Tang Ri Shan

(Here's the next chapter. Can anyone guess what'll happen next?)

Tinkerbell: Curse of the Duskmoth

(I do not own Tinkerbell or any of the Disney Fairies. Enjoy!)

Chapter 7

Vidia gasped in horror, staring down with wide eyes. Below her, a small pond glistened with moonlight, the light was bright enough that Vidia could see her reflection in the dark water. But her reflection had glowing purple eyes and wings!

"It can't be!" Vidia exclaimed, hovering closer to the water's edge for a better look, and resisted the urge to flinch. Not only were her eyes purple, but her face had changed too. Her skin seemed darker and had slightly grayed, like she was sick. Her hair looked frizzled and Vidia could swear that there were tiny fangs in her mouth. Vidia raised her hands and saw that they were grayish as well, and that her nails had grown, they looked more like claws.

"I'm a...Sprite!" Vidia darted backwards, feeling despair well up inside her. She raised her clawed hands to her face. "No! NO!" Crying out in anger, Vidia slapped the surface of the pond, the resulting ripples breaking up her reflection. In a panic, Vidia rocketed away from the pond, shooting through the trees back towards the home-tree. She didn't care what would happen if anyone saw her like this. She just wanted to wake up from this nightmare. She needed help. She needed her friends.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, Tinkerbell was flying slowly through the trees, darting from trunk to trunk, calling for Vidia. She kept her voice lowered though, not because she was scared of the Duskmoth, but because she didn't want any of the Guardian Guild seeing her. As she flew, she kept replaying the discussion she had overheard in her mind. Why had the seer lied? What 'plan' were they talking about? And why was the Guardian Guild member acting so arrogantly?

"There's something here that I'm not seeing" Tinkerbell mused as she peered behind a bush, "But what is it?"

"NO!" Tinkerbell froze as a cry echoed through the trees. Then she gasped as she recognized Vidia's voice.

"Vidia?" Tinkerbell called, darting quickly in the direction that the voice had come from. "Vidia!" She called again as she cleared the treetops. She raised her hands and opened her mouth to call again when something thudded into her from behind. Tinkerbell cried out as she thudded down onto a hard branch. For a moment she just lay there, stunned. Then, slowly she raised her head, and gasped. Lying a few feet away from her was... "V-vidia?"

Vidia flinched as Tinkerbell spoke, then slowly raised her head. Her glowing purple eyes locked on with Tinkerbell's normal bluish ones. Tinkerbell's eyes widened in alarm and she scooted backwards.

"No! Wait!" Vidia growled, her voice sounding hoarse and different. One second she was lying on the ground, the next second she was forcibly pinning Tinkerbell against the tree trunk, one hand around her neck. "Tink, pllease don't go!"

"Vidia, you're hurting me!" Tinkerbell gasped as she struggled against Vidia's surprisingly strong grip. Instantly, Vidia gasped and released Tinkerbell, who fell to the branch, gasping and rubbing her neck.

"Tink, I'm so sorry" Vidia looked scared now. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" Tinkerbell replied as she slowly got to her feet. "But Vidia, what happened to you?" She asked, looking Vidia up and down.

"I...don't know" Vidia replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Tinkerbell fluttered around Vidia, taking in her friend's new appearance in detail noting Vidia's wings and the pale tone of her skin.

"Vidia" She said finally. "You look like a sprite"

"Gee, you think?" Vidia shot Tinkerbell a dark look. "But I don't feel like one. I mean, I don't feel aggressive or..." Vidia suddenly noticed Tinkerbell massaging her neck again and fell silent.

"So, how exactly did this happen?" Tinkerbell asked. "Was it just like in the legend? were you attacked by the Duskmoth?"

"I guess" Vidia scratched her head, like she was trying to remember. "I mean...I remember something chasing me, then I hit a tree, and when I woke up, I looked like this"

Tinkerbell frowned, then she reached over and rubbed her hand on Vidia's face. "Hey! What are you doing?" Vidia demanded, slapping her hand away. Tinkerbell glanced at her hand, clean.

"Wow, you really are a sprite" Tinkerbell gasped.

"Thanks for proving that!" Vidia sighed sarcastically, but she still looked worried. "What am I going to do?"

Tinkerbell glanced up, thinking hard. She saw that the sky was beginning to lighten up. Dawn was coming. Tinkerbell offered Vidia her hand. "Come on. We'll get you some help" Vidia smiled for the first time and reached for Tinkerbell's hand, but as she did, a ray of sunlight shot through the tall grass and bathed them both in light.

"AAARRRGGHH!" Vidia cried out and shot away into the shadows of a bush, there she backed against the base of the bush, cradling her hands against her body.

"Vidia! Are you okay?" Tinkerbell cried out, flying over to her.

"It burns!" Vidia moaned, opening her hands, which were now grayish-pink. Tinkerbell's eyes widened.

"What happened?" She reached for Vidia's hand, but just as her fingertips brushed it, Vidia yelled in pain and Tinkerbell felt something hit her face. The force was so strong she was knocked off her feet onto her back. For a moment, she just lay there, then she slowly raised her head. Vidia was crouching in the faint shadows provided by the overhanging bush. Her hands were curled up protectively under her, and she was gazing at Tinkerbell with a scared look on her face. The purple glow in her eyes couldn't mask the sorrow and fear that was filling them.

"Vidia?" Tinkerbell reached out for her friend, but the brush behind her rustled. As Tinkerbell looked back, two fairies burst through the grass, both of them were wearing black and one was carrying a lantern. Guardian Guild fairies!

"Are you okay...?" One of them started to say, but then they noticed Vidia and their eyes widened. "SPRITE!" They both yelled at the same time, one drawing a pin-like sword, and the other holding his lantern in front of him like a spear.

"No! No! It's not like that!" Tinkerbell tried to explain but the fairies wouldn't listen. They charged at Vidia, who fled, crying out in pain as she left the shadows of the plant and flew into the sunlight.

"After her!" One of the fairies chased after Vidia while the other restrained Tinkerbell who had tried to follow.

"Let me go!" Tinkerbell yelled, struggling against the fairy's strong grip.

"Trust me sweetie, you don't want anything to do with that thing" The fairy spat the last word as if comparing Vidia to something disgusting.

"But she's my friend!" Tinkerbell argued, struggling with all her might.

"No she's not!" The fairy yelled back, struggling to hold onto her. "She's not your friend anymore! The Seer predicted that she would be the first to turn!"

Hearing this, Tinkerbell suddenly remembered what she had heard the seer and the other Guild leader discussing and she suddenly felt really angry. She whirled around to confront the fairy but froze when she saw the look on her captor's face change from anger to horror.

"What-what's that on your face?" She practically shrieked.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, Vidia flew as fast as she could. She could hear the yells of the Guild fairy chasing her, but they were growing fainter. Vidia squinted in the bright sunlight. She was flying away from the sun, so why did everything look so bright? Vidia could feel pain seeping through her limbs. It hurt so much, she felt like her whole body was on fire. But as Vidia flew under the trees, she noticed something, whenever she passed under the shadow of a branch, she felt better for a second, but as soon as she hit the sunlight, the pain returned. Suddenly, Vidia shot out from the forest into an open field of the spring woods. There was no cover here. Squinting her eyes, Vidia could just see a dark line on the other side of the field, and she made for it. She flew faster, but felt herself tiring. The burning sensation in her body seemed to increase tenfold and she felt herself losing altitude. No matter how hard she struggled, or willed herself to go faster, she just couldn't. She flew lower and lower until she eventually flew headfirst into the grass and crashed into the damp soil. As Vidia lay in the mud, she could see smoke starting to rise from her hands and something that Clank and Bobble said rang through her mind. "Like the Duskmoth, sprites avoid the light, for it burns them"

"No...Kidding" Vidia grunted as she tried to crawl out of the mud, but she was too weak. The brightness seemed to increase and she clamped her eyes shut to keep out the light. The second before she did, she could have sworn she saw something move at the edge of her vision. As she lay there, eyes tightly shut, she felt cool hands upon her face, and a growl echoed in her ears.