Xade, Cosette, and Allura go to the carnival for a fun day only to find the ringmaster is using real fae magic to run his show. He captures the three Faeries and forces them to perform in his show but they're not about to bat their wings and toss fa...
Cosette, Allura, and Xade cut through the park to get to the carnival. Supposedly it had "real magic." A siren that could sing anyone to their death controlled by the ringmaster and forest nymphs that could sprout a tree in the middle of the stage. Of course, the three girls didn't believe it because they were real fae and real fae were far too clever to be captured by a mere human.
Xade's stomach turned as they drew closer. Something was off or maybe they were just being paranoid. Neither Cosette nor Allura seemed to notice and if anything was wrong Allura would know.
Allura glanced at Xade, sensing their hesitancy.
"What's the matter, Xade?" Allura threw an arm over their shoulder. "You're not scared of a little carnival are you? They're always fake."
Cosette rounded to the other side of Xade and hooked her arm around their waist. "Yeah, there's nothing we can't handle." Cosette wiggled her fingers, faery dust glittering off the tips of her nails.
"Yeah." Xade nodded. It was true. There wasn't much anyone could do to them. Cosette and Allura were over a thousand years old—still in the teen years for faery— but it was plenty of time to build their power. Xade was only a few hundred years. A baby compare to them, but she had Echidna blood, not that Xade had presented anything of their ancestor other than ther scale coating the tops of their hands and up to their arms. The fae part of their magic came more naturally to them. They looked down at their own hand, burning red sparks scittered from their palm. They had the magic to take care of themselves even if they didn't have Allura who had led wars for the first few centuries of their life and Cosette who would die for her friends.
Cosette and Allura met each other's eyes and grinned as Xade stared down at their red palms. The older faeries jerked to a stop with a sharp gasp and Xade's entire body went red. Cosette and Allura leapt back before they could get burned and Xade's wide eyes danced around the crowd. A few other carnival-goers stared open-mouthed at the red faery and others clapped. Xade shot their friend's a dirty.
"That wasn't funny." Xade snapped, taking a deep breath to cool themself down. Fire magic had always been more unpredictable than the other elements. Harder to control. Not control Xade reminded themself. Guide fire was wild and could not be controlled it was an ally at best and your own enemy at worst.
Cosette and Allura were still snickering as Xade finally got a handle on her magic. She could have reminded Cosette that she had barely been able to hold her form together at Xade's age. Every time she cried she nearly whisped away to air and Allura still sprouted leaves from her hair when she got angry and she was kind of easy to make angry. But Xade stiffened their lip and walked ahead. "Come on."
"Aw." Cosette cooed. "Don't be upset. "We were just kidding with you."
"You made me glow." Xade bit out trying to reign themself in but the fire was already burning in the pit of her stomach itching for something to burn.
"Whatever." Allura rolled her eyes. "No one thought anything of it. People expect to see weird things around here."
"Just don't do it again please–" Xade froze as they crossed under the entrance of the tent, a chill cooled the remainder of their fire. The inside of the tent was mostly dark. They couldn't imagine how the humans were able to make their way around but they seemed to be maneuvering just fine.
"Careful Xade." Allura snatched Xade back into her arms. "The scary human might get you."
Cosette snorted and Allura laughed as she clutched them to her chest.
"You're being so extra tonight." Xade shook their friend off and walked ahead making sure to keep out of their reach this time.
"Okay, okay." Allura and Cosette jogged up to their side. "We'll stop. We've had our fun." Allura promised and walked around Xade to walk beside Cosette. "Look." She took Cosette's hand. "It's out of my system now I'm gonna focus on my girlfriend."
Xade glanced between the two girls that acted as their sisters, their friends, and occasionally their stand-in moms, depending on the occasion. "Fine. Let's just have some fun."
Cosette squeezed Allura's hand "what are you gonna win for me?"
"Whatever you want." Allura wriggled her fingers. Dark green dust trickled off her fingertips.
Xade mock gagged and pointed to the tent that read 'magic show'. "I want to see that first."
Allura narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "It doesn't start for another hour. Let's go play some games." Allura tugged Cosette away from the tent and Cosette hooked her hands around Xade's elbow.
"We'll come back in an hour," Cosette promised, her eyes shifting from their more human brown to a richer mahogany, flecks of silver shining through as she made her promise. A fae's promise was their bond. Xade gave a nod and let Allura and—in turn— Cosette drag them behind.
Allura pulled them to the ticket booth and handed the disinterested teen a few leaves masked as money. The teen counted out fifty and handed them three hundred tickets.
"Thanks." Allura winked at the glassy-eyed teen. The teen offered a smile and waved to them.
"Have fun." he smiled. Fae like Xade, Cosette, and Allura were a gift to the humans. When a human crossed paths with them. The three knew that the human would never be able to guess but their magic touched them and made their day better, sometimes it left a bit of luck behind, and if Cosette, in particular, liked someone. She tended to leave a bit of love behind. Whether platonic or romantic it made whoever she chose a magnet for their soul partner. That guy would have a great rest of the night. Allura could charm people she chose with luck and Xade, once they got the hang of their magic could leave protection behind. If they were going to get hurt or someone was going to hurt them, her magic would give them the strength to fight or endure. If they could get a handle on it. Thus far they'd only been able to do it a few times in their few hundred years and they had never called on a return favor like Allura and Cosette had. If the magic is used, that human owes a favor to the fae who left it behind.
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