Culmination | A Tinkerbell Fanfiction

Chapter 10: Elements of Disaster

"Have a seat," Scarab ordered, slinging her bag from her shoulders and tossing it across the room. The strap lassoed the back of a chair and swung down out of sight, triggering a series of gears and wires which dropped from the table and drew up the blinds across the room. She nodded to a collection of old furniture piled into a heap in the corner as the light cascaded through the shadows, reflecting off the wings of the numerous fairies attempting to crowd into her room. "Pull up a chair or a table or whatever. Set Tinker Bell down on the bed. I'll get some things ready and then I'll be back. Make yourselves...um...comfortable. And Phineas, don't touch anything until I return."

The fairies nodded as she darted from sight, Rosetta and Iridessa moving to untangle the chairs and Silvermist keeping a firm eye on Bobble as he nervously flitted amongst the group, watching Clank lay Tink gently on Scarab's abnormally tidy bed, and exhaling loudly. The fire was gone from his body, both metaphorically and literally, and it seemed being back once more in Fairy's Haven did nothing to improve that.

"Hey," the water-talent whispered, wandering up behind him, hands clasped behind her back nervously. "You doing all right?"

"No," he answered. "I'm not okay right now, Miss Sil. Not at all." There was a seat right next to the bed and, foregoing Scarab's warnings, he carefully lowered himself onto it and buried his face in his hands, collapsing into muffled sobs that were missed by no one. 

"She's going to be all right, though, isn't she?" Iridessa fretted, coming over to hover beside the bed as well. "Scarab will help her. She'll be fine, right?"

"Of course she will, sweetie," Rosetta assured her. "Scarab knows what she's doing. I'm sure she's seen this before. Phin's not the first Protector she's had to train after all."

"No, but he is the first to nearly burn the Hollow to the ground," Vidia remarked, not seeing the way his hands clenched at her words. "So that should count for something, right?"

"Vidia!" 

The fast-flying talent shrugged, not seeing the harm in her comment, while Silvermist looked grief-stricken and Iridessa shivered, turning pale. 

"He didn't do it on purpose!" Fawn shot back, standing up for her friend and rounding on Vidia who arched an eyebrow at the shorter girl. "You know that so why are you being so mean?"

"I think she's jealous," Rosetta stated.

Vidia scoffed. "Please. Jealous of that?" She gestured to Bobble who stubbornly refused to leave Tink's side, even if he didn't dare get close. "Darling, I think you must need your eyes checked. Why in Pixie Hollow would I want the power to destroy literally everything I touch?"

"Vidia, cool it!" Iridessa warned, wheeling on her now. "Can't you see you're making this whole thing worse?"

"Why? Is it my fault he can't control his emotions?" she protested. "He's the one going around with the torch in hand! I'm merely stating the obvious!"

"Sweetie, you're going to set him off again," Rosetta admonished, as if he weren't sitting in the same room and couldn't hear everything that was being said.

"Yeah!" Silvermist agreed. "Don't listen to her," she whispered to the redhead. "She's being really mean today." 

He didn't respond to her comforts, his hand somehow finding its way into Tink's as he continued to hide his face from everyone. Fawn gasped and elbowed Vidia in the side, earning a dagger-filled glare from her friend. Instead of being intimidated as was the fast-flyer's plan, Fawn made a look noise in the back of her throat, tilting her head toward the sparrowman pointedly. Vidia narrowed her eyes, squinting to decipher the girl's sudden shift in attitude.