(no subject)
Fandom: Fairly Oddparents
Canon or AU: AU
Fic: Devil May Care
A/N: Yes, I returned to a finished fanfic with a slight AU.
You guys probably want to know why I vanished off the face of the earth for a few weeks. I haven’t been writing--I’ve been trying to sort out my living situation. Part of that involved copious amounts of decluttering since my parents were hoarders, and I’ve been so busy and exhausted that I haven’t been able to muster any energy for writing.
This is all I have to show for the last few weeks. I’m sorry.
I will return to work on Blank Space tomorrow. I hope.
By the way, this fic was supposed to be called “Devil May Cry.” When I realized I’d mixed up the phrases, it was too late to revise it.
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Crocker returned to his lair after cleaning himself to examine Wanda. She was huddled in a ball, her head against the glass wall, and she shook with sobs. Crocker watched her momentarily. She was child-sized, and maybe that should have given him pause. Electrocuting her was one thing. Molesting her was quite another.
According to a secret report a Council member had slipped to him, once, Crocker had possessed Cosmo and Wanda as fairy godparents. Wanda would’ve been a surrogate mother, and he’d taken her against her will.
She must have sensed his gaze because she looked up. Tears limned her eyes, and she spat in his direction. It did nothing to conceal the agony in her expression. He lowered the cage to touch her cheek, and she shuddered, trying to recoil but unable to do so with the wire in her neck.
“What do you want?” she said weakly. In response, he dragged over a stool and stared at her like a cat. Wanda was the first to avert her gaze, and her breath hitched with sobs.
“I was your godson.”
“Yes,” she said, biting off the word. She glared. “You were. What does it matter now?”
“I don’t remember you.”
“We don’t remember you, either,” she said scathingly. Crocker stroked her cheek, and she flinched, trying to flee but having nowhere to run.
“Stop touching me,” she snapped, but fear bled into her tone. “I don’t care if you’re trying to ‘make things better.’ You’ve gone too far. You make my skin crawl.”
Crocker ignored her and brushed his lips against hers. She didn’t bite him this time, but he could almost hear her mentally trying to summon Cosmo. It didn’t work, as Crocker had known it wouldn’t. She couldn’t reach Cosmo with butterfly nets everywhere.
He rested a hand on her shoulder, and she stiffened, trying unsuccessfully to stop him. Tears glistened in her eyes.
“We could be a team, you know,” he said. “We don’t have to be enemies.”
Wanda scoffed. “The only way you’d accomplish that would be to magically dupe me. I’ll never work with you willingly.”
Crocker frowned, mulling over the idea. It had merit. He could brainwash her into assisting him. Moreover, he could control her bodily and force her to agree with everything he did. The original idea was to compel her to tell him everything he needed to know, pilfer her magic, and then keep her around as a souvenir to prove to everyone that he wasn’t crazy. He didn’t need her cooperation for that.
He shrugged. “I thought I’d mention it.”
“Go to hell,” she snapped. She was trying to sound like she could fend him off, but they both knew she couldn’t. Between the electrocutions and her imprisonment with iron cuffs, she was helpless before him. He wondered whether she needed another reminder.
He ran his fingers through her curls, and she recoiled.
“I said, ‘Don’t touch me!’” she snapped.
Beneath her words, there ran a tremor of fear. She couldn’t prevent him from touching her, which was something else they both knew. It wasn’t like he’d respected her wishes in the past, even if she’d granted his.
“Your godson doesn’t use you properly,” Crocker scoffed, cupping her face to force eye contact. She cringed and then lifted her head to glare defiantly. It would’ve worked better if she hadn’t immediately tried to look away again. He could almost taste her terror, giving him a power trip.
No one was coming for her because no one would be able to find her.
“I’m not dignifying that with a response,” she said haughtily. It was probably also because she feared losing Timmy due to Da Rules. He lowered himself to her level and then kissed her again. Meanwhile, he let his hands roam her body. He hadn’t had a chance to touch her thoroughly before; he’d been too eager.
Wanda froze and then snarled, jerking forward to try to yank the wire in her neck out. Electricity shot through her, and Crocker stepped back so he didn’t get electrocuted, too. Gasping, she glared at Crocker and tried again.
He paused. She found him that repulsive. Hell, she’d laughed at him earlier.
“Well?” Wanda snapped. “What do you want? Or am I just a plaything for your sadistic pleasure?”
Crocker sat back and watched her. “You’d rather torture yourself than allow me to touch you.”
Wanda’s eyes blazed with hatred and defiance. “You attacked me! Yes, I’d rather try to free myself and risk the consequences than let you touch me ever again.”
Her voice broke. “What happened to the little boy we used to grant wishes for? Just because we don’t remember you doesn’t mean this doesn’t hurt.”
She balled her fists. “You…you betrayed me.”
Crocker scoffed. “And your godson is a perfect angel?”
“I’m not saying that,” she snapped. “I’m saying that he would never hurt me like this. There’s never been a thought in his mind to torture me or Cosmo. He loves--”
Her voice broke again, and tears slid down her cheeks. Rather than finish, she shook her head as if there was no point in further discussing this.
“He loves you?” Crocker said derisively.
“Yes,” she said. She raised her head again, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. “Even after he grows up and loses us, he would never stoop so low as to hunt us like animals on the Serengeti.”
Crocker sneered. “How touching.”
“I know you won’t let me go,” she said quietly. “But you don’t have to keep torturing me, either.”
“That depends. Are you going to tell me what I want to know?”
She barked a humorless laugh. “Don’t try to cover up and tell me that everything you’ve done was to uncover dirt on fairies. You’ve been toying with me because you can, and it makes you feel superior. You’re not.”
She balled her fists and gritted her teeth.
“You exploited our vulnerabilities. Humans have them, too. Don’t act so high and mighty.”
“I can’t rule the world with another human,” Crocker scoffed, dismissing her. “You, conversely, can give me everything I want or need.”
“Not willingly,” she spat.
He snorted. “I can work around that.”
She looked like she could breathe fire. Her eyes blazed, and, for one brief moment, her hair combusted. “You already have. Just leave me alone.”
“How long do fairies live?” Crocker threw at her to keep her off balance.
“We’re immortal,” she said, eyes narrowing. He heard the unspoken part of her comment, “Unlike you.”
“But, surely, you must age,” he objected.
“That’s none of your concern,” she retorted. She was bristling, and he responded by cupping her cheek in his palm. Wanda snarled, unable to escape. He would say one thing. She was far more challenging to break than Cosmo would’ve been.
“What about half-fairies?” Crocker asked.
“What about them?” she said sourly. “It’s not possible when I’m in this form. Only certain forms will work; even then, it’s a gamble. We may look like humans in certain ways, but our bodies are very different.”
That last part sounded like a warning or at least a reminder of how badly he’d injured her earlier. She’d been bleeding profusely once he finished and had collapsed onto the table in a heap. He’d found it curious but not concerning. Healing her was always an option.
“I could use your magic to force something,” Crocker suggested. She flinched again, lowering her gaze submissively. This time, she stared at the floor.
“I could always tell you ‘no,’ but it doesn’t matter. You won’t listen.”
A bitter smile crossed her face. “A familiar situation, except the stakes are not normally this high.”
He noticed that, while she would sprinkle her speech with “hon, sport, sweetie,” and what have you, she had stopped when speaking with him. None of those terms of endearment would slip past her lips. He’d earned her enmity.
He didn’t know how he felt about that. His stomach twisted. A miniscule part of him, something he’d striven to crush over the years, felt guilty for hurting her so badly. For betraying her, like she’d said. In the distant past, she’d loved him. She might’ve been the only one who had.
His father had run out on the family when he was young. His mother claimed she loved him, but her “love” was suffocating and fake. She was overcompensating for abandoning him as a child by being clingy.
“If you’re going to do something, do it,” Wanda said bitterly. “Or go.”
The iron manacles kept her upright, and he let his gaze rove her body in an entirely too intimate manner, like a lover. The same thought had occurred to her.
“Why did you take me and not Cosmo? Or both of us?”
“Cosmo wouldn’t have been a challenge,” Crocker said, waving his hand. “He would’ve broken in thirty seconds or less. You, on the other hand…”
“My being female also happened to be an asset you wanted to exploit,” Wanda said quietly. Pain was etched in her features and voice.
“It was convenient,” he agreed. He could see her mentally debasing herself off that response. When he released the manacles, she crashed onto the table. He ran his fingers along her arm and brushed against her chest. When she glanced back, she looked defeated.
“I’m glad my sex was so convenient for you,” she snapped.
“I am, too,” he said snidely, and she huffed.
Frowning, he studied her and tried to see her the way Turner might, as more than just a creature with bountiful magic he could use and abuse to get what he wanted. He’d told himself many times that fairies’ feelings didn’t count. They were servants to humans, after all. It shouldn’t matter what they wanted or needed.
He tried to act like her sobbing hadn’t bothered him, like seeing his ex-godmother suffering, whom he didn’t remember having as a godmother, hadn’t stabbed his heart. Wanda claimed that she loved Turner; he found that hard to believe, considering how much of a little shit Turner was. He’d been a thorn in his side for too long.
That gave him an idea.
“I’ll be right back,” he promised. Then, using her magic, he sent himself to his house to retrieve his phone. When he returned, he turned the camera on and set it to record.
“How would he feel about a little welfare check?” Crocker said. Wanda glared. “I can tell him exactly what I have in mind and what you’ve already told me. And endured.”
“Leave him out of this,” she said, her voice hoarse. “He’s innocent.”
Snorting, Crocker set the phone up so it could record without him holding it and then kissed her again. While she didn’t bite him this time, she went limp, so it was like trying to kiss a dead fish. His eyes narrowed; she was passively resisting him instead of actively. That was irritating.
“He’s not innocent,” Crocker retorted. He stroked her cheek and then let his hands slide along her body. When he reached particularly sensitive areas, she cringed and pushed him away. He used her stolen magic to pin her arms above her body and secure her legs to prevent her from fighting back. He restored the iron manacles, and Wanda hung her head.
“Neither are you,” she whispered, barely audible.
“You aren’t either,” he huffed. “Now, who’s high and mighty?”
“Only a bully takes advantage of someone’s weakness like that, hon,” she said, throwing the last bit in as a barb. “It doesn’t take much to kick someone when they’re down.”
“Hmm…” Crocker said, disregarding her again. “I could send this to him, except that might result in my losing you. That would be a problem.”
“Oh, yes,” she said, her tone heavily sarcastic. “That would absolutely be a problem. For you.”
“On the other hand, I could force you to send it to Cosmo.”
Wanda huffed. “Go ahead. If you can figure out how to do it, that is. And if you can figure it out without Cosmo trying to reach me.”
“He won’t reach you. Butterfly nets everywhere,” Crocker said, waving his arm to indicate the ceiling above them. “I took out a $20k loan to ensure no escape.”
“How thoughtful,” she said spitefully. “I wouldn’t want to spoil your plans by fleeing for my life.”
“I wouldn’t kill you,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re far too useful.”
“As what?” Wanda said. Her voice quivered, and he could tell she was fighting back tears. “As a magical repository or a captive you can hurt?”
“Why not both?” Crocker said, shrugging. He frowned. “How do I send this to Cosmo?”
Wanda’s glower burned holes in his face. “Why should I tell you?”
Crocker shook his head. Things had been going so well until her rebellious streak resurfaced. Stepping back, he turned on the electricity in her cage until she was howling in pain. When she opened her mouth, he sensed she still wasn’t ready to acquiesce to his demands. He increased the voltage, dangerously so, at a level that would incapacitate a human. She withstood it briefly before passing out. Her body twitched with aftershocks.
Maybe it had less to do with her magic and more to do with her size that it had affected her so much. She also might have recovered faster if he hadn't drained her earlier.
“Tell me how to send it to Cosmo,” Crocker ordered when she regained consciousness. Bleary-eyed, she gawked. It took her a moment to reorient herself.
“No,” she rasped. She was too damn stubborn for her own good.
“I don’t need Cosmo to know.”
In response, Crocker let his hands creep along her thighs. She gulped, the color draining from her face.
“Tell me, or it’ll get worse,” he promised.
“I don’t want Cosmo to get hurt,” she protested. “He knows something’s wrong, but not what it is. He’d start panicking.”
“Panicking because he’s afraid for you or for himself?” Crocker sneered. “From what I’ve observed, it’s probably more likely the latter than the former.”
“Cosmo loves me!” She glared. “You wouldn’t know, not having had anyone like that.”
“I could make you do it,” Crocker mused. “Or I could figure it out myself.”
“I wish you luck,” she spat. “Because no amount of torture will force me to willingly hurt him. I love him. If I can spare him, I will.”
“How very brave for a tool,” Crocker scoffed. “You almost had me thinking you had feelings and emotions that mattered. But, no. You’re a weapon at my disposal, and I intend to use you to the utmost, especially to punish those who laughed at me or stood in my way.”
“You know,” she said in a soft voice that shook, “once upon a time, you loved us, too.”
“Then it’s a shame I can’t remember that, isn’t it?” he said. He switched the electricity on again and shocked her until she passed out. When she opened her eyes, he electrocuted her repeatedly until she stopped recovering. Then, he left her to her own devices. He’d figure out a way to send that video.
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The phone was still recording when Wanda awoke. She tasted blood and realized she’d bitten her tongue at some point. Her heart fell when she glanced at the phone propped up near her Faraday cage. Crocker had figured out a way to contact Cosmo.
“Wanda!” Cosmo cried. Timmy was off-screen, probably to avoid losing them.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said weakly. Her throat was raw from screaming, and her voice was hoarse. Her head spun, and she wondered if there was a point where even fairies couldn’t endure electricity. It had to be more potent than a lightning strike, but then again, Crocker had known how to hurt her and make it stick before he started.
She couldn’t meet Cosmo’s gaze.
“He showed me the videos he took in the Crocker Cave before he moved you,” Cosmo said. She heard the strain in his voice.
“Oh?” she said, affecting nonchalance. “Like what?”
“Like when he tortured and raped you,” came Timmy’s voice off to the side. The blood drained from her face. If she hadn’t been suspended in the containment chamber, she wouldn’t have been able to remain upright. Shame-faced, she looked away from the phone.
“...oh. I see,” she said faintly.
“Tell us where you are so we can rescue you!” Cosmo demanded.
“I don’t know, hon. I’d tell you if I could,” she said. Her voice was weak and thready. All she wanted to do was sleep and possibly not wake up for a long while. In place of that, she wanted Cosmo to hold her. Neither option was likely.
“Hang on!” Timmy said fiercely. “We’re coming for you!”
Wanda’s lips twitched into a humorless smile. The phone was running out of battery, which perversely pleased her. She’d lose them one way or another soon enough.
“I can’t promise anything,” she warned. Her vision blurred, and she coughed up blood. It nauseated her. Crocker hadn’t healed her after shocking her, only after his previous assault. He might have caused internal damage.
She didn’t know. It was hard to focus on anything, and her eyelids drooped. She didn’t think she could stay awake much longer, and her body twitched from aftershocks. Her chest hurt, and she hoped that was unrelated and not like Crocker had damaged her heart. Fairies could take a beating much better than humans, but even they had their limits.
Cosmo might’ve called her name, but she’d slipped into unconsciousness before she could process it.
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Cosmo froze the last image on his wand and stared. Wanda’s hair stuck up every which way, and her expression was pinched. Her breathing was also erratic, which worried him. He couldn’t feel her in their link but could tell she was in bad shape. Between what he’d witnessed just now and what Crocker had subjected him to, Cosmo knew Wanda was suffering.
Tears blinded him, and he flung himself at Timmy. Timmy hugged him back, even when Cosmo broke down into heavy weeping. It wasn’t just that Cosmo missed her, though that was part of it. It was that while Wanda was in Crocker’s custody, anything could happen, and Cosmo couldn’t prevent it until he figured out where the fuck she was.
Wishes involving resucing fairies trapped in butterfly nets never worked. They’d been tried many times in the past to no avail.
“Dude, are you okay?” Timmy asked in a subdued tone.
“No,” Cosmo choked out. Timmy and Cosmo were on Timmy’s bed, and Cosmo was utterly bereft. Timmy didn’t know what to do; Cosmo could tell he felt awkward. Cosmo didn’t know how to help Wanda; he couldn’t stop replaying Crocker's actions.
It was seared into his mind.
Wanda’s screams, too, were going to haunt him.
Wherever Wanda was, if she hadn’t been shocked into submission, she would’ve cried herself to sleep, which Cosmo was tempted to do. He had to find her. Wanda wouldn’t last much longer--no fairy would, other than Jorgen von Strangle.
It didn’t look like Crocker was feeding her much, and the constant magical drain would kill her soon enough.
Cosmo whimpered, clinging to Timmy. His godson had already fallen asleep.
Cosmo had no such luck. For hours, he lay awake and stared at the ceiling while willing himself to think of something else. Instead, his thoughts circled back around to Wanda’s torment.
By the time the sun rose the next morning, Cosmo hadn’t slept a wink.
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Wanda’s stomach grumbled when she awoke, and she groaned. Crocker hadn’t fed her last night; he’d been more content to do other things. She shuddered, wishing she could hug herself. She’d spent the night in a fugue. Visions flitted through her mind, and she didn’t know where she was or what was happening. Her chest ached, prompting her to wonder whether Crocker had damaged her heart after all of those electrocutions. She didn’t know.
The phone was set up again, this time plugged in. Cosmo stared back at her. Her gaze flicked to the time in the corner and then back to him.
“Shouldn’t you be in school with Timmy, hon?” she asked. Her throat was so raw from screaming that it took several attempts to croak the question out. She kept twitching involuntarily. Burn marks littered her body, from what she could see with her limited range, and she was in so much pain that moving her head from side to side was too much to manage.
“Crocker set up the phone before Timmy left,” Cosmo said. “I couldn’t look away.”
Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. Her stomach rumbled unhappily; she wished Cosmo could poof her breakfast, although if he could do that, he could bring her home. Seeing him through a phone was better than nothing, but not by much.
She groaned. She also had to use the bathroom, and the only option available to her was repugnant.
“Did he do anything else to you?”
She started to shake her head and then shrugged. “I have no idea what he did while I was unconscious, hon.”
Her shoulders slumped inward. “He could’ve done anything. It’s not like I could stop him.”
Cosmo whimpered sympathetically and reached toward her. With the iron brackets, she couldn’t reciprocate. Raising his wand, he tried to summon her, but his wand deflated instantly. Nonetheless, he tried several times before abandoning hope.
“Are you sure you don’t know where you are?” he asked desperately.
“I’m in a Faraday cage somewhere,” she said dully. “I can’t tell you more than that. Unless there’s some way to track the phone…”
Her eyes widened. “Crocker set up a conference call with your wand. Wands have trackers. Phones use satellite towers.”
Cosmo looked utterly lost, and she wanted to pinch her nose bridge. When her stomach gurgled, she gritted her teeth. Sooner or later, her body would decide for her, and she’d soil herself. Lovely. Chalk it up to another one of Crocker’s crimes.
“And?” Cosmo said.
“And, sweetie, phones can be traced,” she said. “Magic can’t move in and out of a fairy net, but phone signals can. You can use magic to force the phone to tell your wand where the call is coming from. The spell would convert the magic into a cellular signal that you can use to locate me.”
“I can?” Cosmo said.
Wanda sighed, exasperated. It wasn’t his fault; she could tell he was running on no sleep, and he’d never been the sharpest tool in the shed.
“Yes, hon, you can,” she said, doing her utmost to ignore her body’s demands. She was exhausted, feeling like someone punched her in the chest, famished, and she wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. Maybe with Cosmo wrapped around her.
(Okay, maybe hitting the bathroom and the kitchen first before sleep.)
“If you say so,” Cosmo said and raised his wand. She didn’t know what he saw, but he vanished a few seconds later. Hopefully, it was to tell Timmy or Chloe her location. Unfortunately, her confidence in him wasn’t that great.
When he didn’t reappear after ten minutes, she sighed. That was too much to hope for, apparently.
She didn’t know where Crocker was. He might’ve been in school or even on the moon. Clearly, he didn’t think he needed to monitor her personally. Then again, considering how well he’d trapped her, she didn’t pose a threat.
Something slammed hard against what she assumed was a wall. The building shuddered from the impact. Then, a loud noise ripped through the room, like a bomb detonating. Baffled, she craned her neck to see better. The cage blocked everything except the phone; the call had ended.
“God, I fucking hate butterfly nets,” a familiar voice griped, and her heart lurched.
“Language!” another one chided.
“For fuck’s sake, Chloe, we’re skipping school. What does it matter if I curse?” Timmy retorted. He huffed; their voices were muffled.
“I wish I had a battering ram!” Timmy snapped.
Blinding light corruscated through the room, and Wanda couldn’t shield her eyes. She shuddered, though that might’ve been an involuntary action from the electrocutions.
“Wanda!” Cosmo cried; he tried to fly to her side, but his wings crapped out due to the nets everywhere. Instead, he crashed onto the table near her cage.
She tried to speak, but nothing happened. Grimacing, she cleared her throat. “Cosmo? Timmy? Chloe? What are you all doing here?”
“Cosmo showed up in the middle of English class and started rambling about phone calls and tracking,” Timmy said. “He wouldn’t shut up, so I ducked out of class and grabbed Chloe.”
He rolled his eyes. “Chloe’s in Honors English, so she doesn’t have the same teacher as me.”
“Well, get me out of here!” she demanded and then, in a softer tone, added, “If you can. Be careful of the wire in my neck. Whenever I tried removing it, it shocked me.”
Speaking of which…the pain built to a crescendo, and she gritted her teeth. It came in waves, and she was being pulled under right now. Her vision flickered in and out.
Something slammed into the cage. Timmy was trying to break it with the battering ram. Wanda groaned, wishing she could facepalm.
Her bowels protested, and she willed herself not to make a scene.
“There are hinges!” Chloe exclaimed. Timmy didn’t pay attention; he was too busy trying to break the cage open. It was like using a chainsaw where scissors would suffice.
“For heaven’s sake, Timmy!” Chloe snarled, shoving him aside. Wanda heard a latch open, and the top of her cage fell over. Despite the tight fit, Cosmo jumped into the cage with her and undid the iron bindings. Wanda collapsed against him and burst into grateful tears.
Cosmo wrapped his arms around her. The sudden contact was excruciating, activating any previously slumbering burns, and she howled in pain.
“What? What did I do?” Cosmo cried, panicking.
“She’s covered in burns,” Chloe observed as she and Timmy lifted the two fairies out of the cage. “Are those all from electrocution?”
Wanda nodded weakly. She wanted to push Cosmo away to alleviate the pain, but she simultaneously wanted the embrace. Unfortunately, she was too weak to reciprocate. Cosmo and now Timmy were the only ones keeping her upright.
Perhaps it was just the timing; maybe it was relief, but her bowels released, and she flushed.
“He didn’t let you go to the bathroom?!” Timmy snapped.
“No…” she said and grimaced. “Sorry, sport.”
“I wish--”
“Butterfly nets!” Chloe interrupted, and Timmy groaned.
“And cameras,” Wanda murmured. The children gazed around the room to investigate further. Cosmo didn’t take his eyes off her. Despite fouling herself while being up against him, he still held her.
“I love you…” Cosmo whispered. He’d burst into tears, too, and his chest heaved with sobs. “I love you!”
“I love you, too, pudding,” she said quietly. His heartbeat against hers was reassuring. Unfortunately, there was a small matter of the wire. It had more play than expected, but she remained connected.
As his hands roamed her hair, they slipped to the cord jammed into her neck. Cosmo yanked on it, and the resulting shock pushed the two apart. Wanda crashed into the cage’s front, and Cosmo fell off the table. She groaned.
Her vision doubled and then tripled. The band around her chest tightened considerably, making breathing difficult. There must’ve been a threshold to how much electricity a fairy could have in his or her body, and she’d exceeded it.
Unable to stand, she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Everything blazed, and she felt like she’d been set on fire. Her nerve endings burned fiercely, and she could no more control her body than she could fly or extract the wire.
“Wanda!” Timmy and Chloe cried in unison.
“We need to get that wire out!” Chloe said. She walked to the table. “She’s sparking like mad.”
“Like static electricity?” Cosmo asked, having recovered much more quickly. He scrambled up to the table, and Timmy hauled him away before he hurt himself.
“Don’t touch her until we get that wire out, you idiot,” Timmy snapped. Cosmo’s lower lip quivered. She could still see and hear them, but their voices sounded like they came from the end of a long tunnel, and her vision remained unstable. Things had grown blurry.
“Can’t we just cut it off?” Timmy asked.
“I don’t know that that will work,” Chloe demurred. “Yanking it out made things worse.”
“Hello, Turner and Chloe,” Crocker’s sinister voice echoed, and the two children yelped. Cosmo ignored Crocker and knelt beside Wanda. Her eyes couldn’t focus, and though she was sure touching her shocked him too, Cosmo still cupped her cheek. She leaned into the affection.
“Don’t go,” she pleaded. “Don’t leave me here with this madman.”
Cosmo brushed his lips against hers, and she wanted to respond. Instead, reality yanked the rug out from under her, and she passed out.
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Chloe glanced at Wanda, who had passed out in Cosmo’s arms. Cosmo looked from Wanda to Chloe to Crocker and then to his useless wand. Tears slicked his cheeks, and Chloe’s throat tightened. Wanda was in bad shape, but they could heal her. They needed to focus on one problem at a time.
“I’ve been tracking the cameras,” Crocker sneered. “Did you really think I’d set that camera up without a contingency plan?”
“You’ve done enough. Leave her alone,” Timmy snarled.
Crocker scoffed. “I probably should have given her a means to eliminate waste without a scene.”
“That’s what’s bothering you?” Timmy snapped. Chloe could feel his rage radiating outward like a slap in the face. He was shaking. “You tortured and--”
He shook his head; the words wouldn’t come. Cosmo stroked Wanda’s curls. She smelled singed, in addition to a smell Chloe was determined to ignore.
“Your fairy?” Crocker taunted. “Your ‘godmother?’ She claims she loves you. You don’t deserve it, Turner.”
Timmy’s gaze would’ve seared Crocker alive if he’d had heat vision still. He advanced toward his godparents, and Crocker pointed what looked like a mash-up between a super-soaker and a rifle at Timmy’s chest. He pressed the butt against Timmy’s heart.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Crocker said softly, dangerously.
“She’s not my godmother,” Timmy snapped, desperate to keep his fairies. Chloe’s throat tightened; Crocker didn’t suspect her of sharing them. However, when she stepped toward the fairies, Crocker swung the gun toward her, too.
“I don’t know what you’re doing here,” Crocker told her. “But she’s my captive.”
“With your stolen magic?” Timmy said. Wanda’s pink magic swirled in the gun’s chambers. It was sickening, especially since Cosmo still looked prone to do something stupid and impulsive to protect her. They needed to escape before Timmy or Cosmo jeopardized Wanda further.
“It’s mine now, isn’t it?” Crocker said. His finger hovered near the trigger. “Don’t make me pull this, Turner.”
“Leave. Her. Alone.” Timmy snapped, biting each word off. “You’ve hurt her enough.”
Cosmo choked back a gasp, and Chloe glanced at him. It looked like Wanda was having a seizure, probably from prolonged exposure to electric shocks.
For a few seconds, no one moved. Everyone seemed to be frozen, stunned. Then Timmy lunged, grappling with Crocker for the gun. It fired, knocking out the ceiling and burning away the butterfly nets. Cosmo raised his wand, removed the wire, healed and cleaned Wanda, and then poofed them out of there.
Chloe’s heart raced. When Wanda reached for Cosmo’s wand, he handed it to her and erected a magical barrier around Timmy’s bedroom. Then she collapsed onto Timmy’s bed and gasped, having what looked like an anxiety attack.
Cosmo latched onto her, and she hugged him so tightly that Chloe was surprised Cosmo could still breathe. The fairies rocked back and forth with tears streaming down their cheeks.
“That was way too close for comfort,” Timmy said. Wanda buried her face in Cosmo’s neck; he trembled as he stroked her curls. She pulled away to look into his face, and they kissed. Sympathetic tears burned in Chloe’s eyes.
“We need to talk to Fairy World,” Timmy said. He was pale and hesitated to touch his godparents like he might startle them.
The hesitation faded, and he threw himself at them. They rolled over with Timmy’s arms surrounding them. Chloe jumped onto the bed, too, and for a minute, they sat there, taking comfort from each other.
Jorgen arrived in a giant cloud of fairy dust. He opened his mouth, probably to bark something, when his gaze fell upon Cosmo and Wanda. His expression softened, and he looked like he regretted what he was about to say.
“Cosmo and Wanda, you are summoned to the Fairy World Council,” Jorgen said, grimacing. He slammed his wand down, and the quartet arrived in Fairy World. Chloe could always tell when they were in Fairy World--the air was much cleaner and less polluted than Earth. It also made her feel lighter, as if she could float, too, if she only had wings.
“Dude,” Timmy snapped. “We just rescued her. Could you not?”
Wanda shuddered; she had a death grip on Cosmo. To be fair, Cosmo reciprocated. The two looked like they’d need the Jaws of Life to be separated. They were pressed against each other so tightly that they looked like they were trying to fuse together.
Dead silence cloaked the room, and Timmy looked simultaneously abashed and irritated. His godparents floated over his shoulder, and Wanda gave him a barely perceptible nod.
“The Council session is now in order,” the leader said. She threw back her hood and rubbed her temples. “What a mess this is.”
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They’d wiped his memories, but Crocker knew it couldn’t last. After all, they’d only removed the last week. Crocker would have his hands on Turner’s fairies again soon.
Meanwhile, he took great pleasure in seeing the pink animals and objects near Turner flinch when she met Crocker’s gaze. Her green counterpart glared daggers at Crocker while huddling closer to his wife. Crocker didn’t know why they had such reactions. He looked forward to finding out.