“That’s too bad,” Falla muttered. “I was contemplating killing myself to escape this wretched life, but if I’m already dead then all hope is lost.”
“Dear lord,” Specca whined as she held her hands to her face. “She never stops. She never stops or even slows down.”
“Alyssa,” Triska groaned while holding a hand over her eyes. “Can’t you throw her out of here with your magic or something?”
“I tried five times already, remember?” Alyssa growled before she started hitting her hand down on the table. “She just keeps coming back!”
“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to take her with us,” Luna whined while shutting her eyes.
“It’s not like we wanted her here with us to begin with!” Falla shouted out at the fast moving fairy.
“Would Daniel be upset if we silenced her for good?” Alyssa asked sharply while watching the blue blur moving about above them.
“We can’t kill her,” Specca said shaking her head while looking at the monster book with worried eyes. “She’s not evil, she’s just… arg, so annoying!”
Squeak held her hands over her ears and shut her eyes while squeaking loudly a few times, her antennae twitching while she obviously lost her patience with the fairy.
“Weeee! This is fun!” Pip cheered as she kept flying around and around, giggling playfully while never slowing down at all. Trailing behind her glittering specks shimmered in the air briefly before vanishing, only to be replaced with more as the fairy was flying laps around the cabin at high speed.
“I’m going to kill her,” Triska flatly said as she pulled her dagger out. “I’m going to do it and Daniel will understand why I had to do it.”
“We’re pacifists, Triska,” Specca snapped at her with a flustered tone as her patience was dwindling dangerously low. “We can’t kill an innocent monster such as her, despite how infuriating she may be.”
“Then clip her wings,” Falla groaned with exasperation. “Anything to shut her up, just do something! She’s been flying around nonstop for hours!”
Pip raced around in circles a few more times then flew down and landed on the table in front of Specca, the nixie and Alyssa looking to her with growing ire as the fairy was eyeing the monster book curiously.
“What are you doing?” she asked cocking her head in question.
“Struggling to remind myself that I’m a kindhearted monster,” Specca replied through bared teeth.
“Would you stop flying around for just five minutes and give us some peace and quiet?” Alyssa growled with her eyes giving off a purplish hue.
Pip hopped onto the open monster book and looked down at the writing curiously while Specca tapped her finger on the table repeatedly with a scowl on her face.
“What are you writing?” Pip asked the nixie.
“I’m cataloging all the information we know about your race.”
“My race?”
“Fairies, like you.”
“Like me…” Pip said softly looking down to the entry. She slowly read the large print while stepping backwards towards Specca, her expression going from curiosity to concern.
“What’s wrong?” Alyssa asked dryly.
“Am I really the last?” Pip asked.
All the girls watched her carefully as the fairy slowly sat down on the table while looking at the book. With a sniffle from the tiny monster the girls noticed she was growing more upset by the second, the fairy then whimpering and looking up to Specca with watery eyes.
“You wrote… that fairies are so rare… that they may not exist anymore. But I exist, don’t I?”
Specca glanced around at the other girls then looked at the monster book with a solemn expression and nodded.
“You do, although until we met you we believed your race to have died off long ago.”
“Am I really alone?” Pip whimpered.
“I… I’m not certain. I’m sorry, Pip,” Specca gently replied.
“What do I do?” Pip asked before she started crying softly. The other girls slowly got up and walked closer to the table as the fairy wept with her hands held to her face. “If I’m really the last fairy… what will happen to us? If I don’t get a man’s seed… we’re gone forever.”
“Well,” Specca reluctantly said. “I suppose we can hold onto hope that there are more fairies out there like you, somewhere.”
“I am not hoping for that at all,” Alyssa quickly stated.
“Alyssa,” Triska hushed, the girls all then watching as Pip slowly stood up while crying.
“Why did all the fairies leave?” Pip whimpered while looking around at them. “Where did they all go? What happened to my sisters?”
“I’m sorry,” Specca gently replied. “But we don’t know. We know almost nothing about your kind. There are no records of travelers meeting fairies for ages. All we think we know about you comes from stories and myths that could have easily been made up by anyone.”
Pip looked down at the book with sorrow then up at the ceiling, taking a few steps backwards in a circle as she kept her eyes up.
“I like to fly,” she said softly while wiping her tears away. “When I do, I feel so alive and happy. I feel that warmth inside of me. Maybe it’s magic, or maybe it’s my soul, I’m not sure. But when I’m flying everything seems alright.” The girls watched her with sympathetic eyes as she lowered her head and whimpered again.
“But when I’m not flying and instead standing still, I think. I think about stuff, and also I think about how I’m alone. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t. I don’t like it.”
“Goddammit,” Triska quietly muttered. “Now I feel bad for her again.”
“Me too,” Luna whimpered with teary eyes.
Squeak sighed and glanced away with remorse while nodding slowly.
Pip read the entry about her race with growing despair, facing the realization that she may be the last fairy in existence. She held her hands to her chest with a fearful whine and shut her eyes, seeming to struggle against breaking down into tears again. After a moment she looked towards the front of the room, seeing the black curtain rustling in the breeze and allowing a brief glimpse of Daniel as he sat at the front seat of the caravan.
“Did you mean what you said?” Pip asked looking to Luna. “If I have his love, will he really help me? Will he take care of me? Will he keep me from being alone?”
“Pip,” Triska spoke up with a forced smile. “There are other men out there you can go find and get seeds from I’m sure. Daniel however is taken, and is not-”
“That’s right,” Luna said with a hopeful smile and nod. “He said it himself. He would choose any girl, monster or human, as long as they are kindhearted.”
“He already chose who he wanted,” Alyssa snapped while slamming her hand down on the table. “He picked us, remember?”
“He picked you all,” Pip said with wonder. “So then there’s hope he can pick me too. He could love me too, couldn’t he? And then I wouldn’t be alone, then I could get his seed and have a family, right?”
“Pip, no, that’s-” Specca argued before stopping and seeing the sorrowful expression on the fairy. “That’s… he can’t… you can’t… um…”
“Just stop what you’re thinking, Pip,” Triska warned. “Daniel is our mate, and there is no way we’re letting any other-”
“I need to be his mate too!” Pip declared with a fist held high. “It’s my destiny! For the future of fairies everywhere!”
“No!” Alyssa cried out while grabbing hold of her hat with both hands. “No! No! No!”
“If he feels a deeper connection with me, he’ll love me,” Pip pondered to herself. “If he loves me he’ll give me his seed. If he loves me he’ll take care of me. If he loves me he won’t let the fairies go away forever.”
“Yes, that could work,” Luna agreed with a hopeful smile.
“No, that couldn’t work!” Triska shouted at her. “Why are you encouraging this? Why did you have to fill her tiny
head with your stupid suggestions? Why?”
“Pip, hold it right there,” Specca sternly ordered. “Stop what you’re thinking, that’s not going to-”
“I have no time to lose!” Pip announced as she fluttered up above the table. “I have to gain his love, I have to gain his affection or all is lost for fairies everywhere!”
“Then all is lost for fairies everywhere!” Alyssa shouted. “There is no way we’re letting you-”
“Ah!” Pip cried out as she looked around quickly. “Of course, I completely forgot, I have to help him first, that’s how this works. He said he had very important things he had to do. What does he have to do? Somebody tell me, quick! There’s no time to lose!”
“What in Eden are you going on about now?” Falla asked shaking her head.
“Oh, I know, I know,” Luna called out holding her hand up. The group looked to her with disbelief as she hopped around with her hand held up high. Pip smiled and pointed to her while flying closer to the girl.
“Yes, you.”
“Daniel is on a quest to help bring peace between monsters and humans,” Luna answered politely.
“The most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Go on.”
“We’re on our way right now to Flairwood, the grove of the giant butterflies, so he can try to talk to my race and convince them to be good monsters. That way mankind will choose to be with them too rather than try to kill them.”
“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard since the last thing you said to me. What else?”
“We have to gain the support of five monster races,” Luna explained while holding up seven fingers. “Once we’re done talking to the giant butterflies at my home we’re going to go to Kroanette’s home, the centaurs are the next ones we want to try to convince to be good monsters with us. If we can get enough support for this Daniel is going to talk to his queen and get mankind to be allies with all of us. That way he’ll put an end to the fighting and raping between everyone.”
“It all makes sense!” Pip declared while floating in place before the group.
Everyone but Luna just looked back and forth between the two with stunned expressions as Luna clapped and giggled while Pip hovered in place with a bold expression on her face.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Alyssa asked tiredly.
“Luna’s crazy and Pip’s insane,” Triska dryly replied.
“Quickly,” Pip demanded while pointing to Luna. “Where is Flairwood, and how long before we reach there?”
“Um…” Luna said softly before looking to Falla curiously. “I don t know for sure, but she does.”
“Oh great,” Falla muttered. “I’m being dragged into this too, aren’t I?”
“Calm down, Pip,” Specca sighed while adjusting her glasses. “Flairwood is located to the south in this region, and is currently two days away from where we are now.”
“Two days?” Pip whined.
“Yes, two days,” Falla repeated while crossing her arms and looking up with a dull gaze. “Of course we would have been there sooner if they weren’t stopping all the time to fuck their man.”
“Falla,” Triska, Specca, and Alyssa snapped at her along with a stern squeak from Squeak. Falla looked around at them then smiled nervously and held up her hands again.
“I mean, make love,” she shakily corrected.
“If we got there today would that make Daniel happy?” Pip asked.
Everyone looked to her with puzzlement as she hovered in place and glanced around at them.
“Huh?” Triska unsurely replied.
“It’s impossible for us to reach Flairwood today,” Specca said shaking her head. “There is no way to travel that far that fast.”
“Would it make Daniel happy?” Pip asked again. “Would it? Tell me!”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’d be ecstatic to get there in one day,” Alyssa mocked with a raised eyebrow. “Of course that’s not going to happen. There’s as much a chance as us just magically arriving at Flairwood today as there is with you becoming Daniel’s mate, Pip. And that chance is zero.”
“Where’s Flairwood?” Pip asked quickly. “Show me a map! Show me a map! Show me a map!”
“What are you going on about this time?” Triska asked tiredly.
Pip quickly flew over and got in front of her face, with Triska stepping back as the fairy showed a stubborn scowl at her.
“Show me a map!” Pip shouted out. As she did the air around her glowed with a golden light briefly, with the group glancing to each other then back to the fairy with caution now.
“Um… Specca?” Triska asked looking to the nixie with a weak smile. “Do you have the map with you? I think she really wants to see it.”
“Okay, just hold on,” Specca said holding a hand out towards Pip to settle her down. She carefully got out the map of the area and laid it out on the table, with Pip flying over and looking down at it with a sharp eye.
“Where’s Flairwood?” Pip asked again.
“Right here,” Specca answered pointing to the village marker on the chart, and then moved her finger over to another part of the map. “And that’s where we are. So as you can see there is no feasible way for us to-” Before she could finish Pip raced out of the cabin in a blue blur, the group then looking over to the curtain as it wavered around from something having passed through it.
“-get there today,” Specca finished.
“What has gotten into her?” Alyssa said shaking her head.
“I blame Luna,” Triska growled while turning to the butterfly girl, the others doing the same as Luna pointed to herself curiously.
“Me?” she asked worriedly. “What did I do? Oh no, did I not explain our mission correctly to her? Did I say it wrong?”
“I’m going to kill you,” Triska flatly stated. “I’m going to do it and everyone will understand why I had to do it.”
Outside the cabin Daniel was staring with surprise as Pip had suddenly raced over in front of his face and was holding a hand out towards him as she hovered in place.
“Stop!” she cried out. “You have to stop right now! There’s no time to lose!”
“Pip?” Daniel exclaimed as he leaned back in the seat.
“What are you talking about?” Kroanette demanded as she ran alongside the caravan. “We most certainly will not stop right now. We’ve stopped enough for today.”
“Please!” Pip begged loudly. “I have to help you, let me help you! Pretty please!”
“Pip, stop it,” Daniel said as he tried to wave the fairy away, the tiny monster then flying around in front of his face while pleading for him to stop. “Knock it off, Pip! Quit it, I can’t see where I’m going! Alright, alright! I’m pulling over, just stop already!”
Kroanette growled loudly as Daniel snapped the reins and steered Lucky over to the side of the road onto a small grassy clearing. Pip flew around in front of Daniel then quickly looked all over the area in haste as Triska and Alyssa poked their heads out from the entryway.
“What are we stopping for?” Triska asked.
“Pip, what are you doing now?” Alyssa yelled out.
“This one is seriously testing my nerves,” Kroanette warned as she grabbed her whip and snapped it at her side.
“Pip, what is this about?” Daniel asked with a groan.
Pip looked around quickly then flew over in front of Daniel’s face, leaning really close towards him while holding her hands together in a pleading manner.
“If I help you reach Flairwood today will you promise to take care of me?” she desperately beseeched.
“What?” Daniel asked bewilderedly.
“What in Eden is she talking about?” Kroanette grunted.
“Please, Daniel!” Pip cried out before clinging to his chest. “Promise you won’t let me be alone! Promise you’ll take care of me! Promise you won’t let the fairies go away forever!”
Daniel stared at her with confusion then looked to the girls with a raised eyebrow
. Triska sighed and hung her head low while shaking it slowly, Alyssa growled while pulling her hat down over her face, and Kroanette crossed her arms impatiently while tapping her rear hoof on the dirt.
“Pip,” Daniel sighed as he looked back to her and tried to show compassion for the fairy. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you or what you’re talking about, but you have to calm down. Whatever is bothering you, know that we’ll try to help if we can, alright?”
“Does that mean you promise?” Pip asked looking to him with watery eyes. “Please? Don’t let me be alone in the world.”
“Pip, you’re not alone in the world. We’re here with you.”
“I’ll take that as you promise,” Pip whimpered with a smile on her face. “Just remember you promised me.”
The fairy quickly flew up and examined the caravan carefully then started flying in circles around the wagon at high speed, the blue trails of light winding around while the shimmering specks from the fairy’s flight trailed behind her. Daniel and the girls looked around with confusion as Pip flew faster and faster around the ride before a large casting circle appeared on the grass below them, the brightly glowing blue and golden lights shining up while the unique markers of the fairy’s magic appeared in several intertwining rings within the circle.
“Wait, Pip? What are you doing?” Daniel called out.
“What’s going on?” Triska nervously asked.
“Whatever you’re doing, Pip, stop it right now!” Alyssa yelled out.
“What manner of magic is this?” Kroanette questioned while keeping on guard.
“I am helping!” Pip cheered out as she rapidly flew around the caravan. “I am helping! I am helping!”
“What the hell are you doing?” Triska shouted out.
“Helping!” Pip called out before the blue trial of light streaked down and landed in the casting ring, the bright lights then flashing with a blinding flare. Everyone shielded their eyes as the ground below them lit up like a star, followed by a gust of wind quickly blowing through the area.
“What’s happening?” Kroanette shouted as she stumbled to the side while holding her arms across her eyes. After a while she slowly lowered them and opened her eyes, seeing that the entire caravan and Lucky were now gone.
Chronicles of Eden - Act V Page 6
