Alyssa
Save for the sound of falling rain, the walk home was as quiet as the grave, a fitting idiom given the horror Alyssa had just bore witness to. She pays careful attention to where she walks, avoiding large rocks and exposed tree roots so she doesn’t trip and jostle the poor little fairy tucked away in her hands. When she was a child, Alyssa always associated fairies with magic, sparkles, generally fun things, but now that image has been put in stark contrast with the desolation of what must have been her little passenger’s home. The walk is only a few short minutes, but the weight of all that death and destruction makes it feel like an eternity.
The fairy sheltered in her hands barely stirs as she’s carried back to Alyssa’s place. She had already been noticeably exhausted after supposedly escaping the first time, but after flying all the way back with a shredded wing it’s little wonder why she remains so still. Despite feeling the subtle warmth of the fairy’s strained breath on her fingers, Alyssa still stops occasionally to look between her hands to check on her. When she does, the fairy is laid in the same position she was picked up in, motionless, but fortunately still conscious. Her gaze points toward Alyssa, but looks through her as if she isn’t even there.
Before taking the fairy into her hands, Alyssa chanced to spot many chillingly familiar black and yellow vehicles parked several meters away. While she doesn’t remember what any of them are called, she’s more than familiar with their purpose: logging. She sees an off-white van parked next to them that bears a distant graphic that’s difficult to make out, but that’s all too familiar to her: a red hatchet embedded into a tree stump with the letter “S” written on its head. It seems that even after moving to a completely different state she still can’t get away from dad… It doesn’t take long for her to understand the connection between those vehicles and the fairy in her hands, as if she needed to feel more responsibility for the poor thing. She remembers being woken up a few days ago by the distant, guttural sound of these machines cutting down some trees. If the difference in size didn’t make the disparity between the two girls apparent enough, the realization that a mere moment of annoyance for Alyssa was the destruction of the fairy’s entire civilization certainly did.
Finally reaching the edge of the woods after several minutes of walking in the rain, Alyssa breathes a sigh of relief as she sees her house across the street. She briskly walks over to her front door and carefully maneuvers one hand to open it while cupping the fairy in the other. She cranes her neck over the fairy as she anxiously fiddles with her keys to continue shielding her from the rain. Once inside she shuts the door with her foot, places her guest back down on the towel that was still on her kitchen counter, and hangs up her jacket on the coat rack back by the door. Alyssa lets out another heavy sigh now that the two of them are back in the safety of her home.
“Well… home sweet home… haha…,” Alyssa’s attempt to lighten the mood is only met with silence from the still unmoving fairy, a silence which only serves to heighten her anxieties about the little one’s situation. “L-Let me get you something to eat. You’ll need your strength back if you want that wing feeling better.” Alyssa instinctively walks over to her refrigerator and places her hand on the door before stopping herself, “Ah… I… don’t actually know what fairies eat…” She looks back to the counter expecting a suggestion, but is once again met with silence. “Um… i-is there anything I can get you?” Again, silence. Finally understanding the fairy isn’t willing to speak to her, Alyssa decides to just take her best guess. She pulls out a container of raspberries and another of blueberries and mixes a few of them into a small sauce dish she finds in one of her cabinets, but not before having a few for herself of course. It can only hold about three of each berry but that should hopefully be more than enough for the two inch tall fairy she’s giving them to.
Alyssa sets the berries down in front of the fairy hoping to get at least some sort of reaction out of her, but she remains as motionless as ever. Oh, of course! She must also be thirsty! She digs around in her cabinet for the smallest drinking vessel she can find and manages to find an old shot glass left over from when she would host parties for her friends back home, a bitter memory of better days. She puts those feelings out of her mind for now and fills up the glass with water from the fridge. Somehow she manages to overfill it to the point where she spills some all over the floor. Great, another mess, but not for now. She places it next to the dish of berries but still the fairy does not stir. Alyssa waits for a while before deciding it would be best to give her some space. Seems like now is as good a time as any to finally set up that dollhouse. “Well… I’m going to set up somewhere for you to sleep tonight. Please eat whenever you feel comfortable.” She turns to walk down the hallway to her bedroom before she stops herself. “Oh and… um… t-try not to fly around if you can help it. It can’t be good for that wing.” What does she think she’s doing giving health advice to a person whose biology she doesn’t understand? Regardless, Alyssa leaves to set up the dollhouse, praying the privacy is what the fairy needs to finally eat.
She takes this opportunity to change into dry clothes without the risk of the fairy seeing her naked again… not that it would be all that bad if she did. She blushes at the thought before snapping herself back to focusing on the task at hand: finding her old dollhouse for the fairy. She gets dressed into comfortable pajamas before opening her closet door to the mess that has accumulated within. Suppose it was only a matter of time before she’d have to contend with everything she lazily shoved in here after moving. She has to dig through mountains of junk and finds some old clothes, some stuffed animals she lovingly sets on her bed, and even her old flute! More mementos of the good old days… Eventually she reaches the dollhouse, surprisingly managing to hold itself together despite the piles of junk it sat beneath, and pulls it out of the depths of her closet. It’ll be perfect!! It just needs some dusting, and also a few passes with a disinfecting wipe, and it’ll be as good as new!!
Once it’s all cleaned off the next step is to furnish it with a proper bed, assuming fairies even sleep on beds. She works off the bed that’s already superglued into the house. She cuts up the thick sleeves of an old hoodie she doesn’t wear anymore to serve as a mattress, then bits of an old shirt, one that doesn’t reek of sweat of course, to serve as bedsheets. Finally, she grabs another cotton ball from the bathroom and stuffs it into more of the cut up hoodie to serve as a pillow. Once it’s complete this makeshift bed certainly doesn’t look too pretty, but hopefully it can serve its purpose of providing some semblance of comfort for her little guest. Alyssa adds one final touch before she’s finished; a small, battery-powered candle she tucked away from last Christmas to serve as a sort of lamp in case the fairy needs any light. Unable to think of any way to improve the dollhouse, Alyssa returns to her little guest to show her around.
As Alyssa rounds the corner, she notices a faint golden light that quickly fades. Contained within is the fairy nibbling on a little piece of raspberry she ripped off. Alyssa smiles, relieved that she’s finally moving again. “Hey there,” she speaks softly to the fairy who flinches at the sound of her voice. “I got the dollhouse set up, if you’d like to check it out.” The fairy’s gaze refuses to meet Alyssa’s. She instinctively reaches to grab the fairy causing them to close their eyes and turn away in anticipation. Alyssa takes the hint and extends an open palm to her instead. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t assume you want to be grabbed. I promise I’m here to help you, not hurt you like the other humans did.” The fairy’s eyes open again and her head turns slightly toward Alyssa’s open hand. She takes a moment before slowly and cautiously inching up past her fingers and into her palm. Alyssa slowly raises her hand, supports it with the other, and carefully takes her guest into her bedroom.
Back in her bedroom with the fairy in her hands, Alyssa finally realizes that the dollhouse is somehow still too big for her. She lowers her down next to it to see that the front door on its own towers over the little girl. It stands at more than double her height, which starts to make sense once she remembers that her old dolls were probably five inches tall at minimum. “I um… didn’t realize that it would be so big compared to you…,” Alyssa’s anxieties resurface once again. “W-Well… um… maybe you could step inside anyway and see what it’s like?” The fairy silently analyzes the house, seemingly confused by Alyssa’s suggestion. “What’s wrong?” Her question falls on deaf ears as the fairy still looks around for a way to enter. She looks up to a wide open window and leaps off Alyssa’s hand, plummeting to the ground and wincing in pain as her battered wings fail to carry her very far.
“H-Hey!!” Alyssa instinctively grabs the fairy out of the air in her fist before she crashes down onto the table, but releases her once she hears the little girl squeak as she’s squeezed too tight. “Oh!! S-Sorry… I’m still not used to… well… you. A-Are you hurt?” The tiny girl backs up to the dollhouse, nodding her head frantically to let Alyssa know she’s fine. She’s clearly shaken up by being squeezed like that. “Good… good… I’m so sorry, I-I’ll try to be more careful from now on.” Alyssa’s attempts to comfort the fairy don’t appear to be working – she’s still shaking in fear. She holds out her hand for the fairy to step onto once again. “You probably don’t even know what a door is… huh… Here, I have a better way to do this. I-If you’ll let me of course.” The fairy takes much longer to inch herself onto Alyssa’s hand this time, but ultimately steps back into her palm.
Alyssa raises her up and uses her other hand to undo the latch on the side of the dollhouse. She swings it open from the side, gently lowers the fairy in front of the bedroom, and allows her to step inside. Much like the door, everything in the bedroom is twice or greater the size that would suit her. The fairy looks around her new room with a similarly confused expression as she did with the front door. In her haste to provide any feasible living conditions to the tiny girl, Alyssa seemingly neglected to ask precisely what a fairy would require. This is going so much worse than she thought it would…
“So… um… h-how is everything?” Alyssa’s anxiety has reached a point where she can’t even bring herself to look at the fairy as she talks to her. “I-If you need anything else… um… I-I can try and grab it for you!” She knows it's a little late to be asking this, but late is better than never. The fairy looks around for quite a while, supposedly taking in what must be completely foreign scenery to her and barely giving Alyssa so much as a glance. “Um…,” Alyssa wants to ask the fairy what’s on her mind, but decides against it once she flinches at the sound of her voice once again. “S-Sorry…,” she says in a much softer whisper, “Um… I can leave the house open for you during the day and close it back up at night if you’d like. I’m sure you’ll want your privacy when you sleep. W-Would that be alright?”
Alyssa sees the fairy tighten her little fists. Her wings start to flicker with the same golden color she had when she broke through the window, but the glow isn’t nearly as radiant nor as consistent, it’s akin to a candle whose flame is burning out. Alyssa sits back and covers her face in anticipation of whatever magical spell the fairy will do this time, but she simply exhales a deep sigh, unclenches her fists, and hangs her head. “... Fine…” Alyssa finally relaxes as the glow finally fades from the fairy’s wings, relieved that she’s finally speaking to her.
“Good… good…,” she lets out a sigh of relief, and then turns her attention to the window. How did it get so dark so fast? Well, she has been busy getting everything ready for her little guest, that’ll probably explain how she’s lost track of time. Alyssa grabs her phone from her bed to check the time. 8:20 PM?? What the hell?? Surely it hasn’t been six hours… right?
Alyssa puts her phone down on her bed and turns her attention back to the fairy who's still turned away from her. “I have an early morning tomorrow so I’m going to head to bed soon. Would you like me to close up the dollhouse for the night?” The fairy doesn’t say another word, but nods her head after a few more moments of silence. Alyssa closes up and latches the front of the dollhouse and leaves the front door open in case her little guest has any desire to leave in the night. “Um… h-have a good night!” The fairy doesn’t respond to this gesture at all, leaving Alyssa to awkwardly scuttle under the covers and into her bed.
Normally, Alyssa would read or draw in her sketchbook to let her mind relax before bed, or at least make herself dinner considering she hasn’t eaten since lunch, but she can’t get her mind to stop thinking about everything that happened today. Fairies are real. magic is real, and their home had been razed to the ground. She can’t even begin to understand what that must be like for the poor, scared little fairy, not to mention having her ability to fly ripped from her at the same time.
She wonders if there’s anything she can do to help her heal up faster. Neosporin cream, maybe? Would that even work on fairies? And then there's the matter of bathing. Should she give her a bigger dish of water to wash herself in like a birdbath? Would that be too degrading? And then there’s the question of clothing. Surely she can’t wear that little white nightgown forever, but what could she even give her to change into? All of her old doll clothes would definitely be too big for her if the dollhouse is anything to go on, not to mention she’d have to cut little holes for the wings which could risk ruining the entire outfit…
Alyssa lays on her side and turns her attention back to the dollhouse. In the dark she can faintly see the fairy struggling to wrap the blanket around herself like a caterpillar would a cocoon. Alyssa can’t help but stay up worrying for her…
Neither of them got much sleep that night…
Lace
tick, tock, tick, tock
It has been nearly a week since that fateful day…
tick, tock, tick, tock
Since everything Lace had ever known unraveled at the seams… her wing torn apart… her home destroyed… her people… gone…
tick, tock, tick, tock
And it's been nearly a week since she’d been taken by an opportunistic human… placed inside this smooth, shiny prison… her rations amounting to little else but berries and water…
tick, tock, tick, tock
Left all alone… save for the occasional “checking in” from the human, who she’s learned is called “Alyssa,” as she replenishes the berries in the massive plate and brings another mysterious, invisible vessel of water…
tick, tock, tick, tock
… and of course that infernal ticking from the human’s timekeeping device…
tick, tock, tick, tock
Lace has spent most of her days isolated in the “dollhouse” Alyssa had set up for her. It’s certainly unlike any house she’d ever seen back home in Verwood. It’s cold, unnatural, and colorful, completely unlike any kind of tree house she’d ever seen. Looking around it also appears to be designed for a single occupant, rather than one family or many as is typical for fairy living conditions, fairies are social creatures after all. The dollhouse reminds Lace of her “gilded cage” as she called it, yet somehow manages to be even less inviting. She never thought anywhere could feel more isolating in the Canopy… leave it to humans to outdo the unpleasantness of fairies tenfold.
Speaking of humans, Alyssa is often gone for hours at a time. She claims she’s out working, but that must be a euphemism. Humans are conquerors by nature. They’ll always take what they want, even from other humans, with little regard for others. Occasionally, she will return with large bags of what appear to be food, and Lace is left to weep for whichever poor, innocent creature she must have taken it from…
And yet, Alyssa has seemingly been more than willing to share with Lace. The food and drink, sure, but she’s also offered her a change of clothes, a private place to bathe, and to rub what appeared to be some sort of medicinal cream on her shredded wing, something that must be absurdly valuable for a species with no magic to speak of. Lace has rejected all these, of course, it wouldn’t be wise to trust the gift a human presents to you no matter how gentle and caring they appear on the surface. Regardless, she’s more than capable of keeping herself clean with some water magic she’d picked up from one of her attendants in the Canopy, even though it does cause her wings to ache more and more every time she does so.
And therein lies her biggest problem: her wings aren’t mending.
The more magic Lace uses, the more strain she puts on her wings, and she has been using a lot of magic in her time in captivity. She’s been using water magic to bathe and clean her nightgown, wind magic to aid her wings as she carefully flutters in and around the dollhouse, and, most importantly, light magic to purify each berry and invisible vessel of water she’s been given. Alyssa’s kind and caring personality must be a front, it has to be, so Lace can’t afford to let her guard down with any of the food or drink she’s been given. She spends several minutes purifying each berry one at a time, purging any and all toxins that might be contained within, and gods is it painful every time…
tick, tock, tick, tock
She hasn’t gotten much sleep either. Humans sleep so… strangely. Alyssa lays down on her back to fall asleep, useful when you don’t have wings to worry about, though she seems to expect Lace to do the same given she hasn’t been given anywhere in her room to hang the blanket she’s been given to make her cocoon. Padding had been laid down on Lace’s “bed,” as Alyssa calls it, supposedly to make it more comfortable, but it’s still been quite a struggle for her to fall asleep…
tick, tock, tick, tock
… not to mention how every time she shuts her eyes, she can still see it; the fairies fleeing, the Great Tree being cut down effortlessly by those metal beasts, a stray wood chip slicing effortlessly through her wing… plummeting to the ground… The humans approach… A colossal boot raised over her body…
tick, tock, tick, tock
… and then there’s that fucking timekeeper!!! Gods, how the hell does a human ever sleep with that ticking and tocking in their ear all night!?
After hours of laying awake, failing to quiet the voices in her head, Lace has decided she’s finally had enough. She zips out of the house through the opening in her room and finds the timekeeper hanging on the wall above her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as her wings struggle to glow gold. She grits her teeth and clenches her fists to fight through the burning pain as she readies a long-distance force spell. Just one good blast, that’s all she needs to destroy it for good, and then she’ll finally have some semblance of peace. Her fist glows the same unsteady shade of gold as her wings, she readies a punch, she aims, and…
BAM!!!
The spell backfires, exploding in Lace’s fist and sending her flying backwards off the bedside table and onto the floor below. The fluffy carpet fortunately makes the landing much softer than it could have been, but it does nothing for the pain now radiating through the fairy’s arm, around to her back, and across her wings. She tries to stand herself up, but the pain brings her back down to her knees, clutching the stressed arm as she screams in agony.
Tears stream down her face as Lace curses the string of events that brought her this low. She wishes none of this ever happened, that the humans never managed to somehow bypass the barrier that should have kept Verwood safe, that, failing that, she actually was this invincible, all-powerful Goldwing everyone seems to believe she is, that she could have unleashed such power when it was needed the most, that she was more than just a pretty bargaining chip for her father, that she could save anyone…
Out of the darkness two pillars slam down on either side of Lace and a massive, dark shadow is cast over her. A frightened yelp escapes her lips until she can vaguely see Alyssa’s face hovering over her within the shadow. “A-Are you okay!?,” the human’s loud, frightened voice echoes around the fairy, “Wh-What was that??” It seems her little backfire managed to wake the human, as if this night needed to get any worse…
“I’m fine…” She lies. Lace winces in pain as she attempts to force herself to stand back up, but to no avail as she finds herself back down on her knees before her captor. Such a shameful display, the Goldwing bending her knee to a human because she lacks the strength to do otherwise. It’s a good thing nobody’s around to witness this…
Alyssa suddenly scoops the fairy up into her hands and raises her upward. By now Lace has lost the will to scream out in fear of her captor, merely tensing up and going numb as she’s brought up to her face. The human’s worried expression is clear as day now, Lace’s lie was clearly unconvincing. “C-Clearly you aren’t!!” Alyssa whines, “Look, I know you haven’t been sleeping much! You may be small but the bags under your eyes are so big that even I can make them out!!”
“And what do you humans know about fairies, huh!? Other than being the perfect victims that is!! You-” Lace sees Alyssa flinch in response to her sudden outburst. The fairy has said very little in her time here, so the first complete sentences to come out of her mouth being a condemnation of Alyssa and the whole of humanity must certainly come as a shock. Despite being hidden in the dark, Lace notices her captor’s gaze retreat from her own, tears welling up in those bright green eyes of hers…
“I… I just…” Alyssa seemingly struggles to find the words to retaliate with, and Lace’s heart grows heavy. Is this… regret? Does she seriously feel regret for upsetting the beast who kidnapped her? Why? What reason does she have to feel this way?
Much like the human who holds her, Lace too hides her tears by facing away from the one who would see them. “I…” She stops herself. There’s no way the human isn’t putting on a show to gain sympathy from Lace… right? Humans are liars and cheaters, cunning conquerors who will manipulate their way to the top… that… that must be what’s happening here! So why the hell does she still feel so guilty!?
Finally, Lace can no longer fight her heart. “I’m sorry…” It’s muttered under her breath, but that seemingly doesn’t escape Alyssa’s ears as she turns to look back at the fairy.
Lace feels a gentle touch under her eyes, one she initially flinches at, but soothes her nonetheless. She turns and sees Alyssa’s massive finger wiping away a stray tear that has fallen down her face. Lace moves an arm to push it away, her pride and prejudice still refusing to allow her to accept the charity of a human, but she can only muster up the strength to merely rest her hand on the finger as it seemingly pets her reassuringly. “I’m so sorry… It’s just…,” every word is being forced out of Lace’s mouth, her heart battling her mind for control over what she says next, “I’ve been living a nightmare these last few days, and… and…” Her mind finally wins as Lace decides it would be unwise to tell the human too much.
“P-Please, don’t apologize...” Alyssa seems to be trying to keep a composed, reassuring tone, but the unease underlying her voice doesn’t do much to ease the guilt that weighs on Lace’s heart. “I know I can’t begin to understand what you’ve gone through, but I know it has something to do with humans…,” she’s right, of course, but Lace can’t help but wish the human wouldn’t put this on herself. “B-but please, if I can do anything to help your wing get better so you can leave sooner, just… well…,” Alyssa’s voice trails off and she once again looks away from the fairy, “... I-I promise I’ll try my best…”
The idea that Lace would be willingly let go comes as a shock to her. This doesn’t make any sense, any human would kill to get their hands on a fairy, especially a Goldwing like her, so how could Alyssa be so willing to give up her prize so easily? It could be a trick, sure, but there is only shameful sincerity to be found in the human’s voice… Lace lets out a heavy sigh before calmly muttering; “... I’m fine… I’m… sorry…” The apology only comes out with great effort, she can’t believe she’s being so apologetic to a human after everything they’ve done.
“Are you sure?,” again, Alyssa sees right through Lace’s dismissive attitude, “I-I can see what I can find to make your bed more comfortable if you’d like?”
It seems the human won’t be content with assurances that Lace is fine. “Well…,” Lace struggles to think of something she can ask for that will placate the worried human, but not sacrifice too much of her pride, “... I suppose I could do with a thicker blanket…” The bed will still be no substitute for a proper cocoon, but if she has a thick enough blanket to wrap herself in maybe it can be more tolerable.
“Of course!!” Finally, Alyssa’s face lights up, a sight which admittedly brings a smile to Lace’s face. “But for now… um…,” the human’s face darkens as her cheeks burn bright red with embarrassment, clearly nervous about something, “w-well I have an idea… um… i-if that’s alright with you?” Lace can’t begin to guess what the human might have in mind, but hastily nods her head in a brief lapse in judgement.
She could never have predicted what would happen next. Alyssa carries the fairy over to her bed, uses one hand to lay herself down under the covers, and gently lowers Lace down on her stomach. Lace has little time to protest before the human’s hands gently wrap around her, not too dissimilar to a cocoon, a rather warm and soft one too. “I notice you wrap your blanket around you when you try to go to sleep, I’m guessing it’s some sort of fairy thing, so I figured I could be a thick blanket for you tonight! I-If you’d like to, of course!! I won’t force you if this is too… weird.” Blush spreads around Lace's face like wildfire. It had been so long she’d nearly forgotten what it was like to experience the sensual touch of another, to be wrapped in their warmth, and gods has she missed it… gods does she miss… him. A few tears stream down the fairy’s face and fortunately it doesn’t seem like Alyssa can see them. She can barely croak out a brief “yes” whilst trying to keep her emotions hidden from the human.
“Good! Well… um… g-goodnight, miss fairy!!” With a yawn that rumbles across her massive body, Alyssa shuts her eyes.
“... Goodnight…” It’s muttered ever so softly, but the faint smile stretching across the human’s face makes it apparent that it was noticed.
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum
With the slow rising and falling of Alyssa’s diaphragm as she breathes, …
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum
… the gentle warmth radiating off her hands, …
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum
… and her distant, rhythmic heartbeat, …
Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum
… Lace has the first restful sleep she’s had in ages.