Culmination | A Tinkerbell Fanfiction

Chapter 22: Dragonsfire

"Hang on!" Tink shouted over the howling wind tearing past their heads and the heavy wingbeats pumping on either side of them. The boys needed no prompting to do just that, both clinging desperately to whatever scales they could reach as the dragon spiraled recklessly through the heavens, possibly forgetting his three passengers holding on for dear life.

"Who's great idea was this again?" Terrence yelled back, grabbing his acorn cap as the sudden plummet tried to snatch it from his head. "Whoa!" he cried, nearly tumbling off the drake's back as Kyto dove into a rapid tailspin, saved only by Bobble's quick thinking; grabbing his arm and heaving him back up behind Tink. "Thanks," Terrence breathed. "That was a close one!"

"Kyto!" Tink called once she was sure her friends were all right. "What are you doing? Are you trying to kill us?"

"Not at all," the dragon rumbled. "But this is the first time in three-hundred years that I have been able to get out and stretch my wings! I have to take a more exciting path if I am going to--for reasons beyond even my comprehension--help you save Neverland."

"It's because of them, isn't it?" Bobble spoke up, his voice nearly carried away by the wind. "Yer helpin' us because Falcon and Willow tried to help ye. Back before Scarab went after them. They were yer friends, weren't they?"

Okay, that voice thing in his head was super weird. It was like he knew everything now, how Scarab had betrayed the first of the Protectors, everything that had happened in the past...however long it had been now (the numbers and dates were all beginning to blur to her). He knew exactly what the original two had done...he had the knowledge, he knew all of their tricks, only now he couldn't do anything to stop them.

And that, she knew, cut deeper than even the betrayal.

Scarab had tricked him, deceiving and using him just to get what she wanted. She had turned his honesty and caring nature against him in the cruelest manner possible and she had gotten exactly what she had played him for with no regard whatsoever for how the tinker would feel. He was hurt, no, he was more than that. He was scared. Scarab had done everything perfectly, she had forced his friends on a wild goose chase, she had convinced him to go after the bracelets on his own, and then, if that hadn't been enough already, she had kidnapped him and stolen all of his powers and the bracelets he had gone to protect.

Tink wouldn't blame him if he never trusted another soul so long as he lived.

He didn't deserve any of this. All he'd wanted was to make the Hollow safe for everyone, but instead, he had given the wickedest fairy to ever exist precisely what she needed to exact her revenge.

He was furious at himself, she knew that without even trying to read his expression. And he blamed himself for everything, certain that it was somehow his blunder that had caused Scarab to gain the power she sought. He'd hardly spoken on the trip back, though that might have been partially due to the dragon's uneven movements. That in itself was enough to make all of them sick.

Kyto growled. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"But ye do," he argued, sounding more alive than any of them had heard him in a long while. "Because ye and Falcon and Willow were friends before. And...and I know that because they are tellin' me so. Ye actually do care about fairies. Ye just don't want to admit it because ye don't want to show that ye have a heart after all."

Kyto snorted disbelievingly. "Your imagination is playing tricks on you, fairy. I don't care at all about Falcon or Willow and definitely not about you."