Disclaimer: I don't own Fairly OddParents.

Author's Note: Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization, though you can point out anything else that I did wrong. I allow anonymous reviews (reviews from people without accounts), so if you don't have an account, you can review my fanfics.

Chapter 20: Revelation of Darkness

Genie World was cool, despite the limitations, but Norm couldn't help but start worrying about Calais, and Chester. Had the Eliminators got them? Had the Darkness came back, and destroyed them?

He hoped that none of that had happened, though he doubted his hopes would come true.

He wanted to stay in Genie World, and have fun there, though he knew that he needed to save Turner. If he didn't, Earth, and Fairy World would be destroyed, and Chester would never trust him again.

He didn't want that to happen. He didn't want to leave Genie World either, and he didn't want to save Turner.

Turner probably wasn't in Genie World anyway, so he wouldn't be able to rescue him anyway.

Norm grinned, but remembered that Chester wanted, needed him to save Turner, and if he didn't, he'd never trust him again.

He rolled his eyes, wondering why the Darkness had to tear his heart in two like that. Why couldn't it just be a save-the-world mission for Turner? Why couldn't the Darkness have been stopped before it sucked up Genie World? If it was, Norm knew he wouldn't have to save Turner, his worst enemy, from its clutches. If it was, he might not even have met Turner in the first place, and would be a much happier genie, even if he didn't have attentive parents.

In the heart of the Darkness, ripples were passing. The Darkness was heartbroken, Timmy longed for his friends and family, Norm's emotions went in every direction, and all those feelings caused ripples in the Darkness' heart.

The Darkness longed to ease the ripples, but found that it couldn't control its own heart. It couldn't prevent itself from wanting friends, and couldn't make itself want to.

It noticed the devastation that it had caused, and its heart broke even more, since it realized that it had just lost possible friends. Maybe everyone was right when they said it was evil. Maybe the Chosen One should have destroyed it. Maybe it should destroy itself.

It had such high hopes for Timmy, but in the end, those hopes had come to naught. The Chosen One was chosen to obliterate, not to love. It should have known that, but blinded itself with hope instead, because being blinded with hope was better than having 20/20 vision with none.

The illusion began to flicker in and out of existence. The Dark that it hid was exposed, and Timmy, and Norm looked around in terror. The Dark; the eternal, universal fear of all living beings, magical or not, human or creature.

Luckily for them, the Dark was quickly painted over by a scene of Genie World. Not the peaceful, utopian scene that was there previously. No, this one was chilling, and dark.

Norm frowned. The Dark probably mean that they were in the Darkness. Genie World was just an illusion. He almost began to cry, but stopped himself. If he could go through fifty thousands years of slavery, a young jerk, godparenting, Pixie tricks, Anti-Fairy plans, and rejection by his kid without crying, surely he could endure learning that Genie World didn't exist anymore.

However, he couldn't stop it from hurting. If Genie World existed, he and Calais could live there instead in Fairy World when Chester lost them, whenever that was. If Genie World still existed, he'd know that genies were meant to be enslaved, or were meant to. If Genie World existed, his species would have their own world, and wouldn't have to live in anyone else's. If Genie World existed, Jorgen might finally get some respect for his species, and stop calling them "filthy." If Genie World existed, genies would be able to meet each other easily.

Since it didn't, all those hopes might have well be dust. None of them could ever come true, now or ever.

When Genie World flickered back up, Norm smiled. Maybe it did exist after all. Maybe his hopes weren't dust.

He gazed up at the sky in appreciation, and then wished he hadn't. The sky was no longer utopian blue, and was covered by the Darkness, which was using its funnel to suck up the ground. He groaned. The Darkness was going to destroy Genie World again? Why was it pulling his hopes like that?

One of the other genies asked, "What is that thing?"

"That thing is the Darkness, world destroyer extraordinaire," replied Norm in bitter annoyance, just as another genie, that looked a lot like him, except with straighter hair, and a darker blue coloring replied, "It's the Darkness. It destroyed Wonder World eons ago."

Norm groaned. Why did his dad have to steal his spotlight? Well, he assumed the genie was his dad, at least. Maybe he wasn't. He didn't care.

Another genie concluded loudly that the Darkness would destroy Genie World, and Norm muttered a sarcastic comparison to Einstein.

"Hey, Percy!"

Norm looked in the direction of the voice. It was a genie dame with a mild green tail, holding a baby stroller. The genie dame looked a lot like he would if he was female, so Norm wondered if she could be his mother.

"Norm's awake." continued the dame, and Norm couldn't help but sardonically comment:

"Of course I'm awake, do you really think anyone could sleep with the Darkness about to destroy their world?"

While he sardonically commented, he heard the dame say, "Please don't cause mass hysteria. I want the little cutie to go back to sleep."

Norm felt like throwing up. Did she have a fetish for sleeping fifty thousand year old offspring, or something? Nope, he would not be going back to sleep.

Then, he rethought it. She had a baby in a baby stroller. The baby could be named after him – or could be him, and this could just be an illusion showing the destruction of Genie World.

His disgust at what he thought she meant changed to joy at what she did mean. His mom did love him; it was just that the Darkness had previously shown him an illusion without regard for who exactly was in it.

"Yes, Fern," sighed his dad. "Can't wake up the baby, can we?"

Norm groaned. Maybe his dad didn't though.

His mom called his dad's name as the Eliminators funneled out of the Darkness. One of them shot at a non-humanoid genie.

His mom then started GONGing up objects, and lobbed them at the Eliminators, and Darkness. Norm wondered if she thought this was some kind of video game, and rolled his eyes.

She then swore, and began to reassure his baby self. Norm groaned. He didn't need to be reassured about her cussing. An Eliminator shot her in the back while she reassured the baby, and Norm groaned, though he did feel sad too.

His mom returned to her battle with the Darkness, and Norm smiled. It was nice to know that she cared about him, and would protect him if necessary, though he knew for sure that he wouldn't need it.

Some of the genies were sucked up by the Darkness, but his mom GONGed them back, and continued with the onslaught of GONGed up objects.

She loudly asked why the Darkness was doing this, but the Eliminators replied instead:

"WE ARE THE ELIMATORS. WE WANT TO DESTROY YOU!"

He rolled his eyes, and saw that his dad felt like doing so too.

"DON'T ELIMATE THEM," said the Darkness. "I MADE YOU AND CAN UNMAKE YOU!"

Norm was surprised. It sounded as though the Darkness either cared about them, or wanted to keep them as prisoners. Since the Darkness didn't contain any other real genies, Norm guessed that they weren't kept as prisoners, which meant…

No, that was impossible. Was it?

Humans weren't pure evil, so why couldn't the Darkness not be?

The Eliminators didn't obey the Darkness, and continued to suck things up. Norm waited for the unmaking-of-Eliminators but it didn't happen. Maybe good help was hard to find, or the Darkness really was evil. He didn't know.

His dad steadily told the Eliminators that they were immortal, and couldn't be destroyed. The Eliminator's response was:

"BUT WE CAN TRAP YOU!"

It sucked in part of a genie's tail, and then shot out a weird goo, which turned into the various containers that would be used to trap genies. Each genie got its own container. His dad was in an oil lamp, his mom, a glass bottle, and he was sucked in his unmistakable purple lava lamp.

Then, the Eliminators destroyed Genie World, causing the lamps to fall to Earth.

Norm clenched his teeth. The Darkness had ruined fifty thousand years of his life. He wouldn't let it ruin any more of them.

He was going to save Turner from the Darkness, whether he, or the Darkness, liked it, or not!