~Pip's P.O.V~
After sitting alone for hours, waiting and waiting, I finally spot Leopold emerge from the large array of trees, not without Kenneth, Craig (I think that's his name), and another fairy I don't know. I leap up and run to Leopold, hugging him in relief. He's surprisingly calm, which is the exact opposite of how I last saw him. "Are you alright? What happened?" I ask, making sure he wasn't injured by these fairies.
"I'm not hurt, Pip. I ran and hid in a tree, and these two found me." He points To Kenneth and Craig. "They both unfortunately got trapped in their human forms, and Kenneth and I didn't know how to climb down the tree. And Craig dropped down to the ground, so that was no help."
"But then how did you get down?"
"This fairy, Clyde, came and helped us down." Leopold gestures to the unknown fairy. He's distracted by a fly that's hovering above his head. I'm not very impressed, however I am still very grateful.
"Um, thank you very much-
"Tweek! There you are! Are you alright? Did something happen last night while I was gone?" Craig runs towards Tweek, practically tackling him. Tweek waves him off reassuringly.
"I'm perfectly fine. Nothing happened after Leopold ran off. Everyone was just a bit shocked, that's all."
"Then how do you explain that?" Kenneth points to a small dried puddle of blood. I freeze; remembering that Ruby's hand was bleeding a lot after that bullet went right through her palm. I'm about to make up a lousy excuse, but Ruby beats me to it.
"A child tripped and scraped their knee fairly badly. This is the result." She says, back in her chirpy, normal attitude. I'm somewhat disturbed by the change of mood. Does Craig act similar, since he was her brother?
"Don't lie to me, Ruby. If a child hurt themselves, then I would have been automatically informed to allow them to heal. Do you remember that's my job, or have you forgotten?" Ruby scowls, irritated that Kenneth saw straight through her lie. "So what really happened? I know it was you who was injured, since I'm not automatically informed if a fairy is hurt, even if they're in human form."
"I'm telling you, nothing happened." Ruby turns her head away childishly, making Kenneth even more frustrated. Craig narrows his eyes at Ruby and looks at Tweek.
"Tweek, what happened while we were not here?"
"I-I don't know. I don't recall anything happening that involved Ruby getting hurt!"
"What do you remember?"
"I remember Leopold running off, everybody confused as to why, I saw Phillip speaking to Ruby, then… and then…" Tweek trails off, struggling to remember the rest. Craig's expression suddenly turns lethal. It's a good thing he doesn't have a knife. He turns around and shoves Ruby roughly. She hits the ground, but quickly jumps up, at the ready. She has the same brutal look as Craig now.
"You erased my human's fucking memories!? What were you thinking!? What was going through your head!?"
"It wasn't exactly my choice! I had to erase everyone's memories! What they all saw was too traumatizing!"
"Then why didn't you erase his!?" Craig points at me judgmentally.
"Because he deserves to know what happened! He deserves to know that if I wasn't there, Damien would have saved his fucking life!"
"He did what?" Kenneth, Craig and Clyde all ask at once.
"That exorcist was going to shoot Phillip, so I changed into human form with that new golden bangle and blocked the bullet with my hand, but Damien also ran up to Phillip and pushed him down so he wouldn't get hit." Ruby explains, looking waving her arms frantically.
"That's absolutely shocking." Clyde remarks, and I feel slightly defensive. Damien cannot be that cruel to everyone, can he? "I didn't know he was able to do something that wasn't for himself or that father of his."
"Well, believe it." Ruby looks at Craig. "I trust you understand why I did what I did. Tweek didn't need to know what happened, and neither did anyone else; with the exception of Phillip." Craig reluctantly nods, obviously not that willing to accept that he wrongly accused Ruby of doing something bad for no apparent reason.
I notice Clyde looking around curiously. "So where's my lovely Kyle? Surely he isn't too busy irritating people to not be around? He usually sticks around you, Kenny."
"Not much these days, but he did come here with his humans. Ruby, do you know where he is?" Ruby turns around and looks at Kenneth, in the middle of re-tying one of her hair ribbons.
"He went off ages ago with Eric and Stanley to look for Leopold." I remember Kyle going off with Eric and Stanley. Are they actually still looking? How stupid of them.
"And they still haven't come back?"
"Doesn't seem so." Kenneth sighs in aggravation.
"We'll have to look for them. Come, Clyde." Clyde nods. But just before they leave, Kenneth remembers something.
"Ruby, can you take this off? I figured you would be able to. You're special to the Elder." Ruby nods. She takes out a key and unlocks the bangle. It falls to the ground loudly. Craig holds his arm out expectantly, and Ruby does his as well, scowling. Just after Kenneth and Clyde fly away, pushing each other playfully, and Tweek & Craig go off to speak to each other, another fairy appears in front of Ruby. I shriek and hide behind Leopold. There's no telling what that heartless looking fairy is able to do.
Ruby blinks at the stranger boredly.
"Something you wanted, Gregory? A lovely 'Authority' fairy such as you surely has something better to do than visit me." He frowns at Ruby, giving her a piece of paper without breaking the mutually loathing eye contact.
"The Elder asked me to give your assignments for today. I present you all the countries and years you have permission to travel to today."
"And what else are you here for?"
"…I've been informed that you put Damien in human form?"
"He was trying to kill his human. I have the Elder's consent to put him in human form for one full day whenever that happens."
"Yes, well, the Elder has shortened the punishment from one whole day to six hours. You put him in human form at 1.07am. It is now 7.08am. He has officially been allowed out of human form for one minute already. Make it happen." Gregory flicks Ruby on the forehead and flies off. Ruby holds up her middle finger at him. I wonder what that means. Ruby takes her eyes away from Gregory and reads the small sheet of paper she just received. After which, she grins excitedly.
"SCORE! I CAN GO TO 1989 JAPAN!"
"Japan?" Leopold looks dumbfounded.
"Yup! I've got an identity in almost all the countries in the world, and one for almost every decade. A lot of names to remember, but that's pretty much the only down side. I can do anything, and be anyone!"
"But why are you so excited to go?" Leopold asks.
"'Cause I'm part of a class in Japan during 1989 that plays baseball almost every day for physical education. I love baseball, but I almost never get a chance to play it."
"Baseball?" I've never heard of such a thing.
"Oh, yes. I used to play that a lot when I was younger. It's a fairly new sport to England, I think." Leopold nods to himself, obviously reminiscing.
"I'm sorry, you two. I'm meant to be keeping an eye on you, but I really need to go. I can't stand waiting for it. Be careful, 'kay? I'm just gonna put Damien back in his normal form, and then I'll be on my way." Before we can even nod, Ruby flies off, eagerly looking for Damien.
~Butters' P.O.V~
"Leopold, my man!" Pip and I turn around to see the majority of our class looking at us expectantly. The boy that called my name speaks again when he knows he has my attention. "You seem a fairly entertaining person. Why spend time with someone such as Pip?"
"Why need you know?" I ask, not caring if I'm being rude. These children are about as worthless to me as flies. Being polite to them isn't exactly at the top of my priority list.
"It's out of pure curiosity."
"…He's my step brother. Whether you all like it or not, it's a matter that cannot be avoided."
"Then let us make an arrangement. If you can prove to us that you're as fun as you appear to be, then we've all decided that we're going to make a friend out of you."
"I could not visualize anything more thrilling." I comment with much sarcasm in my voice.
"You speak much like an adult."
"I do? Wow, the education quality in England is surely deteriorating then." All the children immediately take offense, except the boy speaking to me. He just laughs.
"Do you accept?"
"Oh alright. I've got nothing better to do than prove myself to you poor things. But, where's the teacher? I don't need even more trouble from him."
"He and the exorcist have assigned us to take a hike using this map." The boy holds a map up. "But while we were doing that, we saw an enormous tree that had fallen over a river. Like a bridge. If you can cross that, then you've earned our respect."
"That's fine by me. Show the way so we can get this over with." Pip looks at me as if I've lost my mind.
"Leopold, what are you thinking?" He hisses as the small crowd of kids start to lead us to the destination.
"Pip, don't worry. I'm sure it's a tiny little river that I can cross blindfolded."
I was just a tiny bit wrong about that. Seeing that river is easily the most jaw-dropping moment I've ever had in my life. It's the biggest, most fast-moving river I've ever seen. Not to mention the tree that I'm supposed to use to cross it is high. Very high. And also looks fairly slippery since it's early morning.
"You are not going to cross that." Pip says irresolutely, having paled quite a bit.
"Yes, I am." I tell him firmly, letting my determined side get the better of me.
"You will die."
"The last time you said that to me, I ended up perfectly fine. Who are you to talk?" I snap at him for trying to stop me. Pip doesn't say anything, but his expression is absolutely the most pleading I've seen of him.
But I ignore it.
Helped on by two surprised (that I'm actually going to do it) looking girls, I start to slowly make my way across the bulky log. I hear the knocking of around of wood behind me, and turn carefully to see Pip trying to climb onto the fallen tree and follow me. I shake my head persuasively, trying to silently tell him to stop. He shakes his head back, and I get the message that he isn't going to stop. I turn and continue my way, trying to do it as quickly as possible so that Pip will stop following, and thus, putting his life in danger.
"Leopold! Please stop and come back here!" I glance around at Pip and see him standing shakily, barely able to balance at the start of the log.
"No! Go back before you fall."
"Please, don't throw your life away!"
"I'm not going to die! I'm already two thirds of the way, for God's sake!" I point to where I'm standing.
"And how are you going to get back? You could slip and fall just as easily on the way back!"
"I won't! Now stop following me! Go back already!" I shout, turning back around and continuing with my careful steps. I cannot describe the fear that rushes through my body when I hear Pip cry out fearfully behind me. I spin around quickly and see him in the middle of falling off the log. His fairy that I saw in the street, Damien, is hovering behind him; then it immediately becomes clear to me that he pushed him.
"PIP! NO!"
~Damien's P.O.V~
As I'm still thinking of how to kill Phillip quickly and without hesitation, Ruby appears in front of me, looking rushed.
"Damien, your punishment has been reduced to six hours. You've served your time in human form." She says quickly, pulling out a special key and unlocking the damn bangle.
"Why so hurried?"
"Baseball, can't fuckin' wait to play! Gotta go!" Ruby then disappears right there and then, obviously eager to play her 'baseball'. What the fuck is that anyway?
I hear a large array of mindless chatting, and see a bunch of children walking nearby, I stop pacing around and watch them. I hysterically fly upwards into a tree when I see Phillip and Kenneth's human walking slightly behind the crowd. Phillip looks anxious, but Kenneth's human looks confident. I cannot help but wonder where they're all going, and what they're going to do. Unbeknownst to them, I silently follow. Maybe this could be a chance to dispose of Phillip. They get to a large river, and it doesn't take long for me to understand that Kenneth's human has been dared to cross it on a large fallen tree. What a fool. Does he not know that if he slips, he's dead? A human cannot survive a fall that high. I raise an eyebrow when I see Phillip climbing up the log as well. What is he doing? Is trying to save him?
"Leopold! Please stop and come back here!" Phillip pleads, standing up shakily.
"No! Go back before you fall." Leopold responds, similar to how Craig would.
"Please, don't throw your life away!"
"I'm not going to die! I'm already two thirds of the way, for God's sake!"
"And how are you going to get back? You could slip and fall just as easily on the way back!" I realize that Phillip is already about halfway across, and it would be the perfect spot for him to fall from. I jump up and fly towards him, making sure he doesn't notice me. I need not worry. He's much to distracted with Leopold. I'm luckily invisible to the other humans. With the exception of Leopold.
"I won't! Now stop following me! Go back already!" Leopold shouts, turning back around and continuing his way. I take advantage of Phillip's distressed state and shove him off the log. I vaguely hear the crowd of children's gasps, who think he merely slipped on the damp bark. Phillip seems to know who pushed him almost immediately. In the midst of falling, he briefly makes eye contact with me.
"Why?" He asks in a barely audible voice. I instantly forget about going back to hell, seeing my father again, everything I'm striving for. Right at this moment, all I care about is Phillip's safety. I follow my instincts and try to grasp Phillip's hand, but it's much too late.
"PIP! NO!" I hear Leopold shriek desperately, sprinting up (seemingly no longer caring about the danger of it) and trying to grab him. He almost falls himself. As he stumbles, I put my hand on his shoulder, stopping him from receiving the same fate as Phillip is about to.
"Are you a fool? Do you want to die yourself?" I ask angrily, frustrated that there's nothing I can do to save Phillip now.
"SHUT UP! YOU JUST KILLED MY STEP BROTHER!" Leopold screams at me, making me cringe with guilt. I notice the stares of the group of children that aren't far away.
"I know. Kenneth will go insane if you die too, so come on." I put my hands on his shoulders and guide him off. He jumps off at the end; and then drops to his knees in grief. I witness the children trying to comfort and apologize to him. A realization hits me hard.
I have not perished yet. It's been too long since I pushed Phillip. And there's no possible way he survived that fall. Unless he was caught by something. Or someone.
~Pip's P.O.V~
Just before I make impact with the cursed water, something grabs me around the waist and stops me from falling. It knocks the wind out of me, but that's the least of my worries. Who has caught me? They pull me up to proper ground, letting me sit down and catch my breath. I cough, attempting to inhale.
"Oh my God, Phillip!" Tweek exclaims, putting his arms around me. He sounds relieved. "I thought you were going to die." I blink, astonished. I see Craig looming above Tweek and me. I don't believe it.
"You… saved me?" Craig 'hmphs' carelessly, but any fool can tell that he's extremely proud of himself. "Why would you do that?"
"I figured a measly apology wouldn't atone for what I did the first time we met, so I figured saving your life would."
"Don't be silly, Craig! Phillip, he was just as worried as I was! We were strolling by the river and we saw Damien push you, and I screamed 'Oh my God!' and in a flash, Craig jumped off the edge of the path and flew to you the fastest I've ever seen him fly!"
"He did?"
"Yes! Do you see now? Craig really is a kind person!" I do see. More than you realize, Tweek. I cannot even describe the change of heart I've had.
"Th-Thank you so much!" I spring up and bow my head down to Craig.
"Raise your head. You don't need to be so thankful to a person such as me." Craig says, shaking his head. "Now, come. We need to drench you in water. They'll all need to think you actually survived the fall."
"This is going to be cold." Craig warns, before tipping an entire bucket of water on my head. It drenches me from head to toe. And by God, it is cold. No wonder, it's been raining for a while now.
"Craig, he's going to catch a cold!" Tweek scolds him.
"Perhaps. But with Kenny around, it's no risk." Craig shrugs. I start to shiver, so Tweek immediately takes of his coat and puts it around me. Craig sighs and does the same.
"Thank you, to you both. You're so kind." Tweek smiles kind-heartedly, and Craig flushes from the flattery. He seems to actually be a very modest person, deep down. How can he have ended up having such a cruel job?
"Craig?" He looks at me. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but how did a person such as you become a negative fairy? Leopold told me something about the difference between them, and I know you aren't a positive one with a job such as yours."
"It's simple. I committed one of the worst sins possible." Craig sees my curious expression and sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I… took my own life."
I gasp. "Wh-Why?"
"Because I didn't listen to Kenny. End of story."
~Damien's P.O.V~
I've managed to get the grieving Leopold back to the camp, but he flopped down on a large rock at the edge of the clearing, while everyone else went off to eat an early lunch since there isn't anything else to do. The teacher and the exorcist are nowhere to be found. Everyone within a kilometer radius seems to be in a contagious, brooding mood. Including me. this is the first time I've felt so much regret, and I really don't like the feeling.
"How is it possible that you still exist?" Leopold finally asks quietly, after a long period of deafening silence.
"I don't know. Either Phillip is still alive, or the philosophy that 'if a human dies, their fairy dies as well' is really just an unidentified theory, and the Elder fairy tricked us all into thinking it was real."
"So you're saying there's a chance Pip's alive?"
"I-I suppose, more or less." I silently curse at myself for stuttering. I'm really not used to feeling so helpless. Not only is it very obvious that I'm not going to hell, now Phillip is most likely gone forever as well. Craig drops from above right next to me, wearing only his white shirt and black waistcoat. He looks fairly irritated at me.
"What are you staring at with that face?" I snap. "Where's your jacket? In fact, where's your human? Are you so angry at me that you don't know where he is?"
"You'll see. You'll see where he is." Craig replies tiredly. "Was it really fucking necessary to push him?" I realize he's now referring to Phillip.
"How do you know about that?"
"I saw it." I step back, surprised.
"Does that mean you were the on-
"EVERYONE! IT'S PIP! HE'S ALIVE! PIP'S ALIVE!" Leopold and I's heads snap to the direction of where the voice came from. Leopold immediately gets up and sprints over to the crowd of children that have supposedly surrounded Phillip. They all look so bewildered that he's alive. I sigh in relief. Craig pats my shoulder.
"Consider yourself lucky, Damien. You won't ever get a chance like that again."
"I know… I know I won't." I say coldly and peek behind a tree and watch Leopold reach Phillip. Phillip has Craig's coat around him, and he's soaking wet. Clever of Craig. Making it seem that Phillip actually survived the fall. "So you were the one who caught him?" I ask Craig. He nods, leaning against a tree and folding his arms. In the midst of smiling at Leopold and reassuring him, Phillip makes an unfortunate eye contact with me. I narrow my eyes and hunch down. I won't know what to say to him. If he was a normal person, then he would hate me with all his heart.
But he isn't normal.
I spin around and start to run when I see him coming towards me. As I pass Craig, I give him a nasty look for putting me in this situation. He could have at least warned me. I speed into the forest, almost running straight into a tree, which a barely dodge. I decide to start flying after stumbling several times. Nevertheless, it soon tires me out (flying is just as tiring as running), so I make a quick decision and retreat into a tree. I hear Phillip's footsteps chasing me not far off.
"Damien! Please come out! I know you're near!" He shouts. He's almost right below the tree by now. "If you don't, then I'll just have to track you with the chains that Leopold told me about! They'll lead me straight towards you!" Knowing that he's right, I jump down, landing right in front of Phillip. It startles him that I was so close-by.
"What is it?" I ask hardly. Just because I didn't want this person to die doesn't mean I like him. It just means I'm not as cruel as I used to be. It just means I've actually recovered the thing they call 'emotions'.
"I just wanted you to answer a question I have."
"Well then ask me." I tell him harshly, clearly expressing to him that I want to leave here as soon as possible.
"I saw you try to pull me back up at the very last second when I fell. I want to know why." I cackle with laughter. What a ridiculous question.
"That's what you wanted to know? How stupid!" I continue laughing, until I catch sight of Phillip's still serious face. I smirk at him. "It's such a simple answer. I regretted pushing you."
"I know that! But why? Why did you regret it?"
"I didn't want to go back to hell." I lie. This should work, since I have a talent for lying. I really, desperately don't want Phillip to think I actually care about him. I truly, honestly, don't.
"You're lying to me," Phillip states, sounding shocked that I lied to his face.
"I'm not." I try to hold back the wonder with how he knew I was lying. Nobody has ever done that before.
"I know you are. I'm not stupid!" Phillip accuses, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Believe what you want. But let me tell you this, you are one fucking lucky boy. Had not Craig been there to catch you, then you would've dropped straight into hell. Into the fire. And believe me, it is hot down there. And believe me, my father would not have been happy to see you, what with you being my human. So consider Craig saving you a miracle."
"H-How do you know I would have gone to hell?"
"For being a homosexual. Pah, the look on your face! Yes, I'm now aware of how my lovely stalker feels for me. But don't worry. I've decided not to kill you. But my feelings haven't changed. Stay away from me. I don't want to see your face again anytime soon. Remember that. I cannot kill you, but I can still do things damn close to it."
~Kenny's P.O.V~
"WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY!? WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THE ENTIRE DAY! IT'S GETTING DARK OUT!"
"I don't know, Clyde. But shouting and cursing is not going to help. We need to hurry, because that class of kids are going back to the village today." I sigh, and half-heartedly continue looking around for the infamous trio of Kyle, Stanley, and Eric. Clyde and I are exhausted from flying everywhere, so we've ended up walking for the past few hours. I flip my watch open and take a peek. "It's already 8.02pm. I think I should head back to my human."
"Heh, you act as if he's an object of some sort." I glare at Clyde. He backs off, though still chuckling.
"I won't be blamed for caring about my human."
"Oy! I care about Token just as much as you care about Leopold! Though not… in that way."
"You don't seem to be in much of a rush to be getting back to him."
"Well excuse me for taking one day to come and visit you all! I'll have you know that Token lives way in the country away from the village."
"That's because he's coloured."
"Exactly! So don't blame me for wanting to take one day to come here and see you all again."
"It's only been about a week since we've seen you…"
"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYHTING!" Clyde snaps loudly. A small flock of birds fly out of a tree in fright. Clyde and I watch them momentarily. Clyde sighs shakily, looking sheepish. "Sorry, it's just about Token. Yes, he likes me, but we had a bit of a fight, so I decided to come here today."
"What was the fight about?"
"He accused me of being a racist."
"Clyde, you are a racist."
"I am not!" Clyde looks outraged.
"I'm sorry, who's the one who has always steered clear of Asians, fainted when he was hugged by a Latino, and absolutely flipped out when he was assigned to break the heart of a black girl?"
"That's all true, but I changed when I met Token. I realized that colored people are just the same as every other person."
"Then what set Token off?"
"I just referred to Africans as 'your people'. Is there something wrong with that?"
"Oh my God! What is wrong with you?" I facepalm. "Clyde, you can sometimes be just as thick as a board."
"Does that mean I'm stupid? Well, I'm… I'm deeply offended."
"Oh, cry me a damn river."