Hello, once again, fellow FF readers and writers.
And here I am with the promised spin-off to the Tinkerbell/War of the Worlds crossover I mentioned previously, following a different set of characters within the wider scope of the original FF.
I hope you all will like it.
Even with the preparations starting days or even weeks before their journey to the Mainland, Pixie Hollow was always buzzing with activity because of there being a delay of some kind. Be it the birds not being fully packed, the equipment prepared by Tinkerbell and the Tinkers needing to be disassembled, the animals that would need to be transported not being found, or sometimes the weather, or the occasional issue with pixie dust. The list was endless. One, or some, or even many of these things happening around or even at the time of the Neverland fairies prepping to go to the Mainland always slowed things down, regardless of the season.
And today was no different. A small storm had swept through the island the previous night, and as today was the day the summer season was about to begin, the Ministers of Spring and Summer had insisted things go ahead while some fairies remaining behind had to clean things up.
As one could imagine, the clearing for the birds was an absolute frenzied mess as the ministers and other leading groups tried to organise things and keep everyone on time for the take-off. The animal fairies tried to keep the birds calm, given that the calling, clattering, shouting and moving of many things was distressing them somewhat; the tinker fairies and several others were trying to move things out of the way; the water fairies were ensuring that everyone and every animal had enough water to last them for when they got there. Oh, it was a scene.
For one fairy – relatively tall, dressed in scout fairy attire made out of brown leaves for a top and the shed fur of a squirrel for a pair of leggings, and with long brown hair that cascaded down her back and a pair of glowing brown eyes – it was just another busy day of preparing for the Mainland, one she had done for years by this point. As she tossed a bag of equipment up to the garden fairies on one of the waiting doves in a more calm area of the clearing, she could not help but chuckle at the younger, more inexperienced scout fairies only just managing to keep things together, the expressions of frustration palpable, the huffs and puffs of orders and noises being called out from every and all directions, the ministers constantly checking to make sure everything was ready. Oh, and the tinker fairies also needing an extra pair of hands to make sure everything was out of the way and more organised.
"Hey, Sasha!" a voice called out.
She looked behind her to see another scout fairy, this time a male who was a head taller than her with short black hair, a pair of blue eyes, and dressed in similar attire as to her, only with a pair of shorts crafted out of yellow and green leaves and heavy boots/shoes on his feet, fly over.
Sasha smiled. "Ace!" she exclaimed.
He settled down, grabbing one of the bags and tossing it up to the garden fairies on the dove. "Things okay here?" he asked.
Sasha nodded, nodding her head at the dove. "Yep, everything here is pretty much done," she replied, grabbing the last bag and tying it to back of the dove. "And calmer too," she added with a grunt as she tied the knot.
Ace nodded, looking over at one group of fairies a few feet away. A young scout fairy woman was trying to juggle several tasks at once – throwing bags onto the dove's back, having the fairies check everything, talking to the Minister of Spring, who seemed to have made it his mission to check up on them more than any of the others around them, and having the two water fairies nearby go fill up the caskets they were to bring with clean drinkable water. Seeing her almost look like she was going to turn as red as Tinkerbell and go off on the group she was in charge of made him chuckle.
Reminds me of when I started he thought. I remember what Nyx told me. Just keep a cool head and do what you can.
It was advice he had taken to heart.
A nudge brought him back to Sasha, who was reminding the garden fairies here to get things ready for when they would leave.
"So, where are you headed this time on the Mainland?" she asked him, dusting her hands off.
"Your group, mine and a couple of others are due to be on some small island in the south of the Mainland," Ace explained. One of the garden fairies on the dove gave him the name 'Wight Island' and he thanked them. "Meant to be quite nice there," he added with a shrug.
Sasha nodded, glancing at the mass of activity for a moment to see a couple of Tinker fairies – ones she knew as Bobble and Clank – conversing with Tinkerbell over the amount of stuff they had.
"And Tink?" Sasha asked.
"She's headin' over to the spot we were last year," a voice called out, making them jump. From the mass, holding a piece of wood with a leaf with written instructions on it, was a fairy with red hair that ended in curls, and dressed in a rose dress with red shoes.
"Hey Rosetta!" Sasha called, giving her a hug.
"Hey Sug'," she replied, embracing her, then handing the list to Ace. "We'll be heading to Lizzy's House!" she added with an excited tone.
Ace looked up from the list. "Ah, the human girl?" he asked and Rosetta nodded.
"Yep! Tink'll want to see her!" Rosetta said, then bade the group farewell and headed off to join another group of fairies nearby.
Ace gave a titter. "That'll keep her occupied for a while, right Sasha?" he asked, checking the list.
When he received no reply, he looked at his fellow scout fairy to see her looking over at Tink with an expression that was a mixture of worry and annoyance, as if she wanted to rush over there and berate her for something, or to try and talk her out … whatever it was she wanted to do.
Ace knew what it was, and knew it was what had Sasha looking the way she did.
"Sasha?" he inquired.
She looked back at him, trying to put on a different expression. "Oh, sure! I'll get right on it!" she replied quickly.
He stopped her. "Sasha, I saw how you were looking," he said.
She stopped, looking at him, then sighed. "That obvious?" she asked rhetorically.
He nodded. "I know that you feel …" he trailed off, trying to find the right words. "Different, shall we say, towards humans when compared with Tink. But, maybe you should give them a try."
Sasha gave him a look of irritation. "I don't think so," was her blunt reply. She looked back at Tinkerbell, who was now conversing with some of her friends – Rosetta, Fawn, Bobble and Sasha's purple haired fast-flying friend, Vidia. "Vidia feels the same way as I do."
"So she hates humans like you?" Ace said.
Sasha tutted. "I don't hate humans, Ace. I just think … well …" she paused, then tutted again. "I just think they're dangerous, that's all. I mean, not counting all the damage they do to the environment, but look at what happened last year, and who knows how many close calls before that." She gestured with her arm at Vidia. "I mean, she was almost captured. We would have never been able to go to the Mainland again!"
Ace raised his hands, gesturing for her to remain calm. "Okay, take it easy!" he said to her, hoping they were not drawing any looks from anyone around them. "Look, Tink and the others have managed to get on fine without any issues." He pointed out.
"In case you haven't noticed, Ace, that's with two humans." She held up two fingers to emphasise her point. "What about other humans? They're not going to be as accepting. Plus, Vidia's told me she doesn't trust being around them, especially that … Martian or Martin, or whatever his name is. She doesn't want to be near him."
Ace went to speak, but paused, then exhaled. "That's gonna go down well when they get there," he commented with a foreboding tone of pessimism.
"But she's right!" Sasha continued. "I mean, what if something happens and she gets caught? Or what is something happens to Tinkerbell this time? Or one of us?!" she waved her arm at the mass of fairies before them. "Engaging with them is dangerous."
"Sasha, I think we all know here not to just randomly start walking up to humans and saying hi. And we've managed to bring the seasons to the Mainland for a long time, and there's barely been any problems." Ace paused to let his words sink in. "I just think you're over-thinking this supposed threat that isn't really there."
"I'm a scout fairy, Ace," she said, resting one hand on her chest, and pointing at him with her other hand. "And so are you! We're meant to be on the lookout for threats and to keep fairies safe." She sighed bitterly, looking out at Tinkerbell again, who was about to climb onto the doves with her Tinker friends and the animal fairy, Fawn.
"Tinkerbell's done many wonderful things for us all, there's no doubt," she said. "But this … relationship she has with the humans, it's, it's … it's not good."
Ace went to reply but he was drowned out by the voice of the Minister of Spring calling out: "Alright, everybody. We must leave now. We are cleared enough. Please prepare."
The activity intensified as the fairies rushed to get into their groups or pack the last of the equipment. Ace gave Sasha a look that said: 'We'll talk about this later' and climbed onto the back of the bird to join the two garden fairies and a water fairy that had sat down on the creature. Sasha looked back at the rest of the fairies before her, as if trying to keep count of how many were going (a lot) and who they were exactly, hoping that they were all going to come back.
She gave another heavy sigh. I just really … really hope nothing bad is going to happen.
Ace and others called her a worry wart, but she always believed in thinking of and being ready for any and all outcomes. It made her somewhat pessimistic (the nature of a scout fairy she often told herself) and with how Pixie Hollow and the way of life for the fairies had changed in the past few years, she believed there was good reason to feel this way. Maybe everyone else, aside from a few, did not see things the way she did, and thought more like Ace, but she knew it had kept her alive.
Nothing would change it for her; the last few times had not and she doubted it would be different this time as she climbed onto the back of the bird to join her companions on their annual tasks.
"To the air, fairies! To the air!" the Minister of Spring bellowed out.
Within minutes, the flock of birds and their many fairy companions were soaring through the clouds, heading to the bright second star to the right, straight on to the Mainland.
Unbeknownst to them all, it would soon lead them straight into the abyss.