— 29th May 2005, Rainspell Island Council, Seaborough —
It was a rather eventful day for Tony Richmond, the Member of Parliament representative for Rainspell Island - and the newest MP as well. Born as a native to the island, he had been recently elected into the House of Commons thanks to his humble and generous contributions to the island and its community. Today, he was going to the Council building of Rainspell Island to celebrate his victory with the county council.
"Good morning, Mr. Richmond! How do you feel about your victory today?" Said Burke Fletcher, the leader of the Rainspell Island Council.
"Well, I feel excited," Richmond replied, pushing his glasses up and straightening the tie of his blue suit. "This is going to be a new chapter for you, me and all of Rainspell!"
"Glad to hear that! We're so happy for your election here, you've done so much for this island!" Rachel Turner, the chairwoman of the Rainspell Island Council was the next to express her excitement for Richmond's ascension into the House of Commons. "And we got a cake to celebrate!"
"Wow!" Tony was surprised to see the Eggless Chocolate Cake with strawberries on top, the words "Tony Richmond MP of Rainspell" written in icing on the top. "I never knew you cared about me this much!"
"Well, we figured that since you've been an upstanding man who's got generous ideals, we'd celebrate this like it's your birthday," Fletcher said. "And we also got drinks.
Another councillor had come in with a bottle of alcohol, one for Richmond, Fletcher and Turner each. "Three bottles for our leaders! Hip-hip hooray!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, I think that best describes it well," Tony remarked, his wit showing through.
Soon, the three leaders of Rainspell Island poured the beer into three glasses, picked up one each and raised it to the air, a look of excitement and anticipation on their faces.
"Here's to a better Rainspell! Cheers!" Rachel said.
"Cheers!" They all said in unison, and all three of them clinked their glasses before taking a sip.
Once they all finished their drinks, they put their glasses on the table. "Ah, that was wonderful. I wonder if we're ever going to do that again," Burke asked.
"I know. This island is very magical, isn't it?" Tony said. He enjoyed his life on the island and up until this point had barely left for the mainland unless it was on business trips.
"Oh! Speaking of which, we all know you love this position. What do you plan on doing in the parliament?" Rachel then asked, curious to see what Tony would bring into the British Parliament.
"That's an… interesting question," Richmond responded, putting his fingers and thinking for himself. "Well, I've always wanted to help make Britain-"
His thoughts were interrupted by another councillor rushing into the room in an urgent panic.
"Chairman, we've got a message from the British military base in the northwestern corner of Rainspell Island," said Clare Roberts, a nerdy councillor who was rather skilled in technology and communications.
"Shit, the military never sends messages to us except for signs of urgency," Rachel thought, her happy expression turning into one of concern. "What do they want?"
"Th-they've discovered something in the centre of the island," Clare stuttered. "It's something impossible to explain. Supernatural life and magic, they say."
"Magic?" Tony said, sceptical of what Clare said. "This island always felt magical, but I don't think magic has ever existed here."
Clare grunted. "I think you should see for yourself, then. Follow me."
Tony, Burke and Rachel all followed Clare as she led them down the hallway into the communications room, before taking them to an open computer. "I'm certain we've never seen anything like this in our lives," Clare declared.
When the three leaders of Rainspell Island looked at the computer, they were taken aback. On it was a photo of a damaged, overturned pot, inside the smoking hole being a small, unconscious woman with wings.
"Oh my goodness," Tony put his hand to his mouth in shock. "Is that…"
"A f-f-fairy?" Rachel finished Tony's thought. "How is that even possible?!"
"And how did it get here?" Burke said, concerned. "We can't just live with the fact that fairies exist in the wild."
"I-I don't know," Clare stammered, being just as confused and scared as Tony and Rachel. "And I don't think the military knows, either."
Clare continued her statement. "It's even worse, though. There were apparently seven of these paranormal creatures in this black pot. The only reason only one of them remained was because our fighter jets attacked the pot mid-air."
"And how would you know there were seven of these "fairies" in the pot?" Burke said, mimicking quotation marks when he said fairies. "I'm pretty sure they're trying to test a psy-op on us." He was still distrusting of whatever the military had on these fairies.
"Our satellites caught footage of this black pot in outer space," Clare answered. "And the jet itself took photos before and after bombing it."
She then changed the screen to a picture of the mysterious black pot in the air after their fighter jet had bombed it. 4 of the fairies were seen flying out, 2 were hanging on to its edge, while one was inside the pot.
"Well, that's interesting," Rachel said. "All seven of them seem to be wearing clothes that correspond to the colours of the rainbow." She then held out her hands to count the colours. "Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet."
"Why do you care about that fact? It has literally nothing to do with what they are," Burke grudgingly asked.
"Just saying," Rachel replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Who knows, it might justify their existence here."
"So, where are the other six?" Burke turned his attention towards Clare.
"They seem to be scattered all over this island," Clare replied. "The indigo one has been incarcerated, while the other five only have reported sightings."
"This isn't good, this isn't good," Tony said, worried. "Wh-who knows about this?"
"Only the Military, Police and MI5 have intel on these fairies. No one in the general public knows beyond a few eyewitnesses we can't control."
"Good. It should stay this way." Burke assured her. "What should we do about them?"
"That's exactly why they sent this information to us," Clare said. "They want us to send this to the government of the U.K. to prepare. They're worried that if there is proof of the existence of fairies, then there is proof of even worse things out there."
During this whole conversation, Tony just stood there, bewildered by this. "You- you know, when I got elected as an MP, I never expected to be forced to actually do something within my first month."
"Well now you are," David begrudgingly said. "And I hope you don't blow it."
"I guess it's time for action," Tony concluded.
"I hope they handle the situation reasonably," Rachel said. "There's supernatural beings on this planet and we need to make sure they don't cause the end of it."
— 31st May 2005, Cliffbourne, Rainspell Island, England —
It had been two days since Tony had travelled to London to debate the British Military's discovery of unique magical lifeforms landing in Rainspell Island with the rest of the parliament, and how to deal with the situation and prevent it from becoming too out of hand.
Now here he was, in a bar in Cliffbourne discussing the U.K. government's ultimate decision on what to do about the fairies with the leader and chairwoman of Rainspell Island's council. Anyone who's been to Cliffbourne will know it for being full of holiday cottages and rich people's penthouses so they can watch the sun rise and set over the cliffs and the water. It's where most tourists tend to stay when they travel to the island, and as such has a lot of restaurants and stores to cater towards the rich and the tourists.
And right now, the three leaders of Rainspell - Burke, Rachel and Tony - have gone to Drink Up at Roger's to talk about a serious topic that would decide the future of the island. And after taking their drinks, they headed towards a back alley so that none of the public ears would take notice.
"So tell me, what did they decide on?" Burke was the one to start the conversation.
"Their response was mostly what you two wanted," Tony answered, sitting on a dumpster taking a swig of whisky (not a professional look for a Member of Parliament). "They voted on covering up the existence of the Fairies to the general public."
"Phew, that was a relief," Rachel said, wiping her forehead. "Imagine what would happen to the common folk here!"
"While I am relieved they have decided to cover up the existence of these creatures," Burke added, much colder and less trusting of the government, "I still have to wonderhowthey're going to cover this up."
"Well, they decided on closing off the island to the outside world to protect the secret."
"What?!" Rachel exclaimed, shocked about this.
"I'm sorry, but that's the truth," Tony solemnly said. "All ferry trips are cancelled beyond cargo ships, and the highway section near the crash site is to remain closed off to prevent the locals from discovering."
"So what do we put this under? They'll get suspicious if we just randomly say that the island is closed off for no apparent reason." Rachel said, concerned about how the government would get the fairy situation under control.
"They haven't told me yet," Tony answered. "They just told me I'll find out when I watch the news."
"Damn government, always keeping secrets even to its members," Burke muttered under his breath.
"They've also sent the military out to search for and contain the other five fairies scattered across the island," Tony continued. "Apparently they want to make sure no one ever finds out about them."
"Okay, that's just paranoia," Burke said.
"I agree. While it is reasonable that they'd cover the fairies' existence, there's no reason to hunt down the other fairies. What would they ever do to us?" Rachel questioned.
"I don't know. Perhaps they might do it to protect our planet from whatever those fairies came from?" Tony replied, also confused by that decision.
"But wouldn't it make sense for us to just let them be?" Burke pondered.
"They don't look like they belong to anyone, so it's probably for the best," Tony answered. "It's the government's decision, and since I just became a cog in its machine, I don't think I should be the one questioning it."
"Fair enough," Rachel said. "I guess we got all that covered."
"Yeah, this whole "mysterious fairies on the island" situation is too stressful for me. Let's just move on and look for better things," Burke added.
"Yes, I wish for normalcy too," Tony said. "Let's finish this with another toast."
With that, Tony poured his whisky into three glasses he bought from within the bar, and he, Burke and Rachel held one up to the air.
"Here's to a better Rainspell!" Burke said this time.
"Cheers!" And with that, they clinked their drinks and drank them down, before walking back inside to leave the bar and put the whole fairy situation behind them.
— 2nd June 2005, Tippington, U.K. —
Following the discovery of fairies in Rainspell Island by the military, the British government had made desperate attempts to cover up their existence. All ferry services were suspended, preventing anyone from leaving and entering, and the airport under construction was cancelled.
Meanwhile, in a residential home in Tippington Town, a young child named Rachel Walker was eating her breakfast cereals as her parents watched the news. Suddenly, she saw her father storm into the dining room, angered and disappointed.
"Come onnn, they can't just close it off like that!" Mr. Walker said, clutching his forehead.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Rachel said, worried.
"Everything. We fu- they cancelled all the ferries to Rainspell Island. We can't go there for the summer holiday!" Mr. Walker answered in frustration.
Rachel gasped in shock. "Really?"
"Yes. You need to see for yourself," Mr. Walker replied.
As Rachel followed her father to the living room, she saw Mrs. Walker crying on the sofa at the sight on the TV screen. It was an image of the BBC news lady talking about the recent closure of Rainspell Island.
"The government of the U.K. has requested a complete lockdown on Rainspell Island, closing off all ports beyond cargo and supply ships," the news lady said stoically. "The official reason for this has been stated to be a water contamination issue caused by lead poisoning, as well as invasive species."
"Aww, I always wanted to go there," Rachel said, downtrodden.
"I know, I heard the place was very magical," her father said. He then tried to reassure her about it, "Don't worry, they'll open it up one day and we can go there again."
"But I want to go there now!" Rachel shouted in response.
"Sweetie, if the government has to close down a place, it's likely for a good reason," Mrs. Walker said, having wiped off the tears and joined her husband to reassure their dear daughter. "We wouldn't want you being poisoned on your first summer holiday, would you?"
"Okay, mum," Rachel said, now accepting her reality. "Where should we go then?"
"Well, I've been thinking," Mr. Walker answered. "There's London, France, Italy and Wales… Oh! Wales! We can go to Wales instead."
"Of course! Our cousins live in Wales, and I've always wanted to meet them again," Mrs. Walker exclaimed gleefully.
"Yay!" Rachel said, happy to know that her holiday wasn't ruined.
But for the actual residents of Rainspell Island, especially tourists who now found themselves trapped in their vacation spot, their holiday definitely flared up all across the island, demanding that they be allowed to return home and live peacefully without being quarantined like there was a virus on the island. It was hard to put down the protests at first, with police having been sent to protect the Council from angry protesters storming in.
Eventually, the riots were soon quelled when Burke and Rachel had to come out to say that the government was trying to prevent the spread of the invasive Grey Squirrels from reaching the mainland, and that once the situation was resolved Rainspell Island would open back up again. While that still left lingering doubts within Rainspellers, no major riots occurred afterwards, and the island remained rather stable, if still very tense due to the close-off.
Some residents have the feeling that there's more than just Grey Squirrels that the government is trying to contain in their island, however.