Tracy fished his phone out of his pocket, pressing himself further into the bush. His phone line was supposed to be used in emergencies only, especially when he was on an assignment. His heart skipped a beat when he saw that Dispatch was on the other end. He accepted the call, holding it up to his ear and whispering harshly into the piece. "What is it, mate, I'm right outside the window. Really you could not have picked a more inopportune moment-"
"Tracy," he heard, and he recognized it as Lily's voice, which was unusual. "There's been a change of plans. We've dispatched another fairy to take care of this assignment, but we need you back here. Something's come up."
Tracy frowned. They were replacing him again. He fumed, biting back the urge to argue with her, and spoke bitterly into the phone. "Isn't there anyone else who can-?"
"Of course there is, Tracy," she said, and her voice was calm and understanding. She knew he would react badly to being called back from an assignment. "But you ought to be the one to take care of it."
He licked his lips and hissed into the mouthpiece. "Fine. I'll be back soon as I get out of this bush."
He pulled himself from the foliage, suit getting snagged and stuck on the twigs as he backed up. He wasn't particularly happy about being called back to Fairy again, but if Lily had found it so important as to make the call herself, then there was no question about where he needed to be. He stumbled out of the shrub with a mighty rustle of leaves, and almost immediately afterward, the light in the child's bedroom flicked on. Tracy swore under his breath and willed himself home, dissipating into thin air and arriving in the lobby of Fairy. Lily stood amongst the chaos, hands folded patiently in front of her as Tracy plucked a stray twig from his waistband. "Glad to see you made it back in one piece," the woman said. "I trust your time as a Tooth Fairy hasn't tarnished your astounding ability as a caseworker."
"Is that what this is about? You're putting me back on someone's case? Who is it this time? Some hard-headed father? Overzealous teacher? What?" Tracy was not opposed to working a case – admittedly he was quite good at it. Better than he was at being a Tooth Fairy, but then again he'd only just started that job. He'd been a Caseworker Fairy for ages before that – he just found that, now that he was given a choice, he had hoped to leave the desk and the paperwork behind. After the incident with Dispatch (as it turned out, one prejudice fairy mucking up the whole system) he'd hoped to get on with his job, with no more interruptions. Clearly the universe had other plans.
Lily led Tracy through the halls to the break room, where his new charge was waiting for him, or so he was told. Tracy wasn't mad, exactly, to be put back on as a caseworker. He knew, now, that he was trusted with the task, thought competent enough and recognized throughout the company as the Tooth Fairy that he was. But being assigned a case, after so long, was just… a surprise.
He dreaded, actually, the process of meeting his new charge. More often than not they were surly fathers who had, in a fit of anger, told their child that there was no such thing as fairies, or had destroyed their innocent fantasies in some other manner, and in no way were those types of people happy to be in the situation they found themselves in after a summons, often taking it out on him.
Lily led him over to a corner of the room; sitting in a single armchair with another caseworker fairy standing guard beside her was a younger girl, clad in the usual pink tutu uniform of a Tooth Fairy, a pair of lavender wings gracing her back.
Tracy's breath caught and he moved towards the girl who looked up at him in bewilderment. Her fists clenched in her lap and she stood, her escort reaching for her to restrain her. It was unusual for charges to be given escorts, and Tracy imagined that she must have put up a struggle, something out of fear for the situation. It wasn't all that impossible that the place would terrify her, not now after she was issued a summons. He motioned for the man to stand down. He knew that she wasn't a threat, and he finally understood why he'd been called in for a case after nearly three years of work as a Tooth Fairy.
He moved closer to her, pushing back her hair and cupping a hand to her jaw. With a snarl, she pushed him away, looking angry and appalled. He pressed his lips together and nodded curtly, turning back to Lily. "I understand. I do." He said. "And I accept. I'll help her."
"I don't need any help," she hissed. "I need to get these ridiculous wings off and get home."
Tracy looked back at Rae with unmistakable sadness in his eyes, and she seemed to be taken aback at his expression. "That's where you're mistaken, my dear." He nodded at the fairy behind her and he went off, back to his office. "If you'd come with me?" He asked, gesturing for her to follow him.
"I'm not going with anyone until someone tells me what's going on." She said hotly, though with less conviction that her previous outbursts had.
"That's precisely what I intend to do, Rae." He answered gently, guiding her. She seemed shocked for a moment at the fact that he knew her name. He led her to an office – not his office, the one he'd worked in as a caseworker. It was the office of another fairy who wasn't in at the moment, but it would have to do. They sat down together, and the veil of anger, the rebellious attitude she'd held in the presence of the others fell away, revealing a weary, jittery girl. He felt bad for her, softened his voice and had her sit on the opposite side of the desk. "You don't know where you are?" he asked, and her gaze hardened and fell on him. "No. 'Course you don't. Okay," he sat back in his chair, drawing one leg up to rest his ankle on his knee and folding his hands in front of him. "Well we might as well start back at the beginning. This is Fairy Land. I'm sure you've gathered that, ladies and blokes running around with wings on their backs, your own." He gestured to the light purple wings now sprouting from her back. "You're here because of something you've done. I apologize for my lack of knowledge on the situation. I'm not a Caseworker Fairy anymore, and this was rather sudden. At any length, you're here because you robbed a child of fantasy. Dissemination of Disbelief, that, and it's looked down upon here. Telling children that there's no such thing as magic, not a good thing to do."
"I didn't tell anyone there was no such thing as magic. I said there was no such thing as fairies." She folded her arms across her chest, leaning back and lifting her chin.
"A lie nonetheless, as you can see. Those wings on your back ought to be proof enough." he quipped. "Now, the normal procedure would be to put you into flight training, gear you up and give you a week's Tooth Fairy duty. By that time, those who cross this path have seen the error of their ways, and everything's better, but I think we've got something a little more complex going on here with you." He planted both feet on the floor and leaned forward. "You don't know anything about this place, about me?"
Rae frowned and shook her head exasperatedly. "Why should I? This has got to be some… hallucination, or fever dream. This is mad." The last words had a certain force to them, but they came out hushed, not quite certain as she ran a finger over the tufts of feathers at the end of her wings, shivering slightly as she felt it, an extension of herself.
He heaved a sigh. "No reason. No reason. Well, there is a reason, but it's not… important, right now. Okay. Listen, because of your, ah, special history with Fairy – no, don't give me that look, just trust me on this – they're not making you undergo quite the same regiment as the others."
"Then what?" she asked, quietly.
"No idea!" he clapped his hands together, standing. "We'll make it up as we go. To begin with, I suppose I could give you a, uhm… a tour of the compound? How's that sound? Get you used to the place. You've already seen the Lobby and the Break Room, so… what do you say?"
She nodded tentatively. Tracy could tell that she was scared and confused and angry. He smiled and reached out, offering her his hand and she took it, letting him lead her from the small office. He held her close, warmly and hoping it didn't seem like he was trying to restrain her. He wanted her to calm down and open up to him.
He led her down the halls, retracing his steps from so long ago, when he'd shown her the compound the first time. He knew where they needed to be, but dreaded taking her back into the power plant. He knew how hurt she'd been last time he'd told her, and no part of him wanted to do that again, even if it meant helping her. Still, he held the door open for her, letting the electric chill of magic waft into the hall. She staggered back momentarily, ripping her hand from his and looking at him with wide, uncertain eyes. Gently, as to reassure her, he took her hand back and led her into the room. She shifted uncomfortably as they leaned together at the overlook and stared down at it, the massive vat of pastel magic, in one of its purest forms. Her hands, trembling, gripped the rail as she looked down, pale and wide eyes, at the swirling colors. Slowly, his voice low and stuttering, he related to her the purpose of the room, collecting teeth and what happens when children stop believing. A sideways glance told her that she was trembling, peering over the rail. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
She swallowed hard and let out a shaky breath as tears began escaping, trickling slowly down her cheeks and he watched it with a strange curiosity as it lingered for a moment on the peak of her chin before falling, jumping from the relative safety of her body into the abyss before them, added to the powerful mass below them. Tracy watched its descent, leaning carefully over the railing to see. The magic swallowed the teardrops, the impact rippling the surface ever so slightly. Other than that, there was no reaction—
The whole of the vortex below them surged a violent purple, cycling back through every color of the visible spectrum before settling back down, colors reverting to their usual cool pastels. His eyes widened and he shot back, dragging Rae with him as the room gave a might quake.
It only lasted seconds, and things calmed down quickly, as if nothing had ever happened. Both leaned against the doorframe that served as the entrance to the room, bewildered and, to be fair, a little shaken.
"What was that?" she asked, breathless. "Does that usually happen?"
He stood straight and shook his head. "Not that I know of." He took her by the hand and led them safely away from the room. Of course he knew what had just happened. Whether or not he was willing to share that knowledge with Rae yet was another matter all together. "Come on."
Tracy was becoming more and more concerned for Rae. It wasn't enough that she evidently had no recollection of her previous visit to FairyLand, but she was hurt and confused and so many other negative emotions. He wanted her to open up to him, to trust him enough to tell him what had happened, to her knowledge, to let him help her. They wouldn't make any progress if she distanced herself from him like this.
They walked the length of the building, and he took her to the offices, showed her where the majority of the work in Fairy went on. Gigantic mailrooms with correspondences to every fairy employed, assignments and cases and odd jobs of all sorts, things that most people could never begin to imagine, and it was all coordinated by a specific team of fairies. She found this amazing, seemed to grasp how massive a scale they were working on, though he doubted she truly understood, not like she did last time.
He was beginning to see why Lily had called him in. Of course, he'd seen it the moment he'd stepped foot in the Break Room, but now he could see so many more dimensions to their problem. Rae was not a dream killer. She was the girl who had believed in fairies for months with nothing but an old scrap of paper as proof. This was not normal for her, and he'd never expected to see her here under these circumstances. He would have to be careful or else he could end up dragging her further under.
Still, Fairy was only so big, and he was so keen on gaining her trust. Every time he tried to bring it up, to strike conversation with her as to make progress, something would get in the way. Whether it was a stray phone call or another fairy intercepting them in the halls, asking Tracy to run something down somewhere or even just trying to make conversation, any distraction was too great of a distraction. The last thing he wanted was for it to seem to her like she wasn't priority. If there was one thing he'd learned about dream-killers, charges that were put under his care, it was that they felt out of place enough without being shoved to the side or made to feel like they weren't much cared for, especially the younger ones. While Rae was not particularly young, she was still a good deal younger than many of the humans that are summoned to FairyLand, and he had to be careful with her.
Fairy was not the place to do this, to be gentle and understanding of her and – at the same time – acting as her outlet, trying to get her to share what was on her mind with him, a complete stranger.
The thought struck him as a whim. Perhaps they didn't have to do this at Fairy. She was, after all, much more accustomed to the Human Plane, and that could quite possibly calm her nerves and let her relax around him. Despite the pair of wings on her back, she was still human. Perhaps, with his lack of wings and some familiar settings, things would seem more normal for her.
He told her as much of the plan as he felt was necessary – "Why don't we head back over the your world? Get some fresh air." – and whisked them both away from the chaos of the compound.
The night was cool and crisp, and Rae shivered lightly, being only clad in tights and a tutu, neither of which provided much warmth. Tracy smiled slyly and unbuttoned his vest, draping it around her as they walked. It didn't quite fit with her wings in the way, nor did it provide much warmth, but it was enough to stop her shivers, and she smiled appreciatively, thanking him as she pulled it snug around her shoulders.
The moon, glowing bright above them, lit their path in an old garden park. Rae didn't know where Tracy had taken them, but hadn't had the mind to ask. Her thoughts were on more pressing matters as they walked together in relative silence.
As an extra measure of keeping her warm, as well as one final test of the waters between them, Tracy drew and arm around her, hugging her close to him as they went on. When she didn't pull away, instead leaning her head to the side to rest on his shoulder, he spoke, slowly at first. "Remember how I told you this was all very sudden, and I didn't get a good idea of your situation before taking the case? Why don't you go ahead and tell me why it is, exactly, that you're here? Assuming you know, of course."
Rae took a deep breath, calmed by the night air. "I do. It's… well, a bit embarrassing, actually, in light of recent events." She laughed lightly.
"I won't judge. I just want to get a better understanding of what happened to you. People don't just get handed a summons for nothing, you know, and everyone's case is different. Met this bloke once, Derek Thompson. Yes, that Derek Thompson," he added, at the look on her face. "Worst Tooth Fairy we ever saw. Turned out his dreams had been crushed, too. Took some work, that did, getting him back on the straight and narrow. That was his story. What's yours?"
Rae shook her head. "I don't know." She muttered. "I mean, I know what I did wrong, and I did it because I was just… angry. But I don't know why I was angry. I'm angry all the time, lately."
"You don't seem angry now," Tracy pointed out, and she laughed.
"Well count yourself lucky for that. I… I don't know. I had a bad day, I guess, and when I ended up at my friend's house, we were trying to do homework, an important project for school, and her little sister wouldn't leave us alone about playing fairies. I just… lost it." She let out a forced laugh. "Broke the project, too.
"Did you."
She nodded, sighing. "I don't know why I did that, any of it. I've just… never been so angry before, my whole life. None of it makes sense, now that I'm thinking about it."
"No case ever makes sense at first," he said. "Because rarely do we just get someone who's genuinely terrible. They're just broken, sometimes, and we have to fix them."
There was silence between them, space filled by the constant chirping of the crickets and night bugs, as she contemplated this.
"Am I broken?" she asked.
Tracy took a deep breath, trying to hug her tighter. "Yes." He said solemnly. "But it's nothing that can't be fixed. And then you'll be tip-top, like nothing ever happened."
Perhaps that wasn't what she wanted to hear, that she was broken. Who ever did? But it was important that she know that something had happened to her, something had changed her and that he was going to be there for her until everything was put right.
"And you can make me feel… better?"
He nodded as they rounded into the garden, and he had an idea, something to calm her nerves after the stress of being whisked away from her home in the middle of the night, being pressured and confused and unsure of what she had once thought was truth. Being brought to FairyLand was shocking for any human, even her, the first time she'd come, but the added shock of discovering that fairies not only existed, but survived as a whole other race, a civilization not unlike their own and they weren't too different from humans, was enough to stress anyone out.
He led them into the middle of the garden, which was richly blooming and decorated with small stone statues that guarded certain plants of played within the bushes. "I think this is a good spot," he said. "Go on, lie down."
"Are you sure this is safe? I've got wings, what if someone sees me, I can't-"
Tracy grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. "You're safe with me. I won't let anything happen, allright? Lie down," he sat on the grass and she followed. They lay in opposite directions, cheek to cheek and he reached over his head for her hand. "A long time ago, you made me a promise," he said quietly, over the din of the crickets.
"I only met you yesterday," she said, a hint of amusement creeping into her voice. This was a positive sign. Still, her words, her clear disbelief hurt terribly somewhere deep inside of him.
"A long time ago," he repeated, "In a dream, if you fancy. But it was you and you made me a promise. Do you remember what that promise was?"
"I'm sorry, I don't." she said softly. He could hear it in her voice, that she felt bad for not remembering something that was clearly so important to him.
"S'allright. I'll tell you: You promised me that you would always believe in fairies. You vowed that you'd teach your children, and keep them believing for as long as they would. And when they stopped believing, you'd tell your secret, that all the stories of fairies you told them before bed, of a human in Fairyland, they weren't just stories. You'd let them know they were memories, and you'd help them believe, too. But there's something I just can't figure out," he finished thoughtfully.
"What's that?"
"Why you stopped believing."
He felt Rae shift next to him. "Tracy," she said, her voice thick. "This is going to sound… mad – though, a few hours ago, so did the thought of fairies. But… I'm scared."
"What about, luv?" he asked, gently, turning his head slightly to face her better. He didn't want her to be scared. He could see her lips tremble as she took a breath.
"I don't know," she said, finally. "Everything? FairyLand, and – and you."
"Me?" He propped himself up on an elbow, turning to face her completely. "Oh, no, Rae… I'm not… I'd never hurt you, you don't have to be… afraid. Ever."
She looked up at him, not moving. "I know," she said, swallowing. "But I've just got this… feeling. I don't know what it is, and with you it… it hurts." She choked. He sat up, drawing his lanky legs to his chest and turning himself around to lay the same direction as she was, drawing her in and propping her head against his chest.
"Oh, Rae," he breathed, pressing his mouth to the crown of her head. "You don't know the half of it."
Her breath hitched every so often when she spoke, and he could tell this was hard for her. "I – I don't even know why, but I just know that it hurts, and it's been like this for almost three years. I can't remember why, but it hurts, like… like…"
"Rae, tell me something." Tracy, asked, furrowing his brow and holding the poor girl to him. "Have you ever been in love?"
She sniffled against him, rubbing at her cheek with the back of her palm. "I – I don't think so," she muttered, her voice cracking.
He rubbed a hand up and down her shoulder, trying to calm her. Perhaps they were getting closer to righting everything that had gone wrong. His heart was heavy in his chest with fear. "Have you ever had your heart broken?"
She nodded, screwing her face up and burying it in his chest and clinging to him.
"How?" He asked, "How could you have had your heart broken, if you were never in love? Something's not right here. This is what went wrong, isn't it?" his voice was gentle. He was sure she would have no idea what he was talking about, but it was all slowly making sense.
Tracy could almost hear Lily's voice in the back of his head. "Certain types of magic are not to be tampered with, Tracy. You never know." The way her tears had caused a surge in the pool of magic had been terrifying and almost impossible all at the same time. He knew what could cause something so strong – it had to be stronger than the magic itself. A stronger magic; magic in its purest form.
"Rae," he said, his throat constricting, trying to stop him from going on. "I think you have. You have been in love."
She shook her head against him. "No, Tracy, I haven't."
"I'm going out on a limb here, bear with me. Love is…" he trailed off, fishing for the correct word. "Mysterious." Rae laughed weakly into his chest. "No, no! It really is. It does funny things to the mind… Sometimes, those things aren't always good things, y'see? Sometimes, if something goes wrong, Love tries to correct itself. It tries to cover up that anything went wrong. I think you have been in love, and that's why you're so hurt. Love is magic, Rae. The oldest magic there is. Pure and stronger than anything we can extract from a tooth. That's why the pool surged, earlier, I think. It was just a few tears, so nothing to sustain the reaction, but you saw it clear as I did."
She calmed against him, at his touch. "I think I'd remember being in love, Tracy."
"Not if you were hurt. Not if you were so hurt, more than anything you feel now, that it became too much. You loved too much and it hurt you."
"I can't imagine anything hurting more than this," she said. "It's like I've been living in a fog for nearly three years. Nothing makes sense anymore and everything hurts. Little, stupid things like my friend's sister going on about fairies. Which," she laughed weakly. "Which I'm thoroughly convinced exist, by the way."
He thanked her. "Don't you worry," he said softly, holding her closer. "It won't be like that for much longer. You'll see."
She sighed, pushing the hair from her eyes and laying her head back to look up at him. "I sure hope you're right."
He hushed her, running a hand through her hair. "I promise, it won't."
"I hope you're better at keeping promises than I am," she said, closing her eyes and pressing her cheek against his chest. After a minute or so, her breathing evened out and he knew she was asleep.
He was sick with worry, now. She was acting very unusually, except that he understood it perfectly. She had fallen in love, very deeply in love, three years ago.
With him.
His heart hammered against his ribs and he feared it would wake her, the sound was so loud. The situation made perfect sense, now. It hadn't then, when it truly mattered, when he was so close to her – close enough to inspire a spark of magic in her that took control, bloomed and grew and became passion.
He slid out from under her, slowly and carefully as he was trained to, and scooted to the side, sitting up and placing his hands firmly on the earth behind him, trying to stop the world from spinning. She lay peacefully in the long grass, the blades framing her form, sprawled and lonely, now, her wings flattened beneath her.
How long had it been since they last saw each other? Well over two years. Things had gone swimmingly at first; he dropped into her bedroom after everyone but she was asleep, and they'd always just talk. Sometimes he'd teach her things about fairies and Fairy Land, sometimes she's teach him things about any number of subjects. Fairies very rarely had any formal education that wasn't part of the Tooth Fairy Training Academy's curriculum – one could imagine what was included under that – and often what Rae had to offer him, even as trivial as she found it, was a wonder to him. Most of what she taught him was about humans or the human plane, something he thought he would know more about considering Tooth Fairies work there.
It was all very interesting, and they had many good nights together, but once school ended and she was shipped off to camp, boarding with others in the same room, he couldn't very well visit her like he used to. When she returned two months later, he went to her one night and apologized, said he couldn't stay, Dispatch was calling assignment after assignment and how exciting was that? She'd given him a quick hug and off he'd gone, not thinking it of any major consequence.
Finally the onslaught of assignments died down enough for him to visit her again. When he arrived at her bedroom window, peering carefully in to make sure there was no one in the room with her, he saw her fast asleep in bed, and decided to leave her be.
And so went the nights after, every night, every time he came to her window, she was turned with her back to him, sleeping soundly, and he hadn't the heart to wake her. He figured he'd catch her soon enough, but the time went on and there she was, never stirring from her sleep or straying from the schedule, laying herself to bed so early in the night, far before he had the chance to get to her house, what with the assignments that took place regularly.
When the assignments picked up again shortly after Halloween – they always did – he found him going to her house less and less, the fleeting visits becoming infrequent and, after so long, stopping all together.
He wiped absently at his face, sitting up and slinging his arms over his knees.
Suddenly, he found himself wondering if she were truly asleep all those nights he found her lying in bed. Had she been waiting for him, wide awake and expecting him to visit? Or had the months they hadn't seen each other, between her camp and his work, done the deed? No doubt that was a contributing factor to this whole mess.
She'd loved him.
The thought played over and over again in his mind, distressing him greatly, more so by the accompanying thought that he'd broken her heart, taken from her that which, in its absence, had crippled her, cast a cloud over her mind to help her recover, and still hurt her.
He'd never wanted to hurt her.
He gave a quick glance her way. How was he going to explain this to her?
He sighed and rocked her shoulder gently, waking her from her spot on the ground. She hummed in confusion and looked up at him. "Are you okay?" she asked, and he helped her up to her feet.
He knew she could tell something was troubling him, and there was no sense in denying it. If he'd learned one thing about her in those months before everything had gone wrong, it was that she was persistent. "Let's go back to Fairy," he said, "and we'll talk about it there, over a cuppa tea. How's that sound?"
She could hear the distress in his voice, and she grabbed his hands, nodding silently and letting him bring them back to FairyLand. The break room was nearly empty, and he was grateful for that, as they sat down at a small table, opposite each other and he could see the genuine concern in her eyes, mere remnants of the compassion she used to have for him, he recognized that now, and he prayed she wouldn't misunderstand him.
With two steaming cups before them, his shaky hands bringing one repeatedly to his lips to take quick, nervous sips, she was patient with him, letting him collect his thoughts and figure out how he wanted to go about this.
"Okay. This is all going to take some explaining, I'm sure, but I need you to trust me on this. Rae?" he looked up at her, eyes wide and well awake.
She nodded, egging him on gently. "I trust you. I do."
He took a deep breath. "I'll start from the beginning, then. Like I told you before, Love is the oldest, strongest, purest magic out there. It can… consume you whole and you'll never even know it. You say you've never fallen in love, but you've had your heart broken, right? But the thing is, you can't have the latter without the former. So, one is to assume that you have fallen in love, which isn't all that impossible. Sometimes, if the heartbreak is bad enough, you'll… forget what caused it. It's your way of trying to feel better, but it doesn't always work. I think that's what you're feeling now."
She nodded slowly. "Okay… that makes sense. So I loved someone?"
"Not loved. Not past tense. You still do, I think. That's why did didn't work." His hands fidgeted incessantly on the table and he swallowed hard. "You met me… some time ago, at a bus stop, and we spent some of the night together. I came back a few months later and I took you here, I showed you around and you… Things went wrong, for me, and you made everything right. I took you home, then and we said we'd keep in touch, but… things didn't work out. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
Rae blinked slowly, staring into her cup and shook her head.
Tracy set his cup down, shaking. "It's usually not this bad, you know. It happens to everyone who has their heart broken. Or else how would they move on? But you… you're special, because of all the magic involved here. You didn't just fall in love with anyone. You… you fell in love with a fairy," he said quietly.
"With you." The words came from her lips in a very matter-of-fact manner, inquisitive and not harsh or judgmental.
He sighed and nodded. "Now, I can make everything better again. I can, but it's going to be difficult at first, for you. For both of us, really. Again… I need you to trust me."
Rae didn't answer for a moment, still trying to understand how she felt about the story he'd just given her. Some part of her screamed that she wouldn't have forgotten being in love, but another part of her, mere hours ago, had been so convinced that fairies were nothing but the stuff of children's stories.
Tracy got up and rounded the table to be next to her, pulling her from her seat so that they stood together. She placed one hand on the rim of the table and left the other limp at her side as he reached up and pushed her hair back, cupping her face in both hands and lifting her chin slightly.
Before he could second guess his plan or she could start to feel awkward in his grip, he bent his head, held his breath and planted his mouth against hers. She gave a muffled cry and broke his hold on her, staggering back and nearly knocking her chair over in the process, looking up at him in shock. He felt the heat rising quickly, burning his neck and cheeks and turning them a deep red.
"What-?" she gasped, wide eyes and he could see her understanding. Her mouth fell slack and her expression softened, tears welling up in her eyes. He reached out, trying to calm her, but she shook her head, sitting down and shaking.
He moved closer to her, slowly and unsure. "Rae…" he placed a hand on her shoulder, wanting to make sure she was okay with contact. When she didn't flinch, he embraced her. "I'm sorry, Rae." He said softly. "I didn't mean to…"
She buried her face in her hands and let out a muffled sob. He couldn't imagine what this was like for her, to suddenly be faced with the fact that she'd been hurt by someone she loved, someone she'd trusted. He held her tighter and didn't let go, the knot of uncertainty in his chest tightening as well. Things would not go well for them, there was no arguing that. She was broken, still, but this was only the first step to fixing her.
Tracy gasped as she stood, shaking him off, muttering an apology and running off, leaving him in the Break Room to worry over the night's events.
Contrary to what many humans believed, a True Love's Kiss only woke; it did not make things better.
He felt like going after her would only be counter productive. She needed time to collect herself and, obviously, that meant without him. He sat back down, in the seat that she had just vacated, and folded his arms on the table, putting his head down. This was one hell of a case.
Rae stood in the magic-chilled room, the light of the swirling mass casting shadows and highlights across her face as she stared down into its depths. Her body shook and she felt as if her knees would give out beneath her. She supported herself against the railing and sniffled, remembering, now, the promise she'd made Tracy nearly three years ago. She was sick at the thought of how thoroughly she'd broken that promise, and she tried to figure out how to fix the mistakes she'd made since those lonely nights laying awake, waiting for him when he'd never come for her.
Now that she remembered, things fell into place. She understood why she'd felt the way she had, she understood why things had happened when they did, and she understood what had gone wrong.
It was the nights that she spent waiting for him that did it, that weakened her resolve, her faith, and made her vulnerable to ugly heartbreak. She'd convinced herself that he'd forgotten about her, that he wasn't coming back, when in reality it had all been a misunderstanding between them. He hadn't meant to hurt her, she knew that. He'd told her that he would never hurt her, that she would never have to be afraid, but she was.
Rae sniffled and wiped the tears from her cheek before they could plummet into the abyss and cause another reaction in the vat.
She wasn't afraid of him, anymore. She wasn't afraid of FairyLand. Those fears had been brought on by the memories that she couldn't access, the shroud that had been draped over her mind by magic. Those fears were because of what had happened three years ago. This fear was new. This was a fear of what was to come.
She wasn't mad at him. How could she be?
She loved him.
She remained in the power plant, sniffling and folded in on herself for some time. Other fairies passed by, not wanting to bother her. On any normal circumstance, she was sure they would have kicked her out, told her that she wasn't supposed to be in the room, but she was clearly a mess, and they didn't need to add insult to injury. One stayed for a moment or two, offering her condolences and a small box of tissues, which Rae accepted gratefully, sitting with her back against the rail and wiping stray tears away in the dim, colorful light of the room.
She dreaded going back out there to face Tracy, but at the same time she just wanted him to hold her, to make her feel better as he inevitably did, and she was forced to make the decision of which one she wanted more. She could hole herself up in this room until Lily decided to send her home without any further interaction from any fairies. Rae didn't know if that was the better choice. Would that make her feel better, to go home and never look back, to never have to wonder about fairies or magic ever again? Or would it put her right back into that unbearable fog?
On the other side of that coin, there was that intense longing, the loneliness that she now felt, tenfold from what it was before.
After some time, she gathered herself and exited the power plant, leaving the electric chill of magic behind and emerging into the main lobby.
The place was swarming with fairies, going about their business. She felt as if she blended into the sea of tutus and silk, but he stood out, taller than the rest and able to be spotted easily. She almost shrunk back, not wanting to be seen right away, but the sea of fairies parted, almost on cue, and he looked right at her.
Tracy had looked up to the sound of the doors swinging shut. Rae stood on the other side of the room, obscured by the mass amounts of other fairies. He could see, even from this distance, that her cheeks were tearstained, eyes behind her glasses wide and watery. But when she spotted him, she smiled. It wasn't an overly excited smile – he imagined that he was the last person she'd be excited to see at the moment – but just a little one, to let him know she was okay. He stood in the middle of the lobby and looked directly at her, nodding, his head tilted slightly to one side. It wasn't a confirmation of her smile, but more of a question. Are you sure?
She took a long, trembling breath and nodded in response. An affirmation. She'd taken time to herself to sort out her feelings and come to terms with what had happened.
She was better now, and she was more than ready to face him, because more than anything, she just wanted to be held. She wasn't sad or lonely or angry anymore, but there was still that gnawing uncertainty in her chest.
Where do they go from here? he wondered as they moved towards each other through the droves of fairies.
Well.
He supposed they would figure that out now, didn't he?
They came closer and didn't stop until she was in his arms – it was rather startling for both of them, that they would connect so immediately, but it was a good sign. It meant that things were okay, or at least better. Neither was so hurt as to spurn the other, and the way that she wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face in his chest, the way the he ducked his head and held her close, was more than enough reconciliation between them.
They stood there, in the main lobby with dozens of fairies swarming around them, and she backed up, looking up at him and she smiled. Her eyes were still watery from the night's events, but it was a genuine smile, and it was returned in earnest.
Things were going to be okay.
Rae pushed herself up, heels lifting off of the ground and leaning against him for support, slinging her arms over his shoulders, around his neck in a sort of embrace, and he bowed his head, bringing them nose-to-nose. They closed their eyes against one another and he hummed in gentle approval, the noise vibrating between them, from his chest to hers. He wrapped his arms around her middle, holding her to him as smiles spread across their lips.
"I'm glad you're okay." He muttered. "Really, I am, and I'm so sorry."
It was a quick action, an idea that had flit through her mind and she acted without thinking. The moment the idea presented itself to her, it seemed brilliant, a reciprocation of his actions earlier, and she tilted her head back, chin up, bringing her mouth to his. His eyes flew open at the unexpected contact, but he didn't break away. He let her remain there, with her lips pressed gently against his. Somewhere in the back of his mind, past the shock of the moment, was a rising warmth that came from his deepest core, banishing any uncertainty he had about this kiss, and he realized how good it felt, to have someone care about him so thoroughly, to really love him, without looking upon him with pity or prejudice because of who he was. He realized how good it felt to have her back.
He tilted his head, leaning into her and smiling against her mouth, moving one hand to support the back of her head and the other to the small of her back, pulling her in closer.
He liked this, and as the heat spread through his body and he leaned into her, he understood that there was nothing to be worried about, now that she was herself again, because Rae, this Rae, the one who cared for him and loved him, was the girl that he loved. And he swore, in that kiss, that he'd never let her forget that, ever again.