you still doing here?" asked Teardrop as she located the small pulse of light that the tinker fairy gave off.
"Teardrop, is that you?" it was obvious that the tinker couldn't quite see her, she was hardly a dark blob in the libraries dimmed light.
"Yes, who else would be here so late?" asked the dark fairy stepping into the glow of the other fairies magic.
"Sorry, I just realized I had a question," said Tinkerbell with a soft smile that told Teardrop the other fairy wasn't really that sorry at all. Teardrop sighed and ran her thumb and forefinger over her eyes.
"Tinkerbell I'm tired and you being in my library has put me on edge," said Teardrop and looked imploringly at the tinker who shook her blond head. "Very well, as long as it is not another question about my hair."
"No, you owe me this answer," said the tinker seriously, and Teardrop allowed a blink in surprise. "You lied to me." Now she quirked an eyebrow, that was entirely true, but which lie had Tinkerbell caught on to? "You told me that sisters were close friends among their talents."
Teardrop visibly relaxed. This might be a touchy subject of her, but it was easily explainable and would get no one in trouble if she slipped up somewhere in the conversation.
"I never said that was what a sister was, I merely asked if you had a close friend among you're talent," Teardrop pointed out.
"You made it seem like that's what a sister was," said Tinkerbell grumpily and Teardrop smiled.
"Yes, I suppose I did," she agreed. They waited in silence until Tinkerbell got a little too antsy.
"Well, what is a sister, it's not a friend from my talent, it's not a best friend, it's not a – partner, what else could it be?" asked Tinkerbell stomping her food and Teardrop swore she could hear small bells.
"It is the other half of a babies laugh, the other half of my soul," explained Teardrop with a slight smile, and continued on when Tinkerbell just looked more baffled. "When I was born the babies laugh that birthed me also attached to another leaf and we were born of it. She is my other half, we are connected inseparably, and it hurts us to be apart. We are the same, and we are completely different our only similarities the feelings we share for each other."
"Where is she, your other half?" asked Tinkerbell with concern and then looked frightened for Teardrop's sake. "She's not – gone is she?"
"What? No, if my sister dies so do I," explained Teardrop, oddly detached from the conversation.
"Then, where is she? Why doesn't she come and visit you?" asked Tinkerbell. "Doesn't it hurt her also?"
"Yes, very much I'd imagine, but I would imagine she avoids coming near me for the same reason I pray she never comes to see me in my prison," Teardrop looked out one small window to the star strewn sky. "We both feel betrayed. She feel betrayed by me because I rose up against everything thing she felt was right, went against her beliefs. I don't want to see her because by stopping me and putting me in here and putting these rubies around my neck she betrayed me."
"But can't you just forgive each other?" asked Tinkerbell grabbing Teardrop's arms. Teardrop looked down on them with no emotion.
"No, she took away my rights, she took away what I felt was life," Teardrop gripped at the rubies. "I tried to kill her idol and way of an easy life. We both cut too deep, and both of us refuse to apologize and forgive – forget."
"But wouldn't it be easier that way?" demanded Tinkerbell, Teardrop frowned deeply and wrenched her arms from the tinkers hold.
"In the end the decision rests on my sister, and she will only forgive me if I truthfully say I am sorry for what I did and would do anything to bring back Queen Bright," said Teardrop. "I cannot lie to her, she is the other half of me, she knows the answer before she even asks it."
"But, I mean, you feel sorry Queen Bright is dead right?" asked Tinkerbell with a reassuring smile. Teardrop's head snapped up to stare Tinkerbell right in the eyes.
"No," said Teardrop strongly. "I might not have been the thing that killed her, but if it had ever been within my power to kill the old queen I would have."
Tinkerbell looked frozen by this admission, frozen to the spot.
"Ree is a much better queen, much better for the fairies and regulating the seasons than Queen Bright ever was. The only thing I would change is that I would make sure my sister was on my side this time around," said Teardrop strongly. Tinkerbell had her hands over her mouth while they shook slightly.
"But…" the fairy finally stuttered.
"Tinkerbell," said Teardrop, once again get the fairies full attention. "I think it's time for you to go home."
The tinker took off faster than even Vidia could do on her best days, and Teardrop only started moving when the front library doors bashed shut. She lazily let the gold dust fall from her hands as her screaming wings carried her to her hammock. As she curled up in the cloth she tried to ignore the screaming pain and with a single tear running down her cheeks she wished her sister would come and stand outside the door again. She might never want to see the traitor again but her heart ached and killed, and she knew that even being near her sister would lessen, even if it was only a little bit.