"…what?" Rose hovered to her godchild, her voice shaky yet soft. "What did you say?"

With a timid tremble in her lips and her clutch around the star-shaped transporter, Tootie faltered under her godmother's stare, under everyone's stare for that matter. She held arms to her chest, mustering the courage to whisper again "…I-I'm safe."

Relief laughed in Rose's shaky breath, and tears of joy pricked the corners of her eyes. Just when she worried Tootie may never speak again, the accidental discovery of this magical place seemingly reignited hope. Though it was a whisper, it was progress. The flicker of a candle's light in the darkness.

The married couple looked on as loving arms pulled the little girl close, holding her tight. Happy for their friend as Rose smiled into Tootie's shoulder, bashful arms returning her embrace. Whether a steppingstone or the root cause, there was nothing more heartwarming, more gratifying in a godparents' career, than a breakthrough with their godchild. A short step in the long road ahead towards the right direction.

Rose pulled away slightly, cupping Tootie's cheeks with tender palms. "Yes, honey…" she reassured. "You're safe."

The other godchild couldn't help but wonder what had silenced the raven-haired girl to begin with. Could have had something to do with cult. But she got out against all odds, and if he were in her shoes, he would've been shouting from the rooftops or something.

Coy fingers latched onto her godmother's hands in a mousey whisper "…please don't leave…"

"I'm right here." Though Rose's grin was comforting, Tootie jutted her trembling lip.

"…please don't ever leave…"

The godmother's grin wavered, crestfallen. Even if the child does not expose their godparents or cause any other major violation of Da Rules, eventually, said child matures into an adult, and weeks, months, even years of memories are erased in a second. Some godchildren are considered lucky to never learn of the inevitable. That their safety net won't and can't be here forever, and in that same token, they'll forget ever having a safety net.

Closeknit bonds never guaranteed an extended stay. The burden of an unwritten rule that every godparent carried on their shoulders. And as teal orbs met peering purple, Rose couldn't break Tootie's spirit. Just when it looked like it was starting to mend itself back together.

Instead, Rose brushed loving thumbs to Tootie's cheekbones. Settling for a variation of the truth "…I won't leave. For as long as you need me."

This seemed to fair well enough when Tootie flung arms around her godmother's neck. Closing her eyes to gladdened tears threatening to break. A satisfied chuckle escaped as Rose squeezed her back. Once treated as a threat, she was now revered as Tootie's savior. To think of how far they've come…

Inspired by the heartfelt scene, Timmy turned to his beloved godparents. "Just like you guys won't leave me, right?" his innocence wondered.

"Of course not, sweetie." Wanda smiled, albeit feebly. "For as long as you need us."

"But I'll always need you." Timmy remarked, earnest with his words. "Because you're my family."

Starting to feel spiritually weak, Wanda looked to her husband for strength. Cosmo met her wavered gaze before he held her by the waist. Sharing the same penitence that he could read in her face, a penitence that caused baby-blue to frown.

"…did I say something bad?"

"Oh, no, you didn't, buddy." Cosmo feigned a smile to his godson's diffident features. "Just…" he glanced at his wife's folded lips, thinking of what she would say in this situation as he looked back to Timmy "…no matter what, you'll always be like family to us."

While this statement was just a band aid waiting to be ripped off, this too seemed to fair well enough when Timmy gave a small smile.


Two sets of footsteps echoed subtly off the amethyst brick of the expansive corridor. Chloe led the pack towards a gold, sun-sculpted door, assuming they've reached a dead end. "There's been no sign of Tootie or Rose anywhere." Chloe pointed out, facing the two fairies and the fellow godchild. "You guys think Timmy and his godparents found her?"

"Y'all don't wanna try this room?" Susie gestured to the door, soon noting the special locks that made her wonder if the room was somehow exclusive.

"Another door to another empty room?" Remy assumed, sullen arms folded.

Seeing Remy's point, Susie shortly shrugged. "Well…has it been an hour?"

"…I was not keeping track." Juandissimo admitted, scratching his sideburn with a finger.

"Don't think any of us were…" Remy murmured.

"…I'm down to just call it if y'all are." Susie proposed, honestly tired of searching with no results. Juandissimo shrugged as Remy remained stoic.

Chloe tapped her chin. "Maybe that's for the best."

"…so how do we go back to where we were?" Juandissimo asked what everyone was thinking. Everyone except Chloe.

"I know a short cut!"

"But you've never been here before." Remy raised a skeptical brow to Chloe's newfound confidence.

"If this is anything like Snogwarts, then I know where to start!" Chloe smirked before she began scanning the brick walls for an oddly, specifically-placed painting the size of a door. Luckily (or, obviously,) a big ol' painting was not hard to find.

The four approached the brushstrokes of four turquoise, pink, purple, and blue robed figures standing tall on grey rock, nearly as tall as the towering Greek columns and roof carved from pastel-pink stone. Yellow slits in the place of eyes glowed against the endless black of their drawn hoods. To Chloe, they looked almost like if the Snogwarts headmaster and Lord Molydwart had quadruplets. "Who're they?"

"The Fairy Council." Juandissimo explained, floating to Chloe's left. "Elder fairies who are the first fairies to exist."

"And basically the bosses of our boss." Susie chortled on Chloe's right.

"Wooooow." Blue eyes gawked at the portrait in their marveled fascination. "They must be very powerful!"

Remy huffed, standing in the background. "What does some painting have to do with a short cut?"

"Because, if I were to make an educated guess, I would say the password is…" Chloe bit down on her bottom lip, theorizing in her mind. What would otherwise take endless circles of second guessing took little time for her to reach absolute certainty as she squealed "…Da Rules!"

Sensors activated by the spoken password, the mechanical drive of the belt and pully clinked and clanked multiple gears behind the golden-bronze frame of the portrait. Pulling until a tunnel of darkness was revealed before the portrait door halted in a latching, resonant ching.

Genuinely proud of herself for doing something right for once, Chloe bounced with excitement. Susie tilted towards her godchild, honestly impressed. "How'd you figure that out?"

"As Timmy had said, godchildren wished for this castle." Chloe justified. "And since the Fairy Council is the boss of your boss, I used context clues, like…Da Rules."

"That's dumb." Remy scoffed to then notice the disapproving brow of his godfather "…well, it is."

"Remy, are you okay?" Susie felt inclined to ask.

"Yeah," Chloe inch towards Remy's brooding stance "seems like you've been in a really bad mood ever since we all split up."

"I just want to get out of here..." Remy muttered. And, in taking the initiative, Remy walked past Chloe's caring glance as the first to enter the dark, secret passage. He didn't know where this passage led, nor did he care. He'd rather not go into details as to why his sanity desperately needed to leave.

Chloe followed soon after, and Juandissimo's somber sigh led Susie to offer an empathetic hand to his shoulder.

As it turned out, the passage was not just a tunnel of black. The further they traveled into the endless darkness, the further they discovered elusive glow of deep blues and indigos sprouting and swiveling around them. Floating behind their respective godchildren, Juandissimo and Susie saw tiny speckles of violet and magenta stars that glimmered among the deep blues and indigos, casting shimmers of light along the layers of meteorite that they soon realize was their trail.

Faint swirls of aqua and pink that a collection of stars whirled within. Gradually gathering in a galactic spiral glowing below the narrow layers of meteorite. Chloe kept walking despite the twinge of dread pooling in her gut. Aside from the possibility of falling to an impending death if not careful, there was nothing ominously dangerous about this passage as far as her eyes could see.

And yet, an unsettling cold surged through her veins. Hunching her shoulders with each forward step, flooded with the shame of skipping school. Her parents will receive a phone call if they haven't already, and avoiding going home would only dig a deeper grave…

"Are you cold?" Susie noted the small shiver in Chloe's arms.

"I…" her thoughts began to fuddle together, puckering her brow. Thumping her heart faster as she drew her arms close in attempts to combat the coldness chilling her skin "…I-I don't know."

Curiosity caused Remy to lean over the meteorite's edge, staring down at the interstellar space of an infinite nebula. Is this still Fairy World, or did they just cross into space? And if this was space, how were he and Chloe still able to breathe?

His thoughts began to fade as if extracted from his mind into the center of the nebula below. Mint-green were memorized by the otherworldly swirls of pinks, blues, and purples. Within the center was an aqua light brighter than most stars. Yet his eyes did not sting as any pain had dissolved into nothing more than a word he can spell.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the vivid colors impossible to ignore, and his nerves began to tingle in a soothing warmth. A warmth that consumed him, comforted him. That did not need empty words to assure that everything would be okay. A warmth that gravitated him towards the light, luring him in-

A forceful hand tugged him backwards from his blazer, stumbling backwards from the edge. Puzzlement blinked in his eyes before his stare met his godfather's glare. A glare not of contempt, but of grave concern.

"What were you thinking, Remy!?"

Remy had no clue why Juandissimo was so riled "…what do you mean?"

"If I had not stopped you, you would have walked off!"

"But I wasn't…" Remy blinked again, trailing off. Less and less confident of his own conscious actions "…moving…"

"It looked like you were moving to us!" When he heard the distress in Chloe's voice, he saw that the previous gleam in her eye was now wide with unease. "Did you not hear us calling you?!"

Remy froze, befuddled. They called to him? Why didn't he hear anything…?


Traveling with their fairies in the steady decline of the mountainous pathway, Timmy walked along Tootie's left, making sure they were both far from the edge to avoid any missteps. With hands in his pockets, he snuck occasional glances at Tootie with arms around herself.

"How did you find my transporter, anyway?" Timmy made conversation, pointing to the transporter still in Tootie's grip.

Remembering that she'd sort of stollen what didn't belong to her, Tootie stretched her hand to give the transporter back.

"You keep it." Timmy gently pushed her hand away, digging in his pocket to reveal a new transporter. "I have my own."

Squeezing the transporter, Tootie retreated her hand back to her chest. "…I-I saw it in your pocket." her mousey voice replied. "…I was curious."

Returning his hand to his pocket, Timmy filled the seconds of silence by kicking a random pebble out of his way, watching as it rolled away "…you like it here?"

Tootie nodded, looking everywhere but Timmy's direction. "…it's pretty."

"Yeah." Timmy agreed, overlooking the rocky hills to his left. "Didn't get to come all the way out here the last time I came."

A pinkish red blushed in Tootie's cheeks, looking to the pink-hatted boy "…y-you've been here?"

Timmy turned to the purple gaze behind her glasses. He never noticed before how her eyes were kinda…cute? He wasn't sure from the cringy flutter in his stomach. "Yeah, it's…why I had the transporter."

At first, he assumed that he'd made things awkward when her gaze scrunched, appearing to look past him. But then, she stopped in her tracks with a rise in her eyebrows and a goggle in her eyes as if astounded. He stopped as well, confused as her keen finger pointed upwards, just beyond his left ear. And when he and the fairies followed the direction of her finger, his own eyes bulged in a breathless exhale.

Rivers of pure rainbow light swiveled across the magenta sky. Twirling in a surreal rhythm of colorful arches from warm reds and yellows to cool greens and blues. A massive aurora, impossible to miss. Couldn't have been there a second ago…where did it come from?

"This is new to you guys too, right?" Rose's question was directed to her fellow godparents, except Timmy was the first to respond.

"Is this not normal?!"

"It's…quite rare, actually." Wanda was equally as astonished, staring into the dancing rays of light. "Once every decamillennium."

"…decamillennium?" Tootie squeaked, looking at Rose.

"Once every ten thousand years." Rose clarified. A rare spectacle even for her age group who were under a hundred years shy of a myriad.

Knowing well what this meant for him, Tootie, and pretty much any human alive right now, Timmy's childish wonder spun around to the others. "That makes this once-in-a-lifetime! We gotta find the others!"

"Others?" Rose asked.

"Everybody came when you guys poofed here." Cosmo clarified. "We'd split up to look for you."

"And they're probably still looking!" Timmy pointed out.

"Can we just summon them here?" Rose quizzed.

Taking the chances, Cosmo and Wanda sparked their wands. Their wands drooped dull as a tongue blowing air through a vibrating mouth sputtered.

Timmy and Tootie had no idea magical wands could make that noise let alone bend at an odd angle "…the heck was that?" Timmy voiced what Tootie's mind questioned.

"Apparently, this castle has a magical barrier." Wanda looked down at the wand she held in both hands. "Any outside magic is dispelled and can't pass through it."

"So they can't come to us?" Cosmo wondered.

"We'd know if we could use phones." Wanda replied.

"And Susie couldn't get a signal inside the fort." Timmy recalled. "That probably means outside calls are a no go."

"What the heck!?" Rose groaned. The dots of Fairy Fort's mechanics weren't quite connecting. "This place is a giant puzzle…"

"Join the club…" Cosmo spoke acidly as the king of being clueless half the time.

"Hmmm…" Timmy was using his brain more than he'd normally like that day "…what if, we went back to Fairy Fort, crossed inside the barrier, then summoned them?"

Swallowing back a churn of nausea, Wanda had no ideas of her own. "Don't see why not."

"Alright then." Little hesitation stretched Timmy's hand towards Tootie's, warm fingers intertwining with her cool. "Let's go."

Ivory flushed pink in a hushed, frozen breath, unable to feel her heartbeat.


The ice in her blood melted the moment her sandals touched marbled grounds after escaping the secret passage. Some of the wooden doors looked familiar to Chloe. However, the odd shapes and structure of other doors appeared foreign. Particularly a door the form and shade of a silver-crescent moon with the same multifaceted locks as the golden sun door from before. They must've crossed what could've been a mile of meteorite straight across to the other side of the castle.

With her fairy godmother by Chloe's side, Remy and his fairy godfather were not far behind. Well…Juandissimo was not far behind. Internal disarray had held Remy a few feet back in a slower pace than Chloe's swift desire to stop shivering in dreaded fear.

The warmth he'd felt staring into that nebula was…different. Different than the invasive warmth of a man's hand on his privates. Different than the lovesome warmth of being in his godfather's arms. Describing the warmth was more difficult than denying how mind numbing it was. A numbness that Remy would've welcomed if he wasn't questioning its effects.

The Hispanic fairy floated with folded arms. Bringing a human to fairy world did come with risks. Magic is everywhere, magic that fairies never notice due to their own magic inside. It can greatly affect the human body, depending on its power and strength. Every child is different, so every child is affected differently. Juandissimo was beginning to wonder if bringing Remy to Fairy World did more harm than good…

"…I-I dream of him."

A small voice stopped Juandissimo's flight, looking over his shoulder. Turning around fully when he saw the lowered gaze with threatening tears.

"…you'd asked what I dream about…" Remy's arms latched around the gnawing roil in his chest. Just to keep himself together from the flash of those brown eyes and that disgusting, sensual smirk. "…i-it's him."

"What're you talking about?" Chloe too turned around when her ears caught fragments of Remy's words. Inching forward with her godmother following suit.

"…a man who is no longer my nanny…" Remy kept his gaze lowered, murmuring his version of 'he who shall not be named.' "…h-he's in my dreams…in my head…" raising his chin, his eyes fluttered before he could meet the blue-violets fixed on him "…and I saw him here too."

Chloe's concern glanced at Juandissimo's tight jaw. Whoever this nanny was must've been pretty awful.

"…u-until the secret passage…" Remy's eyes averted briefly, blinking pooling gloss "…I didn't see him in there…"

Interesting to hear a point of view unlike her own; first coming into the castle and even now, her heart paced at a relatively normal rate, her chest expanded with ease, and her mind wasn't the Daytona 500 of thoughts. Entering and crossing through the secret passage had chilled her veins and swarmed her mind with the inevitable trepidation of facing her parents' disappointment the moment her transporter poofed her back to the real world…

Nevertheless, Chloe didn't want to make this about herself. Because underneath that hard shell was anguish so delicate that she was unsure if Remy could withstand any longer.

"But…" she stalled, taking apprehensive steps towards the boy's weakening guard "…is that why you almost walked over the edge?"

"…I don't know." his honesty hoarsely admitted, squeezing himself tighter "…I don't know what I was doing…"

That could be possible from the blank trance she'd seen in his eye. Recollection turned to face the fairies behind her. "Susie had said something about you getting hurt by this nanny…" Chloe softly addressed Juandissimo, believing she'd get more out of Remy's fairy than Remy in his current state "…how bad was he?"

Susie noted the tension in Juandissimo's diverted glare. Thinking her friend could really use a diversion, Susie hovered to her godchild, feigning the nicest grin. "I…think we should change the subject, Chlo-bird."

Chloe scrunched her brow, until vexed blue-violets and haunted mint-green revealed the gravity of her prying "…oh." she squeaked with plummeted spirits, hanging her head. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Oh, you don't have to apologize, hun, it's just…" Susie licked her lips, hoping to explain in a way that didn't make Chloe feel intrusive "…this is really sensitive."

As awkward as the air became, it was equally awkward when both fairies and children abruptly vanished in pink, green, and teal clouds.


Susie, Juandissimo, Chloe, and Remy found themselves at the back end of Fairy Fort, standing and hovering over dark-teal beds of weeping grass that landscaped the castle's nave. A hard line split the grass from the rocky dirt trail that led through the soaring mountains, finding three fairies and two fellow godchildren before them.

"Wow, that actually worked!" Timmy cheered. With her hand back in her possession, Tootie stared at Timmy who seemed usually proud of himself. Cosmo and Wanda floated next to Rose, being the first to noticed Juandissimo and Remy's grim expressions.

"Oh, you found them." Chloe tried to sound gratified, and Susie painted a smile to match. "That's great…"

Timmy could hear the failed attempt at forced enthusiasm "…what's going on?"

"Nothing." Chloe swallowed tersely.

"…oh…okay?" Timmy cocked a brow, only for a second before his enthusiasm moved his mouth a mile a minute. "Well, there's this really cool light thingy happening in the sky and it only happens once every ten thousand years! Soooooooooo, we gotta go!"

Remy managed to drag himself out his muddled headspace to mumble "…go where?"

"Up the mountain!" Timmy eagerly gestured towards the mountainous path. "The view up there is way better!"

"Settle down, sport." Wanda lowered a motherly hand to Timmy's shoulder, coaxing him to read the room. To this, Timmy shut his mouth, pinching at his arm as the glimmer in his eyes softening into a leveled expression. His intentions were not to be insensitive. He was just so excited, the most he'd been in ages.

Fidgeting with her fingers, Tootie stared toward the young billionaire. No stranger to the broken pain behind those darkened eyes. A tug in her heart wanted to help him, braces chewing her lip on what she could do. Anything she could do to let him know that he was not invisible.

Baby dolls scooted in baby steps, stopping when she stood in couple feet away. Waiting for dark eyes to sulkily raise to her when the smallest voice spoke "…a-are you okay?"

"…OMG, she's talking!" Susie's reaction verbalized what widened Chloe's eyes.

"Thanks to whatever this place is." Rose voiced, surprised that Tootie had even approached Remy without being prompted.

Dark eyes stared back at her, his heavy heart seeing no point in lying "…no."

Her braces chewed her lip again, pricking a bit of skin. "…would you like a hug?"

His stare widened ever so subtly, taken aback. Watching her fingers fidget and the faint buckle in her knees. Hugs were either deprived from him, used against him, or something he had to ask for out of 'respecting' his boundaries. Sometimes, he'd chose to go without, because no one ever outright asked to hug him. He couldn't deny how much his heart was starving for one, and rejecting a little girl would be rude.

When she saw Remy lower his gaze with a weak nod, Tootie carefully inched forward. Arms already around himself, her trepid arms closed around him, delicately resting her temple to his chest. From how motionless he was, she had little to go off on whether this was working. At the very least, he didn't push her away, so…it wasn't…not working.

As she continued to hold Remy staring at the ground, Juandissimo softened his features "…that is very kind of you, Tootie."

Tootie peered up to the Hispanic fairy's kind words. Being punished and scolded for doing something bad had been more common than receiving praise for something good. While that was the opposite case in her new household, hearing that she'd done a good thing still felt foreign.

After a moment, she gently pulled away, and with arms still around himself, Remy's staring gaze slowly met hers before they looked away once more. Tootie turned away back to her fairy godmother, receiving her own hug as Rose gave her praise for such a thoughtful gesture. She knew her hug wasn't a cure, yet all she hoped was that he knew he was safe.

. . . . . .

Near a high peek of the mountain, godparents and godchildren observed the softly blowing curtains of reds, yellows, greens, and blues shimmer along the magenta sky. Woven roads of rainbow dancing in a rare, mystical song.

Excitedly tugging at her godmother's jeans, Chloe pointed to the swirling lights which Susie gave a fond smile in return. Bringing Chloe here revealed a different side that Susie wondered if Chloe knew was inside all along, seeing the brightest beam with every interaction or recognition of every possible Snogwarts or Terry Totter reference. However, when she saw that anxiety bubble to the surface in that secret passage, Susie knew then that there was deeper work to do.

The perfectionist restraints of parental pressure left little chance for a child to be carefree. While one parent had started to slack off on the pressure, the other parent compensated by piling on more. It was like a root canal just to tear Chloe away from school, to convince her to take a break. To just have fun and be a kid. Will it bite her in the butt later? No doubt. She'll make sure that it's her burden, not Chloe's. That cute little gleam that she rarely gets to see will not be for naught…

Juandissimo took a moment to look away from the aurora, seeing Remy's folded arms and fixed gaze on the swirling rainbow rays. A gaze with lingering doom and gloom, furrowing remorse in the godfather's brow. When he'd promised to bring Remy to Fairy World, he believed the change of scenery would be beneficial for him. Given the aid of a magical transporter made it easier to fulfil that promise, not only to search for Tootie and Rose, but to also show Remy what else Fairy World had to offer.

Godparenting exposed fairies in a spectrum of cases varying from 'grant their wishes to put a smile on their face' to 'wishes aren't enough.' He and other godparents have dealt with children that need far more help than what granting wishes can give them. Unfortunately, those children are behind bars or six feet under. Their lives taken from another source or tragically taking their own life. What if Remy was one of those children…?

Hovering behind her godchild, Rose saw Tootie's reach for her arms, bringing them down to rest over her shoulders. In return, Rose nestled her chin atop Tootie's raven hair, recalling memories of when they'd first met. Tootie had been so scared of her. She'd rebuked her magic in the name of Jehovah. It took Rose being on the verge of exploding for Tootie to make wishes. Under the manipulative control of cultist religion, Tootie was never to blame. Still, part of her wanted to curse Jorgen for throwing her into an uphill battle.

When she least expected, that uphill battle was a blessing in disguise. Potentially, had it not been for Rose's interference, Tootie would still be under her parents' roof, would still be in that cult. Would still be beaten day in and day out, and in a worst-case scenario, beaten to the grave. And, just maybe, it was destiny for Tootie to accidently poof them to Fairy World. Because she could see for herself that magic, fairy magic at least, was not evil or anything to fear.

Timmy positioned himself in the middle of his godparents, reaching his hands to Cosmo's left and Wanda's right. Grabbing onto their fingers as they looked down to his satisfied grin. They offered their own smiles in return, but when Timmy's grin returned to the swirling rainbows, their smiles fell. They've grown too attached as godparents, though they already knew that. In fact, it was probably safe to say that all of them have grown too attached to their godchildren. But hearing Timmy's sweet little voice refer to them as his family just…sliced at their hearts.

He had blessed them with a biological child, all the while becoming like a real son to them. In turn, he loved them as he would his biological parents if they weren't neglectful douchebags. The sentiment of him holding their hands solidified that they were reaching a dangerous point. One day, they will have to tell him that they will no longer be a family. And this will certainly shatter his heart, more than his parents' resentment ever could.

They will have to tell him, just not now. Not when he looks so happy to have them by his side.


AN: While not the intended direction I wanted to go with this chapter, I think I like it. Sort of changes the course of the original plot, but hey. Maybe it'll work out.