Flying buttresses supported high ceilings, opening the vast space of the circular room where windows of stainless glass were shimmery with various colors twinkling natural light. Wall mounted sconces burned candles for a warmer glow, seeping the deep-plum grooves of marbled-stone flooring. Pearl-marble staircases ascended the multiple floors of lofted spaces lined with plum-oak doors that led to various rooms, framing the amethyst brick of the central fireplace. Centered in front of Queen-Anne couches clothed in a rich, deep-violet that faced each other, divided by a dark wood coffee table carved in the most ornate, intricate craftsmanship.
Occupying the couch to the fireplace's left, Gary slouched with arms folded over his lap. Staring at his blue timberlands beside his best friend holding his head back against the couch cushion. Dwight had developed a far-off gaze towards the ceiling, trying to decipher the jumbles of thoughts as Molly sat to his left, arms folded across her stiff chest. Hazel leaned into Molly's left shoulder, lines of stress crinkled into her forehead. Fingers fiddling with the draw strings of her cropped hoodie for anything they could hold onto.
Along the other couch to the right of the fireplace, Chloe's chin rested atop knees bent to her chest, unable to make eye contact with anything but the stone floor. Arms laced around them as if to keep herself together in the tightest ball. Remy occupied the space to her left with arms crossed in a protective, guarded gesture, a defense to the tension manifesting within him. The birthday girl beside him did not seem to notice his edge, failing to hide the hot rosiness in her cheeks. Shoulders hunched and arms tucked in her lap next to the pink-hatted boy who propped one arm over one bent knee. Blue eyes more focused on the nonburning fire cackling in the fireplace…paying her no mind.
It'd been well over an hour since Timmy and Gary were the last to arrive at Fairy Fort with their fairies, and not once had Timmy commented about the night and day difference in her appearance. Not even the power of makeup had got him to notice her outside of a 'Hey, Tootie,', and under different circumstances, she'd fret herself over it. A minor grievance that, knowing what she knew now, seemed trivial compared to the mystical phenomenon he and Gary had revealed to them all.
"Whoa…" Dwight was the first to break the silence "…that's insane…"
Gary chortled with a light scoff. "I feel insane just thinkinna 'bout it all…"
"So lemme get this straight..." Susie spoke for all of the godparents hovering near their respective godchildren. "Tommy's apparently Timmy's secret older brother, owning a dog who, in actuality, is one of the Fairy Council's pets or whatever…but Tommy thinks the Fairy Council are Seraphims and that Timmy and Gary have shapeshifting angels? And on top of alla that, grandma kicked the bucket, this dog brought the grandpa back to life, then rebirthed Timmy's dead sister as Tommy's daughter by ingesting Tommy's blood and hackin' out a whole human?!"
"Yeah, pretty much the gist…" Wanda wearily huffed, cradling her infant son still fast asleep in her arms.
"All of that kinda sounds like the weirdest fever dream, but like, you're wide awake on the most hallucinogenic trip of your life." Molly casually remarked, causing Irving to cast her a quizzical look.
"…how you know what a hallucinogenic trip is?"
"I know way more than I should." Molly shrugged loosely, withholding details of the one and only time Marissa had mixed her favorite booze with three puffs of cannabis. Too young to recall the continuous string of events, old enough to get vivid flashes of her sole parental figure, at the time, tweaking out of her mind.
"That reminds me…" Dwight lifted his head, shifting to an upright position. "Elmer had told me this morning about this Great Grey last night…she was looking through the window and watching me sleep."
"Watching you sleep?" Remy arched a brow.
"Yeah..." Dwight sighed, bunching his brows. "Seizures were my worst enemy yesterday…"
"And the last couple weeks." Irving added drably.
"What about your medication?" Nyekundu thought to ask. "Has it stopped working again?"
"That's what it feels like…" Dwight's regret groaned. "But it might be a while before my dads can afford anything better…"
Timmy's lips pinched, though he didn't tear his gaze from the orangey sways within the fire.
"This owl that was watching you…" Gary looked to his best friend. "Have you seen it before?"
"It was the same owl we'd seen at the park with this kid and his mom…" Dwight recalled. "They're apparently his neighbors."
Chloe's ears perked with a nervous flicker in her eyes. A hunch assumed she might know who Dwight was referring to, but the coincidence of a kid and his mother owning an owl just seemed too obvious of a fluke to fully believe. "…w-what did the kid and his mom look like?"
A sheepish smile crept in Dwight's dry lips. "I honestly can't remember what the mom looked like, but Elmer recognized the kid with glasses and ears on his neck…" he paused thoughtfully. "Though I definitely remember the owl's eyes…they reminded me of Treebelle's robe."
"…if…I-I'm not mistaken…" her tight voice cracked "…you might be talking about Kevin."
"Kevin?" Dwight's confusion repeated, and Chloe's stiffness nodded.
"I-I met him yesterday…he…had a Great Grey with eyes like Treebelle's robe…" her arms tautly squeezed her knees, clearing lumps knotting in her throat. "…I met his mom, too…she…goes by Dr. Katherine…"
"…like, a doctor at a hospital?" Tootie's mousey voice questioned.
"No…" Chloe tried to compose herself with a steadying breath. Unsure of what the others would think of her when she uttered "…like a…therapist."
"You saw a shrink in the hospital?" Molly probed more in an inquiring manner than a place of judgement, and Chloe weakly shook her head, swallowing the acid taste down the back of her throat.
"It's…a long story."
"I don't think anyone has anywhere else to be, Chlo-bird." Susie spoke encouragingly, making Chloe's eyes take on an afeared flash.
"Yeah, kiddo." Irving added his own reassurance. "We're all ears."
Her lips twitched, skin itching as if being pricked by needles. Save Timmy and his slumbering godbrother, the weight of everyone's anticipating gazes fell onto her, quickening the drumming thumps in her ears. Logic knew this place was a judgement-free zone, knew she didn't have to hide. Her irrationality wanted, needed, to crawl under the heaviest rock, into the darkest space. Hide with what was left of her dignity, away from any chance of condemning comments.
"Chloe." her godmother lowered a consolatory hand, giving Chloe's shoulder a gentle squeeze as Chloe met her indigo gaze. "You want me to tell 'em?"
Chloe furrowed, chewing on her bottom lip. For once, it was like her mother's voice was actively blocked from penetrating her mind. Still didn't make it difficult to imagine what she would be saying if Chloe could hear her…
Get it together! There's nothing wrong with you…
You make a big fuss over stuff that's just all in your head…
Good Lord, you're so dramatic…
You'll always be nothing short of deplorable.
Multiple professionals have all validated her with a diagnosis, and though her father once believed 'mental illness' was a crutch full of excuses…he now strived to give her anxiety a voice. Still, she felt the need to silence it. It's better to be seen as calm and collected, not have her insanity be heard…
"Her dad took her to see Dr. Katherine…a therapist."
She heard her godmother speak for her and frowned, lowering her head in shame. Too weak to even speak for herself…deplorable.
"She had a bad panic attack during the consultation and…" Susie chose to skip the details for the sake of Chloe's visible discomfort. "…she ended up hospitalized."
"Did…" Dwight hesitated, perhaps one of the only other witnesses around to have the misfortune of firsthand experience with what Susie labeled a bad panic attack. "…did you have that…'seizure'…again?"
Having to admit the truth conglomerated the most bile taste in her throat, clenching it shut. The most Chloe could do was nod with a neck that appeared to have lost the ability to flexibly bend.
"I thought you didn't have epilepsy." Remy questioned Chloe.
"She doesn't." Susie affirmed, reassuring her goddaughter with another tender squeeze to her rigid shoulder. The corners of her lips bent downwards when Chloe then clasped her head between her hands. "Her anxiety's gotten real bad..."
Timmy's eyes squinted with hints of a sickened twitch, as if repulsed learning the deteriorative state of a disorder he felt Chloe did not deserve to keep suffering from. He would have gone unnoticed apart from Gary's fixed, studying stare.
"Sounds scary…" Tootie observed, compassion radiating from her steady gaze. She could remember her first ever interaction with Chloe, albeit brief.
Chloe had sped out of Mr. Crocker's classroom, barreling down the school hallway before she had a chance to react quickly enough to step out of her frantic path, accidently knocking her to the ground. When she'd asked Chloe if she was okay, she saw blue eyes darting around at everything but her as her arms trembled, then her legs stumbled to her feet in a mad dash as if running away from an invisible threat.
That was maybe, like, three months ago; in hindsight, Chloe seemed really, really anxious. Wow…she had no idea Chloe had been dealing with this for so long. Perhaps even longer than that.
"Hey, Tootie," Molly called to the other raven-hair, switching Tootie's attention. "You remember your uncle stopping to help that weird-looking guy with the ears on his neck? And that raven next to him with the purple eyes like Plumfrost's robe?"
Tootie hummed in ratification. "And her eyes were all sparkly, too."
"Wait…" Chloe's peaked curiosity overtook her growing desire to hide, raising her head from her hands' clasp. "…y-you guys saw Mr. Crocker?"
"Uh-huh." Tootie confirmed. "The engine in his van had died, and my Uncle Vic stopped to give him a boost. There was this raven with purply eyes on his shoulder the whole time."
You gotta be freakin kidding me…Timmy tightly swallowed to keep from grumbling aloud. That nutcase was already obsessed with fairies without it being a matter of time before some animal with magical, godlike powers poured gallons of truth into his conspiracies. The heck is the Council doing!?
"Did he not notice you?" Remy asked when he looked to Tootie.
"No. He didn't pay us any attention. Kinda like…we weren't even there."
"We haven't seen that raven since, but Swizzle and I felt this powerful magical energy." Rose brought up. "We knew right away that she couldn't be a fairy but…we didn't consider the possibility of her being connected with the Council."
"Then somethin' strange happened when Tootie blew out her candles this morning." Swizzle added, arms folded. "All of us saw purple magic in the smoke."
"Purple magic?" Nyekundu queried, brows scrunched puzzledly.
"Yeah, but when we went outside to look for that raven, we couldn't find her." Molly admitted.
"My sister Vicky and Uncle Vic didn't see the magic, though..." Tootie inserted. "But my Uncle Vic was the one holding the cake, and Vicky was standing right beside him."
"So is their magic like…invisible to folks who don't believe in magic?" Irving guessed.
"Tim and I can't really answer." Gary shrugged, half listening to the conversation and half keeping his eye on his cousin who looked like a ticking timebomb across from him. "Grandpa was out the whole time everything happened…"
"So…w-what about yesterday? When Buddy healed Alondro?" Dwight was almost afraid to ask, hesitant of resurfacing any sensitive memories. "Like, did…your grandparents see it happening?"
Gary's eyes saddened, instantly ashamed. Not wanting to bring light to his detached and muddled mindset at the time, so he settled with a copout but safe response "…I'm not sure…"
Shifting from the solace of Molly's shoulder, Hazel grew ruminative in her lowered chin and facial expression. She'd hoped to talk to Remy in private, thinking he would be the only other godchild with more of an understanding of her plight. But with conversations of adults and regular children mysteriously entering their lives and having been given access to the Council's magical companions in disguise, she might as well come out in the open herself.
"…so…yesterday…" she meekly started, a subtle tremble in her voice that drew everyone's attention to her. "…I-I'd met this girl named Missy…and her ferret named Schumann…"
"Wait…Missy?" The name rang a bell in Remy's mind. "As in Missy Phirman?"
Hazel swallowed dryly as she nodded. "I'd never seen them in the same community let alone a house or two near me…but…I remember his eyes looked like the same color Persimmons wears..." her fists squeezed together, clenching her hoodie's drawstrings as eye burgeoning with tears diverted to the knees of her jeans. Floods of a man's aggressive rage and noxious resentment crashing into her psyche like the wrathful waves of a hurricane. "…then…m-my dad…h-h-he…"
"It's okay, Kakao." Nyekundu's wings lowered her for her gentle touch to lift Hazel's chin. Tender, soothing lips pecked the top of her goddaughter's forehead, and ambivalent brown eyes peered upwards, washed in warmth when they met the familiar comfort of red.
If Nyekundu wasn't there, she couldn't have made it this far. If she didn't have Nyekundu, illogicality would probably give her the courage to make herself Anthony's casket neighbor…
Bet the Wells wouldn't mind that at all…
"What'd that POS do?" Molly didn't wanna push, but speculating about a grown man putting hands on a little girl pinched nerves she didn't know she had.
Pulling herself away from her godmother, Hazel hunched her shoulders as her insides gnawed and reeled. If only Simmons were here; he'd extract the bad memories and insert them into everyone's knowledge, just like he'd done when overwhelming fear refused incestuous rape to utter from her lips. Nothing was blackmailing her into secrecy this time around, but it'd been so long since there was no one around hellbent on silencing her strife…
"…h-he hurt me…" she forced herself to squeak out, eyes downcast and her small frame visibly shuddering. Nyekundu reached from behind, linking her arms like a soft scarf around Hazel's neck twilled tensely. "…c-cuz Hillary…kept c-calling me bad names and…I got upset and pushed her…"
"Bout time you defended ya'self, kid." Swizzle commented solemnly.
Hazel's seeking fingers reached to hold Nyekundu's arms like a lifeline around her. "…but when he…came in the room…s-she made up this lie that I'd pushed her to be mean…"
"And he believed her over you?" Susie asked in hopes of a different answer than the one she already knew as fact. And Hazel's grimace tainted her hopes.
"He always believes her…"
"…is…that where this came from?" Tootie pointed to a spot on her right cheek, near where a scab was marked on Hazel's where a phantom burn made her wince in discomfort.
"…that came from a leather belt to the face." Nyekundu answered in her goddaughter's place. Her embrace remained loving around Hazel, yet her contempt for those bashas dripped with each word. "Hillary and Marcus degrade her like some slave, and Angela does nothing to stop it."
"Sheesh…" Gary cringed as everyone else took on expressions of either condolence and empathy for an innocent little girl, or animosity and disdain for her 'family.' Aware that Hazel's situation was bad, though none of them quite knew of the extent…
As for Timmy, his glower bore into the cackling flames in the fireplace, a surge of aversion scorching through his veins like white fire. His arms and legs tensed, gritting his teeth in attempts to resist the itch to dig his nails into his arm.
"…but last night, Schumann crawled his way up to my room on the second floor…" Hazel peeped after excessively clearing her throat. "…I-I let him in and…he healed me."
"Healed you?" Molly repeated, and Hazel pinched her lips as she nodded.
"His eyes sparkled, too…" her lack of self-confidence briefly looked to Nyekundu, clutching her motherly arms around her as if relying on her comfort to continue. "Then…next we knew, we woke up this morning in Missy's house."
"What, she kidnap you guys?" Swizzle assumed out of slight misunderstanding.
"…Missy didn't…technically…" Hazel wasn't quite sure of the semantics herself. "…but Missy didn't seem all that surprised. She…acted like it was supposed to happen."
As ruminative silence lapsed, Remy tilted his gaze on his godfather who'd been hovering wordlessly with crossed arms, watching as Juandissimo soon drift his fixed stare in his direction. He could simply be misanthropic in general, but Missy seemed oddly over-enthusiastic when he thought back to her seeing Juandissimo for the first time. Was it because she could see through his disguise?
"…Juan and I'd met her yesterday, too; she and her father were performing for the country club…" Remy then addressed the others, fingers drumming a rapid staccato on his tux sleeve. "I got this strange feeling being around her…like she knew so much about me without me saying a word…"
"…how's that strange?" Gary voiced the first thing that came to mind, and when Remy stopped drumming his fingers with scrunched brows towards him, he felt the need to clarify his nonjudgmental intention. "I mean…doesn't everybody know your family?"
"Everybody knows the Buxaplentys…not me." Remy emphasized, sighing before he continued. "Anyway…it was strange because Missy said something about this voice in her head that tells her things? Called it 'Spirit'…"
"Yeah, she said something about Spirit this morning, too." Hazel equated. "…and how she thinks you dye your ferret's fur."
"That's original." Molly's sarcasm didn't intend to offend, but Remy ignored her anyway.
"I couldn't think of anything else when she questioned why Juan looked so odd." his eyes drifted, furrowing. "But now I'm starting to wonder if she was pretending as well..."
Considering this, Hazel's head tilted thoughtfully. "…do you think…Missy thinks Nyekundu and Juandissimo are 'angels,' too?"
Contemplating, Remy met Juandissimo's shrugging glance, then shrugged himself. "Maybe…"
"…should you ask her?" Dwight wondered, looking towards Hazel. "I mean…assuming you're not going back to your house after this…"
"Why would she?" Susie remarked. "Sounds like lil' Schumann had the right idea."
Hazel frowned, looking downward. "I guess…"
"Guys, this is so obvious; the Council's up to somethin' again." Swizzle surmised.
"Really?" Cosmo perked. His lack of commenting was due to the amount of concentration required to keep up with the conversation. "Huh…I wonder if Jorgen kno-."
Puffs of steel-blue smoke cut off Cosmo's comment, and the fairy couple and their baby vanished in thin air.
"…Cosmo? Wanda?" Timmy's attention was torn from the fireplace, scanning the room for his fairies.
The other godkids had no clue where Timmy's fairies had gone, but the godparents knew very well what this meant as Rose gulped. "…uh-oh."
"…what's 'uh-oh'?" Timmy probed, and Rose gave a straight-forward answer.
"Cosmo and Wanda have been summoned by Jorgen."
'Summoned by Jorgen' drew a bad taste in Timmy's mouth. "…that's bad, isn't it."
"It depends, but…normally not very good."
Timmy dragged fingers down his face in a sullen huff. Daggum, what is it now!?
When the smoke cleared, Cosmo and Wanda found themselves first greeted by framed photos of the Von Strangle family tree plastered along military-green walls, and a cold shiver shot down their spines. Their dread was further confirmed when the Fairy Commander faced away from a wall of TV monitors and slowly turned in his beige leather chair, folding brawny arms on the surface of his executive's desk as a critical sharpness narrowed his gaze.
Cosmo tugged on his buttoned collar, releasing stewing heat from inside his shirt as Wanda swallowed. The usual Jorgen would immediately voice the offense that'd interrupted his duties to summon them. But this Jorgen glared wordlessly in a taut frown, shriveling Wanda's insides in aching contractions.
"…is…something wrong?" her shrill voice asked, cradling Poof who was luckily undisturbed.
Jorgen continued to stare, and the couple's hearts pulsed in their throats. Seconds passed like hours before the Fairy Commander leaned forward in his chair, his tone seemingly only minorly irritated yet with a grated edge.
"I just got word from the Council; your status is to be reactivated as Timmy Turner's godparents."
Cosmo floated unblinkingly with his head cocked as a single raised eyebrow expressed Wanda's dubious skepticism. "What about the probation?"
"The Council has now deemed the probation cruel and unusual punishment due to Timmy Turner's current predicament." Jorgen refuted Wanda's doubt. "They fear it will cause more damage if the probation continues."
"Then why put Timmy on probation in the first place…" Wanda muttered under her breath, still loud enough for Jorgen to choose not to respond to the comment as he grabbed his wand-like staff that was propped beside him against his desk.
Once the large star-tip sparked, steel-blue glitters shimmered the entirety of Cosmo and Wanda's bodies, twinkling from the tips of their toes to the roots of their scalps. A mixture of icy warmth tingled down their legs, surged through their arms, and swirled in dizzying whirls around in their heads. Wanda tightened her cradle around Poof in fear the twinge of numbness would accidentally drop him, and Cosmo held out his glowing fingers with admiring eyes like a child watching stars shine for the first time.
Slowly, the blue glint in their clothes and skin returned to their normal hues much to Cosmo's disappointment, pouting mutely as the light in Jorgen's staff faded. "Your active status is now reinstated." he declared, settling his staff back to its resting place. "If Timmy Turner does not make a wish, you will be susceptible to magic build-up."
Cosmo and Wanda acknowledged this with quiet nods, and Jorgen wrinkled his nose.
"Listen…" he groaned, his voice gravely somber. Rarely did he get personal with his employees, but his vexation felt obligated to comment on this particular situation. "I am no parent, and I understand that a new baby can be a lot…but Turner, your godchild, needs both of you, not just one of you in shifts."
The fairy couple shared rueful glances before their glances lowered to their sleeping baby.
"Turner is not in a good place mentally…" Jorgen pointed out, deepening his slit brow. "…I am certain you both know this."
"…we do." Wanda spoke contritely as Cosmo rubbed his arm, frowning. They've known this for a while, just haven't addressed it more than a few moments here and there…
"A vase with cracks is still a broken vase, even if glued back together. Now that the probation is lifted, there's a possibility he might act out on his ideations, but as his godparents, you two cannot let that happen."
Timmy is too precious to them…they wouldn't dare let that happen…
"You know as well as I do that if you both don't start dividing your attention more efficiently, you will lose him." The boisterous in his trill hushed ominously. "And I promise that would not be good for you."
Cosmo sharply gulped as Wanda winced. That was Jorgen's not-so discreet way of putting their godparenting career on the chopping block if another godchild died in their care.
"Sorry, sir…" Cosmo was genuinely apologetic, feeling as though he had been failing Timmy the most. "We'll try to do better."
"Don't try." Jorgen gritted. "Just do."
"We will." Wanda voiced, her expression equally as repentant. "We promise."
Taking their word, Jorgen was about to dismiss them once he grabbed his staff when the dusty lightbulb flickered in Cosmo's mind and his green eyes flashed.
"Wait!" his outburst halted Jorgen midway. "…what do you know about Tommy?"
"Cosmo…" Wanda was going to advise Cosmo now was not the time to bring that up, but she ultimately pressed her lips shut, deciding against stopping him. Her own curiosity would like to know if the Fairy Commander had any pertinent information regarding the Council's covert operation.
Jorgen furrowed. He'd been aware of the role Turner's older brother would have even before his observation of the monitors. "Tommy is exactly who he says he is."
"…so how does he know about us? And the Council?" Wanda quizzed.
"He does not know any fairy's true identity."
That explanation didn't satiate Wanda's bemusement. "But he knew us all by name! Even our son!" she expressed, Poof slumbering soundly.
"He does not know you are fairies." Jorgen reiterated, no change in his stern brow. "That is all that should matter."
"Well, whose bright idea was it to call us 'angels,' anyway?" Cosmo groused. "We have crowns, not halos! And are wings look like flies, not birds! Like, c'mon; we have wands, for cryin' out loud!"
Instead of shouting at Cosmo to stop spewing nonsense, Jorgen grumbled "…I had nothing to do with that."
"So…can the same be said about the others that've been mentioned?" Wanda mentioned. "Like…this Missy girl, some kid named Kevin, and…" her throat gulped another lump "…even Mr. Crocker?"
"Yes. Even Denzel Crocker."
Cosmo and Wanda exchanged perturbed looks. The heck, were the Council trying to expose them on purpose?!
"Look, all you need to know is that you will not be taken away from your godchildren." Jorgen huffed, seeing the puny fairies' unease clear as day. "Unless they break Da Rules, just like any other godchild."
That answer felt even less reassuring, but Wanda chose to ask the burning question "…so, what is the Council trying to accomplish this time?"
"That…I cannot answer." Jorgen sighed, once again made to follow clear instructions yet still unclear of overall intentions. "But the Council must see something in these kids to want to put this much effort into bringing light into their darkness."
Cosmo and Wanda ponder this statement as Jorgen reached for his staff.
"…any more questions?"
Feeling like their brain might explode (at least one of them, anyway,) Cosmo and Wanda shook their heads.
"Good."
With a tap of the wand-like staff against the ground, the fairy couple and their child were sucked in a blink of a blank void, and as clouds dissipated, they were met with befuddled yet inquiring gazes of their friends and godchildren. Including their godson who immediately stood to his feet to face them.
"…I got you in trouble, huh."
"Oh, sweetie, no. You didn't get us in trouble." It was the sullen dejection in Timmy's knitted brows that solidified Jorgen's point, even more so than when she'd discovered his self-inflicted welts along his arm. They get a lecture for their shortcomings, and Timmy's first thought is to blame himself with nothing to account for.
"…you sure?" there was a tinge of agitation, as if Timmy felt he was being lied to in order to spare his feelings.
"Yes." Wanda firmly assured him, then her eyes scanned to address everyone in the room. "In fact, we have good news."
"That's a twist." Susie snorted. "What's the good news?"
Adjusting Poof's deadweight in her waning grasp, Wanda smiled weakly. "The Council decided to end Timmy's probation early."
"That means Timmy can make wishes again!" Cosmo exclaimed jauntily.
Timmy pinched his lips in a hard line, hard enough to twitch the corner of his right eye.
"Wow, I dunno if it's Tootie's birthday or Timmy's." Molly chuckled at her own harmless joke. "You get your sister back and wish-making back? All in one day? Like…what'd you do, suck the Council's toes, or somethin'?"
"Molly, cut it out..." Swizzle grouched, and Molly made a face at her that insisted she truly was just poking fun.
"Nonetheless, we're all happy for ya, kiddo." Irving grinned earnestly, except Timmy's narrowed stare to his shoes didn't look like a child who'd been reallotted wish-granting powers.
Worried, Tootie licked her lips, timid when she squeaked "…what's wrong, Timmy?"
Wadding fists, Timmy spoke through gritted teeth, the tainted strain in his voice revealing his great effort to contain his bitter revulsion. "…the Council doesn't care like they say they do…"
Everyone sent Timmy puzzled stares, except for his godparents, his cousin, and his cousin's godfather. Knowing as much as Timmy knew, while they could only presume what was jumbling in his thoughts, they knew it couldn't be good.
"Why do you think that?" Alondro asked, trying to gage Timmy's mindset.
Timmy's lips curled into a disdainful sneer. "Cuz there's no way they put me through this crap just to end it cuz they felt like it…"
"Perhaps…the Council simply had a change of heart?" Juandissimo posed a simple thought.
A simple thought that triggered a latent bomb as blue, glaring daggers shot his way.
"My grandpa was this close to dying after they killed my grandma and my parents, and you wanna call that a change of heart?!"
"Timmy, calm down…" Wanda cautioned when her godson's scowl bore into Juandissimo's perplexed expression. Timmy's quickening breaths grew shallow as though his chest was growing too thin to bottle any more pent-up anger.
She lowered herself to reach with a becalming palm, but his ignited spark swatted at her backhandedly. His eyes flashed with pure contempt, though she knew it was not towards her, never towards her. It was contempt for the hypocrisy of the most powerful fairies in the universe, the bane of his existence.
"No, Wanda! They punish me for being upset, for bringing to light what they wanted us kids to stay in the dark about! But here they are, trynna play 'God' like they're doing us any favors!" he whirled his fiery glare back to Juandissimo. "And if that's what you call a change of heart, then just how dumb are you!?"
"Don't talk to my fairy like that, Turner!" Remy's struck nerve jumped to his godfather's defense, startling Chloe beside him in the process. Refusing to back down, Timmy growled at him, cheeks flamed with rage.
"Oh, shut up, Buxaplenty! You wouldn't be this bold if you had any idea what the Council did!"
Just as Gary suspected, Timmy was crashing. Hard. "Timmy, don't-"
"In fact, Tommy told us alllllllll about the secrets of the high and mighty! Stuff they'd never admit themselves!" Timmy blatantly ignored his cousin's warning, pointing directly into the young billionaire's face. "And since you wanna come at me, let's start with you!"
The bottom of Wanda's gut began to ache when Poof squirmed sleepily, wriggling in her arms. "Timmy-"
"Your parents plane crash was no accident! The Council crashed that plane and let them burn to death on purpose!" he barked, bunching Remy's face into a disgruntled frown. No one was off limits when his firm finger pointed towards the platinum blonde's haunted eyes. "And your mom's attack at the zoo, also no accident! They sunk their teeth into her neck and crushed her throat!"
Her heart thundered, constricting her chest, suffocating her caught breath. He then pointed to the birthday girl. Not even she was safe from his tirade.
"Your cultist dad getting his body sliced and diced by Francis's dad and his goons? Yeah, also on purpose!" his hard, cold snarl contorted disparaging horror in Tootie's frown as he swiveled on his heel, pointing in the gothic girl's path. "Which, by the way, Francis's dad wouldn't have sliced his own neck off his shoulders if he hadn't been the Council's puppet!"
Now royally peeved, Molly sneered as Swizzle grunted "Yo, what's gotten into this kid!?"
"And let's not forget about your brother!" Timmy called out the little black girl who clung to her godmother as discomfort crossed her face. "Taking his own life? That was his own choice! But only cuz the Council wasn't above using him like some puppet too! They made him do all that crazy stuff on that nanny creep so their hands wouldn't get dirty!"
"Timmy, that's enough!" Wanda scolded as Poof writhed into aggravated whimpers. But Timmy had already gone too far to be stopped.
"And those bullies that put you and Gary in the hospital?" He confronted the dorky ginger's bewildered stare. "Yeah, the Council made sure they learned their lesson in juvie! Only reason they're not six feet under is cuz they're apparently above killing kids!"
Poof erupted into strangled cries, his face flushed like a ripe tomato. His mother did her best to softly shush him, bouncing him soothingly.
Gary's agitation squinted, scrunching his nose towards Timmy. "Are you happy, now?"
"I just thought I'd point out how the writers of Da Rules are total frauds!" Timmy retorted, his tone condescending. "Cuz explain to me how the most powerful fairies in the universe can control, torture, and kill humans, yet-" he pointed to Gary "-you still zone out-" then pointed to Dwight "-you still have seizures-" then to Chloe "-you still have panic attacks-" and lastly Hazel "-and your 'family,' is still a bunch of racist pricks!"
"Timmy, stop it!" Cosmo stepped up when Wanda's hands were tied with their wailing son, but Timmy's sheer hate and fury continued to coil in his chest like a viper ready to strike.
"And worst of all, they kill my parents just to stick me with an old hag that never did anything but make me want to kill myself, which I couldn't, because of that fucking probat-"
A forceful, tugging zip swiftly slid across his lips, fastening them into a gritty, pinching lock. When he tried to open his mouth again, the skin around his lips stretched painfully as if past their limits, and when his hands reached to investigate, they felt something metallic on his lips with grooves like zippers on a jacket. He lowered his glare and puckered his mouth, and his eyes bulged…
…his mouth had been replaced by a literal zipper.
His feet stomped in place with heavy clomps, growls of frustration stifled by the magical zipper that'd silenced him. Sharp eyes glowered towards the green fairy, sputtering something along the lines of 'what the fuck are you doing!' that sounded too muffled to accurately discern. His godfather clenched a troubled jaw, the magical glow in his wand fading as it faintly quivered in his grip. His son's screeching cries fading in the background of his boss's words echoing in his mind.
A vase with cracks is still a broken vase, even if glued back together.
In actuality, he didn't understand what that meant. Timmy didn't have cracks, he thought at first, why would Jorgen call him broken? But as he stared at Timmy's tightly clenched fists, the wild claw of his nails at his own hair, and the rapidness in his ragged grunts, the visual made much more sense.
On the inside, Timmy was broken. Broken by so much turmoil, so much pain. It's almost impossible for a spirit to be restored to its original state when it's been broken so badly, only held together by glue and sticky tape…
As his fairy godparents, can they put Timmy back together again? Or is he irreparably damaged? Whatever the case, they had to try.
They loved him too much to lose him like this…
Wrestling with his own crashing whirlwind of thoughts, the sound of choking gasps pierced through the chaotic clash of Poof's ear-piercing crying and Timmy's crazed grunts. Dwight's stare locked onto Chloe grabbing at her shirt, clutching her chest. Fear bulging in her eyes as her breaths sharpened like her lungs were cutting off its own air supply.
"…Chloe, what's wrong?" he managed to choke out, and as Chloe tried to find her voice, her constricted throat prevented her from doing so.
"Oh, no…" Susie's worst fear came true, rushing to Chloe's aid as short, strained gasps began to blanch her skin. So much for coming here to get a break from panic; the last time Chloe had come to Fairy Fort, it was as if her anxiety had been virtually erased. Now here she was gasping for air like a fish out of water. Her anxiety had gotten worse than she thought…
"Breathe, Chloe." she gently coached, setting soft hands onto Chloe's knees. "In through your nose, out through your mouth."
"I-I…" her whisper croaked as if an unrelenting fist squeezed her vocal cords in a chokehold. "c-c…c-can't breathe…"
"Yes, you can." Susie encouraged, staying calm despite Chloe's jagged gasps. "Slow, even breaths, c'mon."
Guilt mixed with embarrassment wrinkled in Wanda's brow, carrying her son now screaming at the top of his longs as she approached her husband and kept her voice deceptively composed. "Bring Timmy with you."
"What?" Cosmo blinked, having heard Wanda's request over Poof's crying but had too many thoughts buzzing between his ears to fully process it.
Wanda didn't give him that time, stern in her flight towards the leftward section of the castle as she glanced over her shoulder. "You and I need to have a chat with our godson."
As Wanda passed the watchful glances of some of the other fairies and fled towards the left-wing corridor, the sound of Poof's thick tears faded the further she flew from the group until they'd been reduced to quiet echoes when she disappeared through the archway. Bracing himself with a deep breath, Cosmo went to grab Timmy by his wrist, only for Timmy to smack his hand away. His mouth was still zipped shut, but that did little to silence Timmy's exasperated screams. Frowning, Cosmo resorted to desperate measures and used his wand to trap Timmy into a magical sphere of green aura, aura sturdy enough to resist Timmy's restless kicks and flailing punches as his wand led the aural sphere behind his wife's trail.
Watching Timmy get dragged against his will, Gary groaned a sigh, pushing himself from the couch as he crossed his arms. "C'mon, Londro…"
Alondro looked to Gary who'd began making his way in the direction where Wanda and Cosmo had taken Timmy, confused as to what use they would be interrupting what was supposed to be a private conversation. "¿uh…por qué?"
"Solo vamos." Gary kept walking, steadfast. He wasn't trying to follow Timmy or interrupt whatever Cosmo and Wanda were gonna do about him. He just needed a quiet place to clear his throbbing head before it exploded, and staying in this room was not helping…
Alondro stalled as Gary approached the left marbled stairs, but when Garay paused to look back at him with a bristled brow as if to say 'I know you heard me,' he chose not to test waters and left Irving's side to catch up to his godchild.
"That's it, Chlo-bird…" Susie kept at her encouragement as Chloe struggled to control her breathing, her breaths inching at a snail's pace from labored and strained into smooth and steady. "Just keep breathing, in and out."
"For fuck sake…" Remy muttered under his breath as he scooted from sitting beside a girl wrought with panic, frustration brewing within with feet planted. Turner just had to throw a tantrum and make everyone as pissy as him, and it boiled his blood hotter for letting that pea-brain crawl under his skin like this!
"Remy?" Juandissimo's call fell on deaf ears, Remy stomping stubbornly towards the rightward section of the castle as his wings then zoomed after his trail. "Remy!"
Seeing Juandissimo chase after Remy, Hazel parted Nyekundu's arms from around her and slid off the couch. Nyekundu stared blankly at first, until Hazel stopped and met Nyekundu's stare with anticipant eyes, waiting for her godmother to come with her.
"…I will be right back, mpenzi." She assured to Swizzle, floating closer to Hazel. She didn't reject Hazel's instinctive grab onto her hand, frowning subtly when she felt the light tremors of Hazel's fingers around hers.
"What is it, Kakao?" she opened the door for Hazel to express whatever might have frightened or troubled her.
"I've seen Remy upset like that before…" Hazel remembered how much it'd bothered her, seeing mint-green blaze with swirls of red…just like the venomous blue of her father. "I-I just wanna make sure he's okay…"
"He has Juandissimo for that, you know." Nyekundu did not want Hazel to walk through fire when she was already burning.
"I know…but…" her brows pulled up in the middle, forcing herself to meet Nyekundu's gaze. "…I-I still need to talk to him."
"…well, can it not wait until he's had a breather?"
Hazel's neck bowed, jaw tense with strain.
"Remy, stop!" Juandissimo flew in front of Remy's charging path, abruptly cutting off the echo of stomps throughout the amethyst brick of the expansive corridor. "Can you use your words, por favor?!"
"Turner didn't have to yell at you like that!" Remy bellowed, arms stiff at his sides.
"But I do not take it personally." Juandissimo kept his voice calm yet firm. "Timmy has deeper issues than what our eyes can see."
"Why are you making excuses for him!?"
"I am simply giving his behavior an explanation-"
"Oh, like we all don't have issues! We're godchildren!" Remy griped. "You don't see me or anyone else taking it out on literally everyone for no flippin' reason!"
In a pause, Juandissimo tilted his head to the side inquisitively "…so what do you call the times you and Moll-"
"Besides the point!" Remy threw his hands up, cutting him off before light could be brought to his past aggressions. Juandissimo looked on as Remy began pacing back and forth, shoulders hunched as if gearing for a confrontation. Fuming with so much animosity that his body appeared to shake with each thundered step, grinding out words between gritted teeth.
"Ugh, it's all just…just so unfair!"
"What is unfair?"
Remy stopped to face his godfather, ridges of his neck becoming dangerously pronounced. "My parents never loved me, never wanted me, and never cared to even pretend to deny that! But why did they become worm food over a grown man freely preying on a lonely kid for his own disgusting gain!?"
Juandissimo studied him, squinting faintly. "…is that what also upsets you?"
Mint-green burned with a white-hot intensity that could scorch a thousand suns, breaths billowing through flaring nostrils.
"…does that not make you angry?"
"…what do you mean?"
"That only the lesser evils are dead?!"
"…lesser evils?" Juandissimo couldn't quite follow.
"I ask again…why are my parents, two bastards who never loved nor wanted me, dead…" Remy strained with a cold, cutting hiss slowly amplifying in spite with each phrase. "…but not Hazel's family who only ever treat her like it's the 1800s, nor is that nonce who saw little boys as nothing but sleeves for that wrinkly old di-"
"Watch your mouth." Juandissimo narrowed his fixed gaze, the same punch in his tone like a father warning his child against pushing vulgar boundaries. Remy's eyes flashed a firm look that instantly softened.
"Sorry…" Remy mumbled, turning his eyes away as his arms crossed over his puffed chest. He knew he was letting his hate and anger get the best of him again, but it's just not fair! Few who deserve to live end up dying, yet many who deserve to die get to live…
"Riddle me this." Juandissimo's query led Remy to look at him. "…how do you know Fenwick is not dead, too?"
"If that was true, the Council would have explicitly said so…"
"…do you want Fenwick dead?"
"Do you not?" Remy challenged, voice thick with insinuation. "Matter of fact, do you not want Hazel's pissant of a father, her spineless twat of a mother, and her female dog of a sister to get what's theirs? Or do you prefer the Council simply yanking Hazel away from those three prats when what they should have done was shove the sharpest drill up all their shitty as-"
"Remy! I will not ask you again!"
"Oh, as if you don't use bad words!"
"Does not mean you should!"
"Oh, right! Do as I say, not as I do…" Remy huffed with rolling eyes, flattening his shoulders in a gruff manner. "Whatever…"
Juandissimo temporarily shut his eyes, pinching his nose in a groaning breath. He did not like Remy talking like this…
"Remy, no one should invoke anyone's death, no matter who they are or what they have done…" Juandissimo leveled his waning patience, hoping to steer his angered godchild into a place of reason. "
Remy clicked his vexed tongue. "So we're just ignoring the fact that you've caused someone physical harm?"
"I hurt him, I did not kill him." Even though he very well could have if he had zero restrictions.
"But you wanted to kill him, which means you wanted him dead."
"We are getting off track..." Juandissimo let out a broody sigh, massaging his temples. This whole conversation was giving him a malo migraine…
"I just don't see why it's suddenly a bad thing to want someone dead." Remy contended. "Especially if they deserve it."
Juandissimo hovered to his godson's level, resting gentle yet firm hands to his shoulders. "Because wishing death upon someone only poisons you with hatred and resentment…and you should not want that for yourself." he gravely cautioned, speaking from experience.
"Like you were thinking about that when you attacked that pedo with your bare claws!" Remy's bitter resentment spat, shoving his godfather away by his toned pecs. Juandissimo grabbed at the sting in his chest, brows shot in an arch of disbelief. Flickering flames of memories burned forever into his biggest regret resurfaced as Remy felt his chest tighten with hitched breaths, the pressure almost suffocating.
"Like you were thinking about that shit right when he was about to spread my legs apart and rape me! Again!"
"…w-what?"
Godfather and godson snapped gawking glances at the unexpected squeak of the goddaughter behind them, legs trembling beside her godmother.
"…d-did…" Hazel shuddered, her clenching grip starting to tingle Nyekundu's poor fingers numb. "…d-d-did Fenwi-"
"No." Remy tried to deny, but it was already too late.
"Remy, that's…" Nyekundu and Hazel had been standing patiently by the archway, having only been within earshot at the point Juandissimo had muttered that they were getting off track. Neither of them expected the conversation to make that sharp of a left. "That…that is horrible…"
Faltering, Remy rocked back and forth on his heels. "…I-I didn't…" the fierce, ferocious tiger in his tone disintegrated into a meek, startled kitten. Sweat beading across the edge of his hairline, arms reaching to clutch himself as if his very essence might spill all over the floor. "…y-you shouldn't have heard that…"
As Juandissimo dropped his grimace to the ground, Hazel's eyes welled with tears.
"…F-Fenwick…d-did to you…" her voice quivered "…l-l-like what he d-did…to m-my…brother…?"
The back of Remy's eyes stung, his black darbies blurring. Shaky lips thinning when he barely managed to croak "…yes…"
When Hazel let go of Nyekundu's hand, her feet moved on their own. Sprinting over before she collided into Remy, smashing her cheek against the middle of his back with the clingiest arms restricting his elbows. His chin bunched at the impact, hearing her hitched sniffs between grief-stricken whimpers. She didn't know what else to do but cry for him as his gaze grew far off, losing himself in mortified reverie.
Both hands now free, Nyekundu cupped them over her nose and mouth, dampening her brief sob. Did this happen prior to Juandissimo entering his life? And if so, why would the Council allow such a travesty to occur with no one to protect him?
Why did the Council wait for his innocence to be shattered, and why did they wait until the damage left too many pieces to try and put him back together again?
