A/N: This is a short chapter, because if I had started the next part it would have been a very long chapter, and I didn't want to eke out what I have here or I'd be afraid it would bore you. If this isn't a good enough excuse, expect Chapter 16 sometime this week. :) - Sky. (Extra note: Oh blow, I've committed myself now '')

Chapter 15 - The Unicorn

Timmy was jolted awake by a dream he couldn't remember while it was still dark outside. He pulled his sleeping bag up to his chest and closed his eyes once more, trying to settle down and drift off, knowing that he would in seconds if he just tried a little. The wind was thrashing the branches of the tree all around him, reminding Timmy of where he was and, more pointedly, who he was with. His tired eyes cast a look over to the other side of the tree house, to his sleeping companion who sat hunched in the corner, breathing in tiny breaths and making the red strands on her lips flutter to and fro. Timmy smiled to himself in the moonlight, and closed his eyes once more.

However, Timmy found that those few seconds observation had cost him the comfort of that hazy zone somewhere between sleep and consciousness, and the leaves being tossed around outside seemed so much louder now. The cold it his bones in a way it hadn't mere moments before, and Timmy was forced to realised just how uncomfortable the hard wooden floor of the tree house really was. He sighed, irritated, and tried to squash his lanky frame into a more pleasing shape for his aching muscles. Vicky snuffled in her sleep, tossing her fiery locks quite violently for someone who was supposed to be at rest, and for a fleeting moment Timmy was concerned for what was going on in her tired mind.

It had never occurred to Timmy before that someone like Vicky was capable of having nightmares. Terrible visions of a place where she wasn't powerful and in charge, and where she couldn't make everyone she encountered bend to her smallest whim. Where she was small and vulnerable, and frightened. Timmy snorted. It was hard to imagine Vicky being frightened, even now, when she had shown herself to be susceptible to the most simple of human frailties. Vicky wasn't afraid of anything, and in the dark Timmy wondered if that was because she was tough or because she was brave.

She had to be fairly brave, he reckoned, to be willing to carry her burden all alone. With no one to talk to and no one to confide in, Vicky had carried on, day by day, maybe withering from the girl she used to be but still living, still breathing, still being her. While Timmy felt it was big headed to think it, (though he had no one to judge this action but himself), it seemed as though Vicky's love for him really was the real deal. He did not only intoxicate her, but she wanted and needed him so badly that everything else seemed to fall away from significance. She'd faded and broken since falling for him, turned into something so devastating that it could only be pure, raw love that had caused it.

He wondered, almost lightly, if he would ever feel the same for her. Would he ever crave her touch, (even though his body screamed at him to go over to her, just to share in her warmth)? Would he stop noticing that life was passing him by as he sat, alone in the dark, just waiting for those precious moments when he could catch a glimpse of his beloved, (even though for the life of him he couldn't remember what he had done the last time she hadn't been around)? Would he, like her, crumble into nothingness, firm in his belief that he could never, ever have her?

The pain that swelled in his heart at the thought of never seeing Vicky again was so intense and so bright, like ink through water, and it wasn't even real. No one was threatening to take Vicky from his life, there was nothing to stop him from seeing her, yet the mere thought had nearly ripped him in two. Timmy swallowed heavily. It took all of his self-control to stay where he was, because every instinct in his body was screaming at him to go over to her and hold her, just to make sure she was really there.

-

Wanda was weeping bitterly. Her heart ached and her soul screamed because she knew what her husband had done. She could feel it inside, the way she had always felt Cosmo's magic since the day she met him. Every little wish granted had tingled down her spine and made her smile, but not this time. This time it was wrong, it was unwished magic, and something in her gut had told her that she wasn't the only one who knew what he had done. Her heart had shattered into a million pieces because, unlike Cosmo, she knew just what happened to fairies that performed magic without request.

Wanda's favourite toy had always been the little unicorn, with it's purple mane and tail and sparkling white coat. It looked so proud and beautiful, the way Wanda always imagined she did when she dressed up in her mother's clothes. It had long, silky wings made from feathers that Wanda always wished she could have, instead of the thin, veiny membrane that formed to make fairy wings. She wanted her wings to weep like the unicorn's did whenever it dropped a feather, but unlike the unicorn she wanted hers to grow back, stronger and better than before.

And then one day she had dropped in it in the river, while she and her mother were out shopping for her first school uniform.

"Mama!" she had screamed as she had watched the little tall fall from the bridge and splash into the icy golden water below. "Mama, my unicorn!"

Her mother had put her hand to her mouth and glanced over the bridge at the little ripples that now broke the surface. "Oh no," she had said in her light, soft voice. "Oh no."

"Mama, get it back!" Wanda had pleaded, tugging on her mother's hand as thick tears rolled down her cheeks. "Please, Mama! His wings will spoil!"

"Wanda, honey," her mother had said soothingly, turning to her hysterical child. "All the feathers will have fallen away the moment he hit the water dear. They'll be all gone and all he will have are the tiny plastic rods that used to hold them in place. He won't look as beautiful as he did."

"I don't care," Wanda had said stubbornly. "He's still mine."

Her mother had sighed and pulled out her wand. Magic on Fairy World was perfectly fine, wished or not, and the little unicorn had come soaring out of the river and into the little girl's hands. For just a few moments, the girl was delighted, but her face fell when she saw how ugly the little horse had become.

"Come along Wanda," her mother had said, seeing the look on her daughter's voice. "We need to get you sorted."

Once Wanda had returned home, she had put the little unicorn in the back of her wardrobe and not thought about it for years. It sat quite alone and abandoned amongst boxes of shoes that didn't fit anymore and dresses that Wanda had outgrown.

When she was fifteen, the Fairy Council destroyed Wanda's mother.

She had been away on Earth, the God Parent to a young girl who had been killed. She had been on a ship that had sunk, and Wanda's mother hadn't been able to save her. Overcome by grief, Wanda's mother had tried to take it back, and focused all of her magic on wishing the little girl were alive again. Not only was it dangerous, but wishing a dead person back to life broke so many of Fairy World's rules that the Fairy Council swooped down on her before the spell had even been finished. It was decided that should Wanda's mother have succeeded, not only would the natural order of Earth been thrown out of balance, but the security of Fairy World would have been greatly compromised. She was sentenced to be destroyed.

Wanda wasn't there when it was done. She wasn't there when her mother's wings were cut off and all of the magic was drained from her blood. She wasn't there as her father watched his wife close her eyes against the arsenal of wands that were pointed at her chest. She wasn't there when her mother was sent away in a cloud of black smoke, into an abyss from which she could never return.

She was down at the river throwing the unicorn into the icy golden water below.

Cosmo had never been told this story. Cosmo had never known what Wanda had been through, and what had really inspired her to become a God Parent. He hadn't needed to, and she didn't like the pity.

Wanda sat on her bunk and rubbed her streaming eyes with the balls of her hands. She had thought that this kind of tragedy could only happen once in a lifetime, but she could feel the terrible mark being burned onto her husband more deeply with every second that passed. If only she had told him, she thought angrily, tugging at her pink curls. If only she had told him what could have happened, maybe he wouldn't have even tried. She screamed loudly into the deathly quiet, not caring if what Cosmo had done was worth it, because she knew it could never possibly be.

Vicky was dreaming. She was dreaming of vast green fields that stretched right to the horizon and bright blue skies that were heavily dotted by the black silhouettes of birds in flight. In her dream she was barefoot, but still wore the clothes that Timmy had given her that night, and she walked through the grass and felt the dew seeping between her toes. The sun beamed down on the gently rippling grass, and Vicky felt truly happy, though she was not sure why. With her back to the sun she looked up at the birds which, at second glance, didn't look much like birds at all. They looked more like little people, supported on the wind by tiny, transparent wings that grew from their shoulder blades.

Fairies.

Vicky had never believed in fairies. Not even when she was young and at her most idealistic, but she also knew that this was a dream, and somehow the fact that they were imaginary fairies made them more beautiful than ever. Perhaps it was because they had come from her mind, so fragile and small and pretty, and the idea that that could happen had never even hit her. Her mind spawned fire and pain and harsh scenes, scenes that were dark and sounded like screaming, but now she was in a wonderful place, all because of her soul.

One of the fairies broke pattern from the others and flew down to meet her. Vicky recognised him instantly, although she was certain that he had been human before. "I know you," she said softly, as the green haired fairly landed softly before her.

"Help me," the fairy said quickly. Vicky was startled, and noticed that even though the fairy was holding a wand between his hands, it wasn't as vivid and bright as everything else in the dream. It looked as though it was disappearing all the time, fading from the clutches of the worried fairy.

"What's wrong?" Vicky asked, taking a step towards him. The fairy backed away and began looking over his shoulder, as though he thought someone was chasing him.

"Help me," he repeated, his eyes full of pleading.

"I will, I swear, but you have to tell me what's wrong," she insisted, but the fairy just shook his head violently.

"I can't," he said in a terrified whisper.

"At least tell me your name," Vicky begged, feeling her heart break for the frightened creature before her.

Suddenly, the skies flashed and darkened, while forks of lightning threaded their way across the inky blackness. A wind picked up that was so fierce that Vicky could hardly hear for the roaring in her ears. The green fairy was shouting something at her, but Vicky didn't know what it was. Behind him she could see great shadows looming, with tiny red pin prick eyes, bearing down on the fairy as if to consume him.

"I can't hear you!" she yelled as the wind pulled and pushed at her floating companion. The green haired fairy continued to yell, and just as the shadows caught him Vicky caught the word 'Cosmo' on the tail of the wind. The shadows wrapped themselves around him, hiding him from Vicky's view and keeping her from moving forward.

"Cosmo?" she yelled into the whirling abyss, struggling against the wind which was now pushing her back. There was no reply.

Then the shadows finally broke apart, the wind died down, but the lightning continued to flash without thunder. The fairy hovered a foot above the ground, with his eyes brimming with such terrible sadness that Vicky felt herself beginning to cry. "Cosmo?" she whispered again.

The green haired fairy nodded, and then erupted in a ball of flame.