"Have a seat," Scarab ordered, slinging her bag from her shoulders and tossing it across the room. The strap lassoed the back of a chair and swung down out of sight, triggering a series of gears and wires which dropped from the table and drew up the blinds across the room. She nodded to a collection of old furniture piled into a heap in the corner as the light cascaded through the shadows, reflecting off the wings of the numerous fairies attempting to crowd into her room. "Pull up a chair or a table or whatever. Set Tinker Bell down on the bed. I'll get some things ready and then I'll be back. Make yourselves...um...comfortable. And Phineas, don't touch anything until I return."
The fairies nodded as she darted from sight, Rosetta and Iridessa moving to untangle the chairs and Silvermist keeping a firm eye on Bobble as he nervously flitted amongst the group, watching Clank lay Tink gently on Scarab's abnormally tidy bed, and exhaling loudly. The fire was gone from his body, both metaphorically and literally, and it seemed being back once more in Fairy's Haven did nothing to improve that.
"Hey," the water-talent whispered, wandering up behind him, hands clasped behind her back nervously. "You doing all right?"
"No," he answered. "I'm not okay right now, Miss Sil. Not at all." There was a seat right next to the bed and, foregoing Scarab's warnings, he carefully lowered himself onto it and buried his face in his hands, collapsing into muffled sobs that were missed by no one.
"She's going to be all right, though, isn't she?" Iridessa fretted, coming over to hover beside the bed as well. "Scarab will help her. She'll be fine, right?"
"Of course she will, sweetie," Rosetta assured her. "Scarab knows what she's doing. I'm sure she's seen this before. Phin's not the first Protector she's had to train after all."
"No, but he is the first to nearly burn the Hollow to the ground," Vidia remarked, not seeing the way his hands clenched at her words. "So that should count for something, right?"
"Vidia!"
The fast-flying talent shrugged, not seeing the harm in her comment, while Silvermist looked grief-stricken and Iridessa shivered, turning pale.
"He didn't do it on purpose!" Fawn shot back, standing up for her friend and rounding on Vidia who arched an eyebrow at the shorter girl. "You know that so why are you being so mean?"
"I think she's jealous," Rosetta stated.
Vidia scoffed. "Please. Jealous of that?" She gestured to Bobble who stubbornly refused to leave Tink's side, even if he didn't dare get close. "Darling, I think you must need your eyes checked. Why in Pixie Hollow would I want the power to destroy literally everything I touch?"
"Vidia, cool it!" Iridessa warned, wheeling on her now. "Can't you see you're making this whole thing worse?"
"Why? Is it my fault he can't control his emotions?" she protested. "He's the one going around with the torch in hand! I'm merely stating the obvious!"
"Sweetie, you're going to set him off again," Rosetta admonished, as if he weren't sitting in the same room and couldn't hear everything that was being said.
"Yeah!" Silvermist agreed. "Don't listen to her," she whispered to the redhead. "She's being really mean today."
He didn't respond to her comforts, his hand somehow finding its way into Tink's as he continued to hide his face from everyone. Fawn gasped and elbowed Vidia in the side, earning a dagger-filled glare from her friend. Instead of being intimidated as was the fast-flyer's plan, Fawn made a look noise in the back of her throat, tilting her head toward the sparrowman pointedly. Vidia narrowed her eyes, squinting to decipher the girl's sudden shift in attitude.
"I knew it," Iridessa breathed, catching on as well.
Sil blinked. "Knew what?" she echoed...and then she looked down. "Oh," she breathed, her hands folding in front of her face as the implications finally settled in. "Oh my goodness!"
Fawn snorted. "Well, it sure took long enough, didn't it?"
Bobble neither confirmed nor denied their suspicions, his anguished sobs only growing deeper.
"Oh, oh honey," Rosetta mothered kindly, fluttering up behind him and cautiously resting a hand on his shoulder. "She's gonna be okay. She's a tough daisy. I don't think there's a thing in the world that can keep her down for long."
"Except maybe an out-of-control fireball from an even more out of control fr-"
"VIDIA."
"Fine! Fine," the girl exclaimed, throwing up her hands as the garden-talent wheeled on her once again. She pretended to zip her mouth shut and throw away the key, giving the shorter girl a smug grin and leaning back against the wall pointedly.
"You really care about her, don't you?" Silvermist prodded, ignoring the argument sparking behind her as she knelt down beside the two tinkers. Rosetta moved away from Bobble and Sil placed her hand on him instead. This drew his focus away from his misery and he lifted his head to gawk at her confusedly. "You and Tink," the water fairy went on in case it wasn't obvious who she was talking about. "You're like the ocean in the morning, crashing against the shore. Two very different forces colliding into each other. At first...it can be scary to see those waves broken apart so ruthlessly, but when they shatter and you get that one moment where the sun reflects through the droplets, it can actually be...beautiful. Like you and her."
"Uh...did you just compare them to a hurricane?" Fawn quired, deadpanning slightly.
"Wait...what about an ocean?" Clank added, looking just as confused.
"Oh for posey's sake," Rosetta groaned, turning back to translate. "She's sayin' Phin here has a crush on Tink!" She smiled down reassuringly at her fellow redhead. "And honestly, I'm quite surprised it's taken it this long to come out."
"Is that why you've been so absurdly rude to him lately?" Iridessa realized, addressing Vidia with a scowl, not even bothering to give Bobble a chance to deny the accusations...even if they were true. "Did you know that?"
Vidia shrugged. "It may have come to my attention. But why would I care about Tink's love life? The sparrowman she picks to swoon is up to her, not me."
"But yet, you've been going around making fun of Bobble this entire time because you knew! Doesn't that seem, I don't know, a bit mean?"
"If you haven't noticed by now," Vidia scoffed. "I'm always a bit mean."
As the light-talent opened her mouth to shoot back a retort that very likely would have erupted into another full-blown argument, the door behind them suddenly flew open and a blur of tan and gold rocketed past them, startling Silvermist who yelped and dove away from the bedside.
"Sorry, sorry Sil, sorry!" Terrence exclaimed, rushing over to the opposite side of the room from Bobble and kneeling down to take Tink's other hand. "Is she okay?" he demanded, his gaze flicking from his motionless girlfriend to her numerous friends, none of whom wished to meet his eyes.
"Terrence," Rosetta said softly, the first to respond to the shock they all felt. "What are you doing here? Hang on, how did you even know where we were?"
"Because I summoned him."
Forgetting the door had been left open in the sparrowman's haste, both Sil and Iridessa jumped as everyone spun to see Scarab standing in the doorway, holding an armload of blankets and bottles filled with various types of herbs.
"Wait...you did?" Fawn asked as Vidia raised a questioning eyebrow. "When? We just got here a few minutes ago! How could you have possibly-"
"Ladybugs," Terrence interrupted, his attention locked on Tink, fear painted across his features. He was so scared that she wasn't going to wake up, that he was going to lose her, that he hadn't been there for her, to protect her when she needed him the most. "A lot of them."
"Animal-talent," Rosetta guessed.
"Makes sense," Silvermist added.
Scarab nodded. "I figured everyone should be present for this," she explained, coming over and forcibly pushing her way between Tink and Bobble, shoving the tinker out of the way and forcing him to stand and back away. His wings trembled and he seemed rather unsteady and he was reluctant to let go of his guildmate, almost as if he were afraid she would die the moment he released her. "She needs her friends with her, now more than ever."
"What does that mean?" Iridessa asked worriedly.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Clank fretted.
"You don't mean she might...?" Fawn gasped.
And for some fairies, that was the final straw.
"What did you do to her?" Terrence whispered. At first, his tone was so low it was difficult to hear what he was saying, but after a moment, he looked up, his glare fixated on the sparrowman cowering in the corner. His eyes were filled with pain and anger. Pain for something he could not change...and anger at the one who had caused all of this in the first place. "Bobble, what did you do?"
"I-" Bobble began, shrinking back at the dust-talent's harsh snap. "I didn't mean to-"
"You never mean to!" Terrence interrupted, his unexpected shout enough to silence everyone else in the room as the long-festering confrontation between the two finally brimmed to the surface. "You never try to hurt anyone but yet, wherever you go, disaster follows! Tink keeps getting hurt because of your actions! You said you had a handle on things now! You said your talents were gone and that you would never put Tink in harm's way again! You lied! You're just as dangerous as before, and maybe even more so now! Why can't you just stay away from her?"
The others gasped.
"Now, Terrence," Silvermist tried to soothe. "Don't you think that's just a little-"
"No!" the dust-talent snapped, not even looking back to see who was speaking. "No, this has gone on for long enough! I stood by and allowed this to go on because Tink promised me that you were safe now, that whatever nonsense you had been full of before was over! You may think you can do what is best for the Hollow," he added, jabbing a finger into Bobble's chest and earning a terrified squeak from his rival. "But you clearly can't do what's best for Tink! She's in danger every time she's around you! You're always hurting her! And if you cared about her even a little bit, you would keep her as far away from you as you could!"
"Okayyyy," Iridessa exclaimed, darting away from the corner and coming to plant herself firmly between the two males before they could begin something they would both regret. "I think that's enough from both of you! We're all worried about Tink, okay? None of us wanted this to happen so why can't you both just grow up? We've got so many bigger problems to deal with right now and fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to solve any of them!"
The others stared on, watching as Terrence scowled at the light-talent but obeyed, backing away slowly and moving back toward Scarab. The former protector gave him a brief glance before going back to work, mixing up some kind of herb remedy. She looked as though she was planning on saying something but clearly thought better of it, shrugging and going back to work.
Bobble let his wings droop shamefully and he lowered his gaze. Though he hadn't been the one to unexpectantly raise his voice, he knew he was at fault for as much of the conflict as Terrence. It was so obvious to everyone that the dust-talent was in love with her and naturally, seeing her hurt like this would set him off the deep end. Bobble couldn't blame him for that. He felt the same way too. But accusations and anger were going to get them nowhere. Scarab had promised to do everything she could to help and she was going to save his guildmate so really, there was no reason to panic.
No reason to get angry, he told himself firmly, flexing his fingers as the warm oozing of the flames crept back toward the surface, and quenching the irritation prickling beneath his skin. He cares about her, just the same as I do. I would be doing the same thing in his position.
But Terrence noticed the power he tried to hide and his stare hardened once again. "I think you need to go."
"Terrence," Silvermist pleaded, coming over and taking his hand gently to distract him. "Come with me. Come sit down and work through your feelings. You can yell at me. It's okay."
Vidia was the closest to the tinker's shadowy corner and she raised an eyebrow in his direction. So? she seemed to be implying. You made this mess. What are you gonna do now?
There was only one thing he could do. It was clear the others didn't want him there, and how could he blame them? He'd attacked one of their friends. He'd hurt her. It wasn't surprising that they would want him out of the way. Besides, she was in the safest place she could be. Scarab would help her and the rest of her friends would be there every step of the way. Terrence would be there, so really, there was no need for him to stay.
"I...I really am sorry," he managed to mumble, averting his gaze and taking off from the room before anyone could have a chance to speak and yell at him and tell him how stupid he was...something of which he was already well aware.
He hastily flew past the garden and underneath the vined archways, refusing to stop until he was far out of sight and the small hut that acted as Scarab's residence was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Then, he carefully allowed himself to drop into the meadow, careful not to let his hands brush anything that might prove to be flammable.
He recognized parts of his surroundings. To his right was the training deck where Scarab had first attempted to test his fighting ability (an absolute fail, considering Bobble had only felt the need to defend himself once before and a fairy was a very different matter from a fifty-pound cat). To his left, the soft gurgling river spilled into the pool of...what did Scarab call it again? The Pool of Reflection? Where a Protector was supposed to come to refill their magical abilities?
But why would he ever want that when he wasn't supposed to have these talents anymore in the first place?
The talent dust should have dealt with the problem. There should have been no way he could have done what he did. It didn't make sense and besides, he didn't even know any fairies who could manipulate fire! It was a dead talent, one that no one had used in over two hundred years and didn't Scarab's magical book thingamajig say that his powers came from those he spent time around? How then could he possibly have the ability to...
Shade.
Bobble's eyes fell on the pond as he carefully fluttered down for a closer look and he saw himself staring back; bedraggled, confused, and afraid. He opened his wings tenderly, inspecting the extent of his injuries fully for the first time. The withering had spread even further now, encompassing a large portion of the middles of his wings, steadily branching out for the tips and roots. It would not be long until it consumed what remained and Bobble was permanently grounded for good.
Tink had tried to warn him about that. She'd tried to warn him about so many things. Why hadn't he listened?
"Scorpion," he whispered, trembling at the sobs threatening to cascade over. "Are ye there? What do I do?"
There was no reply from the Protector.
"Well, aren't you just a perfect cloud of doom and misery today?"
He shot up, spinning around, surprised to see the animal-talent standing there. Her arms were crossed as was typical for her, but there was something behind the front of irritation, something that almost looked like genuine concern.
Bobble quickly tried to compose himself, brushing the dirt from his knees and blinking back any hot tears that dared near the surface. "Scarab?" he squeaked, wincing at his own voice. "What...what are ye doing...Tink...is she...?" He gestured helplessly, unable to form the words he needed.
"She'll be fine," Scarab replied. "In fact, I think it's safe to say that she's faring better than you right now. What happened?" Her words were sharp but there was an unusual kindness behind them that he was not accustomed to from her. Where was the typical snippity you-are-such-a-failure-as-a-Protector tone he had come to expect? "I thought you did something to make sure your talents would never be able to do this."
"I...I did," he protested. "I...don't know what went wron'! Everythin' was goin' fine until..."
"Until you got scared," Scarab finished, nodding knowingly. "Until fairies started asking questions and you didn't have the answers."
"Aye...how did ye know...?"
"Phineas," the girl sighed. "There's a reason Protectors are kept secret. Do you know why that is?"
He gawked. Why in the world was she asking him this now? "Because they're too powerful," he answered immediately. "And...and dangerous. And their presence means somethin' bad is about to happen and that scares fairies." That was what Queen Clarion had told him when he had demanded to know the truth. Protectors weren't like other fairies. They could do things others could only dream of. To them it was a blessing. To him, it was more of a curse. A curse he had hoped to be rid of once and for all.
But Scarab was shaking her head. "Protectors are hidden to protect us. It's a rare thing, to be born a Protector. Many fairies don't understand what it really means. They see us as freaks, mis-talented, and threatening. They ask too many questions. Many don't believe we have a place in the Hollow. That is why we hide." Her expression momentarily grew dark. "So the same thing that happened to Shade will never happen to another fairy."
"What did happen to Shade?" Bobble couldn't help but blurt. "The stories say he just snapped one day without any kind of warnin'. That he was always evil, but I don't-"
"No," Scarab interrupted. "That's not the story. Not even close. Shade was...the best fairy. The Hollow just couldn't understand his brilliance. He didn't see the world the way the others did. He was always thinking outside the box." She smiled ruefully. "He was so shy, jumped at his own shadow. He was so scared when he found out the truth. He had been caught in that explosion like me. It's really my fault that he ended up the way he did, but what I saw as a chance to make a difference, he couldn't fathom. All he wanted was to go back to his tinkering and be left alone, but I convinced him to come out into the open and use his gifts to help strengthen Neverland, but it backfired. Fairies who had hated him before only despised him more. He got scared. He used his powers by accident. Half of the Hollow was lost that day. It took years to recover. And even though it hadn't been on purpose, fairies deemed him dangerous. They despised him for what he had done. It broke him. He vowed no fairies would ever have to fear him again. But now everyone is afraid. He wasn't always like he is now and I would do anything to bring back that sweet, innocent, caring fairy."
She seemed to realize she'd gone above and beyond on answering his question and she sighed, drawing her gaze back from the motionless pool and onto her protege. "I think I need to apologize," she went on, "for the way I treated you before. I wasn't right in the head when I said those things to you. I was out of line. You're not a mistake, Phineas. You were able to do what none of the Protectors before you had been capable of. You stopped him. Shade isn't the fairy I fell in love with all those years ago. He needed to be defeated but I was so afraid that I would hurt the one fairy I had ever truly loved and I wanted so badly to save some small part of that memory. I think you can understand how it feels to be in love with someone. You would do anything for them, wouldn't you?"
Bobble's gaze unconsciously drifted back toward the house. "Aye, I would."
Her painful smile grew. "You're a good fairy, Bobble. Your friends are lucky to have you." She took a long breath as though considering her next words. "I can...help you...manage your talents. I know you want to get rid of them. You tried the talent-dust and that in itself was genius, but as you've seen, it's only a temporary solution. There's...another way. Mind you, it has only been attempted once and getting to it is a death wish in itself. It's called a duality spell."
His gaze flew back to her.
"You've heard of it, then?" she remarked. He didn't answer but the answer must have been evident on his face as she went on. "What do you know about it?"
"Just that it's supposed to be a permanent cure for multiple talents. It was in that book that ye had. The one ye wrote."
"Yes," she agreed. "It is possible to retract talents from a Protector, but this also has the ability to fully heal anyone inflicted with injuries caused by magic. If you were able to harness it's ability, then no one in Pixie Hollow would ever have to be afraid of your powers again and you wouldn't have to fear hurting them. I think that's what you really want, isn't it?"
He nodded.
"All right." Scarab squared her shoulders. "Then the first thing we need to do is find the five bracelets that control the seasons."
Bobble blinked. "The Bracelets of Destiny?"
"So you have done your homework." She chuckled. "Of course you have. I should have expected as much. Yes, the...Bracelets of Destiny, as you call them...each have a unique set of powers. They were designed to help balance the changing of the seasons throughout the Hollow. They were...one of Shade's better inventions. But after he turned, I added a second feature that only a few know about. As you probably already know, a fairy's talent is connected to one of the four seasons. For example, a glacier fairy's power comes from winter and a garden-talent blooms with help from spring. Your talents are fast-flying, light, water, tinker, storm, ice, and fire, correct?"
He nodded again.
"Well, in that case, I think we will need the assistance of summer, spring, and winter to nullify what you already have. However, to truly be able to heal a fairy entirely, you would need to find all five of the bracelets and combine them. After Shade disappeared, Queen Starlight knew how dangerous they could be, even apart, so she ordered they be separated as far away from one another as possible, one in each season, so that Shade would never be able to put them back together and complete his reign of terror. I hid them, just like I was told, in some of the most dangerous places on the island. I can tell you how to reach them, but there is no telling the risks you would be taking to get there. Are you sure you want to try and find them?"
Bobble hesitated. Was he sure? Did he really need to have that much power? What if he just got the three he needed, disowned the talents he already had, and just went back to tinkering like nothing had ever changed? Wouldn't that be so much simpler than risking his life...and most likely the others' as well because he knew they wouldn't let him go by himself, no matter how much he protested...on some crazy quest to heaven knew where?
But then he thought of Tink, of how badly he could have hurt her. She had almost died twice because of him. What if he lost control again and Scarab wasn't around to help or someone else got in the way or he couldn't curb his emotions soon enough? Fairies could die if he even spoke wrong.
That was not a risk he was willing to take.
He took a long breath and set his gaze back to his reflection one last time. "I'm sure," he answered, "just tell me what I have to do."