Tinkerbell x Vidia ch4

Tinkerbell hunched over a pile of sticks on the floor, nodding in and out of sleep. Beside her sat the cap of an acorn holding tree sap. A small spoon sat inside, which she used to dab the sap onto the ends of sticks in an attempt to make a cage-like structure. It was crude, certainly, but functional. Trickier yet would be crafting a lever of some kind-

“Tinkerbell, you little shit!”

The door burst open and Tink’s stomach lept into her ribs. She whirled around.

“Vidia?”

“What have you done?”

Tinkerbell squinted in the sunlight piercing through the doorway. How long had it been morning?

“What are you talking about, what happened?”

Vidia opened the door wide, (Tink winced) and pointed outside. “Take a look, pack-rat!”

Tinkerbell stood, rubbing her eyes, and shuffled to the door.

Once her eyes adjusted to the light, Tink saw Burnt Grove just the way it was before they arrived; leaves scattered evenly like a thick carpet across the forest floor. She blinked, then looked to Vidia. “What happened to your piles? I thought you cleared most of it yesterday.”

“I did!” Vidia snapped, “So explain this.”

Tinkerbell shook her head, frowning, “Well, I didn’t. I’ve been tinkering all night. Maybe the wind…?”

Vidia snorted, “The wind?” she repeated, “The wind would have left something that’s almost a pile, but this? If the wind was that strong, it would have upturned the gourd in the middle of the night.”

Tink turned and paced the room, fidgeting. “Well, the wind must have had something to do with it. I mean the leaves were just in loose piles everywhere, it wouldn’t take much effort to-”

“You were up all night,” Vidia countered, “Did you hear any wind?”

“Only a little, but I think the best move now is to find a way to keep the leaves in one place. A gate maybe? No-”

Vidia groaned. “I told you, Tink. I don’t need any of your goofy inventions to get this job done.”

Tink scowled. “Well, what was your plan? Do a stakeout all night and see if there’s someone sabotaging you?”

Vidia’s sharp features spread into a smile. Tink sighed, and rubbed her eyes again.

“That wasn’t a suggestion, Vidia. Besides, my sleep schedule is already a mess.”

“You wanted to help, didn’t you?” Vidia challenged.

Tink glared at her through tired eyes. “I hate you.”

While Tinkerbell spent the day sleeping, Vidia swept more of the leaves into piles again, though not as thoroughly as before. She had to get home to Pixie Hollow as soon as possible, and no squirrel, wind or fairy was going to get in her way.

Tink set up camp a few meters from the gourd in a thicket of ferns, with a blanket on the ground, muffins in a basket, a lantern, and a pair of binoculars designed from old human glasses from the beach. Despite being determined to do it all on her own, Vidia didn’t seem to mind this particular method of assistance. Tink was too tired of arguing to question it.

As soon as the sun fell behind the horizon, they gathered at the site to wait.

Hours passed.

Vidia ate a muffin.

Tink fell asleep.

A light breeze made them wish they brought another blanket.

Vidia ate another muffin.

Tink woke up.

How long was this going to take? There was no way of knowing what time during the night the incident would occur, if it happened at all.

Tink tried to subtly hint that Vidia could do this on her own, and Tink could probably go inside and work on something to hold the leaves in place.

Vidia took off the binoculars and glared at her.

She hadn’t been subtle enough.

“How do I know you weren’t the one who messed up my leaves?”

“Because I was tinkering all night, you know that!”

“I can’t be too careful.”

Tinkerbell rolled her eyes and reached for a muffin from the basket. When she felt nothing, she tilted the basket and looked inside.

“Did you eat the rest of the muffins?”

“Shh.”

“Vidia, you-”

“I was hungry, okay? They’re a little stale, but-”

“But what? Vidia, say something.”

She didn’t. “They were good? Is that what you were going to say? You like my homemade corn muffins?”

“Shut up.”

Tinkerbell laughed. “Why are you so scared of complimenting people?”

“Why don’t you take another nap?”

“That is an excellent idea.”

Tink settled back onto the yellow blanket, curling herself into a tight ball to keep out the cold. IT would have been a beautiful night, if she wasn’t far from home and stuck with a fairy she could barely stand to be around. She glanced at the empty basket of muffins and found herself smiling. Maybe it was a beautiful night. Sort of.

“Tink, look!” Vidia elbowed her in the ribs. Tinkerbell grunted and was about to hit her back when she noticed something glowing in the corner of her eye. She gasped.

“Vidia, look at that!” she whispered, and immediately took off from the bushes before Vidia could even manage an eye roll.

A soft grey light drifted lazily through the trees as though pulled by a string. “I’ve never seen anything like it!” Tink was saying, despite Vidia’s vain attempts at shushing her. “Sorry! But I mean, look at it! It can’t be a fire, because it’s not yellowish. And it can’t be pixie dust, because it’s too soft!”

“Tink, wait up!” Vidia grabbed Tinkerbell’s hand to stop her, but Tinkerbell, somehow unfazed, grabbed her hand back and dragged her along. Vidia flushed, but couldn’t think of what to do in response. “Do you think it’s like a frosty kind of dust? Like something Zarina made? I didn’t see anything like that when I visited my sister, but…”

They were outrageously close now. Through Tinkerbell’s rambling, Vidia thought she heard another sound - almost like a sighing. Only a few meters away, and if they could hear it, then surely-

“Tink stop!” Vidia hissed, and flew in front of her to grab her by the shoulders.

“Whoa. What’s wrong, Vidia?”

“Shh!” She hastily put a hand over Tink’s mouth, and glanced behind her. “It can probably hear you!”

Finally, Tink shut up.

The light had paused in it’s lonely course, and now, in the thick silence, Vidia thought she could hear Tink’s heartbeat.

That Tinker just can’t be quiet, she thought, but just then, the sound from before grew louder. What was at first a soft sigh was now developing into a melody. It was both beautiful and tragic.

Tink pushed her companion’s hand off her mouth and fluttered forward.

“They’re really good! Hey, maybe they know what’s been upsetting the Fall Forest!”

“Oh what, now you want to just go up and talk to it? You don’t think some strange creepy voice in the woods might be, I don’t know… dangerous?”

Tinkerbell turned to face her and put her hands on her hips playfully. “Well if you’re too scared, I’ll just go investigate them myself.”

“Ok don’t do that-”

“Already doing it!”

Vidia mumbled something incoherent and probably obscene, but followed closely behind as Tink ventured forward.

Encased in the grey light was a fairy - an animal fairy, judging by her tough, practical clothes and wild eyes. They had curly hair shaved close to the head, and round, imp-like features dusted with freckles. Their sunken eyes wandered aimlessly, unfocused.

Tink waved a hand. “Hi there! Um- Autumn Fairy?”

The fairy stopped and turned to them, frowning. Vidia tensed.

“Who are you?” the fairy asked. Tink and Vidia were shocked to hear their voice; it sounded like they were further away than they were.

Vidia moved in front of Tinkerbell before she could say anything too embarrassing.

“I’m Vidia,” she put a hand on her chest, “and this is Tinkerbell. We were sent by Queen Clarion to… clean the place up.” she ended with a tight smile, which the fairy returned with a dubious squint.

“And what’s your name?” Tink interjected, pushing Vidia’s warning hand out of her way.

“Cricket.” the fairy said.

Tink extended a hand, “Nice to meet you, Cricket!”

Cricket smirked, and took her hand with long, knobby fingers.

Tink gasped, and pulled back.

“What did you do to her?” Vidia demanded, but Cricket just laughed.

“They don’t have a body!” Tink whispered loudly.

“What?”

“I can hear you.” Cricket cut in.

“My hand just went right through theirs!”

Both turned to look at the mysterious fairy.

“Are you a ghost?” Tink asked.

Cricket shrugged, “You caught me, I’m dead, I’m creepy, whatever. Can I go now? I was in the middle of haunting.”

“Do you know what’s been upsetting my leaf piles?” Vidia tried not to sound accusatory, but failed. Cricket rolled their eyes.

“Oh, that. Sorry, I guess.”

“Sorry I guess?”

“Look,” Cricket huffed, “I don’t have a ton of control over my actions anymore. If you try to barge into my home without permission and rearrange everything, don’t expect me to be too happy about it.”

“So you’ve been doing this!” Said Tink, “But we’re just trying to help, I mean look around! This place is a dump!”

Cricket scowled, and suddenly the air grew more frigid. Vidia hugged her arms.

“Queen Clarion sent us,” she mended, “this place was abandoned a long time ago, and she wants us to get it ready for fairies and animals to live in again.”

“Well, that’s very kind of you,” Cricket sneered, “But you won’t get very far with me here. Did you ever wonder why this place was abandoned?”

Tink and Vidia exchanged a nervous glance. “I’m guessing it has something to do with you… um-” Vidia cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Dying?” Tink finished.

The ghost grinned in a wide, toothy way that sent a chill up Vidia’s spine.

“My, you two are smart. I can see why the Queen herself sent you.”

“Don’t be patronizing,” Vidia huffed, but Cricket ignored her with a dramatic sigh and a long finger to their chin.

“I suppose I’ll tell you,” they droned lazily, “If it means you’ll do me a favor.”

“What do you need?” Tink asked. Vidia rolled her eyes.

“See, that’s part of the story.”

“Great, so you’re trapping us into doing whatever you want?”

“Oh, not necessarily,” Cricket blinked in mock innocence, “You could just leave me alone and spend the next few months cleaning up after my tantrums.”

“Fine,” Vidia groaned, “Let’s get this over with.”