Hyyyyyyyyyye! Welcome/Welcome back!
Going into the 3rd installment of this series (i.e. read the first two if you haven't already,) TWs will be at the beginning of chapters where things get..."intense."
Dassit, das all. :)
"I know it's a fairy."
The young brunette was at a loss for words, baby-blue goggled. From when he'd walked through the front door coming home from school to now standing in front of his cousin's sniffy smirk, he's said nothing about fairy godparents. He'd never out the two people that loved him most. Who the heck told him his green jacket was a fairy? And if no one told him, how did he know?! Better yet, how did he even know what fairies are!?
Timmy glanced down to the center of his jacket, shamrock-green eyes equally as taken aback. If Cosmo was still here, then that must've meant Wanda was safe too. Guess no rules had been officially broken, yet Gary knew about his fairy without him saying a word…
Brunette brows flattened towards the tween smoothly combing his gelled black locks as if nothing was amiss. Timmy was gonna get to the bottom of this. "C'mon…"
As his parents and their grandparents went about conversation as normal, Timmy took Gary by the hand, tugging him up the staircase. Pulling him into his room where one arm shoved him inside before the door shut in a quick slam.
Gary didn't have to look around the blue room to spot the fuchsia of a lone goldfish swimming within the fishbowl on the nightstand, warily observant to his widening grin. "Ahhhh, two fairies…interesting."
Feeling the need to be near him, Wanda transformed into Timmy's pink hat, only confirming Gary's assumption as he faced his little cousin. Brows creased, Timmy studied the fellow bucktoothed boy's nonchalant grin. Something just wasn't adding up…what was he missing?
[Bubba, look at his belt buckle.]
Listening to his sister, Timmy zeroed in on the leather belt held by a belt buckle made of bright-yellow gold. Having seen that same buckle before, nothing seemed out-of-the-ordinary at first. However, taking a closer look, squinted eyes caught the smallest outline of a face with icy-blue eyes. Followed by the tiniest glimpse of something floating above the face. Something that looked like…a crown?
Strange, it looked a lot like Cosmo and Wanda's crowns. But how?
Unless…
Baby-blue looked up. "So your buckle's a fairy too?"
The expression of the black-haired tween remained as unbothered as his casual stance. Making Timmy's brow scrunch, gaging his next move, until Gary's short titter shrugged "Ya got me."
Gary had a fairy?! This is wild! "But how'd you even figure out I had fairies?!"
"…you dunno the hack?"
"What hack?"
Taking a couple of steps forward, Gary noted Timmy's instinct to step backwards. "Fairies look like oddly colored things to normal kids and adults cuz they don't know what they're seeing beyond that. But us godkids can spot other godkids cuz we know how our own fairies disguise themselves."
"Wait, so…" Timmy tried to put the pieces together "…you could see Cosmo's face? And his crown?"
"Yup."
Being news to him, Timmy addressed his fairies "…did you guys know about this?"
"This is just as news to us as it is to you." his pink hat admitted honestly, his green jacket nodding in concurrence. It is not uncommon for godchildren to discover other godchildren, yet in all their years, this was the first they'd had ever heard of this method as a so-called 'hack.'
"Welp, I got plans to meet up with some pals of mine, so..." Gary then casually announced, no intent on staying or getting permission from their grandparents to dip out. Walking away towards the bedroom window. "Imma skedaddle."
Timmy wasn't about to let him go that easily. "The heck you think you're going?"
Unlocking the sash lock to the window, Gary simply replied "It's private."
Timmy raised a brow "…what's the big secret?"
"You're a godkid." Gary remarked. "You should know alla 'bout secrets."
"Then why can't you tell me?"
"Because…" Gary turned towards his cousin, grin now faded into a solemn line. "I don't wanna expose other godkids."
Timmy inched forward at this interesting revelation. "Your friends are godkids?"
Gary looked away for only a moment, softening his tone. "They're my only friends..."
"…and there're other godkids in Dimmsdale?"
"More than you know."
Thinking about it now, Timmy had seen kids with oddly colored accessories whenever he bothered to pay attention. When Vicky would come for her version of 'babysitting,' Tootie seemed quite attached to that bracelet she always wore. Buxaplenty never went a day without that weird watch, and whenever AJ found any excuse to talk to Chloe, that necklace did look peculiar.
"Well, if there're no more questions," Gary returned to the window, raising the sash to the gentle gust of late autumn's frigid air. "I gotta get going."
"Wait!"
One foot already planted on the sill, Gary glanced over one shoulder.
"…how come you don't have other friends?"
Baby-blues pointed grudgingly. If there was one thing Gary despised was divulging into touchy subjects. "Other kids mock what they don't understand. These kids get me…"
The shift in Gary's tone intrigued Timmy further. "Because they have godparents?"
"Because they know what it's like to be so miserable that fairies and magic make life worth living."
It was Timmy's turn to look away, resurfaced pain folding his arms. Chester and AJ were his boys since kindergarten, and even they were still in the dark about so much stuff. He could only imagine how they'd react to almost taking himself out with his sister's ribbon. AJ's analytical mind was not always pervy to empathy, and Chester was…well…Chester.
Sure, they were there for him when Sophia had died, his shoulder to cry on when needed. But after a few months when most days were worse than others, he could tell they were getting weary of re-consoling his guilted grief. They didn't want him to get stuck in that vicious cycle, that he understood. They wanted him to be happy again, to be Timmy again.
But what they failed to understand was, that while their lives went on as normal…his was never the same.
"…can I go now?"
Timmy looked up from his thoughts, meeting the soft impatience of an arch brow. If Gary was willing, Timmy had one last, burning question "…will I see you again?"
Gary stalled. When the Vladislapovs' started taking Gary to visit the Turners' during the holidays, the Turners would purposefully isolate him from Timmy. That was until Sophia's untimely death when he had no other relative around his age but Timmy to interact with. Gary never understood why, and his own torments left him little time to really give it much consideration…
Now that he knew his cousin was a godchild, a part of him would like to have family to relate to. "…do you want to?"
Faint hope peered through baby-blue orbs "…if you do."
Stepping off from the sill, Gary faced Timmy's folded arms. Welp, guess that settles it. "Hey, Alondro?" he then acknowledged his belt buckle. "I wish cuzzo had a transporter!"
A yellow cloud of magic dust sparkled in Timmy's closed palm before he had a chance to question what Gary was talking about. Feeling a metal object in lifting his hand, quizzical eyes saw the compact gadget in his palm. Molded as a star similar to the top of Cosmo and Wanda's crowns, a purple remote button in its center. Those same quizzical eyes met his older cousin "…what's this?"
"A transporter." Gary reached into his leather jacket pocket, revealing the same magical object in his own palm. "From Earth to Fairy World."
Timmy broadened his gaze. Whoa…the home world of his godparents? The magical realm in the clouds?! "…Fairy World?"
"Yup." Gary weakly grinned. "It's cuz it takes a lotta magic for fairies to bring humans to Fairy World, and this transporter gives fairies extra magic so that they don't have to use all of theirs."
"He's right." the green jacket confirmed, Timmy glancing down at Cosmo. "About the 'bringing humans to Fairy World part,' that is."
"Downside is… it requires magic to activate." Gary informed. "That means your fairies either gotta be near you or on your person for it to work."
"Do these friends of yours also have transporters?" the pink hat still harbored a hint of incredulity. Not that Wanda didn't believe Gary, she was just slow to trust. Timmy's asshat parents were her only experience with his blood relatives.
"They do." Gary sensed Wanda's distrust, yet he kept his tone civil. "They're in Fairy World right now probably waitin' on me, which is why I gotta go." he held his thumb on the button as demonstration "Just press the button, and it'll take you to a specific location. Use it when you wanna see me again. Maybe even meet my friends."
Timmy lowered his gaze to his ticket to Fairy World in the palm of his hand. Should he tell the other godkids at his school about this? That is…the other kids he assumed were godkids?
"And when you find other godkids, you can bring them too." It almost felt like Gary had read his mind, deciding to just use the transporter where he stood instead of escaping through the window to use it at a discreet location.
With that, Gary raised his transporter. Giving his little cousin a parting smirk. "See ya, cuzzo."
Timmy looked on as Gary disappeared in a yellow cloud, and his godparents used the opportunity to poof out of their disguises. Shamrock-green and fuchsia faced their godchild, the wife of the pair setting a cradling palm to her midsection's miniature bump. There had to be a perfectly good explanation as to why Cosmo and Wanda had been sitting on the fact that his own cousin had a fairy godparent!
"How come you guys never told me about other godkids?! And don't say it's cuz of Da Rules!"
"…okay, we won't." Cosmo lightly humored.
"Sweetie, we're not supposed to tell you about other godkids." Wanda explained. "You have to figure it out on your own."
Timmy acknowledged her questioningly "…are there other godkids at my school?"
"Again, sport, we can't tell you."
"So there are other godkids at my school."
"See? You figuring it out already!" Cosmo enthused.
"Hmmm…" Timmy rubbed his chin. "…how do I even approach them without exposing you guys?"
"Whadda 'bout how Gary said?" Cosmo suggested. "About the disguise thing?"
Timmy eyed his godfather "…like, make them figure it out how I did?"
Wanda shrugged. "In a way."
Not long after did Sophia enter his mind, giving him an idea that, for what it was worth, just might work.
Streetlamps passed by in distorted rings of glowing hue through the passenger window, night's darkness still lingering into the early Tuesday morning. Rumbling of the Wrangler's engine droned as a null hum, warm air from the jeep's A/C blanketing her body from late-autumn's icy chill.
Weening alertness battled drooping eyelids, mental fog warping in and out of blurred lines between what was reality and the dream state she desperately wished to return to. Her purple bow bobbed sideways, inches from the pillow called the car door's panel.
"…Chloe?"
"What?" her head snapped alert from the backseat, only just realizing her name was being called. "I-I mean…" she tugged awkwardly at platinum blonde locks "…yes, sir?"
"I said don't plan on going to the library tomorrow because I've rescheduled your therapy for after school." Keeping attentive eyes on the road, the conservationist didn't come across agitated by his daughter's lack of attention. Not as agitated as his wife certainly was that morning. "…weren't you listening?"
"Oh…" Chloe was ashamed. Falling asleep to her father talking was so rude of her "…I-I'm sorry."
"How're you feeling?" Clark didn't have to look at her to note fatigue in his daughter's voice.
Considering majority of last night was spent lying in bed counting from 1,000 and managing to make it all the way to the number 1…sleep wasn't exactly sleeping. "I'm…okay."
Chloe was obviously lying, though Clark understood her reasoning. "I say we give this Lexapro another week before you go back to Dr. Wahlgren. Not a huge fan of how this stuff makes you feel."
And Chloe wasn't a huge fan relying on Lexapro or therapy just to function like a non-anxiety cursed child. Especially when her mother had no problem expressing bitter qualms for both.
Clark slowed down with a turn signal to turn into the street of Dimmsdale Elementary. "I told your mother we should have just let you stay home. For one day, at least." Clark groused, merging into the car-rider's line. "It counterproductive sending you to school when you can barely stay awake."
"…I-I'm fine, I promise." Chloe forced a grin, albeit quite feeble. "I'd hate to fall behind."
"…alright." Clark wasn't that convinced, but who was he to deny his daughter's drive for education. The drive that he had played a negative part in instilling. "Just don't fall asleep in class…you'll never hear the end of it."
More than enough motivation to sew her eyelids open. "…yes sir."
Driving close enough to the school's curb, Clark noted his daughter rubbing the indigo necklace that hung around her lavender parka, faint defeat in blue eyes through the rearview as she grabbed her backpack. "…Chloe?"
Chloe's hand was on the handle, acknowledging her father's solemn gaze when he turned in his seat towards her.
"No matter what your mother does or says, don't give up."
Chloe rued her father having to say those words, though not entirely out of left field for him to say. Numerous marital arguments had been centered around Chloe's mental health, arguments that Chloe was unfortunately standing within earshot. Despite Clark pushing to either cease their bickering or move it elsewhere whenever Chloe was around, this would only sharpen her mother's fangs further.
Connie did not shy from spewing the nastiest spite she could muster. Little regard to how much it sawed away at Chloe's already frail spirit…
"STOP!" the fifth Buxaplenty heir tried to push Mr. Nicholas off, and Mr. Nicholas retaliated with aggressive grips around the boy's arms. Drawing their lips to meet in swaying hips against the front of young slacks. The warm sensation of needing to pee had mixed with pain, hurting in a bad way. The young billionaire attempted to shove palms to Mr. Nicholas's chest, pushing his lips away. But Mr. Nicholas wasn't about to give up.
He flipped the boy around to pin him chest first to the table, scraping the legs of surrounding chairs across the tile from the impact. Mr. Nicholas pushed his pulsing front against his lover, bending him over. Flat palms managed to keep his chest above the table's surface in resistance to firm hands restraining his head down. His blood froze at the rip of an unfastened zipper, pulsing his heart by the sinister breath into his ear that followed…
"No one loves you like I-"
"Ahijado?"
Mint-green blinked to the Spanish accent of his purple watch. Snatched from the country club's white walls and indigo tiles back into the beige leather and white pelt along the ceiling and floor of the Buxaplenty limousine.
"¿Estas bien, Remy?" At the first sign of his blank stare, Juandissimo was worried Remy had fallen back into the night sinister intentions came to light.
Remy averted his gaze from the concern in the watch's expression. "…I'm fine."
Juandissimo saw right through his godchild's puckered brow, tender in his tone. "It is okay not to be okay."
"…I know…" A heavy sigh blew past Remy's lips. Was it okay not to be okay? Because…Remy wasn't okay…
No longer a groomer's pet, another knife lodged in his spirit from the two reasons for his miserable existence. Parental disdain was hidden behind plastic smiles when broadcast to the public, upholding a certain reputation to outsiders. Disdain that bared its claws behind closed doors, speaking malice towards him strictly when it wasn't as convenient to ignore the son birthed from 'obligation' who never asked to be born.
Sensing Juandissimo's concern, Remy couldn't hide his deep grimace. If it weren't for technicalities, he'd wish he was never born…
A red pickup swerved in front of the bus just as it rolled away from the school's curb. Worn brakes screeching to a halt as the redhaired teen set the transmission to park. Groaning from mild irritation stemming not just from whack-job bus drivers, pink eyes turned in the driver's seat to the damp cheeks of a raven-haired girl. Saying not a word as she zipped up the black wool jacket, clinging to the prized possession of her notebook after slinging on her backpack.
"Hey." her huff called to her little sister, causing a watery pair of purple glasses to peep towards her. "…everything will be okay, yeah?"
Sometime in the prior week, CPS had filed an official petition against Jim and Nicky Byrne to family court, and when their uncle Vic had returned from his nightshift at Dimmsdale Correction before the sisters left for school, he'd informed of the call from Tootie's social worker. An official court date was set, a date in which the sisters must both testify. Vicky had to harden her heart, stubbornly refusing to give those cultists emotional power over her. But at just nine-years-old, Tootie was still delicate. The very notion of facing and speaking up against her shunners had conjured the harshest memories. Spiraling into a crying fit that nearly debilitated her.
Silent tears fell the entire drive to school, only because it'd taken Vicky and their uncle ten minutes to calm her screams to sniffs. Probably would've taken less time had they thought to use Tootie's pet sooner; she'd managed to dial down the second that teal cat perched into Tootie's arms. Might as well be a service animal at this point, cuz from being shunned by an entire extremist group to being excommunicated by her daily tormenters, it was unfortunate that they couldn't afford some sort of therapy…
One arm clutching her notebook, Tootie acknowledged Vicky's statement with a dejected nod. Vicky may not fear their father, yet Tootie was terrified. And while Vicky may despise their mother for enabling child abuse labeled corporal punishment, in sharing that terror, Tootie was more aware of how truly trapped their mother was. She wanted to believe her sister…she really did. But whether real or not, their father wholeheartedly believed that Jehovah's grace was on his side.
Will religious beliefs be used against him in the court of law?
Jumping down from the backseat, a gust of wind chilled the streaks of tears that Tootie swiftly wiped upon her exit. With the morning sun barely risen from its slumber, Tootie wanted no visible sign of weakness to paint her more of a target than her religious afflictions made her. Blending into the sea of students as Vicky merged with other cars driving away from the curb, continuing her journey to Dimmsdale High.
When platinum blonde popped in her peripheral, Tootie turned to a fellow student zipped her lavender parka from late autumn's chill, shutting the door to a blue Jeep Wrangler. As somber steps ventured towards the school, Tootie recognized her from when they'd run into each other in the hallway that one time. Hard to forget such troubled blue eyes.
A darker blonde caught her eye when a man in uniform had opened the door of the longest car she'd ever seen. Seeing his imported Moose Knuckles puffer bomber as he adjusted the strap of his Dior bag in his stroll. Tootie could see faint bags under mint-green that looked so…sad. He even sounded sad in his mumbled 'hello' when the platinum blonde had almost walked into him and tried to excuse it with a strained friendly greeting.
Wondering if the two blondes were acquainted somehow, Tootie held her notebook tighter in her continued silent strides.
. . . . . .
During the time of year with the coldest and shortest days of daylight, school protocol was for students to congregate in the cafeteria until the first bell. Hunching her shoulders in attempts to camouflage herself from students gathered in multiple huddles, Tootie's wool sleeves clasped her notebook. Traversing through limited space in between tables before she found an isolated corner of the cafeteria to set her notebook down. Taking her seat while setting her backpack beside her, she was unaware of watchful baby blues eyeing her visible teal bracelet.
With AJ studying his science textbook next to Chester catching more Zzs with his head down, Timmy sat across from them at a table centered in the cafeteria. Even from afar, the atom-sized crown floating above Tootie's bracelet seemed visible in plain sight.
An evil babysitter sister was literally the perfect basis for a fairy godparent. Too bad Vicky acted too much like a sister for him to place fault. Could it be those bible-thumping parents of theirs? Growing up forced into serving some guy in the sky? Then again, if they grew up in the same household, how the heck did Tootie and Vicky end up a wounded angel and a sadistic demon?! Make it make sense!
"Hey, Remy!"
A few tables from him, Timmy heard a voice that was once music to his ears. Turning to popular table where the most popular girl in school eagerly waved next to her best friend's sneer and the Griffin brothers seated across. Waving at Buxaplenty who, oddly enough, strolled past without a second glance much to Trixie's disappointment. Still salty over her 'worth at least six figures' comment, Timmy didn't blame Buxaplenty. Sophia would roll in her grave at how shallow her former best friend had become. Maybe she already Knew from how little Trixie's wellbeing came up in conversation.
As Remy claimed a table across the cafeteria, Timmy spotted blue-violets and a goatee within the purple watch around Remy's wrist. He had no idea when or why the richest kid in Dimmsdale had gotten a fairy, just that his watch had been around for nearly two months. And the longer that watch was around, the less care Buxaplenty had associating with the popular kids. Perhaps he realized that, aside from generational wealth, there wasn't much to relate to…
Maybe that was part of why none of Gary's friends were ordinary kids.
"Chloe! Over here!"
An accent shrilled in Timmy's ear, glancing over at the table nearest to him. Observing Sanjay's vigorous wave with Elmer beside him. He observed the doom of gloom behind blue eyes as she greeted them with a small wave, thinking she'd oblige to sit with them like she always did.
"…Chloe?" Elmer sounded disappointed when Chloe kept walking.
Indigo eyes and a tiny crown followed the necklace that hung around Chloe's lavender parka, watching her continue towards an empty seat two tables from them. She slumped into the seat, staring into space with blank eyes to laminated plywood.
Timmy then turned to Sanjay and Elmer questioning each other about the strange behavior they've noticed from someone once all gung-ho for education. Even Timmy's attention span had seen the darker shift. AJ had mentioned something about her starting some new medication or whatever. Chloe needing meds was probably why she was granted a fairy. For now, that wasn't the most important conclusion…
"Whoa…" Timmy lifted his pink and green wristbands to prop against the table's edge, their attentive gaze on his stare of self-reflection "…there really are other kids like me…"
"…what're you whispering on about?"
"What?" Timmy shot blinks to AJ's suspecting gaze, remembering that his best friends were still within earshot (though Chester remained undisturbed.) "U-Uh…nothing. Be right back."
Timmy excused himself from the table, ignoring AJ's puzzled stare in his brisk walk through the cafeteria towards the exit. Whispering his wish to his wristbands, it was time to enact part A of his plan…
"Why don't you close your eyes for a bit, Chloe-bird." Susie recommended judging by Chloe's glazed blinks.
Chloe propped her elbows with hands to her ten-ton head, preventing fog clouding in her brain from smacking to the table. Curse this stupid Lexapro; pure panic felt less crippling "Maybe dad was right…" her murmur seemed dreary. Carmichaels don't know failure, but these odds hindered any success making it through this day "…I wanna go home."
The godmother frowned. Chloe willing to skip school? Poor girl's in rougher shape than she thought. "Just say 'I wish,' and I can make it happen."
No sooner than Chloe could mouth "I wish," a pinkish-green cloud revealed the folded yellow paper sparkling before her. Her eyes woke in bemusement, almost afraid to lay a finger on this magic note "…what's this?"
"Notta clue." The note was summoned by magic, just not Susie's magic.
Caution took the note into her grasp, opening the folds to a message specifically catered to her. Pumping dread into her heart when the message mentioned the knowledge that her necklace was a magical disguise…
Rumbling conversations fading in and out, Remy held his face buried in folded arms. He'd rather his mind go blank, all conscious thought fade numb. Drift in an endless stream, wade in dark waters with no direction. He wanted to sink, allow water to submerge him. Drown him beneath the surface, dragging him deeper…
The poof of a magical cloud sparkled loudly in his ear, groggy eyes lifting to a yellow note that seemingly appeared from thin air. After a moment to process this new information with brows scrunched puzzledly, Remy addressed his purple watch. "…is this your doing?"
"…no?" Juandissimo was equally confused.
Remy snatched the note in a sulk, originally thinking it was Trixie's dumb attempt to get him to notice her. Until the first sentence regarding his watch darted befuddled eyes through the cafeteria. No way is this Trixie. Who the heck wrote this?!
A black pen outlined the sketch of a heart punctured with multiple wounds. Wounded and withered within the chest of a black raven slashed in red colored pencil. Through art was her only way of running away without leaving. A means of escape, albeit not permanent. Only to be brought back when folded yellow paper suddenly sparkled in greenish-pink within her notebook's spine.
Tootie looked to her teal bracelet, met with Rose's shrug that confirmed her non-involvement with this mysterious note. Apprehension stared at the folded paper, lifting the note from her notebook to unfold its corners.
Words trembled in her grasp when she read what the message revealed about her bracelet, and her throat dried when her eyes widened at the sentence read next…
'Meet me in the gym now if you don't want your fairy xposed.'
