The Odd Fairy Out

Chapter 1

Today was the day! Gael was finally going to get his wings. He was so excited he couldn't sleep the night before. Gael got his best clothes together and changed into them in the morning, brushing his hair and brushing his teeth after taking a quick shower. He waited patiently for his mother and his step-father to finish getting ready.

"Come on! We're gonna be late!" Gael calls out, getting nervous about being late to the ceremony. Penrose smiles softly and cups Gael's face gently.

"You look so handsome today my little tulip" she smiles and kisses Gael's head. Gael giggles happily.

"Thank you mum" he smiles. Then Etain comes downstairs, making Gael groan softly

"Does he have to come mum? It's my day today" Gael argues. Penrose sighs and nods, Etain glares at Gael.

"Be quiet or else we aren't going" he growls lowly making Gael immediately go quiet. When he hears his grandfathers coming down the stairs, Gael smiles brightly and rushes over to help them down the stairs,

"Papa Blaze and Papa Finn! I'm so happy you guys are coming to the ceremony!" Gael smiles happily and helps them down the stairs. Blaze smiles gently and gently squishes the young fairy's cheeks.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world" Blaze kisses Gael's head. Finn nods, agreeing with his husband. Gael smiles proudly as they headed to where the ceremony was being held, all the while talking to his grandfathers about how school was going and how his grades were. Once they arrived at the ceremony, Gael was brought up front with other young fairies around his age. He was obviously excited but also scared, fidgeting with his fingers nervously.

Once his name was called, Gael takes a shaky breath and heads up by the elders on the stage. He stood in front of them and kneeled like he was told to do, shivering as he felt their old, wrinkly hands on his back, but didn't move and kept his eyes closed. After a good 10 minutes he felt a tingle down his spine, then a jolt of pain as his wings grew from his back causing the young fairy to tear up, keeping his eyes tightly shut so he wouldn't be seen as weak by his peers. He just stayed kneeled on the stage until he felt the elders' hands move away from his back, Gael slowly stood up and very hesitantly opened his eyes to look at the wings. When he turned his head towards the wings he just stared at them, a look of confusion on his face. He saw the color and shape of the wings. The wings were a soft pink and were more rounded and curvy. Gael looks back at the elders,

"There must be a mistake. These...these can't be my wings. They don't look or..or feel right on me. Is there some way to..I don't know. Change them?" He asks, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, hearing some people in the crowd gasping. Etain growls and goes up onto the stage and stood next to Gael,

"Elders don't make mistakes. These wings are a part of you. You can't just change them. If you do change them you would fly crooked" Etain says glaring at the elders. Gael froze and tears up just a bit. Some other fairies stood up and started shouting,

"These wings were chosen for a reason! If you change them you can't go back! The Elders don't make mistakes! We won't forgive you if you change them! Think about how others will feel, stop being selfish!" other fairies shouted, making Gael nervous and he tries to argue back,

"B-But they aren't my wings! They can't be! They don't feel right. They don't belong on my body!" He argues with his step-father and the other fairies, but Gael immediately shut himself up and lowered his head when he was given the death stare by Etain, knowing what that specific stare meant. Gael looked over to his mom for help, but she wasn't even looking at the stage. He wanted to be mad, but he knew she was too scared to interfere.

After the ceremony the family went home and Gael decided to stay with Blaze and Finn, knowing that his grandfathers would protect him.

"Hey Papa Finn? What happened to your wings?" Gael asks as he sits on the couch in front of the fireplace, watching Blaze and Finn sit on the other couch that had room for two people. The older fairies sat next to each other and held each other's hands,

"Well young one. I tore mine off when I was your age, maybe a bit older. But they didn't feel right on me and the elders could change them, but refused. So I took it upon myself to take care of it, and I tore them off with help from your Papa Blaze" Finn smiles gently and kisses Blaze's cheek softly.

"But..I can't do that. Etain will kill me" Gael says to himself and sits back on the couch with a heavy sigh. He slowly gets up "I'm just going to go to bed. Night Papa Finn. Night Papa Blaze" He waves and heads to his room to sleep, not caring if it was the middle of the day, he was already exhausted.