Culmination | A Tinkerbell Fanfiction

Chapter 15: One of Us

The last of the storm drifted away as the noon-day sun sparkled across the treetops, lighting the Haven in a glow of gold and silver and waking Tink from her uneasy slumber.

Or, more accurately, the unexpected rattle of something outside was what awoke her, though she wanted to believe it was the sudden silence that befell the woods. "Urgh," she groaned, turning over and pulling up her blanket to go back to sleep. "Terrence, we've talked about this. No waking me up before eight, would you? Go find something less destructive to do until I get up."

"Uh...Tink?" Terrence spoke, his voice so close that Tink nearly leaped out of her skin. She shot up like she'd been electrocuted, finding him glancing up from his own dazed, state of comatose from the position in the corner that he had so dutifully taken up when the others had left the day before. "That...wasn't me."

Suddenly, they were both wide awake.

"But..." Tink began slowly, heaving herself up and grabbing her shoes as she continued to think aloud. "If that wasn't you, then..."

"Tink," Terrence hissed, grabbing one of Scarab's needle-point swords and moving quickly to the door, ushering her behind him. "I think there's someone in the Haven!"

"Yes, well, don't stab them!" Tink exclaimed,  rushing up behind him to take the blade away from him before he could take out an eye. "It's probably just our friends! Scarab said they wouldn't have any trouble finding the bracelets!"

"Even so, you'd think they would give us some kind of warning before they just come barging in," he complained, even as Tink lowered the sword and Terrence heaved the door open. Both winced at the bright sunlight as it bore down heavily on them, but they pushed through, scanning the opposing garden for familiar faces.

No one was there.

"Uh..." Terrence said slowly. "Hello?" When he got no reply, he cautiously reached behind him. "Tink," he hissed. "Give me the sword."

"Okay, but why?" the blond asked, doing as he asked and peering around the doorframe with a frown. "Who's out there?"

"Someone whom you would do well not to point a weapon at," came a soft voice from right behind them. Both jumped and spun around, Terrence already brandishing the sword protectively in front of them, to find an unfamiliar girl gazing back at them. Her hair, black with a single streak of gray, was pulled back in a messy attempt at a braid. It matched her eyes as she stared on, unphased by the sparrowman's actions. "Not unless you are intending to use it, son, and quite frankly, despite how much you want to pretend to be the hero here, you don't have it in you." She smiled weakly. "So, why don't you put it away before I have to make you?"

Terrence faltered, shifting his weight, holding his hand steady but breaking his fierce staring competition. "Who are you?" he demanded. "How did you get in here?"

She snorted, rolling her eyes and snapping her fingers. Instantly, the vines encompassing the thatched rooftops of the cottage sprang to life, launching themselves down on the two blonds, latching onto Terrence's weapon and his wrist, yanking the two apart and sending the blade clattering to the ground.

Terrence yelled out, but before he could even move to fight back, the girl waved the vines away with another flick of her wrist and the plants recoiled once more to their proper locations. 

"Now," the girl said, appearing weary the longer she stood there, "does that answer your question, dust-keeper?"

"Yeah," Terrence wheezed, grasping his wrist with his good hand and stumbling back beside Tink. "Yeah, I'm good."