Seconds felt like hours to the group as they took in the fact that Tinkerbell, a member of their group of friends, a friend to Humans, and a creator back on Neverland, was gone, having been killed in an avalanche of rubble by a collapsing building when a tripod crashed into the building she was on the previous night. For the group and for Lizzy, it was like they had won the battle, but lost a great friend in doing so.
Vidia sniffed and wiped away a tear from her eye as she withdrew slightly from Terence, who rubbed his hand down his face, stopping in front of his mouth. A tear rolled down his cheek onto his fingers. Fawn and Bobble refused to let go of each other, feeling guilty that their friend had died and yet they had lived. They felt like they could have done something about it, but then again could they? After all, it was raining last night, preventing any of them from flying, and they had been chased over to the remains of the laboratory by the tripod and there was no way they could have gotten over to Tinkerbell in time to save her. Still though, they were mentally cursing themselves for the demise of their friend.
"What are we gonna do now?" Iridessa asked, looking at the others with a tear soaked face.
They all looked at one another, all thinking of what was to happen now that Tinkerbell was gone. How would they explain this to the other fairies on Neverland? It would be too hard and they could only imagine how it would be met among the other fairies on Neverland. She was a gifted and much loved inventor and famous person among them all. Telling everyone would make them devastated.
"I don't know," Vidia replied. "I don't know anymore,"
She rested her head against Terence's chest, thinking of Tinkerbell. They had grown into friends over the past year, but what she felt really guilty about was the argument she and her had with each other the night before this war began. Oh, she wished how she could apologize to Tinkerbell, but wishing was not going to get her anywhere now. It was too late anyway. Tinkerbell was gone, and she was just going to have to accept it, no matter how much she or the others did not want to.
As the group seemed to pull themselves together a little, Vidia suddenly raised her head up a little, looking towards the remains of the blacksmith and the office building that the tripod had destroyed earlier on. She could have sworn she heard something. She shook her head a little, no she was just imagining it.
However, a second later, she heard it again and this time her head shot up from Terence's chest, almost hitting him in the jaw.
"Whoa, what's wrong, Vidia?" he asked.
"I … I just heard something," she replied.
"You probably imagined it, Vidia," Silvermist said to her.
Vidia wanted to say she did not, but then again, she may have. Was she imagining it? If she was, why was she ima-wait! There it was again and this time Fawn and Bobble looked over in the direction of the buildings. Terence had heard it as well.
"What is that I just heard?" he asked himself.
"You don't think…?" Vidia began.
Terence shook his head. "No, I-it can't be," he replied.
As Lizzy lifted her head up, she too began to hear what the fairies were hearing. It was a jingling sound and it was quite loud, and it was getting louder. Slowly, she turned her head to look towards the buildings.
"Are you okay, Lizzy?" Martin asked her.
"I just … I swear I heard jingling," she replied.
"Are you sure it's not your fairy friends here?" her mother asked.
"No, it would have been louder, mother," Lizzy replied. "This jingling sounded…far off, but-but I think it's getting louder,"
As the seconds ticked by, everyone in the group was now looking towards the buildings. They were hearing something, but what was it?
A figure began to form as it came towards them. It was a girl and she was flying. She had blonde hair and was wearing a green leaf dress. Could it be? The eyes of the group and Lizzy and her mother and Father widened as they saw the figure as well. Was it?
"Guys!"
"TINKERBELL!"
It was Tinkerbell! Her dress was torn at the sides and she had several cuts and bruises up and down her arms and legs. A small cut was on her cheek and she looked tired, but she was okay.
At once, everyone in the group lunged at her and were pulling her into hugs and crying happily that she was alive and such.
"I can't believe you're alive!" Fawn said.
"We thought you were dead," Silvermist said, pulling her into an embrace.
Iridessa then grabbed her and hugged her tightly. "Oooh!" she said. "Don't you ever do that to us again!" she said sternly, but tightened her hug.
"Oh, Miss Bell, we're so glad you're okay," Clank said to Tinkerbell when Iridessa had released her and he pulled into a tight embrace, which Tinkerbell found painful and she patted his back and was relieved when he released her.
"It's good to have back with us, sugarcane," Rosetta said to her, hugging her.
"Yeah, we're glad your back, Tink," Terence said, hugging her.
"Thank the Hollow you survived, we thought you'd been crushed when that house collapsed," Bobble said to her.
"I almost was," Tinkerbell said when she withdrew from Terence. "When the house collapsed onto me, I got knocked out, but thankfully wasn't crushed and landed on a teddy bear in the room. When I woke up this morning, I searched everywhere, hoping I would find you, and I'm glad I did,"
The others all smiled at each other. Their sadness was gone and it was replaced with grins and smiles and a sense of happiness once more. They were all here and safe. They had all made it through.
Tinkerbell turned and flew up to Lizzy and hugged her against her cheek, to which Lizzy placed a hand gently on her back, almost covering her entire body.
"Thank goodness you're okay, Tinkerbell," she said as she held her in her hand and moved her away from her face. "We thought we had lost you then,"
Tinkerbell shook her head and flew over to Martin and gave him a hug on his cheek as well. He chuckled slightly.
"Oh, It's good to see you live and well, Tinkerbell," he said. "And let me introduce you to my wife,"
He stood up and held his hand with Tinkerbell near his wife, who smiled. "Hello, uh…Tinkerbell," she said, smiling a little. "My name's Rebecca, I'm Lizzy's mother," she said, holding up her finger, which Tinkerbell shook with her hand and said something to her, which was a jingle to Rebecca. "Um, what's she saying?" she asked.
"She's saying hello to you, mother," Lizzy said, smiling at her.
"Oh, of course," her mother replied, laughing a little. "Very nice to meet you, Tinkerbell,"
Tinkerbell nodded and flew back down to the ground, landing in front of Vidia. She smiled meekly.
"Hey, Tinkerbell," she said.
"Hey, Vidia," Tinkerbell replied. She paused for a moment before she spoke. "Listen, Vidia, I've wanted to say something to you about that argument we had," she said.
"So have I, Tinkerbell," she replied. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Tinkerbell,"
"No, Vidia, I'm the one who should be sorry, I shouldn't have started on you like that," Tinkerbell protested.
"Yeah, but I'm the one who said that you should have stayed here and lived with the Humans and what I said about them," Vidia replied. She sighed again. "You were right. I was being to accusative and stupid. They are good people and … and I wish I had learned that sooner,"
"Vidia," Tinkerbell hovered over to her friend and rested a hand on her shoulder. "We're both sorry for what we said to each other. They are good people, which you've admitted, but I should have left you to learn that, so It's kind of me that should be saying sorry,"
Vidia smiled a little and looked up at her. "Well, it doesn't matter now. We made it." she said, embracing her tightly. "I'm glad you're with us, Tinkerbell," she said.
Tinkerbell embraced her as well, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Same with you, Vidia," she said, feeling happy and safe once again for the first time in days. A short, but hellish time.
All around them in the city of London, other tripods had or were collapsing and survivors were finally coming out and asking each other and themselves what had brought them down. A few had the answer, but they would explain it later. For now, they would celebrate victory over this alien menace and finally go home to rebuild their shattered lives.
After many days of fighting, running and absolute hell, the war between Great Britain and Mars, a war between two worlds was finally over, and humanity had emerged as the victor.