Of Fairies and Noontime

Fighters

Lue had to carry Dask now that they were partners.

It was an easy enough task, since he wasn't too terribly heavy, but it did put a damper on things.

"I wish Ellabelle would've made you some homemade wings of your own. My noodle arms can't take much more of this." Lue exhaled.

"We could always change our formation. I could sit on your back or dangle off your feet or something." Dask shrugged. "Hey, I'm just putting that out there. I'm only trying to help."

The two boys scouted out for security fireflies. Lue knew that they had to move fast so they went unseen. Those fireflies were programmed to attack when they saw anything suspicious, and the Horizon Festival was the perfect example of that.

"If those fireflies see that you don't have wings, we're a dead giveaway to the Council." Lue whispered to Dask.

"Why is this place so against humans, anyway? Like... What did we do that made them so mad?" Dask inquired.

"I really wish I could tell you." Lue replied, keeping his tone of voice quiet. "This place has everyone brainwashed into thinking that humans are demons, or monsters, or whatever. Ellabelle was one of the first ones to disprove that theory. She took a portal into the human world when she was super young and still made it out alive. I assume that the Council didn't want her exposing that fact to the rest of the fairies that live here, just so they could use fear to manipulate them. I mean, I don't know why else Ellabelle would be so important to them." Lue sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here."
"So... if everyone saw Hadley on that night, wouldn't that mean that everyone knows the truth?" Dask asked.

Lue shrugged his shoulders. "I would hope that they have enough common sense to realize that, yes, but it's not definite. I mean, you have to look at the facts. The only species that the Council has such a big problem with are humans. When Hadley revealed herself to be wingless, the Council immediately called for her execution. It all lines up, it all connects. But some people are so brainwashed now that Lady Larkdale has filled their heads with madness that they can't even think for themselves anymore." He shook his head as they landed down next to a bush.

"Wow. That's just terrible. Who knew that fairies were so crazy." Dask said as his eyes widened.

Lue and Dask hid behind the bush. There was a security firefly in a small crack in the bark of the stump. Dask made sure to follow Lue's lead.

"Alright," Lue whispered so quietly that it almost didn't sound like anything. "We need a weapon,"

Dask opened his satchel and pulled out his pocket knife and whittled stick, a proud smile on his face. He handed Lue the stick and kept the knife for himself.

"Alright. On three, we jump up and dismantle the camera, ok?" Lue breathed.

"One... two... three!"

On the flip side of things, Ellabelle and Catra were trying to find another way to get inside the dungeons without being seen.

Ellabelle had almost wished that she was partnered with Lue for this mission, just so that she could have time to tell him everything she knew. At that moment, she wanted to tell Catra everything, since she'd never really vented to anyone since Hadley had been captured. But something in her mind was afraid to tell anyone else. She didn't want anyone to tell Lue before she got the chance to; she felt that it was too important of a matter for anyone else but her.

"Do you see any hatches or secret doors or anything?" Catra whispered, breaking the silence of her thoughts.

"I don't see anything. It all just looks like a stump." Ellabelle replied, sighing. She then looked at the ring that sat in her palm. "Maybe we could use this?"

"Ella, I'm all for that idea, but I don't know how all of these magical doohickeys work. That's kind of your area of expertise, right?" Catra asked, glancing at the ring. "I'm still confused as to why you have that thing. How do you just come across a wand and a teleportation ring?"

Ellabelle shook her head. "I honestly have no idea how any of it works, either. I'm just winging it, no pun intended." She laughed awkwardly, remembering her empty back. "When I went to the Tree, I saw my family," She added with a little breath. "The moonlight showed me a chest in there, and I opened it and found this and the wand. But the whole time, I was thinking, why could I open this chest? People have been in and out of that tree hundreds of times. How has no one found these magical artifacts before me?" Ellabelle thought out loud.

Catra twirled one of her dark curls around her finger, feeling around the stump for any secret entrances. "Well... maybe you were the only one who could open it... for some weird reason?" She suggested. "I don't know, Ellabelle. In all honesty, your whole magical journey is too complicated for me to understand. Your secret past and creepy abilities give off major main character vibes."

"I wish I knew what it all meant. Why I'm the one everyone is always looking at." Ellabelle sighed, looking under a few thick roots for any hints.

"There's always an answer. Maybe you're just not looking in the right spot?" Catra said, shrugging. "I don't know the meaning of any of it, just like you, but I hope you know that I'm always here for you no matter what happens to you. I will be your shoulder to cry on and your ear to listen to you any day of the week." She added.
Ellabelle smiled. All she could think to say was, "Thank you." Even though she didn't have her real family - aside from Lue, of course - she was happy to have fairies like Catra by her side. There were those who actually cared about her.

"Hey, Ella, what's this?" Catra asked, pointing. Ellabelle walked over to her friend, looking down. Catra bent down to a suspicious looking root sticking up in the ground, tapping on it. "It's metal,"

Ellabelle tapped on the root as well. "There has to be something connected to this piece," She sighed, scratching her chin.

Catra tried lifting the root, as if it were a lever, but it wouldn't budge. She kicked it in a fit of rage, but regretted it almost immediately.

"We have to think outside the box. This is Lady Larkdale we're dealing with. Everything and anything has to be more extravagant than it needs to be." Ellabelle replied, putting her hand on Catra's shoulder in an attempt to console her.

Catra nodded. "You're right."

The girls proceeded to look around for some sort of clue to their entrance of the dungeon. They only got tangled up in larger roots around the place.

"What else could this be?" Ellabelle asked aloud, banging on the metal root. She sighed and sat down on the fake root. Suddenly, the root slightly sunk down into the ground. "What was that?" She asked. Then, a trapdoor was revealed. It opened a little ways away from the girls.

"Let's try it." Catra said. "But you gotta move fast. Jump off the root and I'll follow behind you. Let's go!" She yelled.

Ellabelle held her breath and leapt from her seat on the root, plummeting down the dark trapdoor. Catra followed close behind her, and rolled down into the hole with Ellabelle. The door shut the moment Catra made it inside, and the door barely clipped one of her wings. Although it was a minor cut into the top of her wing, it stung immensely. She let out a yelp, but tried to contain the pain so they wouldn't reveal their presence in the place. They expected to land in the dungeon; instead, it looked to be a different underground room.

Catra and Ellabelle let out a breath, then looked up. There was a low, drawn out growl. Ellabelle swallowed hard, slowly pulling out her wand.