Disclaimer: Oi, no Fairly Odd Money for me, sad to say. Maybe then I could afford to go to work. Really, the only thing I don't own is Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda, Poof, Da Rulz and maybe Jorgen. I'm hoping that my experiment in this chapter works. Enjoy.
FOP
My eyes opened slowly, as the feeling of uncontrolled movement surrounded me. It was a form of disorientation, like waking up in a car, you know you're moving, but you're going the same speed, so you feel as if you aren't. Some sort of physics or other, maybe one of Einstein's theories of gravity.
Stranger than the theories, was that I was thinking about them as soon as I awoke.
Shaking away the absurdity of my thoughts, I let my eyes wander what I quickly realized was my prison. The transparent walls of the crystal allowed me to see out, the world a much larger place since I was now the size of a middle finger. Speaking of my middle finger, I wanted nothing more than to flash it at every single person that crossed my path – starting with the trio that locked me in here.
"What the fraknard . . ." I heard myself mutter before it even registered I opened my mouth. Where had my sensibility gone? Why were the most random and childish thoughts running through my head? I was captured by what were obviously magical creatures, who apparently knew Dwalin, and now I was two inches tall and trapped inside a prism and hanging around some man's neck. I should be thinking about how to escape, not flipping off everything that lived.
Settling back down with my back against one of the walls, I crossed my legs and began picking absentmindedly at the bracelet that woman slipped onto my wrist when they let me out. It almost felt like leather, but was so fine it could have been a chain; and on close inspection I found an insignia of an acorn. Confused, I tried to pull it off so I could get a better look, but the damn thing wouldn't come off my wrist. When I yanked, it tightened, and I only learned my lesson when my hand started turning a bluish purple and was cold from blood loss.
With a huff of indignation, the band slipped from my grasp and I let myself zone out on the path in front of me, in front of us. I could hear my wardens conversing, Dwalin being mentioned every now and again. The man whose neck I adorned would growl occasionally, and the green man would laugh. As odd as it sounds, I was comforted by these noises that seemed to be a normalcy for the trio.
My unfocused eyes zeroed in on a tree just off the path and to my right; I watched as it grew closer and closer. I couldn't help but think of Vicky and her Unwritten Road Rulz for the Teenage Driver: How to tell it's not you, but the other guy – his taillights keep getting closer but your speed doesn't change. My heart suddenly ached at the thought of my older sister, who I probably will never see again. Sure, I felt this before, the first time I had ventured into the Realms, but this time I was eighty three percent positive. I had been taken, and these people were no Gypsies; they were magic, I could sense it.
We stopped moving. Another woman's voice entered my ears, and though I couldn't see her, the cold clarity of her voice chilled me.
"Feldan grows impatient. When shall you arrive?" I could feel my current carrier growl in warning, and once again found myself wondering just what in the hell was going on.
"We will be there by the full moon, no later." He snarled, and we began walking once more. I never did hear that other woman speak again, and so figured she had left us.
My thoughts were chaotic and fast moving: Where was Dwalin? Who was that woman with the forest green eyes back in the woods? What was Timmy doing? Who was Feldan?
Wait? Did I eat breakfast this morning?
I couldn't remember.
~O~
He knew her. Somehow he knew her; her face, her form, her hair – and yet he didn't. But he should, somewhere within the depths of his soul he realized she should be familiar to him. Yet it almost didn't matter who she was or how he knew her – trivial and irrelevant. What mattered was now:
And now she was watching, studying him.
Her white dress was fashioned from pure fog, her black hair un-styled and free about her head. Around her neck hung a carving of an acorn on an oak pendant, and her purple eyes caught his in a steely gaze that appeared unbreakable. But something was wrong, she didn't seem right.
Without looking, he could tell they were in a clear patch of woods, the season of autumn fresh and obvious by way of yellows and reds.
Suddenly he could hear voices, their words falling like the leaves all around him, chaotic and all at once but still within order.
Bring me the girl.
Dwalin knew that it was her, that it had always been her.
Tootie, I just don't like you that way, don't you get it?
She is Feldan's, never forget that.
Dwalin needs Timmy-Man-Brat's help!
Tootie-Comrade did it to save Faeries, and Timmy-Man-Brat and Dwalin!
Because she loves them.
Because Tootie-Man-Brat loves them too!
Why won't you give my love a chance?
My Lord, your Watch shall arrive with the full moon.
Dwalin's my friend, and I'm going to help him.
This was your doing.
So say goodbye-
Or say forever-
Please, Timmy, please, come get me, now-
Or get her never.
Timmy Turner, your time is running out.
He could only watch, neither one moving, as she aged; not physically, but something about her eyes. They lost their sparkle, becoming blank purple orbs, not lifeless but not alive either. And that was when he realized what was wrong with the woman before him: she wasn't smiling. It was wrong.
The last words, like the last leaves of fall, echoed in his head.
Timmy Turner, your time is running out.
Your time is running out.
Time is running out.
Timmy.
Timmy.
Timmy-Man-Brat.
Timmy-Man-Brat.
Man-Brat!
Timmy's eyes suddenly refocused, and he realized with embarrassment that he was spacing off. Dwalin was shouting at him, trying to pull him forward, while Poof was floating near his brother's head with a look of concern. Trying to smile and dissolve their fears, the young Turner shook his head in an effort to clear his mind. What was with that weird dream?
His watch said ten thirty, and he knew it meant at night. So why was it as bright as mid afternoon? The invisible sun shown high in the sky, or at least he assumed it was, he couldn't actually see the sun through the trees. Suddenly stopping again, much to the great annoyance of the little Goblin, Timmy looked around in confused panic. An icy feeling of déjà vu gripped his heart, and more importantly his stomach as he recognized the wood they were in as the one from his dream. From the leaf-covered forest floor, to the falling red, yellow, and brown foliage, it was the clearing – except that Tootie wasn't standing in front of him and voices weren't raining from the sky.
"Goblin."
The sudden voice startled the three travelers, and all turned to one of the oak trees, only mildly surprised to see a woman sitting within the branches. She had to be one of the strangest, sexiest women Timmy ever had the pleasure of seeing. Her black cloak only fell to about mid thigh, the sleeves hiked, but not rolled, up three quarters, and the hood only covered the back of her head, held back even more by wild short curls. Curls which ended at her chin, save for a few disobedient ones that daringly brushed her pale neck.
Her more than decent but less than obscene breasts were held up by what Timmy could only surmise was a black bra, strapless he had the joy of noticing – that alone made it obscene again. By no means was she skinny, or even hour glass shaped; in fact, there was only a slight indentation to show where her waist was, before plumping out again in order to take the shape of a black skirt. A black knee length skirt, ending with surprisingly toned calves and bare feet.
She seemed used to the attention of her sex appeal – or maybe she was just unaware of it – for she didn't even bat an eye as Timmy looked her over with a mix of shock and awe, instead focusing her attention on Dwalin.
"He knows you are after the Watch, His Watch, and may I say he is not pleased with it, Goblin." Her voice was full of restrained power, and Dwalin knew he had to tread lightly with this creature.
"Dwalin will not stop until he gets Tootie-Comrade Back." Was all he dared to say, almost baiting her to see how she would respond. But she knew this form of play very well, and would reveal only what she desired, and only when it would benefit her most.
"That path is treacherous, He knows your will and rest assured there will be many obstacles in your path from this day forward." She smirked, leaning onto her knees, causing her breasts pitch forward just enough that Timmy fights the urge to stare at anything below the shoulder. How can a woman so sexy be so aloof to it?
"Nonetheless, I shall point you in the correct direction." That one statement dispelled the thick tension in the air, replacing it with confusion in its purest form.
"Why would She help Dwalin and his companions?" Dwalin asked cautiously, leaning forward even as he kept a small hand and long fingers on Timmy's leg. Poof was oddly silent.
"I am not. I'm helping myself. The path you seek lies that way." She pointed an elegant finger to her right, resting her arm casually on one of her knees, which was now propped on the branch and hiking her skirt up even more. Timmy shook his head, wondering when she had moved, and if he was too busy ogling her to notice.
Snatching a red oak leaf right out of the air, she held it by the stem and twirled it. Cold, calculating eyes watched them as they followed her directions, suddenly feeling as if a force had taken hold to guide them. The woman smirked both to herself and to their backs. The String of Fate, perhaps.
Scoffing, she almost lost her composure and laughed at how absurd her thoughts sounded. The String of Fate was simply an old wife's tale that only mattered to superstitious fools. And while she was many things, a fool she was not. Be that as it may she still couldn't shake an overwhelming feeling of dare she say destiny that overcame her.
Sending a look at them over her shoulder, she decided to give them one more item to contemplate before her master called her back.
"Goblin." She called out, and the three males stopped to look at her, still poised on the branch with the leaf spinning slowly in her hand.
"You had better hurry. The Watch is swift, and your time is running out."
Nodding, the group continued, but Timmy paused to look at her one more time, a feeling of frozen dread taking hold again. A startled and surprised gasp roared up his throat, although it died on his lips as his eyes frantically searched the clearing.
When he turned around, the woman was gone.
~O~
Harpsichord. Just like that, the woman with the curly hair was standing beside a Roman style bath, the starry night sky reflecting in such a way that one would have a hard time deciding which was real and which was water. Smirk dancing on her thin lips, she flitted her way to the entry steps, slipping her bare feet into the cool water almost reverently. There was a man sitting next to her, but she casually ignored him in favor of spinning her fingers on the surface of the liquid, twirling the stars much as she had the leaf.
He watched her, white eyes followed her every movement as she played with the bath, ignoring his obvious nudity hidden just beneath by a dark shadow. She didn't blush, she never did, and every now and again on slow days he would entertain the idea of why. Perhaps she didn't have enough blood in her body; or she had different emotions than most other humans. Whatever the reason, she simply didn't blush.
He could still remember the day his Watch brought her to him, young and cold yet anything but frightened. She had already lost half her memories by the time she arrived, as they all did, but cower before him she did not. Every other girl still had the presence of mind to shriek at the sight of his seven foot frame towering over them, white eyes boring holes in their flesh and long brown wings folded regally behind him like a moth. But she just stood before him, silent and wide-eyed, waiting for someone to make a move.
Even at the human age of five, her eyes were cold and calculating.
She had lost all her mortal memories since then, and although she still knew there was something before her life of serving Feldan, she didn't bother trying to remember. What would be the point to it? She still would not be able to leave his side, but would be sucked into yearning for a past life she remembered but had never known. It was easier to simply move on.
"Tell me, my Witch, what information have you secured?" he prodded quietly, watching has she made to mimic his smirk.
"My Lord, your Watch shall arrive with the full moon." He let out a sigh of relief, but eyed her warily. Why was she still smirking?
As if reading his thoughts, her smirk split her face in two as she slowly removed her hood, and let the cloak slide down her back inch by tantalizing inch. Once she was freed, she set the cloth aside and instantly it was picked up by a passing Faerie and whisked away. Feldan eyed the insignia branded onto the skin in the middle of her back. The intricate green oak leaves cupping an acorn; his long fingers quietly slipped out of the water to trace the image. He knew his symbol intimately.
"Harpsichord?" his quiet voice matched his silent movements, and the woman stiffened at her name. He knew something was bothering her; he always knew when something was wrong with his Witch.
Instead of immediately answering his question, she lifted her hand from the water, and focused on the sky above them. With nimble fingers she began stirring the stars, rearranging constellations with impish glee.
"She's adorable, pretty even" The words came out far too smooth for Feldan. Even so, he couldn't stop the smile on his lips at the thought of what his Watch was bringing for him. He had been keeping an eye on Tootie for quite some time, long before the Goblin battle, long before she met Dwalin.
"She's also human." Her tone this time was anything but light, and Feldan had to fight the urge to laugh. So that's what this was about?
"Jealous?" he asked effortlessly, and Harpsichord almost growled. She would never admit that she felt anything regarding her human heart.
"I know what pretty little human girls mean to my Lord, to his Kingdom and this Realm. I am simply concerned for my well being." She snapped with well placed formality, gathering the stars in her palm, forcing the sky into a dark sort of depression. When her anger had cooled a few seconds later, she opened her hand and blew the little specks of light chaotically back where they belonged.
"She is special somehow, I'll not deny that. But what I will not allow is my little Witch worry for her station and questioning her Lord." Feldan shot back, his had stilling on her branded flesh. He knew she was displeased, but she was also his.
"Well, perhaps my Lord should find himself a new little Witch, and I'll find myself a new fairytale." Was her final quip before she disappeared. He sighed, hand still poised where she had once been. There was no use trying to talk to her now to get the rest of her information. When she flew into a jealous rage it was best to steer clear, even if he was in charge.
Besides, he may be the King of this Realm, but she ruled him.
Even if she didn't know it.
Unfortunately for Feldan, she did.
FOP