Fluttering over a patch of flowers a tiny fairy was seen, her wings buzzing quickly behind her while she gave off a bluish glow. Her long green hair flowed down her back while her tiny blue dress waved around her dainty legs. Neatly tied onto each of her wrists were long white colored ribbons, both gently flowing behind her while she gazed around at the large forest she was in with light yellow eyes of wonder.
“See?” Zoey whispered to her awestricken friend. “I found her just flying around her a moment ago. Can you believe it?”
“Is that… a fairy?” Clover asked in disbelief.
“Yes, it’s an actual fairy. There’s really a fairy right over there!”
“What the fuck? Zoey, we need to kill it!”
“No, look,” Zoey insisted pointing to the tiny fairy. “I’ve been watching her for a while now. She’s not doing anything bad.”
“You’ve been watching that thing?” Clover snapped as she yanked her companion down behind the bush. “Zoey, what the fuck are you thinking? That’s a Darker One. You know those things are dangerous. We need to kill it.”
“I can’t believe such stupid rumors about them,” Zoey argued, shaking free from Clover’s hold then peeking over the shrub at the fairy. “How can they be so dangerous? Look at her, she’s so tiny, and she seems so peaceful and innocent.”
“She’ll be at peace soon enough,” Clover growled as she grabbed an arrow and primed it in her bow, taking aim at the fairy before Zoey quickly yanked her down again.
“Clover, stop it. Even if she really is so powerful she’s not doing anything bad. Just please, for me, look at her.”
Clover grunted with frustration as her companion watched her with pleading eyes. Slowly she looked back over the bush and watched as the fairy gently fluttered about.
“I see a tiny bitch that’s going to die,” Clover flatly reported.
“What if we’re wrong?” Zoey asked, with Clover looking to her curiously as her companion showed remorse and slowly shook her head. “What if they really are just rumors and stories? I mean, fairies wiping out entire cities and forests just like that, it sounds so hard to believe. And look at her, she’s at peace here. She’s just floating around without a care. I bet if I talked to her she would be friendly with me.”
“Or she would kill us all. Zoey, you can’t be serious.”
“What if they’re really not so bad?” Zoey questioned with a small smile. “What if they’re just misunderstood? Clover, we’ve spread rumors about ourselves in the world to get humans to try to rape us, we’re no strangers to being deceitful with such tales. It’s very likely that we have the wrong image of fairies as well.”
Clover showed a confused look then peeked over the bush at the fairy again, watching the tiny monster fluttering around gently with glowing specs trailing behind her wings.
“I don’t know,” she hesitantly replied. “I still think we should kill her. But… ah, fuck it. If you think we should ask her if she’s the devil personally then alright, we’ll do it.”
“Thank you, Clover,” Zoey quickly praised with a big hug. Clover giggled and nuzzled her head against Zoey’s before the two looked at each other with loving eyes.
“Tell you what,” Zoey said with a quick peck on Clover’s lips. “I’ll go first, and if she tries to kill me then you can save my life and ravage me here under the trees as your slave for the day.”
“Well, now I hope the rumors about fairies are true,” Clover quipped with a smirk.
Zoey slowly stepped out from the bush and began carefully moving closer towards the fairy. As she did the tiny monster stopped and turned to her, watching as the elf carefully approached her with a curious smile on her face.
“Don’t! Get away from her!” Clover cried out in a ghostly voice, her words doing nothing to reach Zoey as she walked right through the girl’s spectral image. “She’s going to kill you! She’s going to kill everyone!”
Moving very carefully Zoey made her way up to the fairy, watching as the tiny monster fluttered in place while looking up at her with eyes of wonder. Smiling kindly at the fairy Zoey gently held out her hand towards the monster. The fairy slowly smiled and tilted her head before she landed down on the girl’s fingers and sat down.
“Hello,” Zoey greeted while eyeing the fairy with awe.
“Hello,” the tiny monster replied with her wings fluttering once behind her.
“Get away from it!” Clover desperately shouted out. She looked back to her other self who slowly stepped out of the bushes while watching her companion curiously. “You need to kill that fairy! She’s going to take Zoey from us! Do something!”
Clover watched in shock as her other self stepped out of the bushes then walked towards Zoey and the fairy, passing right through her ethereal image without hearing her pleas in the slightest.
“That fairy is going to kill her! You were right all along! Stop her! Stop her!” Clover cried out with tears forming, her words failing to reach anyone in the memory. She watched in horror as her other self stood beside Zoey and smiled a little at the tiny monster, the two elves amazed at finding a fairy in the world and completely oblivious to all of Clover’s desperate cries.
“Get rid of it! She’s going to kill Zoey! She’s going to kill Zoey!”
Again the world flashed to white, the light engulfing Clover as she cried and held her hands over her face. Slowly the blinding glare died down and vanished, with Clover moving her hands and seeing herself standing on the terrace of their home once again.
“Clover, please stop,” Zoey called out as Clover marched out of their home onto the balcony holding her quiver and bow with a stubborn grunt. “Please, she needs our help.”
“Fuck that!” Clover shouted back at her, halting Zoey in her tracks while the sounds of a tiny crying fairy could be heard inside their home. “She doesn’t need our help, she needs to leave us alone! For fuck’s sake, she’s been nothing but a nuisance ever since we brought her home!”
“That’s not true. She’s been so friendly with us. We were right, they’re not bad monsters at all, they just need someone to care about them in this world. And it’s so much fun to see her fly around when she’s happy, even you have to agree with that.”
“Yeah, when she’s happy,” Clover shot back before glancing over to their home where the fairy’s cries could still be heard. “But she’s not always happy, is she? She keeps crying and bitching every day about the stupidest things.”
“She misses her sisters, she doesn’t know how to get home,” Zoey defended with concern. “Clover, the poor thing has nowhere else to go. Without us she would really be alone again, she would be heartbroken. Please, we’re the only friends she has.”
“She can make friends elsewhere, I had you first,” Clover snapped. “She’s so fucking annoying. Either she’s giggling her ass off about our breasts or she’s bawling her eyes out for being the only fairy here. Not to mention we have to be careful that nobody finds out we’ve got a fucking Darker One in our home otherwise the priestess would have our asses. She’s such a pain to have here with us.”
“Clover, don’t be jealous. You know I love you more than anything,” Zoey promised as she rested a hand on her shoulder. “And I know you work hard to keep her a secret from the priestess and everyone else, I know how rough this is for you, and you know I don’t want you to be unhappy.”
“Then get rid of her. I want things to go back to how they were. Just the two of us, no little brat to babysit, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
“You’re going to make a terrific mother someday,” Zoey dryly mused with a smirk.
“Zoey,” Clover groaned holding a hand over her face. “I can’t have this conversation with you again. I don’t want to deal with that little thing in there anymore. Ever since we brought her home she’s been the star in your life, and I can’t handle her coming between us like this.”
“She’s not coming between us, she’s-” Zoey protested before turning back to hea
r the fairy crying louder now. Clover rolled her eyes then looked away towards the rope bridge leading away from their home, with her spectral self watching from in front of it with teary eyes as she remembered how this ended.
“Just go and take care of your new friend,” Clover muttered. She started walking away before Zoey quickly held her from behind.
“Clover, I love you,” Zoey dearly promised.
“Zoey… I-” Clover started before Zoey let go and turned around again as the fairy was now screaming loudly from the home.
“The poor dear,” Zoey fretted holding a hand to her cheek.
“Yeah, poor her,” Clover muttered shaking her head.
Zoey sighed then looked to her companion with worried eyes as Clover kept facing away from her while trying to ignore the fairy’s cries. After a moment Zoey took off her cloak and gently placed it on Clover, fastening it across her chest with a saddened smile before looking up at the sky.
“It looks like rain today. If you’re going out then take this with you,” Zoey insisted before stepping back and looking down with concern. “I understand she gets under your skin. I’m sorry to burden you with this, I really am.”
Slowly Clover looked back to her while remaining silent, her eyes speaking that she wanted Zoey to come with her and leave the fairy alone. Zoey smiled kindly at her then turned back to their home as the cries of the fairy were becoming too much for her.
“If you wish to go then I won’t stop you, but I can’t leave her alone like this. She needs me.”
“I need you,” Clover softly implored, hands clutching her quiver and bow tightly as she felt a few tears coming out. “It used to be just us, you and me, and nobody else. I want that back.”
“I’m sorry, Clover. But I just can’t abandon her now. She’s my friend.”
The spectral image of Clover started shaking her head quickly, watching as her other self gritted her teeth and shut her eyes with her frustrations boiling to a breaking point.
“No, don’t say it,” Clover begged while holding her hands over her mouth. “Don’t say it, don’t say it, whatever you do don’t say what you’re about to say.”
Clover growled and shook her head before glancing back to Zoey with a teary-eyed glare.
“Fine, to hell with friends, and to hell with you!”
She marched off with Zoey watching her with teary eyes, all while the spectral image of Clover started breaking down in cries of agony while stumbling after her other self.
“No! Don’t walk away! Don’t go now!” she cried out as the two started crossing the long wooden bridge. Looking back she saw Zoey shaking her head slowly before she turned around and entered the home.
“No! You can’t leave her like this! You can’t walk away now! You don’t realize what you’ve done! God fucking dammit, those were the last words you ever spoke to her!”
Clover started crying while stubbornly walking away from her home and loved one. She slowly fastened her quiver and holstered the bow on her back before looking down to the cloak given to her by Zoey with a pained expression.
“Go back! Go back before it’s too late!” Clover cried out at herself. “You can’t let her die like this! You broke her heart; don’t let it end like this between you!”
A loud wailing was heard from behind, with Clover stopping and looking back to her home as a bright glow came from the doorway and window. The air wavered and rippled away from the dwelling while specks of bright light began to drift upwards in the air around it.
“No!”
“Zoey?” Clover softly asked.
“No!”
“Zoey?” Clover called out before she started running back.
“ZOEY!” Clover cried out before the tree exploded with a violent blast. Almost instantly a shockwave erupted outward, shattering the balcony and ripping apart the bridge before throwing Clover back with a shriek.
“ZOEY!” Clover screamed as she was hurled away with debris and smoke trailing after her in the wave.
The ghostly image of Clover cried out in agony as the grove was annihilated around her. She saw the deadly wave of magical power expand out in all directions, demolishing all the grand timbers into bits and flame while countless cries of terror sounded out in the grove for only a few seconds before being lost in the thunderous boom that detonated from the epicenter of the blast. The world faded to white as all slowly fell quiet, leaving only the cries of sorrow from Clover as she floated in place while the dream world around her turned into a nightmarish memory.
“Zoey! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean what I said! Please, forgive me!”
The blinding flash faded to reveal Clover standing in a lush forest under the moonlight. She slowly looked around at seeing nobody nearby while all was quiet under the starry sky. With a whimper she dropped to her knees and hid her face behind her hands, feeling her heart aching from reliving the painful loss in her life.
“I’m so sorry, Zoey. Please, I love you. I love you so much. I’m sorry for everything.”
“I love you too,” Zoey said, with Clover quickly looking up to seeing the elf standing in front of her with a gentle smile while wearing her tunic and green cloak. She slowly reached down and took hold of Clover’s hand, the feeling of her touch being warm and soothing to the heartbroken elf as she was gently lifted back onto her feet.
“Zoey,” Clover spoke while staring at her deceased love with teary eyes.
“Please don’t cry,” Zoey kindly insisted while wiping a tear from the girl’s cheek. Clover grabbed the hand and held it close, a shaky whimper escaping her lips as she saw her companion smiling at her with remorseful eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” Clover confessed with a whimper.
“For what?”
“For everything. I should have killed that damned fairy the second you showed me where it was.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, and you know that,” Zoey argued while keeping her kind smile and friendly tone.
“What are you saying? It’s because of her you died, that our grove was completely destroyed.”
“Clover,” Zoey cooed while gently caressing the girl’s cheek. “You misunderstand. It was our fault what happened, but not because we brought her into our home. It was because we didn’t love her enough.”
“What?”
The world slowly shifted away into a green haze around them, with Clover watching in wonder as streaks of blue light rippled through the smoke while Zoey watched her with a solemn expression. The haze swirled around them as Zoey let go of Clover, the two then seeing their home appearing around them once again. Clover stared in surprise while standing next to her partner as they both saw another Zoey in the room, the elf frozen in time while ahead of her on a small table was the fairy they brought home. The tiny monster was completely still while appearing to be in the middle of crying with her hands over her eyes, her bright glow lighting up the room while all around her in the air were crackles of electricity and glowing tears of light.
“Oh my god,” Clover breathed out, realizing this was the final moment from that day before the fairy self-destructed. “Why didn’t you run? You could see she’s going critical.”
“I know,” Zoey agreed while slowly stepping around her other self, a remorseful frown on her face as she gently ran a hand along her double’s hair before turning to the fairy with a faint smile. “It was at this moment that I realized the rumors about fairies were true after all. I could feel the power she was exuding. I knew it was all over, I knew what was going to happen.”
“Why didn’t you run? Or try to kill it?” Clover asked with disbelief. “Why did you stand there and do nothing?”
“I didn’t stand there and do nothing,” Zoey corrected with a shake of the head.
Slowly the other Zoey began walking towards the fairy, hair wavering behind her from the energy rolling by while her expression changed from a heartbroken frown to a sympathetic smile.
“Why are you smiling?” Clover whimpered. “
You’re about to die, Zoey.”
“For one I was thankful you weren’t there with me,” Zoey explained with a glance to her. “I didn’t know how big the blast was going to be, but I held onto hope that you were going to be far enough away to survive.”
“Zoey…”
“And also because of her,” Zoey continued as she watched her other self slowly approach the fairy then gently hold her arms around it, bringing the tiny monster into her bosom and kneeling down with closed eyes as she braced for the end.
“You held her when she was about to blow up?” Clover exclaimed. “Why would you do that?”
“I couldn’t let her die alone,” Zoey explained, with Clover looking at her in awe from that. “That’s why she was always so sad, Clover. She didn’t have a family, didn’t know where her sisters were, she was all alone in the world. We were friendly with her, or rather I was and you kept your distance, but still, we were friends for her. But… we didn’t do enough. She needed more than just friendship.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Having friends is one thing, but we didn’t do enough to show her that she was loved. We treated her more like a pet at times, we never let her fly outside near the other elves, we… we never actually told her we love her, or just how much she meant to us.”
“How would that have helped?” Clover asked shaking her head.
The fairy in the room exploded in a blinding blast, the sound quickly becoming muffled as everything around them was annihilated by the magical onslaught. Zoey turned to Clover with a worried smile as the world around them slowly shifted back to the moonlit jungle where they were before.
“It would have helped her just as it has for the fairies you saved from the rain,” Zoey reasoned. “Those two fairies have love in their lives, so much that they’re happy even though they don’t know where their home is or where their sisters are. You’ve seen it yourself. The one called Pip is so happy in life, she has a family. She’s not going to blow up the world around her, and neither is the one called Cilia. They are truly kindhearted girls.”
Chronicles of Eden - Act VII Page 39