Author's Note: "If you're Cupid, then I wanna be the Easter Bunny. I love eggs!" "Cosmo, focus!"
I think that quote pretty much sums up Cosmo this chapter. Oy. And hey, sympathetic Timmy. Sort of.
Chapter Fourteen: Take One for the Team
Make no mistake- Juandissimo knew exactly where Wanda was. Doombringer couldn't withhold such crucial information, no matter how badly she wanted to conceal it. Unfortunately, the Dark Crystal prevented him from removing the lid and extracting his beloved. It had restored his weakness to iron and Juandissimo could only watch through a monitor as Wanda shuddered and moaned, sweat beading on her forehead and her body cocooned as if this along would prevent the iron from touching her. Juandissimo's stomach cramped in sympathy and he thought of her and Remy, prisoners of Doombringer's brigade.
One of the few fairies she had possessing a wand, he used it to transport himself to her. She was standing outside, puffing away on a small cigarette, and absently stroking a half-breed fairy in wolf form beside her. The creature's tarnished broken crown was barely visible under the moonlight and Juandissimo contained a hiss. Half-breeds rubbed him the wrong way, like they did almost the entirety of Fairy World. That was why they were banned. And this one luxuriated in Doombringer's attention; he raised his head to receive her idle scratching and whacked his tail against the smooth cement. Juandissimo scoffed. Disgusting.
The outside of the compound was bland and uninteresting. It looked like an abandoned warehouse, broken down and falling apart, and they were on the cement where the sidewalk used to be. The sidewalk was now cracked and weeds littered the spaces in between. There were cigarette butts, beer cans, and used condom wrappers a few feet away; the teenagers used to use this as a copulating place before Doombringer chased them away. Again, Juandissimo shuddered, glad he normally contended with children and not malcontents.
He shifted into a wolf and waited for her to acknowledge him. The baleful Dark Crystal lay, exposed, on her chest, and his ears pinned back. Seeing it made him want to kowtow to her, when his purpose here was anything but.
"Yes?" she said sharply. "What is it?"
"While Wanda is…" he paused, wanting to phrase this delicately, "currently under supervision and Remy has been removed-"
"You still want to save them," Doombringer said, cutting his attempt short. "I told you. When Wanda behaves, you can have her back."
"She is not a prize to be won," he snapped and the half-breed at her side growled warningly at Juandissimo. Juandissimo bared his teeth.
"She is a dog to be brought to heel," Doombringer retorted and smirked. "An appropriate analogy, given the circumstances and your current form."
"You will kill her," he snapped.
"What I do with her is none of your concern," Doombringer said. "You let her husband escape."
"Normally, Cosmo is too stupid to rub two rocks together," he said. "Let alone tunnel his way out."
"You have the audacity to ask me to free Wanda when you failed me once today?" he said. "And Wanda has failed me again?"
"What did Wanda-" he started and she slammed her boot heel down on Juandissimo's head. He heard a distinct crack and his eyes watered in pain. Grabbing his wand, he healed himself and she scoffed. It took a lot more than usual to hurt a fairy seriously, which he knew she knew.
"I should put you in an iron cage too," she said. "Punish you for thinking you have the right to order me around."
Juandissimo hastily backpedaled. "I am not saying you do not rule the roost. I am questioning whether it is prudent to continually weaken someone you want strong when she may be too weak to accomplish what you want."
"No," she said. "You don't fool me. Wanda could still do what I wanted and she chose not to. Just like you choose to ignore who's really in control here."
"I know you are," he said and was displeased to discover himself whining. She glared at him and he tucked his tail in between his legs. He looked up at her and whined again. "But you do not have to be this cruel."
"I allowed Wanda one reprieve," she snapped. "And I let you let Cosmo slip through my fingers."
"He's returning, you know," he said. "He won't let Wanda go. Wanda and Timmy are-"
"I'm not an idiot," she interrupted. "Fail me once more, Juandissimo, and it'll be on Wanda's and Remy's heads. I'm losing my patience."
"What is it you want me to do?" he said.
"Capture Crocker," she said. "I don't want to experiment on him and I certainly can't use him as a person. I want to milk him dry."
Juandissimo hesitated. He only knew about Crocker through his brief eavesdropping near Cosmo, Wanda, and Timmy. From what he knew, Crocker alternated between being a mad genius and being a mad idiot. It seemed to depend on the day of the week. If he were a mad genius, he was truly dangerous.
His hesitation must have shown on his face because she kicked him over and pressed her heel into his throat.
"Do this or Wanda and Remy will learn there are worse fates than death," she hissed.
Cosmo rushed through the streets with the black spectre hovering over him. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him and ignored any random person he happened to crash into. The moon was high overhead and it was later than he thought. How much time had he spent in the castle? How much longer until this damn thing was gone from him? His teeth chattered.
Wanda would know what to do. She'd take her wand, remove the being, and they'd escape and live happily ever after. He wasn't leading the being to her. He was destroying it. Yeah, that made perfect sense. He wasn't endangering his wife and his godson. He was making things better.
It occurred to him he didn't know his way back. The being was silent, although amused, and Cosmo stared wildly around him. Up until now, he'd reacted on instinct and let blind fear lead the way. But if he couldn't find his family, it wouldn't matter how worried he was. All the streets looked the same and all the buildings crowded together in the dark.
((Wanda?))
There was no response and he remembered their telepathy was down, perhaps for good if the bust's hex destroyed their Bond. Plus, she wasn't anywhere near him; she might not even be capable of receiving him wherever she was. However, their telepathy was what he usually fell back on. When in doubt, contact Wanda and find the answer. It was the staple of their marriage. Wanda was the rock and Cosmo leaned on her all the time. She was stable and dependable. And now what? He was supposed to depend on himself?
A wave of fear washed over him so powerful that he dropped on all fours in the middle of the sidewalk. Wanda helped him figure things out. Wanda solved all life's difficulties for him. Wanda fixed his messes. Wanda wasn't here. Cosmo was alone, all alone. He had managed to fend off the insecurity and terror earlier, but it was swallowing him again. He couldn't use his magic to reach Wanda and Timmy, because the wands wouldn't work in his hands. He was adrift without magic or aid. And now he was corrupted because he'd taken help from the wrong source.
"Huh, a weird green dog," a familiar voice said. "It looks familiar."
Cosmo jerked his head and looked up. Vicky stared back at him. Adrenaline shot through him and he jumped to his feet and growled. Vicky stared at him. He couldn't think beyond the terror engulfing his mind.
"Don't you normally have a pink sidekick?" Vicky said.
Cosmo couldn't speak. He gawked at her and she sighed.
"You're Timmy's," she said.
He yelped and wanted to run, but his legs didn't cooperate.
"If he hadn't gone missing, I could hold you for ransom," she said. "But I don't know where he is."
His ears were pinned back and his tail was tucked underneath him. Vicky walked around him and frowned, stroking her chin.
"I bet Tootie would like you if you're the twerp's dog," she said. "But I don't know where Tootie is either. Hmm.
"If I take you home, I'd have to feed you and then I'd waste more money," she said. "And there's no point in holding you ransom if no one's going to pay me. But…"
"But what?" Cosmo squeaked.
She knelt down and stared into his eyes. "I might hate the twerp, but I don't hate animals."
Cosmo heaved a sigh. Maybe he was safe. He grinned happily at her.
"But I do like getting them fixed," she said and grinned from ear to ear. Cosmo howled.
"No wonder you don't have godparents," Timmy said. Tootie scoffed.
"Rub it in, why don't you?" she said.
"That must suck," he said.
"Gee, you think?" she retorted. She rubbed her arms. "I hope Cosmo's okay."
"Knowing him he probably did something stupid to jeopardize us all," Timmy said. "But he should be back by now."
"I wish I remembered them," she said. She blushed. "I mean, I wish I remembered them as my godparents."
"Instead of spying on them as mine," Timmy snapped.
"I wonder if they loved me…"
Growing uncomfortable, both with the conversation and Cosmo's prolonged absence, he stretched and glanced at where the tunnel had been. Why the hell hadn't Cosmo thought of him and let him go too? Now they were alone and without magic, unless you bought the load of bull Doombringer said about them absorbing it. If kids had magic, why would they need godparents?
"You think our parents are looking for us?" Tootie said. In a flat voice, she added, "I bet Vicky scared my parents off of looking for me."
"I dunno," Timmy said and shuddered. "I don't know if my parents even noticed I was gone."
"Of course they did," Tootie said. "Just because they're really selfish and childish sometimes doesn't mean they don't love you. I know they love you."
"That doesn't mean they noticed I was gone," he pointed out. "They could have been off on one of their business trips and forgot about me."
In a quiet voice, she said, "At least my parents don't forget about me."
"Good for you," he said.
"Maybe that's why you got Cosmo and Wanda after me," she said. "You needed them to love you."
It was a sobering thought and one, like her previous statement, that didn't sit well with him. He knew, deep down, that Cosmo and Wanda probably cared for him more than his real parents, but he never acknowledged that part. It scared him to think the creatures who cared more about him than anything else would have to leave him one day and he'd forget all about them. Like Tootie had.
He glanced at her. What was it like to have a whole chunk of your history written over? If Doombringer was right, which Timmy doubted, could Tootie suddenly start remembering Cosmo and Wanda? Could Crocker? Were the mind wipes less permanent than Jorgen thought?
It alternatively filled him with hope and made him uneasy. He didn't want Doombringer to monopolize on Fairy World's mistakes and hurt Cosmo and Wanda, even if being able to trigger the memories might mean he wouldn't have his childhood rewritten.