Chapter 11 - Without Wanda

Cosmo stared at his bed cover. His fingers found their way into a small hole he had created with his wand some time ago, and he pulled and twisted without really paying any attention to what he was doing. Rain fell softly over Fairy World. It wasn't pouring down at all, and the ground was barely damp. It was just drifting slowly, settling in a layer of sparkle that was gently buffeted by the wind. The drops on Cosmo's window magnified the streetlights outside, splitting the white spectrum into beautiful colours, which danced about his room. Cosmo didn't notice as the threads continued to splinter beneath his fingers. Cosmo didn't care. He sighed and stared at his bedroom door.

He'd seen them again that night. As he pulled the door of the diner closed and locked it with his wand, he had noticed the flurry of pink out of the corner of his eye. His heart had leapt, the way it always did when he caught sight of her, but for the millionth time it deflated almost instantly, because Wanda was never alone. Arm in arm they floated down the high street, long before the rain had even thought to fall, and Cosmo scowled as Wandissamo grinned, showing off his perfectly straight, white teeth. He screwed his eyes up tightly, trying to erase the image of them together, but it was burned onto the inside of his eyelids, tormenting him with it's ever-presence. He pulled his jacket tightly around his skinny body, and set off in the opposite direction, deciding to take the long way home.

He still hadn't changed out of his uniform. He looked down at it contemptuously, hating it for reminding him how worthless he was. He would have bet every wand in Fairy World that Wandissamo would some day amount to more than a spotty, gawky waiter. He was the most admired guy at school, and had been since the day he transferred there, and though Cosmo wished bitterly that he would be going home some time soon, that didn't seem to likely to happen. He would forever be a presence in Cosmo's life, an enemy that could beat him without even trying. He knew that Wanda could never fall for stupid, awkward Cosmo, who needed help in every subject and was only qualified to mix shakes. Cosmo was nothing to Wanda, nothing at all.

There was a soft knock at the door. Cosmo looked up, pulled out of his misery though the feeling still weighed heavily on his heart. "Cosmo, dear, are you in there?" asked a familiar voice. Cosmo got up from his bed and floated over the door.

"Yes, Mama," he replied, opening it.

Cosmo thought the world of his mother. She had raised him single-handedly after his father had left, and she had done a damn good job. She never let Cosmo think he was stupid or useless, and anyone who said anything like it was liable to get a mouthful. She protected him from all the bad things in the world, and she kept him sheltered and happy. Or at least she tried to, but Cosmo knew that there were some things even she couldn't cure.

"Whatever is the matter dear?" she asked. "Your dinner's been on the table for twenty minutes! It must be stone cold by now."

"Sorry, Mama," Cosmo said in a small voice, lowering his head.

"Come now dear, tell your mother what's got you so down," she said in a kind, yet very mothering voice. Cosmo sighed. He wasn't really sure he wanted to talk to his mother about his feelings towards Wanda. He was certain she wouldn't approve, and that she would tell him all kinds of things that he didn't really want to hear, things along the lines of how he didn't really need her, and how he could do much better anyway, and how he was too young to be tied down. Cosmo didn't believe any of these things and just because they were said in his mother's voice it wouldn't make them true.

But on the other hand, Cosmo had no one else to talk to. He was never really that good at making friends, and of the few people he did hang around with at school, he couldn't think of a single fairy who would be able to help. He'd been carrying around these heavy emotions for so long now too, that he felt as though he might collapse if he didn't shed some of the weight soon. His mother surveyed him with caring, worried eyes. Cosmo smiled at her. He could tell Mama, Mama loved him more than anyone else in the world.

"It's about a girl, Mama," Cosmo said quietly. His mother looked stunned.

"A girl?" she repeated. Cosmo nodded solemnly. "Which girl?"

"Wanda..." Cosmo said slowly.

"Wanda... Wanda..." his mother said, tapping her want on her chin as she scanned her memory to see if she could recall the girl. "Pink, swirly hair?" she asked. Cosmo nodded. "But I thought she was with that other chap, you know, the foreign one? Big. beefy fellow... what's his name now?"

"Wandissamo," Cosmo muttered through clenched teeth.

"That's the one!" his mother exclaimed.

"What should I do, Mama?" Cosmo asked as tears filled his eyes.

"Just forget her dear, she's not good enough for you anyway." She lifted his chin with the tip of her wand. "And don't cry, dear, if you're old enough to be chasing after girls, you're too old to be crying anymore." And with that she bustled off, leaving Cosmo with the distinct feeling that he had annoyed her in some way. With this extra weight sitting on his chest, Cosmo drifted back to his bed and sat down. He rubbed furiously at his big green eyes, eradicating the tears. Mama Cosmo was right. He wasn't going to cry.

-

They had taken his wand away. His hands felt strangely useless as they hung by his sides. His feet felt strange too, as he was not used to feeling the solid ground beneath them. But they had suited him up, too, clipped his wings so that he couldn't fly away. He sighed, and rested his head on the cool metal bars. He tried not to think of Wanda, without her magic and her wings, and with a strange jolt in his stomach he knew she wouldn't be thinking of him. Her thoughts would be with Timmy, and everything he was going through. Cosmo sighed, and hated himself for being so selfish. He knew exactly what Timmy was going through, more so than his wife, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Not while he was here, locked up in the darkness and all alone. Not while he was without Wanda.

He began to pace around his cell, his cage, and only stopped when an angry shout sounded from next door. It probably was late, he thought to himself as he sat down on the hard bed, the only thing in his cell. He buried his head in his hands, hating himself for not being able to stop thinking about Wanda. He knew she would be fine, she could cope even better than he could, and she wouldn't be afraid. She would be worried about Timmy and nothing else. It wouldn't matter to her that they were probably going to get their wands snapped in two. She wouldn't care that they would probably be banned from ever going to Earth ever again. She wouldn't be worrying herself sick over her punishment. She would just be miserable, because they had been snatched from Timmy without so much as a goodbye, and they couldn't even talk to him if they wanted to.

Cosmo bit his lip and stretched out on the bed. His skin felt uncomfortable and hot, and he was just yearning to reach out and grab something to hold on to. From the end of the hall there came a repetitive clang, loud and unwelcome in the late quietness of the wing. Cosmo looked up and watched as a warden ran his wand along the bars of all the cells across from Cosmo's. He narrowed his eyes at the warden, and a surge of anger leapt up from the pit of his stomach, forcing him to get to his feet. He slammed his hands against the bars, making sure he caught the warden's attention.

"Let me out of here!" he roared. The warden smirked at him and floated over, twirling his wand between his hands.

"Now what would I do that?" he asked in a sleazy voice, clearly enjoying his job much more than he should have.

"Because I haven't done anything wrong," Cosmo said, angry at the slight whimper that lilted on the edge of his voice.

"Well that just can't be true now, can it?" the warden said, his calm yet taunting voice making Cosmo want to reach through the bars and throttle him with his bare hands. Perhaps he did belong in prison after all.

"What did I do?" Cosmo said sadly, not addressing the question to anyone in particular. The warden glanced at a card beside Cosmo's cell.

"Says here that you breached Fairy World security. Continued fraternisation with a human adult. Quite a serious crime that, One-Six-Nine, I'm surprised they didn't put you in solitary."

Cosmo let out a derisive snort, in spite of himself. "Do you see anyone else in here with me?" he said sarcastically, but the warden just shrugged and pointed his wand towards the end of the corridor. Cosmo leant right forward against the bars and squinted into the darkness. He could just make out a tiny door, with an even small window set into the front. Heavy locks and latches had been bolted firmly to the metal. Cosmo shuddered and shrank back from the bars.

"My wife," he finally said nervously. "Is she ok?"

"I don't know," the warden said harshly. Cosmo nodded; he hadn't been expecting any compassion. The warden looked up to the ceiling, clearly uncomfortable, before sauntering off to make more racket and wake up some more angry prisoners. Cosmo sighed and went back to his bed. He just wished that there was some way he could talk to Wanda, to tell her that everything was going to be fine.

Or at least, so she could tell him that.

Tears welled up in his eyes, but he swiped at them furiously, blinking rapidly over and over so there was no chance of them spilling out. He was too old to cry, now, and he had promised himself he would never cry just because he didn't have Wanda again.