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Chapter Text

Have you ever wondered how nature gets its glow? 

Who gives it light and color as the seasons come and go?

Who helps all creatures great and small, to walk, to swim, to fly?

Who crafts such tiny details?

You might see them if you try.

For it's all the work of fairies, but they stay well out of sight.

And the first time that a baby laughs, a fairy’s life takes flight.

When the moon comes out to shine her face

 the birds are fast asleep

And the lanterns hang from every post

The fairies leave their keep

They join their hands

 and sing their songs

That nary a soul can hear

I’m the springtime when the earth is new

To the fairies they draw near

Come with me now to the sky

Up on the hills and the sea

Far beyond where our memories lie

To the place where I’m free to be me

Oh, gather ye now one and all

No what matter what all ye may do

Where the stars fill your soul

Where the moon cradles all

So, to yourself, be true

The blanket of snow is o’ercome

Each flower waits for the sun

And the whispering tears of the rain

Holds promise for everyone

Waits for the sun, yet hides from the moon, all but a few

Then come away with me, friends

No matter where you call home

With a light in our hearts

We will never part

No matter how far we roam

Friends, yet if a light is moonlight, what then?

Deep in the forest, we go

Creatures are all fast asleep

With a kiss and a wink, we will waken our souls 

Love is the safety we’ll keep

Who lets the creatures rest? None like to think

And then we’ll dance through the night

‘Till the sunbeams sparkle at dawn

And up way, we will go like last winters snow

Soon our work will be done

Fairies dance in the dark, yet the dark is not loved

Oh, gather ye now one and all

No what matter what all ye may do

Where the stars fill your soul

When the moon cradles all

So, to yourself, be true

That truth may not be welcome

Oh, gather ye now one and all

No what matter what all ye may do

Let the stars fill your soul

When the moon cradles all

So, to yourself, be true

So, to yourself, be true

We shall try.

-.< |*| >.-

Fairies are born of a baby’s first laugh, their first light and joy. But a baby’s first cry is an old tale told, and their magic far darker.

The sound of the wind on the air of the sky drifts loft a single cry. Through the atmosphere, whispering past gold turned silver, whirls of soft sobs lift in the air, dandelions take flight into the dark of night.

Past the second star they float, cradled by moonlight. Over the ocean they soar an endless mirror, an endless sea of shadows and stars.

Till a glimmer of land slices the dark, green against midnight blue. Hope shines through for the life in flight, yet its path is yet to be decided. What fate awaits at the end of the road? What future burns the brightest?

Oh, gather ye now one and all

No what matter what all ye may do

Where the stars fill your soul

Where the moon cradles all

So, to yourself, be true

As a compass points home to Neverland’s shores the cry echoes in the air, don’t shelter away for life’s on its way, and plants sing to relay its arrival. The rocks and the shore greet the flower’s gleam as the wind chauffeur’s its journey. 

Riding currents past shades of green, under canopies of moonlit leaves the little cry finds home, past rolling hills of colors, flowers of all sorts and forests abound, four seasons enter sight, and a tree marks the final destination.

Rivets of gold, luminescent in the night, mark the way, the little dandelion dances above. Leaves part like great doors, welcoming light spills all around, warm and rich in the air, gently guiding the dandelion seed to a chain of mushroom caps, a golden waterfall cascades through a part between the ebony bark and milky fungi. 

At last it comes to a rest, silver fluff brushing the largest of mushrooms, landing gently in the center of a divitted spiral, a dark silhouette against a curtain of glowing gold.

Particles of gold fall gently over the dandelion seed, catching in its silver bristles, and at last the cry turns into a life.

-.< |*| >.-

A new life in Pixie Hollow, how wonderful! It has been far too long since one’s been welcomed here, the last was a month ago.

Queen Clarion gazes at the newly born fairy, still glistening with the sparks of pixie dust that Terence had poured over her. 

That familiar expression of bewilderment and awe lights up her face as she raises her head. What a sweet face it is, pale as moonlight with eyes big and dark as the bark of the Home Tree, framed by hair as black as raven feathers.

“Born of laughter..” The words feel off in her mouth even as she says them, as she gazes at the little new fairy she glimpses a depth in her eyes the others never came with.

“…born of tears..” Yes, that was it…Clarion doesn’t want to estrange the new fairy, not on her first day, not with a host of eyes watching, not ever, so she continues like it is no different. “Born of tears clothed in..” for normal circumstances she would always say clothed in cheer, what now would work?

“Clothed in lament..” Clarion knew most fairies wouldn’t know the word, the word for mourning a loss of a loved one, the Scribe Talents might, but even then it is unlikely, fairies are light creatures, of cheer and hearth and heart, they do not often venture into the dark.

What next can she say? Sorrow has brought you here? No, her fairies would not take kindly to such a sentence.

“Moonlight has brought you here.” It’s the best she can do. “Welcome to Pixie Hollow, I trust you found your way alright?”

“Um…perhaps..?” It’s a quiet reply, spoken from soft lips. The fairy seems uncertain, they all do upon arrival.

A smile graces the queen's lips and she floats closer to the little fairy, she will continue about this as she has for any other one of her fairies, even with the confusion of the ministers and the whispers of onlookers. 

She lets a laugh bubble up as she flutters around the fairy.

“Wonderful, now let’s see about those wings.” Clarion helps the girl up, then glides around to face her wings. A beat of silence passes, surprise fills her and yet she keeps her face the same soft smile. This new fairy’s wings are an iridescent black. Blue and green undertones shimmer in the light of pixie dust.

She hears gasps from the crowd and more whispers as they all catch a glimpse too. 

“How beautiful.” Clarion announces, her approval might be the best way to ease the judgement and uncertainty from her subjects.

Gently she reaches out, gliding her hands from the base of the fairy’s wings to the tips, pixie dust spirals and glitters as it would the other fairies, gathering in the patterns and lines of the delicate wings.

 Then the gold glow turns silver. The pixie dust changes.

Clarion’s smile slips for a mere moment, showing her surprise. The onlookers, perched on leaves and flowers and bark and vines, gasp almost as a whole, shock riddling their faces. 

The queen gathers back her smile as the new fairy looks to her over her shoulder, uncertain. 

“That is new for us, yet it means nothing bad.” She reassures keeping her voice kind yet loud enough for all to hear. 

Clarion flits around to face the girl and extends a hand. Time to test those strange yet wonderful wings, time to see if silver acts any differently.

The girl takes it, her own hand smaller than clarion’s and soft as all the fairies hands are when they first arrive, before they develop their talent and the coullouses that come with.

As if on cue those black wings flutter and lift the new fairy, she tests them for a moment, going in a circle, then high into the hair and back down till she lands. Clarion’s smile is genuine, her wings seem to work just fine despite the color shift. 

Time to pick her talent.

Mushroom caps sprout in a circle as clarion waves her hand, golden pixie dust shimmering around the base of each, the queen drifts a few feet away to join the ministers and watch.

Fairies of all talents bring an object to float above each cap as the new fairy watches with enraptured curiosity. 

A flower, a dew drop, wind in a little cyclone, a hammer, a leaf, a ball of light, an egg, a muffin, and last but not least, a snowflake.

Once the procession is finished and everything in place, the little fairy gives Queen Clarion a confused look, the queen only smiles back.

“These will help you find your talent, little one.” She gestures for the little fairy to walk around and observe each object. “You will know once you find it.”

With a careful step the girl starts, nervousness in her movements, in the tilt of her head and fidgeting of her hands. She keeps her eyes carefully on the pedistoles, as if she doesn’t want to see the crowd that watches her. 

She approaches the snowflake first and it melts before her eyes, she looks startled and guilty, Clarion laughs, “it's alright, that is normal..please continue.”

So she does, stepping up to the dew drop, which bursts, then the hammer which drops with a thunk, then the muffin which turns rotten, the leaf shrivels, the egg gently lands down on the mushroom cap, the flower wilts, the wind dissipates, till all that’s left is the ball of gleaming light.

The stillness in the air is like the calm that comes before a storm, the light fairies sit on edge and excited, the other fairies sit with an air of mild disappointment, the queen can feel the ministers hold their breath as the little new fairy steps up to the final mushroom cap, extending a small hand towards it.

The light flares and then wavers, like the flame of a candle in a breeze, it flickers then goes out.

For a moment nothing happens, for a moment all is still and everyone stands or sits shocked, for a moment the little fairy looks distressed. 

Then the light returns, a second of a glimpse before it distorts and warps, darkness bleeds through it, and warm turns cold, gold turns black. Till a ball of wispy shadows is all that remains.

A gasp slips from the lips of every fairy there. The little fairy takes hold of the shadow, cradling it like something precious. No light bursts forth as a claim of the talent, instead darkness envelopes all, the leaves closest can’t be seen, the ministers can’t be seen, Clarion’s own hand she can’t see. Only the glow of her wings persists. 

As soon as it comes the dark fades, and sight is restored. The talent has been chosen. Her fairies are looking at her. Clarion schools her expression to calm and kind, once more a smile tugs at her lips. 

She clears away the mushroom caps with a wave of her hand, and floats closer to the fairy once more, the whispers of her subjects in her ears.

“Today is a Special day Indeed!” With a large smile and cheery voice she gestures to the little fairy, the ball of shadows still cupped in her hands, “for a new talent has emerged! Please everyone, welcome your newest member, Luna, and-” What to name it?

“-the Moon talent guild.”

Chapter Text

The ministers are fuming. Clarion sits rubbing her temples as they argue with one another, shouting reasons and disbelief back and forth, wings flaring. You’d think after centuries in each other’s company you’d start to get along. But no, if anything they are more like squabbling siblings.

“The light fairies belong in summer! Summer has the longest days.” Sunflower, the minister of summer protests across the ornate table, Clarion doesn’t lift her head, instead she watches the blurry image of Sunflower’s face in the polished wood as they all argue.

“Are you forgetting one very important detail? That is not a Light fairy, it’s a Moon fairy, whatever that means.” Rayleaf, the minister of autumn, shoots back, his wings fluttering. “And autumn has the longest nights other than winter but wings, even strange black ones like those, can’t survive in winter so my season is the best for it.”

“She.” Clarion Lifts her head and Looks them all sharply in the eye. “She. Don’t say ‘it’ in reference to her .”

There is a slight pause, then the minister of autumn looks down at his feet with a slight bow, sheepish, wings twitching toward the floor.  “Yes your majesty. However I was referring to the talent by ‘it’ rather than the fairy herself. I meant no offense.”

Clarion waves her hand as a form of pardon. “No harm done, just…be careful about that, this is a…” she takes a breath, “tricky situation to navigate. But we shall manage, just as we did for Prilla.” The fairy that has the Clapping talent, able to clap and immediately be teleported to and from the mainland, she inspired many children to believe in fairies because of it. 

Clarion is sure that this new Moon talent will bring good things as well. For now though, where to place the fairy in pixie hollow? The light fairies won’t know what to do with her, and she also needs to learn what her talent implies, they all do.

“Perhaps she should just stay here, in the meanwhile.” Fairy Mary suggests. She isn’t a minister but she’s always welcome at such meetings.

“The pixie dust tree? Absolutely not. Not with that light turned shadow thing she’s got going on. What might happen to the pixie dust?” Sunflower exclaims, voice concerned. 

Clarion sighs. The new talents capabilities are not the only problem, this new fairy should also be shown around, meet others, explore. If she stays here her first weeks living it would be detrimental. The other fairies would feel as though she didn’t belong with them if they didn't see her out and about. “She needs to meet everyone, it won’t be a good image for her otherwise, the other fairies are already distrustful.”

“I think it is wise to keep her here.” Snowflake, the minister of winter, adds in, giving Clarion a sympathetic look. She handles negotiations for Lord Milori while he runs winter, “She can go out during the day and visit the rest of pixie hollow, make some friends, but till we establish a place for her, this is the best one. Temporary.”

“Establish a place?” Hyacinth, the minister of spring argues. “That will take up space, and time and we’d need to decide where. And what if more of that talent comes, hm? Who has the space?”

“All good questions.” Clarion tries to sooth his concerns. “To establish a place, that is for another meeting. For now we must focus on learning about this talent, and if it’s ever been in pixie hollow before. We must also not let the fairies grow afraid of it-“

“-those black wings.” The Hyacinth interrupts, drawing everyone’s attention again, his own wings tense out to his sides. “That is not normal. In my opinion, why should they not fear? We are people of light. This…this new fairy is nothing but dark.”

“She is a Moon Talent fairy,” Clarion says calmly, “the moon reflects the light of the sun. She has light. She is light…” Her protest sounds weak even to her own ears.

“But darkness is the absence of light.” Hyacinth counters. “She was born of a cry, you sensed it. Sorrow and darkness is all that this fairy is.”

“I hear your concerns.” Clarion’s voice sharpens, she won’t take anyone speaking against her fairies, not even a trusted minister. “But she is a fairy like the rest of us. I named her talent after the Moon because there is light in it despite its dark nature. The potential for positivity. She has a glow like the rest of us. She will be treated as every other fairy that’s come here. Is that understood?”

“..yes, your majesty…” he relents, wings drooping, “I just worry.”

“I know you do.” Her voice considerably softens. Out of all the ministers, Hyacinth worries the most, he’s a perfectionist too, which doesn’t help.

“Er…So…” Fairy Mary pipes up. “She’ll be staying here for the time being?” 

“Yes.” Clarion stands up from her seat. “She will be, Just until we figure out what exactly her talent is, and where to build a place for her and any potential future Moon talents.”

Clarion turns from the meeting hall, officially ending the discussion. She is tired from the arguing and stressed from the situation, but she still has things to do, starting with giving the new little fairy a visit.

She finds the girl where she left her, a nice bedchamber in the trunk of the tree, all polished wood and gentle carvings of flowery vines. The exit to the balcony takes up the far wall, the glass doors thrown wide to let in a cool breeze and the starry night.

“It’s a perfect night for your first one, is it not?” The Queen glides up next to the Moon Talent fairy, she notes Lina’s wings are drooped, a clear indecator of her mood, Clarion’s bright golden glow casts the railings and floor in a warm light. The Moon fairy leans on the railing, looking out at autumn and winter, her expression downcast despite the beautiful surroundings.

Then with a quiet tone, soft as a feather and lilting as orchid, the little fairy speaks. “I feel unwelcome.” 

Clarion can’t help the frown that forms on her face. This poor little fairy, unwelcome for differences she can’t help, it’s not right. Her subjects should know better. 

Fairies are light, and yet somehow still they can be mean. “I wish that wasn’t so.” She replies in a whisper- ish tone, her stress turning melancholy. She wishes the best for all her fairies, and hates when they are sad.

“…” the little fairy picks at the railing, invisible splinters plucked up and thrown off the edge. “Why…don’t they like me?” She eventually asks.

It’s a bit of a relief that the Moon fairy didn’t ask, ‘why am I different’, because that would imply she didn’t like who she was. “Oh, sweetheart…They just need to warm up to you. You have a new talent, a wonderful one, with endless possibilities. They will want to be a part of helping you learn.”

The little one chews her lip, she has a lot of nervous habits for just arriving…poor thing.

“…their expressions weren’t very happy when they saw my wings.” She gives said wings a little flutter.

“They were merely surprised, we haven’t had a fairy with such wings before, at least not in recent history. But don’t take it to heart, your wings are beautiful, like onyx.”

“Like what?” That earns Clarion a timid glance from the fairy. Clarion laughs softly.

“Right, I sometimes forget how much you all still have to learn.” She gives her a soft expression. “Onyx is a jewel, black in color, yet shiny and used in jewelry. Treasured by many.”

“Oh, that…sounds…pretty.” Luna sounds uncertain. Clarion only smiles. 

“It is spectacular. Now onto different matters, you shall be staying here in the pixie dust tree with me. This shall be your room if you wish it, and you shall have free rein to go anywhere you wish, so explore to your heart's content.”

Luna nods slightly, a dark lock of hair drifting into her moon pale face, she quickly tucks it back.

“The next..” Clarion goes on when she sees that she won’t be getting a verbal response. “Is that we will go out tomorrow to visit all the seasons and introduce you to your fellow fairies. It is important to make friends.” And potentially learn what her talent can do.

Luna nods once more, though she ducks her head more than last time, and steps away from the railing. “I think I’ll be heading to bed.”

Clarion watches her go for a moment, then speaks. “If you ever need company, or someone to talk to, don’t be afraid to come to me.” She offers, “my wings are different from the rest as well. As queen…it’s less like you are a part of the community…I know what it is to be different.” She hopes her words might console the young fairy.

All Luna does is glance back with another one of her non verbal nods, though Clarion feels as though gratitude is in her expression.

As the queen’s gaze trails after her, watching as the little one walks into the warm light of her bedchambers, to Clarion it seems as if Luna glowed, as all fairies do, but glowed a blue rather than a gold.

Chapter Text

Clarion can’t speak with Milori, and feels the weight of that disappointment with each flap of her wings. The mainland is turning from autumn to winter, so of course he is swarmed with responsibilities, as bees swarm wild flowers. 

Their sunset visits have grown sparse as of late. If she’s lucky she’ll get an occasional letter, written in his beautiful sprawling handwriting, precious words carved in glistening blue ice, her gold light reflecting off its surface as it does his fair face, she’ll read it before it melts away in her warm hands, sometimes barely finishing before it does. 

Yet she feels desperate for even a moment with him, not only for his presence, but to discuss Luna with him. She can almost picture his face as she tells him of her concerns, the softness that will lace his expression, the snowy white hair that will brush his cheek, the warm brown eyes framed by icy lashes. 

Now that they are back together, their love safe, she never wants to part with him again, she knows he feels the same. Yet their duties call them constantly in different directions.

With a sigh she flits over to the next dress, leaves of a deep green, with highlights of marigold. Luna needs a dress other than the silver dandelion fluff she arrived in. So she is picking through the options as the little fairy watches, she’s happy to help, especially since Luna seems not to be certain of anything, and hardly talks as it is. She hopes she can crack that shell and earn her trust soon. 

“What of this one, sweetheart?” She asks softly, brushing the smooth petals of the dress. Luna chews on her lip and stares for a long moment.

Clarion gives her time. Eventually she shakes her head, as she’d done with the last five dresses, Luna seemed reluctant to refuse anything, like she’d be scolded for it, but all Clarion does is offer a smile and a nod, then she moves on to the next dress.

She dislikes the Moon fairy’s skittish nature, sadness twists in her chest seeing Luna so distrusting.

She moves on to a dress of black petals edges a yellow gold. The flower it’s made from is a Midnight Gold Petunia, cut and stitched into a pretty dress, straps for the arms hang off the shoulders, white gold. The skirt is layered for volume. Clarion gestures to it and looks at Luna for her answer.

Finally the little fairy nods.

Clarion smiles and pops the hanger off the rail, “alright then, go change, this is a wonderful choice, dear.” She hands the little fairy the dress and watches as Luna flitters off to a changing room.

Once that strange blue glow disappears behind a curtain of leaves, Clarion let’s her mind wander once more.

If Luna has such a glow, why don’t the winter fairies have the same? After all, they are born into a world of blue and white. But then, they are all born of laughter, Luna was born of a cry. That must be why.

What puzzles her the most out of everything is why and how it was a cry, and why whenever pixie dust graces Luna’s skin or wings, or even hair, why it turns silver.

She’s already had a Sribe talent reach out to the Keeper for any information about fairies born of cries and any fairy of the past with black wings. She’s also sent Milori a letter, even though the minister of Winter, Snowflake, reports back to him regularly, Clarion still feels the need to write to him herself. 

Honestly, she loves winter deeply, those cool blues and powdery whites, those wickedly sharp icicles as long as a fairy glittering in the pale sun, the crisp air that stings your cheeks and burns your lungs as you soar high in the air above the glinting landscape.

And yet she finds she can’t wait for the preparations to be finished, she can hardly wait for the mainland to change so that she can see Milori more than just a few stolen moments at sunset once a week, less sometimes if he truly is busy, though he always tries his best to visit despite his schedule.

A blue glow catches Clarion’s eye and she’s snapped back to the moment, the must of the dress’s petals filling her nose, sweet and fragrant while still fresh. Eventually those dresses will wilt, their petals turning brown, and they’ll all have to be replaced.

Luna shuffles out fidgety with nerves, Clarion smiles. She looks absolutely lovely in that dress, the deep purple of it complements her raven hair, and the edges of yellow gold bring out her moon pale complexion in a way that makes her seem to glow, besides the natural glow of fairies.

“You look lovely, Luna.” She glides closer to the girl, at her words she sees Luna relax the slightest, yet that stubborn uncertainty remains. Clarion hopes with time that it will fade.

“Now, are you ready to see all that pixie hollow has to offer?” Clarion gives a reassuring smile. Luna in return gives another of her hesitant nods.

With that they leave the pixie dust tree, and venture out into the fairy world.

Sunlight colors the land in gold, the air rich with light and dancing pollen and dust particles. The breeze supplies a warm steady current to carry them as they flutter over fields thick with lush green grass and towards summer. 

“Don’t be frightened.” Clarion watches the way Luna’s eyes shift over the bright colors, how her hands ball up, how her wings turn her flight jittery. “There are many wonderful things to explore, and many kind fairies to meet.”

Luna’s dark eyes glance towards Clarion, then fix back on the earth below. She seems to not quite fit with the surroundings, the brightness and color and light. Her deep purple dress and paleness now seem too different for the day. 

She is a Moon talent fairy. Clarion reminds herself that of course Luna would look out of place, the little one is better suited to the night. Similar to how some Animal talent fairies have adapted to the habits of nocturnal animals.

After a few peaceful moments of silence through the steadily growing warmth of the air, they reach the summer forest, deep greens and sturdy oaks rise up to meet them, layers and layers of greens and browns flicker past as they soar through the wide trunks. The canopy of leaves above them are golden with sunlight. 

The minister of Summer meets them in a clearing bordering the sunflower meddow. She's all smiles this morning, all sunshine and rainbows, her demeanor completely changed from the argument last night.

“Welcome your majesty!” She greets, voice warm as the mid summer sun. She then turns to Luna. “Good morning to you as well.”

Luna mumbles a hello back from where she is a few feet behind Clarion, as if shy, like one of the human children hiding behind their mother.

“Good morning, Minister Sunflower. I trust everything is in order?” Clarion asks, starting along through the air once more, the minister joins beside her. 

“Yes, everything you asked for is prepared.” 

“Very good, thank you.” 

After a short flight over rolling yellow hills, filled with vibrant life and butterflies flitting about, they reach a place where the flowers gap, revealing the scene of Light talent fairies flying through the air, passing sun beams to one another, coloring the sky with rainbows and giving light to the smaller plants that hide beneath the towering shade of others.

Clarion observes as Luna looks around, awe in her expression. Clarion relates to that awe though her own face portrays a soft smile. She loves seeing her fairies work, loves seeing them do what they love. 

Clarion herself feels rather like she watches over everything, always it’s other fairies doing the work, always it’s the ministers leading them, even if she does partake in wide scale overseeing, and final input, or settling disputes, she still rather feels like she could do more to help.

“Luna come, there is much to see.” Clarion addresses softly, breaking the young fairy’s moment to take it all in.

They land on the ground, brown dirt rich with nutrients, soft beneath their feet. A light fairy flickers down to them wearing a nervous smile.

“Hello your majesty.” She greets, then she greats the others too.

“Uh, Luna is it?” She stretches out a hand. Luna stares at it like it was a foreign object.  

“Take it, dear.” Clarion prompts. “It’s a way of greeting.” Luna needs to learn such things, a safe, planned, environment is the best place.

Luna hesitantly takes it, the surprise on her face when the other fairy shakes their joined hands is quite amusing to witness. 

“Alright…” the Light Talent glances at Clarion. She wears a dress of sunflower petals, her skin deep as the bark of the pixie dust tree, her hair pulled back in braids, gold glimmering in the gaps between them. 

Iridessa. Yes, that was her name. Clarion remembers when she first came, during the talent ceremony she was all caution and nervous smiles. 

“Um…shall we get started?” Iridessa asks. Clarion nods slightly and gestures for her to continue.

“Okay, Luna…I’m apparently going to help you find what exactly your talent is capable of…” a slight squeak rings in her voice, she sounds reluctant, yet still like she’s trying to be positive.

“So follow me.”

Luna flies off with Iridessa into the blue sky, framed by thick sunflower stems, the petals sticking out around the green like the sun.

They watch for more than an hour, the only thing Luna manages to do is get sunburned. Iridessa, the poor thing, tries everything she possibly can, perhaps an attempt to not look bad in front of the Queen and the minister of summer.

She catches sun rays and blooms rainbows, she demonstrates every little thing, she adjusts even the slightest mistakes in technique that Luna may make, and yet, Luna doesn’t manage to even bend a beam of golden sun or pick a speak of light from the air.

It reminds Clarion of the stories she’s heard of when Tinkerbell tried to switch her talent, an amusing story now that the Tinker has realized how wonderful her talent truly is. 

Yet still, this is not as successful as Clarion hoped it might be. Luna is a Moon Talent, Clarion thought that would at least mean she can bend light, and who better to learn from then the Light fairies?

Perhaps it’s because it’s sunlight rather than moonlight, the light fairies operate by the sun, the moon is too weak for them to weild. A small sigh slips from the queens lips. She thought, perhaps foolishly, Luna might have learned something at least vaguely useful. There is so much to figure out.

Eventually, when lunch is called, Iridessa returns with Luna, the light fairy looks flushed, her eyes tired and her hair frizzy. “We tried everything, nothing worked, I’m sorry your majesty, I don’t think light fairies can help.” She seems distraught.

“It’s alright,” Clarion reassures, “I thank you for your efforts, dear, they are appreciated.” She hopes to soothe the fairy. Yet she herself feels stress right at her mind, she really had throught that the light fairies would be of great help…

Who to look to next? Clarion thinks on this the whole flight back to Home Tree, Milori could know, with the knowledge of the keeper, oh she misses him.

Yet for now she must figure this out herself, and with the Scribe Talents she has in the warm seasons. Just until the Keeper gets back to her letter, or until Milori does. 

No other talent comes to mind, only winter is stuck in her thoughts like a briar caught in fur. The animal fairies that aid the nocturnal animals might be the best option otherwise, if only because they wake when the moon is out and sleep during the day.

Once they reach home Clarion sees Luna to her bed chambers, leaving her with kind words and affirmation. What the girl does when Clarion leaves she doesn’t know, yet they don’t see each other for the rest of the day. All in all, Clarion is left with far more questions then answers.

When sunset comes it could be told by some fairies that the golden glow of the queen, bright as pixie dust against the fading oranges and pinks of the sky, could be seen on the border between autumn and winter, lingering for company that her heart longs for yet never receives, not this day at least, not as the blue of night glints off snowflakes and the moon rises to replace the sun.

Chapter Text

Tinkerbell has heard the rumors. She saw the new talent fairy when she first came and when she chose her talent too. But her fascination has skyrocketed. 

Mostly because Fairy Mary said that Luna, the new fairy, hasn’t made any progress with her talent or discovering what it does, she said even the Queen can’t figure it out.

Plus the whole silver pixie dust thing! Terance and Zarina are all over that mystery, in fact Zarina plans to ask Luna about it sometime, which is probably not the best idea, since from what Fairy Mary heard from Queen Clarion and told Tinkerbell, Luna is quite shy. 

But that’s okay, maybe she just needs some help breaking out of that shell of her’s. Like that baby bird Tink tried to help fly…perhaps that’s not the best comparison since that went absolutely terribly, but still, the point stands.

“How do you suppose we ask her?” Zarina asks, a leaf notebook in her hand and a charcoal pencil in the other as she flits around the room in circles.

“I’m not even sure she’d know anything.” Terence responds from where he's leaning against the wall. They all are at Zarina’s house, since she has all the books on pixie dust, and the alchemy equipment. “Tink said that Luna doesn’t even know what her talent does, let alone why it affects other things.”

“Good point, which is why we should help figure it out.” Zarina lands beside them. “Queen Clarion is showing her around pixie hollow, to all the talents, so we just have to wait till she gets to Tinker or Dust and then introduce ourselves. I mean Tink, you're probably the fairy she’ll bring Luna too, since you know all the crazy things you’ve done, I mean that in the best way possible.”

Terence gives Tink a look, half amusement, half ‘she’s right you know’.

“And-“ Zarina goes on, “since I’m the only one in alchemy she’ll come to me, for dust keeping she’ll probably go to Fairy Gary, sorry Terence.”

“Don’t be, I’m just the sparrow man who gives fairies their daily dust, I love what I do, but I know it’s not all that special.”

“Are You kidding?” Tinkerbell cuts in, “you don’t just hand out dust, without you doing what you do, no one would be able to fly, plus you do the math for how much dust to give everyone based on size and wing length.”

Terence chuckles, the skin around his eyes crinkling as light bounces in his irises. “Thanks Tink. But still, you and Zarina are our best shots when it comes to talking to Luna and figuring out this whole silver dust thing.”

“Yes.” Zarina taps her pencil against the notebook. “But how exactly to go about doing so is a different matter.”

“Well, we Can just go up and ask can’t we?” Tinkerbell preposes. 

“We can’t just go up to the Queen.” Terence gives a nervous laugh, “and it would be kind of rude to just go up and start throwing questions at Luna without so much as a hi.”

“I’d say hi!” Tink protests. “Then I’d ask questions.”

“How about you get the queen and Luna’s attention and I’ll be the one to talk to Luna, you know she’s shy and..you and shy don’t really mix.” Terence says to Tink. “No offense. Remember the bird.”

Tinkerbell scoffs. “Okay okay, no need to harp it on. You can talk to Luna.”

“If that’s the case I should be asking with Terence while you keep the queen busy.” Zarina pipes up.

Terence rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t know..I don’t want to overwhelm her, just let me handle it alright?” It was his politest way of saying the both of them could be a bit much to deal with.

“Fine.” Zarina relents. “But you have to take notes, actually take my notebook,” she thrusts it at him, he holds his hands up in surrender. “I wrote all the questions I have in it.”

He takes it warily. “Alright, alright. I will. But you do know we still have to wait till the Queen decides to come to Tinker’s Nook or the Dust talents part of pixie Hollow right?”

“Well…” Tink and Zarina exchange a glance Terence very much dislikes. “Since it’s just you, and you work at the pixie dust tree most days…”

“…you could just wait till Luna gets her portion of dust and ask to talk to her then.” Zarina finishes.

Terence sighs, he doesn’t like the prospect of potentially making Luna feel more out of place then she probably already does, but he is curious so he hopes she’ll take his sudden interest as a potential new friendship. “Fine alright. I’ll do it.”

Chapter Text

Terence watches as the first rays of sun peek through gaps in leaves. The light forms in shining beams that stream through the air and bounce across the bark of the pixie dust tree, shifting shadows with every breeze as the wind rustles the greenery. 

As the first of the fairies arrive he prepares himself for the morning rush,  he douses them each in dust as they land and form a line. It's a warm day, bright and filled with chatter, of animals and fairies alike. 

One after the next, after the next they come, all familiar faces by now, Nyx is one of the first, followed by the other Scouts, always up early they are. Fawn passes his way to get dust, talking about her daily runs and how she needs to help a beaver build a dam, Silvermist comes a bit later, excitement bubbling from her like a brook as she describes newly hatched tadpoles. 

Then comes Rosetta, in her customary fashion she stops him from pouring dust on her, instead a makeup brush appears and she dabs it on her cheeks and nose. 

After her Tink comes with a wink, he winks back with a confident smile, though in truth he’s a bit wary of how the interaction with Luna will go. 

Vidia flits down then zips away, Fairy Mark indulges in friendly talk and a list of things she has to do, Bobble and Clank flitter by, Zarina skips over, taking a double amount for herself and her experiments.

Fairy Gary hadn’t been keen on the idea of Zarina taking so much, but the tree has dust enough to supply all the fairies of pixie hollow twice over so he relented after Queen Clarion assured him of the tree’s abilities.

The Ministers pass by no different from the rest, Sweet Pea pops by followed by Marina, then Fufalla, Rani on her dove a little after that, Lily then Beck, then Iris, Dulcie, Prilla, Fira, Sparkle, Helios, Glory, Pluck, and several others who follow them.

After a bit Iridessa flits by, she seems more anxious than normal. When he asks about it he gets a high pitched response that is spoken far too quickly, about Luna and the Queen and failing and Light. 

Apparently a lesson had failed, which honestly has happened before with another certain fairy he knows so he reassures her that it’s not a big deal. She won’t believe him because the Queen herself and the Minister of Summer were watching the entire time.

Eventually the roar subsides to a trickle, Terence takes a glance around and notices that the sun’s light is angled down to brush the mushroom caps, singing the passage of time. 

He’s surprised, to say the least, that Luna has not yet come. She’s saying at the Pixie Dust Tree, she should have been one of the first Fairies to have shown up mainly because she doesn’t have to travel far. 

But apparently not. Not that he could blame her, the morning rush is a bit chaotic, and loud. But he likes it, it’s enjoyable and he finds it interesting to hear about every Fairy’s daily activities, everyone of them has something different to do, and yet it all adds together to complete a bigger picture.

Many hands make light work after all. 

A few more stragglers amble by, some with yawns in their mouths and tangles in their hair, others frantic in their lateness. 

He waits still, after what seems the last Fairy has come, he waits, leaning against a sweeping limb of the tree, little shell scooper in hand as he watches the dust flow down in a waterfall.

He’s always thought it beautiful, the sparkles of gold drifting down against the dark bark of the tree, the warmth it radiates across the clearing, light bouncing off walls of green and milky mushrooms.

His favorite shift has to be handing out dust to all the fairies, instead of working in the keep, bagging the dust, or shelving it in hexagons of honeycomb.

Sometimes he wonders what would happen if you swam in it.

A flutter of movement catches his eye. He blinks and lifts his head up from the glittering pool of dust. 

There she is. 

He feels his curiosity spike as he notices the dim blue glow coming from her. It’s weird that it’s not gold like the rest of the fairies, could it have something to do with the silver dust?

“Hello there.” He lands lightly before her. She startles, her eyes blowing wide as full moons as she spins around to face him, her wings give a buzz of malcontent.

 “Oh. Didn’t mean to scare you. Here for dust?” Of course she’s here for dust, why did he ask that? Must be the nerves, or his brain is too occupied with not blurting out any of his other thousand questions. 

“Um…yes.” Her voice is softer than he expects, sure other fairies can be just as quiet, just depends, but still, you’d think a fairy with the honor of hanging out with the queen would be a bit more…confident. 

“Great, how’ve you been?” The question slips out as easy as breathing, he must ask it about a hundred times every day. 

“…I’ve been…” he dips his scoop into the pool of glimmering dust, only noticing a moment later that she’s trailed off to watch his actions. “…growing accustomed to things…”

“Ah figures, the first few days can be a bit rough.” With a smile he tips the scoop of dust over her head, as it floats down in a shower of golden sparkles he watches it shift to sparkles of silver starlight at the slightest contact with her. 

He’s never seen anything like it. Perhaps Zarina should have been the one to come, she’s more experienced with color shifting dust…

No, no, Tink and Zarina would probably just scare her off in the first five seconds. Also his job giving out dust gives him a perfect excuse to talk with her.

“So…do You have any idea on why that happens?” He tries to keep his tone light and friendly, instead of bursting out the curiosity he feels. It’s just a casual conversation, something to fill the silence, that’s all.

“Why…what happens?” She sounds genuinely confused.

“Oh, why the dust shifts to silver when it’s sprinkled on you.” He clarifies casually.

She blinks and her eyes shift down to a sunlit patch of mushroom. Oh no, he didn’t mean to sound invasive. Had he sounded invasive? Maybe she doesn’t like talking about it. Why would she not like talking about it? It’s fascinating and very cool.

“I mean it’s really actually awesome, especially to watch.” He flits back over to the pool of gold to give himself something to do, and to attempt to make her feel less like she was the center of attention, he has a feeling she doesn’t like getting much attention. “I was just wondering, you know, being a Dust Talent and all.” 

“Um…okay.” She does not sound convinced in the slightest. Which is a shame. “I don’t know…the Queen thinks it might be something to do with my talent.”

Well, that’s quite obvious, but what isn't is why . “I see..” he digs into the dust, watching as it shifts and slides in layers of gold, glimmering shades of lights like golden ocean waves. 

“…you don’t have any idea why, do you?” He didn’t expect the question, he should have, but he didn't. He’s a dust talent of course she’d ask.

“Uh…not really, sorry, but I’m sure we could figure it out. I have a friend, well two, Zarina and Tinkerbell, they’d love to help out, so would I.” 

He turns back to her in time to see her deflate a bit at the idea. Right, not a people person. “They can be a bit much, but they’re the best options.” 

He has every faith in his friends, well…they’ve both made mistakes but the important thing is that they made up for it and learned from them.

“Uh..” she chews her lip, her fingers twist together like branches snagged in the wind, still her head is tilted down, but at least she hasn’t said no yet. 

He waits for an answer, not quick to speak or add more to convince her, it would probably just scare her away anyway.

After a moment, in the warm glow of sunlight and pixie dust, the little silver and blue fairy gives a nod of her head. 

A smile jumps on Terence’s face. Good she agreed! Really he didn’t expect her too…but it’s great that she did. Oh Tink and Zarina will be so excited.

“Great, then how about we meet up later at Zarina’s house?” As soon as he says it he realizes she probably doesn’t know where that is. “Actually I’ll come and get you right before lunch.” 

They all have a break for lunch so it’s a good time, and no one will be grouchy or impatient because they are tired.

Only later, once Luna had flown back into the tree to hide away, does Terence realize he failed to ask any of Zarina’s questions, in fact he hasn’t even touched her notebook which is still tucked away in his messenger bag. 

Oh well, she’ll just have to ask Luna herself…guess the plan to not overwhelm the new fairy isn’t going to happen. He kinda feels bad, honestly even past his curiosity, he knows that Luna won’t take well to the attention she’s going to receive at lunch. 

What had driven him to even ask her to come? It was not his best idea, but it’s too late now, lunch will come, questions will be asked, he only hopes Luna won’t leave feeling scrutinized.

Chapter Text

Tinkerbell skids to a stop in front of Zarina’s house, on the outskirts of the little island home of the pixie dust tree, all dust keepers live by home tree. The house itself is made of a hollowed out tree root, leaves making up the roof, a little golden waterfall of pixie dust disappears behind it. 

She’s late, very late. But it’s not her fault! Fairy Mary kept her busy right up till lunch and then she had to fly home to gather her things, which all now rest in her messenger bag, stuffed in there haphazardly in her haste.

She hears voices drift out a half open window, cracked enough to let a warm fresh breeze in. Sounds like Zarina and Terence are already here with Luna. Tink raps three times on the oak door, the voices cut off and the next second the door swings open.

“Tink, you're here!” Zarina greets, Tinkerbell zips into the room with a twitchy smile.

“Yes sorry, Fairy Mary kept me later than I expected.” Her gaze sweeps around the room, Luna stands in a corner by the door, all fidgety, Terence a few feet away from her looks like he’s trying his best to be reassuring.

“So where were you?”

“We were just going over the Dustology book Zarina has, as well as her own book about changing what the dust does.” Terence fills in.

“Pixie dust experiments.” Zarina corrects him about the title of her book.

So good, nothing much has happened, she hasn’t missed anything. “Any ideas?”

“Well, we were talking mostly about blue dust, since Luna’s glow is blue, like perhaps her talent helps multiply regular pixie dust, but we tried and nothing happened.” 

Zarina picks up her ‘Pixie Dust Experiments’ book and flips past the first few pages, the cover made of sown leaves and painted swirls. “So then we went to see if she can change dust, since the dust always changes to silver.”

She goes on, “I was thinking how, when making the water talent’s dust, it always turns a dark blue, maybe that would lead somewhere but no. I also never made up an idea that might turn the dust silver. The closest thing is light talent, mainly because some light talents can use moonlight, but it’s rare, and also the color turns orange. So it was a stretch.”

“If some can wield moonlight then why didn’t the Queen bring Luna to one of them, instead of Iridessa?” Tinkerbell cuts in.

Zarina glances at her, but Terence beats her to speaking. “Maybe she just wanted to let Luna meet all the light fairies first? Or maybe it just slipped her mind? She is really busy after all.”

“Maybe, but still, you’d think that would be the first thing she thought of.” Tink counters.

”Well, actually I think Iridessa can bend moonlight, the Queen just took Luna to her during the day.” Zarina corrects.

“Um..” It’s the first time Tinkerbell has heard Luna speak, she’s as timid as cheese can be when he’s scared. “Well my talent showed up as shadows…so maybe she doesn’t think that moonlight is something I can bend? Especially if she had me work with a light fairy and nothing came of it.”

“That’s true.” Terence nods thoughtfully. “But if so, why did she name your talent after the moon?”

Luna shrugs. “Perhaps she is just a bit occupied with other things to think of that…”

“Have you tried moving shadows yet?”

Luna shakes her head, a lock of hair flits into her face, she hastily pushes it back. Really, she could use some clips to keep it in place, maybe Tink could get her some, or make some, silver with little moons on it sounds like a great idea, and fun.

But back to order, it is strange that Queen Clarion would overlook something so obvious, and also strange that Luna hasn’t tried bending shadows. Does she even want to learn about her talent? Tink can’t think of a reason a fairy might not want to. It’s crazy.

“So maybe you should try then.” Tinkerbell suggests with the undertone that really implies it wasn’t much of a suggestion.

Luna’s  wings press flat against her back, like she was shy or something. Why should she be shy? It’s just a talent, it’s not that big of a deal to demonstrate in front of others, unless she doesn’t want them all to see her fail.

Which is fine, reasonable, but still, this better not be that baby bird all over again.

“It’s…it’s not night.” Luna glances to the window, more like, the beams of sun streaming in through it.

“So?” Tink shuts the blinds and flits over to the fireplace, Terence gives a protest but Tinkerbell doesn’t listen and quickly extinguishes the flames, so the room is left in darkness, everyone can still see, but the shadows in the corners are more apparent. “There, problem solved.”

Zarina goes to speak, “Tinkerbell we’re here about dust not-“

“-oh come on how’s she going to learn if she never tries anything?” Tink interrupts.

“I don’t know Tink if she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t have to.” Terence says gently, glancing at Tink then Luna, as if to stop her wonderful idea. 

“Please, it’s just one teeny tiny little hand movement and we’ll see if her talent really does have to do with shadows.” Tinkerbell doesn’t sound like she’s begging no, she sounds flippant.

“I-“ Luna starts, eyes round as moons.

“-let’s go.” Tink flits behind her and gives her a light shove, Luna stumbles forward towards a dark corner.

“Tink.” Terence comes over and rests a hand on Tinkerbell’s shoulder. “Don’t push her, literally and figuratively.”

“How else will we discover more?” Tinkerbell protests, her wings flap out of indignation, she brushes Terence off, folding her arms.

“There are many ways.” Zarina cuts in. “I’ve learned not to force things to happen. Nothing good comes of it.”

“I- I’ll just do it.” Luna squeaks, again it reminds Tinkerbell of Cheese, and her agreement gives Tink a sense of accomplishment.

“You don’t have to.” Zarina speaks hesitantly, though it is hard to miss the note of curiosity in her voice. She wants to see Luna's talent as much as Tinkerbell does. Tink knows it, and despite Terence being nice she knows he wants to see it too.

“I…” Luna visibly swallows, but she shuffles towards the shadows, her blue glow grows more apparent in the dim light, like the moon shimmering off dew drops caught in a spider's web. “It’s fine.”

She dips her pale fingertips into the darkness, hesitant as a cat dipping her paw in water. Tink waits with rapt attention. If this works they can tell Queen Clarion, they’d be one step closer to understanding this new talent.

The shadows move.

They snake up Luna’s arm in silky tendrils, like a pet greeting their beloved one. Luna yanks her arm back, shock apparent on her face, but Tinkerbell spots glee there too.

“Yes! See I told you!” Tinkerbell exclaims with a laugh, Luna breaks from her surprise at Tinkerbell's loud voice and quickly shrinks in on herself once she notices Zarina and Terence openly staring at her, flabbergasted.

“I um..don’t know how I did that..” she mutters as if apologizing.

Terence blinks. “Uh. That was awesome.” He laughs softly. “I’ve never seen a fairy do that.” His eyes twinkle with wonderment.

“Me neither.” Zarina sounds intrigued and awed as she slowly approaches Luna. “I wonder what else you can do. There are so many possibilities!” She takes Luna’s hands gently. “And we’ll be happy to help you discover it all… if you’d like.”

“I…I..” Luna meets Tinkerbell’s gaze. Hopefully she’ll say yes, I mean it’s not like she has many options, other fairies might not take as kindly to her as they have. 

Terence catches the nervous look. “Don’t worry, we’ll try to reign in Tink a bit.”

“Hey-“

“-it can be rather tricky, she’s kinda had a history with impulsive thinking.” Terence teases.

“I have no-“

“And she has a bit of a temper.” He smiles. 

“How dare-“

“But she’s a good friend once you get to know her.” That shuts Tink up. She doesn’t know what to do so she folds her arms and glares at him.

“You can’t just say all that stuff then just- just throw a complement in there at the end!”

Terence winks. “Too late.”

“Guys.” Zarina is smiling even as her tone pulls them both back to the matter at hand. She turns back to Luna then. “So, what’ll it be?”

“I…” tink watches as Luna’s gaze flits to each of them, her lip caught between her teeth, “I…I suppose..some help would be nice…”

Chapter Text

She has friends.

At least that's what Terence had called himself, Zarina and Tinkerbell at the end of the lunch meeting. It's another new concept to think about, the concept of friends, fairies who help you and support you and encourage you as well as sometimes get you into trouble then help get you out of it, and don’t let you give up. That's at least Tinkerbell’s definition for it.

Luna sees the appeal of it, especially since friends implied that the fairies like you. She still feels different from everyone and heard whispers when the queen showed her around the rest of pixie hollow, it seems as if every talent is unsure of her and as a whole wonder where she’s going to fit in. She wonders the same, after all it seems this whole community works together seamlessly, that everyone has a place and fit and they all work together like how water and sun and dirt help grow a flower.

Where does she fit in all of that? Forcing herself into such a delicate balance seems unwise. What would her talent even help with? Moving shadows doesn't seem like something that has great importance, especially since fairies have gone on with life thus far completely fine without Luna's ability.

Yes, she has a few fairies who now seem to like her, but what if they just like her out of pure curiosity? They say they want to help, but then they just bombard her with questions until she feels like hiding, and that Tinkerbell pressures her into trying things, the only reason she agrees is so the attention will more quickly move away from her.

Terence though, Luna sees him as the closest definition of friend, he is always nice, doesn't ask as much as the others and gets Tinkerbell to relent a bit when it seems no one else can. She doesn't feel as helpless and useless when he is around. He is like the opposite of Tinkerbell, well… other than their looks.

And yet even he seems to want to be around Luna out of curiosity alone. Maybe the Queen is the only one who likes Luna for who she is…

Luna doesn't much like being around other fairies, yet another thing she feels like estranges her, she likes the quiet and being around others is loud, not to mention she always feels like she could take a nap afterwards too, but the other fairies all seem to like being surrounded by each other and endlessly talking and playing and working, she doesn't get it.

Which is why she is currently in the library of the pixie dust tree, snug as a bug tucked into an alcove, cushions beneath her and a curtain of leaves providing shade from the sun. The library is a strange word for a place filled with books, not to mention is sounds close to lie-berry but it's quiet, and the only other person is a scribe talent who shushes fairies who are too loud, and he doesn't try to start conversions, no, he just huddles behind a barrier of books and reads. It's nice.

She feels less useless reading too, it's something she’s actually good at, and the books don't ask her questions they just give her knowledge and they do it without shaming her for not knowing much to begin with. Also not having to keep up with conversations is wonderful, most fairies talk back and forth in groups, always overlapping sentences and cutting one another off in their excitement to share. She doesn't know how they can keep up, and how they can not get a headache from it all, or not get annoyed when cut off. 

Fairies are strange.

And yet she still desperately wants to fit in, even just a little bit, and to feel like the others like her, not out of curiosity, but because she’s just her, strange as she may be.

So, in order for that to happen she’s read all about how the world of fairies work. Customs, day to day life of each talent, lists of things and activities each talent enjoys and check off their list, holidays- which she’s learned is a celebration of sorts where fairies get the day off and come together-, traditions, like the moonstone, seasonal habits, like the summer camps fairies form on the mainland, that inspired a few questions as to why only summer has camps especially when it seems like the easiest season to manage. 

She's also learned that nature talent fairies go to the mainland and change the seasons there, a fascinating discovery, and so she looked into preparations for each seasonal change, and wondered if she could visit too because her talent counts as a nature talent.

After that escapade she moved onto history. The legend of the Neverbeast, updated, apparently his name is Gruff and fairy named Fawn helped the other fairies see the true side of him, he went into hibernation a few months ago. Both an adorable and terrifying looking beast, it's a bit insane to her how Fawn even befriended him in the first place.

She’s also learned of the Moonstone, an artifact that once was one thing, but Tinkerbell broke it, which turns out as a good thing because it multiplied the amount of blue dust produced. Zarina brought the topic of the stone up to her the other day, since Moon talent and Moon stone seemed to go together, but Terence reminded her it was blue dust the stone makes so the theory that that would have any answers was quickly squandered.

She hasn't learned much else, despite searching through nearly every book there is nothing in reference to fairies born of a cry, yes the Queen told her she’s got Scribe talents looking into it, but Luna felt like she needed to check herself, just in case.

But with each book she reads and the more she learns, the more different she feels. Only one other talent has one fairy, the clapping talent, but that was quickly discovered to help and to encourage children. All Luna's talent does is bring darkness. How can that be good? No wonder the other fairies don't trust her. They all are made of light and laughter. She’s the very opposite of them.

“Luna?” That's the queen’s voice. 

Luna sits straight up and peeks out from the cover of leaves to see Queen Clarion float into the library, yet she doesn't come out of hiding from her little alcove. She finds herself hesitating for whatever reason. 

Deep down she knows it's because she doesn't deserve to be near the queen. Queen Clarion had said they are both alike in being different, a thing that she is sure was meant to reassure, but only made Luna feel more out of place, it was the queen unintentionally validating Luna’s fears of not fitting in. That and she doesn't deserve to be near the queen because the queen is a living embodiment of light. Luna doesn't want to taint that with her darkness.

And yet she can’t just ignore the queen, even if she manages to hide today the queen will track her down eventually, and the librarian is already pointing in her direction.

She has no choice but to slip out from her sanctuary and flit nervously up to the queen with a rock in her stomach.

“Ah, there you are, you could be taken for a scribe talent with how often I find you here.” The queen smiles, Luna peers at the floor, that rock turning to a twisting in her chest. How can the queen like her when she’s so different and quiet and doesn't like being around other fairies and has such sorrow and darkness?

The stronger the light, the deeper the shadows.

“I have someone I’d like you to meet.” Queen Clarion goes on, her voice even sounding light. But Luna lifts her gaze as the queen gestures behind her. “This is Prilla.”

A fairy dressed in light pinks and greens smiles at Luna, her red hair framing her face and falling down in gentle waves beneath a flowery cap, it brings out the blue in her eyes and the brightness of her complexion.

Prilla, the clapping talent fairy, like Luna in the way that she is the only member of her talent. Unlike Luna in every other way possible.

“Hello, Miss Luna." she greets, extending a hand for what Luna now knows is a handshake, she hesitantly reciprocates the gesture. “I've been meaning to speak with you, you see we both live in the pixie dust tree, but it would seem we both have been too busy up till now.”

Luna only listens as Prilla goes on. “It's fascinating to meet another fairy who is the only one of her talents. You know at first we all thought I was an incomplete fairy, talentless. But then Tinkerbell showed me around, and a good thing too cause I saved a fairy and discovered my talent because of it. I wouldn't be disheartened if you don't know the extent of yours yet, it just means we can grow together.”

Another fairy friend. Luna is not sure how to respond, mainly because having three fairy friends, and the queen, is already a bit much. How do fairies deal with it all?

“I…thank you..” she eventually gets out.

“Well, I’ll leave you both to it.” Queen Clarion announces after Luna’s apparent agreement, she disappears in a burst of golden dust.

Luna hasn't seen her do that before, only appear, and the surprise must show on her face for Prilla laughs. “Its quite extraordinary is it not?”

“Um yes it is.” Luna agrees with a slight nod. It clicks then that she’s alone with this fairy, left on her own devices to entertain and keep up the conversation, the only other fairy she's been alone with is the queen, but the queen knows the extent of  Luna’s strangeness, and up till now Luna’s just let other fairies talk for her, they barely noticed in groups that she was so quiet. How can she possibly keep up a conversation? For how long will she be stranded here? 

Suddenly, the library seems the very last place she’d like to be, it's now too quiet and too fairyless, now that she is expected to  speak with another one on one. The whole prospect seals her lips shut more than they've been, getting even one word out seems like a daunting task.

This whole scenario will only make Prilla realize that Luna is even different from her, the one fairy Luna has something in common with, then of course she won't want to talk to Luna, or worse she still will but will be thinking the opposite of her words.

Luna can’t bear the thought of yet another fairy finding her strange and disliking her.

“Come lets sit.” Prilla zips down to a toadstool table and perches on one of the seats by it, completely oblivious to Luna’s plight.

Luna has no choice but to follow, sinking down on a seat opposite Prilla.

“So, a Moon talent. That whole show with the light turning into darkness was incredible, I’ve heard from Tinkerbell you can bend shadows, I wonder what else, like perhaps you can drop the temperature or sing lullabies so sweet it makes fairies and animals alike fall asleep.”

Was it a positive tone that Prilla spoke with? One of wonder? Luna can’t believe it, Prilla seems excited and jovial. But perhaps it's only because she doesn't know the full extent, doesn't worry or think the same as Luna, or perhaps it's because she’s pretending? After all most fairies seem to only show positivity, the whispering follows when they think they can’t be heard.

“It's your talent, what do you think? What do you feel?” 

Luna can’t get her mouth to work. Like a deer caught by a bright light she only stares wide eyed. 

What does she feel? She feels negatively, lost, and confused, and worried and saddened and desperate and different. Her little body can only contain so much of one emotion, there is no room for others, no room for positivity.

Prilla taking her silence as confusion adds, “for me, I felt as though I had to help that fairy, that I was the only one who could, I didn't know how at the moment, but when I got there I just understood what I had to do.”

“I..” Luna swallows, she must say something. “..felt as though I could bend shadows..” 

It's not entirely the truth, but every time since her arrival she caught herself peering at the cool darkness, staying up well past the sunset to stare at the gaps between stars, always pausing in flight to enjoy a moment of shade, and finding that she enjoys the gloomy days that so rarely come to pixie hollows perfect weather. The other fairies like staying out in the sun, but Luna tends to stay inside.

“And that's wonderful!” Prilla smiles once more. Such brightness, Luna wonders what it must be like. “See you already have a start, I'm sure you'll discover more, as I have.”

“What good is bending shadows?” The question slips out faster than Luna can catch it, surprising even herself, especially from the bitter, almost demanding tone with which it sounded. 

Prilla doesn't take offense, which surprises Luna further.

“Oh darling is that what you've been worrying about?" she says sympathetically, “there is a lot of good, you might not see it, but there is, after all, animals could not sleep if night never came, and we could not work on the mainland if we weren't protected under the guise of shadows, just because it's dark doesn't make it bad.”

Luna chews her lip and glances down at the ground, her hands balled into fists in her lap. “It's different. Too different.” She doesn't know why she's admitting this to a fairy she just met, but she can’t help herself.

“Different can be good.” Prilla reassures.

“But I hear fairies whisper.”

“Because they are curious, not because they find you bad, the only fairy mean enough to say anything against you is Vidia. And no one likes her.”

Luna thinks it is maybe because Vidia might be brutally honest and say things other fairies need to hear, perhaps she should visit Vidia, to hear the worst of it, at least Vidia would tell it without sugar coating it.

“No one seems to like me.”

“Please, darling, that's not true.” Prilla leans closer, as if to take Luna’s hands, Luna doesn't let her. “Tink and Terence and Zarina, and Me and the Queen like you. If the Queen trusts you then there is no reason for anyone not to, she can tell things about fairies with just a glance you know.”

That gets Luna’s attention, and yet still something stops her from believing. “They don't like me, they just are curious about what I can do.” Now that she’s talking it seems she can’t keep quiet.

“No, no, I'm sorry that somehow that idea got in your head.” Prilla meets Luna's gaze, despite Luna doing her best to avoid it. “You are wonderful, yes different, but that's not a bad thing, every fairy here is different from the next, its why this community works so well, where one fairy falls short the next picks it up, we help each other, and value each other for who we are, not just what we can do, and we don’t care if one fairy can’t do as much or is…darker, we just care about each other.”

It's everything Luna’s been desperate to hear, but now that she’s hearing it she somehow can’t believe it. Even though this fairy’s whole talent is basically helping fairies and children to believe.

Yet all she says is, “perhaps...” because she doesn't want to let this fairy down, not when she believes she already let down everyone else.

“I’ll keep at it till you can agree with me truthfully, because it is the truth.” Prilla sounds determined, she sounds like she won’t give up, Luna can at least believe she won't give up, even if Luna won't be convinced so easily.

“Oh jingles!” Prilla jumps up from her seat, “a fairy needs help, I've got to go. But this conversation isn't over.” With that she claps and disappears, leaving Luna once again to the quiet of the library and the weight of her thoughts.

Slowly Luna heads back over to her little alcove in a haze and once again hides away, drawing the curtain of thick leaves over the entrance and dimming the warm sunlight. She glances about at the books she’d left here, and once again picks up a book of legends.

The conversation between her and Prilla made her feel more lost if anything, her mind at battle with the positive words the fairy shared. She’d said every fairy is different from the next, but they all still have one thing in common, they were all born of laughter, so despite Prilla’s reassurances Luna still hears the doubts of other fairies, and her own as well. What good is a fairy born of tears? What good could ever come of it? 

She can’t change who she is, no matter how desperately she tries, but she can learn more, and she can hopefully find a way to make fairies see that she’s not bad, and that she can help and be good, and hopefully make herself believe the same.

So back to the legends it is, to the Neverbeast, and pirates and lost ships that suck but never sank, to a wishing mirror that Tink used the last wish of, a wish would be wonderful. But of course, Tink got to it first. 

While reading she finds a legend she hasn't heard about from Tinkerbell, one of a sapphire hidden deep in caves off the shore, half the time submerged in water, and far, far away, from any sunlight. The pages tell her it is a fairy relic of some kind, that brought light to fairies, but that pirates stole away, how it ended up in a cave was never mentioned.

A relic that brings light… if Luna found it maybe then the fairies would see that she is light and good like the rest of them. Maybe the whispers would even stop, maybe they’d all forget she’s born of tears too.

She snaps the book shut and tucks it under her arm as she darts out from her alcove and in the direction of her room. 

She has a plan, a great one, and finally some hope.

Chapter Text

Before she even reaches her bedroom she's intervened. 

Her heart jumps into her throat as a jumble of wings and limbs blur in all directions swarming her, several pairs of eyes blinking expectantly at her, too many eyes, she hears her name called from every direction, far too loud and far too hard to pinpoint, it makes her ears ring.

She can’t move back any further and realizes she’s against a wall, the smooth wood hard against her back, her wings pinned, making her feet her only way to stay upright, the book clutched to her chest. She doesn't remember even moving.

“Everyone back up! Goodness gracious you all have no manners.” a fairy in a pink petal dress snaps at the others. Her auburn hair in perfect ringlets flowing just past her shoulders, she has the look of delicate beauty, ivory skin and bright green eyes like summer leaves. "You're clearly scaring her, can’t you tell?”

Thankfully the group backs off, as soon as Luna’s given space her chest loosens enough to breathe again. Yet all the attention is still on her, her skin crawls with it and her legs wobble, but she can’t exactly shrink away any more than she already is.

…there is the option to run though.

Luna doesn't get the chance as the pink clad fairy approaches her. “You alright sugar plum? I’d fly backwards if I could to keep my friends from bombarding you again.”

No. Luna is very much not okay, can they not see that? Whoever they are, they sure don't know how to go about anything without excitement, that is clear for Luna to see. It must be exhausting to keep such energy up all the time, but the group of brightly dressed talents don't seem at all affected by it.

“um…I..” she wants, no, needs to get out of here, like a fly buzzing in a spider's web, her anxiety at the very least matches that of the poor fly. But once again, like many times before, her voice fails her.

“I’m Rosetta, nice to meet you.” Rosetta smiles prettily, “it's Luna right?”

Luna manages to nod.

“We’ve heard all about you from Tinkerbell!” a fairy in orange with a long braid who can’t contain herself pops forward with a wolfish grin. “A new talent, how fascinating!” she exclaimed. “And controlling shadows, that's awesome.”

“Um-”

“Fawn back off, she’s skittish.” a fairy in blue tugs at Fawn’s- apparently- shoulder. That intrigues Luna, could it be the same Fawn, animal talent, that tamed the neverbeast? Curiosity almost frees her voice again, but then another fairy speaks before she can.

“So this is the attention hogging new talent.” a fairy in purple with long black hair steps up beside Rosetta, her arms crossed and a scrutinizing tilt to her head.

Vidia. Luna doesn't need her to be introduced to know who she is already. Fast flying fairy with an attitude and a vendetta. Luna almost wants to tell her she doesn't want the attention and she could gladly take her spotlight back, but Vidia is too threatening to be spoken to. 

“Vidia be nice,” Rosetta gives Vidia a look. “Though I know that's a hard thing for you to do for some reason. And it's clear she doesn't want all that attention, with how she hides away most of the day.” she turns back to Luna “This is Silvermist, Fawn and Iridessa.”

Vidia only hums. Luna glances past them to the others, finally she spots someone familiar, Iridessa. They make eye contact and the light fairy gives a nervous wave, Luna just blinks and flicks her eyes again to Rosetta.

“W-what do you want?” it's not exactly the best thing to ask, but with the quiet and weak tone of her voice she isn't sure she can even apologize for it. 

“Oh honey, we just want to meet you.” Rosetta puts a hand over her heart, apparently moved by Luna's anxiety.

“Yeah, and offer our friendship.” the one in blue- Silvermist adds.

Wonderful more… friends . 

“That and we're curious to see what you can do. It's not everyday we get a new talent around here.” Fawn flits closer. Suddenly they all seem closer. 

Just more fairies here out of curiosity, to ask questions and get too close and pretend to be friends. They just want to see her talent, not meet the fairy behind it.

“I…I have to go.”  Luna pushes off the wall and flies as fast as she can to her room, the book held like a lifeline as her heart beats in her ears and hopes she’s not being followed. 

She reaches her sanctuary and slams the door behind her, locking it, then goes to the balcony and locks those doors, quickly pulling the leaf curtains over the windows so no one can see in.

Only then does she take a deep breath and manage to release the tension in her shoulders. Alone. Finally. What were they even doing in the Pixie dust tree? She hadn't seen them in the library or kitchen below it, and usually fairies down come unless invited…had queen clarion invited random fairies in at any time so Luna could potentially make friends?

She almost feels betrayed at the notion, Home tree is the one place she needn't worry about being surrounded by fairies and stared at and whispered about…well at least worry less about all that, and to have the queen take that from her makes something twist uncomfortably in her chest. The queen is supposed to be her one true friend, she’s the only one who Luna believes just sees Luna for Luna and not for her talent.

She needs to find that stone. The light from it, then fairies will stop viewing her as her talent alone, and maybe even like her.

Yes, she’s not necessarily good around other fairies, but she still wants them to like her.

The bed is soft upon laying down, a small comfort, but it serves to further relax her as she flips open the book of Legends.

The yellowed pages are filled with all sorts of drawings and myths, a few she finds interesting as she leafs through the pages are one of a Dragon named Kyoto who lives far in the mountains, another is of a shell that turns fairies purple. A bit odd, what use would a shell like that be?

She shakes her head, she must get back on track, there isn't time to waste. She redirects her attention to the sapphire, quickly skimming along till she finds the right page. Drawn in ink and colorful paints the sapphire seems to shimmer on the page as if it weren't just paper, Art talents are so well…talented, it's quite impressive how they can just capture the likeness of something so well it seems real even while it's just flat colors on a canvas.

Beneath the sapphire is a map drawn in ink that’s faded to gray from black with age, it doesn't give much detail which makes Luna doubt even going after it. All that's drawn is a yawning cave mouth by the beach. That could be anywhere. It doesn't even say a direction, just that it's deep down in the dark and the tides have it submerged most of the time.

Frustration simmers like pressure behind her eyes as she stares down at the useless book. She needs this sapphire, it brings light she needs that light, as proof she does have it herself. And yet with a map so vague…

…She’ll just have to search every cave on all sides of the island. How many could there be?  Yes it's a long shot and sounds tiringly tedious, but she finds determination outweighing her frustration all of the sudden. She needs that sapphire and she’s going to get it.

  ~~~

She doesn't find it the first day, nor the second, or even a week later. But she doesn't stop. She’s checked all the caves in Cannibal Cove, avoiding the natives as she flits from one cave to the next and going as deep as she dares.

She doesn't find anything the week after either and her hopes dwindle off as she crosses out more spots on the map of Neverland she made.

On her trips she got tangled in all sorts of adventures, what other word could be fitting besides adventures? Trouble perhaps, or close calls. The pirates are more active than ever, being defeated by fairies ruined their pride it would seem, and now they hunt for the glowing little creatures almost every night, when their glow is most obvious to see. 

Luna had quickly learned to only hunt for caves during the day after nearly being caught by a blundering pirate with smelly breath. She had heard stories but didn't expect them to be so big. 

It was a shame to hunt by day, she liked the dark night more out of all the other times, even when the gloom settles over the land, and no lights can be seen in the deep blue landscape for miles. Then she could speak with the stars, it was less lonely to be up in the sky with them, above the clouds as they twinkle and shine, silver and blue like her, she felt like she belonged with them more than the fairies. But that was before one shot past her and nearly took her wings off.

So perhaps it is for the best that she searches when the sun shines and the land feels light and safer. The good thing is the caves light up more inside when daylight shines just outside of them. The bad thing is that her eyes keep having to adjust, and the further down she goes the darker it gets till she can barely see at all past the glow of her own wings.

After another endless day of searching she falls heavily into her bed, an oddity since most times she feels so light. The spots crossed out all together now are Cannibal Cove, Crocodile Creek, Slightly Gulch, Blind Mans Bluff, Pegleg Point and Shipwreck beach. 

Each day has every drop of her pixie dust used up, nary a sparkle left at the bottom of her leaf bag. It's made Terence wonder what she’s been up to, everyone else most likely thanks she’s just hiding away in the library or her room, she doubts anyone has checked on her at all, or worried, she finds that thought a bit sad and isn't sure why. Then she realizes that if they check on her and worry it means they care and care means they like her at least a little bit.

Nothing comes with wallowing in self pity and exhaustion though so she forces herself up from her too comfortable bed and over to her map pinned to a previously empty bit of wall.

The south and southeast of the island are all smudges off crossed out places, half the coasts are still up for searching, the very thought makes her wings droop.

“I’ve been wondering about that.” a clear voice, regal and light comes from behind her, she quickly spins around to find Queen Clarion at her door, gold glow lighting the dim room and small smile taking the edge off Luna’s spike of anxiety.

“Oh.. um, hi.” Luna catches her bottom lip between her teeth, then glances at the map. “This… is just..” she has no good explanation, and she doesn't want to bring up the sapphire to the Queen lest she be told to stop looking for it and another long speech about how she doesn't need to prove herself or work to fit in and that she’s already light and accepted and all those other things.

She really should have thought of some explanation. “It's all the uh…well i've been wanting to visit all the places in Neverland, to explore a bit..” she answers feebly.

“I see…and what of this then?” Queen Clarion glides closer and gestures to the book of legends on Luna's desk, more specifically the little bookmark Luna had jabbed between the pages so she didn't have to keep flipping through the pages to find the one on the sapphire.

For a moment Luna just stares at the book, then the Queen then at the book once more. She’s already lied about just wanting to explore, lied to the Queen herself, what's one more?

“Uh.. I was curious about legends…so I borrowed it…” she mutters, then adds hastily, “I’ll return it if I'm not supposed to take books from the library I didn't mean to, I mean I didn't know-”

“Luna.” Queen Clarion’s voice cut Luna off gently. Luna shuts up immediately and again catches her lip between her teeth. Hopefully if Luna appears worried about taking the book, then the Queen will focus on that rather than the bookmarked page. Luna very well knows books are indeed allowed to be taken out of the library as long as they are returned in the same condition and on time for the deadline to end.

“It's all right dear, books can be borrowed, just be sure to return it.” Luna nearly relaxes at the words but then the queen goes on. “And I was referring to the page you marked, I don't believe I've read this particular volume before.”

Not good, not good. “Oh that…” Luna's voice nearly shakes but she quickly puts it to right. “I’ve just been reading through it, stopped there last night, I was going to read more before you entered…”

“Is that so?” The twinkle in Queen Clarion’s eye makes Luna nervous. What is she thinking? She can’t fool the Queen, she’s the Queen . It's folly to even try, yet here Luna stands.

“Yes it is so.” Luna answers as steadily as she can.

Queen Clarion hums and moves on to the map, floating closer and shedding warm light on the pinned up paper as she peers at it. “And what do you think of Neverland so far?”

“Um..” is this some sort of test? Luna knows fairies sometimes quiz each other, and failing doesn't sound too pleasant. What test would it even be? “It's… quite full of adventures.”

“Indeed. I have yet to even see as much as you have. But Luna, sweetheart, is also full of danger, I don't want to see you hurt, I know Tinkerbell has a way of making things seem…less serious then they are when it comes to that danger, even if she makes simple matters seem quite serious, but things are not always as they seem. Fairies do sometimes never return.”

It's Neverland. Never say never. Yet…the Queen has seen many years more than Luna or most of the fairies in pixie hollow have…

“I’m being careful." Luna feels as though her words are true too, she has stayed away from the pirates after that first encounter, and the stars too, also natives and other creatures out there. It is only the caves she bothers with, only the treasure she seeks. She doesn't even particularly want any adventures or encounters with danger, she just wants that sapphire and just wants to be accepted by other fairies.

“Very well, I hope you keep up with that.” the queen replies, “and perhaps tell me of the things you see, many fairies go adventuring, yet few tales ever make it back to me.”

“Um alright..” Luna almost feels bad, every fairy looks up to the queen, and yet the queen hasn't seen half as much as they have strictly because she is too busy doing queenly things. 

“Thank you.” Queen Clarion smiles. “Now get some rest, you look exhausted.”

Luna is embarrassed that it's that obvious but nods and quickly runs her fingers through her hair to try and smooth it down. 

“Goodnight Luna.” Queen Clarion moves to the door.

“Goodnight.” with that the warm golden glow of the queen disappears.

Luna faces her map again. 

She's not keen on disobeying the queen but she can’t rest, not yet, not till she finds that Sapphire…or at least marks another likely place it will be so she can explore it in the morning. So after some debate she circles the Mermaid Lagoon on the east side of the island.

The next morning Luna drags herself from bed while the sky is still lightening to gray. The earlier she gets up the more time she has to find the right cave, and the Mermaid Lagoon is not a small place, especially for a fairy.

The downsides of this is that she still feels as exhausted as last night, if not more so. Getting dressed takes her longer than she’d like, so does tying her hair up into a messy bun, Tinkerbell said it would keep it out of one’s face, but even so Luna can seem to make hers as neat as Tink’s or keep her bangs out of her eyes like Tink can.

She’s about to leave for her daily dust as the sky lightens up to pinks and yellows, when a knock sounds at her door. Who would be up at this hour unless they need to be?

Zarina. The answer is Zarina. She is who greets Luna once the door opens, and somehow a ball of positive energy.

“Luna, great you're up. I was hoping to catch you before you disappear for the day. What's up with that anyway?" she strolls into Luna’s room without asking, her question sounding more rhetorical anyway. Even if it hadn't been Luna probably wouldn't have answered, her eyes still droop and her tongue feels stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“Doesnt matter, you can tell me later.” Zarina glances around at Luna’s room, her eyes flicking over the books and maps and whatever else she finds of interest, but she doesn't settle on them for long. “Ive been hoping to bring up the topic of that silver dust to you, but you've been of who knows where every day.”

“Hm.” is Luna's only answer as she closes her door and leans tiredly on it.

Zarina goes on unoffended by Luna’s lack of enthusiasm. “I’ve been trying to make silver dust and for some reason it’s harder to do than the others, like I'm missing an ingredient or somehow messing up the filter or how to mix it.”

Luna just listens, having trouble processing the words, but she lets Zarina go on about her Alchemy stuff. “I’ve used moonflower petals and purple Night Phlox,even kept my home dark and shut the blinds when making it, blue dust is added at the end and I stir only enough to mix things, I've used a cup of pixie dust too and some silver shavings, but it still hasn't turned silver, I don't see why, I’ve followed along with basic rules and given it the most appropriate atmosphere, and I know you tend to stay away from fairies so I even left it alone for an hour then stirred it again but still nothing.”

Luna just blinks for a moment after Zarina falls silent, her friend expectantly waiting for an answer or some sort of explanation, but Luna has none. She doesn't know why pixie dust turns silver around her, and she doesn't know why it won't turn silver for Zarina.

Zarina’s expression shifts all the sudden with an idea, Luna is wary. “Oh, what if it just needs you to touch it? Then again I would prefer to be able to make it when you are unavailable… Hm, still worth a try, but that brings up the dilemma of if you do turn it silver by your touch will it still work if other fairies use it to try out your talent?” It seems like she's talking more to herself as she starts to pace. “And will you be able to turn big amounts of silver or is it only when the dust falls on you that it turns that color? So many questions, I can't wait to figure it out. Come on, let's go to my house.”

Zarina takes hold of Luna’s wrist and pulls her along into the air. “Wait Zarina-” the protest dies on her lips as she gets a good look at Zarina’s face, just pure determination and excitement, so with a sigh Luna gives a last glance at her map the lets herself be tugged to Zarina’s house, even though it's wasting time.

Zarina’s house is completely dark, all but for the thin fingers of sunlight poking through gaps in the curtains over the windows. It's also an organized mess of ingredients and all manner of alchemy instruments.

Zarina brings over a bowl of straight golden pixie dust, the glow of it almost bright in the dim room, lighting Zarina’s face which hovers over it. “See if it turns silver.”

Luna with as little effort as possible dips her fingers into it, the pixie dust doesn't change, at least not much, a thin layer of dust turns silver around luna’s fingers but nothing more, it would seem only dust that makes contact with her turns, instead of making the whole thing leak into a silver color.

Zarina frowns and sets the bowl aside to write a note in her Pixie Dust Experiments notebook, the page titled Moon Talent Dust. luan however peers at the bowl, the silver specks in the sea of gold, again she reaches her fingers in, feeling the dust shift around them as she moves them all about, stirring the bowl so more turns silver. In the end it's a sea of silver with a few gold specks left.

Zarina had come over at some point and now seeing this she scoops up some of the dust, it remains silver in her hand. “Fascinating.” she mutters, jotting down another note. “Let's see if it works.”

It doesn't. The silver dust would just appear to be silver dust, Zarina fails to move any shadows around. But she doesn't seem discouraged, if anything she seems invigorated, just by the thrill of solving a difficult mystery. What the dust does do, it acts exactly like normal gold dust, aiding in flying even for Zarina, which is just another thing she finds intriguing.

Finally she tries using all the ingredients and the same process, just with the silver dust this time to make dust that can grant the ability to use Luna’s talent, but once again, it doesn't work, not even when Zarina asks for Luna to try doing the entire process alone to see if it would make a difference. It didn't.

After an hour in total at Zarina’s house Luna finally speaks up. “I should go… I've got something to do.”

“Oh? Alright then thanks for your help, it's been great. If you don't mind, I'm going to keep this dust.” 

Luna shakes her head. “I don’t, have a good day.” and with that she leaves. The sun is fully up now, and time has been taken away from Luna's search, but strangely Luna feels a bit better, doing something other than fruitless searching was a nice break. And seeing Zarina’s determination and lack of giving up rekindles Luna’s own wavering hope. She even feels a bit less exhausted, which is odd given normally fairies just make her more tired…

…maybe having a friend is a good thing after all. 

Maybe she should give Tinkerbell’s friends another shot, just as long as they don't all crowd her like they did yesterday. And queen Clarion’s visit earlier proves that fairies might actually care about Luna, well at least Queen Clarion does, and Zarina and Terence, but still it's better then what she thought earlier even if she still believes Zarina and Terence are in it to mostly just satisfy their curiosity. But they had noticed she wasn't around as much, and they had taken the time to bring it up and seek her out, so that is a start. 

But she still needs to find that sapphire. So she picks up her daily dose of pixie dust and flies towards the Mermaid Lagoon.

Chapter Text

Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea after all.

Many caves lay around Mermaid Lagoon, black mouths yawning open against the fiery sunlight of day, it wasn’t that there were so many that made her take pause, nor the mermaids lounging on rocks, their young splashing and laughing in high pitched trills.

It was the water flooding most of the caves, the blue salty expanse rippling in the bare light that managed to leak in.

The book had said it would be flooded half the time, and she’d gotten a good grasp of when high and low tide ebbed and flowed. Yet these caves are flooded even during low tide.

Absentmindedly she chews her lip as she flits from one cave to the other, only to find water in each blocking the path forward. Every fairy knows not to get their wings wet, and she’d have no chance of continuing if she did, so she’s careful to stay feet away from the swishing mass below.

How could they all be flooded? It’s unfair, she needs to find this sapphire and only has so many places left to look, truly unbelievable. 

Her face heats and she can practically feel something simmer under her skin as she stares down at the deep blue darkness of one of the caves. She can’t have come this far, put so much work into searching just for water to stop her! Especially during low tide!

She stares down at it with disdain.

This cave  won’t work, not if it’s constantly under water, she needs one that only fills now and then. So she goes to the next cave in Mermaid Lagoon, the fifth one today. 

It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust from dark to sun to dark again as she flies from one cave to the next, once they do she’s greeted with the sight of cold stone and dark depths, weak blue light from her wings gleams off of little streams and small pools of water,  but this cave isn’t flooded like the others, she might be able to go further into the darkness.

So that’s exactly what she does, she’s almost used to the creepiness and coldness of it, the harsh unforgiving stone swallowing her up, darting between stalactites and stalagmites as she risks being hit by drops of water that fall from the black abyss above. It’s almost fun.

Soon she forgets about her anger, as the path keeps on going and going and going with no end in sight, some may find they feel reluctant as it continues but Luna only feels curious and hopeful, driven onwards by the prospect of a hidden gem far below.

She is worried this path may lead no where, much like caves in the past had proved fruitless, If the sapphire isn’t here she will have to go to the next cave, but that next one may be flooded, or shallow, she doesn’t want to look in any more caves anyway, these weeks hadn’t given her anything out of her efforts and she’s tired of it, and tired of being away from her bedroom, some exploring is fun but not this much.

It definitely starts to be way less fun when you’re limbs start to drag and your eyes droop, when your wings threaten to give out and your pixie dust is at its last few specks.

But this cave is near enough to the description in the book of Legends that she lets herself hope and have a bit of fun, trying the best she can to force her exhaustion to the back of her mind as the cave continues.

It’s only the light of her wings which enables her to see her path, the tunnel twisting ever forward, some spots so tight she can hardly breathe as she gets through them, some so spiky she nearly lost her bag after it got snagged on the stone.

Whatever the challenge, it doesn’t deter her, she’s decided this is the last cave she’ll be checking, she’s searched and used too much energy and time and this sapphire still remains to be found, if that is, it even exists anymore. 

A problem occurs when she reaches a fork in the path, two pitch black tunnels angling off forever from her sight. 

She sticks with her instincts and goes left, it feels like hours go by before she gets somewhere. A dead end.

She resists the urge to scream in frustration and spins around back the way she came. Left failed her, maybe her instincts aren’t reliable after all. 

She reaches the fork again and goes right, the only remaining path, her blue light revealing the cold stone of the winding tunnel.

Slowly it gets wider and wider, slanting ever downward and ever colder until she bursts out into a cavern of black. It’s so disorienting, no ceiling, no ground, no walls, just endless black that her blue light doesn’t touch.

Slowly she lowers herself, at least that’s what she hopes she’s doing, with the maze of tunnels and the pitch black she could have been turned upside down or sideways anywhere, it’s not like she can stop flying to find the pull of gravity anyway, she doesn’t want to risk plummeting, not with not knowing how far or close the ground may actually be.

It feels like an eternity of frayed nerves before she catches a glimmer of something out of the corner of her eye, far, far below her dangling feet, just a speck of white in an endless ocean of black, the hole a needle makes after poking through dark petals.  

She keeps her eyes on the dot of light with her heart in her throat and hope bubbling up through her and threatening to overflow into excitement. But no she can’t celebrate yet, she can’t be sure it is the sapphire, not to mention celebrating early is bad luck.

So, in case of any peril, she continues to lower herself at a snail's pace, wings straining in effort to keep the descent stable.

A reflection of herself ebbs into view and for a moment it startles her, a perfect mirror image, weak in the dim light of her wings, her own eyes peer up at her, her own wings flap slowly as she comes to a halt just above the mirror image. It only moves when she does, so still otherwise, undisturbed in the echoing darkness. 

She extends her foot down to place it upon the surface but it sinks through. She gasps and pulls her foot back as ice stabs her toes, the tip of her boot coming away wet, the surface broken by drops dripping off her, spreading ripples in the water.

Water. WATER. WATER?!!!

How can water be so still? How can it be down here so far! It’s not fair! She was so close. That glimmer of light is just beyond her rippling reflection. 

Anger once again fills her, from the tip of her toes to the ends of her hair. How could this happen? It was supposed to be free of water. It’s low tide. 

She kicks in anger at the surface, once again stirring up ripples, the slap echoing through the darkness over and over as an infuriating mantra. Though she regrets the move as cold once again seeps into her foot. She grabs it and rubs at it in an attempt to chase away the ice, sucking air between her teeth in a hiss, quiet as it was it echoes too.

It’s no use trying to get to that speck of light. Even if it is the sapphire she can’t swim and her wings would get wet so she wouldn’t be able to fly if she retrieved it, as well as the fact that her wings would drag her down when fully submerged. Not a good idea.

But Luna doesn’t have many ideas, let alone good ones. She isn’t going to let some water stop her! She can’t! She’s so close to what she wants and it’s just out of reach! She won’t go back to pixie hollow without that sapphire, she’s searched and expended too much energy and time not to. 

So she dips her foot in once again, despite the chill that shoots up her body and the goosebumps that rise on her skin she doesn’t remove her foot and instead brings the other one to join it as she slowly starts to lower herself again.

She struggles not to pull away as the water rises to her ankles, then her shins, then it slips into her boots and floods them, she grits her teeth at the iciness seeping to her bones and soon the water is all the way up to her waist.  How has she not touched the floor yet? Judging by the glimmer of light it’s not that deep of water, and yet even when the level reaches her chest and her wings get wet and give out, her feet still don’t reach the stony ground beneath.

With her wings out of use her weight shifts back to her completely and she starts to sink. 

The cold water rushes over her head quickly reaching every part of her and sinking its frigid claws into her skin as she struggles against its pull. Gravity has found her and there’s no way to hide again.

She kicks and flails uselessly, swinging her arms to gain some amount of leverage but it doesn’t work, her wings are too heavy, her dress is too heavy, she’s too cold and with every stroke of her limbs more feeling ebbs away and it gets harder and harder to move.

Her eyes remain clenched shut, blinding her and further disorienting her as her chest starts to burn, she hadn’t sucked in enough air before falling in the water. 

It's too cold, she can’t find the bottom, she can’t swim to the top, she can’t see, she can’t breathe, she can’t hold her breath for much longer. 

The need to breathe claws at her throat and caves in her lungs as they try to expand with something, anything. It burns and so does the cold, she can’t feel her toes or fingers, she can’t even feel her wings.

All for a stupid sapphire. A stupid legend she should have never listened to or even read. Risking her life over the approval of others was never worth it, and now she’s alone, her friends no where in sight, stuck and sinking and freezing all because she didn’t tell them the truth.

It’s too much and her panic only makes her need to breathe stronger, sucking in a breath of water starts to seem like a better alternative than this suffocation, but she can’t, she knows she can’t, and yet her body tries to make her anyway.

A stab of pain goes through her foot as it kicks into something hard, she loses air bubbles as her eyes pop open to the cold black water. 

It stings but she keeps them open.

Because there it is, the glimmer, the light, but the light isn’t from the gem laying against the stone, it’s just a reflection that bounces off the sapphire. The light is from her, her blue mixing with its red.

She found the sapphire, and more importantly the ground.

With a quick move she snatches up the gem and pushes off against hard stone, rocketing up and up and up and finally air and water mix in an explosion of droplets as she bursts to the surface and sucks air into her lungs greedily.

She can breathe.

She wastes no time in kicking as best she can to some sort of ground, this lake must have an end. She doesn’t know what direction she came from, or which she faces now but she doesn’t care, all she cares about is the water surrounding her and her wings that continue to pull her down.

This time it’s her arm that slaps hard onto rock, stinging her skin and sending echoes into the air. She grabs at it desperately with her free hand, other clutching the sapphire with all her might.

She claws and kicks and drags herself up, feeling so, so heavy as her dress snags against the rough slippery stone, finally she collapses, fully out of the water.

Shivers wrack her body and she curls up around the sapphire, her wings spread behind her to better dry as she peers at the gem, watching it glitter in her blue light as her teeth chatter.

She doesn’t move for a good long while, laying there cradled by the dark, her body far too heavy to even think of moving.

As she lays there and watches her prize she notices the red of it gleams a bit more than it had a moment ago. Her numb fingers begin to sting as they clutch the gem and she drops it, but after a moment the feeling fades and she can feel her fingers again. 

Curiously she picks it back up, this time it’s warmth that spreads through her fingers then her hands, the stinging followed by feeling as that little rock dries her damp skin and dripping hair and chases away the shivers. 

She still feels absolutely exhausted but she drags herself off the cold ground and to her feet, forbidding the stone to leach away any more of her regained body heat.

Her wings flutter. Her wings! They aren’t wet any longer! This sapphire appears to be helpful in more ways than one. 

She flits up into the air once more, feeling lighter now that she can fly again. Now it’s only to find the way out.

As it turns out that proves less difficult than she believed it would be, with the sapphire in hand once she reached a certain point its reflected light had tripled hers and sent fingers of long light across the stone.

The rest of the way is easy once she finds the tunnel, she flies along it with a lighter heart, though her limbs are no less heavy, and the warm gem in hand.

The streams of water scattered around the place trickle as they had when she first entered, the pools more apparent with the better light she now has.

Except…had the pools always been that big? Had the streams swelled and rushed as much? She could have sworn the streams only ambled along like weary travelers when she arrived, but now it seems as if the stony ground is disappearing…and the quiet too.

A roar like an animal echoes down to her, but it’s not an animal, it’s the rush of water. It’s high tide making its way in.

Had she been down here that long? 

Doesn’t matter, she needs to get out.

She zips up the tunnels as fast as her wings can take her, up and up and up while she holds the sapphire tight to her. She’s had about enough of water now, and yet more seems to come pouring. The level at her feet, not as cold as the lake but quickly rising. 

No, no, no. She is so close! She can see the exit, the warm sunlight pouring in. She can reach it, it’s just right there.

The water splashes her wings, and she falls. Straight back down into it and away with currant.

Chapter Text

“So you don't know where she’s gone?” fairies had showed up to Zarina’s house a few moments after Luna’s departure. They have wanted to meet the new fairy but with Luna being so reclusive and always off to who knows where they haven't had a chance.

That's why they've come to Zarina, because they heard Luna was with her last. Funny ‘last’ was just a few moments ago.

“Sorry.” Zarina shrugs. “Couldnt tell you. She probably went back to Home tree.”

“We’d have passed her if she had.” The two are all light fairies, Zarina believes they are friends with Irridesa, one of them is dark skinned with beautiful long hair, her dress made of a bright orange flower, her name might be Fira, if Zarina's remembering correctly. The other is in a dress the color of the sky, with hair the color of hay. Her name might actually be Luna, it would be fun to see Luna and Luna together, opposite sides of the same coin, even more so with their talents being literally opposites.

“Then I'm not sure.” Zarina shrugs as she cuts up flower petals for her next project, choosing to take a break from the one on Luna, maybe a change up will help identify the problem later. “Luna usually hangs out in her room, or the library, which are both in the Pixie Dust tree.”

“Well… thanks for the help then.” Fira turns for the door, Luna the light fairy trails after. “Let us know if you see her again.”

“Will do.” Zarina promises, then she hears the door shut as she pours the petals into a mixing bowl.

She does not see her again, nor does those two light fairies. 

Her workshop has gotten noticeably darker, the light from the windows fading, leaving the fire in the brazier the only source to see by. 

Zarina glances up to see its night fall, the orenge of sunset giving way to a deep blue. She had lost track of time, a predicament that often happens.

Yet it’s odd she hasn’t heard a peep about Luna, and she knows something’s up when a golden glow spreads along her walls and lights up her work desk. She turns to find the Queen.

“Oh, your majesty.” She pops a quick somewhat clumsy bow, then pulls off her goggles. She definitely had not expected a visit from the queen. If she had she would have cleaned up a bit. “What brings you here?” She asks, shoving papers into a rough pile behind her.

Queen Clarion doesn’t give the normal small smile she often sports. Instead worry creases a line between her eyebrows. “Hello Zarina, have you seen Luna?”

“Not since this morning, why?” Has no one seen Luna? If the queen is worried…

“She hasn’t been to the pixie dust tree since she left with you at dawn, it’s now nightfall.” 

Oh, no one really has seen Luna. “Well…she often disappears, doesn’t she? For hours on end sometimes, I’m sure she’s alright.” Zarina offers.

The Queen simply shakes her head. “Not this long, she always returns before nightfall. If you have not seen her, then I shall organize a search party, to be safe.” The queen would do so for any fairy who’s gone missing, but especially Luna, their first new talent in quite a while, and a fairy that finally has something in common with the queen.

Clarion won’t lose another fairy, being without Milori for all that time was too much, so no, she won’t lose another fairy, even if Milori wasn’t exactly lost in the same way.

“Probably a good idea.” Zarina’s voice  brings Queen Clarion from her thoughts. “With the Pirates always on the look out for fairy glows.”

Queen Clairon nods, that problem hasn’t slipped her mind either, there are so many dangers in the night of Neverland, one might never return home.

“I would like you and your friends to begin looking, tell me if you find her, I shall meet with the ministers and see if they have heard anything.” With that said, Queen Clarion fades into sparkling pixie dust.

When that light even fades, Zarina is left in the blue darkness once more. Where could Luna have gone? Someone should have asked what she’s been up to all this time, disappearing and exhausting herself. Zarina should have asked.

Quickly she sprinkles on pixie dust of her own and zips off to find the others. It’s not hard most fairies are back home by now, Terence, Tink, Clank and Bobble are the first recruits, then Fawn and Silvermist, Rosetta next with her face mask on, Iridessa, and begrudgingly Vidia, Zarina even flies to the edge of winter and asks the winter fairy who’s on shift to frost wings if she can let others know Luna the new fairy is missing.

With all this done she joins Tink in the Summer Glade to start searching for Luna as well.

All of it is unnecessary as the fairy herself appears at the edge of Pixie hollow, her blue glow blending into the shadows.

—-

She’s lost her boots.

A shame, she quite liked them, and yet now they are gone, the dark petals lost somewhere in the depths of a watery cave. She can feel the wind brush her feet, chilling them with its cold fingers. So yes, quite the shame, and they had matched her dress.

Exhausted and sore from even places she didn't know existed she lands amongst the grass at the edge of pixie hollow, the Summer Glade silver with moonlight. She's never felt so relieved to return, or at the prospect of seeing her friends. Yes, friends. She has them, and she finally believes they are true, especially with the sapphire in hand.

Even more so when gold light streaks through the air right for her and Tinkerbell appears. “Luna! We've been looking everywhere for you!” she lands and grasps Luna’s shoulders. “Where have you been?” 

Tinkerbell gives her state a once over, Luna’s hair half out of the bun and wet, the droopy wings, the petal dress bruised with brown spots and torn in places. “What happened to you?”

“I-”

“Luna!” A fairy shouts from somewhere in the sky, Luna looks up to see Fawn yell into the trees, her light bright against the dark night, “Guys! Over here! Tinkerbell found her!”

They'd been looking for her? It almost makes her smile, her friends have been looking for her, and she’s gotten the sapphire so they have no reason to ever dislike her again, now that she has proof that she can bring them light and something good.

Soon she’s surrounded by a group of fairies, Luna lists their names off in her head as they land, making sure she remembers each, her first friends. Irrdesa, Fawn, Rosetta, Terence, Zarina, Silvermist, and even Vidia. Luna doesn't know how they all found her so quickly, but she doesn't mind and she’s too tired to think more on it.

Zarina steps up to her as Tinkerbell lets her go. “We got worried you were gone past sunset.”

“I was…” how does she explain? Would it be bad to show the sapphire now? She doesn’t even know how it works yet… “I just lost track of time.”

“How did you get in that state?” Rosetta flits up to her, eying her clothes. “Your poor hair.”

“You look wet.” Vidia blatantly observes.

“Uh…yes I ran out of pixie dust and fell in a stream…” Luna weakly answers. “…lost my boots.” She looks down at her bare feet again, they feel freezing.

“I’ll go tell the others we found you!” Fawn announces, jumping into the air and flitting back off into the trees.

“You poor thing.” Rosetta takes Luna’s hand, albeit reluctantly because of the dirt on it. “Let’s go get you a warm bath and some fresh clothes.”

Before she knows it she’s back at Home Tree, in a curtained off part of her bedroom, her friends chit chat on the other side as she scrubs off in a tea cup full of bubbles and water. It’s so bubbly she can’t see herself unless she lifts her hand away from the water. She likes baths too, it smells wonderful and is so warm, but she could do without all the voices filling the space.

She stares at one of the bubbles as it floats away from the rest, shiny and see through in the warm lighting, shimmering with blues and pinks and yellows before it pops into a million specks of soap.

“Luna really didn’t look good.” Rosetta mutters, her voice hushed, as if she thinks Luna won’t hear.

“I know right. I don't think she’s being completely honest about what she’s been up to.” It’s fawn who says that, Luna’s once again reminded to ask about the Neverbeast. “I know the look of nervous animals and she looked exactly like that.”

“But why wouldn’t she tell us? We are her friends.” Tinkerbell pipes up. 

“She’s still new here Tink.” That’s Terence. “She probably still needs time to even think of us as friends.”

“Either way she should tell us what she’s been up to! We could help!” Tinkerbell counters.

Luna shivers despite the warmth of the water. She can’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable in the water now, remembering how the lake deep down in the dark had cut her off from all air and dragged her down with its icy claws.

Now the bath is unbearable. 

Bringing her friends into a predicament such as the one she’d faced is unthinkable, anything could have happened, someone could have not returned and it would have been all Luna’s fault.

With the reminder of that incident fresh in her head she climbs out, the water sloshing with her movement and causing her friends to go quiet. Quickly she slips on her new dress, same exact look as the old one, but clean and unbattered. She is very aware that her friends must all be listening to her, it makes the back of her neck prickle. So quickly she sticks her feet in her new boots, glad to have them back and protecting her toes from the cold.

With her hair dripping and wings heavy with water she pushes past the curtain, now safe and clean and back home she finds that as all the eyes turn on her, she once again feels nervous about it. 

The relief of being found has worn off, the novelty of friendship has too at the moment, from their words and her lack of adrenaline, now all she wants is for everyone to go away so she can sleep.

“…Hi.” She mutters, glancing from face to face. Iridessa gives a small wave but otherwise they just look at her. Luna quickly turns to her vanity and plucks up her hairbrush.

“It’s good to see you looking so clean.” Rosetta finally breaks the awkward silence. “Let me help with that.” She lets the fairy take her brush and pull it gently through her hair.

“All right well I’m going to head home, it’s getting late.” Fawn states with a small laugh. “See you all in the morning!” A flap of wings sounds her disappearance.

Soon silvermist and most of the others go as well. Leaving Tinkerbell and Zarina once Rosetta finishes with her hair and bids Luna adieu. 

“Tell us what’s really going on.” Tinkerbell flits up beside Luna, who still hasn’t turned to face the room. “No one just disappears for a whole day and half the night just for no reason!”

Luna peers at her hands like they are the most interesting things in the world as Tink talks.

“Yeah, it is a bit strange.” Zarina agrees. “We just want to make sure you're all right.” 

Luna thinks Zarina might want that, but not Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell seems just to want to be in the know.

“I’m fine.” Luna answers quietly. “But I'm tired. I think I’ll go to bed now.” She stands and heads for it, her walk tense as their eyes follow her.

“Oh come on.” Tinkerbell complains. “Seriously you should tell us, we could help.”

The last time tink wanted to help she ended up pressuring Luna into showing off her talent, it didn’t feel great. So Luna is more than happy to not let Tink help.

“I would like to sleep now.” Is all Luna says, climbing under the covers to further her point and quite obvious hint.

“Come on Tinkerbell. It is late.” Thank goodness for Zarina, for she tugs Tinkerbell towards the door.

“Fine. But we are continuing this conversation later.”

With that, Zarina pushes Tink out the door and shuts it behind them.

Luna turns out the light and lays down with a sigh. Friends are exhausting to have.

In the dark, she pulls out the sapphire from her bag, which has been resting on the nightstand. Her blue light catches on the deep red of the gem, revealing depths that Luna hadn’t caught the first time around. It’s small, but the layers revealed make it look infinite on the inside.

Before she knows it her eyes lids droop and she falls asleep with the Sapphire cradled in hand.

The next morning Luna wakes late into the day, missing the line for pixie dust when she finally emerges from her room near lunch time.

Her bag hangs across her body, inside her precious cargo lies as she scoops up a handful of dust from the pool and takes off to gather her friends.

Today is the day. She finally can prove she’s worthy of being here, being a part of pixie hollow, she can finally prove she isn’t all darkness.

They meet at the summer glade, where they all had found her the night before.

Most had to leave their work schedule to meet with Luna, so it took some convincing to get them to come. But soon all her friends, Zarina, Terence, Iridessa, Silvermist, Fawn and even Vidia lounge around on the tree branch Luna deemed the meeting place.

Tinkerbell practically vibrates with questions, eager to finally get them answered, while Vidia is practically the exact opposite, leaning against the tree trunk looking so bored she might be in danger of falling asleep and falling off the tree.

But Luna just waits for one last arrival, and only when the golden ball of pixie dust materializes into the Queen, does she dare to get started.

The sunlight streams through the leaves, dappling the branch as beams rain through bright and cutting. Luna stands in one of the more shadowed parts of the branch as she fishes around in her bag.

“Luna, sweetheart what is this all about?” Queen Clarion asks softly. “You still haven’t given an answer for your disappearance.”

“Getting to it.” Luna responds as politely as she can manage. Finally she pulls out the sapphire, it’s brighter in the day, it’s deep red she’s used to now a bright crimson.

 “This isn’t just a normal sapphire.” She starts, any of the mining talents would know at a glance what it truly is. “It’s one of legends.” She glances nervously at each of them, then finally at the queen. “I found it…to prove I can bring something good back to pixie hollow..” 

Queen Clarion’s face flickers with an almost sad expression, Luna won’t have that, so she quickly continues. “This brings light. Queen Clarion you named my talent after the moon, which reflects the light of the sun. So here, here is my proof that I can do the same.”

She moves forward, out of the shadows and into the light, the sapphire immediately catches the rays, scattering and reflecting beams of its own, lighting up the branch entirely and ridding it of its scattered shadows. Luna squints against the harshness of it.

“Luna that…“ the Queen shields her eyes, “dear you don’t need proof, we all know you're capable of extraordinary things.”

Luna would have responded but the sapphire grows hot in her hand the longer it stays in the light, hot to the point she drops it with a yelp.

It still reflects light so brightly it’s hard to look at. 

“Luna, that's incredible!” Tinkerbell exclaims.

“Incredibly blinding you mean.” Vidia snips back, not bothering to even try to look in the direction of the gleaming gem.

“Where did you even find this?” Zarina steps up to Luna, squinting as she attempts to examine the sapphire.

Luna doesn’t get a chance to explain. For the sapphire sparks, it’s sparks . A bright beam it gives off shoots into the leaves and on impact the greenery starts to smoke.

It’s not supposed to do that. What is happening? It’s supposed to bring light, it’s shining, that’s all it’s supposed to do.

The leaves catch fire.

Red tendrils of flame lick at the tree and fill the air with smoke, raining down ash onto the fairies below.

Chapter Text

Black smoke stings her eyes as the fire eats away at the tree, curing the leaves with burning heat before disintegrating the greenery into ashy flakes. All Luna can do is watch in absolute horror, her throat clogging, her chest aching, from more than just the smoke.

How had a quest for goodness turned into such evil? How had she let it? This was supposed to be her chance, it was supposed to show everyone that she can be just as good as them. But now all her plans rain down in ashes.

Her eyes drop away from the canopy and to the sapphire, now little more than a ball of glaring white light, sparkling gleefully as it ruins everything. 

The other fairies have left.

The thought registers vaguely in the background. Yet she doesn't move to follow, her feet won't move, she can’t feel her limbs, she’s rooted to the spot as if the tree was trying to take her with it. And why shouldn't it? It's only fair, she caused this.

The branch drops away from her feet as a hand captures her arm and yanks her away. 

No. She has to stay with the tree, with the sapphire. It’s only fair. Yet the grip on her arm is unrelenting, pulling her useless body into the clean air and away from the fire.

“I’ve done very poorly.” It's Queen Clarion, it takes a moment from Luna to realize that and even process the words as the thick pillar of smoke grows, and falls farther and farther behind. It’s my fault. Luna thinks to herself. What in all of Pixie Hollow does the Queen have to apologize for?

“This sapphire was hidden for a reason, all legends are legends for a reason.” The Queen continues, Luna hears her words through water. “I should have seen how you've truly been feeling. Luna. Look at me.” The Queen stops in the air, turning to face Luna and try to catch her gaze.

Luna can’t look away from the damage she’s caused, the damage that burns away the Summer glade, already hopping into the Spring Meadows. Queen Clarion turns Luna’s head away with a gentle hand.

“I need you to hear my words, Luna.” Luna finally manages to look at the queen, she’s sure her guilt and horror are plain to see. The Queen continues on despite. “This is not your fault, I know you enough to see that you never knew this would happen, even I didn't know what that Sapphire truly was capable of. If anyone is at fault here, it is I. I wish you’d have come to me sooner.”

How can the queen say that? How could she possibly take the blame? The idea pulls Luna from her shocked state, at least enough to free her tongue. “No. It's not. I caused this. I brought the sapphire here.” she protests. “It's my fault.” her eyes well up but she blinks it back. “Mine.”

Queen Clarion shakes her head. “We shall discuss this later.” Her tone sounds tight as she looks past Luna, to the fires sweeping across Pixie hollow, turning the bright colors of this wonderful land red and black. “For now we need to get everyone to safety."

Luna is much more aware of things on the flight to the Pixie Dust tree, every curl of smoke, every fleeing animal, every wave of heat and fire, every glow of a panicked fairy zipping past. Almost all of them head for the Pixie dust tree as well, the only safe place because of the water surrounding the plot of land.

The ministers greet Queen Clarion and Luna in a frenzy by the pool of pixie dust, shouts of fairies and yells fill the background along with the sound of snappling branches. 

“Queen Clarion!” The summer minister is the first to speak. “All of the summer glade has been taken by fire, the animals have fled to the Autumn woods but it's spreading too fast.”

“What do we do?” The minister of Autumn asks, his anxiety radiating from him. “Theres no safe place to go, Spring is catching too.”

Queen Clarion holds out a hand for silence as the smoke drifts through the air on a string current of wind. The pixie dust tree may be safe from fire, but soon the smoke will be too thick to breathe in, they can't stay here either. 

“What of the fairies? And animals?” she asks. The autumn woods is perhaps the worst option for animals to flee too, it's too dry, everything there is just kindling. Spring would have been better, the wood full with moisture from recent rains.

“All moved to autumn. But your majesty, the fire eats at spring just as quickly as autumn, it's as if water is nothing to it.” the minister of Autumn says.

“The water fairies are attempting to put it out, but it's too big, they say the water has no effect.” the minister of spring adds.

Luna feels about ready to vomit. How could she have done this to them? To everyone… everything, her home. She's doomed everyone.

“Then there is only one option.” Queen Clarion announces, her gaze turning to Winter. “Somewhere far too cold and windy for fire, even water resistant, to survive.”

“What of the rest of Pixie hollow?” the minister of Autumn asks.

“The fairies and animals are my first priority. Gather everyone, round up all the creatures, Minister of Winter go fetch the frost fairies, we need everyone’s wings frosted before they cross. Go now.”

They don't hesitate to follow orders. Luna marvels at the authority and confidence the queen acts with, especially while she's one last wrong thing from a breakdown, she can imagine being as calm as the queen looks.

“Luna, go find Tinkerbell and your friends.” Luna looks up at the queen addressing her, but she dare not refuse, even despite her mind screaming for her to stay with the Queen, to stay where it's safe. But no, she caused this, it's her fault, so she needs to listen.

With a nod she swoops down from the tree, outside the island is a sea of red, so she looks down to watch greenery is left on this small island. Fairies swarm around the Dust Depot so that's where she goes.

Zarina is the first to see her, Luna feels like running away when she sees her, they can't possibly still be friends after what Luna’s caused. But she stays in her spot as Zarina zips up to her.

“Luna!” She hugs Luna. Luna stiffens under the touch, shock going through her at Zarina’s action. “Thank the blue dust you're all right!” she pulls back, “...and covered in ash..” she frowns. “What even happened? That sapphire?”

Luna drops her gaze to the ground, misery turning in her gut. “I- Im sorry… I didn't mean to.” her eyes sting from more than just the smoke. “I didn’t know..”

“Hey.” Zarina places her hands on Luna’s shoulders. “I know, I saw your reaction. What matters now is that we help fix it. Trust me, it's not Pixie Hollow's first time being destroyed." 

Luna hesitantly meets her gaze. “What?”

“Yeah, Tinkerbell nearly stopped spring from happening, then there was that mirror fiasco and then the Freeze, oh also when I took all the blue dust…and when the Neverbeast came.” she lists. “Trust me, you're not the only one who’s messed up, though… fire is a lot worse than what happened in the past..”

Luna’s heart drops again at her last words. Worse.  She can’t do anything good can she? No matter how she tries… “I see..”

“Come on, we have to help gather the animals.” Luna lets Zarina tug her from the safe island back into the fire and chaos of the woods. The smoke invades her lungs, searing her throat and coating her skin with thick silver dust the moment they enter the shade of the woods. 

Other fairies zip this way and that, covering their mouths with their hands or cloth, coughing as they herd animals towards the winter border. It's so thick it's hard to see, branches fall all around them, dripping with flames as fairies dart out of the way, animal fairies rescuing any creature too slow to move in time.

It’s horrible . Again Luna wonders how she could have let this happen. 

A water fairy swoops down, a stream of water hot on their tail as they douse the flames, only the flames remain completely unaffected. The bright hot light of them burning ever onward.

Light. The legend said that sapphire brought light, but now Luna knows what kind, and she understands why it was hidden so well, so deep, deep down and under water, as far as anyone could get it from the sun.

The sun . the sapphire had caught when the light of the sun hit it.

Perhaps…

The sapphire is light.

So perhaps…

And light can't be stopped by water.

But darkness can stop it. So perhaps… Perhaps her talent does have a use after all.

Almost on instinct Luna throws out her arms, towards a bush burning high with angry flames. The brighter the light the darker the shadows. 

Her darkness snuffs out the light, her cold extinguishes the fire.

But there is only one of her, and three fourths of pixie hollow rage with flames, she doesn't know how she will put it all out, or if it will even matter in the end, but it doesn't matter. She will fix her mistake, she has to.

Chapter Text

Tinkerbell is beyond mad.

When is she not? This time however she has a perfectly reasonable reason for it.

Terence is stuck in the contraption she built for the festival when they got Zarina back.

She slams her hand down on the button to open it again, but it doesn't budge.

“Are you pushing?!” she snaps, feeling the flush in her cheeks worsen with her panic. The forest outside is burning. She needs to get them out! Ugh, this was a terrible idea. It had seemed like a good way to transport animals earlier, she’d thought that she’d fixed this button. Apparently not.

“Yes I am!” comes Terence’s muffled response, somehow he sounds calm. Calm. How can anyone be calm at a time like this???

She slams her palm down on the button again, nothing happens, it remains jammed. 

She feels her wings droop,landing her on the ground. “It's not working.” Suddenly she’s seized with overwhelming desperation. 

More than she felt when she tried to change her talent, or when she used that last wish on the mirror, and when vidia was captured, or when she was told she couldn't see her sister again, more than when Zarina was sinking beneath the water, and when Pixie Hollow was nearly destroyed by the storm, even somehow more than when she discovered the fire outside would not go out with water or suffocation.

Terence is in danger, he’s trapped and it was her idea. It's her fault. And the fire outside only grows closer, already the smoke stings her eyes and blurs her vision. Or is it because of tears?

“I can’t get you out.” She tries one last attempt to hit the button and slides to the ground when it doesn't work. “I’m sorry Terence. This is all my fault.”

“Tink…” there's a pause. “Tink. No.” despite him being muffled she can hear the conviction in his voice. “It's not your fault. This was my idea as much as yours.”

“But I built the stupid thing.” Her anger fills her again and she stands up and kicks the wooden side. “Ow!” she clutches at her foot as pain streaks through it. 

“Yes. But you didn't purposely make the button fail.” he responds. “Also, don't kick it, we don't need you hurt.”

She grumbles but he is right. She sinks down again, back resting against the wood, her ear pressed to it, in hopes to hear Terence clearer. Despair grips her once more. 

“I don’t know what to do.” Her voice is quiet, she wipes her face and her fingers come away wet, a mix of tears and soot from the worsening smoke. Soon it will get too thick to be breathable. Inside her contraption the air will at least be clean. But she doesn't want to leave Terence. She can’t. And her invention is wood, it will burn, plus the heat will just get worse.

She needs to get him out. “I’m sorry, Terence.”

“Its not your fault.” he says again. “It will be okay.”

“It won't be!” she snaps. “You're trapped, the fire is getting closer. I can't fix it.” She's prided herself on her ability to fix things, or to reinvent them into something new and better. But now she can’t do anything. “I…I can’t lose you Terence.” the idea that she might makes her desperation turn into despair, it clogs her throat as much as the smoke does and makes her tears return full force.

“You aren't going to.” he must have heard the shift in her voice, for he redoubles his efforts to get her invention open. She can hear him banging against the wall, the wood creaking, but his efforts are futile. 

A strong wave of smoke wafts into her home, filling her lungs. She covers her mouth and nose with her arm but it's not enough and coughs wrack her frame.

“Tink. Tink!” Terence's worried voice breaks through the ringing in her ears. “You need to go. It’s getting worse out there isn't it? You have to go.”

“I’m not leaving you!” she yells as soon as she can. “Cough- I won't!" He is crazy if he thinks she will. Absolutely crazy. She presses her palms against the wall of her invention, she doesn't know what she plans to do, but she just wants to be closer to him.

“You have to!” he sounds as if he pressed himself as close as he can get too. If only this piece of wood wasn't between them, she can picture his face, his soft blond hair and bright smile, his big blue eyes. 

Now though she knows he won't be smiling, a frown will tug at his lips, and instead he’ll have a line between his eyebrows, the one that forms when he watches her get carried away with an idea, and his hair will be slick with sweat from the heat and sticking to his forehead.

“I won't.” she protests, trying to keep her mouth covered. “I can’t.” She's never felt something so strongly. It burns worse in her chest than the fire outside. Her limbs lock, she feels rooted to the spot, her wings stuck, immovable as long as Terence is still trapped. “I won’t leave you.”

“You can’t stay here, it's not safe.” comes his voice. His sweet voice, with the fire growing, who knows how long she’ll have left to hear it. “You need to get to safety. At least one of us should escape this.”

“No.” a bout of coughs hit her. If she leaves she knows she’ll regret it forever. She knows that this moment will play in her mind and her dreams for the rest of her life. She’s never been so sure of something before. She won't leave him.

“Tink- Tinkerbell.” It's been so long since he’s used her full name. “Please.” 

The burning in her chest somehow gets worse. “No.”

“Why not?” an edge of desperation enters his voice. “Why won't you?”

That's a stupid question. “Because I can't -cough cough- leave you!”

“Thats not an answer!” his voice grows louder. “Why won't you?”

So does hers when she responds. “I just- I just won’t!”

“Tinkerbell.”

She shakes her head, though clearly he can’t see the gesture. “Because…because…” she can’t say it.

He’s been her friend since day one, always there, always helping, always supporting her and laughing with her and helping her with her anger issues and comforting her when things went wrong. Now things are the most wrong they’ll ever be and it's because of her. She won't leave him because not only is he her best friend, but he means more to her than anyone, even Periwinkle, has ever meant.

“...beacuse..?” His voice is soft, the tone he uses when he’s trying to fish an answer from her. She’s aware of it, and yet somehow it always works.

“Because cough…I think I love you.” The smoke stings her eyes again. Definitely just the smoke.

“You…think..?”

“No. I know.” she tries to sound certain instead of giving into the blush forming on her face. “I love you Terence.”

“I…” his silence kills her. Why won't he answer? She doubles over with a fit of coughs, this time it really is smoke that stings her eyes, the stuff coats her throat and dries her mouth. It's getting harder to breathe. “I love you too, Tinkerbell. Always have.”

Her vision blurs. She has to get him out. “Then you understand why I won't leave without you.” she attacks the button again as her curtains flutter and more smoke pours in.

“Tink! Tinkerbell! Terence!” Fawn shoots through the door fast as an arrow. “How’s the plan going? The fire’s getting worse. Queen Clarion’s having everyone evacuate to the Winter Woods-” She cuts off as she sees Tinkerbell’s desperate attempts at the button. 

“It's stuck!” Tinkerbell keeps at the button and soon Fawn joins her. “I thought I’d fixed it -cough- Terence is trapped.”

“Do you have something that could pry it open?” Fawn's wings flare out as she tries to get the button to work, her feet lifting off the ground to put all her weight in the effort.

How could she not have thought of that? “Hold on a moment!” she zips to her tool box and begins throwing everything useless out of it. There must be something. There must be.

She searches and searches, grabbing fistfulls of small tools, nuts, bolts, screwdrivers, anything, but nothing looks long or strong enough to force the door of her invention open. 

“Got it!” Tink whirls around at Fawns triumphant shout. 

“How?!” she suddenly forgets to care as terence emerges. Terence. Her whole being fills with relief and she collides with him in her haste to check on him. It doesn't matter, she throws her arms around him. “you’re out!”

He returns the hug. “Yes. Now let's get out of here. Quickly.” He grabs her by the hand and all three of them barge out of the house. 

Straight into a forest of red. The smoke is worse than it was inside, choking the trees as well as Tinkerbell's throat, flaky ashes the size of her hand fall all around them, turning skin gray as well as hair. It's impossible to tell the black gray sky from the black gray ground below.

The air is dry, as dry and hot as sand baking in the sun, waves of heat waft into her face as she searches for any other lifeform.

“Get above the trees!” Fawn shouts past the snapping of trees as branches fall and the roar of the flames. 

It's no better above the trees, the smoke is too thick and black to see through, going any higher doesn't help clear the sky either. Her lungs burn, she can hear Fawn and Terence coughing, her own growing worse as well.

Terence pulls her along in a direction, Fawn follows too, hopefully towards the winter woods.

The wind brought up from the seas and fire push them this way and that, she can’t make out anything in front of her, with every minute more in the smoke her eyes grow blurrier, she can smell the sharp scent of the woods burning, as well as smells she’d rather not dwell on. She hopes all the animals have gotten to the border in time.

After what feels like a half hour of aimless flying the smoke starts to thin, from black to gray, eventually she manages to catch a glimpse of sparkling white in the distance.

They break from the smoke into clean air, only to see the border into winter clogged with masses of animals, the air filled with fairies so caked in ash they look like winter fairies. Almost all of winter waits on the other side, frost fairies frosting wings, handing out blankets, owls taking loads of animals across as a steady stream of them pass on the bridge below.

The most surprising thing is the single fairy facing the flames alone. Tink thought that the water fairies couldn't put out the fire and yet as she watches the flames shrink back with every movement from the fairy.

“It's Luna!” Fawn gasps as she points at the fairy. Anger flares in Tinkerbell, it's Luna’s fault this has all happened. She hadn't recognized the Moon Talent because Luna’s wings are coated with grey ash, covering their true black color.

Tink lets go of Terence and arrows for her.

“This is all your fault!” she shrieks at the fairy. The destruction of her home, the animals in danger, Terence being trapped, he could have…she could have lost him. 

Luna glances over briefly, prioritizing her work over facing what she’s done. 

“Listen to me!”

“I’m…a bit busy at the moment…” Luna responds, her voice barely heard over the deafening sound of the forest burning. 

The heat of the fire transfers to Tinkerbell’s face. “No!” she grabs Luna’s arm. “Look what you've done! You've destroyed everything!” Tinkerbell, now closer to the fairy, notices the tear tracks in the soot on Luna’s skin. She decides she doesn't care, Luna isn't actively crying. She should be.

“Tinkerbell!” Terence lands beside her, a steady and calm presence, she feels him put a hand on her shoulder. She's too mad to care and brushes him off.

“No Terence.” she doesn't let go of Luna even as the fairy tries to get free and resume her shadow work. “You’ve seen what she’s done, you nearly fell to it, it's unforgivable.”

“Tinkerbell look!” Terence makes her look at the forest by tilting her head. The fire. It has grown closer, shrinking the already small circle around them and the animals. She realizes that Luna has been keeping it back, keeping as many of them safe as she can. But it's her fault they are even here.

The animals are almost over, yet there still remains a lot of fairies, there are not enough frost fairies to quickly frost everyone’s wings, and now the fire is growing closer again.

“We need to help.” Terence urges Tinkerbell as he, Luna and her back up as the fire eats away the remaining grass.

“There is no helping!” Tinkerbell whirls on him, letting go of Luna, she starts to walk forward, the heat to her back. “Pixie Hollow is destroyed, there isn't enough time to get everyone across, animals have been lost, so have fairies probably, the Pixie Dust tree is only safe because it's surrounded by water, but the smoke is choking it!” 

They are at the waters edge now, the fire blazing red around them, before her it reflects off the snow blindingly, but she only has eyes for Terence. “There’s no way to fix this! Or to help!”

“Tink…” Terence reaches for her, his expression reassuring, but he never reaches her.

A branch crashes down between them, fire eating at the wood, sparks fly off it and sting her skin and she flinches back, eyes snapping shut.

When she opens them again Terence is gone. 

“Ternece!” she jolts into the air over the water, she squints, it’s too bright to see. Down in the water she catches a glimpse of blond hair, his unconscious form, far down the river. “No!” she zips down stream, but she can’t catch up with him, soon the smoke gets too strong and coughs wrack her body again. “T-Terence…” 

Someone pulls her back to solid ground, her eyes are too blurry to see who. Terence is gone. Terence is gone. Terence is gone. Terence is gone. Terence is gone. Terence is gone. Terence is gone. Terence is gone.

She wrenches free of whoever retrieved her and once again bee lines it for Luna, who’s back to holding off the flames.

Luna caused this. Terence is gone and it's all Luna’s fault. Terence just wanted to help her, they all did, and this is how she repays them.

“YOU!” Tinkerbell’s filled with unrelenting rage. “I don’t think you even wanted acceptance from the rest of us! I think you just need to prove to yourself that you're good enough!” she gets in Luna’s wide eyed face.  “Because we all have been accepting! And somehow you still didn't believe it! And now we are HERE, our home is burning! Fairies are hurt! Animals are fleeing!”

Luna flinches away, Tink doesn't care, she matches Luna step for step till the Moon Talent is at the edge of the forest, flames at her heels. “ and Terence is- is gone. Because of YOU!”

“I-”

“NO!” Tinkerbell shoves the fairy. Luna trips backwards, barely managing to take flight before she’s burned. Tinkerbell follows her into the air. “You don't get to talk! I never want to hear another word from you! You've destroyed EVERYTHING!!!”

Tinkerbell whirls, she can’t bear to look at Luna for another moment. Instead she turns and zips down along the path Terence took.

Chapter Text

Luna sits in a corner far away from the rest, the shadows around her dark and heavy as she keeps her face hidden by her knees. The ice is cold beneath her, melting into her clothes and chilling her skin to goosebumps and shivers. Everyone has been piled into the Hall of Winter, into the room with the floating snowflake floor.

It was the only refuge away from the ash raining through the sky like snow, turning the brilliant white into a dull grey. The fire might not reach here, but there are still dangers, such as the snow at the border melting from the heat.

Most fairies are bundled up together in cocoons of blankets, sharing warmth as winter fairies buzz around them, helping in any way they can. It's far too cramped here, all the other seasons just barely fit, the keeper constantly keeps the snowflake floating so more might fit on and beneath it.

The memory of Luna’s horror stricken face when the fire started, the ash smearing her skin, the trees burning and fairies fleeing, plagues Queen Clarion’s mind, yet she attempts once again to blink it away. Now all her fairies are safe, most washed and in fresh clothes, and yet not Luna. 

Luna lingers in the same dirty soot covered clothes, her wings gray with it, her skin marred gray and black, alone with no blanket. Clarion had already tried getting her to clean up and get warm, but the little fairy had refused. 

It makes her chest ache to see, just as the thought of Pixie Hollow burning does. What if the Pixie Dust tree doesn't survive the smoke?

What if her fairies get sick from the cold? What if the blankets don't last, or the food runs dry, what if the fire melts too much snow and jumps the border to spread to winter? What if the root between burns and they are all cut off from pixie dust? There are so many what if’s flying through the Queen’s mind. 

“Clarion…” a cold hand lands on her shoulder, steady and strong. She turns towards Milori and places a warm hand over his. Gratitude replaces her worry, yet not her anxiety. Milori has been a calm presence throughout this all, doing all he can without being asked, despite the pressures of the winter season nearing.

“What shall we do?” her voice comes out hushed and more feeble than she’s let it sound in a long time. Pixie Hollow is destroyed. Never would she let such a tone be heard around her fairies, nor the ministers, they might despair. Like she is now. So she keeps her voice quiet.

Pixie Hollow is destroyed. What can they do? They are stuck here, the fire indestructible. It doesn't feel quite real. From the moment the first flame caught to now, it has all felt like a blur, like a terrible, terrible nightmare she can’t wake from.

“Hold onto hope.” he murmurs in her ear, his own voice is as confident as always, and yet soft with reassurance. She tries to let his words calm her, they help only marginally. Pixie Hollow is destroyed. What hope is there?

Milori releases her, leaving her with the feeling of emptiness where he once was, and the despair and anxiety twist tighter in her. But then he takes her hand, making it better, and guides her away from everyone into the grand library. So, she can only assume, their conversation is not overheard.

“Winter will give us time.” he reassures, once they are the furthest they can be, so nothing echoes back to the fairies. “The preparations are nearly finished, all we have to do is send them out, then we will have a few months between us and spring.”

“Pixie Hollow still burns.” Queen Clarion feels her nerves fray further with her statement. “It will till nothing remains, only Luna can stop it…” but Luna is just one fairy, and she’s the one who caused it. “...thats far too much for one fairy to handle.”

She tries not to let her despair consume her. Pixie hollow will be reduced to nothing but ash, it will take months to rebuild even if the fire stops. The animals have lost their homes, so have her fairies, hundreds of years worth of things are gone. Spring will not come in time, there is no way, it's not possible. Pixie Hollow is destroyed.

The pressure of Milori’s grip on her shoulders pulls her back. She meets his gaze, her vision suddenly blurry.

“The fairies are safe, so too are the animals.” he gently reminds her. “You are safe. That is what's most important. Do not despair Clarion, we have faced trying times before, we shall get through this as well.”

“Never has all of Pixie Hollow been destroyed, Milori…” It's spoken in a whisper she did not intend. “All of our homes, the depots, the supplies…” every talent will have to rebuild, and that takes much much longer than regrowing nature. “And the mainland…children will stop believing if seasons do not change, humans rely on us to help grow crops and much more, if they no longer believe..” it would doom them all much more than any fire could.

“They will not. We have Prilla and winter is prepared.”

“Yes, perhaps, but winter won't last long enough to rebuild, and if spring doesn't come it will be detrimental to human kind.” the fire might not go out even after everything is burned. It is a magic sort, who knows what that might wrought. It's a wonder the fire isn't spreading to the rest of Neverland as it is. “And what of the Pixie dust tree? It won't survive this much smoke.” Pixie Hollow is destroyed.

She can almost picture it. The leaves shriveling up with the heat, the mushroom caps withering as all the moisture is leeched from them, the bark gray with ash, the air too clogged with black to see through till even the golden glow of pixie dust is reduced to a trickle than nothing at all. Destroyed.

An embrace freezes her thoughts. Milori’s arms enfold her in quiet reassurance.

For a moment she stays stiff, but the tension quickly melts away. She turns her head to bury it in his shoulder. Taking deep breaths, in part to take in his scent and in part to calm herself and chase the tears away. Now that they are alone, she lowers her guard and lets her wings droop. She finds what comfort she can in his strong arms. His cheek pressed against the top of her head, his snowy hair brushing against her face. It always feels as though everything is better when he is around, like the world might not crush her with the weight of her responsibilities. Yet, she also knows this embrace is his way of reassuring himself. He doesn't know the answers either.

Milori is quiet for a long moment, his face still as a frozen lake, yet when she glances up at him she can't help notice the warmth in which his eyes linger on her “We will get through this.” he whispers, his breath brushing against her skin. 

She feels her mouth form a frown but remains silent, choosing to fool herself into believing him, at least for the moment.

It’s so rare they get a chance alone together, she wants to cherish every second of it. Yet how can she with the destruction outside?

In these blue icy walls she feels safe, the white perfect snow and glittering frost over deep hues and shades light as the early morning sky. Nothing here is marred by black and red, or burning from horrible living flames. Here it is quiet, calm and clean, the air is crisp and clear with each breath, and each exhale brings a pretty puff of white crystals.

In here, with him, she is safe and she feels free.

Yet the fire still burns outside, she can’t forget it. Usually she can forget everything when she’s with him, but not this time. Pixie Hollow.

“I need to tell them something to lift their spirits.” she tucks her head back into his shoulder.

She feels him tug at her bun, then the hair spills free and he begins to comb his fingers through her hair. It's something that always manages to calm her. She hadn't realized quite how tight her bun had been today, with everything that's happened a sore scalp was the least of her worries. Now it's a relief to have her hair down, and warmer.

“They are safe, you've done all you could for the moment.” he responds, voice gentle. “Now I believe it's time that you take care of yourself. Let the ministers handle it.”

Pixie Hollow is destroyed.

There is nothing she can do. Not now at least.

A shaky exhale escapes her. He wins, it's too nice being with him, too nice to take a moment, to be here, too nice to be in his embrace, to be with him. For the moment. “Very well…” she murmurs. “I’ll let the ministers handle it.”