Chapter One: Last night's tragic accident
"Cosmo, Timmy, we're back! Big Daddy just couldn't get enough of spending quality time with Poof." Wanda poofed into her godson's bedroom in high spirits, having spent the week with her son at her father's place. Her dad was one of the fairies in charge of the big festival coming up. More specifically, he had organized the Target Blasting Tournament or the Big TBT, as it was known in Fairy World.
Her good spirits fell instantly, however, when she saw her godson laying wanly in bed, propped up with pillows, looking like he was hurting terribly. Her husband had a bowl of cereal on the end table and had been holding a spoon. Apparently, he had been in the middle of trying to get Timmy to eat something when she had poofed in. Judging from how full the bowl was, and the discouraged look on his face, it seemed like he hadn't been successful in getting their godson to eat.
"Poof, poof?" Poof looked worriedly at his god brother.
"Sport, are you ok? Did something happen?" She flew over to him, touching his forehead, feeling no fever at least, but he was panting, and had broken out in a pain induced sweat, one hand clutched at his chest in discomfort.
"He hurt his head last night." Cosmo answered her; he had a tired, haggard look to him like he hadn't slept a wink all night. "Vicky threw him down the stairs."
"Alright..." She did not know what that had to do with Timmy being in this state; he had been hurt many times by Vicky and they always poofed him better right away and he wasn't clutching his head, but his chest.
"... Well..." Cosmo looked down at the bowl of cereal, knowing his explanation was lacking, but looking for all the world like he did not want to explain the details.
"Cosmo." She pressed impatiently.
"Well… probably because he hurt his head last night, after going to bed, he… he took a very... bad..." Cosmo gulped. "Seizure..."
"A seizure!?" Wanda screamed, alarmed. Poof did not know what a seizure was, but guessed it must've been terrible from the way his parents had reacted.
"Tim-me..." Poof patted his god brother's head, feeling sad that he had got hurt.
"Sport, are you alright?" Wanda gently touched his cheek. He was so cold to the touch, it was frightening. She instantly poofed up two extra blankets for his bed, and a cup of hot chocolate, which she offered to him. He took a long sip of it and then sat it down next to his almost untouched cereal.
"... I really hurt..." Timmy's voice sounded strained and now that she was closer, she could see that the white of his eyes were tinted faintly pink and swollen. He must've been crying until recently. The sight of it hurt her heart, and she caressed his cheek, feeling terrible for him. She wanted to take away all his pain right now, but first she had to know the problem. Using magic to heal without knowing the nature of the injury could do more harm than good.
"You hurt? Where does it hurt, Timmy, your chest?"
"... It's hurts there the worst, but... all over... feels like I got slammed by a truck..."
"Nothing hit you, Timmy. Your limbs are hurting because they're sprained...it was a very violent seizure..." Cosmo leaned over and whispered to her. "He actually got really hurt in the fall down stairs… but I made him not remember it because it was so bad…"
"Poor Timmy!" Wanda cried out, aghast; She hugged him tightly, and Timmy cuddled closer to her in the way he did whenever he was feeling needy for some affection.
"Poof, poof..." Poof, overhearing his father's whispers, had his eyes filled with tears as he thought abut the pain that his god brother must've endured. He joined in the hug, nestling his head against Timmy affectionately.
"Poor Tim-me, feel better."
"Don't worry, your godmother is here to nurse you back to health. Try to eat and get your strength back up. It'll help you recover faster." Wanda lifted the bowl of sugary crash nebula cereal from where it sat on the nightstand getting soggy and offered him a spoonful. Her god son took it and she smiled gently, feeling like she was feeding a baby. Poof noticed his god brother being fed the same way as he was and giggled. Timmy managed a smile but Wanda quickly spotted that he was still using his one hand to massage his chest and now that she was sitting so close, she noticed he was holding his head at a slight angle.
"Timmy, did you hurt your neck?' She asked about that before the primary concern which was his chest, because she felt that asking about the more serious problem could undermine the other.
"I..." Timmy seemed to puzzle about it for a moment.
"When Vicky threw you down the stairs, you kinda..." Cosmo cringed and looked away, turning slightly green in the face. "Snapped your neck..."
"WHAT!? HE WHAT!?" Wanda gasped, nearly dropping the bowl of cereal. Cosmo had told her he had been badly hurt in the fall downstairs, but she hadn't thought it was such a major injury. At most, bloody knees or maybe a broken arm or leg.
"I fixed him!" Cosmo put his hands up defensively. "I fixed him within the 1 minute time limit! So he's fine! He's going to be just fine!"
"One minute time limit?" Timmy asked, confused, and then rubbed his neck, looking squeamish. "I don't remember breaking my neck..?"
"Cosmo, shhhhh!" Wanda hissed while trying to keep herself from feeling nauseous. Because of the intense physical abuse Timmy endured, both from bullies and his babysitter, they had permission to perform class A healing magic; magic that, because of the large amount of consumption, usually was locked behind a permit.
It was magic that could revive one from death as long as less than one minute went by and that the heart and brain were left at least 50% intact.
Luckily, they never had to use full on revival magic before but if Cosmo mentioned the time limit, then...
"What are you guys talking about?" Timmy quirked a brow at them suspiciously.
"If you get, like REALLY hurt..." Cosmo began, giving Timmy a pat on the head as he tried so hard to smile. It was creepy. "Then..."
"We have special healing magic that can make you 100% better from almost anything as long as we do it within one minute." Wanda cut off her husband and then spoke to him using telepathy.
'Don't dare tell him! Do you want to traumatize him? And... did you really have to use full on revival magic!? Are you telling me that Timmy...d... died...?' She could barely bring herself to think it. Unfortunately, before she could get an answer, there was an atomic poof and Jorgen appeared, looking furious. She did not know if he had waited for her arrival or if he just read the report, but she braced herself, feeling relieved when he had enough tact not to blurt out in front of Timmy that he had died last night.
Jorgen surveyed Timmy with annoyance. "Let me guess, more extreme stunts? I'm this close to adding a rule to forbid them!"
"Actually..." Cosmo began shaking like a leaf. "It was a case of exceptionally violent babysitter plus seizure inducing head trauma!"
Timmy rubbed his head, furrowing his brow. "I remember trying to run from Vicky and her pulling the carpet out from under my feet. I do remember diving headfirst down the stairs, but I don't remember being hurt that bad..."
"Oh, that's because I had to do a little memory tweaking!" Cosmo laughed nervously, keeping both eyes on Jorgen as he sweated bullets. "Vicky was panicking and coming up with ways to hide your body and naturally you were super traumatized after I brought you back to life, so I just made you both forget it happened!"
"Cosmo!" Wanda cried out in protest seeing her Godchild's face change, his pupils becoming tiny, and he turned as white as milk in the face. Cosmo winced, realizing what he had just blurted out as he had given his panicked explanation to Jorgen, who shot him a sharp glare as he whipped out a minimum strength Forgetacin and flashed it in Timmy's face making his expression turn blank and then the boy passed out, laying in a clumsy sprawled mess on his bed.
"Cosmo, don't tell him such things. It'll really mess him up!" Wanda snarled as she sat down beside Timmy, stroking his bangs, cooing at him. Poof did not yet know what death was, but he understood Timmy had gotten seriously hurt and mimicked his mother in playing with Timmy's hair to comfort him.
"But...to think that his babysitter's violence has extended to THIS level..." Jorgen frowned. "My report on wounds healed last night shows a broken neck, a few broken bones, and..." he raised a brow. "Reattachment of limbs?"
"Wait!? What!?" Wanda felt herself go cold, biting her nails in dread. "How did THAT happen by falling down the stairs!?"
"Uuuh..." Cosmo trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. "W... well.. Vicky had her... collection of sharp objects on the bottom of the stairs... and... he fell on top of the chainsaw… which turned on…."
Jorgen cringed while Wanda felt like she could throw up. She actually had to put a hand over her mouth as she felt bile come up in her throat. No wonder Cosmo looked like such a mess this morning, seeing something like that…
"You couldn't have, I don't know, poofed it away? Turned the chainsaw into a rubber toy? Discreetly levitated him and let him down gently beside the chainsaw? Poof the chainsaw away?" Jorgen ground his teeth irritated. "Revival magic is no paltry amount, you know!? It's the wish power equivalent to a million wishes! For the next three days, all magic in fairy world will need to be carefully rationed because you couldn't react in time to save your god child! Not to mention not all children respond well to this kind of magic either! It was not 100% that he would have revived you nitwit!"
"I...!" Cosmo, who looked utterly exhausted, shook and then cried in a way not even Wanda had heard before as he apparently was pushed past the limits of what he could emotionally endure. "It all happened so fast!"
"T-There, there... it's alright now. You managed to fix him in time." Wanda patted her husband on the back, surprised at his outburst. He had always had a laissez faire attitude towards Timmy's safety. Not out of callousness, but he often forgot that humans, unlike fairies, did not heal as fast and that they could even die. Reassured that a wave of the wand could make anything better, especially with the special healing magic permit they had for use on Timmy, had he had never been all that concerned about him getting injured... but perhaps Timmy actually dying had brought home the seriousness of what Death was to a human. Hopefully, from now on, Cosmo would help her curb some of Timmy's more extreme wishes or at least take more safety precautions.
"You'll be crying more than just tears if this happens again!" Jorgen wasn't moved. "And you better keep an eye out for and report any complications!"
"Timmy is going to be alright, isn't he?" Wanda wrung her hands worriedly.
"Well... he seems like he'll be fine since he has already regained consciousness." Jorgen mused. "He'll be sore for a few days though, especially the places that were cut by the chainsaw…"
"Oh, but wait!" Wanda laid a hand on her godson's hand, which was still placed on his chest. "He says his chest hurts."
"Hmm." Jorgen checked the record again. "There is no report of the healing magic having been used on the chest area."
"W... well, I..." Cosmo stuttered. "He got poked and stabbed in many places when he fell on all those sharp things.. "
"Well, it does list various minor traumas, but if the heart was healed, then it would be mentioned on the record due to how important it is and how much magic would be required to heal it." Jorgen shrugged and gave Wanda, ONLY Wanda a reassuring smile. "But since magic did make his heart start beating again, some chest pain can be normal. It should clear up in a day or two."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Wanda breathed in relief.
"Tim-me, ok?" Poof looked to his mother.
"Your big brother will be fine in a few days." She reassured.
"Give Turner this medicine." Jorgen handed Wanda a bottle filled with a syrupy turquoise liquid. "A tablespoon three times a day with his meals. It'll help slowly flush out the revival magic in his body so it doesn't get backed up and stuck in there. Magic stuck inside a non-magical body can cause some... weirdness."
"Thank Jorgen." Wanda accepted the bottle and smiled gently as Timmy woke up from his mind-wipe of a few minutes. He blinked, confused, and then broke out into a smile upon seeing her and Poof.
"Oh, you're home! Welcome back, I missed you!"
It made her sad how absolutely that stuff erased the mind and that someday it would erase her entire existence from his memory.
"My poor boy, I heard about what happened here." She poofed up a tablespoon and filled it with the medicine. "This will make you feel better."
"W-what...?" Cosmo looked at it anxiously. "Should we really start now?"
"Of course, now!" Jorgen rolled his eyes at him. "Trust me, you don't want magic to stagnant inside of a human, not unless you want him sent to a magical detoxing facility for weeks."
"But, I mean, he still needs it, right...I mean..." Cosmo lowered his voice, so he did not give his godchild another panic attack. "It's reviving him, right?"
"Do you not even know how revival magic works? It goes into the human body and sparks life back in them. He's awake. It means its done its job, and it's just swirling around inside of his body, trapped. He needs to flush out that magic now!
"Here, sweetie..." Wanda lifted her godchild and offered him the medicine, rubbing him on the back affectionately. She knew Timmy loved to get babied Sometimes, when Poof was at school, they liked to play "pretend".
She'd poof him down to baby sized and shower him with all the maternal love his human mother had withheld. Cosmo found it weird, but she knew it was perfectly normal for older kids, especially ones who grew up with a lack of affection, to want to play baby sometimes.
Timmy accepted the medicine and made a face as he swallowed. "It tastes worst then the anniversary muffin..."
"I know, it tastes terrible, Turner, but make sure you keep taking it until it's gone, no sneaking out of doses." Jorgen warned and Timmy jumped, startled, just taking notice of the large fairy.
"Jorgen, why are you here?"
"Just checking in on your recent injuries; what do you remember?" Jorgen was asked to check the extent of Timmy's knowledge about the incident. "I remember I was knocked down stairs by Vicky and I hit my head. After she left, my parents made me take a bath and then I went to sleep after talking with Cosmo for a bit." Timmy squinted his eyes, as he seemed to try to recall something, rubbing his chest, biting down on his lip. "I was told I had a seizure, but all I can remember of it is a sudden flash and then a sharp pain. When I came to, I was on the floor with Cosmo, who was trying to snap me out of it. He told me about the seizure."
"It was a really bad one, Timmy." Cosmo peeked out from behind Jorgen. "You shook so hard, it was like you were made of Jell-O..."
Timmy shuddered a bit and winced. "I can believe it, I hurt everywhere...my muscles hurt worst then the time Sanjay's father was our substitute teacher in gym class."
"Where else is there pain?" Jorgen asked in order to verify what he had been told as standard procedure.
"Well, there're bits of pain all over...but I'd say my chest hurts the most...it won't stop burning."
Jorgen furrowed his brows and seemed to make a note of it on the report. "And anywhere else particularly bad?"
"My neck...I can't even hold my head straight, my knee on my left leg keeps throbbing and my right arm and right foot feel like needles...you know, like when your limb gets numb—does that happen to fairies—? Well, anyway... those are the places that hurt the most."
Jorgen nodded, this time his face relaxing as it all added up with the report and what he had heard. He wouldn't say so to the worried god parents and their child but he was silently worried that the burning in his chest could be a sign of a complication. An ache was normal, but a burning sensation wasn't. He hoped it turned out to be just a minor hiccup—-revival magic rarely went smoothly.
Wanda cooed, drawing Timmy closer to her, as she spotted the slight tremble to his lip, and the burning in his eyes, and could tell he was fighting not to cry in front of Jorgen. "You'll be better soon. Here, let's get the taste of that awful medicine out of your mouth with some sugary cereal." Wanda put aside the now empty medicine spoon and went back to giving him his breakfast, treating him as if he was just as small as Poof as she fussed over him.
Ever since she had "played baby" with him on a whim during Poof's first day of school, she came to realize that much of Timmy's "lazy" and "ungrateful" behavior, such as that terrible morning during the Fairy Idol incident, was that he was merely seeking extra attention and care, but not understanding exactly what it was he wanted as well as being afraid to be scorned for being babyish he had put up such an aloof front. They're walking out at that time had made him suppress those desires until she had rekindled them by playing baby with him on Poof's first day of school.
Jorgen's keen eye had naturally taken notice of the state Timmy was in and shot Cosmo a stink eye and muttered low so that the child did not hear him. "I hope you know that every tear he sheds because of his pain is because of your negligence."
Cosmo watched his godson being spoon fed his breakfast by his wife, who kept encouraging the boy to finish, even though when he had tried to have him eat earlier, he could barely get him to stomach more than two or three mouthfuls.
"That's a good boy.." Wanda gave her godson a tickle as he finished his cereal, wishing Jorgen wasn't here so she could actually poof him down to baby size. As it was, the large fairy was staring at her with a raised brow.
"W-well... I have to be getting back to fairy world. Make sure he takes his medicine, and Cosmo follow your wife's example and be more attentive to your godchild in the future, except... maybe not to the extent it gets weird..."
"Y-yeah... weird is one word for it." Cosmo laughed weakly.
"AND." Jorgen raised his voice so that he knew for sure both fairies were listening, and knew what he had to say was being serious. "Monitor his health closely. Alert me ASAP if any complications arise, no matter how small they might seem. Complications can mostly be made better rather simply, but if you let them linger, then it becomes almost impossible to mend. Turner, make sure you give Wanda a full report on how you're feeling each morning, and if anything feels wrong, you tell her straight away. Got it? And NO WISHING your pain to stop. We need a full and accurate report on your health so we can respond right away if anything happens."
"Got it..." Timmy did not look at the larger fairy as he spoke, hiding his face in Wanda's shirt. He probably thought that he was being discreet, but it was obvious he was crying.
"Cosmo, don't think I won't be adding this incident to your file." Jorgen gave him another dirty look. "Be sure that it's going to affect your next evaluation!"
"R-right..." Cosmo pulled on his tie uncomfortably as Jorgen disappeared and he sheepishly made his way over to his family. He laid a hand on Timmy's arm, staring a hole into the blankets of the bed, as if unable to meet his godchild's gaze.
"I'm sorry Timmy. I'm sorry you got hurt so bad."
"It's not your fault, Cosmo..." Timmy pulled away from Wanda, ever so slightly so that he could give him a reassuring smile while trying to use his bangs to hide his eyes. Poof, only now realizing that he was crying and having never seen his god brother cry before, was shocked and started crying himself while hugging Timmy and telling him not to cry.
Cosmo gritted his teeth and clutched the side of his head, gripping a hand full of hair, guilt-ridden at the sight of his godchild reduced to tears from pain and his son crying because his god brother was crying.
Wanda went to comforting her two boys, trying to keep the pain from her own expression. Just thinking about how Timmy must have suffered and that her little angel had actually briefly departed from the world tore at her heart. With his short-term memory having been wiped, the child did not know why he was hurting and so she delicately gave him a recap in the least scary way possible about what had happened in the part of his memory that had been erased, not allowing Cosmo to tell him he had died. However, she had told him he had fallen downstairs and had broken his neck, and landed on several sharp objects. "You were so scared and in so much pain, and Vicky was so panicked that she might have done something extreme, that Cosmo rewrote your memories."
Timmy shuddered, paling a little, but not like before. "You mean I almost died!? That's... actually really scary."
'I know." Wanda did her best to soothe him, holding him until he stopped shivering. "I wouldn't have told you, but, you need to be careful and take good care of the parts of you that got so badly hurt, and because the healing magic we used on you was extra strong this time, you'll have to take that special medicine until the excess magic in your body flushes out."
"Ok..." Timmy nodded with a little sniffle, and Cosmo gave his arm a light squeeze.
"Timmy, you're going to be alright, ok, so stop crying, it's all going to be fine."
"Oh, let the poor thing get the tears he needs out, out." Wanda spoke, wanting to pamper him. "There's no reason to hold back crying if you're in pain. We're your godparents. No need to put on a brave face for us."
Timmy managed a little smile. "Thanks..."
"Ok, well, you just take it easy today, sport. It's the weekend so you just stay in bed and rest up."
"..." Timmy looked sad and took a worried glance at his room door. Cosmo shifted uncomfortably, giving the boy's arm a slightly tighter squeeze. "I want to... but I saw my parents' suitcases packed and ready to go sitting in their room last night. I'm sure any moment they are going to burst in here and say that they're leaving me with Vicky for the weekend so they can go on some work related trip."
"Yeah, like a pencil pusher and a real-estate salesperson's work related trips would match that often or at all." Wanda usually hid her bitterness about Timmy's parents, but... Vicky literally killed her little blue-eyed angel last night! Snapped neck, sharp objects cutting through his delicate, fragile human limbs...
"Oh! I know sport! Just tell your parents you're going to stay the weekend with a friend, and we'll just shrink you down to size and you can stay in our castle with us." She offered cheerfully; she had never had the excuse to invite Timmy to their home for a sleepover before. Normally a god parents 'home' was a private haven that was there to remind them of the separation between them and their godchild; a physical building that symbolized that no matter how much they loved the kid that they belonged in different places and could never really become genuine family.
To heck with that, Wanda thought, excited at finally getting to bring Timmy into their home even if it was just for two days. She fully intended to pamper and spoil her baby blue-eyes until he felt all better.
"I'd love to stay at your place!" Timmy's face lit up, having only been in their castle once when he had snuck in.
"Poof, poof!" Poof was overjoyed at having a sleepover with his big brother and cuddled up to him.
"Well, it's decided!" Wanda hugged both her boys, her mind already trying to think of fun yet safe activities a recovering child and a baby could enjoy together. "I'll go get things ready for you. Cosmo, bring Timmy along once he's ready, alright?"
"..."
"Cosmo?" She looked to her husband, surprised that he was still moping. Usually he got over things quickly, but... this was the first time a god child had died in their care, and had needed revival magic. He must've been blaming himself. She hoped it would learn him to be more responsible, but she hated seeing him beat himself up so much.
"... Timmy, I promise I'm going to make sure you get better, alright?" Cosmo raised his eyes from the floor to look guiltily at his godchild, who only looked perplexed and then concerned.
"Don't feel so badly about it, Cosmo; I mean, with Vicky right there, you'd have exposed yourself if you done anything." Timmy reassured having innocently slept through Jorgen, having listed all the things Cosmo could have done.
Cosmo responded by glumly touching Timmy's chest. "... I'm sorry it hurts so much."
"Cosmo, you're going to make Timmy feel bad if you keep that up." Wanda chided. "Just be more attentive from now on."
"Seriously, Cosmo, it's really fine. I'll be better in a few days. If anyone should feel bad, it's Vicky."
"And she won't feel bad because she's..." Wanda looked at her husband, waiting for him to finish her sentence, but he just sighed and let his shoulders droop, muttering under his breath, "Icky with a V..."
Wanda, Timmy and Poof exchanged confused worried looks at how depressed Cosmo was; it was very weird seeing the usual happy-go-lucky idiot being so morose and retrospective.
Wanda hoped that in a few days, both her godson and her husband would be back to their normal selves.