Everything came rushing back to her all at once, the pain and tingling in her nerves a constant struggle against the all-consuming blackness that lurked right outside should she falter and permit it entrance. But she braced herself, warding off the crushing exhaustion, weary of its true intentions, and grounded herself in what she knew was real.
The hushed whispers surrounding her faded instantly as she finally began to stir, pushing back a massive throbbing headache, feeling someone gripping her hands tightly...fearfully. "Ugh," she groaned, turning in their direction. "Bobble?" she guessed, recalling that her friend had been the closest one around when she had been knocked unconscious. Naturally, he would have refused to leave her side. He probably felt terrible for using his talents against her, even if it had only been an accident.
"Uh, no, Tink, it's...uh...it's me."
He sounded relieved and Tink immediately relaxed, opening her eyes slowly to find her boyfriend knelt down beside her and smiling gratefully. His gaze was filled with relief and concern and she could only stand to look for a moment, letting her gaze circle up to the rest of her friends waiting with anticipation for her to say something, to tell them that she was alright.
"Hey...everyone," she said, her throat raw from lack of use. "What's...with the long faces?"
"Well, it's about time you woke up!" Vidia remarked, but even she seemed relieved to have the blond back in the realm of the living. "Goodness, it's like you thought getting blasted with fire-talent was going to hurt or something! You look as good as new! Not even a burn on you!"
Tink laughed, breaking off into a bought of coughing. "Terrence," she went on, turning to face the dust-talent. "Thank you...for coming. You...didn't have to."
"Of course, I came," he replied gently. "I couldn't let anything happen to the Hollow's best tinker, now could I?"
"None of us could," Rosetta added and the others nodded.
Tink smiled, scanning the group of them, blushing slightly as they all agreed with the garden-talent. All of her closest friends, all together, all there because they cared about her enough to be. But, yet, something was wrong. Amongst the smiling faces, she realized that someone was missing.
"Hang on," she wheezed, trying to heave herself up onto her elbows when she realized she hadn't heard anything from the very distinctive accent. "Where's Bobble?" Her focus moved from one guilty fairy's forlorn expression to the next. All of them averted their gazes when she met them. "Is he okay?" she demanded. "What happened to him? He's here, though, right? I know he is. He's probably just found another place to curl up and hide because he thinks he hurt me, but I'm fine, see?"
With that, she pulled her hand out of Terrance's (much to the blond's blatant disappointment) and swung herself onto the edge of the bed in one solid movement. She opened and closed her wings experimentally, wincing at a small burst of pain near the roots, but she shook it away just as quickly, inhaling deeply and looking up at her friends for an explanation.
"Uh...well, you see, the thing is..." Iridessa tried to explain.
"We kind of scared him off," Silvermist interrupted, looking immensely guilty.
"It was an accident!" Dessa cut back in. "Really! We were just so worried about you and he was so close to going off again that we were afraid that he would do something else and with Scarab lingering around, we thought it might be better for him to...leave..."
"We didn't mean it!" Fawn added quickly.
Vidia snorted. "Yes, we did. Someone got just a little too protective and said something he shouldn't have. We were all here when it happened, but don't tell me that all of you weren't thinking the same thing as well."
"Regardless of that," Terrence interrupted sharply, popping up once again beside Tink. "I'm just glad you're okay," he added and she smiled gratefully, unable to resist his hopeful relief. "I heard about the fire and what happened." Seeing her wince at the memory, he coughed awkwardly and gestured to the room around them. "So...this is Fairy's Haven, then? It's pretty cool, but I thought there was some kind of rule about only Protectors being able to pass through the barrier or something?"
"There is," came the obtrusive voice from right behind them and half of them yelped as Scarab reappeared in the doorway, the redhead slinking in behind her with his head low and eyes averted from all of them. "But you lot constantly push me to break the boundaries."
"Huh," Silvermist commented. "Yeah, I guess we are kind of good at that, aren't we?"
"Exceedingly," Scarab seethed. "It is getting to be quite irritating."
"Then why do you keep doing it?" Iridessa asked, seeming genuinely curious.
"Believe me, if I knew, I would tell you." The Protector seemed less-than-overjoyed to be having this conversation as she made her way over to Tink and eyed the tinker questioningly. "The herbs seem to be working effectively. How are you feeling now?"
"Uh," Tink blinked, startled. "Actually, a lot better, thank you. What did you do?"
"Aloe vera," Scarab answered simply. "It lives up to its name. Good for severe burns or flesh wounds. You're lucky the damage wasn't more severe. Fire-talent is a dangerous thing to try and wield. One misstep could cause total annihilation." She gave Bobble a significant look that he hastily met before fixing his gaze on his shoes. "You should begin to heal very soon," she went on, ignoring the sparrowman's reaction. "And there should be no long-lasting side-effects, however-"
"Should be?" Terrence interrupted. "Does that mean you're not sure?"
"Well, it is difficult to measure in these types of situations, given fire-talent is not typically used on other fairies," Scarab explained. "In fact, it's such a rare talent, I documented it in my book but I never actually expected to have to treat it."
"Shade has fire-talent," Tink pointed out, carefully preparing herself to try and stand.
"Alas," the animal-talent sighed. "There were many things Shade chose not to share with me, even when we were young. He was...quite secretive. There are perhaps many talents he did not tell me about. I was always the more reckless of us two anyway."
"Speaking of fire-talent," Tinker Bell went on, giving her guildmate a hard stare, warning him of what she was about to say, though it may have been entirely off track considering everyone had come to make sure she was okay. But she was fun and there were more pressing matters to attend to. "Bobble's wings," she explained. The redhead lifted his gaze, gasping as she barreled on without looking his way. "There's...something wrong with them, and we thought...well, I thought...maybe you would have an idea on how we could fix them?"
"Now what's wrong with him?" Vidia groaned.
Everyone ignored her, turning to the older Protector for guidance. Scarab sighed, looking pensive for a moment before turning to face her younger counterpart. "It seems the impact of the blast Spurn...or rather, Shade...inflicted upon you is greater than we had previously thought. And while the aloe I gave you before seems to be biding you more time, you need more than a simple herbal remedy. They're withering, aren't they?"
"They're what?!" Sil and Fawn yelped together, spinning on the tinker quickly enough to send him recoiling behind Scarab.
"How bad is it?" Iridessa demanded. "Show us."
Bobble shuddered at her sudden harshness but slowly obeyed, pulling down the jacket he'd been using as a shield for the past week and raising his wings to the weak lighting.
Everyone went paler than a sheet.
"Bobble, honey," Rosetta spoke up. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have done something! We can do something, right?" she added, twisting back to Scarab. "There has to be some way to undo this!"
"There is," Scarab said calmly. "He already knows what he has to do. It's all under control now."
Bobble averted his gaze, rocking back and forth on his heels, still refusing to look Tink's way.
"You're going after the bracelets, aren't you?" Tink interrupted, getting up before anyone could stop her. She was a little unsteady but she wasn't about to let it hold her back, especially not when she knew that one of her oldest friends was about to do something as risky as this.
"The destiny bracelets?" Silvermist gasped. "But isn't that really dangerous?"
"Huh, someone's feeling extra reckless today," Vidia remarked.
He didn't say anything, but Tink had long come to understand his silence and easily translated the answer she had already been anticipating. "All right," she said firmly, crossing her arms firmly. "If you're going after them, then I am coming with you."
"Tink too," Vidia mused half to herself. "Must be in the air or something. We're probably all contagious by now."
Scarab raised an eyebrow at her remark but remained quiet.
"Yeah, me too!" Sil said, raising her hand softly.
"Count me in!" Fawn agreed.
"And ya know you're not gonna go anywhere without me," Rosetta reasoned.
"And now I rest my case," the fast-flyer groaned, face-palming but turning expectantly, finding Clank and Iridessa nodding as well.
Terrence seemed to agree with the black-haired girl. "Well, I for one think it sounds way too dangerous," he reasoned. "Especially for you, Tink," he went on. "You were just unconscious! They had to carry you here! There's no way you should be..." He trailed off under her dark stare, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, too protective?" he guessed. "Sorry."
"No, he's right," Scarab cut in. "Physically, you are completely healed, but you were just struck with a blast powerful enough to kill any normal fairy. That is not something you should just fly away from. You need to rest. Leave the questing to your allies-er, friends."
"Why would a talent ever be strong enough to hurt someone?" Sil wondered aloud. "Neverland was created to heal and bring life to the world, not destroy it."
"I'll stay with you, Tink" Terrence offered, earning the smallest of smiles from the blond.
"And the rest of us can split up," Rosetta delegated. "That way we can hit all four seasons at once and won't waste any time. We may not have much left." She tried not to look in Bobble's direction, but the flicker of unease was not so easily stifled.
"Dessa and I can take Summer," Fawn offered. "We both know the land like the back of our hands."
"Okay, then Sil and I can take Spring," Rosetta agreed. "Vidia, can you take Autumn? We can ask Peri and the others to oversee Winter. That leaves Clank and Bobble to find the fifth and..."
"No," Scarab interjected again, cutting off the two sparrowmens' nods. She folded her arms and shook her head. "That won't work, sorry."
"Why not?" Rosetta asked.
"The fifth bracelet is the most powerful out of them all," the Protector explained. "It was hidden with only two possible methods of access. The first and easier is to have collected the other four and used them as a guide to contain it. The only other alternative is to have someone who knows something about it come with you to control it. I'll go with Bobble. Besides, I can make sure that this doesn't happen again."
"Uh, all right?" Rosetta frowned. "Clank, you can come with us then. We could use your help with some of the bigger stuff."
"Plus you know Spring and the Nook better than most of us!" Sil added.
Clank nodded. "You're gonna be okay, though, right?" he asked and Bobble inclined his head, folding his arms and shivering, drawing his jacket back over his shoulders and hiding his rapidly decaying health. "The bracelets will 'eal you, won't they?"
"Permanently," Scarab confirmed. "They were designed to help control the forces of nature as well as the talents that wielded them. Find all five and none of you will ever have to worry about this ever again. You will be safe."
"Safe," Tink mumbled, letting the word roll around in her head for a moment. Since when had they ever been safe? Since even before Bobble had outed himself as an impossible phenomenon, hadn't her group of friends preferred to live on the edge? How many times had they nearly died doing something they knew they shouldn't have been or put each other in danger to uncover a great mystery or truth? How was this any different from any of those times? Why would Scarab think, even for a moment, that they wouldn't do everything in their power to help each other? Tink was okay. Really. This time, it was Bobble's life on the line and by the Second Star, they were going to do whatever it took to save him.
Even if it meant unearthing the five most powerful weapons to ever be created-weapons that could, under no circumstances, fall into the wrong hands.
Vidia still had one very important question, however. "All right," she sighed. "I guess I'll come along as well, but I do still want to know, how exactly are we supposed to find these legendary bracelets if you hid them so well? Wouldn't you be the only one to know where they are located?"
"Technically, yes, that is again correct," Scarab agreed, "but I also thought it would be necessary to have a backup plan, should something go...awry. That book you have in your possession? The one that Dewey has been hanging on to for me and the one Tinker Bell accidentally stumbled upon? There's more to it than meets the eye. I hid clues to each bracelet's location inside and only those who prove themselves worthy and pass all of the tests set by the former ruler of the Hollow can unlock the key to finding them."
"Uh, tests?" Iridessa repeated, unsure if she'd heard that right.
"But I didn't study," Silvermist hissed to Clank.
Scarab snorted. "I don't think it's anything to worry about. From what I've seen, the lot of you have more than what it takes to pass each of them."
"And what about you?" Vidia asked, carefully making her way across the room to stand amongst her friends. "What will you two be doing while we're hunting for mythical hoops of power? Certainly not sitting around sipping lavender tea and doing your little magical superpower ritual thing."
"No," the Protector said, grinning slightly. "I much prefer peach. Besides," she went on, turning back to face her redheaded counterpart one final time. "We have a different destination; Torth Mountain. It's time I introduced you to a certain vengeful dragon."