"Hang on!" Tink shouted over the howling wind tearing past their heads and the heavy wingbeats pumping on either side of them. The boys needed no prompting to do just that, both clinging desperately to whatever scales they could reach as the dragon spiraled recklessly through the heavens, possibly forgetting his three passengers holding on for dear life.
"Who's great idea was this again?" Terrence yelled back, grabbing his acorn cap as the sudden plummet tried to snatch it from his head. "Whoa!" he cried, nearly tumbling off the drake's back as Kyto dove into a rapid tailspin, saved only by Bobble's quick thinking; grabbing his arm and heaving him back up behind Tink. "Thanks," Terrence breathed. "That was a close one!"
"Kyto!" Tink called once she was sure her friends were all right. "What are you doing? Are you trying to kill us?"
"Not at all," the dragon rumbled. "But this is the first time in three-hundred years that I have been able to get out and stretch my wings! I have to take a more exciting path if I am going to-for reasons beyond even my comprehension-help you save Neverland."
"It's because of them, isn't it?" Bobble spoke up, his voice nearly carried away by the wind. "Yer helpin' us because Falcon and Willow tried to help ye. Back before Scarab went after them. They were yer friends, weren't they?"
Okay, that voice thing in his head was super weird. It was like he knew everything now, how Scarab had betrayed the first of the Protectors, everything that had happened in the past...however long it had been now (the numbers and dates were all beginning to blur to her). He knew exactly what the original two had done...he had the knowledge, he knew all of their tricks, only now he couldn't do anything to stop them.
And that, she knew, cut deeper than even the betrayal.
Scarab had tricked him, deceiving and using him just to get what she wanted. She had turned his honesty and caring nature against him in the cruelest manner possible and she had gotten exactly what she had played him for with no regard whatsoever for how the tinker would feel. He was hurt, no, he was more than that. He was scared. Scarab had done everything perfectly, she had forced his friends on a wild goose chase, she had convinced him to go after the bracelets on his own, and then, if that hadn't been enough already, she had kidnapped him and stolen all of his powers and the bracelets he had gone to protect.
Tink wouldn't blame him if he never trusted another soul so long as he lived.
He didn't deserve any of this. All he'd wanted was to make the Hollow safe for everyone, but instead, he had given the wickedest fairy to ever exist precisely what she needed to exact her revenge.
He was furious at himself, she knew that without even trying to read his expression. And he blamed himself for everything, certain that it was somehow his blunder that had caused Scarab to gain the power she sought. He'd hardly spoken on the trip back, though that might have been partially due to the dragon's uneven movements. That in itself was enough to make all of them sick.
Kyto growled. "I don't know what you are talking about."
"But ye do," he argued, sounding more alive than any of them had heard him in a long while. "Because ye and Falcon and Willow were friends before. And...and I know that because they are tellin' me so. Ye actually do care about fairies. Ye just don't want to admit it because ye don't want to show that ye have a heart after all."
Kyto snorted disbelievingly. "Your imagination is playing tricks on you, fairy. I don't care at all about Falcon or Willow and definitely not about you."
"So, why did you come back then?" Tink asked, butting in to their conversation. "If you really hate us so much, why didn't you fly away when you had the chance? You didn't have to come back for us, but you did."
"Hmmph," Kyto growled. "I don't know. Perhaps it was something the small one said. I could not simply wing it away and leave you to the cruel fate I knew Scarab would have in store for you. You did not know what kind of wickedness she was capable of, but I did and it would be wrong for me to let you continue to put nieve faith in a creature who would only betray you to gain what she desired. Of course, after my awaking of good consciousness, I arrived too late to warn you of her alterior motives." He puffed a heavy plume of smoke. "Though I suppose you found the truth for yourselves anyway."
"Not in a pleasant way either," Terrence pointed out. "Which might have been avoided if you had said something in the first place."
Kyto ignored that. "It is not my place to intervene in the business of your kind."
"And yet, you are here now, helping us," Tink argued.
"Yes, and every minute that passes, the urge to flip over and throw you off to your demise grows increasingly stronger."
"Tink," Bobble hissed. "Yer goin' to get us bucked to the other end of Neverland!"
"Well," she replied stubbornly. "That might get us there faster anyway!"
"Miss Bell!"
"Okay, okay!" she relented, throwing up her hands (regretting that almost immediately as Kyto veered sharply left). "I'm sorry! I guess we really could use the help of a monstrous, fairy-eating dragon. Scarab will run for the hills when she sees us coming!"
"One can hope," Terrence muttered, glancing around his girlfriend's shoulder as they broke through another thin cloud covering. It seemed Neverland had decided to work in their favor for the return trip, for instead of a day-and-a-half flight that had been required to reach Torth Mountain; the faint light of the Hollow was already visible through the evening fog.
It had only been a few hours.
"Look!" Bobble cried, leaning around Terrence to point out the same thing that the rest of them were seeing. "I think that's it! We've made it!Good work, Kyto!"
The dragon rumbled with pleasure, flicking an ear to hide his blatant embarrassment at the praise, and curled his wings to drop into a plunge.
"Oh jingles," Tink yelped, grabbing his horns again and reaching for Terrence who in turn grabbed Bobble, securing them both to a collection of Kyto's scales, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Hang on! We're going down!"
Kyto let out a bellowing roar, diving victoriously toward the forest floor. At the same time, all three of his passengers screamed, clinging to his back with everything they had. It was hard to tell who was the most afraid (though later, out of a save-of-face, both sparrowman would claim it was the other who had screamed the loudest). Tink made it halfway to the ground before she too flinched away from the impact, hiding her face in her free arm. Terrence was grasping her hand desperately and she couldn't feel her heart racing over the desperate thumping of his.
And, then, Kyto abruptly thrust out his wings, letting the wind currents circle underneath him and buffet him back into the air. He snarled and tossed his head, almost dislodging his passengers, but definitely grabbing their attentions and pulling them out of their own little imaginative worlds to see the state of their real one.
Fire.
Fire everywhere.
Kyto drew away from the flaming trees, hissing furiously and curling in his tail to avoid being burned by the ravaging tongues of destruction.
The entire forest was ablaze.
They hadn't reached the Pixie dust tree in record time at all! Instead, they'd come up on the most terrible thing possible.
All of Neverland...burning...
Everything in the path of the flames...dying...
"No..." Tink breathed, her hands flying to her mouth as she watched the fire spread from one closely populated cluster of trees to the next.
Kyto hissed, eying the smoke and ashes angrily as Bobble drew as far back from the sight as he could, wings drooping in absolute panic. "Shade," the Protector whispered. "That's my fire...oh no."
"They're already here," Terrence finished.
"The tree!" Tink shouted, breaking them out of their shell shock and bringing them back to the main problem at hand; namely, they had no idea where the two evil Protectors (Tink was inclined to call them 'Destroyers' now) even were. "We have to get to the tree and stop this before it reaches the Hollow!"
"Hmmph," Kyto growled. "I think it is far too late for that, feisty one. Look." He jerked his head away from the destruction and all three fairies obediently turned, dreading what they would find. Sparks of light exploded from somewhere beyond the ridge. Further on they could see the winter mountains, untouched but not far outside the flames' range.
"Oh great Neverland," Terrence breathed, watching as the fire engulfed the outer border of autumn and spring. "We're too late."
"Not yet we're not!" Tink cried. "Kyto, do it!"
The dragon howled, twirling away from the destruction and taking off for the heart of Neverland.
"Where are they?" Terrence shouted, making up for Bobble's apparent sudden lack of verbal ability as the tinker just stared on, horrified by what he was seeing.
"I don't know!" Tink called back, coughing through the thickening fog as it clogged the heavens. "We need to find the source of these flames! Shade has to be there!"
"Over there!" Kyto roared. "By the river!"
Tink swung around to follow his directions, not finding the two evil fairies standing there, but another group that she did recognize. "Sil!" she shouted, waving frantically to get the water-talent's attention as she and her guildmates attempted to combat the flames. "Up here!"
"Tink!" Silvermist cried. "You're okay! Thank goodness! Is that a dragon?"
"Where are the others?" Tink yelled, purposely not answering the last part of the question.
"I don't know!" Sil replied. "We got separated when these fires started! Shade's trying to destroy the Pixiedust tree! We don't have enough magic to stop him! Fawn and Clank are trying to find help!"
"Got it! Kyto, come on!" Without explaining her plan to the rest of them, Tink commanded the dragon away from the Babbling Brook. "We've got to find Scarab before she can start her master plans!"
"But what about Shade?" Bobble yelled, his voice nearly inaudible through his panic.
"I'll deal with him!" Tink assured him, already sensing the water-talent gurgling in her palms. "You have to find Scarab and keep her busy until we can get these flames put out!"
"What?" Bobble cried. "No way!"
"That's a terrible plan!" Terrence agreed. "Tink, you're going to get hurt!"
"He's too powerful!" Bobble added.
"Plus, he has Bobble's powers now too!" Terrence went on. "Which means he's twice as dangerous! And something tells me he knows how to control that much power!"
"Hey!"
"Well, it's true! You had one job and you were really bad at it!"
"Ye try doin' this for yer whole life and then tell me how bad I am at it!"
"Maybe I will next time!"
"Boys!" Tink interrupted. "Focus!"
"No time to focus!" Kyto screamed. "Brace yourselves!"
A whistle of light came barreling out of the trees, striking the dragon in the side as he tried to dodge. He howled, capsizing and tumbling for the forest floor. Tink and Terrence cried out, immediately zipping away from the dragon. (He would be fine, they wouldn't be, pancaked beneath a massive lizard).
"You okay?" Tink asked.
"Yeah, you?" Terrence breathed.
"Bobble!" they both realized at the same time. The tinker was all out of Pixie dust, he couldn't fly away like they could, plus his wings were moments from breaking. Like, they could actually shatter at any moment.
"I got him!" Terrence exclaimed, already zipping off before Tink could volunteer her talents. "You go get Shade! And be careful!"
Tink nodded, setting her jaw and turning back toward the very center of Pixie Hollow.
Here we go again...
"Hold on!" he heard Terrence yell and the dust-talent suddenly caught up to him, yanking him free of Kyto and sending them both whizzing into a nearby tree. He coughed, sitting up first and glancing over to the blond who had just saved his life. At the same time, Kyto managed to correct his plummet and hit the ground on all four talons, bellowing furiously, already in search of the one who had shot them down.
"Are ye okay, Terrence?" Bobble asked, helping the sparrowman up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good," he answered, dusting off his shirt and readjusting his cap. "Thanks."
"No, thank ye for savin' me...again."
"Eh, I owed you one anyway. For Tink."
"Kyto?" Bobble then questioned, leaning over the end of the branch to scan the forest floor for the beast.
"Over there," Terrence said, pointing away toward the horizon where the trees parted unevenly to make passage for the huge creature. "He's okay too."
"Thank goodness," Bobble sighed. "And Tink?"
"On her way to the tree," Terrence replied. " I warned her to be careful. So, what now?" He still had his sword. That was good. He would probably need it.
"Now, we find a way to stop this once and fer all."
"All right," Terrence agreed. "So how do we do that?"
Ah, and here was the part the sparrowman was not going to like. "I have a plan," Bobble confessed. But you're really not going to like it.
Since when do they ever? Scorpion remarked. A stubborn bunch, your friends. Tenacious, but really, really thick-headed.
"Great, we could really use one right now."
The fire was getting closer. The epicenter had to be nearby. "Go find the others," Bobble ordered, ignoring Terrence's battle-ready position. He couldn't be here for this. No one could. "Get Zarina and as many others as ye can. Help the water-talents put the fire out. Shade's power sources from fear and destruction. Tink is goin' to need yer help."
It's getting closer, Falcon warned.
Be careful! Willow added fearfully. You don't know what will happen when you-
Terrence made a face. "You're about to do something else really stupid and out of character, aren't you?"
"Would it make a difference if I said yes?"
Terrence sighed. "No, probably not. If there's one thing I've learned about the tinker talent, it's not to question their motives, even if their plans are insane."
He said it, Falcon remarked, only to be hushed by the other three.
"But you be careful too," the dust-talent went on. "I think Tink will kill you if you die again."
"I promise," Bobble said and the blond took that to be enough.
"All right, good luck then." With one last reassuring smile, Terrence was off, leaving Bobble standing alone in the clearing, waiting.
He didn't have to wait long.
The smoke sizzled through the treetops as the flames crept closer and closer.
But the fire wasn't the only thing coming for him and he felt her presence suffocating him long before he saw her.
"Hello, Scarab."
"Phineas," she sneered, emerging from the shadows, her eyes alight by the rampaging flames circling her.
Oooh, she looks nasty, Falcon remarked. A fire-breathing dragon would look a hundred times better than that.
She's been corrupted by the power of the bracelets, Asha warned. Bobble, be careful. She's going to be unpredictable and extremely dangerous in this state. You are not going to be able to reason with her.
"It was very brave of you," Scarab went on, her voice sounding discordant and...glitched. "to send your friends away like you did, even though you knew that I would be waiting out here for you. Some might even call it heroic. But I just call it stupid. But, then again, that's right, isn't it? That's all you are, after all Just a stupid naive tinker. Not the hero. Not good enough. Never good enough."
The light was already in her hands, mixing with the fire as it enveloped the five bracelets, all firmly secured over her wrists, exactly as he had anticipated. He was out of time.
"Do what ye want with me!" he cried. "But leave the rest of the Hollow alone! The fairies that did those thin's to ye, they're gone! No one here wants to harm ye!"
"You're lying!" Scarab spat. "You're all the same! Liars, every one of you!"
"Ye mean like ye?" Bobble fired back, though he didn't know where the words came from. Here he was, standing stock still like a perfectly positioned target, with no magical abilities and no backup plan other than trying to reason with her. It had worked for Kyto so there was a chance it would work for her too. "I TRUSTED ye! I thought ye were my friend! Ye used me!"
"Friends are nothing but weaknesses," Scarab yelled back. "They do nothing but make your life miserable! They make you weak! You learn to care about them too much and then they bring nothing but pain and sorrow when they turn on you and you see that they never really cared about you in the first place!"
"How would ye know?" he cried. "Ye never even tried to be one!"
"SHUT UP!" Scarab screamed and that was the last straw. Infuriated, she lashed out with a whip of fire. It lashed into Bobble, picking him up and smashing him ruthlessly into the back of a tree trunk.
She was upon him again before he could react, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and tossing him away like nothing more than a ragdoll. He tumbled across the grass toward the flames, rolling to a stop just feet away from the raging inferno and he lay there on his hands and knees, winded, even as she started toward him a third time.
"Do not speak to me of friendship!" Scarab hissed, calling the flames to her once again. "You know nothing of the meaning! You weren't the one the Hollow turned their backs on! You weren't the one who didn't fit in, no matter what you tried! No, everyone loves you. Why? What's so special about you?"
"Nothin'," Bobble coughed. "And that's exactly why I have the friends that ye wanted. Because I know what it really means to have fairies that care about ye, even when sometimes," he looked down at the ground, "ye don't really deserve them."
"Liar!" Scarab spat. "Those pathetic fools have blinded you! Yes, I know they are there. I can hear them too, but they can't help you now. Their sacrifice is all in vain because, once I finish you, once and for all, I'm going to destroy the Hollow and everyone who even utters the possibility of friendship!"
The fire was upon them now. He could feel the heat burning against his back. He didn't dare look up, knowing it would be overhead as well. This was it, he'd seen this before.
The world burning.
The danger.
His fate.
This was it. This was what he had been seeing in his nightmares for years.
This was the culmination; the final stand before the end.
And he was ready for it.
"I warned you," she hissed, pressing forward as the forest blazed to ruin before his eyes. "I told you that tinkers couldn't be the Protectors of Life. But yet, you were so determined to be a hero. To save them. In the end, however, all you were able to cause was even more pain and suffering. Just like me. So, tell me, Phineas Kettletree, your big chance at greatness, was it really worth it?"
