A/N: So…a few days ago, the doctor officially told Mom that she's in end-of-life liver failure. We don't know how long she has. Hence my delay in posting this. I've been working on it on and off, but I've also been reading to help cope.
Cal conjured up a projector that shone images onto the wall. Tootie and Cosmo were trying not to fidget; Tootie wanted to know when they'd get to Timmy and Cosmo wanted to know when they'd get to Wanda. Daniela pinched her nose bridge. She waved her wand and cast a calming spell over the duo. Cosmo had the white dragon to temper his ADHD, but Tootie didn't have anything. And she was bound to run off half-cocked looking for Timmy if someone didn't stop her.
"The Shadows are a group of elite evil faeries and other creatures hellbent on destroying other realms," Cal began. "We're not sure where they started, but by the time they entered our realm, they'd already had several destroyed realms under their belt.
"What they do is destroy any source of light, usually by manipulating a chosen creature through an amulet or other cursed object. They find the person who can do the most damage and set out to corrupt them."
"Like Wanda," Cosmo murmured, shivering. Magdalene conjured up a warm red blanket, which he wrapped about himself. Daniela squeezed Cosmo's shoulder sympathetically.
"They feed off light and turn it into darkness. Everything good decays and becomes either evil or dead if they fight. Our dragon here fought off the Shadows but at a terrible cost to his sanity and soul. He came from our realm and helped us flee when the time came."
To illustrate his point, Cal conjured up a bright blue sky swallowed by darkness. Eventually, even the sun was eclipsed. Daniela shivered too, remembering how the temperatures had plummeted and it'd been like another ice age. Anything remotely connected to light they destroyed. Every world they captured became inhospitable.
"What does Timmy have to do with this?" Tootie asked, still fidgeting but not nearly as much. Daniela shrugged. She'd take her wins where she could get them.
"Timmy has also saved the universe a few times," Cal said. "Cosmo and Wanda are high-profile faeries. Cosmo is related to Jorgen von Strangle-"
"Toughest faerie in the universe," Tootie said with a tiny smile.
"Hey! How do you know that?" Cosmo said.
"Do you want to tell him or should I?" Cal asked, looking straight at Tootie. She squirmed again, for an entirely different reason. No one knew what kind of powers the dragon possessed and if Cosmo wasn't in full control over them, terrible things could happen by accident. They didn't need to push Cosmo into an emotional upheaval more than he already was.
"Wanda's been teaching me how to control my powers," Tootie said, glaring at Cosmo. "On the side, when she's not with you and Timmy. I'm a half-faerie. Juandissimo is my father."
Cosmo's jaw dropped. For once, he looked utterly gobsmacked. Nothing articulate came out of his mouth, but then again, that was hardly a novel phenomenon. Instead, he gawked at Tootie.
"That's part of the reason she's here," Daniela said and winced when Cosmo gawked at her too. "Anyone even peripherally linked to Wanda is in grave danger. You saw what she did to you, Cosmo, and that was her pulling her punches. Things are only going to get worse from here."
"If we could return to the topic at hand?" Cal said tersely. "The Shadows want to destroy the multiverse. Obviously, we need to prevent that from happening by scaring them off of this realm."
Tootie and Cosmo nodded. This was old hat to Daniela, so she studied Cosmo. She could tell he was trying to communicate with Wanda, despite the white dragon's warnings.
"Just remember that anything Wanda did or said once the amulet was on her, she didn't mean," Daniela said gently to Cosmo. "She loves you. Remember that. If she didn't love you, you wouldn't be here right now."
"But what about Timmy?" Cosmo blurted.
"Humans don't tend to recover once their bodies are destroyed," Magdalene said dryly. "The only choice she has to protect him is to keep him by her side."
"Can I see him?" Cosmo asked and his eyes shone with tears.
"I'm afraid not," Cal said sternly. "It's safer for everyone involved if we keep you with us as our secret weapon."
"I don't want to be a secret weapon!" Cosmo protested. "I want to see Wanda!"
"The only level playing field for that is in your dreams," the white dragon answered, using Cosmo's voice but with a vastly different intonation. For one thing, his voice had dropped a few octaves and sounded smoother, more sure of himself.
"You cannot approach her beyond your dreams."
Daniela nodded. "He's right. That's your best bet for reaching her. I don't know how we're going to get the necklace off her, but I do know we're in for a bad fight. Any enemies you guys have, the Shadows will recruit."
"Including Vicky," Tootie said sourly. "And probably Crocker."
"Crocker…is an interesting case," Cal said. "Despite his insane ramblings and attempts to seize faeries, there is a small part of him, buried deep down, that holds affection for Cosmo and Wanda. Attempting to sway him toward the Shadows may fail."
"He still remembers us?" Cosmo said, surprised.
"Deep down, yes," Magdalene said. "Fairy World's programming only goes so far. It's subconscious, but it's there."
Her expression darkened. "Trust me, I have experience in this matter."
"Even if the Shadows wanted Vicky, why?" Tootie asked. "It's not like she has a faerie parent, does she?"
She shuddered, and Daniela couldn't blame her. At least the right sister had inherited magic. Vicky with faerie magic was horrifying. Thankfully, Magdalene was her ancestor many times over, so there shouldn't be enough traces of magic to awaken. Unless…
"No," Magdalene said and grimaced. "But she is related to me, as you are. She'd be considerably weaker than you because the bloodline is diluted, but they may be able to awaken enough magic for her to be dangerous."
"Because she's not dangerous enough," Tootie grumbled. She brightened. "So, how do we rescue Timmy and Wanda?"
"We need to strategize," Cal said. "Ideally, we'd have someone undercover who could feed us information about their plans and then-"
"I'll do it," Tootie said.
"No," Magdalene growled. "It's too dangerous."
"So? Timmy and Wanda need me," Tootie said, puffing out her chest. "You said before that I'd be a valuable commodity, especially as the first half-faerie seen in ages. They'd want to control me anyway, so why not act as a double agent?"
"You're a child," Magdalene growled.
"So's Timmy," Tootie countered. "And he's been shoved into the spotlight too."
"She has a point," Daniela said to Magdalene. "I know you're overprotective over children because of Nathaniel-"
"Don't you dare drag my former godson into this," Magdalene warned.
Daniela rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying that you might be underestimating Tootie. She loves Timmy, and, as far as I know, it's true love. That's rare in someone so young. Besides, what would we do with her? Sideline her? That doesn't help anyone, and it only gives us another liability. You could go with her, Magdalene. They'd believe you if you said you had an axe to grind against Fairy World."
Magdalene scowled, but she could see that the idea had merit. She folded her arms across her chest.
"All right," Magdalene said after a moment's thought. "But we don't even know how to get in touch with the Shadows."
"Maybe not, but we know how to get their attention," Daniela said with a tight smile. "We'll just need to be as obvious about it as possible."
"Obvious is my middle name!" Cosmo said and Daniela sighed, pinching her nose bridge. Cosmo was already trying her patience, and she barely knew him.
"You need to stay out of the spotlight," Cal warned. "Your best bet is to work behind the scenes and get Wanda to reconcile with you on the astral plane. Our theory is that with enough magic and emotion behind it, we can break the amulet's hold on her. It's not much, but it'd be a start.
"The problem, however, is that Wanda's family is already closer to neutral than light-sided, especially Big Daddy. If they go over to the Shadows, then I'm not sure what will befall Wanda, but it can't be anything good."
"And you're sure I can't go over to her?" Cosmo protested, lower lip quivering.
"No!" Daniela, Cal, and Magdalene said in unison.
Daniela pinched her nose bridge. She was running out of patience.
"We need to strategize," Cal said, changing the subject, though he, along with Daniela, suspected that Cosmo had a one-track mind. Or a no-track mind, as the case may be.
"Unfortunately, Tootie had the right idea," Cal continued. "It wouldn't be believable if Tootie sided with Vicky, especially given her affinity for Timmy. However, there are other ways to promote visibility. A rather obvious one would be using magic enough to draw Jorgen to the scene. It would give the Shadows an irresistible target, not to mention allowing them to locate the first half-faerie to exist on Earth in generations."
Tootie blanched. "You want me to get Jorgen's attention? How?"
Daniela smiled humorlessly. "As a half-faerie, you aren't bound by Da Rules. It only applies to faerie godparents and those full-blooded faeries who reside on Earth. It's a loophole in the system. So, whatever you want to do, it's gotta be big and flagrantly against Da Rules."
"Like necromancy?" Tootie said.
"I like the way you think," Daniela snorted, "but that's a bit too extreme."
"Restoring Crocker's memories, if you can find a way past Fairy World's block, ought to do it," Cal said. "It would have the added benefit of bringing Crocker to our side, assuming Fairy World's first inclination to block those memories again wasn't activated. We can't count on them leaving loose ends."
"I don't know how to restore his memories," Tootie pointed out. "Wanda was just teaching me the basics when all of this went down."
Magdalene smiled bleakly. "I can help you with that. Plus, between the two of us, one a noted Fairy World exile and the other a half-breed, we ought to catch Jorgen and the Shadows' attention quickly enough."
Magdalene's smile faded. "I just hope you're ready for the blowback when it happens."
"If it'll help Timmy and Wanda, then I'm all for it," Tootie said, puffing out her chest. Daniela refrained from rolling her eyes.
"Right," Daniela muttered. "Let's just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces."
"So, what did Wanda tell you about me?" Cosmo asked Tootie in a would-be casual voice.
"Nothing flattering," Tootie said flatly. "She usually only came to see me when you and Timmy were so absorbed in whatever it was that you didn't even notice her missing."
"Wanda never left…oh," Cosmo said as it dawned on him. Daniela smirked. It looked like the dragon's thought processes had expedited Cosmo's to a certain degree. "But why would she do that?"
"Many reasons," Daniela said. "The primary of which would be that she felt like she was being ignored. But never mind that now. We'll need to prepare. We only have one chance to get this right and Timmy and Wanda are counting on us."
Daniela gulped. She just hoped there was enough of Wanda left to save.
Wanda fell asleep in Timmy's arms. When she awoke, it was to discover they were outside of the cell and back in Fairy World. They had materialized on Big Daddy's couch. Unfortunately for everyone involved (including Timmy), Mama Cosma was there. For a moment, the two women stared at each other. Within her chest, the necklace burned, searing her with hot rage.
"You!" the two women exclaimed, glowering. "What did you do?!"
"Nothing I'm going to regret later," Wanda snarled and Timmy jumped in between them before there was a bloodbath. Given their current mental states, that seemed likely. Wanda used her wand to gently push Timmy aside and seal him within an invisible box. She didn't want to hurt him, but if he got in the way, she couldn't make any promises.
"You tried to kill my Cosmo-lolo!" Mama Wanda snapped, raising her wand and pointing it at Wanda's chest. "I knew you were no good for him!"
Wanda couldn't tell her that it wasn't her fault; besides, it'd look like she was shifting the blame. It felt like darkness coursed through her veins. She didn't want to know why Mama Cosma was here, and it didn't matter much. She'd always wanted to get her back for how she'd badmouthed Wanda to Cosmo and how she'd tried to manipulate their relationship. Wanda didn't have a leg to stand on regarding that right now, but she felt self-righteous, as much as one could be while wearing an evil artifact.
"You poisoned him against me," Wanda snarled.
"And you tried to kill him!" Mama Cosma rejoined, ignoring Wanda's retort. "You horrible, horrible woman. I should kill you!"
"Wanda, stop!" Timmy pleaded, and the invisible box became soundproof too. He pounded on the invisible glass to no avail, and tears filled his eyes. Wanda faltered. No matter how much influence the dybbuk had on her (and it was becoming considerable), Timmy's influence on her was equally strong, if not stronger. She loved her godson and didn't want to hurt him.
Wanda's distraction was all Mama Cosma needed to blast her in the chest. It sent Wanda flying backward before she halted herself in midair. The necklace cracked and, for the first time in a couple of days, Wanda felt like she could breathe without a heavy weight on her chest. She shivered.
"Do it again," she ordered Mama Cosma, who looked baffled.
"Do what? Attack you?" she said, shaking her head. A cruel smile lit her features and, for the first time, Wanda saw black earrings dangling from the older woman's earlobes. "With pleasure."
Wanda was hoping someone could blast off the necklace. She didn't have a plan beyond that, but just getting the necklace off might help. Unfortunately for her, Mama Cosma, unlike Wanda earlier, wasn't pulling her punches. Her next blast, if the color change hadn't warned her in time, would've killed her. Wanda ducked, and the spell sheared off the top of Timmy's box. It also removed the soundproof quality and singed his silly pink hat.
"I didn't mean try to kill me!" Wanda snapped.
"Oh, that's too bad," Mama Cosma said and black veins appeared on her face. "Because I did."
Wanda had a split second to wonder where Big Daddy was in all of this before another blast hit her in the stomach and she doubled over. She coughed up blood; it felt like Mama Cosma was trying to tear her internal organs. Wanda couldn't afford to fight defensively anymore, not if Mama Cosma wanted her dead.
It was kill or be killed.
"Wanda, look out!" Timmy called; Wanda twisted out of the way before the next blow decapitated her. The scythe swung this way and that in mid-air.
"Whose side are you on, child?" Mama Cosma snapped. "She tried to kill your godfather!"
"She didn't mean to! It's the necklace!" Timmy protested.
"Bullshit," Mama Cosma said. "She's always wanted me dead. She was just biding her time."
The scythe had a new friend; a gun filled with magic-blocking bullets. Wanda conjured up a shield to protect herself and the bullets flew straight through. She ducked down and one of them grazed her cheek. Where was Big Daddy?
There was a sickening crack and when Wanda turned her head, she had the answer to her question. Big Daddy had caught Mama Cosma red-handed trying to murder his favorite daughter. Mama Cosma's neck hung at a sickening angle, and the wand fell from her hands. Wanda was no stranger to violence, although she'd never seen her father kill someone in front of her before. In the back of her mind, she thought, Cosmo was not going to be happy about that.
Big Daddy poofed Mama Cosma's body away, presumably to join the "fishes", and for a few seconds, the only sound was Timmy retching. Wanda removed the invisible barriers about her godson and cleaned him up. Big Daddy's eyes narrowed.
"You had your choice to dump the baggage and you didn't," he snapped.
"Timmy isn't 'baggage'," Wanda snapped. Timmy's lower lip quivered, and he clung to his godmother. Then he whirled, keeping her at his back as if he might protect her, which was laughable at best.
"I thought we were cool," Timmy snapped at Big Daddy.
"That was before the Shadows moved into town," Big Daddy snapped. "Before we learned that faeries are superior to humans, and we don't need to bow down to grant your every little wish."
"I'm not leaving him for Lorenzo and the other abusers," Wanda snapped. "Because that's the fate that would await him."
Big Daddy and Wanda glared at each other for a moment, though she was shaking inside. For all that she adored her father, he scared her too. He hadn't hesitated to snap Mama Cosma's neck.
"He's not your son," Big Daddy said gruffly. "Poof is. Did you ever stop to think about him?"
"Timmy is the only reason Poof exists," Wanda countered. "And like I told the Shadows before, he's non-negotiable."
"How can you side with someone who's been torturing Wanda?" Timmy added. "I mean, legit torturing her."
Wanda put a hand on Timmy's shoulder and squeezed. If Big Daddy hadn't intervened, she wasn't sure what she would've done. While she'd had her darker moments plotting revenge against Mama Cosma, she'd never considered killing her. For one thing, she loved Cosmo too much. For another, it wasn't in her nature. Or it hadn't been. She didn't know now.
Big Daddy was silent for a moment; his eyes roved over his daughter's frame. Wanda had healed herself after the torture, but she could still feel it.
"I'll make them stop," Big Daddy vowed.
"The only way to make them stop is for me to obey them completely, and I won't," Wanda said.
"You're my daughter," Big Daddy said. "You'll do as you're told."
Wanda shuddered. She'd always done what her father had ordered in the past, but this was something entirely different. She forced herself to maintain eye contact with him.
"I won't hurt Timmy."
"But you spared Cosmo," Big Daddy said. It was a statement, not a question.
"I…" Wanda faltered.
"Even after all the crap he's put you through," Big Daddy snapped.
"I love him!" Wanda burst out and, in response, the necklace dug its claws deeper into her. She gasped, her chest burning now. It felt like someone had touched hot coals to her breasts, and tears slipped down her cheeks. Breathing was increasingly difficult, as it felt like there was a five-ton weight on her chest.
"But you don't know where he is," Big Daddy said in a dangerous tone.
"Even if she did, she wouldn't tell you!" Timmy burst out. "Wanda…are you okay?"
Wanda shook her head in response to both of them. She crashed out of midair and curled into a tight ball. Red spots swam before her eyes, and she felt like she'd do anything to make the pain stop.
"Love is painful," Big Daddy said. "And loving idiots is going to get you hurt, one way or another."
Wanda raised her head in defiance. She was glad she didn't know where Cosmo's spirit had ended up. It was enough for her to know he was safe somewhere far from here.
"But have it your way," Big Daddy said. "Keep the human brat. We have bigger fish to fry. Namingly, dismantling the Fairy Council and Jorgen von Strangle."
"Do I have a choice?" Wanda said, her voice so weak it was barely audible even to her.
"No," Big Daddy said and smiled. "No, you don't."
"You have to fight him," Timmy hissed as Big Daddy disposed of Mama Cosma's body and disappeared in search of Blonda. "You can't let him get away with this. Stand up to him."
Wanda swallowed hard. "It's not that easy, sport."
"Yes, it is," he said.
"You didn't see him throughout my childhood," she said, shaking her head. "You just saw what he did now, with Mama Cosma. Imagine him doing that throughout your life to anyone who ever got in his way."
"You stood up for me," Timmy pointed out. They were sitting on the couch now and Timmy was doing his utmost not to look into the corner of the room where Big Daddy had snapped Mama Cosma's neck. "And you stood up for Cosmo. Why can't you stand up for yourself/"
Wanda closed her eyes for a minute. He thought she wasn't going to answer him. When she did, she sounded defeated.
"You don't understand," she said. "I'm fighting the necklace's influence on the one hand, fighting to keep you at my side, trying to protect Cosmo, and now this? I don't know how much fight I have left in me, sport."
Timmy frowned. "You need help."
He paused. "Wait. You know where Cosmo is?"
She nodded slowly. "I have a rough idea. I know he's on Earth. And I know he's no longer a disembodied soul."
"Is that what happened to Mama Cosma? Is she a disembodied soul too?" Timmy asked. His mind was jumping all over the place. Whenever he was stressed out, as he was now, his ADD kicked into overdrive.
Wanda shook her head. "Big Daddy would've ensured she couldn't be revived. He wouldn't have taken the precautions I did with Cosmo."
"Oh," he said, wilting. It took him a few seconds to remember where the conversation had originally been headed. "We have to get away from Big Daddy."
"I suspect the dybbuk has a tracker embedded in the pendant," she said, shaking her head. "No matter where we go, we'll be found."
"Unless there's somewhere we can go where it's blocked," he argued.
She lapsed into silence again, looking thoughtful. "Assuming I can control where we go, there might be a place like that. Somewhere outside of their reach."
She laughed humorlessly. "Somewhere that their dark magic would blend in."
"Where?" he demanded, bolting upright on the couch.
She smiled faintly. "Anti-Fairy World. Think about it, hon. They're all dark sided, which would obscure the necklace's sense of where I am. Plus, we might be able to enlist their help. I doubt they want their world destroyed into darkness either, despite how much evil they perpetuate."
She folded her arms across her chest and looked defeated. "That supposes that we can get there without the Shadows stopping us."
"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" he said, desperate. "You can't just give up."
He smiled at her encouragingly. "That's not the Wanda I know and I love."
Her smile turned genuine, and she hugged him tightly. She stroked his hair affectionately. "We'll need a diversion. Something that'll ensure that they won't be looking in my direction for a while."
"I can do that," he said, and she shook her head.
"It's too dangerous. I really don't want you to fall prey to Lorenzo and the others," she said, scowling. "They will hurt you. And I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you."
"What about Poof?" he said and she blinked, doing a doubletake. Sometimes, his thought processes jumped around so much, it confused her. Cosmo was usually on the same level with it, though. Maybe it was an ADD thing.
"You think I should make a run for Poof?" she asked slowly.
He nodded. "That would distract them, wouldn't it?"
She frowned. "That would also put Poof in terrible danger. On the other hand, the longer he's at Spellementary, the more danger he's in. But I'm not sure I can poof anywhere I want anymore, hon."
"Try it," he said. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Wanda smiled bleakly. "One of these days, they're going to engrave that on your tombstone."
She held up her wand and, for a few seconds, nothing happened. Timmy's heart sank. Then, in a puff of black smoke, they appeared at Spellementary, which was utter chaos. Teachers were running around like mad, the children were darting to and fro, and Poof and Foop were nowhere to be seen. Wanda must've had a sense of where her son was, however, because she headed northwest without hesitation.
They ran into Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda in an empty classroom, where the two faerie children were. Anti-Cosmo scanned Wanda over and smiled. It sent chills down Timmy's spine. That was a smile that said Anti-Cosmo loved what he saw in Timmy's godmother and it immediately made Timmy jump in front of Wanda to protect her.
"I see you've aligned with the Shadows," Anti-Cosmo said coolly.
"I'm here for Poof," Wanda said tersely. "I'm not here to discuss politics with you. And I'm not working with the Shadows voluntarily."
Anti-Cosmo scanned her closer and brushed his fingers along the embedded necklace on her chest. It loosened slightly and Timmy and Wanda caught their breaths.
"It looks like you need me," Anti-Cosmo said smugly.
Timmy knew there had to be strings attached, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, either.
"Yes," Wanda admitted. "Just let me get my son, and we can talk."
Anti-Cosmo nodded, but a cruel smile curved his lips. "I can't help but notice you're without the buffoon."
"Later," Wanda growled. "I don't know how long I can stay here before the Shadows pick up on it."
"Mama?" Poof said cautiously. He flew toward Wanda, and she hugged him.
"Later," Anti-Cosmo agreed, looking more curious by the second. "Let's go."
He held up his wand and the three anti-faeries, two faeries, and a human disappeared from Fairy World to reappear in Anti-Fairy World.
Tootie wasn't sure about this, but it was too late to back out. She was doing this for Timmy, and she'd never back out if it meant helping her beloved. Even with Magdalene's assistance, she didn't know what she was doing.
She just hoped Timmy and Wanda were okay. And, even though she had mixed feelings about Cosmo, she was glad he was all right, relatively speaking.
This had better work. Her heart hammered between her ribs, and she prepared to rip a hole in the fabric of reality. Magdalene had loaned her an actual wand, as opposed to a training wand, and Tootie took a deep breath to steady herself.
She'd better do it now before she lost her nerve. Closing her eyes, she opened a portal to one of the broken worlds.