"Oh, come on!" Tink exclaimed crossly as she slammed yet another door closed, sending a mischief of mice scurrying away from her loud echoes of displeasure. "We've checked the Nook, the Dust Depot, the library, even around the base of the Pixie dust tree, so where in Neverland can he be?"

She stormed back into the square and over to where her friends had gathered, reporting no more luck than her.

"Per'aps 'e went back 'ome," Clank suggested. "Mebbe that's why we can't find 'im anywhere else."

He was tired of searching. They all were.

Tired of the lies. Tired of the secrets. Tired of feeling like no matter what they did to try and help, Bobble was never going to trust them with the truth. At least not all of it, not the way he needed to. Sure, he had finally told them about Scorpion and the voices and the nightmares, but it hadn't been because he'd wanted to, and he certainly hadn't told them about the whole burning-things-with-one-touch thing.

Even after all this time, after everything they'd done together; saving the Hollow from the freeze, going to the mainland, fixing spring in time for the season's change, he clearly still didn't trust them at all.

"But wouldn't he expect us to come looking for him there?" Fawn asked, coming up behind Tink, brushing off her hands and plucking straw from her hair, disappointment written across her grim expression.

He hadn't been hiding with the mice, then.

"I don't think he's really in the right mindset to be thinking at all," Rosetta pointed out. "Or he wouldn't have run away in the first place."

"Okay, that's true," Sil put in. "So maybe he did go back home. That's what I'd do if I were upset. That or go talk to the babbling brook."

"Yeah, somehow I don't think he's talking to the river," Vidia scoffed, folding her arms with a sigh.

"All right," Tink caved, having come up with no better ideas by this point. "Clank and I will go back to Tinker's Nook to look again. The rest of you, keep looking around here. I don't think he could have gotten far. At least, I don't think he has fast-flying talent anymore."

Vidia snorted. "He never was one in the first place. At least not truly. Having the skill does not make one a fast-flyer. That title is only deserved when you earn it through training and practice. Seasons of practice. Not...poof-I'm-a-protector-now-look-at-me-aren't-I-so-special."

"I don't think Bobble talks like that," Silvermist commented.

"No, sweetie, of course not. That was just an example. He's far too much of a goodie-two-shoes to-"

"Vidia's just being a sour flower this mornin'," Rosetta butted back in, giving the fast-flyer a stern look. "Don't worry about it."

"And I'm not the only one!" Vidia countered. "After someone panicked and blew up our kitchen!"

"All right, now don't you think that's just a little bit of exaggeration?"

"Uh...not really. Did you not see the table lit on fire?"

"Yeah, I still don't understand how that happened," Fawn admitted. "Fire-talent isn't a thing, right?"

"Definitely not," Iridessa agreed. "It would be much too dangerous!"

"And probably very difficult to control!" Sil added, shivering at the thought.

"Besides, what would a fire-talent fairy even do to help with the seasons?"

"Commit arson?" Vidia suggested.

"I said 'to help', Vidia."

"I know."

"All right!" Tink exclaimed before they could go any further into their argument. "We get it! There's no such thing as a fire-talent. So, come on! We have more searching to do! He's out here somewhere and I want answers!"

"I still think he's hidin' with the mice," Rosetta whispered to Fawn.

"He's not," the animal talent hissed back out the corner of her mouth. "None of the mice have seen him today, though Cheese said he'd been acting a bit out of character when he was on delivery yesterday."

Tink didn't need to hear any more. She was already in the air before Fawn had finished her thought, winging it back toward the Nook without half a mind to wait for the others.

"Uh...Clank?" Silvermist exclaimed, the first to notice the blond was gone. "Tink's leaving without you."

"Oh...uh...bye!" Clank responded, waving to the girls before hurriedly chasing after his guildmate who was, by this point, halfway out of the clearing and not waiting for him at all.

"Good luck!" Rosetta yelled after them.

"Come on, you guys," Vidia scoffed just as they went out of earshot. "Let's keep looking over here. He can't have gotten far..."

"The girls are right, aren't they, Miss Bell?" Clank called fearfully as the two of them raced back across the Hollow. "Bobble's going to be okay, right?"

She didn't answer right away and he looked even more panicked. Seeing this, she quickly amended her silence, falling back to fly alongside him. "Hey, we're going to find him, all right? He's just scared right now. Fire isn't...a normal talent, so it's impossible to say where he learned to wield it, and he knows that. He's probably just as confused and as upset as we are."

"But we're going to help, right?"

"Of course we are," she assured him. "Just as soon as we find him."

"In that case, I can go check the workshop. Bobble always goes to 'is favorite crafting table when 'e's upset. It calms him down fo' some reason."

"Okay, good. And while you do that, I'll try the house. You're right about the whole workshop thing. He's got to be around here somewhere." Then again, he's been spending an awful large amount of time at the ocean, but would he go back right after I discovered him sulking there? He'd anticipate that I would search there first. He's not there.

"Right!"

They were already running before they hit the dirt. Tink hurried through the workshop and on to the miniature village beyond. Clank was already overturning everything he could get his hands on in search of his missing friend, calling out through the grim lighting for any signs of the smaller sparrowman.

Seeing as he was having no success, Tink rushed past Fairy Mary's hut and onwards toward the hill behind which the boys had located their forest-like home. It wasn't hard to locate, facing outwards toward the rising sun (Clank's preference. Bobble complained that it hurt his eyes), and Tink found herself darting up the boardwalk three stairs at a time. The pumpkin door was still in place, but upon closer examination, she could tell that the latch had been roughly jammed back into place, and it wasn't like Clank to leave such a mess about, which only left one possibility.

Carefully, she rapped on the door. "Bobble?" she hissed. "Are you here?"

Something inside clattered to the floor and a high-pitched gasp confirmed her suspicions. He did not come to open the door, but she hadn't really expected him to. Not after he'd fled for his life and hadn't even bothered to stick around and help solve the disaster he had created.

"Bobble?" she tried again. "I know you're here. You didn't do anything wrong so would you please come out and talk to us?"

"Go away, Miss Bell," came his muffled, uneasy response. "Please...I'm not...okay...I don't want ye to see me like this. Ye don't deserve that." The forcefulness of his tears was evident in his broken accent and shaky voice.

Not to be deterred, she nimbly leaped up and unlatched the door, pushing it open slightly, just enough to peek inside. Even through the darkness, she could easily pick him out from the furniture. As the first of the morning's rays slid into the room, he shuddered and curled further in on himself and his uncomfortable huddle against the foot of the bunks. A blanket was pulled tightly over his shoulders as he held the edges with a grip strong enough to break steel.

He glanced up at the sudden shift in light, eyes widening as he found her next to him in a moment. He immediately started to stand and leap away, but she grabbed his arm before he could escape and pulled him back. He buried his hands into the blanket, though the eerie orange glow was still visible to them both. Tink didn't need to get closer. Even from where she sat, she could feel the heat radiating off of him.

He really does have fire-talent.

He saw the curious way she was looking his direction and he flinched, drawing back as far as he dared. "Ye want to know why everythin' I touch goes up in flames, don't ye?"

"I mean," Tink tried to suggest tactfully, "you did just set half of the kitchen on fire, so yeah, that might be a good idea. I take it you do have an explanation then?"

He chuckled weakly. "I wish I could say that I did, but I don't understand any of it either. It just...happens from...time to time. Mostly when...I'm scared or...or..."

"When there's a creepy voice in your head and he's supposed to be dead?" she suggested.

"Aye, that certainly doesn't help matters."

"Is he talking to you right now?"

He nodded worriedly.

She frowned. "What's he telling you? Does he know I'm here?"

"He knows," Bobble whispered. "He can...hear everythin' that I'm thinkin'. He's tellin' me that I shouldn't tell ye anythin' more, that ye're too loud and pushy and ye remind him of a lass he knew a long time ago."

Tink made a face. "Um...is that a good thing?"

"He says he's not sure yet. The lass's name was Asha...she was a Protector too...and she got involved with his life and...

"And?"

"...and apparently she disappeared tryin' to help him unlock the secrets of his powers."

"Oh."

"Aye, that appears to be the problem. He's askin' ye to leave before ye get in over yer head like Asha did. He says he can tell that yer a good tinker, but...that ye also tend to be a bit headstrong and reckless. He has a point, ye know."

"Well, in that case," Tink scoffed. "You can tell...Scorpion is his name, right?"

"Aye."

"Well, you can tell Scorpion that it doesn't matter what he says. I told you I wouldn't leave you to face all of this again by yourself. I intend to keep my word."

"He doesn't think that's wise."

"Look, I don't care what some disembodied voice in your head is telling you, Bobble," Tink protested, seeing the immediate hesitation flash through his features. "I made you a promise that if anything happened because you were a Protector, that I would be right there to help you make it right. And I may not know anything about this Asha fairy, but I'm sure she wasn't a coward either."

"He's really suggesting ye leave now."

"Or what?" Tink countered. "What is he going to do? It's your head, Bobble. You're the one in control, not him. Now, tell me more about this...fire-talent. When did it first start? How many times has it happened?"

"This is only the second time," he confessed. "The first time was right after I fell for one of the tinker guild's tricks and I nearly got killed by the sprintin' thistles. I was so angry with Wedge that I blew him off fer the rest of the day right before I accidentally set a tree on fire."

"And then today when you were scared of us all asking so many questions," Tink reasoned. "So, it seems like it's based on your emotions, then."

"It does seem that way."

"So if you get too angry or afraid, you activate this...flame ability? Okay, that's easy enough to correct. Just don't get worried about anything and you'll be fine."

Bobble chuckled weakly and Tink smiled, pleased her joke had worked. "Aye, but that is easier said than done, Miss Bell. I'm not good with all of that sort of thing. Ye know me better than that." He gave her a forced smile that she didn't buy for a moment.

"I do," Tink confessed. "Which is why I've come to get you out of this darkness." She gestured around to the rest of the room. "Everyone is worried about you. You flew off in such a hurry that we never did find out what has you all in a rush. So, come on." She stood up and held out her hands to him. "Let's get back to figuring this out. Together."

"He's tellin' me this is a bad idea," Bobble muttered. "But ye're right, Tink. Together it is."

He reached up to take her hands and she helped him to his feet. He shrugged off the blanket and gave her a real smile, the first one of the day.

The sensation of victory did not live long, however, as he suddenly let out a sharp cry of alarm and staggered, doubling over and heaving as pulses of red and orange exploded through the palms of his hands and rocketed up his arms.

Tink moved to catch him should his unsteady movements lead to him falling. Instantly, hot shoots of pain danced through her nerves and she ripped her hands away just in the nick of time.

Bobble screamed again, collapsing against the end of the bed railing. "Tink!" he cried. "My...my wings! Somethin'...something's wron'! I can't...I can't feel 'em! Please, do somethin'!"

Tink complied, quickly taking his free arm and trying to help him balance as she peered over his shoulder to try and find the source of his abrupt pain.

She froze, spotting the bright orange light spreading across the delicate patterns of his wings almost instantly, watching as it engulfed the still-tender locations of the burn he received previously when confronting Spurn for the first time and began inching it's way up toward his spine, sending measurable jolts of pain through his body.

The light consumed every line and crevice until it reached all the way to his back and traversed back down the opposite wing, leaving nothing but dark ruin in its wake, an ominous reminder of the fairy who had given it to him and his threat of revenge.

Even from the grave, it seemed Shade was not done with his revenge.

The black began to spread further and the pain was etched across the redhead's face as Tink did everything she could to help him stand.

But there wasn't anything she could do. There was no way to tinker a remedy for what she was seeing.

The light swirled and vanished, leaving behind nothing but a burnt trail of destruction in its wake, as well as the worst thing Tink had ever seen in her life.

Bobble's wings were beginning to disintegrate.