Sugar Strikes Back

Love Is Pain

Its been four years since Sugar left for the fairy world to become a full-fledged snow season fairy. For old times sake, Sugar decides to visit Saga, who is still living at her grandparents house and is now part of the local theater troupe. She wants to communicate with Saga, determined to relieve her good times with Saga one time, on one day, regardless of the fairy-human barrier, hoping their strong connection can overcome any obstacles. However, she realizes that Saga can no longer see her, despite her best efforts. At certain points, Saga thinks that Sugar is there, but dismisses this as overwork, while Saga's grandmother doesn't even believe fairies are real!

It had been over four years since Sugar had become a snow season fairy, moving beyond the apprentice stage. She had become better at using her magical powers than her skills many years before, when she had met the effusive Saga, who was a skilled piano player, like her well-known mom. Sugar decided to travel back to the town, where Saga lived, for a visit, almost like she was visiting a long-lost friend. This wasn't a trip of nostalgia or anything like that. Rather, she was hoping to talk to Saga briefly, reunite, then go on her merry way. She had been told by Elder, and others, that humans couldn't see the humans they once bonded with, when their flowers bloomed and created a "twinkle." However, she refused to believe this was the case, thinking that the deep connection between her and Saga would overcome any laws governing interactions between fairies and humans.

As she flew down to the quaint town, it looked similar its appearance all those years ago. From above, it didn't seem that much had changed. This would be, she hoped, a quick visit. She only wanted to come in briefly, then go about her business. As it so happened, the window to Saga's room, in the cottage owned by Saga's grandmother, was open. Sugar slipped inside. The room looked a bit like she remembered it, with simple decorations and the same colors, but something had changed. There were posters for theater events on the walls, either for the Hammond Theater Group and others, and photos of her friends. There was one of a person she never expected: Greta. The latter was in the center of a collage, with a circle around her, and many arrows pointed at her. Anyone would guess that this indicated that Saga might have had feelings for Greta. However, Sugar, unaware of the ins-and-outs of romance, didn't get the hint.

Not long after, she heard a familiar voice: "Grandma, I'm home!" Saga's grandma, whose first name was Regina, smiled happily. She couldn't be gladder that her granddaughter continued to live in her quaint cottage, although she wasn't sure about her close relations with that...uppity rich girl. Even so, she appreciated that Saga had such good friends. "Welcome home, Saga."

Saga brought up the subject again, something which was a bit of a bone of contention between them: the existence of fairies. Regina had never seen any and believed that Saga had been talking, all those years ago, to thin air. Since that had ended some time ago, she didn't believe anything was wrong with Saga. That phase, in her mind, had ended. Most people couldn't see fairies like Sugar, so Saga, in that sense, was one of the lucky ones.

"I didn't see any fairies today, Grandma...not even a cute snow fairy I knew what seems like eons ago...I barely even remember what she looked like."

Regina shook her head. She believed that Saga was off her rocker, a funny thing to think considering she was the older one in the household. "Well, Saga, fairies are just in...fairy tales. They aren't real."

Saga objected to this notion. She knew that Sugar, Salt, Pepper, Basil, Cinnamon, Ginger, and Turmeric were all real. Seasons fairies existed. She had seen it with her own two brown eyes time and again.

"Grandma, I know why you are saying that...but I have to disagree...I have seen them...fairies exist..." Her voice trailed off, as she said in a much softer tone, "if I could just see Sugar one more time..."

As she began to cry, Regina looked at her worryingly. Who was this Sugar she was thinking of? Before she could say anything, Saga began, "I'll be in my room...let me know when dinner is ready." Regina nodded. She didn't want to intrude on Saga's private time, at least not now. She knew that life as part of the theater troupe was hard, as were her other commitments, even though Sugar wasn't overworking herself.

Coming back into her room, Saga quickly closed the door and breathed deeply. Everything was okay now. She could relax. Perhaps she would never see Sugar again, but she still had her great friends and the person she adored. That was enough, for now, at least.

She suddenly looked around and saw sparkles in the air. Could it be...Sugar? Saga got excited. She cried out: "Sugar, is that you?" She got no response. She thought that the sparkles were just a result of her exhaustion. She had worked a lot on the stage recently, and perhaps everything she had been doing was getting to her head. She wasn't sure.

At the same time, Sugar was shouting as loudly as she could. "Saga, its me! I'm here!" However, her words couldn't be heard by Saga. The barrier between the human and fairy world had prevented that. Sugar attempted to write on a piece of paper, but again, the aforementioned laws, decided years ago by the Assembly of Fairies in an effort to protect fairies from human misdeeds, stopped that as well. She couldn't even pick up a pen, a pencil, or a piece of paper.

Sugar was losing herself. How could the world be this cruel? Why couldn't she talk to Saga? She became despondent, bawling her eyes out. She didn't care if she couldn't talk to any other humans, but she wanted to talk to ONE: Saga. That was the only human she wanted to talk to, and just one more time. She loved Saga, as a friend, and came to realize that this (platonic) love had brought her...pain...in a way she couldn't have imagined.

Resigning herself to the fact that Sugar wasn't there, Saga began to close the windows to her room. She felt a rush of cold air go by her, along with sparkles. She thought it might be Sugar leaving, but she shook her head. It can't be Sugar, right? she asked herself. Little did she know, but she had guessed correctly: it had been Sugar all along. If she could just kiss Saga on the cheek like she used to, to hang out with her for one day, that was all she wanted.

Her little wings caused her to soar higher into the sky. She continued bawling. Sugar's tears had turned into ice pellets, which rained down on parts of the city as hail, terrifying some city residents. Recognizing what she was doing, she collected herself, and began to play a sweet tune on her magical instrument, causing a light snowfall across the town. She resolved to solve this once and for all, by going to Elder, asking for help to talk to Saga, one more time.

Sugar wasn't aware that her decision to confront Elder and the other high fairies, would lead to cataclysmic events which would threaten not only the human world, but all fairies, especially fellow season fairies, in ways that none of them, whether fairy or human, could even imagine.

End Note:

This title is taken from the second song, "," of Joan Jett's first EP, "I Love Rock'N Roll 92" which was only released in Japan . This goes a much darker tone than the other happy fics out there for this series. This is set sometime after the last OVA (which came out in 2003), which showed Saga and Greta as part of the theater troupe. I don't think its much of a stretch to say that they are in a romantic relationship together. I decided to write this after reading about the first challenge of the Lyrical Titles community! I have three more fics to write to complete this challenge, centering around the titles or lyrics of the other three songs in the EP: "I Love Rock 'N' Roll", "Talkin' Bout My Baby", and "The Only Good Thing (You Ever Said Was Goodbye)". Otherwise, I'd definitely recommend you all watch this nice, cute series. Its a classic (either found on HIDIVE, less-than-legal sites, or through DVDs you buy) and more should see it.

The collage which has Greta in the center is inspired by my cousin who died some years ago. As my dad tells it, she had a collage like this with a woman she liked in the middle, and although she later married a man (who was apparently a gold digger), she went on trips with this woman, and hung around with her. Its still a bone of contention, in my dad's side of the family, but I thought of it when writing this fic, so ta-da, it got incorporated here. I am planning a follow-up fic on this same topic, although I'm not sure when that will come out, to be perfectly honest, but sometime this month. This fic is a bit of a stream of consciousness which I came up with tonight, for fun, and didn't even have much planned when I wrote it.