Culmination | A Tinkerbell Fanfiction

Prologue: Tipping the Scale

Night had fallen over Neverland. A cold night; abnormally so, for Winter was long-off in the distance, and Spring had visited and had gone merrily on its way. Waves crashed against a rocky shore, tossing and rolling back to their shadowy depths and the stars danced a warning across the pitch-black world.

A lone figure walked among the seaspray, her face shrouded by a thick hood. A dark cape swept around black boots and gloved hands, clenched and glowing with massive power. She paused upon reaching the middle of the crag, inhaling deeply and bringing up her hands to lower her hood, a billow of dark hair flying out in her wake.

"Tell me, how did you imagine this situation was going to play out once you'd begged and pleaded and convinced me to come here? Are you here to snivel for your life? Save it. You failed your mission and for that, there will be consequences."

A shadow moved from the darkness and the sparrowman emerged, arms folded and eyes glinting angrily as he stared down the fairy with enough intensity to melt steel. But yet, he said nothing, did not defend his actions. Nothing. 

"Huh," the girl commented, stepping back to look him up and down, surprised by this lack of emotion. "I gotta confess, you're looking good...for a dead man."

"Save it," Shade snapped irritably. "I asked you here to discuss a greater matter than your petty insults."

"Oh?" she cocked an eyebrow. "You mean you want to discuss the part where you were outmatched by a child?"

"He was more powerful than either of us could ever have imagined!" Shade protested, jumping right into the argument feet first. "We underestimated his strength! And you knew that, didn't you? You wanted us to fail!"

"You mean you did," she fired back. "I knew all along what the boy was capable of. You were the one who was too stupid not to see it too."

"If you knew so much about the sparrowman," Shade growled, stepping forward challengingly. "Then why didn't you warn me? The blasted tinker killed me! With a pocketknife! I mean, come on!" He threw his hands up. "It wasn't even creative! In fact, it was downright ruthless! You didn't tell me he was capable of something so...evil."

"I didn't tell you, Shade," she huffed. "Because I needed to be absolutely sure he was the one. And besides...it was...rather amusing to see you get your magic handed to you by a teenager."

His glare was murderous.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" she exclaimed, waving off his scowl passively, "You have to admit, it was hilarious."

"No, it wasn't!"

"You should have seen the look on your face when you realized you got played by a tinker!"

"I died!" Shade exclaimed, gesturing to his clothes, still tinted a pale red. "Does that mean nothing to you at all?"

"And now you're alive again," came the response. "So stop being this air of gloom and death and let me show you the next phase of my master plan."

"Really?" Shade scoffed. "You have a master plan? What is it this time? Maybe you want me to sacrifice my raven for your perfect domination."

"Keep it up, Shade, and I'll have to kill you again myself."

"Oh, really? Now that is something I would really like to see you try! As I recall, it did not work so well for you last time."

She rolled her eyes. "Just listen, would you? I found a way to defeat the Protector!"

"You have?" He sounded disbelieving.

"Yes!" she yelled, already irritated. Why had she decided to spend her one revival spell on him again? Oh, yes, that's right... "Look," she went on, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. "We have both seen firsthand that the tinker does not fare well in the strength of his powers. A few spells here and there perhaps, but nothing substantial for any long periods of time. So where did his strength come from?" She paused here and waited for him to respond.

He frowned. "Are you going to tell me, or...?"

"His friends," she said tiredly, annoyed that he didn't see the sheer brilliance of her discovery. "The only reason he was successful in defeating us was because you threatened his friends. You gave him desperation and he channeled it into a driving force, a power strong enough to overcome everything you could have possibly thrown at him."

"I killed the girl."

"And he brought her back. You're not special, Shade. Not anymore." There was no remorse in her words. None. 

"So, what you're saying is..."

"I am saying, the Protector has no true power alone. He is nothing without those foolish fairies who tag along with him. To truly gain victory, we must be able to lure him away from the Hollow. We have to strike while he is alone. Fortunately for us," she grinned, turning away from Shade and watching the fireflies flit in and out of the trees. In the distance, hidden behind a veil of fog, the faint glow of pixie dust was visible. The Hollow was so close, so close she could almost feel it. "We may not even need to lure the tinker away this time."

Shade frowned. "I'm not sure I follow..."

"Can't you feel it?" she insisted, spinning back toward him, her cape billowing in the breeze behind her. "The change in the balance? The fading of the talents of Life? He gave them up, Shade! They're gone!"

"Are you sure?"

She laughed. "This is going to be easier than I thought! He has no idea what he has done but we have an opportunity here! We can finally take the Hollow back for ourselves! Like it should have been from the very beginning, and-" She paused, noticing his eyes drifting after a butterfly fluttering toward the woods. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah," he answered distractedly. "Big evil mastermind plan, blah, blah blah. Take over Pixie Hollow, get revenge, and make everyone fear me, etcetera... etcetera..."

She deadpanned. "Don't you see? This is perfect! Without his powers, the Protector won't stand a chance against the both of us! This is our chance to take back what is rightfully ours!" She chuckled again, folding her arms and turning away from the Hollow to gaze back at the swirling waves and angry ocean. It seemed to amplify the power inside of her and she balled a hand into a fist, feeling the lightning crackling and forming around her fingers, mimicked by the storm clouds rumbling overhead as they passed once more in front of the moon and threw the clearing into shadow.

"And this time, there will be no one who gets in our way!"